Anne Murdoch

Author at http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2033463/Anne_Murdoch.

Camping With The Boys (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 29th July 2001 (11)

Ah, this was good. Jim, Blair, Simon and Daryl go camping. Relaxing quality time with the guys. Blair and Daryl were particularly good; a wise Blair without being a Saint Blair. There's some really good moments too; not just Blair and Daryl but Blair and Jim.

"Sandburg is currently regaling your son with a true custom of some obscure Indian tribe that is so revolting that it would earn any teenager's respect." As if to illustrate the point, Daryl opened his mouth and put his fingers in, pretending to gag. "See what I mean?"

"Not everyone sees things the way you do, Chief. You see a rock and you want to turn it over to see what's underneath, someone else walks past it and doesn't even notice it, another walks by and wonders if he can make money from it, and the next guy sees it and wants to bash someone over the head with it."

Sorry I can't quote them all, but they'd be spoilers.

Failing Grade (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 29th July 2001 (10)

This one was a good Blair-ish story (with action and owies of course!). It was nice to see Blair in the context of the university (he is a Teaching Fellow after all!). It had some good moments (some of which I can't share because they're spoilers)
    "So... Who's Peggy?"
    Blair's face coloured slightly. "Oh, she's about 101 years old. She's worked in the finance office since the dawn of time."

The Fall of the House of Ellison (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 29th July 2001 (7)

This was an atmospheric picturesque story, which actually managed to use the story-as-dream concept without making me feel as if the author was copping out. She got the style of an old-fashioned narrator right, and I liked the Jim and Blair banter at the beginning and end as well. Worked for me!

Trust & Tyranny

(1) Trust (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 29th July 2001 (8)

I read this story because "Tyranny" was set after it, and "Tyranny" had been recommended to me, and I like to read things in order. So here we have an Evil Serial Killer, and Guess Who Is The Target! Action, injuries, people screwing up and apologising, more owies, more action... The motivation of the serial killer was interesting, though I would have found much more of a gut-satisfaction if he'd been bested with brains; poetic justice, that would have been. And there was a bit of overkill with both the injuries and the guilt.

(2) Tyranny (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 29th July 2001 (9)

This was recommended by a few people, so I thought I'd take a look at it (and others by this author). This was, indeed, good. We have consequences of previous actions, specifically, of Blind Man's Bluff, both for Blair and in the attitudes of some people around him. There's other nice continuity, like references to white noise generators. There's some cool senses stuff (Blair has another interesting idea that works...) The actual perilous tension-filled part of this was very good, with Blair using his brains, mouth and empathy, and a bad-guy who wasn't really bad, just desperate.

I'm not so sure they really needed Audrey The Computer Expert in the mix (what's so hard about using a search engine?) but I won't worry too much about it.

Good quotes and nice banter:
    The door to Captain Banks' office opened, and the tall man emerged, chomping at an unlit cigar and looking more peeved than usual. Blair sometimes imagined that Simon only had one cigar, like a security blanket. He didn't think he'd ever seen the captain actually smoking one.
    "If I ever get my priorities screwed up like that, just shoot me, man."
    Sandburg, I don't think it's humanly possible for you to become a yuppie."

    Blair waved his hands at him. "Shhhh... I'm thinking."
    "Try not to wear out the hamsters."

    Anklam took a long look at the unconscious cop on the floor. "You two are good friends, huh?"
    "Yeah."
    "Doesn't seem a likely match."
    Blair looked fondly and not with a little concern at Jim. "That's the beauty of it."


Yep. That's the beauty of it.