Welshrogue

Mickey Haller hasn’t been in court for over a year but finds himself suddenly thrust back into the position of defense attorney when a colleague is murdered. Struggling to find his feet and to catch up to a full load of cases, his first challenge is a high publicity case of a movie producer accused of a double murder.

Mickey Haller from The Lincoln Lawyer and Harry Bosch from many books join forces in The Brass Verdict. Told first person by Haller, the plot is fast, full of turns and a joy to read. Harry Bosch is not in the book as much as Haller and that is a shame as Bosch is the more established character but Haller does well as the main character and narrator.

The legal drama builds up slowly and is excellently put together. The ending is slightly unsatisfying although Michael Connelly then drops a small bombshell that makes you forget about the ending.

Michael Connelly equals a book that is very hard if not impossible to put down. He doesn’t resort to big words or cheap sex to make his books work, rather he simply writes what he knows and makes it believable. Great book!

Bernie Rhodenbarr, your friendly local burglar, finds himself in hot water again. While helping out his dentist get revenge on his ex-wife, Bernie gets caught up in murder, and to top it all, he doesn’t even end up with the goods!

Bernie Rhodenbarr is one of those likeable characters you enjoy reading about. He does what he does, doesn’t make any bones about it and yet remains a fun person. The plot is the usual one with twists, turns and sometimes U-turns as Bernie tries to straighten everything out.

A short but very enjoyable book!

A south American country makes a challenge for ownership of a British station in Antarctic and leading the way to stop them is America’s first stealth warship, the USS Cunningham. At the helm is an untried female leader, commanding a crew on their ships first action.

This is the first of four books to feature Commander Amanda Lee Garrett, a new age heroine in a mans Navy. Set slightly in the future, the USS Cunningham and the weapons are not so much futuristic as just not available today. This isn’t a book that deals with the fantastic, rather this is real life, just in a few years or so. From the first few pages, you are drawn into the crews lives. You buy into what they are doing, and why they are doing it. As the plot progresses, you get caught up with what the USS Cunningham is going through.

This is an excellently written book. Similar to a Tom Clancy but without the overkill of techno babble. This is a story about the crew first and foremost and the situation they find themselves in. The crew act like people, they have fears, worries, anger. The battle scenes are wonderfully written and don’t confuse the reader, which can often happen with the high tech battle field of today/tomorrow.

Mixed in amongst the battle is a simmering attraction between Commander Garrett and their new helicopter pilot. This is almost as good as the action, as these two try to fence around what they are both feeling aware of their place aboard ship.

As previously mentioned, this is the first of four books by James H. Cobb. For some reason after his last book, no more have appeared although I did find a short story by him in a Stephen Coonts edited book about a futuristic APV that was as good as his nautical books. Here’s hoping he writes some more.

Scientist at a station in the antarctic discover what appears to be a spacecraft frozen in the ice deep below the station in a half water filled cave. While a team of US marines make their way to the station, half of the scientists disappear while diving to see the craft. When the marines get to the station, there are French scientists there as well. It isn’t long before all hell breaks lose as the US, French and even British Commandos try to capture what is in the ice.

Written by Matthew Reilly, Ice Station was his first novel published worldwide (Contest being published by himself first). Rather than writing a normal novel, Reilly decided to write a movie, and put it into a book. This means you have amazing sets, non stop action and more stunts than you can shake a stick at. It is these stunts that would have any stunt coordinator licking his lips as he reads each next scene. While some have claimed that Ice Station is perhaps short on character development and just filled with action, check out any Jerry Bruckheimer movie to see that the formula is tried, tested and works very well.

In a way, the book is very similar to the way Alistair MacLean used to write. Its a fast book, with the action moving as fast as the reader can keep up. Complex plot points are passed by in preference to keeping up the pace of the scene. As with Alistair MacLean, it works very well indeed.

The characters are great, each filling a stereo typical role, good guys, bad guys, sneaky french guys, traitorous guys etc. While you may not get their full history, you do not need it to enjoy this rip snorting action book.

The place where most of the action takes place is the Ice Station which is built several layers down into the ice. This is a great place for scenes as not only is it enclosed but you have the constrained feeling that you get in movies such as Alien or The Thing from Another World. When the bad guys are after you, there are only so many places to run and hide.

Adding to the craziness are some of creatures that appear throughout the book. They add a little more unpredictability to the action as well as some horror. Admitedly, there are times when the book strays well into the relms of unbelievable but these times are few and far between and are still highly enjoyable regardless.

There has been talk of Ice Station being made into a movie with a movie company even buying the rights to it but at this time, nothing has happened yet. If they do make the movie, they won’t need to add any extra action as this book is full of the stuff.

If you have ever watched a summer blockbuster that was long on action, explosions, car chases and high tech weaponry and loved it, then pick up Ice Station. You will enjoy it.