Dance Kathryn!

Roadside Crosses by Jeffery Deaver

I'm the first to admit it - I'm a Deaver junkie. I think I've read most, if not all, of his books. While Roadside Crosses was a good book in general, it was by far not his best work. Kathryn Dance is Deaver's latest leading lady. She studies body language and reminds me a bit of Thomas Jane (The Mentalist). Interestingly, she also works for California Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Hmmmmm. Regardless, Roadside Crosses was a big page turner. It takes place right after the last Dance book, The Sleeping Doll, and I had trouble remembering all of the details from the previous case. In the current case Kathryn is chasing a computer wiz that she suspects is a young boy obsessed with MMPORPGs. Dance gets some help from Prof Jonathan Boling. I think Deaver wrote the book in part to bring attention to all of the online world politics and gain some respect from a new group of readers. He centers the interrogation around the blogger, James Chilton. Some of the twists and plot devices fall a bit flat and often the political messages are anything, but subtle. Even Kathryn seems a bit too liberal for a CBI agent at times. I don't disagree in the least with Dance's opinions about Chilton's right to blog, but I don't think Dance as a CBI agent would be quite so liberal. Overall, it was still a fun ride, but the plot was more contrived and I saw the classic 'Deaver twist' too far ahead. I'm still enjoying Dance though and I hope he sticks with her.

Below Hell?

South of Hell by PJ Parrish

PJ Parrish, a sister writing team, has released a new Louis Kincaid novel.  While I am a big fan of authors like Jeffery Deaver and Stephan King, I wa a Louis Kincaid virgin.  The book is about a tortured PI (Kincaid) and his female detective lover (Joe) trying to solve a cold case.  The story starts in Florida and quickly moves to Hell, Michigan where a local detective (Jake Shockey) is trying to get some closure over a 'cold case' by any means necessary.  Wrapped up in the story is a little girl (Amy), her violent father (Owen Brandt), and a possible murder (Jean Brandt). Kincaid and Joe are a good duo with lots of internal tension and I can tell from the story I'll want to go back and read some of the previous books, but the other characters don't show the same 3 dimensionality.  Owen seems a bit overly violent and Amy is a bit too strong-willed to be realistic, but it was fast paced and an easy read (good weekend/beach fiction).  I enjoyed Louis Kincaid, but throughout the story I didn't expect the he was only 29 years old.  The book goes off the beaten track into the land of regressed memories, but doesn't completely venture into the paranormal, keeping us skeptics along for the ride.

Plot: 3 stars; Character development: 2 stars; Overall: 2.5 stars