[.ca] Shell Games (ISBN 0811841111)

Shell Games:
My book club selected this book for last months meeting. It was quite a different topic than we are used to, but since we have two biologists and all of us enjoy cooking exotic foods we thought it might be of interest. One of our members saw the author at a book signing, and came back raving. I generally do not read hard boiled detective stories, but prefer the Janet Evanovitch variety, those fun, fast reads. This is quite different. It took me a few chapters to get into the story, and get the characters straight, but after that, I was hooked! This is far more satisfying. I was introduced to a field, the Fish and Game Department, which was new to me, and learned something about animal poaching in the US. I previously thought that was a problem in Africa or Asia, but not here. John Marquez, a Fish and Game warden, becomes involved in an abalone smuggling ring that evolves into a drugs, and murder. The female wardens are real career women juggling pregnancy with undercover work. We all liked the fact that the female characters were strong, and not just fluff on the edge of the plot, and that the family situation, with a troubled teenage step-child, anorexia issues, etc. all seemed very realistic. The writing is excellent, and face paced. There are few books we read as a book club that our husbands will read, but this is the exception. I am looking forward to the next book. It's great to find a new series that my husband and I can both be excited about.

Shell Games:
My book club selected this book for last months meeting. It was quite a different topic than we are used to, but since we have two biologists and all of us enjoy cooking exotic foods we thought it might be of interest. One of our members saw the author at a book signing, and came back raving. I generally do not read hard boiled detective stories, but prefer the Janet Evanovitch variety, those fun, fast reads. This is quite different. It took me a few chapters to get into the story, and get the characters straight, but after that, I was hooked! This is far more satisfying. I was introduced to a field, the Fish and Game Department, which was new to me, and learned something about animal poaching in the US. I previously thought that was a problem in Africa or Asia, but not here. John Marquez, a Fish and Game warden, becomes involved in an abalone smuggling ring that evolves into a drugs, and murder. The female wardens are real career women juggling pregnancy with undercover work. We all liked the fact that the female characters were strong, and not just fluff on the edge of the plot, and that the family situation, with a troubled teenage step-child, anorexia issues, etc. all seemed very realistic. The writing is excellent, and face paced. There are few books we read as a book club that our husbands will read, but this is the exception. I am looking forward to the next book. It's great to find a new series that my husband and I can both be excited about.

Mystery, and a novel:
Very strong suspense/procedural type novel. I liked it not just as a suspense/crime novel, but also as a "Novel Novel". Solid character with believable interior life and family problems (but not some bizarre Neurotic Impediment or cutesy Attribute), nice observations, interesting setting, and not much bloated detail, which sometimes infects novels by first time authors. (I've seen too many sentences like "She gingerly withdrew a pale pink facial tissue from the box imprinted with a pattern of violets and daisies." So for whom did the detail matter?) The hero's professional and personal relationships are not chummy, but there's an arms-length respect that rings true to the rest of his character. I also appreciate that the chief villain is basically bad but believable, a hardened professional criminal and not a "psychopath" or serial killer; far too many mysteries, even by experienced and talented writers, fall back on that to excuse a lack of interior character development. (Maybe they should look at Simenon's crime novels, or maybe Elmore Leonard's.) Nice job all around. I'll be looking for his next novel.

Mystery, and a novel:
I liked it not just as a suspense/crime novel, but also as a "Novel Novel". Solid character with believable interior life and family problems (but not some bizarre Neurotic Impediment or cutesy Attribute), nice observations, interesting setting, and not much bloated detail, which sometimes infects novels by first time authors. (I've seen too many sentences like "She gingerly withdrew a pale pink facial tissue from the box imprinted with a pattern of violets and daisies." So for whom did the detail matter?) The hero's professional and personal relationships are not chummy, but there's an arms-length respect that rings true to the rest of his character. I also appreciate that the chief villain is basically bad but believable, a hardened professional criminal and not a "psychopath" or serial killer; far too many mysteries, even by experienced and talented writers, fall back on that to excuse a lack of interior character development. (Maybe they should look at Simenon's crime novels, or maybe Elmore Leonard's.) Nice job all around. I'll be looking for his next novel.

Dive in!:
What a great book! I began reading it on an airplane, and had to stay in the airport after I landed just to finish those last incredible pages! Living on the Oregon coast, I am interested in books that take place in this environment. The author captures the beauty and wildness of the Northern California coast, and I especially enjoyed learning more about the poaching problem. It is a rare thing to read an exciting mystery, and also learn about current issues. California Department of Fish and Game Lieutenant Marquez begins a search for abalone poachers which leads to former drug smugglers. I had no idea that abalones were such a high cash item. My confession: after reading this book, I am dying to actually taste an abalone!