I used to like Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta character, but after a while it just got boring reading the bleaky drama of Scarpetta and her lesbian niece's life -- the author put her personal angst episodes about being a lesbian into her story's character. The hormone strung-out characters took away the meat of the stories.
i take the term "laddish" to mean a genre of suspense/mystery writing that reflects a working class Brit male point of view. the term has been used for Ian Rankine's mysteries, too - lots of moody setting via rock or punk CDs that the hero listens to when things aren't going his way, lots of male sparring to heighten drama, relationships with women told from the man's point of view, that kind of thing.
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I used to like Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta character, but after a while it just got boring reading the bleaky drama of Scarpetta and her lesbian niece's life -- the author put her personal angst episodes about being a lesbian into her story's character. The hormone strung-out characters took away the meat of the stories.
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i agree. i have a similar issue with the mysteries of Elizabeth George, which are beautifully complex and psychological tales, but in which the personal family love life of her hero cop (Inspector Lynley) is more like a distraction. Anyway, the last one of hers that I read, With No One As Witness was just superb, I didn't want it to end.
Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley takes on the case of his career.
When it comes to spellbinding suspense and page-turning excitement, New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth George always delivers. As the Wall Street Journal raves, "Ms. George can do it all, with style to spare."
In With No One as Witness, Elizabeth George has crafted an intricate, meticulously researched, and absorbing story sure to enthrall her readers. Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley is back, along with his longtime partner, the fiery Barbara Havers, and newly promoted Detective Sergeant Winston Nkata. They are on the hunt for a sinister killer.
When an adolescent boy's nude body is found mutilated and artfully arranged on the top of a tomb, it takes no large leap for the police to recognize this as the work of a serial killer. This is the fourth victim in three months but the first to be white.
Hoping to avoid charges of institutionalized racism in its failure to pursue the earlier crimes to their conclusion, New Scotland Yard hands the case over to Lynley and his colleagues. The killer is a psychopath who does not intend to be stopped. Worse, a devastating tragedy within the police ranks causes them to fumble in their pursuit of him.
I read Digital Fortress, just found it to be the kind of book to read when I'm on a long flight. The plot line isn't believable, just too made up. What I did liked, his stories tend to have the little factoids, which had me looking up stuff on the internet. The characters ... not life-like. I love books which shows the characters as having human qualities, and frailities... characters that I can relate to as being "real people". Another Dan Brown book with fast, hectic pace -- too unbelievable.
I'd like to read a good suspense book that shows the characters as being average people. The waste collector who's battling alcoholism and found a dead body in the dumpster with a cryptic code written all over it. Before he knows it he's visited by the FBI while he's contemplating blowing out his brains on a bottle of cheap Kentucky Bourbon at the local bar... hmm...probably I should write this one.
[img]/forums/images/graemlins/70402-thinking.gif[/img]
Yeah Sandi, prolly you should! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70371-jump.gif[/img]
Hiya sunshine - long time no see! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70371-jump.gif[/img]
Funny enough, that Digital Fortress was in my hand as I strolled up and down the aisles in Chapters on the w/end. And it was only at the last minute I put it back.
Maybe I'll pick it up next trip! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70371-jump.gif[/img]
Hi all!! All is well. I am back in school and working full time.
Digital Fortress didn't have the Catholic theme at all. I found it sort of relevant because it dealt with the NSA. The characters weren't all that believable, like Sandi said, but then again, I don't know anybody in the NSA and the whole thought of what they can do scares me. I kept thinking "how much of this can be real..." probably more than we really know.... which is spooky. I bought the book as a paperback just looking for something to read while on vacation. I read it in one day while doing other things, so to me it kept my attention and it did have me looking stuff up, but I didn't go on the NSA website because the same day I was looking stuff up, I saw a news clip online that the NSA was tracking the activity of people who go on their website.
I enjoyed The DaVinci Code, too. I have been thinking of picking up Angels & Demons. Did anybody read that?
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Hi all!! All is well. I am back in school and working full time.
Digital Fortress didn't have the Catholic theme at all. I found it sort of relevant because it dealt with the NSA. The characters weren't all that believable, like Sandi said, but then again, I don't know anybody in the NSA and the whole thought of what they can do scares me. I kept thinking "how much of this can be real..." probably more than we really know.... which is spooky. I bought the book as a paperback just looking for something to read while on vacation. I read it in one day while doing other things, so to me it kept my attention and it did have me looking stuff up, but I didn't go on the NSA website because the same day I was looking stuff up, I saw a news clip online that the NSA was tracking the activity of people who go on their website.
I enjoyed The DaVinci Code, too. I have been thinking of picking up Angels & Demons. Did anybody read that?
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how can u read and do something else at di same time? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] i read the davinci code too and liked the story more than some a di references that him make. no not true- mi did like some a di stuff bout opus dei and ting, but u know funny- none a di book them neva lead mi to doing more research [img]/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img] a so mi shallow?
u guys giving me some ideas of book to get [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70371-jump.gif[/img] but that eman mi haffi go pay big big lybry fee [img]/forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] caw mi did late wid cuppla dem stupid books. cho!!!
mtngal that guy's pic that u posted bout that movie makes the movie look dated and ol and not worthit a tall. if u still recommmend di book, mi wi gettie
mtngal that guy's pic that u posted bout that movie makes the movie look dated and ol and not worthit a tall. if u still recommmend di book, mi wi gettie
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tuffstuff, mi did poas one reply but di board ate it. so here goes again: read One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night, which is the one Brookmyre recommends to readers reading him for the first time. It's good and suspenseful, with the right level of sardonic humour. I liked that book a lot, but my favourite remains A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away, which is perhaps the most "laddish" of the books, because it's essentially the story of a wankster turned terrorist and how he got his comeuppance from his former high school friend. The Sacred Art of Stealing has a woman cop as main protagonist, and it's a kind of love story as well as a thriller. Got some great passages. Not The End of the World, when you read it, will sound prophetic. Part of this story takes place in America. Lots of Scottish phonetic dialogue in Brookmyre's books.
MG, a friend of mine just sent a book to my mom called
"Florida Roadkill" by Tim Dorsey.
She knows my mom likes Hiassen and said he has a similar style and wit.
Anyway, I thought you might like to check it out.
<font color="green">Local trivia buff Serge loves inflicting pain. Drug-addled Coleman, his partner in crime, loves cartoons. Hot stripper Sharon Rhodes loves cocaine, especially when purchased with rich dead men's money.
Then there's Sean and David, who love fishing--and helping turtles cross busy thoroughfares. Unfortunately, they're about to cross paths with a suitcase filled with $5 million in stolen money.
Serge wants the suitcase. Sharon wants the suitcase. Coleman wants more drugs...and the suitcase. A hitman wants Satan to reign supreme. A slimy, insurance-frauding dentist wants his fingers back. In the meantime, there's murder by gun, Space Shuttle, Barbie doll, and Levi's 501s.
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