Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman - an ordinary man gets pulled into the Under London world. This is not a light and airy fantasy. It was too grim for me and I didn't completely understand what was going on.
2 stars
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Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indridason - a young child is found murdered and the police must determine if it's racist in nature or something else. Part of a series of dark Icelandic mysteries led by Erlendur.
3 stars
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The Lost Girls of Rome by Donato Carissi - a convoluted tale of serial killers, a secret sect within the Vatican and a policewoman investigating the death of her husband, all set in Rome. While the story was good, the constant switching back and forth in time and between protagonists was quite confusing. I wasn't sure what was happening until about the last third of the book. The end was a shocker though. If I was grading on just the way it was written, it would get 2 stars. Actually, I liked the writing, but it was too disjointed. If I was grading on the story, 4 stars.
3 stars
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Light of the World by James Lee Burke - I don't know what it is about authors as they get older, they either get very verbose or formulaic. This particular story could have been told in about 200 less pages. More and more evil people doing more and more evil acts kept being introduced while the main protagonist prattled on about philosophical matters. A serial killer thought dead is trailing Dave Robicheaux's daughter, and even though he's a policeman, he's thinking about handling things his way. Fairly violent, including sexual violence.
2 stars
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Starting at Zero by Jimi Hendrix - the words of Jimi Hendrix, compiled from his writings, interviews, and lyrics. Put together by Peter Neal and Alan Douglas, who was his last producer. Jimi seemed like an intelligent man very much driven by his music. His last writings seemed to me to be very much influenced by drugs but maybe I'm projecting.
3 stars
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Red Light by T. Jefferson Parker - Merci Rayburn is back and this time she's investigating the death of an upscale hooker and a cold case from the 60's. And it seems her boyfriend is involved. This was a struggle to get through. Lots of angst.
2 stars
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The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro - a young married woman learns she has received an inheritance in Paris from a woman she doesn't know. The story moves from 1955 to previous years, but not in a confusing way. I really liked the way this was written. A little crude in some places.
4 stars
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Disappointed - I started a book by an author I gave 5 stars to last year and couldn't finish it. It really annoyed me and I figured out right away what I'm sure was supposed to be a big surprise at the end. Perfect by Rachel Joyce.
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