Book Buzz

DANIEL JUDSON

Remer was a Private Investigator in New York until an angry recipient of his surveillance had him kidnapped, tortured and branded with the word VOYEUR. Five years later was living in Southampton operation a small liquor store and staying in the shadows. Until one of his former staff went missing with $80,000 of his money. This mystery has enough twists and turns to keep it interesting. A good read.

RENE GUTTERIDGE

YOUR PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS JUST WENT PUBLIC

Someone, somehow is listening to people’s private conversations and putting them verboten on a web page. How are they listening to conversations in people’s homes. Don’t people have the right to vent their anger and frustration? Marlo is a tight close knit community until careless comments and hurtful accusations are posted on a web page that nobody can seem to ignore. Damien is a lover of words, he creates the crossword puzzle for the local paper and a believer in the power of words. He works with the police to try and find the creator of the web page to stop what is happening until he becomes the main suspect. Listen is a series of mysteries within a mystery. Well worth the read.

STIEG LARRSON

For a book in which precious little happens, this novel is quite the page turner. This is the final book in Larrson’s Millennium trilogy. Hornet’s Nest starts precisely where the last book ended. If you haven’t read the other books you need to read them first. All excellent. This book deals with journalists, lawyers and police researching exactly what happened in Sweden during the last forty years that Salander’s rights could have been so severely abused. I often complain that books are too long, that they need editing. At over 500 pages Hornet’s Nest does not fit into that category. It is a must read.

Why were these great books covered so poorly?

GREG HERRON

Set in New Orleans before Katrina, Rue Dauphine is a trashy gay murder mystery. But why are all the characters totally gorgeous? Life isn’t like that. It gets boring reading descriptions of the same looking men. But sometimes trashy is what I want to read. Chanse McLeod, Private Eye and ex-cop, discovers his latest client dead. “Faggots Die” was written in blood staining the wall. The client claims his closeted boy friend is being blackmailed. But how does the organization GRN, Gay Rights Now, fund raise so much money?

MICHAEL CRICHTON

State of fear is two books morphed into one. The thriller is a story of how eco-terrorist plan to create a tsunami. Peter Evans, a Los Angeles lawyer with an interesting romantic life and a very interesting primary client–millionaire environmental philanthropist George Morton. Morton bankrolls the National Environmental Resource Fund (NERF), an environmental group suing the U.S. on behalf of the island nation of Vanutu for damages caused by Global Warming-induced sea level rises. We watch Peter Evans as he meets the legal and scientific team assembled by NERF to prosecute the sea level rise lawsuit and tries to discover what is actually planned and where it will take place.

The second book is a rant against the theory of Global Warning. Crichton repeatedly attacks environmentalists and the science behind Global Warming though a series of mock trials that Evans sits though. The book is full of footnotes linking scientific reports that counter the idea of pending environmental problems. Crichton believes the theory of global warming is a scientific delusion.

It was an interesting read for the beach.

JEFFREY ROUND

Time for a trashy, light mystery.  P-town is the story of Brad Bradford an undercover detective. When Brad receives an anonymous tip that his former lover has been killed in Province Town, Brad goes to deal with the body. He leaves his assignment of stopping a possible assassination of the Dali Lama in New York.  P-Town is portrait as heaven on earth. Especially for gay people. But more people are dieing in P-Town on a daily basis. Brad stays to solve the crime. The book is a campy look as the under world of gay life and death. Fun read.

ANTHONY E. ZUIKER

Brilliant concept. Cybernovel. (They have copywrited the term Digi-Novel.) Every twenty pages or so the book refers you to the web page level26.com with a code to see a video of what is happening. The videos are generally well produced. Zuiker was the creater of CSI series so he has access to top quality production. But not all of the videos add to the story and the story is not gentle. Level 26 refers to the fact that law enforcement personnel have a code that categorizes evil on a scale of twenty five levels. Level 25 refers to the sickest murderer-torturers. For this new serial killer they had to create a new level : 26. It is definately adult reading and not for people with queasy stomachs.

Not particulary well written but it is a bit of a page turner. If you can stand the gore. Again set up for the sequel.

Daniel Browning Smith is creepy as all hell as evil incarnate in the video. He is also know as rubber boy the contortionist. Google his name.