Glenn Cooper, Library of the dead

This starts in what seems like fairly standard serial killer territory with a decent CFC (crime fiction cliche) score as the lead character is a jaded FBI agent described on the cover as ‘maverick’.

The action then switched to 1947. Okay, a hint of post-war conspiracy theory. Interesting.

Then we’re in an abbey in Wessex in the eighth century, named after the bus service on the Isle of Wight (okay I may have that the wrong way around, but it was definitely the eighth century).

It’s rather a good set-up, but impossible to carry through to a completely satisfying conclusion.

Think of this book like one of the later episodes of the X Files where the tension is ratcheted up with an intriguing case and a twist of the conspiracy theory, but then the entire construct deflates at the end as our heroes live to fight another day with a true solution still beyond their grasp.

Quentin Jardine, Aftershock

A mystery that begins with a body on a golf course outside Edinburgh that I chose to read during a weekend staying in a hotel on a golf course outside Edinburgh (Dalmahoy Marriott Edinburgh – just don’t, not quite murder but close).

Part of a series centred around a policeman, DCC Bob Skinner – although I’m not sure how successful it is as a serial entry. This book recaps back story in a way that doesn’t help a newcomer and would probably bore an established fan.

The main notable feature of the structure was the short chapters leaping between the personal and professional lives of the various characters. The author must be a fan of the theory of six degrees of interconnection, or Edinburgh is a lot smaller than I thought, because each of the characters seemed to a have a personal connection to the next link in the mystery chain. Fans of CFC (crime fiction cliche) will be pleased to know that the case becomes personal for at least two of the characters.

The other weakness is the amount that is withheld from the reader. The wise all-knowing detective has worked it out a hundred pages before the end, but unfortunately the author isn’t as skilled at leading the reader along, but instead chooses the lazier route of ending chapters as follows in order to set up a denouement that the reader doesn’t have a chance of reaching from internal evidence,

I’ve just had a weird idea. It’s complicated, and you’ll need  to move very fast, but if you can put all the pieces together , this is what I’d like you to do.

Grrrrr….

Kathy Reichs, Bare bones

A case for Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist, involving a dead baby, a plane crash, smuggling and both animal and human remains.

Take a Patricia Cornwell mystery, change the names to protect the copyright and you know exactly what you’re getting. Scores well on the cliche-o-meter – the slightly difficult romantic interest and the serial killer who takes time out to focus his attention on the lead character.