Peter James - The Perfect Murder

I picked up this book in the supermarket the other day. It’s in a series called Quick Reads and it was exactly that! I didn’t really take much notice of how long it took me to read it but I read the whole book in one sitting that was less than an hour.

It was an enjoyable little book, fairly predictable but still engaging. It kept my attention throughout and made me want to keep reading it. I think it would work well as an episode of Murder In Mind (a series of stand alone TV dramas shown on the BBC a few years back).

I think this book would be good to read on a train journey as its quick and entertaining but doesn’t require too much thought.

Jeffery Deaver – Roadside Crosses

Although I had read the previous Kathryn Dance novel (The Sleeping Doll) I entered into Roadside Crosses thinking that I don’t really like Katherine Dance as a character. However, after a couple of chapters the book had me well and truly gripped and I now really like Kathryn Dance and am eagerly awaiting the next book about her, more so than Lincoln Rhyme. I think because she is a new character she is a lot more fresh. I also like her back story and am interested to see where that goes.

As for the book itself I really enjoyed it although I felt at times there was a little too much explanation. Having read The Sleeping Doll and the Lincoln Rhyme novel in which Katherine Dance was introduced (which escapes me at present, it may have been The Cold Moon) I already know what kinesics is as its explained there. I know that it needs to be included for the sake of people who are picking up the book without having read the previous ones but it does get a little tedious! Also some of the explanation about blogs etc to me was unnecessary as I work in IT and use the internet a lot but to an ordinary reader that may well have been very useful.

The storyline was engaging. I managed to spot a couple of the twists coming (when you read a lot of Jeffrey Deaver I think you start to see the patterns so it makes spotting the twists a little easier) but I didn’t work out the main twist. It only took me a week or so to read as it had me reaching for it whenever possible. I would certainly recommend Roadside Crosses although I would suggest reading The Sleeping Doll first to get the best out of it.

Introduction

Hi, I’m Lucie. Over the past week or so I’ve been reading peoples book related blogs and really enjoying them so I thought I’d give it a go myself.

I love to read. My favourite type of story is post-apocalyptic which you can tell from my two favourite books ever - The Stand by Stephen King and Swan Song by Robert R McCammon. I also love horror, crime and thriller books.

My favourite authors include Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Jeffrey Deaver, Barbara Vine and Minette Walters.

Recently I have read all nine Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris along with the short story collection. They were followed by 20^th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill.

As well as book reviews I will also be adding the occasional film and TV review.