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“A well-written, coherent story of police investigations and descriptions of brutal murders. The characters are all real, with personal problems and goals, making them believable and realistic.”
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A riveting murder-mystery that incorporates real people in real situations. I highly recommend to all lovers of crime fiction!
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An intelligent, thrilling novel that I couldn't put down!
Loved it!
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This book was very good with compelling characters that I could identify with, especially the character of Gina Baldoni, a young police detective learning and gaining experience from her “Boss” Detective Aristotle Boyle. She is a strong, confident, woman in a perilous world of murder.
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“Finally, a mystery book in which all the characters are real humans. Nobody’s super smart or super human. A book that is intelligent and logical in its use of police methodology.”
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LOVED it!!! This book is a flat-out fantastic read. I absolutely devoured it. And not just because it’s a page-turning, intricate mystery where you are drawn into the puzzle. There is that, for sure, and the author does it expertly, measuring out just enough to keep you hooked.
And he manages to do so without one gimmick or shortcut.
That alone would have been worth the cost of admission for me… but what’s cool is there is a hell of a lot more to “Novembers” than that.
Where this book totally over-delivers is the rich cast of diverse characters, sketched out with an honest, sympathetic eye. There are scenes in this book that are moving, funny, thought-provoking, tragic, soulful, surprising—and all very human.
I also enjoyed the taut, precise writing, the attention to detail, and basically the respect the author gives all the complex situations and people... and, by proxy, the reader.
“Novembers” was fun, real, compelling and fresh.
I think a lot of people will love this book, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anybody who likes mysteries and thrillers. I would also recommend it to those who don't particularly care for most books in these genres, but who want to be absorbed in a great read with memorable, likeable characters.
Looking forward to book two in this series!!
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Good mystery with a compelling angle. The lead characters (Boyle and Baldoni) have great styles and their relationship is charming. The philosophical/poetic insights certainly make it unique in its genre. The bad guy is really, really creepy as a teacher... and yet his scenes with his Uncle Pino are so sympathetic (until they aren't!) The murders are really gruesome... good plotting and set ups and alibis. The mystery was established as the clueless crime, which makes us readers try hard to figure out what the clue actually is. There is a whole Greek angle - food/wine/escape, and lovely images of Boyle in contemplation on his porch with his cigar, that are delightful.
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Gruesomely addictive from the very first spell-binding scene. Novembers starts with a remarkably intriguing scene where we first meet the mysterious and meticulous successful-until-right-then victim and his anonymous even more detail-oriented murderer, in a highly regarded community in Toronto. The author beat me into submission with every movement.
The scariest part of this book was wondering how Cristofoli knew the intricacies of the methods, the minds both of the killer and the people trying to catch him, and the poetic way he mixed them all. While the reader learns the murderer’s name before the detectives do, I found this added to the beauty of the story because I wanted to scream at the investigators the angles they were missing and the clues they were overlooking. There was still lots of mystery to unfold even after the baseball bat was dropped and, as long as this book was, I now crave a sequel.
With the possibility of revenge over a financial fiasco, mixed with high-powered and highly flaunted BDSM scenes, this was a book I was sucked into and felt I was watching instead of reading. The natural way the author described even the most horrific of moments while sprinkling them with humour, family and friendship was unforgettable. Learning who the detectives were personally, discovering their relationships within the job and outside of it, and if they could ever escape the riddles, kept me thoroughly engaged.
The characters were all believable, interesting and quirky enough to make me love them — yes, even the bad guys — but also hate them and want them to all just wake up and smell the roses. There is potential for a sequel with the same characters, though this book is solid on its own.
A story not for the faint of heart, Novembers takes the reader through dark alleyways, brutal beatings and bedrooms which otherwise should be ignored. The pacing and mix of Greek mythology, poignant moments and compelling concepts work together to make me want more from this author, and I want to look for his poetry. If you don’t mind violence, mystery, and a little naughtiness, I highly recommend this wild ride of a book.
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A brutal murder occurs in the opening chapter; it’s graphic and painful and relentless: remember those first 20mins in Saving Private Ryan? Yeah, that relentless. And what an intriguing start to this engrossing crime mystery from Toronto author & poet Norman Cristofoli. In the first book in a series featuring Det. Sergeant Aristotle Boyle, Cristofoli grabs the reader by the throat and doesn’t let go as he takes us through the seamy underworld of bondage & domination and sado-masochism, and the drudgery of his investigation – life as a real detective is not all TV cop show glamour. All the procedures of evidence gathering, suspect elimination, motives, and of course, sex, drugs and …well, you get the idea. Each character Cristofoli writes is fully fleshed out (I loved his description of a woman’s “butterscotch hair”), and he sets each scene with easy-to-visualize surroundings; Toronto neighbourhoods are familiar to us and the reader may want to head out and retrace Boyle’s steps and those of the mysterious killer. Maybe a murder/mystery walking tour could be in the future?
Novembers makes for an enthralling read, and will keep your attention down to the closing chapters…will Boyle find the killer? His investigation becomes an obsession, leading his team through the twists and turns of this intricately planned homicide with just a handful of clues. Stir in Boyle’s love of Greek philosophy, Ouzo and Cuban cigars and you have a recipe for the ultimate crime mystery!
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