Road Closed by Leigh Russell (Book Review)

From the back cover:

“When a man dies in a gas explosion, the police suspect arson. The Murder Investigation Team is called in. The case takes on a new and terrible twist when a local villain is visiously attacked.

As the police enquiries lead them from the expensive Harchester Hill Estate to a local brothel, a witness dies in a hit-and-run. They must discover if it was a coincidence – or cold-blooded murder.

The Murder Investigation Team has problems of its own – and so does Geraldine Steel. A shocking revelation threatens her peace of mind as the case races towards its dramatic climax.”

Road Closed is Leigh Russell’s second crime novel of the DI Geraldine Steel series. Managing a hectic work schedule with a partner, Craig, who has difficulties coming to terms with her job, and family pressures over a recent death.

When DCI Kathyn Gordon is stricken with a heart problem and hospitalized, her position is temporarily filled by Chief Detective Inspector, James Ryder. This new character is one I would like to see again in future books of this series.

Once again, Ms Russell uses short chapters to keep the pace steady while ramping up the suspense. The subplot twists with multiple points-of-view creates a complex story that reels the reader in. The criminals are memorable, especially Calum Martin, a particularly nasty individual.

Book format: paperback, 352 pages
Publisher: No Exit Press
Author website: Leigh Russell
Available: August 1, 2010

ROAD CLOSED, is available in Canada at Chapters.Indigo.ca and Amazon.ca

Finch by Jeff VanderMeer (Book Review)

John Finch, detective, is assigned to a double murder that the gray caps are particularly interested in. one human and one gray cap are found dead in an empty apartment in the City of Ambergris. Finch’s superior, a gray cap, Heretic, is pushing him to find immediate answers to the case.

The story is filled with underground mushroom inhabitants in a mysterious setting. The gray caps are mushroom people who have disbanded the government, taken over the country by martial law. They provide the human inhabitants with food laced with drugs, keep them in interment camps and use torture to keep them under control.

This is a hardboiled detective story in a fantasy setting with a multitude of different elements: mystery, crime, political, intrigue, horror and romance.

Initially I had difficulty settling in to read this book due to the clipped writing style, and by mid-point had almost set it down permanently not to continue reading. Perhaps the confusion stems from not reading the first two books in this trilogy. Once I reached halfway into the book the plot became understandable and some of the plot twists made sense. The story became interesting after that and I was able to keep focused once time travel was introduced, although this aspect had a brief explanation where I thought there should have been more. Two-thirds in there is an anti-climax ending which provided too much information and spoiled the ending for me. I did complete the book because I wanted to learn what happened to Finch’s long time partner and friend, Wyte, who suffered a deadly fungal growth, and Finch’s cat, Feral. There are interesting aspects to this story, like the memory bulbs, and Heretic's nasty creature accomplice: the skery.

A special thank you to Matt Staggs for providing the review copy.

Honors:
---San Francisco Chronicle’s best SF/Fantasy list
---Washington Post’s Best Books of the Year
---Barnes & Noble Review’s Best Books of 2009
---An IndieBound Featured Book of January 2010.
---Wall Street Journal’s “literary profiling” 2009 recommended holiday reading list


Book format: paperback, 320 pages
Publisher: Underland Press
Author website: Jeff VanderMeer

Available: November 1, 2009

Amazon.com

Chapters Indigo