BOOK REVIEW: In The Cold Dark Ground (DS Logan McRae, #10) by Stuart MacBride

In the Cold Dark Ground is the tenth in the long-running, police procedural, crime thriller series written by Stuart MacBride starring Detective Sergeant Logan McRae and set in Scotland. What sets this series apart (and frankly makes it one of my favorite reads in the genre) is the sly humor and wry social commentary MacBride brings to the familiar British mystery story. Additionally, the supporting cast in the series is quite strong, even as it has changed (but not matured!) over the years it has taken me to read the first ten books. Detective Chief Inspector Roberta Steel is a singular invention: an openly lesbian, probably alcoholic, always inappropriate, slovenly terror of a boss. One of the long-running gags is that Steel as been promoted multiple times while Logan is still a lowly DS despite having captured 2 or 3 serial killers and solved countless other major crimes, in spite of DCI Steel's presence and "leadership."

Bizarrely, Logan doesn't feel "hard done by" his lot in life despite having been booted from his original stomping grounds of Aberdeen to a rural suburb of the city in Aberdeenshire, having a girlfriend who has been in a persistent vegetative state for nearly 5 years and still being a DS despite multiple decades in uniform. (Actually, he was promoted to Detective Inspector a few books ago and he really didn't seem to like or appreciate the increased level of responsibility and administrative red tape that accompanied the title change, so that was one reason he decamped to the rural outskirts from the big city.)

One of my complaints about the series has been how much **** Logan has been put through over the years. This is also a running theme of the series. The first book begins with Logan returning to duty several months after he nearly died from of stab wounds to the stomach (technically he did die briefly while on the operating table but surgeons were able to save him) and this near-death experience is why Steel calls him "Laz" (short for Lazarus). But since then Logan has been stabbed repeatedly, fallen multiple times from great heights, nearly drowned, been almost incinerated, unwittingly feasted on human flesh, been beaten up countless times by criminals and seriously injured himself pursuing fleeing criminals on foot and by car. MacBride treats Logan like an indestructible cartoon character.

None of that litany of violence prepared me for what happens to Logan In the Cold Dark Ground where it seems like the author is just being masochistic towards his main character. The difference this time is that in addition to the extreme physical violence of not one but three attempts in his life, a lot of the violence is emotional and mental (which definitely does not make it less traumatic). In fact, the way the book ends it made me wonder if MacBride had contemplated ending the series and focusing on his other series starring DC Ash Henderson. (I hope not! I haven't read the two entries in that series yet and find it hard to believe they will be as good as the Logan series.)

The primary mystery/crime to be solved in In the Cold Dark Ground is just one of the many plot threads in the book. Logan makes an astonishing discovery about his family life (which also impacts his professional life) and he is faced with not one, but two agonizing dilemmas which force him to choose between his current ethics as a policeman and his prior questionable choices/compromises. I'd say he makes the right choice in both cases this time but the ramifications will reverberate for a longer time than the depicted in this book.

There's a lot of resolution for Logan in In the Cold Dark Ground. Most of his primary relationships that have been huge features of prior books (with his girlfriend Samantha, with Aberdeen's crime kingpin Wee Hamish Moffat and even with DCI Steel) go through massive "phase transitions" which will mean the subsequent books in the series (so far there are only two more, The Blood Road (2018) and All That's Dead (2019)) will need to deal with the repercussions. And I can't wait to read them!

Title: In The Cold Dark Ground.
Author: Stuart MacBride.
Paperback: 400 pages.
Publisher: HarperCollins.
Date Published: January 16, 2016.
Date Read: July 11, 2020.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★★★  (5.0/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: A/A- (3.83/4.0).

PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: A.
WRITING: A.

BOOK REVIEW: Shadow Captain (Revenger, #2) by Alastair Reynolds

Shadow Captain is the second book in British SF author Alastair Reynolds’ YA space opera Revenger trilogy. The series follows two teenaged sisters, Arafura and Adrana Ness, as they have adventures after running away from home to escape the smothering rules of their widowed, tradition-minded father. The Revenger trilogy is set in a solar system where space piracy is rampant and humanity is scattered across twenty thousands artificial habitats which have been created (thousands of years ago by unknown entities) by repurposing the mass the original eight planets.

The Ness Sisters were separated early in Revenger, due to events I don’t wish to recount here to avoid spoiling them. The first book was centered around the story of the younger sister, Fura Ness, as she made incredible efforts and indelible sacrifices to eventually reunite with her sister. In the second book, Shadow Captain, Adrana is the primary first-person character but since the sisters spend most of their time together, Fura has a major role in the story.

The two Ness sisters are co-captains of a very small crew on a space ship they have named “Revenger.” Due to some unfortunate circumstances, they are forced to take the crew to a small artificial habitat in order to seek treatment for an injured crew mate and re-stock the ship with diminishing supplies.

On the habitat, Fura and Adrana meet a dangerous and powerful man who may or may not have ulterior motives for helping them. They also are forced by their burgeoning reputations (as a result of things that occurred in the first book) to take drastic actions which have significant consequences for their futures, and the future well-being of humans all over the solar system (which is called the Confederation).

The series is a curious mix of space opera (the story contains aliens, ship-to-ship battles, mysterious communication technology and an overarching mythology about how the solar system cane to be the way it is) and steampunk (the space ships use solar sails as the primary form of propulsion, most weapons are projectiles or curious “energy rays” and the language used by most characters is somewhat archaic and reminiscent of 19th century pirate novels).

The primary strength of the book is the Ness sisters, and especially their relationship. Although they love each other, they are often keeping secrets from each other and this can lead to tension and conflict. The world(s) in which the story is set has many unusual and intriguing features that pique my interest. (The main form of currency is something called a quoin which is managed by aliens but has been rumored to have secrets which have yet to be revealed through two books.)

Overall, the plot of Shadow Captain is slightly less engaging than Revenger (I think Arafura is the more compelling character of the two sisters but this book is told mainly from Adrana's perspective). However, the more we are exposed to the overarching aspects of the story, the more interested I become. I look forward to seeing how Reynolds ties all the threads together in the third book, Bone Silence.

Title: Shadow Captain .
Author: Alastair Reynolds.
Paperback: 432 pages.
Publisher: Orbit.
Date Published: January 15, 2019.
Date Read: July 2, 2020.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★★☆  (4.0/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: A-/B+ (3.50/4.0).

PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: B+.
IMPACT: B+.
WRITING: A-.

BOOK REVIEW: Eeny Meeny (DI Helen Grace, #1) by M.J. Arlidge

Well I devoured this award-winning, best-selling thriller quite quickly! It’s a British police procedural with a female protagonist with multiple relatively well-drawn (if not very likeable) supporting characters. DI Helen Grace is the main character who is trying to solve a series of bizarre murders where the killer abducts two people and then places them in an impossible situation with a loaded gun where either they have to kill the other abductee or they both will die of dehydration or starvation. Early on it becomes clear there’s a female serial killer on the loose. Even if one of the victims “survives” their lives are forever ruined since they have revealed themselves to be capable of killing (albeit in a kill or be killed situation).

It must be acknowledged that Eeny Meeny  has an amazingly brilliant premise so I can see why the book was a hit. However DI Grace is a huge mess. She’s a single woman, completely obsessed with her job. The structure of the book is that the story is told in very small, bite-sized chapters, rarely lasting longer than a handful of pages. We slowly find out more about Helen's demons, even as chapters about Helen are interleaved with what appears to be  flashbacks of some horrific child abuse and some current masochistic behavior, both of which we (as the reader) hope is not describing Helen.

Although I gave Eeny Meeny 4 stars I’m not a huge fan of the book. The serial killer has almost magical powers as she stalks her victims, finding abandoned inescapable locales she can hold the abductees (and this last bit was the most problematically unrealistic part) impeccable timing so that within minutes after one of the victims cracks and kills the other, she’s able to let the “winner” go.

Another feature of the book which is both attractive and repulsive is the writing style. The author MJ Arlidge was a successful TV writer and it shows. Each chapter is basically a vignette, usually no longer than 3-4 pages, often ending with a suspenseful cliffhanger. This makes Eeny Meeny very exciting to read and hard to put down, but in my opinion it also “cheapens” the reading experience. It feels like the book is a series of very tantalizing but nutrition-free addictive snacks. By the end, you realize you ate the entire bag of chips in a surprisingly short period of time and while you enjoyed doing it until the very end, the realization of the effects the hollow calories you just consumed will have on your figure is distressing.

That being said, Helen is a very interesting (if severely flawed) main character, the team of detectives around her is also interesting and the premise and plotting  in this first entry were top notch. I’ll almost certainly read a few more Helen Grace thrillers, but I don't think I'l respect myself in the morning afterwards! 

Title: Eeny Meeny.
Author: M.J. Arlidge.
Paperback: 400 pages.
Publisher: Minotaur Books.
Date Published: May 20, 2014.
Date Read: May 17, 2020.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★★★ (5.0/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: A/A- (3.83/4.0).

PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: A.
WRITING: A.

BOOK REVIEW: The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley

This is the first book written by Kameron Hurley that I have read, which I did because it is nominated for the 2020 Best Novel Hugo Award and 2020 Best Novel Locus Award. I have noticed that most people have a bimodal reaction to her work, i.e. either they love it or hate it. However, that doesn't include me because although I didn't love The Light Brigade I didn't hate it either. To me it is flawed, in that it has one central idea, which it repeats over and over (and over) again. (I myself won't repeat the idea because it would be something of a spoiler.) This repetition becomes a bit tedious for the reader. The Light Brigade is also clearly a military science fiction novel, which is most definitely not my favorite sub-genre of SF.

The book definitely has multiple strengths. I really appreciated the way the gender of the main character is not revealed explicitly until VERY late in the book (I am pleased that I picked the correct one). By constantly referring to the main character as Dietz in a way where the character's gender is unclear, and also providing the inner monologue of Dietz also without referring to their own gender (and having them be attracted to, and couple with, both men and women) is an interesting commentary on gender (and sexuality), especially in the context of a militaristic novel. There are multiple references and descriptions of Dietz's hair but this is not enough to answer the question if they are male, female or non-binary.

Another strength of the book is its commentary on capitalism and citizenship. The central feature of life in the world of The Light Brigade are the corporations (or corps) and citizenship. People are either citizens, residents or "ghouls" (basically stateless non-persons). Dietz is a resident (due to the sacrifices of her parents--she grew up as neither a resident or citizen) and has volunteered for service in order to become a citizen after 10 years of service (although very, very few people survive the war that long!

The war that Dietz is fighting is against Martians--but those "Martians" are humans who have colonized Mars and terraformed it, establishing their own society without the influence of the rapacious corps. The media is completely controlled by the corporations and they do their best to turn Earth's popular opinion against Mars. They claim that recent atrocities (like a portion of the Moon being obliterated in a mysterious explosion and the fact two million squatters near Sao Paulo, including Dietz's own family members, disappeared in a Blink of light several years ago) are the work of Martians. There's no way of visually distinguishing Martians and Earthers but Hurley demonstrates to us through Dietz's thoughts the many ways that war relies on the dehumanization of the Other.

The Light Brigade goes into extensive detail about basic training and describes the process by which Dietz is transformed from a new recruit turns into a fresh-faced soldier and then a jaded survivor. This is nothing one has not read dozens of times before, in the work of Haldeman, Kloos, Clarke, etc although I will note that Hurley does a decent job here, it's not distinguished.

Overall, I am glad that I read this book so I have a first-person impression of Hurley's work. It's important to know what works for one's taste and what does not. I would definitely not vote for it to win the Hugo (my choice would be Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire) but I don't begrudge it's position among the nominees.

Title: The Light Brigade.
Author: Kameron Hurley.
Paperback: 369 pages.
Publisher: Saga Press.
Date Published: March 19, 2019.
Date Read: June 21, 2020.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★☆☆  (3.0/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: B+/B (3.25/4.0).

PLOT: B+.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: B.
WRITING: B.

BOOK REVIEW: Revenger (Revenger, #1) by Alastair Reynolds

Revenger is the first entry  in a trilogy by Alastair Reynolds, who is most well-known for his immersive brand of hard SF space opera books like Revelation Space, Chasm City, The Prefect and Blue Remembered Earth among many others. I had been reluctant to read Revenger even though Reynolds is one of my favorite authors (I own at least a half-dozen of his books in hardcopy and generally list either Chasm City or The Prefect (later renamed Aurora Rising) as in the top 10 of my favorite SF books of all time. My reluctance was based in the fact that Revenger has been characterized by some as Young Adult fiction. I’m not opposed to YA (I’ve read all the Harry Potter books and even the Hunger Games books) but the unexpected genre switch lowered Revenger on my TBR (to-be-read) pile.

However, with all that said it is not clear to me that this book is YA. It is true that the two main characters are two teenaged sisters, Adrana and Arafura Ness, but the topics covered in the book are dark, and I would argue not for very young adults. But it’s true that there’s no sexual themes, but that’s often been the case previously in Reynolds' work. Revenger contains kidnapping, violence, torture, profanity and betrayal.

The story begins with the Ness sisters running away from home to try and make money for their single parent father (their mother died many years previously). Adrana is over age and Arafura is just under but they manage to talk their way on to a space ship leaving their home planet of Manzarile because they have the rare mental aptitude to “read the bones” (use ancient technology called “skulls” to communicate across the vastness of space). In this universe typically late teens are able to be "bone readers" although the ability generally goes away as they age into their twenties.

Another interesting aspect of the universe Revenger is set in is that humanity is basically distributed across a vast collection of several thousand planets and artificial satellites or habitats called the Confederation. These habitats have been created and occupied for thousands upon thousands of years by multiple waves of intelligences, called Occupations, some of which have been done by aliens or at least by people (or creatures?) who had more advanced technology than is available to be created nowadays. The primary source of commerce in the Confederation is space ships harvesting and selling materials from these  “baubles” (the ancient abandoned habitats). Bizarrely, the primary currency humans use is something called quoins, which are exclusively managed by an alien race (called Hardshells or Clackers). The mysterious nature of quoins is something I think will play a larger role in the future books.

Adrana and Arafura are separated pretty early in Revenger  and the main storyline follows the younger sister or Fura, as she starts calling herself. The story is mostly told in first-person and she’s portrayed sympathetically, if a bit naively. She has numerous traumatic experiences but her primary motivation is to try and reunite with her sister, who has been kidnapped by Bosa Sennen, a very notorious space pirate.

I don’t want to reveal any spoilers so I’ll stop any further discussion of the plot. Overall, I will say I was impressed (and suprised) with how compelling a read Revenger  is and since I am invested in Fura’s future I will likely read its two sequels Shadow Captain and Bone Silence.


Title: Revenger.
Author: Alastair Reynolds.
Paperback: 411 pages.
Publisher: Orbit.
Date Published: Septmber 20, 2016.
Date Read: June 19, 2020.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★★☆  (4.0/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: A- (3.67/4.0).

PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: A-.
WRITING: A-.

BOOK REVIEW: The Crossing Places (Ruth Galloway, #1) by Elly Griffiths

The Crossing Places is the first book in the long-running Ruth Galloway series written by Elly Griffiths.

Galloway is a 30-something, archaeology professor at the  fictional University of North Norfolk who lives alone in the nonexistent town of King's Lynn near a saltwater marsh where about a decade before she was part of an archaeological dig which resulted in the discovery of a Bronze Age artifact called a henge. Recently a 6-year old girl has been kidnapped out of her backyard, almost a decade after a similar unsolved kidnapping of another young girl.

The police officer who is responsible for investigating both of these crimes is DI Nelson. He asks Dr. Galloway for assistance in analyzing some recently unearthed bones which they think may belong to one of the kidnapped girls (the bones turn out to be a few thousand years old which makes Ruth happy and Nelson unhappy). He tells Ruth that he has been receiving letters from the kidnapper for several years and let’s her read them since they have odd historical and mythical references . Later, Ruth figures out where the recently kidnapped girl is buried, devastating those parents who had not given up hope their little girl would be found alive.

Eventually things get much more complicated as people close to Ruth become implicated in both disappearances of the young girls as she recognizes some phrases used in the letters as well as the writing and alerts Nelson of her suspicions. The book concludes with a thrilling series of events that results in the resolution of both mysteries and upends several of Ruth’s relationships.

Overall, I quite enjoyed The Crossing Places. Griffiths does an excellent job of providing us a portrait of Ruth which makes her quite appealing. Her chemistry with DI Nelson is intriguing. The mystery was unimpressive (I almost never figure out the perpetrator in mystery books and I was able to guess whodunnit well before the reveal) but as in most genre books the my primary enjoyment is rooted in the connection with the characters and not the plot.

Title: The Crossing Places 
Author: Elly Griffiths.
Paperback: 303 pages.
Publisher: Quercus.
Date Published: February 5, 2009.
Date Read: June 12, 2020.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★½☆  (3.5/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: A- (3.67/4.0).

PLOT: B+.
IMAGERY: A.
IMPACT: A-.
WRITING: A-.

BOOK REVIEW: Salvation Lost (Salvation Sequence, #2) by Peter F. Hamilton

Salvation Lost is the second book in the Salvation Sequence by Peter F. Hamilton. Hamilton is one of the most prominent and skilled purveyors of advanced-technology, military space opera science fiction. This new work is another example of this and includes variations on his oft-repeated themes: human contact with alien civilizations, stealth undercover agents, apocalyptic disasters, paradigm-shifting technologies and super-wealthy scions of family dynasties. These themes and others have been present in some of his bestselling work, such as the Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained and The Night's Dawn trilogy. 

The plot of Salvation Lost  is split into two different stories that are set at least ten thousand years apart. The first is about the beginning of an invasion of Earth and its occupied habitats in the Solar System and beyond by a recently discovered alien species. The second is about human descendants of the survivors of that alien invasion who are still fighting them in order to get revenge and prevent the aliens from continuing their eons-old plan of searching for and kidnapping sentient beings to fulfill their religious beliefs about collecting all intelligence in the Universe for presentation to their God at the end of time.

The two time lines are connected by the existence of what the later time calls the Saints of Salvation. These are the group of extraordinary individuals in the earlier time who were able to find a way to presumably thwart the intentions of the aliens and paved the way for the later humans to exist and continue the fight.

In the first book Salvation the primary narrative tension was built around trying to figure out which of the main characters in the primary time line turn out to become Saints as well as anticipating the horror of the fall of human civilization by alien invasion. In the sequel Salvation Lost, the names of most of the Saints have been revealed (but so has the fact that some of the main characters from Book 1 are undercover alien operatives). The primary tension in Salvation Lost comes from seeing the details of the alien invasion  (which we know will be mostly successful from the existence of the later time line) through the eyes of the characters we were introduced to in the first book as well as seeing the beginning of the counterattack in the later time line and wondering whether it will be successful or not.

Neither time line's story  is concluded in Salvation Lost, which is a typical weakness of the middle book in a trilogy. This doesn’t mean that there’s a surfeit of action, character development or surprises, however. Hamilton does a good job of moving the story of the Salvation Sequence forward in both time lines and I look forward to getting all the answers about the early time line as well as the conclusion of the millennia-old battle with the evil aliens in the third book, The Saints of Salvation (which is set to be published in October 2020)!

Title: Salvation Lost.
Author: Peter F. Hamilton.
Paperback: 494 pages.
Publisher: Del Rey.
Date Published: October 29, 2019.
Date Read: May 25, 2020.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★★½  (4.5/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: A- (3.67/4.0).
PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: B+.
WRITING: A.

This is a BFD! #SCOTUS Rules 6-3 1964 Civil Rights Act Covers LGBT Workers

Wow! The United States Supreme Court stunned LGBT advocates today by deciding that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act bars discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Surprisingly, Justice Neil Gorsuch authored a majority 6-3 opinion in a combined case called Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the four liberals (Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, and Stephen Breyer).

A key quote from the ruling:

An employer violates Title VII when it intentionally fires an individual employee based in part on sex. It makes no difference if other factors besides the plaintiff’s sex contributed to the decision or that the employer treated women as a group the same when compared to men as a group. A statutory violation occurs if an employer intentionally relies in part on an individual employee’s sex when deciding to discharge the employee. Because discrimination on the basis of homosexuality or transgender status requires an employer to intentionally treat individual employees differently because of their sex, an employer who intentionally penalizes an employee for being homosexual or transgender also violates Title VII. There is no escaping the role intent plays: Just as sex is necessarily a but-for cause when an employer discriminates against homosexual or transgender employees, an employer who discriminates on these grounds inescapably intends to rely on sex in its decisionmaking.

This is a BFD! 

BOOK REVIEW: The Stranger You Know (DS Maeve Kerrigan, #4) by Jane Casey

This is the fourth book in the DS Maeve Kerrigan series and may be the best of the bunch so far. I don't think this is not because Rob (or boyfriend/relationship drama) is such a small part of the story but the fact is he is out of the country for most of the time period covered in The Stranger You Know. I like the character of Rob, but I don't like the effect he has on Maeve's sensibilities.

Instead, The Stranger You Know is basically centered around Maeve’s relationship with her police detective partner DI Josh Derwent and his backstory. Derwent is a handsome (and vain) guy with a borderline personality disorder. In previous books he has been mostly a frequent foil and obnoxious obstacle for Maeve as he belittles and berates her while they ostensibly work together to solve crimes.

In The Stranger You Know, the London Murder Squad that Josh and Maeve work for are trying to track a serial killer who strangles his victims and then removes their eyes and places them in their hands, with no sexual contact and no forensic evidence left behind. In time, we find out that some twenty years before when Josh was almost 18 he was the prime suspect in the unsolved violent death of his 15(!)-year-old girlfriend, Angela Poole, who was found strangled with her eyes gouged out. Somewhat bizarrely it’s Angela’s own father who provided the airtight alibi for Josh which prevented him from being charged for murder as her dad had nearly run him over in the public bus he drove at the time and multiple riders could attest to the incident and cemented Josh's innocence.

Because of this unfortunate history, Josh and Maeve’s boss Superintendent Godley removes him from the task force working on solving the Gentleman Caller serial killer case as suspicion mounts that there are connections between that case and the Angela Poole cold case. Things get weirder as the psychological profile of the Gentleman Caller has multiple components that accurately describe DI Derwent. Godley’s second-in-command DCI Una Burt is clearly invested in the theory of Derwent as murderer. This is an example of the ways that interpersonal interactions between members of the team trying to solve the crime(s) become an important aspect of the story.

The author Jane Casey does a masterful job of lathering suspicion on Josh and his circle of friends from two decades before, with several red herrings and side mysteries that distract and attract Maeve (and Josh) as they try and find the killer (or killers??) responsible for Angela’s death and the most recent killings.

One excellent feature of the series is Casey’s characterization of Maeve by providing the reader almost nonstop access to her inner thoughts and in this book far less of the narrative tension is sourced from danger to Maeve and her questionable decisions than in previous entries. Instead the resolution of the cold case and an increasing trickle of discoveries and revelations about Derwent and his childhood friends are more than enough to keep the reader enthralled and entertained in The Stranger You Know.

It’s impressive how Casey has managed to use different styles and writing structures in the first four books of the series while still maintaining the general tropes and narrative structures of the murder-mystery genre. The first book The Burning was about a serial arsonist and multiple first-person accounts were included. The second book The Reckoning was about kidnappings and Maeve herself became a victim of crime in it twice). The third book The Last Girl has her relationship with Rob as a key feature and included more examples of how Josh and Maeve get results together despite their squabbles. The criminal in this book was not a serial killer.

Overall, the fourth book in the DS Maeve Kerrigan series is an excellent entry in the British police procedural with female main character genre with a compelling set of mysteries to be solved and surprising (and welcome) developments in the larger arcs involving her primary romantic relationship, her professional advancement in the police force and the obsessed criminal who is stalking her.

Title: The Stranger You Know
Author: Jane Casey.
Paperback: 400 pages.
Publisher: Minotaur Books.
Date Published: May 20, 2014.
Date Read: May 17, 2020.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★★★ (5.0/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: A/A- (3.83/4.0).

PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: A.
WRITING: A.

BOOK REVIEW: Every Dead Thing Charlie Parker, #1) by John Connolly

Every Dead Thing is the first book by John Connolly that I have read, and the first book in his apparently very popular Charlie Parker series. I am always looking for new series and so I was interested in reading this book and checking out Connolly's work, which has relatively high ratings on Goodreads and is well-established. However, I am not completely sure how many more in the series I will read (for reasons I detail below).

One thing I am learning as I read more books in the mystery/thriller/suspense/crime genre is how many different kinds of books there are, and thus I can be more discerning (read: picky!) in the books and series I decide to invest my time in consuming. My sweet spot is generally well-paced police procedurals (often set in Britain) where the plot (often suspenseful) revolves around intriguing mysteries or crimes (not always murders) being investigated by complex, well-developed characters (with diverse and interesting supporting characters). Authors whose work I have generally liked include Peter Robinson's DCI Alan Banks, Ian Rankin's DI John Rebus, Karin Slaughter's Will Trent, Val McDermid's Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series, Stuart MacBride's Logan McRae and (of course) Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad and Louise Penny's Henri Gamache series.

 I was a little upset to discover that the Charlie Parker series is in a sub-genre known as a supernatural crime thriller. The first book doesn't go too far in that direction. Generally I am not a fan of supernatural elements, which is why I haven't usually been a fan of Stephen King, but the books I have read of his (The Institute, The Outsider, the Mr. Mercedes trilogy) have all been excellent. However I have heard things get spookier as the series goes on (Book 17 has been published). Book 1, Every Dead Thing, has an extremely high body count and is suffused with violence throughout. It begins with the ritualistic murder of Parker's wife and kids and ends with... (just kidding I don't want to spoil it!).

Parker is an interestingly flawed character (a former police officer whose family was murdered who is willing and able to use his network of contacts to take the law into his own hands) and the setting is New York City, which is also a plus. However one of the main reasons I did not summarily DNF the book about 40% in (after Parker basically solves the initial mystery of a missing girl he was hired to find) was the surprising inclusion of an openly gay, interracial criminal couple named Angel (burglar/thief) and Louis (assassin/hit man). If they play a significant role in the later books I wil probably give the Charlie Parker series a closer look. It's a huge plus to me that the supporting characters are diverse and interesting. And Connolly's prose is definitely well above average for your regular mystery writer. However, most of the mystery/thrillers that I really enjoy either have major characters who are female (Maeve Kerrigan, Sara Linton, Carol Jordan, Siobhan Clarke, Roberta Steel) are written by female authors (Tana French, Karin Slaughter, Val Mcdermid, Jane Casey, etc) but I'm definitely not a fan of romance (Karin Slaughter's Will Trent series gets the balance perfectly). My ultimate series would be a series with a female lead detective with a gay male sidekick (which is exactly what the DI Marnie Rome series by Sarah Hillary is but so far I haven't been impressed by the first two book in the series, Someone Else's Skin and No Other Darkness.

 I realize most of this review of Every Dead Thing has been my musing about the mystery/crime/thriller genre in general. That tends to happen when I get introduced to a new author and I try to compare the new work into my past experiences with the genre. My overall view of Every Dead Thing is that I would say it is a well-written, extremely violent and action-packed story led by a troubled main character and peopled with interesting supporting characters whom I suspect I will seek out in the (far) future.

Title: Every Dead Thing.
Author: John Connolly.
Paperback: 467 pages.
Publisher: Pocket Books.
Date Published: July 1, 2000.
Date Read: March 28, 2020.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★★☆  (4.0/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: B+/A- (3.5/4.0).

PLOT: B+.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: B+.
WRITING: A-.

BOOK REVIEW: The Fated Sky (Lady Astronaut, #2) by Mary Robinette Kowal

The Fated Sky is the sequel to a book I mostly enjoyed (The Calculating Stars) but my enjoyment of this Hugo award-winning novel was leavened with some qualms and niggling concerns. While I liked getting to know the main character Elma York and was thrilled with the prominent appearance of mathematical concepts like the Fibonacci series and prime numbers, there always seemed to be “something off” about the ethos of the first book. The premise is very clever: suppose the Space Race started a decade earlier due to an external animating force caused by a cataclysmic event which makes the necessity of humanity colonizing the solar system more urgent because the Earth will become increasingly more inhospitable in the next century. This time shift means that the social tensions based around race and gender that actually happened in our 1960s and 1970s occur in the book’s timeline of the 1950s in the context of the Space Race. The  main character, Elma York,  is a white Jewish woman who is something of a mathematical savant. She and her husband Nathaniel get jobs with the International Aerospace Coalition (IAC). She becomes a celebrity as the “Lady Astronaut” and thus is given leeway to break barriers and violate cultural mores without repercussions someone of her status would be expected to suffer. In the first book it was somewhat titillating to see these issues addressed (even awkwardly and somewhat ineptly) in the context of a speculative fiction novel but on further reflection I don’t think the overall result is positive and this becomes increasingly clear in the second book. The problem for me with both The Calculating Stars  and The Fated Sky is that in most social situations the reader is more aware of the racial or cultural implications than Elma is. This device of Elma’s cluelessness is one that the author uses to demonstrate the illogic of discrimination and animus repeatedly to the reader. I would argue that while the author uses the device effectively she also repeats and frequently re-inscribes racist and sexist tropes (inadvertently, I think) while trying to illustrate how wrong these are to the reader. In The Fated Sky there are numerous examples of this problem. For example, Elma is on a ship to Mars with 4 men and 3 women when she finds a (used) condom. Of course she assumes that one of the men (probably the captain, whom she has a very difficult relationship with and is a known philanderer) is forcing himself on one of the other women (both of whom are women of color). It doesn’t even occur to her that it could be evidence of sexual activity between two of the men! But there are numerous problem with this scenario. 1) (why) would 2 (presumably straight) men having sex on a 3-year space journey be using condoms (especially in an era where contraception was basically illegal and HIV/AIDS didn't exist)? 2) why would an allegedly intelligent astronaut not know to not throw a condom away in the toilet and  cause a disruptive plumbing incident? 3) why would the author later kill off one of the gay characters in a freak accident? Does the author not know about the vicious trope of the doomed homosexual who always dies before the end of the story? Despite revealing society’s homophobia through Elma’s cluelessness the author has reproduced it through her treatment of the two male characters who loved (in multiple senses of the word) each other. While it is true by martyring one of the gay characters she raises the profile of the remaining gay character but there's no way to dispel the conclusion that by having a freak fatal accident occur to one of the gay characters is a re-enactment of the "doomed homosexual" trope. There are (many) other examples of how the author does this in The Fated Sky  with both gender and race (Elma is sometimes quick to notice and call out patriarchal/sexist behavior but then some of her favorite and most lauded activities involve her prowess in the kitchen!) One interesting aspect of the book that is a highlight, is the portrayal of multiple Jewish celebrations (even in space!). The sensitivity by which a minority religion is portrayed is incongruous to how ethnic and racial minorities are depicted. For example, race is the primary fault line in the time being portrayed in the books but as I have said before, the author uses the main character's outsider status to illustrate to the reader how ignorance/unfamiliarity with the lived experience of others can highlight the salience and pervasiveness of racism and sexism. But the problem is that these encounters are only ever presented to the reader through Elma's perspective, which tends to marginalize the agency of the characters who are racial (and ethnic) minorities. Overall, I was somewhat dubious about reading the second book in the series after reflecting more on the deficiencies of the first (which won the Hugo Award for Best Novel). But the large number and the high average Goodreads ratings of both books convinced me to give it a try despite these misgivings. It's unlikely I will make that mistake with the third book!

Title: The Fated Sky.
Author: Mary Robinette Kowal.
Paperback: 384 pages.
Publisher: Tor Books.
Date Published: October 1, 2018.
Date Read: April 21, 2020.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★☆☆  (3.0/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: B+ (3.33/4.0).

PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: B+.
IMPACT: B-.
WRITING: A-.

BOOK REVIEW: Shorefall (Founders, #2) by Robert Jackson Bennett

Shorefall  is the second book in an magical fantasy-adventure trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett called “The Founders.” The first book was titled Foundryside and introduced the majority of the primary characters in the series and the setting of the story.

We are in Tevanne, the major metropolis of this continent. Tevanne is controlled by several powerful families, who rule the city (and it is implied, the rest of the world) through their superior technology. Except in this case their technology is “magic.” Except Bennett has picked a magic system which is well-defined and has scientific undertones. The magic system is called “scriving” and it involves being able to use special symbols called “sigils” which can be used to rewrite physical reality (like changing the weight of an object so it can float, convincing wheels they want to turn in a particular direction, etc). Not everyone, can scrive; it is considered a special, almost divine skill that only certain “advanced” people can do. (Any comparisons to coding and software is completely unintentional, I'm sure!)

The main characters in Shorefall  (and Foundryside) are an interesting, diverse group, starting with Sancia, a former slave and current thief who discovers she has surprising powers. Sancia is an unusual choice to be the main character of a fantasy series: she’s a lesbian with non-white skin in a world where being male and pale are often signs of power and status. The other important characters are Clef, a magical (scribed) device which for some reason appears to be able to communicate telepathically with Sancia and has very special powers of his own; Gregor, a large, muscular former soldier who happens to be the scion of one of the most important families in Tevanne; his mother Ofelia Dandolo, the longtime head of House Dandolo; Orso, the head scriver of House Dandolo and Berenice, Orso’s assistant and (eventually) Sancia’s love interest.

The primary plot of Shorefall  involves the return of one of the ancient Founders of Tevanne, the most powerful of them all, who happens to also have been the creator of Clef. His name is Crasedes Magnus, “the First Hierophant, Destroyer of Empires, Sacrificer of Millions,” and yes he’s as scary as the name signifies he will be. (People die horrible deaths clawing out their own eyes if they see him face to face.)

If you think to yourself, “oh here we go again, Sancia and friends have to save the world as we know it” (which was basically the plot of Foundryside) you’re not wrong, but Bennett writes with verve so we can enjoy the ride. However, one of my issues with the sequel is even though there are definitely new elements, the element of surprise (or sense of novelty) is not one of them. That can mostly be made up by the development of an interesting depth to Sancia’s relationship with Bernice, Orso and Gregor, which all take turns that are MOST definitely surprising. Bennett is excellent at writing action-packed sequences, and there are plenty in Shorefall. Being the middle book, it mostly resolved the tension of this book, while setting up a major showdown for the third and final book. The books in the Founders series are not as self-contained as the three books in Bennett’s excellent Divine Cities trilogy.

Overall, I would say that Shorefall is definitely worth your time and effort to get into (it’s not a quick and light read), especially if you enjoyed Foundryside. And if you admire stories about quick-witted, profane lesbians who can wield near-magical powers, you’ve come to the right place!

Title: Shorefall.
Author: Robert Jackson Bennett.
Paperback: 493 pages.
Publisher: Del Rey.
Date Published: April 21, 2020.
Date Read: May 10, 2020.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★★½☆  (4.5/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: A/A- (3.83/4.0).

PLOT: A.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: A-.
WRITING: A.

BOOK REVIEW: The Last Girl (Maeve Kerrigan, #3) by Jane Casey

I love Jane Casey’s Maeve Kerrigan series (as you can see from my reviews of The Reckoning and The Burning)!! The Last Girl is the third book in this British police procedural murder mystery series with a strong but definitely not perfect female protagonist. As I have said many times, what makes a strong genre book in my opinion, in addition to a compelling main character, are interesting and well-rounded secondary characters. We know it’s a genre book; there’s gonna be some horrific crime (usually a violent murder or three) and our hero is part of a team who is trying to catch the perpetrator or perpetrators while surviving/avoiding/managing interpersonal dynamics of the team members or familial/relationship drama (or both!). We return to these genre books not for the crime-of-the-week but because we are engaged with the characters due to our familiarity with their foibles.

Casey gets it. Her DS Maeve Kerrigan is at times frustratingly obtuse (especially when it comes to the relationship with her boyfriend Rob, another policeman) and is also very good at her job, despite her boor of a boss/partner, DI Josh Derwent. But as the reader we can both root for and rail against Maeve (sometimes in the same chapter!)

The mystery/crime in The Last Girl is particularly heinous. A mother and teen daughter are viciously attacked and killed in the living room while the daughter’s twin sister swam in the pool. The father was attacked (not fatally) in the upstairs bathroom. It turns out the family dynamic was a nightmare, starting with the father/husband who is a defense attorney whom the police had come across before in multiple cases and is a huge *ssh*le. But, that doesn’t mean he’s guilty, does it?

This third book in the series has a relatively surprising ending with a fair number of red herrings tossed in front of the reader for good measure. The longer arcs (Maeve’s increasingly serious relationship with Rob, the return of her dangerous stalker/peeping Tom, Maeve's professional career trajectory at the London Metropolitan Police Murder Squad) are becoming more significant than the resolution of this book’s crime. But that just makes me want to spend more time with Maeve, in the next book. Soon!

Title: The Last Girl.
Author: Jane Casey.
Paperback: 384 pages.
Publisher: Minotaur Books.
Date Published: May 21, 2013.
Date Read: April 13, 2020.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★★½☆  (4.5/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: A- (3.67/4.0).

PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: B+.
WRITING: A.

BOOK REVIEW: Light of Impossible Stars by Gareth L. Powell

Light of Impossible Stars is the third and final book of the Embers Of War trilogy by Gareth L. Powell. A nice feature of the series is that although each book advances the overarching story, they are also readable on their own with each having self-contained plots. Even so, they should still be read in order (because Powell is ruthless about killing off major characters): Embers Of War, Fleet of Knives and Light of Impossible Stars.

In the third book we are introduced to a new major character, Cordelia Pa, and her brother Michael Pa (among others). It’s an interesting choice to have the third book in a trilogy revolve around a new character that didn’t appear in the first two books. Happily, Cordelia is a great character so it’s fun to spend lots of time with her.

The central character of the trilogy as a whole is Trouble Dog, the sentient spaceship that is used to transport the other main characters: Sal Konstantz (the captain of the ship) and Druff (the many-limbed alien who is the primary engineer/mechanic on the ship) among others. The other main character is Ona Sundak (a former space ship captain who ended an interstellar war by committing a horrific act of genocide).

The overarching narrative tension in the entire trilogy is between Sundak’s vision of the future and Konstanz’s (and Trouble Dog’s) opposition to this vision. It takes awhile but eventually we find out what role Cordelia Pa plays in resolving the conflict.

Another feature of the books in the trilogy which is also readily apparent in Light of Impossible Stars  is that they are fast-paced and action-packed. They are also fun to read and great diversions, exactly what good science fiction should do. Additionally, Powell is able to include a diverse cast of characters and present thought-provoking situations for the reader to ponder and reflect on, even after the book is over.

Overall, I would strongly recommend the series as a whole, even though I don’t think the last book is the strongest entry in the trilogy. That said, Light of Impossible Stars is a fun and exciting read in its own right.

Title: Light of Impossible Stars.
Author: Gareth L. Powell.
Paperback: 400 pages.
Publisher: Titan Books.
Date Published: February 1, 2020.
Date Read: April 4, 2020.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★★☆  (4.0/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: A- (3.67/4.0).
PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: B+.
WRITING: A.

BOOK REVIEW: The Institute by Stephen King

The Institute is the sixth book by Stephen King that I have read in the last few years. I am not a fan of supernatural or horror but every now and then the prolific King does step out of those genre boxes and write books in other genres that are more aligned with my reading interests: science fiction, mystery, and suspense/thriller. Regardless, King is very, very good at what he does, and The Institute is another example of that.

The premise of the story is that there are people who are born with high levels of an enzyme/hormone called BDNF that is correlated with telekinetic and telepathic ability. For some unexplained reason, there’s a group of people who monitor high-BDNF kids and at some point (before they are adults) they kidnap them, murder their families and bring them to a secluded, prison-like facility called “The Institute.” One glaring omission in the story is that no explanation is given for why The Bad Guys only capture kids (especially since the kids' ages vary from 8 to 16, which any parent or teacher would tell you is like grouping dogs and spiders into the same collection). The obvious reason for why the author has made this choice is that it serves King’s desire to accentuate the depth of evil of the antagonists in the story and enhance the reader’s empathy for the protagonists.

The main character in The Institute is Luke Ellis, a 12-year-old super-genius (he has been admitted to MIT *and* Emerson College and intends to attend both simultaneously). Luke is awesome and King does a great job (I think) of telling huge swaths of the story from a pre-pubescent white American boy’s perspective. When Luke gets to The Institute he meets Kalisha, Nick, George, Iris and Avery, who become the core group of children at the center of the story. The main villain is Mrs. (Julia) Sigsby, who runs The Institute with a firm, unsympathetic gloved fist, along with countless adults who have become inured to the mental and physical torture of the many kids that they “care” for.

Some/most of the adults have been told the reason for The Institute’s existence and are true believers in its mission, which they believe is to save the world from nuclear holocaust by exploiting the special powers these kids possess. However, we the reader don’t learn that information until very late in the book, and it is one of the key questions: Are the adults involved with The Institute evil or mercenary? How can any end justify these means?

The Institute does a very good job of raising thought-provoking questions and presenting interesting themes about the nature of evil. If you believe the kidnap, torture and murder of hundreds of people would save the lives of billions of people, would you do it? What if the people in question are children aged 8-16? How certain would you need to be that the deaths of billions are being prevented? How, exactly, does one implement a system of torture/total control of children? What kind of person participates in such a system? And on the flip side, how does one protest/resist when suddenly thrust into an unfair, violent system, especially if you’re just a kid? Will the good guys actually win in the end?

It’s a bit of a cliché at this point because so many of King's written works have been adapted into award-winning blockbusters (e.g. It, Carrie, Misery, The Outsider, The Stand, Pet Sematary, etc) but The Institute reads like a screenplay for a movie (a particular action-packed one!) I think this is because King’s writing in The Institute is so evocative and visually stimulating while the plot is suspenseful and thrilling. I look forward to watching (the inevitable) movie adaptation!


Title: The Institute.
Author: Stephen King.
Paperback: 561 pages.
Publisher: Scribner.
Date Published: September 10, 2019.
Date Read: December 31, 2019.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★★½☆  (4.5/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: A (4.0/4.0).

PLOT: A+
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: A+.
WRITING: A-.