Category: Authors Page 17 of 123

PUB DAY REPOST: Flop Dead Gorgeous by David Rosenfelt: An Old Friend Brings a Challenging Case for Andy Carpenter @stmartinspress @netgalley

By

On July 4, 2023

In Andy Carpenter, David Rosenfelt, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Flop Dead GorgeousFlop Dead Gorgeous

by David Rosenfelt

DETAILS:
Series: Andy Carpenter, #27
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: July 04, 2023
Format: eARC
Length: 272
Read Date: June 13, 2023


What’s Flop Dead Gorgeous About?

Jenny Nichols went to the same high school as Andy Carpenter—but when he went to law school, she went to California and became a movie star. She comes back to Paterson frequently, even adopting a miniature French poodle from Andy’s rescue foundation and striking up a friendship with Laurie.

She’s staying in Paterson while filming her next movie in New York and Andy hosts a dinner with her and several others—during the dinner, her ex-boyfriend, current producer, and co-star (all the same person) shows up and causes a scene in an effort to see her. While Andy does nothing at all (his strength), Willie, Laurie, and Marcus shut down the producer and his bodyguards. They leave and the night goes on as before and everything seems fine.

Because this is that kind of book in that kind of series, that “fine” doesn’t last long. Jenny wakes up in the middle of the night to find her ex stabbed to death in her kitchen. With no one else in the house—and few people knowing she was staying there at all—the suspect list is really short, and it’s no time at all before Andy is hired to defend Jenny.

Wait, What?

I may be revealing what a horrible (as opposed to irresponsible) reader I am here—but in the second chapter, Rosenfelt said something that stopped me cold. Andy’s hosting that dinner for Jenny with a bunch of his friends and colleagues, including Sam, Willie and Sondra Miller, Vince Saunders—you know, the people you’d expect. Except for this: Marcus and his wife Julie. Did we know Marcus had a wife? Has she shown up a lot and I’ve totally forgotten her? I really don’t think so, but I don’t have time to read 20+ books (I can’t remember when he shows up first, book 2 or 3, I think) to see.

Part of my shock here has to do with the idea of Marcus having any kind of personal life is strange. It’s like when you’re in second grade and see your teacher in the grocery store. But I just have no recollection of this woman.

And, really, that’s not the strangest Marcus moment in the book…

Poor Eddie Dowd

Andy’s on his third associate in the series—the lawyer who does most of the actual lawyering, instead of the investigating and courtroom antics. He’s the guy who puts together briefs, looks up precedents, writes motions, and so on. This associate is usually comedic in some way, too.

Eddie shows up a little bit here, but nowhere is used to lighten the mood—we don’t even get one example of his overuse of sports metaphors. It was likely necessary to cut his jokes for space and/or to make up for the running joke (see below), but I couldn’t help but feel bad for the character. He barely got to do anything—particularly nothing interesting.

The Running Joke

There’s a running joke throughout this book that I can’t bring myself to ruin—or repeat. Initially, I wondered about Rosenfelt’s continued use of it—but in the end, I wouldn’t cut a single instance of it, and the later in the book we got the funnier I found each reappearance.

I don’t remember Rosenfelt going back to the well so often like this often (ever?).* Sure, he repeats jokes from book to book—Andy’s trying to retire, Edna’s lack of interest in work, Marcus’ lack of talking, etc. But fifteen+ appearances of a gag in one novel? I think this is new. I don’t know that we need it in every Andy Carpenter book from now on, but I wouldn’t mind it frequently.

* Fill up the comments here with the times he’s done it before and I’ve forgotten about it, by all means.

So, what did I think about Flop Dead Gorgeous?

I know I complain often about not knowing what to say about an Andy Carpenter novel that I haven’t said a few times before. And really, aside from what I’ve noted in the two sections above, I’m not sure what to say.

The one thing that I want to talk about the most is the one that I cannot discuss—the killer and the motive behind the killing. I can’t even think of a vague way to praise the choices Rosenfelt made in this novel’s structure. But for my money, the choice of the killer, motive, etc. are praiseworthy.

I do like the way Rosenfelt is aging Ricky—especially while not aging Tara—and letting Ricky pay attention to this case. Good character work.

Flop Dead Gorgeous features some of Rosenfelt’s funniest material in years. More of Andy in court (or so it seems) than we’ve been treated to lately. Good character work (both with regulars and new characters)—except for poor Eddie. The best mystery Rosenfelt’s given us in a long time. And Andy’s narrative voice has never been better (rarely been worse, too)—there are a couple of paragraphs that made me stop and note, “This is why I keep coming back to this series.”

We’re twenty-seven books in and I still laughed and was left on tenterhooks to see how Andy was going to prevail. That’s no mean feat. Rosenfelt hasn’t lost a step, and neither has this series. Naturally, I recommend Flop Dead Gorgeous to your attention.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

Flop Dead Gorgeous by David Rosenfelt: An Old Friend Brings a Challenging Case for Andy Carpenter @stmartinspress @netgalley

By

On June 16, 2023

In Andy Carpenter, David Rosenfelt, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Flop Dead GorgeousFlop Dead Gorgeous

by David Rosenfelt

DETAILS:
Series: Andy Carpenter, #27
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: July 04, 2023
Format: eARC
Length: 272
Read Date: June 13, 2023


What’s Flop Dead Gorgeous About?

Jenny Nichols went to the same high school as Andy Carpenter—but when he went to law school, she went to California and became a movie star. She comes back to Paterson frequently, even adopting a miniature French poodle from Andy’s rescue foundation and striking up a friendship with Laurie.

She’s staying in Paterson while filming her next movie in New York and Andy hosts a dinner with her and several others—during the dinner, her ex-boyfriend, current producer, and co-star (all the same person) shows up and causes a scene in an effort to see her. While Andy does nothing at all (his strength), Willie, Laurie, and Marcus shut down the producer and his bodyguards. They leave and the night goes on as before and everything seems fine.

Because this is that kind of book in that kind of series, that “fine” doesn’t last long. Jenny wakes up in the middle of the night to find her ex stabbed to death in her kitchen. With no one else in the house—and few people knowing she was staying there at all—the suspect list is really short, and it’s no time at all before Andy is hired to defend Jenny.

Wait, What?

I may be revealing what a horrible (as opposed to irresponsible) reader I am here—but in the second chapter, Rosenfelt said something that stopped me cold. Andy’s hosting that dinner for Jenny with a bunch of his friends and colleagues, including Sam, Willie and Sondra Miller, Vince Saunders—you know, the people you’d expect. Except for this: Marcus and his wife Julie. Did we know Marcus had a wife? Has she shown up a lot and I’ve totally forgotten her? I really don’t think so, but I don’t have time to read 20+ books (I can’t remember when he shows up first, book 2 or 3, I think) to see.

Part of my shock here has to do with the idea of Marcus having any kind of personal life is strange. It’s like when you’re in second grade and see your teacher in the grocery store. But I just have no recollection of this woman.

And, really, that’s not the strangest Marcus moment in the book…

Poor Eddie Dowd

Andy’s on his third associate in the series—the lawyer who does most of the actual lawyering, instead of the investigating and courtroom antics. He’s the guy who puts together briefs, looks up precedents, writes motions, and so on. This associate is usually comedic in some way, too.

Eddie shows up a little bit here, but nowhere is used to lighten the mood—we don’t even get one example of his overuse of sports metaphors. It was likely necessary to cut his jokes for space and/or to make up for the running joke (see below), but I couldn’t help but feel bad for the character. He barely got to do anything—particularly nothing interesting.

The Running Joke

There’s a running joke throughout this book that I can’t bring myself to ruin—or repeat. Initially, I wondered about Rosenfelt’s continued use of it—but in the end, I wouldn’t cut a single instance of it, and the later in the book we got the funnier I found each reappearance.

I don’t remember Rosenfelt going back to the well so often like this often (ever?).* Sure, he repeats jokes from book to book—Andy’s trying to retire, Edna’s lack of interest in work, Marcus’ lack of talking, etc. But fifteen+ appearances of a gag in one novel? I think this is new. I don’t know that we need it in every Andy Carpenter book from now on, but I wouldn’t mind it frequently.

* Fill up the comments here with the times he’s done it before and I’ve forgotten about it, by all means.

So, what did I think about Flop Dead Gorgeous?

I know I complain often about not knowing what to say about an Andy Carpenter novel that I haven’t said a few times before. And really, aside from what I’ve noted in the two sections above, I’m not sure what to say.

The one thing that I want to talk about the most is the one that I cannot discuss—the killer and the motive behind the killing. I can’t even think of a vague way to praise the choices Rosenfelt made in this novel’s structure. But for my money, the choice of the killer, motive, etc. are praiseworthy.

I do like the way Rosenfelt is aging Ricky—especially while not aging Tara—and letting Ricky pay attention to this case. Good character work.

Flop Dead Gorgeous features some of Rosenfelt’s funniest material in years. More of Andy in court (or so it seems) than we’ve been treated to lately. Good character work (both with regulars and new characters)—except for poor Eddie. The best mystery Rosenfelt’s given us in a long time. And Andy’s narrative voice has never been better (rarely been worse, too)—there are a couple of paragraphs that made me stop and note, “This is why I keep coming back to this series.”

We’re twenty-seven books in and I still laughed and was left on tenterhooks to see how Andy was going to prevail. That’s no mean feat. Rosenfelt hasn’t lost a step, and neither has this series. Naturally, I recommend Flop Dead Gorgeous to your attention.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

Broken by Don Winslow: It Doesn’t Get Better Than This

By

On June 15, 2023

In Don Winslow, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, V-Z

BrokenBroken

by Don Winslow

DETAILS:
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: August 10, 2021
Format: Paperback
Length: 335
Read Date: February 24-28, 2023


From the Back of the Book

No matter how you come into this world, you come out broken . . .
In six intense, haunting short novels, Don Winslow returns to the themes that are the hallmarks of his acclaimed body of work—crime, corruption, vengeance, justice, loss, betrayal, guilt, and redemption—to explore the savagery and nobility that drive and define the human condition.

In Broken, Winslow creates a world of high-level thieves and low-life crooks, obsessed cops and jaded private detectives, dope dealers and government agents, bounty hunters and fugitives. Diverse and richly drawn, these characters—some familiar, others new—are lost souls driving without headlights on the dark highway of modern America. Set in New Orleans and Hawaii, Southern California and south Texas, each story in this collection is distinctively Winslow, shaped by his trademark blend of insight, humanity, humor, drama, and consummate literary craftsmanship.

A powerful, gripping collection of tales that will become classics of crime fiction, Broken is Don Winslow at his nerve-shattering, heartbreaking best.

I’m not so sure I’d call these “short novels,” or novellas, or whatever. They’re long short stories. 50-60 pages or so each. But eh, who cares what they’re called? They’re a bunch of stories by Don Winslow—that’s enough for me.

Here are a few words about each.

Broken

Stunning. Gut-wrenching. Violent.

At its core, it’s about a narcotics officer in the New Orleans Police Department out for vengeance against the drug lord who killed his brother.

It’s about the price of vengeance, the hole a death can leave in a family, the costs of the War on Drugs to those on both sides, and what can happen when the watchmen aren’t watched.

Crime 101

Winslow is a master of style. It’s like he periodically decides to show the world that he’s the flashiest Crime Fiction writer in action. Sometimes he does it in a chapter (or less) of a novel, sometimes he does it for longer (I recall Savages being that)—this is one of those times. The entire thing is so quotable. The term cinematic comes to mind—you can practically see everything as you read it—maybe even reach out and touch it.

The story focuses on a master thief—so good that no one knows what he looks like. He’s referred to as the 101 Bandit because his targets seem to be focused up and down the Pacific Coast Highway, Highway 101.

Davis is everything you want a master thief to be (especially if you’ve watched too many movies). He’s cool, he drives flashy cars, he has exquisite taste in food and drink, and—because he lives by certain ironclad rules for his jobs–he’s never been caught.

Lou’s the detective who’s devoted to catching him. He’s not cool or stylish—he’s leaving his (cheating) wife, starting a new chapter in his life, and is determined to put the Bandit away.

Both are very good at their chosen professions—which is better?

The San Diego Zoo

Rightly or wrongly, I think of Winslow stories in one of two ways—they’re either full of gritty realism (think The Force, The Cartel trilogy, or Broken above). Or they’re this kind of crime story that you want to laugh at, even though it’s not really a comedy. They’re just as grounded, but there’s a joy to them that seems impossible to come from the same pen as the others.

This story belongs here. I shared the opening a couple of months ago—and it hooked me hard. I’m pretty sure that I texted the friend who gave me the book about my fanaticism for the story before I was half-done. I really think that I could read this daily for a month and still enjoy it.

Oh, what’s it about? A chimpanzee has escaped from the San Diego Zoo and somehow got a pistol. One of the cops at the scene is instrumental in getting the gun away from the chimp without a tourist (or anyone) getting shot and helping the Zoo retrieve it. Then gets curious about how the chimp got the gun and does his best to answer the question, and the reader gets taken on a wild ride.

Sunset

I will always and forever take an excuse to read about Boone Daniels from The Dawn Patrol and The Gentleman’s Hour. In this story, Boone is off to chase down a beloved and legendary surfer who’s skipped on bail. How beloved? Some time ago Boone tagged this man with the nickname “ELT” for “Everyone Loves Terry.”

But now Terry’s on the verge of ruining a bail bondsman’s business. And yeah, he’s beloved—except by those he’s taken advantage of (like Boone, who keeps letting him do it).

I’m on the verge of retelling the whole thing in a lousy way. So I’ll just shut up. It’s a great cat-and-mouse hunt starring the world and characters from The Dawn Patrol (my personal favorite Winslow novel).

Even if you don’t regard the initial novel as an almost-Platonic ideal, even if you’ve never read that novel, you’ll find something to enjoy in this story.

Paradise

The trio at the center of Winslow’s Savages and The Kings of Cool head to Hawaii to vacation and hopefully start doing some business. Because it’s this particular trio and they attract trouble, things go horribly wrong. But they go wrong in a flashy, stylish, and violent way. There’s some connection with other Winslow works, too.

It’s been years since I read them, so I can’t say for certain—but I think this isn’t as good as Savages, but better than The Kings of Cool. But both were so good, I’m not sure it matters.

The Last Ride

This was simply heartbreaking. It’s a story about a guard at an ICE detention center for children who’s had enough. The sight of one particular girl locked up moves him in a way that others haven’t. So he takes matters into his own hands.

So, what did I think about Broken?

This is a fantastic collection—not a dud in the batch, although I liked some more than others, but that says more about my tastes than the quality of the stories. This really feels like a broad overview of “here’s the spectrum of what Crime Fiction can be” (except for cozy, I don’t know if Winslow is capable of cozy). Each story is distinct and self-contained*—it’s hard to think that some are written by the same man—with different voices, different types of stories, and so on.

* Although there are some links between some of these stories in the volume—as well as ties to earlier novels.

One reason that I don’t want to quibble too much with the whole “short novel” descriptor is that unlike many short stories or novellas—every one of these stories packed the punch of a novel. The plots, intricacies of story and character, the emotional weight, and whatever else you want to ascribe to the reading experience felt more like it belonged to a 200+ page novel rather than a 50± page story.

Anything else I can think to say at this point is just a repetition. This is a great collection from a master of the craft. Don’t miss it.

5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

Towel Day ’23: Scattered Thoughts about Reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy

By

On May 25, 2023

In A-B, Authors, Calendar Items, Douglas Adams, Fiction, News/Misc., Science Fiction, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy


I’ve been trying for a few years now to come up with a tribute to Adams. This isn’t quite what I had in mind, but it’s a start. In my mind, this is a work in progress, but I’m posting it anyway. Next year’s version will be better—or at least more complete.

Some time in 7th or 8th grade (I believe), I was at a friend’s house and his brother let us try his copy of the text-based Hitchhiker’s Guide game, and we were no good at it at all. Really, it was embarrassing. However, his brother had a copy of the first novel, and we all figured that the novel held the keys we needed for success with the game (alas, it did not help us one whit). My friends all decided that I’d be the one to read the book and come back in a few days as an expert.

I fell in love with the book almost instantly and I quickly forgot about the game. Adams’ irreverent style rocked my world—could people actually get away with saying some of these things? His skewed take on the world, his style, his humor…and a depressed robot, too! It was truly love at first read. As I recall, I started re-reading it as soon as I finished it—the only time in my life I’ve done that sort of thing.

It was one of those experiences that, looking back, I can say shaped my reading and thinking for the rest of my life (make of that what you will). Were my life the subject of a Doctor Who or Legends of Tomorrow episode, it’d be one of those immutable fixed points. I got my hands on the next three books as quickly as I could (the idea of a four-volume trilogy was one of the funniest ideas I’d encountered up to that point), and devoured them. I do know that I didn’t understand all of the humor, several of the references shot past me at the speed of light, and I couldn’t appreciate everything that was being satirized. But what I did understand I thought was brilliant. Not only did I find it funny, the series taught me about comedy—how to construct a joke, how to twist it in ways a reader wouldn’t always expect, and when not to twist but to go for the obviously funny idea. The trilogy also helped me to learn to see the absurdity in life.

I read the books (particularly the first) so many times that I can quote significant portions of them, and frequently do so without noticing that I’m doing that. I have (at this time) two literary-inspired tattoos, one of which is the planet logo* featured on the original US covers. In essence, I’m saying that Adams and the series that made him famous have had an outsized influence on my life and are probably my biggest enduring fandom. If carrying around a (massively useful) piece of cloth for a day in some small way honors his memory? Sure, I’m in.

So, Happy Towel Day You Hoopy Froods.

* I didn’t know it at the time, but Adams didn’t like that guy. Whoops.

Douglas Adams’ London by Yvette Keller: The Map of London I Never Knew I Needed

By

On May 25, 2023

In Douglas Adams, Non-Fiction, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams’ London Douglas Adams’ London

by Yvette Keller

DETAILS:
Publisher: Herb Lester Associates
Publication Date: April 15, 2023
Length: 2 pgs.
Read Date: May 6, 2023


What’s Douglas Adams’ London?

This is a map of important locations (42 of them, of course) in London for Douglas Adams, the Dirk Gently series, and/or the Hitchhiker’s Guide series.

The reverse side explains why the locations were selected and gives some biographical information about Adams’ relation to each spot. I loved learning something about Hotblack Desiato, Fenchurch’s apartment, the pizza place Dirk Gently talked about, and so on.

The Design/Art

The map itself has some nice little bits of art scattered throughout—cartoonish little sketches of things like a dolphin, a sperm whale, and a certain depressed android. Just fantastic illustrations that made an already interesting map into something you want to come back to time and again.

The people at Herb Lester Associates who put this together did a simply wonderful job.

So, what did I think about Douglas Adams’ London?

I’ve already given up on my dream of wandering around London—but, boy, howdy, this makes me want to go even more.

Keller is described as “the planet earth authority on Douglas Adams literary tourism,” and will soon publish a travel guide to London. Who better to put something like this together?

Douglas Adams’ London is a gem—even if you never get the chance to put this information into action, it’s great to have.

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

Towel Day ’23: Do You Know Where Your Towel Is?

By

On May 25, 2023

In A-B, Authors, Calendar Items, Douglas Adams, Fiction, News/Misc., Science Fiction, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

(updated and revised this 5/25/23)

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of towels.

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have “lost”. What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

Hence a phrase that has passed into hitchhiking slang, as in “Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There’s a frood who really knows where his towel is.” (Sass: know, be aware of, meet, have sex with; hoopy: really together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.)

Towel Day, for the few who don’t know, is the annual celebration of Douglas Adams’ life and work. It was first held two weeks after his death, fans were to carry a towel with them for the day to use as a talking point to encourage those who have never read HHGTTG to do so, or to just converse with someone about Adams. Adams is one of that handful of authors that I can’t imagine I’d be the same without having encountered/read/re-read/re-re-re-re-read, and so I do my best to pay a little tribute to him each year, even if it’s just carrying around a towel.

In commemoration of this date, here’s most of what I’ve written about Adams. I’ve struggled to come up with new material to share for Towel Day over the years, mostly sticking with updating and revising existing posts. But I do have a couple of new things coming today. But let’s start with the old material. A few years back, I did a re-read of all of Adams’ (completed) fiction. For reasons beyond my ken (or recollection), I didn’t get around to blogging about the Dirk Gently books, but I did do the Hitchhiker’s Trilogy:
bullet The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
bullet The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
bullet Life, The Universe and Everything
bullet So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish
bullet Mostly Harmless
bullet I had a thing or two to say about the 40th Anniversary of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
bullet I took a look at the 42nd Anniversary Illustrated Edition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Also, I should mention the one book Adams/Hitchhiker’s aficionado needs to read is Don’t Panic by Neil Gaiman, David K. Dickson and MJ Simpson. If you’re more in the mood for a podcast, I’d suggest The Waterstones Podcast How We Made: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy—I’ve listened to several podcast episodes about this book, and generally roll my eyes at them. But this is just fantastic. Were it available, I’d listen to a Peter Jackson-length version of the episode.

I’ve only been able to get one of my sons into Adams, he’s the taller, thinner one in the picture from a few years ago.
(although I did get he and his younger siblings to use their towels to make themselves safe from the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal a few years earlier:)

You really need to check out this comic from Sheldon Comics—part of the Anatomy of Authors series: The Anatomy of Douglas Adams.

Lit in a Nutshell gives this quick explanation of The Hitchiiker’s Guide:

TowelDay.org is the best collection of resources on the day. One of my favorite posts there is this pretty cool video, shot on the ISS by astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.

Even better—here’s an appearance by Douglas Adams himself from the old Letterman show—I’m so glad someone preserved this:

Love the anecdote (Also, I want this tie.)

Backpacking Through Bedlam by Seanan McGuire: Now, Where Were We? Oh, Right…

By

On May 15, 2023

In Fiction, InCryptid, Seanan McGuire, Urban Fantasy

Backpacking Through BedlamBackpacking Through Bedlam

by Seanan McGuire

DETAILS:
Series: InCryptid, #12
Publisher: Daw Books
Publication Date: March 07, 2023
Format: Trade Paperback
Length: 285 pg.
Read Date: March 30-April 3, 2023


Back to the Covenant Story

The first few books of this series featured an ongoing arc concerning the looming threat of an invasion of the Americas by The Covenant of St. George. In the fifth book, Chaos Choreography, Verity basically invited that invasion. In the next book, Antimony went undercover to infiltrate them in order to gather intel on the coming invasion—and we largely abandoned that storyline for the rest of the Antimony-trilogy (the Covenant was around, obviously, but other things seemed far more important most of the time). Then with the next three books, that storyline took a giant backseat and most of the action focused on non-Earthbound species and/or didn’t take place on Earth.

Now that Alice, Thomas, and Sally are back on Earth, we can rejoin the Covenant story, already in progress.

What’s Backpacking Through Bedlam About?

This is precisely what this novel is about—Alice trying to reintroduce Thomas and Sally to Earth (the latter will be far easier since she hasn’t been gone quite as long) while coming to fight alongside Verity’s ragtag “army” in New York to protect the dragon.

Thomas doesn’t have to just remember what Earth is like and catch up on a few decades worth of technological advances, political and cultural changes, etc.—he also has to get used to his wife again. They’ve both grown and changed—yes, still deeply in love and committed to each other. But…they’re not the same people they were when he left.

Meanwhile, Alice has to learn to accept Sally as the not-quite-adult-daughter she’s never met. And Sally has to figure out her place in her new family. All while Verity and the rest of the Prices are going to have to adjust to Thomas actually being alive.

And, yeah, they have to fight a war and protect as many cryptids as they can from the Covenant. Should be a walk in the park, right? Or maybe that’s where the titular Bedlam comes in.

So, what did I think about Backpacking Through Bedlam?

When Verity declared war, I remember being taken aback by it—but also thinking, “all right, now things will get really interesting!” Just for that to be pushed to the background—or not even discussed—for quite some time. After getting over my initial disappointment, I settled in and didn’t have a problem with it, because what we got was plenty entertaining and intriguing on its own—who needed them to be the focus of the antagonism when you had all this other stuff going on?

But, I tell you what, it felt good to get back to this story. I really appreciate that we came back to it as we did, with Alice and the others having to jump in and catch up. This made it easy for the reader to get backstory thrown at us and we didn’t have to go back to the time of Magic for Nothing or thereabouts to see watch the invasion.

This was a solid novel in the series, and I think will serve as a really good way for the next arc to launch—letting us see all the Prices (in one way or another) fighting the Covenant. I don’t have much to say beyond that—InCryptid books bring a lot of snark, a dash of romance, a good amount of action, and some interesting musings on life, family, and what makes a decent person (human or not). That’s what you get in Backpacking through Bedlam.

I have no idea what’s coming next—or who our primary character will be in the next book—and I don’t care. I’m just eager to see it.

This wouldn’t be a bad place to jump on—there’s enough recapping of various and sundry storylines going on that it’s probably the best one since the fifth book (books 1, 3, 5, and now, 12 I think are the optimal jumping-on points). Just know that if you try it, you’re going to want to go back to the beginning.

3.5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

Opening Lines: Sacred by Dennis Lehane

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On May 11, 2023

In Blog Series, Currently Reading, Dennis Lehane, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, News/Misc., Opening Lines, Quotations

Head & Shoulders used to tell us that, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” That’s true for wearing dark shirts, and it’s especially true for books. Sometimes the characters will hook the reader, sometimes the premise, sometimes it’s just knowing the author—but nothing beats a great opening for getting a reader to commit. This is the third book in one of my favorite series (and the fourth I’d read when I first encountered it), so I was pre-commited when I picked it up. But if I’d never read Lehane before, this would’ve done it for me.

A piece of advice: If you ever follow someone in my neighborhood, don’t wear pink.

The first day Angie and I picked up the little round guy on our tail, he wore a pink shirt under a gray suit and a black topcoat. The suit was double-breasted, Italian, and too nice for my part of town by several hundred dollars. The topcoat was cashmere. People in my neighborhood could afford cashmere, I suppose, but usually they spend so much on the duct tape that keeps their tail pipes attached to their ’82 Chevys, that they don’t have much left over for anything but that trip to Aruba.

The second day, the little round guy replaced the pink shirt with a more subdued white, lost the cashmere and the Italian suit, but still stuck out like Michael Jackson in a day care center by wearing a hat. Nobody in my neighborhood–or any of Boston’s inner-city neighborhoods that I know of–wears anything on their head but a baseball cap or the occasional tweed Scally. And our friend, the Weeble, as we’d come to call him, wore a bowler. A fine-looking bowler, don’t get me wrong, but a bowler just the same.

“He could be an alien,” Angie said. I looked out the window of the Avenue Coffee Shop. The Weeble’s head jerked and then he bent to fiddle with his shoelaces.

“An alien,” I said. “From where exactly? France?”

She frowned at me and lathered cream cheese over, bagel so strong with onions my eyes watered just looking at it. “No, stupid. From the future. Didn’t you ever see that old Star Trek where Kirk and Spock ended wp on earth in the thirties and were hopelessly out of step?”

“I hate Star Trek.”

“But you’re familiar with the concept.”

I nodded, then yawned. The Weeble studied a telephone pole as if he’d never seen one before. Maybe Angie was right.

“How can you not like Star Trek?” Angie said.

“Easy. I watch it, it annoys me, I turn it off.”

“Even Next Generation?”

“What’s that?” I said.

“When you were born,” she said, “I bet your father held you up to your mother and said, ‘Look, hon, you just gave birth to a beautiful crabby old man.'”

“What’s your point?” I said.

from Sacred by Dennis Lehane
Sacred

Opening Lines Logo

Swamp Story by Dave Barry: Florida. Just say it’s Florida.

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On May 1, 2023

In Dave Barry, Fiction, Humor, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Swamp StorySwamp Story

by Dave Barry

DETAILS:
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: May 2, 2023
Format: eARC
Length: 320 pg.
Read Date: April 19-21, 2023


What’s Swamp Story About?

This is hard to summarize, really. Which is part of the beauty of the book.

Most of the characters in this book aren’t what you’d call likable. They’re not really villains or antagonists, they’re just…people you don’t want to spend time with in real life, people with more greed/ambition than common sense (or decency). There are a couple of guys living in a cabin in the Everglades trying to assemble enough footage for a reality show pilot (basically, the good-looking one of the pair walking around shirtless interacting with native wildlife). Their weed dealer owns a failing convenience store/bait shop and has a “so stupid it just might work” plan to put his family’s store on the map. There’s a would-be talent agent (or just anything to ride the coattails of his buddy who happens to make a little money). Oh, and there’s a lawyer and a cabinet secretary/presidential aspirant, too—can’t forget them.

On the villainous side, there’s the weed dealer’s supplier—a former football player who is still large enough to intimidate active linemen who will not tolerate missed deadlines. Two ex-con brothers who are the textbook definition of nasty are also running around. There’s also an Eastern European gangster and some of his employees from the old country who should make everyone quake with fear.

On the likable side, you have the shirtless would-be star’s girlfriend and mother of his child (who really regrets ever giving him the time of day, no matter how pretty he is). The weed dealer’s brother who really needs something to motivate him to do more than play games on his phone, might have found that motivation in her. You’ve also got a couple of aides to the secretary, who really need a better job. An alcoholic ex-reporter desperate to make a buck is just what the weed dealer wants for his idea. I can’t forget either the aging TV reporter desperate to cling to her former relevance or the champion snake hunter.

Put all these characters in a small geographic region, throw in a large amount of buried Confederate gold and a couple of viral videos, shake well, and serve. Swamp Story is the result.

This Book Could’ve Been Shorter

Around the 70% mark (I’m keeping it vague because I don’t know how it’ll go in the final edition), a couple of the characters have an exchange that essentially goes along these lines:

Character A: I hope nothing else happens.
Character B: What else could happen?
Character A: …

and then there’s a map showing the immediate vicinity and some of the major buildings/landmarks of the story, making it very obvious that, based on what we know, all the characters are really near each other and that the likelihood of them running into each other in the very near future is pretty high. The reader will not be able to look at this map and not start imagining how all that running into each other is going to go.

I made a note at this point, that Barry could’ve ended the novel at that point—that exchange, the map, and the reader’s imagination—and it’d have been a fun and satisfying read.

However, odds are, your imagination isn’t as good as Barry’s is (mine sure isn’t), and as zany as I thought things were going to get from this point, the truth was far zanier. His conclusion to the novel (not just the immediate every character and storyline coming together in one spot, but everything that followed) was better than any of the ideas I came up with (and I liked most of my ideas a lot).

Still, there’s part of me that wishes he’d left things with that line and the map. I’d have laughed hard at that.

So, what did I think about Swamp Story?

I really enjoy reading Barry’s novels, and Swamp Story is no exception. It’s a different kind of humor (largely) than Barry’s columns or books, but it’s just as satisfying. I’d want to say that it’s more subtle, but that’s not true at all. There’s more character-based humor, and some of it’s the dialogue—which strikes you differently than the straight humor pieces he’s best known for.

Now, that said, there’s a scene at the beginning—involving a rich child’s birthday party, a couple of costumed performers, and a difficult-to-crack piñata, that absolutely cracked me up and I’ve been replaying it in my head since I read it—it’s perfect slapstick.

Putting aside the humor, all the story arcs worked really well and I can see toned-down versions of all the arcs working well together in a grim version of this story. I’ve argued recently that a good test of a comedic novel is if the plots would work without the laughs—in this case they largely wood. But they’re so much juicer and more enjoyable in this comic and heightened versions.

There are genuine bad guys, some actual threats, several characters in search of a good idea,* and a couple of people you hope catch a lucky break and escape from everything they’re surrounded by relatively intact. Throw in some good laughs, and some clever writing, and you’ve got yourself a fun few hours of reading. That’s likely what the reader looks for in a Dave Barry novel, and that’s what Swamp Story delivers. Strongly recommended.

* Apologies to Pirandello.

4 Stars

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Simon & Schuster via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this.

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.

The Friday 56 for 4/13/23: Ozark Dogs by Eli Cranor

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On April 14, 2023

In C-E, Currently Reading, Eli Cranor, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
The Friday 56 Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
The Friday 56 Find a snippet, short and sweet.
The Friday 56 Post it.

from Page 56 (and 57) of:
Ozark Dogs

Ozark Dogs by Eli Cranor

Evail loved his big brother, a bond that went even deeper than blood. In a way, Rudnick was the start of everything all those nights in the field, the kits’ calls playing out scared and lonely. It was just like the hunting. Rudnick had simply asked if Evail would do it, and then he did. Again and again. For a while, the brothers went hunting almost every night. It was the summer before Rudnick’s senior year in high school. Evail on the cusp of sixteen.

And then Rudnick was gone, Evail went to prison, and everything changed. The darkness shifted and the calls howled from the inside out. When Evail returned, he took to the field alone, no longer using the recordings, opting instead for the darkness, working along the tree lines and stalking his prey. He wore the hides of the creatures he’d taken. A mass of fur and bone death-still in the shadows, Evail crouching, waiting, the gun barrel blue in the night. Coyotes were loyal and thick as thieves. When one went down, the others came running. It wasn’t until there was a pile of blood-warm bodies that the big boy would finally come sauntering up from the shadows. The alpha. Rudnick had always been the alpha. He wasn’t anything anymore.

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