I thought I knew all there was to know about Spenser, one of my favorite fictional detectives created by the late Robert B. Parker, but I’d never hearI thought I knew all there was to know about Spenser, one of my favorite fictional detectives created by the late Robert B. Parker, but I’d never heard about this short story until my friend Anthony clued me in and provided a link to it.
Essentially RBP didn’t write anything with Spenser other than novels and a few feature pieces that weren’t really stories except for this one which was requested but then rejected by Playboy. It eventually saw print in some long-gone men’s magazine and was published as a very limited edition hardback that went for a fortune among Spenser fans. Thanks to Anthony and the miracles of the interwebs I got to check it out.
Spenser’s old girlfriend Brenda Loring comes to him for help after she’s been raped twice by the same man. She suspects that her ex-husband has hired someone to do this to her, and Spenser quickly gets right in the middle of it with a little assistance from Hawk.
This gets into RBP’s repeated themes regarding possessive and obsessive love that he dwelled on far too much, but it is much darker than almost anything else I’ve read by him. It also made me sad to hear how Brenda Loring’s life went after she and Spenser went their separate ways because even though she only appeared briefly at the start of the series I always liked her a lot more Susan.
Frankly, I can see why RBP never got into short fiction. He tries to do an entire Spenser novel in this, and it comes across as rushed. It goes back to a time when Spenser was a lot more willing to get his hands dirty so that’s kind of interesting as is the glimpse of Hawk in a real dark side mode, but it’s something I’d call more of a curiosity than a must-read for Spenser fans.
2016 may have sucked ass for the world in general, but it was actually a great year for me in terms of reading. And isn’t my happiness the really impo2016 may have sucked ass for the world in general, but it was actually a great year for me in terms of reading. And isn’t my happiness the really important thing?
The usual suspects delivered in all the ways that I’ve come to expect from them. John Sandford provided new Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers thrillers with Extreme Prey and Escape Clause. My other two book a year guy is Ace Atkins, and he added to his trend with Slow Burn and The Innocents. The authors who make up the James S.A. Corey name also continued to pay off the gamble I took by starting an unfinished series by once again keeping to their established schedule and publishing a new Expanse novel Babylon’s Ashes. Megan Abbott showed off her unique brand of suburban noir in You Will Know Me, and Richard Russo cooked up a great sequel to an earlier book of his I loved with Everybody’s Fool. Joe R. Lansdale’s creations Hap & Leonard got their own TV show as well as the fun new adventure Honky Tonk Samurai.
I also had good luck in trying out new authors. Good Morning, Midnight was a fantastic end of the world tale with heart by Lilly Brooks-Dalton. The Poison Artist from Jonathan Moore was one of the most trippy and atmospheric thrillers I’ve ever read. We got a new modern version of Sherlock Holmes with IQ by Joe Ide. J. Kent Messum was nice enough to hook me up with copies of his sharks-vs.-junkies novel Bait as well as his sci-fi thriller Husk which I’m in the middle of at year’s end. I knew Noah Hawley from his work writing and producing the excellent TV version of Fargo, but he proved to also be a great novelist in Before the Fall.
Thanks to the inspiration of Netflix and the movies I put my Marvel Unlimited subscription to good use by finishing up Mark Waid’s run on Daredevil as well as reading others like Jessica Jones in Brian Michael-Bendis’Alias, Doctor Strange in The Oath, and Daniel Way’s Deadpool. I also also enjoyed some of the that Marvel/Disney synergy with a bunch of the new Star Wars comics. In non-Marvel funny books I also kept up with the latest Saga trades from Brian K. Vaughan.
On the non-fiction side of things I got swept up in Hamilton-mania (Thanks, Sesana!) and read the excellent biography by Ron Chernow that inspired the musical. Two critics used the hook of trying to compile a list of the greatest 100 shows of all time in TV - The Book which helps explain why I can’t keep up with this golden age of television. One of the first books I read this year was The Confidence Game which examined the psychology of why people are such complete suckers for bullshit artists, and that turned out to be really helpful when I was trying to figure out what happened when November rolled around.
If I was handing out a MVP trophy for my reading year it’d go to Lawrence Block, and I’d probably throw in a lifetime achievement award, too . He continues to make excellent use of e-books to release old pulp novels like Cinderella Sims and new short stories like Keller’s Fedora. Hard Case Crime published the long lost Sinner Man that Block discovered by accident, and he’s got the excellent novella Resume Speed coming out soon. Plus, I checked out another one of his Bernie Rhodenbarr books, and I’ve got a new collection of short stories he edited on deck.
The best read of the year came in the form of two books that made up one historical fiction which added a lot of humanity to legendary figures of the Old West. Doc and Epitaph from Mary Doria Russell were not only entertaining stories but had me thinking a lot about fact vs. fiction when it comes to American myths.
The biggest disappointments came from the King family. Stephen finally gave up trying to make his underwhelming Bill Hodges trilogy work as just mystery thrillers and added a supernatural element to the final book End of Watch, but it was too little too late. His son Joe Hill showed that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree by producing The Fireman which was as bloated, unfocused, and generally messy as his dad’s worst books. But of course, both of those books won Goodreads Choice Awards so they were among the many pieces of evidence we got this year that proves once and for all that democracy doesn’t work.
However, it wasn’t all bad on the King front. I started re-reading a bunch of his older work and rediscovered gems like Misery and The Long Walk. I also reinforced my opinion that The Tommyknockers shows that it’s a good thing Uncle Stevie got off the nose candy. I also worked in a re-read James Ellroy’s LA Quartet which held up as one of my favorite works of crime fiction.
Finally, I hit a big personal Goodreads milestone with my 1000th review, and to mark the occasion I re-read No Country For Old Men which was just as good as I remembered. That ended up being bittersweet because I actually used the site far less than usual this year. The update feed changes made keeping up a hassle, and I had some new demands in my personal life that cut into my interwebs time so I wasn’t as active as I’ve been in the past.
So I’m not sure what the 2017 schedule will be like, but thanks to all of you that took the time to like a review, make a non-trollish comment, and/or send me a message. It’s always very much appreciated....more
While I was in the middle of reading this one news broke that Carrie Fisher had suffered a heart attack so that added a certain bittersweet flavor to While I was in the middle of reading this one news broke that Carrie Fisher had suffered a heart attack so that added a certain bittersweet flavor to a story that focuses heavily on Princess Leia. It also provided further evidence for the case against 2016 when we finally haul it into court for its crimes against humanity.
Leia’s part involves her delivering an important Imperial prisoner to a secret Rebel prison and being caught there when a mysterious man attacks the jail. Meanwhile, Han and Luke are off on a supply run which gets complicated, there’s a single issue story about what Obi-Wan was up to on Tatooine while waiting for Luke to grow up, and the first annual has an off-shoot story about a Rebel spy on Coruscant. (If you’re reading these as single issues from the Marvel Unlimited app you should check that one out first.)
Overall, this is still a fun and solid set of Star Wars stories in which Jason Aaron and the other creators continue to fill the gap between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back and do a pretty good job of it. Since we know how things shake out they can't generate much tension regarding the main characters, but there’s a lot of interesting turns here. My favorite part was learning that Han Solo was literally a nerf herder for a brief time....more
I’ve always thought that a man had to have a certain amount of class to pull off wearing a fedora, and Keller fits that profile even if he is a hired I’ve always thought that a man had to have a certain amount of class to pull off wearing a fedora, and Keller fits that profile even if he is a hired killer.
In this short novella Keller gets an interesting proposition. A potential client wants a hit man to take care of his wife’s lover, but he doesn’t know who it is. So the job involves doing some investigating before getting to the murder, and Keller finds himself so intrigued that he buys a new hat because he’s in a detective frame of mind. Things seem to go according to plan at first, but as usual it’s only the killing itself that goes smoothly for Keller.
I was a little hesitant about this because Block had taken Keller through a journey in the novels that seemed to end with his happy retirement, but that’s kind of turned into a semi-retirement which I worried might undercut the entire Keller story a bit. However, Block’s landed at an interesting place with Keller and how he feels about his work so that him dipping a toe back into murder-for-hire doesn’t seem that out of place or a contradiction of what came before.
A lot of the previous books were built off short stories in which Keller goes on gigs that take weird turns while his doubts about what kind of person he was bubbled up in interesting ways. (Any TV producers looking for a crime series to adapt for a show could do a lot worse than Keller.) So getting another installment in this form seems like a natural fit, and I've always loved Keller's tendency to drift off on musings and questions sparked by everyday things he encounters. So it was a genuine delight to be back in Keller’s head that was sporting a spiffy new lid.
In addition to being a fine piece of writing it also functions as great advertising for the hat industry because I wanted to rush out and buy a fedora while reading it....more
I received a free copy of this from NetGalley for review.
At the start of this we meet a man called Bill who is an awful hurry to catch a bus out of toI received a free copy of this from NetGalley for review.
At the start of this we meet a man called Bill who is an awful hurry to catch a bus out of town, but as soon as he’s over the state line he immediately gets a job as a cook at a diner and starts establishing a new life there.
You may think that sounds a bit fishy, but honestly who among us hasn’t hopped a bus out of town and changed their identity?
This new novella from esteemed mystery writer Lawrence Block is a bit of an odd duck. It’s mainly about Bill as he develops a routine in this new town and quickly becomes a valued employee at the diner and a reliable tenant at his rooming house while he starts a relationship with the local librarian. His only vice is the single shot of whiskey he has every night before bed. Yet, we know that Bill is hiding from something.
That description sounds more mysterious than it actually is because nothing that we learn about Bill is all that surprising considering how we’re introduced to him, and most readers will probably be able to have a pretty good idea of how it’s going to end.
What I found incredibly enjoyable is just the way that Block is able to write people doing even everyday things. Whether it’s private detective Matt Scudder wandering the streets of New York or hit man Keller traveling the country to murder people there’s always this steady stream of observations and actions that don’t seem like anything special while reading yet they make for compelling stories. It’s a quiet way of getting to really know a character, and Block is the master of building these small moments into something larger.
Another aspect that fascinated me was that it seems like it should be set in the past. Surely, in our modern age someone couldn’t just jump on a bus and reinvent himself in a town down the line could he? That’s what I was thinking and the first part of the book felt very old school to me like it had been written in the ‘60, but then there are mentions of computers and Google so it’s definitely the 21st century. It could have seemed anachronistic, but I found that it gave the whole thing an interesting timeless tone instead.
Overall, I was completely engrossed with Bill as he goes about his everyday life while hiding from his past, and I’m more impressed than ever with Block for the way he makes this quiet character-based story work....more
I received a free copy of this book for review from the author.
Can you imagine waking up on an island with a bunch of good-for-nothing junkies who almI received a free copy of this book for review from the author.
Can you imagine waking up on an island with a bunch of good-for-nothing junkies who almost immediately start going into withdrawal and puking all over the place? And your only way out is by swimming through waters infested with hungry sharks?
Still, it sounds more appealing than being on a season of Survivor.
So these smack-hounds wake up on a beach in the Florida Keys with no idea how they got there. There’s a small amount of food and water left there with a note that they can get more by swimming to the next island, and the bigger prize is a whole bunch of heroin if they can make it through the sharks. Will they try to swim for it or not?
Uh, I did mention that they are junkies and there’s heroin on that next island, right?
There are some stories idea that just sound so amazingly outrageous that you immediately want to check them out. Sharks vs. Junkies is one of those. Messum walks a fine line here of setting up an idea that could have been a movie on SyFy channel, adding enough depth of character and tragedy so that it doesn’t seem like a total cartoon, and then still delivering enough scenes of sharks devouring junkies that it satisfies the itch you got when you heard the idea. (You sick bastards!)
I’m not sure if this could have been sustained in a longer novel, but at 288 pages it hits the sweet spot of being tight enough to work without feeling rushed. Intercutting flashbacks of each character gives us a snapshot of their lives as addicts, and Messum makes them sympathetic by highlighting wasted potential but he doesn���t glamorize or excuse them.
I was a little less sold on the parts that shift to the men behind the whole Turn-Junkies-Into-Fish-Food scheme. There’s decent motivation provided, but I think the book may have worked a tad better if we knew nothing about them or why they were doing it until the very end where the final chapter provided an excellent opportunity for a bit of exposition to explain motives. Keeping them more mysterious might have tightened up the book even further and added more tension.
Still, it’s an intriguing and well written story that delivers on the concept it’s selling. It also reinforced my belief that nothing good happens in the ocean.
Finally, I owe J. Kent Messum some thanks. He had approached me about reviewing his newer book, and I turned him down because I’m just a dick like that. Then Dan told me about this book with sharks chewing on heroin addicts, and I’m only human so I wanted in on that action. I didn’t realize that this was by a writer I’d previously refused to review, but once we got that got sorted JKM was very gracious and cool enough to send me this along with his new one Husk which I’ll read and review soon. ...more
I guess that 5 star streak for all the Saga collections had to come to an end sometime.
This is still the best comic book space adventure/fairy tale/rI guess that 5 star streak for all the Saga collections had to come to an end sometime.
This is still the best comic book space adventure/fairy tale/romance you’re likely to read, It also still has enough weird alien characters to populate a cantina in Star Wars as well as more violence, profanity, sex, and nudity than most R rated movies. However, it seemed to lack of a bit of the pop that made the rest of the series so next level. Part of this is probably due to so many story threads being scattered at this point, but some of those are knitted together by the end of this one....more
If your name is something like Stephen Strange then you’d almost have to be a superhero, wouldn’t you? Either that or Bond villain.
Dr. Strange is veryIf your name is something like Stephen Strange then you’d almost have to be a superhero, wouldn’t you? Either that or Bond villain.
Dr. Strange is very upset to learn that his friend and servant Wong has terminal brain cancer and vows to use every mystical means at his disposal to save him. The cure he finds turns out to have much larger implications that threaten Strange both magically and physically.
This is one of those Marvel characters that I mainly know from his appearances in other books rather than reading his main titles. The whole trippy-psychedelic-mysticism thing has never really been my cup o’ tea, but like a good comic book nerd I saw the Dr. Strange movie and enjoyed it so much I decided to read up on the Sorcerer Supreme.
I couldn’t have picked a better story to try. Brian K. Vaughan is one of my favorite comic writers, and this is a great read that mixes Strange’s history with a grounding in the modern Marvel universe that puts magic side-by-side with science. The artwork really sells this too in the way that it portrays a ‘realistic’ New York where something like the Cloak of Levitation does seem unworldly. I also particularly liked the use of the Night Nurse as a supporting character.
My only real complaint is that by starting with this particular story any other Dr. Strange comics now have a very high bar to clear so I’m worried that reading more about the Master of the Mystic Arts might pale in comparison....more
”Wow, you look….REALLY hot with that gun. Wanna go get some tacos with me after I finish killing the rest of these Draculas?”
Oh, Deadpool, you really ”Wow, you look….REALLY hot with that gun. Wanna go get some tacos with me after I finish killing the rest of these Draculas?”
Oh, Deadpool, you really are one smoooooth talker.
Everyone’s favorite insane mutant mercenary is still on a quest to become a real hero which leads to a case of clone related mistaken identity with some Avengers followed by a punch-fest with Steve Rogers. Then Deadpool gets hired by one group of vampires to protect them from another group of vampires which ends in a real bloodbath at a hospital.
This is more solid fun courtesy of Daniel Way who has a real knack for writing DP as being homicidally insane and capable of doing real damage while balancing it out with humor and not pushing it to the point where you lose sympathy for the character. ...more
Professional thief Bernie Rhodenbarr is trying to go legit by buying a book store, but that’s a tough way to make the rent even back in the days beforProfessional thief Bernie Rhodenbarr is trying to go legit by buying a book store, but that’s a tough way to make the rent even back in the days before Amazon. So when Bernie gets an offer to swipe a rare volume of Kipling verses for a hefty payday he’s more than willing to start picking locks again.
However, what should be a simple exchange of the book for the cash goes sideways, and Bernie finds himself on the run from the cops after being framed for murder. He’ll need all of his criminal skills and some help from his best friend Carolyn to get out of this one.
As I’ve stated on other reviews I’m a huge fan of Lawrence Block, but this series wasn’t my favorite thing he’s done although I quite enjoyed The Burglar Who Counted the Spoons. I think it’s because while Bernie is a thief the books generally revolve around him playing amateur sleuth rather than actually being about his profession. Still, there’s a charming low-key quality to these, and I always enjoy Block’s casual dialogue where characters often ramble and make amusing observations about life’s quirks.
I liked this the most of the early ones I’ve read because it introduced Carolyn, the lesbian dog groomer who is the person that Bernie can count on most and vice versa. Their friendship is one of the things I’ve most enjoyed about the series.
Overall, it’s a solid mystery with a good sense of humor, and Block always makes a character just trying to navigate the treacherous waters of daily life in New York City a treat to read....more
I enjoyed the stuff with the classic Avengers such as Cap and Iron Man, and I like the idea that there’s a core team with a roster of heroes on stand-I enjoyed the stuff with the classic Avengers such as Cap and Iron Man, and I like the idea that there’s a core team with a roster of heroes on stand-by who get called out for certain situations. However, once you get past the best known characters the rest of them seem like weak sauce, and half of this was providing background to ones I just don’t care about that much. And I still hate the idea of Wolverine being on the team.
The stories and action are OK, but mainly this seems like set-up for future events. If I read an Avengers book I like to see Marvel’s top heroes interacting, but there wasn’t all that much of it here....more
I received a free ARC from NetGalley of this for review.
A book with the word Girl in the title? I’ve never seen that before….*cough*
In the last days oI received a free ARC from NetGalley of this for review.
A book with the word Girl in the title? I’ve never seen that before….*cough*
In the last days of World War II in Europe an Italian fisherman named Cenzo hauls in what he thinks is the body of a dead young woman. Only she’s just playing possum, and Cenzo quickly finds out that Giulia is Jewish and on the run from Nazis who just killed her family.
Cenzo hides Giulia, but it turns out that she has a secret that someone is desperate to cover up by killing her. Things get more complicated when his estranged brother who has been doing propaganda films for Mussolini’s government shows up, and Cenzo finds himself drawn into the circle of once powerful people who are now looking for the exits as the Allies approach.
I’ve been a longtime fan of Martin Cruz Smith, particularly his series about Russian detective, Arkady Renko. Like Renko and many of his other characters, Cenzo is a smart guy who generally wants nothing to do with the schemes of the corrupt people above him in society, and yet he’s also incapable of just letting an obvious injustice happen. It’s another Smith staple that many around Cenzo see him as a pawn to use for their own purposes, but he’s got a knack for turning the tables on them while he pursues his own agenda. Smith is also great at setting stories in historically interesting places and periods, and he makes the most out of this one.
This isn’t an action thriller, and it’s also not a straight up whodunit historical fiction. It kind of falls into the category of character drama with some of those elements. Overall it’s Smith doing his usual thing, but there’s certainly nothing wrong with that.
There’s no shortage of Sherlocks these days. Both CBS’s Elementary and the BBC's Sherlock are doing fun mI received a free ARC of this from NetGalley.
There’s no shortage of Sherlocks these days. Both CBS’s Elementary and the BBC's Sherlock are doing fun modern day twists on Holmes. When Robert Downey Jr. can tear himself away from his duties as Iron Man he’s been known to play Sherlock as a steampunkish action hero in the movies. Plus, there always new novels featuring the detective being published. Countless other stories inspired by the character are also always circulating like the medical mysteries that Hugh Laurie solved for years on House. So you wouldn’t think that we need yet another variation of Sherlock Holmes.
Thankfully, Joe Ide disagreed and came up with a fresh new take on the world’s most famous consulting detective that is a helluva of a good story and a welcome addition to Sherlockian style books.
Isaiah Quintabe (a/k/a IQ) is a brilliant young man living in a rough area of Los Angeles where he acts as a kind of public service oriented detective for the community. Unfortunately, his services usually only net him baked goods, and Isaiah has a serious need for some cash. That’s when his old roommate Dodson shows up with the offer to figure out who tried to kill a famous rapper for a big payday. Dodson is a hustler that Isaiah doesn’t really trust, but he reluctantly takes the case. His only lead is a security video of a monstrous attack dog who was let loose on the rapper in his own kitchen, but the trail will lead him to a professional killer who loves his work.
The Sherlock influences are pretty obvious from the start. Isaiah is self-contained guy who can make instinctive leaps of logic based on what he observes whose persona can seem cold and off-putting to others. His partner on the case is Dodson which rhymes with Watson if you didn’t notice. There’s an oversized dog that immediately brings to mind The Hound of the Baskervilles. If that’s all there was then this could have been just a Holmes homage without much else going for it.
However, Ide prevents that by coming up with ways to play off the Sherlock tropes. Instead of Dodson being a kiss ass who marvels at IQ’s brilliance their relationship is a contentious one with a troubled history that we get in a parallel plot that also functions as Isaiah’s origin story. I also liked that IQ’s detective skills don’t come from having obscure knowledge like being able to identify the tobacco of Belgian cigarette. Instead he depends on his ability to reason through LA traffic patterns or researching police alarm times as well as applying a common sense rationality to the way people behave to make his deductions, and it comes across as impressive as well as realistic. The backstory of IQ’s life as well and his history with Dodson makes him far more sympathetic as well as giving him legitimate reasons for what he does than Sherlock ever had.
Aside from the Sherlock connections this is also a fast paced mystery/thriller in its own right. We get the hit man character’s perspective, and he’s also built up as being both a very dangerous threat as well as believable. The way that we’re introduced to IQ and Dodson and then get their backstory delivered in installments dovetails nicely with the main story. It’s all got a logical progression and a clever solution that is very satisfying.
Maybe best of all is that IQ is an interesting character that I want to spend more time getting to know. Hopefully, Joe Ide will again follow the example of Arthur Conan Doyle and give us many more stories with this fascinating detective....more
I was hoping that this new line of comics set in the Star Wars universe would fulfill their official Marvel crossover quota simply by a set of intercoI was hoping that this new line of comics set in the Star Wars universe would fulfill their official Marvel crossover quota simply by a set of interconnected tales set between the two first movies. Aren’t we crossing the streams enough already?
But this is Marvel which means that much like the sun rising in the east tomorrow there had to be a story going through a couple of books at some point. So if you want to follow along with this one you have to read issues of the main Star Wars title as well as Darth Vader, and there’s a one-shot called Vader Down that you have to get also.
Fortunately, this one actually does take on-going story threads from both and tie some things together in a way that makes it all worth it. Darth Vader is still on his secret personal mission to track down Luke Skywalker and get all those Father’s Day presents he missed out on over the years. So he follows a lead that his minion Aphra came up with that Luke was checking out an old Jedi temple. When Vader arrives in orbit he discovers that he’s actually found a new Rebel base, and while the ole Sith Lord inflicts some major damage he eventually gets knocked out of the sky by his ingrate son.
Realizing that they have a chance to deal a huge blow to the Empire by capturing or killing Vader the Rebels send a small army after his crashed ship, but Vader starts killing a whole lot of their soldiers using only his trusty light saber and the Force even as he’s still determined to find Luke who also crash landed. Meanwhile, Han, Leia, and the rest of the gang all get sucked into the action as Aphra attempts to save Vader.
One of the best things about this book is the way that it firmly establishes exactly why the galaxy fears Darth Vader so much. Simply put, he is a bad ass. The way he just absolutely slaughters waves of Rebel forces is really well done in terms of showing how powerful, resourceful, clever, and downright murderous Vader is. The rest of the story provides a lot of pay off by having Aphra and her murderous droids finally meet up with the rest of the characters, and there’s a lot of very fun stuff there including R2-D2 and 3PO tangling with the evil robot versions of themselves.
The only problem is the same one that dogs all of these comics. By setting them between the first two movies it robs some of the inherent drama from the proceedings. We know that none of the major characters die or that Vader doesn’t capture Luke or that Luke doesn’t find out Vader is his father yet. So there’s a pretty hard cap on the drama although the writers make the most out of mining the tension of what we don’t know, like how the Emperor will finally find out who destroyed the Death Star or what happens to Aphra.
It's an entertaining Star Wars tie-in, but ultimately it just can’t have all that much of an impact to the core storyline even as it keeps flirting with it....more
Megan Abbott’s first novel is a nifty little noir set in post-war LA. School teacher Lora King is extremely close to her brother Bill who is a police Megan Abbott’s first novel is a nifty little noir set in post-war LA. School teacher Lora King is extremely close to her brother Bill who is a police detective. When Bill meets Alice Steele he falls head over heels for her, and the two are soon married. Alice shows a tireless energy and enthusiasm for life as a homemaker that would make Martha Stewart feel like a lazy slob, but Lora finds herself becoming suspicious of her new sister-in-law after getting clues indicating that she had a shady past before meeting Bill.
It’s a great turn to have a cop in a mystery novel set during this time frame since it's a genre and era dominated by men but mainly used as a supporting character that two woman revolve around. It’s also interesting how Lora finds herself becoming intrigued with what she learns about Alice’s seedy history and starts indulging in her own wild side. The writing shows the Mighty Megan knack for getting inside the head of a conflicted person as well as making both the suburbs and seedy nightclubs come alive with a variety of characters. This is a solid start to a great writer’s career, and I particularly liked the ending.
I’m calling it 3.5 stars just because I think she did it even better in her later books....more
I received a free advanced copy of this from the author. I also broke one of my own reviewing rules in doing so because if you’ve ever sent me a messaI received a free advanced copy of this from the author. I also broke one of my own reviewing rules in doing so because if you’ve ever sent me a message or a friend request asking me to read your self-published book then you probably can’t actually see this right now because I’ve already blocked you. (Hey, I warned you. Try reading someone’s profile before you spam them next time.) However, I really liked Jack Clark’s Nobody's Angel so this wasn’t uncharted waters, and it turned out to be one of those times where I don’t regret making an exception.
Eddie Miles is a Chicago cab driver with an 18 year old daughter, Laura, he hasn’t seen in years after he gave up any custody rights during the divorce with her mother, and they moved to California. When Laura shows up unexpectedly Eddie is so delighted that he brushes off hints that she might be in some kind of trouble. Suddenly Laura vanishes in a very troubling way, and Eddie fears that her step-father, a shady ex-cop from LA, might have been involved. When the Chicago police don’t think there’s enough evidence to warrant an investigation Eddie starts hunting for Laura which means talking to his ex-wife and dealing with their unresolved issues.
This is technically a sequel to Nobody’s Angel although you don’t need to have read it to enjoy this, and like that one it’s kind of hard to pin down the appeal of the book. This has elements of a thriller with a missing daughter, but Eddie Miles doesn’t have the very particular set of skills of someone like Liam Neeson in Taken so this isn’t a revenge driven action novel. Eddie’s also not a good detective because he has to hire a private investigator to find information and give him advice so this isn’t really a traditional mystery either.
To be frank, Eddie is a loser. He’s a guy who lost his wife and kid to self-pity and booze, and then he was content to spend almost every waking moment behind the wheel of a cab. He lives in a dump even though he’s made a small fortune by working constantly, and he has no other interests or hobbies and seems to spend most of his time brooding about how the steady decline of the working class has transformed Chicago into a city of only the rich and desperately poor. Eddie is also so willfully oblivious to modern technology that he doesn’t have a computer and tries to do things like rent a car or book a flight over the phone rather than on-line.
But losers make for great noir characters, and that’s what Eddie is. He’s a guy built for earlier times when he could have gone to work with a lunch pail and thermos, and while he’s not stupid, just kind of simple and blunt, he’s cursed with enough self-awareness to realize that he’s bumping his head against his own limitations. That’s what makes him quietly tragic, and it makes the story of him trying to save the one thing in his life he created pretty compelling.
Clark, a cab driver himself, also fills both books about the job, and the interactions with passengers provide the opportunity to develop Eddie’s world view which, of course, is seen through a windshield. One minor thing had me scratching my head because although the book is filled with details about being a cab driver in Chicago there is never once a mention of how Uber or other ride-sharing services which seems odd considering how much of Eddie’s thoughts are about comparing the way things used to be against the world today.*
* Update - I heard from the author about this point, and he explained that he'd actually written this book a few years back before Uber became a thing which explains why it's never addressed.
This is a solid shot of noir told in a tight 250 pages that I liked so much that I’ve got an urge to track down more of Jack Clark’s work as well as re-read Nobody’s Angel....more
The 2016 Summer Olympics are getting ready to start this week, and after reading this I’ll be leery of any heartwarming features about athletes and thThe 2016 Summer Olympics are getting ready to start this week, and after reading this I’ll be leery of any heartwarming features about athletes and their families because it seems like they won’t scratch the surface of the toll it probably took on all of them to get there.
Devon Knox is an extraordinary young gymnast with a real chance to become an Olympian, and her parents, Katie and Eric, have made this goal the focus of their entire lives. However, the shocking death of someone connected to their gym causes a disruption that unveils secrets, lies, jealousies, and manipulations that threaten to undo everything.
As with her other recent novels Megan Abbott once again uses a backdrop dominated by adolescent girls as the basis for the story, but this one has a more decidedly adult point of view with most of the story told to us via Katie’s third party perceptions. As a mother who has sacrificed enormous amounts of time, effort, and money to support Devon no one could question her dedication, but Katie sometimes worries about what their relentless pursuit of this single dream has cost their family including the often overlooked younger brother Drew.
The book digs deeply into the whole sub-culture of gymnastics and creates the environment and characters so vividly that the reader is completely immersed in it. Whether it’s explaining how a minor misstep can hurt a score or describing the various injuries common to the girls it all feels incredibly authentic. Explaining that world to us is probably the easiest challenge Mighty Megan had in this one because once again it’s her incredible knack for putting us in the head of a conflicted character who has to face up to some ugly truths where the book really shines because that’s where it asks how much you can know someone else even if they’re the ones closest to you.
I especially like the theme about greatness requiring sacrifice and the questions that get explored regarding that idea. Devon might be able to do something that very few can, but does that mean she should have had to give up a normal childhood and teenage experiences? Is she doing this because it’s her dream or because so many adults around her have their own reasons for wanting her to succeed? Should the Knoxes have dedicated so much of themselves towards a single goal of one child, or does a parent of a kid with an extraordinary talent have a responsibility to do anything to see it fulfilled?
This might be the best book that Megan Abbott has done, and it’s because of the way that she weaves all that together in a story that is crime story, family drama, and reflections on the real cost of the pursuit of excellence in almost any endeavor. ...more
I received a free advance copy of this from NetGalley for review.
I’ve heard of having a tiger by the tail, but this is ridiculous.
Two rare tigers haveI received a free advance copy of this from NetGalley for review.
I’ve heard of having a tiger by the tail, but this is ridiculous.
Two rare tigers have been stolen from a Minnesota zoo, and everyone fears that they have been taken to have their organs and bones harvested for ‘medicines’ that will fetch a fortune on the black market. Quirky cop Virgil Flowers is on the case, but can he find the tigers before they’re killed and turned into expensive placebos for assholes?
As usual in a John Sandford novel we get the parallel story of what the bad guys are up to as Virgil hunts them, and things escalate with murder becoming part of the effort to cover their tracks. Virgil is also contending with a serious distraction caused by the sister of his girlfriend getting on the bad side of some thugs when she tries to expose the abuse of illegal immigrant workers at a factory.
As I’ve noted in my other reviews of Sandford books I consider him the best at the beach/airport reads that are always on the best sellers lists. This isn’t ground breaking thriller/crime fiction, but it is exceptionally well done thriller/crime fiction. We get villains that aren’t just the standard Insane McGenius serial killers. (Although Sandford did a few of those back when they weren’t quite such a cliché.) The plotting is tight, the action is great, there’s a real sense of tension and momentum built up, and he’s developed a collection of likable characters who populate both this series and the Prey books. Virgil continues to be an interesting hero who sports vintage rock band t-shirts and frequently forgets to get his gun out of his truck. Overall, Sandford's books are incredibly entertaining without feeling like they’re making you dumber by reading them.
So why only three stars here? Frankly, this one hit a personal pet peeve of mine. I just do not enjoy reading about animals in jeopardy or being mistreated. So I was constantly stressing about the fate of the tigers much more than I do when fictional human characters are in trouble. What? Don’t judge me.
That’s the only factor that kept me from calling it another 4 star thriller from Sandford that meets his usual standard of quality page-turning....more
The thing about being a Marvel fan is that I’ve been reading their comics off-and-on since I was a kid in the ‘70s, usually see their movies in the thThe thing about being a Marvel fan is that I’ve been reading their comics off-and-on since I was a kid in the ‘70s, usually see their movies in the theaters a couple of times each, and watch all their TV shows. (Not just the Netflix ones either. I’m talking both Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter.) Yet there can still be a moment while I’m reading one of their books that I'll scratch my head and wonder who the hell Mattie Franklin is and when exactly was there a third Spider-Woman? *sigh* Well, that’s what Wikipedia is for.
Everyone’s favorite ex-superhero turned private detective crosses paths with superhero hatin’ newspaper publisher J. Jonah Jameson. At first he tries to hire Jessica to find out Spider-Man’s secret identity and after that doesn’t work out like he wants JJJ is mightily pissed at JJ. That complicates matter when Jessica later discovers that Jameson’s adopted daughter, Mattie, is a minor superhero and in terrible trouble. On the personal front Jessica is still dating Scott Lang (a/k/a Ant-Man), but her secrets and his hesitation about her particular brand of crazy may trainwreck the relationship before it really has a chance to get started.
Alias continues to stand out as being a part of the Marvel universe, but also apart from it. Jessica keeps getting sucked into superhero business despite her best efforts to stay away from cases involving people in tights, and her position on the fringes gives us a new angle to look at all of stories that usually fall through the cracks. It’s also one of the most mature comics I’ve seen from Marvel with sex, profanity, and adult themes with subjects like drug abuse and rape dealt with directly and far more frankly than you’d ever see in of most of their titles.
I particularly liked the first issue in which the entire story of JJJ hiring Jessica and what happens afterwards is told in a unique way. A couple of larger panels are on each page and instead of dialogue balloons or captions the dialogue is in a type face font placed at the edges. This gives you a vibe that you’re looking at photos and a transcripts of conversations so it’s like you’re reading a case file. It’s one of the most clever and offbeat playing with the typical comic book format that I’ve seen. ...more
I’m late to the party on this one, and judging by all the 4 and 5 star reviews I can only assume that the mob will be after me with pitchforks and torI’m late to the party on this one, and judging by all the 4 and 5 star reviews I can only assume that the mob will be after me with pitchforks and torches for 3 starring it. Come at me, Goodreads!
Jason Dessen is just an average guy with a wife and son he loves, and a job teaching physics at a small college. One night he goes out to meet a friend for drinks, but he ends up being kidnapped by a mysterious man who somehow rips him out of his life and drops him in the middle of a nightmare.
This is one of those books that’s nearly impossible to review without spoilers because so much of what happens comes after major revelations are made. Even if you see the first big twist coming then you’ll probably still be surprised by what comes next.
Here’s the 100% spoiler free review: This is an entertaining sci-fi thriller that reminds me of recent books like Influx (Slightly better than this.) and The Fold (Slightly worse.) It’s got a pretty good hook, and the story is begging to be turned into a movie although the trailer will probably give away the entire plot once they film it. It flirts with big crazy science ideas, but in the end is more interested in being a human drama about family and choices we make. It didn’t hit a mind blowing level for me on the science side, and it did a better than average job for this type of book of getting me invested in the character side. Overall, it still fell a little short of its ambitions.
In short, I liked it but didn’t love it. No regrets about reading it, and I’ll see the inevitable movie version if it’s got a decent score on Rotten Tomatoes.
To dig into this in more detail here’s some specifics. I’m not giving away the ending, but I do address the overall plot in general terms.
(view spoiler)[I guessed fairly early on that we were dealing with an alternative universe situation, and that it was another Jason who had kidnapped original Jason so those revelations weren’t shocking to me. However, I was pleasantly surprised when that scope expanded to include the whole multiverse exploration angle, and I thought those ideas were fun.
Yet, I was again a little let down that the focus so entirely remained on Jason’s desperate quest to get back to his family, and the guy started to irritate me a bit. He’s seen disastrous consequences as a result of trying to find his wife, and it irked me that as a scientist he never seemed all that interested in any of the amazing things he was right in the middle of. His obsession to get home was incorporated into the story and dealt with in ways I appreciated, but this whole book was constant underlining how the only thing that this character cared about was his family. Which is understandable but felt one-note in a story with the potential to have epic scope.
Yes, you could make the argument that was the whole point and that the sci-fi elements were just window dressing for a story about a man literally traveling multiple universes to get back to those he loves. But that runs squarely into a pet peeve of mine. A lot of mainstream fiction peddles the notion that we all have to make a choice between greatness/professional success versus having love/family. Since most of us are just average folks with average jobs but have people we care for in our lives it behooves the creators of these stories to reinforce the idea that we made the right choice, that we’re better off than those who may seem to have it all because we’re told they must surely be lonely and empty without the vital human connections that we have.
In short, it’s complete pandering nonsense that I have little patience for anymore. Sure, those who accomplish a lot make sacrifices, but all kinds of people who make their dreams a reality have family, friends, pets, etc. that they care for and spend time with. As an easy example: Follow Lin-Manuel Miranda on Twitter. Then try to tell me that someone can’t have a spouse and child and still write and star in a groundbreaking Broadway play, win a Pulitzer Prize, deal with an insane amount of public attention, get involved in political and social causes, generally make the rest of us look like lazy slack-asses, and apparently have the time of his life while doing all of it.
Ultimately I found this to be somewhat unsatisfying because its whole premise is built on that idea. It’s telling that Jason never found a world where his doppelganger had both a successful career and the family. That world would have undercut the central idea that the average Jason, who cares only about his wife and son, was the ‘best’ one. (hide spoiler)]
So its sci-fi elements aren’t as deep or well presented as other books I’ve read dealing with a similar concept, and its major theme rubbed the wrong way a bit. Still, it was an entertaining read with some big ideas that I enjoyed.
Note: I'm getting comments that are discussing things I spoiler tagged with no warnings. If you want to comment on some aspect that is under the spoilers section then please use that function. Any comments that don't will be deleted....more
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