Tag: book-reviews

Book Review: Trapped In Luxury With Count Rostov

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles is one of the most elegantly written novels I have read in some time filled with all kinds of interesting Russian history and culture seen through the eyes of an aristocrat who is placed under house arrest at the luxurious hotel in Moscow where he resides.

Towles takes us readers back to 1922 Russia where Count Alexander Rostov faces a Bolshevik tribunal over some poem that was attributed to him. Apparently, the tribunal found that the Count was a little enamored with his aristocratic position in society. The Count has spent some years living at a luxury hotel known as the Metropol in Moscow. He is sentenced to house arrest and is not allowed to leave the hotel. To add insult to injury, the Count is moved out of his usual suite and has to take up residence in the old servants’ quarters in the attic. During his years there, the Count does manage to cultivate some friendships with some of the staff and guests. He also has the opportunity to raise a child that has come into his care. History is made in Moscow outside of the doors of the Metropol, and the Count keeps up as best he can. The unexpected blessing that he receives over the years is a sense of purpose that was missing for much of his life. Although there are worse places to be confined, the Count still has to adapt to a loss of freedom and manages to actually thrive in some ways.

Towles chooses to create a character who sort of rolls with the punches in a strangely whimsical manner. The Count even manages to adjust to his new lodgings in the attic with a certain impressive stoicism. Some may read this and believe the Count to be a rather boring protagonist, but he is anything but. The Count is a fascinating character because many of his reactions are atypical to the circumstances.

The story unfolds over a pretty long span of time. The Count has had some heartbreak in his past and does care more deeply about family. He even manages to become an adoptive parent when a child is left in his care.

Towles can appear a bit wordy at times, but I find his style reminiscent of authors from late nineteenth to early twentieth century. Sometimes the exposition slows the plot down at times, and there is still a temptation to skim over some of the heavier passages. I would encourage other readers to take their time and enjoy the prose as much as possible.

This novel was published in 2016 and has enjoyed quite a bit of acclaim over the past several years. The applause is well-earned here. Towles does well to recreate the setting. Although Count Rostov is a product of Towles’ imagination, the Metropol is actually a real place. Maybe if Moscow appears more welcome to tourist within my lifetime, it would be tempting to check this place out. I would likely also need to experience an improbable financial windfall to afford such a venture.

Anyway, there is not much to criticize this novel. It is very entertaining and enlightening. Amor Towles is likely becoming a writer who I intend to follow a bit more intently.

The next indulgence is a return to the crime thriller genre, but this is another author I have not read before. I am looking forward to allowing author Danielle Trussoni to introduce me to The Puzzle Master.

Book Review: A Baby In The Lighthouse

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

M.L. Stedman’s novel, The Light Between Oceans, is one of those with quite a bit of acclaim, and now that I have read it, it does seem to be well-earned.

The story takes the reader to Australia just after the end of the First World War where we meet a former soldier named Tom Sherbourne. Tom takes a rather lonely job as a lighthouse keeper, but he has met a woman named Isabel and fallen in love. The two of them move out to some desolate coastline so Tom can take on his new duties. They have married and attempt to have a family, however each of the three pregnancies end tragically. Some years into this endeavor, a boat has washed ashore with a dead man and an infant girl who is very much alive. Tom and Isabel take her in and decide to raise the girl as their own, however the girl has a very brief past life, and a mother of her own who misses her very deeply. The fantasies of this family collide with the reality of this little girl’s origin, and it gets even messier from there.

This is one of those stories where there is not really a clear villain. No one has any evil intentions. The only real resolution is going to require what would seem to be an impossible amount of forgiveness from more than one character.

Stedman does a pretty decent job of setting the scene. She is apparently Australian, so she would likely know how to depict the setting. The characters are interesting and complex, and sometimes loyalties shift a bit throughout the story. It is definitely one of those novels where any book club is likely going to contain some pretty lively discussions on morality and forgiveness.

Stedman has a pretty decent if unremarkable prose style. She just constructed a pretty fascinating scenario and populated it with characters who are multi-faceted.

There is some reliance on a pretty unlikely set of coincidences that were at times difficult to suspend my disbelief, but I understand why so many fiction writers dop that. If I was writing my own novel, I am sure some critic would fairly be able to point that out in my hypothetical work.

Overall, I would recommend any habitual reader to slip this into their nightstand stack and actually get to it.

Next up, I will be returning to Los Angeles as depicted by crime fiction writer Michael Connelly. Former LAPD detective Harry Bosch has a chance to solve a case that has haunted him for years. He and Renee Ballard join forces to close some cold cases in Desert Star.

Book Review: Rocky Mountain Murder

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Dead of Winter is a pretty decent thriller written by the prolific Darcy Coates. Coates often writes supernatural story, but this story doesn’t fall into that territory. It does get pretty gruesome and far-fetched, but I ended up enjoying the ride that was meant to terrify me. I don’t really get terrified that easily by a book, but I can still appreciate the attempt.

The story is told from the point of view from a young woman named Christa, who has joined her boyfriend on a winter vacation to the Rocky Mountains where they plan to stay in a luxurious lodge with other guests. The bus breaks down, and a wicked storm is on the way. The passengers make their way to small, abandoned cabin where they plan to wait out the storm. The situation gets more dire when the tour guide is killed and then beheaded. As the days and nights start to pass, the group is rapidly shrinking as the heads are left on display outside the cabin being punished by an unrelenting, violent snowstorm. Christa has reason to start believing that the group was not gathered at random, and there is a more precise motive than just some random bloodthirsty psycho satisfying a dark compulsion.

This is the second novel in a row I have read with the too familiar plot of a small group of people trapped in a tight, claustrophobic locale with a seemingly crazed killer stalking them. Coates does a pretty good job with a very common plotline. The motivation behind these killings is a bit far-fetched, but Christa is a compelling enough heroine for me to forgive that.

The revelations are pretty well placed. Coates has a pretty engaging prose style as well. The characters are pretty interesting for the most part. Coates apparently doesn’t mind leaving a couple of loose threads when she ends a story.

This is my first time reading a novel from this author, and she already has a pretty significant catalogue. I am sure it will not be too long before I try another one.

It has been a while since I have indulged in a Star Trek novel, so I think I will make a return trip to the twenty-fourth century and visit with Captain Picard’s crew aboard the Starship Enterprise. Next up, Shadows Have Offender by Cassandra Rose Clarke.

Book Review: An Avalanche Of Murder

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Ruth Ware’s thriller, One By One, does have a bit of an overused setting and mystery plot device, however it still ends up being an effectively hair-raising literary roller-coaster ride.

A group from a popular app company decide to get away for a ski trip on the French Alps and rent a chalet nestled in the mountains. They meet the two employees, a chef and a housekeeper, who turns out to have complicated past. An unexpected avalanche traps them within the luxurious cottage, however one of the guests has gone already gone missing, and others soon start dying as buried secrets come to the surface.

Ruth Ware has been called today’s Agatha Christie, which may be a little too generous, however she is a talented and engaging enough writer for me to not be too critical of the comparison. The novel is told from a first-person perspective with two characters alternating chapters on relating the story. The housekeeper, Erin, turns out to be a bit more than one would usually expect from a housekeeper is one of the narrators. Liz, a former employee and current shareholder in the company known as Snoop, is the other narrator. Liz is awkward and shy, easily able to fade into the background. I am not usually a fan of this idea of having more than one first-person narrator, but Ware makes it work pretty well once the story takes off, and corpses are discovered.

There are some coincidental and unlikely occurrences that are somewhat distracting, but the plot and setting are strong enough for me to be forgiving of those minor lapses. To be fair, I am like most mystery fans and cannot turn away from a good, claustrophobic thriller where the characters are isolated and cannot get any outside assistance as they contend with a murdered in their midst. As I mentioned before, it’s a pretty common set-up, but that’s because it can work so well. The characters are unique and interesting enough for me to want to see it through to the last word of the last page.

I actually doubt that Ruth Ware herself would consider herself to be the new Agatha Christie, however her rising popularity does appear to be well-deserved if this novel is anything to go by.

Next up, I will be checking in on game warden, Joe Pickett and his family, with Trophy Hunt written by the prolific and reliable C.J. Box.

Book Review: Arts And Spycraft

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

The English Spy is a thriller written by the prolific Daniel Silva and features his best-known character, Israeli spy Gabriel Allon. It was published first in 2015 and definitely not the first in the series. It is the first novel by Silva that I have read, so I am missing a lot of background knowledge about Mr. Allon.

Gabriel Allon is a spy and sometimes assassin for some unspecified Israeli agency, which he is about to take command of in this installment. Allon is also an accomplished art restorer, which brings a compelling irony to his fictional credentials. He can act with brutal efficiency against an enemy of his nation or bring back profound beauty to various damaged works of art. After perusing some of the blurbs about some of the other novels, it seems his work as an art restorer often leads him into more ominous endeavors. Allon is a typical deadly gentleman with a conscience and deep loyalty to his beloved nation of Israel. He also apparently works as a freelancer for England as he does in this novel.

In this particular book, Allon is on the trail of an Irish mercenary and bomb maker after a former member of British royalty is killed. Allon works with a British assassin named Christopher Keller, who apparently has been featured in other entries in the series, and they proceed to travel to some pretty exotic locations to find the elusive, ruthless Eamon Quinn.

I have not read any of the earlier novels, however this was still pretty enjoyable. Silva does reference events from earlier in the series, but he does not provide much detail, which is actually fine with me. I may very well take the time and fill in those gaps myself. The research that Silva puts in is laudable, but he does sometimes let the exposition slow down the pacing.

Allon has an interesting domestic situation going on while he is engaged in this pursuit. He has remarried, and his wife is on the verge of birthing twins. An attack has forced Allon to remain separated from his wife during a very crucial time. He is about to take a director’s seat over the agency where he has worked for many years. It’s not the most convenient of times for Gabriel Allon to be chasing bomb makers all over the place. It is convenient for the readers to get drawn into a pretty suspenseful story, so I am sure they’re fine with it.

Gabriel Allon himself doesn’t really stand out from other fictional protagonists in this genre, other than his side work as an art restorer, however Silva’s popularity is still well-earned. Silva is a very entertaining storyteller, and he also seems to be an enthusiastic researcher. He has a pretty courteous tradition writing an author’s note which specifies the imaginative locales in the various settings visited by Allon and Keller. This really does showcase Silva’s perspective and wit.

Overall, I enjoyed being introduced to Silva’s writing even though this doesn’t really introduce Gabriel Allon. It’s obviously not Silva’s fault I don’t always start reading series at the beginning. Spies, murder, and global pursuits generally thrive in the literary universe, and Silva’s contributions to this genre of literature are worthy of attention and not difficult to enjoy. The nuggets of knowledge concerning art restoration and various locations have some value. Gabriel Allon may not be the most fascinating of characters, but he is interesting enough for me to be willing to return to this series.

It probably will not be too long before I revisit the writings of Daniel Silva, but I will next be reading the first novel in a new series written by Andrew Klavan. Christmas has passed yet again, but I am revisiting the holiday through the lens of Klavan’s When Christmas Comes.