Category: G-L Page 2 of 17

Series G-F

He’s back for the sixth time, now to talk about the fourth installment of this Love & Bullets series of hookups, Hell of a Mess (I posted about it earlier today). I look forward to these Q&As a lot, I know that when I get the responses I’ll learn a few things, understand the books better, and will grin at least twice. Not only does he write a good book, he writes a good answer. The novel comes out at the end of the month, get your orders in today!

So what brought you back to Bill and Fiona? Did you get a hankering to do something new with them while putting The Megabomb Edition together or did you get the idea for a heist in a hurricane (or something like that) and decide they’d fit better than someone new?
I’d always wanted to do a heist in a hurricane. When I was a teenager, for reasons I can’t quite explain, I was really into the movie “Hard Rain” with Morgan Freeman and Christian Slater, which centers on an armored truck robbery in a flooded town. It’s a pretty mediocre flick, but I really dug the idea of taking two distinct genres—crime and natural disaster—and slamming them together.

So, the basic framework of heist-in-a-hurricane rattled around in my brain for years. I thought about it more after Hurricane Sandy smashed through New York ten years ago, which came with all the chaos you can imagine—no power, flooded buildings, chaos in the streets. I even wrote some crime-themed short stories that took place during Sandy, but the itch to turn it into a full-fledged novel didn’t grip me until 2020.

Originally, it was supposed to involve all-new characters, but I really like Bill and Fiona, and I thought: why not? I know how they think. I know what they’d do. It seemed more organic to make it another Love & Bullets adventure.

This question might have fit better for the first Love and Bullets novella, but it still applies here. Can you talk a little about your decision to have the unnamed-assassin as your first person narrator rather than one of the protagonists, or a third-person omniscient narrator? He’s important to this novel, and the first novella—but not as important to the rest of the series—but he’s not a John Watson or Nick Caraway kind of non-protagonist narrator, either. Maybe you can describe his function in the series as well (I clearly can’t do it concisely). Also, was leaving him nameless a conscious decision, or just something that happened along the way that you stayed with it?
Leaving him nameless is just something that happened along the way. The assassin is human, obviously, but I also think of him as a supernatural or mythical force—almost like a Loki, a spiritual trickster who’s not firmly implanted in this world. Giving him a name seemed to reduce him somehow, at least in my mind.

I can’t explain why he’s written in the first person, and the other characters are shoved into the omniscient third. Not to give too much agency to a fictional character, but it’s what he wants; when I sit down and write from his perspective, it just spools out effortlessly. When I started Hell of a Mess, I very briefly tried writing him from the same third-person perspective as the other characters, and it simply fell flat.

There was also a version of Hell of a Mess where he didn’t appear at all, and it didn’t work, either. He’s the levity that differentiates the series from other crime fiction, in my mind; he’s the crazy element, the secret sauce, the glue that binds the narratives together on a subtextual level. Maybe that’s because he’s always articulating the book’s themes as he wrestles with his own feelings and coincidence; maybe it’s just that I find him funny as hell.

How do you balance the threat of a hurricane with the various human threats running around this book? Are there special challenges involved in using a natural disaster like this in a book, or is it a gift—allowing a random tree branch or torrent of rain to come along and interrupt things when you want?
It’s a gift and a curse. If you’re jammed up in the plot, yeah, you can send a tree branch or a flood through to shake things up—it’s the nature equivalent of Chandler’s old adage about how if you’re stumped on how to advance the plot, just have someone walk in with a gun. Living through Sandy, I learned firsthand how a big storm can really impact even the most mundane physics; at one point, I had to open a door with another big guy, and it took all of our strength to crack it open even a few inches against the wind and the air pressure. You throw those physics into a fictional narrative, and you generate some really interesting potentials for suspense.

At the same time, especially when you’re using a hurricane, you have to make sure the tempo of the storm aligns with your action—for example, as the storm intensifies, your characters really can’t do anything outside, which is why I decided to have the climax of the book take place just as the eye passes overhead, cutting out the wind and rain.

Let’s take a break from your work for a moment—you’re a reader/viewer as well as a writer, what’re some of the books/movies/shows this year that you’ve been enjoying?
I loved Heat 2. I was lucky enough to get an early copy, and I had some trepidations about how well Michael Mann would carry off that shift from cinematic to novelistic, but I needn’t have worried—the book is fantastic. Meg Gardiner, his co-author, layered it with her trademark suspense, and the whole thing really works.

I’m also reading Jordan Harper’s Last King of California, which is coming out in late September in the UK (although U.S. readers can find a copy via Amazon.co.uk pretty easily, I think). It’s a real treat because Harper is one of the best wordsmiths working the crime genre, and every sentence is rich and thick. The book itself is in the proud tradition of noirs like Blood Father and Tapping the Source, and it’s wonderful.

You’ve got Beach Bodies coming out on Halloween, right? I understand that’s a horror novella? Do you want to give a quick pitch for that one?
Beach Bodies is a super-short horror novella that began as a potential project for a smaller horror publisher, but when that didn’t work, I decided to dip my toe into self-publishing. It’s a weird book with one bloody moment near the end that will probably excite hardcore horror fans while freaking other folks out (one early reader texted me, “DUDE, WTF, LOL,” when she reached it).

The short pitch for it: Julia and Alec are two twentysomethings paid to “house sit” a billionaire’s luxury doomsday bunker on an isolated stretch of beach. Three strangers invade the bunker on a sinister mission, and very bad things happen. There’s a big twist that’ll have you questioning the nature of the characters’ very reality.

As usual, I’ve got to ask, what’s coming down the pike? Are you far enough into your next book(s) to talk about it/them?
Right now I’m working on an episode of A Grifter’s Song, which is a long-running series (something like 28 novellas and counting) written by various crime-fiction authors, including S.A. Cosby, Hilary Davidson, and Paul J. Garth. The series follows two hustlers as they attempt to cheat bad folks out of their money. The main challenge for me is taking these two preexisting characters with a rich backstory established by other authors… and trying not to mess it up.

And by “mess it up,” I mean, “make it too much like Bill and Fiona from Love & Bullets,” which I’m definitely at risk of doing. But I’ll make it work.

Thanks for your time—and thanks for Hell of a Mess—it’s always fun spending time with these characters.
Thank you! I love these questions!

Hell of a Mess by Nick Kolakowski: A Whole Bunch of Plans that Don’t Come Together

By HCNewton

On August 8, 2022

In Fiction, Love & Bullets Hookups, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Nick Kolakowski

Hell of a Mess

by Nick Kolakowski

DETAILS:
Series: Love & Bullets, #4
Publisher: Shotgun Honey Books
Publication Date: August 26, 2022
Format: eARC
Length: 234
Read Date: August 1, 2022

What’s Hell of a Mess About?

Well, isn’t that a tricky question? There is too much. Let me sum up. There are multiple people who start off intending to commit one crime and end up doing something entirely different.

Fiona’s been hired to steal something, and it’s a timely thing (and she’s not deterred by much), so despite an impending hurricane, she goes for it. Sure, the Inside Man tries to wave her off, but, again—she’s not deterred by much. Which is a shame—she should’ve paid attention to either the weather or the Inside Man. She ends up with a price on her head and multiple people around the city.

While she’s busy, Bill’s trying to prep for the storm in the home they’re squatting in when some police break in looking for the man who lives there. One thing leads to another, and they kidnap Bill, believing he can lead them to the millions his former employer had hidden away.

Thankfully. that assassin they thought Fiona killed at the end of A Brutal Bunch of Heartbroken Saps survived—readers knew that, but Fiona and Bill didn’t. Not only did he live, but he’s been keeping tabs on them. He’s been trying to live a different—less lethal—life and he has a chance to help them. Will he be enough?

(I have no idea if the above makes any sense—trying to cram it into three brief paragraphs doesn’t do the plot any favors. In the non-condensed version, it works. Trust me.)

The Unnamed Assassin

Up to the point where it looked like Fiona killed him (maybe a little sooner), I thought that the hitman who was sent after Bill in the first book was the protagonist. His is the only first-person perspective we get through the series—almost like he’s relaying what he knows and hears about this crazy couple while he’s dealing with his own problems like they’re a diversion for him.

His personal arc is very different from theirs—they claim to be trying to get out and live a straight life, if only they get one more decent score to set them up. The unnamed assassin is going a different path, he’s still a violent criminal, but like Jules Winnfield, he’s looking for something more. There are lines he won’t cross anymore (he seems to be making those rules up on the fly, but at least he has them.

As you can probably tell, I find it difficult to articulate his development and role in the series—but using him (sparingly, on the whole) and his arc throughout in juxtaposition to Fiona and Bill adds a layer to these books that few authors would have utilized, but make the whole thing better.

Be sure to check out my Q&A with Kolakowski (posting later today) for more about him.

Unanswered Questions

The thing that really kicks off the Fiona storyline is her stumbling across something she wasn’t expecting while discovering the thing she came to steal wasn’t there. Her discovery of the other nefarious action—and the way she prevented it from being completed*—is what starts the manhunt for her, more than the attempted heist. If she’d just walked away, I think it’s likely no one would’ve come after her.

* It is so tricky to discuss this obliquely.

Then when it comes time for Fiona to go save Bill, that storyline is dropped. Which is actually fine and good, because ultimately what it’s replaced by is more interesting. But in the back of my mind couldn’t stop asking—and, a week later, still can’t—what happened? What led up to Fiona’s discovery? What happened after she and the unnamed killer ran off to rescue Bill?

Typically, leaving these threads hanging would annoy me enough that I’d downgrade a novel over it—but Kolakowski pulls it off. If you’re going to abandon a plotline, this is the way to do it.

That said, I’d pony up twice the typical Shotgun Honey novella price today to get Love & Bullets #5 if it picks up right after this to tell the rest of that story. Maybe thrice.

So, what did I think about Hell of a Mess?

The previous three installments were novellas, but this is a novel, clocking in at 50-100 pages longer than the rest. And it didn’t feel like it at all. It was the same adrenaline-fueled, not-quite-frenzied pace and was over before I was ready for it to be. My daily schedule kept this from being a one-sitting read, but I think I could’ve done it in one sitting without realizing it.

This is pulpy fun. There’s action, there’s heart, there’s comedy (some subtle, some absolutely not), there’s a lot of violence, and you can’t forget the bunch of heartbroken saps that are at the center of things. They’re crooks and killers that really seem like decent people when you stack them up next to the nastier crooks and killers they can’t stop encountering. In the middle of all that chaos (and you can’t forget the chaos of the storm), there’s hope, forgiveness, and love. And who can’t use a little of that?

I don’t know if Kolakowski is going to come back to these characters in the future—I’d be content with what he’s given already, but I also know that I’d jump on any future installments, too. I encourage you to do the same.

4 1/2 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.

Breaking Point (Audiobook) by C.J. Box, David Chandler: Joe Finds Himself Between Some Rocks and a Hot Place

By HCNewton

On August 4, 2022

In Audiobook, C. J. Box, Fiction, Joe Pickett, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Breaking Point

by C. J. Box, David Chandler (Narrator)

DETAILS:
Series: Joe Pickett, #13
Publisher: Recorded Books
Publication Date: August 17, 2015
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 10 hrs., 37 min.
Read Date: July 13-15, 2022

What’s Breaking Point About?

Acquaintance and father of one of Lucy’s best friends, Butch Roberson, is in trouble—he’s been being harassed by some EPA agents and they’ve turned up dead. Joe was the last person to see him before he became a prime suspect in their murder and a subject of a manhunt. Which, in the perverse way that only bureaucrats can think, gets him in hot water.

Joe’s now tasked with helping some contractors track Butch through the wilderness—he really doesn’t want to do it, and almost quits over it. But the way these guys are acting, Joe figures that he’s the only one who can ensure that Butch is brought in alive and with a shot at a fair trial (especially if he can get him into local custody).

Joe’s been in hazardous wilderness conditions before—regularly, from the reader’s point of view—but I think it’s safe to say that these are the most dangerous he’s been in. And the humans (officially and unofficially) hunting for Butch are just making things worse.

Meanwhile, Marybeth is doing a little investigative work on the side for Joe while helping Butch’s wife and daughter through this time. She even sends up a flare hoping to get some help from Nate Romanowski.

There’s a whole lot of moving pieces in this novel, and hopefully, the Picketts and Robersons come out of things alive.

Federal Agencies

Outside of some FBI Agents (maybe only one), people who work for the Federal Government don’t come across well in these books. And Breaking Point is no exception

I don’t know—and really don’t care—how much of Box’s own politics are reflected in these books, but he does a great job of portraying the attitudes of people in Wyoming and Idaho (not that he does a lot of Idaho work, but there’s some). Federal Agents are inherently suspect and will wield their power to damage the way of life of citizens. Sure, there are exceptions, but on the whole, you can’t trust them to do the right thing.

It’s never comfortable reading these depictions of the Federal Government, but if nothing else, it’s good to be reminded of/exposed to the way hunters/ranchers/etc.out here think of them—and why they do.

The Sub-plots

The new head of Game and Fish, Lisa Greene-Dempsey (LGD) is a more interesting foil for Joe than the previous officious penny-pinchers. She’s trying to reshape the Agency in a way that Joe’s not comfortable with, and she’s clearly playing politics with him/his job. But the way she’s going about it—with good intentions, I think—makes her a better character and gives us more interesting reactions from Joe. It’s always better to have competing good intentions than having one side just out to hurt the other/improve themself alone. The whole arc there is one of the best Joe vs. The System stories Box has given us.

I don’t get the Marybeth story, it fizzled on all fronts for me. If it’s to underline the financial hardships the family has gone through, he’s done it more effectively before. If it’s laying the groundwork for something else, on the other hand, great—but I want to see it soon. Generally, Marybeth’s stories are a highlight of these novels but this one fell flat for me.

While Sheridan had a pivotal part to play here, it sort of seems to me that Box doesn’t know what to do with her anymore (ditto for her sisters, but Sheridan’s always shown the brightest among them, so it seems worse). I really hope he does something interesting with her soon, I’m not sure how long I’d have stuck with the series if not for her early on, and I don’t want to not enjoy her in the future.

That Death…

There’s a significant character death that shocked me—both in the manner, the function in the story, and the fact that it happened at all. Box treated the whole thing perfectly.

I’m not going to get into details, but it was a smart, gutsy move.

How’s the Narration?

Chandler has the characterizations down pat—every time he says something as McLanahan (and how great is it to see how things went for him between Force of Nature and this book?) I want to punch the guy in his nose. Which is more violent than I typically get, but that voice is perfectly grating—a wonderful match for McLanahan’s personality.

He’s great even when he doesn’t irritate me—Chandler has brought this series to life, and continues that work here. Really don’t have much else to say.

So, what did I think about Breaking Point?

There’s a great call-back to Savage Run, reminding the reader just how far Joe’s come, and some of the things he’s pulled off in his career.

Box delivers a great thriller here, as we’re used to—with some important character work for Joe—including a move that’ll change his professional life forever.

It’s the thirteenth book in a series, and it’s really difficult to come up with something to say. The storytelling isn’t getting stale, the characters are developing nicely, the premise of the novel rings true, and Box executes it well. It’s an incredibly consistent series, really—not getting much better (nor does it need to), it’s definitely not getting worse.

There’s not much more to say—if you’ve liked most of the previous twelve novels (like I have), you’ll like this one. If you’re intrigued by the idea of a Game Warden getting involved in criminal investigations while dealing with wilderness adventures, you’ll likely enjoy this one, even without the backstory.

Box knows what he’s doing at this point, and even with my quibbles, I figure he’s going to do something in the future to remove them. Give this one a try.

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.

In a House of Lies by Ian Rankin: The Past and Present Collide for Rebus, Clarke, and Fox

By HCNewton

On June 3, 2022

In Fiction, Ian Rankin, John Rebus, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, P-U

In a House of Lies

by Ian Rankin

DETAILS:
Series: John Rebus, #22
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Publication Date: December 31, 2018
Format: Hardcover
Length: 372 pg.
Read Date: May 24-27, 2022

What’s In a House of Lies About?

A decade and change ago, a private investigator went missing. John Rebus was part of the team that spent weeks looking for him—interviewing his client, his family, his boyfriend, the target of his current investigation, and everyone else they could think of. At least that’s what the paperwork said. There’s some question about that—and the family of Stuart Bloom has forced more than one investigation into the original search.

Now his body is discovered—in an area that had been well-searched originally. There’s reason to believe that the body had been somewhere else for years. Now the police—a team featuring DI Siobhan Clarke—have to decide where it was as well as who killed him. This involves taking a fresh look at the old case as well as a new investigation. The original detectives (those who are still alive, that is) and some of the uniformed officers are brought in for questioning—which means that Rebus is under the microscope once again. This suits him fine—it’s a chance for him to have a part in closing the case once and for all (at least in his mind)

Meanwhile, Malcolm Fox’s boss assigns him to take one final look at the original investigation—given the new discovery, can they find police misconduct at the root?

Also, Clarke’s being harassed by someone—only crank calls and vandalism, so far. She doesn’t want to do anything official about it, so she asks Rebus to look into things—if nothing else, it might keep him out of her hair while she looks for Bloom’s killer. Might.

There’s a lot to untangle in these pages, thankfully, Rankin’s three detectives are on the cases.

What did I think about In a House of Lies?

This post feels entirely too short. I’m struggling here. What do I say about Rankin or Rebus (or Clarke or Fox) that I haven’t already said? I’m willing to believe that I’ve asked this question when discussing at least 3 previous books. I’m sorely tempted to just post something like: “Ian Rankin wrote a book about John Rebus. You know what to do.”

I was particularly impressed at the way Rankin got the band (on both sides of the law) back together here—for the reader, it’s expected—probably even inevitable. But it comes across as organic and unforced. Between Rebus’ retirement, and the divergent paths that the others’ careers have taken, that’s no mean feat. Unlike, say, Renée Ballard, Siobhan Clarke isn’t soldiering on with those she can’t trust. Ballard has to get Bosch involved, Clarke chooses to ask for his help and/or lets him push his way in.

Solid mysteries, expertly plotted and executed, full of characters (new and old) that you believe and get invested in. In a House of Lies feels as fresh and as compelling as Knots and Crosses.

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, opinions expressed are my own.

Force of Nature (Audiobook) by C.J. Box, David Chandler (Narrator): Wyoming Requiem

By HCNewton

On April 26, 2022

In Audiobook, C. J. Box, Fiction, Joe Pickett

I’ve ended up working on this post a lot longer than most—definitely longer than any other book in this series. I know I didn’t say everything I wanted to, but I think I covered all the essentials. I also think my trimming ideas/paragraphs/rabbit trails didn’t make this too difficult to follow. Let me know if I missed that mark, will you?

Force of Nature

by C. J. Box, David Chandler (Narrator)

DETAILS:
Series: Joe Pickett, #12
Publisher: Recorded Books
Publication Date: March 20, 2012
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 11 hrs., 23 min.
Read Date: April 13-15, 2022

What’s Force of Nature About?

Nate Romanowski.

That’s the short version anyway—but it’s not a helpful answer.

Since we met Nate, we’ve known that he’s living off the grid for more than philosophical reasons—he’s not just a modern Thoreau, But we’ve never been given the story behind that. He’s offered to tell Joe, but Joe’s smart enough to know he shouldn’t know (but he is curious).

Well now, those people he’s been avoiding are getting close to finding him. They are approaching, questioning, kidnapping (if deemed necessary), and putting all other sorts of pressure on those who may know something about Nate or his whereabouts. This includes new characters as well as well-established characters—including all the Picketts, his friends on the reservation, his mysterious friends in Idaho, and others.

To protect those who are important to him, Nate has to stop hiding and go on the offense. Along the way, the reader gets answers to a lot of the questions about him that we’ve built up over the previous eleven novels.

We also get another lesson in watching out for your ears around Nate Romanowski, just in case Free Fire wasn’t enough for you.

Yes, there are several other things going on, but they all tie back to Nate Romanowski—his past, his present, and if he has a future.

A Gripe

This is semi-spoilery, but without this, I might have rated this higher, so I have to talk about it. I don’t think reading this is going to ruin anything plot-wise. Still, feel free to skip down to the next heading.

Nate, Joe, and Marybeth all agree that the Picketts have to get out of town for their own safety. So Joe, Marybeth, April, and Lucy get to the airport so they can get out of the reach of those who might try to use them to get to Nate.

See the problem there? I said nothing about Sheridan. Sure, she’s away at college, but we’re talking about people who have gone to Idaho and Colorado to find people to get leverage on Nate. Does anyone really think they can’t get to Laramie? Yes, Joe sends his FBI buddy to talk to her, but that’s to get information, not to watch out for her.

I literally kept talking back to the recording, “What about Sheridan?” Is it possible I missed the two sentences it would’ve taken for Box to justify this choice, but I don’t think that’s the case.

David Chandler

This is book 12, David Chandler has this series down—I’m sure he’s not on auto-pilot or anything, but at this point, it’s got to be comfortable for him.

That said, he’s on his game here, and really gets to stretch his wings a little—there’s (obviously) more Nate than usual, and Nate has a greater emotional range than usual, too. Bang-up job by Chandler.

So, what did I think about Force of Nature?

This is the most action-packed, violent, and unpredictable Joe Pickett novel yet. I’m not sure it’s even close—I’m not sure it’s the best novel in the series, but I’m guessing it’s quite the fan-favorite because of all the Nate material.

It’s the C.J. Box-equivalent of Robert Crais’ L.A. Requiem where we get all of Joe Pike’s background* in the midst of a gripping thrill ride. There’s a version of this post that contains several paragraphs comparing/contrasting these two novels that I’m sorely tempted to write, but I can’t imagine anyone wanting to read it all. This will both serve to humanize Nate as well as build up his mystique. A nice trick to be sure.

* I just got a very real lesson in careful typing by invoking Joe Pike in a discussion about a Joe Pickett novel.

Am I happy to have a lot of questions answered about Nate? Yes. Do I have a whole bunch of new questions about him? Yes. Do I sort of hope that he disappears for at least a book so we can refocus on Joe? Yes. Do I think that anyone with a mild interest in the Joe Pickett series will dig this novel? No doubt in my mind.

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, opinions are my own.

Family Business by S.J. Rozan: Family Matters

By HCNewton

On January 6, 2022

In Fiction, Lydia Chin & Bill Smith, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, S. J. Rozan

Family Business

by S. J. Rozan
Series: Lydia Chin & Bill Smith, #14

Hardcover, 289 pg.
Pegasus Books, 2021

Read: January 1-3, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

“Big Brother Choi died.”

“Wow. What happened?”

“Massive heart attack. Not to worry, there.”

I hadn’t really been worried. It wasn’t likely Big Brother Choi had been rubbed out by a rival tong leader and a Chinatown tong war was about to start. Those ham-handed days were largely gone.

But Mary’s “there” implied something else, and I knew what it was, the reason Chris Chiang had called. A seismic shudder was about to move through the streets we’d grown up on.

Our high school physics prof had told us that nature abhors a vacuum.

So does power.

What’s Family Business About?

The core of this novel is focused on what’s going to happen to a real estate development in Chinatown. Which really doesn’t sound that exciting—but Rozan’s able to make you care. Also, this is not a run-of-the-mill real estate problem.

There’s a large-scale development headed towards Lydia’s neighborhood, whether anyone wants it or not. The only thing stopping it is that the owner of one building in the middle of the projected development refuses to sell. That owner is—er, was—Big Brother Choi, the head of a tong, who uses that building as his tong’s HQ.

So, yeah, a criminal enterprise is all that stands between a (seemingly) legal and successful businessman and the destruction of a neighborhood/way of life. And then the head of the tong dies (of natural causes), and everything could change.

Choi’s niece—the executor of his will—comes to Lydia and Bill to provide some security for her as she tries to exert her position vis-à-vis the building. A lot is riding on this one building, and everyone has an opinion: there are two factions within the tong vying to determine the future of the building (and, with it, the tong); the developer; and the neighborhood’s historical society–and it’s all up to her to decide. People on all sides of the issue are trying to pressure her into making a decision they’d prefer about the building–and some of the pressure could be pretty intimidating.

Especially when ranking members of the tong start dying—without natural causes like those that took out Choi. And then people start shooting at people tangentially connected to the niece and threatening them.

Lydia and Bill now have to keep the niece alive and unscathed while trying to discover who’s behind the shooting and the dead tong members.

The Lydia and Bill Relationship

There are several reasons that Lydia and Bill’s romantic relationship is one of my favorites in fiction, and I’m not going to try to enumerate them all. But probably my favorite part is that when they shifted from close friends/business associates to romantic partners the rest stayed pretty much the same. They deepened what was there, but didn’t radically change it.

Their flirting is a little more obvious—and Lydia’s less likely to cut it off. But they still have each other’s back, the mutual support and trust are still there. When they’re on the job, they’re on the job, not making goo-goo eyes at each other. Bill knows that Lydia is going to be reckless—and he doesn’t try to stop her any more than he did before, but he sure worries about her. Would that everyone in fiction who made that transition did so as well.

So, what did I think about Family Business?

As I’ve mentioned before (likely too often), while I think most of the Bill-narrated novels are technically superior, the Lydia-narrated novels are consistently the more entertaining. So I went into this with high expectations—and they were pretty much met.

I could go on about the flirting between Lydia and Bill, or talk about Lydia’s wit and narration, or how nice it was to see a minor character from several books ago show up. But that’s probably enough to indicate where I’m leaning with this post. There are a couple of points that I want to talk about a little, however.

I loved the way Lydia’s mom inserted herself into the investigation. I’ve said enough about the slow-burn in getting the romance to advance, but getting Lydia’s mother to stop actively disapproving of Lydia’s career and now getting involved?? I dare you to go back 13 books and try to predict that.

Like most people who read Detective Fiction, one of my great joys is being one or three steps ahead of the protagonist in putting the clues together. THere’s something so satisfying about being more clever than they are—and in getting your guess endorsed by the protagonist. But what’s better? Having the protagonist put all the pieces together in a way you didn’t see coming—and instantly realizing there was no other way to interpret the evidence. That mix of “X was really clever there” and “ugh, I’m such a dunce for not seeing that” is somehow gratifying. For me, at least, the solution

Still, I’m not sure the people that Lydia initially revealed the solution to were the best to hear that. I’m even less sure of her timing on the revelation. But it did lead to some of the more exciting parts of the book—so as a reader, I liked that. I just wish that Lydia would be more judicious at times.

This was my first novel of the year—it’s a pretty good way to start 2022, something as entertaining as this was can make a guy optimistic about the next twelve months. That’s probably a silly way to think about things, but I’m running with it.

Family Business is not only another strong entry in the series that will please fans, it (like almost all those before) would be a good entry point for someone curious about the series. So really, there’s no excuse to not pick it up. Go do so.

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, opinions are my own.

Catch-Up Quick Takes: A Few 2021 Books I Can’t do a Full Post About

By HCNewton

On December 30, 2021

In Audiobook, C. J. Box, Fiction, Joe Pickett, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Non-Fiction, Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy

The point of these quick takes posts is to catch up on my “To Write About” stack—emphasizing pithiness, not thoroughness.

Super Powereds: Year 1

by Drew Hayes, Kyle McCarley (Narrator)
Series: Super Powereds, #1
Unabridged Audiobooks, 26 hrs., 11 min.
Tantor Audio, 2016
Read: November 19-25, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
Lander University has a program that most universities don’t. They offer a Hero Certification Program—a way for super-powered students to become qualified to be a super-hero. This book focuses on five particular students—they’re not just super-powered, they’ve got a secret, too.

As the title suggests, this book follows them over the first year—as they grow, increase in power and ability, develop bonds, and so on. The book is a nice mashup of superhero training and dumb college kids being dumb college kids.

I went into this expecting something that felt a lot like Fred, the Vampire Accountant. This was less like it than I thought possible—it’s much longer, it doesn’t feel like a collection of interconnected short stories, it’s a novel.

I was impressed at how different it is, sure. But I liked the story, world, and characters. I’m not sure I’m up for four more in this series, but I have a feeling that Hayes will change my mind.

3.5 Stars

Master of Formalities

by Scott Meyer, Luke Daniels (Narrator)
Unabridged Audiobook, 14 hrs., 58 min.
Brilliance Audio, 2015
Read: November 12-17, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
Thousands of years in the future, elaborate rules of honor, etiquette, and form have been imposed on the planetary governments to preserve order—even in the midst of war. We’re talking rules that Downton Abbey’s Carson would find overly elaborate and restrictive.

Two planets have been at war for decades—but things have come to a tipping point. It’s up to the two arbiters of these rules on these planets to keep things under control.

This book did something I didn’t expect—I would have admitted it was possible, but wouldn’t have expected that Scott Meyers and Luke Daniels produced something that left me frequently bored and that I had a hard time connecting with at all. It was clever, but that cleverness strayed into convolutedness in the plot. Good enough to listen to, but by a hair.

3 Stars

See Her Die

by Melinda Leigh
Series: Bree Taggert, #2
Kindle Edition, 315 pg.
Montlake, 2020
Read: September 30-October 2, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
I don’t have much to say about this book, which is why it’s here, but I wish I did. There’s just something nice about this series, and I’d like to talk about it more.

This is really a follow-up to the first in the series—okay, so Bree got herself the job, what’s she going to do with it? How are the vets in the department and the community as a whole going to handle her coming in? How is she going to do with the whole parental figure for her niece and nephew? Etc. We don’t get definitive answers, but we get some good ideas.

But more importantly, there’s a creepy killer on the loose. In the end, that story is both too outlandish to buy, and I can actually imagine reading about this happening.

I’m coming back for more.

3 Stars

Cold Wind

by C. J. Box, David Chandler (Narrator)
Series: Joe Pickett, #11
Unabridged Audiobook, 11 hrs., 13 min.
Recorded Books, 2011
Read: August 23-24, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
Wow. There’s a lot going on in this one. The events of the Nate story were horrible, but Box pulled it off in a way that will be good for the character/series long-term.

Killing Missy’s husband Earl on the other hand…well, like Joe himself, I’m not crazy about any time we spend with Missy, so making her a focal point of a novel isn’t going to make me thrilled with it. But, I ended up really liking this one, too.

These books don’t inspire a lot of thought or writing from me—and maybe they should—but I do consistently enjoy them. Chandler’s narration is solid as ever. At this point, I don’t think I can switch to the print version of the series—I need his voice for Joe and the gang.

4 Stars

Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses

by Kristen O’Neal
Hardcover, 379 pg.
Quirk Publishing, 2021
Read: June 2, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
It’s really bothering me that I haven’t gotten a full post out of this yet—and it’s been long enough (and I lost my notes) that anything I end up saying will be super vague and would be too much work to get a longer post.

In a Discord support for chronic illnesses, a group of people from around the world from a variety of age groups, come together to share struggles common to people with a variety of ailments and disorders. A couple of them realize they live nearby and strike up a friendship. Eventually, one of them disappears from contact for too long, so the other takes it upon herself to go try to find her friend IRL.

It turns out that this friend’s chronic illness is a case of lycanthrophy—things get strange and heartwarming from there.

A lot of this is told in modern-epistolary: texts, emails, Discord chats, tumblr posts, etc., etc. I loved the jumble of methods used to tell the story. It really captures the feel for these characters and their lives.

If you look at places like Goodreads, you’ll see a lot of controversy about elements of this book. I didn’t know about any of it until I’d read the book. 96% of what I saw doesn’t reflect the book, and seems to stem from one or two people who hadn’t read the book. Ignore it all.

This was a fun, earnest story that addresses serious things like living with chronic disease and finding your place in the world along with silly things like Lycanthropy and excessive binge-watching with friends. A nice break from reality that maybe helps you think about some things.

3 Stars

Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives

by Tim Hartford, Nicholas Guy Smith (Narrator)
Unabridged Audiobook, 9 hrs., 45 min.
Penguin Audio, 2016
Read: December 16-17, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
I think I’m going to have to make a point to listen to more Hartford books—between the time I put this on my TBR list and picking it up, I’d forgotten it was by the man behind The Data Detective.

The basic premise is this—people who are messy (not those full of utter chaos in habits or possessions), function better than those who are ruled by rigid standards—either metaphorically or literally. When rules (primarily at work) are too inflexible it hurts productivity and satisfaction in the work.

So let people organize their work and workplaces as they will, don’t impose a filing system on people who don’t want it, etc. Sure, keep things tidy, but beyond that…let the individual reign. That’s a horrible oversimplification, but to do it justice would take…well, most of this book. Just go with that as a thumbnail and read/listen to it. It’s entertaining, thought-provoking, and empowering.

I think this went on a bit too long—perhaps if the last couple of chapters had been excised, it would’ve been better. But I might change my mind on a re-read/re-listen.

3.5 Stars

Stuff You Should Know:
An Incomplete Compendium
of Mostly Interesting Things

by Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant
Unabridged Audiobook, 9 hrs.
Macmillan Audio, 2020
Read: December 27-28, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

(the official blurb)
Very little (if any) of this fits into things I should know, and I’m glad the subtitle talks about “Mostly Interesting” things. It’s a strange hodgepodge of in-depth look at topics like…the history of facial hair, Murphy beds, Mezcal, and child prodigies.

It was fine, but nothing special. Before I started it, I figured this would end up turning me into a subscriber to the podcast. It didn’t, but I can see why people would listen to it—the narrators/hosts are pretty engaging and had an interesting approach to their explanations. Maybe it was these topics, the randomness of the topics, or…I don’t know. I just didn’t see the point. It made for a good soundtrack to my workday, but within two days, I’ve pretty much forgotten everything I heard.

2 1/2 Stars

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase from any of them, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Better Off Dead by Lee Child and Andrew Child: Readers Would Be Better Off Without this Reacher 2.0 Mess

By HCNewton

On December 14, 2021

In Fiction, Jack Reacher, Lee Child, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Better Off Dead

by Lee Child and Andrew Child
Series: Jack Reacher, #26

Hardcover, 325 pg.
Delacorte Press, 2021

Read: December 7-9, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s Better Off Dead About?

Continuing the westward journey he started back in Past Tense, Reacher finds himself about as close to the US/Mexican border as you can get in one of the smallest towns we’ve seen him in.

He encounters an Army vet hunting for her twin—who has gotten himself mixed up with some sort of smuggling operation—that might be getting into something more serious. Michaela Fenton gets Reacher to help out with a scheme to put her face-to-face with the head of the operation.

Things go south, and before you know it, it’s Reacher against this shadowy organization trying to save the Fenton twins and put an end to a plot that’s either an act of political protest or deadly attack (Reacher’s assuming the latter).

That doesn’t make a lot of sense—but trust me, something as convoluted as this plot doesn’t make it easy to summarize in a coherent fashion.

So, what did I think about Better Off Dead?

I strongly considered listing all my problems with this—but why bother? Venting my spleen might make me feel better, but I don’t want to spend the energy on it.

Let me try to be concise—it was a giant, implausible, mess. The original plan that Reacher and Fenton come up with to take down the bad guy makes every single machine that Rube Goldberg drew seem efficient and straightforward. I couldn’t believe that Reacher would sign on to it—and even after he started voicing concerns, he still went along with it. Reacher’s known for his brawn, but his brain has always been—up to this point, anyway–just as important (if not more so). This was just dumb.

I was annoyed very early on, texting a friend, “Worst.Reacher.Ever.” Although I noted that the Child brothers had 250 or so pages to make me change my mind. I really wanted them to. But man, those short stories about pre-teen/teenager Reacher in New York City or Okinawa look really good to me now.

The least troublesome part for me was the voice—Lee Child tended toward the third-person, but occasionally used first to great effect. This time, first-person didn’t help matter—and while I haven’t read any readers complain about it, a lot of what I have seen people complain about I think would’ve worked if it was in the third-person (and/or wouldn’t have been part of a third-person narration).

There were some good scenes, a handful of chapters that worked for me, in fact.* But they were a distinct minority. Still, in trying to be fair, I’d say if this was a thriller by a relative newcomer? I’d be more positive about it (not much more, but more). But Andrew Child (née Grant) has a dozen novels under his belt and Lee Child has twice that—also this is a Jack Reacher novel. There are standards that must be upheld.

*I’d planned on talking about some of those, but this post is longer than I’d intended it to be already, so let’s leave it at “the whole thing wasn’t a dumpster fire.”

I knew that there’s be some growing pains as Lee backed off to let Andrew take over, but this was worse than that. The Sentinel wasn’t perfect, but it was something to work from. Better Off Dead was a major setback and will take some work to recover from. Sadly, I bet that no one’s going to make Andrew buckle down and do that work (please, please, someone prove me wrong).

I walked away from the interview I heard with them a few weeks ago with the impression that Andrew doesn’t typically work with the “no outline” approach of Lee—maybe if he didn’t try to ape that style, he’d be better off. There were a few times in my notes I wondered if they’d changed their minds about where the plot was going.

Give this one a pass—go back and read/reread 61 Hours, Nothing to Lose, Personal, or…you know what? Anything from The Midnight Line or earlier. It’ll be time better spent.

2 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, opinions are my own.

The Friday 56 for 12/3/21: Love & Bullets: Megabomb Edition by Nick Kolakowski

By HCNewton

On December 3, 2021

In Currently Reading, Love & Bullets Hookups, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

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

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

from 56% of:
Love & Bullets: Megabomb Edition

Love & Bullets: Megabomb Edition by Nick Kolakowski

His eyes rolled from side to side, trying to lock on me, but I made a point of standing directly behind him.

“What now?” he asked.

I scanned the empty corridor. “Where’s your partner?”

“What?”

“The guy you’re on shift with.” He shook his head. “Had to leave.”

I would choose to believe that for the moment. “Where’s that FBI guy?”

“He had to leave, too.” Another swallow. “Somebody called something in. Something big.”

What was bigger than me wiping out most of this county’s police force, along with its corrupt sheriff and probably a few townies? Suddenly I understood how Elvis must have felt when he heard about the Beatles for the first time, overshadowed by something far bigger. I was tempted to ask about the nature of the emergency, but my soul would have been crushed if he’d said my infamy was eclipsed by a shootout at the local meth lab.

The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly: Ballard Tackles a Pair of Tough Cases in this Timely Novel

By HCNewton

On December 2, 2021

In Fiction, Harry Bosch, Michael Connelly, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Renée Ballard

Finally…I’d hoped to get this posted no later than November 17th. But every time I started writing something, I ended up overthinking or was distracted. I’m not sure the end result is that coherent, but…it’s finished. I can live with that.

The Dark Hours

by Michael Connelly
Series: Harry Bosch, #24/Renée Ballard, #4

Hardcover, 388 pg.
Little, Brown and Company, 2021

Read: November 12-15, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

It was like a bag of popcorn cooking in a microwave. A few pops during the final countdown of the year and then the barrage as the frequency of gunfire made it impossible to separate it into individual discharges. A gunshot symphony. For a solid five minutes, there was an unbroken onslaught as revelers of the new year fired their weapons into the sky following a Los Angeles tradition of decades.

It didn’t matter that what goes up must come down. Every new year in the City of Angels began with risk.

The gunfire of course was joined by legitimate fireworks and firecrackers, creating a sound unique to the city and as reliable through the years as the changing of the calendar.

What’s The Dark Hours About?

It opens on December 31, 2020—Renée Ballard and a fellow detective are partnered up for the night—it’s a kind of all-hands-on-deck kind of night. These two are also part of a team on the trail of a pair of serial rapists that they’re calling the Midnight Men.

But on this night, they’re called out to a shooting death. Ballard’s role is to be the initial investigator and then pass off the case to the homicide detectives after the weekend—but she’s hoping she can keep it longer (their work on a different case could allow for that). There’s a match for the bullet—the same gun was used in an old unsolved case, investigated by Harry Bosch.*

Isn’t it always reassuring to see that no matter what kind of super cop he is, there are cases that Bosch couldn’t close?

The two put their heads together and quickly find a new angle for Bosch’s case as well as a promising line of investigation for Ballard’s.

Meanwhile, the Midnight Men strike again, and this time, there’s something a little different that Ballard picks up. A string she starts pulling that proves to be instrumental.

With Bosch to bounce her ideas off of, as well as a backup she can trust, Ballard gets her chance, once again, to bring a little light to the dark hours of the night.

Bosch

While this is by and large a Renée Ballard book, there’s enough about Harry Bosch to keep a fan satisfied. He’s doing okay with his medical condition, Maddie’s well (and is dating someone, so isn’t spending as much time with Bosch), he’s pretty much holed-up during COVID, studying old case files.

Not at all-surprisingly, when Renée’s path crosses with his, he’s ready to jump into action. Sure, he always is, but add in a lockdown-induced cabin fever? It’s a wonder that Harry wasn’t calling his mentee daily to see if she needed help with anything (although it’s clear that the two have kept in touch).

In the past, the pair have done a better job of keeping Harry’s involvement under the radar, but between Bosch’s Cabin Fever, Ballard’s need to make fast progress on the cases, and her lack of trust for any other detective at the moment they throw that out the window. Which does come back to bite Ballard (as it should).

The 2021-ness of It

… this was the new LAPD—officers stripped of the mandate of proactive enforcement and waiting to be reactive, to hit the streets only when it was requested and required, and only then doing the minimum so as not to engender a complaint or controversy.

To Ballard, much of the department had fallen into the pose of a citizen caught in the middle of a bank robbery. Head down, eyes averted, adhering to the warning: nobody move, and nobody gets hurt.

I don’t remember Connelly’s books being so obviously of the moment until last year’s The Law of Innocence which ended just as lockdowns were starting in California.

Connelly’s books have always felt contemporary—other mystery series might feel 5-10 years out of step, but not Connelly. Although, even the older books largely felt like they could’ve taken place a couple of years ago (except for the technology involved). But The Dark Hours has to be a 2021 novel—Ballard, Bosch, and the city are going through things that could only have happened after the protests of 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic.

It makes things feel more immediate, but does it hurt readers in 5-10 years? Fair Warning, also published last year, could take place anytime after 2010 (maybe earlier). A lot of the other books felt timely to their context, but even now they don’t feel that dated. Will these?

I don’t know if this is a strength or a long-term weakness, but it is, as far as I can remember, a change.

However, seeing Renée having to adapt to COVID restrictions (no more living on the beach!) and struggling with the changes (temporary? long-lasting?) that the protests of Summer of 2020 about policing in America have brought to the LAPD is great to see. Connelly is able to show a department in flux, which can’t have been an easy tightrope to walk.

So, what did I think about The Dark Hours?

Ehhh…I’m not sure what to say here.

In the moment, while I was reading, it was typical Connelly—I was gripped, I was riveted, I couldn’t wait to see the murder solved. I was less invested in the rape case because once Ballard starts to get a little traction, once she starts to learn a little bit about these guys, I was repulsed. I really didn’t want to learn more—I just wanted them locked away—I even said something to a friend like “can’t we just get a quick, miraculous, resolution to this by page 180 and spend the rest of the book focusing on the murders?” Great job by Connelly creating some very horrible criminals, but I don’t want to spend time thinking about them.

But it’s not his best work—I’m not sure it’s not up to his par, even. The more I think about it, the more I’m bothered by parts of the story and storytelling. The Epilogue, by the way? It’s a scene from a TV show. Working on Bosch, Lincoln Lawyer, and Bosch: Legacy have impacted Connelly at least a little and it shows here.

I thought the stuff about the impact of COVID and the protests was fantastic—and you get no simple answers about the past/present/future of policing in LA. I’m just not sure the rest of the novel was as good as we’ve come to expect from Connelly (I’m open to being corrected by others who read it, though).

Good—but not good enough—I guess is my takeaway. Still, time with Bosch and Ballard? Always time well spent.

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, opinions are my own.