Review by New York Times Review
BOX 21 (Sarah Crichton/Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $26) has something of that trapped quality. Scene by violent scene, this thriller by Anders Roslund and Borge Hellstrom (in a blunt, uncredited translation from the Swedish) never loses sight of Lydia Grajauskas, who was exposed to violence as a child in Lithuania before being duped into prostitution and ferried over to Sweden to cater to the tastes of rough men with disgusting sexual habits. After landing in the hospital when the Lithuanian diplomat who moonlights as her pimp flays the skin off her back with a bull-whip, Lydia embarks on a daring plan to take vengeance - a plan that involves holding hostages in the hospital morgue and occasionally blowing one up with Semtex. For all their cinematic hyperbole, the authors don't contribute to any further degradation of Lydia, who makes a believably tragic model for all the real women exploited by human traffickers.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [November 26, 2009]
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The murder of an elderly Chinese owner of a liquor store thrusts Bosch into the unfamiliar world of Chinese immigrants, Asian gangs, and the ruthless triad crime syndicate. Bosch works the case with his usual tenacity; threats warning him to drop the case only fuel his desire to find the old man's killer. Having narrated previous Bosch books, Cariou knows the character inside and out. His portrayal of the iconic L. A. detective conveys all his irascibility and world-weariness. This book gives us a closer look at Bosch, the father, and Cariou conveys this human side with emotional clarity and believability. A Little, Brown hardcover (Reviews, Sept. 21). (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
