American chillogy

GOOD crime novels are like buses, you wait ages for one to come along and then you get three at once. 2nd Chance by James Patterson with Andrew Gross, City of Bones by Michael Connelly and The White Road by Irishman John Connolly should keep you engrossed for several days - once you pick them up you'll struggle to put them down.

John Connolly's novels should come with a Government health warning.

Your heart pounds, you become breathless, and, once you've finished the last page, you become depressed and crave for his next one! Such is the power of Connolly's writing.

His latest thriller, The White Road, is the fourth to feature private detective Charlie "Bird" Parker and follows his acclaimed earlier novels, Every Dead Thing, Dark Hollow and The Killing Kind.

It sees Parker, together with his gay hitmen friends, Louis and Angel, settle a few scores and tie up loose ends. It's a story of vengeance and revenge.

The action moves from Connolly's usual hunting ground of Maine, on the east coast of the United States, to South Carolina, where a young black man faces the death penalty for the rape and murder of his white girlfriend, Marianne Larousse, daughter of one of the wealthiest men in the state.

It's a case that nobody wants to touch, a case with its roots in old evil - Parker's speciality.

The accused swears his innocence, and Parker believes him.

But not only does Parker have to deal with the evil that lurks in and around the swamps of South Carolina, but also with the spirits of those long dead who walk the White Road.

Connolly manages to conjure up a collection of unforgettable characters, such as the chilling Mr Kittim, and the grotesque deformed killer Cyrus Nairn.

The villain of The Killing Kind, the evil preacher Rev Faulkner, makes his presence felt again as does his monstrous son, Mr Pudd, who died in the previous novel!

The White Road is a dark, creepy, and unnerving read.

Connolly's world makes Dante's Inferno look like a picnic in the park.

James Patterson must be one of the most prolific writers around.

It doesn't seem five minutes since his last bestseller, Violets Are Blue, featuring his most famous creation, Dr Alex Cross, hit the bookshelves.

Now he's reconvened the Women's Murder Club, which made its mark in 1st To Die, although this time he is "helped" by little-known New York-based author Andrew Gross for 2nd Chance.

Following the tragic end to the Honeymoon Murder case, police detective Lindsay Boxer is unsure whether she could ever return to the San Francisco police force.

But when a little black girl is shot and killed outside a church in an apparent motiveless attack, Boxer knows it's time to get back to work - and time to reconvene the Women's Murder Club, which consists of an assistant district attorney, medical examiner and journalist.

Meanwhile, the killer continues to feed his blood lust. The victims are of different ages, live in different locations, and killed with different weapons - but each had a close relative in the police force.

And while the girls are using all their skills to catch the killer, they are also coping with problems on the home front, including the return of an estranged father, a heartbreaking loss and a new romance.

This is edge-of-the seat stuff. Crime-writing at its very best. Highly-recommended.

I started reading City of Bones just as human remains were found at Towthorpe waste tip near Strensall. Fortunately, in our case the bones unearthed were centuries old.

But for Detective Harry Bosch, the discovery of human bones in the Hollywood Hills on New Year's Day proves to be a different matter. The bones, which had been hidden in a shallow grave for about 25 years, are those of a teenage boy.

It stirs up Bosch's memories of his own childhood as an orphan in LA. Digging through police reports and hospital records, tracking down street kids and runaways from the 1970s, Bosch finally uncovers the child's identity and reconstructs his life, determined that he is not forgotten.

As Vietnam veteran Bosch delves deeper into the past, and comes up with a number of possible suspects, he becomes involved with a rookie cop named Julia Brasher.

Their liaison is frowned upon by the force, but both Bosch and Brasher are willing to break the rules.

But the investigation races to a shocking conclusion and leaves Bosch on the brink of an unimaginable decision. A brilliant plot, superbly written, and an ending which will leave Bosch fans hungry for the next novel.

The White Road by John Connolly (Hodder & Stoughton £14.99), 2nd Chance by James Patterson with Andrew Gross (Headline, £16.99), City Of Bones by Michael Connelly (Orion, (£17.99)

Updated: 09:38 Wednesday, April 17, 2002