REVIEWS AT EUROCRIME: THE LATEST KEN BRUEN
.jpg)
.jpg)
There are more reviews posted today at Euro Crime including my own review of Cross yet another brilliant novel by Ken Bruen.
His previous book Priest was nominated for an Edgar, and the sequel Cross is just as gripping.
Mike Ripley's April Crime File reviews a varied batch of books including A Killing Frost which he states 'is a fitting tribute because sadly, it will be the last, following the death of author Rodney Wingfield last year.'
And of special interest to Devon residents is a 'Crowner John' story by Bernard Knight.
'The undisputed Lord of the Manor when it comes to medieval murder is former Home Office pathologist Professor Bernard Knight and he shows why in his new novel The Manor of Death (Simon & Schuster, £18.99). Not only does he demonstrate a detailed knowledge of 12th century Devon, but he is also quite an expert on dead bodies, as you might expect from someone who has conducted several thousand autopsies for real.'
Terry Halligan reviews The Death Maze which sits at number 2 on my TBR shelf so I will refrain from reading the review at the moment.
Eve Olsen had to wade through The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud by Julia Navarro and advises us not to bother.
Maxine Clarke of Petrona goes north to Scandinavia and reviews Black Seconds by Karin Fossum, an author who I have not read for some time.
Maxine writes that 'The writing and the translation (by Charlotte Barslund) are excellent. Karin Fossum's last book, CALLING OUT FOR YOU, was shortlisted for the CWA dagger in 2006. If possible, BLACK SECONDS is even better.'
This recommendation is good enough for me and as Karin Fossum is appearing at Crime Fest in Bristol I had better catch up with the better read reviewers.
Maxine also reviews Unspoken by Mari Jungstedt and introduces to me a new Scandinavian crime writer. Those dark frozen Swedish winters certainly produce some good stories and wonderful atmospheric writing.
Maxine writes that 'UNSPOKEN is a great read, particularly strong in conveying the frailties of human emotion and in the juxtapositions of the police investigation with the media's reporting as well as the domestic lives of the characters.' Although she thinks the solution was a 'bit of a cheat' she will 'look forward to reading more about Gotland in Mari Jungstedt's next book.'
posted by Uriah Robinson at 1:08 PM
2 Comments:
Thank you for the kind mention, Norm -- I enjoyed both my books in this batch, but in the case of the Mari Jungstedt one, I recommend reading the previous one (Unseen) first as Unspoken follows on from it in several ways.
Which brings me on to my related question: can I read Cross without having read Priest (or any Ken Bruen previously)? I happen to have a copy of Cross, so it would be very helpful to know your views.
I liked reading all this week's EuroCrime reviews (as usual! But it is a good set), especially yours, of course ;-)
Maxine, unfortunately I seem to have passed my copy of Priest on to someone.
It would be better to have read Priest first but in Cross there are brief references to what happened in the previous book. I certainly don't think you could read them out of order.
I missed a few in the series after The Killing of The Tinkers before I read Priest and I think Ken Bruen is improving as a writer. He is still as angry but the books seem to be an easier read although they can be depressing as disaster is Jack Taylor's middle name.
Post a Comment
<< Home