Crime Time

Kathy Reichs

2011-02-17T12:27:00.004+01:00

Hello dear crime-fans!

So I’m finally back…and I’m sooo sorry for not posting anything the last months! I was so busy at work that I honestly kind of forgot about my blog – how embarrassing is that?! ;-) Well, I found my way back here and I even read some novels from the crime genre I can now write about. I dug up a couple of Kathy Reichs-novels from my mother’s bookshelf, because she is into this series. First I read “Break No Bones” and then “Deadly Décisions”. A few years back I already read the first novel of this series, “Déjà Dead”.

There are many things I especially like about this series. First of all, I like the fact that the main character, Temperance Brennan, is a woman – a nice change after so many thrillers and crime stories with male lead characters! A nice touch is also the usage of some French whenever the story takes place in Québec. Despite many prejudices I like this language! And I like that Temperance Brennan is not a police officer or lieutenant as most of the main characters usually are, but instead she is an anthropologist - a very rare profession, in general as well as for a lead character of a novel.

Usually, all the thrillers of Kathy Reichs are constructed the same way. There’s a discovery of some sort in the beginning, then an investigation starts - with all the up’s and down’s of success and failure. As the investigation goes on and Tempe gets closer to the perp, the danger for her, her colleagues and sometimes even her friends and family, increases. Naturally, this results in a showdown towards the end and all loose ends are being explained.
This might sound a little predictable, but to be honest: most crime stories and thrillers are built somewhat like that and it’s up to the authors to create suspense, mystery and moments of surprise in order to make it a good story. And in the case of Kathy Reichs it’s the French phrases, the lead character and her profession (as mentioned above) which make her novels unique to me. Furthermore, there are not “just” killings or kidnappings to investigate – as an anthropologist the central character mostly has to do with excavations and bones of people who have died a very long time ago which usually leads the story into a different direction as opposed to “normal” crime stories. In addition, I think the characters are described in a very realistic way. Just because they work for the police (supposedly the good guys) not everyone of Tempe’s colleagues is nice or easy to work with and so they also have their differences among each other. I find this very down-to-earth, because this is what it’s like in real life as well.

In summary I can say that this is one of my favourite thriller-series, as it has everything: suspense and brutality on the one hand and very likable but also realistic characters and a good story on the other hand.

Hopefully the next entry won’t take me as long! ;-) See ya!

The Terrorists by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö

2010-09-12T20:08:00.003+02:00

Hi everyone!

So I continued reading, but after the slight disappointment of the last book I switched back to something I’m more familiar with…the mother of all typical Scandinavian crime stories: the Martin Beck series by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö. I chose “The Terrorists” which is the last book from the series. To be honest this is only the second book from this series that I read – I’ve only read the first book “Roseanna” before (well, looong time ago *lol*). But nevertheless I’m still pretty experienced with Scandinavian crime stories as I’ve already dealt with Henning Mankell, Åke Edwardson, Håkan Nesser, Liza Marklund, Arne Dahl (aka Jan Arnald), Åsa Larsson and Leena Lehtolainen. The only authors I’m still missing in my long list are Jo Nesbø and Camilla Läckberg…not because I don’t like them, I just haven’t really stumbled across one of their books yet, but I promise to catch up some day [at the moment I still have too many other books lying around that I haven’t read yet... so Mr. Nesbø and Mrs. Läckberg have to be a bit more patient ;-) ].

But back to “The Terrorists”: First of all I think that the short teaser on the back of the book doesn’t really reflect the story which I found a bit misleading, however the story was still very good, just not exactly what I expected from the blurb. The first chapters charted off a bit bumpy… Sjöwall and Wahlöö kind of got lost in long descriptions of some of the characters. I found them partly unrealistic and disturbing because I’ve never met anyone, especially no university graduate, who burps and farts intentionally all the time and behaves so bad in public. Of course these things sometimes slip out, particularly with boys or men, but usually not intentionally and only every once in a while. And in the long run these descriptions made it easy to get to know the characters and to really imagine them. It’s a gift to be able to bring all these characters to life by only using written words. Furthermore, it was astonishing to see how timeless the book was – a fact I also discovered when reading “Roseanna”. Although the books were written in the 1960’s and 70’s they are still up to date and the cases could be transferred into the 21^st century. The only evidence that the book was written more than 30 years ago is the absence of cell phones. ;-) As for the rest…let me finish the last pages and I’ll be back soon and share some more thoughts on this book with you!

And in case you’re wondering why I’m continuing this post in German: I’d like to try to write all my posts both in German (it’s just easier to express myself in my mother tongue) and English (because that way my posts can be read internationally – geez am I ambitious or what *lol*).

Also noch mal Hallo an alle Deutschen Leser da draußen!! Nachdem mich mein letzter angeblicher Thriller etwas enttäuscht hat, wollte ich mich als nächstes wieder etwas zuwenden, mit dem ich mich besser auskenne und nichts falsch machen kann: dem guten alten Skandinavischen Krimi, in diesem Fall der Mutter aller Schweden-Krimis – die Kommissar-Beck-Reihe von Maj Sjöwall und Per Wahlöö. „Die Terroristen“ ist das letzte Buch der Reihe und ehrlich gesagt nach „Die Tote im Götakanal“ auch erst das zweite, das ich daraus lese, aber da ich bereits unzählige Bücher von Henning Mankell, Åke Edwardson, Håkan Nesser, Liza Marklund, Arne Dahl (aka Jan Arnald), Åsa Larsson und Leena Lehtolainen gelesen habe, bin ich mittlerweile ein kleiner Skandinavien-Profil *lol*. Nur Nesbø und Camilla Läckberg fehlen mir noch in meiner Sammlung…nicht weil ich sie nicht mag, sondern weil es sich bisher einfach noch nicht ergeben hat und ich noch sooo viele andere ungelesene Bücher herumliegen habe, aber irgendwann nehme ich mir noch die Zeit für Nesbø und Läckberg.

Jetzt aber zurück zu „Die Terroristen“: Zuerst einmal ist mir aufgefallen, dass der Klappentext nicht so richtig mit dem Buchinhalt übereinstimmt, was etwas irreführend war. Trotzdem war die Handlung des Buches richtig gut – nur eben nicht ganz das was ich erwarte hatte.

Die ersten Kapitel starten meiner Meinung nach noch etwas holprig… Sjöwall und Wahlöö verlieren sich in langen und umständlichen Beschreibungen von Charakteren, die ich zum Teil auch für leicht übertrieben halte. Jedenfalls ist mir bisher noch nie ein Mensch untergekommen, vor allem kein Akademiker, der sich in der Öffentlichkeit so daneben benimmt und ungeniert rülpst und furzt. Sicher rutscht das dem einen oder anderen mal versehentlich raus, aber eben nur versehentlich und nicht mit voller Absicht. Auf der anderen Seite sind diese Beschreibungen außergewöhnlich hilfreich, um die Charaktere kennen zu lernen und sich in sie hineinversetzen zu können…sie werden quasi zum Leben erweckt und das nur mit Worten. Darüber hinaus finde ich es faszinierend wie zeitlos die Kommissar Beck Reihe geschrieben ist. Obwohl die Bücher in den 60ern und 70ern geschrieben wurden, sind die Fälle und Themen heute noch genauso aktuell und auch der Schreibstil lässt das wahre Alter nicht erkennen. Lediglich die vollständige Abwesenheit von Handys ist ein kleiner Indikator dafür, ansonsten könnte es auch ein Buch von Mankell, Nesser oder Dahl sein ;-) Erstmal werde ich das Buch aber zu Ende lesen – ein paar Seiten fehlen noch – und dann erfahrt ihr hier mein abschließendes Urteil zu „Die Terroristen“.

Adjö, Jo

Some additional comments on Stephen L. Carters 'New England White'

2010-08-17T20:49:00.003+02:00

Last night I finally finished New England White! And I have to admit that the last pages did contain some action. Nevertheless, it felt like the author is not the type who likes describing exciting scenarios with action and suspense. He cut those scenes very short and only in the end it felt like there was real danger for the main character - but still in a marginal dosage. Carter doesn't lose many words on those scenes which is a shame because that is what makes a thriller (at least for me). Instead, he mostly describes what life in 'White America' is like for (wealthy) blacks. As I said before this was very interesting and informative to read, but it's going on endlessly and that's just not what I expect from a novel labelled "thriller".

Well, so far so good...book finished, let's see what the next one holds ;) 'til then: keep up reading and commenting on my posts!

Yours, Jo

First Rating: New England White by Stephen L. Carter

2010-08-11T22:41:00.003+02:00

And hello again!

Guess I can’t just cause a stir and then not start rating books. ;-) So I’ll try to get started right away… it’s just that there are sooo many books out there, I just don’t know where to start. Hmm, how about the one I’m reading just now: New England White by Stephen L. Carter. On the internet there has been a lot of praise for this book and also for the previous works of the author, especially his first novel The Emperor of Ocean Park. But after the first 200 of approx. 700 pages I was starting to ask myself why in the world this book had been designated a thriller. To me this was totally misleading because this novel is absolutely lacking the action and suspense of a real thriller. Guess this is evidence that I should stop buying second quality books ‘cause usually I like researching and comparing before I choose what to buy… but sometimes I cannot resist these bargains when I enter a bookstore (even though I mostly buy books via internet).

What I meant to say is that I was misguided by the (wrong) labelling because to me this is not a thriller. Nevertheless it’s a pretty good book. It’s well written and to me as a white European girl it was extremely interesting and informative. I was led into a whole new world and I’ve learned very much about an African-American point of view. In addition to that the story contains a great mystery that needs to be solved. Unfortunately, the way the author approaches that is fairly boring to me as an oldie in crimes and thrillers. The only thing holding up the excitement really just is this unsolved mystery and my endless curiosity. ;-) Maybe I would have liked it better if it hadn’t been labelled a thriller so I would have known what to expect.

Has anyone else read this book? What do you think? Was it enough “suspense” for you?!

Well, next time I’ll write about one of my real crime stories or thrillers – maybe one from Sweden?! Any preferences???

Crime Stories, Murder Myteries and Thrillers

2010-08-11T17:48:00.001+02:00

Hello to all the crime fans out there!

I’m Jo and I’m crazy about crime stories and thrillers. But apart from reading I also love writing. So now I’m starting a blog to write about the books I read. So far I’ve covered a great part of Scandinavian and US American crime literature. I usually prefer reading book series rather than individual books. It helps getting to know the lead characters in a much better and more complex way. And I like to see how they develop over time. But I also would like to get to know fellow readers who love crime stories, murder mysteries and thrillers as much as I do and exchange opinions on books and film adaptations.

Some people may think that reading only (or mostly) thrillers and crime stories is a little one-sided, but I just can’t get through a love story without yawning. ;-) Of course there are also other genres out there I like to read, however the genre crime/thriller/murder mystery is my passion and that’s why I wanted my blog to be about just that. Should anyone be interested in reading more about my everyday life and what other books I read and movies I watch… please feel free to visit my other blog: www.reallifejo.blogspot.com

I’m looking forward to many interesting and exciting books and book reviews and of course your opinion as well!

Regards, Jo