Lame Book Reviews

Blameless

So this is my first official post on this typepad blog, so I'm probably going to have work out some kinks to get it as (HA) organized as my vox blog.  But onto my review:

This is the the third book in a remarkable series called the 'Parasol Protectorate.'  It's an alternate universe series that proposes that werewolves and vampires have always existed in society, and they have integrated their own cultures into Victorian England.  Alexia Tarabotti is known especially because she has the ability through mere proximity to suck the powers of immortality out of any supernaturals around her, which is a pretty badass power.  She is also a hulking, improper, statuesque countess married to the local Alpha who, at the end of the last book, accused her of shady dealings.  This book is amazing.  I'm really falling in love with this series, in part because it reminds me strongly of one this blog's namesakes and my personal favorite series, Amelia Peabody.  Anyways, if you love Italian jokes, bad puns, and horrendous German accents, this is the book for you. 

The Bone Collector

The Bone Collector (A Lincoln Rhyme Novel)

Jeffery Deaver

when I was in 8th grade, the movie based on this book came out, and a friend of mine, her dad, and I went to see it.  And even at 14, I understood that it was a terrible, horrible movie.  so I avoided the book for ten whole years.  But I'm glad I read it.  It was certainly creepy, but it was also a really interesting character study, which is something the movie just sucked right out.  For instance, Lincoln Rhyme is the main character, and yes, he is a paralyzed policeman.  But he is also a dick, and more than that, he is suicidal.  Also, Amelia Sachs isn't just a tough and pretty policewoman; she's also an arthritic-ridden, adrenaline junkie.  Plus, the killer is super creepy in this one, and not in a crazy 'Saw' kind of way.  But in a schizophrenic, I like to watch people get eaten alive by rats kind of way.  awesome book.

Blood Test

Blood Test (Alex Delaware)

Jonathan Kellerman

This is the second Dr. Delaware by Jonathan Kellerman.  And it was good, though less good than the first one.  It involved exotic fruits, incest, and a crazy cocaine cult.  I'd like to eventually read the third one, but I'm wary about reading too many in a row.  I think there are a lot of similarities between this one and his premiere novel, and I don't want to get burned out too quickly.

Phantom Prey

This is the eighteenth book the Lucas Davenport series by John Sandford.  And it pissed me off.  Why did he have to resort to mulitple personality disorder and ostrich farms to solve this one?!  The subplot about a pregnant gangster's girlfriend was enough to get me to finish the book, and I continue to really adore Lucas and his wife, Weather.  But seriously.  don't fucking do that again.  

Dead Watch

So this is a stand alone by one of my favorite mystery writers, John Sandford.  I tried reading this one about two years ago, when I worked at the movie theater and just couldn't get into it at all.  And now I don't know what my problem was because this book was awesome.  It was a politcal thriller that involved closeted senators, headless bodies in the woods, a highway funding project gone wrong, and a gimp with mad street cred.  I really liked this one and though I don't think there are any plans to add a sequal to it, I'd enjoy following the characters again.  

Kindred In Death

So this is the bajillionith J.D. Robb book and one that I loved until the mystery got solved.  and then I thought it was bullshit.  Ms. Robb (aka Nora Roberts) went way overly complicated to make these deaths seem not only meaningless but completely unreal as well.  Nothing about the solution made sense.  But the rest of it made me quite happy and I continue to enjoy the development of every one of the main characters.  

Poppy Done to Death

This is the final book in the Aurora Teagarden series by Charlaine Harris.  Here's the thing:  she finally got this series going around book seven.  But I'm still not really sad that this series is over.  It's nowhere near as good as any of the other series that she's written.  But this one involved more small town mayhem with crazy middle-aged women, slutty in-laws and parental diappointment.  

Living With the Dead

This is the ninth book in the Women of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong and it is by far my least favorite of the bunch.  First of all, I'm a really big girl when I read these books and I want some kind of love story to be happening.  and this one had the beginning of one, one in the background, and the tragic end of one but not a complete one for me to enjoy.  So that sucked.  and then this involved an underground network of a psychic supernatural group that had formed a cult and a girl trying to escape from them by having retard sex and killing innocent people.  But the progresion of some of the background characters was very nicely done and the potential from the new characters is there.  so I haven't given up hope for this series yet.  Instead I broke my own rule and got the next one in hardcover waiting for me to start.   

I'm Fine With God...It's Chrisitians I Can't Stand

A friend of mine gave this book for Christmas last year, and it was one that I sort of read in between other books.  It's by two Christian authors, Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz, and tries to outline reasons why Christianity is getting a bad rap.  and it does a pretty good job.  It shows how deliberately misinterpreting the bible leads to deliberately misleading people into believing in your cause, which is often self-righteous and political.  It also underlines passages and stories from Christ, invalidating allegations that he was a big believer in capitalism and bigotry.  And while it didn't particularly change my mind about religion, it did help demonstrate something that I wish would get talked about more: not all Christians are crazy right-wing nutbags.  

Secondhand Spirits

So...I'm a little bitter about this book for a couple of reasons. 

1:  The author, Juliet Blackwell, is the pseudonym of one of the sisters who wrote of my favorite ill-fated series, the Annie Kincaid art mysteries.  And I'm mad that this book isn't one of those.

2:  This book kind of sucked.

It just wasn't good.  The mystery sort of was and the character was almost interesting and the love triangle she's setting up wants to be awesome.  But nothing quite made it.  It involved a vintage shop, a psychic of untold abilities, an unspeakable past, a nosy detective and a white-haired pretty boy.  And yet?  not that great.  Maybe the next one will be better.  Because God knows I won't stop myself from reading it.