tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80884144628666453862024-03-04T23:55:30.063-05:00The Drowning MachineStaying afloat in an ocean of books. Barely.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger144125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-56532893453369192922014-02-17T17:16:00.000-05:002014-02-17T17:18:48.051-05:00CAPTURE and DUST DEVILS by Roger SmithI'm excited because February 20, marks New Pulp Press's release in PRINT, in the USA, for the first time of Roger Smith's novels, CAPTURE and DUST DEVILS. I highly recommend both of these books, or any book written by Roger Smith, really. I'm so happy that these books finally going to be available here in print format. Here are The Drowning Machine's previous reviews of both books:<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<u><b>DUST DEVILS</b></u></div>
<br />
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South African journalist Robert Dell, his wife and two children are
all headed off on a holiday, when a black pickup truck runs them off the
road. Dell's family is killed and he is framed for their murders.<br />
<br />
If
that sounds anything like a typical thriller, please, just hold the
phone a sec. Because you haven't read anything like this book. No, you
haven't. No, it's not like that book or that one or any of the thrillers
you'll recall right offhand, and that's because Roger Smith isn't just
any writer. In the span of just three books, his prose has gone from
spare and evocative to darkly lyrical. His characterizations are
masterful, his POV treatment is impeccable. And thematically, where once
he was just pretty damned good, he now soars. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/roger-smith/dust-devils.htm">DUST DEVILS</a>
is a brilliant work, revolving around five major characters: Dell, a
pacifist wrought by his grief and also by his sense of justice in a
world that has none, into waging personal war on the men who killed his
family; Inja, a corrupt, murderous cop and Zulu chief, a man dying of
AIDS and looking to superstition instead of science for help, he will
kill anyone who gets between him and his 16-year-old bride-to-be,
Sunday, because he believes that sex with her will cure him. Sunday
wants only not to have to marry Inja. She, as much as anyone, knows him
for the cold killer he is. And then there is Disaster Zondi, an ex-cop
as a result of having principles in a time and place where those things
have no cash value. The author spins these characters and more through a
space-time continuum where personal interactions go repeatedly nuclear.
Oops, I said five characters, didn't I? South Africa is the fifth one.
The varying cultures, the extremes of power and wealth matched again
helplessness and poverty, places where AIDS harvests one out of three
people thanks to neglect, superstition, and ignorance. Where news events
don't begin to tell the depth of the stories.<br />
<br />
Along
the way, the reader gets a mini-education in the behind-the-scenes
politics of South Africa as that country moved from apartheid to...
whatever one calls it today, because freedom hardly seems the right
word. Unless one is remembering the old song lyric from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYFhWV8--io">Me and Bobby McGee</a>: "Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose."<br />
<br />
Thematically,
where other authors would simply push the characters examining their
past sins toward a search for redemption or atonement, Smith takes his
characters beyond and into a stark cultural landscape where the wages of
sin don't include the possibility of redemption, and where careful
preservation of innocence is futile because innocence was long ago the
first victim of sin. Harshly violent, the book is a broken window onto
the cultural indifference to massive suffering, but more pointedly --
and poignantly -- Smith highlights the effect of the neglect by those
powerful enough to relieve such suffering, who make such suffering more
intense and widespread through corruption and indifference. The story's
end is a sorrowful angel, breathtakingly cinematic on one level, and on
another so personal that the reader's heart bleeds. A brilliant work.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.</b><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><u>CAPTURE</u></b></div>
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Somewhere on the Internet recently I came across a discussion about
what constituted or defined neo-noir. This book is my idea of what
neo-noir is all about: the same sick, twisted, desperate,
going-down-the-tubes characters found in original noir plus the faster
pace and action usually found in thrillers. In this latest release,
Smith somehow manages to conjure up a character, Vernon Saul, who is
evil incarnate. What kind of man can sit back and watch a child drown,
his inaction solely for the thought that he might find an angle to gain
some kind of power over the grieving parents? And yet the reader cannot
help but sympathize with the abused child that preceded the man Vernon
became. There is a line delivered by William Peterson in the 1986
Michael Mann film, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091474/" target="_blank">MANHUNTER</a>, that perfectly sums up my feelings toward Vernon Saul:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
My heart bleeds for him, as a child. Someone took a kid and manufactured
a monster. At the same time, as an adult, he's irredeemable... As an adult,
someone should blow the sick fuck out of his socks.</blockquote>
CAPTURE
is bit more of a psychological character study than Smith's previous
novels, but the tension ratchets up, chapter by chapter, to a shattering
and satisfying denouement. <b> </b><br />
<br />
<b>RECOMMENDED</b>.<br />
<br />
<i>Note: </i>Okay, then. The publisher told me the print editions were due out the 20th, but apparently amazon has had both books available for the past week. Doesn't matter. Do yourself a favor and read a Roger Smith book. <br />
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<b> </b></div>
Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-72734437213887346642014-02-03T00:00:00.000-05:002014-02-03T00:00:13.002-05:00COLD STORAGE, ALASKA by John Straley<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Clive McCahon is a drug dealer fresh out of a Washington state prison after seven years, the last three of which he was in "protective segregation." Nobody was actively targeting Clive, but he'd reached a point where he was ready for a do-over. He wanted peace, law-abiding peace. No guns, no drugs, no retaliation. But on the way back to his hometown of Cold Storage, Alaska, Clive picks up two things: a big pile of money which might be his or might belong to his former business partner in the drug business, and an ugly, ill-mannered brute of a dog called Little Brother. Questions: What in the world can Clive do with all that money in a place as small and remote as Cold Storage? What happens when the business partner decides he needs the money more than Clive? Why is Clive hearing animals talk to him? And why is he listening to their advice? Waiting for Clive in Cold Storage is his older brother, Miles, the town's medic, war hero, and a pragmatic man who yet prays to his outboard motor.<br />
<br />
Wherever you think John Straley's newest novel will go, trust me on this: it won't. But where it does go is never less than delightful, turning the crime genre's tropes inside out. Straley writes in prose that is closer to poetry - but never pretentious and not strictly lyrical poetry. Call it prose with a poetic resonance. Cold Storage is populated with characters at once memorable, affable, pathetic, real, and sometimes maddening. No doubt there are readers who will draw parallels to the populace of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098878/">Northern Exposure</a>, though that show held little appeal for me as the quirkiness of its residents seemed to me to be more affectation for the sake of audience than that of three-dimensional characters. Quirky the people of Straley's Cold Storage may occasionally be, but they are never less than real, with their struggles, their dreams, their failures and modest successes, and their binding sense of community that lightly overlays their fierce if sometimes false self-reliance.<br />
<br />
The author overtly yet subtly (how does he <i>do</i> that?) works varying religious viewpoints into a cohesive but elusive blend that both humbles and amuses the reader. While the overriding quality of this book is a rare kind of Zen charm, Straley is far too good a writer not to ensure that depth of setting (think Shangri-la without the humbuggery), character, and plot are all present and in abundance. <br />
<br />
COLD STORAGE, ALASKA is a gem of story, marvelously told, that repays the reader many times over for the reading. Only February, I know, but this book will certainly be on my year-end favorites list.<br />
<br />
<b>HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.</b>Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-60236032437365059972014-01-25T14:12:00.000-05:002014-01-28T22:25:02.838-05:00THE COLD COLD GROUND by Adrian McKinty<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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May, 1981. Northern Ireland. Bombs, assassinations, torture, hunger strikes, riots. Sectarian violence is the clean label the journalists slap over the ugly and complex brutality known gently and woefully as The Troubles. If you're present, you're involved. There's no escape short of emigration. And it's not as simple as Catholic vs. Protestant, or Irish vs. English, or police vs citizens. Because it's all of that and more. It's rich vs. poor, man vs. woman, gays vs. straights, expectations vs. reality, loyalty vs. betrayal. It's duality in everything, every person, every situation. And author Adrian McKinty captures it all, in a luxurious clarity of language and reasoning that are both intelligent and easily followed. <br />
<br />
In Sean Duffy, a young detective sergeant in the Royal Ulster Constabulary, McKinty has created a fascinating character: Duffy is Catholic, a rarity in the 1981 RUC (and perhaps still today for all I know), who buys a house in a Protestant district because that's the house he wants and can afford. Clearly the Protestants aren't going to be happy with him, but the IRA condemn Catholics in the RUC as traitors - in other words, it's open season on Catholic cops, from either side. One would think these facts alone would be enough to keep Duffy on his toes 24/7. But no, he occasionally forgets to check under his car for bombs. Duffy's a trifle laid back, yet he can also be described as an excitable boy, one who does not readily cope with frustration created by those who ought to know better.<br />
<br />
When a murder case, and then a second one, land in Duffy's lap and those killings have nothing to do with The Troubles, but appear to be the work of a serial killer, our lad has to ask himself: If you want to be a serial killer in Belfast, why not join one of the paramilitary groups that encourage murder? That way, you get your killing done and get it approved as well, with lots of people willing to cover for you. Why make yourself stand out? And then a young woman, missing for months, is found dead, an apparent case of suicide, and what had been a complex case for Duffy now becomes positively labyrinthine. Before it's over, this case will reveal to Duffy his own dual nature, one that is just as complex as the world he inhabits. <br />
<br />
All praise to McKinty for his depiction of Belfast in the throes of civil war:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>There was trouble up in Belfast again. Potassium nitrate flares falling through the darkening sky. A Gazelle helicopter flying low over the lough water. Little kids walking past the police station showing each other the best technique for lobbing Molotov cocktails over the fence. Jesus, what a nightmare.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>This was a city crucified under its own blitz.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>This was a city poisoning its own wells, salting its own fields, digging its own grave...</i></blockquote>
<br />
Yet the author never sacrifices story, plot or pacing to accomplish the vivid creation of this historical setting. The story is a cracking good whodunnit, leavening the tragedy with wit and humor and fine characterization. Not to mention sticking very close to actual events. THE COLD COLD GROUND is the first in McKinty's trilogy about Sean Duffy and The Troubles. I'll be purchasing the second installment, I HEAR THE SIRENS IN THE STREET, very soon. Like today.<br />
<br />
<b>HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.</b><br />
<br />Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-66211401729330678352014-01-19T19:27:00.000-05:002014-01-20T14:24:58.649-05:00THE WAYS OF EVIL MEN by Leighton Gage<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="firstHeading" id="firstHeading" lang="pt">
The Awana tribe in the rainforest of Brazil is dying: Only 41 Awana remain, and they know they are the last of their people. A matter of years only, and there will be no more Awana. But some person or persons felt the need to hurry things along. When Amati and his eight-year-old son return from a day of hunting, they find everyone in the village dead. No wounds, no signs of violence at all, but from the youngest child to the oldest citizen, all are dead. Poisoned, perhaps, but how? Amati is convinced that the white men from the nearest town are responsible. The local representative from the government for Indian affairs, Jade Calmon, demands that the deaths be investigated, but the local police chief says that what happens on the reservation is beyond the scope of his authority. The regional <i>delegado de <span dir="auto">polícia </span></i><span dir="auto">is far too lazy to care what happens hundreds of miles away. But Jade is a tireless crusader, and she knows someone who knows someone who pulls Federal Inspector Mario Silva and his team into investigating. It isn't long before genocide mushrooms into another murder, a lynching, a kidnapping, a missing person, domestic abuse, betrayal, and still more murder. Silva and his team have their hands full just trying to get a racist, elitist, corrupt, and fearful populace to talk to them, never mind trying to exhume bodies and collect evidence (or even make phone calls) in the remote and deadly rainforest where even the most macho of men would never dare to be caught after dark.</span></div>
<div class="firstHeading" id="firstHeading" lang="pt">
<span dir="auto"></span></div>
<div class="firstHeading" id="firstHeading" lang="pt">
<span dir="auto"></span><br />
<span dir="auto">The town of Azevedo will perhaps remind the reader of the Old West of the United States, where the nearest law enforcement was often too far away to be of any value, where white people repeatedly stole tribal lands and Native Americans were treated as either juvenile imbeciles or dangerous lunatics. The situations in this book may also bring to mind the premise of the film, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047849/plotsummary" target="_blank">Bad Day at Black Rock</a>, in which a stranger in town encounters suspicion and the threat of violence, though no one in town will say why the town is so full of, well, evil. Luckily for Inspector Silva, he is not alone, as Spencer Tracy was in the film. Silva has his trusted team of detectives and medical examiner to help him; he also has the albatross of a very pretty, highly ambitious journalist figuratively draped around his neck. And the determination of that journalist provides an internal threat to the security of Silva's team that he could not have foreseen. </span><br />
<span dir="auto"><br /></span>
<span dir="auto">The <a href="http://www.leightongage.com/Leighton_Gage/BOOKS/BOOKS.html" target="_blank">Mario Silva series</a> comes to a close with this seventh book and the sad, too soon, passing of author <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leighton_Gage" target="_blank">Leighton Gage</a>
last summer. And what a terrific and complex final story he has given us,
condensing into highly readable form five centuries of continuous
assaults on the indigenous people of Brazil, and the environmental
disasters stemming from toxic mining and the continued decimation of the rainforest. Gage neatly outlines the vast
gulf between the lives of the haves and the have nots, not to mention
the bigotry and corruption of both groups, all the while maintaining both an impending sense of danger and a
sharp-witted camaraderie between the members of Silva's team. It is the
humor, cynical though it may be, that prevents the reader from being
crushed under the weight of the evil abounding in the small town of
Azevedo. That humor, plus the humanity and unpredictability of Silva, a man whose work may be the law, but whose primary interest is justice, all make for wonderful reading.</span><br />
<span dir="auto"><br /></span>
<span dir="auto"><b>HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.</b></span><br />
<span dir="auto"><br /></span>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ways-Chief-Inspector-Mario-Silva-ebook/dp/B00E731HZI/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-1&qid=1387648278" target="_blank"><b><span dir="auto">THE WAYS OF EVIL MEN</span></b></a><br />
<ul>
<li><b>Series:</b> Chief Inspector Mario Silva</li>
<li><b>Hardcover:</b> 304 pages</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> Soho Crime (January 21, 2014)</li>
<li><b>Language:</b> English</li>
<li><b>ISBN-10:</b> 1616952725</li>
<li><b>ISBN-13:</b> 978-1616952723</li>
</ul>
<span dir="auto"><br /></span></div>
Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-40515972686711718912014-01-12T10:13:00.000-05:002014-01-12T10:13:11.243-05:00BLACK SKIES by Arnaldur Indridason<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Inspector Erlandur, the main character in Arnaldur Indridason's Icelandic police series, has taken some time off. While he's away, one of his team, <span style="font-size: small;">Sigurdur Óli, never the most dedicated of crimefighters, takes the spotlight. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Sigurdur Óli has a friend who shocks the detective by revealing his wife-swapping behavior, then asks </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sigurdur Óli</span> to talk to a husband-and-wife amateur team of blackmailers and get them to knock it off. But when </span><span style="font-size: small;">Sigurdur Óli goes to talk to them, he finds the woman has been beaten nearly to death and her home trashed. And </span><span style="font-size: small;">Sigurdur Óli nearly gets his own head bashed in before the assailant takes to his heels. In the ensuing investigation, </span><span style="font-size: small;">Sigurdur Óli does not quite reveal all the facts - trying to protect his friend, of course - to his colleagues and refuses to recuse himself from the case. The reader can safely trust that his failure to do so will come back to bite him in the </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="st">derrière</span>. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">While trying to track down the assailant, a homeless man, Andres, makes </span><span style="font-size: small;">Sigurdur Óli the object of some mysterious declarations and sends the policeman a soundless 12-second filmstrip that shows a naked and terrified young boy. </span><span style="font-size: small;">Sigurdur Óli can never pin down the constantly-in-motion Andres long enough to get direct answers, but then, even if he could, Andres's mental condition and habitually drunken state are not likely to improve his coherence. While </span><span style="font-size: small;">Sigurdur Óli wrestles with these puzzles, he must also grapple with mounting personal issues including the break up of his long</span><span class="st"><i></i></span>-term relationship and the revelation that his father has prostate cancer.<br />
<br />
Throughout this series, <span style="font-size: small;">Sigurdur Óli has never been a sympathetic character, and the same is true in this book. He is cold, cynical, callous, and profoundly snobbish. By book's end, the reader still may not like this character, but there will be dawning respect as his personal crises do cause Sigurdur Óli to spend some time in self-examination, and to find himself wanting -- and wanting to be better. In past books</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Sigurdur Óli has not been a hardworking detective, and his self-absorption and superior attitude have made him insensitive to nuances in witness statements. In BLACK SKIES, his sudden solitude makes him more willing to put in the hours: long, dull, thankless hours of legwork. His introspection awakens in him a new awareness that the people around him are <i>people</i>, not stereotypes. And his contact with the pitiful, broken Andres helps him toward a better understanding of why </span></span><span style="font-size: small;">Sigurdur Óli is the way he is. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">As bleak as this book is - and its title does it justice - as long as a character like </span><span style="font-size: small;">Sigurdur Óli can begin finding greater humanity in himself, there is hope for us all.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>RECOMMENDED</b> but with the added caution that this book is at times so bleak that reading it in one sitting is not advised. Walk away a time or two, and maintain perspective.</span><br />
<br />Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-45649830215313224452014-01-05T17:24:00.000-05:002014-01-05T17:24:26.906-05:00PURGATORY by Ken Bruen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Oh, sure, I was prepared to like PURGATORY -- the book, not the concept -- from the outset. Ken Bruen? Jack Taylor? Wit and poetry and irreverence and, natch, violence? Just my cuppa.<br />
<br />
But when Bruen introduces me to a quotation from Mark Twain, dissing Jane Austen? I went from pure reading pleasure straight on to literary paradise. No stops for purgatory -- the concept, not the book -- along the way.<br />
<br />
Want to know what Twain said? Sure, you do. If you are as sickened as I am by the constant parade of cinematic pap for what amounts, IMHO, to little more than a collection of 19th-century soaps occasionally breathed on by the faintest breeze of humor, you want to know (if you don't already) what he said. And if you are one of the Army of Austenites, ready to take up teaspoonly cudgeons in her defense, you want to know, too, so that you might gird your loins for literary battle. So. What Twain said was:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'Any library is a good library that
does not contain a volume by Jane Austen. Even if it contains no other book.'</blockquote>
You can't imagine my delight at reading that. Oh, Ken Bruen, how much I owe you for introducing me to that line! And knowing a bit about Twain, just enough really, it seemed likely that he had more than that to say about Austen's books. So I went looking and found, for the vindictive pleasure of we few, we happy few, we band of Anti-Austenites, this pair of nasty gems:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'I haven't any right to criticize books, and I don't do it except when I hate
them. I often want to criticize Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that
I can't conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every
time I begin. Every time I read 'Pride and Prejudice' I want to dig her up and
beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone.<br />
-- Letter to Joseph Twichell, 13 September 1898
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'To me his prose is unreadable -- like Jane Austen's. No, there is a difference.
I could read his prose on salary, but not Jane's. Jane is entirely impossible.
It seems a great pity that they allowed her to die a natural death.<br />
-- Letter to W. D. Howells, 18 January 1909</blockquote>
<br />
No, please, don't anyone send me any impassioned defenses of Ms. Austen's creations, or of any of the works that sprang (sprung? springed? spronged?) from them. It would be quite useless. Neither of us will persuade the other. Instead I will admit here and now to being a literary heathen. And I will continue to laugh every time I read one of Mr. Twain's remarks about her work. You may consign me, not to purgatory (the place, not -- you know), but directly to perdition if you like. I shall be happy to shake Mr. Twain's hand upon my arrival there.<br />
<br />
Which locale, one muses, may be where Jack Taylor is heading. Anyone who has read much of the series probably thinks Jack has either already been to perdition or long been doomed to eventually end there. And yet, here in PURGATORY -- the book, not the other -- Jack seems to be managing his vices and character flaws better than he ever has; backsliding a bit now and again, but not only making a recovery, but <i>wanting </i>to make a recovery. Wanting to avoid the violence, the drugs, the booze, the cigarettes. Jack even manages not to immediately lay verbal waste to his arch-enemy, Father Malachy, when he discovers the ill-natured padre is reading FIFTY SHADES OF GREY. No doubt Jack is saving his barbs for his final downward spiral into perdition so that he has that one last feel-good moment before eternal damnation.<br />
<br />
No, this isn't much of a review of Ken Bruen's fine book, is it? But what I said a few paragraphs back, about wit and poetry and irreverence and violence, that all holds true. This book is trademark Bruen in that, yes, his fans will find what they expect to find in a Jack Taylor book. And PURGATORY is also trademark Bruen in that his fans will find what they <i>least </i>expect to find as well. This is why Bruen is still the King of Crime Fiction in my universe.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>RECOMMENDED.</b>Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-59517070135736349542013-12-30T00:00:00.000-05:002013-12-30T00:00:09.950-05:00THE PURITY OF VENGEANCE by Jussi Adler-Olsen <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The fourth installment in the Department Q series finds police detective Carl Morck in the emotional throes stemming from new evidence in the case in which he lost one partner and another was left a quadraplegic. And his pangs may be more than emotional since much of the evidence damningly points at his involvement in the shootings.<br />
<br />
And this is merely a subplot. The main plot has two branches, one of which grows from the cold case files Morck's team (comprised of the dangerous, mysterious, and oft hilarious Assad, and the multiple-personality plagued Rose) manages. Rose and Assad begin finding links between several missing-person cases: people who disappeared on the same day, people of differing occupations who came from different parts of Denmark but who all were in or were bound for Copenhagen when last seen, people who did not know each other but most of whom were known by an elderly, reclusive widow. The second branch of the plot involves a doctor, Curt Wad, whose medical ethics the reader will recognize as stemming almost directly from those of Josef Mengele. The less-than-good doctor is one of the founders and mainstays of the Purity Party, whose growing membership is chockful of right wingnuts, bigots, and extreme nationalists. Like the early Nazi party it so closely resembles, the Purity Party is secretive, elitist, and very, very dangerous.<br />
<br />
The author does an admirable job of connecting the many disparate characters while sliding back and forth across more than four decades of story, though the backstory process goes on at some length and at the expense of the more sympathetic main characters. For such serious topics as eugenics, forced abortion and sterilization, rape, and murder, the story is fortunately leavened with a good deal of humor to offset the depressing banality of evil. That's good, yes, but the humor leans less on character and situation than in prior books, and more on basic bodily functions. An instance or two brings a smile to the reader, but after a time one begins to hope (in vain) for no further scatological revelations.<br />
<br />
If this book has a serious flaw it is in the many villains the reader encounters. Dr. Wad is certainly a fine villain, and the primary example. He is cold, callous, intelligent while being obtuse, and horribly cunning. Yet the focus is continually pulled away to one of the many other villainous characters who, although evil enough in their own right, lack the mesmerizing quality of the inhuman doctor. I've long held that one single superb villain makes for a better story than a dozen such characters, and this book supports my argument.<br />
<br />
Despite this, what makes the book an overall winner is the very nifty twist in the denouement, a Hitchcockian twist that this reader did not see coming, but should have as the author very fairly provided all the clues. And yet I have not felt so blindsided since the ending of the film, <u>The Sixth Sense</u>. The ending, plus the way the author made me feel that, no matter how populated the world is with evil, there is still hope; that as bad as things may be, as wrong and unfair as the world can be, there is always, always hope - these things prompt me to RECOMMEND this book.Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-73488211800922510872013-11-08T10:44:00.000-05:002013-11-08T10:45:02.630-05:00Robert E. Bailey, 1947-2013The first check of my Facebook news feed today brought word of the passing of Robert Bailey, one of my favorite authors. I, and others, are deeply saddened by our loss. To Bob's wife, Linda, my deepest condolences. May the dear man rest in peace.<br />
<br />
In memoriam, I am reposting an interview Bob granted this blog shortly after his initial diagnosis of glioblastoma in the summer of 2011.<br />
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<u><b>Hatchets, Fish & Detonics: An Interview With Robert E. Bailey</b></u></div>
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Robert E. Bailey is the author of the PI Art Hardin series. When Bob writes about PIs, he knows of whence he speaks: he did the job for twenty years, before the profession turned into little more than computer record searches. A
Vietnam-era draftee, he retired from the military as a reservist and a
field-grade officer. Bob's also an award-winning combat pistol shot. Guess I'm glad I only have good things to say about his books! Which, by the way, were all recently released in ebook format. You'll find the links below. You'll also find my review of PRIVATE HEAT <a href="http://drowningmachine.blogspot.com/2012/04/review-private-heat-by-robert-e-bailey.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
It's been my pleasure to correspond casually, off and on, over the last few years with Bob. I also had the great pleasure of meeting him in 2007 at the annual Ann Arbor Book Festival. Not only was he charming and funny, like his books, but he took the time to tour the festival with me, answering candidly every question I asked.<br />
<br />
In August, 2011, Bob was diagnosed with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glioblastoma_multiforme" target="_blank">glioblastoma</a>, a form of malignant
brain cancer. He underwent surgery in late August and is on his third round of chemotherapy. He has some mild <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphasia" target="_blank">aphasia</a> but continues to work on a new novel. And if you know what aphasia is, you know what a struggle that must be for anyone, but especially for a writer. Still, you might never guess it from his responses to some questions I recently put to him.<br />
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<br />
<b>Q:</b> <i>Your
first book (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Private-Heat-Hardin-Mystery-ebook/dp/B007A6TS2I/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1333917293&sr=1-1" target="_blank">PRIVATE HEAT</a>) reads like a seasoned writer at the top of his game. Great
pacing, characterization, and story arc. Is it true you had to be
shot in order to get you to write this book? And did you consciously
emulate any other writer? If not, what crime writers (if any) would
you claim as your influences and/or favorites? </i><br />
<br />
<b>Bob:</b> I
was injured working on an undercover job in so stupid a manner that I
am embarrassed to tell you! I had to move my van, and running down
the sidewalk, I broke my knee and ankle stumbling over a wheelchair
ramp. I wish there was a better story! (I survived the better
stories.) I was in a wheelchair before I could get back on my feet,
and that took about a year. Hence, the first novel.<br />
<br />
Thank you for
the wonderful compliments. For the first novel, I was writing an
homage to all the old writers that I enjoyed, specifically, Mickey
Spillane, Dashiell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler. I think Robert
Parker deserves his own mention. My story was meant to thank them
for all their great stories. Interestingly enough, PRIVATE HEAT was
rejected twenty-three times by publishing houses, who said they had
read it all before and we didn’t need another one.<br />
<br />
<b>Q: </b><i>I've
just finished rereading PRIVATE HEAT.
There's a lot of humor and a good bit of action, yet there are many
details that seem very authentic. Is it all fiction or did you draw
on some real-life events? I'm thinking especially of the hatchet
attack on PI Art Hardin by the woman he's been hired to protect.
Anybody ever take a hatchet to you?</i><br />
<br />
<b>Bob:</b> No
one ever took a hatchet to me. I can remember certain folks armed
with baseball bats, various lengths of pipe, and wooden beams,
boards, and sign poles. Usually I didn’t allow angry people to get
that close to me. Some mob types did shoot up my vehicle while I was
in it.<b></b><br />
<br />
<b>Q: </b><i>Say what?</i><br />
<br />
<b>Bob:</b><i> </i>I was pulling into a drive and a fellow put one 9mm in my windshield, one
into my radiator, and one in my oil filter. Lucky for me a first
bullet ricocheted off the window as I was driving upwards from the
street. The next two bullets were good but stayed in the engine. Instead of stopping, I nailed the gas and the shooter departed in a
pickup truck. I chased him but I couldn't figure out why my car kept
going slower and slower. While this happened thirty-five years ago, many of the men involved are
still in the Detroit "business." We have made a peace of sorts.<i> </i><br />
<br />
<b>Q:</b> <i>You
have had an interesting, not to say exciting, career in government and private security.
Would you care to fill in the details, and tell me which job was your
favorite and why?</i><br />
<br />
<b>Bob:</b> I
liked undercover work, being close and working as one of the bad
guys. (Maybe I liked that too much!) I usually got arrested with
the criminals that I pretended to be. In court, they were usually
surprised to find that I was a detective. I did surveillance in the
Army and as a private detective. I worked as the director of
security operations at Great Lakes Sugar and Warehousing. While I
was there I also worked with World Investigations and Security
Engineers, filling in on a part-time basis. When they tore down the
Sugar Shack, I took a full time position for WISE as the supervisor
of their western Michigan office in Grand Rapids. After I left WISE,
I opened my own agency, and did film surveillance around the state
for the government as a contractor as well as working for hire by
private businesses. I really liked everything I did.<br />
<br />
<b>Q:</b> <i>Karen
Smith, the young woman Art Hardin is hired to protect in PRIVATE HEAT, is a great character. She's a wonderfully funny mix: kind of street
smart, kind of dumb, kind of cynical, kind of naive. A lot of heart to her. I was delighted when she reappeared in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Bang-Hardin-Mystery-ebook/dp/B007A6TUQM/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2" target="_blank">DEAD BANG</a> (the third Art Hardin book). Where'd she come
from?</i><br />
<br />
<b>Bob:</b> Karen’s
character reminded me of young ladies that I met in college and
business. She is parts of many people that I knew. They could be
very, very smart, but sometimes use their hearts instead of their
heads.My
next novel is close to being finished. It’s called <b>Déjà</b> <b>Noir</b>.
It’s not about Art Hardin. It does involve a PI, together with
cops and crooks. Each chapter is told in first person, from the
point of view of a different character. Misty’s chapter will warm
the hearts of Karen’s fans. This time you get to talk with the
character personally.<br />
<br />
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<b>Q: </b><i>
Okay,
other heroes carry Colts, Kimbers, Barettas, Smith & Wessons. Art
Hardin is the only character I know about who carries a Detonics. I had never heard of the brand (even though Sonny Crockett carried one in a leg holster on MIAMI VICE). Why choose that
firearm for him?</i><br />
<br />
<b>Bob:</b> The
<a href="http://www.sightm1911.com/lib/history/detonics.htm" target="_blank">Detonics Combat Master</a> is small, and easier to conceal. And it’s
still a .45. It’s a wonderful weapon for a pistolero, but not so
good for the inexperienced shooter. I had one of the first Detonics
they made. I always said it took two men and a small boy to lock and
load.<br />
<br />
<b>Q: </b><i>The last Art Hardin book, DEAD BANG, was published in December, 2006, so you've
been out of the publishing world for several years now. Whatcha been
up to? Your books are set in Michigan but I know that you moved south
some time ago.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Bob:</b> DEAD BANG ended up hidden in a drawer at the publisher, and my writing
profession was stuck in there with it. They wouldn’t print DEAD BANG and would not take any more Art Hardin stories. The fact that I
used Middle Eastern terrorists after 9-11 upset some people, who were
afraid to print what I said in that book. My agent suggested that I
write something else, but my wife, Linda, had died. I launched myself into
rebuilding my house outside Grand Rapids — and sold Art’s house.<br />
<br />
In
2006, my publisher was sold to <a href="https://rowman.com/RLPublishers" target="_blank">Rowman & Littlefield</a>, and DEAD BANG
was taken out of the drawer. It was a little harder for me to get
started writing again. I moved to Richmond [Virginia], and back among my writing
friends, and started writing, but slowly. I worked for an armored car
company, which took a lot of time. I married my second wife, Linda,
too, in a bookstore! Linda and I have written a screenplay about an
armored car robbery. Would love to see that one on the screen!<br />
<br />
[Besides working on the new novel, <b>Déjà</b> <b>Noir</b>] I
do have a new Art Hardin short story out, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Small-Matter-Large-ebook/dp/B007JY1Q6C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333935094&sr=8-1" target="_blank"><i>The Small Matter of Ten Large</i></a>. It is available on Nook and Kindle, for 99 cents. I also
found the first Art Hardin story that I ever wrote, which I wrote
sitting on a surveillance in 1979! I would love to see that in
print.
If
I get a chance I will go back to the fourth Art Hardin novel, which I
had started and been unable to finish when my wife died. It’s
called <b>A Tisket, A Casket</b>.<br />
<br />
<b>Q: </b>
<i>I know that recently your health has been in jeopardy. Is that
something you care to talk about? </i><br />
<br />
<b>Bob: </b>While
I was working on <b>Déjà</b> <b>Noir</b>, my words began to disappear. Within ten
days, they were gone. Linda took me to her doctor — I didn’t have
one — and her doctor sent me to the emergency room. I had a
malignant tumor right in the speech and language area of my brain. I
had a five-and-a-half-hour <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craniotomy" target="_blank">craniotomy</a> on August 17, 2011. To many
peoples’ surprise, I woke up and could walk and talk.<br />
<br />
<b>Q:</b> <i>I, and I know your other fans, too, wish you all the best. I am amazed and heartened by your spirit. How has your writing been
affected by all of that? And is it hard to recapture Art's voice after so much time has passed
since we last saw him in print? </i><br />
<br />
<b>Bob:</b> Writing was a little
harder. I had to learn to read and write words that everyone else
understood. For instance, you need to use a “cup” to order
coffee. I spent half an hour writing “cup” over and over, trying
to fix that word back in my brain. Some of the harder words took
longer. Most interesting is that all of those words are in my head,
but just don’t want to come out. Sometimes the wrong word comes
out, like, these days, “fish” for any type of meat. And I don’t
even like fish! Right after radiation I couldn’t read or write at
all, and had trouble speaking for about two months. My spelling is
still not what it once was. A page and a half takes me about four
hours to write now. That’s a page and a half of work, but ten
pages of rewriting! The
book I’m working on is not about Art, but I think it would be
easier to recover Art’s voice than to do the characters I am now
writing.<br />
<br />
<b>Q:</b> <i>Your wife is also a writer. Do you give each other
advice and criticism? And do either of you take it? </i><br />
<br />
<b>Bob:</b> Linda
and I are the first persons to read each other's work. This is not
always a happy discussion. Sometimes I may disagree tonight, and the
next morning change my mind. Linda says that she is always happy
about my critique. Sometimes this is not the truth; sometimes we
bang heads. (I can only bang on one side now.) There is no point of
discussion if we didn’t have sincere disagreement. Only that moves
the work forward.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Q:</b> The industry has changed significantly since your last book. Will you shop <b>Déjà</b> <b>Noir</b> to a publisher or will you take it straight to ebook yourself?<br />
<br />
<b>Bob:</b> Linda and I have discussed what was best to do. I don't know that I
will have two years to march the novel to publisher — and it's a year to
get it printed. It seems that the best plan would be to go direct to
ebook. We are thinking about it — first thing I have to do is get it done. <br />
<br />
<i>Thank you, Bob. If humor is a sign of grace, you have it in abundance.</i> For those interested in reading more about Bob and his work, his blog is <a href="http://robertebaileyauthor.com/cgi-bin/blog" target="_blank">The Trials of an Aphasic Writer</a>. For those who want to read his Art Hardin series, PRIVATE HEAT, DYING EMBERS, DEAD BANG, and <i>The Small Matter of Ten Large</i> are all available in Kindle format at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=robert+e+bailey+art+hardin&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Arobert+e+bailey+art+hardin&ajr=0" target="_blank">amazon</a> and in Nook format at <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/robert-e.-bailey" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a>.<br />
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<br />Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-79944248995638377562013-01-13T12:42:00.001-05:002013-01-13T12:42:18.836-05:00THE ESSAY by Robin Yocum<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Your name is Hickam. That's synonymous with poor, ignorant, trouble, dirty, drunk, lazy, thieving, no-good, arsonist and jailbird. You live on the poorest road in the poorest county in the state. Girls either won't have anything to do with you or their fathers make sure you don't have anything to do with them. Your dad is an abusive drunk and one brother takes after him. Your other brother is doing nine years for burglary and arson. You think your mom is okay but you'll find out you don't know her as well as you think you do. You're a pretty good high school football player but that's all you've got going for you. You barely passed your junior English class. In fact you only got the D because the teacher believed you when you said you were committed to improving during your senior year. So when you win the school essay contest, it's pretty easy for even your best (and only) friend, Polio Baughman, to believe you cheated. Never mind the teachers, principal, other students and their parents, and the sponsor of the contest. They want to see you stripped of the award they are sure you didn't earn. Only you didn't cheat. It turns out you have a gift. But who's going to believe you? Who's going to believe IN you?<br />
<br />
<b>THE ESSAY</b>, Robin Yocum's bootstrapping, 1970s coming-of-age tale about the obstacles faced by Jimmy Lee Hickam in his climb out of ignorance and poverty, rings true because the details are true: junkers on blocks in the front yard; slag heaps that smolder a sulfuric stench near homes; homes in disrepair; the father who would steal from his children; the mother who is so focused on dealing with the abuse she faces that she cannot properly care for her children or even take much interest in them; the community prejudice against the children of the truly poor that helps keep them 'in their place.' Yocum describes it all in vivid prose that lacks sentimentality and yet still manages to make the eyes water on occasion. <br />
<br />
If Jimmy's rise to success -- and we're not talking about him becoming a millionaire tycoon; just getting a career rather than a job, that's all -- feels a tad predictable, it is no less welcome for all that. And the characterizations, not only of Jimmy but of his ex-con brother, Edgel, and his English teacher, Miss Singletary (my heroine as well as Jimmy's), more than make up for knowing that Jimmy will at last make good. Edgel is such a fine, well-rounded character that he really deserves to have a "bad boy makes good" story of his own. And the redoubtable Miss Singletary has a cat-o-nine-tails for a tongue, and readily wields it against those peers of hers who would happily let one more Hickam child slide into ignominy. She will remind every reader of at least one relentless, passionate educator in his/her life. (In my case, Miss Cora "Shotgun" Gibbs, principal at First Avenue Elementary in the late 1960's.)<br />
<br />
In case you hadn't guessed by now, THE ESSAY is not strictly a crime novel, though crimes do occur in the story. The only real crime will be if you miss reading this poignant, funny and uplifting story. Here's an excerpt in which Jimmy describes his best friend:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Polio Baughman was my best friend, though it was a position he held by default.<br />
<br />
I met Polio when we were both six years old and waiting for the bus to take us to school for the first day of first grade. The Baughmans had just moved to a small one-story shanty on Red Dog Road and I was surprised to see this new kid standing at the bus stop. He was a skinny, malnourished little guy who smelled like a musty basement. He had a crop of unruly blond hair, untied shoes, and a perpetual line of snot running from his nose to his mouth. His real name was Kirby, but as a young boy he was so thin and bony that the kids gave him the nickname of Polio, which, like so many unfortunate nicknames, stuck. By junior high, even the teachers called him Polio.<br />
<br />
Polio and I were the only two doggers in the first-grade class at Zaleski Elementary School. Thus, we rode the bus together, sat beside each other in the slow reading group and, since the other kids had been forewarned to keep their distance from us doggers, pretended to be army commandos together during recess. Red Dog Road was segregated from the rest of Vinton County by prejudice, barren hills, and miles of bad country lanes. Consequently, Polio was my only friend. He spent countless hours at my house, coughing, swiping his snotty nose with his forearm, and looking for something to cram into his pocket.<br />
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Polio didn't have another friend in the world, yet he would steal from me at every opportunity. If there were a few pennies on my dresser when he got to the house, they would be gone when he left. Over the years I trudged over to Polio's house to retrieve money, toys, the pocketknife my grandfather Joachim had given me, and three arrowheads that I had found on the ridge behind our house. Twice, I had to grind his face in the dirt and threaten him with a beating if he didn't return stolen toys, but mostly he just gave them up.<br />
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"Why do you steal like that?" I asked him once.<br />
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"'Cause you got stuff and I don't," he responded.<br />
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"But that doesn't make it right, Polio. You don't steal, especially from your friends. My brother Edgel's like that, always stealin', and he's in prison now."<br />
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Polio just shrugged.<br />
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Like most doggers, Polio was a survivor. He was the middle one of five kids, and even by the standards of Red Dog Road, they were poor. They had running water, but no indoor toilets. Polio did his business in a fetid outhouse that was the only thing on Red Dog Road that smelled worse than the dump, or he simply unhitched his pants and pissed in the yard. His father was a silent, grease-stained man who had chewing tobacco stains caked to the corners of his mouth and a growth on top of his forehead the size of a lemon. He worked in the junkyard outside of Zaleski. Every day, Polio's mother wore the same faded blue, sleeveless housecoat that revealed a mass of gray armpit hair.<br />
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I understood this and that is why I tolerated Polio's thievery. He was the only kid my age within miles and the only one whose parents didn't mind having a Hickam in their yard. My Grandpa Joachim had an old billy goat on his farm that would butt you the second you turned your back on him. You had to be careful and you couldn't take your eye off him. Dealing with Polio was no different from dealing with that old billy goat. If I was careless enough to leave something where Polio could get his hands on it, shame on me, because I knew he would steal it. It's just what he did.</blockquote>
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<b>THE ESSAY</b> by Robin Yocum<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Hardcover:</b> 256 pages</li>
<li><b>Publisher:</b> Arcade Publishing (October 9, 2012)</li>
<li><b>ISBN-10:</b> 1611457661</li>
<li><b>ISBN-13:</b> 978-1611457667</li>
<li>Available for Kindle and Nook </li>
</ul>
Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-88124919313122257462012-12-26T11:41:00.000-05:002012-12-26T11:41:23.647-05:00Two holiday treats<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Thumbs up for Todd Robinson's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Hard-Bounce-Todd-Robinson/dp/1440557675" target="_blank">THE HARD BOUNCE</a>. This first novel delivers the goods for those who like a multi-layered PI novel. The narrator, Boo Malone, is not a PI. He's partners with Junior McCullough in a blue-collar security business that specializes in providing bouncers and thick-necked security for concerts. But Boo can't resist the task of finding the missing daughter of a city big-wig when he had seen the girl just minutes before being asked to take the job. And the reward for finding the girl is more than money; there's the possibility that Boo could find his sister, lost to him since childhood. But the job takes the tender-hearted heavily tattooed (and just heavy) Boo and Junior into places they'd never been and never wanted to go: kiddie porn and snuff films and ultimately murder. The characters of Boo and Junior are fully-3D. They are unpretentious, very "guy," and their dialogue alone is worth the price of admission to this dark romp.<br />
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Author Robinson is well-known around the Internet for his production of <a href="http://www.thuglit.com/" target="_blank">Thuglit</a>, which has been such a valuable springboard for so many writers. That makes it hard to say this, but necessary: Time to stop divvying your time, Mr. Robinson, and start focusing on more on your own novels. THE HARD BOUNCE is a grand beginning, but it is just the beginning.<br />
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Okay, we Reacher Creatures all had our little hissy fits when Tom Cruise bought the role of JACK REACHER. Cruise has managed to make himself so unpopular in so many ways and that hardly helped win any of us over. But what should not be forgotten (yes, I forgot it myself) in all the hoo-ha is that Cruise <i>can </i>act, and his acting chops are good enough here to make up for the lack of inches and brawn that define the written Reacher. Where the movie falls down is in casting the wooden-faced Rosamund Pike opposite Cruise. There is no chemistry between the two (try naming a film where Pike has had chemistry with anybody) so we can only thank the screenwriter for not forcing a sex scene on the viewers. Pike often sounds like she's rushing her dialogue to keep up with Reacher's snappy one-liners. Her most believable moment comes when she urges Reacher to "put on a shirt." That may be due to Cruise's body now showing its 50 years and the entire audience also urging him to "put on a shirt." And it's no surprise that Robert Duvall steals every scene he's in. The car-chase scene is to be admired for looking more like BULLITT than THE BOURNE LEGACY. The script strays some from the book, of course, but not too much. Cruise's Reacher isn't quite the Reacher of the books, of course, but he's not too far off. I think this film lays a solid basis for a Reacher film franchise. <br />
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<br />Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-79712194646360613772012-10-21T19:54:00.001-04:002012-10-24T07:22:13.728-04:00The short and long of it.Catching up on what happened to some of the Watery Grave stories from earlier this year: Benoit Lefievre's story, <a href="http://www.close2thebone.co.uk/wp/?p=704" target="_blank">The Devil's Shinbone</a>, was published online at <a href="http://www.close2thebone.co.uk/wp/" target="_blank">Near to the Knuckle</a>. <a href="http://www.beattoapulp.com/stor/2012/0729_eb_FamilySecrets.shtm" target="_blank">Family Secrets</a>, by Eric Beetner, was published at <a href="http://www.beattoapulp.com/about.htm" target="_blank">Beat to a Pulp</a>. Keith Rawson's story, <i>Two Kilograms of Soul</i>, appears in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shotgun-Honey-Presents-Barrels-ebook/dp/B009KB526C/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1" target="_blank">Shotgun Honey Presents: Both Barrels</a>, available in print or digital editions. Thomas Pluck's excellent story, <i>Train: A Denny the Dent Story</i>, also appears in that anthology. If I've overlooked any of the WGI entries that have been published elsewhere, please let me know.<br />
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And regarding that last anthology, my own story, <i>Hero</i>, appears there also. While that news may not be sufficient to tempt you to purchase the book, the inclusion of original stories by the likes of Patti Abbott, Trey R. Barker, and Ray Banks, should be plenty of inducement. Go ahead. Click the link above to see purchasing info.<br />
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A couple of years back I read Marcus Sakey's short story collection, SCAR TISSUE. It's an impressive collection, and you can read my review of it <a href="http://drowningmachine.blogspot.com/2010/08/scar-tissue-seven-stories-of-love-and.html" target="_blank">right here</a>. The author donated all of his royalties for that book during the month of September to <a href="http://www.teamjulianfoundation.com/" target="_blank">The Team Julian Foundation</a>, an organization that raises awareness of pediatric cancers and raises funds for the fight against these killers of children. I'm in favor of anything that improves the lot of our most helpless and innocent citizens. Marcus Sakey goes beyond a one-time donation though, and is now earmarking 50% of all royalties in perpetuity for this book to The Team Julian Foundation. For the price of a latte, $2.99, you can help in this battle. And of course, you can always donate directly to the foundation. And you get to read a collection of truly outstanding short stories.<br />
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<a href="http://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/articles/969075/must-read-the-absent-one-by-jussi-adler-olsen" target="_blank">THE ABSENT ONE</a> is the second in <a href="http://www.jussiadlerolsen.com/" target="_blank">Jussi Adler-Olsen</a>'s series about Department Q, the cold case squad in Copenhagen, made up of one Detective Superintendent, his janitor, and a newly assigned secretarial assistant. As with the first book, <a href="http://drowningmachine.blogspot.com/2012/09/reading-go-round.html" target="_blank">THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES</a>, there is plenty of tension, twists, humor, and mystery. I haven't been this taken with a set of characters since Jen Forbus got me started reading Craig Johnson's novels. RECOMMENDED.<br />
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Daniel Woodrell works his literary magic in <a href="http://www.spinetinglermag.com/2011/12/12/woe-to-live-on-by-daniel-woodrell-review/" target="_blank">WOE TO LIVE ON</a>, about a young man who is a part of a band of pro-Confederate "irregulars" or bushwhackers in the Missouri-Kansas area during the U.S. Civil War. There are plenty of hard times, callous men and boys, and reckless killing. The book is relentless in its portrayal of a world so volatile that beloved friends and family one day are dead enemies the next. Young Jake Roedel is stubbornly loyal but begins to question the constant, pointless killings. Although the book can be read as a coming of age tale, the theme of man's inhumanity to man has greater focus. And Woodrell's genius at painting his characters and settings in plain but somehow eloquent English is incomparable. <b>HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Other-Everyday-Modern-Gentleman/dp/0349122237/ref=la_B004DDLHVQ_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350862359&sr=1-1" target="_blank">HOW TO DRIVE A TANK AND OTHER EVERYDAY TIPS FOR THE MODERN GENTLEMAN</a> by Frank Coles. Presumably non-fiction. Okay, 'fess up. Just the title alone makes you want to see what this one's about, right? Oddly enough, the title is pretty much a perfect description of the contents, although much of the contents have little to do with gentlemanly behavior. Imagine if the guys who do the "Top Gear" television program turned their attention to, oh, how to buy a gun in any city in the world within hours of your arrival. Or how to make things go boom. Or how to pick locks. Or how to hide a dead body (See, that doesn't seem gentlemanly, does it? Unless your name is Bond, James Bond.) The book is laced with humor and easy on the gore while responsible enough to mention consequences. The author manages to also dispense some practical advice along the way, much of which is just as helpful to the modern lady as to her counterpart. Fun reading, this.<br />
<br />Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-12921201464666164742012-09-16T20:00:00.000-04:002012-10-21T19:56:37.775-04:00Reading-go-roundThe game of catch-up is like the Energizer Bunny, it just goes on and on...<br />
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David King's <a href="http://www.davidkingauthor.com/Death_in_the_City_of_Light/index.htm" target="_blank">DEATH IN THE CITY OF LIGHT</a> is the meticulously researched story of Marcel Petiot, a serial killer who hid his crimes behind the more overt crimes of the Nazis who occupied Paris in the early 1940s. Petiot is a fascinating figure: a medical doctor, a politician, a con man (is that redundant?), and a highly organized killer. Unfortunately the construction of the book does not aid the story, and the pace lags. Still, once Petiot's trial begins, the pace picks up again for the trial is as mesmerizing as the killer, thanks to an inept prosecutor and the unusual method of French justice which incorporates civil and criminal cases into one trial. The book would benefit from diagrams of the house where the murders occurred and perhaps also a map of Paris with key locations noted. Recommended only for true crime fans or for those interested in conditions in Nazi-occupied Paris.<br />
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At least four members of my book club were raving about Rosamund Lupton's <a href="http://www.rosamundlupton.com/books/sister/" target="_blank">SISTER</a> last month, and it seems certain to be included in next year's list of reading for the club. I decided to check it out ahead of time. SISTER is about Beatrice, a young professional, who leaves New York and heads to London when she learns her only sister is missing. But of course her sister is dead. The police think her sister committed suicide, so Beatrice makes it her mission to find the killer. If this sounds familiar, then you've probably already read Hilary Davidson's excellent THE DAMAGE DONE. I didn't come down on the side of the book club angels this time. The characters held no appeal for me and the book seemed tedious and overlong as a result. It didn't help that the revelation of the villain was anti-climactic; it was too easy to figure him out.<br />
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For fans of thrillers á la Marcus Sakey and Sean Doolittle, it would pay you to keep an eye out for Mark Rubenstein's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mad-Dog-House-Mark-Rubinstein/dp/0985626844/ref=la_B001HPQJFW_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347837585&sr=1-1" target="_blank">MAD DOG HOUSE</a>, set for release on Oct 23. This is the story of successful surgeon Roddy Dolan, who pulled himself out of juvenile delinquency and into the good life. So good that he has a little money to spare when a friend approaches him about investing in an upscale New York steak house. Too bad the friend never shed his own delinquency roots. Too bad every other customer at the restaurant looks like he's mobbed up. Too bad when the mob comes calling for a cool half-million that Roddy doesn't have. But Roddy's not going to be pulled back into the old life. Not even if it's takes all of his old "mad dog" ways to get out of this mess. Rubenstein's prose and construction are not quite as polished as that of Sakey and Doolittle, but the potential is there. What I particularly liked about the character of Roddy is that, unlike so many backed-in-a-corner heroes found in thrillers, he doesn't spend a lot of time moaning about "if only." No, he knows when he's in a corner and he knows what he had to do to survive. And he knows that, if he succeeds, he's still going to have to live with himself. He's prepared to pay the price, let the angst fall where it may.<br />
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In Lee Child's 17th outing with protagonist Jack Reacher, <a href="http://leechild.com/books/a-wanted-man/" target="_blank">A WANTED MAN</a>, Reacher hitches a ride with a trio looking to use him as cover in order to pass police road blocks. Reacher seems a bit more lighthearted than usual and that's a good thing. Because the humor helped me wade through the last fourth of an overly complex tale that managed to have a whopping hole appear in that plot just when things were going so well. Not my favorite adventure with Jack, but not my least favorite either. The best scenes are just Reacher being who he is: observant, calculating, and good-natured. I was at a reading point where this was exactly what I needed and wanted, so tip of the hat to Mr. Child for obliging.<br />
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What to say about Jussi Adler-Olsen's THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES? How about: Just read it. Oh, you want to know <u><i>why</i></u>? Wonderful characterization. A truly thrilling thriller. Dialogue that will make you <i><u>smile</u></i>. Yes, you will figure out ahead of the reveal why the baddies are doing what they are doing, but you will not stop caring about their victim or the two men, police detective Carl Mörck, and Syrian immigrant and janitor (yes, you read that right) Hafez el Assad, who are determined to solve the case of a politician who disappeared five years earlier. Mörck and Assad are a wonderful new detective team and I have no doubt I'll be seeing the author's name at the top of the bestseller lists in the near future. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-66854077230772471062012-09-13T19:17:00.002-04:002012-10-21T19:57:50.686-04:00A brieft hiatus from the longer hiatus...<span style="font-family: inherit;">An unexpectedly free hour today leaves me with time enough -- I hope -- to express myself regarding some recent reads. Then, I have no doubt, will come another long silence from this corner. I have some hope that next summer will bring more free time my way. Until then, this is all I got.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LoN2vYNcuIc/UFJV50jixdI/AAAAAAAAC98/slC2N7X63Q4/s1600/emmagross.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LoN2vYNcuIc/UFJV50jixdI/AAAAAAAAC98/slC2N7X63Q4/s200/emmagross.jpg" width="133" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">In 1929-30, a string of assaults, rapes, and murders occurred in Dusseldorf, Germany, that were attributed to<span style="font-size: small;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Peter Kürten, a career criminal. Among the victims he eventually admitted to killing was 35-year-old Emma Gross, though he later retracted that confession. No evidence linked him to that crime, and he hadn't the knowledge of time, place, or body positioning that would have implicated him in the strangulation death of Emma Gross. Her killer was never caught. Novelist Damien Seaman weaves a fascinating tale of obsession - compulsion around these events in <a href="http://blastedheath.com/?p=2958" target="_blank">THE KILLING OF EMMA GROSS</a>, providing a credible killer and motive for her murder while weaving in the atmosphere of a city in the grip of fear for months while police chased the Dusseldorf Ripper. Chalk up another dark winner for small e-press <a href="http://blastedheath.com/" target="_blank">Blasted Heath</a>. </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NFm64maaPLI/UFJbjO2WxNI/AAAAAAAAC-c/GO3wg1naGRU/s1600/lost+ones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NFm64maaPLI/UFJbjO2WxNI/AAAAAAAAC-c/GO3wg1naGRU/s200/lost+ones.jpg" width="132" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">The second entry in Ace Atkins' Quinn Colson series, <a href="http://www.aceatkins.com/Books/TheLostOnes.html" target="_blank">THE LOST ONES</a>, shows the author taking more of an ensemble approach to these books, instead of the popular but overused lone-hero approach. The character of Colson, a county sheriff, will forever have my heart because no matter what other problems crop up in his fictional county -- gunrunning, drugs, political corruption, etc., -- they never outweigh a problem like child abuse. Colson is sympathetic and interesting, but so are his deputies and his friends and family. The author has all kinds of room in future books to further deepen and define both the good and the bad folks who inhabit Tibbehah County.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DiDJ2nrKOVo/UFJfomUxS5I/AAAAAAAAC-8/7ZjPeM429N4/s1600/Monster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DiDJ2nrKOVo/UFJfomUxS5I/AAAAAAAAC-8/7ZjPeM429N4/s200/Monster.jpg" width="134" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">It's no secret that this blogger is a fan of Dave Zeltserman's work, and for good reason. Short stories, novellas, novels; noir, classic crime, horror, paranormal -- the guy can do it all. His most recent release, <a href="http://www.hardluckstories.com/books.htm#Monster" target="_blank">MONSTER</a>, is an ambitious stretch for him, marrying his story to Mary Shelley's original FRANKENSTEIN, OR THE MODERN PROMETHEUS while yet flipping it a full 180 degrees. No surprise, Zeltserman succeeds in capturing the feel and mood of the classic while one-upping Shelley on the horror aspect. Victor Frankenstein is not a tortured man of genius whose aspiration to
play God gets out of hand when he creates a thing of evil. Instead it is
Frankenstein who is the evil one (along with a guest appearance by the Marquis de Sade),
while the monster is an innocent, tortured by his continued existence and
the loss of his one true love, brutally murdered by Frankenstein.
Shelley's theme, men who would play at God, is countered by Zeltserman's
take: men who would play at Satan. And in both stories, it is men who
would simply be men who suffer the most at the hands of those who see
themselves as superior. Fans of the original tale should enjoy this book immensely; readers new
to the literary Frankenstein will enjoy the weaving in of vampires,
wolves, severed heads that talk, paintings that come to life, and of course the
monster himself. Teachers of Mary Shelley's classic would do well in
future to assign MONSTER for contrast and comparison and downright fun.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PtmuVNT_xac/UFJi0MOmNbI/AAAAAAAAC_c/dMz4OEX0Rs0/s1600/RAINCOAT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PtmuVNT_xac/UFJi0MOmNbI/AAAAAAAAC_c/dMz4OEX0Rs0/s200/RAINCOAT.jpg" width="124" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">A re-read of <a href="http://robertcrais.com/books/book_the_monkeys_raincoat.htm" target="_blank">THE MONKEY'S RAINCOAT</a> for my book club was a welcome look back at the beginning of The World's Greatest Detective, Elvis Cole, and The World's Most Badass Sidekick, Joe Pike. In this award-winning debut novel, a wisecracking Elvis looks for a missing husband and finds himself up to his Hawaiian shirt in shady characters, drugs, and murder. Joe Pike fans should re-read this book once in a while just to remind yourselves how close the world came to losing Pike forever. I went to book club armed with deep analysis and counter-arguments and a Colt Python, but none of it was necessary to convince anyone to read further in the series. I really must learn to trust author Robert Crais to sell his own books. He does a far better job of that than I do. And with less violence, too.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_BkHSmqFmv4/UFJn1vUOyKI/AAAAAAAAC_8/ug2wFVWxOao/s1600/placesplease.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_BkHSmqFmv4/UFJn1vUOyKI/AAAAAAAAC_8/ug2wFVWxOao/s200/placesplease.jpg" width="149" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Places-Please-Becoming-Jersey-Boy/dp/0987826727/ref=tmm_pap_title_0" target="_blank">PLACES, PLEASE! BECOMING A JERSEY BOY</a> by Daniel Robert Sullivan. What, you say, YOU reading a non-fiction, non-crime-related title? Lud, what has the world come to? But you fans of the Broadway musical, JERSEY BOYS, you know why I read this book, right? See, fans of the show often see it multiple times (check); and if you see different productions you see different actors in the roles (check). And when you see different actors in the same role, you pick favorites (check!). Daniel Robert Sullivan is my favorite actor in the role of Tommy DeVito, the founder of the rock group, The Four Seasons. It's a role that requires not only sharp talent in the singing, dancing, and acting areas of theatre, but also exquisite timing if the role is to carry the weight that it ought. Sullivan delivered, and in spades. His book is a simple retelling of the extremely complicated process -- two years -- it took to audition and win a place in the Toronto cast. This book is really aimed at aspiring stage actors, but the details regarding the hard work and sacrifice that go into achieving and living one's goals will be lost on no one.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r3aF0Q3gAM4/UFJn63MznOI/AAAAAAAADAE/BMzItHmxNMY/s1600/dareme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r3aF0Q3gAM4/UFJn63MznOI/AAAAAAAADAE/BMzItHmxNMY/s200/dareme.jpg" width="131" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I never thought that a book about scheming, manipulative high school
cheerleaders could be so intense, but this story, <a href="http://meganabbott.com/dareme.html" target="_blank">DARE ME</a>, about the friendship
between narrator Addy Hanlon and her best friend, and captain of the
team, Beth Cassidy, is anything but juvenile. Author Megan Abbott reveals raw passion in the simplest of actions:
turning off a cell phone, watching one person whisper to another. One
can read the story superficially as a whodunnit, but for this reader the
story is all about friendship; and not about the nice, courageous
things one will do for a friend but rather the terrible, vicious things
one will do to hold on to a friend who is drifting away. This is the first book I've read that has shown the
too-close -- dangerously close -- relationship that sometimes develops
between teacher and students. Having experienced that first-hand lo,
these many years ago when I was a high school sophomore, the partying
and gossiping and not-so-casual betrayals of Addy Hanlon's world rang
all too true. The insular, animal world of these upper-middle-class
girls is revealed in the way they microscopically examine each other for
signs of weakness. At book's end you should be asking yourself whether
you have ever been as passionate for one single person as these girls
are. And then ask whether you are lying to yourself. <b>HIGHLY RECOMMENDED</b> for outstanding characterization, prose, tension, and theme.
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-indent: 18px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Ah, me. I'm still not caught up but my hour has expired. Back to doing what I must, instead of what I'd rather.</span></span></span></span>Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-56743929262004273222012-07-24T13:26:00.002-04:002012-10-08T16:38:30.721-04:00Quick bytes<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cLAWfkoChGQ/UA7NBAtZwGI/AAAAAAAAC5g/2i3k4cUiJ3s/s1600/capture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cLAWfkoChGQ/UA7NBAtZwGI/AAAAAAAAC5g/2i3k4cUiJ3s/s200/capture.jpg" width="134" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Capture-ebook/dp/B008CNJE4A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343146493&sr=8-1&keywords=capture+roger+smith" target="_blank">CAPTURE</a>, by Roger Smith. Somewhere on the Internet recently I came across a discussion about what constituted or defined neo-noir. This book is my idea of what neo-noir is all about: the same sick, twisted, desperate, going-down-the-tubes characters found in original noir plus the faster pace and action usually found in thrillers. In this latest release, Smith somehow manages to conjure up a character, Vernon Saul, who is evil incarnate. What kind of man can sit back and watch a child drown, his inaction solely for the thought that he might find an angle to gain some kind of power over the grieving parents? And yet the reader cannot help but sympathize with the abused child that preceded the man Vernon became. There is a line delivered by William Peterson in the 1986 Michael Mann film, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091474/" target="_blank">MANHUNTER</a>, that perfectly sums up my feelings toward Vernon Saul:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
My heart bleeds for him, as a child. Someone took a kid and manufactured
a monster. At the same time, as an adult, he's irredeemable... As an adult,
someone should blow the sick fuck out of his socks.</blockquote>
CAPTURE is bit more of a psychological character study than Smith's previous novels, but the tension ratchets up, chapter by chapter, to a shattering and satisfying denouement. <b>RECOMMENDED</b>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrXrNlClFCiA6Y54jJakocSBF_MwZ6PEahTQvIndCRI6rdcC6sjfjqvDVP7uMNu9P3Jm5i-cV2LtsFo5QpU6D2Jgwq-2OSPNuKLErXdTqxJcFxeLoAoTy1mL2DeOFpPEXNTkJ-vinp6WI/s1600/kingsofcool.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrXrNlClFCiA6Y54jJakocSBF_MwZ6PEahTQvIndCRI6rdcC6sjfjqvDVP7uMNu9P3Jm5i-cV2LtsFo5QpU6D2Jgwq-2OSPNuKLErXdTqxJcFxeLoAoTy1mL2DeOFpPEXNTkJ-vinp6WI/s200/kingsofcool.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
<a href="http://don-winslow.com/" target="_blank">THE KINGS OF COOL</a>, by Don Winslow. If this book is your introduction to Don Winslow's work, you're starting in the wrong place. Back up a book and read SAVAGES first. Yes, THE KINGS OF COOL is a prequel so you ought to be able to start there, right? Um, no. This origin story of Ben, O, and Chon is best viewed through the wrong end of the telescope, so to speak. The plot premise is similar to SAVAGES: Interlopers want to cut in on our trio's marijuana business. Winslow determinedly takes the story in a different direction than SAVAGES though, finding new ways to delicately gut the souls of his characters. Not quite as fresh nor as savagely (see what I did there?) sharp as its predecessor, THE KINGS OF COOL still delivers on its title. <b>RECOMMENDED</b>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.wileycash.com/" target="_blank">A LAND MORE KIND THAN HOME</a>, by Wiley Cash. The author uses first-person accounts from three characters: a county sheriff, an elderly woman, and an eight-year-old boy, to turn a simple tale of being in the wrong place at the wrong time into a Greek tragedy. With a genuine sense of place and fully rounded characters, the reader is pulled into a small town where too much faith in a fundamentalist, snake-handling preacher leads to heartbreak for one family. The prose is graceful, the story powerful and unforgettable. Here's a <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/80130244/A-LAND-MORE-KIND-THAN-HOME-by-Wiley-Cash" target="_blank">link to the first chapter</a>. Read it and tell me what you think. <b>HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.</b><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1W_5yA3Ougs/UAqhMzA2EhI/AAAAAAAAC4s/WY-TyxLxhqE/s1600/pym.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1W_5yA3Ougs/UAqhMzA2EhI/AAAAAAAAC4s/WY-TyxLxhqE/s200/pym.jpg" width="127" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/243399.Miss_Pym_Disposes" target="_blank">MISS PYM DISPOSES</a>, by Josephine Tey. If this is the first Tey you read after enjoying her wonderful DAUGHTER OF TIME, you're in for a shock. It only takes three words to sum up this tale of wrongdoing at an all-girls' school: Tedious and obvious. On the other hand, if you think <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spellbound_%281945_film%29" target="_blank">SPELLBOUND</a> is Alfred Hitchcock's greatest movie, you may very well enjoy this book.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-8eKv6xzNTQecgPXKpF5IepA6zIbhm9lBDZ9B3g_3SJW8_JB2n48jEx-HwEw-oBIg7foLoI3epTAwbxDWlwTnTcmtHBZl7RCAOHYpNAeM0VjJ4XET-vU5ybgx7cRCoFwf6yBDKcV0zFE/s1600/cellar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-8eKv6xzNTQecgPXKpF5IepA6zIbhm9lBDZ9B3g_3SJW8_JB2n48jEx-HwEw-oBIg7foLoI3epTAwbxDWlwTnTcmtHBZl7RCAOHYpNAeM0VjJ4XET-vU5ybgx7cRCoFwf6yBDKcV0zFE/s200/cellar.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1711160.The_Girl_in_the_Cellar" target="_blank">THE GIRL IN THE CELLAR</a>, a 1961 release by Patricia Wentworth, has an unforgettable opening chapter that will delight any fan of modern day thrillers: A young woman regains consciousness, but with amnesia, in a dark cellar with the corpse of another woman. After that terrific tease the pace drops to a crawl. The plot creaks through the tropes of Golden Age mysteries, though it is too slight overall to say it lumbers. Strictly for those who want their fictional murders kept offstage and no chance of an increase in the heart rate.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgejtpWcRoVNrvg7nXQbh_6ZIY-fF5ZBrKAX130fJqzy-9H5gnyumvIp0lZd7UW70lfeWet2BWU0yI_CMeZGHr1fWnauYJXbkS2XLYQJs6tIjffebmnXGDL0QNVJnO1yWEhCknm8JVC5fE/s1600/niceville.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgejtpWcRoVNrvg7nXQbh_6ZIY-fF5ZBrKAX130fJqzy-9H5gnyumvIp0lZd7UW70lfeWet2BWU0yI_CMeZGHr1fWnauYJXbkS2XLYQJs6tIjffebmnXGDL0QNVJnO1yWEhCknm8JVC5fE/s200/niceville.jpg" width="142" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Niceville-Carsten-Stroud/dp/0449008851" target="_blank">NICEVILLE</a> by Carsten Stroud. I <u>loved</u> the first 50 pages of this book. I might have loved the rest of it if I enjoyed paranormal, gothic, oogie-boogie goings on, but I generally don't. If you do, jump on this one, but be ready to juggle numerous plot lines and characters that eventually intertwine. Give the author his due: he isn't just cranking out the same-old-same-old here, he's trying something a bit new in form and construction. It's a fine balancing act that, for me, was only partially successful. This one starts out with a boy gone missing. Instantly gone missing. As in, here he is and in the next millisecond, he has vanished. And it's on video, not tampered with. From there, the mysteries and oddities become abundant.Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-35590937709275779472012-05-20T20:42:00.002-04:002012-05-20T20:57:55.579-04:00Recent readsCatching up (as usual)...<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HI_OKkVsuFA/T7lOjN2HEzI/AAAAAAAACyo/DAxPm01pfrk/s1600/lockartist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HI_OKkVsuFA/T7lOjN2HEzI/AAAAAAAACyo/DAxPm01pfrk/s200/lockartist.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
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THE LOCK ARTIST (Steve Hamilton) was in my TBR stack prior to publication. With all the hoopla and awards, one would think I would have read it sooner. Just as well I didn't, as the story didn't capture me as thoroughly as it did the Edgar Award committee. The story revolves around a mute teen boy, Michael, with a skill for lock-picking and safe-cracking. The prose pretty much lies flat except in one or two places, and though much is made about the circumstances that rendered our hero mute, those circumstances had little to do with the plot. The passages that detail lock-picking and safe-cracking are certainly interesting, but the teen love story dropped the suspension on my disbelief.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZMYSylmd_Zg/T7lQnrXzaRI/AAAAAAAACyw/0TbL9pS94uI/s1600/devotion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZMYSylmd_Zg/T7lQnrXzaRI/AAAAAAAACyw/0TbL9pS94uI/s200/devotion.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
THE DEVOTION OF SUSPECT X (Keigo Higashino) was a much more interesting book, though again the prose sometimes felt off-key or a-kilter. I don't like to automatically blame the translator though; it could be the author's doing. Nevertheless the story is a wonderful cat-and-mouse tale of psychology as well as being a story of unrequited love. When Yasuko and her daughter inadvertently kill Yasuko's abusive ex-husband, a neighbor, Ishigami, weaves a complex web of protection around her. Ishigami is a math genius who proves to have a talent for real-life applications. But his foe turns out not to be the detective investigating the case, but an old college friend and physicist, another very bright thinker. Though there is a plot twist at the end that crushed the beauty of the tale rather than enhancing it, it's wonderful to watch two labyrinthine minds contest Yasuko's fate.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Tr0cibbCkAQ/T7lTAfQmW9I/AAAAAAAACy8/PAdCxTW3gvA/s1600/killingwinter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Tr0cibbCkAQ/T7lTAfQmW9I/AAAAAAAACy8/PAdCxTW3gvA/s200/killingwinter.jpg" width="128" /></a></div>
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A KILLING WINTER (Wayne Arthurson) is the follow-up to the author's 2011 debut, FALL FROM GRACE. Newspaper reporter Leo DesRoches is exploring the world of Edmonton's homeless when one of his contacts, a Native street kid, goes missing. The search for the boy takes Leo into the violent world of Native street gangs, all the while Leo must deal with his own gambling addiction. The author has eliminated the expository passages that revealed his journalism background in the previous book, but the overall story arc staggers, though does not collapse, in the final third of the book. The ending is saved by a surprising scene as Leo's past sins appear to be catching up with him. It's a manipulative device, some might say, to get readers like me to buy the next book, but I would do that anyway. I like the character of Leo, I want to know his fate. And it's clear that the author has worked to improve his skills from book to book.<br />
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AS THE CROW FLIES is the latest novel in Craig Johnson's Walt Longmire series. As with all of the books in this series, what's not to like? Walt and his friend, Henry Standing Bear, witness a woman's fall from a cliff. Or was it a fall? The book is filled with well-defined, complex characters and Johnson's trademark Western humor. If you're unfamiliar with Johnson's novels, you don't have to start at the beginning (THE COLD DISH) but the truth is, you'll be cheating yourself if you don't.<br />
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Darrell James makes his debut as a novelist with NAZARETH CHILD. And a
terrific opener it is, too. James has created a smart, modern heroine in
Del Shannon, a Tucson field operative with a reputation for being able to find anyone, anywhere. The only person Del has never been able to locate, or even learn her name, is her mother. Until one day the FBI comes calling, and Del learns she has inherited a house right in the middle of Nazareth Child, Kentucky, a town run by a religious zealot named Silas Rule. Silas has more on his mind than saving souls though, and the FBI wants Del to find out what. I see the term "best-seller" all over James's future.<br />
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I could, maybe even should write an entire blog post about William Goldman's first novel, THE TEMPLE OF GOLD. First published in 1957, the book is a fitting start for the man who would later write MARATHON MAN, MAGIC, THE PRINCESS BRIDE, and the screenplay for BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID. Technically this book is a re-read for me, but I first read it around 1968 and I remembered little about it save the names of the main characters and that I liked it. And after reading it I now know why I was never enamored of CATCHER IN THE RYE. Holden Caulfield was never as funny, as interesting, or as male as Raymond Euripides Trevitt. Ray's coming of age story takes a bit longer than many such, as Goldman skillfully guides Ray through the teen years, the Army, and married life.<br />
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This must be the month that I re-discover Goldman's work. I was hoping to re-read his SOLDIER IN THE RAIN when TCM aired the film version this past week. A Steve McQueen film I had never seen, and based on a Goldman novel I enjoyed (although the screenplay was co-written by Blake Edwards and Maurice Richlin)? Oh, yeah. I'm there, I'm right there. And what a satisfying film it is, too. McQueen's none-too-bright Eustis Clay's friendship with Gleason's beautifully underplayed and erudite Maxwell Slaughter works a treat. Gleason was never better. ("Let me tell you something, my friend: being a fat narcissist isn't easy.") I'll be watching it again soon.<br />
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And of course I wouldn't dream of skipping the latest episode in John Sandford's Lucas Davenport series, STOLEN PREY. No one can accuse the author of shortchanging the reader on pace, tension, action and body count. This time around Lucas is after money launderers, hackers, thieves, and a trio of hit men for a Mexican cartel. It's a tough job for Lucas and his pals but a fine old time for the reader.Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-18351007470140533492012-04-25T21:35:00.000-04:002012-04-25T21:35:59.358-04:00Quick picks!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm long overdue on giving <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Harvest-Collector-Chris-Holm/dp/085766218X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335400586&sr=8-1" target="_blank">DEAD HARVEST</a> some much-deserved love. Author Chris F. Holm has taken death out of the hands of zombies and put it back where it belongs: with angels and demons. This highly original tale of a Charonesque character, Sam Thornton, who collects the souls of the newly dead-and-damned is spun inside out when one of the "damned" turns out to have the purest soul Sam has ever encountered. Convinced that his bosses have erred (they don't -- not ever), Sam determines to keep the girl alive whatever the cost. And with both angels and demons on Sam's trail, the cost will be, uh, sky high. (Sorry, couldn't resist.) For more eloquent takes on this terrific debut novel, check out the reviews at <a href="http://lightsaberrattling.blogspot.com/2012/03/review-dead-harvest-by-chris-f-holm.html" target="_blank">LightSaber Rattling</a>, <a href="http://www.thedebutreview.com/review-dead-harvest-by-chris-f-holm/" target="_blank">The Debut Review</a>, and <a href="http://darkcentralstation.com/?p=3671" target="_blank">Dark Central Station</a>. Or if you think I named only the good reviews, you can Google the book yourself and see a whole host of reviewers who liked the book as much as I did. Book two, THE WRONG GOODBYE (and I love the word play of the titles giving homage to Dash Hammett and Raymond Chandler) will be released in October, 2012.<br />
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Dave Zeltserman's talent is not only prodigious, it's prolific. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Hunted-Series-ebook/dp/B007FEN178/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335400663&sr=1-1" target="_blank">THE HUNTED</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Dame-Hunted-Series-ebook/dp/B007FEXDM6/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335400663&sr=1-7" target="_blank">THE DAME</a> are a pair of novellas (Kindle format only) in what may well turn out to be a longer series of such. The protagonist is a hit man who attempts to part ways with his employer: the Federal government. Like the mob, the Feds don't really just let you walk away when you know too much. And from there springs the action, and if you're at all familiar with Zeltserman's work, you're familiar with how he can spin that action in unpredictable ways. The main character, Dan Willis, is a nod to Donald E.Westlake's amoral Parker, and the novellas themselves read like the men's action series of the 1970s (think <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Destroyer_%28fiction%29" target="_blank">THE DESTROYER</a> and <a href="http://donpendleton.com/executionerseries.html" target="_blank">THE EXECUTIONER</a> series). The novellas may not be classic lit in the sense of Zeltserman's riveting novel, <a href="http://drowningmachine.blogspot.com/2010/09/caretaker-of-lorne-field-by-dave.html" target="_blank">THE CARETAKER OF LORNE FIELD</a>, or noir like his superb man-out-of-prison trilogy (<a href="http://drowningmachine.blogspot.com/2009/01/review-small-crimes-by-dave-zeltserman.html" target="_blank">SMALL CRIMES</a>, <a href="http://drowningmachine.blogspot.com/2009/05/review-pariah-by-dave-zeltserman.html" target="_blank">PARIAH</a>, <a href="http://drowningmachine.blogspot.com/2010/01/review-killer-by-dave-zeltserman.html" target="_blank">KILLER</a>), but they are a lot of fun. Hey, not only do I love Westlake's Parker but I'm a fan of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089901/quotes" target="_blank">Remo Williams</a>, too. Count me in.
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Earl Emerson recently released the first of his Mac Fontana series, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hearts-Dancing-Fontana-Series-ebook/dp/B007JWNHE8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1335402241&sr=8-2" target="_blank">BLACK HEARTS AND SLOW DANCING,</a> in ebook form. Seemed as good an excuse as any to re-read a book I remember enjoying immensely, but read so long ago that the details had vanished from the ether of my memory. Now I'm kicking myself for not having re-read the series before now, because these books are flat-out terrific. After renewing my acquaintance with Mac in the first book, I jumped right into the other Fontana books, although they are not yet available in ebook format (though the author has plans to rectify that this summer.) I just finished <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Morons-Madmen-Mac-Fontana-Mystery/dp/0380720752/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335403716&sr=1-1" target="_blank">MORONS AND MADMEN</a>, third in the series, a book which is stellar on so many levels
that -- wait, I'm supposed to be talking about a different book. I'll get back to you on M AND M when the ebook is released.) Okay, as for BLACK HEARTS AND SLOW DANCING:<br />
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The small town of Staircase, Washington, recently hired Mac Fontana as its new Fire Chief, a job for which Mac is perfectly qualified. And while he may not have the perfect qualifications to temporarily fill in for the Police Chief (who may be a trifle, uh, bugnuts), he gets sucked into that job anyway, and just in time for a truly nasty murder. A Seattle firefighter is found tortured and mutilated in the woods, and the search for his killer will lead Mac back to an urban landscape as dangerous as any fire. Mac Fontana is very much a man's man kind of character. There's no backing down in Mac's nature, which makes me think he'd get along great with <a href="http://www.thrillingdetective.com/eyes/joe_pike.html" target="_blank">Joe Pike</a>. But along with highly intense action scenes (there is a scene in which Mac is left to die in an oil tank, one of the most frighteningly realistic scenes I've ever read; and the action-packed finale is better than anything Hollywood has pulled off in the DIE HARD series), the author deftly infuses the story with humor, realism, and well-rounded characters. This is a series that deserves to be (re-)discovered.Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-28792638394537756342012-04-19T23:19:00.001-04:002012-05-20T20:58:39.674-04:00The name is Clara. Clara. Not Clarice.<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>The whole world knows Clarice, right? </b></div>
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<b>So let's not talk about her.</b></div>
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She's kind of wishy-washy anyway, compared to Clara. That's right, Clara. Hit-woman extraordinaire, Clara Rinker is far and away my favorite of author John Sandford's many fine villains, including the ultra-creepy <a href="http://drowningmachine.blogspot.com/2012/04/doctor-death.html" target="_blank">Dr. Bekker</a>. <br />
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On author <a href="http://those%20who%20are%20dangerous%20because%20they%e2%80%99re%20stupid,%20those%20who%20are%20dangerous%20because%20they%e2%80%99re%20stuck%20in%20a%20corner,%20and%20those%20who%20are%20dangerous%20because%20they%20are%20missing%20the%20crucial%20elements%20that%20separate%20full-fledged%20humans%20from%20two-legged%20monsters./" target="_blank">Steven Hart's very fine blog</a>, he not only declares (and I agree) that the Lucas Davenport series, unlike so many series, continues to surprise and improve, but he also goes on to divide Sandford's villains into three categories, and I quote: "<i>those who are dangerous because they’re stupid, those who are dangerous
because they’re stuck in a corner, and those who are dangerous because
they are missing the crucial elements that separate full-fledged humans
from two-legged monsters</i>."<br />
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I agree with that statement, too, but I make an exception for Clara Rinker. Clara's anything but stupid. She's very intelligent, very cautious, researches and plans her kills for speed and efficiency, and knows that the St. Louis mob she (mostly) works for will readily kill her to prevent her trading any of them for lenience should she ever be arrested. She can trust no one, and she plans and prepares accordingly, including putting herself through business school.<br />
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Nor is she dangerous because she's stuck in a corner. She's dangerous, full stop. She's not a cornered rat. She's too smart to let herself get boxed in. Time after time, she's one or even several steps ahead of Lucas and his team. Always, always, she leaves herself a way out. She's bold, but her boldness is always calculated. <br />
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So what does that leave? Oh, yeah. The two-legged monster. Nope, she's not that either. She doesn't kill for pleasure; that's just a job she happens to be good at. She's also good at running her bar and at bookkeeping. And she's capable of love and loyalty and deep emotion.<br />
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In Clara Rinker, John Sandford has created his most memorable and sympathetic villain. As a result of being sexually abused by her stepfather and older brother, Clara ran away from her Arkansas home when she was 16. She turned to exotic dancing to make a living until one night she was raped by a customer. She set the rapist up for a kill, and when her bosses determined she had a natural talent for wet work, her career as a mob hit-woman took off.<br />
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Capable of hiding in plain sight, that's Clara. She's a chameleon. The FBI knows they have a hit-woman on their hands but that is the sum total of all they know about her -- until Clara takes a non-mob client in Minneapolis and Lucas Davenport gets involved. Clara's client is a sociopath of the first order, a lawyer who both befriends Clara while dragging her ever deeper into danger. Clara doesn't worry about her crazy client, or how smart Lucas is or his intimidating reputation. The only thing that bothers her, nags at her really, is that he appears to be very lucky. At one point in the first book which features Clara, <a href="http://www.johnsandford.org/prey10r.html" target="_blank">CERTAIN PREY</a>, Clara even dances with Lucas. She knows who he is, that he's getting close to identifying her, but he thinks she's just a pretty woman who runs a very nice bar. When he discovers how wrong he is, even Lucas has to admire her poise -- and her brass, which she further displays by directly confronting Lucas in a shoot-out that is, for the reader, both heart-stopping and hilarious.<i> </i>Without providing too much in the way of spoilers, at book's end Clara makes a clean getaway with the FBI and the mob both wanting her. The Feds think they can make her sing (they can't), and the mob thinks what the FBI thinks. <i>Kirkus Reviews</i> wrote of this book that author Sandford "hits a
home run over the curve of the earth." I don't disagree, but am left wondering how to heap even more praise on <a href="http://www.johnsandford.org/prey13r.html" target="_blank">MORTAL PREY</a>, the second book in which Clara appears.<br />
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If Clara is sympathetic in the first book, the reader is almost entirely on her side in the second book, the events of which occur some three years after CERTAIN PREY. Hiding out in Mexico, keeping a low profile, Clara works as a bookkeeper until one day at lunch her lover is killed by snipers. Clara, too, is wounded and her unborn child dies. Angry, grief-stricken, and knowing full well that the mob has finally found her, she does something she hasn't done since she was raped: she kills for revenge. This petite woman taking down wary, well-protected mobsters one after another while dodging Lucas and the FBI makes for tense, action-packed scenes. Even when Clara kills an FBI agent, one whom the reader has come to know well, it's hard not to sympathize with Clara's reasons for doing so (which involve the suicide of her younger, mentally deficient brother), all the while knowing that Clara has now crossed a line she can never cross back again. At book's end, although the reader is happy that Clara fails once more to get Lucas in her crosshairs, the reader cannot be entirely happy with the turn of events. Clara is, in many ways, the flip side of the coin that is Lucas Davenport. It is only Lucas's recognition of a like mind and spirit that allows him the insight which leads to vanquishing her. And Clara's downfall is not the hubris of so many villains, but is a result of the deep loss that leaves her without any real desire to rebuild and reinvent her life yet one more time.<br />
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I think no one has created so many memorable and unique villains in crime fiction as John Sandford, but in Clara Rinker he created a complex creature in whom the reader can find as much to admire as to loathe.<br />
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Thanks to blogger extraordinaire Jen Forbus for creating and hosting the <a href="http://www.jensbookthoughts.com/" target="_blank">Heroes and Villains Theme Week</a>. Be sure to check out Jen's blog and <a href="http://www.jensbookthoughts.com/2012/04/heroes-villains-theme-week-tournament.html" target="_blank">vote in the ultimate hero versus villain poll</a>. Friday, the 20th, is the last day to get your vote counted, so don't waste time.<br />
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Also, everyone who comments on one of my posts this week -- that would be today's post, as well as the <a href="http://drowningmachine.blogspot.com/2012/04/doctor-death.html" target="_blank">Doctor Death</a> and the <a href="http://drowningmachine.blogspot.com/2012/04/almost-ordinary-hero.html" target="_blank">An almost ordinary hero</a> posts -- will have his/her name entered into a drawing to receive the newest Lucas Davenport novel, <a href="http://johnsandford.org/prey22.html" target="_blank">STOLEN PREY</a>, in either hardback or ebook form, when it is released on May 15, 2012. You can click <a href="http://johnsandford.org/prey22t.html" target="_blank">here</a> to read the first chapter free.<br />
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<br />Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-37306936395017150222012-04-18T19:24:00.001-04:002012-05-20T20:58:24.166-04:00Doctor DeathThis week's theme is Heroes & Villains, the brainchild of the amazing woman who brings you <a href="http://www.jensbookthoughts.com/" target="_blank">Jen's Book Thoughts</a>. Yesterday I gave some space to hero Lucas Davenport, the Minneapolis cop created by John Sandford. Today and tomorrow this space belongs to arguably the two most memorable villains Davenport has faced. Sandford has a real knack for creating 3D bad boys and girls: grotesque serial killers, brilliant psychopaths, and whack jobs who kill for motives other than the pleasure of so doing. So choosing just one or two out of the long line of nasties Davenport has vanquished could have been a wrenching choice but Sandford made it easy. I simply chose the only two prominent villains who were the leading antagonists in multiple novels. (I say prominent because I know of at least one criminal who appeared in a non-leading role in several books in the <i>Prey</i> series.)<br />
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First up is respected pathologist Dr. Michael Bekker, the top villain in <a href="http://johnsandford.org/prey03.html" target="_blank">Eyes of Prey</a>. Respected, yes, and an extreme narcissist (as so many serial killers are). Vain, completely consumed by his own physical beauty, he is possibly even more concerned with his clothes than is Lucas. An addict, Bekker takes multiple categories of drugs multiple times a day: cocaine, amphetamines, barbiturates, steroids -- if it's mood altering, he takes it. And yet he remains a distinguished light of the medical profession. He's noted for his very fine research on death and dying. Well, and why not? Bekker is fixated on discovering whether there is anything for the human spirit after death. Just maybe during his time in Vietnam, Bekker killed for the first time. And liked it so much he very quietly began taking lives in the US hospitals where he works and has free reign to do his "research." The nurses and staff think him "creepy," and nickname him Dr. Death. But no one has any real evidence that the handsome doc is anything except a bit strange.<br />
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And then Bekker decides that his wife needs to die. That way Bekker can get his hands on the beautiful old house and all the antiques his wife owns, sell everything and begin to live in the style to which he believes he is entitled. But Bekker is no dummy. On the contrary, he's highly intelligent. Calculating, conniving, and cunning. And cold. He enlists the aid of an accomplice to kill Mrs. Bekker in a particularly brutal fashion, so that Bekker himself will have an airtight alibi. It is that unusually airtight alibi that has the Minneapolis cops looking more closely at Bekker than they might otherwise have done.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT3IDtEKzLRrj1s6Vl5n4IC7efS4k48o1Zqj8dc4lWfRM23Vv9bX1875tFOyGHv3hF8rxxCWxHtLlBhoLaCl27_yWKzmx6AjAN8wEiFRgOJl3NRj20-g57OEcJco0DlVbQe0KGC5i9cJ0/s1600/swango2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT3IDtEKzLRrj1s6Vl5n4IC7efS4k48o1Zqj8dc4lWfRM23Vv9bX1875tFOyGHv3hF8rxxCWxHtLlBhoLaCl27_yWKzmx6AjAN8wEiFRgOJl3NRj20-g57OEcJco0DlVbQe0KGC5i9cJ0/s1600/swango2.jpg" /></a>The twist in the case is that there turns out to be an eyewitness to the murder, and the race is on between Davenport and Bekker to find that crucial witness. The crafty doctor feeds the cops a number of false clues, and the bodies begin to drop as Bekker creates more victims in order to distract Davenport.<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KoyUKSvwiBk/T4s5QyXU4LI/AAAAAAAACr8/17aX_D-ZiOY/s1600/swango3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KoyUKSvwiBk/T4s5QyXU4LI/AAAAAAAACr8/17aX_D-ZiOY/s1600/swango3.JPG" /></a><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5UpoAw90zko/T4s4mzcIClI/AAAAAAAACrs/2Kg1aJucy7E/s1600/swango1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5UpoAw90zko/T4s4mzcIClI/AAAAAAAACrs/2Kg1aJucy7E/s200/swango1.jpg" width="161" /></a>Among the more fascinating aspects of the Bekker character are the parallels to real-life former physician <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/08/29/reviews/990829.29morrowt.html" target="_blank">Michael Swango</a>. Swango was implicated in as many as 60 fatalities (mostly by poisoning or overdose) although he admitted to only four. Like the fictional doctor, Swango was noticeably fascinated by death early in his career. Like Bekker, Swango did not limit his predations to hospital patients. Where the two characters differ, if only by degree, is that Sandford's creation is more intelligent, more daring, more brutal, and more vengeful. But then, as Bekker learns after killing Lucas's lover, Lucas can be brutal and vengeful himself.<br />
<br />
In <a href="http://johnsandford.org/prey04.html" target="_blank">Silent Prey</a>, the sequel to <b>Eyes of Prey</b>, Bekker performs a daring courthouse escape during his trial for the crimes committed in the first book. Bekker, and thus the action, move to New York City. Davenport being the expert on Bekker, the NYPD brings him in as a consultant and once again, the hunt is on. But in a city with millions of eyes watching for this killer -- who continues to murder with impunity -- Bekker finds a way to make himself invisible. <br />
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<br />
Of all Sandford's books, <b>Eyes of Prey</b> and <b>Silent Prey</b> come closest to being horror stories rather than crime fiction. Bekker is irredeemably evil, a true monster. He has no good qualities, or if he does, he twists them for his own dark purposes. He has much in common with Hannibal Lecter, save that Bekker lacks Lecter's ability to restrain himself. To read a better summation of Bekker's character, check out what Sandford himself had to say about <a href="http://johnsandford.org/prey03c.html" target="_blank">Eyes of Prey</a> and <a href="http://johnsandford.org/prey04c.html" target="_blank">Silent Prey</a>. <br />
<br />
Later this week, I'll introduce you to Clara Rinker, my favorite of all Sandford's villains. Unlike Bekker, who exists to horrify the reader, Rinker may very well get you on her side instead of Lucas's!<br />
<br />
In keeping with yesterday's discussion of Davenport's top 100 songs of the rock era, what rock song would make a great theme for Dr. Michael Bekker? He has a fixation about mutilating the eyes of his victims, so perhaps you could work that in? Or not. All comments on this post will earn you a chance to win a copy (hardback or ebook) of the new Lucas Davenport book, <a href="http://johnsandford.org/prey22.html" target="_blank">STOLEN PREY</a>, when it is released on May 15.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C6RNp6aaA3A/T4tzc99E0KI/AAAAAAAACsc/BK1NgNAYDJQ/s1600/prey.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C6RNp6aaA3A/T4tzc99E0KI/AAAAAAAACsc/BK1NgNAYDJQ/s320/prey.bmp" width="295" /></a></div>Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-24943663401255990082012-04-16T21:47:00.000-04:002012-04-16T21:51:06.459-04:00An almost ordinary hero.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://www.jensbookthoughts.com/search/label/Heroes%20and%20Villains" target="_blank">Heroes and Villains</a> is the theme this week, and is the name of the event sponsored by Jen Forbus of <a href="http://www.jensbookthoughts.com/" target="_blank">Jen's Book Thoughts</a>. Be sure to check out Jen's blog and vote in the contest this week between the ultimate hero and the ultimate villain.<br />
<br />
As a participant in this event, you might guess I've chosen a long-time favorite as my hero: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucas_Davenport" target="_blank">Lucas Davenport</a>. Lucas is the protagonist in 21 novels (with at least one, possibly two more to come) and two made-for-television films. He makes brief appearances in author John Sandford's Virgil Flowers series as well.<br />
<br />
It's difficult to know what to say about a character about whom much has <a href="http://johnsandford.org/prey15x1.html" target="_blank">already been written, and so authoritatively</a>. Tall, lean, dark hair, a scar slashing through one eyebrow and down to the cheekbone. A guy not afraid of the physical but whose outside-the-box thinking is his greatest job asset. A guy who loves a joke but occasionally suffers from clinical depression. Something of a philanderer in the early books of the series, Lucas develops a happy family life in the later books, including a baby son and an adopted teen daughter. He drives a Porsche throughout the series, making him the envy of almost everyone he knows. The money for the car came from his early involvement in computer games and simulations, something he gave up early in the books also. In later books Lucas also drives a more family-oriented vehicle, some sort of SUV that I don't pay attention to. Hm, he's mean and tough and, oddly enough, a GQ devotee. I mean the man is a serious clotheshorse, with the funds to indulge his fancy.<br />
<br />
But none of that really jumps out at you and yells, hey, you gotta read about this guy, does it? What makes Lucas Davenport a hero? Why do I nearly break into a run from the parking lot to the bookstore on those days when a Davenport book is released?<br />
<br />
Funny, but I don't think of Lucas (Never Luke. Never.) as a hero. He's a little bit of an anti-hero early on, a bit Dirty Harry-ish. More than willing to take rough vengeance on a pimp who used a church key on a prostitute's face, said prostitute having been one of Lucas's informers. But Lucas has too much money, and plays politics too well to ever be just a clone of Harry Calahan. Lucas is more of an action-oriented problem solver. With, natch, some hellacious problems to solve. And as the series progresses, Lucas becomes less of a lone, street detective, and more of a team leader, driving force, idea man, and media manipulator. But always with street instincts. Watching the puzzle pieces all come together, laughing over the jokes and some of the situations the characters face, delighting in the hunt as much as Lucas does -- these are just some of the reasons Davenport is among my favorite heroes. If, indeed, he is a hero and not just a guy who really enjoys his job. And it's not just Davenport. His entire supporting cast of recurring characters, from vice cop Del Capslock (do you love that name, or what?) to adopted daughter Letty, become welcome friends who are missed when absent. <br />
<br />
But a hero is only ever as good as his villain, and John Sandford writes some of the best, baddest villains in crime fiction. The series kicks off with <a href="http://johnsandford.org/prey01.html" target="_blank">RULES OF PREY</a>, and one of the smartest, coldest villains Lucas will ever face: maddog. The hook to the story is that the killer leaves notes at the crime scene for the police, notes that list his rules for committing murder and eluding detection: 'Never kill anyone you know.' 'Never have a motive.' And so on. Further on in the series, Lucas tries to bring down the 'Doctor Death,' Dr. Michael Bekker, a brilliant mad man. And no one who has read hit-woman Clara Rinker's story will ever forget her; she's the one criminal who is perhaps the flip side of the coin that is Lucas Davenport. I'll give Clara and the not-so-good doctor their moments in the limelight later this week.<br />
<br />
The body count is high in these books, and there are a few readers who might find the language offensive as well as the violence. I'm afraid you can't count me among them. Author John Sandford does a superlative job of drawing the reader into Lucas's world, to the point that in <a href="http://johnsandford.org/prey16.html" target="_blank">BROKEN PREY</a>, one of the standout novels in an outstanding series, Sandford got a ton of fan feedback on a list of songs Lucas was putting together for his new iPod: <a href="http://johnsandford.org/prey16x1.html" target="_blank">Best Songs of the Rock Era</a> (suitable for a road trip). Taste in music is so subjective that not even Lucas was immune from criticism when it came to the songs he finally chose for his top 100. His final list is below. Look it over and tell me which song you think shouldn't be there? And which song isn't there, but should be? All comments on this week's posts will earn you a chance to win a copy (hardback or ebook) of the new Lucas Davenport book, <a href="http://johnsandford.org/prey22.html" target="_blank">STOLEN PREY</a>, when it is released on May 15.<br />
<br />
<pre> <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">1. Sharp-Dressed Man · ZZ Top
2. Legs · ZZ Top
3. Mustang Sally · Wilson Pickett
4. Superman's Song · Crash Test Dummies
5. Rock On · David Essex
6. Radar Love · Golden Earring
7. Heart of Glass · Blondie
8. White Rabbit · Jefferson Airplane
9. Somebody to Love · Jefferson Airplane
10. Layla · Derek and the Dominoes
11. Roadhouse Blues · Doors
12. House of the Rising Sun · Animals
13. Sweet Emotion · Aerosmith
14. Dude (Looks Like a Lady) · Aerosmith
15. Dancing in the Dark · Bruce Springsteen
16. Born to Run · Bruce Springsteen
17. Thunder Road · Bruce Springsteen
18. Every Breath You Take · Police
19. Heart of Saturday Night · Tom Waits
20. Hot for Teacher · Van Halen
21. Won't Get Fooled Again · Who
22. Hotel California (covers the Eagles) · Gipsy Kings
23. Give Me One Reason · Tracy Chapman
24. Down on the Corner · CCR
25. Lyin' Eyes · Eagles
26. Life in the Fast Lane · Eagles
27. Skateaway (Roller Girl) · Dire Straits
28. Mary Jane's Last Dance · Tom Petty
29. Me 'n Bobby McGee · Janis Joplin
30. Black Water · Doobie Brothers
31. I Love Rock 'n Roll · Joan Jett
32. Jack and Diane · John Mellencamp
33. The Wall (Part 2) · Pink Floyd
34. Money · Pink Floyd
35. Piano Man · Billy Joel
36. After Midnight · Eric Clapton
37. Lay Down Sally · Eric Clapton
38. You Shook Me (All Night Long) · AC/DC
39. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap · AC/DC
40. Long Cool Woman · Hollies
41. Like a Rolling Stone · Bob Dylan
42. Knockin' on Heaven's Door · Bob Dylan
43. Subterranean Homesick Blues · Bob Dylan
44. Satisfaction · Rolling Stones
45. Brown Sugar · Rolling Stones
46. Sympathy for the Devil · Rolling Stones
47. Anarchy in the UK · Sex Pistols
48. Sugar Magnolia · Grateful Dead
49. Slow Hand · Pointer Sisters
50. Sweet Dreams · Eurythmics
51. Jailhouse Rock · Elvis Presley
52. Ziggy Stardust · David Bowie
53. Night Moves · Bob Seger
54. Bye-Bye-Love · Everly Brothers
55. Purple Haze · Jimi Hendrix
56. Lola · Kinks
57. Tender is the Night · Jackson Browne
58. Louie Louie · The Kingsmen
59. Bad to the Bone · George Thorogood
60. Turn the Page (covers Bob Seger) · Metallica
61. Sweet Home Alabama · Lynryd Skynyrd
62. We Will Rock You · Queen
63. Ramblin' Man · Allman Brothers
64. Rock 'n Roll · Led Zeppelin
65. What's Love Got to Do With It · Tina Turner
66. Born to Be Wild · Steppenwolf
67. With or Without You · U2
68. Paranoid · Black Sabbath
69. Blue Morning Blue · Foreigner
70. White Wedding · Billy Idol
71. Sweet Child o' Mine · Guns 'n Roses
72. Paradise City · Guns 'n Roses
73. Knockin' on Heaven's Door (covers Dylan) · Guns 'n Roses *
74. Walk on the Wild Side · Lou Reed
75. Feel Like Makin' Love · Bad Company
76. Rock of Ages · Def Leppard
77. Brown Eyed Girl · Van Morrison
78. Devil With a Blue Dress · Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels
79. Respect · Aretha Franklin
80. I'm in the Mood · John Lee Hooker & Bonnie Raitt
81. I Got You (I Feel Good) · James Brown
82. Unchained Melody · Righteous Brothers
83. Little Red Corvette · Prince
84. Roll Over Beethoven · Chuck Berry
85. Mr. Tamborine Man (covers Dylan) · Byrds
86. Ohio · CSNY
87. Peggy Sue · Buddy Holly
88. Great Balls of Fire · Jerry Lee Lewis
89. Pretty Woman · Roy Orbison
90. Runaway · Del Shannon
91. Walk This Way · Aerosmith / Run-DMC
92. (Sittin' on the) Dock of the Bay · Otis Redding
93. Smells like Teen Spirit · Nirvana
94. Still Crazy After All These Years · Paul Simon
95. Who Do You Love? · Bo Diddley
96. One Toke Over the Line · Brewer and Shipley
97. I Wanna Be Sedated · Ramones
98. Should I Stay or Should I Go · Clash
99. Burning Down the House · Talking Heads
100. Waltz 2 / Jazz Suite · Dimitri Shostakovich</span></span></pre>
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<pre><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></pre>Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-32933896208189796592012-04-08T22:48:00.001-04:002012-04-15T00:18:53.081-04:00Hatchets, Fish and Detonics: An Interview With Robert E. Bailey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Robert E. Bailey is the author of the PI Art Hardin series. When Bob writes about PIs, he knows of whence he speaks: he did the job for twenty years, before the profession turned into little more than computer record searches. A
Vietnam-era draftee, he retired from the military as a reservist and a
field-grade officer. Bob's also an award-winning combat pistol shot. Guess I'm glad I only have good things to say about his books! Which, by the way, were all recently released in ebook format. You'll find the links below. You'll also find my review of PRIVATE HEAT <a href="http://drowningmachine.blogspot.com/2012/04/review-private-heat-by-robert-e-bailey.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
It's been my pleasure to correspond casually, off and on, over the last few years with Bob. I also had the great pleasure of meeting him in 2007 at the annual Ann Arbor Book Festival. Not only was he charming and funny, like his books, but he took the time to tour the festival with me, answering candidly every question I asked.<br />
<br />
In August, 2011, Bob was diagnosed with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glioblastoma_multiforme" target="_blank">glioblastoma</a>, a form of malignant
brain cancer. He underwent surgery in late August and is on his third round of chemotherapy. He has some mild <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphasia" target="_blank">aphasia</a> but continues to work on a new novel. And if you know what aphasia is, you know what a struggle that must be for anyone, but especially for a writer. Still, you might never guess it from his responses to some questions I recently put to him.<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5FLxJnTUNDc/T4H2yjVs1WI/AAAAAAAACqU/Osf-J3jhjVo/s1600/privateheatkindle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5FLxJnTUNDc/T4H2yjVs1WI/AAAAAAAACqU/Osf-J3jhjVo/s200/privateheatkindle.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<b>Q:</b> <i>Your
first book (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Private-Heat-Hardin-Mystery-ebook/dp/B007A6TS2I/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1333917293&sr=1-1" target="_blank">PRIVATE HEAT</a>) reads like a seasoned writer at the top of his game. Great
pacing, characterization, and story arc. Is it true you had to be
shot in order to get you to write this book? And did you consciously
emulate any other writer? If not, what crime writers (if any) would
you claim as your influences and/or favorites? </i><br />
<br />
<b>Bob:</b> I
was injured working on an undercover job in so stupid a manner that I
am embarrassed to tell you! I had to move my van, and running down
the sidewalk, I broke my knee and ankle stumbling over a wheelchair
ramp. I wish there was a better story! (I survived the better
stories.) I was in a wheelchair before I could get back on my feet,
and that took about a year. Hence, the first novel.<br />
<br />
Thank you for
the wonderful compliments. For the first novel, I was writing an
homage to all the old writers that I enjoyed, specifically, Mickey
Spillane, Dashiell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler. I think Robert
Parker deserves his own mention. My story was meant to thank them
for all their great stories. Interestingly enough, PRIVATE HEAT was
rejected twenty-three times by publishing houses, who said they had
read it all before and we didn’t need another one.<br />
<br />
<b>Q: </b><i>I've
just finished rereading PRIVATE HEAT.
There's a lot of humor and a good bit of action, yet there are many
details that seem very authentic. Is it all fiction or did you draw
on some real-life events? I'm thinking especially of the hatchet
attack on PI Art Hardin by the woman he's been hired to protect.
Anybody ever take a hatchet to you?</i><br />
<br />
<b>Bob:</b> No
one ever took a hatchet to me. I can remember certain folks armed
with baseball bats, various lengths of pipe, and wooden beams,
boards, and sign poles. Usually I didn’t allow angry people to get
that close to me. Some mob types did shoot up my vehicle while I was
in it.<b></b><br />
<br />
<b>Q: </b><i>Say what?</i><br />
<br />
<b>Bob:</b><i> </i>I was pulling into a drive and a fellow put one 9mm in my windshield, one
into my radiator, and one in my oil filter. Lucky for me a first
bullet ricocheted off the window as I was driving upwards from the
street. The next two bullets were good but stayed in the engine. Instead of stopping, I nailed the gas and the shooter departed in a
pickup truck. I chased him but I couldn't figure out why my car kept
going slower and slower. While this happened thirty-five years ago, many of the men involved are
still in the Detroit "business." We have made a peace of sorts.<i> </i><br />
<br />
<b>Q:</b> <i>You
have had an interesting, not to say exciting, career in government and private security.
Would you care to fill in the details, and tell me which job was your
favorite and why?</i><br />
<br />
<b>Bob:</b> I
liked undercover work, being close and working as one of the bad
guys. (Maybe I liked that too much!) I usually got arrested with
the criminals that I pretended to be. In court, they were usually
surprised to find that I was a detective. I did surveillance in the
Army and as a private detective. I worked as the director of
security operations at Great Lakes Sugar and Warehousing. While I
was there I also worked with World Investigations and Security
Engineers, filling in on a part-time basis. When they tore down the
Sugar Shack, I took a full time position for WISE as the supervisor
of their western Michigan office in Grand Rapids. After I left WISE,
I opened my own agency, and did film surveillance around the state
for the government as a contractor as well as working for hire by
private businesses. I really liked everything I did.<br />
<br />
<b>Q:</b> <i>Karen
Smith, the young woman Art Hardin is hired to protect in PRIVATE HEAT, is a great character. She's a wonderfully funny mix: kind of street
smart, kind of dumb, kind of cynical, kind of naive. A lot of heart to her. I was delighted when she reappeared in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Bang-Hardin-Mystery-ebook/dp/B007A6TUQM/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2" target="_blank">DEAD BANG</a> (the third Art Hardin book). Where'd she come
from?</i><br />
<br />
<b>Bob:</b> Karen’s
character reminded me of young ladies that I met in college and
business. She is parts of many people that I knew. They could be
very, very smart, but sometimes use their hearts instead of their
heads.My
next novel is close to being finished. It’s called <b>Déjà</b> <b>Noir</b>.
It’s not about Art Hardin. It does involve a PI, together with
cops and crooks. Each chapter is told in first person, from the
point of view of a different character. Misty’s chapter will warm
the hearts of Karen’s fans. This time you get to talk with the
character personally.<br />
<br />
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<b>Q: </b><i>
Okay,
other heroes carry Colts, Kimbers, Barettas, Smith & Wessons. Art
Hardin is the only character I know about who carries a Detonics. I had never heard of the brand (even though Sonny Crockett carried one in a leg holster on MIAMI VICE). Why choose that
firearm for him?</i><br />
<br />
<b>Bob:</b> The
<a href="http://www.sightm1911.com/lib/history/detonics.htm" target="_blank">Detonics Combat Master</a> is small, and easier to conceal. And it’s
still a .45. It’s a wonderful weapon for a pistolero, but not so
good for the inexperienced shooter. I had one of the first Detonics
they made. I always said it took two men and a small boy to lock and
load.<br />
<br />
<b>Q: </b><i>The last Art Hardin book, DEAD BANG, was published in December, 2006, so you've
been out of the publishing world for several years now. Whatcha been
up to? Your books are set in Michigan but I know that you moved south
some time ago.</i><br />
<br />
<b>Bob:</b> DEAD BANG ended up hidden in a drawer at the publisher, and my writing
profession was stuck in there with it. They wouldn’t print DEAD BANG and would not take any more Art Hardin stories. The fact that I
used Middle Eastern terrorists after 9-11 upset some people, who were
afraid to print what I said in that book. My agent suggested that I
write something else, but my wife, Linda, had died. I launched myself into
rebuilding my house outside Grand Rapids — and sold Art’s house.<br />
<br />
In
2006, my publisher was sold to <a href="https://rowman.com/RLPublishers" target="_blank">Rowman & Littlefield</a>, and DEAD BANG
was taken out of the drawer. It was a little harder for me to get
started writing again. I moved to Richmond [Virginia], and back among my writing
friends, and started writing, but slowly. I worked for an armored car
company, which took a lot of time. I married my second wife, Linda,
too, in a bookstore! Linda and I have written a screenplay about an
armored car robbery. Would love to see that one on the screen!<br />
<br />
[Besides working on the new novel, <b>Déjà</b> <b>Noir</b>] I
do have a new Art Hardin short story out, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Small-Matter-Large-ebook/dp/B007JY1Q6C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333935094&sr=8-1" target="_blank"><i>The Small Matter of Ten Large</i></a>. It is available on Nook and Kindle, for 99 cents. I also
found the first Art Hardin story that I ever wrote, which I wrote
sitting on a surveillance in 1979! I would love to see that in
print.
If
I get a chance I will go back to the fourth Art Hardin novel, which I
had started and been unable to finish when my wife died. It’s
called <b>A Tisket, A Casket</b>.<br />
<br />
<b>Q: </b>
<i>I know that recently your health has been in jeopardy. Is that
something you care to talk about? </i><br />
<br />
<b>Bob: </b>While
I was working on <b>Déjà</b> <b>Noir</b>, my words began to disappear. Within ten
days, they were gone. Linda took me to her doctor — I didn’t have
one — and her doctor sent me to the emergency room. I had a
malignant tumor right in the speech and language area of my brain. I
had a five-and-a-half-hour <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craniotomy" target="_blank">craniotomy</a> on August 17, 2011. To many
peoples’ surprise, I woke up and could walk and talk.<br />
<br />
<b>Q:</b> <i>I, and I know your other fans, too, wish you all the best. I am amazed and heartened by your spirit. How has your writing been
affected by all of that? And is it hard to recapture Art's voice after so much time has passed
since we last saw him in print? </i><br />
<br />
<b>Bob:</b> Writing was a little
harder. I had to learn to read and write words that everyone else
understood. For instance, you need to use a “cup” to order
coffee. I spent half an hour writing “cup” over and over, trying
to fix that word back in my brain. Some of the harder words took
longer. Most interesting is that all of those words are in my head,
but just don’t want to come out. Sometimes the wrong word comes
out, like, these days, “fish” for any type of meat. And I don’t
even like fish! Right after radiation I couldn’t read or write at
all, and had trouble speaking for about two months. My spelling is
still not what it once was. A page and a half takes me about four
hours to write now. That’s a page and a half of work, but ten
pages of rewriting! The
book I’m working on is not about Art, but I think it would be
easier to recover Art’s voice than to do the characters I am now
writing.<br />
<br />
<b>Q:</b> <i>Your wife is also a writer. Do you give each other
advice and criticism? And do either of you take it? </i><br />
<br />
<b>Bob:</b> Linda
and I are the first persons to read each other's work. This is not
always a happy discussion. Sometimes I may disagree tonight, and the
next morning change my mind. Linda says that she is always happy
about my critique. Sometimes this is not the truth; sometimes we
bang heads. (I can only bang on one side now.) There is no point of
discussion if we didn’t have sincere disagreement. Only that moves
the work forward.
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Q:</b> The industry has changed significantly since your last book. Will you shop <b>Déjà</b> <b>Noir</b> to a publisher or will you take it straight to ebook yourself?<br />
<br />
<b>Bob:</b> Linda and I have discussed what was best to do. I don't know that I
will have two years to march the novel to publisher — and it's a year to
get it printed. It seems that the best plan would be to go direct to
ebook. We are thinking about it — first thing I have to do is get it done. <br />
<br />
<i>Thank you, Bob. If humor is a sign of grace, you have it in abundance.</i> For those interested in reading more about Bob and his work, his blog is <a href="http://robertebaileyauthor.com/cgi-bin/blog" target="_blank">The Trials of an Aphasic Writer</a>. For those who want to read his Art Hardin series, PRIVATE HEAT, DYING EMBERS, DEAD BANG, and <i>The Small Matter of Ten Large</i> are all available in Kindle format at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=robert+e+bailey+art+hardin&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Arobert+e+bailey+art+hardin&ajr=0" target="_blank">amazon</a> and in Nook format at <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/robert-e.-bailey" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OLcXMvAsABw/T4JE2lVAcAI/AAAAAAAACqk/UjEOFQLn9ho/s1600/ph1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OLcXMvAsABw/T4JE2lVAcAI/AAAAAAAACqk/UjEOFQLn9ho/s320/ph1.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-71067255008445489262012-04-08T22:47:00.000-04:002012-04-08T22:49:14.897-04:00Review: PRIVATE HEAT by Robert E. Bailey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z-JzXXFCyJg/T4CB5OG0zYI/AAAAAAAACp4/mhoFXpPZe4A/s1600/privateheat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z-JzXXFCyJg/T4CB5OG0zYI/AAAAAAAACp4/mhoFXpPZe4A/s1600/privateheat.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>When Michigan PI Art Hardin is hired by her lawyer-uncle to protect Karen Smith from her abusive husband, who just happens to be a cop, he expects the worst. Karen can't flee her husband because she's wearing a government-issued ankle bracelet: um, something about a half-million dollars in an off-shore account and a boss with a bullet in his brain. What Art gets, and gets fast, is framed for murder. Then there are the matters of a hatchet attack on Art, Karen's uncle getting firebombed in his car, Russian hit men, money launderers, killer cops boating on the lake outside Art's house, and did I mention the missing $11 million dollars? No? Well, somebody has it. And a lot of people want it.</i></span><i> Most of them want Art dead, too.</i><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-small;">[<a href="http://drowningmachine.blogspot.com/2012/04/hatchets-fish-and-detonics-interview.html" target="_blank">Read my interview with author Robert E. Bailey here</a>.]</span></b><br />
<br />
In the spring of 2006, my indie bookseller recommended I read PRIVATE HEAT. Boy, did he ever nail that one. A tightly wound plot that fairly explodes off the pages, and a PI with humor and heart -- what's not to like? I ate it up with a spoon and went right back for the sequels. The book was a nominee for the 2003 Shamus Award for Best First Novel, and deservedly so.<br />
<br />
Art Hardin isn't your typical loner PI. Nope, he's not Marlowe or Spade, too cynical to ever fall in love. And he's not Spenser, with a long-running relationship in which the parties never fully commit to a life together. No, Art is a middle-aged married man with two teenaged sons and a third son who is himself married. He has a no-nonsense wife named Wendy who runs her own business, and a receptionist-bookkeeper-landlady who he has to beg lunch money from. He also has a dog that has to be force-fed his daily meds. Most of Art's income is derived from insurance claims, and he does okay but he'll never get rich. It's impossible not to like Art because of his spirited nature and his never-fail sense of humor. In a zinger contest, he could easily go retort for retort with <a href="http://www.thrillingdetective.com/cole.html" target="_blank">Elvis Cole</a>. <br />
<br />
It isn't just that Art's a funny guy. He's funny-smart. He's ahead of the Feds, ahead of the local constabulary, and well ahead of the reader. That means sooner or later he will catch up with the bad guys, who aren't so stupid themselves. Does he have a "code" like Spenser? Mm, maybe. He doesn't advertise it or thrash it out with his lady love as Spenser does, but when nobody's there to pick up the tab, Art continues to protect Karen, even after the hatchet job she tried on him. Art probably doesn't think of it as a personal code; he just knows that if he doesn't help her, she's going to be killed. In one of the funniest, most action-packed scenes in the book, a comatose Karen is kidnapped by a phony pair of EMTs. Art steals a ride in the back of the ambulance as his backup rushes to catch up. (Yes, he has backup. I told you he was smart.) The killers' plans for Karen are gruesome but Art manages to hide her (yes, hide her. In a moving ambulance. I told you he was smart.) and takes her place on the gurney. If people weren't shooting at each other shortly afterward, the whole thing would play like a Marx Brothers movie. Funny AND exciting. <br />
<br />
The puzzle is intricate, as good puzzles are that involve money-laundering, but the author makes it all come out in the, uh, wash. (Don't hit me for that pun!) PRIVATE HEAT is a rousing good read as Art vanquishes both the bad and the good guys, does so with style and wit, and the reader has a fine old time in the process.<br />
<br />
<b>HIGHLY RECOMMENDED</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Private-Heat-Hardin-Mystery-ebook/dp/B007A6TS2I/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1333844458&sr=1-1" target="_blank">PRIVATE HEAT</a> and the other two Art Hardin books, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dying-Embers-Hardin-Mystery-ebook/dp/B007A6TTEA/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1333844458&sr=1-2" target="_blank">DYING EMBERS</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Bang-Hardin-Mystery-ebook/dp/B007A6TUQM/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1333844458&sr=1-3" target="_blank">DEAD BANG</a> were recently released in Kindle format; clicking on any of the titles will take you to the right place. And if you'd rather try Robert Bailey's work in a smaller, less expensive work, he has a short story, featuring Art Hardin, called <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/digital/fiona/thank-you?ie=UTF8&offerListingID=v75JrSFNt3416iQAxfwNo4mYZUQL79GLlImKJziE2CLMMSqVlGxLOSH0cKi4vS%252Fg2nFTgoSyZPaVt0deGNuXIWCMR5R44AB2oEaTiNJDcssiyw1553sSW8VMj8TsyIGwrVr4fvolI7r8ewt1Y2rLkg%253D%253D&o=D01-9218101-1718623&eoi=A2J2H4EP1BJ55L&asin=B007JY1Q6C&cor=US" target="_blank">THE SMALL MATTER OF TEN LARGE</a> available for only 99 cents. Give it up, the dude is <i>good</i>.<br />
<br />
Here's an excerpt from PRIVATE HEAT that will in no way spoil any plot points for you. In this scene Art -- who was arrested for murder and has just been released -- and a colleague, Ron, meet a potential new client, the rather odd Mr. Dutton.. Marg is Art's receptionist. Here's the description of Dutton, followed by the gist of his conversation with Art.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Marg sat, busy at her desk, looking sharp in a brown-checked suit and a tan silk blouse despite the fact that a troll sat on the divan. He had a foot of grizzled beard that he'd gathered at the point of his chin with a little green rubber band, and a full head of hair that shagged down to his shoulders in filthy strings. Standing he couldn't have been more than five-foot-one or two and had to weight at least two-sixty. His baggy brown trousers were shiny at the back side and held up with suspenders. He wore a blue short-sleeved shirt and a red bow tie. Balanced on his knees was a brown cigar box that he secured in place with his two clammy paws. His fingernails were long, with a black half-moon at each fingertip.<br />
<br />
***<br />
<br />
"Now, how is it we can be of service to you, Mr. Dutton?"<br />
<br />
"It's my mother-in-law," he said."She runs the trailer park where I live, so I can't get away from her. She tells my wife stuff and makes her all crazy like."<br />
<br />
"Fascinating," I said.<br />
<br />
"Like yesterday," said Dutton. "I sent her up to tell her mother that we still didn't have the lot rent." Dutton squirmed in his chair and visibly gritted his teeth. "And she come back saying like I should get a job, and take a bath, and clean up the junk around the trailer."<br />
<br />
"How can we help you?"<br />
<br />
"Well," he said and leaned forward, making his voice a coarse whisper, "I was going to do the bitch myself, but then I read about the hatchet number you laid on that cop, and I knew right off you were the man for the job."<br />
<br />
"I didn't kill Officer Talon," I said.<br />
<br />
Dutton closed an eye and made one vertical nod of his head. "Yes, and I want you to not kill my mother-in-law the same way you didn't kill that cop."<br />
<br />
Dutton wrenched himself from the chair and planted the cigar box amid the disordered administrative rubble that constitutes the top of my desk. He lifted the lid so that I could see inside. "There's a hundred and eighty-seven dollars in there," he bragged, "and only just some of it is food stamps."<br />
<br />
I looked at Ron and we nodded respectfully in unison.<br />
<br />
"So you can see, I got the wherewithal," he said. "Your gal there said that you charged fifty dollars an hour and it's only up to Fifty-Second Street where you got to go. I figured to pay you for the whole hour, even if it only takes twenty minutes or so. If you can't work her in, then I'll just get an axe on the way home and whack her when I get there."<br />
<br />
"I'm sorry, Mr. Dutton," I said. "That sounds like a good offer, with a fine tip included, but I just can't do it."<br />
<br />
"Well, why not?" he asked as he picked up his treasure chest and backed up to the chair.<br />
<br />
"It's in Kentwood," I said. "The Kentwood Police have the concession on domestic murder-for-hire in the City of Kentwood. They don't allow any poaching whatsoever."<br />
<br />
"Right," said Ron. "They might even act like they caught you fair and square and put you in jail like a common criminal."<br />
<br />
"Don't that beat all!" said Dutton, as the chair groaned under his descending weight.<br />
<br />
"If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense," I said. "They have to conduct the investigation, and they can make sure it doesn't get out of hand."<br />
<br />
"Well, I can see that," said Dutton as he wiped his nose with his wrist.<br />
<br />
"Tell you what," I said. "I'll call Detective Van Huis. He's the chief of detectives, and he assigns the work out." I winked. "Has to get his cut, you know."<br />
<br />
I picked up the telephone and started dialing.<br />
<br />
"If he takes the job," said Ron, "Art and I get a nice cut."<br />
<br />
"How much is this going to cost?" asked Dutton.<br />
<br />
The line was ringing. "I'm sure you've got plenty," I said, "but I don't think he'll take the food stamps."<br />
<br />
"Uppity cuss," said Dutton.</blockquote>Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-91881674749178821042012-03-22T20:30:00.001-04:002012-03-22T20:33:20.378-04:00Overdue books.I hate trying to play catch-up on writing reviews because it means (a) I have too much to write about, and (b) I can't do justice to any of it, let alone all of it. But here's how I've spent some of my precious (and precious few) reading hours of late.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Vm2Hyypbv_w/T2u5tlPFmBI/AAAAAAAACpg/SVweEhMruMA/s1600/hilda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Vm2Hyypbv_w/T2u5tlPFmBI/AAAAAAAACpg/SVweEhMruMA/s1600/hilda.jpg" /></a></div>It's redundant of me to express the pleasure I derive from reading Allan Guthrie's stories and novels. But honestly, I've never read anything by him that I didn't enjoy. Stories with dark edges and darker hilarity, that's my addiction, and Guthrie always delivers. The title story in this sparkling collection of four shorts, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hildas-Big-Day-Out-ebook/dp/B006T8404Y" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Hilda's Big Day Out</a>, tells of a man who arranges to steal Hilda, an adorable Dandie Dinmont Terrier, for the purpose of placating the daughter he has kidnapped. A man who will steal a child certainly will not stick at stealing a dog. This is an Allan Guthrie story, so things aren't going to end well for somebody. But the reader will be more than okay. In fact, some will be lining to up to get their own Dandie Dinmont.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uo1DEhGsTGA/T2u8ur86QHI/AAAAAAAACpo/55bQG6X2wiE/s1600/rhatigan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uo1DEhGsTGA/T2u8ur86QHI/AAAAAAAACpo/55bQG6X2wiE/s200/rhatigan.jpg" width="125" /></a></div>Chris Rhatigan's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Watch-You-Drown-ebook/dp/B0070BFZW0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1332460681&sr=1-1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Watch You Drown</a>, his first collection of short stories -- short shorts even -- is a series of noir vignettes. No, really. 'Noir' as in a cast of losers, as noir is supposed to be. Moving from story to story here is like walking down a street and turning your head to peer through dark windows, briefly seeing the losers in their homes, their interactions cruel and ominous like the flickering lights at dusk from unseen, unheard televisions. The story not to miss is <b>In the Hard Nowhere</b>, involving a petty criminal with something of a conscience -- not that you will like him any the better for it. But the stories, those you should enjoy.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L6PHPIShZiY/T2vCxRBt8CI/AAAAAAAACpw/Qz5fk2d2A4Y/s1600/toffee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-L6PHPIShZiY/T2vCxRBt8CI/AAAAAAAACpw/Qz5fk2d2A4Y/s200/toffee.jpg" width="142" /></a></div><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ishmael-Toffee-A-Novella-ebook/dp/B007CLETKW/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1332461574&sr=1-1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ishmael Toffee</a>. What to say about this novella by Roger Smith, whose novels are, every one of them, stellar reads? I can say that Smith injects as much gut-wrenching emotion and as much action into the short form as he does his novels, and that's saying something indeed. This is the story of a murderous ex-con who wants, with all his being, to be able to ignore the pleas for help coming from a little girl being sexually abused by her father. Getting involved, as Ishmael knows only too well, will get him killed. But this lonely, friendless killer finds he can't turn a blind eye to a desperate child, and the question becomes not can he survive the fallout, but only how long can he avoid it. I've never read anything by Smith that didn't steal my breath, and this story is no exception.Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-81765829117567155332012-02-16T19:34:00.002-05:002012-02-16T22:34:30.884-05:00HIGH ADVENTURE by Donald E. Westlake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c3e66kjTxMw/Tz2TfVCpt0I/AAAAAAAACpE/DFBpAnnndvU/s1600/highadventure.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-c3e66kjTxMw/Tz2TfVCpt0I/AAAAAAAACpE/DFBpAnnndvU/s1600/highadventure.jpg" /></a></div>Pilot Kirby Galway is having a bad week. He has two different customers (for the Pre-Columbian artifacts he smuggles) show up at his home in Belize at the same time. That wouldn't be so bad except that each customer thinks he is the exclusive customer. They also think those artifacts are real. If that's not enough to give Kirby a headache, along comes a fiercely honest, Junoesque archaeologist named Valerie Green. Valerie ("despoliation!" is her watchword) is positive there is an undiscovered Mayan temple right -- there. Yes, there. Right where Kirby and his band of merry Mayan pranksters have created a fake temple on his land. Government official Innocent St. Michael -- a sorely misnamed individual -- knows very well there is no temple on Kirby's land because Innocent sold him that land. Suckered him on the deal, in fact, because the land is worthless. But Innocent was never one to let a fast dollar or a beautiful woman get by him so he's very curious as to all the shuckin' and jivin' going on out Kirby's way. Vernon, Innocent's right hand man, is hell bent on bringing down the Belizean government, and that may involve kidnapping and murder if he can withstand the ulcer-inducing stress of simply imagining those events. And in between making fake antiquities, keeping his customers satisfied, drumming up new customers, staving off both the government and the rabid archaeologist as well as reporters and Guatemalan terrorists disguised as -- wait for it -- Ghurkas, Kirby still has to complete his usual rounds of smuggling marijuana into the US.<br />
<br />
Now having said all that, do I really need to tell you what a delightful confection this book is? There is no weight to the book at all, despite Westlake's wryly humorous reflections on government corruption, academic corruption, and the general ineptitude of the human race. The story is a charming bonbon, aiming solely to amuse the reader, and it succeeds admirably, though the book does not quite rise to the levels of hilarity achieved in the author's Dortmunder series.<br />
<br />
Westlake rounds out all of his characters, finding as much humor in their assets as in their liabilities, and he sets up scenes worthy of the finest screwball comedies in which to mentally torture his characters with their misinterpretations of situations and identities. There is one particularly funny scene in a hotel restaurant in which Kirby's various customers and the archaeologist are all trying to have dinner, trying not to be recognized, and everyone in confusion (and no small amount of fear) as to identities and motives. That the scene plays out with very little in the way of dialogue is testament to Westlake's skills of characterization and the third-person point of view.<br />
<br />
Besides being a master of the plot twist -- Westlake's mind was positively labyrinthine -- the author also wrote fine prose, full of imagery, often beautiful yet lacking any pretention. For readers familiar only with his Parker novels and their lean style of prose, this book is a real change of pace. Fans of Westlake's Dortmunder series will find much to enjoy here, but will still miss the crazy gang in that series.<br />
<br />
<b>RECOMMENDED</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_iJkFNv5X9Q/Tz2TfMYGiTI/AAAAAAAACo8/A6TpsMvG8GA/s1600/comedyfinished.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_iJkFNv5X9Q/Tz2TfMYGiTI/AAAAAAAACo8/A6TpsMvG8GA/s1600/comedyfinished.jpg" /></a></div>On Tuesday, Feb. 21, Hard Case Crime will release <a href="http://www.hardcasecrime.com/books_bios.cgi?entry=bk105">THE COMEDY IS FINISHED</a>, probably the last we will see of Westlake's previously unpublished works.Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-12942625786295141772012-02-10T18:00:00.000-05:002012-02-10T18:00:59.328-05:00ABIDE WITH ME by Ian Ayris<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9r8uE0R1B5M/TzVf9OHRXAI/AAAAAAAACoQ/BuNnZeZFhHM/s1600/abide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9r8uE0R1B5M/TzVf9OHRXAI/AAAAAAAACoQ/BuNnZeZFhHM/s1600/abide.jpg" /></a></div>Johnny and Kenny are 10-year-olds living across the street from each other in London's East End. Neither family has much money but these boys' lives couldn't be more different. Kenny, vacuous and obese, with his relentlessly brutal father and his doormat of a loving mother; and football-mad Johnny, with two loving parents with excellent work ethics and a little princess of a baby sister. Despite Kenny's hygienic deficiencies and passive demeanor, the boys become friends and remain so until Kenny's passivity cracks one day and he is sent, as Johnny says, "to the nutter." The years, then a decade rolls by. Consumed by a family tragedy, Johnny makes some bad decisions for which he pays a heavy price. Just when Johnny is finally ready and able to try to correct the course of his life, Kenny reappears, still dirty, still vacuous, and now getting his food from trash bins. And Kenny's also in a world of trouble with the local mobster, and so is Johnny's mother. The pressure is on Johnny to help the mobster deal with Kenny. If Johnny tries to help his old friend, neither he nor his family will live to see another sunrise.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Abide-Me-Ian-Ayris/dp/1907565124">ABIDE WITH ME</a>, by Ian Ayris, is a remarkable first novel. It is so very good -- and it's almost scary to say this author has the potential to be even better -- that even though I was familiar with the quality of Ayris's short stories, I was poleaxed by both story and writing in <b>ABIDE WITH ME</b>. Writing in the first person of Johnny, and in the East End vernacular, the author admirably maintains the voice of the character while allowing him to age and mature -- or not -- over the ten or so years of the story. The character is street-wise but not callous; occasionally daring but by no means fearless. Ayris guides his narrator through the pre-teen and teen years with a keen eye for the self-absorption and animal instincts of youth. Ayris' particular talent, though, is in defining and revealing the small, quiet tragedies in the lives of the less-than-affluent. And the book just shines when he juxtaposes those private griefs against public shame and personal pride.<br />
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I'm not ashamed to say that the story of Johnny's and Kenny's friendship moved me to tears. Although good arguments can be made that the themes include what it means to be a hero or an exploration of one's place in a community, the overriding theme surely is what does it mean to be a friend. Throughout Johnny's narration, as we see his narrow world through his young eyes, we come to think as Johnny does: that he is a steadfast friend to the hopelessly and uselessly blank, somewhat repellent Kenny. But it is Kenny who, by story's end, exemplifies what it means to be a friend, as well as what courage and gratitude can be.<br />
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I'm going to startle more than a few of you, possibly even the author, by saying this book stands comparison to books by Liza Cody and -- ready? -- Ken Bruen. No joke. No exaggeration. <b>ABIDE WITH ME</b> has the same clarity of voice, the same dark humor, as well as a poignancy that wrenches and moves the reader. Ayris may even go a bit further in capturing a vivid slice of life that rings true to this Yank. This is not a book for those who like a bit of bloodletting in the library with their tea and crumpets. This is a gritty, altogether human story of tragedies both quiet and public, in a world where paradise means your football team is in the finals and where getting out and up never even crosses the mind.<br />
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Here's an excerpt in which a shaken-to-the-core Johnny has just endured tea, for the first and only time, at Kenny's house, and there witnessed the abrupt and terrible violence Kenny and his mother suffer as a matter of routine.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">And that was tea at Kenny's. I didn't tell Mum nothing. Said I pissed meself on the way home from school. She says not to worry, and gives me a kiss on the head. That's when I started bawlin me eyes out.<br />
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Come night time, I'm lyin in me bed. Can't sleep. Been tryin to close me eyes for ages, but soon as I do, I see Kenny's old man cryin his heart out and Kenny shufflin about the floor pickin up jam sarnies, and all over there's the sound of his old girl screamin.<br />
<br />
***<br />
Mum and Dad's downstairs. Mum's laughin. Probably something on the telly or Dad's told her one of his stupid jokes, something he'd picked up in the factory or out the boozer. Becky's movin about in her cot like she can't sleep neither. She's breathin heavy, sort of two at a time, like she's cryin. But she's not. It's just how she gets sometimes.<br />
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Can't get Kenny out of me head still, thinkin about him across the road, tryin to get to sleep. And I'm thinkin what I'd do if I was him. I know I wouldn't fuckin be puttin up with it, that's for fuckin starters. I'd be workin out how to have it away on me toes first thing, like that Dick Whittinton geezer. I'd do the old man in before I went, an all. Get a gun or something. Blow the bastard's head off.<br />
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The stairs start creakin. Door opens. Mum comes in to check on Becky, and I squeeze me eyes tight shut. I can hear Mum whisperin to Becky and singin soft, probably strokin her hair and her cheek, an that. She's right gentle, Mum. Then I can hear her footsteps comin over to me. I close me eyes even tighter. Don't wanna talk about what's in me head, you know, doin away with Kenny's old man. Mum feels me forehead, and gives me a kiss there. Then she gets a tissue and she's wipin me eyes and she's wipin the tears off me face. She cups her hand round me cheek, and I know she's lookin right into me. Gives me another kiss on the forehead and I know I'm cryin now cos I can hear it in me throat. But I won't open me eyes, not even for Mum. I'm willin for her to go. And when she does, when the bedroom door shuts tight and the lights go out, I want her back all over again, just so she can stop the screamin in me head.<br />
<br />
***<br />
As for Kenny, next day at school, all week, I got an empty fuckin chair sittin next to me.</blockquote><b>HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.</b>Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8088414462866645386.post-23577247427055340952012-01-23T00:01:00.002-05:002012-01-23T21:14:44.598-05:00TAKEN by Robert Crais<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7pABbZcxslM/TxmkC3kTQHI/AAAAAAAACm8/F3npNk-zfrc/s1600/taken.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7pABbZcxslM/TxmkC3kTQHI/AAAAAAAACm8/F3npNk-zfrc/s200/taken.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>Elvis Cole <i>is </i>the World's Greatest Detective. So when he takes a case involving a missing couple, it doesn't take him long to discover that the two unfortunates were taken by <i>bajadores</i>: brutal gangs of thieves who steal illegal immigrants (or anything valuable) from the coyotes smuggling them into the USA. But the World's Greatest finds himself up against a very powerful and cunning operator known only as The Syrian. And it isn't long before Elvis, too, is taken, and Joe Pike must race against the clock to find his friend. You see, the <i>modus operandi</i> of the <i>bajadores </i>is to hold their victims (<i>pollos</i>) for ransom. When there is no money to be made from a hostage, the <i>pollo </i>is killed.<br />
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Law of averages says that at some point Robert Crais is going to write a bad book. <a href="http://www.robertcrais.com/"><b>TAKEN</b></a> is not it.<br />
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What this is, is the book I've been waiting for ever since Joe Pike started getting his own name on the dust jackets. This is the book where Elvis and Joe share equal billing, where the strengths of each man, and the depths of their friendship, are demonstrated to the fullest. And the icing on the cake? The reader gets to know more about the fascinating and entertaining Jon Stone character than has been revealed in previous books.<br />
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Crais's talent for characterization and setting is used to optimal effect, supported by white-hot pacing. The constant tension is spurred by the construction of the book, sliding back and forth in time, allowing the reader to anticipate some, but not too much, of the action while allowing the author enough space to surprise the reader with the twists and turns of the story. Rarely is such construction both necessary and highly effective, but Crais is the master of the time shift (remember <a href="http://robertcrais.com/books/book_larequiem.htm">LA REQUIEM</a>?), wielding the tool with wisdom and restraint.<br />
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But it is the characters: Cole, Pike, Stone, the <i>pollos </i>and the <i>bajadores</i> themselves, who draw the reader in and refuse to let go until their story is resolved: Cole, who goes a little too far trying to help a client. Pike, well, how far won't Pike go for a friend? Stone, a brilliant and loud character who goes as far as he damn well pleases, and who is just begging to get his own name on a dust jacket. The <i>pollos</i>, those victims who risk all for a chance at a better life and those who are trying to escape the consequences of their own deeds. The <i>bajadores</i>, those who are just hired help, those who don't even see their victims as people, and those who positively relish the nastier aspects of their work. <br />
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<b>TAKEN </b>has its share of metaphors and symbols, but Crais writes in such an "of the moment" style, that such niceties tend to be camouflaged by the story's action. It lends to his books a subtlety missing in much of today's crime fiction. For example, a killing ground is not made horrific to the reader through graphic detail; it becomes horrific when such a scene can make a character as tough as Jon Stone cry out in rage. Or when the mother of the missing woman gives Cole a tiny figure of Jiminy Cricket, the reader understands what that figure represents to each of them: she is putting everything in life she values in Elvis's hands, and for Elvis, the little plastic figure that was Pinocchio's conscience is, in essence, his own conscience. Elvis has always wanted to be a real boy, hasn't he?<br />
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I have to say that I've enjoyed all of Robert Crais's novels, but <b>TAKEN </b>is, for me, the most deeply satisfying book since 2005's <a href="http://robertcrais.com/books/book_the_forgotten_man.htm">THE FORGOTTEN MAN</a>. Thematically, Crais sums up the book with an apt pair of epigraphs right at the beginning:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">"Cut you,<br />
I bleed.<br />
Our name is love."<br />
-- Tattooed Beach Sluts<br />
<br />
Jiminy Cricket: Hey, where ya goin'?<br />
Pinocchio: I'm going to find him!</blockquote><br />
If you're wondering, then yes, you can read this book without having read the others in the series. <b>TAKEN</b> stands all on its own as an outstanding example of the action thriller. But it's only fair to say that the best way to experience the deeper richness of these characters is by learning more of Elvis's and Joe's history, so I urge you to read the entire series.<br />
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<b>HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.</b>Naomi Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.com11