Rezensionen und Kommentare

I read the new Reacher novel every year. They are all the same, now. But I still can't stop reading them. Well, I can, as Reacher would point out, I just choose not to. They are short and entertaining enough for me to pick them up each fall. In this latest installment there's again international involvement, which means I won't enjoy it as much. And indeed it turned out to be one of the weaker Reacher novels. Not really recommended.

Damn, I enjoyed this book. Definitely my favorite Connelly from the last few years, alongside the first Renee Ballard book. Connelly writes crime novels exactly as I like them and I eagerly await the new book each fall. This year we get spoiled with two books coming out.

What I enjoy so much in Connelly's books is the puzzle that is being solved, mixed with some nice action. Characters are great and mostly act like adults. Normal adults with flaws. And the villain is not some invincible, perfect genius. He makes mistakes. The story, too, was good. It's about DNA, privacy and IT security without being ridiculous about it (coughDan Browncough).

Recommended for everyone who enjoys a good puzzle being solved by mature characters.

Such a tall tale. But I enjoyed it. When it comes to unreliable narrators, Kvothe gets thrown around a lot. But I found Orhan to be much more entertaining. The writing is tight, no fluff, things move forward quickly. Characters and story both entertain and I liked the book. If you want a fun tale of a siege featuring a seemingly hypercompetent protagonist, this is a book for you.

Wow, this was... something. Definitely a tougher read than Gideon. Large parts of the book read like angst-ridden emo fan-fiction posted on Tumblr. And I mean that in a bad way, just to be clear. But then the fifth act comes around and makes it worth it. My one big criticism of this book is the pacing. A very, very long and very, very slow buildup lead to an awesome end, full of crazy revelations and events. There was so much happening, that it felt infodumpy at times. But still I am left very curious how things will be wrapped up in Alecto. Recommended if you liked Gideon, even though it's very different

I remember hearing about this book last year, but the tagline it was advertised with, "lesbian necromancers in space", didn't sound particularly appealing. Now, with the second book of the Locked Tomb trilogy just out, there was more talk about Gideon the Ninth, and these reviews sounded a lot better. After the borefest that was Gorky Park, I wanted something entertaining and picked up Gideon. And how glad I am I did. It's very good for a first novel, full of an interesting world and twists and turns. I can see why some people wouldn't like it, but I didn't see any faults in this book. My only problem was the vocabulary, which is oftentimes a bit too much if your native language isn't English. But it was still OK and I can't wait where the next books take the story.

Meh. I expected much more from the premise, but the book fell very flat. The writing in particular was awful. Even considering that the narrator is an etymologist, the amount of different words in such a short book is just pretentious. The story doesn't do anything to salvage the writing, leaving the characters rather bland and flat. I didn't care about any of them and there were hardly any moments of suspense. I cannot recommend this book.

Great ending to an exciting trilogy. The world is coming to an end and so is Hank's last case, looking for his sister Nico. Slowly Hank uncovers what exactly his sister has gotten herself into. The reader gets to wonder whether he will manage to solve his last case just in time for October 3, as the days are passing by.

Absolute must-read if you have read the first two. Again, if you haven't, start with The Last Policeman. And you really should if you're into murder mysteries with an interesting twist.

I don't remember how this book landed on my pile. But I am really glad it did. In the end I gave it three stars, but I was close to giving it four. I really enjoyed the premise. To me, the series is what science fiction is about. It doesn't need spaceships and robots. Science fiction explores how things would be if the world was different. In this case the big difference is the deadline for all life on earth. A big asteroid is headed towards earth and society is breaking apart. And amidst all this, The Last Policeman is still working a case. I really liked that. It's mostly a murder mystery where the author imagined how that would be if the world was about to die.

Recommended if you like crime novels and sci-fi.

Every October I eagerly await the new book from Michael Connelly. I consider it as a birthday present. And this one, again, was a great one. Bosch and Ballard are a great team. Each book I dread the inevitable end for Bosch, as he is aging with each book. I think Connelly will have him go out with a bang, but it'll still be sad to see Harry go after all these years. Why am I getting all morose? Well, the thought is always there and with each new book the probability is getting higher.

Anyway... This book is not Harry's last one. He, Renee and Mickey Haller manage to solve multiple crimes and I still enjoy reading the minutae of their work. If you like the Bosch/Ballard books, definitely pick this one up. If you are new to Bosch, I suggest starting with an earlier one in the series.

Another nice installment in the Sneijder/Nemez chronicles. This one is very focused on the BKA and things that happened 20 years ago. The turns and twists are a bit less surprising, once you get a feeling for how the author works. But it's still very entertaining. Krysztof is a great addition, providing some dry humor to Sneijder's general dickishness. Still very much recommended if you liked the previous books.

The last volume of the first Sneijder trilogy. I didn't enjoy it as much as the first two, because there is way too much involvement with the private lives of our detectives, Maarten S. Sneijder and Sabine Nemez. But still, overall it is more of the same as the previous two books, so I still enjoyed it. Looking forward to move on to the fourth one.

I really enjoy this series. It's not amazing literature, but still fast-paced fun. Strangely enough the BKA seems to work beyond German borders more than within. But hey, when I begin to think that things might be just a tad unrealistic I repeat to myself that it's just a book, I should really just relax. The characters are nice, even the dickish Sneijder. The women are very competent and the amount of personal crap that interferes with the actual investigation is kept to an absolute minimum. I very much like that. Overall an enjoyable thriller series with very sick killers and twists and turns.

I found this series because the latest volume is on top of the Spiegel bestseller charts. It sounded intriguing and so I picked up the first book. And I am glad I did. This is the kind of thriller I enjoy. Nice characters, not too much personal crap and a sick killer. Perfect!

Highly recommended if you are into serial killer thrillers.