Wesley Britton's Blog, page 29

Book Review: Porkies by John Henry Bennett

Porkies
John Henry Bennett
Print Length: 343 pages
Publication Date: November 1, 2015
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
ASIN: B017H31IVW
https://www.amazon.com/Porkies-John-H...

Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton

Porkies is John Henry Bennett’s 2015 sequel to his 2012 Pigs, and this is one of those cases where you really need to read the first volume before diving into book two of the trilogy.

In part, that’s because Porkies begins at the moment when Pigs ended, with the clicking countdown of a dirty bomb timer working its way through a London sewer. After the bomb is defused, Bennett spends considerable time with three alternating storylines focused on his three principal characters. First are the circumstances involving his primary protagonist, Harry Baxter, a middle rank operative for the British intelligence service. In order to keep him away from possible political embarrassment for events that occurred in Pigs, Baxter is assigned to an apparently tedious mole hunt in Islamabad, Pakistan. Likewise, his on again, off again girlfriend Mossad agent Anna Harrison (a.k.a. Anne Hardy) is taken off the frontlines by her superiors for her not following procedures before she’s reassigned to Beirut, Lebanon just before a major terrorist operation is launched there. Along the way, we watch Alain Dubois, operative for France’s DGSE intelligence agency serving in Lebanon, hook up with Anna before the pair of them meet up with Baxter some 200 pages or so into the narrative. In short, it takes Bennett around 200 pages to set up his chessboard, demonstrating battling worldwide Jihad can only be done while operatives simultaneously walk on diplomatic high wires and not ruffle any political sensitivities.

The main trio spend some recuperative time together in Beirut and Damascus after Alain and Anna are wounded in an aborted Hezbollah kidnapping scheme before Harry, against orders, rescues them. Then, Alain and Anna are off to Paris and Harry returns to Islamabad. Throw in the CIA, some pesky Russians, and some relentless Jihadists and we get the brewings of a plot to place bombs in Paris and London for simultaneous devastation.

I’ve read reviews where fellow readers wonder if Bennett is in the tradition of either Fleming or Le Carre. Neither, it seems to me. There’s none of the Flemingesque escapism or fantasy and none of the atmospherics of Le Carre. There’s none of the pumped-up thrill rides of authors like Jack Higgins, Clive Cussler or Eric Van Lustbader. Rather, I think of spy writers like W. Somerset Maugham, especially his 1928 Ashenden: or The British Agent, and some of his literary contemporaries like Graham Greene or Eric Ambler. By this I mean Bennett is following in the footsteps of getting into the bureaucratic weeds of administrative processes and procedures and the day-by-day functions of espionage officers that are often neither dramatic nor exciting. As with Pigs, all the pyrotechnics and violence occur in the final 100 pages of Porkies.

In the end, Bennett’s trilogy, presuming the 2017 Lies, Damn Lies follows the same formula as Pigs and Porkies, is for readers who like their spy stories believable, realistic, down-to-earth, and appearing to be based on actual spycraft of our times. Events are more likely to take place in government offices more so than in enemy bases or fantastic headquarters, the technology is far more low-key than in many other thrillers, and much of the action is simply moving the players from square to square. As I said in my review of Pigs, I feel reading these books is like reading espionage procedurals where we see how everything is done and why.

This review was first posted at BookPleasures.com on Oct. 13, 2017:
http://dpli.ir/Tni6vN

Some Aliens Shouldn't Be Spies

Some spies just weren’t cut out to be spies.

That’s even when their targets are aliens from another earth who wouldn’t suspect a thing. That’s even including the fact these two sexy spies have the ability to share their thoughts and sensations at exactly the same moments. That’s even when they find the way to seduce an alien male in their bed.

These spies are the Pidghe girls, two identical sisters on The Third Earth. You can meet them on the cover at:

https://www.amazon.com/Third-Earth-Be...

Join the new Beta Earth Chronicles Facebook page!

You’re invited to hook up with the brand new Beta Earth Chronicles Facebook page! Join the tribe!
https://www.facebook.com/BetaEarthChr...

Comic books and comics newsletter

If you like comic strips or comic books and see the connection between this art form and children’s literacy, then you might like a FREE monthly educational newsletter “Superhero Sandwich” at http://kforpartnership.wixsite.com/educ that explores the history of comic strips, comic books, their creators and how it all was significant throughout many decades in children developing an interest in reading.

As a teacher who took notice in the abundance of titles offered by educational publishers like ABDO publishing, Ken Harris realized there have been a growing number of fiction books about superheroes used to go along with the themes and lessons children learn in school.

Harris has researched this topic extensively for the past several years and found it informative and inspiring when he organize lesson plans. He wish to not only share his knowledge about his growing understanding of the history of comics, but he also likes to engage in conversation with others who find this a significant topic.

Ken would greatly appreciate it if you sign up for his FREE monthly educational newsletter at http://kforpartnership.wixsite.com/educ. He likes to network with and exchange information on the influence of the comics and how it shaped and molded our country since the Great Depression.

Kenneth Harris
http://kforpartnership.wixsite.com/educ
kforpartnership@gmail.com

New Review of The Third Earth--

Here’s a new review of Wes Britton’s The Third Earth, book 5 of the Beta-Earth Chronicles:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R1SK...

Just for Halloween Fun . . .

Just for Halloween fun—

On two blogs from Mark Alfred, (Mark’s Super Blog and Spock’s Record Round-Up), Mark is featuring pre-Halloween celebrations, sharing old coloring-book images, monster bubble-gum cards, scary-themed music, and more!

Check it all out at:

http://markssuperblog.blogspot.com/

or

http://spocksrecordround-up.blogspot....

Book Review: Black Dahlia, Red Rose: The Crime, Corruption, and Cover-Up of America's Greatest Unsolved Murder by Piu Eatwell.

Black Dahlia, Red Rose: The Crime, Corruption, and Cover-Up of America's Greatest Unsolved Murder
Piu Eatwell.
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Liveright; 1 edition (October 10, 2017)
ISBN-10: 1631492268
ISBN-13: 978-1631492266
https://www.amazon.com/Black-Dahlia-R...

Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton

Eighty years after her murder on January 14 or 15, 1947, you’d think there’d be nothing new to say about the death of Elizabeth Short, dubbed “The Black Dahlia” by the Las Angeles press. Over the decades, her short life has been fictionalized in print and on screen, and she’s been portrayed as everything from a prostitute, would-be actress, a lesbian, to a frigid sexual tease.

Without question, the moniker of “Black Dahlia” put Short into the national spotlight in 1947 and afterward, along with the much publicized grotesque, lurid details of how her body was found. Her face had been slashed from the corners of her mouth to her ears, portions of her thighs had been sliced away, her body had been cut completely in half, and The lower half of her body was positioned a foot away from the upper half. And that’s just part of the mutilations she endured.

The public was further intrigued on January 24, 1947 when a suspicious manila envelope was discovered by a U.S. Postal Service worker that had individual words that had been cut-and-pasted from newspaper clippings. A large message on the face of the envelope read: "Here is Dahlia's belongings” containing Short's birth certificate, business cards, photographs, names written on pieces of paper, and an address book with the name Mark Hansen embossed on the cover.

Not surprisingly, Police quickly deemed Mark Hansen, a man with underworld connections, a suspect. Author Piu Eatwell thinks he was involved, even if she doesn’t think he was the actual killer. She thinks Leslie Dillon, a man with known connections to both Short and Hansen, was.

Much of Eatwell’s exploration of the case focuses on what happened after the discovery of Short’s corpse and why, in the author’s opinion, the case was never solved. According to the latest historian to try her hand at uncovering the truth to the brutal crime, that elusive truth could have been told long ago if not for the obstruction and cover-ups by a number of Las Angeles police higher-ups who either didn’t want to get into interdepartmental turf wars or didn’t want to upset some gangsters who’d corrupted the LAPD. Like Mark Hansen.

Eatwell spends little time reviewing the plethora of other theories and other proposed suspects but instead offers her research into why she’s convinced Leslie Dillon got away with murder. She explores what evidence was ignored, neglected, lost, not presented to the 1949 grand jury, and she discusses why some witnesses were pressured into keeping silent. While the crime is shocking enough on its own, how the criminal justice system operated during that era, at least as described by Piu Eatwell, is equally chilling. Like the views of several police officials who felt the death of a footloose 22 year old just wasn’t worth all the trouble to solve the case. Considering all the current problems we’re having with the U.S. judicial system, Piu Eatwell’s portrait of the events of 1947 and after are sadly much too convincing and believable.

Piu Eatwell’s nonfiction book should appeal to readers who like true crime stories but also fans of fictional murder mysteries. The story of the Black Dahlia is still one with sensational elements and Eatwell presents a vivid and gritty world in which Elizabeth Short died. Her book probably isn’t the last word on the subject, but it is one worthy of contemporary interest.





This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Oct. 4 at:
http://dpli.ir/Nft5Sn

Book Review: THE SHEPHERD’S CALCULUS by C.S. Farrelly

THE SHEPHERD’S CALCULUS
C.S. Farrelly
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Cavan Bridge Press (Sept. 28, 2017)
ISBN-10: 0998749303
ISBN-13: 978-0998749303
https://www.amazon.com/Shepherds-Calc...


Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton

C.S. Farrelly’s debut novel, The Shephard’s Calculus, is an exploration of the often negative presence of the Catholic Church in America. The issues Farrelly delves into include predatory priests, the church’s cover-ups of these pedophiles, the church’s wish to obtain power and wealth at the expense of their parishioners, and the drive to influence a presidential election by pressuring all priests and bishops to campaign for a pro-life candidate.

Farrelly dramatizes these issues using a wide cast of important characters. There’s journalist Peter Merrick who’s investigating the life of his late mentor, Jesuit priest James Ingram. There’s incumbent president Arthur Wyncott who, despite being a fiscal conservative, isn’t as religious as his opponents like the independent Thomas Archer who wears his faith on his very public sleeve. There’s Milton Casey, Wyncott’s campaign chief strategist, and his aide Ally Larkin who try to find a path through the religious zealots and their power broking maneuvers to re-elect their president. There is Owen Feeney, head of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, who faces nearly a billion dollars in payments to victims of sex abuse while Merrick uncovers just how often Feeney transferred pedophile priest from one parish to another rather than do anything that would make their crimes publicly embarrassing. There’s Cardinal Mulcahy who thinks there are trades to be made to keep Wyncott in the White House and accommodate the wishes of his church.

Compromises, uneasy choices, and calculations become part of the cynical mix when these characters are forced to choose between their consciences or their church, their principles or their political beliefs. In some cases, the lines between right and wrong seem rather obvious. In many others, the lines are blurry, muddy, and not easily balanced or navigated.

While Farrelly is blending political intrigue with religious conspiracies, no reader should expect another offering in the mold of an overheated Dan Brown thriller. There’s no over-the-top fantasizing about age-old secret societies or long-buried textual mysteries. Instead, the story is closer to a police procedural where the events and characters are extremely believable and often quite down-to-non-celestial earth. Many readers may find the situations, many familiar from the headlines, quite uncomfortable and much too close to home.

Still, the tone is quite balanced and the conclusion surprisingly optimistic even with the final death scene. So this book gives us a thoughtful look into the concerns Farrelly presents with few black- and- white answers.


This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Oct. 2 at:
http://dpli.ir/k00qTE

Wonderful new book trailer is now up for the Beta-Earth Chronicles!

I’m delighted to announce the first Youtube book trailer for The Beta-Earth Chronicles. Check it out at:

https://youtu.be/m8rrP2warHc

Book Review: A Question of Allegiance by Peter Vollmer

A Question of Allegiance
Peter Vollmer
Print Length: 354 pages
Publisher: Endeavour Press (January 11, 2017)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
ASIN: B01NBUBPSX
https://www.amazon.com/Question-Alleg...

Reviewed by Dr. Wesley Britton

I may not have been the very first one, but I was certainly among the earliest reviewers of the novels of South African writer Peter Borchard a.k.a. Peter Vollmer. My reviews began with 2011’s Relentless Pursuit, continued with 2012’s Diamonds Are But Stone, and 2015’s Left For Dead. Of special interest was his 2015 Per Fine Ounce, a continuation novel featuring a character named Geoffrey Peace created by fellow South African novelist Geoffrey Jenkins, a writer with notable connections with Ian Fleming.

In my earlier reviews, I observed that Vollmer is a more than worthy successor to the very successful Jenkins as both writers share much in common. For one matter, both are very adept with descriptions of both characters and settings. Both can take the reader to international locations sketched in vivid detail, no matter what era of history is being used. Both can give the reader fast-paced thrill-rides in stories difficult to pigeon-hole into any particular genre.

A Question of Allegiance is narrated in the first person by Matthias Aschenborn, the son of a well-to-do Southwestern African farmer and businessman with strong roots in Germany. The story opens as the Nazis are coming to power in the Fatherland, and Matthias and his brother George travel to Germany hoping for a university education there. However, Matthias is conscripted and he is trained as an aviator destined for service in the Luftwaffe. He quickly realizes he’s a natural at flying and begins a romance with his trainer’s daughter, Wiebke Osterkamp. George also has a romantic relationship, but it’s problematic as Ruth is a Jew. The issue of Jews in Nazi Germany is a constant concern in the first chapters of the book as none of the Aschenborn’s support the Nazis and have many Jewish friends and business associates.

Thereafter, much of the book reads like Aschenborn’s wartime memoirs as he sketches his adventures in battles in Spain, Russia, and then back to Germany. Some passages show him a man women seem to find irresistible and some sections describe grisly war atrocities. In the waning days of the war, the Russians capture him and transport him to a Russian gulag, sentenced to 10 years hard labor. To say more would take this review into the realm of spoilers. I will say there comes a point where it seems this book is really two novels in one.

Clearly, the main audience A Question of Allegiance should appeal to should be readers who like historical fiction, especially those interested in the European theatre of World War II. But you don’t have to be an aficionado of the era and setting to appreciate the very human saga of Matthias Aschenborn, especially as he doesn’t simply tell us what he did, when, and where, but also shares his feelings and thoughts and reveals the why’s of his actions. These “whys” likely were the same for many Germans swept up in the hard tide of history.

Even after all these years, for many Peter Vollmer remains an unknown quantity. A Question of Allegiance may be the book to change all that.

Wes Britton’s 2011 review of Relentless Pursuit was posted at:
http://www.bookpleasures.com/websitep...

Wes Britton’s 2012 review of Diamonds Are But Stone is up at:
http://www.bookpleasures.com/websitep...

Wes Britton’s 2015 article,” The Re-Boot of PER FINE OUNCE: A Continuation Novel That Isn’t What You Think” was published at:
https://literary007.com/2015/03/25/th...

Wes Britton’s 2015 review of Left for Dead is up at:
http://www.bookpleasures.com/websitep...

This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Sept. 23, 2017 at:
http://dpli.ir/LtmtBi