Ace and Hoser Blook

Terry Scarborough is a notoriety seeker who has written a book about the American Constitution. Scarborough writes about how even in this current day and age the constitution stills contains inflammatory references to slavery. Scarborough also hints at a letter written by Jefferson which would be even more scandalous than his current book. He goes on a book tour in which every city there are riots and violence. Part way through the tour he is murdered in a San Diego hotel room.

The room service bellhop, Carl Arnsberg is charged. The evidence is overwhelming; fingerprints, shoes prints and motive. Paul Madriani and his partner, Harry Hinds are his attornies. Is Carl just a scapegoat and have the police just found the first criminal available to pin the crime on?

Paul and Harry must find the missing Jefferson letter before the trial ends and find out who really killed Scarborough.

This is a tremendous court room drama mystery. The detail of the the trail is amazing. A definite page-turner!!

First Line: "The sugar-white powder was so hot on their feet that they skipped and took long strides across the distance to the darker sand cooled by the surf."

Rating:

(4.0/5)

Labels: book review, Martini, mystery

Though this book may have better been called "The Body Farm", this title is taken by Patricia Cornwell even though it's based on a creation by Bass. Bass got into the forensic field almost by accident. Since then, he has become one of the leading specialists in human bones in North America. Bass practically created a specialization (and then a following from other universities) in human bone forensics and claims to have trained over a third of all professionals out there that specialize in this. He also is the creator of the "body farm", which studies the decomposition of bodies under different scenarios. Patricia Cornwell has worked with Bass in the writing of her books, and Bass and his team have assisted in numerous criminal cases.

Bass takes us through some of the important findings him and his students/colleagues have made. He then corresponds these findings to important cases he has been involved with. Some are heartbreaking, some are stupid. One of Bass's colleagues was involved in a murder trial in Toronto that was breaking news up here during the time.

This books gives you an in depth look at the art of bone forensics. I found it extremely interesting. I've also read "Jefferson Bass" novels before - where Dr. Bill Bass co-writes with another author and have enjoyed those books very much. I believe the reason is because they so closely follow Bass' real life experience. Bass has a friend that specializes in fingerprinting named Art, and surely enough in the fictional books there is a fingerprinting specialist named Art.

First Line: "A dozen tiny bones, nestled in my palm: They were virtually all that remained, except for yellowed clippings, scratchy newsreel footage, and painful memories, from what they called 'the trial of the century.'"

Rating:

(4.5/5)

Labels: biography, jefferson bass, non fiction

The Wentworths are a wealthy South Californian family who are extremely dysfunctional. The book starts with the whole family going to get the youngest son out of jail. I laughed out loud imagining this scene.

The Wentworths include: father Augustus, mother Judith, eldest son Conrad, daughter Becky, Son-in-law Paul and their children, Monica and Joey and youngest son Norman.

Augustus is a boozing philanderer who keeps a woman on the side. Judith is a cold, unfeeling skinny woman whose sole concern is her figure. She loves to mistreat the servants. Conrad is a busy well-known lawyer with a penchant for young girls and kinky sex. He brings girls home to meet his parents just before he dumps them.

Becky is a substance abuser who only wants her mother's approval. Paul is her wimp of a husband who hasn't got a clue of how to fix his family but really wants to try. Norman is a sensitive homosexual and the ignored member of the family.

Conrad bring Angela home to meet the family and Angela is not so easily dumped. Furthermore, she fits right into the dysfunctional family.

The book is a study of bad behaviour. The reader gets sucked into wondering what will happen next. Arnoldi delivers a compact twisted and 'sick' book and nicely ties up all the loose ends in an epilogue at the end

First Line: "They're standing in a police station somewhere in Los Feliz"

Rating:

(4.0/5)

Labels: Arnoldi, book review, Fiction/Literature

Another in the Rebus series!! This time the book starts with a raid on an Edinburgh brothel. Inside is a MP Gregor Jack and conveniently outside is the press. Rebus smells something fishy and goes to talk to Jack. Jack's wife is MIA but shows up a couple of days later dead and badly beaten. Rebus is up against a cunning murderer and a close-knit group of old school friends.

I enjoy Rebus and the way he thinks but I don't enjoy his take on relationships. He is so wishy-washy; on again, off again.

The way Rankin portrays Rebus and his status within the police force is very interesting. Rebus is shown to be a fatherly mentor figure for the younger investigators like Holmes. I like how Rebus helps Holmes along

First Line: "The wonder of it was that the neighbours hadn't complained, hadn't even - as many of them later told the newsmen - realized."

Rating:

(4.0/5)

Labels: book review, mystery, rankin

Case History #1 is from the 70s in which a young child, Olivia vanishes from her backyard never to be seen again. Her sisters, Amelia and Julia ask Jackson to investigate because they have found Baby Olivia's stuffed mouse in their dead father's possessions.

Case History #2 is the story of a young girl who is brutally murdered in her father's law office. Theo, her father approaches Jackson to find the killer after 10 years has gone by.

Case History #3 is the story of a young wife, Michelle who murders her husband.

All these stories are intertwined ingeniously by Atkinson. Jackson, the private investigator is a sucker for the sad stories. He tries hard not to get involved in Amelia's and Julia's jealousies and insecurities, tries hard not to be Theo's main attention and tries hard not to get involved with Shirley, Michelle's sister. Of course, he does get involved

I loved Jackson. He is a hard-warming man who is undergoing a divorce. The stories although all separate at first slowly get intertwined but I felt that Case # 3 was a little weak.

First Line: "How lucky were they?"

Rating:

(3.5/5)

Labels: book review, Kate Atkinson, mystery

George Hall is settling into his retirement very well. He is building a garden shed, reads historical fiction and listens to light jazz. His daughter announces she is getting married for a second time to Ray. No one in the family is pleased. Is she really in love or is Ray just a good provider and helpmate.

George discovers a lesion on his hip and he slowly starts to lose his mind by obsessing about death. George's wife Jean decides to do the planning for the wedding but this certainly gets in the way of her affair with a former colleague of her husband's. Jamie, their son decides not to invite his current love interest Tony to the wedding and then finds his life in shambles.

A Spot of Bother is about a somewhat ordinary family getting through life. It is slow to get into but slowly pulls you in. There are some hilarious scenes. I did find that George was just a little over the top and he got a bit tiresome

First Line: "It Began when George was trying on a black suit in Allders the week before Bob Green's funeral."

Rating:

(3.5/5)

Labels: book review, Fiction/Literature, Haddon

Jodi becomes a vampire and of course her whole life changes. She moves out from her boyfriend's apartment and she must learn how to operate during the nocturnal hours. Enter Tommy. New to San Francisco and naive he finds a job at night re-stocking shelves in a grocery store. During the day he hopes to become the great American novelist.

Jodi seduces Tommy and he does her bidding. However bodies start being found wherever these two are.

This book is a light fluffy read. Tommy and his fellow re-stockers enjoy a game of frozen turkey bowling. I don't think I will ever be able to look at another frozen bird quite the same.

First Line: "Sundown painted purple across the great Pyramid while the Emperor enjoyed a steaming whiz against a dumpster in the alley below."

Rating:

(4.0/5)

Labels: book review, christopher moore, paranormal

Oskar is a smart nine year old kid that likes to invent things, asks a lot of questions, and knows a lot of useless facts. He lives with his mom and across the street from his grandmother. Oskar's father died in the World Trade Centre during 9/11, which has made Oskar have "heavy boots" and he goes to therapy to try to talk through his emotions. When Oskar finds a key in a vase in his dad's closet, he sets out on a mission to find out what lock this key opens to. This takes him on an adventure where he meets and learns the stories of many others.

While we learn about Oskar's adventure, we also find out more about his grandfather and his grandmother. Originally coming from Germany, Oskar's grandparents survived an air raid and moved to New York. Oskar's grandfather was originally in love his his grandmother's sister but she died in the air raid, which is when the grandfather finds that he can no longer speak. Their relationship adds a whole other dimension to the book.

Oskar's innocence and intellect gives the reader a refreshing view. It sort of reminds me of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. He's far smarter than any 9 year old I've ever met, but it's still plausible. However, I don't really understand why his mother would let him wander around New York alone, regardless of whether she knew or not. That being said, this story was touching and interesting.

First Line: "What about a teakettle?"

Rating:

(4.5/5)

Labels: Fiction/Literature

A school shooting in Vancouver, BC affects the lives of every single person involved and their families. Hey Nostradamus! focuses on Jason and his family. Jason's girlfriend was the last person shot in the massacre, just as he arrives in the cafeteria. She dies in his arms and he is deeply affected by this throughout his entire life. Furthermore, his family life is in shambles. His dad's only contributions to the family are through preachy sermons on how God wants people to live life, his mother is a drunk, and his brother is the perfect son.

The book is split into four sections, each narrated by a character affected by the massacre. A little more is explained in each section about how the shooting has affected those involved and Jason's family. The characters are realistic, yet confusing because at first you aren't quite sure what their intentions are.

Despite my love for Coupland's book Microserfs which is a nerdy comedy, I think that this book is Coupland's best. Coupland takes a grave subject, one that everyone can relate to feeling emotionsalwhen seeing similar stories on tv, and shows how deep and wide the sorrow can spread. Yet the entire time you expect that there is something Coupland isn't telling you, which makes this book a page turner.

If you have read Coupland before and not enjoyed it, don't be deterred from reading this book. It's not like any of Coupland's other works.

First Line: "I believe that what separates humanity from everything else in this world - spaghetti, binder paper, deep-sea creatures, edelweiss and Mount McKinley - is that humanity alone has the capacity at any given moment to commit all possible sins."

Rating:

(4.5/5)

Labels: Canadian author, Coupland, Fiction/Literature

In this novel, Gladwell tries to explain what pushes things over the edge to adoption, addiction, and use. For example, when the shoes Hush Puppies made a come back, it was a trend started by a few people in night clubs in New York. Gladwell examines how a few people could create a country-wide trend. He also looks at tipping points for Sesame Street, Blue's Clues, smoking, amongst a variety of other things.

While some of the points that Gladwell brought up were interesting, the book drags on a bit too much, specifically in the introduction chapter. Weirdly enough, I found Gladwell's afterward to be the most interesting chapter. Perhaps because it's the most relevant chapter as Gladwell goes over what he has learned about this book after having written it.

Given the choice between this book and Blink, Gladwell's other book, I would choose Blink.

First Line: "For Hush Puppies - the classic American brushed-suede shoes with the lightweight crepe sole - the Tipping Point came somewhere between late 1994 and early 1995."

Rating:

(3.5/5)

Labels: non-fiction