Category: Fiction Page 307 of 349

W is for Wasted by Sue Grafton

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On July 31, 2014

In Fiction, Kinsey Millhone, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Sue Grafton

W is for Wasted (Kinsey Millhone, #23)W is for Wasted

by Sue Grafton
Series: Kinsey Millhone, #23

Hardcover, 486 pg.
A Marian Wood Book/Putnam, 2013
Read: July 25 – 26, 2014

There are two (dead) men that we focus on in this novel — the first, Pete Wolinksy, I’m pretty sure we’ve met before. He did some work for the men that Kinsey apprenticed with, and she’s run across him at least once before in the novels (but I’m not going to run off an verify that). The other deceased individual was a homeless alcoholic who died on the beach with Kinsey’s name and phone number in a pocket. With business slow, and her back account healthy — that’s enough to let her curiosity take over and find out what happened to this man, and to find out why he was carrying her name.

Along the way, Kinsey finds some relatives from her father’s side of the family — in recent years, she’d learned a good deal about her mother’s family, but hadn’t looked into her father’s. Now she has the opportunity, and while she doesn’t find as much (for now), but it’s something. This allows her to reflect a little on her current relationship with her mother’s side, too. I appreciate Kinsey’s self-awareness about how whiny she is can be (and usually is) regarding her extended family and how she really doesn’t feel that way any more except out of habit. Hopefully, in the next book or two, we see some real development and some degree of closure with her maternal grandmother, aunts and cousins. I’ve read a lot of criticism lately (particularly focused on this book) about how little character development there’s been here. This book — the 23rd — takes place 5-6 years after A is for Alibi, right? So of course, the development will be incremental — that’s how people change in such a short amount of time. It seems natural to me.

The mysteries weren’t all that compelling to me, and mostly seemed to be excuses to expose Kinsey to her family, Dietz, and to allow her to comment on the homeless problem in Santa “Theresa.” It took me a long time to get/care about the subplot told in flashbacks — once I did figure it out, I felt pretty stupid, to tell you the truth. Regardless, it wasn’t the most interesting flashback sequence Grafton’s done. It was effective enough, I guess, it just seemed to be missing something.

The new stuff aside, what about our old friends? We got a little time with Henry — Henry as meddling, advise-giving, semi-authority figure. William is his regular annoying self, and his wife, Rosie, was around just enough. There was a quick appearance from Con Dolan, and another from Cheney Phillips. Best of all, we get to hang out with Robert Dietz for a few chapters, and see a slightly different part of him. It seems very likely, and maybe even probable, that we won’t be seeing (at least) one of these characters again, based on what we saw here (and the number of books left).

The main quibble I have with this one is the dialogue — too often it’s just dreadful here. Painful to read — some of these characters read like technical manuals, or brochures for a tourism board. I’d b e willing to bet another editing pass from Grafton could’ve taken care of almost every flat, dull, or expositional line of conversation. But at this point, who’s going to make Grafton do something like that? If she catches it on her own, great — but there’s no editor in the world that’ll hold her feet to the fire.

Not her best work, there was almost no suspense at all here, and at a certain point, the whodunit became so obvious it was almost impossible to care about any more. But Grafton did enough to keep my interest and keep my fingers turning pages, and that’s enough. Kinsey’s never been the flashiest P.I. around — she’s stable, down to earth, and gets the job done. Which is pretty much what we got here.

—–

3 Stars

The Competition by Marcia Clark

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On July 31, 2014

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

The Competition (Rachel Knight, #4)The Competition

by Marcia Clark

Hardcover, 416 pg.
Mulholland Books, 2014
Read: July 28, 2014

So, Rachel Knight and her pal Det. Bailey Keller are called to the scene of a deadly shooting at a high school. Very deadly — it soon becomes clear that there will be a higher death count here than any other school shooting, which is exactly what the gunmen were going for. Students of mass shootings throughout our nation’s recent past, these criminals have set out to out-perform those they see as their inferiors.

The Rachel Knight novels are typically legal tension, wrangling, and some suspense — but mostly it’s about how do we catch this guy up in a lie?, how do we prove what we know?, and so on. But from page 8 when the bullets start flying, The Competition is pure, old-fashioned thriller-style tension. How long will it take to find the guys?, what will happen before they do? Riots, panic, more shooting? Yes, there’s also plenty of twists and turns, and the requisite Rachel Knight et al. cuteness. But mostly, this one’s a race against time and danger.

Marcia Clark steps out into some risky territory here — one only has to look back to the season premier of Sons of Anarchy last year to see the very divided critical and fan reaction to the school shooting. She manages it very well, not pushing any of the several political or social debates that she could here. The focus is kept on the criminals, trying to figure out why they did what they did, how to stop their evil. I can’t help but think of the old Nero Wolfe line, “Nothing corrupts a man so deeply as writing a book; the myriad temptations are overwhelming.” It’d have been so easy for Clark to succumb to temptation and pontificate here, to push her particular viewpoint on gun-issues, but she doesn’t. Well done.

I did guess almost every plot twist she used (and one I was convinced she was going to pull, but didn’t — even after the moment passed, I was looking for it). But it didn’t matter, she played every note just the way she should’ve, and even if I saw a trick coming, it worked. Was an edge-of-your-seat page-turner through and through. Hope to see a little more of Rachel the lawyer rather than Rachel the investigator next time, but chalk this up as another win for Knight and Clark.

—–

4 Stars

Never Go Back by Lee Child

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On July 30, 2014

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

Never Go Back (Jack Reacher, #18)Never Go Back

by Lee Child
Series: Jack Reacher, #18

Hardcover, 400 pg.
Delacorte Press, 2013
Read: July 23 – 24, 2014

The journey that Reacher started following 61 Hours is at an end — he’s back at the 110th MP, his old unit to meet the person the goes with the voice at the other end of the phone line — the new CO, Maj. Susan Turner. He’s planning on asking her to dinner, and to see what happens from there. Sure, walking from South Dakota to get a date seems extreme — but other than bringing justice to various locations between South Dakota and Virginia, what else does Reacher have in his day planner?

Sure, since this is Jack Reacher — it won’t go all that easily for him. He arrives at the gate, hoping to get a date — instead he gets a global conspiracy, a cross-country trip, a chance to visit life-changing mistakes he may have made over a decade ago, and a return to active duty. On the whole, this is a lot less violent than most Reacher novels — with a comparatively very small body count (but it is violent, and there is a body count — never fear).

This story alone is fun — Reacher being Reacher. This time he’s got a version of himself along for the ride. Turner has the job he used to have, has a lot of the same opinions, skills, background — but Turner’s made some different choices in her life, has different attitudes, making her a mirror image in many ways (not just being small and female). She’s willing to do a lot to take down the criminals behind the conspiracy, but not as far as Reacher will. She’s far more interested in the courts and the Army having a crack at the conspirators, while Reacher’s just focused on stopping them and breaking as many eggs as he has to go get his omelet made.

Turner’s own appraisal of Reacher and the reader’s own look at her in contrast to Reacher tells us a lot more about the ex-MP than what we’ve seen before (at least adding depth and color to our impression of him, if not actual new information). In many ways Susan Turner is the most objective look we’ve ever gotten of Reacher (our typical omniscient third-person narrator isn’t terribly objective when it comes to Jack Reacher). She likes him — a lot — but is very critical. I like her and think there’s probably a lot her appraisal.

This was a very satisfying read — Lee Child and his hero, firing on all cylinders, doing what they do best. Told in a pretty fresh way, with added insight into the character. Just what the doctor ordered.

—–

4 1/2 Stars

The Sound and the Furry by Spencer Quinn

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On July 29, 2014

In Authors, Chet and Bernie, Dogs, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, P-U, Spencer Quinn

The Sound and the Furry (A Chet and Bernie Mystery #6)The Sound and the Furry

by Spencer Quinn
Series: Chet and Bernie, #6

Hardcover, 320 pg.
Atria Books, 2013
Read: July 23, 2014

I cannot think of another narrator in contemporary fiction as charming, as relateable, as endearing Chet — unreliable as all get out, but utterly trustworthy. I’m sure there are readers out there who are not susceptible to Chet’s canine charms, but I’m not one of them. I chuckle, I laugh, I am drawn in instantly — and as long as the stories are passable, that combination is a winner.

Thankfully, usually the stories are more than passable, which is just frosting on the cake. This time out, the Little Detective Agency finds itself on the road to New Orleans, of all places — a far cry from their normal stomping grounds. It’s good to see Quinn shake things up a little, he can’t be as dependent on things like Bernie chasing down a former C.I. or a familiar source of information. They also don’t know the lay of the land at all, and Bernie has to acclimate himself quickly.

Sure, some of Quinn’s tropes are here — Bernie not making sound financial choices, Chet causing a little trouble (tho mostly charming people), Chet getting separated for a time from Bernie (although this time it felt more organic than in any other of these books — I was a little bit into the separation before it dawned on me that, “yup, it’s about time for this”). But that doesn’t detract from the change in setting — or make it seem like less of a change. Instead, the presence of Quinn’s usual moves just underlines their universality.

It’s not uncommon for the sidekick of a detective to notice something missed by their associate — and it’s not uncommon for the sidekick to be unable to get the detective to see what they want them to/understand what they’re excited about, etc. And in almost any other detective novel where the detective is so clueless about so much of what the sidekick notices would be full of griping and complaining from the sidekick (justified griping, but griping, nonetheless). Not these books , however – except for his questionable financial decisions, Chet can’t even think of Bernie negatively, and he forgets anything that approaches negative almost instantly. This leaves the reader to chew on all the clues that Bernie’s missing while Chet’s focused on other things. I Love that. Typically, it’s the detective that has access to clues before the reader/independent of the reader (and that’s true here to an extent) but these books turn the tables on that, giving us readers the advantage.

Don’t know of its because Chet’s a dog, or if Quinn’s just that good at what he does (or some other thing), but when Chet’s in danger I get tenser than I do reading just about anything else — even if the danger’s not that great ultimately. But when Chet tussles with a certain critter in this book, I know my adrenaline levels jumped up and I read a lot faster just so I could get to the resolution of the fight.

My main (only?) problem with the book is its treatment of Suzie Sanchez. She seemed more like a refugee from Three’s Company than the reporter we’ve come to know and like. Quinn’s bounced between from treating her as a strong, capable character and this disappointment — she deserves better (as do Bernie & Chet, and the readers). If I’m drawing the right inferences from the cover image on the seventh Chet & Bernie book, it looks like he’ll give it a shot. If I’m wrong, Quinn should just write the character out of the series and start over with a new love interest.

We’ll never see it — I don’t imagine — but Chet kept hinting at this deeper, darker story, this side of Bernie we haven’t really seen (I think we’ve gotten glimpses before, but nothing like in this book). The kind of thing that belongs in a far more hard-boiled novel than this one. And unless we get someone else’s point of view, we’ll never see this side of Bernie in full because Chet can’t really admit it to be true. But we got a few hints this time — I sure wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of Bernie.

Until then, we get these light, joy-filled mysteries equal parts puzzle and entertainment. Who’d ask for more?

—–

4 Stars

From the Archives: Year Zero by Rob Reid

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On July 28, 2014

In Fiction, Science Fiction

Year ZeroYear Zero

by Rob Reid

Hardcover, 364 pg.
Del Rey, 2012
Read: October 27 – 29, 2012

Aren’t we at the point yet where just because something involves aliens, spaceships and more than a few laughs, we don’t have to invoke Douglas Adams? (not that I have anything against the man or his work) But this book owes more to Scalzi’s Agent to the Stars than to anything about Arthur, Ford or Zaphod (or even Dirk). Yet that doesn’t stop 70% or so of the reviews from mentioning Adams. Time to move on folks — or at least realize there are others out there doing funny SF.

I’d give this 4.75 stars, really. Rounded up. But whatever, the important thing is that this book is a hoot. There’s nothing about this that isn’t funny–the plot, the characters, the commentary on the music industry, congressional shenanigans, trendy restaurants, Microsoft…whatever Reid touched on, he hit squarely and hilariously. I laughed out loud a whole lot. And then some more.

I think towards the end, plot lines and plot points got a bit out of control. But honestly, he just reminded me of most of Christopher Buckley‘s work in that regard (and several other ways now that I think of it)–though I think Reid did a better job of pulling it all together at the end than Buckley usually does.

And the coda? Perfect. And more than made up for any flaws.

—–

5 Stars

Those Who Wish Me Dead by Michael Koryta

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On July 23, 2014

In Fiction, K-O, Michael Koryta, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Those Who Wish Me DeadThose Who Wish Me Dead

by Michael Koryta

Hardcover, 388 pg.
Little Brown, 2014
Read: June 21, 2014

Once Koryta left Lincoln Perry behind and started writing stand-alones, I read one and never got around to the rest — but something about this one drew me in (and it doesn’t look like my typical suspense preference) — and now I’ve got to find time to go back and pick up the three or four I’ve missed. It was just so good.

The elements are all here: characters, plot, pacing, setting. As cliché as some of the characters may be in theory, they really aren’t that in Koryta’s hands — the 13 year-old murder witness, the scarred (emotionally and physically) hero firefighter, the survival expert being pushed beyond his limits, the hapless federal Marshall, the troubled teens on the wilderness survival course, the pair of killers who are possibly creepier and deadlier than Breaking Bad‘s Salamanca Cousins. All of these are drawn sensitively and realistically.

The first couple of chapters were enough to keep you reading, but that’s about it — set up the story, establish the main characters, typical stuff. But it takes almost no time at all to go from that to shut-off-the-phone/ignore-the-wife-and-kids exciting. Gritty, fast-paced, visceral, with a strong sense of character and realism. Exactly what you want in this kind of book.

I don’t know if this particular bit of Montana actually exists — but Koryta gives you a strong enough sense of place that it might as well. From the Serbins’ home, to the trail the teens travel, to Hannah’s look out tower, to the mountain the bulk of the action takes place on, I feel like I could hop in the car, drive a few hours and be right there in the midst of them. Not now, during fire season, obviously — don’t need that level of realism.

Koryta has so many opportunities to drown us in details about the backstory of the characters — which is not to say that he doesn’t give us enough to get to know these people. But most authors would’ve given us a lot more about the history of everyone — particularly Ethan and Allison. He hints at things, the characters are still acting in response to what’s gone on before these events, but we’re only told a bit more than we need to know. His restraint is commendable, and only adds to the immediacy of the action and the pace.

From the point where Koryta kicks things into high gear to the gut-wrenching climax, this is an edge-of-your-seat thriller that delivers exactly what it promises — action, suspense, and as much entertainment as you can squeeze into just under 400 pages. How good was it? Just writing this up has whet my appetite for a re-read.

—–

4 Stars

The Rise & Fall of Great Powers by Tom Rachman

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On July 22, 2014

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

The Rise & Fall of Great PowersThe Rise & Fall of Great Powers

by Tom Rachman

Hardcover, 384 pg.
The Dial Press, 2014
Read: July 15 – 19, 2014

He raised his menu.
She consulted hers. “You don’t like sweet-and-sour, do you.”
“No,” he confirmed. “I want food that can make up its mind.”

I had a real difficult time connecting to the people, the story, this book — but early on, I came upon this exchange between a man and a young girl — Tooly, the protagonist. That was enough to keep me going — that, and Rachman’s previous work, The Imperfectionists.

There are three storylines running through most of this book — Tooly in 1988, Tooly in 1999, and Tooly in 2011. We see her as a child, still growing up; we see her all grown, but still figuring out her place in the world; and then as an established adult who’s made a place in the world — but she’s still expecting/looking for the same one she tried to find in ’99.

I spent most of the novel not really sure where any of these stories were going — maybe 2/3 of it. It didn’t take me too terribly long to come to the conclusion I wouldn’t be sure for awhile, so I decided to just enjoy the ride. Which was so easy to do — Tooly spent her life surrounded by a great menagerie of people — Paul, a traveling computer technician working for various U.S. embassies in the 80s; Venn, a very charming con man; Humphrey, a Russian ex-pat and armchair intellectual; Fogg, a small-town bookseller; Sarah, a — I don’t know how to describe her, a histrionic woman with a short attention span (I guess, you eventually learn a lot more); a lout of a lawyer (whose name escapes me at the moment), who really isn’t that much of a lout; and others. It doesn’t matter what they’re talking about, you want to hear them talk, you want to see the interactions between these people and each other, or these people and Tooly. The actual plot seems secondary as long as you get bits of conversation like this (like the above quotation, this is from 1988’s story):

“I know exactly what you’re like,” Sarah affirmed.
After a long pause, Tooly responded, “What are you like?”
“Me? Well, I like bread with strawberry jam and believe raspberry jam ruins everything. I think those who joke around with such matters are barbarians. And I’m right about everything. Except in the morning, when I’m wrong.”

Each chapter moves the various stories along, bit by bit — and you get one or two strange encounters between Tooly and the other characters, you hear some strange theory about the way the world works, or how someone decides to do something, or some scheme to make sense of it all — and I can’t describe it for you better than that — just give it a read.

Eventually, Rachman decides to let you see the pattern he’s stitching — and then it all comes together, each piece falling into place and while there was no way to see all of it coming, it all feels like it fits. Not a “ohh, sure, I should’ve guessed that;” but “well, naturally — there was really no other way for that to work, was there?”

For Fogg, Humphrey, and Tooly (and most of the other characters to some extent) books are a vital part of their existence — or at least their way of thinking. They’re how they connect to the world, to people, to their experience. The various ways the characters interact with, describe, and use books are just fascinating and are right up my alley. Just for exposure to the various things this novel says about books, it’s worth slogging through all the “what’s going on?” of this read.

For example — shortly after young Tooly first meets Humphrey, she asks to see his books (he always has stacks by him, but they keep changing, so she knows he has a stash somewhere). He takes her to a closet bursting with books.

“Books,” he said, “are like mushrooms. They grow when you are not looking. Books increase by rule of compound interest: one interest leads to another interest, and this compounds into third. Next, you have so much interest there is no space in closet.”
“At my house, we put clothes in the closets.”
He sneered at this misapplication of furniture. “But where you keep literature?”

That compound interest line is a great one, isn’t it?

The Rise & Fall of Great Power is a lovely little book I can’t really talk about without over explaining. Filled with great characters; plausible, yet implausible events: an embarrassment of riches when it comes to quotable lines; interesting philosophies; stacks of books; and a dash of hope mixed a hint of existential despair. More than worth your time.

—–

4 1/2 Stars

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

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On July 22, 2014

In Authors, Cormoran Strike, F-J, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Robert Galbraith

The Silkworm (Cormoran Strike, #2)The Silkworm

by Robert Galbraith
Series: Cormoran Strike, #2

Hardcover, 455 pg.
Mulholland Books, 2014
Read: July 2 – 5, 2014

Cormoran Strike is back, and I couldn’t be much happier. After the events described in The Cuckoo’s Calling, Strike’s enjoyed a few minutes of fame — a degree of notoriety with the police, and a profile big enough to land him bigger clients, plus his fair share of would-be clients with a weak grasp on reality and/or not a lot of money. Leonora Quine certainly appears to be in the latter camps when she comes to hire Strike to find her missing husband — but he sees an opportunity to collect eventually, and he likes her. The missing husband, Owen Quine, is a writer of some measure of success and renown. He’s been known to disappear for a few days every now and then, but this time seems longer, and with a special needs child at home, Leonora needs her husband back. Something’s fishy, and his soon-to-published next book is at the heart of it. While juggling his other clients — the ones with large checkbooks — Strike starts poking around, and it doesn’t stay a missing person’s case for long.

Cormoran Strike continues to be reminiscent of several mystery fiction types and specific characters — yet he still feels mostly fresh. There’s your typical hard-boiled loaner (Spillane, Spenser, Marlowe, Cole, etc.), the armed services background (same list, come to think of it), the troubled family history, and so on. There were a couple of detectives that I kept coming back to this time around (and I’m probably alone in this, I realize). Strike’s musings on the way he still works like he did in SIB removed me of the way Danny Boyle talks about John Ceepak. It’s odd to see the two ex-military men in the same light, while on opposite sides of the Atlantic. Yet, it’s also incredibly fitting. Strike and Robin also remind me a great deal of Yancey’s Highly Effective Detective and his assistant. Except Strike actually is highly effective.

The description of Quine’s new book in question was fantastic — it is not a book I want to read, in any shape or fashion, but I really enjoyed reading about it. Galbraith is able to give us enough to get the idea without having to take the time to compose another book in the process — very well done there.

This is slow, yet deliberately moving (like the protagonist, really) until it doesn’t need to be any more — once the pieces are in place and it’s time to reveal and trap the killer, then it moves on at a brisk clip and forces the reader to pick up the pace, too (or at least it felt that way). But it never drags, never meanders — it’s always on point, and is building to something.

It’s tough to say that Strike develops much over the course of this book — we grow in our understanding of him, but he’s pretty much the same man at the end. Not so for Ellacot — she grows and becomes stronger throughout, and its only a matter of time before she’s going to be a 50-50 partner in the agency, I bet — and maybe Strike’s partner in other ways, too. I’m looking forward to watching Galbraith develop this character more in the books ahead, but I can tell I’m already getting impatient for it to happen, rather than trusting him and his timeframe. The other supporting characters not involved in Quine’s disappearance are great additions and make everything better, helping us understand the characters more (e.f., Strike’s family, Ellacot’s family — still not the fiancée, Strike’s old friends).

The biggest selling point (for me) with this book is an intangible quality — a je ne sais quoi — about one-third of the way in I noted I was enjoying it. It was a good, solid detective novel — but in a real sense, nothing I hadn’t seen before. Yet — I noticed I was really “into” the book. I couldn’t explain why I was invested as much as I was — but my goodness, I was in whole hog. I have to chalk it up to Rowling’s super power — she can tell a story that grabs you in a way you just can’t explain. If you’ve read her, you know the effect.*

As I read the last couple of paragraphs and closed the book I noticed something — I was smiling. Not a usual reaction for me as I complete a book, no matter what it is. That has to say something, doesn’t it?

—–

* Unless, of course, she’s talking about a little town called Pagford and its residents. Then there’s nothing at all that will grab you.

—–

4 Stars

Dusted Off: Dirty Martini by J. A. Konrath

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On July 21, 2014

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

Dirty Martini (Jack Daniels Mystery, #4)Dirty Martini

by J.A. Konrath

Hardcover, 292 pg.
Hyperion, 2007
Read: October 15, 2012

Not that I had a lot of complaints (or any, really) with Jack Daniels #2 & #3, but this one seems fresher, tougher, more clever. Jack gets herself into some really hairy territory here. I’ll be honest, I thought I had it figured out right up to the point where the bad guy’s identity was revealed–and couldn’t have been more wrong.

There were a couple of new characters introduced here, one of which was so over the top and annoying I was dreading reading on. But Konrath knew what he was doing after all, shame on me.

A taught, nail-biter of a read. Good stuff.

—–

4 Stars

All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner

By

On July 17, 2014

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

All Fall DownAll Fall Down

by Jennifer Weiner

Hardcover, 400 pg.
Atria Books, 2014
Read: July 10 – 12, 2014

Out for the day with her daughter, our protagonist encounters a homeless woman about her own age. A few minutes later, on their way to suburbia, she thinks:

I was a world away from the woman we’d seen. That woman — she was what addiction looked like. Not me. Not me.

And that, my friends, is what heavy-handed irony looks like. When Chapter 1 ends this way, you know it’s going to be a rough ride.

I wasn’t sure what to expect out of this one — from the description alone, it was clear that Weiner was going for something out of the norm for her — this wasn’t going to be comedic, not that romantic. Instead it’d be dark, dealing with a very serious subject matter. The prose wouldn’t be as breezy, the character probably wouldn’t be that likeable. Sounded good to me — I wanted to see how she could pull it off. It’d be different, but I figured she could (and I welcomed that). Would this be the thing that got her that literary cred she seems to be looking for?

It was a valiant effort. But it just didn’t work for me.

She was close though. Really close. Which just served to underline how she didn’t reach her goal.

Allison Weiss (who I couldn’t help but seeing as an out-of-shape version of Orphan Black‘s Alison Hendrix) is a mom (of an impossible child), a successful blogger (possibly too successful to believe), wife, daughter of a man in early stages of Alzheimer’s, and a pill-popper in deep denial.

Part 1 sets the scene for us — introduces us to the major characters, Allison’s friends, family, and boss — and her pills. Part 2 shows how the wheels start to come off for her — in terms of work, her marriage, her family and her addiction. Part 3 gets her into rehab and coming to terms with her problem. Part 4 picks up following that in a rushed wrap-up.

Part 1 was okay enough — it got the job done. Part 2 was rough — it’s hard enough watching a character you like, that you’re invested in run into trouble — but an unsympathetic character surrounded by characters she hasn’t let us get to know well enough to like? It’s just so rough. I had to force myself through this part, knowing that rehab was on the horizon. That part was worse — the rehab facility, clients, workers, counselors — all of that jibed with what I know about rehab facilities and 12-step programs; and even Allison’s reaction seemed textbook. But something about that part bothered me. Maybe because it was all so textbook. Weiner’d done her homework and she let it be shown. But it’s more than that — here was her chance to make us like Allison, see her doing the work she needed to do. For the reader to start to like her. But it didn’t happen.

Part 4 was the worst. In her rush for a conclusion, Weiner left a lot of things hanging. Which isn’t the same as unresolved — I’m not talking about a need to tie everything up in a pretty little bow. Weiner simply abandoned so many things in that it took away from the closure she gave (or at least strongly suggested).

I actually had a laundry list of complaints and problems with this, but I’m going to forgo it. It’d be hard to avoid spoilers and I just don’t think it’d be that interesting to read. Let me just leave it as — I was disappointed in this one and would advise passing on it.

—–

2 Stars

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