This book was bought for me a present. Quite a nice book full of interesting drinks recipes. It covers the classics well, throwing in quite a bit of background information about them.

Unfortunately the bits in between the recipes weren’t quite so good. Much of the book read like a string of newspaper articles (Moore is a newspaper drink writer), most of which seemed to be full of anecdotes that seemed designed to make the reader feel jealous (ie; many of the drinks seemed to link to a memory of somewhere exotic and carefree, rather than the more prosaic nice drink over dinner). And also, my two favourite tipples didn’t seem to get quite the treatment they deserved (Whisky and Beer).

After enjoying the last Jeffery Deaver I read (also the first, review here) I was looking forward to the next one. As this one was going spare it got picked up.

Slightly different this time as this book stars one of Mr Deaver’s other characters. The previous book had centred around a ‘body science’ advisor Kathryn Dunce, this one centred around Lincoln Rhyme, a Forensic expert. And just to give it a little difference, Lincoln’s a Quadriplegic. And it’s set in New York rather than California.

A serial killer is on the lose, and using his access to a huge marketing database to incriminate innocent people. The plot twists and turns, with everyone having just enough plausability to be the killer. The final culprit is quite a suprise.

Again with Deaver the book feels like it started 50 pages before it does. Throughout the book there’s plenty of references to previous cases/actions and also running through is an investigation in England. None of this impacts on the plot of this book, but does make the characters feel like their moving through life as well as the book.

The whole idea of just how much data companies and governments hold on each of is very well put across. I think it’ll certainly open some people’s eyes to the dangers of too much information. In fact it might even be a good showpiece to give to friends who believe that National ID Cards aren’t a major problem, in fact someone else who’s read the book could immediately see where I was coming from on that problem.

Some of the direct technology stuff grates a little, but that’s a geek thing that probably won’t bother anyone else.

Amazon

I’m not normally one to read crime novels, but as I’d been bought a ticket to see Mr Deaver speaking I thought I’d better read one of them. And this one was to hand;
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On Roads – Joe Moran – http://joemoransblog.blogspot.com/

Purchased this thinking it’d be a book version of the great UK Road site Sabre. But it’s Not… Read the rest of this entry »