Monstrum

Rating:
Summary: Good, but it could have been great.
Review: This is a good thriller and it has an intelligence and sense of place that few serial killer novels have. There are a few great lines, e.g., "In an investigation, any investigation, if you want to know what really happened you have to be ruthless with your favorite theories." However, I thought the chracter of Julia was James' most interesting creation and contained his most memorable scenes. As the novel progressed, I wished the novel was called `Julia'. I look forward to other novels by Donald James; perhaps, one on Julia herself.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This is one of the very best thrillers I have ever read. It hooks one's interest early on, and manages to increase it with a series of twists and subplots. The writing is superb, and is at least as good as 'Silence of the Lambs', 'Fatherland' and 'Gorky Park', the books with which this has been compared.

Rating:
Summary: Not MCS
Review: When will I learn, whenever I pick up a book that says it is the next XX - I should remember this book. Gorky Park was a fabulous book and this book did not live up to it. Don't get me wrong, I liked this book and it did have same similarities to Gorky Park (almost too many). I liked the descriptions of how Russia had fallen in the book into a complete state of everyone out for themselves ruthlessness. The serial killer bit was ok, not a copy of anything else we know but the author did not really sell it to you. I also thought the political side story / cause was a little distracting becuase it was too pushy - you knew it would have a part to play at the end. Overall I think this is an average book.

Rating:
Summary: Not MCS
Review: When will I learn, whenever I pick up a book that says it is the next XX - I should remember this book. Gorky Park was a fabulous book and this book did not live up to it. Don't get me wrong, I liked this book and it did have same similarities to Gorky Park (almost too many). I liked the descriptions of how Russia had fallen in the book into a complete state of everyone out for themselves ruthlessness. The serial killer bit was ok, not a copy of anything else we know but the author did not really sell it to you. I also thought the political side story / cause was a little distracting becuase it was too pushy - you knew it would have a part to play at the end. Overall I think this is an average book.

Rating:
Summary: The whole more effective than its parts
Review: While I spent a good deal of my time reading this book and wishing that it would end, I did stay with until the end, and the journey, though long was one of the more rewarding I have recently had. The real problem for me is that the protagonist is infuriatingly stupid and until the satisfying resolution, it is difficult to accept this as the point. The writing, however, is superior and the sense of time and place extremely concise. Even as I groaned with impatience at the protagonist's behaviour (he can hardly be called a hero) I read on, and on, and was happy that I had. A really fine achievment by the author, I look forward to reading his earlier work.