Shawn Callon's Blog, page 5

History of Jewish Women

The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The book is an intriguing look into a Boston Jewish family through the eyes of their younger daughter, Addie.
Starting from 1915 and progressing through to the mid 1980's, the novel chronicles the changes in the treatment of women and Jews; Addie's life and expectations mirror these changes. It's a straightforward read as the elderly Addie talks to her granddaughter, Ara.

Shawn Callon, author of The Simon Montfort Spy Series, wrote this review

The Boston Girl



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American Went Mad

Run by Blake Crouch

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I've enjoyed reading a number of Crouch's novels. There have always been 'dark' elements in the books of his I've read but I've always enjoyed his original and highly descriptive style of writing. He's carried on using the same craft in RUN but unfortunately it was way too dark for me, sometimes repellent in its detail.
Jack and his family are on the run from armies of killers who have been infected by some cosmic event which has destroyed the norms of civilization. Ordinary Americans have turned into hoards of murderers intent on slaughtering, torturing, dismembering as many men, women and children they can find. Jack and family can trust no-one.
Jack is hyper active in the protection of his family, even ignoring his spouse's past affair with Kiernan. He reminded me of the energizer bunny, always doing stuff.
The story's climax ends with Jack escaping from his captors and seeking his family while sheltering in a town that is being bombarded; pursued by one of the "affected" who turns out to none other than his wife's old lover he struggles to defend himself and faces a painful death; then surprise, his spouse happens to be in the same town, standing fully-armed prepared to rescue him. What a coincidence!

Shawn Callon, author of The Simon Montfort Spy Series, wrote this review






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Run

Gamache's Grief and Guilt

Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is book 6 in the murder series, mainly set in Quebec Province Canada. Once again the novel follows the exploits of Armand Gamache and his deputy Jean-Guy Beauvoir. This time they are working on different investigations.
Following a harrowing shooting, Gamache is recovering in Quebec City where he's drawn into the case of a dead body found in the basement of a little-used library. As he's on medical leave, he's asked to help the investigation in an unofficial capacity.
Meanwhile Beauvoir is back in the village of Three Pines, ostensibly covering from injuries sustained during the same traumatic ambush as Gamache who has asked him to re-examine the case of a murdered hermit. A much beloved member of the community is currently in prison for this crime.
This story wasn't an easy read, partly due to changing timelines and locations but mainly due to the raw grief and guilt felt by Gamache. There's lot of interesting historical detail about the early days of Quebec City - enjoyable for anyone who has visited this quaint city. Penny as usual has written the novel using beautiful prose and fascinating descriptions. The ever present back story about the inner workings within the Sûreté continue to build.
I highly recommend the book and it's best enjoyed if it's read in order so as you can appreciate the development of characters and the plot.

Shawn Callon, author of The Simon Montfort Spy Series, wrote this review.

Bury Your Dead



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India The Revenger

India Dymond by K.D. McNiven

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Reading through this action-packed thriller featuring an athletic archaeologist and her shy but supportive cousin Darius, India's abilities to withstand physical and emotional pain, the biting winds and cold of the Himalayas reminded me of a Marvel character - a heroine with superman capabilities able to outwit adversity in all shapes and sizes.
She rarely pauses to take a breath in the story as punches her way thru her inner emotional turmoil caused by the disappearance of her brother Jamal, the mysterious death of her parents and the murder of her uncle Hamid. In contrast her gentle cousin Darius comes across as a lonely soul following the loss of his parents at a young age and clearly dependent on his much stronger relative.
McNiven uses a fast-paced style of writing laced with witty repartees to create a senses of urgency and constant movement throughout her book. Here are some good lines -
“What now?” he asked with gritted teeth. “Maybe you’d like to go cage fighting?” asks Darius having seen his cousin's facial appearance after a fight; and "What kept her rooted to the spot she stood was her attire. Without a doubt, she would stand out like a buffalo on ice skates" a great description when India dressed in contemporary cold weather gear was thrown back in time to the Civil War period.
India isn't just an action character, she's able to sniff out a 'friend' who appears to be helping but is really with her for their own self interest and who towards the end will stop at nothing to get a result. She's cleverly portrayed as constantly checking her emotions because she's never quite sure how to handle the situation.
The ending was a surprise because I hadn't considered the character as a possible murderer - a nice twist.
McNiven has written an exciting, easy-to-read story about good and evil where honesty and commitment win out.

Shawn Callon, author of The Simon Montfort Spy Series, wrote this review.




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India Dymond

Heat, Dust and Desolation

Boy Underground by Catherine Ryan Hyde

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book is a story of friendship, love and loss in California shortly before Pearl Harbor. Four young men of different races, backgrounds etc. are drawn together in High School. Steven is the main voice in the book. He lives with is parents and older brother in an unhappy home. They are reasonably well-off, employing workers on their farm. He makes friends with Itsuki (Suki), Nicholas (Nick) and Oliver (Ollie) who are all sons of farm laborers. When 'life' and the 'real world' reach their small town, will they be well-enough equipped to handle it? Ollie enlists , Suki and his family are moved to a Japanese internment camp while Nick goes into hiding to avoid being arrested for a vicious assault carried out by his father in a drunken rage. Steven is the one left to try to make sense of life and his rapidly changing awareness of his sexuality.

It was tough to identify with any of these characters but the sense of heat, dust and desolation clearly mimics the feelings of these young men.

Shawn Callon, author of The Simon Montfort Spy Series, wrote this review.



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Boy Underground

A Look into our Future

Absolute_Friends" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px">Absolute Friends by John le Carré

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Another complex and typically ironic tale from John Le Carre. It's clearly a spy story with Ted Mundy and Sasha as two double agents working as a team from the time of the divided Berlin up until the second Iraq war but it's also subtly autobiographical. Le Carre resembles Ted in many ways - tall and gangly, fluent in German, worked in Germany, had a reprobate for a father, despised American imperialism, hated British colonialism, divorced Another complex and typically ironic tale from John Le Carre. It's clearly a spy story with Ted Mundy and Sasha as two double agents working as a team from the time of the divided Berlin up until the second Iraq war but it's also subtly autobiographical. Le Carre resembles Ted in many ways - tall and gangly, fluent in German, worked in Germany, had a reprobate for a father, despised American imperialism, hated British colonialism, divorced his wife and worked for British Intelligence.

Overarching the whole book however is Le Carre's utter contempt for the USA/UK's coalition of the willing to invade Iraq in 2003. He lambasts the lies and the fabrication of the truth, the publication of misleading documents and the creation of ultra secret fake files by the Ministry "wool-spinners" in the British Government. Mundy (Le Carre) in 2003 gives us a glimpse of our future where the increasing power and influence of American corporations and their thirst for social control and limitless expansion leads to uniform thought, learning and constant conflict - very 1984! It's a world where the word 'liberal' is a term of abuse and where conflicts are waged by contractors.

A word of warning though - it's a long book and one could argue too long but I love Le Carre's wordy prose with its often ironic declamations at the end.

Shawn Callon, author of The Simon Montfort Spy Series, wrote this review.

Absolute Friends

Predictable

The Judge's List by John Grisham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I enjoyed reading this novel but I have the feeling it was ghost-written; the plot was predictable and there was considerable repetition throughout the book. Lacy, the lead character, had long conversations with law enforcement, with Jeri and with her boyfriend going over the same ground. Was this a ploy to make the book bigger and did the author/publisher think the reader would forget the story line?

I'm used to reading Grisham novels that have an edge and surprises - this one didn't.





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The Judge's List

Chilling Small Town Life

A young female reporter is asked to return to her home town to write about the murder of a young girl and the disappearance of another one. Coming back to the unhealthy environment of her family home causes bad memories to flood the reporter's mind. Unfortunately, the second girl is found dead as well- both females were strangled and had their teeth pulled out. Is the murderer a local killer or an opportunistic outsider passing through?
The book shines a light on small town life with gritty episodes that make the novel a difficult but ultimately rewarding read. It's not for the faint of heart. It's a complex tale of relationships, loss and sickness.

Shawn Callon, author of The Simon Montfort Series of Spy Novels, edited this review.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A Winner from Herron

Dead Lions by Mick Herron

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Another winner from Mick Herron. It's a witty, complex, sardonic tale about "failed" MI5 agents who are put out to graze their lives away as 'slow horses' in a decrepit, ramshackle building somewhere in London.
A 'proper' spy on a fast track career path in MI5 persuades two eager 'slow horses' to help deliver a Russian oligarch and his two henchmen into a high-tech, secure building with the apparent aim of landing an important intelligence source close to the corridors of power in the Kremlin. Simultaneously the head of the slow horses, Jackson Lamb, is investigating the suspicious death of a former agent - whose unfortunate demise leads his investigation into the depths of rural England where a Cold War sleeper cell is still slumbering.

In addition to appreciating the complexity of his plots, I find Herron's style so amusing. Here's a great description of the frustrating bureaucracy that Lamb faces all day -
Lamb said, “Yeah, I could have prepared a report. Presented it to Roger Barrowby, who’s evidently running things these days. He’d have had three other people read it and make recommendations, and if they came up positive, he’d have formed an interim committee to investigate possible avenues of reaction. After which—”

The only irritating aspect of his style is his inclination to start what I call sub-chapters without making clear who the characters are; it takes a few moments to realize that Herron has moved onto new scenarios and people.

Herron's best character is Catherine Standish - a steady, understated recovering alcoholic of indeterminate age who once had a 'relationship' with a senior MI5 officer. She blows up Lamb's pomposity as they discuss his investigation of the suspicious death -
“So maybe it’s not the same plan. Maybe it’s been adapted. But either way, it’s in play. This isn’t you chasing ghosts from your past any more. It’s a ghost from your past jumping up and down, shouting ‘look at me!’” “And why’s that?”

Shawn Callon, author of The Simon Montfort Series of Spy Novels, wrote this review.



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Dead Lions

The Repentant Spy

Thank you KD McNiven for such a great review!

The Repentant Spy is the second book I've read by Shawn Callon, and I was not disappointed. Callon knows how to weave a suspenseful, thrilling, spy novel. The story is about Simon Montfort, whose unsavory past catches up with him. Plagued by his past deeds, it compelled Montford to climb the steps of La Madeleine, a famous Roman Catholic Church and there he gives in to his inner turmoil for the evil deeds he had committed, and there he also meets up with a priest, Monsignor Eamonn Collins. Montford pours out all of his detestable deeds to the priest who bids him come clean with his wife and repent: "Simon, you have a gift for subterfuge and illusion but you have clearly misused these God-given talents. If you truly want to repent then you must find a way of using those gifts to benefit not you but mankind..."
The priest tells Simon that there are many families exploited, and whose lives are in grave danger and to use his life to do good and not evil, then disappeared, later to find the priest was an apparition.
At that moment, Simon knew what he would do. Changing his name to Pierre Laval, Simon goes undercover as a schoolteacher in a refugee camp in Apelpisia, Narissiki, Greece with intentions of bringing down a human trafficking ring.
I applaud Callon for writing on the deeply disturbing subject of human trafficking. His research is sterling, and the storyline is well-plotted, thrilling, and top-notch, and a couple of curve-balls! I am giving Callon 5 stars and highly recommend it.

The Repentant Spy: A Journey of Remorse, Romance and Retribution
The Repentant Spy