Books 191-192: Brother Grimm and Die Trying
Book 191: Brother Grimm (Jan Fabel #2).
Author: Craig Russell, 2006.
Genre: Police Procedural. Euro Crime. Serial Killer. Folklore.
Other Details: Paperback. 448 pages.
A girl's body lies, posed, on the pale sand of a Hamburg beach, a message concealed in her hand. 'I have been underground, and now it is time for me to return home...' Jan Fabel, of the Hamburg Murder Squad, struggles to interpret the twisted imagery of a dark and brutal mind. Four days later, a man and a woman are found deep in woodland, their throats slashed deep and wide, the names 'Hansel' and 'Gretel', in the same tiny, obsessively neat writing, rolled tight and pressed into their hands.
As it becomes clear that each new crime is a grisly reference to folk stories collected almost two hundred years ago by the Brothers Grimm, the hunt is on for a serial killer who is exploring our darkest, most fundamental fears. A predator who kills and then disappears into the shadows. - synopsis from author's website.
Again as with the first in this series, Blood Eagle, this was a very dark crime thriller. It proved a page-turner and I have quickly become a fan of the Fabel series. I was pleased that someone in the course of the novel pointed out that 'Fabel' sounded like 'Fable'.
Book 192: Die Trying (Jack Reacher #2).
Author: Lee Child, 1998.
Genre: Action. Thriller.
Other Details: Paperback. 557 pages.
Poor Jack Reacher trouble finds him anywhere. He's just strolling aimlessly down a Chicago street and sees a young woman on crutches struggling to deal with an armload of dry cleaning. He offers her a steadying hand and then wham! - he turns around to find three men with guns threatening them. They bundle them both into the back of a van. Soon the van is racing across America. Holly Johnson advises Reacher that she is a F.B.I. agent but why she and Reacher have been kidnapped is a mystery. Meanwhile, when the F.B.I. realise their agent is missing they and other law enforcement spring into action though a misleading video capture at the moment of the kidnap means that Reacher is mistaken for one of the kidnappers. Oops.
I won't say more except matters become clearer when they finally reach their destination in a remote part of Montana.
Another enjoyable action fest that certainly entertained me during a couple of days when I wanted something to read that would demand little from me and would provide page-turning thrills. Lee Child's Jack Reacher books meet this criteria perfectly.