Reading in Reykjavík

Originally published in June 2005, on my original 52 Books blog. These are the first two books in a long-running series about burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr. Bernie is a cool character, perfectly immoral when it comes to other people’s property, daring, professional and charming. The books are a light-hearted blending of the traditional cozy mystery and the rogue genre, because the sleuth is a criminal. Being a criminal, he has obvious problems. The only cop likely to take him seriously is bent and needs to be bribed before he will do anything for him, and in both these books Bernie is a suspect in the murders, so has to go not only undercover to solve the murders, but on the lam as well to avoid being arrested for them. I have read a fair number of rogue stories (e.g. Raffles, Arsene Lupin) but Bernie is the first of the rogue heroes I have really liked. I hated the Raffles stories - Raffles is mean and Bunny such a wimp that it’s a wonder anyone likes them at all, plus the stories ar...

Apparently, Edgar Wallace was a very famous writer in his day, but I must admit to never having heard of him before starting this challenge. Genre: Thriller, crime story Year of publication: 1905 No. in series: 1/3 Type of investigator: Police Setting & time: London, contemporary The British foreign secretary is trying to pass through parliament a bill enabling the government to send back to their home countries people who, for one reason or another, have fled to Britain. A group of men, three conspirators and one recruit, calling themselves the Four Just Men, threaten to assassinate him unless he withdraws the Bill, which they see as unjust, as it would enable the extradition not only of escaped criminals, but also of political dissidents who would face certain death upon their return home. The four have already carried out several other assassinations/murders of people who they judged to be worthy of death on grounds moral, criminal, or both, but were beyond the reac...

Year of publication: 1931 Genre: Thriller Type of mystery: Murder Type of investigator: Amateur (gambler, sworn in as a (crooked) district attorney's special investigator) Setting & time: An unnamed American city, contemporary Story: Gambler Ned Beaumont is the right-hand man of crooked politician and crime boss Paul Madvig. The latter is supporting a senator for re-election and plans to marry his daughter. Then the senator’s son is murdered and people start getting mysterious letters that implicate Madvig in the murder, and Beaumont, who considers Madvig to be his friend, starts investigating the case as a gang war is brewing. Review: This is one excellent tour de force of a thriller. Red herrings, twists, crossings and double-crossings – this story has them all, even twists that are so twisted that some of them become double switchbacks. You never really get a complete grip on what is going on – the plot moves too fast and every character is too slippery and...

Year of publication: 1983 Series and no.: Ernest "Stick" Stickley, 2/2 Genre: Thriller, criminal story Setting & time: Florida, USA, 1980s Ex-convict Ernest “Stick” Stickley comes to Florida and ends up being nearly offered up as sacrifice when a major narcotics wholesaler and his supplier square up over a deal gone wrong. He isn’t too upset about his friend who got killed instead of him, but wants the money he was promised in exchange for delivering a deadly package, and a guarantee that the bad guys will stop trying to kill him. Can you say “Gary Stu”? I can, and his real name is Ernest Stickley, Stick to his friends. Stick is too perfect: extremely attractive to women (2 1/2 in one night...), cool under fire, always knows how to handle any situation, smart, and lucky when it comes to things like being in the right place at the right time. In fact, there seems to be no end to his abilities: near the end it wouldn’t have surprised me if he has suddenly exhibi...

I started reading this book a couple of months ago and finished a couple of chapters, but for some reason I then put it aside and forgot about it for several weeks. Since it is also a TBR challenge book, having lingered on my TBR shelf for over 2 years, I have managed to kill two birds with this one stone, challengewise, and also got an enjoyable read out of it. Year of publication: 1982 Genre: Historical mystery Type of mystery: Murder Type of investigator: Amateur Setting & time: London, England, and aboard the passenger ship Mauritania on the way to New York; 1921. Story: Dentist Walter Baranov is devastated when his actress wife decides to go to Hollywood to pursue a career in the movies. As his practice is in her name and he is penniless without her, he sees no alternative but to go with her, that is until a young woman he has met and become attracted to puts into his head the idea of killing Lydia. The plan is to do it on board the passenger ship to New York and throw t...

Genre: Psychological thriller Year of publication: 1955 No. in series: 1 Series protagonist: Thomas Phelps Ripley Setting & time: The USA (beginning chapters), Italy (remaining chapters); contemporary Teaser: How on earth do I synopsise the beginning of this story without giving away too much? I’ll try, but don’t blame me if you haven’t read the book and see something in here that you consider to be a spoiler. A Mr. Greenleaf asks the protagonist, Tom Ripley, to go to Italy to persuade his errant son, Dickie, to come home to America. Once there, Ripley easily befriends Dickie, but when clouds start gathering on the friendship horizon Ripley decides that he deserves to be in the situation Dickie is in: financially independent and living in wonderful Italy; whereas Ripley is poor and unemployed and once his travelling money from Greenleaf senior runs out he must return to the USA to an uncertain future. Review: Herein you will definitely find SPOILERS. The book is very well wri...

Here’s another review I wrote shortly after I read the book (in 2007), and then forgot to post. Discovering it has reminded me that I still have the sequel left to read. Year published: 1995 Genre: Crime, thriller, comic Setting & time: New York, USA; 1990s The Story: The book tells the story through the eyes of several characters, but the protagonist is Tommy Pagano, a young sous-chef at a restaurant he doesn’t know is a front for the FBI who are using it to trap some loan-mongering crooks, one of whom is Tommy’s uncle. Other characters include the tragic figure of the drug-addicted chef, the restaurant boss who is trying to keep both the FBI and the mafia happy so he can keep running his restaurant as long as possible, and a couple of FBI men who are trying to do their jobs. Tommy’s world begins to crumble around him when he witnesses a gruesome crime but can’t report it because it would lead to his own death. The chef gets into trouble over his addiction and tries to quit, a...