Tag: books

Book Review: Cormoran Strikes Again

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

The Silkworm is a decent continuation of the Cormoran Strike mystery series by Robert Galbraith, who is really J.K. Rowling. This is the second outing for the one-legged gumshoe.

Strike’s detective business has received a bump since his highly publicized murder case was solved in the debut novel, The Cuckoo’s Calling. One of his clients is a distraught wife who is wanting to find her husband who walked out of the house in a huff. The husband is moderately well-known novelist and was apparently planning to publish a novel which would be rather embarrassing for some of his associates. Strike eventually finds the writer after he has been eviscerated in an abandoned house. Suspicion falls on Strike’s client, which doesn’t sit well with the detective. Strike gets an up-close look at the publishing industry as he proceeds to uncover the truth.

Cormoran Strike is getting a little more interesting as the reader rides along on a new case. Strike also is contending with the news that his ex-girlfriend is getting married. He has a bit of an erratic psyche, but I am finding him more likeable, and he seems to be a sharp investigator. His new assistant, Robin, wants to learn more about investigating crimes, but she has a fiancée who is not quite on board with her current job.

The case itself is kind of interesting, but Galbreath seems to be indulging in a bit of overdone gruesomeness. The book in question that was written by the victim is pretty explicit and gross. I found the gorier aspects of the plot to be somewhat distracting.

The plot was pretty average, but it did the job as far as holding my attention. I think Galbraith’s strength lies in the creation of interesting protagonists. Some of Strike’s struggles with getting around on a prosthetic leg does make him rather unusual among fictional detectives.

The Silkworm isn’t likely to set the genre on fire with its greatness, but it’s not without any merit or interesting features. Galbraith is a talented writer, so I have some expectations that each novel gets better in this genre. I will see once I get to the next installment.

Time to delve into a newer author in both my book collection and the literary scene as a whole. Amiee Gibbs kicks off her novel writing career with The Carnivale of Curiosities.

Book Review: Lonesome Dove Isn’t For The Faint Of Heart

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Lonesome Dove is a western novel by Larry McMurtry that does often feel as long as it is, but it’s still easy to see why it has become so acclaimed. It was written by the now deceased author in 1985 and was the basis for one of the most highly regarded mini-series in television history.

Lonesome Dove is a name of a small Texas town, and the story takes place not long after the Civil War. Two former Texas Rangers have a cattle ranch together and are tasked with herding number of cows to Montana. Along the way, they encounter all kinds of dangers ranging from the wrath of nature to Indian attacks. A ruthless outlaw has caused a fair bit of trouble as well. Plenty of bullets and arrows are let loose on the journey, but grit and courage are displayed as well.

I have probably over-simplified the story because McMurtry delves into some pretty intense emotional journeys as well for all sorts of characters. The two Rangers are pretty fascinating, but McMurtry does not stay limited to their perspective. There is a sheriff from Arkansas who finds that his wife has run off while he was pursuing a fugitive. A former prostitute has joined one of the Ranger on the cattle drive. The reader is not quite sure which character is going to feature in the next chapter for a while.

Sometimes, the novel seems a little unfocused as various threads are laid out. It is almost 860 pages long, so it does drag at times, but I was still determined to get through it and was not disappointed.

McMurtry’s prose at times feels long-winded, but there is undeniable eloquence in his style. I didn’t mind the unpredictability as to which element of the story I was going to land as I progressed through the chapters.

The Rangers, Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call, were a fascinating pair and typical of the rugged, no-nonsense western archetypes of the genre. McMurtry displays a vivid and creative imagination when it comes to the threats the cowboys face on their long journey.

The title also has some metaphorical meeting which is explained in a foreword written by McMurtry, but I won’t spoil it. I still found it amusing that very little of the story actually takes place within the town the bears the name.

The story does suffer a little from being as long as it is, but it’s still a rewarding journey for the reader to take. I don’t usually read westerns, and I doubt that I will devour the genre as voraciously as I do when it comes to crime fiction, but I doubt this will be my last visit to the world of Larry McMurtry or to westerns.

Next up, private detective Cormoran Strike has a missing novelist to find in Robert Galbraith’s The Silkworm, and I am going along for the ride.

Book Review: Sophie Meets The Spirits Of Northwood Mansion

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

House of Shadows by Darcy Coates is a supernatural thriller that does little to provide thrills.

This is basically a haunted house story that pulls out the standard tropes such as a very unlikely romance with character types that are too familiar and overused.

The reader is introduced to Sophie, the daughter of a wealthy businessman who finds himself bankrupt. It’s not immediately clear as to the era where this novel takes place, but it seems to be somewhere in the nineteenth century. Anyway, Sophie’s family may receive salvation because of a sudden marriage proposal from the mysterious Joseph Argenton. Sophie agrees to the marriage; however, she has some concerns when she learns that she is to be the mistress of a foreboding and isolated estate known as Northwood. She also meets her new husband’s aunt, uncle, and cousin who reside in the house with a handful of servants. Strange sounds and shadowy figures serve to heighten her anxiety until she is attacked by a malevolent force, which confirms she has a serious problem now.

To be fair, the novel gets a little more interesting once the nature of the curse plaguing Northwood is actually explained. I just had a hard time caring about the lead characters because they just seemed so stereotypical and trite. Joseph is the most mysterious and richest guy ever. Sophie is the most sheltered and inexperienced woman in high society. Of course, she seems much younger than her unexpected suitor, which I guess is all relative. The relatives of Argenton are really odd but not in a creative way. It wasn’t a torturous reading experience, but it falls short when it comes to actually being thrilling.

The monster presented in the climax kind of has a cool name, but that’s about all that it has going for it, in my eyes.

Darcy Coates has quite a lengthy bibliography and seems quite popular. I still enjoy a good haunted house yarn, and Coates manages to be a competent enough writer. I also discovered there is a sequel to this novel, and I am just curious enough to see how this supernatural saga comes to an end. I suppose since I am interested enough to eventually get to the second novel, Coates did accomplish something with this particular reader despite some misgivings and criticisms.

Before I return to the supernatural tentacles reaching out from Northwood, I will return to the world of the late Steig Larsson. Mr. Larsson may be long gone, but Lisbeth Salander has managed to live on to become The Girl in the Eagle’s Talons, written by Karin Smirnoff.

Book Review: There Is No Getting Away From Murder For Jessica Niemi

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Ghost island is a pretty decent Nordic Noir thriller written by Max Seeck that takes place in Finland. He has returned to the investigations of Detective Jessica Niemi of the Helsinki Police Department.

Jessica has gotten in some trouble when an altercation with a man goes viral. She has some mental health issues anyway. Although she is a very capable investigator, her boss has some concerns and places her on leave. Jessica takes some time off on a remote island. Three elderly friends have shown up for their annual visit. They were one-time residents of an orphanage on the island during the Second Word War. Jessica also learns of a local legend concerning a haunting by a girl who had disappeared from the orphanage decades ago. Jessica is also drawn into the mystique of the island when one of the visitors is drowned at the beach. Jessica then learns of two previous deaths that had some similar elements. She also sees what appears to be the spirit of the long-missing girl with a blue coat. Her grip on reality is somewhat tenuous, but she does know that a killer has found their way onto the island and has to find the connection between her present danger and what happened many decades before.

The setting of an isolated island with a small group of people who has a killer in their midst is well used, but Seeck is talented enough to make it work. Jessica Neimi, the lead protagonist, is pretty interesting. This is apparently the fourth installment in a series. Neimi was introduced in the Seeck’s novel, The Witch Hunter and apparently is repeatedly traumatized over the course of the series so far.

There isn’t much humor to help lighten the mood here, but I guess that’s the way it goes for these Nordic mysteries. Seeck does provide a bit of a roller coaster on the way to the resolution. He’s not a remarkable writer, but he is competent enough. Jessica is one of many very morose and troubled detectives in crime fiction. There is nothing all that extraordinary about her in spite of her apparent mental illness, but she is not without some interesting features.

The novel is pretty good with a unique setting in that it takes place in Finland. Seeck does throw pretty good curveballs at his heroine. Murder on an isolated island is something that always piques my interest even if it is a somewhat well-worn trope. I would still recommend any fellow mystery fan to give this one a try. I ended up liking the novel even if it wasn’t quite a homerun.

The literary journey continues as I decide to accept the invitation from Darcy Coates to visit the House of Shadows.

Book Review: Negotiations Go Awry Over Bajor

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Pliable Truths is the latest title written by Dayton Ward and is a mediocre addition to the Star Trek: The Next Generation novel range.

Ward takes the reader back to the era of the television series just after Captain Jean-Luc Picard endured captivity and torture at the hands of the Cardassians. Also, the Cardassians subsequently withdraw from their occupation of the planet Bajor. Captain Picard is tasked with overseeing the negotiations between the Cardassians and the Bajorans aboard the space station known as Terok Nor. Of course, Terok Nor is on the verge of being redesignated Deep Space Nine. Picard’s mission is complicated by a bombing and assassination. Also, the Cardassian responsible for his recent torture has arrived, which causes some understandable disconcertion. Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise have several challenges to meet and a few mysteries to solve.

Dayton Ward has written several Star Trek novels for many years, and he is usually reliable. The problem here is that fans have already been through this era of the canon. We know what happens with Bajor after the Cardassians pulled out. There is no real suspense to be had. There were some interesting moments between characters. The reader gets to revisit the earlier days of Odo, Quark, Kira, and Garak just before Commander Benjamin Sisko arrives as the Starfleet representative. Garak’s scenes were kind of fun. He is, of course, the Cardassian tailor with a mysterious past and is much more dangerous than he first appears.

Ward isn’t a bad writer, but I just wasn’t interested in revisiting this portion of the canon. It also seems to take forever before the bombs started detonating, and characters started getting taken off the board.

Hopefully, the next novel in this series takes us into some uncharted territory.

Next up, I will see what author Max Seeck has waiting for me on Ghost Island.

Book Review: Some Family Dramas Can Turn Deadly

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

In Plain Sight is another thriller from C.J. Box, featuring Joe Pickett and his family, and is a compelling, enjoyable addition to the genre.

Joe Pickett has been a Wyoming game warden for a few years now and is happily married with two daughters. Since this is a crime novel, he and his family have endured more than their share of unwanted attention from some nasty characters. In this novel, it gets a little more personal when some threatening and gruesome pranks are being committed against the stalwart and dedicated game warden. Also, Pickett is keeping his eye out for a missing ranch owner who has left behind three peculiar sons at odds over her property and legacy. He also is getting a tough serving of Wyoming politics when his new director has little appreciation for what could be a little too much of Pickett’s honesty and integrity. Pickett is getting tested in a variety of unpleasant ways, but none of that is going matter if he cannot keep himself and his family alive.

Box is a very solid and reliable writer, and this novel helps to cement that impression. I am enjoying my occasional figurative visits to Pickett’s neck of the woods. I found the plot with this strange yet influential family rather interesting. The Joe Pickett series is best read in order of release since there is a progression in his professional and marital life. I have mentioned this before, but I like reading of a protagonist who remains committed to his wife and children in the midst of perilous people and circumstances swirling around his homestead.

There are some pretty good twists and turns that get pretty gruesome at times. This novel was released in 2006, so I have a ways to go before I am caught up to the current entries into the series, and so far, I plan to stick with this.

As for now, my journey of literary indulgence will detour back to the twenty-fourth century to visit some old friends aboard the USS Enterprise-D in the latest Star Trek: The Next Generation novel by Dayton Ward entitled Pliable Truths.

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: Catching Killers Has Become A Family Affair

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Blessing of the Lost Girls is a very interesting and somewhat unusual mystery novel by the prolific J.A. Jance and may be one of the better ones in her lengthy catalogue.

Jance writes quite a few series these days. This one takes place in Arizona within the jurisdiction of Sheriff Joanna Brady of Cochise County. Brady herself is not in this one very much. The lead protagonist is a feral agent named Dan Pardee, who works with a new federal agency which investigates the disappearances or murders of Native Americans in particular. Some burned human remains was finally identified after a few years of their discovery. They were once a lovely young woman who was a rodeo contestant and a Native American. She also was acquainted with one Jennifer Brady, the daughter of the aforementioned sheriff. Jenny Brady has grown up since her introduction to readers and is currently studying criminal justice. She has figured out a way to be of some help to this new investigation which reveals the presence of a serial killer who has been stalking the rodeo circuit for many years. Pardee is the son-in-law of another lawman created by Jance. That would be Brandon Walker, who did not appear as frequently as Brady or Jance’s other best-known detective, J.P. Beaumont. Jance has also decided to introduce her killer pretty early in this one, however there are still some alarming secrets to be discovered about this one.

Jance has delved fairly frequently into some American Indian lore over the years, and she does so even more here. The structure of the story seems a little different than her usual method, and I found myself enjoying the change of pace. I do miss having Joanna Brady more involved in the action in this one, but I am not one to begrudge authors for introducing new heroes.

Aspects of the plot still seem a bit far-fetched, but that’s not unusual for this genre or for this author. Jance remains to be a very compelling writer in this genre. Her characters go through a lor, but I like their steadfastness and pragmatism during the worst of circumstances. Jance also writes afterwords where she reveals some of the inspiration, so it’s a bit of a treat to sort of understand how these characters and stories develop in her mind.

Jance has done a good job of sort of freshening up her characters a bit, and teasing her readers with potential new directions such as how would an agency primarily responsible for investigating heinous crimes on a Native American reservation.

I am always game for new Joanna Brady and J.P. Beaumont novels, but I would not mind getting to know Dan Pardee and his family more as well.

Next up, it is time for author Amor Towles to introduce me to A Gentleman in Moscow.

Book Review: Harry Bosch Still Knows How To Light A Fire Under A Cold Case

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Desert Star is a crime novel written by Michael Connelly which marks a welcome return of Harry Bosch and Renee Ballard.

Bosch has been retired from the Los Angelos Police Department for a while now, but he still follows up on a few cases he was unable to close. Ballard has continued to stay on with the department and is in charge of a revived cold case unit. She wants to close a long unsolved murder of a teen-ager who is the sister of a city councilman who championed the return of the unit. She wants to recruit Bosch, but there is a rift to mend. Meanwhile, Bosch has been haunted for many years by the unsolved murder of a family of four. He knows who was behind it, but he was unable to gather the evidence. Ballard’s invitation gives him a chance to bring justice that has eluded the victims’ family for far too long. Bosch also has to learn to work with a team and tolerate the politics that has often hindered his efforts to take more killers off the board. Also, Bosch has a medical condition hanging over his head, but even that is going to have a hard time keeping him from his relentless pursuit for justice.

Connelly is consistently quite good, but this particular novel is one of the better ones. Bosch is still as uncompromising as ever but for the right reasons. The sometimes-complicated friendship with Ballard is compelling. There are some threads that seem a little far-fetched, but my joy at some new cases for Bosch and Ballard overshadowed those concerns. With Bosch’s health in some peril, I do feel that I better get as much enjoyment as I can if Connelly decides to make some radically tragic decisions regarding his most popular protagonist.

The story does take a few unexpected brutal turns on the road to the resolution. It was a worthwhile treat to revisit LA as seen through the writings of Michael Connelly and the eyes of Harry Bosch.

The trail of fictional murders and detectives will next lead me back to the world created by J.A. Jance as she reveals the Blessing of the Lost Girls.

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.