Irrefutable (Dale Roberts)

I don’t know if I would read another book by Dale Roberts. I might, if assured that certain things improve.

For one thing, although the story in Irrefutable is okay, it’s not compelling. For another, Roberts’ writing style doesn’t grab hold of me. Finally, his writing and editing mechanics are rather pathetic. I have more to say about the mechanics later.

Cypress Village (Florida) Police Department Detective Sgt. Alex Mendez, Violent Crimes Unit, hallucinates and talks to his dead wife, Allyson in moments of high stress. He blames himself for her death many years ago (they had argued, she thought he was having an affair and left the house).

Two women in their mid-30s are raped, both were jogging, pushed from behind and attacked. Apparently, there is a serial rapist at work, similar to a group of cases many years ago. Information on these two rapes, along with a third that occurs soon after, is being leaked to the media, who have christened by perpetrator “The Trailside Stalker.”

Deputy District Attorney Rachel Summers, Allyson’s boss and best friend, has become close to Alex’s 16-year-old daughter, Carmine, who in turn has developed a friendship with the sexual assault nurse helping with the case – Janet Freeman.

Suspects are presented and developed, all of whom turn out to be red herrings easily spotted as such. When the real perpetrator is revealed, it’s actually not that much of a surprise – it’s telegraphed early on.

Now, for some criticism on the mechanics (and I do this with all due respect for Mr. Roberts’ hard work):

·         The scene of the first crime is spelled two different ways: McManus and McMannus.

·         Inappropriate apostrophe #1: “He hasn’t? That hurt’s my feelings."

·         Inappropriate apostrophe #2: "So, she get’s not only her name, but ..."

·         Missing apostrophe: “Besides, I don’t want her to hear a bunch of sirens and know were coming.”

·         Inappropriate capitalization: "The Identities of the victims have not been released."

·         Sloppy editing, use of similar but wrong word: "You end up spending more time answering their questions that you do on the case."

·         Here's another one of those: "I can put your umbrella over her with ours."

·         Ignorance of meanings of similar-sounding words: "Samuels was un-phased" should be "unfazed."

·         Capitalization problem: “'Are you okay?' He said as he entered the house ..."

·         Contraction error: "That’ okay. I’ll just let you go."

·         Horribly wrong word choice that only exhibits lazy ignorance: "His mind sorted through ... all the bazaar theories."

I stopped looking for these about halfway through the book, there were simply too many. It matters not whose fault it is, the ultimate responsibility lies with the author.

Irrefutable (2011)

Dale Roberts

DTR Books ($7.99 digital)

ASIN: B0052GFSIG

Suicide Run: Three Harry Bosch Stories (Michael Connelly)

Suicide Run is a small collection of previously published short stories, released together for the first time, as an ebook.

One gets to read three of LAPD Homicide Division detective Heironymous (rhymes with “anonymous”) "Harry" Bosch's cases. The first two are fairly short, comprising a little more than half of the book; the third takes up the rest.

Suicide Run (originally published in Hollywood and Crime)

Harry Bosch, homicide detective, LAPD Hollywood Division, and his partner, Jerry Edgar, are called to a death scene. Lisbeth Grayson, 24, a wannabe actress from Portland, Oregon, is found dead in her apartment of an apparent suicide overdose. 

Things at the scene just don't add up – he  door is unlocked, the lights were left on, they find a note but no pencil.

Kizmin Rider, computer cop who wants to be a detective, helps him. She finds a connection – The Hollywood & Vine Studios. Lisbeth and five previous young actress suicides had their head shots taken by photographers from the studio who rent space by the hour.

That's all the lead they need to solve the case.

Cielo Azul (originally published in Dangerous Women)

This story is told during Harry's drive to San Quentin to see Victor Seguin, a stage builder biding his rapidly diminishing time on Death Row for murdering a teenage girl. Harry wants to make one last appeal to Seguin.

Seguin's case began 10 years earlier on Mulholland Drive in the Santa Monica Mountains, just north of Hollywood, where a 15-year-old Hispanic girl was found strangled to death. It was a tough case, until the deputy coroner came up two leads, and an FBI criminal profiler help identify and find Seguin.

Facing lethal injection in a few days, Seguin has a chance for partial redemption, if he only identifies the girl Harry has dubbed "Cielo Azul" (Blue Sky).

One-Dollar Jackpot (originally published in Dead Man's Hand)

Thirty-eight-year-old television poker player Tracey Blitzstein is found shot to death in her own car, in her own driveway. Her husband, David, also a poker player, says she'd called and told him she'd won $6,000 at a card casino in Commerce.

Harry takes over the case from Pacific Division, and fingers the husband as the prime suspect. Something about his alibi just doesn't add up. It becomes a battle of wits versus ego. Guess which one wins out.

The stories in Suicide Run: Three Harry Bosch Stories aren't complicated, and are good for a bedtime read. You can do the stories one at a time; they're all very straight up. Easy reading, entertaining, but not intriguing.

Suicide Run: Three Harry Bosch Stories (2011)

Michael Connelly

Little, Brown & Company, Hachett Book Group ($2.99 Kindle)

ISBN-13: 978-0316204248

Kill Alex Cross (Dave Patterson)

Kill Alex Cross is the latest Dave Patterson offering of Washington, DC, Metro Police Department detective Alex Cross.

U.S. President Edward Coyle's two kids -- 12-year-old Ethan and his older sister Zoe, 14 -- have gone missing from Branaff School, and no one has a clue where to start looking for them. A fleeing van turns out to be a dead end, and everyone's in the dark until a box of Zoe's turns up with a chilling note inside.

Alex Cross is added to the FBI team, at to keep him close and freeze him out of the investigation, but later to lend his obvious expertise.

Meanwhile, Dr. Hala Al Dossari and her husband, Tarig, arrive at Dulles, on assignment and ready to war with "decadent" America. They get right to work, and soon, Washington DC is under attack -- the water supply is poisoned, a sarin gas attack on the subway is thwarted, and the U.S. Secretary of State is assassinated.

In writing, there is an oft-used technique called a "triad" –  a list or combination of threes that offers a melding of balance and stability. Patterson uses this technique at least twice in the book.

Kill Alex Cross is told from three points of view: (1) the Al Dossaris, (2) Alex Cross, and (3) an unidentified antagonist introduced to us simply as an author on the verge of writing the book of his life. Additionally, three separate stories are addressed: (1) the search for the Coyle's kids, (2) the search for the terrorists, and (3) the taking in of a stray 13-year-old girl by the Cross family.

In wrapping up the terrorist focus, Patterson leaves us with another potentially recurring nemesis for Alex Cross.

So, did I like Kill Alex Cross? Yes and no. As usual, it was easy and interesting reading. On the other hand, it struck me as a bit shallow and short. Maybe Patterson should have shelved the Ava Williams (the young girl) aspect and fleshed out the Al Dossaris and the Coyne kidnappings a little more.

Kill Alex Cross (2011)

Dave Patterson

Little, Brown & Company ($30.99 list)

ISBN-13: 978-0316189255

The Abbey (Chris Culver)

Indianapolis Police Detective Sgt. Ashraf “Ash” Rashid, assigned to the Prosecutor’s Office, is a Muslim who drinks a lot (and often), in direct contradiction to Muslim law. His work is his life, as are his wife Hannah, and his daughter Megan.

Ash’s niece, 17-year-old Rachel, who was into sanguinarism (vampirism) and drank blood, is found dead, the victim of something put into a vial of red liquid she’d drunk. Her boyfriend, Robbie Cutting, also winds up dead after talking to Ash.

Rashid’s former partner, Det. Olivia Rhodes, is on the investigating team, and tries to help him when it seems all the evidence is pointing to him, especially when two of Rachel’s friends also die after talking to him. Lt. Mike Bowers, head of Homicide, makes the investigations of Rachel’s and Robbie’s deaths look cut and dried, and closes the case.

Ash doesn’t let it go, however, and visits The Abbey – a nightclub set in an old church; its patrons are into vampirism, providing Rashid’s only leads.

His investigation leads him to microbiologist Dr. Karen Rea, CEO of Sunshine Blood Products and creator of Fangporion.com. It becomes apparent that she’s heavily involved with whatever’s going on. Once a rising star in academics and microbiological research, Dr. Rea has been shunned for her involvement in “Project Coast,” a South African bio-chemical weapons program designed to ensure the survival of white supremacy.

But is that what’s behind the murders? Maybe, maybe not. There is betrayal, but not by the obvious person. Only after the climactic showdown do we learn the truth.

Culver’s writing is quite choppy at times, basically using one declarative sentence after another, somewhat devoid of transitional words and phrases that might give a smoother flow to the story. However, the work does move along as a brisk pace.

Conversion of The Abbey from print to ebook was a bit sloppy, as quite a few "codes" (such as — and é) were substituted when the text files were converted.

The Abbey (2011)

Chris Culver

Kindle eBook ($.99 at Amazon.com)

ASIN: B004M18ZRS