I met Jeffrey Deaver at the NYLA conference in Buffalo last fall. He was the featured speaker at the Public Library Section’s Author! Author! event, and is a genuinely nice guy. His take on his career as a writer was entertaining, the audience was made up of mostly serious fans, so I came away with a mission. I’d seen the movie of The Bone Collector but had not read any of his books.
This one is a thriller (stand-alone I believe) involving 3 convicts escaped from a federal prison in Kansas, a bus carrying 8 deaf students and two teachers (1 deaf) who they are holding hostage, and the FBI team charged with negotiating the recapture of the convicts/release of the hostages. Very well done, but I would have enjoyed it more if I could have skipped work and read it straight through.That said, I’ve got a couple more Deavers in my queue.
Murder in Grant County, GA where a sadistic rapist attacks a blind college professor, leaving her in the bathroom of the local diner. She is found by Dr. Sarah Linton, pediatrician and coroner. A short time later another victim is left on Dr. Linton’s car.
This is the first novel, beginning a series featuring Dr. Linton, her ex-husband Police Chief Jeffrey Tolliver and detective Lena Adams. Well written and plotted, if on the gorey side. Slaughter was obviously a fan of Emily Bronte, as the doctor’s mother is Cathy Linton and she has a cousin named Hareton Earnshaw - maybe Heathcliff shows up in a later book. That aside, I have volume 2, Kisscut in my queue. I do want to know if the doctor and her ex reconnect.
The subtitle of this book is George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and the frontier rebels who challenged America’s newfound sovereignty. It is, I am told, the definitive work on this episode of early American history which nearly lead to civil war. Alexander Hamilton is the villain of the piece; Washington the ailing, aging leader and the only sitting president to lead troops into combat.
To pay off Revolutionary War debt and achieve Hamilton’s financial goals, an excise tax on whiskey was approved by Congress. It seemed expressly designed to drive small distillers out of business and force them into the factories of large distillers - class warfare at its worst - the drama played out in western Pennsylvania in the late 1790’s. Whiskey was used in lieu of currency by small landowners who distilled their grain into whiskey to transport it ove the mountains to the east coast. The reaction of the locals to the actions of the government in Philadelphia; the machinations of the wealthy to keep the upper hand, the intimidation of moderate thinkers by the radicals on both sides all have a compelling immediacy. Although there are an abundance of lessons, we don’t seem to learn much from history.
This was a Trantor audio book, well narrated. Guaranteed to make time a long drive pass quickly.
When Superintendent Thomas Lynley’s pregnant wife was murdered, he resigned from Scotland Yard and went home to Cornwall. Unable to bear the sympathy of family and friends he went off on a coast walk. 40 some days of walking later he finds a body on the beach which sets in motion a chain of events which will bring him back to life, reconnect him with Barbara Havers and probably revive his career.
I thought we had seen the last of Lynley, and am pleased to find him again in this, one of the best of the series. A well plotted, compelling story with many likeable characters (aside from the angry-macho female detective who orders the super about) , far less of the self-conscious angst that makes me cringe, and fairly happy endings for all the deserving. I look forward to more of this Lynley.
Goshen Public Library & Historical Society | 203 Main St Goshen, NY 10924 | Phone: 845.294.6606 | Fax: 845.294.7158 | RCLS Member