Category: Fiction Page 320 of 349

The Black Box by Michael Connelly

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On November 15, 2013

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

The Black Box
The Black Box

by Michael Connelly
Series: Harry Bosch, #18

Paperback, 480 pg.
Grand Central Publishing, 2013

There are few mystery series as satisfying as the Harry Bosch novels (those who’ve read the last couple of “Saturday Miscellany” posts have probably noticed my geeking out about the Bosch pilot for Amazon). Whenever a new paperback comes out, I grab it as soon as I can, and post a “Go Away, I’m Reading” sign*. I can’t get enough of this guy.

A while back, Connelly moved Harry to the Open-Unsolved Unit, which was a very smart move that’s paid off in variety of cases and gives an extra edge to Harry’s cases — he’s always been obsessive about giving resolution to the victim’s families and loved ones, but now it’s also about justice delayed, about being able to start getting past years — decades even — of pain.

Harry’s got a personal connection to the cold case he’s focusing on this time — during the riots that broke out after the Rodney King verdict, Harry and his partner were called out on a series of homicides. One in particular was a white woman in an alley, shot execution-style. Before being forced to go to the next victim, they were only able to spend about half an hour looking over the crime scene and finding practically no evidence that wasn’t contaminated. As with many other homicides over those few days, this one remained unsolved. But for the 20th anniversary of the riots, all these cases are being looked at again, in hopes of garnering some good PR for the LAPD.

Naturally, the only case that Harry (or pretty much anyone else) finds the most traction on involves a white woman — and Harry starts being pressured by his lieutenant and some even higher to hold off on the investigation for a few months. Naturally, Harry doesn’t take well to that and does what he can to solve this case once and for all. There’s a lot of luck involved in Harry uncovering what he needs here — but that’s the beauty of routine and thorough investigative work — you end up creating your own luck.

Meanwhile, Harry has to deal with a politically-motivated Professional Standards Bureau (Internal Affairs) investigation into a perfectly legitimate activity. The good news for Harry is that the investigator assigned to the case is as driven and thorough as he is. The bad news is that means she’ll be a persistent interference in his life until she uncovers the truth — and that’s the last thing Harry can tolerate.

Of course, there’s a good storyline featuring Harry’s daughter, Maddie. He’s still new to the “Dad” scene, and makes more mistakes with her than he can tolerate — it’s tough enough being a father to a teenage girl, but when the girl is dropped on you because her mother was murdered and you have to be a parent for the first time? You’ve already got 2 strikes on you. As almost superhuman as he is as a cop, as a father? Harry’s very human. It’s good to see.

And if he’s human as a father, as a romantic interest? You have to feel sorry for Hannah Stone, his current main squeeze. Harry’s practically inept. Still, it’s a good storyline, and I’m glad to see that Harry hasn’t blow it (yet) with Hannah.

If you’ve never read Connelly before — the guy can make a trip to a food truck to grab some tacos into a thriller. So he has no problem making a 20 year-old unsolved murder into an edge-of-your-seat experience. You don’t need to have read the previous 15 books in this series to appreciate this one — jump in, the water’s more than fine.

—–

*Not literally, but my kids can attest that my expression conveys that message effectively.

—–

4 Stars

Autumn Bones by Jacqueline Carey

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On November 14, 2013

In Fiction

Autumn Bones
Autumn Bones

by Jacqueline Carey
Hardcover, 424 pg
Roc Hardcover, 2013

I quite enjoyed Carey’s UF debut, the first Agent of Hel book last year, Dark Currents, and was glad to see the sequel pop on my radar this fall. I’m not sure I enjoyed this as much as Dark Currents, but it was close enough, to not spend much time comparing the two.

Half-human/half-incubus, Daisy Johanssen has grown a bit more comfortable in her role as Hel’s Agent on earth — a liaison between human and eldritch communities most of the time, occasional supernatural cop. She’s also grown more comfortable with herself i general, even dating someone regularly — a normal human being, Sinclair Palmer — the Jamaican immigrant we met last time, when he was busy getting various fairies to assist in his tourist bus business.

Except he’s not all that normal. His family, Obeah practitioners, have decided it’s time for him to come home — without taking a millisecond to consult him. He resists this summons — with the assistance of Daisy and most of the local magic practitioners. Mom and sister don’t take this too kindly and proceed to let a restless spirit loose in the town to wreak whatever havoc it can until Sinclair decides to come home.

And havoc is wreaked — so Daisy has to work on both tracking down and trapping this spirit, preventing much more of the town being destroyed, saving Sinclair, and how yeah — figuring out who the guys buying up more and more of the city is.

Meanwhile, Daisy’s working with the Outcast (ghouls) to better understand and use whatever supernatural abilities she has. Not only was it good to see Daisy grow to do more than just wave that magic dagger around, this provided a good opportunity to better understand the Outcast has a group and as individuals. This may have been my favorite part of the book.

There’s a subplot involving the vampire group in town and Daisy’s best friend’s family, carried over from the last book. I liked this a lot more than I expected to when it was reintroduced, and look forward to the exploration of this a bit more in the next novel.

I really could’ve lived without quite as much detail about the sex lives of Daisy (and others), but given this is the author of the Kushiel books* — this is pretty decent. Also, one reference to her friends becoming her Scoobies à la Buffy the Vampire Slayer is enough — I think we got 3 or more here. C’mon, Carey — if we’re reading this, there’s a better than average chance we know the show and have already noticed what’s going on with Daisy’s friends. When you beat the horse like this, it’s just not that sporting.

A well-told story, good characters, actual character development and lots of potential for the series as a while — better than more than a few UF novels I’ve read this year.

—–

* This observation is based solely on impressions I have of the various books by that name, no first hand knoweldge — I could be totally out to lunch.

—–

3 Stars

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

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On November 13, 2013

In Fiction, YA/MG/Children's Books

Steelheart
Steelheart

by Brandon Sanderson
Hardcover, 386 pg.
Delacorte Press, 2013
Series: The Reckoners, #1

This blurb was enough to get me excited about this book:

Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics.

But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his will.

Nobody fights the Epics . . . nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them.

If the book description doesn’t sell this book, I can’t imagine anything I say will. But the story of young David Charleston, orphaned during the takeover of this world by the Epics, fueled by a thirst for vengeance and justice, is one you’d do well to read.*

I wish I could remember what podcast I was listening to recently where they started discussing the difference between DC and Marvel heroes — but I thought of it when I was reading Steelheart. DC heroes, they claimed, jumped at the chance to use their powers to fight evil. Marvel heroes, on the other hand, were reluctant heroes — they have no other choice to do what they do with their powers. In Sanderson’s world, on the other hand, no one with powers wants to do anything for anyone but themselves. Basically, Steelheart is the embodiment of Lord Acton’s maxim, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

This is the YA thriller done right — a lot of action, a hint of romance (no triangle, for which we all owe you thanks, Mr. Sanderson), a solid group of characters, a very bleak looking world, and a central character that doesn’t really fit in — but is driven, more capable than anyone thinks, and in the right place at the right time.

This band of rebels David finds himself working with isn’t as rag-tag as you’d expect — which is an interesting way to approach it. But the Reckoners are rag-tag enough, that even if they weren’t going up against nigh-invulnerable people, you’d still see them as the underdogs. Which you have to see them as, or you won’t be able to root for them. It also helps that we don’t get a good look at the Epics as anything but “The Other” or “The Enemy.” We don’t get the chance to sympathize, to understand, to care about them.

One quibble — some of David’s humor, his references, don’t feel quite right — they don’t seem like the kind of thing a kid who’s been living the kind of life he’s been living for ten years. Actually, most of the humor in the book feels out of place coming from the Reckoners.

That said — David’s wit (as bumbling as it is), Cody’s self-aware eccentricity, the voice this story is told in is what moves this book from “engaging super-hero distopia” to “zowie!” It doesn’t ring true, but it doesn’t matter — Sanderson sells it while you’re reading.

I’m eager to see what Sanderson has for us in this series — where did these powers come from? What are the other groups of Reckoners like? Are we going to see [redacted] again? Is David ever going to figure out how to use figurative language?

—–

*Unless you don’t like super-hero stories, YA adventure, distopian novels, or books that rock, if that’s the case, I can’t help you.

—–

5 Stars

S is for Silence by Sue Grafton

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On November 12, 2013

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

S is for Silence
S is for Silence

by Sue Grafton
Series: Kinsey Millhone, #19

Hardcover, 374 pg.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2005

Grafton’s clearly stretching her craft in these last few books, which is commendable — and, on the whole, pretty successful. Like in Q is for Quarry, Kinsey’s working a cold case, this time she’s not even sure if it’s a missing person or a murder that she’s been hired for.

There’s an interesting pattern to these chapters — one or two in Kinsey’s present, and then a chapter from the Point of View of one of the people that knew the subject of her investigation a couple of decades before. Not only is this a stylistic leap for Grafton, it’s pretty interesting for her to be giving the reader that much more insight into the characters. But overall, I wasn’t crazy about seeing how every one’s a liar, before or after they talk to Kinsey. I’d rather watch Kinsey discover the lie, or see that they’re lying, rather than we readers knowing that and Kinsey being lost.

As we move along, we are given a more complex look at our victim than Grafton’s usually able to provide. We get to know her better and better each time we’re given a look at the past. We see how various people saw her through their perspectives and end up caring a lot more about her when we learn what happened to her than we normally would.

I’m not convinced that the case itself was that interesting, but the way that Grafton told it was very interesting and raised the level of the book. Making this satisfying in a way that Kinsey stories usually aren’t.

Grafton essentially ignores the ongoing family and romance stories she’s been pursuing lately — a nice break, but hopefully she returns to them soon — as much growth as the books have displayed lately, it’d be nice if Kinsey could catch up.

Grafton took a chance this time, and it paid off. Hope she keeps stretching herself as eh move on towards Z.

—–

3.5 Stars

Dusted Off: The Riddle of the Wren by Charles de Lint

By

On November 11, 2013

In Fiction

The Riddle of the WrenThe Riddle of the Wren

by Charles de Lint

This was not the best fantasy I’ve read lately, and I know (well, strongly believe) I’m going to read at least one this year that will dwarf its quality by a magnitude I can’t calculate. BUT…

there pretty much has to be a but here, right?

BUT…this character, this world (better, these worlds), the supporting characters…there’s something about them all that just works. More than works, charms you and wins you over.

de Lint does a great job of introducing the incremental changes happening to Minda as she journeys to and through worlds she didn’t know did or could exist until she’s thrown into them. Not only the changes that are happening to her that she’s unaware of, but the ones she sees–and decides to make in herself–as she travels. It’s absolutely believable, utterly winning.

—–

4 Stars

The Arrivals by Melissa Marr

By

On November 7, 2013

In Western

The Arrivals
The Arrivals

by Melissa Marr
Hardcover, 274 pgs.
William Morrow, 2013

This is a very hard book to describe, which is a positive in this case — a portal fantasy involving sympathetic vampires, semi-domesticated dragons, outlaws and magic — in a Wild West-ish setting. On second thought, guess it’s not that tough to describe after all.

That may sound like Marr’s tried to throw too many things into the mix, and technically she made have — but she made it work well enough to get through almost 300 pages. Decades ago, a brother and sister (Kitty and Jack) from the Berkeley Area in the late 1800’s vanish and reappear in a new world, called The Wasteland. Some time later, they’re joined by others — including a Prohibition-era mobster, Edgar and then others from various periods in America. And other than one particular event in their background, there’s virtually nothing these people have in common.

Once they arrive in The Wasteland — each new person has to make a decision, to live with Jack and “The Arrivals” or to become a henchman to a pretty twisted proto-mafioso. Independence or some sort of servitude. The majority opt for the security and safety of the latter.

Oh, did I mention there are demon-summoning monks roaming around?

Jack and his people make ends meet doing odds and ends for the local governor, and other miscellaneous figures. Just trying to eke out a living, have a little left over for fun (read: whiskey).

It could be coincidence, it could be a matter of timing, or maybe it’s just the new presence of someone who showed up from 2013 Earth — but things that have been pretty much the same for decades start to change — and the Wasteland will never be the same.
quickly develop into well-rounded characters. This is probably Marr’s strength (not a knock on anything else she did here), as we see that the heroes aren’t always that heroic, most of the villains aren’t that bad either (most of them).

It’s a fun read, a quick read in an incredible world, with well-build and realized characters. Worth your time.

—–

3 Stars

Opening Lines – Straight Man

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On November 6, 2013

In Blog Series, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, 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–and I love this cover). 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 throw it up here. In this selection, we learn everything — practically everything, anyway — we that need to know about our narrator, the next 300+ pages is just filling in the details.
I love this kind of opening.

—–

Truth be told, I’m not an easy man. I can be an entertaining one, though it’s been my experience that most people don’t want to be entertained. They want to be comforted. And, of course, my idea of entertaining might not be yours. I’m in complete agreement with all those people who say, regarding movies, “I just want to be entertained.” This populist position is much derided by my academic colleagues as simpleminded and unsophisticated, evidence of questionable analytical and critical acuity. But I agree with the premise, and I too just want to be entertained. That I am almost never entertained by what entertains other people who just want to be entertained doesn’t make us philosophically incompatible. It just means we shouldn’t go to movies together.
The kind of man I am, according to those who know me best, is exasperating. According to my parents, I was an exasperating child as well. They divorced when I was in junior high school, and they agree on little except that I was an impossible child.

from Straight Man by Richard Russo

Must Kill TV by Ken Levine

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On November 6, 2013

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

Must Kill TV
Must Kill TV

by Ken Levine
Kindle, 144 pg.
Amazon Digital Services, Inc., 2013

If anyone knows the ins and outs of TV production and networks, it’s Ken Levine. And a quick look at his blog shows that if anyone can talk about the subject with panache, understanding, and levity, it’s definitely Ken Levine.

Charles Muncie is a network president in trouble — he really only has one hit show (and the way he got that show is both utterly ridiculous and probably closer to reality than it should be), and if he doesn’t hang on to it — he won’t last though the next commercial break. So, Muncie becomes a lap dog to the star — a comedian that America thinks is a great guy, but is actually a complete tool. Muncie finds himself doing all sorts of things for the star — filling sandbags before dawn, and arranging a murder. Things go from bad to worse, and even worse from there.

The characters are more types than people — which is pretty much par for the course for a satire, particularly one as one as broad as this. Although, Muncie seems a bit too moral for a typical Hollywood executive, so maybe there’s more characterization than I want to give Levine credit for.

The book is full of nods, allusions and references to movies and television shows and personalities — both real and fictional (a David Caruso sitcom?). This is Levine’s meat and potatoes. This is what takes the book from a pretty straight-forward (yet hapless) murder for hire plot and turns it into something worth reading. Muncie’s internal monologue is the best part of this — he free associates his way from dealing with his real problems, to memories of his childhood (and the TV he watched), to potential new shows, and observations on Hollywood and all points in between. As his life spirals further and further out of control, these associations become longer, stranger and funnier.

A fun, quick, read with just enough excitement to keep the plot moving and enough laughs that you wish it wouldn’t end.

—
Note: I was provided a copy of this book by the author in exchange for a review.

—–

3.5 Stars

Dusted Off: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

By

On November 4, 2013

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

The HelpThe Help

by Kathryn Stockett
Paperback, 522 pg.
Berkley Publishing Group, 2011

I had very low expectations going into this one–and was pretty much reading it only to placate my wife and mother. I expected a slow, dry and drab book about the woes of domestic help under the oppressive thumb of racism; overwritten, overly-sentimental, impressed with its own importance and appealing primarily to Oprah viewers.

Yeah, I can be snob, what’s your point?

This is a book with zing–I couldn’t believe how quickly I read it, there’s a lot of life to Stockett’s language and it carries you right through. And while no one could confuse this for a comedy, it’s very funny–laugh out loud funny in a couple of instances. The laughs being rooted in–and surrounded by–tragedy serve to make this feel realistic, this could be a non-fiction work and it’d be fairly believable.

I tired early on of the novel reminding me over and over that these women were “brave” and doing something “important” and “dangerous.” Eventually Stockett stopped telling me that, and showed me their bravery and why what they were doing was important and dangerous–and that’s when the novel really took off. But that’s really my only quibble.

It’d have been very easy to make the characters into cookie-cutter racists, black-hearted villains with no redeeming qualities, wholly bent on oppression of their servants. But The Help avoids that. The “worst” character is just a horrid person–and she’d be a horrid person if she appeared in book about the travails of au pairs in the Hamptons rather than a book about the struggles of black housekeepers. Conversely, the heroines here aren’t paragons of virtue–they are flawed, they are frightened they are ruled by their society, too (just not as much as other people are).

This is a very, very good book that deserves to be read (and will reward the reader in turn), and deserves most of the accolades it’s getting. No, it’s not nearly as good as To Kill A Mockingbird, despite what the endorsements may say–but that’s okay, very few books are, and that shouldn’t detract from how wonderful a book this is.

—–

5 Stars

Dusted Off: That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo

By

On November 4, 2013

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

That Old Cape MagicThat Old Cape Magic

by Richard Russo
Hardcover, 261 pg.
Knopf, 2009

I feel a little odd giving something by a legendary guy like Russo 2 out of 5 stars, but…eh. It was either not as funny as it was trying to be (while telling a serious story), or it was a serious (somewhat tragic) book that accidentally elicited chuckles. Either way, not entirely successful. It felt like Richard Russo tried to write a Jonathan Tropper novel and didn’t quite pull it off.

Well-written to be sure, and not a waste of reading time…but it wasn’t what it could’ve been. Sorta like the marriages the book talked about that were crumbling in the light of the two nascent ones.

—–

2 Stars

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