Creator: Derek Jacobi
Publication date: 2006-03-13
RRP: £16.99
Price: £16.14
Review Well-schooled in Murder (Inspector Lynley Mystery) / Hodder & Stoughton:
Authors
- Lincoln Child
- Douglas Preston
Publication date: 2003-10
Dewey code: 813.54
RRP: £26.99
Price: £10.63
Review Still Life with Crows / Time Warner International:
Creator: Boris Karloff
Publication date: 2006-03-13
RRP: £5.95
Price: £5.95
Review Classic Dramas Of Suspense (Csa Classic Radio Drama) / CSA WORD:
Creator: Graham Roberts
Publication date: 2002-03
RRP: £53.50
Price: £50.82
Review The Nutmeg of Consolation: Complete & Unabridged (Sound) / Soundings:Shipwrecked! When Captain Aubrey and his crew run aground on a remote island, they labour to construct a seaworthy schooner from the wreckage (taking breaks, of course, to play cricket). Their subsequent adventures lead them to the dreaded penal colony at Botany Bay, and then, as always, back to sea.
Creator: Samantha Bond
Edition: Abridged Ed
Publication date: 2002-11-22
Dewey code: 813
RRP: £13.00
Price: £4.89
Review Jackdaws / Macmillan Audio Books:
Creator: Christopher Lane
Edition: MP3 Una
Publication date: 2007-05
Dewey code: 813.54
RRP: £14.92
Price: £9.01
Review Strike Force / Brilliance Audio:
Dewey code: 152.41
RRP: £9.99
Price: £13.95
Review Why Do Fools Fall in Love: Experiencing the Magic, Mystery and Meaning of Successful Relationships (Wiley Audio):
Creator: Hugh Fraser
Edition: Abridged Ed
Publication date: 2006-05-05
RRP: £13.00
Price: £4.69
Review Peril at End House / Macmillan Audio Books:
Creator: Kate Walsh
Edition: Abridged
Publication date: 2005-04
Dewey code: 813.54
RRP: £8.96
Price: £2.31
Review A Body to Die for / Hachette Audio:
Publication date: 2006-01-09
RRP: £12.99
Price: £8.20
Review Vanish / Random House Audiobooks:Tess Gerritsen's Vanish sports precisely those qualities that her much-acclaimed Body Double had in profusion: razor-sharp plotting, tight and economical characterisation and (most of all) the inexorable capture of the reader's attention as her grim plot disturbingly unfolds. Of course, none of this will come as a surprise to long-term Gerritsen fans (an ever-growing legion)-The Surgeon rang some fascinating changes on the serial killer theme, with a threat from the grave terrifying a doctor, and )-The Apprentice, with its killer utilising medical acumen, took no prisoners. But Body Double was the ace in the hole, with resourceful cop Jane Rizzoli tracking down the murderer of her doppelganger. Jane Rizzoli, readers will be glad to hear, is back in Vanish. Medical examiner Maura Isles is looking at another body in a slab. Not a new experience for her, but she's in for another shock when the body opens its eyes and proves to be alive. And violence swiftly follows, as the mystery woman-strikingly beautiful-kills a security guard in the hospital she's taken to, before capturing a group of hostages. One of them is a pregnant woman-Detective Jane Rizzoli, no less. And if Jane can find out what this lethal abductor wants, she may be able to save her own life-and those of the other hostages. But the clock is ticking. [+]One might argue that Gerritsen has played safe with this scenario in terms of ratcheting up the tension. After all, a hostage situation is always surefire, with its constant threat of impending violence. But the author (as ever) studiously avoid clichés, and ensures a palm-sweating experience for the reader. A good notion, too, to make Jane Rizzoli more vulnerable in this outing. -Barry Forshaw.
Publication date: 2006-12-05
RRP: £16.99
Price: £2.25
Review Hannibal Rising / Random House Audiobooks:Thomas Harris remains both the progenitor of the modern serial killer novel - and its greatest exponent. Red Dragon was the first appearance of the murderous Hannibal Lecter, and with its success, the Harris imitators burgeoned almost immediately. The Silence of the Lambs, however, moved Harris into really rarefied heights, its achievement boltered by the addition of a strongly drawn heroine, trainee FBI agent Clarice Starling. Hannibal, the last outing for Harris' monstrous Lecter, drew a more controversial response, with Clarice Sterling locked into a bizarre relationship with her cultivated predator, and it looked as if the next book would develop that grim scenario. However, Hannibal Rising goes in a totally unexpected direction - in effect, it's a prequel to the earlier books, returning to Lecter's childhood in World War's Eastern Front. The youthful Hannibal sees his family murdered by the Nazis. But something else happens which alters (and deforms) Hannibal's psyche forever. The boy moves to Paris with the beautiful Japanese widow of his last surviving relative. And soon, an orgy of grisly revenge is in train, wrought on some opponents almost as nasty as Lecter is to become himself. We've seen this before: Hannibal murdering people quite as ruthless as he is - whether this makes the operatic bloodshed satisfying is a matter for every individual reader. [+]Whatever your stance, the effect of Harris' prose is, as ever, utterly irresistible. Hannibal Rising is comparatively uncomplicated, when set against the complex, richly textured Harris novels that came before it. Is there a danger that in showing us how Hannibal became a monster, something is lost of his terrifying mystery? As if to deal with this possibility, Harris keeps Lecter unknowable by removing his customary articulate examination of this own motives (he is still a boy, after all). But the tale of bloody vengeance has a forward trajectory that (whatever your reservations) will render this is a one (or two) sitting reading. And the next book will, surely, recapture that richer Harris texture. -Barry Forshaw.
Creator: David Aaron Baker
Edition: MP3 Una
Publication date: 2008-05-20
Dewey code: 813.54
RRP: £15.70
Price: £7.03
Review Odd Hours (Odd Thomas) / Brilliance Corporation:
Creator: Hugh Fraser
Publication date: 2006-09-18
RRP: £16.99
Price: £10.35
Review Murder in the Mews: And Other Stories: Complete & Unabridged / HarperCollins Audio:
Creator: Sean Barrett
Publication date: 2003-10-03
Dewey code: 813
RRP: £9.99
Price: £3.50
Review Fox Evil / Macmillan Audio Books:
Creator: Emma Powell
Publication date: 2007-03-01
RRP: £58.50
Price: £60.49
Review The Prayer of the Night Shepherd / ISIS Publishing:
Publication date: 2006-11-16
RRP: £13.99
Price: £7.86
Review Silence of the Lambs / Random House Audiobooks:
Publication date: 2005-03-03
RRP: £16.99
Price: £2.95
Review Blood Eagle / Random House Audiobooks:
Creator: Peter Capaldi
Publication date: 2002-05-14
RRP: £49.95
Price: £49.95
Review Witch Hunt / Chivers Audio Books:
Authors
- Lyndon Stacey narrated by Jonathan Keeble
RRP: £25.96
Price: £17.13
Review Murder in Mind ( Unabridged Audio Book) / W F Howes Ltd:
Edition: preloaded audio player
Publication date: 2007-07-01
RRP: £16.99
Price: £11.21
Review Indelible (Mi-vox pre-loaded audio player) (Mi-Vox Pre-loaded Audio Player) / audiobooksonline.co.uk:Karin Slaughter's reputation grows apace, and Indelible sports all the customary fingerprints. Over the space of a handful of novels, the author has built a reputation as one of the key crime novelists at work today. What's her secret? In some ways, Slaughter's work is a refining of the Southern Gothic idiom that has been the bedrock of so much atmospheric work in the past, but Slaughter's way with the form is entirely her own, and despite the lashings of atmosphere, she never forgets that a crime novelist has to be rigorous in the arena of plotting-and that's her strongest suit. Medical examiner Sara Linton and police chief Jeffrey Tolliver take a trip from the pressures of Heartsdale (in the hope of straightening out their relationship), but a detour to Jeffrey's hometown lands them in the most difficult case of their career. Readers are probably growing weary of the inevitable comparison novels like Slaughter's draw with those of Thomas Harris-and rightly so. But the trouble is, such comparisons are right on the nail for Slaughter. She may not quite have the older writer's authority, but she is undoubtedly skilled at creating a delicious, unsettling tension in the reader-as is very much the case in Indelible. And she's careful, too, to ensure that the relationship between Sara Linton and Jeffrey Tolliver isn't sidelined by the accelerating tension-that relationship is moved on considerably here. The fulsome praise on the jacket from such fellow scribes as John Connolly and Michael Connelly is more than professional courtesy here-they're fully justified by the work on offer. -Barry Forshaw.
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Well-schooled in Murder (Inspector Lynley Mystery), Still Life with Crows, Classic Dramas Of Suspense (Csa Classic Radio Drama), The Nutmeg of Consolation: Complete & Unabridged (Sound), Jackdaws, Strike Force, Why Do Fools Fall in Love: Experiencing the Magic, Mystery and Meaning of Successful Relationships (Wiley Audio), Peril at End House, A Body to Die for, Vanish, Hannibal Rising, Odd Hours (Odd Thomas), Murder in the Mews: And Other Stories: Complete & Unabridged, Fox Evil, The Prayer of the Night Shepherd, Silence of the Lambs, Blood Eagle, Witch Hunt, Murder in Mind ( Unabridged Audio Book), Indelible (Mi-vox pre-loaded audio player) (Mi-Vox Pre-loaded Audio Player) |
