What do you think?
Rate this book
Τα Ίχνη Του Αίματος
Ελεύθερος από την απειλή μιας μακρόχρονης φυλάκισης, ο Τζακ Λι απομονώνεται για τρία χρόνια σε μια μοναχική καλύβα, κάπου στα βουνά στης Γεωργίας, στον αμερικανικό Νότο. Όταν επιτέλους βγαίνει από την ερημιά του, ο Σμάιλι, φίλος στενός και κάποτε συνεργάτης του, δολοφονείται, και ο φονιάς του τον κρεμάει σ' ένα σταυρό, μέσα σε κάποιο χωράφι, σπαρμένο με μαριχουάνα. Ο Τζακ Λι ακολουθεί πεισματικά τα ίχνη του αίματος, προσπαθώντας να ανακαλύψει τον δολοφόνο του φίλου του, και βρίσκεται αντιμέτωπος με την παράνοια, την τρέλα και το φανατισμό.
288 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1994
4 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 17, 2016
I have to admit to starting this one with some reluctance. I mean, drug smuggling shit is usually not very high on my list of fiction (or non-fiction, in case you were wondering). However, the publisher's enthusiasm swayed me into giving it a go and I don't regret that decision at all.
During the first chapter, I constantly thought "Sweet Jesus, please don't let the rest of the book be like this." The sentences were poorly structured and it was very clear the guy we were reading about was named Lucius... I'm also not a big fan of excessive stuttering in books, not even when someone's about to die; it just feels like crappy acting to me. That being said, this is still all the first chapter. As soon as I was one page into chapter two, I already noticed a big difference in the writing style: things became a lot better.
A couple of chapters later, I had a chronically dropped jaw and couldn't help but picturing scenes from this TV series in my head:
I'm not saying it was the creepiest shit I've ever read, but it was still pretty disturbing. When a middle-aged psychiatrist was banging a 16-year-old nympho girl, I even put the book down for a couple of hours...
Let's take a look at the storyline and characters. Jack Lee is the 42-year-old protagonist of the story. I took an instant liking to him because he seems like a very friendly, spiritual and caring guy. He actually reminded me a lot of Mike Ironwood, a character from a book I reviewed a couple of months ago: awesome combat skills with a gentle character. Just don't cross any of their paths or you'll be in deep shit!
After living like a hermit in a cabin up the mountain for three years, spending his days meditating, reading, gardening, and walking (doesn't sound too bad huh?), Jack feels like it's time to come back down and start his life again. On the second day down in the 'real world, he already meets the love of his life, who is named the love of his life on that same day as well. The fact that I can't, for the life of me, remember what her real name is unless I look it up again, says enough I think. In fact, the whole love interest could've easily been left out. It really doesn't add anything to the storyline, including an awkward sentence about a bruised pudenda...
Soon after the irrelevant pudenda scene(I just love saying pudenda), Jack finds out one of his best friends is murdered. All hell breaks loose and he's soon set out on a path for revenge that can only end with an eye for an eye kind of solution.
Jack meets some interesting characters on his hunt for the perp, yet, because we're talking about a sadistic serial killer here, not many of them last very long. It's like a thriller version of Game of Thrones, really.
To keep things exciting, I won't tell you which of the characters survive all the way throughout the book. There are two news reporters, a former FBI-guy, a crazy psychiatrist, a schizophrenic suffering from PTSD, the leader of a disturbing religious cult, a giant Mr.Muscle guy named Lucy, who likes drug dealing and gardening while wearing a flower dress, an old guy who lives in the woods together with a giant pack of dogs and a pet squirrel, and more. Just take your pick! I can only say it came as a bit of a surprise to me.
Even though there are quite a few flamboyant characters in here, most of them felt pretty flat. We hardly really get to know any of them, sadly. And this is what makes the book less awesome than it could've been.
The writing (apart from that hideous first chapter) was great and the story was fast-paced and disturbing at times. The action lacked a little...action? Especially when it comes to the end in which it all comes together. The scene I had been waiting for during the entire book was simply faded out, as in movie wise faded out. Has anyone of you seen the season finale (season 6) of The Walking Dead recently? If you have, that's kind of what it felt like. Except for the level of involvement I feel for the characters; in this book, I just hoped Jack would be okay and the rest couldn't really interest me all too much.
That being said, I still enjoyed it. It's not the typical action plot-twist cliffhanger kind of thriller, but instead, more written in a prose-like way, so that's definitely interesting. I'm giving it 3 brownies because I liked it and would be interested to read more from this author. Sadly (for me), he has retired 15 years ago, and it was already a hassle for me to find out where to buy Bloodwork, let alone his other books. I contacted the publisher about this, so hopefully that will bring some clarification when it comes to the sales department.
During the first chapter, I constantly thought "Sweet Jesus, please don't let the rest of the book be like this." The sentences were poorly structured and it was very clear the guy we were reading about was named Lucius... I'm also not a big fan of excessive stuttering in books, not even when someone's about to die; it just feels like crappy acting to me. That being said, this is still all the first chapter. As soon as I was one page into chapter two, I already noticed a big difference in the writing style: things became a lot better.
A couple of chapters later, I had a chronically dropped jaw and couldn't help but picturing scenes from this TV series in my head:
(if you haven't seen the first season of True Detective yet...go watch it, it's brilliant)
I'm not saying it was the creepiest shit I've ever read, but it was still pretty disturbing. When a middle-aged psychiatrist was banging a 16-year-old nympho girl, I even put the book down for a couple of hours...
Let's take a look at the storyline and characters. Jack Lee is the 42-year-old protagonist of the story. I took an instant liking to him because he seems like a very friendly, spiritual and caring guy. He actually reminded me a lot of Mike Ironwood, a character from a book I reviewed a couple of months ago: awesome combat skills with a gentle character. Just don't cross any of their paths or you'll be in deep shit!
After living like a hermit in a cabin up the mountain for three years, spending his days meditating, reading, gardening, and walking (doesn't sound too bad huh?), Jack feels like it's time to come back down and start his life again. On the second day down in the 'real world, he already meets the love of his life, who is named the love of his life on that same day as well. The fact that I can't, for the life of me, remember what her real name is unless I look it up again, says enough I think. In fact, the whole love interest could've easily been left out. It really doesn't add anything to the storyline, including an awkward sentence about a bruised pudenda...
Soon after the irrelevant pudenda scene(I just love saying pudenda), Jack finds out one of his best friends is murdered. All hell breaks loose and he's soon set out on a path for revenge that can only end with an eye for an eye kind of solution.
Jack meets some interesting characters on his hunt for the perp, yet, because we're talking about a sadistic serial killer here, not many of them last very long. It's like a thriller version of Game of Thrones, really.
To keep things exciting, I won't tell you which of the characters survive all the way throughout the book. There are two news reporters, a former FBI-guy, a crazy psychiatrist, a schizophrenic suffering from PTSD, the leader of a disturbing religious cult, a giant Mr.Muscle guy named Lucy, who likes drug dealing and gardening while wearing a flower dress, an old guy who lives in the woods together with a giant pack of dogs and a pet squirrel, and more. Just take your pick! I can only say it came as a bit of a surprise to me.
Even though there are quite a few flamboyant characters in here, most of them felt pretty flat. We hardly really get to know any of them, sadly. And this is what makes the book less awesome than it could've been.
The writing (apart from that hideous first chapter) was great and the story was fast-paced and disturbing at times. The action lacked a little...action? Especially when it comes to the end in which it all comes together. The scene I had been waiting for during the entire book was simply faded out, as in movie wise faded out. Has anyone of you seen the season finale (season 6) of The Walking Dead recently? If you have, that's kind of what it felt like. Except for the level of involvement I feel for the characters; in this book, I just hoped Jack would be okay and the rest couldn't really interest me all too much.
That being said, I still enjoyed it. It's not the typical action plot-twist cliffhanger kind of thriller, but instead, more written in a prose-like way, so that's definitely interesting. I'm giving it 3 brownies because I liked it and would be interested to read more from this author. Sadly (for me), he has retired 15 years ago, and it was already a hassle for me to find out where to buy Bloodwork, let alone his other books. I contacted the publisher about this, so hopefully that will bring some clarification when it comes to the sales department.
November 19, 2024
Φυτείες μαριχουάνας κι ένας κατά συρροήν δολοφόνος που παίρνει αυτιά!
Ενδιαφέρουσα και γρήγορη πλοκή, απρόσμενοι θάνατοι. Κάτι με ενόχλησε και δεν μπορώ να εντοπίσω ακριβώς τι. Μάλλον η γλώσσα (ίσως έφταιγε η μετάφραση), μια κάποια βιασύνη στην ανάπτυξη της υπόθεσης και των χαρακτήρων, κάτι τέλος πάντων. Δεν θα χάσετε πολλά αν δεν το διαβάσετε.
Full review on Insta @vivliofreneia
https://shorturl.at/qg3ey
Follow me on Insta @vivliofreneia
https://www.instagram.com/vivliofreneia/
Ενδιαφέρουσα και γρήγορη πλοκή, απρόσμενοι θάνατοι. Κάτι με ενόχλησε και δεν μπορώ να εντοπίσω ακριβώς τι. Μάλλον η γλώσσα (ίσως έφταιγε η μετάφραση), μια κάποια βιασύνη στην ανάπτυξη της υπόθεσης και των χαρακτήρων, κάτι τέλος πάντων. Δεν θα χάσετε πολλά αν δεν το διαβάσετε.
Full review on Insta @vivliofreneia
https://shorturl.at/qg3ey
Follow me on Insta @vivliofreneia
https://www.instagram.com/vivliofreneia/
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews