{"id":6140,"date":"2016-10-24T08:21:45","date_gmt":"2016-10-24T12:21:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=6140"},"modified":"2016-11-10T11:05:36","modified_gmt":"2016-11-10T16:05:36","slug":"delicious-mayhem-in-3-crime-thrillers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=6140","title":{"rendered":"Delicious Mayhem in 3 Crime Thrillers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"reading,

photo: Kamil Porembi\u0144ski, creative commons license<\/p><\/div>\n

Recent vacations gave me the chance to delve into my scary pile of \u201cto-read\u201d books, where I discovered these gems. I hope you\u2019ll enjoy them too.<\/p>\n

*****The Poison Artist<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By Jonathan Moore \u2013 About this psychological thriller Stephen King said, \u201cI haven\u2019t read anything so terrifying since Red Dragon<\/em>.\u201d Based in San Francisco, it\u2019s the story of a UCSF professor of toxicology asked to help look for the presence of poisons in a set of torture-murder victims. Something very grim haunts the scientist\u2019s past, his wife has left him, and he becomes obsessed with a beautiful, absinthe-drinking woman named Emmeline, whom he meets in an exclusive late-night bar. As the number of victims increases and he comes to know Emmeline better, he suspects she may be linked to the murders, but could he give her up? Is he the next victim? Smartly written and thoroughly immersive.<\/p>\n

****Forgiving Mariela Camacho<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

By A.J. Sidransky \u2013 NYPD detectives Pete Gonzalvez and Tolya Kurchenko discover the body of a young woman inside what\u2019s meant to look like an elaborate suicide device, but they see what really happened: murder. And Gonzalvez knows the victim, a Dominican beauty named Mariela Camacho whom he once loved. Maybe still does. As this police procedural unwinds, you learn more about Gonzalvez\u2019s early life in the Dominican Republic, and the code the people he grew up with lived by. Kurchenko also has reasons to look into his past and his family\u2019s enemies in Russia. Past and present move toward a deadly collision in this fast-moving ride through the city streets. It\u2019s also a powerful testament to friendship. The detectives\u2019 banter\u2014spiced with Dominican Spanish\u2014is entertaining and genuine. The book won the 2016 David Award at the annual Deadly Ink conference.<\/p>\n

****The Good Cop<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By Brad Parks – Reporter Carter Ross is based in Newark, New Jersey, quietly rebelling against the commodification of the news for internet and social media tastes. This is the fourth book featuring Ross and his wicked sense of humor. He needs it, because his work takes him to some pretty dark places. Ross is looking into the suicide death of Newark policeman Darius Kipps and before long decides the death wasn\u2019t a suicide at all. Clues are hard to come by, though, and he can recognize stonewalling when he encounters it. The paper accepts the official story, so he\u2019s pretty much on his own, depending for help on a lively and engaging set of secondary characters. Absinthe is drunk (apparently I missed a trend here). You\u2019re reminded of the importance of deep reporting and a commitment to uncovering the truth somehow lost in the era of \u201cnon-stop news\u201d soundbites.
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