Meet The New, Great Crime Writers.
And Read Three Terrific Thrillers!
Jeanette McCarthy Writes Page-Turning Thrillers.
Jeanette McCarthy writes page-turning thrillers. These books are designed to be read in one sitting. They're fast. They're furious. And, above all, they're great and entertaining reads.
As you would expect, Jeanette pushes her stories along relentlessly. In Abandonned, Tess is fighting for survival. You walk along the shoreline of a remote island with her as she combes the coastline looking for shellfish to eat raw. This girl is going to survive. This girl is going to fight back! The pages whiz past. But then again, they're designed to. These three books are all police procedurals and all about serial killers. Naturally, they're all in the style of catch-him-before-he-strikes again. Well, almost all. Jeanette's book is different in that her victim, Tess, is the herione. And the other victims in Jeanette's story only come to light after Tess' plight is discovered. So, in many ways, Jeanette's story is a very unusual twist on the serial killer theme. Her master criminal is more of a serial abandonner than a serial killer. It's the weather, exposure and the victims' collecive inability to survive in desolate locations which kills them.
Jeanette is graceful. Her book covers are wistful. Her stories lay on feelings as well as betrayal, abuse, murder, and the kind of beastliness that you almost only ever find in fiction. In the book that my presentation concentrates on she shows us how one woman survives on a remote island. But it's not an ordinary island. Jeanette has studied its horror and its fascination. This story is disturbing. It's also very good indeed.
But there's a hard edge to Jeanette's story, not just in the granite and slate which makes up her landscape. It's far more than that. Her murderer, Mike is a soldier and a good one too. He's rugged. He knows more about survival than most mountain climbers do. And somebody has to go out there and find him. I don't want to spoil the story by telling you too much about what happens next, but if, like me, you'd been turning the pages over avidly up until that point, from this point onwards they'll positively fly through your fingers. I have to congratulate Jeanette on writing a very enthralling story. I look forward to her next one.
Claude Bouchard is the Author of an Entire Crime-Wave!
Claude Bouchard writes fast-paced crime thrillers. They're set within Montreal's Special Homicide Task Force Centre and led by Lieutenant, (later Captain) Dave McCall. Right from the start Bouchard tells his readers that, "McCall's division specialised in only the bizarre, high-profile and extraordinary murders that took place within this fine city." So we already know what kind of crimes we're going to read about. And that's precisely what we get. They're what you would expect from serial killer stories, a trail of bodies and taunting messages to the police, what one policeman refers to as 'Dear Morons,' letters.
Bouchard's writing is splendid and accurate in every detail. He has dotted every i and crossed every t. Both he and his editorial helpers are to be congratulated on a series of very fine accomplishments. There are lots of things to note about Claude's books. Firstly there is a series of books about Dave McCall's investigations. Secondly they're page-turners. Bouchard writes with the clear intention of setting his readers the challenge of working out, along with the detective, who the culprit is. They're whodunnits, but not in the Agatha Christie mode, and not exactly in the Edgar Allan Poe mode either. They're a little more like James Patterson novels, except for the fact that in a James Patterson novel you sometimes already know who the killer is. The question there often is will he be caught or not? Whereas in Claude's stories you've both things to worry about.
Claude's books are holiday thrillers. They're not attempting to teach the reader anything about police techniques or Canada, or anything about anything, really. They're just supposed to be fun to read. In almost all important respects this is the truest art of the novelist. His job is to create a story which the reader will enjoy reading. And Claude does that admirably. People who like reading page-turning crime stories will get a big kick out of reading Claude's stories.
You get a sense of policework which stretches back a couple of decades. Today crime fiction is mostly high-tech. We've got scientific analysis for everything. We know what the victim ate for lunch before she purchased it. Not in Claude's books. Claude's cops get up, they go to bed, they drink coffee, they arrest criminals and for much of the time they're plainly confused. They don't know who the killer is, neither do we, neither does the press and nor does the public. We're all confused. And, as if that wasn't bad enough, the bodies are piling up out there. Decades ago crime fiction was portrayed in a gritty way. Detectives were busy. They swore. They missed shifts and slept with each others' wives. Decades ago fictional policemen, and women, were real people, but not any more. Today they're all waiting for a lab report of some kind. Not Claude's; they don't get any lab reports. With Claude Bouchard, crime is back the way it used to be. It's in the alleys. It's in the streets. There are dead bodies out there and the press is photographing them. The pressure is on. The police have got to do something, but what? Of course, you have to read the books to find out. You won't be disappointed that you did.
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