Killing Me - Michelle Gagnon

Okay - if you're looking for a completely unexpected plot, a lead character that will have you laughing - even as she's trying to escape a serial killer. And a lovable cadre of supporting characters that you'll adore. (mostly) Yes?  

Then you need to pick up a copy of Michelle Gagnon's new book - Killing Me. 

There's more to Amber Jamison, our protagonist, than meets the eye. She has her own 'shadowy' background. I loved her snappy inner dialogue. The supporting players' tongues are just as quick. They're a mixed bag of personalities. I had a soft spot for Dot, the motel owner. The support amongst this group was heart warming. 

The plotting is unexpected and fresh. I read a lot of crime fiction and really appreciated being surprised by the direction Gagnon's book takes. 

Now there's lots of humor, but there is a serial killer on the loose (or maybe two), so there is some darker bits. People do die and I wasn't always happy with who did. 

Gagnon's author notes hints at a follow-up book to Killing Me. Yes please - fingers crossed! See for yourself - read an excerpt of Killing Me.  An easy five stars.

Find You in the Dark - Nathan Ripley

Find You in the Dark is Nathan Ripley's debut novel - and if you like suspense fiction, its one you're going to want to pick up!

The premise is deliciously dark....... Martin Reese is obsessed with serial killers, specifically with the victims not found. He's been buying up police reports for many years and has managed to locate (and dig up) the bodies they couldn't find. But, he's doing all of it anonymously and taunts the cops with a tip off of each new body located. Oh, and he takes only photos as souvenirs. Uh huh. He's been branded as The Finder by the cops. And it's all going along as it has for many years until.....you got it - a serial killer figures out who Martin is and what he's doing - and......

I know, I couldn't wait to start reading either! Martin knew something would happen eventually with his 'hobby', but "I didn't know yet that I'd made deeper mistakes I wouldn't ever be able to put all the way right." Martin didn't engage me as a person, rather I found myself observing him, somewhat dispassionately.

Now, someone else is after The Finder as well. Detective Sandra Whittal. I loved this description of her...."She was thirty-two and lacked the penis that functioned as a skeleton key to acceptance, but she had the competence and could properly talk shit, which went a long way." Whittal is clever, dogged and determined. This is the character I really liked.

Find You in the Dark is a delicious cat and mouse game. It is a plot driven novel, with numerous twists and turns and some great foreshadowing. Now, yes there are some moments in the plot that I thought were a bit of a stretch, but I quickly let them go and kept turning page after page. For this reader, Find You in the Dark was definitely an entertaining read. I look forward to Ripley's next book. Read an excerpt of Find You in the Dark. (And you know, I think this book would make a great movie.)

"Nathan Ripley is the pen name of literary fiction writer and journalist Naben Ruthnum. His stories and essays have appeared in The Walrus, Hazlitt, Sight & Sound, and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, among other places. He lives in Toronto. Visit him at NabenRuthnum.com or follow him on TwitterMartin is not quite the responsible cit @NabenRuthnum."

Birthdays for the Dead - Stuart MacBride

Stuart MacBride is another author whose name I was familiar with, but hadn't sampled yet. Well, that's all changed. I just read Birthdays for the Dead and I am hooked.

MacBride grabs you by the throat in the opening prologue and only eases his grip long enough to let you take a breath and then the pressure is back on. Non-stop.

The day's mail includes a birthday card for Detective Constable Ash Henderson's daughter Rebecca - she would have been eighteen. Rebecca went missing days before her thirteenth birthday and it's assumed she ran away. But, Ash knows differently. She was a victim of The Birthday Boy - a sadistic killer who sends parents horrific photos of their dead daughters in a yearly birthday card. And Ash has just received his latest. The Oldcastle police have been chasing this maniac for over eight years and they may have just caught a break - a body has been found. Ash has withheld his cards and daughter's death from everyone as he doesn't want to be taken off the case. But, it's taken a toll - he's divorced, lives in a dive, is dangerously in debt to the local mob, eats painkillers constantly and is a little too quick with his fists. He's a train wreck of a man - and you can't help but hoping he comes out on top.

Whew. Where to start? It took me the first few chapters to catch on to MacBride's style - fast and furious, but also with some funny bits. I know, after what I just described, funny doesn't seem possible. But Ash is paired up with Alice,  a very 'different' psychologist, who has her own set of issues. The dialogue between the two is quite witty. On the flip side, Mrs. Kerrigan scared the bejesus out of me. The action truly never stops, the tension never lets up and I was unable to predict where the plot was headed next. Or the ending.

Gentle readers be warned - Birthdays for the Dead is dark, gritty and violent. But, boy oh boy crime fans - it's oh so good! This was my first MacBride, but definitely won't be my last.  Read an excerpt of Birthdays for the Dead. I was glad that this was a stand alone book. (But I would like to see more of this character) as MacBride also writes a crime series featuring Logan McRae that I want to start from the beginning.

You can find Stuart MacBride on Twitter and on Facebook.

Gun Machine - Warren Ellis

No, I haven't got it backwards...the title of Warren Ellis's latest novel is Gun Machine.

And it was a great book to start off the New Year with a bang. The opening line hooked me...

..."On playing back the 911 recording, it'd seem that Mrs. Stegman was more concerned that the man outside her apartment door was naked than that he had a big shotgun."

Detective John Tallow is sent to investigate and what he finds is more that anyone could have imagined. One of the apartments in the building is full of guns. Not piles of guns, but meticulously displayed and mounted guns, all in a unfathomable pattern. And when the techs start testing the guns they find something even more unthinkable. Each of the guns has been used in an unsolved murder, starting over twenty years ago.

Tallow is one of those burned out but brilliant characters I love to discover. "You're at the age where the rush of the job has passed and the grind of the job is taken in stride, and this is the time when you're wondering if it wouldn't be so bad if you just stopped giving much of a shit and rolled along doing as little as possible."

Just as intriguing were the pair of supporting characters in the cast - Bat and Scarly - brilliant Crime Scene Unit Investigators, but misfits themselves. Yes, they were a bit over the top, but I really enjoyed them.

But, it seems that the higher up really don't want the case solved - roadblocks appear in Tallow's path and the owner of the guns has Tallow in his sights....

Ellis has penned a unique entry in the crime scene genre - the characters really grabbed me and I hope he plans to employ them again. The killer was truly psychotic - his view of the world past and present was a technique I quite liked. The killer's views of old Manhattan sent me off to Google to see if it was all true or not. (It was) The plotting is imaginative, conspiratorial and multi-layered - more involved than I initially thought it would be. Ellis has a dark sense of humour that he allows to peek out through some of the dialogue. Be warned - there are some dark spots - the police chatter on the scanner is disturbing. My only complaint would be that the ending happened too quickly for me.
Ellis is the author of a number of graphic novels and I could see this book being easily written in that format as well. It had a bit of a noir, off-beat feel to it.

Again, I hope Ellis reprises this cast in a future book - I'd love to read another John Tallow story.

Read an excerpt of Gun Machine. You can find Warren Ellis on Twitter.

Kill You Twice - Chelsea Cain

Chelsea Cain writes thrillers with a twist. Her latest book Kill You Twice is the fifth book in the Archie Sehridan/Gretchen Lowell series. No, they're not a pair of detectives. Rather, Archie is a Portland detective and Gretchen...Well Gretchen is a serial killer with no fixed address. Except she does now - she's securely locked away in a psych ward.

Archie and Gretchen have a complicated relationship. He's the one who put her away, but he still finds himself attracted to her despite the fact that Gretchen, also known as the Beauty Killer, nearly killed him.

A fresh set of killings in Portland look like they might be the work of Gretchen. But they can't be - she is locked away. Is it a copycat? An apprentice? Gretchen claims to have information - but only if Archie comes himself. If he does, their intricate game of cat and mouse will resume.

Devoted fans of this series will be thrilled to find that some of Gretchen's past is finally revealed. Favourite (for me) characters such as reporter Susan are included - again with some unexpected revelations. Archie - well Archie is just as enigmatic, dogged and determined as ever. But his judgement is always clouded when it comes to Gretchen.

I chose to listen Kill You Twice and actually think I'll listen to future books in this series. The reader was Christina Delaine and she was excellent. She had a nice, low gravelly voice for Archie. Her voice for Gretchen was sexy and scary at the same time. And Susan - Delaine has come up with a slightly squeaky voice that really does conjure up the image I had in mind. Delaine is a truly expressive reader. And very easy to listen to.

The plot is quite devious and the story moved along really well. I enjoy the cat and mouse game between Archie and Gretchen. And I'm pretty sure Cain has more in mind for these two.

Listen to an excerpt of Kill You Twice. Or read an excerpt.

Fair warning to gentle readers/listeners - this series may not be for you. Cain writes graphic, gory thrillers.  In her own words "But I guess that I shouldn't be surprised to find myself writing thrillers. It does bring together many of my interests: forensic pathology, medicine, damaged heroes, dead pets, Nancy Drew, TV cops shows, my home of Portland, Oregon, and having an excuse to be alone in a room for long periods." You can find Chelsea Cain on Twitter.

Bloodline - Mark Billingham

For the longest time Mark Billingham was my little secret. I had discovered a fantastic author from across the pond and delighted in letting my crime/thriller aficionados at the library know about this fantastic author. Billingham is definitely not a secret any longer.

Bloodline is the eighth book to feature Murder Squad Detective Tom Thorne. Thorne is a wonderfully conflicted, stubborn, clever man who sometimes makes the wrong choices...

Thorne is called out on what seems to be a domestic murder. It looks like the husband is the culprit and Thorne is happy to have a quick open and shut case. But when a piece of x-ray is found in the victim's fist, the case isn't  as straight forward as he thought. Another crime victim is also found with a piece of x-ray that jigsaws the first piece. With those two clues, Thorne pieces together what the two victims have in common - and it isn't pretty. I don't want to spoil the plot -  so I'm not going to let you know what it is!

Thorne has his hands full this time, facing a killer who is incredibly clever...and has his eye on Thorne.

I love this character. Billingham has slowly revealed more and more of him every book. His personal life seems to be coming together at last, but with Thorne you never know. I enjoy his taste in music as well!

The plot is very, very clever. As is the killer. Billingham had me guessing until the very end.

Read an excerpt of Bloodline. You can find Mark Billingham on Facebook and on Twitter.

If you've caught up on all of the Michael Connelly or John Sandford series, get started on Mark Billingham - highly recommended.

Think of a Numb3r - John Verdon

Well, John Verdon's debut novel had my number, that's for sure. I'm a big fan of suspense and thrillers and Think of a Numb3r had me right from the start...

Dave Gurney is a retired NYPD Homicide Investigator. He's moved to the country with his wife Madeleine to enjoy the quiet life. (Mind you, his new hobby is exhibiting serial killer photographs...) Mark Mellery, an acquaintance from college sends Gurney a somewhat desperate note asking for his 'professional' help. Mark has received a series of cryptic notes - the first asking him to pick a number between 1 and 1000. When he mentally does, he then opens a second envelope to find that exact number. How could anyone know what number he would have picked? The notes have escalated in tone and Mellery is now quite frightened. Who wouldn't be.... "What you took you will give when you get what you gave. I know what you think, when you blink, where you've been, where you'll be. You and I have a date, Mr. 658."

Against his better judgement (and that of Madeleine) he is drawn into the investigation. What an utterly imaginative and creepy crime Verdon has come up with! It begins with the notes, but the crime scenes themselves are out of the ordinary as well. I love not being able to figure out the whodunit and the howdunit. Verdon kept me enthralled from start to finish. Very, very clever!

The relationship between Dave and Madeleine is also a big part of the book. Gurney is good at the detective stuff, but is having trouble with his own relationships. I'm still making up my mind about Gurney. I think he's a work in progress. I found the enigmatic Madeleine to be fascinating and I think there are depths to plumb there.I definitely hope that this becomes a regular series as I think there is much left to explore, know and develop with Dave Gurney. Some of the supporting characters, notably the police captain and the district attorney, were a bit over the top, but provided a good foil for Gurney.

A wonderfully creepy read that will have you guessing to the end! Read an excerpt of Think of a Number.

Check out the Think of a Number game at Crown Publishing. The Youtube book trailer is pretty good too.
John is on tour this month with TLC Book Tours - here's the rest of the stops - see what everyone else is thinking! ( TLC will be running this book as their book club contest in August - 10 copies to be won!)