VINCENT ZANDRI - MOONLIGHT FALLS (2009)

 

Synopsis/blurb ....

Did Moonlight murder his own lover? Or has he been set up to take a fall of biblical proportions? 

Some years ago, Moonlight Falls, the first novel in what would become the 2015 Thriller Award- and Shamus Award-winning best-selling hard-boiled detective series was first introduced to the world. Since then, seven Dick Moonlight noir private detective novels have been released to great acclaim. But now, for the first time ever, a longer, grittier, sexier, more dangerous, more romantic version of the original pilot episode is available. It represents the author's original dark vision and the desperate, if not paranoid state of mind he was in when writing it. 

In Moonlight Falls, best-selling author Vincent Zandri asks the question, "If you knew your life could end at any moment, how far would you go to prove you murdered your lover? " Albany, New York, is the dark setting of this paranoid thriller about Richard "Dick" Moonlight, former APD detective turned private investigator, who believes he killed Scarlet Montana - his illicit lover and wife of his ex-boss, Chief of Detectives Jake Montana. Problem is, despite the blood on his hands, Moonlight doesn't remember what happened! 

For fans of best-selling noir, hard-boiled mystery, and romantic suspense writers like Robert B. Parker, Michael Connelly, Lawrence Block, Don Winslow, and Charlie Huston.

My second outing with Zandri's Dick Moonlight and while I liked it well enough. It did just seem to go on and on and on, subjecting us to every thought and deed the main character had. This version, as it says in the synopsis above is the author's original vision for the book. Despite not having read the original publication (I have it somewhere) I would definitely prefer the pared down offering.

Decent set-up to the story. We get to hear about Moonlight's past and his brain problem - self-inflicted and soon we're are off and running (alright maybe a leisurely stroll) as Dick's secret lover is killed (or suicide?) and Moonlight is asked to investigate (but not really) and sign off on the death for the Albany cops. Cops who might have some other issues to hide - connections with the Russian mob and who might see Moonlight as a patsy for murder, should it be necessary.  

Interesting main character. He's funny and likable. He has some good friends prepared to break the law/bend the rules to help him out. We have conflict with the police and some mobsters. We have tension with the ex-wife and her cop husband. Lots of action, interspersed with a bit too much naval gazing.

More to like than dislike. I enjoyed the narration and I liked the humour in the book. The story itself just had a bit too much padding.

3 from 5

Zandri's work has been enjoyed before - Tunnel Rats and Moonlight Weeps - a later book in the series.

Read - (listened to) March, 2021

Published - 2009 (director's cut 2016)

Page count - 452 (10 hrs 23 mins)

Source - Audible purchase

Format - Audible

ARMAND ROSAMILIA - DIRTY DEEDS 2 (2016)

 

Synopsis/blurb....

Everything was going smoothly until my past caught up with me. Now, I'm being taunted by a madman who knows more about me than I do. He's kidnapped the closest person in my life, and he is using it to get my attention. Trust me...he has it. Now, I just need to figure out where he is and when he'll strike again. Things were easier when I was only kidnapping children.

The second Dirty Deeds book, I think there are nine in all and I'm a bit meh.... about it.

I've really enjoyed some of this author's work in the past - Belford Stories and one of his Flagler Beach collections which mainly concern.... people, relationships, everyday life, hopes, disappointments and dreams. The Dirty Deeds books are more crime oriented and feature James Gaffney posing as a child kidnapper, but actual saviour, crossing paths with the FBI, the mob and various other deviants who want their children gone and the opportunity for a different life unencumbered by responsibility.

I quite like James as a character. I enjoy his interactions with Reggie Keene (possible mispelling, because I've only enjoyed these as Audible books), the FBI agent trying to nail him. I like his banter with assistant, Marissa (?), the woman who sets up his jobs and organises his life for him. There's humor in their dialogue, sometimes funny, sometimes causing my eyeballs to roll into the back of my head. Overall a plus in the books.

There's a couple of things that are less enjoyable really. Secondly, book one,  kind of climaxed at last chapter minus one. The last chapter set up Marissa's kidnapping as the hook for Dirty Deeds 2. The end of this one has a similar set-up. Actual story ends again at last chapter less one and the hook for #3 in the series (one I'm listening to now) is the final chapter. I think this is one of my pet hates as a reader. Rosamilia is not alone in doing this, but it does irritate me.

Biggest bugbear is probably a weak plot. There's a fair bit of fannying around where the villain, the kidnapper plays games with James. He has an issue with him, just cut to the chase confront him - kill or be killed and save me the mindless guff in between. With the support cast of a couple of mob cronies - one a hacker, one a mob enforcer and with instructions to also do away with James and his hacker best friend we have a goose chase around Florida before a return to Atlanta for a climax. The Florida scenes which form a lot of the book, mainly involve Chaz the enforcer eating, wanting to eat, ruminating about his next meal or talking about meals he has enjoyed in the past. I think I must have put on a couple of pounds every time Chaz featured in a scene. It kind of got old very quickly.

Narration was good. Settings - Florida and Atlanta were enjoyed. Characters were more hits than misses. Story/plot/set-up - not great. Pace was ok. A lot of padding maybe to support a story which in my opinion was a bit too much of a stretch. Execution - a bit disappointing.

Overall - probably just a 3. I didn't actually hate it despite my reservations, but it didn't blow my socks off either. I'm obviously in a minority - 19 reviews showing on Amazon UK - 18 x 5 stars, 1 x 4 star.

Belford Stories and JandJ Fitness, as well as Dirty Deeds have been enjoyed before.

Read - (listened to) March, 2021

Published - 2016

Page count - 206 (4 hrs 53 mins)

Source - Audible purchase

Format - Audible

 

BILL CRIDER - DEAD ON THE ISLAND (1991)

 

Synopsis/blurb .....

Nominated for the Shamus Award for Best First Private Eye Novel.

PI Truman Smith has become a loner after failing to find his sister Jan during a recent search of Galveston Island. He jogs on the Seawall, plays with his cat, and reads lots of Faulkner books. He is pulled from his self-imposed retirement when his old high-school football buddy Dino asks him to find a young girl named Sharon. As Tru begins his investigation, dead bodies begin to appear and Tru himself is attacked. His search for Sharon takes him to all sorts of interesting places on and near the Island.

Bill Crider spins a good mystery tale in a wonderful setting with interesting characters and enough plot twists to keep listeners guessing until the last few chapters.

Dead on the Island is the first in the late Bill Crider's Truman Smith PI series and if the other four books in the series are half as good as this one, I'll be in for a treat.

A missing girl, a reluctant investigation, old friendships, history, regrets, a personal loss with unanswered questions, a beating, death, a new woman, possible romance, uncovered secrets, a ransom, manipulation, resentment, a stakeout, danger, more death, finally some answers and a resolution, but not to the question that troubles Truman Smith the most. 

I really liked this one. The plot itself isn't amazing, a bit straightforward and the culprit isn't too difficult to guess after a certain point in the story is reached and you can fully understand his motivations. 

I liked the setting of Galveston, Texas with the changes to the island over Smith's lifetime explained along with some of its history. It was more prominent in its past, before being usurped by Houston.

I liked the main character. He's quite solitary initially, happy enough with his books and his cat. He feels he has failed his sister, who went missing when his attention was elsewhere. A long search for answers has revealed little about her disappearance, though there are a few teasers here. Some mysteries you don't ever get answers to, in real life and in fiction. I'll be interested to see if this theme forms part of an over riding arc to the series.

Overall - very enjoyable.

4.5 from 5

Bill Crider has been enjoyed before - A Time for Hanging, Outrage at Blanco, Piano Man and a horror novel as Jack MacLane - Blood Dreams 

Read - (listened to) March, 2021

Published - 1991

Page count - 227 (5 hrs 33 mins)

Source  - Audible purchase

Format - Audible

LEE MATTHEW GOLDBERG - ORANGE CITY (2021)

 

Synopsis/blurb ....

Imagine a secret, hidden City that gives a second chance at life for those selected to come: felons, deformed outcasts, those on the fringe of the Outside World. Everyone gets a job, a place to live; but you are bound to the City forever. You can never leave.  

Its citizens are ruled by a monstrous figure called the "Man" who resembles a giant demented spider from the lifelike robotic limbs attached to his body. Everyone follows the Man blindly, working hard to make their Promised Land stronger, too scared to defy him and be discarded to the Empty Zones.   

After ten years as an advertising executive, Graham Weatherend receives an order to test a new client, Pow! Sodas. After one sip of the orange flavor, he becomes addicted, the sodas causing wild mood swings that finally wake him up to the prison he calls reality.

A dynamic mash-up of 1984 meets LOST, Orange City is a lurid, dystopian first book in a series that will continue with the explosive sequel Lemonworld.                  

A little bit out of my comfort zone as I'm a rare reader of novels with dystopian/sci-fiction elements, but Orange City managed to entertain me while also convincing me that it's a genre I might enjoy dipping into a little bit more frequently in future.

A controlled society, power, constant surveillance, a strict hierarchy, the haves and the have nots.... hey hang on a minute, it's not so different from the world we live in now.

Graham Weatherend is the main focus of our attention. The powers have already ruined his life and not quite his mind, but enough for him to question his self-worth. He has a lot of guilt over the death of his parents. Here he gets to work for the MAN testing a new product, designed to further control the masses - a fizzy drink called POW! 

Addiction follows and with it the start of a one-man rebellion. Well maybe more than one. 

I'm always a little bit uncomfortable when reading about addicts, it can sometimes strike a bit too close to home. Craving and desire over-coming reason and logic. Poor choices exacerbated here, by the enablers - the man and his machine. I liked that Graham retained his humanity and his wanting to help Marlena, also a victim of the powers that be. Humanity trumping control, though not without a few bumps in the road, here and I'm guessing in the days ahead.

I liked the world the author created. Part of my fear of science-fiction is a dread of too much technical detail in the writing, akin to reading a foreign language book while possessing no bilingual skills. Goldberg didn't bamboozle me with science and jargon and incomprehensible faff, but instead concentrated on the people in the story and their trials, while still exciting me with the power of his imagination. 

I'm definitely interested in reading the second in this series - Lemonworld when it drops. 

4 from 5

Lee Matthew Goldberg has been enjoyed before - The Ancestor, The Desire Card and a shorter offering - De/tached 

Read - March, 2021

Published - 2021

Page count - 312

Source - review copy from author

Format - paperback

BLAIR DENHOLM - SHOT CLOCK (2021)

 

Synopsis/blurb ....

With enough suspects to fill a stadium, Detective Jack Lisbon must race against time to find a cold and calculated killer.

A popular sports coach lies shattered on the road. The calculated hit-and-run murder sends shock waves through Yorkville.

After years of waiting, the struggling Scorpions basketball franchise is finally knocking on the door of its first ever championship title. The community of Yorkville is united behind the home team, spirits are high.

But with the playoffs in sight, their coach Dale Collins is mowed down in broad daylight. The killers leave no trace – no DNA, no prints, no clues, nothing. 

Ex-boxer DS Jack Lisbon and his partner DC Claudia Taylor must unravel dark secrets and long-standing grudges to peel back the layers of this baffling mystery. If those obstacles aren't enough, Jack has to battle his own personal demons that threaten to cripple him at every turn.

With the long list of suspects all harboring a motive, Detectives Lisbon and Taylor pull no punches to find the killers.

Justice served with a side order of vengeance.

The perfect pulsating novel for fans of Jo Nesbo and Ian Rankin.

Another enjoyable dose of Australian crime from Blair Denholm with a hit and run death - the victim a basketball coach - needing investigating by DS Jack Lisbon and underling Claudia Taylor.

I liked the back drop of basketball in the story, with all the possibilities that threw up for suspects .... disgruntled players, ex-players, failed trialists, his wife, his support team and the hierarchy at the club. Possible motives including thwarted career ambitions, professional jealousy, or a crime of passion.

I liked catching up with Lisbon and Taylor. I enjoy the dynamics of their relationship and that with their boss. Lisbon is attracted to Taylor and always seems a whisper away from doing something reckless and endangering to their relationship (and possibly his health). It's quite amusing to watch, especiallly as he has issues with anger control and impulsiveness. These sometimes comes to the fore when over-stepping boundaries during suspect interviews and arrests. He has a difficult relationship with alcohol as well. Foregoing it for weeks at a time, before succumbing big time to its allure.  

The setting revolves around the Scorpions, the local basketball team who are enjoying some rare success. Denholm builds the buzz around the team nicely into the story. There is the excitement of the games themselves, as well as the heightened interest in the team and the lift it gives the local community. I could relate, especially as I'm a fan of sport and follow a team. It's easy for emotions to be intrinsically linked into how well or badly your team is faring. 

Setting, characters, story, pace and outcome - all worked well for me here. I enjoy Denholm's writing with the insertion of some humor at times into the situations Lisbon finds himself in. I think these characters have legs. Hopefully he has plenty more Lisbon tales to tell in the future.

4 from 5

Blair Denholm's work has been enjoyed before - Kill Shot, Fighting Dirty, Sold to the Devil, Boyd and Sarge: NYPD Law and Disorder and Sold 

Read - April, 2021

Published - 2021

Page count - 264

Source - review copy from author

Format - Kindle

A B MORGAN - OLD DOGS OLD TRICKS (2020)

 

Synopsis/blurb ....

Old Dogs, Old Tricks introduces us to husband-and-wife private investigators Peddyr and Connie Quirk. They're sent undercover to probe the death of the resident of an exclusive retirement village.

Old Dogs, Old Tricks is by turns a classic whodunnit, laugh-out-loud funny, and rich in colourful characters.

Enjoyable introductory novella to author A B Morgan's husband and wife sleuthing team, Peddyr and Connie Quirk.

I found the setting of a retirement village interesting, not least because my wife is a House Manager at a similar establishment in Leighton Buzzard. Personal experience and anecdotary evidence from her, convinces me of the eccentricities of the older generation. both there and the ones found in this book.

Death, secrets, history, golf, cards, drinking, massage, community, friendships, alliances, bitchiness, hanky panky, an impatient client and after some loose lips and joined up thinking and research - answers.

Best book ever? No, but enough there to have me looking forward to more outings in the company of our double act. Hopefully I'll get around to the first full length novel featuring the pair - Over Her Dead Body - sooner rather than later.

Probably of a genter pace with a lot less action and violence encountered than in my usual reading. I can live with that.

3.5 from 5    

Read - April, 2021

Published - 2020

Page count - 106

Source - copy from publisher Hobeck Books

Format - Kindle

DAVID PUTNAM - THE RUTHLESS (2021)

 

Synopsis/blurb....

Bruno Johnson, shaken to his core, is still a formidable force - he has an unrelenting focus on doing the right thing - and is unwilling to let anyone or anything stand in his way.

Pushed to his emotional limit, Los Angeles County Sheriff Deputy Bruno Johnson struggles to hold his family together while immersed in his unrelenting career. His daughter, Olivia, is a teen mom to twin toddlers; her common-law husband, Derek Sams, is a thug; and one of their little boys has disappeared under his care.

The overwhelming intensity demanded of Bruno on this personal level is compounded by the brutal shotgun murder of a superior court judge and his wife, both friends of his. Bruno cannot ignore these violent crimes even though he's supposedly off the law enforcement grid - undercover - working an illegal gun sting.

Tragedy strikes Bruno's life on all fronts: family, friends, and professional - however, none of these colossal forces can match the unthinkable catastrophe that will forever dominate Bruno's life.

Perfect for fans of Robert Crais and Michael Connelly.

I do like a catch up with an old friend, particularly if he is a cop who doesn't mind too much pushing the boundaries in pursuit of justice - in whatever form it might take. Bruno Johnson is great company. He possesses - street smarts, loyalty, bravery, hard-headedness, stupidity, intelligence, a nose for bullshit, a nose that is equally attuned to finding trouble and he has some pretty decent investigative skills.  

Author Dave Putnam must really hate him. Here he has a heavy load to deal with..... family issues - bereavement, loss; friendship issues - bereavement, loss; career issues - stagnant and after this one - heading south. 

Fast-paced, and exciting. Putnam serves up a busy book. Bruno is working as part of an undercover sting to snare criminals. In addition to trying to regain custody of his absent grandson, punish his dead daughter's boyfirend for his part in his other grandson's disappearance, and find out who killed his friends - a court judge and his wife. 

Lots of different strands and story elements. Lots of deception and lies as Bruno through necessity keeps secrets from his father and his partner Robby Wicks. Plenty of back story, as Bruno gets his father to open up about his mother, someone he has no real memories of.

Decent storyline, satifying resolution, enough action to keep me happy, but not mindless or over the top, all relevant and in the context of the story. Characters, I enjoy reading about. LA setting. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.

4.5 from 5 

The seven previous Bruno Johnson books have all been enjoyed. 

The Disposables 

The Replacements 

The Squandered 

The Vanquished 

The Innocents 

The Reckless 

The Heartless 

I'm looking forward to the ninth!

Read - March, 2021

Published - 2021

Page count - 340

Source - review copy from author

Format - trade paperback ARC