Carl Deuker -- Books, Movies, TV

Action packed, to say the least. Lizzy is being stalked by the serial killer. His signature is leaving beetles with the dead bodies, sometimes in the dead bodies. Hayley is under house arrest at Lizzy's, but she's managed to get free from her ankle bracelet.  Her mother's abusive boyfriend is back. Her mother is headed to a shelter. Violence, alcohol  . . . and the serial murderer has made it in the house. Jessica on surveillance. She thinks it's a simple:  Is this guy a womanizer or not? job for a woman contemplating marriage.  Could be (Is!) more.  Perhaps connected to the serial killer. Extremely well-written.  The quotes that begin each chapter from various serial killers are chilling.

This was fine 3.5 out of 5, but not as good as A Perfect Lie.  Almost a Shakespearean comedy ending--All's Well That Ends Well. Too neat, too tidy for my taste.  The plot turns on industrial crime.  The cubicle manufacturers were cutting corners.  Fire. Death of employee.  Simon, the man with the daughter with leukemia, had warned of shoddy work.  He didn't know about the fire--it took place in a state outside his territory. The really bad guys murder a semi-bad guy and make it look like Simon did it. The plan is to get Simon convicted before he can learn about the fire. Our two lawyers figure it out. They are then kidnapped by the bad guys and nearly killed at a remote hunting cabin.  Through talk and courage, they defeat the bad guys.  Turns out that the head of the firm, a slick schmoozer who pretended to be too far up to know what was happening, did know.  So he's arrested too. Simon's daughter gets donor (Bennie, the lawyer). Mary tu...

Nice conflicts.  Firm that fired the man with ill daughter won't settle.  The law firm must break up in order for one partner to be on opposite side of the case as the other partner.  The firm fires the partner.  The two partners both would like to hire lawyer three, an associate.  The partners are doing all this (so far) amicably. Is the father of the ill girl a liar?  That would be quite a twist.  Or is there other nefarious doings with the firm. Very enjoyable

Hackman is PI who is hired to bring back runaway 16 year old.  Mom (minor actress still slightly connected to films) doesn't really care about her daughter who is sexually precocious. Hackman follows her to Florida Keys.  Couple living there (stepfather and new girlfriend) have allowed 16 year old to stay with them.  James Woods is mechanic who works on vehicles for stunts in movies.  Plane discovered (crashed) underwater in Keys.  Girl goes back with Hackman.  16 year old dies in car crash. Whole plot revolves around smuggled Aztec art.  Hackman uncovers plot after 16 year old dies.  Florida Keys couple are smugglers.  Hackman in Keys going in circles after the smuggling is uncovered, there is a plane crash, etc. Plot isn't as good as the interactions among the characters.  Deception, unhappiness, greed. Liked it.

Nice conflict. Lawyers, partners.  One has a friend who was just fired because 1) his work quality was falling or 2) his daughter (leukemia) was driving up the cost of insurance for the company.  The other partner has the parent firm as her main client.  Partner 2 would like Partner 1 to drop the case (conflict of interest), but #1 learns this is not always required.  Interesting law and conflict.

Liked this very much.  Detective with a past (parents died in fire). Brother has different feel for parents (brother is gay--Dad beat him). Brother alcoholic--is he the serial murderer?  Street urchin, librarian, side kick from a lower social stratum, all the threads brought together at the end. Nice feel for Edinburgh.  Really well done.  Not quite a cozy mystery; not a violent mystery. Old fashioned in a good way

Vincent Price is terrific as scientist investigating fear. Tingler is physical manifestation of fear: microscopic, then grows, then shrinks away with screaming.  Movie theater owner hears all this, then decides to kill his mute wife who cannot scream. It works. Tingler captured, crawls around attacking people in a theater. Price has a slut wife who tries to kill him with the Tingler and then takes off when the plan fails.  Sister-in-law is the good girl and Vincent makes it so she can marry.  Wonderfully wacky.