balthazarlawson's reviews
1198 reviews

Vendetta by Tony Park

challenging informative inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I've read a couple of books featuring Captain Sannie van Rensburg but in this one she has moved from living and working near the Krugar National Park to the coast south of Durban in South Africa. A complete change for her.

Here she encounters Adam Krugar, a man in his 50's doing a PHD, working as a car guard at a shopping centre, doing up his parents house so he can sell and generally leading a low key lifestyle. Keeping out of trouble. That changes when he stops an armed robbery from taking place and gets national notoriety and meets Sannie who takes his statement.

It slowly comes to light that they have a connection via a friend of Sannie, Mia Greenway, who's father use to be in the same army unit as Adam. Sannie is planing on visiting Mia for a holiday who works at a lodge in the north west of the country. Out of her generosity she offers Adam a lift to the lodge as he wants to attend the funeral of another member of his army unit who recently died. They are set on a path to confront Adam's past and the mysterious death of members of the unit that had fought in the Border Wars in the 1980s.

An enjoyable and informative read about things that a lot of people might not be aware of. I like the characters, the nice ones at least, and the story is interesting. At it's heart it's a crime mystery. The problem is finding the crime and then the perpetrator.

The Dead of Winter by Stuart MacBride

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Detective Constable Edward Reekie is drafted in at the last minute to assist Detective Inspector Victoria Montgomery-Porter, know as Bigtoria due to her size, escort a dying prisoner who is being released to live in a small village. This is no ordinary village as all the inhabitants are ex-prisoners who can't live in normal society due to the hideousness of their crimes. A snow storm blows in and the village is cut off from outside help which causes more problems than could be predicted as someone has murdered one of the villagers. As the senior officers present Bigtoria heads up the investigation, but without any outside technical help. However, she is not a very communicative type, in fact some would call her a stuck up arrogant bitch, and life for DC Reekie is hell.

He really regrets being a policeman. He hates Bigtoria. He hates the village. He hates the snow. He's tired. And he smells.

The start of this book is rather depressing and I wondered what I was getting myself into. But as it went on it got better and felt like an old fashioned country house crime mystery. Then things changed again. There are lots of twists and turns in this book and it's best to go with the flow and hope things turn out for the best and not as was indicated by the start. In in the end I really really enjoyed this. It's not straight forward but that's what makes it good.

Sacrifice by Tim Svart

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Chief Inspector “Karre” Karrenberg heads up a homicide squad in Essen Germany. It's only a small team, including Viktoria von Flurstenfeld. There is subtle sexual tension between the pair but most of Karre's thinking is about his daughter Hanna who is in a coma in hospitable following a car accident that killed his ex-wife Sandra. Was it an accident or was there something more sinister going on? This is a overarching story line to his life.

But as a homicide detective he must concentrate on the present and the death of a woman who's body was found at the bottom of a set of stairs at the back of a night club.

There might be something lost in translation here but it felt a bit disjointed and didn't flow along nicely. Plus there is the annoying habit of people about to say something important and being interrupted. It happens all the time and, combined with simply not saying things out loud, I found these people frustrating. I would not like to work with Karre as he keeps too much to himself and picks the completely wrong time to reveal what he knows and what his intentions are. It's good to read a book with a different setting and I might read more from the series but stories that have a huge overarching story line, the death of his ex-wife, doesn't really appeal to me.

The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This is a big book, over a thousand pages. And that is one of the it's problems. For the story it is, it's too long.

The title relates to the title of a comic, originally presented on YouTube and than bought by Netflix. Surrounding the comic are fans, and they come in all types, and all levels of hatred towards the creators after they sold out. In particular, there is one called Anomie, who created a game based on the comic and is the most vocal about the fan's hatred of the creators for selling out. The creators are relentlessly trolled on all social media and the hatred is transferred to people who defend them.

When the creators, Josh and Edie, are attacked and one is killed, Cormoran Strike is engaged to track down the true identity of Anomie buy the company behind a movie planned on the comic.

And there begins the long long long journey into the world of online trolls and games and personalities. And the beginning of confusion. Trying to find the real person behind an online name is not easy it's very taxing on the agency as they are already undertaking several other jobs. Plus there are some people who don't want to be revealed and will strike back. It's a crazy world and it puts pressure on everyone. It just goes on and one until the conclusion.

All the different names and personalities and theorizing gets confusing and you need to pay attention. There is also the sexual tension between Strike and Robin that simmers it's way through the book, Strike's attempts at a relationship with a jewellery designer, Strike having to deal with his ex, all the other cases they are dealing with, the lack of staff and Strike's health problems with stump that is playing up. There is a lot going on.

A shorter story would have been more enjoyable.

Lying Beside You by Michael Robotham

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Evie is trying to get on with life living with Cyrus. But it isn't easy as she doesn't really have the social skills to move through day to day life without causing trouble. Cyrus is still working for the police and trying to prepare for the possible release of his brother from the high security hospital where he has been since killing the rest of his family except for Cyrus.

A chance encounter with a recently paroled man leads Cyrus to a possible case of misjustice and a possible link to the case he is currently helping the police with. But nothing is clear and as long as it doesn't sit with Cyrus he will keep looking, even if the police thing they do know who the killer is.

An enjoyable read. I rarely dislike any particular characters in books, but the presence of Elias in this is kind of off putting. Perhaps because I don't think I could ever forgive a person for what he did, no matter the cause, if I was in Cyrus's position. 

Nothing Personal by David Rollins

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Vin Cooper is about to leave government service and enter the private sector, with a huge pay rise, working for a defence contractor. However, he is called in for one last job, after documents were published via Wikileaks, to verify the veracity of the information within them. It's a job that he can't refuse as his new job will be at risk. So, reluctantly, he sets off on the investigation by going back to the original source, an Australia SAS solider who took the photos of a suspected WMD convey in Iraq in 2003. Vin is on a trip that takes him around the world and puts his life at risk on more than one occasion, but he's not an easy man to kill. His partner, Anne Masters, is also along for the ride, but their relationship is put at risk when Vin falls for a honey trap. 

An action adventure story that, unfortunately, falls apart in places. But overall it's entertaining. Just when you think it's finished it takes another turn. It's not as well polished as the previous books in the series, but that could be because it's self published.

Edge of Nowhere by Michael Ridpath

informative mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This is a short story of set in the far north west of Iceland, on the edge of nowhere as they say. Magnus is an ex-Boston homicide detective who moved back to Iceland, where he was born. Having just finished his time in the police college, to retrain, he is assigned a possible murder, mostly as an attempt to put him in his place, where one of the suspects is the Hidden People.

This is a nice easy to read story and and nice reintroduction to the series. I've read one book in the series and would like to read more. Very enjoyable.

A Man Without Breath by Philip Kerr

challenging dark informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

After Germany invaded Poland in 1939, starting World War Two, the Soviet Union also invaded the country. They took thousands of Polish soldiers prisoners, only to kill most and bury them in the forest west of Smolensk. This is were Bernie Gunther finds himself in 1943, to investigate the rumored massacre. He is now working for the War Crimes Bureau, part of the Army. But Bernie is there at the behest of Josef Goebbels who wants it proven to use as propaganda and that the Nazi's were correct all along to loath the Soviet Union as this massacre is an example of their evilness. Of course, he is conveniently forgetting all the killings that the SS have done in the same area.

Against this complex background, this book is, at heart, a murder investigation, not of the Polish soldiers but of a couple of Germany signal men who had their throats cut one night in Smolensk. Bernie is dragged into the case as he is a professional homicide detective and the army field police want his assistance. But more murders and conspiracies follow just to complicate things. In the end Bernie finds himself charged with attempted murder in a sudden sharp conclusion.

I found this overly complicated with multiple story lines, characters and events competing for my attention. As a murder thriller it's good but against the background it was placed it just stretched on. It shows the history and horror of the time. Most people only think about how evil the Nazis were but forget that the Soviet Union, under Stalin, was just as bad in every what, if not worse. They justify this because they were fighting the Nazis so they can't be all that bad, but they were.

Boys Who Hurt by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

It's almost Christmas and Elma is a back at work and landed with the murder of a man at his summer house. The more she learns about the victim, the more it becomes clear his past may have had something to do with what happened to him. Looking into the past is never a good thing as hidden secrets are usually hidden for a reason and people don't like it when you reveal them.

I liked this but there is a lot to be desired. Lots of unanswered questions, or perhaps, unexplained events, and it's not just the ending. It's like you are making a cake, but forget to add several ingredients. 

But as I said, I did enjoy this, it just could have been better.

Mr Einstein's Secretary by Matthew Reilly

adventurous challenging hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This is the story of Hanna Fischer, born 1902 in Berlin Germany to an American mother and German father. She lived there until 1919 and during that time her neighbour was Albert Einstein. He encouraged her great interest, and aptitude, in physics and knowledge in general. But her world changed and she fled to America where she became a secretary, forgoing her desire to be a physicist. The story spans the greatest changes in the twentieth century where she worked as a secretary. However, she contributed far more to the world than her position would indicate.

I found this a captivating and informative story. Mixing fact and fiction to tell an epic tale of a woman and her unheralded contribution to history.