The Grade: A-
Summary from the Book:Homicide Lieutenant Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels is in some serious trouble. Her boyfriend wants to get married. Her partner wants to transfer to another department. Her dead father may not be dead after all. And a brilliant sociopath known as the Chemist is poisoning Chicago’s food supply, killing hundreds of people.
Plus: Jack Daniels is one of the hardest, most admirable heroines in crime fiction today, and I find myself attached to her fast-paced, manic action-filled life. J.A. Konrath really makes his stories amazingly rich and complete.
Minus: My only minor crib has been that I wonder why all of Jack's cases seem to attack her family too. This time, however, Jack's fiance is ill though not because of being personally targeted by the psycho poisoner. I'd like to see a little more of some normal FBI-led investigation too, it doesn't always have to be one psycho working on his own, right?
Overall: After I finished the first three books, I literally had trouble sleeping - I had read them one after the other, with no breaks in between. The chilling tales of crime gave me a shock! It is so easy for anyone to commit large-scale acts of torture/poison/murder, so scary...
Where to Start: You don't need to have read any or all of the previous books to be able to read Dirty Martini, so if you do find Mr. Konrath's books in a store/library, you pick them up without looking at the series number. He also has several short stories and novellas on his website for free: http://www.jakonrath.com/
I would recommend this to: Any crime fiction / detective fiction fans, readers of Patricia Cornwell.
I think I will try one of these if I find them -thanks for your splendid review!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, but beware of sleepless nights :)
ReplyDeleteI'm planning on giving it a break before I read the next one.
Nice review. This was among the first books I reviewed on my blog nearly two years ago. A pretty good read, and I'm not a guy who goes for detective mysteries.
ReplyDeleteI have Shaken sitting on my hard drive, and I really should get around to reading that one.