Cold Granite by Stuart MacBride

Talk about an unusual read for this bookfool! I don't read true crime, anymore, and seldom read crime novels for the same reason. I used to read both all the time. I stopped reading true crime when my husband told me he was coming home to find me in tears a little too often and I needed to give it up. Crime novels and mysteries . . . burnout. I was addicted to a number of mystery series for several years and then just suddenly couldn't stand them. Now, I really no longer have the ability to freeze out the yuck from my brain (not that I was very good at it in the first place -- see: Husband Advice). But, after a slumpy month, I needed to shake up my reading and I've found the best way to knock myself out of a slump is to read something very different from my normal fare. So, there you go. 

Cold Granite does have a lot of gruesome scenes, incidentally. If you can't tolerate them (particularly if you're upset by crime against children) you might want to avoid this, although I think the writing is exceptional and it was because of that fact that I was able to overlook the most disgusting bits.

Detective Sergeant Logan McRae of Aberdeen, Scotland has just returned to work after nearly being killed in the line of duty. Now, Aberdeen seems to have a child killer on the loose. Within days, bodies are found and several children go missing. Logan is still occasionally having some trouble with his injury, so the new boss assigns a uniformed female Police Constable to work with him . . . or, maybe babysit him. He's not too happy about it, at first. 

There is so much that happens in this book that I don't think I can even unravel it enough to talk about the various threads but there's a man who has a mental problem and collects the dead animals he scoops up from the side of the road, a young man who has been caught in a crime of his own and has to testify about the abuse he suffered when he was in a hospital, and Logan dealing with a new boss who isn't sure he should be back at work and an old flame at work who wants to stay well away from him. There's also a reporter who keeps coming up with information he shouldn't have and publicizing it and he wants to weasel information out of Logan. Suffice it to say, Cold Granite is nicely complex and twisty. 

Meanwhile, it's very cold and snowy in Aberdeen, which feeds into the mood. There's mention of Christmas decorations, so there's a tiny bit of the season injected. It's way too grisly to call a Christmas read, though. 

Highly recommended but not for the faint of heart - I'm normally the faint of heart and I really had to work at shutting out the images of autopsies and decomposed bodies, but I thought Cold Granite was incredibly well-written with believable characters and dialogue and I liked Logan. Will I read on in the series? After closing the book, I felt tempted but I'm about to attempt a year-long book-buying ban and read only from my shelves (not even the library). So, it's very unlikely that I'll get to another MacBride book right away. However, I will definitely remember this author and series and I think someday I will try to read on. This particular book was originally published in 2005 so there are quite a few more books in the series. 

©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Shadow Man by Alan Drew

Rancho Santa Elena in the 1980s is a quiet town where residents leave their doors unlocked and their windows open. Violent crime is almost unheard of. But, a serial killer has arrived. Detective Ben Wade moved to Santa Elena to try to save his marriage but failed. Now, he's faced with the kind of crime he left behind; and, he's determined to stop the serial killer. At the crime scenes, he can't help but think of his ex-wife and daughter. Aided by medical examiner Natasha Betencourt, Ben begins the search. But, when a possible suicide appears in a strawberry field, Ben is thrown off course by his own dark secret. How many will die before the serial killer is found?

I am not a fan of crime novels, in general, but I like to break up my reading pattern on occasion by throwing something unusual into the mix. And, that's how I ended up reading Shadow Man. At first, I wasn't sure I'd be able to get through the book. There are only brief forays into the mind of the killer but he's obviously twisted and both they and the scenes in which he kills are very difficult to read. I don't find murder entertaining; that's why I avoid crime - both fiction and nonfiction. But, I found Ben Wade so compelling that I simply could not put the book down. I also loved the 1980s California setting. It's not a place I know, but anyone who lived through that time period can relate to the horror of widespread construction destroying the beauty of the land.

It's also worth noting that while there is a serial killer being hunted, the secondary storyline relating to the protagonist keeps it from being merely a book about catching a serial killer. What is the secret that Ben has kept hidden for over 15 years? And, how might it change the investigation into the single murder that doesn't fit the serial killer's profile? Did the serial killer change his habits, briefly, or was the death just what it appears: a suicide?

Highly recommended - At times, you may need to skim if you don't have a strong stomach or murder scenes bother you. I did occasionally pick up the pace deliberately. But, Shadow Man is an excellent read and I'm glad I briefly stepped outside my comfort zone.


©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Black Run by Antonio Manzini

Black Run by Antonio Manzini
Released in the U.S. in April, 2015 (formerly published in Italy)
Published by Harper
Mystery/Crime Novel

Black Run is the first in a series of mysteries by an Italian author, featuring the crime-fighting skills of Deputy Police Chief Rocco Schiavone, a detective who has been banished from Rome and now works on a small police force in the Italian Alps.

In the small town of Aosta, a man has been run over by a snow cat preparing the ski trails for the next day. The body is so badly damaged that it's a challenge to even locate all the pieces but the coroner and Schiavone quickly find enough evidence to prove that the victim was murdered. With very little to go on and a pushy magistrate and police chief who want answers quickly, Schiavone puts his skills to work.

There are some interesting details to the mystery and I absolutely loved the setting but I found the writing a little stiff and Schiavone unredeemably nasty. In some ways, he reminded me of British author Oliver Harris' shady detective hero, Nick Belsey, but I thought Belsey (in Deep Shelter, particularly) showed glimmers of hope for redemption and some semblance of morality, whereas Schiavone is just vile. His reason for having been banished from Rome is revealed but there's no real explanation of his uncomfortable marriage, at least near as I could tell. There are hints that his wife knows everything he's done and has some compelling reason to stay with him but without any real pretense at a relationship remaining. But, her appearances are minor enough to reveal little.

The mystery itself was fairly satisfying, although I sometimes had trouble understanding how the deputy police chief came to his conclusions and I absolutely did not like the way the author dragged out the dramatic arrest toward the end of the novel.

Neither recommended or not recommended - It's notable that I'm certain I got Black Run by mistake. I'm not a big fan of mysteries and choose them carefully; it's rare for a mystery description to really grab me. I got two in the same envelope, neither of which I recalled requesting. So, I think my requests must have been mixed up with someone else's.

However, I do read the occasional mystery-slash-crime novel and I was in the mood for a change of pace. I liked Black Run for the fact that it was so very different. The setting was unique, vivid, evocative. I liked reading about the cold when I'd been outside painting in the heat. It was refreshing. Also, during the time I was reading Black Run, I had vivid dreams of mountains and bickering Italians, which was surprisingly fun in spite of the fact that they were nightmares. I disliked the detective enough that I doubt I'd read another book in the series but I don't regret the time spent reading Black Run so I gave it an average rating. I would particularly recommend the book to mystery readers who don't mind a particularly dark and slimy protagonist.


©2015 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Blast from the Past: The Broken Shore by Peter Temple

Early in my blogging years, there was a wonderful e-zine by the name of Estella's Revenge. I occasionally wrote reviews or articles for Estella's Revenge (now known as The Estella Collective and, I believe, archived but not active) At the time, I didn't cross-post them to Bookfoolery, instead posting a link to the e-zine when it published. I've decided to occasionally move some of those old reviews to Bookfoolery so that I'll have them on my own site for future reference.

One of the books I reviewed for Estella was The Broken Shore by Peter Temple, which I just purchased. I gave away the ARC long, long ago and bought it to reread because it's an Australian title that was discussed in the Australian Lit course I recently took via Coursera. Although I doubt I'll review it a second time when I reread it, I'm looking forward to reading it with notes that will hopefully allow me to read from a fresh perspective.

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My review of The Broken Shore, originally published April 1, 2007:

The Broken Shore
Written by Peter Temple
Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

"Did it cross your mind," Leon said, leaning on the counter, "that our lives are just like stories kids tell you? They get the and-the-and-then right, and then they run out of steam and just stop."
"You've got kids?" It had not occurred to Cashin.
"Two," said Leon.
Cashin felt a sense of unfairness. "Maybe you shouldn't think about your life that way. Maybe you shouldn't think about life at all. Just make the coffee."

Detective Joe Cashin isn't the man he used to be. Since his brush with death, Joe lives with chronic pain and paralyzing guilt. Sent away from the big-city homicide unit to a post in his quiet little hometown on the South Australian coast, Joe walks his dogs and considers rebuilding the ruin of his ancestral home.

When he's called to the scene of a crime, though, Joe's old instincts take over. Wealthy and prominent citizen Charles Burgoyne has been badly beaten in his own home and may not survive. A missing watch that two Aboriginal boys try to sell in a pawn shop in the city convinces police that they've found their suspects; and, the locals are happy to accept that the boys are to blame. Joe is not so easily convinced. When the investigation is botched, it appears the crime may never be solved. Given time off to let the controversy settle down, Cashin becomes even more suspicious and investigates on his own.

The Broken Shore is a pleasingly complex, if gritty, crime novel that appears to thematically state, "Things are not always what they seem." The story unfolds slowly, layer by layer. While it isn't, in the end, completely mysterious - Temple does pretty much throw the answers in your lap - that doesn't matter. What matters is the way he tackles issues like racial prejudice, life as an itinerant worker, guilt, corruption, compassion, and politics.

For the uninitiated North American, there's a glossary of Australian terms in the back. Australian English is a little mind-blowing if you're not accustomed to it. The glossary is immensely helpful; it doesn't cover every strange word, but there are enough definitions to keep the book from pitching into utter incomprehensibility.

Also of note is choppy prose; I don't read a lot of crime novels but that seems to be fairly common, not wasting words. Sentences can be as brief as, "Bobby waited." Often, the clipped dialogue of several characters comes in such a tumble of phrases that reading occasionally feels much like translating code. Yet, it somehow works. Real people don't always speak in sentences; often, in fact, having their own private language.

Joe Cashin is a likeable character: witty, tenacious, haunted by past experiences, hopeful but often overwhelmed by guilt or pain, kind and nonjudgmental. He's worth spending time with. His language and that of those he works with or interviews is at least "R-rated". There was one frequently used term I consider "X-rated" and I found myself repeatedly wondering, "Is this not as bad a word in Australia?" For those who like harsh realism and crusty language, it's an excellent story; others should bear in mind that the language is definitely rough.

The Broken Shore is Peter Temple's eighth crime novel. His books have won numerous awards in Australia. U.S. release date is scheduled for June, 2007.

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Some updated notes:

The British copy of The Broken Shore that I just purchased does not contain a glossary. However, thanks to "Australian Literature: A Rough Guide", I now know there is a convenient online dictionary: the Australian National Dictionary.

Hope you enjoyed this blast from the past!

©2015 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.