Crime & Beyond Book Club Reads Two Kinds of Truth by Michael Connelly

The Denver-based book club, Crime & Beyond, just read the latest Michael Connelly book; let's see if it's a good book club read.

Crime & Beyond is a big fan of everything Michael Connelly writes, and he is one of the few authors we will read over and over again. This past month we read book 20 in the Harry Bosch series, Two Kinds of Truth. In the book, Bosch’s work on cold cases is interrupted when there is a double homicide at a local pharmacy. The case leads investigators into the world of prescription drug trafficking and Bosch ends up going undercover to try and catch the bad guys. Meanwhile, one of the men Bosch helped put in jail years before is accusing him of planting the evidence that convicted him, and claims he has new DNA results that prove he’s innocent. Bosch hires his half-brother Mickey Haller to defend him.

The book got great reviews from the club. We had a long discussion about both of Harry’s cases and we absolutely loved that Mickey Haller had a cameo (more than half of us are team Haller). The book is very relevant as it deals with the opioid crisis. Connelly put a lot of research into the book and really delves into a big issue that we are all seeing in the news.

Harry also closes an old cold case he had worked on that had been haunting him. One of our only criticisms was that it seemed like there were one too many plotlines going on at once.

The end of the book contains a hint as to Harry’s next case and we look forward to book 21 when he teams up with Connelly's new female character, Renee Ballard.

Crime & Beyond Book Club Reads I Know a Secret by Tess Gerritsen

The Denver-based book club Crime & Beyond recently discussed the 12th book in the Rizzoli & Isles series by Tess Gerritsen and Kerry Hammond is here to give us her notes.

Crime & Beyond met this month to discuss I Know a Secret, the 12^th book in the Rizzoli and Isles series written by Tess Gerritsen. Many club members had seen the TNT series starring Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander but quite a few were reading the books for the first time. I was a bit worried at jumping in at book 12, but we went with it since it was the most recent--published earlier this year. There were a few storyline spoilers this far into the series, but on the whole it didn’t detract from our enjoyment.

In the book, Boston police detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles are pulled into several murder cases that seemingly mimic the gruesome deaths of martyred saints. Their investigated leads them back to an incident of alleged abuse of children at a school some time before and the family who were prosecuted for the crime. Maura’s biological mother, a convicted serial killer named Amalthea, is dying of cancer but still manages to taunt Maura with information relating to their current investigation.

Our bookclub really loved this book and gave it a very high rating. We thought it was an easy and quick read, although not without some gore. We loved the twists, turns, and red herrings that led us away from the true culprit. We had a great discussion and many will be going back to book one in the series to read more. It was a great choice for a book club read.

Crime & Beyond Book Club Reads Hellbent by Gregg Hurwitz

The Denver-based book club Crime & Beyond recently discussed the third book in the Orphan X series by Gregg Hurwitz and Kerry Hammond is here to give us the report.

Crime & Beyond met this month to discuss the third book in the Orphan X series by Gregg Hurwitz. Hellbent features our favorite Nowhere Man, Evan Smoak. Our club has read each of the books in this series. The first was our favorite; not surprising, often the first in a new series is the most exciting. The second was good, but less exciting that we would have hoped. The third, Hellbent, received high scores and many club members thought it was a close second to Orphan X.

In this installment, Even Smoak, our hero and vigilante for justice, finds himself in the possession of a very important “package.” Its location was left to him by his mentor and father figure, Jack, as he was being hunted by the orphans who are trying to eliminate all of the loose ends relating to the program. The package isn’t so much a package as it is a 16 year-old girl who was in the orphan program before Jack hid her away to keep her safe. Evan’s nemesis, Van Sciver, is the lead villain in the story and he’s not only out to get Evan, but the girl he is trying to protect.

We had a great discussion and the book scored an average score of 8 out of 10. We loved the fact that Evan showed a bit more of his vulnerable side. The series is a great book club read because it has lots of action and plenty of discussion on good versus evil. There is a fourth book in the works and we look forward to seeing where Hurwitz will take us next.

Crime & Beyond Book Club Reads Jesse and Jonathan Kellerman's Crime Scene

The Denver-based book club Crime & Beyond recently discussed a new book by father and son team Jesse and Jonathan Kellerman, and Kerry Hammond is here to tell us what they thought.

Crime & Beyond met this month to discuss the first book in a new series written by Jesse Kellerman and Jonathan Kellerman, a father & son writing team. Jonathan Kellerman has written the widely successful Alex Delaware mystery series, which contains 33 books to date. Jesse has written five solo novels and the two have teamed up twice before: writing The Golem of Hollywood and The Golem of Paris, a series billed as genre crossing psychological thrillers.

Crime Scene is the first book in a new series featuring former athlete turned San Francisco Deputy Coroner, Clay Edison. The book was a New York Times bestseller in its first week on the stands and it made its way to our club’s short list soon after. In the book we meet Clay and his merry band of co-workers at the coroner’s office. He is sent to the crime scene where a retired professor, Rennert, has fallen to his death. It is presumably an open and shut case; a death that no one had a hand in causing. The problem is, he meets the dead man’s daughter and she claims he was murdered.

Clay takes it upon himself to look further into the death, uncovering two more in the process; one a brutal killing of a college student and another of a colleague of Rennert’s who was involved in a college study gone wrong. Clay is unable to let the case go and spends his time digging deeper into the other two deaths to try and answer questions about his current case.

Our reviews of the book were all across the board. Some loved Clay and some didn’t. Some found his investigation plausible and others unbelievable. Many of us loved the cameo made by the Alex Delaware character and others felt it was contrived. The bottom line is that we delved into the many aspects of the story and it led to a great discussion. Many of us will continue with the series to see how the authors develop this new character and what new cases he will investigate.

Crime & Beyond Book Club Reads The Late Show by Michael Connelly

Kerry Hammond is here with the latest report from the Denver-based Crime & Beyond book club. They read the first in a new series by one of their favorite authors, Michael Connelly.

This month we returned to a known author and read The Late Show by Michael Connelly.

Connelly has been entertaining us for years with Harry Bosch and Mickey Haller, but he now has a third series, featuring a female police officer who works the night shift in Hollywood—dubbed the "Late Show.” She was once a day shift detective with a great career ahead of her, until she filed a sexual harassment claim against her powerful supervisor and received no back up from her partner, who saw the whole thing.

She has been sent to the Late Show where cops are meant to start investigations for crimes that happen on their shift, and then turn the work over to the day shift to complete. Ballard gets caught up in two cases that she just can’t let go, and continues to investigate against advice from her own partner. One case in particular will take her to her breaking point and allow the reader a glimpse of just what she’s made of.

Renee Ballard is extremely driven. She grew up in Hawaii and hasn’t given up her love of the water, frequently paddle boarding to relieve her stress. She’s a bit of a nomad and sleeps in a tent on the beach more often than not. Some of the club members likened her to Jack Reacher with a day job and a few extra changes of clothes.

Almost everyone gave this book high scores. One of the criticisms was that Ballard is still a mystery to us, even after book one. We suspect that Connelly will dole out her backstory in pieces as he writes the series, revealing more and more about what makes her tick. We will definitely be reading book 2.

Crime & Beyond Book Club Reads The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

Kerry Hammond is here with the latest report from the Denver-based Crime & Beyond book club. They just finished a book by Shari Lapena.

Crime & Beyond met recently to discuss The Couple Next Door, written by new-to-us author Shari Lapena. The latest craze in books is the domestic thriller, think Gone Girl and Girl on a Train. A recent article in the New Yorker explains that these books are ”a subset of recent thrillers featuring “unreliable” female protagonists who, despite their considerable handicaps—which may involve alcoholism, drug addiction, paranoia, and even psychosis—manage to persevere and solve mysteries where others have failed.”

The Couple Next Door falls into the domestic thriller category and it features Anne and Marco Conti, a young couple who have just started a family with their new baby Cora. One evening they decide to treat themselves to a night out and go next door to have dinner with neighbors. While they are enjoying their little dinner party, their world is turned upside down when Cora goes missing. Blame and suspicion falls on Anne and Marco, and as the police investigate we see inside their marriage. We see that Anne was overwhelmed with her new baby, Marco was struggling at work, and Anne’s parents never approved of their daughter’s choice in husband. The story behind Cora’s disappearance takes more than one turn as each character’s story unravels and the truth is revealed.

This was a great book club pick and we had a very lively and spirited discussion. We delved into everything from Anne and Marco’s parenting skills to the author’s ability to build suspense and lay suspicion at everyone’s door. The pace of the book made it hard to put down and the style of writing kept us all interested. We had differing opinions of the final twist and this provided additional points to debate.

Crime & Beyond Book Club Reads I See You by Clare Macintosh

Kerry Hammond is here with her most recent report from the Denver-based Crime & Beyond book club. This month they read a new-to-them author.

This month the book club met to discuss a new-to-us author; we read I See You by Clare Macintosh. In the book, Zoe Walker is traveling home on the London Tube when she spots the photo of a woman in a classified ad and swears it’s a picture of her. The photo is advertising a dating site called FindTheOne.com and Zoe has never joined a dating site. As the days go by, Zoe sees other women in similar ads and continues to feel uneasy. When she notices that these women have been the victims of violent crimes, she contacts the police. What follows is Zoe’s realization that she might be the next victim, that she is being watched, and that she has no idea who she can trust.

We had mixed opinions of the book; some really enjoyed it and others felt that it had crossed over into what we’ve noticed is a new category of books: the whiney female victim category. Don’t get me wrong, if I were being stalked and saw my face in a personal ad I hadn’t placed, I might be a tad whiney myself. As much as we felt for Zoe’s circumstances, we at times had a hard time connecting with her.

What we all agreed on was that the premise was excellent. I won’t give any spoilers, but the meaning behind the website and the ads is chillingly realistic. Macintosh is an ex-police officer and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that most of the club members really liked the character of Kelly, one of the police officers investigating Zoe’s case. We had a very interesting discussion of the book and many are planning to read the author’s first novel, I Let You Go.

Crime & Beyond Book Club Reads Every Last Lie by Mary Kubica

Kerry Hammond is here today with her report from the Denver-based Crime & Beyond book club. 

Crime & Beyond met this month to read Mary Kubica’s Every Last Lie. Kubica is a New York Times bestselling author of four novels of suspense and Every Last Lie is her latest book. In it, Clara Solberg finds out that her husband Nick was in a fatal car accident. Clara is overcome by grief and can’t get past her believe that Nick’s death wasn’t an accident. She sets out to discover the facts surrounding the crash and won’t stop until she knows the truth.

The book was told from the perspective of both Clara and Nick. Clara’s portion dealt in the present and Nick’s focused on what led up to his crash. The alternating chapters gave the reader a look into how Clara dealt with her husband’s accident and how Nick’s decisions contributed to his death.

We had mixed reviews about the book, which led to quite an in-depth discussion. We agreed that the characters were well developed and we felt sorry for Clara, who was clearly grieving for the loss of her husband. There were a couple of twists in the book but many of us thought that it fell short of the suspense promised in the description. Although Clara’s grief was very real and compelling, we were hoping for more. Several club members recommended the author’s previous books, specifically Don’t You Cry.

Crime & Beyond Book Club Reads Michael Connelly's The Wrong Side of Goodbye

The Denver-based book club Crime & Beyond recently met to discuss the latest Harry Bosch novel by Michael Connelly. Kerry Hammond is here to report.

Crime & Beyond met this month to read the 19^th book in the Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly, The Wrong Side of Goodbye. We are big Michael Connelly fans and have read many of the Bosch novels and all of the Mickey Haller Lincoln Lawyer ones—and it’s always a bonus when each character makes a cameo in the other’s book.

The Wrong Side of Goodbye finds Bosch investigating a cold case of a serial rapist known as the Screen Cutter, as that’s how he gains entry to his victims’ homes. He is also working on a private case involving billionaire Whitney Vance, who at the age of 85 has determined that he wants an investigator to look into a possible heir to his fortune. Harry toggles back and forth between the two cases, which couldn’t be more different.

The book received great review scores from the club. We found it engaging, entertaining, interesting, enjoyable, well-written, and thought that it had well-drawn characters. Connelly is a great storyteller and his description of the LA area is always a great backdrop to the story. We were split down the middle as to those that found the Screen Cutter investigation more interesting versus those that preferred the inheritance investigation.

We had a few club members who had never before read Michael Connelly and they jumped right in at book 19 without a problem. They all plan to go back and start from book one in the series. We also recommended they try the Lincoln Lawyer series to read about Mickey Haller’s exploits.

 

Crime & Beyond Book Club Reads The Black Widow by Daniel Silva

Kerry Hammond is here today to tell us about the latest book club pick from Denver-based Crime & Beyond book club. This month they discussed Daniel Silva.

Crime & Beyond met last month to discuss The Black Widow by Daniel Silva. Silva’s award winning series features art restorer and spy for Israel’s secret intelligence, Gabriel Allon. When Allon isn’t spending time with his wife, Chiara, he enjoys spending time with any masterpiece that needs his attention and skill at restoration. However, very often the real world intervenes and he is called upon to handle an assignment for Israeli Intelligence.

He is about to be promoted to the position of Chief, but his special spy skills are needed in the field when a bomb goes off in Paris, set by a terrorist named Saladin. This mastermind has covered his tracks expertly and no level of intelligence has been able to get close to him or anticipate his next move. Gabriel decides that he must recruit a new agent and place her into Saladin’s network as a spy. Dr. Natalie Mizrahi agrees to pose as an ISIS recruit and enter the terrorist’s lair.

Our club was split on the ratings for the book. Many of us really enjoyed sitting on the edge of our seats as Dr. Mizrahi got further and further involved as a recruit in ISIS. Others missed the days when Gabriel investigated the theft of a famous masterpiece and the reader was taken along for the ride.

Whether you love the story or not, the book offers a lot of topics for book club discussion. It hits both current affairs and foreign intrigue. It’s clear that a lot of research goes into Silva’s stories and his characters find themselves facing situations and decisions that we, as readers, hope to never even come close to.