EENY MEENY Book Review

Bone-Jarring * Brutal * Intense

Great piece of crime fiction by M. J. Arlidge. 
Not your usual fair (Cliche I know, but it's true)– Detective Inspector Helen Grace pursues a twisted serial killer. The story setting is the English coastal city of Southampton. Grace is a tough, determined police officer who rides a motorbike and prefers to travel through life alone; she nevertheless is beset by personal demons. The killer is kidnapping pairs of victims and torturing them in ways that to tell you would be a spoiler. The identity of the predator unveiled only in the last ten percent of the book comes entirely unexpected.

Much like an out of control car careening towards you on a rainy night, some aspects of this story can be seen coming; nevertheless, they were unique as fingerprints. Piece by jagged piece added up to a chilling razor-sharp tale, and the story never lagged. The cold brutality of the action was felt in every letter of sparing descriptions which were never gratuitous. At times, my stomach lurched at the vivid depictions. The only distraction or complication I felt was a purely American one, the British idioms lent realism but confused me more than once.
Great story.

Review: Ashley Bell by Dean Koontz

My last comments about 'Ashley Bell' from a previous post got turned on their head.

"Don't get the idea I am not enjoying Ashley Bell, I am. "

The novellas that made the run up to this epic novel paved the way for this story although there was only one character retained, Pogo. He is a brilliant, handsome and humble surfer-dude. Girls all go gaga over him which he seems not to notice. He is the best friend with no romantic ties to BiBi Blair the protagonist of this story.

Early on she is set up as the amazing child of surfer parents whose life motto is, "What will be, will be."

From Amazon: 

"The girl who said no to death. Bibi Blair is a fierce, funny, dauntless young woman—whose doctor says she has one year to live."

BiBi makes you want to know her.

Her head is full of imaginings and deep thoughts that spin constantly and fill her diary. She has had supernatural occurrences by the age of six, which Koontz taunts us with by releasing a crumb at a time.

By the time she is eighteen, BiBi has published a successful novel, and her mind and talent are well recognized. It is her mind we are let in on, sometimes confused and made dizzy by its labyrinthine turns.

From the time she is struck down by cancer to the time she is running for Ashley Bell's life she is chased by a colorful cadre of connected villains. Throughout the entire tale, we are kept on the run.
BiBi, nor the reader, realizes that the alternate reality she is living in is not her first world. Not until the book has it's colorful manicured nails deeply embedded into your soul.

The setting was a pleasant treat for me, Orange County, California, a place I lived for much of my life. It was fun to run with BiBi on streets and freeways that I grew up on.

During her quest, we are only given as much information as BiBi has – not much at all.
The lack of insight works well with the story.

Ashley Bell has many layers and more facets than a priceless diamond; to go on further would spoil the story.

READ IT