Mystery/Thriller Book Reviews
Page Three of ThreeStealing Time by Leslie Glass
Dutton, Feb., 1999.Hardcover, 340 pages.
ISBN: 0525944605.
Ordering information:
Amazon.com.
Sergeant April Woo has been handed a real hot potato
assignment. A racially mixed couple's (Anglo husband and
Chinese wife) baby is missing and the wife has been
severely beaten. But the case is not as straightforward
as it might seem. The husband, Anton, does not appear
to be telling the whole truth, and the wife, Heather, appears
too terrified to speak. Resentful that she was handed
the case because she is Chinese American and knowing the
personal trouble this case is going to cause her with her
interfering mother and the local Chinese community,
April nevertheless sets out to find a kidnapper, and
possibly a murderer. Along the way she will stumble into
the sad world of immigrant sweatshops and baby selling
rings, while trying to fend off her mother's latest herbal
"cure" to bring her to her senses (i.e., quit the police force
and marry a nice Chinese doctor.)
Stealing Time is a wonderfully layered mystery which works on several levels. April's growth as a person in her relationship with Mike Sanchez (no longer her partner but still on the police force), her determination to be a success in a man's world against the wishes of her traditional Chinese mother and her struggle to come to terms with what she wants out of life are all vividly portrayed with Glass' characteristic wry humor and suspenseful writing. Another winner from Leslie Glass.
--Claire E. White
Suffer Little Children by Peter Tremayne
Signet, Feb., 1999.Paperback, 320 pages.
ISBN: 0451195574.
Ordering information:
Amazon.com.
In 665 Ireland, a famous and beloved scholar and cleric
is brutally murdered in the Abbey of Ros Ailithir,
in the Kingdom of Muman. Sister Fidelma's brother, the
new King of Muman, summons her and asks her
to look into the murder in her official capacity as dalaigh -- a sort
of examining magistrate. The murder is especially important to
her brother because the neighboring kingdom of Fearna has
vowed revenge and would use the death as an excuse to
summarily annex disputed land, which would inevitably
lead to war. Somewhat tired from her recent trip to Rome
(See, A Shroud for the Archbishop), she nevertheless
gamely sets out for the Abbey to investigate the murder,
accompanied by her brother's trusted advisor and warrior,
Cass. What she finds at the Abbey is a complex and large
cast of characters, many of whom have hidden secrets. When
the murderer strikes again, Fidelma herself is in danger from
a killer who has a lot to lose from being discovered and
everything to gain by silencing the intelligent and
sometimes sharp-tounged dalaigh.
This is the third entry in the Sister Fidelma series. In this outing we get to see Fidelma in her native land and interacting with her own family. As always, Tremayne (the pseudonym for a well-known scholar of this time period) excels in his depiction of life in 7th century Ireland, bringing detail and life to those who lived so long ago. Sister Fidelma is representative of her times, which were relatively free of the prejudice against women and their intellectual abilities which came to Ireland much later in history. Sister Fidelma herself is a delight -- funny, brash and sometimes all too human for a religieuse, although in this outing her recklessness is somewhat irritating, and has some grave consequences. This is a mystery which makes you think, especially about how an enlightened society degenerated into one which so abused and repressed women for so many years. An excellent addition to this fine series.
--Claire E. White
Termination Node by Lois H. Gresh and Robert Weinberg
DelRey, Jan., 1999.Hardcover, 310 pages.
ISBN: 0345412451.
Ordering information:
Amazon.com.
Judy Carmody, an internet
security expert and one of the
best hackers in Southern
California, is completely puzzled
by the most recent cyberheist.
Carmody watches as bank accounts
empty before her very eyes.
Before she even has a chance to
get to the bottom of this security
nightmare, two men show up
at her apartment claiming
to be agents from ISD, the
Internet Security Department.
Carmody soon realizes that the
men plan to kill her and her
surfer neighbor shows at just the
wrong time.
Her surfer neighbor is killed,
but with a few lucky breaks
she narrowly escapes.
However the men have high-connections
and the murder is blamed on her.
Soon she is
being pursued by the police, FBI,
ISD and everyone else. Carmody
is forced to rely on a secret hacker
underground (where she is known
as the super-hacker TerMight)
and calls on old friends
she has never met except through
cyberspace to try and find out how the
security breach is related to the
attempt on her life so she can clear her
name.
Authors Lois H. Gresh, a computer specialist and Robert Weinberg, a popular science fiction author, have created an exciting story that will take any bank executive's fears of cybertheft and cyberterrorism to an entirely new level. An exhilarating cyberthriller full of espionage, hacking and cyberterror.
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