EPITAPH (James Siegel) - August 8/10

It's hard to believe that this interminable mystery is from the same writer of crackerjack thrillers like Deceit and Derailed. Siegel's hard-bitten style grows tiresome almost immediately and it becomes impossible to work up even an ounce of interest in the protagonist's efforts to track down a prolific serial killer. The convoluted narrative ensures that the whole thing is often a lot more confusing than one might've expected and I certainly found myself glazing over whole paragraphs. *1/2 out of ****

THINK OF A NUMBER (John Verdon) - August 1/10

Well, that was a bit of a rollercoaster ride. The first 100 pages of the book were so dull and so repetitive, that I honestly wanted to quit reading. It didn't help that I thought I had figured out the ending. (I thought the whole thing was going to be a Game-like setup by the main character's wife.) But then the man that triggered the whole investigation was murdered and I was intrigued. The rest of the book - especially the tense, suspenseful final 50 pages - is quite readable, yet it's clear that the whole thing feels about twice as long as it needs to be. Still, Verdon is a fantastic writer and he does have a knack for vividly describing any given situation. *** out of ****