DARK FIRE by C.J. Sansom

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

"It is 1540, and Henry VIII has been on the throne for thirty-one years when Matthew Shardlake, the lawyer renowned as "the sharpest hunchback in the courts of England," is pressed to help a friend's young niece who is charged with murder. Despite threats of torture and death by the rack, the girl is inexplicably silent. Shardlake is about to lose her case when he is suddenly granted a reprieve - one that will ensnare him again in the dangerous schemes of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's feared vicar general." In exchange for two more weeks to investigate the murder, Shardlake accepts Cromwell's assignment to find a lost cache of "Dark Fire," an ancient weapon of mass destruction. Cromwell, out of favor since Henry's disastrous marriage to Anne of Cleves, is relying on Shardlake's discovery to save his position at court, which is rife with conspiracy.

RATING:

Sansom's debut novel, DISSOLUTION, was impressive and I was anxious to read his follow-up to see if he could match his first and in DARK FIRE, he more than does to the extent that it's even better. The intertwining storylines involving "Dark Fire" and Shardlake's desperation to save a young girl he believes wrongly accused of killing her cousin are captivating -- the descriptive passages, multi-faceted characters and the enormous appeal of Matthew Shardlake makes DARK FIRE by far one of the best books I've read this year or any. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

DARKNESS, TAKE MY HAND by Dennis Lehane

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

Lehane's stunning thriller sees the return of tough-talking, hard-playing Boston private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. The detectives are enjoying Indian summer in their office in an old church belfry in Dorchester - the blue-collar, racially and ethnically diverse but troubled part of Boston where they grew up - when they are called to their next case. Dr. Diandra Warren, a prominent psychiatrist, believes she has inadvertently angered a powerful member of the Boston Irish Mafia and asks Patrick and Angie to protect her vulnerable son from retribution. Can the detectives shield him from the thug who is not only right-hand man to the head of the Irish Mafia but who grew up with Patrick and Angie? Can Dr. Warren's ex-husband, the most powerful district attorney in the Boston area, help to protect his estranged son? As the detectives are drawn deeper into the case, bodies begin piling up around them. The clues begin to point unaccountably to an unlikely suspect - a serial killer who has been in prison for twenty years of a life sentence. Patrick and Angie must find out if he has indeed inexplicably resurfaced and what, if anything, his connection is to the people from their neighborhood.

RATING:

Second in Lehane's Kenzie/Gennaro series, a multi-layered mystery that goes far above & beyond the initial premise of the book. Exceptionally well-written, disturbing & hard to put down. Another example of why Lehane is a master in his field.