Review by New York Times Review
Any fears that Carl Hiaasen might be mellowing are put to rest by BAD MONKEY (Knopf, $26.95), another rollicking misadventure in the colorful annals of greed and corruption in South Florida. As "the Medicare-fraud capital of America," this is the promised land for those erstwhile "mortgage brokers, identity thieves, arms dealers, inside traders and dope smugglers" who have found more lucrative careers in the health care racket. One swindler, Nicky Stripling, made millions billing Medicare for nonexistent motorized scooters he called Super Rollies. But his luck must have run out, because a tourist trolling for blackfin tuna near Key West has hauled in a hairy (and slightly chewed) human arm traceable via DNA to Stripling. The arm is duly delivered to Miami, "the floating-human-body-parts capital of America," but for reasons that make sense only in a Carl Hiaasen novel, it spends time among the Popsicles in Andrew Yancy's freezer. Smart but hotheaded, Yancy is on suspension from-the county sheriff's office, busted from detective to restaurant inspector. As Yancy sees it, his only hope of getting off "roach patrol" is to make the case, advanced by Stripling's avaricious daughter, that her father's death was no boating accident but a well-planned murder by her nowfilthy-rich stepmother. Meanwhile, Yancy's own homicidal impulses have been stimulated by the next-door neighbor who's building a monumental 7,000-square-foot spec house that will tower over every ramshackle habitat on modest Big Pine Key and, not incidentally, block Yancy's view of the sunset. So he periodically drops off a gift - a dead raccoon, a hive of angry bees, an ominous Santeria shrine, a homeless couple - calculated to scare off potential buyers. Another environmental disaster is under way on Andros Island, an unspoiled Caribbean paradise where the widow Stripling has been sighted in the company of her new boyfriend, a real estate developer intent on building a luxury resort on land snatched from a local fisherman named Neville Stafford. Hiaasen has a peculiar genius for inventing grotesque creatures - like the monstrous voodoo woman known as the Dragon Queen and Driggs, a scrofulous monkey "with a septic disposition" - that spring from the darkest impulses of the id. But he also writes great heroes like Yancy and Neville, who stand up to the "greedy intruders destroying something rare, something that couldn't be replaced." Every Jeffery Deaver thriller poses a daunting challenge - for his forensics expert Lincoln Rhyme as much as for the reader. In THE KILL ROOM (Grand Central, $28), the quadriplegic investigator is frustrated to find himself "a crime scene expert without a crime scene," stuck in his retrofitted Manhattan town-house crime lab while the political assassination he's been asked to investigate took place hundreds of miles away, on the Bahamian island of New Providence. Rhyme finds an ingenious solution to that problem, leaving his colleagues to wrestle with the ethical issue of why a government agency should be involved in a pre-emptive attack on a possible terrorist. Another hallmark of a Deaver novel is the creep factor - creating a villain worthy of becoming Rhyme's adversary. Here it's Jacob Swann, a sadistic killer who gets information from his victims by . . . never mind. What makes Swann such sick fun is that he's also a fantastic cook, full of helpful tips about making a roux or a rib-eye hash, as well as a practiced butcher who uses the same Japanese chef's knife to . . . never mind. Ace Atkins's killing honesty sets a new standard for Southern crime novels. Gone is the fuzzy nostalgia for the old hometown, switched out for a more authentic look at the modern "Mayberry of domestic violence, drug use, child endangerment and roadhouse brawls." That's the world Quinn Colson stepped into when he came home from tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq to Jericho, Miss., in rural Tibbehah County. In THE BROKEN PLACES (Putnam, $26.95), the former Army Ranger is now county sheriff and the go-to guy when a pair of inmates break out of Parchman prison and head for Jericho to reclaim the loot from a robbery. The locals are assertive people, vivid enough to hold their own in settings like Mr. Jim's barbershop and the River, the church started by a repentant convict who now "believed in everything he read from the Bible or learned from Johnny Cash." They're even strong enough to withstand a killer tornado. Now here's a quandary: should Jo Nesbo's American fans hang in there until his first novel, THE BAT (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, paper, $14.95), finally comes out here next month? Or should we snatch up a later novel, THE REDEEMER (Knopf, $25.95), published in Norway before this hard-boiled writer became a global phenomenon? Written in Nesbo's distinctive fast-and-furious style, "The Redeemer" offers insight into the surly attitude that defines Harry Hole, Nesbo's abrasive Oslo detective, who functions best when he's flying solo. ("You can't be in the police for 12 years without being infected by the contempt for humanity that comes with the territory.") The plot is nice and tricky, involving the murder of a Salvation Army "soldier" at the height of the Christmas season and hanging on the identity of a villain known as "the little redeemer" during the fighting in Croatia. Whichever you choose, be assured that both books were translated by Don Bartlett, who seems to relish this tough stuff as much as we do. It's no surprise that Carl Hiaasen's Miami is 'the floating-human-body-parts capital of America.'
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [July 2, 2013]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* When Nesbo's Harry Hole novels began appearing in the U.S., the Oslo police detective was well into his spiral of alcoholic self-destruction. With the recent appearance of earlier books in the series (The Redeemer, 2013), fans have been able to catch up on the backstory that put Harry in such a bad way. With the U.S. publication of this series debut, we see still more of the detective's evolution. In Australia as a consulting detective on a murder case in which the victim is a Norwegian native, Harry does what will eventually become his signature: spotting the signs of a serial killer at work and following a convoluted trail with an obsessiveness that puts not only himself but all those around him at risk. Reading this wrenching, emotionally charged tale, which features a fascinating take on the lives of Aboriginals in contemporary Sydney, with full knowledge of what awaits Harry in succeeding, similar cases over the years, we find ourselves wanting to scream, No, Harry, not again! But, in fact, this is the first time he loses himself in the chase, inflicting lasting, self-administered body blows on his fragile psyche, and while the chronological confusion is disconcerting, it adds a layer of dramatic irony to the tale and enhances its tension and power. With the future of the series still up in the air after Phantom (2012), this is an absolute must for devotees of the riveting train wreck that is Harry Hole. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Any Harry Hole novel is big news in the crime-fiction world, and this retrospectively published series debut will thrill its built-in audience.--Ott, Bill Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
First published in 1997, Nesbo's inaugural Harry Hole novel, finally translated into English, takes the Oslo homicide detective to Sydney, Australia, where he displays all the brilliance and angst that Harry's fans have come to expect, after reading Phantom and other later entries already available in English. Harry, who's helping the Sydney police investigate the murder of pretty 23-year-old Inger Holter, a Norwegian citizen and minor TV celebrity, partners with a bluff, friendly cop of Aboriginal descent, Andrew Kensington. Still haunted by past personal and professional troubles, he begins a new relationship with another Scandinavian expat, Swedish barmaid Birgitta Enquist, while evidence emerges linking Inger's death to a serial killer. Despite some awkward prose, this debut effort shows Nesbo as an already confident genre craftsman, striking sparks from the familiar genre material of Harry's fish-out-of-water experience in a foreign land and odd-couple pairing with a mismatched partner. Niclas Salomonsson, Salomonsson Agency (Sweden). (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Inspector Harry Hole's 1997 debut finally follows its seven successors into English translation. It's an unusual debut since the very first page finds Harry clearing passport control in Sydney, half a world away from his native Oslo, from which he's improbably been sent to observe the Australian investigation into the probable rape and undoubted strangling of Inger Holter, who once hosted a Norwegian children's TV show but had been working in a Sydney bar when she died. Neil McCormack, head of the Surry Hills Crime Squad, explains to Harry that although he's been paired with Aboriginal detective Andrew Kensington as a professional courtesy, he's not to take a leading role, not to make any inquiries on his own, and not to interfere with McCormack's chain of command. Right. Fans of Harry's later adventures (The Redeemer, 2013, etc.) will wait with bated breath to see how long it takes him to break every rule in the book. Nor does Harry disappoint. He converts a key witness, Inger's fellow barmaid Birgitta Enquist, into his bedmate. He starts drinking again. He adds a local prostitute to his list of conquests. He gets into a series of increasingly violent brawls. As it becomes more obvious that the cops are dealing with a serial rapist who has no reservations about killing, Harry brushes elbows (and more) with Inger's new boyfriend, Evans White, a drug dealer in New South Wales; with Teddy Mongabi, the baddest pimp in Sydney; and with transvestite clown Otto Rechtnagel, whose status as the most likely suspect is canceled for the best possible reason. Harry is already every bit as volcanic as in his later cases. The big difference is Australia, which Nesb, seeing it through the eyes of both a tourist and a cultural pathologist, makes you wonder how much different it is from Norway after all.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.