Helpful votes received on reviews:
89% (8 of 9)
Location: McLean, VA USA
In My Own Words:
Jim Greenhill’s newspaper reporting and writing has won numerous regional and national awards. Born in London, England, he was educated at Dulwich College before coming to the United States to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Morehead Scholar. His first book, "Fire in the Sky: Colorado’s Missionary Ridge Fire," was published in 2002 by The Durango Herald and won a Colora… Read moreJim Greenhill’s newspaper reporting and writing has won numerous regional and national awards. Born in London, England, he was educated at Dulwich College before coming to the United States to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Morehead Scholar. His first book, "Fire in the Sky: Colorado’s Missionary Ridge Fire," was published in 2002 by The Durango Herald and won a Colorado Independent Publishers Association award. His second, "Someone Has to Die Tonight," was published in 2006 by the Pinnacle True Crime imprint of Kensington Publishing Corp. An active duty Citizen-Soldier in the Army National Guard, Sgt. 1st Class Greenhill lives in McLean, Va.
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Reviews
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The most striking quality of this book to me is its brevity. "A Cold Case" is a first-rate example of a writer exercising immense discipline, self-control and deliberation with the craft. The book contains powerful character studies & strong sense of place. It seems Gourevitch considered every word & allowed none in that didn't help forward his Spartan story. Beautifully executed.
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I picked this up because it's set in places near my home in Cornwall, so I thought it would be fun -- & it is, great fun. It gets dinged one star because the sense of place is weak. Goddard drops real place names but fails to describe them in a way that would bring them to life for someone who hasn't been there. One reviewer said this isn't Goddard's best. If that's the case, then I'm in for a treat, because it's my first & I enjoyed it enough to want to read more Goddard. The plot is compelling &, delightfully, intelligent. Some of the spiritual & ethical questions raised by the book are fairly thought-provoking. Yet it's also a page-turning thriller. Quite an… Read more
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Fantasy is not my thing -- at least, it wasn't until I read "American Gods," drawn in by the excellent premise that immigrants brought their gods to America, then forgot them, leaving the gods to decline until they finally decide to do battle with Americans' new gods, such as technology.
This gets five stars despite a somewhat naff ending, where Gaiman seems to struggle to decide exactly how he wants to end the book. In spite of that, it's worth the read. This is a book with great characters (Shadow, Wednesday, Laura), great places (especially the roadside attractions) and a surprising sense of humor that saw me laugh out loud several times. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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