5 recent reads: Think Of A Number, Thereby Hangs a Tail, Before We Say Goodbye, The Killing Place, Daniel X #3 Demons & Druids

Think Of A Number
by John Verdon, Penguin, $39
This is a very original thriller from Verdon. It's his first novel, but certainly won't be his last. It's thoughtful, ingenious, and owes its tension to the mind games it plays with the reader. It tantalises with puzzles and with implied danger rather than bulldozing with graphic violence. And it's all the more enjoyable for that. Dave Gurney has retired as a New York homicide detective. But, out of the blue, he is contacted by an old college friend who is alarmed by some strange and intimidating letters he has been receiving.
Gurney regards these as sinister, but as a challenging puzzle to solve. But then the former friend is brutally killed, and he is back in the investigating business.
The killer appears to have known his victim intimately, even his private thoughts. But how? And why is he playing with the police? He's very intelligent, that is clear, but what drives him? What's the motive?
Graeme Barrow
Thereby Hangs a Tail
by Spencer Quinn, Arena Books, $28.99
Detectives with dogs are not new, but writing a detective novel from the dog's perspective is certainly different.
At first it's annoying that Chet has the attention span of a gnat as he jumps between topics while relating his and Bernie's attempts to solve their latest case. But the style is quite endearing once you get used to it.
A spoilt puff-ball show dog has received threats, but Chet disgraces himself and gets the pair thrown off the case. However, when Princess and her owner are abducted, the dynamic duo put themselves back on the case and manage to fall foul of local law enforcement.
Chet is constantly distracted by things to eat or chase and often veers into past exploits, promising to tell the reader about them later before careering off again. For anybody who knows dogs, it is an endearing view through our four-legged friends' eyes.
Julie Taylor
Before We Say Goodbye
by Sean Davison, Cape Catley, $35.99
A prominent women doctor in her 80s has terminal cancer and has set her mind on dying on her own terms. She does not want to linger and endure an undignified death. Her son returns to New Zealand to nurse her in her final days and this book recounts the day-to-day struggles and triumphs they both experienced along the way.
Sean Davison is a very brave and honest man who details his experience with such candour and straight talking as to give the reader a special insight into the agonising task of caring for a loved one who is dying.
It contains moments of humour that will surprise, and touching moments of tenderness. This book is mostly a means to raise awareness of the issues of voluntary euthanasia and its legalities in New Zealand, but also explores the emotions and heartbreak felt by the family of someone who chooses this path.
Rachel Sharp
The Killing Place
by Tess Gerritsen, Bantam Press, $39
It looks like Jonestown all over again. A community of followers of a charismatic religious leader suddenly disappear, leaving meals on tables. And when their bodies are finally discovered at the remote, and eerily quiet, village of Kingdom Come, it seems as though there has been a mass suicide.
Pathologist Maura Isles and a group of friends stumble across Kingdom Come while lost in a snowstorm ... and then disappear themselves.
Maura's cop friend, Jane Rizzoli, arrives at the scene to search for the missing quartet and uncovers a conspiracy involving crooked local police.
Maura, meanwhile, is on the run, with help from a young boy survivor of the Kingdom Come disaster. Armed men are trailing them through the snow with murder on their minds.
Great ending.
Kevin Ball
Daniel X #3 Demons & Druids
by James Patterson, Random House, $29.99
Daniel X, with the help of his close friends, is working on a very special "to do" list. Daniel is an alien-hunter, hunting extremely dangerous extraterrestrial villains. His task is to carry on the work his parents, now dead, started. While Daniel has powers, he is still learning how to use them. If he doesn't learn fast enough he is likely to meet the same fate as his parents.
Daniel is going to need all the skills he has if he is to defeat the toughest alien yet, Phosphorius Beta, the fire demon who killed his parents. Daniel must now go back in time to prevent Phosphorius Beta from becoming too powerful in the past, if he is to save Earth from being destroyed in the present. The only problem is can he do it without getting himself killed.
This book is an easy light read, ideal for younger adults but good fun for older adults, too.
Ned Glover