God's Spy (Suspense-Paola Dicanti-Vatican City-Cont) - 1st book - Juan Gomez-Jurado Sovereign (Hist. Myst-Matthew Shardlake-England-1541) - 4th of series - C.J. Sansom Visibility (Police Proc-Herbert Smith-London-1952) - Standalone - Boris Starling
God's Spy - Juan Gomez-Jurado Linda - DNF - She hated it so much. It was so ickily graphic. She did not like the character of Paloa, and didn't feel she was convincing. The plot did move along but it felt like a typical chase story. LJ - VG - The fact that you know the killer from the beginning does nothing to diminish the excitement or complexity of this story. The book includes a Cast of Characters at the beginning and even a map, two things I appreciate, but I found the story was so well told and the characters so well developed, I didn’t need either element. Dicanti, as a female Inspector trained by the FBI in criminal profiling yet still living with her mother, is a wonderful character. The story is fast-paced, does include some graphic descriptions of the murders, has touches of humor, plenty of violence, psychological suspense and a couple excellent twists. Highly recommended. Nancy - VG+ - Son of Di Vinci Code, it was a really exciting, good airplane read that she just couldn't put down. the only fault was the Paola, as a character, paled in comparison to the other characters. Originally written in Spanish, it was not a bad translation.
SOVEREIGN - C.J. Sansom LJ - VG - Sansom has a talent of writing both a very good, suspenseful mystery while involving the reader in the life and politics of the time. Rather than portraying a romantic view of historic England, Sansom conveys the harshness of living conditions, the brutality of the justice of the time and the unrest and uncertainty due to Henry’s striving for an heir and causing the religious division of the time. Matthew is a wonderful character with a strong belief in doing what’s right, he’s nicely offset by Barak greater willingness to bend the rules. Matthew is also a very human character who can be stubborn, petty and jealous. Although the dialogue is a bit awkward at times as it is strictly neither period nor modern, only a couple times did I find that distracting. This is a series I read in order, but if you enjoy history brought to life, I highly recommend Sansom. Nancy - G - Liked Shardlake and his assistant Jack Barak. It was heavily researched, but there was too much torture included for her. Sex would have been a better way to keep the reader's attention. There was just something ponderous about it.
VISIBILITY - Boris Starling Charlotte - G+ - Found the first 50 pages very slow but then raced through the next 100 pages and really got into it. The plot did seem convoluted but she was really glad they included the afterword that gave the details of the London fog of 1952. Corona - VG - Liked it a lot. She never knew about the 1952 fog that killed 4,000 people. Likes the period, enjoyed the story. She didn't see what Hannah saw in Herbert; didn't understand the attraction. Found it strange that Herbert was conveniently forgiven for an insensitive remark. She did enjoy it; it was rich, was complicated enough and not silly. Enjoyed it very much. Linda - G - Felt like more detail than story in some parts. But other parts of the detail were fascinating. She liked Hannah and found her very interesting. Liked how the fog impacted the plot. She wasn't as wild about how real historical figures were worked into the plot. Linda felt the characters had a shared sense of loss. The story takes place in such a short period of time that the relationship seemed a bit stretched to her. A few phrases did seem out of time, which irritated her. However, she still thought it was a good book. LJ - VG - Starling created an excellent sense of place. The denseness of the fog becomes integral to the story. He also excels at character development allowing you to learn about the characters continually thorough the story, as one would get to know people in real life. In fact, the core of the story really was about Herbert and Hannah and what made them who they are. The rest felt secondary around that. The story also lacked a strong element of suspense until you were more than half way through the story. There was a lot of detail, some I found fascinating, some boring but I learned a lot. A firm editing hand would have helped this book tremendously. Although nothing with ever touch Starling’s first book “Messiah,” I did enjoy this book. Nancy - VG+ - Liked it a lot. She was sold on it when the diver turned out to be a blink person. The whole book is a riff on perception and visibility. Herbert and Hannah becoming a couple didn't bother her at all.
Sovereign (Hist. Myst-Matthew Shardlake-England-1541) - 4th of series - C.J. Sansom
Visibility (Police Proc-Herbert Smith-London-1952) - Standalone - Boris Starling
God's Spy - Juan Gomez-Jurado
Linda - DNF - She hated it so much. It was so ickily graphic. She
did not like the character of Paloa, and didn't feel she was convincing. The
plot did move along but it felt like a typical chase story.
LJ - VG - The fact that you know the killer from the beginning
does nothing to diminish the excitement or complexity of this story. The book includes
a Cast of Characters at the beginning and even a map, two things I appreciate,
but I found the story was so well told and the characters so well developed,
I didn’t need either element. Dicanti, as a female Inspector trained
by the FBI in criminal profiling yet still living with her mother, is a wonderful
character. The story is fast-paced, does include some graphic descriptions
of the murders, has touches of humor, plenty of violence, psychological suspense
and a couple excellent twists. Highly recommended.
Nancy - VG+ - Son of Di Vinci Code, it was a really exciting,
good airplane read that she just couldn't put down. the only fault was the Paola, as
a character, paled in comparison to the other characters. Originally
written in Spanish, it was not a bad translation.
SOVEREIGN - C.J. Sansom
LJ - VG - Sansom has a talent of writing both a very good,
suspenseful mystery while involving the reader in the life and politics of
the time. Rather than portraying a romantic view of historic England, Sansom
conveys the harshness of living conditions, the brutality of the justice of
the time and the unrest and uncertainty due to Henry’s striving for an heir and causing the religious division of the time. Matthew is a wonderful character with a strong belief in
doing what’s right, he’s nicely offset by Barak greater willingness
to bend the rules. Matthew is also a very human character who can be stubborn,
petty and jealous. Although the dialogue is a bit awkward at times as it is
strictly neither period nor modern, only a couple times did I find that distracting.
This is a series I read in order, but if you enjoy history brought to life,
I highly recommend Sansom.
Nancy - G - Liked Shardlake and his assistant Jack Barak. It was heavily
researched, but there was too much torture included for her. Sex would
have been a better way to keep the reader's attention. There was just
something ponderous about it.
VISIBILITY - Boris Starling
Charlotte - G+ - Found the first 50 pages very slow but then
raced through the next 100 pages and really got into it. The plot did
seem convoluted but she was really glad they included the afterword that gave
the details of the London fog of 1952.
Corona - VG - Liked it a lot. She never knew about the 1952 fog that killed
4,000 people. Likes the period, enjoyed the story. She didn't see
what Hannah saw in Herbert; didn't understand the attraction. Found it
strange that Herbert was conveniently forgiven for an insensitive remark. She
did enjoy it; it was rich, was complicated enough and not silly. Enjoyed
it very much.
Linda - G - Felt like more detail than story in some parts. But other parts
of the detail were fascinating. She liked Hannah and found her very interesting. Liked
how the fog impacted the plot. She wasn't as wild about how real historical
figures were worked into the plot. Linda felt the characters had a shared
sense of loss. The story takes place in such a short period of time that
the relationship seemed a bit stretched to her. A few phrases did seem
out of time, which irritated her. However, she still thought it was a
good book.
LJ - VG - Starling created an excellent sense of place. The denseness of
the fog becomes integral to the story. He also excels at character development
allowing you to learn about the characters continually thorough the story, as
one would get to know people in real life. In fact, the core of the story
really was about Herbert and Hannah and what made them who they are. The
rest felt secondary around that. The story also lacked a strong element
of suspense until you were more than half way through the story. There
was a lot of detail, some I found fascinating, some boring but I learned a lot. A
firm editing hand would have helped this book tremendously. Although nothing
with ever touch Starling’s first book “Messiah,” I did enjoy
this book.
Nancy - VG+ - Liked it a lot. She was sold on it when the diver turned out
to be a blink person. The whole book is a riff on perception and visibility. Herbert
and Hannah becoming a couple didn't bother her at all.