Post by sherlew (Ret) on May 3, 2009 21:59:53 GMT -6
I'm just finishing up Jim Butcher's latest book in the Dresden Files series, Turncoat (book 11). It's rather good and I can definitely recommend the series as a whole.
The Dresden Files is about a wizard named Harry Dresden who has trained as a private investigator. It's set in what I like to to think of as an alternate-reality world in which magic is real and such things as old gods, vampires, were wolves and other unusual things exist. Harry is someone who will stand up for people who are in trouble, magical or mundane, and stick by them even when the odds are high that he won't succeed. He always comes through in the end.
Also been listening to a couple of audio books. Just finished Carl Hiassen's Tourist Season. It's a rather dark comedy set in Florida. A few tourists have gone missing, and it's up to a PI, Brian Keyes, to figure out what's happening to them and stop a band of crazy nuts who want to chase everyone away from the sunshine state.
Although the Dresden Files has a bit of language and adult situations at times, Tourist Season is a more direct reflection of people as they can be and often are: bigoted, raciest, foul-mouthed and yet, all so darkly funny at times.
Just started another Cathy Reichs audio book, Devil Bones. A plumber has found some rather disturbing artifacts while working in a kitchen in South Carolina. Someone has turned an old root cellar (where people used to keep things cool before refrigeration was invented) into a place for rituals that include the use of human and animal remains. A local preacher turned politician is going on about how Satan worshipers have invaded the area and that they must be stopped as soon as possible. Unfortunately, he's more likely to hinder the investigation than help. He's also accused the police and the main character, Dr. Temperance Brennan, of covering things up and doing nothing.
Now if Dr. Brennan can just keep him from pushing her buttons and keep her cool.
Grisly details aside, I really like Kathy Reich's novels. They are intelligent, funny, and her characters are all well drawn. Oh and yes, these are the books that the TV series 'Bones" is based on.
The Dresden Files is about a wizard named Harry Dresden who has trained as a private investigator. It's set in what I like to to think of as an alternate-reality world in which magic is real and such things as old gods, vampires, were wolves and other unusual things exist. Harry is someone who will stand up for people who are in trouble, magical or mundane, and stick by them even when the odds are high that he won't succeed. He always comes through in the end.
Also been listening to a couple of audio books. Just finished Carl Hiassen's Tourist Season. It's a rather dark comedy set in Florida. A few tourists have gone missing, and it's up to a PI, Brian Keyes, to figure out what's happening to them and stop a band of crazy nuts who want to chase everyone away from the sunshine state.
Although the Dresden Files has a bit of language and adult situations at times, Tourist Season is a more direct reflection of people as they can be and often are: bigoted, raciest, foul-mouthed and yet, all so darkly funny at times.
Just started another Cathy Reichs audio book, Devil Bones. A plumber has found some rather disturbing artifacts while working in a kitchen in South Carolina. Someone has turned an old root cellar (where people used to keep things cool before refrigeration was invented) into a place for rituals that include the use of human and animal remains. A local preacher turned politician is going on about how Satan worshipers have invaded the area and that they must be stopped as soon as possible. Unfortunately, he's more likely to hinder the investigation than help. He's also accused the police and the main character, Dr. Temperance Brennan, of covering things up and doing nothing.
Now if Dr. Brennan can just keep him from pushing her buttons and keep her cool.
Grisly details aside, I really like Kathy Reich's novels. They are intelligent, funny, and her characters are all well drawn. Oh and yes, these are the books that the TV series 'Bones" is based on.