balthazarlawson's reviews
1198 reviews

The Golden Library by Scott Mariani

adventurous challenging informative mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

Ben Hope is attending his sister's engagement party in Switzerland when news comes that her fiancees sister has disappeared in China. Despite wanting him to give up his life style and settle down, Ruth asks Ben to go to China and find her sister-in-law to be. Thus, Ben sets off on another adventure to a place he has never been before and one where he will feel as comfortable and as confident as he usually does.

Unfortunately, this book is not as exciting as others in the series. It doesn't have the pedal to the metal action that others have and is a bit more stop start. It doesn't have the cohesiveness of other stories, with the ending being kind of drawn out as they travel and then a sudden ending. The stop-start action that is through the book. A bit disappointing. 

Code Name: Liberty by Marshall Thornton

challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

It's 1980 in Washington D.C.. Patrick is a waiter when he meets David at nightclub and they start seeing each other. But David is a prince of Persia and unable to return to Iran due to the revolution taking place and as a prince he has commitments, one of those is marriage to a woman and to father children. This is something Patrick can't see in his future and this leads to the breakup of the relationship. Then everything changes when he is approached, by the CIA, to spy on David's father.

Patrick is torn between between serving his country and ending a relationship he doesn't see as having a future.

Surprisingly this is an enjoyable read from an author I had never heard of. It's easy to read but engaging. Set in a time when a lot was happening in the world, the Iran hostage crisis and the approaching American presidential election. The characters are likeable, if a bit naive. The ending, unfortunately, is a let down. It didn't really make sense and felt rushed and pulled out of the air to just finish the book. 

Prague Fatale by Philip Kerr

challenging dark informative mysterious tense fast-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

Date wise this series is all over the place as it tells the story of Bernie Gunther. The last book ended in 1954, but covered events going back to the 1930's. This book is set mostly in 1941 with an ending in 1942.

Bernie is back working as a homicide detective in Berlin, waiting for his next summons from Reinhard Heydrich, with little to investigate as his bosses don't want him to do his job as diligent as he would like. While looking into the death of a rail worker he is summonsed to Prague by Heydrich where he is offered the job of being his private detective. But before he can decide, there is a murder in Heydrich's house, which at the time is full of SS brass, all of whom become suspects as Bernie is asked to investigate. Heydrich is the new Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia and gives Bernie a free hand to carry out the investigate, something he takes advantage of in being able to give his superiors a hard time.

A really enjoyable and informative read. I spent so much time checking up to find out if so-and-so was real and what happened to them after the war. Most of them died either at the end of a rope or up against a wall. They were not a nice bunch of people, as this book exposes. This is a murder mystery at it's heart, with a strong theme of spies running through it. Well worth the read.

The Raging Storm by Ann Cleeves

challenging fast-paced

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

4.0

Matthew Venn and his team are called into investigate the discovery of a body in a dinghy in an isolated village. The victim is a well known adventurer, who has books and TV shows, but there is no clear reason for him being in the village, even though he does have connections that go way back to his school days. A huge part of his life is a secret and this makes the investigation more difficult but this is where Matthew focuses his attention.

The village is isolated enough that the team stays overnight for a few days. It is a village with a strong community of Brethren and Matthew had at times, as a child, visited the place on church outings. This causes some internal conflict for him as his past always does.

At times this is a bit confusing because of all the connections between the people of the village, it's not always clear who is related to who, who went to school together and who liked one another or hated each other. The revelation at the end was also not a nice straight forward process and comes down to to the scenario that I like to call "I've got a secret and I'm not going to tell you".

But it was still enjoyable.

Chance Hotel by Christopher Gorham Calvin

slow-paced

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

1.0

I didn't enjoy this. I thought it was long winded, drawn out and illogical. I know it's a fantasy, supernatural book, but it is still missing a certain amount of logic to make the story acceptable. There are so many unanswered questions in this book to make it incomplete, but as I didn't like it I don't really care for the answers anymore. it's just too slow a read for me.

I won't be reading the next.

Good Girl, Bad Girl by Michael Robotham

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

Cyrus Haven is a psychologist called into consult on the case of a teenage girl who was the victim of a famous crime and whose identity is protected by law. No one know her real age or anything about her before she was found at a crime scene. Slow he works to draw her out of hiding her past.

He also works with the police consulting on murder cases. The death of a up and coming ice skating champion is not what it seems at first appearances, despite all the evidence. He has to sort things out in his own mind before he can let the case drop.

This is the first in the series and I really enjoyed this. I've already read the second book in the series and it was good to read this one as it clarified a few things. I already have other books in the series to read and am looking forward to it. 

Field Gray by Philip Kerr

challenging dark hopeful informative medium-paced

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

4.0

To get the most out of this series it's best to read in order. Only then does this make a lot of sense. The series has an overarching time line but the stories always drift back in time and this book does a lot of drifting. It starts in 1954 Cuba, the current time line and moves to Germany via the USA and then switches back and forth between Germany and France. All the time it goes back in time as Bernie recalls past events, Berlin 1931, Russia 1945 where he was a POW, France and Germany 1940, Russia 1941 and a lot of switching in between.  It does get complicated at times.

However, the overarching story is Bernie's connection to a German communist, who he first met in 1931, by the name of Erich Mielke, a real person who went on to head up the Stasi in East Germany. Bernie is just a pawn in a concocted plot by the CIA to get their hands on Miekle.

But this book does reveal more about Bernie and his past that has only been hinted at in other books in the series. In particular how he ended up being a POW of the Soviets and the terrible experience it was. All Bernie ever wanted from life was to do the right thing and survive even if he has to be used by others which seems happen a lot.

I enjoyed this as it was very informative and I found myself constantly checking out if so-and-so was real or not. There a lot of real people from history in this book. I enjoy this series a lot and recommend to those interested in history.

Fly By Wire by Ward Larsen

adventurous informative fast-paced

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

4.0

Jammer Davis is an ex-air force pilot currently working for the NTSB. He is assigned to assist with the investigation into the crash of a relatively new plane in France. Things don't go well from the beginning and he has little faith in the whole investigation, wondering why things are as they are.

Not only is this book about an air crash but also terrorism and the hunt for one in particular. There are a series of attacks on the oil infrastructural around world and fears of more to come. 

Naturally, in a book like this, there is a link and this is the big let down in this story. There are many holes in this scenario and it really doesn't make sense. But apart from that, I enjoyed this read. I like the characters, even though a bit cliche in places, like being a single dad with a teenage daughter but never having the time to be there.

The whole premise was good but not executed so well.

A Lesson In Dying by Ann Cleeves

mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

This is the first book of the Inspector Ramsay series, but you wouldn't know that from his performance here. He doesn't make much of an appearance and all the investigative work seems to be done by the school caretaker and his daughter. He doesn't make much of an impression at all especially as a police detective. There are lots of similarity to Andrea Frazer's The Facloner File series I recently read, but this is far better writing and far more enjoyable.

The headmaster of the Heppleburn village school is not a like man and when he is murdered there is a long list of suspects. But the police focus on one, his wife, and this annoys the school caretaker, an old friend of the wife and sets out, with his daughter, to prove her innocence.

An enjoyable read but at times it lacked focus on the here and now with a lot being said in hindsight.

The Resistance Man by Martin Walker

adventurous hopeful informative mysterious 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

St Denis is the victim of a spate of burglaries that are targeting unoccupied homes of foreign owners. When one of the homes turns out to be that of a ex-British spy, Bruno is thrown into the middle of political intrigue, with his on again and off again girl friend, Isabelle and her boss the Brigadier at the centre of the action. Then it really gets complicated when there is a murder at a recently rented home that should have been empty. Bruno is sequestered to the squad investigating the burglaries, via the Brigadier, and he soon believes that the murder and the burglaries are connected.

All the time he has to deal with the funeral for an old man who was a resistance fighter during World War 2.

I enjoyed this though at times it did seem a bit over complicated. The setting of rural France is different to what I usually read and one of the things I really enjoy about the series. It's good to read about a different legal system, because the French system is very different to that in Australia. Well worth a read.