50 More Books - Catching up

So ... its been a while and I haven't gotten to putting the books I've been reading in here. There are about 50 more books below here. And the log says its been 14 months. Sorry, again.

Here is the catch up list:

Divine Justice - David Baldacci - Another "Camel Club" book. And I really like all of them. That includes this one. The man known as "Oliver Stone" is at it again and the rest of the club are sticking out their necks too. (Mystery)

Ian Fleming's James Bond: Back in Action - John Gardiner (A collection of three novels)

• Role of Honor
• Nobody Lives Forever
• No Deals, Mr. Bond

John Gardiner isn't Ian Fleming. The action is there. But something crucial is different. It seems like one of those old SciFi movies came by and made a clone of James Bond but everyone can tell by the vacant stare that something is missing. (Spy)

The Hanged Man's Song - John Sandford - I liked this one a lot. The computer guy is the hero. (Mystery)

The First Counsel - Brad Meltzer - Lots of angst. Lots of naivete. Lots of betrayal. Set in Washington, DC. (Mystery)

Caught - Harlen Coben - A simple little book based on a few ideas and a twist or two. Worth reading but not worth writing home about. (Mystery)

This Body of Death - Elizabeth George - An amazing book. Picked it up in an airport when I had to wait unexpectedly. What a story. What a great bunch of characters. (Police Mystery)

Sword From Red Ice - JV Jones - I like the story of this bunch of JV Jones' books but this one feels like it should have been reduced to a couple of chapters in a more interesting book. There are too many different side stories and no indication that they are resolving.

Phantom Prey - John Sandford - These bad guys are really bad. Davenport keeps you going with his homesy goo nature and cynicism.

First Family - David Baldacci - A quick read. Interesting but not compelling. (Mystery)

Single and Single - John Le Carre - This book has great suspense, great characters (like all of LeCarre's books) and enough twists to be interesting but not drive you nuts. (Spy)

Absolute Friends - John Le Carre - A long, rambling book that kept my interest but didn't make we want to not put it down. The story and characters are the best part. (Spy)

Vodka - Boris Starling - I have a love-hate relationship with this book. The action was great. The suspense good. The story came to a high-point that could have been the end and then sort of fizzled out. Interesting characters. (Mystery)

Cross Bones - Kathy Reichs - Don't confuse this Brennan with the one on TV's Bones. But this isn't the best book in this series. It starts out normally in Canada and then seems to go off into the weeds. No straight-forward crime detection. Lot's of mumbo-jumbo, DaVinci Code sort of stuff. (Police Mystery)

The Pallbearers - Stephen J Cannell - Pop's is dead of an apparent suicide. His six pallbearers are grown now but they were the most unruly of the kids from the "home" he ran for 40 years. Well, the most unruly of the ones that turned out ok. They just don't believe the old surfer would ever kill himself. Scully is the police detective and fellow pallbearer that must bear the brunt of the unofficial investigation. (Police Mystery)

The 9th Judgement - James Patterson - Serial killer and the women's murder club are at it again for the 9th time. A good read. Pretty predictable but still fun.

The Falcon at the Portal - Elizabeth Peters - "Amelia Peabody Emerson" what more can you say. If you haven't been reading these books, shame on you. Set in England and Egypt around the year 1900, they follow the exploits of the Emerson family for whom another murder is just what happens. Listened to this on CD. Barbara Rosenblatt does a wonderful job. (Historical Mystery)

The Rembrandt Affair - Daniel Silva - What a wonderful story. I couldn't predict anything in it. You mix up stolen art in the 21st century with Nazis hiding in Argentina and holocaust victims and their families. Add in some Israeli, Swiss, English and US intelligence folks. (International Crime Mystery)

Blood Groove - Alex Bledsoe - A fun little story based on the idea that vampires might be real and what if one went to sleep in the 1920's and woke up in 1976 finding that all the neighborhood vampires had lost a bunch of information about what they could do. (Since they were watching TV and movies, of course. Lot's of inaccuracies there.) (Vampire)

Body Work - Sara Paretsky - Another interesting but not thrilling VI Warshawski book. All these are solid mysteries with some bit of social conscience stuff thrown in. In this case we wonder how Iraqi veterans get along in the civilian world. Throw in some corruption among the Pentagon's vendors and there a murder for Vic to investigate. (Detective Mystery)

An Unsuitable Job for a Woman - PD James - The job is "detective." The story is slow, methodical and diabolically captivating. I loved it. (Mystery)

Think Twice - Lisa Scottoline - Good twin. Bad twin. Which twin will win.As always with Ms Scottoline, the bad piles up and piles up until you think there can't be any more. Then it piles up until it really bothers you but you keep on reading because you can't figure out how the good guys win in the end. (Mystery)

Burnt Offerings - Laurell K Hamilton - Vampires are out. No more secrets in the world of this book. But how can one hero keep getting more and more magical power without having a clue. And she faints. Fun to read but you notice how long it goes sometimes. (Vampire)

The Night Gardener - George Pelecanos - When a body turns up in a community garden one night, an old cop remembers similar murders when he first joined the force. Those were unsolved. The victims all had palindromes for names. Is it the same person doing it? A good story full of the right amount of soul searching and action, danger and detecting. (Police Mystery)

The DaVinci Code - Dan Brown - I finally read it. Since I'm the last one who hasn't, what can I say. (Mystical Mystery)

One Night Stands and Lost Weekends - Lawrence Block - In the foreward to the CD, recorded by the author, he tells you that this isn't his best work. But it is a collection of very old detective stories (and one science fiction story) by this famous author and maybe someone will buy it. Well ... someone did listen to it but I didn't enjoy it much nor did I hate it so badly I turned it off. How's that for faint praise. (Detective Short Stories)

The Secret Solder - Alex Berenson - Wells gets a call offering big bucks for a few days work. The call isn't from a friend but a reliable business associate. The client isn't named. The work isn't described but the money is good. He takes off and finds himself in the middle of politics and family squabbles at the rarest levels. A good read. I did like it. (Spy)

Terminal Freeze - Lincoln Child - What if we found something frozen in glacial ice that didn't die just because it was frozen for 1000's of years? And what if it like to kill people? Suspense a plenty. I liked it but didn't love it. (Sci Fi Mystery)

Monday Mourning - Kathy Reichs - Skeletons have been found in the basement of a pizza parlor. Tempe has to solve the "who, where, what, when and why". Takes place in Montreal in the dead of winter. I like this book a lot. (Police Mystery)

Paul of Dune - Brian Herbert - A sad book that just reminds you of how good Frank Herbert's Dune books were. The reminder is good. I finished it. (Sci Fi)

The Distant Echo - Val McDermid - Rosie Duff has been raped, stabbed and is breathing her last when the four college students staggering back from the local pub find her. They knew her from the bar where she worked. They aren't from the little town there and soon find themselves accused of her murder. But the murder goes unsolved. Is it a lack of evidence for the students? Is it a case of obsessing on the wrong suspects? 25 years goes by and the suspects are being killed off.  They have lost track of each other. It wasn't their best year ever. Is someone playing vigilante? Is one of the four cleaning up the leaks? A great bit of detecting (and writing) goes on to spread out the story. I liked it a lot. (Police Mystery)

The Secret Between Us - Barbara Delinsky - I can barely remember this one. All I recall is that it didn't quite hold together or provide me with sage advice for living. The entertainment factor was small but I did listen to it all. (Mystery)

Night Fall - Nelson DeMille - I like John Corey and I like Kate Mayfield. And I like this book as well as the other with Corey. The book starts with adultery on a deserted New York beach and some hot, homemade porn video that picks up the explosion of TWA flight 800 in the background sky. That was 1996 and there was a real flight 800 that exploded. This story ends connecting it all to the events of September five years later. What a great story. What a great concept. This was fun to read. (FBI Mystery)

Breach of Trust - DiAnn Mills - Paige is former FBI. Paige has demons to tame. Paige is working in small town Oklahoma as a librarian. She's dating a christian guy she met at church. But her old nemisis is powerful and he doesn't want to leave her alone. I liked the way this chronicles the struggles she has internally without becoming longwinded and boring.

Darkness Falls - Kyle Mills - FBI agent Mark Beamon is back trying to keep enviro-terrorists from sabotaging  a good bit of the worlds oil supply. The man he needs, Neal, lives in a self-sustaining adobe house off the grid. What does he care if gas goes to $6 or $10 or more a gallon? And he has his own pain, what with the death of the love of his life.(Police Sci Fi Mystery)

Chosen to Die - Lisa Jackson - A serial killer. A divorcee living alone. A tough as nails policewoman divorcee living alone. Up in the hills of Montana (hills? I thought they were mountains.) there are enough perils without some nut with a rifle that like to shoot out single women's tires and hold them captive, nursing their wounds for a while before leaving the body for the police to find. When Reagan finds herself caught in his trap, this policewoman might not be so easy to kill. How's that for a advertizing blurb. But it's the story and it works. And I liked it. (Police Mystery)

Deliver Me from Evil - Mary Monroe - Wacky mysteries are fun to read sometimes. This is one of those times. Christine is married and fooling around. A fake kidnapping seems like a good idea. The inlaws are a riot. Not going to win any prizes but for reading junkies its worth the time. (Mystery)

The Mummy Case - Elizabeth Peters - Another Amelia story. Ramses is younger and just beginning to do his own archeology. (Historical Mystery)

Hit and Run - Lawrence Block - Hire a hit man. Set up a standard way of doing it. Call him back and hire him again to hit a random guy at a random time that just happens to be the same time as a high-profile politician is killed. Now he's on the run. He's very good but will he make it? I love me some Lawrenc e Block. This time the bad guy is the hero. And you buy it. (Mystery)

Magyk, Flyte, Physik, Queste - Angie Sage - Septimus Heap is the hero of these books. They are aimed at the teenage crowd but that didn't dim an old guy's fun in the reading. Septimus is a wizard living in a castle and travelling around through magical adventures. I suggest it for all ages. (Juvenile Adventure)

No Graves As Yet - Anne Perry - Just as events in Europe charge forward into World War I, two sons investigate the death of their father and mother. Apparently an auto accident, there are some questions and some political intrigues and some spy work going on. Very good read. I recommend it. (Historical Spy Mystery)

Careless in Red - Elizabeth George - The victim is an amazing character. She's mentally unstable. She's a tramp. She's a mother and a wife. But she's doing a good job as long as she doesn't put on the red clothes and the red lipstick and go hopping from bed to bed. But she's dead and everyone is a suspect including Lynley, the good inspector from Scotland Yard who is wandering the coast of England as a vagabond while he comes to terms with the brutal slaying of his beloved wife, Helen. What does Havers do when she is assigned to the case and Lynley just doesn't seem right? You will love these characters. I really like the Lynley books. (Even the BBC movies are good. They are just not the same.) (Police Mystery)

No Safe Place - Joanne Ross - Kate Delayney, police woman is now in New Orleans looking into her twin sisters death. The twins have good different ways. Kate is the good twin. Then there is Nick. This is a "romantic" mystery after all. So the tension builds up predictably. Not a wonderful book. Not horrible either. (Romantic Mystery)

Shoot Him if he Runs - Stuart Woods - Stone Barrington goes to the carribean. Light fun. A little mystery. Everybody is pretty polite. (Mystery)

The Winds of Dune - Brian Herbert - Did I say Brian isn't Frank. (Sci Fi)

Horizon Storms - Kevin J Anderson - There are some interesting aliens, some interesting situations, some good "what if" sort of science fiction. People fly around in space ships. People live among the asteroids. Strange aliens inhabit gas giants and star's interiors. There are way too many stories and side issues and characters and this is only one volume of this huge space opera. (Sci Fi)

The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury - This doesn't hold up as well as I would have thought. But the ideas and the good old science fiction of it all makes it mostly fun. I don't much care for short stories though and that was a problem for me. You may love them. The way the martians keep evolving as time goes by with the humans is great. Don't expect too much consistency from story to story though. (Sci Fi)

Sacred Games - Vikram Chandra - I work with a lot of people from India. This is a story about Bombay and the inhabitants. It is a long book and the story unfolds in fits and starts but with inevitability. Ganesh is the bad guy you love to care about. And Singh is a bit of an underacheiver in a Colombo sort of way. I had to ask my coworkers to explain some things here and there as the culture is thick and, evidently, authentic. The writer loves the city and it shows. This is a must read and the mystery wrapped in all that culture is pure bonus. (Mystery)

Quantum of Solace - Ian Fleming - This ia a collection of short stories by Ian Fleming about James Bond. You learn a lot about Bond and his background. Interestingly some of the stories have titles that match some of the movies. But the story isn't even close. Octopussy is about a retired British secret servant living in the Bahamas who visits his friends down in the lagoon every day. He calls the resident octopus "Octopussy" James has to make a visit to clear up some old nagging financial questions. I recommend this book and these stories. The stores even smell the same as that era. (Spy)

The Lion - Nelson DeMille - Another John Corey novel. The Lion is a ruthless terrorist who is back in the US. Corey and Mayfield know the most about him from a previous encounter and the Lion wants them dead anyway. I listened to this while Christmas shopping and that image sticks with me. Shots are fired. Someone has to die. I recommend all the John Corey novels. (Police Mystery)

Guardian of the Horizon - Elizabeth Peters - Amelia and Emerson go back to the hidden city in the Sudanese desert one more time. There are lies and intrigue and, of course, dead bodies. Nephret is in danger and Ramses is grown. Go for it. (Historical Mystery)

Sorry for such little information.

Brad Meltzer, The Book of Lies

I listened to "The Book of Lies" by Brad Meltzer.

Disclaimer: The below is merely my opinion. I just read/listened to the book.

Categories: mystery, supernatural, superman,

Comments:

Suppose that Cain's mark, back in Bible times, wasn't intended to show God's punishment for murdering his brother, Abel. Suppose it was God's mark of forgiveness for a man who had learned from his failures. Suppose it was to forestall the natural consequences from other people for his crime.

Then, further, suppose that Cain had written down the secret and it had passed down through the ages, coming to rest where there was conflict between a son and his father.

Throw in the mystery of Superman's origin as a comic book hero. (Well, maybe its more of a mystery in the book.) It seems that Jerry Spiegel was one of the creators of Superman as a comic book hero. Jerry's father died of a heart attack as a result of a robbery and young Jerry figured the world needed a hero who was invulnerable to bullets.

Weave those things together with a loner who lost his father as a young boy. In Cal's case, his father was convicted of killing his mother in a family argument that he saw and still inhabits his nightmares.

And the search is on for the book of lies. Everyone has a different reason for wanting it. Everyone really, really needs it. But is it a book at all.

It has: secret societies, biblical quotes, Superman trivia, fanatics, paranoia, the FBI (and not in a good way)

What did I like: The concept is so twisted that it's fun, there is one mystery after another, one story corkscrew after another

What didn't I like: the book felt really dark,

Rating: 3 of 5, I liked it

Walter Mosley, The Right Mistake

I listened to "The Right Mistake" by Walter Mosley. Subtitle is "The Further Philosophical Investigations of Socrates Fortlow"

Disclaimer: The below is merely my opinion. I just listened to the book.

Categories: This book defies categorization

Comments:

This is a story of love and redemption. It is told almost in a way that could be a series of somewhat related short stories. Maybe "vignette" is the right word. Maybe not.

I like many of Walter Mosley's books. A few I don't. My typical preference is to have some action of some sort in the book. For example, when I read Alexander McCall Smith's book about the typing school, I finished and told my wife, "It's interesting but its just a series of events only vaguely related and without any action at all."

This book is the same, except, it held my interest and keep me wanting to hear what happened next.

Socrates just kept finding ways he was messed up and kept making himself better. He accidentally made the world better in so doing but mostly he just made his life better.

This book is full of "black" stuff. I don't know of another way to say it. If that bothers you, read something else.

For example, when Socrates and Billy get arrested while driving toward northern California, the police tell them that they matched the description of some wanted drug offenders. When asked what the report said, with no humor at all, they said, "They were black" as if that was description enough to bring the boys in. But that is a too real aspect of real life.

It has: racist cops, angry ex-spouses, homeless folk, reformed killers, lawyers and other felons. Poor people changing their lives for the better. Posers and losers. Winners and free dinners.

What did I like: Socrates didn't blame, excuse or back down. Billy, Luna, Ron and Maxi all transformed their lives. In the end it was good but it was hard too. Most characters were real, live and human.

What didn't I like: Some parts were a little long, some characters were a little too cardboard.

Rating: 4 of 5, I liked it a lot.

J. V Jones, A Fortress of Grey Ice

I read "A Fortress of Grey Ice" by J.V. Jones.

Disclaimer: The below is merely my opinion. I just read the book.

Categories: fantasy

Comments:

I read "A Cavern of Black Ice" a long time ago. Though I vaguely remembered the story, I found I could pick up the story pretty easily. I also remember being mostly disgusted with myself for reading the first book of a trilogy when the other two weren't out. Well, the trilogy has turned into a set of four books, maybe. But can you trust it when they already didn't do what you expected. The next book is called "A Sword of Red Ice." The 4th book isn't out yet but the 3rd one doesn't end things.

There really is a fortress and the grey ice is really there but it doesn't have much to do with the story until the last 3% of the book. Oh ... and the picture on the front of the book is its own fantasy. There doesn't seem to be any such scene in the book.

What makes this book worth reading is the host of main characters. Well, I guess when we get to the end of the last book we will find out how "main" they are. I started to say that there could be 10 short books except that the stories touch on each other just enough that it wouldn't work unless each story is told in bits interspersed with the other stories.

For example, Vaylo Bludd claimed control of all Dhoone holdings 39 years back. Robbie Dhoone is determined to be the Dhoone king risen from the mists of legend. There has got to be a conflict and, though the story is told from both vantage points, that conflict interweaves itself though the sections of the book dealing with one or the other of the men.

Stories in the book

1. Ash - full of power, destiny and a little bit spoiled
2. Raif - talented, prophesied about, and driven towards his goal
3. Iss - blundering, stealing, scheming and coming out ok so far
4. Vaylo Bludd - honest but doomed
5. Raina - leader and patriot, married to her own rapist but keeping the peace
6. Crope - too strong, too big and loved by only one person
7. Robbie Dhoone - charismatic and bound for glory
8. Bram - smart and quick but missed in his brother's shadow
9. Angus - well-liked, slippery with hidden agendas, but good to the core
10. Effie - naive, blessed with magic but bound to conflict everywhere she goes

It has: court intrigue, swords and horses, magic, backstabbing, family infighting, ancient warrior folk, frozen wastelands, ancient prophecy, sorcerers, immense creatures, unremitting tension

What did I like: The characters, the places and the histories are fully formed. You cheer, you jeer, you are on the edge of your seat (metaphorically speaking). The place names and people's names make you wonder about the imagination that created them

What didn't I like: There were too many storylines. Of 100 storylines, maybe, one came to a climax and got finished in the whole giant book. There is a little of a comic book nature when I look back. (I'm not sure what that means.)

Rating: 3 of 5, I didn't dislike it

Tananarive Due, Scott Joplin's Ghost

I listened to "Scott Joplin's Ghost" by Tananarive Due. Checked it out of the library on 19 CDs.

Disclaimer: The below is merely my opinion. I just listened to the book.

Categories: supernatural, mystery, historical fiction, music, african-american

Comments:

I really like the way the author interweaves the historical fiction about Scott Joplin's life and times with a current day story of a young musician tempted by stardom and drawn to create the music within her.

From looking at some other reviews I just realized how well the story of Scott Joplin was done. People believe its true. It may well be. I'm no historian and sure wasn't around as the 1800's turned to the 1900's. But my point is that it's so well done that it comes out believable.

There is something about being black in this book that rings with truth. A cultural connection between the last days of American slavery, the end of reconstruction and today's uneasy truce between respect and racism in the U.S.

I also love the way you can't tell what the phrase "Scott Joplin's Ghost" means by the time you finish the book. I can see at least three distinct meanings in this book.

(On a side note, I read the author's "Blood Colony" within the last year, before I started this blog. I have to smile at the similarities in the heroines of the two stories. Both are young women. Both are very talented but naive. Neither has a driver's license. Both quote lyrics "gotta fly now, don't wanna die now" Also both books have a grandmother appearing as a ghost at the time of her death. Strange, huh?)

Finally, the book does an excellent job paying homage to the musical greats, black and white, that contributed to today's American music. Hip-hop, R&B, soul, gospel, blues, rock and roll, jazz, waltz, opera, classical and ragtime ... its all in there.

I was sad when the reader said, "The End."

It has: homicidal pianos, ragtime music, hip-hop gangsters, drive-by shootings, lynchings, timeless love, faithful friends

What did I like: it's a long book that doesn't seem long, you laugh and cry for both Phoenix and Scotty, family is important in both stories, the story sections-back and forth-build together and give you the information you need at just the right moment.

What didn't I like: the white characters tend to be thin and toneless.

Rating: 4 of 5, I liked it a lot.

David Baldacci, The Whole Truth

I listened to "The Whole Truth" by David Baldacci.

Disclaimer: The below is merely my opinion. I just listened to the book.

Categories: spies, action

Comments:

I usually like David Baldacci. This is no different.

How can you not like a story with a hero named Shaw because he grew up in a sequence of orphanages and never had any more name than that.

How can you not like a story with another hero with two Pulitzers, a drunken past and a present writing obituaries for the rich and formerly famous.

How can you not like a story with a villain so cold he discards his wives on a whim, has folks killed for any reason at all and builds Italian orphanages to boot.

Shaw is a twisted 007. He's good at everything a spy needs. He's tall and good looking. He doesn't care if he lives or dies. (Oh, and that's the 007 from the books. The one that hurts so bad he doesn't really care.)

And then he falls in love. Ill fated love it is when his fiance almost stumbles across a plan to almost start WW III for big profits. And the big man is out for revenge.

It has: lone operatives, blackmail, doomed love, drunks with a tortured past, journalists, arms dealers, trophy wives, the evil rich

What did I like: the low key hint of romance between Katie James and A. Shaw, the mindless entertainment, the suspense of how the good guys will win (not if)

What didn't I like: the bad guy was a little too omniscient, the parents should have trusted, the idea of perception management seems too close for comfort

Rating: 3 of 5, I liked it

Peter Speigelmann, Death's Little Helpers

I read "Death's Little Helpers" by Peter Speigelmann

Disclaimer: The below is merely my opinion. I just read the book.

Categories: mystery, detective, New York

Comments:

I wasn't terribly impressed with the book though it did keep my interest to the end. It just leaves so many questions.

- Why does the girlfriend stick with him?
- Why is the rich family so petty?
- Why is the Russian mob so honorable?
- Why does a detective need to hire a detective friend to answer his questions?
- How long will the family money last if he keeps spending it for no apparent reason?
- What does the missing guy's old girlfriend really have to do with anything?
- Given who the killer was, why did the author include most of the book?

The redeeming factor was the characters. It's easy to care about them.

The long suffering girlfriend of the ex-wife seems real with deep feelings, a rich background and true love for the teenage son.

The teenage son is just the right blend of too smart, too angry, too talented and hurting.

You even feel for the missing man's coworker. She loved him but he was too shallow to love her back. Living with that weight, suddenly he's missing and it only means more hard choices are on the menu. When she does right or when she does wrong, you can identify.

Even with the uneven portrayal of  John March, the detective hooks you with the way he consistently flees emotional involvement while being drawn back to the way of goodness and right.

It has: organized crime, wall street greed and corruption, rich kid detective obsessed with solving the crime, rotten parents, eccentric artists, workaholics

What did I like: the action starts up quickly and keeps you going, the romance ebbs and flows, even the good guys have faults

What didn't I like: March was too self destructive, the killer pops out of nowhere at the end, a few too many loose ends (perhaps signaling an intended sequel), the title doesn't fit the book

Rating: 2 of 5, I liked it but not a lot