Anatomy of Fear

STORYLINE:  Nate Rodriguez is a NYPD sketch artist who is drawn into an investigation where the killer draws pictures of his crime and  victims before killing them.  Rodiguez uses his skills to produce an image of an unidentified murderer.  The killer is highly intelligent and pits himself against Rodriquez in a terrifying game with dire consequences. One unique aspect of Anatomy of Fear is the fact that there are pictures and sketches within its pages.
 
PLAYERS:
Nate Rodriguez has gone through the Police Academy but uses his drawing skills to catch criminals. Detective Terri Russo brings him into the case as he had done a sketch in the past that led to a crime being solved. The two become close, however their relationship is hampered by the fact that Nate has issues with his father’s unresolved death, a carryover from his teens. He also seems unwilling to commit to a relationship based on his solitary existence.

Detective Terri Russo made a mistake in the past that had affected her career. Solving this case would take care of the baggage she’s carrying from that case. However, her life is complicated by the romance with Nate as she cannot seem to stay in a relationship for any length of time.

 I LIKED: the fact that the story covers a lot of ground to do with facial expressions and how we unknowingly reveal what we’re feeling. The sketches add an interesting element to the story. I’ve never read a book done quite like that. I think Nate’s character was well-written.

As the criminal planned his crimes his pictures took shape. In the same way, Nate’s drawing of the criminal took on more solid form the closer he got to catching him. It’s hard to explain how Nate’s gift helped him connect with the criminal, however, his grandmother had visions linking Nate to the man committing hate crimes. Nate has this gift to a much lesser extent, but his sixth sense helped him in putting a face and a name to a smart killer.

I COULD HAVE LIVED WITHOUT:  the way in which Detective Terri Russo is drawn. She comes across as a tough cop (which she is), who has been in and out of relationships (if you want to call them that). She’s sensitive about the way in which she thinks Nate sees her and gets touchy much too easily, (the word belligerent comes to mind) which leads to quarrels and walkouts. Thinking back, I still don’t know much about her history.

OVERALL COMMENTS: The book is billed as the ultimate in suspense by reviewers, but I didn’t get into the story until I was about a hundred pages in, but I’m not sure why that is. I may have been distracted by Russo’s past relationship with someone with seniority over her, and then there was the obligatory power struggle between the police department and the FBI.

The visions and premonitions experienced by Nate’s grandmother fascinated me because in Jamaica, these gifts are accepted, rather than frowned on or viewed as hocus-pocus.

Nate’s willingness to follow clues, even when he became a suspect, moved the story along in a tense race to an ending that could easily have resulted in disaster for Nate, and other unwitting participants in one man’s holy war.

There was an unresolved plot thread, however, I suspect that it might have been dealt with in follow up novel. If you’re big on crime and suspense, you won’t regret reading Anatomy of Fear.

My rating

Read More

Anniversary Giveaway!

May 11 marks a year since I've been writing on this blog. I've done a lot more reading than the reviews reflected here, but anyway, I thought I'd do something special to mark my upcoming anniversary.

I'm giving away some books I've read during the past year or so. I have a couple in there that I haven't read in that time and I keep adding to the unread pile each time there's a past-their-use-before-date (aka slightly shopworn) sale at the bookshop. Rather than letting them gather dust, I'm throwing them in too.

What do you need to do to win one of these books?

• Add yourself as a follower of The Readers' Suite.
• Ensure you comment on this post so I know you're in the competition. Please let me know if you're interested in any particular book.
• Help me spread the word by tweeting this post for an additional entry. (Not a requirement) 
• Or you can grab the badge in the sidebar for your blog, which gives you another entry.  Just let me know if you do. (Again, not a requirement, simply a goodwill gesture.)

Without further ado, here are the prizes.

If you need help making up your mind as to which book you'd like, I've added a little information on each.

Undercover is about a drag queen who turns his life around and leaves his past behind. Enter financial troubles and he's forced to return to his former life with devastating consequences for himself and his family.

In The Bookwoman's Last Fling, Cliff Janeway, is hired to conduct an inventory on a rare collection of children's books.  The books were owned by deceased horse trainer H.R. Geiger who inhereted them from his wife, now dead for twenty years.  Janeway finds that some of the books are cheap imitiations. His investigation take him into the world of horseracing where he finds out that Mrs. Geiger had less than impeccable morals and that her death, seemingly an allergic reaction, might have been planned.

Marrying Up was adapted as a musical stage play and is the story of Paris Montague, whose family believes in marrying the right kind of man, that is upwardly mobile. But Paris has other ideas.  She has a delightful 'relationship' with her secret lover and is not gung-ho about JaBari Nolan, the kind of man her family approves. To complicate things, Paris senses there's something bad lurking behind the perface facade JaBari presents and must choose between him and the other man in her life.

If you enjoy tales of Colonial Africa, then Cloth Girl
is for you. Matilda's childhood ends when a lawyer decides that he will make her his second wife, even though she is a teenager.  She suffers much at the hand of Robert Bannerman's first wife as a result of her jealously. However, Matilda has no choice but to make the best of a horrible situation.  See my review of this book here.
     
In Bare Bones (written by Kathy Reichs, from whom CSI: Crime Scene Investigation takes its inspiration) Dr. Tempe Brennan goes on vacation. However, her job as a forensic anthropologist follows her.  She investigates two crimes, which may be connected and also prove dangerous to Brennan and her child.

Suspense fanatics, this one's for you. Nate Rodriguez is a NYPD sketch artist who is drawn into an investigation where the killer draws pictures of his crime and  victims before killing them.  Rodiguez uses his skills to produce an image of an unidentified murderer.  The killer is highly intelligent and pits himself against Rodriquez in a terrifying game with dire consequences. One unique aspect of Anatomy of Fear is the fact that there are pictures and sketches within its pages.

  High Profile is a book I enjoyed thoroughly.   Someone murders a talk show host and hangs him in a park for all to see. His female assistant is also killed and left in a dumpster. Jesse Stone, the police chief of Paradise, has to sieve through the almost non-existent clues to find the murderer. In the middle of all that, he works through his own unresolved relationship issues. My review of this novel is posted here.       





I've discovered a nifty website that I'll be using to spread the word on this contest. If you like giveaways, Giveaway Scout might just be what you need. Click the widget in my sidebar to see what I'm talking about.

Stay tuned for my next giveaway, which will run concurrently with this one as at May 1, 2011.  My second book Dissolution will be released on May 20, 2011. I'll be giving away copies @ The Character Depot.

Good luck to all!

Read More