Book Review | Book Chatter

The Devil’s Star
By Jo Nesbo
HarperCollins
March 2010
452pp

The Short of It:

A gripping police procedural with one of the best detective personalities I’ve encountered in years.

The Rest of It:

The Devil’s Star is a perfect example of why I adore Scandinavian crime fiction.

Detective Harry Hole is what’d you call, a functioning alcoholic. He’s lost his girlfriend and spends his waking hours stumbling through his cases, drinking in bars and smoking cigarettes like they’re going out of style. He’s incredibly flawed, but good at what he does so his superiors often look to him for input, even though physically he is falling apart. Time is running out for old Harry though because his boss just can’t cover for him anymore and he’s just stepped into a very high-profile case involving a serial killer with a penchant for pentagrams and red diamonds in the shape of a star.

This is my first experience with Jo Nesbo and I must say, I have fallen in love. From the moment I opened this book, I was completely pulled into the story and could not put it down. The writing is crisp and the tension between the characters is so flawlessly executed, that you find yourself sitting on the edge of your seat, just waiting for one of them to pick-up on it themselves. The dialogue is smartly written and has that sophisticated, snappy quality that I find in Scandinavian novels. I won’t compare Nesbo’s writing to Larsson, as they each have their own, distinct style, but their books both possess that shrewdness that I’ve come to love.

You don’t have to be a lover of crime fiction to enjoy The Devil’s Star so if you aren’t, I encourage you to try it anyway. It has a great story, well-developed characters and writing that will force you to read it in one sitting. Apparently, Nesbo has written other books featuring Detective Harry Hole. One of which (The Snowman) makes its US debut in May 2011. I can’t wait!

Source: Sent to me by the publisher.

The Water Wars
By Cameron Stracher
Sourcebooks
January 2011
256pp

The Short of It:

The Water Wars is a fast-paced novel geared towards young adults. Its premise is promising… the nation is experiencing a water shortage and it’s left the landscape bone dry. However, as interesting as the story is, the characters take a backseat to the action.

The Rest of It:

Vera and her family struggle to survive on water rations that are modified by desalinization. The removal of salt and minerals is the only way to make salt water palatable and it’s left them weak, and in the case of Vera’s mother, ill. One day, Vera meets a boy by the name of Kai. Kai is special in that he lives with the privileged and seems to have access to an unlimited supply of fresh drinking water. His ability to locate fresh water is soon found out and he is kidnapped. Vera and her brother Will trek across the barren landscape in search of Kai and encounter obstacles such as water pirates, government intervention and flash floods from compromised dams.

The premise behind the book is quite frightening to consider. Stracher does an excellent job setting up the landscape. I could easily visualize the overall dustiness of a land without water. However, the characters, with the exception of Vera, seemed a little flat to me. Vera reminded me a lot of Katniss from The Hunger Games. She is determined and plucky and believable. However, Kai…who is such an important piece of the puzzle seems vacant in some way. Granted, he’s missing for a good chunk of the novel, but when he’s present, he’s not really PRESENT. His personality doesn’t really come through and this made it hard for me to buy the little romance between the two.

As far as action, there’s plenty of it but it didn’t allow a reader to linger with these characters for too long. They were off and running throughout the entire novel. From a tween’s perspective though, I imagine this would be right up their alley. Tweens don’t want to spend ages getting to the main story. They want you to get to the point quickly, and I do feel that Stracher succeeded in doing that. Also, the narrative structure played out like a movie which I think younger readers tend to like when reading a book.

In summary, younger readers (tweens and teens) will enjoy it whereas older readers might find it lacking.

Source: Sent to me by the publisher.

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