Minds That Hate, by Bill Kitson, Reviewed.

With overtones of the political thriller, this crime novel from Bill Kitson is the latest in his series

featuring DI Mike Nash. I hadn’t come across the author or his previous novels before I found this novel on the publisher’s website. Fantastic Books Publishing have done their usual great job in finding and exposing new and vibrant talent by giving this Bill Kitson an airing.

Written in the taut and pacey style of a good thriller, the book nevertheless develops the characters into fully fledged human beings, some of them definitely people you would not want to meet down a dark alley. Contrasting the evil of the antagonists is the basic goodness, flawed and imperfect, of the protagonists. And the developing, though uncertain, romance between police detective and local photojournalist brings light and warmth to what might otherwise be a tough read.

Bill Kitson exposes the underbelly of the world of the ambitious politician and lays bare the motivation and self-obsession of the psychotic criminal, getting deep into the minds of these unsavoury and dangerous characters. The reader is drawn into a world populated by nasty individuals whose only concerns lie in the furtherance of their own power or pleasure.

Struggling against this background, the world-weary detective has to deal with his own demons and a history of broken relationships, which superficially appear to have been no more than sexual encounters and even, perhaps, conquests. He must also work under the growing suspicion that those who control him in the chain of command are not what they should be.

Helping the male lead fight the dangers, doubts and difficulties of a case that grows more complex by the hour, is the overworked but basically honest and able reporter-cum-photographer working to keep the local newspaper afloat. She is the love interest and, as a strong woman with a mind of her own, lends balance to the relationship as well as to the story.

In the middle of all the political, criminal and sexual misdemeanours stands another victim, central to the plot and both controlling and controlled by the action. His position is one of impossibility; a situation that must eventually be resolved in the only way feasible.

This is a novel about murder, ambition, honesty, corruption, infidelity, lust, love, and justice. It is more than simply a crime thriller and manages to comment on the darker side of society without preaching. As regular readers of my reviews will know, character is the most vital element in a novel for me. This one is populated by real people: flawed, human, likeable or not, these are people who walk our streets, people you might meet in life. Some of them you would not want to exchange the time of day with, others you would avoid like the proverbial plague and others you would be happy to befriend.

I enjoyed the read and will be reading more of this author’s work in the future. I heartily recommend Minds That Hate to those who enjoy their fiction with depth as well as action.

The 6th Target, by James Patterson, Reviewed

James Patterson's The 6th Target is, of course, a thriller. I'm not a particular lover of thrillers, though I wrote a romantic thriller as my own first novel. I read this book because it was amongst a large number on my shelves and I'd made a decision at the start of the year to read all that were unread. I think I picked this one up second hand at a charity shop.

Patterson's book took me some time to enter, largely because I couldn't initially find a character I cared about. But this book is one of a longish series, so perhaps the author assumed readers would already be familiar with his female homicide detective. It took me a lot of chapters to become involved but, once I was hooked, I read the book quite quickly.

With over a hundred chapters, some only 2 pages long, and the usual short sentence structure of the genre, it was a relatively quick and undemanding read. Though, at times, I lost track of who was who amongst the dozens of characters.

Three basic story threads weave through the book and at times I was puzzled about which we were looking at. But the stories are told in linear form and, once I got used to the style of presentation, I moved swiftly forward. I try not to write reviews with spoilers, so I'll leave the story itself unexplained. Enough to know that the book contains murders, of course, kidnapping and other crimes. Such acts should generally absorb the reader and make him care but I found I only started to really care towards the end of the book.

There is quite a lot of detail that adds little to the story and I guess a good fifth of the text could be removed without detriment. In fact, it would improve the pace.

There's plenty of drama here and some moral messaging amongst the violence that drives the story. There's a lot of procedural detective work, and some court scenes, that enlightened me about the US justice system.

I gradually came to know the main characters and slowly grew to find some empathy with the female detective, Lindsay Boxer, and her mission to capture the guilty parties for the various crimes. Naturally, she had a complication in her love life; what detective doesn't? But that aspect of her life was written in such bland terms that I had little response to it. Her professional concerns, however, were depicted with more emotional content and I was with her toward the end of the book as the denouement unwound and the natural conclusion was presented.

Would I read any more of this? Well, I have another Patterson book on the shelves, unread, and I won't be getting to it soon, though it was originally the first title on my 'to read' list. There just isn't enough emotional connection for me. The story is told and I prefer to be shown. But the guy sells a lot of books, so the failing is probably with me. I just didn't ever feel sufficiently involved; I felt like a neutral observer presented with enough superficial facts to make judgements on the crimes but lacking any real connection to the characters that might make me care about them.

If you're into crime and more interested in details than the deeper interaction of characters, you'll probably enjoy this a lot more than I did.

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Ugly

Ugly: adjective - of an appearance causing dread or horror; frightful, horrible; of an event, time, sound - dreadful, terrible; morally repulsive; base, vile; offensive or repulsive to the eye, refined taste or good feelings; disagreeable, unpleasant; causing disquiet or discomfort; problematic, awkward; of markedly disagreeable or unpleasant appearance; offensive to smell or taste; noisome, nasty; suggesting trouble or danger; of the weather or sea - threatening, dangerously rough; cross, angry or bad-tempered.

'David stared hard into the mirror on the wall of his bedsit and wondered whether any woman would ever fancy and ugly bugger like him.'

'An ugly mob gathered around the steps of the courthouse, threatening to lynch the sex offender when he emerged from the trial.'

Pic: A dry stone wall above Catrigg Force, North Yorkshire. (Included as an antidote the ugly features.)