Monday, June 4, 2012

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?


 

It's Monday! What are you reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. For this meme, bloggers post what they finished last week, what they're currently reading, and what they plan to start this week.  


Well, I somehow missing posting last week due to some family health issues and other stuff!


FINISHED:
The Return of the Dancing Master
Synopsis here.
WOW what a read especially as I have just returned from visiting countries that were devastated by the Nazis this was a very timely book.
This is an extremely violent book, but totally mesmerizing.
It is very hard to write about without giving the plot away. It is a great study of revenge.
I had heard about the return of a legal Nazi party in Hungary when I was there but had no idea how rampant it is in Sweden as well. Very scary!
Another good Mankell novel, the first of non-Wallendar ones I've read, but it also was very good. Good characters, tight plot, exotic setting.

Nemesis
From the book jacket;
Rainy closed-circuit television footage shows a man walking into an Oslo bank and putting a gun to a cashier's head. He tells the young woman to count to twenty-five. When the robber doesn't get his money in time, the cashier is executed, and two million Norwegian kroner disappear without a trace. Police Detective Harry Hole is assigned to the case.
While Hole's girlfriend is away in Russia, an old flame decides to get in touch. Former girlfriend and struggling artist Anna Bethsen invites Hole to dinner, and he can't resist a visit. But the evening ends in an all too familiar way as Hole awakens with a thundering headache, a missing cell phone, and no memory of the past twelve hours. That same morning, Anna is found shot dead in her bed. Hole begins to receive threatening e-mails. Is someone trying to frame him for this unexplained death? Meanwhile, the bank robberies continue with unparalleled savagery.
As the death toll continues to mount, Hole becomes a prime suspect in a criminal investigation led by his longtime adversary Tom Waaler and Waaler's vigilante police force. Racing from the cool, autumnal streets of Oslo to the steaming villages of Brazil, Hole is determined to absolve himself of suspicion by uncovering all the information needed to crack both cases. But the ever-threatening Waaler is not finished with his old archenemy quite yet.

I had started this several times and for no real reason went onto other books.  This story involves gypsies (Romas) and until I visited Budapest last month and went to the Holocaust Museum I had no idea that Hitler was also determined to obliterate the gypsies as well. This book makes several references to Hitler and his hate of the gypsies.
Nesbo has an uncanny ability to lead you astray with one false lead after another before disclosing the most unexpected ending.
The book interweaves two independent investigations which prove to be interrelated.
Definitely another great read last week.

STARTED THIS WEEK:
Dublin Dead   (Mulcahy, #2)
From the book jacket:
Journalist Siobhan Fallon needs the help of DI Mike Mulcahy with a story she’s covering about the disappearance of a young woman from Cork. When he agrees, they find themselves dragged into the ruthless world of international drug smuggling - and finding a link between the murder of a retired drug dealer in Spain, the suicide of an estate agent in Bristol and a yacht abandoned off the south coast of Ireland.
Once again justice and journalism make awkward bedfellows as Mulcahy and Fallon run a desperate race against a remorseless enemy determined to silence the one person alive who knows the truth…

So far a very enjoyable read set in my birthplace.

2 comments:

  1. I'm curious about the Nesbo books. Hope you enjoy your reads...and thanks for visiting my blog.

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  2. The Return of the Dancing Master sounds fascinating. My husband teases me about all of the WWII era books that I read, but I find so many interesting stories from that period.

    I hope all of your family members are feeling better!

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