In this month’s edition of Literary Lollapalooza, a timeless classic, and a new release by one of Mystery-Thriller’s brightest young voices.
This is Literary Lollapalooza, May Edition.
Books Acquired:
Fiction: Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, and Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea
Non-Fiction:
Books Borrowed: The Taqwacores by Michael Muhammad Knight
Books Read:
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Dostoevsky is one of those writers I always felt like I should read. Out of obligation to…I don’t know, all self-respecting literature hounds. However, between feeling like I should read Dostoevsky out of some misguided need to feel better about myself and the easier option of taking a look at the sheer HEFT of Crime and Punishment and putting it off indefinitely, the procrastinator in me always won out. This last month though I struck a compromise with myself: I would read Dostoevsky, but I would read something much shorter, and something with a fun title. Hey guess what? That smart Russian guy wrote a book called The Idiot. Sounds funny.
Okay, so no. The Idiot isn’t really funny. It is not short-listed for a film-adaptation by the Farrelly Brothers (though I must admit I’d love to see that). What it is, is a fairly light Russian novel about the dangers of independence and of being kind-hearted in a modern society. It is a sweeping tale involving many characters over a period of years, and yes it does wear its moral heart on its sleeve.
It is also a very good read. Not fun or thrilling, but a very involving and accessible story about people not so very different than you or I. And it’s considerably shorter than Crime and Punishment. So you can feel good about yourself without the strain of those heavy Russian novels.
The Idiot refers to the title character of Prince Myshkin, a kind-hearted and guileless rube from the countryside who travels to the city and makes a splash in good Petersburg society. The word idiot here does not really refer to a stupid person, just a simple one. Childlike, trusting, without personal machinations, Prince Myshkin is laughed at openly, the unwitting butt of his own joke. But his honesty, unselfconsciousness, and lack of agenda quickly make him a party favor of sorts, with good families requesting his presence at gatherings as a conversation-piece. He is tossed immediately into the maelstrom of society, money, marriage, wealth, and backstabbing.
The story is a complex one, and it would be a disservice for me to try to summarize it here. The point is that these are relevant characters, finely drawn, unique and immediately recognizable. The situations are, while steeped in Russian upper class history, easily transferrable to our own societal stratifications. Imagine a poor country bumpkin, unaccustomed to societal niceties and oblivious of faux pas, suddenly becoming a mascot to the very wealthy, treating him like an odd bird, and never truly accepting him as a human being until he too has gained some status of wealth.
There is a lot of humor, and a lot of quirky characters, and tons of intrigue and double-dealings and love and heartbreak. It took me nearly six weeks to read the damn thing, but now that I’m through it, I’m very glad I read it. And not in an intellectually superior way either. Nope, I’m just glad I’ve gotten to know these characters and that I invested my time into understanding them, maybe just a little bit. AND I get to say I read Dostoevsky. So suck it.
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn.
And now for something completely different. Gillian Flynn is a bright new up-and-comer in the mystery/thriller world who was short-listed for an Edgar Award for her first novel Sharp Objects. Dark Places is her second novel, and I can’t wait to read more from this young lady.
The first thing one might notice about Ms. Flynn’s books are the simple, sparse and captivating cover art. The cover of Dark Places features a prominent pad lock in the hatch of the kind of lock one puts on basements, or dungeons. The kind of lock one puts on a door to keep people out or maybe more importantly to keep something inside.
Dark Places refers to those parts of one’s psyche we’d rather believe didn’t exist. We lock them away and keep them far from the cold sane light of day, because looking at them, admitting they are there might somehow make us a little less human. Libby Day, the story’s protagonist is the sole survivor of a massacre that took place when she was a young child way back in 1985. It seems Libby’s brother Ben, in the early hours of Jan. 3 1985 slaughtered his entire family as part of an elaborate Satanic ritual, and Libby alone survived to testify against her brother, putting him away for life.
Libby is now in her early thirties, and has eked out an existence on the pity of strangers sending donations to “that poor Day girl”, but now the donations have dried up. It seems no one cares about a thirty-something tragedy survivor. So in an attempt to further capitalize on her past Libby begins selling memories and memorabilia to local so-called Kill Clubs, a group of individuals obsessed with horrific serial killers. But Libby soon starts to uncover bits and pieces of her past that were supposed to stay hidden forever. As Libby traces the clues to her own past, she sets off on a terrifying journey of discovering the hidden truth of her family’s deaths.
I loved Gillian Flynn from the first paragraph of this book:
“I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ. Slit me at my belly and it might slide out, meaty and dark, drop on the floor so you can stomp on it.”
Anyone who can write a line like that is okay in my book. Plus, Stephen King calls her writing “an admirably nasty piece of work…” And I am sold.
This reads along at a dizzying pace, flipping forward and backwards from the present to that fateful January day back in 1985, keeping you constantly moving forward searching for the next piece of evidence. But what stayed with me long after the nightmares faded were the scary-but-true insights Ms. Flynn uncovers about the human psyche. Again we’re talking about those dark places. The ones we’ve shoved deep in a closet and pretended never existed. Heck we’ve even bolted that door with a padlock. How disturbing it is then to have Ms. Flynn parade those skeletons right past you, your head nodding in recognition before you have the good sense to shudder and quickly shove them away again.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Literary Lollapalooza April 2009
This month’s Literary Lollapalooza is a short one featuring a book many of you saw me gush over on Facebook. Besides that one, I started reading The Idiot which would take me through most of May as well, so not a lot to report. I had the fortune (or misfortune, if you ask my bank account) of happening upon some really terrific book sales and so this month is a little heavy on the acquisitions side. Lord knows when I’ll find the time to read them all…
This is Literary Lollapalooza, April Edition.
Books Acquired:
Fiction: The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno, The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Body Artist by Don DeLillo, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers, Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, Impulse by Ellen Hopkins, God Is Dead by Ron Currie, Jr., Interred With Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell, The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly, Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut, The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
Non-Fiction: The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs, Outcasts United by Warren St. John, How to Win a Cosmic War by Reza Aslan, The End of Oil by Paul Roberts, The Day the World Ended at Little Big Horn by Joseph M. Marshall III, Popism: The Warhol Sixties by Andy Warhol and Pat Hackett, Candy Girl by Diablo Cody, Champlain’s Dream by David Hackett Fischer, The Secret War with Iran by Ronen Bergman, Books by Larry McMurtry, The American Way of War by Eugene Jarecki, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
Books Borrowed:
Books Read:
The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno.
My friend Ryan had been touting this book for quite some time as his favorite book and encouraging all his friends to read it. I ignored him. Or rather, I added it to the dustbin in my mind reserved for odd pieces of information I’ll probably never put to good use. Then back in February he reminded me again (undoubtedly in one of those silly web surveys) that this was a book that I MUST read. I took him up on his suggestion and read the damn thing.
First, of all: I loved this book. It’s not my favorite book, sorry Ryan. But I did love the hell out of it. And I would be willing to bet that anyone who remembers reading the “Encylopedia Brown” books, or The Hardy Boys, or Nancy Drew mysteries, reveling in the finely drawn sets of clues, the simple solution sussed out amongst friends, and the glory as the evil candy factory owner gets hauled away in cuffs will find much to enjoy here.
The titular Boy Detective, Billy Argo, is a childhood crime-solving phenom much like the above mentioned “Encylopedia Brown”, solving simple mysteries with the help of his sister and pudgy friend, vanquishing evil villains and garnering accolades. There’s only one major problem: life goes on, people grow up, and life gets messy. There are no simple solutions, no masked villains causing our collective misery. Just plain, old everyday fear, self-conciousness, and doubt. As the years pass and young Billy heads off to college, his world is destroyed when his younger sister and crime-solving partner Caroline commits suicide, sending him into a spiral of fear and helplessness.
Cut to ten years later and young Billy is being released from St. Vitus’ Hospital for the Mentally Ill. The world he encounters is foreign and frightening. He can barely draw the courage to leave his room, much less go to his new job as a telemarketer at a wig company. What’s even worse? There are people and buildings that are vanishing everyday, evil villains live next door, and animals are losing their heads. What’s a boy detective to do? With the help of two neighborhood children, and a lovely pickpocket named Penny, Billy begins to put the pieces together, and come to the greatest realization of his life.
The story is funny, cute, odd, disheartening, uplifting, and sweet. But what puts this book over the top in my opinion is the sense of childhood wonder and joy that it instills through its interactive features. That’s right: interactive. Readers are encouraged to use the decoder ring (thoughtfully included on the back book jacket) to solve clues throughout the book, helping Billy closer to his resolution, as well as additional fun items like a recipe for Angel Food Cake, and mazes and word-searches. This is a book for the dreamer in all of us, for the latent child detective in each of us, still searching for our own happy endings.
This is Literary Lollapalooza, April Edition.
Books Acquired:
Fiction: The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno, The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Body Artist by Don DeLillo, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers, Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, Impulse by Ellen Hopkins, God Is Dead by Ron Currie, Jr., Interred With Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell, The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly, Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut, The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
Non-Fiction: The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs, Outcasts United by Warren St. John, How to Win a Cosmic War by Reza Aslan, The End of Oil by Paul Roberts, The Day the World Ended at Little Big Horn by Joseph M. Marshall III, Popism: The Warhol Sixties by Andy Warhol and Pat Hackett, Candy Girl by Diablo Cody, Champlain’s Dream by David Hackett Fischer, The Secret War with Iran by Ronen Bergman, Books by Larry McMurtry, The American Way of War by Eugene Jarecki, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
Books Borrowed:
Books Read:
The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno.
My friend Ryan had been touting this book for quite some time as his favorite book and encouraging all his friends to read it. I ignored him. Or rather, I added it to the dustbin in my mind reserved for odd pieces of information I’ll probably never put to good use. Then back in February he reminded me again (undoubtedly in one of those silly web surveys) that this was a book that I MUST read. I took him up on his suggestion and read the damn thing.
First, of all: I loved this book. It’s not my favorite book, sorry Ryan. But I did love the hell out of it. And I would be willing to bet that anyone who remembers reading the “Encylopedia Brown” books, or The Hardy Boys, or Nancy Drew mysteries, reveling in the finely drawn sets of clues, the simple solution sussed out amongst friends, and the glory as the evil candy factory owner gets hauled away in cuffs will find much to enjoy here.
The titular Boy Detective, Billy Argo, is a childhood crime-solving phenom much like the above mentioned “Encylopedia Brown”, solving simple mysteries with the help of his sister and pudgy friend, vanquishing evil villains and garnering accolades. There’s only one major problem: life goes on, people grow up, and life gets messy. There are no simple solutions, no masked villains causing our collective misery. Just plain, old everyday fear, self-conciousness, and doubt. As the years pass and young Billy heads off to college, his world is destroyed when his younger sister and crime-solving partner Caroline commits suicide, sending him into a spiral of fear and helplessness.
Cut to ten years later and young Billy is being released from St. Vitus’ Hospital for the Mentally Ill. The world he encounters is foreign and frightening. He can barely draw the courage to leave his room, much less go to his new job as a telemarketer at a wig company. What’s even worse? There are people and buildings that are vanishing everyday, evil villains live next door, and animals are losing their heads. What’s a boy detective to do? With the help of two neighborhood children, and a lovely pickpocket named Penny, Billy begins to put the pieces together, and come to the greatest realization of his life.
The story is funny, cute, odd, disheartening, uplifting, and sweet. But what puts this book over the top in my opinion is the sense of childhood wonder and joy that it instills through its interactive features. That’s right: interactive. Readers are encouraged to use the decoder ring (thoughtfully included on the back book jacket) to solve clues throughout the book, helping Billy closer to his resolution, as well as additional fun items like a recipe for Angel Food Cake, and mazes and word-searches. This is a book for the dreamer in all of us, for the latent child detective in each of us, still searching for our own happy endings.
Literary Lollapalooza March 2009
This issue of Literary Lollapalooza features a serial-killer obsessed cop, the search for Lincoln’s killer, a crime story about fathers and sons, an action packed Harlan Coben thriller and a sweet story about a Russian Jew in WWII era Leningrad in search of a dozen eggs. It was a busy month and I did a lot of reading. Some were home-work, some personal obsessions. If you must skim, just skip to the last review. It’s the bees knees.
This is Literary Lollapalooza, March Edition.
Books Acquired: The Way Home by George Pelecanos, A Little Bit Wicked by Kristin Chenowith, Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk, and The Lost City of Z by David Grann.
Books Borrowed: Long Lost by Harlan Coben and City of Thieves by David Benioff.
Books Read:
Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain.
This is the sequel to the bestselling thriller Heartsick. Chelsea Cain delves right back into old territory with this continuation, following detective Archie Sheridan and his obsession with serial killer Gretchen Lowell.
This book picks up a few months after the events of the first book and barrels forward with momentum. Archie, our most beloved of F**ked-Up detectives is on the mend. He has moved back in with his ex-wife and children (though sleeping in a separate room), he is still heading a homicide task force dealing exclusively with serial crimes, and he is attending therapy and attempting to control his addiction to pain killers. He has however stopped visiting Gretchen.
And with the discovery of two bodies in a neighborhood park, Archie is faced with another serial killer, and reporter Susan ward is nearby to help identify one of the victims. Trouble is, just as this case takes off the Beauty Killer is back in the news: Gretchen Lowell has escaped from prison. Archie needs to focus but can’t keep his mind off Gretchen. He has a fool-proof plan to both reunite with and capture his one true obsession.
This is a brilliant if not slightly forgettable follow up to the incendiary debut that put Chelsea Cain on the literary map. All the old characters are back, and so are all the old crushes, grudges and emotional baggage. The plot progresses naturally from events set up in Heartsick and the characters follow the trajectories already set in motion. Everything rings true, and while we cheer Archie’s surface progress (the family, the drugs), we know it’s just surface and that the demons that haunt him swim much deeper, and that sooner rather than later Archie will inevitably dive to join those demons.
The case is a good one, and the sub-plot involving Susan Ward and a politician’s affair with a teen is thankfully revived from the first book and brought to fruition.
If there is a problem with the book, it is also its most endearing quality, that it is too intricately tied to the first. This isn’t so much a sequel as it is a continuation of the first. The loose ends of the first book are revived here, and the issues unresolved in the first book are back on display here. It’s almost as if these two books should have been one larger volume.
Again, this is part of its inherent charm. And it is also the reason why it comes across as forgettable. One begins to forget where one book ends and the other begins. When paired together (as Stephen King did when he named these two books among his top ten books of last year) they are phenomenal reads. They are highly engrossing and the characters and likeable and flawed, and we root for them and two minutes later we shake our heads in sympathy because we know why they make the bad choices we wish they wouldn’t. This is top-notch crime writing and Chelsea Cain is a name to watch.
Manhunt by James L. Swanson
Manhunt follows the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and traces the 12 day hunt for John Wilkes Booth and his collaborators.
I have been obsessed with all things Lincoln since reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s incredible Team of Rivals. However that book left me unsatisfied in the fact it literally ends with the assassination. Don’t get me wrong, it provides perfunctory information about what befalls our key players in the following years, but I wanted to know minute by minute what happened following the assassination, as I had grown accustomed to in Kearns’ 800 page opus.
Luckily for me, James L. Swanson, a man obsessed with Lincoln’s death has provided a moment by moment account of Lincoln’s death and the days thereafter where all of the country waited with their breaths held to hear of the capture of Lincoln’s murderer. This is the PERFECT follow-up to Kearns’ in-depth Lincoln bio. It picks up right where Kearns leaves off, and his eye and ear for detail, not to mention his encyclopedic research into all things Lincoln and Booth, provide a thrilling moment to moment account of Lincoln’s murder and Booth’s subsequent escape and the nation-encompassing manhunt that followed.
This book reads like the best mystery/thriller, but of course, it’s all true.
Swanson is an expert on the topic of Lincoln’s assassination, having written three separate books on the topic (and he is currently working on another Lincoln bio), so you know the facts are solid, and he crafts them into a well-told campfire story about honor, duty, conviction, and hubris.
I would recommend this book to anyone. But I would especially recommend it to anyone who has read or is planning to read Team of Rivals. Focusing on Lincoln’s death and aftermath, it is a terrific follow up to a great biography of Lincoln’s life.
The Way Home by George Pelecanos (To be released May 12, 2009)
George Pelecanos is the kind of come crime writer that you read because it rings true. The novelist and Emmy-nominated writer for HBO’s hit series The Wire is a D.C. native, and chooses to place his novels in the heart of the city he loves best.
The Way Home is the latest in Pelecanos’ treasure trove of D.C. crime novels. Stephen King calls Pelecanos “possibly the greatest crime writer working today”.
My first Pelecanos was his last called “The Turnaround” and I immediately fell in love with his writing and his landscape. I had just moved to D.C. and his use of geography in telling the story really served me well as a new resident.
Pelecanos isn’t florid or melodic. He isn’t wordy and he doesn’t try to impress with a fancy turn of phrase. However Pelecanos writes the truth. His books are often short, simple, and to the point. The trick is that his characters are so real and his situations so believable and immediate that you can’t help but be transported. He doesn’t deal with major situations, but rather with simple real-life moral questions that any of us could face on any given day. His characters are not one-sided two-dimensional plot devices, but flawed and complex human beings who try to do their best from one moment to the next but often wind up making the wrong choice, only to have deal with the consequences later.
As a matter of fact, Pelecanos’ books are all about the consequences of our actions. The stupid split second decisions that we spend a lifetime reliving, overcoming, and forgiving ourselves for are his bread and butter.
The Way Home is another in this line. This one is particularly focused on the relationship between a father and a son. The way that we let the silence and miscommunication separate and dictate our relationships with one another.
The story is about Chris Flynn, a tough but uninspired teen who lets his bad decisions land him in a teen correctional facility. His relationship with the outside world, including his parents, is tenuous at best. He has no interest and no concern for anything outside of the here and now—The Pines, the facility in which he is incarcerated and the young men who spend their youths there is his only concern. Day to day survival is enough to worry about. But soon Chris starts to imagine a life outside of his violent environs, and with the help of Ali, a studious fellow inmate, begins to put his life back together.
Fast-forward, and Chris is out and working for his father’s carpet company. He’s got a girlfriend, and a best friend, and he’s mending his relationship with his father. The trouble comes, as it often does, unexpectedly and faced with a tough decision Chris sets his future, his family and friends, onto a crash-course with destiny, rolling with the punches until ultimately he must make one last decision. And he and his father must face the toughest challenge of all: trusting one another.
I love Pelecanos, and find that his writing transports me more fully into the lives of his characters than most any other writer I know. This stuff isn’t pretty, but it’s real.
Long Lost by Harlan Coben (released March 31, 2009)
Long Lost is the latest in a series of novels based around the character of Myron Bolitar, a sports agent turned man-who-gets-things-done.
The book centers around Myron’s re-acquaintance with an ex-lover named Therese, and a mystery involving her ex-husbands’ disappearance, a strange genetic clue, and a faction of terrorists using Aryan children as weapons, bent on utter destruction.
This is kind of a silly beach read. This is a fun and rewarding mystery thriller that doesn’t require much in the way of investment. There are shocks to be had, for sure, but this is good old-fashioned fluff, and it is an enjoyable way to pass an afternoon.
Coben makes this book entirely accessible to anyone, whether they have read the previous Myron Bolitar novels or not. I, in this case, had not. And I enjoyed it immensely. This is the literary equivalent to a Hollywood action blockbuster. It required no deep involvement, the slimmest of character development, and presented action, thrills, and chills galore.
My only complaint is that Bolitar, a funny, self-deprecating ex-athlete is never allowed to fully become a person. I assume that this is because it is part of a series. Along with the ease of dealing with characters we already know is that we don’t have to do all that long boring character development that you get in the first one. However, in a book that is intended to stand alone and entice readers to read the other Bolitar novels, it is important to know who our hero really is. Unfortunately, he never really becomes a solid identity, and his friends and colleagues, cartoonish and two-dimensional at best, while fun and amusing, never lend an ounce of realism.
I said there were surprises, and I wasn’t joking. About midway through there is a jaw-dropper that I still haven’t recovered from, and at the time left me breathless like a punch to the gut. There is lots of international intrigue, twists, turns, and crazy surprises that you’ll never see coming, and others that you saw all along. This is great mindless entertainment, the popcorn movie equivalent of a great read. Sometimes it’s just what the body craves, even while you chide yourself for giving in to the temptation.
City of Thieves by David Benioff (released in quality paperback format March 31)
This is quite simply a stunning novel of grace, wit, horror, and human frailty and courage. I was blown away from the first few pages.
David Benioff is a screenwriter best known for his adaptation of The Kite Runner, and the author of the book 25th Hour, which subsequently became a Spike Lee joint starring Edward Norton. 25th Hour was a good crime story, but held no clue as to the depths and heights of Benioff’s talents.
City of Thieves is a fictionalized account of Benioff’s grandfather’s stories of growing up as a young Russian Jew in Leningrad during WWII. The tale that follows is a wry, sprightly, menacing, and ultimately joyful romp though the Russian countryside. It has moments of great sorrow and austerity, but revels in the all-too-human moments of farts and sexual arousal.
This is a great coming-of-age tale that spans many genres while telling its too-strange-to-not-be-true story. The story centers on 17 year old Lev Beniov who by chance happens on a fallen German soldier, and upon taking the soldiers knife enters into an adventure that will take him to the edge of death’s door and to the heights of love’s kiss.
Sent on a mission to find and bring back a dozen eggs, Lev and his cocky soldier sidekick encounter many odd assorted characters and many life-affirming and defying moments only to discover that the greatest gift they have is each other.
This is a hell of a read. It is by turns funny, sad, heartbreaking, torturous, uplifting, and ultimately satisfying. You will fly through this book as I did. It is a fast read, and you won’t want to waste a moment to put it down. And the good news is, and this maybe giving away the ending, but you will be smiling as you put this book down. It is a charmer, and I am in love with this book.
Go. Read it. Now.
This is Literary Lollapalooza, March Edition.
Books Acquired: The Way Home by George Pelecanos, A Little Bit Wicked by Kristin Chenowith, Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk, and The Lost City of Z by David Grann.
Books Borrowed: Long Lost by Harlan Coben and City of Thieves by David Benioff.
Books Read:
Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain.
This is the sequel to the bestselling thriller Heartsick. Chelsea Cain delves right back into old territory with this continuation, following detective Archie Sheridan and his obsession with serial killer Gretchen Lowell.
This book picks up a few months after the events of the first book and barrels forward with momentum. Archie, our most beloved of F**ked-Up detectives is on the mend. He has moved back in with his ex-wife and children (though sleeping in a separate room), he is still heading a homicide task force dealing exclusively with serial crimes, and he is attending therapy and attempting to control his addiction to pain killers. He has however stopped visiting Gretchen.
And with the discovery of two bodies in a neighborhood park, Archie is faced with another serial killer, and reporter Susan ward is nearby to help identify one of the victims. Trouble is, just as this case takes off the Beauty Killer is back in the news: Gretchen Lowell has escaped from prison. Archie needs to focus but can’t keep his mind off Gretchen. He has a fool-proof plan to both reunite with and capture his one true obsession.
This is a brilliant if not slightly forgettable follow up to the incendiary debut that put Chelsea Cain on the literary map. All the old characters are back, and so are all the old crushes, grudges and emotional baggage. The plot progresses naturally from events set up in Heartsick and the characters follow the trajectories already set in motion. Everything rings true, and while we cheer Archie’s surface progress (the family, the drugs), we know it’s just surface and that the demons that haunt him swim much deeper, and that sooner rather than later Archie will inevitably dive to join those demons.
The case is a good one, and the sub-plot involving Susan Ward and a politician’s affair with a teen is thankfully revived from the first book and brought to fruition.
If there is a problem with the book, it is also its most endearing quality, that it is too intricately tied to the first. This isn’t so much a sequel as it is a continuation of the first. The loose ends of the first book are revived here, and the issues unresolved in the first book are back on display here. It’s almost as if these two books should have been one larger volume.
Again, this is part of its inherent charm. And it is also the reason why it comes across as forgettable. One begins to forget where one book ends and the other begins. When paired together (as Stephen King did when he named these two books among his top ten books of last year) they are phenomenal reads. They are highly engrossing and the characters and likeable and flawed, and we root for them and two minutes later we shake our heads in sympathy because we know why they make the bad choices we wish they wouldn’t. This is top-notch crime writing and Chelsea Cain is a name to watch.
Manhunt by James L. Swanson
Manhunt follows the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and traces the 12 day hunt for John Wilkes Booth and his collaborators.
I have been obsessed with all things Lincoln since reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s incredible Team of Rivals. However that book left me unsatisfied in the fact it literally ends with the assassination. Don’t get me wrong, it provides perfunctory information about what befalls our key players in the following years, but I wanted to know minute by minute what happened following the assassination, as I had grown accustomed to in Kearns’ 800 page opus.
Luckily for me, James L. Swanson, a man obsessed with Lincoln’s death has provided a moment by moment account of Lincoln’s death and the days thereafter where all of the country waited with their breaths held to hear of the capture of Lincoln’s murderer. This is the PERFECT follow-up to Kearns’ in-depth Lincoln bio. It picks up right where Kearns leaves off, and his eye and ear for detail, not to mention his encyclopedic research into all things Lincoln and Booth, provide a thrilling moment to moment account of Lincoln’s murder and Booth’s subsequent escape and the nation-encompassing manhunt that followed.
This book reads like the best mystery/thriller, but of course, it’s all true.
Swanson is an expert on the topic of Lincoln’s assassination, having written three separate books on the topic (and he is currently working on another Lincoln bio), so you know the facts are solid, and he crafts them into a well-told campfire story about honor, duty, conviction, and hubris.
I would recommend this book to anyone. But I would especially recommend it to anyone who has read or is planning to read Team of Rivals. Focusing on Lincoln’s death and aftermath, it is a terrific follow up to a great biography of Lincoln’s life.
The Way Home by George Pelecanos (To be released May 12, 2009)
George Pelecanos is the kind of come crime writer that you read because it rings true. The novelist and Emmy-nominated writer for HBO’s hit series The Wire is a D.C. native, and chooses to place his novels in the heart of the city he loves best.
The Way Home is the latest in Pelecanos’ treasure trove of D.C. crime novels. Stephen King calls Pelecanos “possibly the greatest crime writer working today”.
My first Pelecanos was his last called “The Turnaround” and I immediately fell in love with his writing and his landscape. I had just moved to D.C. and his use of geography in telling the story really served me well as a new resident.
Pelecanos isn’t florid or melodic. He isn’t wordy and he doesn’t try to impress with a fancy turn of phrase. However Pelecanos writes the truth. His books are often short, simple, and to the point. The trick is that his characters are so real and his situations so believable and immediate that you can’t help but be transported. He doesn’t deal with major situations, but rather with simple real-life moral questions that any of us could face on any given day. His characters are not one-sided two-dimensional plot devices, but flawed and complex human beings who try to do their best from one moment to the next but often wind up making the wrong choice, only to have deal with the consequences later.
As a matter of fact, Pelecanos’ books are all about the consequences of our actions. The stupid split second decisions that we spend a lifetime reliving, overcoming, and forgiving ourselves for are his bread and butter.
The Way Home is another in this line. This one is particularly focused on the relationship between a father and a son. The way that we let the silence and miscommunication separate and dictate our relationships with one another.
The story is about Chris Flynn, a tough but uninspired teen who lets his bad decisions land him in a teen correctional facility. His relationship with the outside world, including his parents, is tenuous at best. He has no interest and no concern for anything outside of the here and now—The Pines, the facility in which he is incarcerated and the young men who spend their youths there is his only concern. Day to day survival is enough to worry about. But soon Chris starts to imagine a life outside of his violent environs, and with the help of Ali, a studious fellow inmate, begins to put his life back together.
Fast-forward, and Chris is out and working for his father’s carpet company. He’s got a girlfriend, and a best friend, and he’s mending his relationship with his father. The trouble comes, as it often does, unexpectedly and faced with a tough decision Chris sets his future, his family and friends, onto a crash-course with destiny, rolling with the punches until ultimately he must make one last decision. And he and his father must face the toughest challenge of all: trusting one another.
I love Pelecanos, and find that his writing transports me more fully into the lives of his characters than most any other writer I know. This stuff isn’t pretty, but it’s real.
Long Lost by Harlan Coben (released March 31, 2009)
Long Lost is the latest in a series of novels based around the character of Myron Bolitar, a sports agent turned man-who-gets-things-done.
The book centers around Myron’s re-acquaintance with an ex-lover named Therese, and a mystery involving her ex-husbands’ disappearance, a strange genetic clue, and a faction of terrorists using Aryan children as weapons, bent on utter destruction.
This is kind of a silly beach read. This is a fun and rewarding mystery thriller that doesn’t require much in the way of investment. There are shocks to be had, for sure, but this is good old-fashioned fluff, and it is an enjoyable way to pass an afternoon.
Coben makes this book entirely accessible to anyone, whether they have read the previous Myron Bolitar novels or not. I, in this case, had not. And I enjoyed it immensely. This is the literary equivalent to a Hollywood action blockbuster. It required no deep involvement, the slimmest of character development, and presented action, thrills, and chills galore.
My only complaint is that Bolitar, a funny, self-deprecating ex-athlete is never allowed to fully become a person. I assume that this is because it is part of a series. Along with the ease of dealing with characters we already know is that we don’t have to do all that long boring character development that you get in the first one. However, in a book that is intended to stand alone and entice readers to read the other Bolitar novels, it is important to know who our hero really is. Unfortunately, he never really becomes a solid identity, and his friends and colleagues, cartoonish and two-dimensional at best, while fun and amusing, never lend an ounce of realism.
I said there were surprises, and I wasn’t joking. About midway through there is a jaw-dropper that I still haven’t recovered from, and at the time left me breathless like a punch to the gut. There is lots of international intrigue, twists, turns, and crazy surprises that you’ll never see coming, and others that you saw all along. This is great mindless entertainment, the popcorn movie equivalent of a great read. Sometimes it’s just what the body craves, even while you chide yourself for giving in to the temptation.
City of Thieves by David Benioff (released in quality paperback format March 31)
This is quite simply a stunning novel of grace, wit, horror, and human frailty and courage. I was blown away from the first few pages.
David Benioff is a screenwriter best known for his adaptation of The Kite Runner, and the author of the book 25th Hour, which subsequently became a Spike Lee joint starring Edward Norton. 25th Hour was a good crime story, but held no clue as to the depths and heights of Benioff’s talents.
City of Thieves is a fictionalized account of Benioff’s grandfather’s stories of growing up as a young Russian Jew in Leningrad during WWII. The tale that follows is a wry, sprightly, menacing, and ultimately joyful romp though the Russian countryside. It has moments of great sorrow and austerity, but revels in the all-too-human moments of farts and sexual arousal.
This is a great coming-of-age tale that spans many genres while telling its too-strange-to-not-be-true story. The story centers on 17 year old Lev Beniov who by chance happens on a fallen German soldier, and upon taking the soldiers knife enters into an adventure that will take him to the edge of death’s door and to the heights of love’s kiss.
Sent on a mission to find and bring back a dozen eggs, Lev and his cocky soldier sidekick encounter many odd assorted characters and many life-affirming and defying moments only to discover that the greatest gift they have is each other.
This is a hell of a read. It is by turns funny, sad, heartbreaking, torturous, uplifting, and ultimately satisfying. You will fly through this book as I did. It is a fast read, and you won’t want to waste a moment to put it down. And the good news is, and this maybe giving away the ending, but you will be smiling as you put this book down. It is a charmer, and I am in love with this book.
Go. Read it. Now.
Literary Lollapalooza February 2009
This issue of literary lollapalooza features a celebrated bestseller about how epidemics affect sales, a young adult novel about a high school senior who just can’t seem to do anything right, and a novel of pure terror set in the frozen Arctic.
This is Literary Lollapalooza, February Edition:
Books Acquired: Very Washington, D.C. by Diana Hollingsworth Gessler, The Wicked Wit of William Shakespeare edited by Dominique Enright, Building a Character and Creating a Role by Constantin Stanislavski
Books Read:
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
This ground-breaking book by the celebrated author of Blink and Outliers is an extraordinary analysis of fads in the marketplace and how “the next big thing” becomes the next big thing. What is fascinating about this book to me is the author’s approach of the fad phenomenon as that of an epidemic, coursing how it starts, catches, and then spreads far and wide.
With a few particular case studies, and a very linear and well-constructed narrative device, Gladwell illustrates how an idea becomes a powerful and pervasive phenomenon. Using case studies as diverse as Hush Puppies, Sesame Street, and New York City’s decrease in criminal activity, he indicates the ways and means, the people and players, and the sets of circumstances that help make an idea first “tip” and then “stick”.
This book is marketed as being about sales and marketing, but I find that terribly limiting. This is actually a book about sociology. About why we do the things we do. A book that examines what exactly creates any given moment’s particular zeitgeist. Why do we as people tend to flock to the same things at the same time? This book is a mind-blowing answer to that question.
I haven’t read Gladwell’s other books, but I will. If they are anything like this, I will be happy to follow along.
Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson
Laurie Halse Anderson is one of the best Young Adult writers working today. She is most known for the book (and inferior movie adaptation) Speak, about a teen girl suffering the after-effects of a date-rape. She also wrote Catalyst, which I read to my senior remedial reading class back at Bay High. That book was my first introduction to Anderson’s writing, and I was immediately hooked. I loved reading that book. One of the few bright points of that class. Anderson is one of those Young Adult authors who manages to capture the gritty reality that teenagers face without sugarcoating anything, and without devolving into exploitation.
Twisted is the story of Tyler , who is a ne’er-do-well nerd-cum-bad boy, who entering his senior year finds himself not only suddenly VISIBLE, as he was that kid that was arrested last year, but also he finds himself in the crosshairs of the very lovely and very popular Bethany. In the only way a teenager can he manages to let everything in his life spiral madly out of control, until he is forced to finally grow up and accept responsibility for his actions.
Anderson knows the madness, insecurities, extreme highs and devastating lows of being a teenager, and she plumbs those depths with alacrity and a dexterous ability that belies her age. Never have the realities of high school been more painfully examined, and never have they felt so…true. There isn’t a false note in her writing, and the book is a painful reminder of the hell of high school, and the uplifting realization that it does end, and that believe it or not, we all grow up, get past it, and forget about it. At least for awhile.
The Terror by Dan Simmons
The Terror is a fictionalized account of the true story of the 1845 Arctic expedition headed by Sir John Franklin, with the two ships H.M.S. Erebus and H.M.S. Terror. The ships became frozen in Arctic sea, and the members of those ships were doomed never to be seen again. This is Dan Simmons’ take on what happened on that doomed expedition.
First of all, Dan Simmons is a first-class novelist. He takes the reader in fully into his world, wrapping one into layers upon layers of detail and exposition. That sort of detail is important in a historical fiction, and even more important in one dealing with the alien and highly technical world of the seafarer. Even more so, of the seafarer who ventures often into the frozen wastelands of the Arctic and the Antarctic.
The men of the ships not only must survive the brutal cold, losing appendages to frost-bite daily, but they are also running dangerously low on food, giving way to sickness and starvation, as the ships’ stores dwindle the men are overcome with the worst physical hardships and morale depletions, and as the men die slowly, painfully, and grotesquely from scurvy with no hope for escape from the ice, one might think that things can’t get worse. But then Simmons’ has something else up his sleeve. There is something out there on the ice, something hiding in the extended darkness, waiting and hunting. It’s smart, hungry, and utterly unstoppable. And let’s not forget the evil that lurks in men’s hearts…
Warning: this book is so dense with description and technical explanation that it at times felt truly daunting. Like reading Moby Dick as adapted by Stephen King. It is a thick volume, weighing in at a stout 800 pages, so it is a task to take this book on.
That being said, this book is SOOOOOOO worth it. It is 700 or so pages of the most miserable, depressing, and absolutely frightening excesses of pure terror that I have ever survived. I will never, ever forget this book. It took me so deeply into that frozen nautical world of the early 20th century that I still see the scenes and characters plainly in my minds eye a month after having read it. It is a brutal and relentless read. My only complaint is that when the end does finally come, it almost seems hurried and rushed, which after such a long build-up hardly seems balanced.
Still, The Terror is easily one of the best books I’ve read, not only this year, but maybe ever. I just can’t shake the absolute fear and loathing that this book made me feel.
This is Literary Lollapalooza, February Edition:
Books Acquired: Very Washington, D.C. by Diana Hollingsworth Gessler, The Wicked Wit of William Shakespeare edited by Dominique Enright, Building a Character and Creating a Role by Constantin Stanislavski
Books Read:
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
This ground-breaking book by the celebrated author of Blink and Outliers is an extraordinary analysis of fads in the marketplace and how “the next big thing” becomes the next big thing. What is fascinating about this book to me is the author’s approach of the fad phenomenon as that of an epidemic, coursing how it starts, catches, and then spreads far and wide.
With a few particular case studies, and a very linear and well-constructed narrative device, Gladwell illustrates how an idea becomes a powerful and pervasive phenomenon. Using case studies as diverse as Hush Puppies, Sesame Street, and New York City’s decrease in criminal activity, he indicates the ways and means, the people and players, and the sets of circumstances that help make an idea first “tip” and then “stick”.
This book is marketed as being about sales and marketing, but I find that terribly limiting. This is actually a book about sociology. About why we do the things we do. A book that examines what exactly creates any given moment’s particular zeitgeist. Why do we as people tend to flock to the same things at the same time? This book is a mind-blowing answer to that question.
I haven’t read Gladwell’s other books, but I will. If they are anything like this, I will be happy to follow along.
Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson
Laurie Halse Anderson is one of the best Young Adult writers working today. She is most known for the book (and inferior movie adaptation) Speak, about a teen girl suffering the after-effects of a date-rape. She also wrote Catalyst, which I read to my senior remedial reading class back at Bay High. That book was my first introduction to Anderson’s writing, and I was immediately hooked. I loved reading that book. One of the few bright points of that class. Anderson is one of those Young Adult authors who manages to capture the gritty reality that teenagers face without sugarcoating anything, and without devolving into exploitation.
Twisted is the story of Tyler , who is a ne’er-do-well nerd-cum-bad boy, who entering his senior year finds himself not only suddenly VISIBLE, as he was that kid that was arrested last year, but also he finds himself in the crosshairs of the very lovely and very popular Bethany. In the only way a teenager can he manages to let everything in his life spiral madly out of control, until he is forced to finally grow up and accept responsibility for his actions.
Anderson knows the madness, insecurities, extreme highs and devastating lows of being a teenager, and she plumbs those depths with alacrity and a dexterous ability that belies her age. Never have the realities of high school been more painfully examined, and never have they felt so…true. There isn’t a false note in her writing, and the book is a painful reminder of the hell of high school, and the uplifting realization that it does end, and that believe it or not, we all grow up, get past it, and forget about it. At least for awhile.
The Terror by Dan Simmons
The Terror is a fictionalized account of the true story of the 1845 Arctic expedition headed by Sir John Franklin, with the two ships H.M.S. Erebus and H.M.S. Terror. The ships became frozen in Arctic sea, and the members of those ships were doomed never to be seen again. This is Dan Simmons’ take on what happened on that doomed expedition.
First of all, Dan Simmons is a first-class novelist. He takes the reader in fully into his world, wrapping one into layers upon layers of detail and exposition. That sort of detail is important in a historical fiction, and even more important in one dealing with the alien and highly technical world of the seafarer. Even more so, of the seafarer who ventures often into the frozen wastelands of the Arctic and the Antarctic.
The men of the ships not only must survive the brutal cold, losing appendages to frost-bite daily, but they are also running dangerously low on food, giving way to sickness and starvation, as the ships’ stores dwindle the men are overcome with the worst physical hardships and morale depletions, and as the men die slowly, painfully, and grotesquely from scurvy with no hope for escape from the ice, one might think that things can’t get worse. But then Simmons’ has something else up his sleeve. There is something out there on the ice, something hiding in the extended darkness, waiting and hunting. It’s smart, hungry, and utterly unstoppable. And let’s not forget the evil that lurks in men’s hearts…
Warning: this book is so dense with description and technical explanation that it at times felt truly daunting. Like reading Moby Dick as adapted by Stephen King. It is a thick volume, weighing in at a stout 800 pages, so it is a task to take this book on.
That being said, this book is SOOOOOOO worth it. It is 700 or so pages of the most miserable, depressing, and absolutely frightening excesses of pure terror that I have ever survived. I will never, ever forget this book. It took me so deeply into that frozen nautical world of the early 20th century that I still see the scenes and characters plainly in my minds eye a month after having read it. It is a brutal and relentless read. My only complaint is that when the end does finally come, it almost seems hurried and rushed, which after such a long build-up hardly seems balanced.
Still, The Terror is easily one of the best books I’ve read, not only this year, but maybe ever. I just can’t shake the absolute fear and loathing that this book made me feel.
Literary Lollapalooza January 2009
A brief introduction: This is an idea that I ripped off from my good friend Ryan who just successfully completed one whole year of these without ever missing a month. I so enjoyed reading about what Ryan was reading that it inspired me to be a copycat. This is my lame attempt at what he does effortlessly.
Some things that you might notice: I tend to alternate between heavy, thoughtful books and what might be otherwise called fluff, or genre fiction. I like books, have a large stack waiting for me, and I tend to think of them in terms of food. The heavy, thoughtful books are my entrees, the ones in-between are light trifles meant to cleanse my palate. This quite often translates into a non-fiction/fiction dichotomy, but that is not always the case. The truth is I read whatever I want to read at any given time, just like you.
This is Literary Lollapalooza Jan, 2009
Books Borrowed: Beckett in Performance
Books Bought: Take the Cannoli- Sarah Vowell, Burning Chrome-William Gibson, Captain Freedom-G. Xavier Robillard, Crossing to Safety- Wallace Stegner, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh-Michael Chabon, Bloodsucking Fiends-Christopher Moore,
Books Read:
Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain –
I picked this book up for a couple of reasons. I had seen both this and its sequel Heartsick around and was interested based solely on curiosity. Then Stephen King added the two books to his top ten books of the year list in EW. Now I was going to read them no matter. Finally, add in finding Heartsick for $3.99 in our Bargain Blowout sale. That did it: put the nail in the coffin. Not only was I in, but also had to immediately pony up the $7.99 for the paperback of Sweetheart.
The story is a crime thriller in the tradition of the Hannibal Lecter series. But this is no tired retread. Cain manages to take what should be a “been there/done that” crime thriller and turn it into a fun, terrifying, horrifying, thought-provoking and heart-pounding read. Trust me: it’s a page turner in the literal sense. I finished in a couple of days. And I’m no speed reader. (It took me two months to read American Wife).
The story centers on Archie, a middle-aged homicide detective in semi-retirement, and his life’s work, a beautiful and manipulative serial killer, his greatest collar and also his greatest obsession. You see, she managed to kidnap Archie and then relish in his torture, always keeping him from the brink of death for weeks. Now Archie has a special relationship with his former captor, and can barely keep things together enough to function in polite society. It is only through heavy doses of medication and weekly visits to her that he can keep his world in check. Now Archie is working on a new case, a serial rapist/murderer who targets young girls. He has no choice but to give in to the advice of his greatest obsession.
I highly recommend this book. I have yet to read its sequel (but I will soon), but this is high octane reading. I have rarely had as much fun while simultaneously being grossed out, intrigued, and turned on. This is no “Lecter repeat”. Cain manages to create wholly believable and wholly invested characters in what could have easily been a knock-off. I look forward to what promises to be an on-going series featuring this fractured homicide detective and his greatest victory/obsession.
America and the World by Zbienew Brezenski and Brent Scowcroft with David Ignatius.
I had heard good things about this long before even reading the dust-jacket.
I had a few reservations. For one, I’d never read this sort of pragmatically political book before, not even read much politically besides left wing diatribes and Woodward’s Bush series. So naturally I was afraid that this book would be over my head.
Luckily, this was surprisingly easy reading. And I only had to look up a couple of terms and ask a couple of questions from people with more political acumen than I to get through the book.
Bottom Line: This is REQUIRED READING for ANYONE interested in the future of our great country. Brezesinski and Scowcroft, two of the leading foreign policy advisors alive anywhere got together with journalist Ignatius, who mediated an ongoing conversation about American foreign policy, past and future. These two great political minds, one a Democrat, the other a Republican, spent their days offering advice, discussing, and arguing over what the next (read current) administration should be doing in the world at large to secure American peace and prosperity in the years to come.
The first surprising thing about this book is the clear, unfiltered, and easily understood language with which these three men speak. Besides a few foreign terms or ideas the language is very easily understood plain speak. Gone is the lofty language one might expect from top foreign policy thinkers. These guys are talking simply, truthfully, and quite compellingly from their experience, wisdom, and instinct about how to navigate the increasingly troubled waters of the 21st Century.
The second, and most surprising thing about this book is how often these two very different, partisan political thinkers agree on how to proceed with every major country in the known world. The exceptions are the few times that they actually disagree, so rare, in fact that they are thrown into sharp contrast. One can easily see that what lies at the base of the very few disagreements these men share are in a deeply laid ideology. A stark difference, mainly laid out in terms.
What is obvious after reading this, is that America must take a decisive lead in the future of the world, from all aspects. But what both men earnestly urge is careful listening, and thoughtful, steady, and yielding leadership when it comes to dealing with our foreign leadership. The book serves almost as a foreign policy checklist, listing clearly and carefully each major player in the world stage, and what should be done to ensure a lasting peace. Let’s hope our new administration heeds their words carefully.
Dog On It by
I came by this one honestly, having picked up a free advanced reading copy at work. It looked interesting, featured a positive quote from Stephen King on the cover, and after reading the first couple pages I decided it would be my next read.
Dog On It is the first in what the publisher promises to be a new series of mysteries. The subtitle announces that it is “A Chet and Bernie Mystery”.
Here’s the skinny: This is a fun and somewhat mindless read. Mindless is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes it’s exactly what I’m after. This hit the spot perfectly.
The gimmick of the series is that Chet, of the eponymous title, is in fact a dog, the loyal and devoted friend and partner to private detective Bernie Little, and he is also our narrator.
This leads to lots of fun bits about color and scents, and while Chet does a good job of keeping us apprised of the case at all times, he is still a dog and still subject to a few doggy sidetracks as well, a.k.a. chasing rabbits, getting a good scritch behind the ears, or involuntarily growling at a nearby cat.
In the end, this is not groundbreaking fiction here. However, it is clear that the author has a deep love and respect for dogs, and knows a great deal about them as well. Though the story might come across a little cliché or one-dimensional, it is still worth reading due to the infectious excitement of the canine narrator, Chet. Chet is what sells this book. Chet will be what sells the series. If you own a dog, have ever owned a dog, and enjoy mysteries, you will like this book. If you wrinkle your nose at the thought of a dog narrating, please ignore this book. Not all books were meant to change the world. Some are meant to make us smile. This is one of that variety.
Some things that you might notice: I tend to alternate between heavy, thoughtful books and what might be otherwise called fluff, or genre fiction. I like books, have a large stack waiting for me, and I tend to think of them in terms of food. The heavy, thoughtful books are my entrees, the ones in-between are light trifles meant to cleanse my palate. This quite often translates into a non-fiction/fiction dichotomy, but that is not always the case. The truth is I read whatever I want to read at any given time, just like you.
This is Literary Lollapalooza Jan, 2009
Books Borrowed: Beckett in Performance
Books Bought: Take the Cannoli- Sarah Vowell, Burning Chrome-William Gibson, Captain Freedom-G. Xavier Robillard, Crossing to Safety- Wallace Stegner, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh-Michael Chabon, Bloodsucking Fiends-Christopher Moore,
Books Read:
Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain –
I picked this book up for a couple of reasons. I had seen both this and its sequel Heartsick around and was interested based solely on curiosity. Then Stephen King added the two books to his top ten books of the year list in EW. Now I was going to read them no matter. Finally, add in finding Heartsick for $3.99 in our Bargain Blowout sale. That did it: put the nail in the coffin. Not only was I in, but also had to immediately pony up the $7.99 for the paperback of Sweetheart.
The story is a crime thriller in the tradition of the Hannibal Lecter series. But this is no tired retread. Cain manages to take what should be a “been there/done that” crime thriller and turn it into a fun, terrifying, horrifying, thought-provoking and heart-pounding read. Trust me: it’s a page turner in the literal sense. I finished in a couple of days. And I’m no speed reader. (It took me two months to read American Wife).
The story centers on Archie, a middle-aged homicide detective in semi-retirement, and his life’s work, a beautiful and manipulative serial killer, his greatest collar and also his greatest obsession. You see, she managed to kidnap Archie and then relish in his torture, always keeping him from the brink of death for weeks. Now Archie has a special relationship with his former captor, and can barely keep things together enough to function in polite society. It is only through heavy doses of medication and weekly visits to her that he can keep his world in check. Now Archie is working on a new case, a serial rapist/murderer who targets young girls. He has no choice but to give in to the advice of his greatest obsession.
I highly recommend this book. I have yet to read its sequel (but I will soon), but this is high octane reading. I have rarely had as much fun while simultaneously being grossed out, intrigued, and turned on. This is no “Lecter repeat”. Cain manages to create wholly believable and wholly invested characters in what could have easily been a knock-off. I look forward to what promises to be an on-going series featuring this fractured homicide detective and his greatest victory/obsession.
America and the World by Zbienew Brezenski and Brent Scowcroft with David Ignatius.
I had heard good things about this long before even reading the dust-jacket.
I had a few reservations. For one, I’d never read this sort of pragmatically political book before, not even read much politically besides left wing diatribes and Woodward’s Bush series. So naturally I was afraid that this book would be over my head.
Luckily, this was surprisingly easy reading. And I only had to look up a couple of terms and ask a couple of questions from people with more political acumen than I to get through the book.
Bottom Line: This is REQUIRED READING for ANYONE interested in the future of our great country. Brezesinski and Scowcroft, two of the leading foreign policy advisors alive anywhere got together with journalist Ignatius, who mediated an ongoing conversation about American foreign policy, past and future. These two great political minds, one a Democrat, the other a Republican, spent their days offering advice, discussing, and arguing over what the next (read current) administration should be doing in the world at large to secure American peace and prosperity in the years to come.
The first surprising thing about this book is the clear, unfiltered, and easily understood language with which these three men speak. Besides a few foreign terms or ideas the language is very easily understood plain speak. Gone is the lofty language one might expect from top foreign policy thinkers. These guys are talking simply, truthfully, and quite compellingly from their experience, wisdom, and instinct about how to navigate the increasingly troubled waters of the 21st Century.
The second, and most surprising thing about this book is how often these two very different, partisan political thinkers agree on how to proceed with every major country in the known world. The exceptions are the few times that they actually disagree, so rare, in fact that they are thrown into sharp contrast. One can easily see that what lies at the base of the very few disagreements these men share are in a deeply laid ideology. A stark difference, mainly laid out in terms.
What is obvious after reading this, is that America must take a decisive lead in the future of the world, from all aspects. But what both men earnestly urge is careful listening, and thoughtful, steady, and yielding leadership when it comes to dealing with our foreign leadership. The book serves almost as a foreign policy checklist, listing clearly and carefully each major player in the world stage, and what should be done to ensure a lasting peace. Let’s hope our new administration heeds their words carefully.
Dog On It by
I came by this one honestly, having picked up a free advanced reading copy at work. It looked interesting, featured a positive quote from Stephen King on the cover, and after reading the first couple pages I decided it would be my next read.
Dog On It is the first in what the publisher promises to be a new series of mysteries. The subtitle announces that it is “A Chet and Bernie Mystery”.
Here’s the skinny: This is a fun and somewhat mindless read. Mindless is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes it’s exactly what I’m after. This hit the spot perfectly.
The gimmick of the series is that Chet, of the eponymous title, is in fact a dog, the loyal and devoted friend and partner to private detective Bernie Little, and he is also our narrator.
This leads to lots of fun bits about color and scents, and while Chet does a good job of keeping us apprised of the case at all times, he is still a dog and still subject to a few doggy sidetracks as well, a.k.a. chasing rabbits, getting a good scritch behind the ears, or involuntarily growling at a nearby cat.
In the end, this is not groundbreaking fiction here. However, it is clear that the author has a deep love and respect for dogs, and knows a great deal about them as well. Though the story might come across a little cliché or one-dimensional, it is still worth reading due to the infectious excitement of the canine narrator, Chet. Chet is what sells this book. Chet will be what sells the series. If you own a dog, have ever owned a dog, and enjoy mysteries, you will like this book. If you wrinkle your nose at the thought of a dog narrating, please ignore this book. Not all books were meant to change the world. Some are meant to make us smile. This is one of that variety.
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