Tag: fiction

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: 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: 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.

Book Review: Calamity In The Catskills

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

An Unwanted Guest is a thriller that has one of my favorite scenarios in that a small group of people is stuck in a remote location with a murderer in their midst. Shari Lapena first had this published in 2018 and has written several novels since then.

The setting is a luxurious inn in the Catskill Mountains where a group of guests who apparently do not know each other gather to escape the mundaneness of their daily lives. There is a troubled married couple, a traumatized war journalist, and a defense attorney with an unusual past. That is just the beginning. A young woman is found dead at the bottom of the staircase. The inn loses power during the height of a snowstorm, so help from the police is not forthcoming. Then, a second body is found. The group has to wonder if there is someone else in the inn secretly or if one of them is a murderer.

As much as I love this sort of mystery, Lapena really proves how overdone it could really get. She isn’t a terrible writer, but there is not much that makes it stand out. None of the cast of characters was uniquely interesting. When the investigator finally is able to get there, she is not that compelling.

Much of the motivations behind the killings rely on some unlikely coincidences.

Lapena is another one of these current female writers being compared to Agatha Christie. Christie had considerably more skill in her plotting. I don’t mind today’s author paying some homage to the Queen of Crime, but Lapena seems to try a little too hard here. I could not muster much sympathy for any of the characters, even the victims. I just found the novel to be a little bland.

In spite of some misgivings about this particular novel, I will likely give Lapena another chance down the road. She is not a hopelessly awful writer, but she seems a little too attached to the formula. Still, Lapena is a bestselling author, so my criticism may be in the minority. I just found the mediocrity of this literary contribution to be mildly soul crushing.

Ironically, my next read is going to once again have a group of people isolated on a snowy mountain with a killer lurking in the forest. I will see if Darcy Coates can do a better job with Dead of Winter.

Book Review: The Dark Hours Belong to Ballard

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

The Dark Hours is a pretty intriguing novel by Michael Connelly and features Harry Bosch and his most recent series character, Renee Ballard. Bosch has been retired from LAPD for some time, but Detective Ballard still manages to draw him back into an investigation or two.

This thriller takes place during the thick of COVID lockdowns and mask-wearing. Ballard has been called out in the middle of the night to look into a fatal shooting. Evidence leads her to look into an unsolved case that was once investigated by Harry Bosch. Meanwhile, a pair of rapists have been stalking the streets of Los Angelos and have also attracted Ballard’s attention and ire. Bosch once again provides some invaluable support and insight even though he no longer carries a badge. Ballard also has to navigate the treacherous waters of department politics as well and finds her pool of allies getting smaller. It’s another cluster of tense situations provided by the prolific Michael Connelly.

I would have been fine if Connelly ignored the pandemic situation in his novels, but it’s not my call. Once thing that adds a dose of reality to his crime fiction is that his characters are often working more than one case in a particular novel. There is usually a primary plot, but Connelly will often have a side project for his protagonists going on and manages to skillfully weave in and out of them quite skillfully.

I don’t know if Connelly is really a master of the craft, but I don’t begrudge him his current popularity and success. Connelly is consistently good, and this particular novel isn’t the one to change my mind. I was pretty well hooked and inwardly cheering when Bosch would appear. This was still mostly a Ballard story, but I was fine with that. I enjoy the friendship that Connelly has developed between them. I found it interesting that Ballard acknowledged that Bosch has become sort of a mentor because that was not immediately obvious since Ballard is pretty sharp on her own. I thought it was pretty cool when she actually verbalized that aspect of their relationship. I also appreciate that Connelly has also chosen to not shoehorn in some romantic spark between them. Since there is a significant age gap between the two detectives, it would just seem tawdry and unnecessary, and Connelly seems to agree.

Overall, I enjoyed this one quite a bit, but I haven’t come across a Connelly novel that I did not enjoy in some degree. It was pretty good and should be one that crime fiction enthusiasts add to their reading lists.

Next up, I am reading my first J.K. Rowling novel, however it’s not her Harry Potter series. Time to meet Cormoran Strike in The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith. Yes, Galbraith is really J.K. Rowling. Anyway, that’s the next step in my path of literary indulgence.

Film Review: Possession Or Insanity…Who Can Say?

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Nefarious had an intriguing idea, but this supernatural thriller didn’t quite pull off the execution onscreen. More than likely, the book written by Steve Deace is considerably better.

Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon wrote and directed this film. Sean Patrick Flannery and Jordan Belfi are the leads alongside Tim Ohmer and Glenn Beck, who makes a special appearance toward the end of the film.

The film starts off with a psychiatrist who commits suicide by throwing himself off a building for some inexplicable reason. His protégé, played by Belfi, takes his place interviewing a death row inmate to determine if a notorious killer is legally sane, which would allow the execution to proceed. Flannery offers a fairly chilling performance as the killer known as Edward Wayne Brady. Beady explains that he is actually a demon in possession of this body. Brady was actually coerced into committing the murders that have landed him in this predicament. Of course, the shrink is an atheist, and what follows is a pretty lengthy match of verbal jousting which ended up being somewhat predictable and rather clumsily written.

Anyway, the film is apparently billed as a Christian film, which becomes more evident when social issues such as abortion come up. I don’t actually disagree with the position the writers and producers apparently take. I do sort of question the whole demonic possession angle, but some of the theological points made did resonate with me. I just wish there was some better skill in the writing.

I will say that the transformation Flannery undergoes for his character is actually quite impressive. I actually had to recognize his name to realize that I had seen him quite often before. Flannery is a pretty good actor, but I always kind of considered him a pretty boy. That wasn’t there in this one.

Overall, I appreciate the effort for some of these studios to put out some more faith-based content, and this film is not that bad. It just isn’t that great either. It had a low-budget feel to it, and the writing just wasn’t strong enough to overcome that.

Book Review: A Strange Professor With A Strange Mind

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

The House of Love and Death is the third intriguing novel by Andrew Klavan to feature Cameron Winter, a college professor with a dangerous path and something he calls “a strange habit of mind”. Winter has the sort of imagination where he can place himself in a horrific crime scene and mentally dissect it with more detail than most people could fathom. Winter currently works as an English professor at a university; however, he was once a government operative who manipulated others into their own demise.

Klavan has an interesting set-up in these Winter novels. The good professor has been seeing a therapist. The book is usually divided into four parts. The beginning of each section reveals a first-person narrative as Winter discusses some aspect of his troubling past with this therapist. The subsequent chapter will then chronicle the therapist’s reaction to what she has just heard and how she guides Winter into some personal epiphany.

Winter also has the peculiar tendency to insert himself into cases that intrigue him uniquely. This time, a family just outside of Chicago had been shot, and their house was set on fire. Some details of the matter bother Winter enough to motivate him to a closer look at the situation where he finds supposedly well-respected people engaging in some pretty shady and lascivious behaviors. Although there are some dangerous people coming to light by Winter’s investigation, they have little idea that Winter himself could very well be more dangerous than they imagine.

This is the third and most recent novel in this series. Klavan has set a pretty predictable pattern on how his plots unfold. There is quite a bit of imagination when it comes to this story. I am getting to know Cameron Winter a little better, and he is an interesting and likeable character, although it’s a little far-fetched. Winter is described as basically being ethereally handsome, which makes him a little hard to picture in the mind’s eye. The relationship between Winter and his much older therapist sometimes seems just a little odd and distracting. There is nothing really inappropriate going on there, but there are some thoughts being revealed which are not quite as professional as expected at times. Still, the therapist seems to have some pretty sharp insights herself which does make her interesting to this reader.

I think I am starting to understand this “strange habit of mind” concept a little better. Klavan isn’t really trying to convey that Winter has some sort of supernatural ability, but that this gift is more of a strange sort of deduction and imagination. Klavan isn’t likely going to be considered to be some master of the mystery genre, but he manages to tell a pretty compelling tale. Also, I am already looking forward to following Cameron Winter’s next caper.

I think it’s time to revisit 221 B Baker Street with the help of author Frank Thomas, who has tried his hand at continuing the exploits of Sherlock Holmes. In 1980, Thomas managed to get Sherlock Holmes and the Sacred Sword on the shelves, and a copy has recently found its way to my hands..