Thriller Books

A FAIR TRIAL .... WITHOUT A BODY?

Advantages: Chilling, gripping, compelling tale
Disadvantages: All the characters smoke excessively!

~~~INTRODUCTION~~~ I buy a lot of books from charity shops - after all they're cheap, accessible, tend to have an impressive range of genres available and at the same time you're supporting a good cause in a way that offers a benefit to you as well as the organisation concerned. I found myself in the local Oxfam shop a couple of months ago. Recently refurbished, it holds a remarkable collection of books, organised by author making it easy to see ...
...and sometimes when you've read a few books by an individual author in quick succession there's a danger of becoming bored with their style, tone or formulaic approach to writing. Nothing could be further from the truth in this case! ~~~THE AUTHOR~~~ McDermid became the first woman from a Scottish state school to be accepted at St Hilda's in Oxford to read English and went on to become a young and enthusiastic journalist. She always wanted to be ...

fantasybeliever 13.07.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of A Place of Execution - Val McDermid

Halloween will soon be on us - why not read this book to prepare

Advantages: A true ghost story, pure magic
Disadvantages: BOO!!

THE WOMAN IN BLACK SUSAN HILL "I looked directly at her and she at me. There was no mistake. My eyes were not deceiving me. It was she, the woman in black." After writing a review yesterday for Susan Hill's 'The Mist in the Mirror', I realised that for some reason I have never written a review on her better known, and in my opinion, far superior book 'The Woman in Black'. As the male contingency Chez Oldchem insisted on watching 'Casino ...
...emerge in skimpy shorts from the sea, and I would be able to refresh my memories of a book I have read on many occasions. (Oh and yes I did rewind my Sky Plus this morning to check out those shorts - as you must!!) Written in 1983, by Susan Hill, 'The Woman in Black' is a short ghost story about a menacing ghost that haunts a small English town. Although only about twenty five years old, the book is now something of a classic in its genre.It has ...

oldchem 20.09.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Woman In Black - Susan Hill

"Let the wicked be ashamed...."

Advantages: great characters, shows promise for the rest of the series
Disadvantages: let down in the storytelling

...ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave This is one of the very last phrases that Sir Edward Grey sees before he dies of a seemingly innocent long-standing illness. The first time his wife, Lady Julia Grey meets the mysterious Nicholas Brisbane, is when he is helping her with her husband who had just collapsed in front of all of their dinner guests. It takes Lady Julia nearly a year before she believes Nicholas’ outlandish claims that her ...
...Sir Edward approached Brisbane before he died to hire him as a detective as he had been receiving threats against his life. It is only when Lady Julia is cleaning out her dead husbands possessions that she stumbles across the last note hastily hidden from view. Determined to now find out the truth about her husbands death, Lady Julia approaches Brisbane again and enlists his help in finding her husbands murderer. It will be trickier than she thought; ...

burtybookworm 03.11.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Silent in the Grave - Deanna Raybourn

The Testament - John Grisham

Advantages: Fast reading
Disadvantages: nothing

...a lot of details on the places and the story itself. It takes us in the offices of one of the richest men in United States, Troy Phelan. It seems that Phelan's family was not a family but a group of weired and crazy people. Troy is an eccentric man, never loved by any, but everyone loved his money. He ends his life in a wheelchair and always closed in his rich apartment. Phelan wanted to screw everyone and I am sure that such people exist. He did ...
...Nate O'Riley, is assigned with the job to find the truth. Nate starts his adventure in the remote parts of Brazil. I am sure that John really visited such places and used to live the experience of such people. Some parts are too good to be true. This is one of them. The litigator is searching for Troy's unknown daughter in the mission of Brazil, Rachel Lane. After a lot of trouble he finds her. Rachel was not aware of her father, but she knew that ...

joemal 07.08.2008 · Read full review
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Review of The Testament - John Grisham

Brilliant

Advantages: Gripping from Start to finish
Disadvantages: none

...is no exception and possibly the best one I have read so far! She has a real way of describing the down and dirty happenings in the gangster world. The characters are brilliant and the twist turns and plot is even better. Martina really takes it to another level and gets into the minds of the charectors. The main charetor "Freddie" is a ruthless evil gangster who is fresh out of prison, with the promise to his family that he has turned over a new ...
...get what you want in the ganster world. Freddie sees no reason and takes the gangster life style to a whole new level. Slowley and surely Freddie infects and destroys the lifes of people around him with lies betrayel and dam right evilness! I personally find it very difficult to get into books, they really do have to grip me and well I read this book within a week! Would recommend to anyone thats likes gripping books that keep you mesmarised from ...

Na7aliek 27.10.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of The Take - Martina Cole