David Schwinghammer's Blog - Posts Tagged "character-study"
All the Light We Cannot See
The title ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE is a double entendre. It’s about a blind girl during WWII, but it also shows us some light that shown through the horrible events.
Marie-Laure has congenital cataracts, but she probably sees more than most of us. At one point in the story, she describes to another girl what she sees. She sees colors, not darkness. Her father, a locksmith at a Paris museum, makes a miniature model of their neighborhood, and she must memorize it with her fingertips. He takes her six blocks from their apartment and tells her she must lead him back to their apartment. She’s terribly frustrated at first, but she eventually does it, and then she knows there’s virtually nothing she can’t do.
The second main character is a German, Werner, who is kind of an electronic genius. Doerr ties him to Marie-Laure in that he and his sister Jutta listen to her grandfather’s radio broadcasts about science. Werner and Jutta are orphans, and another “light” in the story is Frau Elena who treats her wards like her own children. There’s a parallel in Marie-Laure’s story where Madamn Manec, her great uncle’s housekeeper, is a freedom fighter who can make soup out of stones. I’m not exaggerating much.
Werner wins a spot at a school for the best of the Hitler youth where the technical teacher gives his charges an assignment: make something out of spare parts. Werner is able to make several devices, and he becomes the teacher’s research partner. There were people in Germany who hid their Jewish friends. Not everybody was a skunk. One was Frederick, Werner’s bunk mate, at the Hitler Youth camp. When the students are required to pour cold water on a prisoner to show they will follow orders, Frederick refuses. That makes him a weakling in the director’s eyes, and he’s got a big target on his back, but we know Frederick is really another one of the “lights” in the story.
When the teacher is promoted, Werner is sent to Russia to ferret out partisans who are sending out radio signals. Here he is reunited with Volkheimer, the giant student who served as an enforcer for the camp director. Only Volkheimer likes and respects Werner. At first we think Volkheimer is a stone cold killer, but we gradually learn that he was swept up in events just like millions of other people who would never have thought to do in everyday life what they did in the war. At the end of the book, we see what a mensch Volkheimer really is under the rough exterior.
Marie-Laure’s father and his daughter escape from Paris prior to the Nazi invasion, taking them to St.-Malo, an island where his uncle lives in a house with six floors, plus an attic. He hasn’t left the building in years, thanks to a gas attack during WWI. Madamn Manac prods Etienne into using the giant radio in the attic to help the partisans.
Another parallel between the two stories is the American invasion at Normandy and the French partisans who are helping the Allied army find German coastal artillery. Werner is sent to Saint-Malo. There’s another plot line involving the Sea of Flames, a great diamond the director of the museum may have given Marie-Laure’s father to protect. It’s one of four, but three are fakes. Marie-Laure’s father doesn’t know if he has the real one. A German sergeant major thinks he knows where it is.
I usually look for character-driven novels, and Marie-Laure and Werner are two of the best I’ve encountered since I read Kent Haruf’s PLAINSONG with the two wonderful bachelor farmers. When you reach the climax, pay close attention. Doerr often suggests rather than tells what’s happening. If you don’t, you’ll only have to go back and reread it.
Marie-Laure has congenital cataracts, but she probably sees more than most of us. At one point in the story, she describes to another girl what she sees. She sees colors, not darkness. Her father, a locksmith at a Paris museum, makes a miniature model of their neighborhood, and she must memorize it with her fingertips. He takes her six blocks from their apartment and tells her she must lead him back to their apartment. She’s terribly frustrated at first, but she eventually does it, and then she knows there’s virtually nothing she can’t do.
The second main character is a German, Werner, who is kind of an electronic genius. Doerr ties him to Marie-Laure in that he and his sister Jutta listen to her grandfather’s radio broadcasts about science. Werner and Jutta are orphans, and another “light” in the story is Frau Elena who treats her wards like her own children. There’s a parallel in Marie-Laure’s story where Madamn Manec, her great uncle’s housekeeper, is a freedom fighter who can make soup out of stones. I’m not exaggerating much.
Werner wins a spot at a school for the best of the Hitler youth where the technical teacher gives his charges an assignment: make something out of spare parts. Werner is able to make several devices, and he becomes the teacher’s research partner. There were people in Germany who hid their Jewish friends. Not everybody was a skunk. One was Frederick, Werner’s bunk mate, at the Hitler Youth camp. When the students are required to pour cold water on a prisoner to show they will follow orders, Frederick refuses. That makes him a weakling in the director’s eyes, and he’s got a big target on his back, but we know Frederick is really another one of the “lights” in the story.
When the teacher is promoted, Werner is sent to Russia to ferret out partisans who are sending out radio signals. Here he is reunited with Volkheimer, the giant student who served as an enforcer for the camp director. Only Volkheimer likes and respects Werner. At first we think Volkheimer is a stone cold killer, but we gradually learn that he was swept up in events just like millions of other people who would never have thought to do in everyday life what they did in the war. At the end of the book, we see what a mensch Volkheimer really is under the rough exterior.
Marie-Laure’s father and his daughter escape from Paris prior to the Nazi invasion, taking them to St.-Malo, an island where his uncle lives in a house with six floors, plus an attic. He hasn’t left the building in years, thanks to a gas attack during WWI. Madamn Manac prods Etienne into using the giant radio in the attic to help the partisans.
Another parallel between the two stories is the American invasion at Normandy and the French partisans who are helping the Allied army find German coastal artillery. Werner is sent to Saint-Malo. There’s another plot line involving the Sea of Flames, a great diamond the director of the museum may have given Marie-Laure’s father to protect. It’s one of four, but three are fakes. Marie-Laure’s father doesn’t know if he has the real one. A German sergeant major thinks he knows where it is.
I usually look for character-driven novels, and Marie-Laure and Werner are two of the best I’ve encountered since I read Kent Haruf’s PLAINSONG with the two wonderful bachelor farmers. When you reach the climax, pay close attention. Doerr often suggests rather than tells what’s happening. If you don’t, you’ll only have to go back and reread it.
The Coffin Dancer
Jefferey Deaver begins THE COFFIN DANCER with an author's note: “To Madelyn Warcholik for keeping my characters true to themselves, for making sure my plots don't move so recklessly they get pulled over for speeding . . .”
Make no mistake, Deaver is still one of my favorite authors, despite his wild twists. I wasn't aware THE COFFIN DANCER existed until Amazon recommended it. I thought I somehow missed it as the publication date read 2015, but it was actually written in 1998, according to the paper back I read. I started reading Deaver after I saw the movie, THE BONE COLLECTOR with Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie in the title roles, and I've been looking forward to the next Lincoln Rhyme ever since. There are at least a dozen in the series, if not more. Almost forgot; Lincoln Rhyme is a paraplegic who overcomes his handicap time and time again.
But if Madelyn Warcholik is an editor, she should be fired. There are two characters, who happen to be villains, that are too much alike, and they are involved in an unbelievable twist toward the end of the book that almost ruined the whole novel for me. There's just no suspension of disbelief. Authors can usually handle this sort of hang-up by planting a believable event or characteristic earlier in the book. Deaver does it by explaining why the characters are so similar. I have three letters taped to my computer: RUE, resist the urge to explain. You can do it by doing the above or hinting that things just might not be the way they seem.
The plot is similar to other Rhyme novels. There's a criminal mastermind who's been hired to kill three witnesses who all happen to be pilots. They saw a man load three duffel bags into a plane and take off when the airport was closed. This man was under an FBI indictment. The criminal mastermind is a hit man who solves the problem by planting a bomb on the plane of one of the witnesses. Two of them remain, the wife and one of the other pilots. They are in financial trouble, but they have a contract to deliver medical transplants in a very short timeframe. So the clock is ticking.
Lincoln and the hit man set up the ticking clock when the wife is determined to make a delivery when she should be hidden away in a safe house. The hit man also seems to have paranormal foresight as he repeatedly figures out where the witnesses are hidden. He's also a dead shot and he uses explosive charges in the bullets. Amelia Sachs, Lincoln's detective partner, is so scared during one gun battle that she doesn't dare return fire, and she can't forgive herself for what happens next.
Okay, so despite my misgivings regarding two of the characters, would I recommend THE COFFIN DANCER? Hell yes. Deaver uses extensive research to show how Lincoln Rhymes uses forensics to match wits with these masterminds. That research will bother some people as it slows down the pace, but when you learn something from a mystery novel, I think you're ahead in the ballgame. I'm actually surprised Denzel and Angelina haven't done another Lincoln Rhyme movie.
Make no mistake, Deaver is still one of my favorite authors, despite his wild twists. I wasn't aware THE COFFIN DANCER existed until Amazon recommended it. I thought I somehow missed it as the publication date read 2015, but it was actually written in 1998, according to the paper back I read. I started reading Deaver after I saw the movie, THE BONE COLLECTOR with Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie in the title roles, and I've been looking forward to the next Lincoln Rhyme ever since. There are at least a dozen in the series, if not more. Almost forgot; Lincoln Rhyme is a paraplegic who overcomes his handicap time and time again.
But if Madelyn Warcholik is an editor, she should be fired. There are two characters, who happen to be villains, that are too much alike, and they are involved in an unbelievable twist toward the end of the book that almost ruined the whole novel for me. There's just no suspension of disbelief. Authors can usually handle this sort of hang-up by planting a believable event or characteristic earlier in the book. Deaver does it by explaining why the characters are so similar. I have three letters taped to my computer: RUE, resist the urge to explain. You can do it by doing the above or hinting that things just might not be the way they seem.
The plot is similar to other Rhyme novels. There's a criminal mastermind who's been hired to kill three witnesses who all happen to be pilots. They saw a man load three duffel bags into a plane and take off when the airport was closed. This man was under an FBI indictment. The criminal mastermind is a hit man who solves the problem by planting a bomb on the plane of one of the witnesses. Two of them remain, the wife and one of the other pilots. They are in financial trouble, but they have a contract to deliver medical transplants in a very short timeframe. So the clock is ticking.
Lincoln and the hit man set up the ticking clock when the wife is determined to make a delivery when she should be hidden away in a safe house. The hit man also seems to have paranormal foresight as he repeatedly figures out where the witnesses are hidden. He's also a dead shot and he uses explosive charges in the bullets. Amelia Sachs, Lincoln's detective partner, is so scared during one gun battle that she doesn't dare return fire, and she can't forgive herself for what happens next.
Okay, so despite my misgivings regarding two of the characters, would I recommend THE COFFIN DANCER? Hell yes. Deaver uses extensive research to show how Lincoln Rhymes uses forensics to match wits with these masterminds. That research will bother some people as it slows down the pace, but when you learn something from a mystery novel, I think you're ahead in the ballgame. I'm actually surprised Denzel and Angelina haven't done another Lincoln Rhyme movie.
A Man Called Ove
This novel about a Swedish curmudgeon teaches many life lessons, besides being side-splittingly funny at times and an unapologetic tearjerker at others.
Ove has just been forced to take early retirement. Worse yet, his wife, Sonja, the only person who has ever understood him has died. He sees no reason to live. And he's surrounded by idiots. A new couple move in across the street. The husband tries to back up a trailer, which should be in the parking area of the housing development, into the street, and smashes Ove's mailbox. Ove eventually does it for him, but unknown to him at the time he's met his match. Her name is Parvaneh, the neighbor's wife. She's Iranian and she gives him the look Sonja used to give him when he was being overbearing. The couple have three-year-old and seven-year-old girls. The three-year-old thinks Ove is funny. The seven-year-old eventually calls him “Grandpa”.
But Ove is planning to kill himself; he tries it four times. Ironically the first time the rope breaks when he tries to hang himself. That's typical for Ove; he thinks things just aren't made the way they used to be. Ove also drives a Saab; anybody who doesn't drive a Saab is an idiot. That includes his one time friend, Rune, who became an ex-friend when he bought a BMW.
Every time Ove tries to kill himself, his neighbors unintentionally interrupt, and he goes on to save a guy who fell onto the train tracks. Sonja was a ten; none of her friends can tell what she sees in Ove. She says he's the kind of guy who runs into a burning house to save people while others are running away. A reporter comes to see Ove. She wants to write an article about what a hero he is. He chases her away, but she's instrumental when social services try to take his friend Rune, who's gone senile, away from his wife.
The life lessons are pretty obvious. Don't judge a curmudgeon by its cover and try to get to know those immigrants you hate so much. There may be a Parvaneh among them.
Ove has just been forced to take early retirement. Worse yet, his wife, Sonja, the only person who has ever understood him has died. He sees no reason to live. And he's surrounded by idiots. A new couple move in across the street. The husband tries to back up a trailer, which should be in the parking area of the housing development, into the street, and smashes Ove's mailbox. Ove eventually does it for him, but unknown to him at the time he's met his match. Her name is Parvaneh, the neighbor's wife. She's Iranian and she gives him the look Sonja used to give him when he was being overbearing. The couple have three-year-old and seven-year-old girls. The three-year-old thinks Ove is funny. The seven-year-old eventually calls him “Grandpa”.
But Ove is planning to kill himself; he tries it four times. Ironically the first time the rope breaks when he tries to hang himself. That's typical for Ove; he thinks things just aren't made the way they used to be. Ove also drives a Saab; anybody who doesn't drive a Saab is an idiot. That includes his one time friend, Rune, who became an ex-friend when he bought a BMW.
Every time Ove tries to kill himself, his neighbors unintentionally interrupt, and he goes on to save a guy who fell onto the train tracks. Sonja was a ten; none of her friends can tell what she sees in Ove. She says he's the kind of guy who runs into a burning house to save people while others are running away. A reporter comes to see Ove. She wants to write an article about what a hero he is. He chases her away, but she's instrumental when social services try to take his friend Rune, who's gone senile, away from his wife.
The life lessons are pretty obvious. Don't judge a curmudgeon by its cover and try to get to know those immigrants you hate so much. There may be a Parvaneh among them.
As Good As Gone
AS GOOD AS GONE is set in 1963. Calvin Sidey, who's been pretty much a hermit since his French wife died has been called home to take care of his grandchildren while his son Bill accompanies his wife to Missoula for an operation.
It's surprising that Calvin agrees since he left his family when his wife died, but he's in his seventies and thinks it wouldn't be so bad to reenter civilization in his declining years. Meanwhile his grandson Will is having trouble with his so-called friends who want to get a look at his sister naked through her bedroom window. They've got a plan, and he has one to stop them. The other grandchild is being stalked by her ex-boyfriend who was an ideal mannerly boyfriend until he wouldn't take “no” for an answer.
Calvin also establishes an intimate relationship with the woman next door, Beverly, who doesn't entirely understand why she's acting the way she is. She's been celibate since her husband died in the thirties, but she's thrilled that a man finds her attractive in that way, despite the age difference.
One day an Indian shows up and threatens the family if they won't leave his wife alone. Calvin's son, Bill, is a real estate agent and she's not paying her rent. He wants her out, but he's in Missoula.
Let's back up to Calvin. He's a WWI vet. That's where he met his wife Pauline. He wanted to stay in France; her family was thrilled that she had a chance to go to America, and she agreed. He's also a hard-nosed cowboy who doesn't think twice about a physical confrontation. But he's not good with personal relationships. Hell hath knows no such fury when he finds out Ann, his granddaughter, is being stalked. He tells her she's the spitting image of her grandmother.
Cal jumps to a terrible conclusion, tied to the peeping dilemma and the eviction threat, and he's got a gun. He'll use it if he can't handle it in hand to hand combat. So a bunch of the people above have to save Calvin from himself. Will they be able to? What are the odds?
Larry Watson is the Western version of Richard Russo of “Nobody's Fool”, “Empire Falls” fame. Most of this is about a stubborn old man and people trying to change him, but there are some action scenes that you won't be able to read fast enough, and you're going to need a translator at the end. So am I. Did I forget to mention that Calvin reads Latin like other people read mysteries?
It's surprising that Calvin agrees since he left his family when his wife died, but he's in his seventies and thinks it wouldn't be so bad to reenter civilization in his declining years. Meanwhile his grandson Will is having trouble with his so-called friends who want to get a look at his sister naked through her bedroom window. They've got a plan, and he has one to stop them. The other grandchild is being stalked by her ex-boyfriend who was an ideal mannerly boyfriend until he wouldn't take “no” for an answer.
Calvin also establishes an intimate relationship with the woman next door, Beverly, who doesn't entirely understand why she's acting the way she is. She's been celibate since her husband died in the thirties, but she's thrilled that a man finds her attractive in that way, despite the age difference.
One day an Indian shows up and threatens the family if they won't leave his wife alone. Calvin's son, Bill, is a real estate agent and she's not paying her rent. He wants her out, but he's in Missoula.
Let's back up to Calvin. He's a WWI vet. That's where he met his wife Pauline. He wanted to stay in France; her family was thrilled that she had a chance to go to America, and she agreed. He's also a hard-nosed cowboy who doesn't think twice about a physical confrontation. But he's not good with personal relationships. Hell hath knows no such fury when he finds out Ann, his granddaughter, is being stalked. He tells her she's the spitting image of her grandmother.
Cal jumps to a terrible conclusion, tied to the peeping dilemma and the eviction threat, and he's got a gun. He'll use it if he can't handle it in hand to hand combat. So a bunch of the people above have to save Calvin from himself. Will they be able to? What are the odds?
Larry Watson is the Western version of Richard Russo of “Nobody's Fool”, “Empire Falls” fame. Most of this is about a stubborn old man and people trying to change him, but there are some action scenes that you won't be able to read fast enough, and you're going to need a translator at the end. So am I. Did I forget to mention that Calvin reads Latin like other people read mysteries?
Dark Matter
In order to get the most out of Crouch's DARK MATTER, the reader should be familiar with String theory or M theory. A good source might be Michio Kaku's PARALLEL WORLDS, in which he posits the possibility of parallel universes.
But this is fiction, so it seems a little extreme at moments when all the Jason Dresson clones start popping up, in search of his wife Daniela and his son, Charlie. Jason Dresson was a brilliant scientist who was working on this cube-like device that would allow people to enter a box and visit parallel worlds, where they'd find themselves living a different life. Jason's big decision was to marry Daniela and give up his super star status as the next Einstein. He chose the life of a physics professor and Daniela, while his friend, Brian Holder, got the scientific accolades. Even Brian feels Jason was the one who should've received the awards. Jason attends a celebration for Brian; on his way home, he's kidnapped and wakes up battered and blue in another universe. He's a hero there because he's the first to return from an episode inside the box. But he escapes, visits his former home where he lived with Daniela and Charlie, but everything is a bit off. It smells like loneliness and everything is a bit too ritzy for a college professor.
Eventually Jason finds out he was kidnapped by himself, a man he calls Jason 2, who made the opposite decision he made on Earth. He chose the scientific career and invented the multi-universe box, but then he observed Jason 1's life in Chicago with Daniela and Charlie and was jealous. So . . . he took Jason's place.
In Jason's new world Daniela is a famous artist. He has a romantic interlude with her, but she's not HIS Daniela. The leaders in Jason new world are willing to do anything to keep the box, including pulling a Darth Cheney on Jason; you know the torture route. Amanda, one of the aides feels sorry for him, helps him enter the box, and they begin to open doors. They find places that are too cold, other places that are suffering from a deadly pestilence. Finally they realize that you have to be in the right frame of mind to find the world you're after, but something is always just a little bit off. I'll let you read the book to find out how Jason finds his original home.
There's not enough science in this book. If you've never heard of String Theory, you'll think it's not even good science fiction. As I said above, other Jasons start to show up looking for Daniela. There are hundreds of them, and they seen to anticipate Jason 1's every move. They're terrible people. They're willing to kill to get what they want. They kill each other; one would think they'd retain some of Jason 1's basic goodness, which Daniela fell in love with.
I have never had it clearly explained to me, not even after reading Kaku, why a version of ourselves would exist in these other universes. I understand that there may have been more than one Big Bang or maybe lots of them, which would explain the parallel universes, but why would we exist in these places as president of the United States or head of a giant corporation or maybe even as a member of the opposite sex or a homeless person. If you can think of it, it exists on another planet in another universe. Don't scoff. The mathematical formula works. Einstein worked his entire career to find a theory of everything, which made the macroverse (the solar systems, the stars, the galaxies) and the microverse (atoms, protons, quarks) jive. He never found it, but String Theory seems to explain them both, only with ten dimensions (in some versions) seven we can't see.
But this is fiction, so it seems a little extreme at moments when all the Jason Dresson clones start popping up, in search of his wife Daniela and his son, Charlie. Jason Dresson was a brilliant scientist who was working on this cube-like device that would allow people to enter a box and visit parallel worlds, where they'd find themselves living a different life. Jason's big decision was to marry Daniela and give up his super star status as the next Einstein. He chose the life of a physics professor and Daniela, while his friend, Brian Holder, got the scientific accolades. Even Brian feels Jason was the one who should've received the awards. Jason attends a celebration for Brian; on his way home, he's kidnapped and wakes up battered and blue in another universe. He's a hero there because he's the first to return from an episode inside the box. But he escapes, visits his former home where he lived with Daniela and Charlie, but everything is a bit off. It smells like loneliness and everything is a bit too ritzy for a college professor.
Eventually Jason finds out he was kidnapped by himself, a man he calls Jason 2, who made the opposite decision he made on Earth. He chose the scientific career and invented the multi-universe box, but then he observed Jason 1's life in Chicago with Daniela and Charlie and was jealous. So . . . he took Jason's place.
In Jason's new world Daniela is a famous artist. He has a romantic interlude with her, but she's not HIS Daniela. The leaders in Jason new world are willing to do anything to keep the box, including pulling a Darth Cheney on Jason; you know the torture route. Amanda, one of the aides feels sorry for him, helps him enter the box, and they begin to open doors. They find places that are too cold, other places that are suffering from a deadly pestilence. Finally they realize that you have to be in the right frame of mind to find the world you're after, but something is always just a little bit off. I'll let you read the book to find out how Jason finds his original home.
There's not enough science in this book. If you've never heard of String Theory, you'll think it's not even good science fiction. As I said above, other Jasons start to show up looking for Daniela. There are hundreds of them, and they seen to anticipate Jason 1's every move. They're terrible people. They're willing to kill to get what they want. They kill each other; one would think they'd retain some of Jason 1's basic goodness, which Daniela fell in love with.
I have never had it clearly explained to me, not even after reading Kaku, why a version of ourselves would exist in these other universes. I understand that there may have been more than one Big Bang or maybe lots of them, which would explain the parallel universes, but why would we exist in these places as president of the United States or head of a giant corporation or maybe even as a member of the opposite sex or a homeless person. If you can think of it, it exists on another planet in another universe. Don't scoff. The mathematical formula works. Einstein worked his entire career to find a theory of everything, which made the macroverse (the solar systems, the stars, the galaxies) and the microverse (atoms, protons, quarks) jive. He never found it, but String Theory seems to explain them both, only with ten dimensions (in some versions) seven we can't see.
In a Dark, Dark Wood
Reese Witherspoon says in one of the blurbs that she bit her fingernails off during the suspenseful scenes in Ruth Ware's IN A DARK, DARK, WOOD. Maybe she said that because she bought the rights to the movie, but it just didn't affect me the same way.
Nora (Lee, Leo) Shaw is invited to her former friend Claire's “hen party” (bachelorette party). She's perplexed because they haven't spoken in ten years. We eventually learn they've known each other since elementary school, when Nora was a loner everyone else ignored, and she stuttered. But the beautiful, popular Claire sat with her and made sure she was picked for playground games and other activities.
This is quite a crew who've been invited. Flo is certainly mentally unbalanced. This is her aunt's glass house they're using for the party. She idolizes Claire, going so far as to wear the same clothes, and she's determined to organize the best “hen do” for Claire of all time. Nina is another childhood friend with a penchant for sarcasm. She's also gay, as is Tom, a playwright, a friend of James, the fiance'. Melanie needed to get out of the house as she's the new mother of a six month old. She misses her baby. They play games, including the Ouija board, which during one attempt to reach a spirit spells out “murder”. They also go skeet shooting so everybody knows how to use a shotgun, a rather lame foreshadowing device. There's also a shotgun hanging above the fireplace, which Flo's aunt used to scare rabbits away from her garden. It's supposed to be loaded with blanks.
I don't think it's giving away to much to say that Claire invited Nora to her hen party because she wanted to tell her she was marrying, James, Nora's old boyfriend whom she hasn't gotten over yet. James dumped Nora in an undignified fashion.
Ware then jumps to a scene where Nora is in the hospital. She has cuts all over her face, hands, and feet, and she has two black eyes. She can't remember how she got that way, although it gradually starts coming back.
Ruth Ware wrote the best-seller, THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10, so she obviously knows how to write a mystery, but she just can't create a believable red herring in this one. We're more worried Nora will be arrested for something she didn't do. So, that's my main objection. It's too obvious who the villain really is. If you didn't know by page fifty, you don't read many mysteries.
Nora (Lee, Leo) Shaw is invited to her former friend Claire's “hen party” (bachelorette party). She's perplexed because they haven't spoken in ten years. We eventually learn they've known each other since elementary school, when Nora was a loner everyone else ignored, and she stuttered. But the beautiful, popular Claire sat with her and made sure she was picked for playground games and other activities.
This is quite a crew who've been invited. Flo is certainly mentally unbalanced. This is her aunt's glass house they're using for the party. She idolizes Claire, going so far as to wear the same clothes, and she's determined to organize the best “hen do” for Claire of all time. Nina is another childhood friend with a penchant for sarcasm. She's also gay, as is Tom, a playwright, a friend of James, the fiance'. Melanie needed to get out of the house as she's the new mother of a six month old. She misses her baby. They play games, including the Ouija board, which during one attempt to reach a spirit spells out “murder”. They also go skeet shooting so everybody knows how to use a shotgun, a rather lame foreshadowing device. There's also a shotgun hanging above the fireplace, which Flo's aunt used to scare rabbits away from her garden. It's supposed to be loaded with blanks.
I don't think it's giving away to much to say that Claire invited Nora to her hen party because she wanted to tell her she was marrying, James, Nora's old boyfriend whom she hasn't gotten over yet. James dumped Nora in an undignified fashion.
Ware then jumps to a scene where Nora is in the hospital. She has cuts all over her face, hands, and feet, and she has two black eyes. She can't remember how she got that way, although it gradually starts coming back.
Ruth Ware wrote the best-seller, THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10, so she obviously knows how to write a mystery, but she just can't create a believable red herring in this one. We're more worried Nora will be arrested for something she didn't do. So, that's my main objection. It's too obvious who the villain really is. If you didn't know by page fifty, you don't read many mysteries.
Leave No Trace
LEAVE NO TRACE is about a boy who suddenly appears after being missing for ten years. He walks out of the Boundary Water Canoe Area in Northern Minnesota, one of the most pristine wilderness areas in the U.S.
Lucas Blackthorne's father, Josiah, is still missing. Lucas gets in trouble for breaking and entering an outfitter's store, attempted robbery and two counts of aggravated assault on the owners. Lucas is institutionalized because he can't or won't talk about where he's been or where his father is.
Maya Stark, a speech pathologist at the mental facility, is assigned the case. Gradually we learn that Maya was a former patient at the same facility. Eventually he says, “I know you.” We learn what that means later, but at least she's got him talking.
Maya works at getting a search party to find Josiah Blackthorn. Dr. Mehta, her superior finally agrees, but Lucas isn't comfortable among all these people and Dr. Mehta gets hurt. The search is cancelled.
Maya decides to take matters into her own hands, risking her career and possibly being charged with a felony.
Mostly we get Maya's first person account of what happens in the story, but once or twice, Josiah speaks for himself. He loves Lucas more than himself, and he teaches him how to survive in the wilderness, but we're not sure if Lucas actually knows where Josiah is or if he's still alive.
Maya was also abandoned by her mentally ill mother and she wants to know what happened to her; she begins to suspect Josiah Blackthorn, once she learns Josiah and Lucas had stayed in her mother's cabin for a time, hence the above statement, “I know you.” Maya looks a lot like her mother.
Author Mindy Mejia makes a valiant effort at describing the BWCA, but she should've tried harder to make it a character in the story. It's a beautiful place, but it can kill you if you don't know what you're doing. It's called the Boundary Water Canoe Area because motorized vehicles are not allowed and I imagine they feel the same way about technology in general. It's essentially a string of lakes, extending all the way into Canada, although it goes by a different name there. I chose this book because it was set in the BWCA, but I have a feeling Mejia didn't know it as well as she should have. She gives credit to lots of different people in her acknowledgments, and I imagine they're the source of her descriptions. She does mention fellow voyagers who know how to make a mean “bear bag” so we know she did stick her toe in the water. One source she does mention is A YEAR IN THE WILDERNESS: BEARING WITNESS IN THE BOUNDARY WATERS by Amy and Dave Freeman.
Lucas Blackthorne's father, Josiah, is still missing. Lucas gets in trouble for breaking and entering an outfitter's store, attempted robbery and two counts of aggravated assault on the owners. Lucas is institutionalized because he can't or won't talk about where he's been or where his father is.
Maya Stark, a speech pathologist at the mental facility, is assigned the case. Gradually we learn that Maya was a former patient at the same facility. Eventually he says, “I know you.” We learn what that means later, but at least she's got him talking.
Maya works at getting a search party to find Josiah Blackthorn. Dr. Mehta, her superior finally agrees, but Lucas isn't comfortable among all these people and Dr. Mehta gets hurt. The search is cancelled.
Maya decides to take matters into her own hands, risking her career and possibly being charged with a felony.
Mostly we get Maya's first person account of what happens in the story, but once or twice, Josiah speaks for himself. He loves Lucas more than himself, and he teaches him how to survive in the wilderness, but we're not sure if Lucas actually knows where Josiah is or if he's still alive.
Maya was also abandoned by her mentally ill mother and she wants to know what happened to her; she begins to suspect Josiah Blackthorn, once she learns Josiah and Lucas had stayed in her mother's cabin for a time, hence the above statement, “I know you.” Maya looks a lot like her mother.
Author Mindy Mejia makes a valiant effort at describing the BWCA, but she should've tried harder to make it a character in the story. It's a beautiful place, but it can kill you if you don't know what you're doing. It's called the Boundary Water Canoe Area because motorized vehicles are not allowed and I imagine they feel the same way about technology in general. It's essentially a string of lakes, extending all the way into Canada, although it goes by a different name there. I chose this book because it was set in the BWCA, but I have a feeling Mejia didn't know it as well as she should have. She gives credit to lots of different people in her acknowledgments, and I imagine they're the source of her descriptions. She does mention fellow voyagers who know how to make a mean “bear bag” so we know she did stick her toe in the water. One source she does mention is A YEAR IN THE WILDERNESS: BEARING WITNESS IN THE BOUNDARY WATERS by Amy and Dave Freeman.
The Bitterest Pill
The title has to do with an opioid epidemic at the Paradise High School. A popular cheerleader has turned up dead from an overdose. Jesse quickly identifies a student suspect as her source, but he turns up missing and is eventually found dead, having been tortured before being shot.
Reed Farrel Coleman, Parker's most successful replacement, gives the drug chain their own point of view. They're mostly Eastern Europeans with a Moslem thrown in for good measure. There's also a female teacher involved.
I'm actually more familiar with the TV movies than I am with the Jesse Stone series written by Parker. There are some disappointments. There's no lovable dog in this one, Reggie. And Jesse's relationship with his favorite deputy Suit is given short shrift. Jesse no longer drinks and attends AA meetings with a sponsor, but the baseball connection is still there. Jesse was once a minor league prospect; he's got a new glove but it's not as good as his old one.
Jesse also has a son he didn't know about. The son finds Jesse, and at first, he's still blaming Jesse for not knowing his birth father, but their relationship improves and almost gets the boy killed.
Jesse quickly becomes involved in an affair with one of the teachers. We know one of the teachers is seducing her student drug pushers from her anonymous point of view, and we hope it's not her; we don't find out for sure until the last part of the book.
The last part of the book reads faster because we're closing in on the teacher and we want her Jesse's girlfriend to be a red herring. A lot of people wind up dead, but we never find out who the higher ups are, so we're right where we were at the beginning with no assurance that Jesse has solved the problem. There might be another BITTEREST PILL.
Reed Farrel Coleman, Parker's most successful replacement, gives the drug chain their own point of view. They're mostly Eastern Europeans with a Moslem thrown in for good measure. There's also a female teacher involved.
I'm actually more familiar with the TV movies than I am with the Jesse Stone series written by Parker. There are some disappointments. There's no lovable dog in this one, Reggie. And Jesse's relationship with his favorite deputy Suit is given short shrift. Jesse no longer drinks and attends AA meetings with a sponsor, but the baseball connection is still there. Jesse was once a minor league prospect; he's got a new glove but it's not as good as his old one.
Jesse also has a son he didn't know about. The son finds Jesse, and at first, he's still blaming Jesse for not knowing his birth father, but their relationship improves and almost gets the boy killed.
Jesse quickly becomes involved in an affair with one of the teachers. We know one of the teachers is seducing her student drug pushers from her anonymous point of view, and we hope it's not her; we don't find out for sure until the last part of the book.
The last part of the book reads faster because we're closing in on the teacher and we want her Jesse's girlfriend to be a red herring. A lot of people wind up dead, but we never find out who the higher ups are, so we're right where we were at the beginning with no assurance that Jesse has solved the problem. There might be another BITTEREST PILL.
The Night Watchman
THE NIGHT WATCHMAN is based on a true incident involving Patrick Gourneau, Louise Erdrich's grandfather. The fictionalized version of him, Thomas Wazhashk, is fighting government termination of the Chippewa Turtle Mountain reservation. Wazhashk is the Chairman of a committee under the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
He is also a night watchman at the jewel-bearing plant just outside the reservation. He has many mystical experiences while on the job. In one incident, spirits let him back in the plant after he locks himself out. His niece Pixie also works there. Much of the book is about Pixie's confusion in respect to sex. She's drawn to a boxer named Wood Mountain.
Pixie is also looking for her sister, Vera, who has disappeared. For the first time in her life she visits the big city of Minneapolis, where she portrays a sexy Babe the Blue Ox at a notorious. During her search for her sister she does manage to rescue Vera's baby. Vera is symbolic of sexual exploitation of Native American women.
Erdrich skips around quite a bit. We even meet two Mormons who are trying to convert the Chippewa. This is somewhat ironic since Joseph Smith, their prophet, taught that Native Americans were really the lost tribes of Israel. Another Mormon, Senator Arthur V. Watkins, sponsored the bill to dissolve the Turtle Mountain tribe to assimilate them into American life. He's a pompous ass.
The Chippewa arrange a meeting with a senate committee considering dissolution of their tribe. Thomas has been working on his presentation for months, so much so that he makes himself sick. Perhaps the best thing he does is to thank Arthur V. Watkins after their presentation is over. Watkins is surprised. No one has ever thanked him before. You will route for Thomas throughout the story. He is a lovable character.
Wood Mountain comes to love, Archille, the name he and Pixie gave the baby. The baby will become important in the resolution of Pixie's feelings toward Wood Mountain.
Another strange little character is Millie Cloud who did her Master's thesis on the Turtle Mountain tribe. She will present to the Congressional committee also. She grew up a city Indian, but is very much drawn to Pixie and her family.
This novel is not Erdrich's best work, but it addresses an important moment in American History: how we consistently broke the treaties we made with Native Americans. In Erdrich's plot, Arthur W.Watkins is trying to do it again.
He is also a night watchman at the jewel-bearing plant just outside the reservation. He has many mystical experiences while on the job. In one incident, spirits let him back in the plant after he locks himself out. His niece Pixie also works there. Much of the book is about Pixie's confusion in respect to sex. She's drawn to a boxer named Wood Mountain.
Pixie is also looking for her sister, Vera, who has disappeared. For the first time in her life she visits the big city of Minneapolis, where she portrays a sexy Babe the Blue Ox at a notorious. During her search for her sister she does manage to rescue Vera's baby. Vera is symbolic of sexual exploitation of Native American women.
Erdrich skips around quite a bit. We even meet two Mormons who are trying to convert the Chippewa. This is somewhat ironic since Joseph Smith, their prophet, taught that Native Americans were really the lost tribes of Israel. Another Mormon, Senator Arthur V. Watkins, sponsored the bill to dissolve the Turtle Mountain tribe to assimilate them into American life. He's a pompous ass.
The Chippewa arrange a meeting with a senate committee considering dissolution of their tribe. Thomas has been working on his presentation for months, so much so that he makes himself sick. Perhaps the best thing he does is to thank Arthur V. Watkins after their presentation is over. Watkins is surprised. No one has ever thanked him before. You will route for Thomas throughout the story. He is a lovable character.
Wood Mountain comes to love, Archille, the name he and Pixie gave the baby. The baby will become important in the resolution of Pixie's feelings toward Wood Mountain.
Another strange little character is Millie Cloud who did her Master's thesis on the Turtle Mountain tribe. She will present to the Congressional committee also. She grew up a city Indian, but is very much drawn to Pixie and her family.
This novel is not Erdrich's best work, but it addresses an important moment in American History: how we consistently broke the treaties we made with Native Americans. In Erdrich's plot, Arthur W.Watkins is trying to do it again.
Redhead by the Side of the Road
Micah Mortimer will remind you of Tony Shaloub's Monk character. He's hyper organized with a day each week set aside to vacuum the rugs, do the laundry etc. He doesn't exactly have OCD, but he's close. He has his own business as an IT specialist. There's a scene where a woman calls him about her grandmother's computers; she can't find the passwords. Micah assures her he can't help her with that, but he goes anyway. Sure enough, he finds them, and she's really grateful.
His four sisters are just the opposite of Micah, messy as all get out with no systems at all. They say Micah takes after their grandfather, a house painter, who had all of his paint cans labeled.
Micah doesn't have a lot of luck with women, but he seems to have found his ideal mate, Cass, a fourth grade teacher, who's close to his age, 40, with a good heart. There's an episode where two boys tell her they don't want to go to the senior citizen's home because they smell bad and try to kiss them. She gives the fourth grade a touching lecture about how these people have lost all the people they loved, including most of their friends. Then she asks who still wants to stay in school on that day. Nobody raises his/her hand. She's a keeper.
Cass is worried about losing her apartment as she's sub-leasing it from this woman who looks like she might get married. Micah is not sympathetic. He even cracks a joke about the possibility of her living in her car. She is not amused.
Then a boy named Brink shows up, claiming Micah is his father. Micah assures him that's impossible as he and his mother never had sex, one of the reasons they split up. Brink has just started college and already he's taking a break. Micah insists he call his mother, and the boy splits.
This is a very short book. The ending snuck up on me. I turned a page, and it was over. The main thread is about Brink's traumatic situation, but the reader wants to know if Micah will ever find the right woman and how he could mistake a fire hydrant for a redhead at the side of the road.
His four sisters are just the opposite of Micah, messy as all get out with no systems at all. They say Micah takes after their grandfather, a house painter, who had all of his paint cans labeled.
Micah doesn't have a lot of luck with women, but he seems to have found his ideal mate, Cass, a fourth grade teacher, who's close to his age, 40, with a good heart. There's an episode where two boys tell her they don't want to go to the senior citizen's home because they smell bad and try to kiss them. She gives the fourth grade a touching lecture about how these people have lost all the people they loved, including most of their friends. Then she asks who still wants to stay in school on that day. Nobody raises his/her hand. She's a keeper.
Cass is worried about losing her apartment as she's sub-leasing it from this woman who looks like she might get married. Micah is not sympathetic. He even cracks a joke about the possibility of her living in her car. She is not amused.
Then a boy named Brink shows up, claiming Micah is his father. Micah assures him that's impossible as he and his mother never had sex, one of the reasons they split up. Brink has just started college and already he's taking a break. Micah insists he call his mother, and the boy splits.
This is a very short book. The ending snuck up on me. I turned a page, and it was over. The main thread is about Brink's traumatic situation, but the reader wants to know if Micah will ever find the right woman and how he could mistake a fire hydrant for a redhead at the side of the road.
