Category: Fiction Page 18 of 317

Red Queen by Juan Gómez-Jurado, Nick Caistor (Translator): A Disappointing Thriller

Red QueenRed Queen

by Juan Gómez-Jurado, Nick Caistor (Translator)

DETAILS:
Series: Antonia Scott, #1
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: March 14, 2023
Format: Hardcover
Length: 365 pg.
Read Date: April 29-May 1, 2024
Buy from Bookshop.org Support Indie Bookstores

What’s Red Queen About?

So there’s this international crime-fighting organization, with chapters or branches (I don’t remember exactly how or if we’re told) all over the place. They work around law enforcement, frequently preventing them from doing their job, by covering up crimes in order to get the results they’re looking for.

Those results are keeping their benefactors—the megarich and powerful out of the headlines. Yes, they do stop criminals, save lives, and all of that—but there’s something about their M.O. that leaves a lot to be desired. They do have the best of the best—forensic scientists, laboratories, tech, and investigators. One of those is Antonia Scott—her mind works on levels that others don’t.

She’s also dealing with some severe trauma. Her handler brings in a decent police officer who’s facing discipline charges (legitimately, it should be stressed) to try to get her to leave her apartment and help solve some ritualistic crimes. If Jon Gutierrez can do that, the charges against him will go away.

She’s brilliant and offputting. He’s street smart and able to deal with people—if you’re thinking Temperance Brennan and Seely Booth.

So, what did I think about Red Queen?

I actually liked Jon Guitierrez’s character and thought Gómez-Jurado designed him very well—he’s really the bright point in this book.

The whole not-evil-but-not-good secret organization bugged me—their methods, their attitude, the way they treated/trained/recruited their people. I really hope that this series ends with someone destroying them.

It was good enough—it kept me turning the pages, but..just barely. The writing was cliché and stiff—I don’t know if that’s Gómez-Jurado, Caistor, or a combination. The whole thing felt contrived—and yeah, I know, it’s a novel, it’s all contrived. But this seemed like Gómez-Jurado was trying to manufacture a best-seller rather than write a decent book—but what do I know? It’s an international best-seller.

There were some good twists and turns (many predictable), the pacing was pretty well done, and like I said, it kept me turning pages to see what happened next. But I can’t say I was entertained. I’m definitely not coming back for more.


2 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.
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20 Books of Summer 2024: This is Going to Be A Tough One

20 Books of Summer
Cathy at 746 Books is hosting 20 Books of Summer for the 10th year, which is impressive. This is the fourth year for me (not nearly as impressive), and it’s proved to be fun and a good way for me to actually focus on things I’ve gotten distracted from and/or impulse buys. This year I had a plan since January or February, and then when it came time to put it into action threw all of it out. I’m a little apprehensive about this list, it’s ambitious—I think both length and content are going to make several of these slower reads—and risky—I haven’t read most of the authors before, and don’t know what I’m getting into. However, I’ve wanted to read all of these (some of them for years), and I own all but one of these already. Yup! Nineteen books (at least) are leaving Mt. TBR this summer*!

I typically use the unofficial US Dates for Summer—Memorial Day to Labor Day (May 27th through September 2nd), just because it’s easier for me to think that way. And I’ve needed those first few days of September more than once, but let’s not think about that. Now, here it is almost a week later and I’ve just finalized my list—and I probably won’t get started reading any until June 6, this is almost certainly going to come back to bite me somewhere sensitive. But that’s a problem for tomorrow…or August, I guess.

There’s still time to join in the fun—if you’re into this kind of thing. (there are 10 and 15 book versions, too)

* Technically, I guess, one of these has only been on the mountain for a week, but it still counts.

This summer, my 20 are going to be:

1. This is Who We Are Now by James Bailey
2. Blood Reunion by JCM Berne
3. Ways And Truths And Lives by Matt Edwards
4. The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith
5. Grammar Sex and Other Stuff: A Collection of (mostly humorous) Essays by Robert Germaux
6. The Camelot Shadow by Sean Gibson
7. Last King of California by Jordan Harper
8. Steam Opera by James T. Lambert
9. The Glass Frog by J. Brandon Lowry
10. Rise of Akaisha Morningstar by Kataya Moon
11. Curse of the Fallen by H.C. Newell
12. Heart of Fire by Raina Nightengale
13. Detours and Do-overs by Wesley Parker
14. Bizarre Frontier Omnibus #1 by Brock Poulson
15. Howl by e rathke
16. Bard Tidings by Paul J. Regnier
17. Panacea by Alex Robins
18. Cursed Cocktails by S.L. Rowland
19. Big Trouble in Little Italy by Nicole Sharp
20. The Nameless Restaurant by Tao Wong

(subject to change, as is allowed, but I’m going to resist the impulse to tweak as much as I can).

20 Books of Summer '24 Chart

BLOGIVERSARY REPOST: P is for Peril by Sue Grafton

To commemorate the 11th Blogiversary of The Irresponsible Reader, I’m reposting the first six books I blogged about this week. I hope you’ve enjoyed this stroll down Amnesia Lane as much as I did.


P is for Peril (Kinsey Millhone #16)P is for Peril by Sue Grafton
Series: Kinsey Millhone, #16

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well, this is totally not surprising at all…a solid mystery novel, with plenty of satisfying twists and turns from Sue Grafton.

A name from the past (and one of my favorite Grafton books) refers Kinsey for another missing persons case — against her better judgement, she takes it and before too long finds herself in the middle of broken family politics, pouty teenagers, a potential stalker, and cases of grand theft, fraud, murder, and a handful of other brushes with human frailty and depravity.

I did rather enjoy all these voices from the 80s complaining about the labyrinth that is Medicare/Medicaid/other federal health regulations — if they only knew!

I do wish, and I don’t think I’ve complained about this before, but Kinsey blabs way too much — to friends (especially new ones), to suspects/interviewees/sources, and even to clients. Maybe it fits with the research that Grafton’s done about proper P.I.-ing, but man. Every time she starts to divulge information I want to reach into the book and slap my hand over her mouth. Seriously, lady, keep it to yourself.

The conclusion to this one is atypical — we don’t get resolution to any of they mysteries she’s involved with; well, we sort of get resolution to one of them, but it has nothing to do with any sleuthing on Kinsey’s part. The rest of the mysteries are solved by Kinsey, but we don’t see the resolution of the story line — we don’t even get the (often) heavy-handed wrap up where she reflects on the events of the novel. Nope. Not saying that’s good or bad (honestly, I’m not sure). It’s just not par for the course. Not sure why Grafton did it that way, but it worked this time (could get to be tiring if she keeps it up)

Assassins Anonymous by Rob Hart:The Confessions of a Tactical Drone with a Heartbeat and a Dairy Allergy

Assassins AnonymousAssassins Anonymous

by Rob Hart

DETAILS:
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Publication Date: June 11, 2024
Format: eARC
Length: 320
Read Date: May 27-29, 2024
Buy from Bookshop.org Support Indie Bookstores

What’s Assassins Anonymous About?

Almost a year ago, Mark walked away from his old life and into a 12-step meeting. It’s been a struggle for him—he’s almost relapsed, he came close to suicide, and he’s struggled every day. But with the support of the other people in his group, his sponsor, and a little orange cat who came into his life at just the right time—Mark is making it, day by day.

Then one day, Mark’s cleaning up after the meeting and he’s attacked by a Russian who moves like a professional killer. Mark fights back—incapacitating the Russian and escaping with a serious—but not-too-serious—wound of his own and a burning question: who sent the Russian? The search for the answer takes Mark (and his cat) around the world—into some very dangerous situations, and almost more temptation for Mark to relapse than he could’ve imagined.

You see, Mark’s 12-step meeting isn’t for Alcoholics Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, or anything like that. As you’ll guess from the book’s title, it’s Assassins Anonymous. Hitmen, Assassins, Serial Killers, and the like, who are tired of the life, who are tired of killing and want to try to live productive, life-affirming lives. They have to fight old impulses, old habits, old attitudes, they have to abandon adrenaline rushes (which are probably pretty addictive) and all the rest for a quiet life. Mark had been one of the best in the world (or the worst, depending on your perspective)—almost legendary—until he went cold turkey. But someone’s apparently trying to warm up the poultry.*

* That’s a metaphor I really shouldn’t have tried to stretch.

Can Mark discover why someone game for him almost a year after he quit “the life”? Can Mark make them stop without having to throw away all the work he’s done over the last (almost) 12 months?

The Movies

Like many moviegoers, I love a good hit man movie. I can even enjoy a “just okay” hitman movie (sorry, The Whole Ten Yards you don’t qualify as either). Mark, unsurprisingly, isn’t a fan of most of them. Sadly, that’s where most people get their ideas and information about assassins and hitmen from. So by character, actor, or movie title, they’re brought up frequently—usually to Mark’s dismay. He’ll also just compare his life to those movies on occasion. I enjoyed this aspect of the character a lot—particularly one running bit where people kept expecting him to look more like a particular actor.

Other kinds of movies are used throughout the novel, too—they’re a great shorthand way of revealing character. What movies he likes, what movies he refuses to mention liking, and so on are a convenient and efficient way of telling you a lot about Mark. Also, it’s just fun to see characters talk about movies and whatnot—as people like Whedon, Tarantino, and Smith have been showing us.

The 12-steps

As the book started to really focus on—and feature—things like the meetings Mark’s attending, his recovery, and his working the steps, I started to get worried. Primarily because it was early on, and while I understood that Mark was flippant, even a wiseacre—was Hart going to be flip about the 12-steps? That feels like something you shouldn’t touch—like a third rail, a skunk with a hair-trigger, or that Easter Egg you finally found in late June.

But no—the meetings, the steps, the attitude about recovery, and the way the characters interacted about their recovery were dealt with respectfully. Sure, there was a little bit of Mark’s attitude (or similar ones) expressed in the meetings and whatnot—but not about the meetings or the program, just about each other or themselves. (much like I imagine happens in an actual meeting)

If anything, this is practically an advertisement for those kind of programs and the good work they can do. Because this is the heart of the novel—yes, there’s the violence, the suspense, the twists, and whatnot—let’s call them “The Thriller Aspects.” Those aspects are what will draw readers to the book, they’re what’ll keep your attention and get you hooked on it. But Assassins Anonymous isn’t so much about the “Assassins” as it is the struggle, the stumbles, and the victories associated with Recovery. In my book, we should get more of those—particularly honest books about the victories.

So, what did I think about Assassins Anonymous?

Imagine Martin Q. Blank, Jimmy Tudeski, and Frank Moses meeting up and trying to take care of business—non-lethally (I guess that’d be something like the pacifist version of The Expendables), and you’ll have something like this book.

Let’s start with The Thriller Aspects—Hart nailed them. Even—maybe especially—the more outlandish aspects of them (which are really the trickier part to pull off). There’s a confident panache to the novel—as well as most of the characters—that lets you know right away that you’re in good hands and are set for a great ride. Some twists you’ll see coming, and won’t care because of the way he executes them. But also,

The 12-Step aspect—well, see above—another win for Hart.

What about the comedy and narrative voice? Spot on—seriously good. It’d be easy to go overboard on the comedy—or to not use enough of it (we are talking about a bunch of people who have killed many others), but I think Hart hits the balance just right. And Mark’s the kind of guy you can enjoy being stuck in the mind of for 320 pages.

The first chapter gives you everything you need to know about this novel—it’s such a well-written chapter, too. Voice, character, action, comedy. If you read it and aren’t hooked, you’re probably going to feel that way about the rest of it. If that first chapter works for you? Kick back and enjoy.

Sure, this novel is right in my wheelhouse—I’m practically its target demographic incarnate—but I think even if I wasn’t, it would’ve won me over. I strongly encourage you to pick this one up. I can’t tell you what’s keeping me from giving it the final full star, but something is (and since I’ll have to round up almost everywhere I cross-post, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it)—but, boy howdy, you’re in for a great time when you open this one up.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Putnam Books via NetGalley—thanks to both for this.


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.
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BLOGIVERSARY REPOST: Blood Trade by Faith Hunter

To commemorate the 11th Blogiversary of The Irresponsible Reader, I’m reposting the first six books I blogged about this week.


Blood Trade
Blood Trade by Faith Hunter
Series: Jane Yellowrock, #6
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jane Yellowrock is slowly, but surely, becoming a real favorite of mine. In the beginning, she struck me as a fairly generic vampire hunter, with an obnoxious streak and a complicated ethnic/childhood background that was passed off as interesting. Nothing special, but good enough to keep reading.

But lately, I’ve found myself anticipating the next installment. Blood Trade resolved a few dangling plotlines from previous books, developed a couple more, and set the stage for at least 2-3 more books in the series. And while doing so, provided a story with good action, some nice twists, and some genuine heart.

I really, really liked the new characters introduced here — two former classmates of Jane’s back from her Christian school days and the child of one of those classmates. It was good to see Jane through the eyes of people that didn’t primarily know her as a vampire killer.

Jane’s relationship with Eli and the Kid grew in a positive way, and I really like the shape of their relationships, and hope they continue to develop in this fashion.

One thing I hope Hunter improves on — although I don’t see it happening — is the romance front. I couldn’t care less about Jane’s vacillating between various romantic (using the term as broadly as possible here) interests here. It’s tedious, Jane’s usually shown as little more than base desires, and constantly self-sabotaging. If there was some growth there, some change at least, I might feel differently. But Hunter shows no sign of moving off this point, and I bet I’m one of the few who don’t like it. So I need to continue to deal with it.

BLOGIVERSARY REPOST: The Girl with the Iron Touch by Kady Cross

To commemorate the 11th Blogiversary of The Irresponsible Reader, I’m reposting the first six books I blogged about this week.


The Girl with the Iron Touch (The Steampunk Chronicles, #3)The Girl with the Iron Touch by Kady Cross

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another fun installment in Cross’ Steampunk Chronicles. As silly as I feel reading a book with the Harlequin Teen logo on it, I really enjoy this series (‘tho maybe I should switch to the ebook edition to protect my rep). Once again, Cross balances a steampunk-y adventure story with strong emotional plotlines, with some fun banter between her characters, making for an addictive read.

This time out the primary focus is on Emily — the technomancer, and on both her personal and professional crisis. Just as it seems she’s making some progress on getting Sam to say how he feels about her, as well as to accept what she did to save his life, she’s kidnapped by a bunch of automatons so she can perform a brain transplant from a very injured scoundrel into a semi-organic android. No really, that makes sense in context.

Everyone else, in one way or another, is dealing with the fallout from their trip to the U.S. (and from the events in the first book), while also trying to find Emily and bring her home safely. Obviously, it’s worst for Jasper, more withdrawn from both his friends and the events in the book as a whole.

Griffin and Finley are also dealing with their relationship’s progress — with all the complications, ups adn downs that such entails. Griffin started dealing with something relating to his power in the States and it’s having a devastating impact on him back home (and in turn, that’s impacting everyone around him), causing Finlay to fret over him. My biggest beef with this book comes from the Finlay/Griffin interactions, which are far too similar to the Emily/Sam interactions, covering nearly the same grounds with both couples.

There’s a new character introduced that should provide a good deal of fodder for storylines in the future, and I eagerly await more of her. Really can’t say more without entering Spoiler City, so, I’ll just limit myself to saying that Cross’ creativity and inventiveness is on full display with her creation, and she’s already one of my favorites in the series.

One other note, one of the automatons we spend the most time with was described as a spider with a doll’s head. I certainly hope Cross was trying to get her readers to envision that creepy doll from Toy Story — because every one I know whose read this is seeing that.* Griffin and his team find her just as unnerving as Woody and Buzz did (don’t blame them), either.

Things are getting harder, and stakes are getting higher for our intrepid adventurers — whatever’s next will likely push them further yet.

This was a fun, quick read and I’m already impatiently waiting for the next installment.

*That’d be my wife and I.

BLOGIVERSARY REPOST: Pros and Cons: A Short Story by Janet Evanovich & Lee Goldberg

To commemorate the 11th Blogiversary of The Irresponsible Reader, I’m reposting the first six books (or, I guess, stories) I blogged about this week. This post got me my first comment here—from Goldberg himself! I did go on to love the series (at least until Goldberg moved on), so the first thing I predicted came true.


I spent the better part of an hour writing a different review this morning — it wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be, but I’d worked on it a lot. And then I lost it. One stupid, wrong and mostly stupid click of the mouse and …poof. Didn’t have time to try to recreate it, but wanted to post something new today. And hey, I just purchased the Evanovich/Goldberg short story, Pros and Cons. Perfect! That’d fit the bill. Right? well…

—–

Pros and Cons: A Short Story (O'Hare and Fox, #0.5)Pros and Cons: A Short Story by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg
Series: Fox and O’Hare, #0.5
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I’ve been eagerly awaiting The Heist since it was first announced — I’m a big fan of both Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg, so when this short story prequel was released I couldn’t resist.

I probably should have found the will power. This, at best, was not bad. Amusing at times, but most of the humor felt forced. Even then, the humor was overly broad most of the time. Worse than that, the story was chock-full of exposition dumps that are almost worthy of Dan Brown.

That said, I’ve read almost 30 books by these two over the years and have no doubt that the novels are going to be better. The primary characters — Agent O’Hare and scoundrel Fox, are promising and chock-full of potential. Sure, I’m a little less enthused about The Heist than I was yesterday, but I’ll get over that once it’s in my hot little hands.

Short version: Skip this tease, come back for the real thing.

BLOGIVERSARY REPOST: Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child

To commemorate the 11th Blogiversary of The Irresponsible Reader, I’m reposting the first six books I blogged about this week. This was apparently the first book I discussed here—something I don’t remember looking up until I prepped this.


Gone Tomorrow (Jack Reacher, #13)Gone Tomorrow by Lee ChildSeries: Jack Reacher, #13
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5 out of 5 really. Not sure why I’m holding that .5 out, but let’s say it wasn’t perfect — just so, so close.

On the one hand, this was a typical Jack Reacher novel* — Reacher sees a wrong that needs righting, a question that needs answered, someone who needs a little help, a little vengence that needs meting out, and he takes care of business, period. On the other hand — this was more intense, had more twists and turns, with higher (personal) stakes than your typical Reacher novel.

So, I guess it was a typical Reacher novel — just turned up to 11.

It’s really hard to say much about this Gone Tomorrow without spoiling the whole thing. But I’m going to try a bit: From the outset, it’s hard to tell who Reacher is working for until a little over halfway through the book (I think–didn’t take notes); everyone (everyone) lies to him about all sorts of things — but there’s enough truth mixed into the lies that I didn’t just spoil anything there; the violence (at least on Reacher’s part) is a bit more concentrated than usual, but once it starts…whoa, Nelly.

The biggest difference in this one is the looming specter of various counter-terrorism agencies and entities, functioning in the full protection and powers given by the Patriot Act and so on. Reacher and other characters in this book aren’t reticent to voice their complaints with these powers and the curtailment on citizen rights, honestly, to an extent that surprised me. While Reacher’s not directly in opposition to these agencies (he never would be that), his purposes and theirs do not directly align. Which gives an extra layer of danger for him — if Reacher’s not careful, he can disappear like he’s never existed before.

Basically the only other thing I can say without spoiling the crap out of this is simply: With Gone Tomorrow, Child, once again, shows that he and Reacher are the best around.

——-

* And a typical Jack Reacher novel is a great read, so don’t take this characterization as a complaint.

Towel Day ’24: One Closing Item (Indulge a Grandpappy)

Towel Day

Grandcritter Towel Day '24
The indoctrinationtraining has begun…the kid’s got promise.

Towel Day ’24: Scattered Thoughts about Reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy

(updated and revised this 5/25/24)

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


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

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

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

Years later when the final volume (by Adams) was released, I’d already cemented what I thought about the books from these frequent re-reads. I’m not sure that <b>Mostly Harmless</b> changed things much (except for making me think for the first time that maybe I didn’t want him to write more in this series). His non-Hitchhiker’s work illustrated that he was capable of making you see things in a new light–either with a smile or a sense of regret—even when he wasn’t writing the trilogy, even when he was writing non-fiction. It was never the setting or the genre—it was Adams.

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

So, Happy Towel Day You Hoopy Froods.

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

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