The son (2014) by Jo Nesbo

Sonny Lofthus was a gifted 15-year-old pupil and star wrestler whose world was turned upside-down when his father, a much-admired police officer widely acknowledged as incorruptible, was found dead at home.  Alongside the corpse was a suicide note explaining that, he, in fact, was the notorious police department mole who had been feeding information  to Oslo's leading crime lord for years.  Sonny escaped his burning shame via heroin, and at 18, was thrown in prison for two murders.

But as “The Son” opens 12 years later, we discover that there’s something terribly rotten in Oslo’s Staten Maximum Security Prison. From the early pages of the new standalone novel by Jo Nesbo, author of the Harry Hole series, it quickly becomes clear that an extended network of highly placed officials are in on a scheme to use Sonny as a fall guy — over and over — for messy murders they and their cohorts would rather not be connected to. The homicide squad has his hands full with his job, a wife who desperately needs an eye operation, and a new protégée who is ambitious, impatient, and newly transferred from the drug squad.

Kefas is also nearing retirement and looking back with plenty of hindsight on a professional life that’s included a gambling addiction and several career shifts: He’s been a crime-scene technician — he’s a dab hand at assessing bullet trajectories — a tactical investigator (“I guess,” Kefas tells a colleague, “I became more interested in the why rather than the how.”), and endured a stint investigating fraud.

Nesbo is great at rapidly sketching the kind of juicy characters, peripheral or not, that propel an already fast-moving story forward at a pleasing pace. The supporting cast of “The Son” includes Arild Franck, a deeply unpleasant man and assistant prison governor who masterminded Staten’s blueprints — down to each and every fingerprint-operated lock — “with an emphasis on security and efficiency rather than comfort”; Johannes Halden, an older prisoner who loves reading and rereading “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” and who’d only ever wanted to be a sea captain but had, long ago, fallen afoul of a Thai smuggling ring; Markus, a lonely, smart kid with bags of curiosity and a strategically placed telescope; and a wealthy homemaker who likes her life just so.

Nesbo’s writing style is visually arresting as always — an earlier standalone novel, “Headhunters,’’ was made into a cracking 2011 movie of the same name, and it’s worth noting that Warner Bros. acquired film rights to “The Son” in 2012 — and he mines real-world changes during the span of Sonny’s incarceration with obvious glee. Sonny makes his way outside prison with impeccable manners, a gentle demeanor, and often palpable bewilderment — he’s still used to a Discman and Internet cafes rather than MP3s and cellphones, to say nothing of having a resilient penchant for Marlboros and Depeche Mode.

Throughout the book, in fact, Nesbo remains as playful as ever. Alongside a story that features horrible baddies and their nasty ways — involving knives, eyelids, and Argentine mastiffs — there are cheeky references to “Men in Black,’’ “The Shining,’’ and Monty Python, as well as a surprisingly tender, taxi-cab conversation about true love. In a novel that’s both deadly serious and seriously sentimental, Nesbo ably rides the slimmest of lines between humanity’s uglier mug and unusual manners of redemption. (Daneet Steffens is a Journalist and book critic with The Boston Globe, May 14, 2014)

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The collector (2014 ) by Nora Roberts

When professional house-sitter Lila Emerson witnesses a murder/suicide from her current apartment-sitting job, life as she knows it takes a dramatic turn. Suddenly, the woman with no permanent ties finds herself almost wishing for one. . . .

Artist Ashton Archer knows his brother isn’t capable of violence—against himself or others. He recruits Lila, the only eyewitness, to help him uncover what happened. Ash longs to paint her as intensely as he hungers to touch her. But their investigation draws them into a rarified circle where priceless antiques are bought, sold, gambled away, and stolen, where what you possess is who you are, and where what you desire becomes a deadly obsession.  (photo and text from Goodreads)

Through the Evil Days (2013) by Julia Spencer-Flemming

Through The Evil Days

http://www.juliaspencerfleming.com/through-the-evil-days.html

   New York Times bestseller Julia Spencer-Fleming returns with the eighth novel in her much-loved series: THROUGH THE EVIL DAYS. The eighth novel in the New York Times bestselling Clare Fergusson/Russ VanAlstyne series will be published on November 5, 2013.
   Friday, January 9th. A middle-of-the-night call wakes Episcopal priest Clare Fergusson and her husband, Police Chief Russ van Alstyne: a farmhouse has erupted in flames, killing the couple sleeping indoors. A tragedy for the Adirondack mountain town of Millers Kill   
   But a darker, more evil current quickly emerges…

   Clare and Russ's belated honeymoon at an isolated lakeside cabin is meant to give them time to adjust to Clare's unexpected pregnancy. Instead, they learn the dead couple had not been alone – their eight-year-old foster child, Mikayla, has disappeared from the wreckage without a trace. A recent transplant recipient, Mikayla will sicken and die without proper medication.
   With the police force overburdened, Officers Hadley Knox and Kevin Flynn must set aside their tangled emotions in order to work together. They have eight days to find Mikayla, after which no drugs will help. But as the weather darkens and an ice storm brews, they face a battle against the elements.
   At the lake, Clare and Russ discover the storm isn't the only mortal threat. As nature unleashes her fury, can anyone unpick the trail that leads to Mikayla before her days come to an end.

The midwife of Venice by Roberta Rich



At midnight, the dogs, cats, and rats rule Venice. The Ponte di Ghetto Nuovo, the bridge that leads to the ghetto, trembles under the weight of sacks of rotting vegetables, rancid fat, and vermin. Shapeless matter, perhaps animal, floats to the surface of Rio di San Girolamo and hovers on its greasy waters. Through the mist rising from the canal the cries and grunts of for...more At midnight, the dogs, cats, and rats rule Venice. The Ponte di Ghetto Nuovo, the bridge that leads to the ghetto, trembles under the weight of sacks of rotting vegetables, rancid fat, and vermin. Shapeless matter, perhaps animal, floats to the surface of Rio di San Girolamo and hovers on its greasy waters. Through the mist rising from the canal the cries and grunts of foraging pigs echo. Seeping refuse on the streets renders the pavement slick and the walking treacherous.

It was on such a night that the men came for Hannah. Hannah Levi is known throughout sixteenth-century Venice for her skill in midwifery. When a Christian count appears at Hannah's door in the Jewish ghetto imploring her to attend his labouring wife, who is nearing death, Hannah is forced to make a dangerous decision. Not only is it illegal for Jews to render medical treatment to Christians, it's also punishable by torture and death. Moreover, as her Rabbi angrily points out, if the mother or child should die, the entire ghetto population will be in peril.

But Hannah’s compassion for another woman’s misery overrides her concern for self-preservation. The Rabbi once forced her to withhold care from her shunned sister, Jessica, with terrible consequences. Hannah cannot turn away from a labouring woman again. Moreover, she cannot turn down the enormous fee offered by the Conte. Despite the Rabbi’s protests, she knows that this money can release her husband, Isaac, a merchant who was recently taken captive on Malta as a slave. There is nothing Hannah wants more than to see the handsome face of the loving man who married her despite her lack of dowry, and who continues to love her despite her barrenness. She must save Isaac.

Meanwhile, far away in Malta, Isaac is worried about Hannah’s safety, having heard tales of the terrifying plague ravaging Venice. But his own life is in terrible danger. He is auctioned as a slave to the head of the local convent, Sister Assunta, who is bent on converting him to Christianity. When he won’t give up his faith, he’s traded to the brutish lout Joseph, who is renowned for working his slaves to death. Isaac soon learns that Joseph is heartsick over a local beauty who won’t give him the time of day. Isaac uses his gifts of literacy and a poetic imagination—not to mention long-pent-up desire—to earn his day-to-day survival by penning love letters on behalf of his captor and a paying illiterate public.

Back in Venice, Hannah packs her “"birthing spoons”—secret rudimentary forceps she invented to help with difficult births—and sets off with the Conte and his treacherous brother. Can she save the mother? Can she save the baby, on whose tiny shoulders the Conte’s legacy rests? And can she also save herself, and Isaac, and their own hopes for a future, without endangering the lives of everyone in the ghetto?

The Midwife of Venice is a gripping historical page-turner, enthralling readers with its suspenseful action and vivid depiction of life in sixteenth-century Venice. Roberta Rich has created a wonderful heroine in Hannah Levi, a lioness who will fight for the survival of the man she loves, and the women and babies she is duty-bound to protect, carrying with her the best of humanity’s compassion and courage.

Bones of the lost by Kathy Reichs

Slower than most.  The two main plots seems disjointed to me.  Did not enjoy as much as others.  Did not like the way Tempe's daughter was placed in Afghanistan.  Too artificial.  The plot of the smuggling was weak.

Blue Dahlia (2005) by Nora Roberts

As usual, Nora Roberts, can churn out the novels.  In this book, there are two main backgrounds, gardening and a ghost.  Of course, there is the traditional Southern mansion, wealthy divorcee, widow with two young children, unwed stranger, a family landscaping business, and a tragic plane crash. Of course, all men are tall, muscular, and capable of falling in love. Now the ghost who haunts the mansion adds the suspense that this romance requires.  She is a good ghost given to bursts of anger. The cast of characters determine, among their romantic escapades, that the origin of the ghost must be found, in order for all to find rest.

Nora Roberts writes uncomplicated stories of the melodrama vein, however, she can keep the attention of the reader.  This  book is a good romp.  Part of a trilogy, I guess that I have to read the subsequent two.

Oh yes, I loved the title.