Category: Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller Page 32 of 145

Fortune and Glory:
Tantalizing Twenty-Seven

by Janet Evanovich
Series: Stephanie Plum, #27

Paperback, 332 pg.
Pocket Books, 2021

Read: December 25-27, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

Ranger stopped for a light and looked at me. “How about you? What’s in your bucket list?”

I was stumped. I didn’t have a bucket list. My bucket was empty.“I haven’t gotten around to making a bucket list,” I said. “Do you think that’s a personal failure?”

“No. You’re busy living every day. That’s a personal triumph.”

“It doesn’t feel like a triumph. It feels like I’m moving through my life with no important goals or aspirations.”

“What do you consider to be an important goal?”

“Being a doctor or a vulcanologist or a marine biologist or finding the Ark of the Covenant.”

What’s Fortune and Glory About?

Fortune and Glory continues the storyline kicked off in Look Alive Twenty-Five, this time Stephanie and Grandma Mazur are hunting for the treasure—whatever it may be (no one is telling) that the La-Z-Boy Gang had tucked away. Two of the surviving members are on the hunt for the clues that lead to it, too—and they’re not playing by Marquess of Queensberry Rules.

Naturally, Stephanie also has three skips to track down for Vinnie’s Bail Bonds—one of whom decides that Stephanie needs a bodyguard and devotes himself to that. Sure, Stephanie could use a bodyguard, but probably not one who has a handful (or more) of anxiety disorders that prevent him from doing much of anything.

Dodging gangsters and chasing down FTA’s, just another day in the ‘Burb for Stephanie Plum.

A Backdoor Pilot?

Evanovich has a new series starting next year about a recovery agent, Gabriela Rose. We get to meet Gabriela here because she’s been hired to recover the same treasure than Stephanie and Grandma are on the hunt for.

She’s slick, she’s skilled, she’s apparently successful—she’s pretty much the anti-Stephanie. She’s what Ranger could be if he didn’t have his whole company, either.

Gabriella’s not in the novel much, just enough to introduce her to Evanovich’s readers. But she plays a vital role when she’s around.

I enjoy it when there’s overlap between an author’s series/works, but this felt cheap.

A Change in the Offing?

Stephanie spends a lot of time considering her life, her career, her future…nothing she hasn’t done before, but it felt a bit more serious this time—going so far to ask herself “Who am I?”. Even her newfound bodyguard sees that she wants to change her life.

The presence of Gabriela and some new turmoil in her relationship with Morelli adds fuel to this self-reflective fire.

So, what did I think about Fortune and Glory?

This was fine. This was okay. It was amusing. I appreciate the ambition of the storyline (but glad Evanovich wasn’t ambitious enough to try to extend it). For a series this old, to try something like this for the first time? Pretty impressive.

I don’t know that I found anything funny, though—which isn’t good for a comedic series like this.

It’s not quite as good as the last couple of Plum novels, but not as weak as some of the others. Good enough to read and recommend, but just that good. If I actually believed this round of self-reflection was going to result in a change, I might be more optimistic about things, but I expect that #28 will be more of the same. Which isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just nothing to be excited about.

3 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.

2021 While I Was Reading Challenge

By HCNewton

On December 28, 2021

In Miscellany, News/Misc., The Thursday Murder Club

Earlier today, I finished my fourth annual While I Was Reading Challenge. Well, I thought I did, anyway. As I was putting this list together, I realized that the entry I’d pencilled in for “An essay or short story collection” was published last Fall. In fact, every short story collection I thought of as “recent” was from 2020. I somehow managed to make it through this year without a single short story collection, same with most of the essay collections I could think of. I guess this is why I keep a reading log, I just need to pay more attention to it.

Oh, well the important thing is, that it’s done, right?

2021 Reading Challenge Categories

A book published before 2000: The Case of the One-Eyed Witness by Earle Stanley Gardner
An essay or short story collection: Nothing Like I Imagined (Except for Sometimes) by Mindy Kaling
A book you’ve been looking forward to: Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Cosby
A book you’ve been avoiding: The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, translated by Flora Thomson-DeVeaux
A book of magical realism: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
A book with alliteration in the title: Headphones and Heartaches by Wesley Parker
A book with food or drink on the cover: Love by Roddy Doyle
A cozy mystery: The Curious Dispatch of Daniel Costello by Chris McDonald
A book with a dog on the cover: The Keepers by Jeffrey B. Burton
A memoir: A Dream About Lightning Bugs: A Life of Music and Cheap Lessons by Ben Folds
A book by an author who has written more than 10 books: Gated Prey by Lee Goldberg
A debut novel: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

The Case of the One-Eyed Witness by Erle Stanley Gardner: A Dose of Nostalgia Delivered in a Twisty Whodunit.

By HCNewton

On December 22, 2021

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

The Case of the One-Eyed Witness

by Erle Stanley Gardner
Series: Perry Mason, #36

Mass Market Paperback, 210 pg.
Pocket Books, 1963

Read: October 19-20, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s The Case of the One-Eyed Witness About?

While out for dinner with Della Street, Perry Mason gets a call from an unidentified person wanting to hire him for a job. She’s even arranged for some money for a retainer to be delivered to him at the restaurant—she just needs him to act on some information included with the cash. It’s a matter of life and death, she says, before the call ends.

Trying to earn his (pretty small) retainer, after he gets the delivery, Mason tries to track down his new client—and then he completes his assignment.

In the course of trying to figure out who his client is, Mason comes across a murder, and then another. He finally finds someone who he thinks is the client—and she denies that up until she gets arrested for murder, and then she’s more than ready to hire him.

Mason goes up against the Washington Generals of the legal system, Hamilton Burger and Lt. Tragg, as well as some pretty clever witnesses in his efforts to get to the bottom of this mystery. But while things frequently look grim for his client, it’s a sure bet that Mason will make sure justice is done.

Perry Mason, Micromanager

So Paul Drake is supposedly one of the best P.I.’s around—he’s got a sizeable agency of capable detectives, too. But you wouldn’t know it, the way that Mason ordered him around the investigation. I was taken aback by it, I have to say. It’d be different if this was Drake’s first case for Mason—or at all—but for a guy with his kind of experience? Sorry, Perry, trust the man to do it right.

There’s A Lot of Ugly Here

This was originally published in 1950, and you can tell in many ways. One of which is the casual usage of ethnic slurs about Japanese people. It’s not the first time I’ve read a book from this era (or earlier), I know this stuff is there—and I normally wince and move on. But it seemed a bit heavy in this book. I think—I don’t know, but I think—it’s there purposefully. That doesn’t make it easier to read. But if I’m right, it allows me to want to read more Gardner.

The reason I think the racist language is intentional is that prejudice against Japanese people is at the core of the plot—I’m not saying it’s a hate crime. But this story is only possible in a society where this prejudice is this prevalent.

I don’t know why I’m being cagey with spoilers for a book seven decades ago, but old habits, I guess.

At the end of the day, I can still enjoy this and see the racism as a disturbing cultural relic. And maybe as a sign of how far we’ve come (though, we obviously have further to go).

Nostalgia Trip

As best as I can remember, a few months after I fell in love with the Perry Mason show in syndication, I girded my loins and crossed that line between the “Juvenile” and “Adult” shelves at my library for the first time to see if I could find some books by the guy listed in the credits. They didn’t have a complete set—but boy howdy, they had a lot of them. A few years later, when we moved to a new city, I was disappointed to see that their Gardner collection was smaller—but at least they had a couple I hadn’t read.

For some reason, about the time I left college, I stopped hunting down unread novels and stopped re-reading them, too. I’ve thought about dipping my toes back in, but hadn’t gotten around to it. Until a couple of months ago and I found myself in front of a large selection of used paperbacks—including one that was new to me.

Reading this took me back—from the list of the Cast of Characters through to the end, it was like stepping back into a world I’d forgotten. I remembered the characters (and how they differed from their TV portrayals), the snappy dialogue, and quiet humor. I got a huge hit of nostalgic warm and fuzzies from reading this one.

So, what did I think about The Case of the One-Eyed Witness?

I don’t think this was one of Gardner’s best, but it’s like what they say about pizza. Even if it’s bad, it’s still pretty good. And this wasn’t bad—it just wasn’t great.

I do think the plot was unnecessarily convoluted, but it was necessary to get Mason exposed to everything he needed to lead up to the big gotcha moments in the courtroom, and to Mason solving it. It was a satisfying conclusion, too. Enough that I don’t care about how complicated the trip to the conclusion was.

I had a great time reading this—and I think anyone who loves a good bit of courtroom drama will, too. If you haven’t read a Perry Mason novel before, this might not be the best one to start with. But you should give one of them a shot—I can’t imagine it’ll be another two-and-a-half decades before I try another.

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.

Fools Gold by Ian Patrick: The Batford Trilogy Ends with a Bang

By HCNewton

On December 21, 2021

In Fiction, Ian Patrick, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Sam Batford

Fools Gold

by Ian Patrick
Series: Sam Batford, #3

Kindle Edition, 237 pg.
Fahrenheit Press, 2020

Read: August 25-26, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

I love remote working. It means I can be where I need to be, doing what I need to do, when I need to do it. After that there’s whatever time’s left for police work. I don’t regard myself as a criminal. I’m just a disgruntled public servant supplementing my meagre living. Most criminals I despise but there are a few who break the mould.

I’m one of them, after all.

What’s Fools Gold About?

After recovering from Stoned Love, Batford’s thrown back into the field. This time, he’s answering directly to Klara Winter and she’s got two things on her mind—shutting down an armed robbery team and exposing Batford.

Batford has three missions—stopping the robbery team; finishing cleaning up after his former boss/mentor—including getting what cash he can; and staying clean in front of Winter. Note the qualifier there, clean “in front of” Winter, not clean.

Typical police procedural stuff, right?

The UC work is great—and Batford ends up finding more criminal activity than the police were aware of when the operation started. I don’t want to get into it, because it’s better for you to read it. But like so many of the police actions in Patrick’s works, it screams authenticity.

So, what did I think about Fools Gold?

There was a time the police were viewed as protectors and defenders. In a way that still applies: Terrorists denied their spoils, criminal networks disrupted, drugs and guns seized. I’m part of all that but no longer feel like crew on the good ship, Justice.

I’m pretty sure I’ve said something like this before, but it’s worth repeating. It takes a special skill to make readers get behind a crooked cop—a reader will accept a Bosch or a Rebus bending the rules a bit to get the murderer to confess or get convicted. But that’s not Batford. Well, okay, it is. But that’s not all that Batford does—while he gets results/arrests/stops whatever crime he’s been sent to investigate, he also makes sure he profits off it. And somehow Patrick gets his readers to hope Batford gets away with it. At least a little bit.

It drives me crazy—I want him to succeed and I hope he spends the rest of his life behind bars. You figure that out, I can’t.

Patrick’s prose here is as lean as ever—and once the momentum builds up, it doesn’t stop. There’s a ticking clock on Batford’s investigation, and it carries over to the novel. The action propels you from one scene to the next.

There’s real growth in Patrick’s plotting—with no disrespect intended to his previous work—but this feels so much tighter, he doesn’t waste a moment.

And that ending? I don’t have words for it. It’s both a great launching pad in the (seemingly unlikely) case that there’s a fourth Batford novel, and a great way to conclude the trilogy.

Get them all—this would work okay as a stand-alone, but as the end of a run? It’s great. It’s a trilogy that goes from strength to strength, and you’d be smart to pick it up.

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.

Pure by Jo Perry: A Murder Mystery and So Much More

By HCNewton

On December 17, 2021

In Fiction, Jo Perry, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Pure

by Jo Perry

Paperback, 289 pg.
Fahrenheit Press, 2021

Read: October 6, 2021

Doctor Christiansen waited a moment after the final shudder and wheeze. “She’s gone,” he said and to make sure I understood, and added, “I and everyone here at Sunny Morning Elder Care Living are deeply sorry for your loss.”

Well, my aunt wasn’t “gone.” She was right there, her small, cold hand in mine.”

What’s Pure About?

Ascher Lieb, arrives at her dying aunt’s bedside too late to say goodbye, she’s not going to wake up again. But she’s present when they turn off the ventilator keeping her lungs working. Ascher returns to her aunt’s apartment to check on her dog and go through her belongings just in time for the facility to be quarantined with her in it.

This is the early days of COVID-19 in Los Angeles, and no one is playing around. Ascher has to present herself twice daily for temperature/symptom checks, where she’s given some food to supplement the groceries her aunt had left behind—which Ascher supplements, in turn by frequent use of delivery apps. With most of the U.S. now out of lockdown—or anything resembling it—it might be hard to remember the early days—sanitizing everything, masks, gloves, shutting yourself away from everyone you can. A lonely, isolating, claustrophobic existence—made the worse for Ascher as she’s alone in someone else’s house with few of her own possessions, just a dog who doesn’t understand why his owner isn’t coming home.

And I’m going on far too long—how do I summarize this? Gross over-simplification:
Ascher volunteers briefly at a Jewish Burial Society. She’s convinced there’s something suspicious about the death of one of the people she attends to. Driven by impulses and emotions she’s not sure she can identify, Ascher seeks to discover this woman’s identity and learn what caused her death.

Ascher also has to come to terms with her aunt’s death (which opens a can of worms about other deaths in her family, too), dodge the officials at her aunt’s facility while she’s breaking quarantine, try to hew close to COVID restrictions, deal with a bunch of personal issues arising from her being quarantined away from her apartment/roommate, cope with the dumpster fire that was 2020, and…there’s a possible (probable?) supernatural element, too. That sounds like a lot going on—and it is—but it never feels that way. At least for the reader—Ascher feels it.

“Everything Else”

The mystery at the core of this novel is a pretty good one—and Ascher’s not a sleuth by any means, her attempts at being an amateur sleuth are as amateur as they come. It’s worth reading Pure for this aspect alone.

But for me, it was the least interesting part of the novel. Everything else going on (except maybe the stuff with her roommate) was much more interesting and worthy of reflection. For one: Ascher’s reaction to death—her aunt’s and others—have shaped her more than she realizes. Her coming to grips with it, her seeing how death has affected important choices she’s made throughout her life—and seeing what she does with these realizations? That’s what separates Pure from other mystery novels.

So, what did I think about Pure?

This is a great novel, an immersive read—I had a hard time putting the book down, and a harder time not thinking about it when I had put it down. And I was on vacation when I read this—I had plenty of things to do, see and think about when I wasn’t reading. If I only had routine day-to-day things to think about, I’m not sure I’d have been able to focus on work/home life instead of the book.

The characters who aren’t Ascher are interesting enough—and there’s a couple I can think of that I would’ve liked to spend more time with. But that’s not possible in this book—Spring of 2020 was not a time to meet people and spend a lot of time with them. But your appreciation for this book is going to come down to what you think of Ascher and her actions.

This is a mystery novel about something—it’s more than a whodunit (assuming there was something for a “who” to have “dun”). It, like pretty much everything Perry writes, is about death and how we deal with it as humans (and one neurotic Mini-Pinscher). THere’s more to chew on, too, but that’d be telling…

It’s trite to say “this moved me.” But it did, and I can’t think of a better way to phrase it, so trite it is. Pure is the best thing I’ve read by Perry—it’s not the most entertaining, but it’s the best, and will likely stay with me in more detail than the rest. You won’t be sorry if you pick this up. You may regret not doing so. So, why take the chance?

4 Stars

Leaving the LAW by Robert Germaux: Looking at JB’s Past as He Tries to Save a Kid’s Future

By HCNewton

On December 16, 2021

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Leaving the LAW

by Robert Germaux
Series: Jeremy Barnes, #4 (Chronologically #2)

Kindle Edition, 208 pg.
2021

Read: November 25-26, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

As I drove away from the center, I thought about Asaan and Anthony and Franklin High School and the gangs. And scones. Food is never far from my mind, and I didn’t have anything else to do at the moment, so I drove home and parked the Camry in my driveway and walked to Starbucks. I can think and eat at the same time, a skill that I have demonstrated on numerous occasions. No need not to do so again.

What’s Leaving the LAW About?

Before Jeremy Barnes became a P.I., he was a teacher—a dedicated and idealistic one. Which is largely why he left the profession. The American education system is not a place for idealists. One student that he made an impact on comes back into his life fifteen years later.

Laretta Warren is now a single mother, doing her best. Laretta’s son, Anthony, is in a gang and is in real danger of legal problems if he doesn’t change direction. He’s also in real danger period. Laretta remembered how JB inspired her to keep going—now she wants him to inspire her son to get out of the gang and get on a better path.

JB has no illusions that he’s going to be able to make any difference. But he remembers Laretta’s spirit. He respects that, he wants to honor her wishes, and do what he can for her. Even if it’s to take on a Quixotic task.

While he tries to talk Anthony into wanting to leave, he knows it’ll take more than gaining his trust and then convincing him. So he sets out to gain leverage against the leader of the gang. As difficult as it will be to get Anthony to want to leave, that’s simpler than getting him out. He also needs to understand the gangs better—the landscape has changed a lot in the years since he taught high school.

This leads him to reconnect with the school’s Vice Principal, and his friends in the police department connect him with the officer who’ll be the most helpful—both the V.P. and police lead him to a community activist who is instrumental in keeping the peace between rival gangs in the area. JB learns a good deal about them and the way the leadership thinks—now, will it be enough?

JB and Laura

So, if you read this in order of publication, you already know where the relationship between JB and Laura is going—if you’re reading this chronologically, you met her in the previous book, and have a pretty good idea where it’s going.

Either way, their relationship is beyond the establishment stage, but they’re still figuring themselves out as a unit. One of the biggest things for Laura to reckon with is the violence that JB occasionally runs into. Is she prepared to deal with the stress and worry? Is it worth it? She’s still working her way through that—and it should take a little while.

Laura doesn’t often remind me of Susan Silverman (unlike JB, who constantly reminds me of Spenser), but she really does sound like her as she works her way through the danger inherent in JB’s work with Anthony. For what it’s worth, I think Laura deals with it a little better than Susan does early on, but it’s obviously a struggle for her.

So, what did I think about Leaving the LAW?

Once again, Germaux has delivered a thoroughly entertaining PI novel. Spending time in a Germaux novel (Jeremy Barnes or Daniel Hays) is a guaranteed good time with characters you can’t help but like.

I enjoyed getting more of a glimpse into JB”s past than we’ve gotten before—and the way he reacts to Laretta (both as he remembers her and as he observes her) is exactly how you want a teacher to respond to a student. It just makes a PI you already were invested in and was rooting for all the more likable.

I halfway expected the final reveal—but that didn’t stop it from being effective, it just made the most dramatic sense. I’d much rather a scene to be justified and successful than an out-of-blue surprise, anyway. Germaux satisfied that preference while delivering what I expected with a motivation that I didn’t expect.

I had a lot of fun with this book—good characters and prose that’s just smooth and easy reading. I’m about done with Germaux’s detective fiction—while I’m all for being a completionist, I’m not crazy about crossing that last one off my list. Thankfully, I have a few other books by him to get to.

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.

Grave Reservations by Cherie Priest: Move Over Shawn and Gus, It’s Time for the Real Deal

By HCNewton

On December 15, 2021

In Cherie Priest, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Grave Reservations

by Cherie Priest
Series: Booking Agents Series, #1

Hardcover, 289 pg.
Atria Books, 2021

Read: December 10-13
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

“I’m not looking for a séance, Ms. Foley. I’m just telling you that I know there’s more to the world than what we can always see right in front of us. And I believe you when you tell me that you had a premonition, or a bad feeling, or a bad certainty—if that’s more like it. I believe you saved my life. Saved me a hell of a story and some smoke inhalation, that’s for damn sure. And now I want to hire you. Not to book any travel, and not to talk to my dead mother. I’ve got a case I’ve been beating my head against for a couple of years, and I’m all out of leads. I’m ready to try anything, which means I’m willing to try a psychic, Ms. Foley, I want you to help me solve a murder.”

What’s Grave Reservations About?

It’s pretty much about that quotation—Leda Foley is a travel agent* and self-described “inconsistent psychic.” Her intuition (or whatever you want to call it) leads her into changing the flight of a Seattle PD detective which prevents him from ending up in a plane that skidded off the runway during takeoff. Now he’s back in Seattle, grateful, and wants to use Leda to help him get a break on a cold case. Det. Grady isn’t that convinced this is going to work (Leda’s sure it won’t), but he doesn’t know what else to try.

* I’m as surprised as you to learn they still exist.

She agrees—not just because her agency is struggling and she needs pretty much any money she can earn, but because she wants to get on Det. Grady’s good side, because she wants his help on a cold case of her own—her fiancé was murdered and the police got nowhere with that investigation.

So, Leda, her bartender best friend, and Detective Gracy set out to see if her psychic abilities are at least a little more consistent than she thinks.

Leda’s Other Side Hustle

Leda’s had a large number of day jobs, none of which worked out for long. Her travel agency, Foley’s Far-Fetched Flights of Fancy, is an effort to make it on her own—and it’s pretty shaky. Leda also wants to strengthen and improve her psychic skills, so she gets on stage at a local bar for what she calls klairvoyant karaoke, but the bar’s owner prefers calling her a psychic psongstress.

Basically, she gets on stage, holds an object given to her by an audience member, and uses the impressions her abilities give her about the owner to sing a song that will be meaningful to the owner. In exchange, she gets free drinks. She’s gaining a little notoriety from this and the bar is having its most successful nights ever.

Tricky Tonal Balancing Act

This is not your typical murder mystery, that’s probably pretty clear. In her acknowledgments, Priest says she was aiming at “something lighter and funnier than my usual fare.” She hit what she aimed for. It’s comedic (sometimes very comedic), but not at a goofball level. It’s closer to Castle at its best. Or to stick to novel comparisons, think The Spellman Files (especially the slightly more serious last couple), Max Wirestone’s Dahlia Moss books or David Ahern’s Madam Tulip books. The latter is the best comparison (not just because Leda’s psychic abilities made me think of Derry more than a few times), but Leda’s friends remind me of Derry’s—but I threw in the others because too few people know anything about Madam Tulip.

Back to Grave Reservations—Priest walks the tightrope between too silly for a mystery and too serious for a story about a travel agent/inconsistent psychic–—which cannot be anywhere as easy as she makes it look. With all of the above comparisons, I occasionally wasn’t sure about the consistency of the tone (or the appropriateness of it when the creators weren’t on the top of their game). Priest didn’t have that problem at all. Which is a tribute to her skill.

So, what did I think about Grave Reservations?

I don’t have a lot to say here–it’s really good. Priest surrounds Leda and Det. Grady with a bunch of characters that bring the comedy on the personal side and suspects, victims, and witnesses that keep the serious side of the story working. Either set of characters make this a fun read—put them together and you have something special.

The mystery itself was pretty good—and having Leda’s abilities providing the leaps of logic that allow Grady to start looking in the right places is a great idea. Priest doesn’t have to “play fair” like most mystery novelists and she can just wave the Psychic ex Machina wand to get her out of tricky places.

Grave Reservations is a great bit of light escapist reading—and the way Priest set it up for a series suggests that we’ll be able to escape into this world for a little while longer. And we all could use something like that right now, can’t we?

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.

OCDaniel (Audiobook) by Wesley King, Ramón De Ocampo: An Uplifting MG Mystery/Coming of Age Story

By HCNewton

On December 14, 2021

In Audiobook, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, YA/MG/Children's Books

OCDaniel

by Wesley King, Ramón De Ocampo (Narrator)

Unabridged Audiobook, 7 hrs., 4 min.
Tantor Audio, 2018

Read: June 29-30, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s OCDaniel About?

I found myself saying way too much about this book—I’ve taken two attempts at this part of the post, and each gets too detailed. It’s hard to stop talking about this, apparently.

So let me fall back on the tried-but-true (albeit lazy) method of borrowing the description from the Publisher’s website:

Daniel is the back-up punter for the Erie Hills Elephants. Which really means he’s the water boy. He spends football practice perfectly arranging water cups—and hoping no one notices. Actually, he spends most of his time hoping no one notices his strange habits—he calls them Zaps: avoiding writing the number four, for example, or flipping a light switch on and off dozens of times over. He hopes no one notices that he’s crazy, especially his best friend Max, and Raya, the prettiest girl in school. His life gets weirder when another girl at school, who is unkindly nicknamed Psycho Sara, notices him for the first time. She doesn’t just notice him: she seems to peer through him.

Then Daniel gets a note: “I need your help,” it says, signed, Fellow Star Child—whatever that means. And suddenly Daniel, a total no one at school, is swept up in a mystery that might change everything for him.

OCD Portrayal

I didn’t note how far into the novel we are before someone uses either “OCD” or “Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,” but I’d be willing to guess it’s the latter third. Obviously, for anyone who even glanced at the title, they know what’s going on—but this novel isn’t about OCD per se.

It’s a novel about a kid who doesn’t understand himself, who doesn’t realize what’s going on with his brain, and who’s scared to talk to anyone about it. He loves his parents—and there’s no reason to think they wouldn’t be supportive and would help him to find the tools he needs. But he doesn’t want to be “weird,” he doesn’t really want to admit to it to anyone other than himself.

Sarah has her own struggles and isn’t afraid to let Daniel see them—and she sees his at least as clearly as Daniel’s. So he can open up to her.

This is based on King’s own experiences, his own OCD, practically ensuring that it’s a sensitive and sympathetic portrayal. At the same time, it does as good a job as any that I’ve come across in communicating what it’s like to those who’ve never experienced it. I’d recommend it to anyone in whatever age range just for that alone.

That doesn’t mean that King doesn’t have some fun with it, he takes opportunities for small and large comedic moments brought on by Daniel’s OCD. But it’s never mean-spirited, and the reader laughs while feeling sympathy (maybe even empathy).

A Few Thoughts on the Narration

De Ocampo is a pretty versatile narrator—I’ve previously listened to his work on Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Tropper’s This is Where I Leave You. He’s able to hit all the right notes here—the comedy, the uncertainty, the tension—Daniel’s “zap”s—the whole kit and caboodle.

I was pretty impressed—moreso when I looked him up and saw that I’d heard his work before. He did a good job here and did so in a way that didn’t make me think of the others I’d heard.

So, what did I think about OCDaniel?

I thought the whole mystery thing was a bit far-fetched, especially the way it resolved. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t fun—and the rest of the novel more than made up for the bits of the story that induced a bit of eye-rolling.

It was an entertaining and enlightening novel—great for the upper MG/lower YA crowd, but a solid enough work for older audiences, too.

Give this a read, or a listen—you’ll be glad you did.

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.

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 Last Time She Died by Zoë Sharp: The First Novel in This Series Will Keep your Brain Spinning

By HCNewton

On December 13, 2021

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

The Last Time She Died

by Zoë Sharp
Series: Blake & Byron Thrillers: Book 1

Kindle Edition, 384 pg.
Bookouture, 2021

Read: December 2-6, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s The Last Time She Died About?

I’m feeling pretty paranoid about what I’m going to write in this post, I don’t want to give anything away. It’d be really easy to do with this one, so I’ll just borrow this from Sharp’s website:

She came back on the day of her father’s funeral, ten years after she vanished. But she can’t be who she says she is…

When Blake disappeared as a teenager, on a cold dark night, her father never reported her missing. She is presumed dead.

Now, ten years later, a young woman with white-blonde hair sits comfortably in the family living room and smiles at the shocked faces around her.

“Don’t you recognise me?” she says. “I’m Blake.”

Detective John Byron isn’t sure whether she’s telling the truth. But as he investigates, he soon realises no one is happy to see her.

And the people who should be welcoming her back with open arms know she can’t be Blake. Because they killed her the night she vanished…

Didn’t they?

Lily

‘I’m Lily. Does this mean you’re sort of my sister? I’ve always wanted a sister. Well, I really wanted a kitten, but a sister would be nearly as good.’

At the root of everything in this novel are some deep and dark secrets—many of which will be brought out of the shadows–but there are several moments of light throughout. The brightest beam of light comes from Gideon Fitzroy’s twelve-year-old step-daughter, Lily.

She’s adorable—it jumps off of the page. She feels neglected by her mother and uncle, her older brother’s at that stage of adolescence where the last thing he wants to do is spend time with his little sister. So the prospect of having a brand-new, adult, sister? Lily’s awed by her. And then when Blake’s friendly with her, spends time with her? Lily’s devoted.

She doesn’t understand what’s going on—and is largely kept in the dark by her family. But she’s Blake’s biggest fan, no matter what that might mean for her family. There’s a sweetness to her that makes her future and welfare as important to the reader (at least this one) as Blake’s and Byron’s.

Byron +

Byron, considered solely, is an intriguing character—and I have a note or two about wanting to write about his psychology a bit. But I don’t think we have quite enough information yet to do the deep(ish) dive that I want to. Sure, not having that information is part of what makes him intriguing.

Where we really learn about him is from other characters and from his interactions with others. For example, PC Jane Hudson knew him as a trainee, and gained certain impressions of him, and shares them with her superiors, predecessor, and others (including the reader).

But it’s in his interactions with others that you really get to like him. With the pub’s skittish cleaner. He’s great at winning her over and getting her to talk. He’s got this wonderful banter with his superior that speaks to a long association/friendship and liked their conversations enough that I’d pay for a novella featuring them just meeting for tea and chatting. It’s probably there that I decided that I liked him as a person.

But in his conversations and interactions with Blake (and the way they both respond after each encounter) is where he really stands out. The two “get” each other in a way that just makes you want to read more, just to watch their verbal dance (and the choreography of what they don’t say is just as agile). We’re talking Poe and Tilly, Spenser and Hawk, Cormoran and Robin levels of chemistry here. It’s almost like there should be a series based on the pair.

Oh, wait…

So, what did I think about The Last Time She Died?

I’ve been reading Sharp’s Charlie Fox for over a decade, but I hadn’t read anything else by her. I’ve always suspected that was an error in judgment, and this certainly suggests that I’m right.

How many times since Martin Guerre* has the story of someone presumed dead come back and had to prove they weren’t an impostor? How many times have we read about a police detective with emotional and physical scars doing some off the books work because they can’t do anything else? How many stories of small-town secrets being exposed have been written? How many…well, you get the idea. This novel is full of ideas we’ve all seen more times than we can count. But Sharp shuffles them, remixes them, and presents them to the readers in a way that could almost convince you that you’ve never read/seen anything like it before.

* Sure. before that story, too.

How good is Sharp? The series is called Blake & Byron Thrillers—and yet you will wonder on more than one occasion if she’s actually Blake. And you may keep wondering after you finish the book.

So many of the characters really popped and will linger in the back of my mind for quite a while. I’m already impatient about getting answers to how Blake and Bryson will have another adventure together. I wouldn’t mind an update on some of the other characters, either—although it appears that Bryson’s new job will be taking him to a different part of the country.

The Last Time She Died is entertaining, twisty, tense, with just enough wit to keep you grinning. This is going to be a series to watch, readers, get started now.

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.