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Mini Reviews Galore

A few books have passed through these fingers in the last few months.

The Pale Blue - Louis Bayard
I have mentioned this book on a few occasions. It got stellar reviews and was nominated for an Edgar. I picked this book up in LA. I decided I would read because I wanted to read at least one of the nominees, plus the story sounds killer. Edgar Allen Poe at West Point.... yeah! Unfortunately, this book went no where... slow. Some could call this character development..... this book was not that..... plus the ultimate solution to novel is pinched from perhaps the best crime novel of all time. The only negative review I read of the book came as I was 3/4 of the way through it. I was pot committed by that point.

Die A Little - Megan Abbott
Another book from my LA sojourn. Enjoyed this book immensely. A sharply written, sharply observed first novel from Ms. Abbott. It reminded me of James Ellroy.... only with proper sentence structure.

One Last Breath - Stephen Booth
A good to great UK police procedural, and one of the more dependable series we read here at THD. Booth writes a well crafted scene with believable a characters and situations. My tiny gripe is that the relationship between our protagonists feels like it has plateaued. The antagonism between the two just got tiresome during this book.

Big City, Bad Blood - Sean Chercover
Hard not to compare this novel with Marcus Sakey's The Blade Itself. Released the same month, possibly the same day, both novels are set in Chicago. And much like Blade, BCBD is a winner. A lot of time the criteria I apply to weather a book ultimately works or not is; Do I want to be this guy? I totally want to be Ray Dudgeon. Next book please!

Whack-A-Mole - Chris Grabenstein
I bought this book on Friday (5-25-07) and finished it on Saturday. I love this series. I can't wait until May '08. My criteria definitely applies here as well. I would kill to be John Ceepak..... but I am the Danny Boyle character... desperately trying to be the John Ceepak character.

The staff of The Hungry Detective wishes you all a safe, happy, and peaceful Memorial Day.
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