The Closers
Michael Connelly
for the first couple of paragraphs I was doubtfull. The sentences and vocabulary seemed straight out of Janet and John. but the pages kept turning. Harry Bloch who is I gather Michael Connelly's best known creation has returned to the LAPD in the department reinvestigating old, unsolved murders. The office politics did not strike me as particularily realistic and the attention to detail on police procedure was noticibly different from most books i have read.
but I enjoyed it

The Narrows
Michael Connelly
I spotteded this in a charity shop when I was halfway through The Closers and grabbed it.The Narrows I gather immediately predates that book. Harry Bloch who is still a P.I. in this book finds himself trying to track down the Poet a Serial killer who first apeared in a book of that name. He teams with the FBI heroine of that book to do so. The style is more varied than strict third person of The Closers<?I>. The heroines activities are in the third person while Generally Harry Bloch narrates his story directly. This is more thriller than procedural.

Mission Canyon
Meg Gardiner
This follow up to China Lake Was an enjoyable read with plenty of tense moments. But it was not as good as its predessor. The humour seemed to detract from its beleiveabilty as did an over complex plot.
I do however still expect to enjoy the next.



Going Postal
Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett can write well on auto pilot and I suspect he did. There some nice vignettes on telegraph operators as computer/internet nerds.
Maybe next time he will not settle for merely writing well.


On the ebooks front I read amongst others

Merchant Prince of Arcadia
Rob Preece
A spacer abandoned on a backwards plant set about saveing his new home city with the help of free enterprise.
Well it is not great litrature but I was suprised that it had not been taken up by a conventional publisher. It would fit perfectly with Baen Books for example.

Short stories? yes of course but nothing that sticks out.


Simon