Janine

First of a planned series featuring Joona Linna, a Swedish detective with the National Police. Complicated plot, full of twists and turns and interlocking stories. Lots of violence, plenty of abuse of all kinds but a very satisfying conclusion. My kind of book!

It’s no secret we’re fans of J. D. Robb’s “in Death” series with Eve Dallas, so we are all excited when a new book comes out, and we all devoured New York to Dallas.
This one is a notable departure for Robb, in that not only does it not take place in New York so we don’t have as much interaction with some of our favorite sidekicks, but delves deeply into Eve Dallas’ past, answering some questions that have been hanging around for 32 novels and several novellas.
New York to Dallas is going to be a must-read for established fans. For those of you who haven’t read J. D. Robb, we all strongly recommend that you begin with Naked in Death (Penguin, $7.99). These are tightly plotted, fast-paced and well written novels that are addicting!

I loved this book...the characters, the plot, the setting, even the cover art! Take one smart-ass private investigator, with the name Cape Weathers and a partner named Sally, who by the way is a trained assassin and has gone missing, add a container ship smuggling Chinese refugees that runs aground near Alcatraz with its crew mysteriously murdered and you have the makings of a fine, fine read. Maleeny weaves the story of Sally's childhood and "education" in Hong Kong into the plot with such ease that rather than distract the reader it enhances the story. Non stop action propelled by simply wonderful characters, including Cape's friends Linda (a reporter with”dark brown and omni-directional hair… hair that adds a good four inches to her height and considerably more to her attitude...people standing nearby eyed it warily, not sure if angry hornets would emerge or if the hair itself would strike without provocation", who fears anything involving electricity) and Sloth (“born with a rare neurological disorder, the Sloth didn't get his nickname from how he looked, but for how he moved...far slower than the world's slowest mammal, it could take him an hour to cross the room, minutes to finish a single sentence...until he came into contact with his first computer… the Sloth was trapped inside a frozen body that could only move at a glacial pace...computers had revealed Sloth's curse to be a mixed blessing, for while his body steadfastly refused to speed up, his brain was faster than a laptop on steroids..."). Add the above to San Francisco’s mayoral race, the normal conflicts between local police and the FBI and the end result is an excellent debut thriller with just the perfect touch of sarcastic humor.