5 stars out of 5
Eerie. Unsettling. Chilling.
Those are just three of the descriptors that ran through my head as I rushed to get to the end of this book. How do I feel now that I've finished it? All of the above plus frightened, wary and - inexplicably - terribly angry. Above all, anger is the emotion that stuck with me for hours after I'd shut down my Kindle; and as I write this, I'm still not sure from whence it came.
I suspect some of it is rooted in the ending - or the lack of something more definitive (perhaps more to the point, more hopeful). After I'd followed the characters through horrific experiences - most notably a woman named Malorie and two young children - I guess I hoped to see more light at the end of their tunnel (although, in retrospect, that absence may well be exactly what the author intended).
Add to the mix my own angst - the depths of which I haven't felt since the early 1950s, when we practiced hiding under our classroom desks we were told would protect us against a possible nuclear attack - as I watch hatred build to unprecedented levels in my own country right now. A book review isn't the place to take "sides" - except to say that in this case, neither one is blameless - but I do admit it frightens the devil out of me to see what fear, or the perceived threat thereof, can do to human behavior.
And boy, there's plenty of that in this book. The basic story really isn't new; the general population succumbs to some kind of apocalyptic disaster, with most of the survivors trying to stay alive long enough to build a new world. Here, seeing unknown "things" appears to be driving humans totally mad, beginning in Russia and quickly spreading around the world. Once it reaches the United States, people begin taking it seriously as they watch people die hand over fist (sometimes done in by their own fists) until almost no one is left. One of those survivors is Malorie, who's alone and pregnant with nowhere to go and no one to trust.
The only constant seems to be that unspeakable horror is an eye-opening experience, and the commonly held belief is that anyone who wants any chance at survival must remain blindfolded or in a place where those inside never see the outside. So it is that Malorie stumbles into a house that's occupied by a handful of other wary survivors, all of whom are desperate to find a safe way out. Five years later, with two four-year-old children who have never seen the light of day (literally), Malorie decides it's time to make a run for it. The route she's been told it must take ends 20 miles down the river behind the house she's been living in - 20 miles she and the kids must travel while blindfolded. More than that I can't say without revealing too much - not even explaining the meaning behind the title.
Chapters shift from Malorie's voyage in the here and now to the past years of interaction with the other occupants of the house, and not an inch of either journey is the least bit pretty. Even so, the whole thing is so riveting that I hated to stop reading. It's short enough that I finished within 24 hours, but it will stick with me for some time to come. Read it - you'll see what I mean. Whew!
Bird Box by Josh Malerman (Ecco, reprint edition, May 2014); 305 pp.
4 stars out of 5
This is the fourth book in the author's series featuring Detective Sergeant Jessica Daniel, who has lived in Manchester for about 10 years and works at the Longsight Police Station. I had no problem following the story as a standalone, but at the same time, hints here and there made me think I'd have enjoyed it more had I started at the beginning (something that's true of most series, IMHO, so I'm not picking on this one in particular). It's fast-paced with an attention-getting plot, and I thank the publisher for the opportunity to read it in exchange for an honest review.
On her way to work one day not long before Christmas, Jessica witnesses an horrific car crash in which the driver is killed. In the boot (trunk), she finds the dead body of a young boy wrapped in plastic. Neither is readily identifiable (and the driver ain't talking), so she follows rather sketchy clues that lead to child's clothing buried in a remote spot. It turns out the boy has been reported missing and gets a name; but then other clues lead to a shed in a plot of rentable sheds where a list of children's names is found with the trunk occupant's at the top.
Problem is, there's no apparent connection among any of the children's names. So when another one on the list goes missing, Jessica and her police cohorts find themselves scurrying to get to the bottom of things before yet another one disappears. Learning the car driver's identity helps a little, but even then, progress seems to be moving at a snail's pace - especially since whoever's been taking children may have started well over a decade ago.
Meantime, Jessica must grapple with personal issues like a former boyfriend (one instance, I suppose, where reading previous books might have provided a bit more insight) and an intense dislike of Christmas - the only more objectionable holiday, it seems, is New Year's. But this time, the new year may bring a bit of much-needed closure to everyone involved. All in all, a satisfying read - and another solid series to add to my ever-growing list. Bring 'em on!
Think of the Children by Kerry Wilkinson (Bookouture, January 2017); 274 pp.
4.5 stars out of 5
If I had to describe this debut thriller in just one word, I'd choose "engrossing." From the beginning, when three young children in a home for orphaned and abandoned children witness acts almost too horrific for them to understand, I thought I might have trouble putting it down. And as the often-gruesome story unfolded, I knew I was right.
This is the first in a series featuring small-town Ireland detective Lottie Parker, who gets the call to investigate when a murdered woman is found in a cathedral. Not long thereafter, another body turns up - this one a man found hanging from a tree outside his home. Identifying the woman presents quite a challenge, but the man is known; and when it turns out that both victims have what appears to be the same tattoo on their legs, it becomes apparent that the two murders somehow are related.
The real-time story takes place from around Christmas 2014 to just after the start of the new year, but readers also get flashbacks to 1971 and some of the scenes witnessed by the children at the home. Lottie and her team, including her partner and occasional sleepover partner Boyd, turn up clues suggesting that the now-abandoned children's home is central to the case. Now, it seems, the property has been sold to a developer who plans to turn it into a multi-million dollar hotel and golf course - plans that seem to have become lost somewhere in the local government bureaucracy.
Just when dwindling leads make solving the two crimes far less than a certainty, yet another body turns up - this time a priest who, Lottie and her cohorts are told, was sent to the local parish "to find himself." This death, though, could be the turning point; surely, three murders in this small community over the space of a few days can't be a coincidence (or, to put it another way, as did one of the characters in Ian Fleming's Goldfinger: "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.") And so it is that Lottie really digs in, going deeper and deeper as the dots from past to present begin to connect.
After reading a ton of books "starring" female detectives, I've concluded that it's a requisite that they be flawed (think, for instance, J.D. Robb's popular Eve Dallas). Lottie is no exception; she lost her beloved husband to cancer and is trying to deal with a demanding career that includes a rather nasty boss (also a requisite, I think), three near-grown children and a mother she loves but from whom she effectively is estranged. What's more, Lottie has a long-ago connection of her own to the abandoned children's home - trauma that's never been resolved and that brings the possibility of harm to her own children as the current case moves to a surprising conclusion (a couple of them, actually - one very believable and the other, at least for me, not so much).
Now I've finished, and I'll say with no reservations whatsoever that I hope this book will mark the successful start of a series - if for no other reason than I want to follow along. Meantime, my thanks to the publisher for allowing me to read it in exchange for an honest review.
The Missing Ones by Patricia Gibney (Bookouture, March 2017); 518 pp.
5 stars out of 5
"Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." That time-honored line from Sir Walter Scott's "Marmion" kept running through my head as I read this book - a terrific standalone from the author of the popular Dismas Hardy series.
The story revolves around three married couples - Kate and Ron, Peter and Jill and Bina and Geoff. The first two didn't know each other until they meet at a dinner party at the home of the third. But just one meeting was all it took for Kate to become obsessed with Peter - leading to a one-time tryst. Kate gets what she wants and tries to move on with her life, which includes occasional long walks near San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge with her old friend and police detective, Beth.
But Kate's life certainly isn't all roses and clover; she and Ron have kids to deal with, he's having a rough patch at the law firm with his partner, Geoff, and Kate continues to wrestle a bit with her dalliance. Peter and Jill have sons with attitude problems; thankfully, Peter has longtime legal secretary Theresa's shoulder to cry on. Beth is trying to manage her hectic life on the force without alienating her daughter Ginny; as a result of one investigation, she takes a young victim under her wing who then becomes fast friends with Ginny, who has a good-looking, unmarried brother Andy (no surprise where that last one is going, but it's interesting to see how it gets there).
Gradually, what's going on in the lives of all these players is revealed; clearly, all of them are dealing with "issues" of some kind. Character development is a strength here, with layers of backgrounds and feelings peeled back as the story moves along (amid plenty of action, twists and turns, I might add).
Did I figure out whodunit? Well, yes and no - and I'll leave it at that. In conclusion, I'll note that the advance copy I received in exchange for an honest review includes a political joke that I suspect may be deleted from the post-election published version. If it is, that's too bad because it was doggone funny to me; but if it's left in, it's likely to trigger a Twitter rant from the other "side." Inquiring minds would love to know!
Fatal by John Lescroart (Atria Books, January 2017); 320 pp.
3.5 stars out of 5
If the thought of drones flying over your head to drop Amazon.com packages on your flower beds gives you the heebie-jeebies, just wait till you get a load of what they're doing here. The plot also touches on other hot-button issues of the day like how to get rid of nuclear waste and North Korea's potential for launching nuclear weapons in the direction of the good old U.S. of A.
Leading the charge on all counts is Marshall Hail, a winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics and a gazillionaire who makes his money by converting nuclear waste into a safe, long-lasting energy source. But along his path to success, his family was killed in a terrorist attack, and now he's out for revenge with the goal of annihilating every person on the FBI's list of Top 10 Terrorists. To accomplish that, he's rounded up a bunch of young people - mostly societal misfits - who are seriously adept at technology-related skills. He's also built an armada of ships, ostensibly to transport the nuclear waste, hat are equipped with weapons and drones of all sizes, shapes and abilities most folks would never believe possible.
High-up muckety-mucks in the U.S. government - including a female president - are aware of Hail (although not the extent of his toys). Cognizant that the last part North Korea needs to build its long-wanted missile is in transit, they make a somewhat reluctant agreement under which Hail will deploy his drones - surreptitiously and anonymously, of course - to blow it up.
Because they don't fully trust Hail, they deploy a gorgeous female spy to get on his good (i.e., widower) side and infiltrate his mother ship, the Hail Nucleus, to keep them in the loop. But she, too, has an ax to grind against the world; to her own ends, she's desperate to capture the Russian bad guy who just happens to be providing said long-wanted missile to the North Koreans.
And so it goes till the end; chapters shift from settings in the United States, Korea and inside the Hail Nucleus. The race - and the chase - is on, and it's not until the end that readers find out who wins and who loses. There's a bit of levity here and there: When one of the government lackeys questions why operations names are "over the top" - Desert Storm, Rolling Thunder and the current one, Hail Storm - the response is that it's because no one wants to go before a Congressional committee to explain why "Operation Fluffy Puppy" should the deal go south.
All in all, it's an intriguing, well-thought-out plot, and I thank the author for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review. Being honest, though, means I have to say the exposition is way overdone. It's obvious the author did a great deal of research in writing the book - which is commendable - but readers really don't need that much information to understand what's going on. I'd also suggest another run through by a copy editor - the number of misspellings, misplaced commas and other grammatical errors went way beyond my comfort level.
That said, if you're into technology and military action, this book is definitely worth a look-see.
Operation Hail Storm by Brett Arquette (Brett Arquette, November 2016); 354 pp.
4 stars out of 5
A while back, I discovered Kindle versions of the 1960s Matt Helm books (there are 27 in all) and decided to work my way through at least a few of them. As I learned from reading the first, Death of a Citizen, they're both well written and very dated - and therein lies the appeal for me, a survivor of teenage years in the 1950s. It's quite a hoot to get the author's take, through the eyes of his government operative Helm; put another way, we've come a long way, baby. Consider this, for instance:
Describing a female companion, Helm notes, "Well, at least she'd had the decency to wear nylons. If there's anything that turns my stomach, it's a grown woman in bobby sox."
Or this: "For kicks, you might as well pat Joan of Arc in full armor, as a modern woman in her best girdle."
Ah yes. As one who remembers trying to wriggle into one of those rubber Playtex girdles (and worse, trying to extricate myself after sweating in what quickly became an up-close-and-personal sauna), that's just plain funny.
The story lines are a little dated as well, but only when it comes to more insignificant things like weapons and modes of transportation of choice (Helm is a more-than-decent photographer who uses real film cartridges and typically develops his own pictures, for example). But the action works in any decade, and there's plenty of that to go around. For the record, the books also are on the short side, so a dedicated reader should be able to polish one off in a day.
This begins as Helm, whose code name is Eric, has been reactivated into the government organization in which he basically was an assassin after 15 years of living a comfortable life with a wife and family (his wife left him when she discovered what he really did for the government and decided she just couldn't live with a killer even if what he did was for a good cause). Here, Helm is sent to Sweden for the purpose of putting the "touch" on a man (or woman) named Caselius, an enemy agent. A man whose writing threatened to "out" the agent has been murdered, and his wife, who somehow survived the attack, is trying to carry on her late husband's work. As she collects information, Helm, under the guise of a professional photographer, tags along as she pursues her journalistic efforts.
As in most spy stories, though, no one can be trusted - including the widow, Swedish police officers and tough guys who supposedly represent other government agencies. No one knows that better than Helm, and he's keenly aware that he must remain alert to threats from any direction, especially as bodies pile up and he gets closer to his target.
Given that many books follow this one, it's no spoiler to say that Helm manages to come through the experience still breathing (something that can't be said about several other characters). All in all, it's another fun book in a series I highly recommend.
The Wrecking Crew by Donald Hamilton (Titan Books, Reissue edition, February 2013); 272 pp.
4 stars out of 5
Jumping into a series after it's been up and running can be somewhat risky, but when I got the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review, this one sounded so good that I threw caution to the wind and agreed. And happily, even though this is the sixth book featuring homicide detective Nan Vining, it stands well enough on its own that I never felt at a disadvantage.
The rather complicated story, which has a bundle of characters to keep straight, begins with the discovery of a naked and very dead woman in the swimming pool of a very wealthy couple in Pasadena, Calif. The self-absorbed husband, Teddy Sexton, is blind; to get around, he has help from an amazing guide dog and a drop-dead gorgeous wife, Rebecca - who bears an uncanny resemblance to the younger dead woman. The situation takes a strange turn, though, when the owners first contact Nan's former partner and current main squeeze, Jim Kissick, instead of calling 911. Jim claims that's because he's an old friend of the couple, but Nan begins to suspect the relationship between Jim and Teddy's wife Rebecca goes well beyond "just friends."
It was at that point, I'm afraid, that Nan dropped several notches on my likability scale. Despite her long-time relationship with Jim - they've been thinking about marriage, for gosh sake - the second Nan learns that Jim and Rebecca at one time (and a very short one at that) were a couple and - horror of horrors - he never told her, she concludes that their entire relationship has been based on a sham. I agree it would have been nice of him to tell her, but I simply can't relate to someone who would ditch an entire relationship over something that happened that long ago. Their breakup never got in the way of her competence as a homicide detective, though, so I'm willing to give her extra points for that.
Not long after the as-yet-unidentified woman is found, another dead woman turns up - this time at a lake in Central California after a lengthy drought lowered the water level. Nan is surprised once again when Jim, Teddy and Rebecca are brought in for questioning; it seems they all knew this dead woman many years ago. And when the dead woman in Pasadena is identified, it appears that the two cases somehow are connected with Jim smack dab in the middle - and Nan starts to believe that any future she may have had with him is history.
At that point, the investigation really heats up, both from Nan's end in Pasadena and that of two detectives (one of them a hunka-hunka) who are in charge of the Central California case. As details of both events begin to come together, it got so interesting that I stayed glued to my Kindle Fire till the whole thing was resolved (well, one thing wasn't, but no doubt that will be fodder for the next installment).
Know what? I'm in!
Lying Blind by Dianne Emley (Alibi/Random House, February 2017).
