Are Thrillers Supposed to Be this Depressing? and This Predictable?

No Good Deed - M. P. McDonald

Thriller novels? Let’s see: the hero is supposed to undergo trials and tribulations and nevertheless triumph. Isn’t that about the size of it? Well, if all you want is a plot in which a hero undergoes trials and tribulations and nevertheless triumphs, then feel free to pick up a copy of M. P. McDonald’s No Good Deed. If, on the other hand, you want something well-written; I advise you to look elsewhere: this is the sort of novel on which self-publication has built a regrettably shoddy reputation.

Mark Taylor’s a Chicago-based photographer, and a damned good one. Not only does he do kiddie portraits and weddings, he also does arty stuff. That’s how he got in trouble: while taking photos in Afghanistan for a buddy’s book on the plight of Afghan women he found an old camera in a bazaar. Little did he know the camera had special powers: the first time he developed photos taken with the camera (yeah, film), some shots he hadn’t taken appeared: photos of airplanes crashing into twin towers. 

Unleashed - David Rosenfelt

I guess it makes sense that if there are cat-lovers’ mysteries, there have to be dog-lovers’ mysteries, too. That’s fine with me – I’m about as dog-lovin’ as anyone you’ve met. Some of the “talking dog-based” mysteries are pretty lame (I’m thinking about Spencer Quinn’s Chet and Bernie series, if truth be told), and a couple of the dogs have gotten tiresome (Tee Tucker in the Rita Mae Brown Mrs. Murphy series). And then there’s the Andy Carpenter series, which doesn’t really have dogs at all – it’s a lawyer series with a dog suit on. I have to wonder if it would be better if  the dogs talked...