Tag: 4 1/2 Stars Page 2 of 30

DETAILS:
Series: Dreams of Dust and Steel, #2
Publisher: Chainbreaker Books
Publication Date: June 11, 2025
Format: eARC
Length: 606 pg.
Read Date: May 24-30, 2025

Caveat Lector

I’ve yet to write a word of this post, but I’m going to tell you now that I’m going to end up spoiling some things from the first book—there’s just no way to talk about this book without it. I will try to keep them vague if I can’t avoid them, but they will be there.

But also, why are you reading this post if you haven’t read the first book? Read The Price of Power and I predict you’ll move on to the rest reflexively (as many of “the rest” are out when you finish, that is).

Still, be careful what you read from here.

What’s A Graveyard for Heroes About?

The first book was very focused—well, as much as you can be with 4 characters/storylines. You saw the impending (or not so impending) collapse of the nation/confederation in the background (to one degree or another) of three of the storylines, but the reader’s focus was rarely on that—it was these people getting to know them and their immediate circle. Through them you started to understand the world, its cultures, its history.

In the closing chapters of the book, the first visible domino of the collapse falls over.

In Graveyard, we keep our focus on these characters—but we also see the ongoing collapse, the ongoing treason (and the treason within that movement), and how it’s affecting not just the characters we got to know in The Price of Power, but also in others—faces and names new and old.

The story grows grander, our perspective enlarges—and assuming that the pre-Price status quo was as good as it could be, this civilization is in trouble from many sides.

*There are several reasons to believe the system could be better—as every system could be and every character we got to know recognized. But the stability, order, and painfully slow opportunities for reform were there.

The Missing Character?

Of the four characters/groups of characters that were the focus in the first book, one seemed to be almost missing. Not entirely, but so close that it’d be easy to miss.

Unless of course, their name/appearance has changed. I’ve spent a good amount of time thinking about this, and am pretty sure I’ve made up my mind about what I think. (at the same time, I’m ready for Michel to show me how I missed something).

Regardless, it’s fun to chew on.

Thephus

When we saw him last, his fate seemed uncertain. Frankly, I’m even less sure about what’s going on with him now. It’s as frustrating as it is satisfying to see Michel not giving us all the answers.

While I liked the guy—and felt bad for him—from the time we met him. My respect for him as a person has grown—he’s a well-conceived and complex character. Not just complex, he’s pretty confusing, too. Moreso to himself than anyone else. I wonder who will figure him out first—the reader or Thephus himself?

Just because his storyline bothers me and leaves me with more questions at the end of every one of his chapters doesn’t mean I think him any less. On the contrary, I think that sentence applies to every single chapter he’s been featured in since his introduction.

So much is going to make sense to us when we do get answers—and if all we’re doing now is piling up the questions, how much more satisfying will it be? Also, the part of this world that Thephus and those like him inhabit is more than intriguing.

So, what did I think about A Graveyard for Heroes?

This is me speculating here, as my precognition abilities are on the blink right now. But I’m guessing that you can make the case for Books 1 and 2 of Dreams of Dust and Steel serve as a massive prequel for an epic trilogy. To borrow a phrase from the back cover, “The pieces are set. The gameboard is chosen.” And now…things are going to really get going.

I can only imagine that as grim as things look here for our heroes…but also, our villains…by the end of book three, they’ll all wish that they were back in these events. But man…there’s not a lot of positive in this book—at least not plotwise.

There’s a whole lot of positive things to say about the writing, storytelling, and characters. So much so that I know I’ve left off things I’ve told myself “You gotta mention this.” For example, there’s a treat for people who miss Tyrion Lannister’s personality.

And just because I said prequel—I am not suggesting that these books are skippable. They’re not—you’d be robbing yourself of so much. There’s a character we meet in this book, for example, on the worst day of her life. She quickly became one of my favorites of the series. I reached out to Michel and was assured that we’d see her again—but based on what we saw here, there’s nothing inherent in her story that demands it. He could’ve closed the door on her and moved on—and it’d have been worth it just to wsee hat we got here. (I’d go into this deeper in a spoiler-rich conversation if anyone is interested).

My point is, the book is full of things that like that—the overall plot and seeing what happens with the characters we already know are the big ticket items. But this world and how Michel is telling its story is so rich, so full of moments that will stay with you, that even if these first to novels are “merely” setting it up for the bigger stuff to come—you want to read them.

This is a fantasy novel, and like most of them, this features some very important fight scenes, as well as a few battle scenes. Frankly, I find the smaller combat scenes more satisfying—and I usually do, that’s probably more of a personal taste thing. The larger battle scenes were really well done, and were largely haunting. The one-on-one fights/small group vs. small group/one-on-small group fights were much more satisfying (and somewhat haunting, too). They had me in much more suspense than the others. I audibly reacted to the last one focusing on Ishoa—I think you could see that particular point in her arc coming (either in this book or not), but actually seeing it made me cheer and pump my fist.

I may have shouted at my ereader for what the last page held—especially once I realized it was the last page, and not simply the end of a chapter.

What I’m saying is that once Michel stopped setting up his dominoes and started the reactions, you’re going to care. You’re going to be reeling. You’re going to wonder—”just where is he taking this?” while not caring that much because the ride is so fun.

I don’t remember the last time I was this invested in a Fantasy series. I suggest you all hop on board.

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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The Core of the Christian Faith by Michael W. Goheen: How (and why) to Be Salt and Light Today

By HCNewton

On June 8, 2025

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

The Core of the Christian Faith: Living the Gospel for the Sake of the World

by Michael W. Goheen

DETAILS:
Publisher: Brazos Press
Publication Date: June 17, 2025
Format: eARC
Length: 256 pg.
Read Date: March 30-April 13, 2025

What’s The Core of the Christian Faith About?

This work lays out some concrete steps for the Church to disciple her members to help those around them—for the sake of the Gospel, and because of the mission to be salt and light that we’ve been given.

He starts with tracing the Biblical narrative—how Abraham was called to be a light to the nations, how the rest of the Old Testament showed Israel’s successes and failures to live that mission. Then he shows how that looks in the New Testament. With that as the background, Goheen then calls us to—and shows us ways to—bring this to life in our contemporary Church and Culture.

Let me show you the Table of Contents for a clearer look at how Goheen goes about things:

Contents

1. An Opening Appeal
2. Reading the Bible as Jesus Did
Part 1: The Gospel of the Kingdom
3. What Is the Gospel?
4. The True Context of the Gospel
5. The Whole Truth of the Gospel
6. Continuing in the Gospel
Part 2: The Biblical Story
7. Israel’s Story, Part 1: The Book of Moses
8. Israel’s Story, Part 2: Life in the Land
9. The End of the Story, Part 1: Jesus
10. The End of the Story, Part 2: Mission and Consummation
11. The Urgency of Reading the Bible as One Story
Part 3: God’s Missional People
12. The Missional Vocation of God’s People
13. A Missional People Today, Part 1: Scattered Life
14. A Missional People Today, Part 2: Gathered Life
Part 4: A Missionary Encounter with Culture
15. A Missionary Encounter with Western Culture Today
16. The Story of the West
17. The Spirit of Postmodernity
18. The Spirit of Economic Modernity
19. The Spirit of Consumerism
20. A Closing Appeal

Highlights

As I will say later, almost all of the book is a highlight—if there are any places I would quibble with his argument or the way he’s making it, they’re so minor as to be ignored.

Still, I think Parts 3 and 4 are the most vital/urgent segments of the book—I’d call out chapters 13 and 14 for particular notice. They’re just fantastic (and that’s the best I can do without reproducing his argument without his detail, so what’s the point?).

This is not me saying that you’d be okay skipping the first two parts—you need the foundation to really appreciate the flow of his argument. But most readers aren’t going to learn a lot from them—very similar tracings of the Biblical story are told elsewhere, perhaps not with Goheen’s particular angle, insight, or drive—but still, you’re going to feel like you’re on familiar ground.

Cultural Sanctification

Last year, when I talked about Stephen O. Presley’s Cultural Sanctification: Engaging the World Like the Early Church, I said:

His position is, to over-simplify: through a focus on catechesis (or, if you prefer, discipleship) and liturgy (or, if you prefer, worship) the Church was able to build identity and community, able to live out the lives they were called to and to impact—slowly and organically—the culture around them.

What Presley was calling the Church to (back to) by looking at the Early Church, is pretty much what Goheen is calling the Church to through his biblical and theological work. It struck me more than once that these two books were echoing each other.

I thought it was important for Presley to say what he said, and I think the same for Goheen’s work.

A Feature or a Bug?

Goheen is clearly part of the Reformed stream of Protestantism—and he doesn’t seem that shy about it. That said, there is little (if anything) distinctively Reformed about this book and what he’s calling the evangelical church to.

This is a bug in that it robs his message of much of its power, particularly when it comes to Reformed worship or sacramentology. Both of those could really augment his call to action, reminding his readers of the ways that the Lord equips His Church for their mission.

On the other hand, there’s nothing here that will put off the non-Reformed reader. And I think that’s the point, a (somewhat) watered-down vision for the mission of the Church in favor of a wider audience.

I do think the book would be stronger if there was a full-throated Reformed thrust to the argument. But I’m not sure how much stronger it would be—nor am I sure if it would be worth it. There’s nothing here to stop a Reformed reader from endorsing the argument, and there’s no roadblock for someone who is trying really hard not to be Reformed to endorse it, either.

So, what did I think about The Core of the Christian Faith?

Early on, I wrote a note that I could easily highlight this whole book—and resolved to restrain myself*. I’m not sure how well that worked, I have 21 pages worth of quotations/notes in this 256 page book. Here’s where I, the publisher, and you are all very happy that I don’t have a published copy to quote from. This would be a long post.

* And partway through Chapter 13, I said, “It would be easy to highlight entire chapters of this book.” It’s good to see that even if I don’t remember what I noted, I was at least consistent.

I thought this was insightful, visionary, and a clarion call to the Church—in her Reformed, Evangelical, or other streams. Yes, the idea of missiological churches seems to be passé—mostly because it was overused (and often used incorrectly). But that doesn’t mean the need for missiological churches is gone—it’s just that we’re tired of talking about it. Hopefully, Goheen and like-minded people will help us get over it (or will find a new label for us to embrace while sticking with the same ideas).

Early on, Goheen states that this book is intended to be a shorter book at a more popular level than some of his other work. Now, it’s been nine years since I read his A Light to the Nations, but I don’t remember it being at a particularly non-popular level (but I don’t know about his other work), so that struck me as an odd comment. Regardless, this is an easy-to-approach book. But it’s not an easy read—it will make you think. It will make you reconsider some things. It will encourage you to act.

None of these things are drawbacks—far from it. But one shouldn’t pick this up and think that you’ll breeze through it.

I strongly encourage the reader to pick this up and chew on the ideas—and may it spur you to action, for the sake of the world.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Brazos Press via NetGalley in exchange for this post which contains my honest opinion—thanks to both for this.

4 1/2 Stars

Dark Neon & Dirt by Thomas Trang: Pressure’s High Just to Stay Alive ‘Cause the Heat is On

By HCNewton

On June 2, 2025

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

Dark Neon & Dirt

by Thomas Trang,

DETAILS:
Publisher: Shotgun Honey Books
Publication Date: March 18, 2025
Format: eARC
Length: 320 pg.
Read Date: April 15-18, 2024

What’s Dark Neon & Dirt About?

I’ve tried 6 different versions of this, and have ended up saying something I regret each time. Let’s see if I can nail it this time. I’m thinking of a recipe.

Ingredients

1 child who escaped Vietnam right after the fall of Saigon, who learned to defuse bombs to serve in Iraq, and is now one of LA’s most successful thieves
1 LAPD lieutenant whose driving interest (not quite an obsession, but you never know) is finding out this thief’s identity and apprehending him. I’m not sure if he cares about the order. His other interests? Best if you don’t know
1 member of the FBI’s Art Crime Team who decided that opening a gallery in France seemed like a more lucrative way to spend her time
A generous amount of LA Noir to season

Directions

Combine the robber, cop, and seasoning, mix well.
Slowly pour in the gallerist.
Bring to rolling boil over a sweaty LA heat.
Serve hot.

Heat

If Trang isn’t one of Michael Mann’s biggest fans, he’s sure acting like it. Or at least the narrative voice of this book is. I was to wrapped up in things to count, but there were a number of direct references and allusions to Heat. Enough that there’s no way that the reader is not supposed to pay attention to as many as you can catch.

That said—despite what I expected after the first couple of references—beyond it being about a fairly successful thief being chased by a detective, and the cat-and-mouse between them and the biggest score in the thief’s career, there’s very little overlap.

I’m pretty sure if you enjoyed Heat that this is going to be right up your alley. But that’s true of people who enjoyed Winslow’s Crime 101, or any good cop-and-robbers story.

So, what did I think about Dark Neon & Dirt?

I want to say a lot about this book, but I’m afraid I’ll spill more than you want me to, prospective reader. Although…even saying that there’s something to spill is sort of accomplishing that anyway. I’m just not going to win here.

This grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. I rarely—if ever—knew just where he was taking the story or the characters. And even if I was right about something, it felt more like a lucky guess than me understanding what Trang’s plan was. That’s from the first scene to the last—and all stops in between.

It’s hard to elaborate on this, but let me make a couple of notes on character. Once you put down the novel for the last time, I expect you’ll take a couple of minutes and re-evaluate almost every choice made by the majority of the characters. You’ll also find yourself appreciating the way that every character felt like a new twist on a tried-and-true favorite type. You find yourself getting annoyed with, if not actively disliking, characters who would be the protagonists/heroes of pretty much every other crime novel you can think of. Most of the rest will generate a good deal of ambivalent feelings for you (eventually, in the moment, you’ll be pulling for their success).

Honestly, I’m still revising my thoughts on a couple of characters as I type this up.

One thing you won’t revise is how these people think and talk—especially talk. You all know how much I’m a sucker for good dialogue, and Trang did not disappoint. Especially Lt. Monroe, something about his lines endeared him to me.

I mentioned Winslow above, and this is just the kind of story he’d tell—Trang doesn’t have Winslow’s style (yet), but his voice and story-telling choices are similar. I can also see this as an outline that Elmore Leonard would work from. For a debut novel, it’s hard to ask for more than that.

Within a chaper or two, I pretty much felt like Trang came over and sat down too close to me on some bench, so I had to slide over a bit before introducing himself and telling me that I needed to make some room on my shelves between Tolkein and Tropper because he intended on filling it over the next few years.

Trang’s got the chops—I cannot wait to see what comes next. I strongly encourage crime readers (particularly those with an affinity for novels that live in the gray areas) to pick this up, while I go reorganize my shelves.

Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this ARC by the author a day or two before I was going to order it, so it really didn’t affect my opinion of it–he just saved me a few bucks. (and I paid him back by not posting this on time, he really didn’t come out good in this deal).

4 1/2 Stars

REPOSTING: Breaking Bread with the Dead by Alan Jacobs: Interacting with the Classics from a Contemporary Perspective in Order to Learn and Critique

By HCNewton

On May 23, 2025

In Non-Fiction

Earlier this year, I re-read three books by Alan Jacobs in what he styles as a trilogy of sorts (my paraphrase), with the intention of writing new, longer, posts about them all–or maybe one mega-post about all three. Neither of those happened, and I’m pretty sure it’s not going to happen this year–as much as they deserve it. But I still wanted to reflect on them a bit and call your attention to them. So, I’m just going to repost what I’ve said before–this one, in particular, deserves much more than I gave it. I maybe should try again next year.

Breaking Bread with the Dead: A Reader’s Guide to a More Tranquil Mind

by Alan Jacobs

Hardcover, 192 pg.
Penguin Press, 2020

Read: September 26-October 15, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s Breaking Bread with the Dead About?

If I tried to summarize this book (unless I read it 3-4 more times), it would be out-of-control, just me blathering on for 4+ pages. So, let’s have mercy on us all and just appropriate what’s on the publisher’s site:

From the author of HOW TO THINK and THE PLEASURES OF READING IN AN AGE OF DISTRACTION, a literary guide to engaging with the voices of the past to stay sane in the present

W. H. Auden once wrote that “art is our chief means of breaking bread with the dead.” In his brilliant and compulsively readable new treatise, Breaking Bread with the Dead, Alan Jacobs shows us that engaging with the strange and wonderful writings of the past might help us live less anxiously in the present–and increase what Thomas Pynchon once called our “personal density.”

Today we are battling too much information in a society changing at lightning speed, with algorithms aimed at shaping our every thought–plus a sense that history offers no resources, only impediments to overcome or ignore. The modern solution to our problems is to surround ourselves only with what we know and what brings us instant comfort. Jacobs’s answer is the opposite: to be in conversation with, and challenged by, those from the past who can tell us what we never thought we needed to know.

What can Homer teach us about force? How does Frederick Douglass deal with the massive blind spots of America’s Founding Fathers? And what can we learn from modern authors who engage passionately and profoundly with the past? How can Ursula K. Le Guin show us truths about Virgil’s female characters that Virgil himself could never have seen? In Breaking Bread with the Dead, a gifted scholar draws us into close and sympathetic engagement with texts from across the ages, including the work of Anita Desai, Henrik Ibsen, Jean Rhys, Simone Weil, Edith Wharton, Amitav Ghosh, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Italo Calvino, and many more.

By hearing the voices of the past, we can expand our consciousness, our sympathies, and our wisdom far beyond what our present moment can offer.

So, what did I think about Breaking Bread with the Dead?

Really, what I want to do at this point is to write a series of posts about this book (probably not one per chapter, I could probably combine a couple of chapters together). But really, they’d be the equivalent of those old Chris Farley SNL interviews, “So, you remember X? Yeah…that was cool.”

I’m not saying this book is perfect, but it’s insightful, it’s thought-provoking, and it’s impossible to read without feeling a whole lot more well-read than you are* and (simultaneously) be inspired to read more and more widely. This is essentially true of everything Jacobs writes, I have to admit, so that’s not news. But it’s accurate.

* This is not necessarily true for you, just me.

At the end of the day, you may not agree with every way that Jacobs applies his principles for reading outside your time/culture/perspective, but those principles he enumerates are pretty sound—and at the very least provide a starting point. I think Jacobs is right more than he’s not, and even when I’m not convinced by him, I still find a lot to value.

Get it, chew on it, see if you can apply it yourself.

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.

Class Clown by Dave Barry: A Chuckle-Filled Peek Behind the Curtain

By HCNewton

On May 16, 2025

In (Auto)Biography, Dave Barry, Humor, Non-Fiction

Class Clown:
The Memoirs of a Professional Wiseass: How I Went 77 Years Without Growing Up

by Dave Barry,

DETAILS:
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: May 13, 2025
Format: eARC
Length: 256 pg.
Read Date: May 4-6, 2025

What’s Class Clown About?

It’s really all there in the subtitle: it’s Dave Barry’s memoirs about his career as a professional wiseass—primarily through his humor column, but he’s found other outlets for it, too.

Here’s some of the jacket copy to help beef that up:

America’s most beloved wiseass finally tells his life story with all the humor you’d expect from a man who made a career out of making fun of pretty much everything.

How does the son of a Presbyterian minister wind up winning a Pulitzer Prize for writing a wildly inaccurate newspaper column read by millions of people?

In Class Clown, Dave Barry takes us on a hilarious ride, starting with a childhood largely spent throwing rocks for entertainment—there was no internet—and preparing for nuclear war by hiding under a classroom desk. After literally getting elected class clown in high school, he went to college, where, as an English major, he read snippets of great literature when he was not busy playing in a rock band (it was the sixties).

He began his journalism career at a small-town Pennsylvania newspaper where he learned the most important rule of local journalism: never confuse a goose with a duck. His journey then took a detour into the business world, where as a writing consultant he spent years trying, with limited success, to get corporate folks to, for God’s sake, get the point. Somehow from there he wound up as a humor columnist for The Miami Herald, where his boss was a wild man who encouraged him to write about anything that struck him as amusing and to never worry about alienating anyone…

Class Clown isn’t just a memoir; it’s a vibrant celebration of a life rich with humor, absurdity, joy, and sadness. Dave says the most important wisdom imparted by his Midwestern parents was never to take anything too seriously. This laughter-filled book is proof that he learned that lesson well.

His Origin Story

The first four chapters are the most autobiographical part of the book—a little less than 50% of it. Here we cover his parents, his childhood, schooling, and early career—from his first newspaper job, his detour through business education, and then finding his way back to journalism and becoming a humor columnist.

This is all the nitty-gritty stuff—what were his parents like? (nothing like you’d guess) What did his childhood entail? (bad jokes and throwing things) What did he write before making money with booger jokes? And so on.

This was the more educational—in a good way, I stress—part. He wrote about is parents, in particular, with warmth and humanity. He was open about some of their struggles, but with sensitivity. I really appreciated the way he talked about his marriages—past and present—very briefly, yet definitively. There is some humor, but it’s largely self-directed, or at the culture he and his parents were in.

This is really the kind of thing you come to a memoir for, and Barry did it well. He quotes some of his more serious (and some of his less-serious) columns here to show what he’s said about these things in the past.

Topical Memories

A little over half the book is devoted to what I’m describing as “Topical Memories”—he has a chapter on things like “My Readers,” “Politics,” and “Books, Music, and Movies.” In these, he relates a collection of stories and anecdotes from all over his career along these lines.

So we get stories about the great things his readers have sent him—and some of the less positive things they’ve said. Scandals he created—inadvertently or not. How he was involved in Obama’s first inaugural parade, or had Bruce Springsteen sing backup for him, how he accidentally offended an audience of Russians by screening one of his films. I particularly enjoyed him talking about his feud with his Neil Diamond-loving readers (I’m a pretty big Diamond fan, but thought Barry’s jokes were good and deserved, for what it’s worth)

There are several extended quotations from his columns here—and we get a lot of the stories behind the columns, too. Not the nuts-and-bolts of how he wrote them, but what led to them.

If the Origin Story chapters were educational—this was recess. Just a lot of fun and goofing off, telling wild stories and recounting past glories (and blunders). It was exactly the kind of thing that Barry readers pick up his books for.

The Appendix

I don’t frequently talk about appendices; they’re supplemental material, and I prefer to focus on the main portion of the book, but every now and then, one comes along that demands attention.

For example (as you might have guessed), this appendix. It was a hoot—its title is “A Good Name for a Rock Band.” Barry (like many of us) will frequently pick up on a phrase from something he quoted and say it would be a good name for a rock band (also known by the super-easy and memorable acronym WBAGNFARB). After discussing this practice a bit, Barry gives a non-exhaustive, but extensive list of some of those bands.

I think reading them in context is best—but you definitely can appreciate them in a different way with no context whatsoever. They are definitely more ridiculous that way.

It’s worth picking the book up from the shelf at your local bookstore/library just to read those few pages. (Of course, you’d be better served by reading the whole thing). Even people who don’t have a background with Barry will find some laughs there.

So, what did I think about Class Clown?

I’m fairly certain at this point in my life that I’m hardwired to enjoy Davy Barry’s writing, and that I don’t have the neuroplasticity to change that. No matter what apps for seniors I try. So maybe take this with a softball-sized grain of salt.

I really enjoyed this book. A lot—and on several levels.

Part of me would’ve liked a little more depth, a little more digging into details of his life, maybe his approach to writing. But it’d just feel strange knowing that much about Barry—and we all know what happens to a joke when you dissect it, knowing too much about how his sausage is made might not be that entertaining. Really, for Dave Barry—this is about as deep as we want. Every time I started to say “I wish he’d given us more about X,” I stopped myself and realized that no, this was just the right amount.

So no, it’s not as self-revealing as say, Patrick Stewart’s or Matthew Perry’s books—and that’s good.

This is a great way to get to know Barry a little better—given the nature of his work, a lot of us have had a para-social relationship with him before that was a phrase people used. It’s nice for us to deepen that relationship to a degree—before we get back to jokes about exploding cows, questionable song lyrics, or whatever.

I heartily encourage readers of Dave Barry to pick this up—even casual readers will have fun with this, you don’t have to be a die-hard like me. He’s one of a kind, and it’s great to bask in that for a little while.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Simon & Schuster via NetGalley in exchange for this post which contains my honest opinion—thanks to both for this.

4 1/2 Stars

The Price of Power by Michael Michel: An Addictive and Powerful Multi-Threaded Fantasy Novel

By HCNewton

On April 14, 2025

In Dreams of Dust and Steel, Fantasy, Fiction

I talked about this book before I finished reading it a week or so ago, but I wanted to make some corrections to bad guesses/assumptions and then just talk about things in general now that I’m finished. But yes, a lot of this material is reused.

The Price of Power

by Michael Michel

DETAILS:
Series: Dreams of Dust and Steel, #1
Publisher: Chainbreaker Books
Publication Date: April 2, 2025
Format: eARC
Length: 498 pg.
Read Date: March 29-April 4, 2025

What’s The Price of Power About?

This is not the easiest question to answer, I’ll tell you right now. The title really sums it up well, this is a story about what power costs—political, familial, monetary, military, personal, magical.

But that’s not much of a plot, that’s more of a description. There are four plotlines—that somewhat overlap, but most of that overlap is promised for Book Two and beyond. But the further you read, the more you see how they are intertwined even if most of the characters don’t see/understand that yet.

So I’m going to steal a little from the blurb that Michel sent me (and that I posted recently) to give some quick thoughts about each plotline.

“A mad prophet determined to control reality”

This is the hardest one to talk about, primarily because this storyline is full of symbolism, visions, dreams, and magic. The point of view character and most of the people him aren’t sure what is going on—what’s real, what’s a dream, and what’s their imagination. Those who do know what’s going on are either lying, deluded, or a supernatural entity who is trying to trick the humans.

I was engrossed, though. I may not have understood it all, but I was hooked by what I did figure out. By the last chapter of this storyline? I was gobsmacked. While I felt like I should’ve understood what Michel was going for early on, there was no reason for me to have. It was one of those situations where an author did something fairly unexpected, but did it so well that you couldn’t imagine any other way it could’ve gone.

“A dead prince who isn’t dead”

This, on the other hand, is a straightforward story about a prince whose thirst for vengeance—driven by rage and grief—led to a type of destruction that might make Tywin Lannister take a step back.

Now he’s just trying to avoid contact with everyone, denying who he is, dwelling on what he did, and what it cost him (the price he paid, to make it less than subtle). You almost feel sorry for him and wish he’d snap out of his self-pity and self-destruction when he needs to (which is right about the time we meet him). But also…if anyone should hate themselves, it’s hard to argue against him.

The action in these chapters is just great—the prince and his allies face off against some very vile criminals. The fight scenes will get your blood pumping—and maybe a fist or two (but not every time). There are horrors—and the closest you’ll get to grins in this book.

Barodane is set up for a redemption story. But I’m not convinced that’s what Michel has in mind. Of all these four plots, this is the one I’m most invested in because of some of the surrounding characters.

“An orphan with hero’s blood”

This, too, feels like a familiar fantasy story. A princess raised to take the place of her dead parents leading the nation through a tumultuous time, with everyone wondering if she is capable of doing the job. You just can’t help but feel bad for this girl. She’s got the weight of the world on her shoulders (or at least the weight of a nation), and pressures and expectations on her are as high as can be.

On the one hand, what she’s called upon to do (so far) is easier than the rest—but her age and visibility even out the scales a bit. I like her, I like her teachers and her animal companion. But honestly, everyone else in her immediate circle could be wiped out and the only reason I’d care is because of the impact it’d have on those four.

I’m pretty sure that I’ve spent a decent amount of time leaning forward during her chapters like you do during a tense part of a film (am I the only one who does that while reading?). A lot of the turns her story took were expected—but not all of them were. And a couple left me reeling.

“And a powerful seer “

This is a hard storyline to work through. This grandmother/Obi-Wan figure is a tough old lady, having to act tougher than she really is to do what she has to. Her ability to see time and reality have shown her what needs to happen, and the price she and her grandson will have to pay.

Michel keeps the details vague at this point—but you get to see enough to keep you invested and eager to learn alongside her grandson. If, as I/the title/and I think the author say, this book is about the price you pay for power—this seer has paid a hefty price already and is preparing to pay a bigger price. She’s also caused (and plans on causing) others to pay—it’s a little unclear who benefited from them paying great prices, but the seer would claim it’s for the greater good (and probably believes that).

There’s a very cool magic battle in this story—at least one, anyway—and just knowing that this kind of thing is possible around this woman will keep you invested, even if you weren’t inclined to be anyway.

This seer is very much in the Elizabeth Best (from The Thursday Murder Club)/Taishi (from The Art of Prophecy)/Akina Azure (from Partial Function) mold of scarily competent elderly characters. Barodane might be a frighteningly violent warrior, but honestly, this woman would worry me more if I lived in this world. The way she’s tied to every other storyline just makes me want to understand her more than her own did.

Dramatis personae

There’s a lengthy (or maybe my e-reader font is just set large enough that it seems that way) dramatis personae at the beginning of the novel—if you’re like me, keep it open on your phone while you use an e-reader for easy reference. If you got your hands on a paper copy, keep a bookmark there—you’re going to want to check it often for the first third or so (results may vary on your attention span or memory).

Even if you don’t rely on it, it’s a good way to think about the book—4 rosters of characters to get to know now.

I expect that those who survive will get tossed together like a salad in the ensuing novels.

How the Novel Works

This isn’t a “Book One: Barodane”, “Book Two: Princess” kind of thing where each book tells the complete story of each character. Each character/storyline gets a chapter and then it moves on to the next, and keeps rotating that way. There are some variations from the pattern, but it holds more often than not—and any of the variations only serve to push the story forward.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to chapters—a lot of authors will close an idea, or a time period at the end of a chapter. This makes it easy to put your bookmark/quitter strip in the book and set it down to sleep, eat, converse with people, or whatever. Other writers will end a chapter in a way that propels you to move on to the next (Jim Butcher, for example, talks a lot about this practice). This keeps you engaged, moves you to keep reading—and is an excellent way to annoy a reader who really has other things they should be doing.

Michel falls into the latter category. Of course, the trick with this book is that as a Bardodane chapter leaves you hungry for the next thing in his story—but you have to go through three other plotlines before you get back to it (and each one of those will leave you hungry to press on with that storyline). I love this—I also hate it. Some people will choose to skip chapters to stick with one story through the end. This is a mistake—and will inevitably involve you getting something spoiled (I can think of at least once where that spoiler is major. There may be more to come).

So gird up, and prepare for Michel to play with you like a fisherman trying to tire out his catch before reeling it all the way in.

The Secondary Characters

To keep this to a length people would want to read, I’ve limited what I’ve said about secondary characters. This is a problem—some of them just as interesting and compelling as the point-of-view characters (possibly more so). That long dramatis personae is filled with people you will want to spend time with, or at least understand better. And sure, some of them are despicable and you will root for their defeat (but you’ll still want to understand them and maybe spend time with them on the page, just not at a pub).

There are a few secondary character deaths in this book—and you know there are more to come. One of them provoked me to send a message to Michel (the number of times I do that mid-read is incredibly small), threatening him if he did something similar to another character before the fifth book (at which point, I assume almost everyone will die or be defeated). I suspect I will not be alone in feeling that way about some of these characters, even if you pick ones that aren’t as cool as the ones I pick.

Michel is not playing around when it comes to character design or messing with his reader’s emotions.

So, what did I think about The Price of Power?

I don’t know what else to say here—I think I slipped out of my typical post outline above. In case you haven’t picked up on it—this book is one of my favorite Fantasy novels in recent memory.

This is about as far from cozy fantasy as you can get, obviously. But it doesn’t quite reach what I’d define as grimdark—I’m no expert in those definitions, but that’s what my gut says. Michel prefers the term gritty—and that makes sense to me. It’s very noir, a Fantasy version of hard-boiled. I’m not going to say that it’s what Nathanael West would’ve written if he wrote a Fantasy novel—but if that idea intrigues you, this just might, too.

The prologue wowed me. The first chapter raised the stakes—and as every point-of-view character was introduced the intrigue grew. I was already impatient for the next book to be published before I finished with this one.

Go grab this one as soon as you can. Books 2 and 3 are scheduled for release this year—Book 2 should be out in June—and you’re going to want to be ready for them.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from the author in exchange for this post which contains my honest opinion—but also, I bought the earlier edition of the novel and just hadn’t gotten around to it yet, so I’m not sure how necessary this disclaimer is.

4 1/2 Stars

REPOSTING JUST CUZ: You Are Not Your Own: Belonging to God in an Inhuman World by Alan Noble: Correcting Our Understanding of Humanity

By HCNewton

On April 6, 2025

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

This seemed like a fitting book after the last few weeks–I needed a reminder of the highlights of this book.

You Are Not Your Own:
Belonging to God in an Inhuman World

by Alan Noble

DETAILS:
Publisher: IVP
Publication Date: October 11, 2021
Format: Kindle Edition
Length: 232 pg.
Read Date:  May 29-June 12, 2022

I’ve tried to write this post 4 times since I finished it—and I’ve struck out each time, because I keep trying to interact with and reflect on Noble’s arguments—because there’s a lot to chew on, a lot to commend, and a great deal to unpack. But that’s not what I’m supposed to be doing here—I’m supposed to talk about the book, talk about how Noble wrote it, and what I thought about it—sure that involves some reflection on the content, but it’s not supposed to be my focus (as much as I might like it to be). So, I’m going to take a more surface-level approach, just so I can get something out.

(I said something similar with Winslow’s The Border recently—you’re probably not going to find a lot of people discussing these two books in similar fashions anywhere else)

The Back of the Book Description

(from ivpress.com)

“You are your own, and you belong to yourself.”

This is the fundamental assumption of modern life. And if we are our own, then it’s up to us to forge our own identities and to make our lives significant. But while that may sound empowering, it turns out to be a crushing responsibility—one that never actually delivers on its promise of a free and fulfilled life, but instead leaves us burned out, depressed, anxious, and alone. This phenomenon is mapped out onto the very structures of our society, and helps explain our society’s underlying disorder.

But the Christian gospel offers a strikingly different vision. As the Heidelberg Catechism puts it, “I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.” In You Are Not Your Own, Alan Noble explores how this simple truth reframes the way we understand ourselves, our families, our society, and God. Contrasting these two visions of life, he invites us past the sickness of contemporary life into a better understanding of who we are and to whom we belong.

Acting as If We Are Our Own

The part of the argument from the first paragraph takes the first four chapters and the majority of the book. I guess you could consider this the “Here’s What’s Wrong and Why” part—if we are our own (as we’re told) several problems ensue—personally, culturally, and ecclesially. We (and Noble includes most of the American Church here) have a faulty anthropology, and that results in many problems.

Noble explains where he sees the faulty anthropology leading with compassion and sensitivity, while not pulling any of his punches.

Understanding We Belong to Christ

But for the Christian, our faith begins with the realization that we are not our own (as explained in the words of Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 1). Noble points the believer to recalibrate their understanding of human nature—particularly redeemed human nature—to begin to understand what being the possession of Christ means to our life, our future, our identity.

The strength of this section comes from Noble’s honesty:

At this point you might expect me to introduce my “Five Steps for Changing Your Life by Accepting That You Are Not Your Own.” But as this is a work of nonfiction, I won’t be doing that.

Instead, he gives some advice, based on his own experiences and observations—but he offers no guarantees. I found his honesty refreshing and thought there was a lot of wisdom to his advice, but I was mostly impressed by the humble nature of the approach—advice, not a program or techniques.

So, what did I think about You Are Not Your Own?

I really liked this—I thought it was insightful and helpful. Noble’s diagnosis and advice were sound—they seemed to match up with the world around us and the problems we see. More importantly, he points to the One whose grace, mercy, and care offer any true hope and help in this broken and dying world.

Noble’s writing flows—he’s engaging, compassionate, and relatable. It’s easy to understand even the more complex points he’s making, and his illustrations give the reader plenty to hang on to.

I think Noble’s book would serve as a great companion piece to Kapic’s You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News*. Both of these authors remind the reader of our place in the world, and why we’re there—so we can respond in dependence and trust accordingly.

* Meador’s What Are Christians For?: Life Together at the End of the World, and even the better parts of Thompson’s Growing Downward fit here, too, I think—just not as neatly.

I’ve already re-read parts of this book, and find myself chewing on it repeatedly—especially as I compare it to Kapic’s. I heartily recommend and encourage you to pick it up.

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.

REPOST: Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto: Come Meet Your New Favorite Senior Citizen Sleuth

By HCNewton

On March 25, 2025

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

Some Real Life™ stuff has come up this week, interfering with my writing plans. So, let me dust this off. I’m a little over halfway through the sequel which is just as delightful. But that’s for another day.

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

by Jesse Q. Sutanto

DETAILS:
Publisher: Berkley Books
Publication Date: March 14, 2023
Format: eARC
Length: 352 pg.
Read Date: March 2-7, 2023

What’s Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers About?

I’m not sure that I can answer this question without just recapping the entire novel—but without the charm and warmth.

Just Try…

How much time do you have?

It Publishes Today, You Need to Get Something Posted. Just Give Us the Setup

Okay, okay, I’ll attempt it—but I really want to spend the next hour just regurgitating the whole thing.

Vera Wong is an older Chinese woman, the owner of a small tea shop in San Francisco’s Chinatown. It’s dark, dingy, and doesn’t get much in the way of customers. She has one regular that she can count on to stop in early in the morning, and then spends most of the rest of the day waiting for someone else to walk in and order. Typically in vain. But it’s her life—she has nothing else to do with her time—her husband is dead, and her son is busy with work. So busy that he rarely has time to visit—or acknowledge all of the super-helpful advice she gives him to succeed at work and/or to find a wife. This doesn’t stop her from texting or calling him frequently to offer the advice, it should be noted.

Then one day, she comes down the stairs from her apartment above the shop to discover a dead body in the middle of the floor. She has little faith that the police will be able to tell her who killed the man, so she decides to discover the identity of the killer for them. How hard can it be? She’s watched plenty of procedurals, is smart, and (unlike Sherlock Holmes) is a suspicious Chinese mother. The murderer doesn’t stand a chance.

So she helps herself to a little bit of the evidence before the police arrive so that she can hunt for the murderer. It’ll be a good change of pace for her.

She sets a trap for the murderer and ends up with four good suspects, it’ll just take her some time to figure out who killed him and why. In the meantime, she sees at least three younger people that need some guidance to get their lives in order—she decides to take that on along with her murder investigation.

Vera

I’d like to spend a few pages talking about Vera—I’m certain that if you ask me in December, she’s still going to be one of my favorite characters of 2023.

She is so human—such a mass of contradictions and differing impulses. The fact that at her, um, advanced age she’s able to chart a new course for her life, to let people in, and adapt gives me a little hope.

But it’s her spirit, her way of looking at the world, and not backing down that’s really inspiring.

Once she’s done with these characters, I could use a grandmother like this.

Be Careful

Vera knows her tea, she spends a lot of time and energy on it—certain that she can make someone just the right kind of tea for whatever they’re facing to help them through the day. If you can make it through a chapter or two (especially in the early chapters) without needing a cup of your own, I’d like to know how.

But other than needing to take the time to boil water and steep your tea, that’s not a big deal (unless you’re inspired to go shopping for more teas, which can get expensive—and can distract you from your reading). However, Vera also spends a lot of time cooking for her new friends and suspects. And she ends up spending more time cooking than making tea.

This is where you need to be careful—if you’re not, you could find yourself putting on a few pounds before the killer is identified. Sutanto’s descriptions of Vera’s creations—and the way everyone responds to them—are so vivid, so enticing, they can send you to your pantry for a snack—or to your food delivery app of choice to order some Chinese food.

I’m not saying that you should avoid these portions of the book—just be prepared so you can fight temptation (or have a handy justification to indulge yourself, if that’s more your preference).

So, what did I think about Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers?

By the time I got halfway through the opening paragraph, I’d started coming up with a list of people to recommend this book to. There was something about the voice that just jumped off of the page (er, screen) and said, “You’re going to have fun with this.” And I absolutely did—but there was more to it than that, being around these characters felt comfortable. I just wanted to spend time in their presence—like Stars Hollow, CT; the locker room of AFC Richmond; the Parks and Rec Department of Pawnee, IN; the Jigsaw Room of Cooper’s Chase retirement village; or Knight’s Bookstore in Abbi Waxman’s L.A. I don’t remember the last time that I read a cozy mystery that was so worthy of the title “Cozy.”

Yes, I wanted to figure it out. Yes, I wanted to know what happened to the characters and wanted closure for this period in their lives. But I read as slowly as I could because I wanted to linger.

It’s not just Vera that creates that feeling—it’s the other characters’ reactions to her, as well as their relationships with each other. Yes, she is undeniably the center of this little world, but it wouldn’t work without the others.

There’s a lot of gentle humor and heart—that’s what fills this charming work. But that’s not all of it—there are laugh-out-loud moments, as well, and real emotions. There’s a budding romance, a rekindled friendship, family ties, and a lot of people finding the confidence to step out into something new—or into something they’ve tried before and have been scared to try again. The found family that’s created along the way makes all of that possible—particularly the last part—the mutual support (in various forms) and encouragement from the others enable the others to make those steps.

I don’t want to give the impression that this book is all sunshine, flowers, and good times. There are portions of this that are hard to get through, sure—there’s a suspicious death, criminal behavior—at the very least the actions of a scoundrel—heartbreak and a great deal of loneliness and despair. But Sutanto doesn’t leave us there for long—she grounds the book in it, but provides a way forward—through grit, determination, and the help of others.

The murder investigation was fine—probably more than fine, actually. It was a clever little story, with plenty of good suspects and nice twists. But the book isn’t all that interested in the murder investigation, really. It’s just an excuse for these people to come together and start interacting. Vera herself doesn’t really want any of her suspects to be guilty—she’s too busy meddling in their lives to improve them (in selfless acts of assistance only, she’d hurry to tell you). But she keeps plugging away at her little list of suspects because it’s something she’s started—and wouldn’t it be exciting to actually find a murderer? (even if it’s someone she doesn’t want to get into any kind of trouble).

I talk about mysteries more than anything else here, and the fact that I’d started wrapping up the post without addressing the mystery part of this book says a lot to me. It’s the driving force behind the plot and the instigating incident—but again—it’s secondary to the rest of the storylines. Still, most readers will have a hard time finding sympathy for the murdered man, and more than once you’ll likely wonder if it’d really be that bad if no one figures out who did it. You probably won’t feel the way you usually do when a murder is solved when the culprit is named, either.

There’s just so much to commend about this book—and so little to quibble with—I’m on the verge of repeating myself and/or overhyping this thing (but boy howdy, does it deserve a lot of hype!). So I’m just going to leave it with this—go get your hands on a copy, brew yourself a nice pot of tea (I promise you’re going to want tea), and lose yourself in this book for a few hours.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Berkley Publishing Group via NetGalley in exchange for this post—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.

Where the Bones Lie by Nick Kolakowski: Down These Mean Streets People Must Still Go

By HCNewton

On March 10, 2025

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

Where the Bones Lie

by Nick Kolakowski

DETAILS:
Publisher: Datura Books
Publication Date: March 11, 2025
Format: eARC
Length: 304 pg.
Read Date: February 26-Narch 1, 2025

What’s Where the Bones Lie About?

Dash Fuller used to work for a man he compared to Mr. Wolfe from Pulp Fiction, and in his employ would clean-up various messes by celebrities and other movers-and-shakers in L.A. Eventually the work got too much for him and he walked away. He tried to find a new career in Stand-Up comedy, but that’s not going so well. He’s doing better at drinking copious amounts of bourbon to numb himself, and then scurrying around picking up money from delivery driving and other gig jobs at the end of the month to pay his bills.

After one, shall we say, not-good night at a local comedy club two significant things happen for Dash. First, his old boss, Manny, shows up to badger him into doing one more job for him (he’d like more, but will settle for one, for now).

The other spins off of both—another audience member there picks up on some of what Dash does that night (but not all of it, he’s pretty good at what he does) and offers to hire him. After several years where the family had to assume he was dead, Madeline Ironwood’s father’s body has recently been discovered in a barrel found as a nearby lake has receded thanks to water shortages in the state. She’d like Dash to look into it and see if he can figure out what happened to him.

Ken Ironwood was a smuggler, and probably other things. He’s been missing since she was a young girl. He’s noteworthy enough that a true crime docuseries has started recently streaming about him, but not so noteworthy that Dash would’ve heard of him without the billboards all around town (that Madeline had to point out to him). The suspect list was so large that the LAPD and FBI gave up trying to pare down without more to go on than a missing man.

It’s not a lot for Dash to go on, but the money is okay, and it’s something that gets him out of town for a little bit.

The Traumatized Knight

I think it’s pretty obvious that Dash is supposed to be in the Hammett model more than the Chandler, but I’m more familiar with Chandler, so I’m going to lean on what I learned from L.A.’s hardboiled detective/detective-like characters from him.

Dash is a knight—a knight in tarnished, battered, and filthy armor. But a knight nonetheless—he knows how many of his choices didn’t match his ideals and ethics. His ex wondered if the good person inside him could be found—and Dash wonders the same.

This has taken a toll on him—one job in particular, but there’s also the cumulative effect from years of this—and has left him traumatized and self-medicating. This is also common to the hardboiled investigator, but given Dash’s cultural context it seems more apparent (and something he’s more willing to reflect on).

The job that Manny sends Dash on at the beginning brings all the trauma to the surface (it was close to it already, but this gave it the needed nudge). While the focus of the novel—and Dash’s attention—is Madeline’s case and her father’s fate, Dash’s struggles are a shadow over everything he does, over many of his choices (like the one to take the case), and will even interfere with his thinking on occasion.

Again, you see this all over Marlowe’s adventures—but it’s between the lines—I expect the same could be said about Hammett’s characters. But with Dash it’s clearer, it’s acknowledged, and understood—at least by some of the characters.

The Environment

California’s repeated droughts lay the foundation of the investigation into Madeline’s father’s death. The heat in L.A. as Dash and Madeline drive northward is oppressive. Wildfires threaten that city, close in on Dash and Madeline at important junctures in their search—and play a significant outcome in the endgame of that storyline.

This is possibly the most environmentally aware detective novel I’ve read. I’ve read “eco novels” that do a less effective job of addressing these issues. Part of what makes it so effective is that Kolakowski doesn’t get preachy with it, he doesn’t beat you over the head with it—it’s just seamlessly woven into the tapestry of this novel, no more noteworthy than Dash’s bad jokes, or the threat of bent cops. But it’s there. Everywhere.

I’m Glad Someone Asked

One question that had been running in my mind throughout was why Dash turned to Stand-Up, and his narration didn’t choose to reveal it, while it revealed so much about other things.

By the time that someone asked him, I was overjoyed that someone else (even if they’re fictional) had to know. The answer was satisfying enough, and in many ways didn’t tell us anything we couldn’t have/shouldn’t have figured out on our own (especially by that point in the novel), but hearing it from Dash was good.

So, what did I think about Where the Bones Lie?

This just might be the best thing Kolakowski has written so far. Which is likely a sentence I’ve written before—and I meant it then, but time has gone on and Kolakowski has gotten better.

I didn’t end up saying anything about the job that Manny hired Dash for that kick-started this whole novel, it doesn’t take long for Dash to take care of it, and we get an idea of some of the things he’s done in the past (more importantly, some of what he hasn’t done). Some of what he’s seen. This is developed through the course of the novel, too. But it gives us a taste of his old life and shows that he has the tools to build on.

Madeline’s case is the first job he’s ever had for a positive goal—to accomplish something. He’s not trying to prevent embarrassment or scandal—he’s not trying to save some studio a bunch of money, or rescue someone’s reputation, or prevent someone from facing legal charges. Sure, he has the skills—but he has to learn to use them in a different way. Which is a great place to put a character.

The supporting characters are great—particularly the “bigger bad”s (which is all I’m going to say about them). I would love to spend more time with the closest thing that Dash has to a friend, in particular.

With Chandler—like more modern writers like Ellroy or Connelly—you get a real sense of L.A. or California. And Kolakowski delivers the same here. He’s done some really specific geographic work in the past, but outside of geographic markers, I don’t know that I “felt” the area like I do here. (I want to stress that this isn’t intended as a criticism of his earlier work, it’s a compliment and observation about this one).

As far as the ending or resolutions to the various plotlines—some I saw coming, because Kolakowski prepared the reader for them. Some hit me like they came out of the blue (they didn’t, really, but they felt like it). All were satisfying in ways I didn’t expect really. There were lines that you could see Chandler writing—if not word for word, at least close paraphrases. The spirit of that age lives on in these pages.

His history suggests that the next work by Kolakowski will be something else entirely—probably not a cozy, but something he hasn’t delivered yet. But if he wants to do more like this, I’ll be first in line for it. Meanwhile, you should focus on getting this book in front of your eyeballs.

Disclaimer: I was provided with this ARC by the author in exchange for my honest opinion. The only impact this had on what I said about the book was that I could say it before I could buy a copy.

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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PUB DAY REPOST: Don’t Tell Me How to Die by Marshall Karp: The Last Days of Maggie Dunn

By HCNewton

On March 4, 2025

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

Don’t Tell Me How to Die

by Marshall Karp

DETAILS:
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Publication Date: March 4, 2025
Format: eARC
Length: 336
Read Date: January 29-31, 2025

A Note of Introduction

I typically stay away from spoilers, but this is one of those books where almost everything I want to say feels like it’s in that general neighborhood. So I use illustrations from other books that are pretty well-known by this point. I can’t think of another way to do it that’s fair to Karp and this text.

What’s Don’t Tell Me How to Die About?

This is one of those novels where it’d be easy to say too much, so let me rely on whoever wrote the jacket copy at Blackstone:

I have one thing to do before I die. And time is running out.

I had it all: a fantastic husband, two great kids, an exciting career. And then, at the age of forty-three, I found out I would be dead before my next birthday.

My mother also died young. I was seventeen, and she warned me that women would flock to my suddenly single father like stray cats to an overturned milk truck. They did. And one absolutely evil woman practically destroyed his life, mine, and my sister’s.

I am not letting that happen to my family.

I have three months, and I plan to spend every waking minute searching for the perfect woman to take my place as Alex’s wife, and mother to Kevin and Katie.

You’re probably thinking, She’ll never do it. Did I mention that in high school I was voted “Most Likely to Kill Someone to Get What She Wants”?

The book takes place in three parts: 1. When Maggie and her twin sister were seventeen and was dealing with their mother’s impending death and the events after it. 2. After Maggie’s diagnosis and her trying to implement the above plan. 3. Where the weaknesses in her plan threaten to overtake everything else.

Tone/Humor

For much of this book, it felt like Women’s Commercial Fiction more than anything. But two things kept me from concluding that—1. Marshall Karp is going to write something with a mystery/crime element, period. and 2. that cover image with the blood (or whatever) writing the word “Die.”

Even before I figured out what Karp was up to with this book, it became clear that this fit in more with some of the recent books by Lisa Lutz (particularly The Accomplice)—I’m also thinking of Sascha Rothchild’s Blood Sugar or a restrained Darynda Jones—than it did with a Jennifer Weiner or Abbi Waxman.

So as I was preparing to read this novel, I said that it “looks like a return to his roots” because of some of the blurbs talking about Karp’s humor and so on. When I think of Karp and humor, I think of his Lomax and Biggs series. So that’s what I expected.

I was very wrong. It took less than a couple of pages to realize that this was a different Marshall Karp than I’d ran into before. That’s not an evaluation, that’s a description. Here’s an evaluation: he pulls it off well. Again, see Rothchild or Lutz. The more I think about the Lutz comparison, the more I like it—if you think of the change between her Spellman Files and things like The Accomplice, Karp’s new tone is somewhat similar.

Either way, you’re getting a guy who knows how to write comedy, no matter the flavor. He also knows when to pull back and let the drama take center stage.

Twists/Structure

I know that when it comes to psychological or domestic thrillers the twists are what generate headlines. While I appreciate a good twist as much as the next reader, what’s more important to me is the reveal of the twist. Plots go in strange directions sometimes—it’s how the author prepares the reader for the twist and how the author lets us in on the strange direction.

As an illustration: Benjamin Stevenson’s Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone has a moment when he says that so-and-so enjoyed her final cigarette, or maybe she lit it, or something like that. The phrase “final cigarette” is the important part. Now, the reader has two guesses as to why that phrase is used here—1. She quits smoking after this or 2. She dies. As this is in the middle of a stressful weekend with her ex-husband’s family, with her on the verge of financial problem, her ex is definitely not coming back and is with his new partner, they’re all snowed in, there’s a killer on the loose, and the book isn’t close to ending…you pretty much know how that’s going to go for her. Does that matter? Not really, it’s how Stevenson sets us up for this and then how he shows us how she dies that’s important.

Now I’m not going to spill any of the twists or reveals in this book, but Karp does a few things like Stevenson did—they’re even more blatant, you could say. But he will distract you, make you wait a lot longer for the reveal, and will throw a bunch of red herrings at you (I won’t tell you how often I made a note like, “Oh, is this how he pays off X?” because I’d also have to tell you that I was wrong equally often). I didn’t guess anything right.

He also pulls a few things from seemingly nowhere—but explains them in such a way that you retrospectively say, “of course” or “y’know, that makes sense.”

Maggie

This is one of those books that you’re only going to keep reading (initially, anyway) if you get invested in Maggie, our protagonist/narrator quickly. Other elements might keep you going eventually, but Maggie’s diagnosis, Maggie’s plight (and kooky plan), and character/voice are what’s going to get you to commit.

If you ask me, you’re going to want to commit. You can tell from the beginning that she’s smart. She’s driven. She’s brave (at least in the face of some things…like dying). She loves her family. She’s gone through a lot. She’s pretty funny. (probably pretty, too, but that’s not that important, especially when you see the world through her eyes). You later learn what a good friend she can be and why she was elected.

Now, like a parfait, or an onion, or an ogre—Maggie has layers. I’m not going to talk about those layers because you need to discover them for yourself. But she has them—and you keep learning about those layers as the book continues. Each layer—for me, anyway, and I predict for most readers—got me to like her more as a person (pretty frequently) and as a character (always). Is there a difference? Sure—one extreme example (that doesn’t apply here, but gets my point across) would be Dr. Lecter. Fantastic character, but not someone you’d want to hang out with.

So, what did I think about Don’t Tell Me How to Die?

Is this as good as the first two or three Lomax and Biggs books? Probably not—although it’s been a long time since I last re-read them, also this is a different sub-genre, so I could be wrong. Also, that’s really high bar. Is this better than anything else that Karp has done since then? Yes.

The way that Karp unspooled this was so well done. I sat back and enjoyed the ride more often than I “ought” to have, and didn’t take as many notes and whatnot as usual—I was just into the ride that much that continuing was more important than jotting things down. At least in the moment…I’d be sure to write that idea down, right after this part. Well, maybe the next bit.

I should note that I dipped back in a couple of times while writing this post to fact-check myself and even now I ended up reading a few pages or a chapter when I only needed a clause or a name. Karp just doesn’t want to let me go.

Anyone picking this book up—unless you do it blindly (and even then it’s told to you within a chapter)—knows that Maggie’s mom died almost two decades before these events. And yet—in her final moments, her last personal triumph—I was moved. I shouldn’t care this much about the impending death of a character I knew was long dead. But I did. And again, even though it’s right there in the description, “And one absolutely evil woman practically destroyed [“my suddenly single father”‘s] life, mine, and my sister’s,” watching it feels like a traffic accident—you know it’s coming, but you can’t stop watching.

Maggie’s plot, when introduced, feels like a silly rom-com plot that’s going to blow up in her face. And for most of the book, her sister treats it that way. You kind of do while you’re reading, too. It feels like one, you react like one. Then…well, you start to take her seriously. As does her sister, Lizzie (eventually).

Speaking of Lizzie. I really would’ve enjoyed more time with her, she seemed like a hoot and a half. Her kids Katie and Kevin were also the kind of characters you want more of. And if we were looking at any other part of Maggie’s life, we would’ve had more time with all three and we would’ve been perfectly content watching them go through their life. But this book just introduces them, lets us spend some time enjoying them (in pretty un-enjoyable circumstances) and then we just have to imagine the rest of their lives. Which is enjoyable enough.

I feel like I’ve talked around the book a lot, hopefully, I’ve talked about it enough. But I’m not sure what else to say. On March 4, go pick yourself up a copy (or go put it on reserve at your library now, and read it ASAP). Then we can email or chat or something about it and I can say all the things I can’t put here.

Don’t Tell Me How to Die isn’t the Marshall Karp I know, enjoy, and respect. It’s a new flavor of him that I’m getting to know, that I did enjoy and respect. And I can’t wait to see what other sides he has up his sleeve (to torture the metaphor). I’m trying too hard. I’m babbling. Go read this and I’ll shut up. Deal?

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Blackstone Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for this post which contains my honest opinion—thanks to both for this.

4 1/2 Stars