Reviews
Lockdown – The BOLO Books Review
Readers would be justified in thinking that with a title like Lockdown, the new Laurie R. King novel was going to present a thriller about a school under siege; and in a way, that is exactly what is provided – though hardly via the expected method. It is career day at...
The Force – The BOLO Books Review
Starting with a three-page dedication listing all the police officers who died in the line of duty during the time it took to write The Force may seem an odd way to open a novel about a corrupt NYPD detective, but it proves to be a powerful message representing the...
UNSUB – The BOLO Books Review
For a while there, it seemed that serial killer novels were being released every other minute – to the point that the power of each new book was diluted. Thankfully that trend seems to have run its course, allowing the occasional title that is released to garner more...
You’ll Never Know, Dear – The BOLO Books Review
In the fickle world of publishing, a strong hook can mean the difference between a book hitting the bestseller list and that same book floundering on the remainders table. Throughout her career, Hallie Ephron has proven to be a master at crafting the hook and her...
Murder in Saint-Germain – The BOLO Books Review
Once again zipping around the narrow streets of Paris on her pink motorbike, Aimée Leduc returns in the seventeenth novel in Cara Black’s popular series. Murder in Saint-Germain finds Aimée dealing with issues on both the professional and personal front. There are two...
He Said/She Said – The BOLO Books Review
The power of a novel can often be weighed by how long after finishing it the story remains in one’s mind. One of Erin Kelly’s earlier novels, The Burning Air, is one that continually comes up in discussions of plots that resonate in the mind for extended periods. Next...
The Marsh King’s Daughter – The BOLO Books Review
To law enforcement and the world, Jacob Halbrook is a kidnapper and a rapist, but to Helena Pelletier he is simply “father.” In The Marsh King’s Daughter, the new novel by Karen Dionne, the complexity of this familial relationship is examined over the course of time...
Cast the First Stone – The BOLO Books Review
“And so you left your hometown To try out for the part Everybody's pretty little angel With a pretty little heart” Melissa Etheridge, Map of the Stars Hollywood has always been that elusive locale folks dream of running off to – a place where stardom, acceptance, and...
The Long Drop – The BOLO Books Review
Denise Mina’s The Long Drop is a unique book in the crime fiction genre. Not quite true crime, but also not a fictional tale, The Long Drop is somewhat similar to the method Truman Capote used with In Cold Blood – fiction inspired by actual events. However you...
More Bookshots – The BOLO Books Review(s)
From the Booking Desk: On a recent road trip, my car-mates and I decided to listen to two novellas from James Patterson’s Bookshots output during the journey. My only other experience with Bookshots was reading and reviewing The Witnesses, written in collaboration...
Marathon – The BOLO Books Review
When a writer sets out to tell a very timely story with direct correlation to current events, it can be a tricky endeavor. For most, reading is viewed as a pastime, an entertainment if you will, and being bombarded with depressing current affairs can sometimes alter...
Organizing Crime – Some BOLO Books Thoughts
From the Booking Desk: When you walk through the bookroom at one of the many crime fiction conventions worldwide, you just never know what you might discover. You could stumble upon a first edition of that book you love, a signed copy of a new bestseller, or a book to...
Crime Song – The BOLO Books Review
Crime Song is the second book in David Swinson’s series featuring anti-hero Frank Marr. As with the series debut, The Second Girl, Swinson excels at the policing elements of the plot due to his own history with the occupation. David Swinson’s attitude toward the...
Silent Rain – The BOLO Books Review
By design, most books in a crime fiction series allow readers to follow the lives of the main character and perhaps some of the secondary players over the course of time. However, it is more rare that readers are given access to re-visit with a character who was...
Since We Fell – The BOLO Books Review
When news breaks about the release date of a new Dennis Lehane novel, a buzz justifiably begins to build within the crime fiction community. Things followed that existing standard when Mr. Lehane’s latest novel, Since We Fell, was announced at the beginning of the...
City of Angels – The BOLO Books Review
Los Angeles, California. The self-proclaimed City of Angels, land of facades and facelifts where money and movies dominate, but masks and manipulation are de rigueur. This is the setting for Kristi Belcamino’s new novel, her young adult debut. Appropriately titled...
The Red Hunter – The BOLO Books Review
With her new stand-alone novel, The Red Hunter, Lisa Unger ventures beyond her beloved locale of The Hollows, to present a novel which succinctly and effectively details the long legacy wrought by violence in the lives of two complex women. Claudia Bishop moves with...
The Secret Room – The BOLO Books Review
Dr. Zoe Goldman was first introduced in Sandra Block’s Little Black Lies. This debut was then followed by The Girl Without A Name. And now with The Secret Room, Zoe’s story comes to an end. While each of these books work perfectly well as stand-alone mysteries, the...
One Perfect Lie – The BOLO Books Review
High school is a turbulent time as young people struggle to ascertain who they are, what they want to do with their lives, and a myriad of other huge life-altering decisions. This makes it a perfect backdrop for a Lisa Scottoline novel – she loves nothing better than...
A Simple Favor – The BOLO Books Review
Friends do favors for each other all the time; so when Emily asks Stephanie to pick up her son after school, she thinks nothing of it. After all, she has to pick up her own son and the two boys love to have playtime, so no big deal, right? Except that Emily never...