What are you currently reading?

[QualityBookReviews]

An open discussion on what everyone is currently reading. Make recommendations to others, discuss what is new, hot, bestsellers, anything and everything related to books and the authors.

[I. J. Parker]

Carol Goodman's THE GHOST ORCHID. Not my cup of tea. Bestselling author with aspirations to literary style but writing melodrama. Also a tad boring. Didn't finish.

[Suzanne]

Just finished ECHOES FROM THE PAST by Johan Theorin. It was nicely written with a small twist at the end.
Starting Denis Mina's STILL MIDNIGHT.

[doug anderson]

Agreed, not his best. He seemed tired in that one.

[doug anderson]

Just finished Graham Hurley's One Under. Another terrific Brit. Very sharp writer. Am half way through The Lemur, by Benjamin Black (John Banville).

[I. J. Parker]

Just finished Martin Limon's G.I. BONES. His novels are set on postwar Korea, with two protagonists who are U.S. military policemen much given to barroom fights. Their detecting involves the often troubled relations between the American military and indigenous folks, especially the "business girls." The novels are well-plotted and move rapidly, the protagonists are appealing, and the local color is vibrant. The only thing I have against his writing is his consistent misuse of "lay".

[Harley Sachs]

I recently read "Blind Man's Bluff" the true story of American cold war submarine activity. How the US tapped the ussian undersea telephone cables. Did you know that at the height of the cold war we had 41 nuclear subs partolling the seas? And that each intercontinental missile they carried had ten nuclear warheads? each submarine had enough fire power to wipe out most countries. I'm sure glads that our government is cutting back thearsenal to only 1500 nukes. A hundred would be enough for most contingencies. Visit my web site www.hu.mtu.edu/~hlsachs. I've lost my b log. If anyone finds it, tell me what the url is.

[I. J. Parker]

How do you lose your blog? It sounds scary. No telling what brilliant concepts disappear in the enormous wilderness that's the Internet.
I remember the cold war. Yes, it's all been very scary, and I'm with you on nuclear disarmament -- especially these days.

[I. J. Parker]

Hmm, where are the readers? Don't we all read continuously?
As for me, I finished T. Jefferson Parker's WHERE SERPENTS LIE. It's a thriller. Sigh. I really, really liked this author's SILENT JOE years ago. In this case, the usual excess of horror and repulsive behavior rules. Thrillers deal in that sort of thing, and I've only read one that rose above this crap to engage my interest. In this case, we have snakes, huge 500-pond ones, plus (in case you're not sufficiently grossed out, bags full of rattlers. Snakes must be fed. With what? Humans, of course, cute little 5-year-old girls, plus the occasional little puppy. Live! And the villain must be physically gross in addition to being a pedophile.
But I stayed with the book. Why? Because midway, the author introduces an interesting situation: the protagonist, a policeman, is framed for a repulsive sex act with a small girl. His reaction and the reactions of his friends, lovers, and co-workers are fascinating, though the solution ultimately suffers from another thriller weakness: the last minute twist.

[Jacqui Horwood]

Just finished Michael Robotham's Shatter which I loved and am now dying to get my hands on Bleed for Me.

[Joy Calderwood]

I'm taking it a little easy after surgery and have resurrected the Reverend Randollph detective series. This was after Harry Kemelman's Rabbi series had such a success, and other clerical detectives were being trotted out. This series and William Kienzle's Catholic priest were my pick of the group.

[I. J. Parker]

Just finished Andrea Camilleri's THE WINGS OF THE SPHINX. I'm very fond of Camilleri's series. It's set in a small town in Sicily and features a humble police inspector and his band of faithful men. They are forever caught between the Mafiosi on one hand and crooked Italian politics on the other. The mafiosi generate the crime and the crooked politicians (several of whom are among his superiors) interfere with his investigations. He keeps up his spirits by frequenting favorite restaurants for their local specialties and carrying on a hot romance with his girlfriend. All in all, a remarkably good read.

[I. J. Parker]

THE SILENCE OF THE RAIN, by Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza. Nice title, though it has little to do with the story. Garcia-Roza is mostly a pleasure: Brazilian police-procedural with local color and quirky characters. In this case, Inspector Espinosa investigates a murder that is really a suicide but leads to several real murders. This novel contains a sex scene that will astonish you. Enough reason to get the book.
My one complaint: the author works with several POVs. That means the reader knows pretty much what happened. But Inspector Espinosa is much given to working out likely scenarios (his quirk), and he is invariably wrong, sometimes coming up with ridiculous scenarios. This makes one lose faith with author and protagonist alike.