Category: Fiction Page 109 of 353

Opening Lines: Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker

On April 22, 2022

In Fantasy, Fiction, News/Misc., Opening Lines, Quotations

We all know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover (yet, publishing companies spend big bucks on cover design/art). But, the opening sentence(s)/paragraph(s) are fair game. So, when I stumble on a good opening (or remember one and pull it off the shelves), I like to throw it up here. This one grabbed me with the voice, the perspective, and the attitude. If Parker can maintain this, I’m in for a great time.

from Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker:

I was in Classis on business. I needed sixty miles of second-grade four-inch hemp rope—I build pontoon bridges—and all the military rope in the empire goes through Classis. What you’re supposed to do is put in a requisition to Divisional Supply, who send it on to Central Supply, who send it on to the Treasurer General, who approves it and sends it back to Divisional Supply, who send it on to Central Supply, who forward it to Classis, where the quartermaster says, sorry, we have no rope. Or you can hire a clever forger in Herennis to cut you an exact copy of the treasury seal, which you use to stamp your requisition, which you then take personally to the office of the deputy quartermaster in Classis, where there’s a senior clerk who’d have done time in the slate quarries if you hadn’t pulled certain documents out of the file a few years back. Of course, you burned the documents as soon as you took them, but he doesn’t know that. And that’s how you get sixty miles of rope in this man’s army.

Opening Lines Logo

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger: A Summer In the Valley of the Shadow of Death

By HCNewton

On April 22, 2022

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

Ordinary Grace

by William Kent Krueger

DETAILS:
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: March 26, 2013
Format: Hardcover
Length: 307 pg.
Read Date: April 19-20, 2022

All the dying that summer began with the death of a child, a boy with golden hair and thick glasses, killed on the railroad tracks outside New Bremen, Minnesota, sliced into pieces by a thousand tons of steel speeding across the prairie toward South Dakota. His name was Bobby Cole. He was a sweet-looking kid and by that I mean he had eyes that seemed full of dreaming and he wore a half smile as if he was just about to understand something you’d spent an hour trying to explain. I should have known him better, been a better friend. He lived not far from my house and we were the same age. But he was two years behind me in school and might have been held back even more except for the kindness of certain teachers. He was a small kid, a simple child, no match at all for the diesel-fed drive of a Union Pacific locomotive.

What’s Ordinary Grace About?

It’s the summer of 1961, and thirteen-year-old Frank and his younger brother, Jake, are going to be irrevocably changed over the next few months. Their small Minnesotan town of New Bremen, will be rocked by five deaths and some near-deaths, as well.

Frank and James live there with their older sister, Ariel—eighteen and about to leave their parents’ home. Nathan and Ruth married before Nathan went to serve in WWII—when he came home, he became a Methodist minister instead of the lawyer he’d planned on being before the war changed him. Ruth hasn’t entirely forgiven him for that but does her best to take part in congregational life, and to make do with his small salary.

Ariel is their golden child, Julliard-bound. Jake stutters, and is clearly fearful of almost everything—and everyone—around him, drawing what little confidence he has from his proximity to Frank. Frank is the family rebel—by most standards, he’s only slightly mischievous, but compared to the rest of the Drum family, he’s the equivalent of Bart Simpson.

The first death (see the quotation of the novel’s first paragraph, above) is that of someone that Frank and Jake knew–even played with. The boys discover the second body, a stranger to them. Those two are enough to alter the course of their development to a degree—but the next three (and the accompanying events) are what will leave an indelible mark on the entire family.

God’s Awful Grace

Krueger likes to use the phrase “the awful grace of God,” and makes other references to it, he wants that idea in your head as you read about the horrible things and deaths the reader and the characters encounter. You’re supposed to think about the (apparent) contrast between “awful” and “grace”, as well as catch the references to Aeschylus and Robert F. Kennedy (and, by extension, Martin Luther King’s death).

As far as the Aeschylus/RFK allusions go—yes, think about those. I think there’s a lot to chew on there. Sure Kennedy has yet to cite that poem, but the narrator has heard it–he’s writing from the perspective of four decades later.

But the former suggestion? I’m sure that Krueger, and many/most of his readers, know the phrase isn’t to evoke something extremely bad or shocking/saddening, but the archaic definition of awe-inspiring or enormous. But the reflex for contemporary readers isn’t to go with the lesser-known/used understanding but to think of the surface and the tension between the ideas, and it bothers me that we’re supposed to spend time on that understanding, even if it’s only a little bit. I’m not sure why it does, but it does.

But while I’m here on the subject of God’s grace, can I just say that the one sermon that we get all of from Nathan Drum, during the darkest part of this book, is one of the best I’ve read in a long time. Drum doesn’t understand grace the same way that RFK or Aeschylus does—grace to him is the unmerited sort, the kind that will come to someone in loss, in misery, in despair, and will cause them to believe, hope, and love. The book was worth the effort for this sermon alone, the rest is just gravy.

Krueger’s Prose

On the one hand, the prose is gorgeous—Krueger’s one of those authors that feels like he’s writing, perpetrating hooptedoodle. He breaks most of Leonard’s rules for writing all over the place, notably, “If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.” But, as Leonard notes himself, there are authors who can skip them–Krueger’s one of those authors.

Still, there are a couple of things that got under my skin and would frequently take me out of the moment. For one, Krueger is sparing in his use of commas—a couple of times, I’d read a sentence out loud the way it’s in the book, and then with the missing commas; and I think I could get close to understanding why he made the choice. I didn’t agree, but I could maybe see what he’s going for.

But the thing that really bothered me was the dialogue. It really reads like someone wrote it, everyone (or almost everyone) is almost constantly sounding like they’re making a profound point about whatever. Particularly when it comes to Frank and his brother—I don’t need prepubescent boys uttering sentences with layers of meaning and dripping with wisdom nearly every time they say something.

That doesn’t mean that some of those sentences aren’t great and readable and even quotable. It just means it bothered me.

So, what did I think about Ordinary Grace?

“… He’s a vet. Korea. Had a tough time over there. It’s eating at him, I believe. He drinks. He’s hard on his family…”

“Sometimes, Nathan, I think it wasn’t as what we took into the war. Whatever cracks were already there the war forced apart, and what we might otherwise have kept inside came spilling out.”

Once I’d gotten on board with the hooptedoodle, I was able to appreciate what Krueger was about. This really brought Tiffany McDaniel’s The Summer That Melted Everything to mind (and Betty to a lesser extent). I also was reminded of Songs In Ordinary Time by Mary McGarry Morris, A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, and early Richard Russo, as I read this. None of which would ever be considered for the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, or Barry Awards like Ordinary Grace won. I know those awards mean I should think of this as a Mystery or Crime novel, but I just don’t. It fits with the others better, I think (but I do see why it won those).

It’s a book that will get its hooks into you, if you let it, just not the way that most Mystery novels do. It will make you think, it will make you feel, and it may cause you to think deeper (or more shallow, I suppose) thoughts about God and His grace. But mostly, it’ll make you think about humanity and many of the ways we can harm each other, intentionally or not.

I won’t say that I enjoyed 98% of this book—but the entire time I spent reading it I was fully aware that I was reading something of quality–something that deserved my attention, and I was glad to give it. I also had no trouble seeing why my friend recommended it to me–and I owe her a solid recommendation in return.

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.

Amongst Our Weapons by Ben Aaronovitch: Fear, and Surprise, and Ruthless Efficiency, and two Births.

By HCNewton

On April 20, 2022

In Ben Aaronovitch, Fiction, Rivers of London (Peter Grant), Urban Fantasy

Amongst Our Weapons

by Ben Aaronovitch

DETAILS:
Series: Rivers of London, #9
Publisher: DAW
Publication Date: April 11, 2022
Format: Hardcover
Length: 294 pg.
Read Date: April 12-15

What’s Amongst Our Weapons About?

Peter’s called in for an initial assessment on an odd murder scene, just to make sure that there’s nothing magical about it. He brings along the newest trainee to the Folly’s Course in magical policing, just to familiarize police throughout the country with their methods. On an initial glance, it looks like it’s something that would belong to the Folly, but there’s an odd lack of vestigium—almost a suspicious lack. The method of murder—and the damage to the more technical devices in the area make it clear that this is a magical murder.

So, Peter and his trainee, join Guleed and Stephanopoulos in their investigation. They soon discover that this murder is actually the second in a string—there’s little to tie the two victims together at first glance, except a similar taste in platinum rings. “Taste” is a poor word there, it’s more of an obsessive need to have their ring that invites Gollum comparisons (however they might be discouraged).

This case is likely the most International that the novels have recorded (although no one leaves the country—as helpful as that might have been) and involves history and magical disciplines that Nightingale and Postmartin can only speculate about. In other words—everyone’s in for a pretty steep learning curve before this is all done.

I feel like I’ve spent a lot of words there to say very little, but it’s one of those setups, I’m not sure what else to do.

Everyone Expects…

With a title like that, if the words “Spanish Inquisition,” aren’t on the tip of your tongue, something’s wrong with you. So, you can’t help but look for the Inquisition to show up in the novel—it’s the how it shows up that’s clever and wholly within what you expect for the series.

Aaronovitch doesn’t work Monty Python into this novel quite as thoroughly as he did with the Hitchhiker’s Guide references in False Value—but it’s there. Which is a fun little garnish.

Building Worlds and Bridges

If everything else in this novel was a “bleh” (and it wasn’t), I’d consider this one a win only for the things I’m talking about in this section.

The Rivers of London series has a pretty well-developed world, and there’s a lot of room to play already. But Aaronovitch keeps building it out—and we get a good deal of it here. There’s a whole other side to the world of practitioners in England pre-WWII that we didn’t know about and that Nightingale hasn’t seen a reason to share with Peter before. I loved this new discipline, how it was introduced, and how it ties in with other non-Society of the Wise British practitioners.

It’s very clear that whatever the Magical community looked like pre-WWII, the War devasted it—alliances are shattered, secrecy and nationalism became the order of the day—with a healthy dose of suspicion. Slowly some of the barriers are coming down and Peter has a lot to do with that—his activity alone has helped practitioners in other nations (see: Germany) become aware of the Folly’s current status. Also, Peter’s relationship with Beverly and her family is strengthening and altering the relationship between the Folly, the Demi-monde in general, and The Rivers in particular. We see a big jump on the domestic front with the other discipline and some other things in these pages—but also, there’s a real sign that Peter’s trying to forge a stronger connection between the magical communities of the U.K. and the U.S. I can only hope that this will soon result in Tobias Winter and Peter meeting up.

Also, there’s something that was briefly mentioned in False Value that’s returned to here, but isn’t given all that much attention. I think, ultimately, this is going to be the post-Faceless Man Big Bad, and this slow build-up to it in a series of 2+ is great. I’m including this with the Worldbuilding because it’s pretty clear that whatever this ends up being, Peter (and I bet Nightingale, too) are going to have to reconsider what they know about the world.

Awwwww…

When the book opens, Beverly is close to delivering the twins. In practically every conversation that Peter gets into, someone is asking him about the upcoming birth, the christening (or whatever they end up doing), etc. Seemingly every minor character from the series so far is talking about it.

There are all sorts of goings-on at Beverly’s home to prepare for the birth—and those who aren’t asking Peter questions are chipping in to get things ready.

All hands are on deck—several in unexpected ways—on this front, and for long-time fans, this whole story through the novel is going to be a real pleasure—it’s the emotional heart of the novel and it pays off well. This storyline—especially the last ten pages of the book—is almost enough to tip me from the 4 Stars I was going to give the novel to a 5.

So, what did I think about Amongst Our Weapons?

I’ve tipped my hand already, I realize, but I liked this novel—a lot. This is fairly predictable—it’s the ninth novel in a series that I’m a completist in. I’ve read and listened to the previous eight novels, short stories, and novellas at least once—and have read all the comics one or two times, too. So, it’d take a massive drop in quality for me to be negative about this. It’s not my favorite in the series—but it’s on the upper end of the spectrum.

I do wonder if the main story could’ve been focused on a bit more in the midst of the personal story and all the expansion of the world that’s going on, it sometimes seemed to take a backseat to other things. I think we got a simpler story so that Aaronovitch could do all the extra things without overcrowding the novel. Also, I can’t think of a thing he should’ve cut. If anything, I think it could’ve been improved with another 100-150 pages of material. For example, we’d have been better served to have our favorite FBI Agent, Kim Reynolds, get 2-4 scenes showing some work in the States related to the crimes.

There are some great character moments—including from some unexpected corners. For example, we get some background on one character that I’d simply assumed we’d never learn more about (I think Peter was with me on this point). Like so many things in this novel, that’s a real treat for the fans.

It’s hard to say without knowing where things are going, but it feels to me like the first arc wrapped up in Lies Sleeping and False Value served as a chance for the characters and readers to catch their breath after it, and Amongst our Weapons is setting things up for the next arc. Given all the things that are set up? It’s going to make taking down the Faceless Man seem easy. I can’t wait.

Obviously, I recommend this to those who’ve read this series—although I probably don’t need to. If you’ve read this far and haven’t read the series—I encourage you to do so. I don’t know that this is where I’d jump on—it’s not a bad place, per se, but it’s not the best. Maybe try False Value first—however, going back to the beginning would be best.

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, opinions are my own.

BOOK BLITZ: Dead Man’s Stone by TG Reid

By HCNewton

On April 20, 2022

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

This morning I’m pleased to host a Book Blitz for TG Reid’s Dead Man’s Stone—the third DCI Bone Scottish Crime Thriller—to celebrate its publication today. It looks like a heckuva ride.

Book Details:

Book Title: Dead Man’s Stone by TG Reid
Series: DCI Bone Scottish Crime Thriller
Publisher: Glass Work Pres
Release date: April 20, 2022
Format: Ebook/Paperback
Length: 342 pages

About the Book:

Some secrets are worth killing for.

When DCI Duncan Bone is contacted by a terminally-ill psychiatric patient and given clues linking a forty-year-old unsolved murder to high-profile public figures, he finds himself locked into a conspiracy at the very heart of the Scottish criminal and political establishment.

With his bosses stonewalling the investigation, lives under threat, and his career on the line, Bone faces a race against time to hunt down a group of men who will stop at nothing to cover their murderous crime.

Can DCI Bone catch the killer before the killing starts again?

Set among the dramatic hills and glens of Scotland’s Campsie Fells, Dead Man’s Stone is the third in a series of edge-of-your-seat crime thrillers that will keep you guessing right up to the nail-biting, heart-stopping climax.

Perfect for fans of Ian Rankin, J.D. Kirk, Val McDermid and Stuart MacBride.

Purchase Link:

Amazon UK ~ Amazon US

My thanks to Love Books Group for the invitation to participate in this Blitz.

PUB DAY REPOST: Pay Dirt Road by Samantha Jayne Allen: A Tale of Oil, Murder, and Land

By HCNewton

On April 19, 2022

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

Pay Dirt Road

by Samantha Jayne Allen

DETAILS:
Series: Annie McIntyre Mysteries, Volume 1
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: April 19, 2022
Format: eARC
Length: 304 pg.
Read Date: March 21, 2022

What’s Pay Dirt Road About?

Annie just graduated from college and moves back to her hometown to decide her next move. That’s the generous way to look at it, anyway, we’ll get back to that in a bit. She’s waiting tables at a local diner—well, the local diner in Garnett, TX. It’s hard to say exactly how large Garnett is, but it’s not big. But given the nearby oil fields, there’s a lot of money as well as a lot of poverty in this smaller town.

Annie and her roommate/cousin spend a lot of their evenings drinking, frequently with others they graduated from high school with. One night they go to a bonfire at the home of one of Annie’s former classmates and unexpectedly run into a co-worker, Victoria. Victoria has overserved herself at this point and doesn’t show signs of slowing down. When Annie decides to leave, she tries to find Victoria but is told that she’s gone off with someone.

That’s the last anyone sees Victoria—the last anyone will admit to, anyway. Her body is found a few days later. Driven by guilt for abandoning her, Annie takes advantage of an offer from her grandfather—former sheriff, now a PI—to work for him and look into the case.

Annie

Annie is what many would call a deeply flawed character, but others would just say human. She’s trapped by her own insecurities as well as ego. She knows she could likely do well in law school—but it would be hard and risky. She could probably talk herself into the challenge, but failing means losing hope she could get away from Garnett, and I don’t think she’s willing to do that.

Like so many people in similar circumstances, not knowing what to do, she drinks, so she doesn’t have to think about it for a while. And drinks a lot. This wouldn’t be a big deal for me as a reader, but Annie spends a lot of time judging her grandfather for his drinking—especially when they’re supposed to be working. She doesn’t say anything to him, she just keeps it inside and lets herself indulge. It’s things like this that make her a wonderful, complex character.

The Sense of Place

I’m vague on a lot about the town of Garnett (size, demographics, etc.), but I also have some concrete visions of certain parts of it. It reminds me a lot of the TV version of Dillon, Texas—which seemed to change size, economic status, and makeup from week to week, depending on what the story called for.

As I type that, I realize that my ideas about Garnett are basically half-Samantha Jayne Allen/half-Friday Night Lights. Annie would basically fit in with the Tyra Colletes and Tim Riggins of the world, not the Jason Streets and Lyla Garritys (although we get glimpses of that part of Garnett, too). I just thought of three paragraphs I could do paralleling the worlds of these two fictional towns, so I’d better move on before this becomes a very different kind of post.

What I kept getting was a feel for the town more than anything—it’s the kind of place where the best and brightest leave after high school, and the big question is: will they come back? You get the impression that if they do, it’s not because they chose to—they either have no choice, or it’s just as a way station–like Annie intends. Some of those in the latter category end up sticking around, usually not by choice. This bleakness covers the whole of the novel—in the successes as well as the failures (and the in-between moments).

At the same time, it seems that few of these people are there by choice. It is their home. Up until two weeks before her death, Victoria had been tied to Garnett, but she had plans. Annie intends on leaving. But when it comes to the land of Garnett? Their families’ acres? There’s a reflexive, instinctive, and deep sense of possession and binding. Everyone knows that Annie’s going to leave town at some point—but when there’s a suggestion that someone is going to buy the land she’s set to eventually inherit? That sets an emotional fire in her that I think surprised even her. You see something similar with Victoria, too. People like them may not like Garnett, may not want to live there but it’s home. It’s their home, and will be.

So, what did I think about Pay Dirt Road?

I don’t know that I can say that I particularly enjoyed this book—by design, it’s not a good time. But it’s a great experience. Allen’s sense of character and sense of place ensures that the reader feels what’s going on. Particularly, but not limited to, Annie’s experiences.

Like with any good mystery—and look at character—Pay Dirt Road is as much about the investigation as it is the history of the characters—for Annie, this goes back to High School, for her family, the history we see goes back far before that. The past illumines the present, and helps the reader—and eventually, Annie and others—to see what’s going on in the present.

Last year, I finally got around to reading The Far Empty by J. Todd Scott. Garnett doesn’t have the same kind of corruption (at least that we see) going on, but it has the sense of setting, of bleakness, and dedication to place/city/home. Between these two books—not to mention Locke’s Bluebird, Bluebird and Kent’s The Dime—I’m starting to think I should focus more of my Crime reading on the Lone Star State.

This could be the beginning of a series—and if it is, I’ll be at the front of the line for the sequel. This could be a stand-alone, and if so, it leaves the characters in a good place—both in terms of closure and promise for the future. Either way, this is a book that’s going to linger in the back of my mind for a while, and I think that’ll be true for others.

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

4 Stars

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

The Cutting Season by M. W. Craven: A Fast, Satisfying Read in this Dynamite Series

By HCNewton

On April 18, 2022

In Fiction, M. W. Craven, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

The Cutting Season

by M.W. Craven

DETAILS:
Series: Washington Poe, #3.5
Publisher: Constable
Publication Date: April 14, 2022
Format: Kindle Edition
Length: 105 pages
Read Date: April 15-16, 2022

What’s The Cutting Season About?

In lieu of writing a synopsis, how about the first four paragraphs?

It started with an old lady.

An old lady who had stepped in front of a train.

There were gangsters and bent cops and a contract killer called the Pale Man, but they were not as important as the old lady. And neither was the dead good man who turned out to be a dead bad man.

In the years that followed, some people would forget about the old lady. They would forget that, if it was not for her, none of this would have happened. Nobody would have been murdered. Nobody would have dangled from a meat hook in a cold warehouse. Nobody would have called in the Pale Man.

There you go—there’s murder, there’s drama in a warehouse, there’s a man known by a title, and a dead woman. There’s your hook. Add in a detective from the National Crime agency—Washington Poe, who’s called in to help with the murder investigation (although he usually investigates serial killers)—and his friend/colleague who is a wizard with tech—Tilly Bradshaw—and you’ve got yourself the makings of a great thriller.

Quick Reads

The Cutting Season was one of eight novellas published this year as part of The Reading Agency’s Quick Reads program.

Quick Reads provide a route into reading that prioritises great story telling and adult-focused content while ensuring the books are written in an accessible and easy to read style. The books are written by some of the most popular authors in the UK – including Andy McNab, Jojo Moyes, Anne Cleeves, Ian Rankin and Benjamin Zephaniah – so they can be a brilliant entry point to new genres, authors as well as the spark to reignite or build up the joy of reading.

The Quick Reads programme has collaborated with over 30 publishers to produce a total of 135 titles since 2006 (many still available to borrow from your public library or buy from The Reading Agency’s bookshop) with over 5 million copies distributed and over 6 million library loans.

That just sounds fantastic, doesn’t it?

So, what did I think about The Cutting Season?

This is a novella—short, sweet, to the point. Well, not that sweet—there’s a lot of dead people and threats to health and well-being. So it’s short and to the point. Think of it as a Washington Poe/Tilly Bradshaw novel in espresso form.

It’s got everything you want—a disturbing killing, Poe’s antics, Tilly saving the day—and as a nice bonus, there’s a chapter at the beginning where Poe is enjoying himself at the office with co-workers, so we get to see there’s more to him than just the single-visioned man we see when he’s on the case (a great way to introduce Poe and Tilly to new readers).

Given the streamlined way this story had to be told to fit, there weren’t any twists or nuance—for a 105-page novella, I’m fine with that. I think this’d work well to introduce Poe and Tilly to a reader who hasn’t done much in the genre before—and I could definitely see this convincing someone who really doesn’t read novels to give one in the series a shot.

As is to be expected from a M.W. Craven work, I strongly recommend this. I had a blast reading it, you will, too.

4 Stars

Nero Wolfe on Taxes

By HCNewton

On April 18, 2022

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin, News/Misc., Quotations

I can’t tell you when this became a (largely) annual thing for me to post, but it was on a blog that pre-existed this one. As always, seems like a good day to post it.

A man condemning the income tax because of the annoyance it gives him or the expense it puts him to is merely a dog baring its teeth, and he forfeits the privileges of civilized discourse. But it is permissible to criticize it on other and impersonal grounds. A government, like an individual, spends money for any or all of three reasons: because it needs to, because it wants to, or simply because it has it to spend. The last is much the shabbiest. It is arguable, if not manifest, that a substantial proportion of this great spring flood of billions pouring into the Treasury will in effect get spent for that last shabby reason.

–Nero Wolfe
from And Be a Villain

20/20 (Audiobook) by Carl Goodman, Louise Brealy: A New DI Finds Herself in a Disturbing Investigation

By HCNewton

On April 14, 2022

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

20/20

by Carl Goodman, Louise Brealey (Narrator)

DETAILS:
Series: DI Eva Harris, #1
Publisher: Audible Originals
Publication Date: June 4, 2020
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 13 hrs., 4 min.
Read Date: March 30-31, 2022

What’s 20/20 About?

So you know how in most police procedurals, the protagonist detective(s) is helped out by a super-geek (usually, but not always, a female) who befuddles the Luddites/barely-computer literate detectives with what they can do? Well, Carl Goodman’s DI Eva Harris is the super-geek who is also the protagonist detective in the best kind of a 2-for-1 deal.

Harris is driven, she knows she’s good with computers—a real rival (if not a flat-out superior) to all kinds of cyber-criminals. But the only way for her to advance in the police services is to spend time being a non-cyber officer, out on the streets, working with other detectives for two years. Which is both hard to believe, and completely believable (if anyone knows how legitimate that is, please let me know).

On her first day as a DI in the Surrey Police, she’s summoned to a crime scene before she can even introduce herself to anyone. A woman has been murdered—meticulously exsanguinated, with her eyes meticulously removed. I stress the meticulousness there because this is a very clean crime scene that is going to be forensically unhelpful (if not worse).

And then more bodies show up. There’s a similarity here to a serial killer’s M.O., but that killer wasn’t careful about the crime scenes. Is this the same killer, who has taken the time and effort to refine his method? A copycat? Someone who just seems similar to the serial killer? That’s for DI Harris and her new team to ascertain.

If that’s not enough, part of the reason Harris has been assigned to this command is that she’s being forced by the Intelligence Services to look into corruption at her new HQ. And some skeletons from her past are coming back to haunt her.

How’s the Narration?

Brealey nailed this—she captures Harris’ analytical approach, the distance she’s keeping from her team and the assignment—and then how that distance crumbles—and general unease with some aspects of the assignment. She also does a great job portraying the rest of the cast, and the unexpected attitudes from some of the suspects.

I’m seeing a lot of negative reviews of her work on Audible and Goodreads. I don’t get it—I can see where she might be everyone’s cup of tea (who is?), but I don’t get the negativity. I thought she did exactly what this book needed.

So, what did I think about 20/20?

This was an intense, multi-layered, unnerving, and tough-to-predict police procedural with a little something extra going on. Maybe too much—just maybe.

I think I could’ve lived without the whole Harris investigates her own team aspect of the novel (although, that would have cost the novel some great scenes). The novel might have been a little stronger had it stayed focused on the killings with Harris’ past as the only subplot. It’s hard to judge things like that, so I could be completely wrong.

I cannot stress enough that some of these murders are pretty disturbing and that there is no way I ever want Carl Goodman mad at me. The way he describes murder scenes and artwork, in particular, is really impressive—there’s a lot of narrative and description that’s really impressive, but those really jumped out at me. I could “see” those very clearly.

I sussed out the 2 of the 3 main mysteries early on—that’s fine, it’s not a whodunit kind of read, it’s about Harris getting the answers and what she has to go through for that. As such, it’s a winner—she’s a fish out of water in several ways (geographic, social, vocational, for starters) and that’s the focus of the book. Still doesn’t make it less satisfying when I found out I was right. Also, I really don’t want to live in a world where the motives for the killings are plausible. Sadly, I absolutely believe them.

It’s a gripping listen, and I think you’ll be glad you gave it a shot. There’s a sequel, too—I don’t think it’ll be long before I dive into that.

3.5 Stars

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: May Day by Josie Jaffrey

By HCNewton

On April 14, 2022

In Fiction, Urban Fantasy

I’m very pleased today to welcome The Ultimate Blog Tour for May Day by Josie Jaffrey—the 2021 Book Blogger Novel of the Year award. I read and blogged about this a back in 2020, so I’m just going to post this spotlight and point you to the feed of @BBNYA_Official, where you can find the reviews for this tour. They’re written by some great bloggers and they’ll be worth your time.

Book Details:

Book Title: May Day by Josie Jaffrey
Series: The Seekers, Book 1
Publisher: Silver Sun Books
Release date: July 9, 2020
Format: Ebook/Paperback
Length: 392 pages

About the Book

If the murderer you’re tracking is a vampire, then you want a vampire detective. Just maybe not this one.

It’s not that Jack Valentine is bad at her job. The youngest member of Oxford’s Seekers has an impressive track record, but she also has an impressive grudge against the local baron, Killian Drake.

When a human turns up dead on May Morning, she’s determined to pin the murder on Drake. The problem is that none of the evidence points to him. Instead, it leads Jack into a web of conspiracy involving the most powerful people in the country, people to whom Jack has no access. But she knows someone who does.

To get to the truth, Jack will have to partner up with her worst enemy. As long as she can keep her cool, Drake will point her to the ringleaders, she’ll find the murderer and no one else will have to die.

Body bags on standby.

May Day is the first book in Josie Jaffrey’s Seekers series, an urban fantasy series set in Oxford, England.

Book Links:

Amazon UK ~ Amazon US ~ Amazon Canada ~ Goodreads

About the Author

Josie is the author of multiple novels and short stories. Most of those are set in the Silverse, a pre- and post-apocalyptic world filled with vampires and zombies.

She is currently working on a range of fantasy and historical fiction projects (both adult and YA). Ultimately, she hopes to be a hybrid author, both traditionally- and self-published.

After finishing her degree in Literae Humaniores (Classics) at the University of Oxford, Josie wasn’t sure what to do with her life.

She slogged through a brief stint working for an investment bank in London during the 2008 credit crunch, then converted to law and qualified as a solicitor specialising in intellectual property. She worked at a law firm for five years before moving to a UK-based international publisher in 2016. Whilst she loved law, in the end she didn’t love it quite as much as writing, which she now does almost full time.

Josie lives in Oxford with her husband and two cats (Sparky and Gussie), who graciously permit human cohabitation in return for regular feeding and cuddles. The resulting cat fluff makes it difficult for Josie to wear black, which is largely why she gave up being a goth. Although the cats are definitely worth it, she still misses her old wardrobe.

Visit the Author Website.

I received the material for this spotlight as part of the 2021 BBNYA competition and the BBNYA tours organised by the TWR Tour team.

BBNYA is a yearly competition where Book Bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors. If you are an author and wish to learn more about the BBNYA competition, you can visit the official website www.bbnya.com or twitter @bbnya_official.

The sign-ups are now open for BBNYA 2022 for authors and panelists. Click here to enter:
https://www.bbnya.com/how-to-enter/author-sign-up
https://www.bbnya.com/how-to-enter/panellist-sign-up

Constance Verity Destroys the Universe by A. Lee Martinez: Saying Good-Bye to this Hero

By HCNewton

On April 13, 2022

In A. Lee Martinez, Constance Verity, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Constance Verity Destroys the Universe

by A. Lee Martinez

DETAILS:
Series: Constance Verity, #3
Publisher: Gallery / Saga Press
Publication Date: March 7, 2022
Format: Hardcover
Length: 290 pg    
Read Date: April 6-8, 2022

She pushed a chair into a corner of the room not visible from the street and sat. There was a feel to her life. Danger didn’t usually feel this dangerous. Danger was just background noise. But this was a lot of people trying to kill her. More than normal.

What’s Constance Verity Destroys the Universe About?

This book starts off with Constance Verity doing something almost unbelievable for her—normal things. She attends a dinner party to celebrate her best friend’s/sidekick’s upcoming wedding, she spends a day hanging out with her fiancé at a park and museum—sure, there’s a duel with an alien in there, as well as dealing with an international crisis, etc. But for Connie, that’s pretty sedate.

Then things stop happening—no death rays, mad scientists, pan-dimensional threats—not even a kitten stuck in a tree. It’s unnerving to all who know her well. On the plus side, Tia and Hiro’s wedding should go off without an interruption, right? And it does—the reception, however…

When things start happening again, there’s a distressing trend—people from all over the universe and time show up because they’ve been told that Constance Verity is going to destroy the universe, and they’re going to stop her. The assassins are plentiful enough that Connie’s getting nervous—so she does what she can to keep her loved ones safe and then sets out to see why people are saying she’s going to destroy the universe. All she’s ever done is save it, why would she change?

A Plethora of Ideas

Connie had a problem with Nebraska. And that problem was that it was too close to Kansas.

Kansas, where dark gods waited to rise from their forgotten tombs and bring about the extinction of mankind.

Kansas, where all time travel led to a black void where a pale, wizened figure would greet you, playing a banjo and singing endless choruses of “Achy Breaky Heart.”

Kansas, where Connie had come the closest to death on more than one occasion.

Kansas, her kryptonite.

In a sentence or two—or five brief paragraphs in the above quotation—Martinez is able to tell a whole story—or at least hint at one. Most of these little stories could be fodder for a novella or a novel, but in this trilogy, they’re given anywhere from a sentence fragment to a page. And then he moves on to something else so the plot can be advanced.

Every A. Lee Martinez novel has a surfeit of ideas that come flying at you, that’s nothing new. But I think in these Constance Verity novels that he’s outdone himself. Martinez treats these all as throw-away remarks, with no real investment of time on the reader’s part. But it has to be the kind of thing that would drive your average novelist to exhaustion just trying to come up with them all.

You get just a taste of a fantastic adventure or death-defying feat that Connie’s pulled off (frequently with Tia at her side) in these. You add enough of these together and you really start to see all the things that Constance has done and you understand how much is riding on her successes and how she’s become a legendary figure throughout the universe.

Sorry, Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus*

It probably says something about the way my brain works that my favorite writing on Free Will vs. Determinism comes from Science Fiction—particularly those prone to a comedic tone. Okay, it says a lot about me, but that’s for another time.

Constance Verity Destroys the Universe plays with those ideas a lot—even knowing (after being told repeatedly from reliable sources) that she’s going to destroy the Universe, Connie refuses to believe it and flat out says she won’t. This idea is treated with derision by some (rightly) and supported and echoed by others (also, rightly). The mostly retired demigoddess of destiny that has moved into Connie’s apartment building cannot muster up the desire to weigh in on this, and of anyone, you’d think she’d have a lot to say about it.

I’m not saying that I think Martinez has penned a well-developed treatise on the idea in the middle of this SF/Fantasy Action novel—I’m just saying he has a lot of fun playing with the idea and that anyone who enjoys that sort of thing will find the Free Will vs. Determinism discussion a tasty side dish to accompany the SF/Fantasy entree.

* Okay, not really sorry.

So, what did I think about Constance Verity Destroys the Universe?

“I don’t have a lot of other leads, and if there’s one thing I know, it’s that when in doubt, point myself toward the nearest adventure and let it work itself out.”

I hate that this volume is the end of the road for this trilogy—but I’m not sure what else he could accomplish in this world. When the series started, Connie was an adventurer/savior-of-the-universe wanting a normal life and being unable to; and we wrap up things up with her finding her own brand of normal, which she’ll be able to enjoy if she survives the assassination attempts and doesn’t destroy the universe. That’s a pretty decent arc.

I think I like the arc that her side-kick/best friend Tia goes on a smidge better, but that might be because Tia’s a bit more relatable to those of us not burdened with cosmic destiny. Either way, it’s a good run.

The ending of this is perfect on several levels—exactly how a novel (or a series) like this should end.

Could you read this apart from the other two novels? Yeah, I suppose. But I don’t think it’d be a great stand-alone, but you could get away with it. Why you’d want to, I don’t know—the first two books in the series are a blast.

On Twitter and his blog, Martinez will insist that he doesn’t write humor or comedy, that he’s not that satirical. I’m not so sure, but let’s take him at his word. His SF/Fantasy adventures (this one and all his others) are so funny that you can see why people would make that mistake. But when you ignore the humor, you get a very satisfying SF/Fantasy story that takes tropes and themes you’re very familiar with and presents them to you in a way that makes you see them with fresh eyes and frequently makes you re-evaluate the trope/theme to come at it with a new appreciation. If you happen to chuckle along the way, consider that a bonus.

Obviously, I recommend Constance Verity Destroys the Universe to you—and everything else Martinez has penned. Thank me later (if you remember to).

4 Stars

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