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The
reason for these "quarterly" reports is that I
just can’t keep up with the speed most of you read.
It is not unlikely that I’ll only get one book done
in a month and now that my "day" job has me
doing less traveling, I don’t go through Books on
Tape as often. |
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Christopher
Morley's A Haunted Bookshop
was written early in the last century shortly after World War I. A
book shop owner is mystified about the appearance and disappearance of
the particular book in his inventory. Set in “conemporary” times for the
post WWI era in which it was written. |
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First in the
series of Lou Boldt/Daphne Matthews detective fiction is Ridley
Pearson's Undercurrents. Boldt is called back from a
seminar after another body shows up attributed to a serial killer that
was thought to have been already caught (and, as it happens, already
killed). The story slowly reveals that not only was the real killer not
found, there also appears to be a copycat killer. This is really a
robust introduction. In addition to the murder investigation, there are
a myriad of sub plots going. Boldt is having trouble at home. His wife,
left alone long hours, has made her own career and is making more money
than Boldt, causes some resentment. He catches her in an affair. There
is some sexual tension between him and forensic psychologist, Daphne
Matthews. Someone in the department is leaking information to the press
(which was the cause of the original suspect being killed). A young kid
turns out to be a witness and Boldt is paternally attracted to him and
begins regretting his earlier (one sided) opinion that he and his wife
should not have children.
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This is my first
Robert Ferrigno novel; Heartbreaker.
Val Duran moves himself and his
grandmother to California from Florida to get away from “Junior” after
witnessing the brutal murder of his friend and college, Steffano. He
becomes involved with Kyle, an attractive girl living in his same
apartment complex and is soon drawn into another problem when her mother
is savagely murdered. A very dark, noir kind of story, but is flavored
with some laugh out loud situations. When it’s not keeping you moving,
it’s keeping you guessing or is providing surprises right up to the last
few pages. |
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The Douglas
Adams' The Restaurant at the End of the Universe is
the first in a long series of follow-ups to
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
and what has become the worlds largest
Trilogy. This time, Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox and
Marvin, the paranoid android, find themselves a the Restaurant at the
end of the Universe which has the ending of the Universe as a floor
show. It ends with Arthur and Ford on Earth two million years in the
past where Arthur is trying to improve the human condition,
retroactively by teaching Neanderthals how to play Scrabble. |
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Keith Snyder's
first book, Show Control,
introduces Jason Keltner. Jason is taken by Monica Gleason and just as
the relationship shows some hope, she’s killed on stage by what appears
to be a technical accident. Jason looks into it and is soon “hounded” by
those who don’t want him to. A bit choppy first novel, but interesting
enough to give the second one a shot. |
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Billy
Straight from Jonathan Kellerman is a standalone novel. A
twelve-year-old leaves an abusive home to deal with life on the streets
and witnesses a murder. In his meanderings and the investigation by the
police, the reader is introduced to a variety of characters and their
interactions. An interesting presentation; the young “Billy” Straight’s
part is done in first person, while the rest is in an aloof third person
narrative. Dead, is the ex-wife of a movie star. Suspects, the movie
star of course, but also his friend and accountant, or maybe a third
party. Complications: Daddy, father of the deceased, posts a $25,000
reward for information, which brings out the scum of the earth amateur
bounty hunters and places Straight in danger when it is published that
forensics place a young kid at the murder scene and has become a
“wanted” as a Material Witness. |
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Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis
Carroll is, of course, a classic, but something I've never read until
now. It's a short story about Alice, the White Rabbit, the garden the
Queens croquet game. I understand it supposed to be dripping with
mathematical logic and symbolism, but it all went past me. It was,
though, quite filled with delightful nonsense.
In a follow-up Through the Looking Glass, Alice finds
herself in the world on the other side of the mirror. |
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I have put off
reading this guy way too long. T. Jefferson Parkers' first book,
Laguna Heat has one of the best opening lines I've ever read:
A perfect
morning in a city of perfect mornings, an artist would have worked, a
god would have rested.
This is
non-series detective fiction. A series of burn murders has Tom Sheppard,
the sole member of the Laguna Beach Police Department, hopping all
around town and forces him to re-examine his own parents history.
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The Killing Floor
by Lee Child was a wonderful surprise find. This is Child's first novel.
Jack Reacher, a self-proclaimed “hobo”, is arrested in a small southern
town for a brutal murder which he and Chief of detectives knows he
couldn’t have committed. This a hard-boiled, kick-butt, take-names,
swash-buckling, mystery. This is not only a "who-done-it" but a
"what'd-they-do-it-for". Jack Reacher has recently left the service
where he spent about 13 years as an officer (left with the rank of
Major) in the Military Police.
Some of the
set-up is a bit of a stretch. Reach was a top notch officer in the MPs
and after the wind down following the Gulf war, he got out rather than
going for retirement. He seems to think the cut back was directed at
him. I, spent 7 years, 6 months and 3 days in Army, and I can testify
that guys like Reacher would not make that mistake. I would also expect
that if he did get out, then becoming a hobo would be the last thing
he'd do. After an entire life time in the service, essentially living
out of a duffle bag, you'd want to lay down some roots. Aside from that, Reacher
also seems incredibly astute,
bordering on clairvoyance. But it's fiction, so I go with it. The story
is filled with action, has a great premise to this particular situation
and almost nail bite suspense. I'm
thrilled to have found Lee Child. |
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Dennis Lehane's
final (so far) Kenzie/Gennero novel is Prayers for Rain.
A demure, young lady has a stalker
on her and hires Patrick to end it. He does with Buba’s help. A few
months later, just has he is running out the door to a vacation trip,
she calls again. Patrick decides to call her back upon his return than
do it now…but forgets. A couple months after that, she hurls herself,
naked, off the top of a building. Guilt ridden, Patrick takes it upon
himself to find out what happened. This is another, "wow", white-knuckle
ride “a-la-Darkness”…and a nice twist at the end.
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The
Passenger is the second book from Patrick A. Davis using the
military (Air Force) as a setting. Our hero, is a new bird Colonel and
is assigned to a high profile crash which kills the Presidents'
brother-in-law. It is soon apparent that there is more to it than an
accidental crash and, shortly afterwards, it is also apparent to our
hero. The seemly conflicting and “at cross purpose” orders and breaches
of SOP are first passed off as a political necessity in the case of a
high profile investigation, but soon evolves into an obvious attempt to
discredit the military investigation and cover-up a murder. |
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Ray Bradbury's
The Martian Chronicles is a series of short
stories set forty years into the “future” about the colonization of
Mars. It chronicles the Martian inhabitances from January 1999 to
October 2026. Later versions of his book (like the one shown here) have
the dates moved up a little. |
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Life, The
Universe and Everything from Douglas Adams continues the
Hitchhiker's Trilogy. Arthur Dent, left on
pre-historic Earth for five years, finally meets up with Ford Prefect
and they get off the planet in a freak time warping sofa, which lands
them in the middle of Lord’s Cricket Ground during a match. From here,
the story gets zany. It’s every bit as nutty as the previous two
installments. |
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