( 5 reviews )
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Sep 4 2006
This is a tight plot with no last minute add-ins to tie up all of the loose ends.. You get to make your guess about who did the crime and who will do the time. Pleasantly, all aspects of the story are germane to the plot. There is even some cool probability theory stuff that is brought in, clearly explained and an important part of the plot. However, if you are the type of reader who likes, lots of hard-edged, foul mouthed in your face tough stuff, this is not the book for you. If you like to see detectives actually detecting with thier brain (rather than other body parts) than this is a book for you.
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Posted: Aug 14 2006
My husband and I enjoyed this book and the continuation of the Inspector Morimoto series. It's a mix of a mystery, police procedure, travel and culture guide, and dry humor. It's fun and worth a read.
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( 1 of 2 found this review helpful ) Posted: Aug 2 2006
"This is a wonderful computer monitor, don't you think? There are all kinds of photons flying off it, making a very clear image that your eye can pick up, and see things like pictures and words and shapes. Don't you agree? Isn't it wonderful that cheese isn't the same thing as astroturf?" John Smith* sat back and stared in disbelief at the jarringly stilted and fake dialogue. He picked up the salt and salted his food, even though it was obvious that salt is unhealthy and any sane person shouldn't eat it. "What was that?" he thought, wondering where all these bizarre and out of place comments on the action were coming from. Maybe the author was still seven years old, and hadn't figured out how to show instead of tell. Or maybe the author needed to stick to math. John then went for a walk with his friend Joe. Joe was a very important character in the story. Very important. Over and over again it became clear that the story couldn't be told without Joe. Joe first spoke in chapter eleven. On their walk, they walked down the street, around the corner, through the park, up the stairs, down the waterfall, three quarters of the way across the galaxy, and into the mouth of a waiting hamster. Yes, you read that right: the entire walk was a bizarre, mechanically synchronized march. Neither did anything independent of the other, and there were no details, no asides, no changes in movement along the way worth noticing. John and Joe's story was published by iUniverse, a vanity press, and the author's friends all logged in to Amazon and gave it high ratings. Then, someone who likes books with suspense, and is also fond of sushi, spent good money on this steaming heap of manure, was most displeased, and set out to warn others. (*Names have been changed to protect the innocent.)
