S Eric Wachtel: The Esseene Conspiracy

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A Dan Brown conspiracy in a Jewish Setting
I enjoyed this book but I really don't know why. It is essentially a Dan Brown secret society theme in a Jewish setting - and I am not a fan of Dan Brown or secret society themes. It was not really a page turner because the author described the Jewish religious background in excessive detail.

Probably I enjoyed it because I like stories about Israel where the history and current day situation are real life adventure stories. Some of my favourite novels have an Israeli  background - Exodus (Leon Uris), The Power and The Glory (Herman Wouk) and the Daniel Silva (the Gabriel Allon series) - all of which are in another league to this book.

The plot is basically about an extreme orthodox Jewish sect (the Essene group) with links that go back centuries that wants to restore Israel to its former religious glory. To do this they need lots of money, which they acquire through stock market manipulation in the US, and money laundering and smuggling.

I still don't really know why I liked the book - but I suggest you read it and see what you think.

Sydney Bauer: The 3rd Victim

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Her latest but not her best
I have read all of Sydney Bauer's earlier books and thoroughly enjoyed them. Although Bauer is Australian, her books are set in Boston and feature a young and very smart defense attorney David Cavanaugh who with the help of his friends (including a local homicide detective) solves and wins otherwise unwinnable cases.

Bauer's background in production of crime TV series has helped her write exciting and page turning legal practice stories where it is difficult to guess how things will go until the last few pages. This book continues to display Bauer's writing and character skills, but this time the finale is a bit too far fetched for my imagination.

Bauer will remain on my favourite author list and I hope that the finale of her next book in the David Cavanaugh series is more believable than this one.

Gregory David Roberts: Shantaram

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Worthy of 6 stars!!
Shantaram is one of the best novels I have ever read. While it is long (about 1,000 pages) and frequently harrowing it is so well written and uplifting that I found it hard to put it down. It is a story full of emotion and human philosophy - I would give it 6 stars if I could.

The amazing thing is that the novel is almost auto-biographical. Roberts was born in Australia and became a drug addict after a failed marriage and loss of custody of his daughter. He was imprisoned for 19 years for a string of armed robberies performed to support his heroin addiction. He escaped from prison and fled to Mumbai where lived in the Mumbai slums for years and set up a clinic in the slums to help his neighbours. He became an addict again and worked for the Mumbai mafia. Eventually he was recaptured and finished his sentence in Australia and then returned to Mumbai.

The story follows Roberts' life story pretty closely in fictional form. If you have been to Mumbai you will especially enjoy the beginning where the main character, Lindsay, is picked up by an Indian tourist tout thinking he would go to a luxury hotel - but Lindsay finishes up living in the slums with the tourist tout who becomes one of his best friends.

Shantaram is the name given by his Indian friends, or Linbaba or Lin, the larger-than-life hero, which means "man of God's peace". This is what his Indian friends think of Lin.

While it is not a book for the faint hearted, if you like a story with substance, philosophy and intense human emotions I am sure you will love this book. A book with nearly 1,000 five star Amazon book review ratings really speaks for itself.

Ben Coes: Power Down

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Great action but with many flaws
Half way through this book I thought that I would be giving it 5 stars as the best terrorism thriller I had read for some time. But when it ended I realised that there were so many flaws that showed that the author has still a long way to go to get my top vote. Examples are:

1. The terrorists used a powerful explosive that even the US government was not able to manufacture in quantity and we were not told how and where the terrorists  produced the explosive.
2. (I may be wrong)- It is unlikely that a huge oil platform would have a pumping station on the sea bed with access via code or retina scan.
3. US authorities were concerned about the impact of the loss of a major oil supply on their economy but nothing was said about the impact and cost of the environmental disaster with mega barrels of oil leaking off the coast of South America.
4. The hero (Dewey) was nearly out of money when he got to Cuba but was able to purchase a ticket from Havana to Australia (not via the US) which would cost at least $4,000 because he would have to fly via London or Santiago.
5. At the end Dewey went to work on a remote cattle station near the coast at Cooktown in Queensland, Australia. Cooktown is not cattle country (more a tropical rainforest area), certainly not near the coast.
6. The author described an Australian "cattle ranch" with "cattle dotted the hills as far as you can see" with "ranch hands" working near the ranch. Firstly in Australia it is a cattle station, not a ranch; the stocking rate in northern Queensland is 1 cattle per several square kilometres so you are unlikely to see cattle except in the holding pens; and the workers are called stockmen.
7. "A thousand miles away" (from the Australian cattle ranch) in Lebanon - the distance from Australia to Lebanon is about 8,000 miles.

From this review you will realise that I live in Australia and am sensitive if an author shows ignorance of Australian settings.  I recall with pain the mini series of the Thornbirds set in Queensland that was filmed in California in areas used for cowboy films and had cars driving on the right of the road.

Coes' next book has Dewey still living in Australia - I hope that he did some geographical and cultural research before writing that book.

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Clever debut novel but not outstanding
This book came with a wide range of good reviews and I kept asking myself if I was missing something as I found most of the book was tedious and I nearly gave up reading it.

This is a personal psychological Groundhog Day story about a woman, Christine, who has a serious brain injury where her memories disappear every time she falls asleep. She has has woken up for over 15 years up not knowing who or where she is. Her husband has to tell her each morning the basic facts about who she is and what has happened.

Unknown to her husband, a psychiatrist takes a personal interest in her case and encourages her to write a daily journal so that she can keep track of her memories and experiences each day. As the journal develops she tries to make sense of conflicting evidence and discovers the web of lies surrounding her background and memories.

I was frustrated in the early chapters that Christine was not able to piece together things quicker and start to take some action. I was even more frustrated that the psychiatrist was not able to see what was happening and help her more. The book only came to life in the last few chapters when reality started to cut in. The finale was not that exciting or satisfying.

S J Watson is a capable writer but probably chose a too challenging and complex psychological plot for his first novel.

Joel Goldman: Cold Truth

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Another good legal thriller from Joel Goodman
This is the third legal thriller by Joel Goldman that I have really enjoyed. Lou (not Perry) Mason is a criminal defence lawyer whose gets personally involved in finding out the real truth behind the cases he defends.

In this book Lou is hired to defend a young woman with psychological problems who confesses that she pushed her therapist out of a fourth story window. Lou doesn't believe her confession and his views are confirmed when when someone tries to murder him when he tries to find the truth.

With the help of a great team of friends from legal and police backgrounds, Lou's investigations uncover drug trafficking, babies sold for adoption, illegal charitable donations, and blackmail. As always Lou gets involved in a lot of personal and dangerous action in finding the truth, including being kidnapped a nearly murdered (again). The plot is complex and detailed and can keep you guessing to the action packed ending.

While all of this is happening Lou builds up a long term romantic relationship with a beautiful and intelligent blind date who believes that his client may be the daughter that she gave up for adoption twenty years ago.

Why spend 4 or 5 times the price on John Grisham when you can read a good legal thrillers from Joel Goldman in the Lou Mason series.

Taylor Stevens: The Innocent

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Vanessa "Michael" Munroe faces her demons again
In the Informationalist. Taylor Stevens introduced us to Vanessa "Michael" Munroe, a dangerous loner who bears emotional and physical scars from her youth, reminiscent of Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander.  Michael's  horrific past gives her a potential of ferocity to overcome her enemies. She's a great character who speaks multiple languages, skilled in martial arts, and always caries a knife.

In this sequel we see more of the scars to Michael's personality, and the dangers lurking so close to the surface. She is commissioned by some of her "friends" to rescue a teenager from a religious cult who have kidnapped her from her natural parents and immersed her in religious, social, mental and physical abuse. Michael has to face up to a different form of child abuse which challenges her mental and physical well-being.

The story is built on the personal experiences of the author, Taylor Stevens, who was brought up in a religious cult, raised in communes around the globe, denied an education beyond sixth grade and spent most of her adolescence begging on the streets, or caring for commune children. She only broke free of the commune in her early twenties. Her emergence as a major author is a fantastic achievement.

Given the background this book, it is not an easy or comfortable read and is not as good as the original in the series. The book shows the undoubted skills of the author and further develops the demons in the lead character.

Despite this it left me waiting for more adventures of Vanessa Michael Munroe to be released, hopefully on more straightforward, more adventurous and less personally emotional issues.

Joel Goldman: The Last Witness

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Another knockout legal thriller from Joel Goldman
Joel Goldman's Lou Mason series of legal/criminal thrillers are great reads.  His books have been compared to John Grisham and Michael Connelly's Mickey Haller, but they are more than good enough to stand out on their own. It is even better news that they they are all affordable Indie e-book publications.

Last Witness is Joel Goldman's second legal thriller featuring attorney Lou Mason (not Perry Mason!).  It is a fast paced, page-turner mystery thriller with a legal/criminal background.

Lou Mason has left the law firm which imploded during Motion to Kill, and has set up on his own in an office above a jazz bar owned by his good friend Blues. One evening Blues gets into a fight in the bar with an unscrupulous lawyer. Shortly afterwards the lawyer is found murdered at his home and Blues is arrested for the murder because his fingerprints are found at the crime scene.

Lou takes on Blues's defence, which is difficult because the lead Homicide Detective Harry Ryman is also a great friend of Lou's. It is made more difficult because Ryman has a long term hatred of Blues from the time he was his partner in the police.

In  defending Blues, Lou has to find the murderer amid a complex mesh of corruption involving a casino operator, the attractive head of the Casino Control Commission and the Mayor of Kansas City and his helpers.

The plot is well crafted, fast moving and rewarding with plenty of action and thrills and an unexpected ending. It well deserves a 5 star rating.

Lou Mason is a great new character who features in several later books, which I am looking forward to reading.

Joel Goldman: Motion to Kill

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Motion To Kill  is a knockout legal thriller
I am always on the lookout for a good Indie legal/crime thriller and Motion to Kill by  Joel Goldman fits the bill. It has been compared to John Grisham and Michael Connelly, but it is good enough to stand out on its own.

This is Joel Goldman's debut legal thriller introducing attorney Lou Mason (not Perry Mason!).  It is a fast paced, page-turner mystery thriller with a legal background.

Lou Mason is a partner in a law firm where both the principal and his closest partner are murdered. An unscrupulous major client threatens the existence of the firm and Lou gets involved in preserving both the firm and his own life.

The plot is extremely complex, well crafted and rewarding with plenty of action and thrills.  I have only marked it down to 4 stars because at the end of the book I was left with a couple of unanswered questions from key parts of the plot.

Lou Mason is a great new character who features in several later books, which I am looking forward to reading.

Taylor Stevens: The Informationist

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A important new female thriller hero

Vanessa "Michael" Munroe is a dangerous loner who bears emotional and physical scars from her youth, reminiscent of Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander.  "Michael" is an important new female thriller hero with a history of major emotional and physical scars, which builds her into a powerful protagonist for good and evil.

Michael's  horrific past gives her a potential of ferocity to overcome her enemies. She's a great character who speaks multiple languages, skilled in martial arts, and always caries a knife.

She uses her advanced IT skills as an informationist consultant to a powerful security company, and her physical skills to battle the security challenges she has to confront. Similar to Salander she does not shrink from earning large, and sometimes illegal, returns from her adventures.

It is clear that the author has built a character that can support a number of action packed and emotional sequels. This debut novel by Taylor Stevens was one of the best books I read in 2011 (prior to getting a Kindle) and left me waiting for more adventures of Vanessa Michael Munroe to be released.