TLC Book Tour Stop and Review: Raylan by Elmore Leonard

My Rating: 97/100
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Paperback, 288 pages
Book Source: TLC Book Tours

From the Tour homepage:

When Dickie and Coover Crowe, dope-dealing brothers known for sampling their own supply, decide to branch out into the body business, it’s up to U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens to stop them. But Raylan isn’t your average marshal; he’s the laconic, Stetson-wearing, fast-drawing lawman who juggles dozens of cases at a time and always shoots to kill. But by the time Raylan finds out who’s making the cuts, he’s lying naked in a bathtub, with Layla, the cool transplant nurse, about to go for his kidneys.

DISCLAIMER: I have been watching Justified, the show which stars Raylan Givens, since Season 1.  And I LOVE it!  I do not miss an episode and am sad when the season is over.  So this review is definitely biased. 

Now that  that’s out of the way, let’s get to the review of Raylan.  The title character made his debut as a secondary character in Pronto,  so this book, Raylan is the third full length book to feature Raylan Givens.  Although the character is well established, it doesn’t take away from the story at all.  Raylan is like a day in the life of Raylan Givens, US Marshall.  And what a life it is, filled with criminals, and people who are interesting in their own right.  There isn't much background or delving into the characters themselves.  That gets picked up by reading between the lines, or interpreting their actions.  I also know them already from Justified.  Comparing the book and the show, the transition is seamless.

This story contains three mini-events: organ thieves, the protection of a coal company woman, and a criminal from Raylan’s past seeking to right wrongs.  The characters in each event are richly drawn and easy to imagine.  Everyone in this book is quite the character and memorable.  The dialogue in this book is also unique.  The story takes place in Eastern Kentucky so the characters have a regional accent, but it’s not what you may think.  It’s a bit Southern but their sentences are clipped or shortened.  This also adds to the richness of the story, and it’s another seamless transition between the book and the show.  It’s one of the reasons I enjoy the show so much, the dialogue.  The book continues that flavor.

I apologize for comparing the book and the show so much, but for me it’s unavoidable.  Aspects of the events in Raylan were used for Justified, but they were definitely changed quite a bit.  Both versions have their merits.  Overall Raylan was an enjoyable, easy reading book, and it’s a wonderful introduction into either Justified or Elmore Leonard’s other works.  Leonard has written over 45 books, and has quite a following, so the man is doing something right.  I know I will definitely be reading his back list , and not just those featuring Raylan Givens.

For more information about Elmore Leonard and his other works, please visit his website.

Thanks to TLC Book Tours for asking me to join the tour.  Please visit the other tour stops to see what others thought of Raylan.

Elmore’s Tour Stops

Wednesday, December 26th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Friday, December 28th: Book Addict Katie

Thursday, January 3rd: Helen’s Book Blog

Monday, January 7th: My Life in Not So Many Words

Tuesday, January 8th: Chaotic Compendiums

Thursday, January 10th: Jenny Loves to Read

Wednesday, January 16th: Jenn’s Bookshelves

Monday, January 28th: Luxury Reading

TBD: Ted Lehmann’s Bluegrass, Books, and Brainstorms

TBD: EmSun

© Jenny Girl - 2013 "All Rights Reserved"

A plethora of mini-book reviews: Shadow Divers, Anna Dressed in Blood, Still Life, and The Unit

For summary of the book, click each title and it will take you their respective Goodreads pages.
I really intended to do a proper review for each book, but that's never going to happen at this point, so pertinent points will do.  Lets get to it shall we?

Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson
My Rating: 95/100
Nonfiction
375 pages

Great book about the perils of deep sea ship wreck diving.  True story of two divers who become friends and find a wrecked German submarine from WWII off the coast of New Jersey.  Part of the adventure comes from diving and exploring the wreck.  The other part comes from the two of them trying to determine the submarine's name so the families will know what happened to their loved ones.  They eventually name the submarine and delve into it's history and that was fascinating too.  Submarines were basically a death sentence, and this one left Germany about a year before the end.  They didn't want to, but had they had no choice.

This was a nonfiction page turner.

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
My Rating: 95/100
YA
316 pages
Recommended by Ju-Ju 

Like his father before him, Cas kills ghosts for a living. He is  the male equivalent to Buffy.  There I said it, but they do also in the story.  Cas is lonely and conflicted because as much as he wants to carry on his father's work, he craves a normal life.  Being able to live in one place, not change schools, have friends, have normalcy.  Cas moves to yet another town to kill the infamous ghost Anna Dressed in Blood.  However, what he finds instead is the ghost of a young girl who has much in common with him.  A ghost he can talk to, when she's not killing people.  But why does Anna kill people?  She doesn't want to, but she needs Cas to help her stop killing?  Will he?

Page turner YA with a boy as the hero.  Wonderful change of pace from the typical supernatural books out there, and I enjoyed the twist at the end.  Book 1 in a series.  Loved it!

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist
My Rating:60/100
Dystopian
268 pages
Recommended by Naida

Takes place in a future where a country has decided that once you reach a certain age, and you are not married, have no children, or have a job that is important fro society, you are sent to the Unit, to wait out your days donating bits and pieces of yourself to those left in society.  Great premise that put me in mind of Never let Me Go, however the main character Dorritt inspired no empathy from me at all.  I did not like her, and felt like she knew her time to go to the Unit was coming, but she did nothing to avert it.  Dorritt didn't become a rebel and fight the system, didn't try and suck it up to get married or find a career.  Dorritt sort of fights the system once at the Unit, but at that point I thought too little, too late.  I did like the other characters in the Unit and felt for them, however they were not the lead of the story.

Great idea, but I had no connection to Dorritt, so I didn't enjoy this story.

Still Life by Louise Penny
My Rating: 95/100
Detective Story
293 pages
Recommended by: who hasn't recommended this series!

First in the series featuring French Canadian Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, Still Life features the crime from both the Inspector's point of view, and the survivors point of view.  The story takes place in an idyllic small town but not all is what it seems.  Most of the town's inhabitants are characters in the story since they knew the deceased, and all have their quirks.  Penny's writing is delightful and it was easy to imagine everything in this story.

As for Inspector Gamache he is awesome  and makes the story.  He has a loving wife, is tough, and works for the victim, even if it may cost him his job or career.  Gamache is a good study of people.  He is quiet and unassuming and sees himself as a mentor.  The story also sheds light on how murders are worked and solved North of the border and that made for interesting reading as well, since those characters also come into play.  The reader is thrown right into the thick of office politics and it's a nice side story that I assume plays out later in the series.

Brilliant page turner.  Add me to the list of Louise Penny and Inspector Gamache fans.  Oh and this how I pictured Gamache.

I know he's Italian (Giancarlo Giannini) but he pooped into my head and stuck.



© Jenny Girl - 2013 "All Rights Reserved"

TLC Tour Stop and Book Review: Blood Line by Lynda L a Plante

From the author's website:

Under the watchful eye of DCS James Langton, DCI Anna Travis takes charge of an investigation for the first time. But is it purely a missing person’s case – or a full blown murder enquiry? An ominous pool of blood and no victim lead Anna on a desperate

hunt for a man who has disappeared without trace.

As Anna becomes obsessed with seemingly irrelevant details, Langton fears that she

is losing control. They still have no body and Anna is under increasing pressure to

make an arrest…

My Review:

DCI Travis is back to work shortly after the murder of her fiance.  She does this because grief has a strangle hold on her, and work can help her forget about that big hole in her life for just a little while.  Travis also needs to return to work to show her superiors that she was worthy of the new position they gave her.  It's not easy being a female DCI.  Travis is asked to investigate a presumed missing persons case, and she does so begrudgingly.  This case is eight weeks old, mind you, and she is not pleased.

The more Travis tries to turn this missing persons case into a dud, the more things don't add up, leading her to believe the victim is not missing of his own accord.  Someone wanted him missing, possibly murdered.  There are so many questions, and the case becomes multi-faceted with quite a few dead ends.  Just when Travis thinks she has her suspect, something comes along to derail her case.  As infuriating as this case may be, it winds up being the best therapy Travis' emotional wounds.

So here is what I liked and worked well:

• How the murder inquiry played out and finished.  I didn't think this case would ever get solved!
• Anna Travis - liked her immensely and could relate to how she threw herself into her work
• All of the other characters were well drawn and easy to picture
• My love of British based stories; hello BBC America, this would make a great special or something
• This book is part of a series but was totally stand alone.  No worries.

So here is what I didn't like:

• I felt the story took too long, like we meandered for a bit there.  I don't think
  I would have minded so much, if there wasn't quite so many repetitive parts.
• The repetitive parts.  Every time a suspect was brought in for questioning or someone had to be brought up to speed, it felt like every fact was repeated.  I understand that has to happens to a certain extent, but towards the end of the book, I knew all the facts by heart because I read them so many times.  I knew what the characters were going to say in the interrogation room.  

Overall, I liked DCI Travis and would definitely read another story with her as the lead.  As a matter of fact, a check of  La Plante's back-list shows a few older books with DCI Travis.  Also, La Plante's the author of Prime Suspect, and inspiration for the popular British version, and not so popular U.S. version.  (Not surprised, our TV rating system sucks, and hello, pseudo-reality TV).

Anyway, point being I liked Blood Line enough that I would check out her other works.

For more information about Lynda La Plante, here is a link to her website: http://www.laplanteproductions.com/

And this book is out on a new imprint called Bourbon Street Books.  Visit their Facebook page here.

Thanks to TLC Book Tours for my review copy.

My Rating: 90/100

Publisher: Bourbon Street Books (Harper Collins)
Genre: Murder mystery, detective novel
Large paperback, 465 pages
Book Source: TLC Book Tours

 © Jenny Girl - 2012 "All Rights Reserved"

Tour Stop and Review: Let the Devil Sleep by John Verdon

My Rating: 93/100


From TLC Book Tours:

Dave Gurney, the most decorated homicide detective in the history of the NYPD, is still trying to adjust to life in upstate New York when a young woman who is producing a documentary on serial killers asks for his input.  Soon after this conversation, odd events begin occurring in Dave’s life: There is a strange problem with his tractor, a razor-sharp hunting arrow lands in his yard, and he narrowly escapes serious injury in a booby-trapped basement.  As things grow more bizarre, Dave finds himself reexamining the case of “The Good Shepherd”–which, 10 years before, involved a series of roadway shootings and a “Unabomber-like” manifesto expressing rage at society.  The killings ceased, and a cult of analysis grew up around the case with a consensus opinion that no one would dream of challenging–no one, that is, except Dave Gurney.  Mocked even by some who’d  been his allies in previous investigative outings, Dave is only heeded when the reawakened Good Shepherd proves by his actions that his agenda is more complex than previously thought.


My Thoughts:


I tend to shy away from detective novels because the lead character is usually battling drug or alcohol abuse,  divorced, fired from the job and a generally an unhappy and unlikable person, in my opinion.  Detectives are just not my thing.  However, retired detective Dave Gurney has me second guessing my decision to steer away from detective novels.  Sure,Gurney is a little crabby because he is recovering from almost dying from three gun shot wounds, but I would be too.

While recuperating, a friend asks Gurney a favor.  Could he please keep an eye on her daughter Kim, who is currently working on a television project involving the family members of those murdered by The Good Shepherd.  Who just happens to have never been found.  Gurney agrees because he is a nice guy, and then things start to get hinky.  Events raise Gurney's detective sense, and he starts probing the facts of The Good Shepherd cases, realizing there are many things wrong with the case file.  The story goes off from there and it is one good ride.

Gurney is a likable hero and detective. Watching over Kim and her project turns into the thing that pulls him out of the depression or rut he is in and kinda sorta realizes, but doesn't want to admit.  If you say it out loud it's true, and Gurney will not say it out loud.  The story takes off from here so I won't go into any other specific details.  The way the story unfolded was interesting and there were parts that had my blood pumping.  The suspense was palpable.  I was reading so fast to find out the outcome that I skipped over words.  I love it when books make me do that, even if it means going back to re-read.

I enjoyed almost all of the other characters in the book: Gurney's family, his snarky detective friend Hardwick (who made me chuckle), the murder victim's family members, who all had their little quirks and personalities, the FBI agents.  Everyone was so well drawn and easy to picture, thus adding to the reading of the story.  The only character I wasn't crazy about was Kim, and I think that may have been just me.  I immediately associated that name and character with someone from a TV show I didn't like, and it was hard to shake that dislike.  It could be Kim's age also, because she is in her early twenties thus being naive and not smart.  There is this side issue she is going through that's connected with her project and  she is not smart about it...at all.  Lets just say that if she ended up dead, I wouldn't have been upset.  Too mean?

Lastly, as for the "correct" solving of the The Good Shepherd case, I didn't figure it out at all.  There was a moment early on that I thought might be the key, but no.  Gurney's investigations and thinking are included in the story but not enough for the reader to solve it.  It answer dangles in front of you but it's not until the suspenseful end that all is revealed.  I also want to point out that Let The Devil Sleep is the third book in a series, but totally stand alone reading.  The previous two cases, which I assume are the previous two books are mentioned, but not enough to spoil you from going back and reading them.  Which I think I just may do!

All in all an excellent book that reminded me not all detective novels are the same.

464 pages
Book Source: TLC Book Tours
Publisher: Crown Publishing

Thanks to TLC Book Tours for my review copy.

John Verdon’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Tuesday, July 24th:  Wordsmithonia

Wednesday, July 25th:  Jenny Loves to Read

Thursday, July 26th:  Jen’s Book Thoughts

Monday, July 30th:  A Bookworm’s World

Tuesday, July 31st:  Sara’s Organized Chaos

Wednesday, August 1st:  Life in Review

Thursday, August 2nd:  Colloquium

Monday, August 6th:  Booklover Book Reviews

Tuesday, August 7th:  Stacy’s Books

Wednesday, August 8th:  Book Addict Katie

Thursday, August 9th:  House of Crime and Mystery

Monday, August 13th:  Crime Fiction Lover

Tuesday, August 14th:  A Novel Source

Wednesday, August 15th:  Book Reviews by Elizabeth A. White

Thursday, August 16th:  Bewitched Bookworms

Monday, August 20th:  Girls Just Reading

Wednesday, August 22nd:  Thoughts of Joy

Monday, August 27th:  Musings of a Bookish Kitty

© Jenny Girl - 2012 "All Rights Reserved"