I've been feeling really guilty since posting really negative comments about Shriver's We Need To Talk About Kevin.

Although I hate that book and won't every be changing my opinion about it, I would like to be positive about books and reading in generally.

After ditching We Need To Talk About Kevin I picked up Jeffery Deaver's The Twelfth Card.

Excellent.

Featuring one of Deaver's main characters, Lincoln Rhyme a former detective / crime scene investigator now paralyzed from the neck down. Rhyme sends his team out who report back to him allowing him to use his keen brain to solve the crime.

A young black girl escapes what seems to be an attempted rape while in a libary researching her family history. A witness is shot as the attacker escapes the rapidly thrown up police perimeter.

Why was the girl attacked? Why do people keep trying to kill her? Has her family history caught up with the current day? The police must catch the attacker, he doesn't hesitate to kill.

The ending is brilliantly twisty and turny.

    ^top

Well, said StAlbans!

Thanks for the review. This is exactly the kind of stuff that I am looking for. There are so many new books out there, that I love having someone else's personal recommendation to go on!

Got any more that you would post? Would love it if you kept us up to date on what you are reading!

    ^top

No problem.

I'm looking for a copy of The Dumas Club by Arturo Perez-Reverte.

Sounds like I'm trying to be big and clever but it's only the book the film The Ninth Gate is adapted from.

A rare book dealer is given the job of finding a copy of the antique book that will summon the devil. It's obviously a bit more involved than that but that is the gist of it.

Loved the film and reading about Polanski read good things about the original book. Off topic - never knew Polanski was a kiddie fiddler until I just read about it just now.

I'll also want Gordon Ramsey's autobiography when it comes out.

    ^top

I really enjoyed the Ninth Gate as well. It was definitely a mood peice wasn't it? I thought that Polanski did a brilliant Job, and Depp was perfect.

As for the book it comes from, I have never read the Dumas Club, but will not put that on my reading list. You say you are looking for a copy- Are they hard to come? Whenever I am looking for something rare or out of print I used to start in little indy shops in Charing Cross, but now there are fewer and fewer of them. Now, I just use a nice site that will do all the out of print work for you:

Alibris

Be sure that you restrict your search to the UK to avoid intl p&p

I did notice that they have a few copies available from a few sources.

I look forward to reading more of your reviews, St. Albans!

    ^top

I thought it might be hard to find having had a quick look at mainstream online book sellers and not having found it, but I was surprised to find it straight away in St. Albans' Waterstone's.

You normally can't find Jack in St. Albans.

As well as The Dumas Club I picked up The Nautical Chart by the same author..."Powered by an infectious joy in storytelling...is near-irrepoachable."

A few paragraphs into The Dumas Club I'm thinking it's excellent.

    ^top