Michael A. Draper's Blog, page 24

Suspenseful and intense

I've been a fan of Michael Connelly for years and with "The Gods of Guilt" the reader sees one more demonstration of Michael Connelly's talent and story telling ability.

The Lincoln Lawyer, Mickey Haller gets a call about a murder and discovers that the victim was a prostitute who he had helped in the past. He thought he had helped her change her life. He feels let down and learns that the man accused of killing the prostitute, Gloria Dayton, had been referred to Mickey from Gloria. She told him that if was ever in a jam, Haller was the best.

Mickey learns that Gloria had been a DEA informant and when Mickey receives a subpoena he becomes aware that Gloria might have been dealing with a crocked DEA agent who may have used her to set up a drug dealer so the man got a longer sentence. Since Gloria had knowledge of the case against the drug dealer, Mickey thinks that may have led to her murder and by linking the two cases, Mickey might free two men who were set up.

As Mickey and his team is investigating the situation where Gloria set up the drug dealer, he isn't aware that he is placing himself and his staff in danger.

Connelly draws his characters with finesse, giving enough background for the reader to become interested in the character and in seeing their lives as real figures not just names on a page.

Mickey isn't perfect and this gives the reader a reason to be in his corner and pull for him. One of his failures is that sometimes he treats other characters in a disdainful manner. He is a bottom line person who looks at the final results and sometimes misses being a better man.

The courtroom scenes are well portrayed and realistic. I also enjoyed the conclusion and know that if I ever was in need of an attorney, I'd like to have Mickey Haller in my corner.

Exceptional

This masterpiece is filled with unexpected turns and touching moments. Penn Cage, mayor of Natchez, Mississippi, learns that his father, a beloved doctor, is about to be arrested for physician assisted suicide. The case involves Dr. Tom Cage's former nurse, Viola, an African-American.

Penn is a former prosecutor and wants to help his father but Tom won't talk about it, citing doctor patient confidentiality. A complication arises when an Afro-
American man claims that he is Viola's son and that Dr. Cage is his father.

The story goes back to the 60s when racial tensions in Mississippi were at their peak. The Klu Klux Klan is active but a more violent group splinters off. They call themselves the Double Eagles and one of the first people they murder is a young black man who was sleeping with the daughter of a wealthy member of the group. There is another black man who had been helping the murdered man hide and the Double Eagles set fire to this man's store and what they do to him is difficult to imagine. Dr. Cage's nurse is the sister of one of the men the Double Eagles are after and Cage helps her and the man in a way that places himself in danger.

We read about the power of the anti Negro members and their hatred for those promoting racial equality. There is a great deal of history detailed and we come across such figures as Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy.

Penn Cage narrates the story. He seems secure in his role as Mayor and novelist. However, neither he nor his father realize what that they are up against with the racists who they are trying to prove had something to do with Viola's death and had killed a number of men in the 60s.

This elegant story deals with hope and despair. The author makes the characters come to life, they are not just names on a page but people who the reader gets to know intimately. This is the first book of a planned trilogy and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I received a free copy of this book in return for writing an honest review.

Extrordinary Novel

Frank Drum reminisces about his life when he was thirteen-years-old in Minnesota. It's 1961 and the area is excited about the Minnesota Twins moving to their state and playing baseball in Minnesota.

Frank and his younger brother, Jake, learn that a friend of theirs has died at the railroad tracks. This is a dangerous place where children are warned to stay away from. As the local minister, Frank's father, Nathan, conducts the funeral service and Frank is made aware of some of what the boy's parents were going through. Frank relates that he didn't know it at the time but this summer would bring other deaths, one quite close to him.

Frank's father was in law school prior to WWII but after seeing action in the war, he had no desire to practice law and decided to go into the ministry. There are times that Frank hears his mother wish that Nathan had become an attorney and that she had her fill of being a minister's wife.

The river by the railroad has a large place in the story, the body of an itinerant is found there but it is the third death that shatters Frank's peaceful summer.

Gus is a man who does odd jobs around town and is Frank's father's confidante. He had been in the army with Nathan and they share battlefield memories. Gus could easily be a character in "To Kill a Mockingbird" as the adult who Scout could turn to when confused about what is going on around her. Gus has faults but is a kind of Everyman who has an innate goodness.

The theme of a person's faith and putting oneself in the hands of God is well presented with Ruth, Frank's mother, as the person who has doubts and wishes she got more attention from Nathan and was tired of having to be a model wife.

As the novel evolves, the author's lyrical style is seen with his descriptions of the land, the life of a small town and faith in God.

The novel has been nominated for an Edgar Award for the best mystery novel of 2013.

Tasty mystery with excellent desert

This is a delightful novel with interesting characters and tasty recipes.

Haley Snow is a food critic for a magazine in Key West. She's also busy as the maid of honor for her best friend, Connie. Connie has been close to Haley's family for years and most of Haley's family is coming to Florida for the wedding.

As the story opens, Haley is busy preparing a desert for the wedding. She learns that her stepbrother is also coming to the wedding. Rory is a moody teenager who complains about everything.

At the rehearsal dinner, Rory is bored and wants to visit the city by himself. Haley persuades Rory's mother and step-father to allow him to go. It's spring break so there are many college students in town. Rory is given permission as long as he's home at a reasonable hour.

With Haley busy with wedding preparations for Connie, it seems like everything is going well but Rory doesn't come home. Police are called and Haley joins the search for Rory without success. Further inquiries show that Rory was last seen on a stolen jet ski with a young girl.

The scenic story is set in Key West with Haley living on a houseboat. She enjoys cooking and the author shares some of the recipes of her specialties such as strawberry cream pie with graham cracker crust, and  Spanakopita. Both meals are heartily enjoyed by those lucky enough to taste it.  Enjoying the food and the various restaurants Haley is reviewing lessens the tensions existing with Rory and a development in the marriage of Connie and her fiance.

Haley is a delightful character who is described so well that the reader will think they know her and are at the scene of some of her culinary feasts.

The story moves along nicely with a good mixture of action, scene setting and imaginative food breaks. It is a story the reader will remember

A well done story

This family story opens with two girls, age twelve and six, witness the sudden death of their mother. The girl's names are Easter and Ruby, respectively.  Since their father left the family and relinquished parental rights, the girls are put in a children's home. The possibilities of what will become of these children was an intriguing premise for the book.

The girls seem to have settled in at their temporary home. Most of the children are black and one of Ruby's friends tells her that they will probably be adopted because they are white.

Then, one day while playing kickball, their father appears. He wants to re-establish contact with the girls. He was a former minor league baseball player and left the family when problems mounted to high for him to cope with.

The setting is Gastonia, North Carolina and we see the attitudes the children have and their lack of expectations. They have maternal grandparents in Alaska but there doesn't seem to be any rush by these grandparents to come to the south and being the process of gaining custody of the children.

Then, complications arise. We learn that there is someone after their father, Wade. He did something to this character so that the man carries a grudge against him. Further, he is paid to find Wade and locate something he took from an unscrupulous character.

We also follow the actions of Brady Wellers who is the court appointed guardian of the children.

It is interesting to read of Easter's low expectations and lack of any faith that her father has returned for legitimate reasons and wants to regain a lasting relationship.  Something happens and he takes the girls away from the home and we follow their trail and that of the man after Wade and of Brady Wellers who wants the best for the children.

Easter, in her maturity, has been compared to Atticus Finch's daughter, Scout, of "To Kill a Mockingbird" both girls are approximately the same age and behave far beyond their age.

Wade has come into money from someplace but Easter feels that wherever it came from, it can't be legitimate and she can't believe anything he tells her.

The story continues as we see the family in different places and the man who is after Wade. Feeling that some doom will befall Wade, we root for Brady Wellers and hope he can save the children from whatever fate might be before them.

There are some good surprises in the story and good development, especially in the relationship of Easter
and her father. The setting was well described and the mixture of action and drama was well handled.
Overall, a very satisfying and entertaining read.

Intelligent mystery set in England

This book was selected in my mystery reading club. It is an absorbing story with a unique protagonist.

Dr. Ruth Galloway is an archeologist who is asked by Det. Inspector Harry Nelson, to examine some human bones found in a saltmarsh. He hopes he has discovered the bones of a child who went missing ten years ago, it would at least solve the mystery.

The saltmarsh setting is not far from Ruth's home. She lives there with her two cats and has only two neighbors on a lonely road. One of her neighbors is there only on weekends and the other is a reclusive bird warden.

Ruth agrees to help Harry and discovers that the bones are ancient. Further study shows that they are over two thousand years old and must have been from some ritual at the time.

Ruth is overweight and doesn't mind living alone. She spends much of her time, preparing for her lessons at the university where she teaches. Unexpectedly involved in researching the bones, she becomes friends with Harry.

Harry is tormented with the case of the missing girl. He even gets letters taunting him about his inability to find the girl's body. These letters have literary and archaeological references. Then, another little girl goes missing and Ruth agrees to help again.

The author portrays Ruth well and we see her compassion for the families of the missing children. She has a small number of friends who were at an archaeological dig ten years ago and the reader is led to wonder if any of these friends could have had a hand in their abductions.

I enjoyed learning about Ruth and Harry and their development as characters. It was interesting that she was described as being overweight and yet, in the concluding scenes, her weight was an important part of the story's suspense.

Explicitly detailed murder mystery

This lengthy first mystery tells about an investigative journalist who learns that his gay brother has been murdered. The brother, Billy, was an artist who liked to paint pictures of men in a pornographic manner.

Philip, the protagonist, decides to look into his brother's past. As he does, we learn of their mother, a successful artist and her agent, Uncle Adrian who exploited her and initiated both boys in sexual activity.

Police learn that a friend of Billy's was found murdered in Bermuda and that a person went into Billy's room at the hospital and did something to his computer. Police feel that what this man was looking for makes Philip in danger so they give him a protection detail.

It turns out that Adrian liked being the agent for artists with young male children so he could manipulate the artist and seduce the boys.

Philip has flashbacks to his and his brother's childhood when he remembers being initiated into sexual activity by Uncle Adrian. These details are told in explicit manner and in my opinion, don't add to the suspense of the story.

Uncle Adrian was doing more that manipulating artists to seduce their children. Philip tries to trap him into coming to where an art treasure is hidden. The conclusion of which was well done.

The author is a story teller and the book is extremely long and from the art point of view, well researched. I enjoyed the suspense and the connections that Philip found with the children of other artists. The story was well done but outside of my comfort zone.

Charles Dickens short story

A possibility in a short story is that there isn't the ability to give a description of the characters. As a result, in this story, it took me a little bit of reading to find out what is happening with the characters and to understand what is meant by a cricket on the hearth. It made me confused at the start of the story.

After a bit of reading, I could see that Caleb lives in an impoverished home with his daughter, Bertha, who is blind. He works for a toy maker, Takleton, who is rather insensitive. To make Bertha feel better about Caleb's boss, Caleb exposes his virtues. He does such a good job that Bertha falls in love with Takleton. Then she is devastated to learn that he plans to marry another. He even invites Caleb and Bertha to the wedding.

However, someone is spotted in the kitchen and we wonder who this may be. It turns out that he is a character who was gone for a long time and has now reappeared. He is the true love of Mary, the woman who was going to marry Takleton.

When Mary sees Edward, she knows it is he who she really loves and she and Edward marry. Everyone is happy at the conclusion, even Takleton doesn't seem that upset and he helps celebrate the wedding of the couple.

The ending is nicely done. The short story came out as a Christmas story and leaves the reader with a lesson of love and forgiveness.

Exciting story with historical figures.

I found it interesting to read this thriller which includes the characters of J.R.R. Tolkien and Ian Fleming.

They are in Nazi Germany in 1938 and witness the oppression against the Jews. Fleming is a reporter for "Reuters," while Tolkien is a professor of Nordic studies at Oxford and recently published "The Hobbit."

There is an elderly, retired professor from Oxford who is in possession of a secret device that Henrich Himmler wants. From the opening lines, the reader is brought in to the suspense and intrigue that is taking place in the story. As a reporter, Fleming is very thorough and is able to analyze what is happening and view the consequences.

We see excellent character build up and are fascinated when Fleming falls in love with the professor's daughter.

The authors work well together and the story takes some of the concept of "The Hobbit" 'as the men are aided by a number of ageless dwarfs and have to find a secret cave. They all want to keep this secret device from the Nazi's which could make them even more powerful. The book has good literary association and as in "The Lord of the Rings," the professor wants to keep this device from the Nazis and if he wants to deprive them of it, he must destroy it himself.

The plot moves swiftly and I enjoyed the characters and found it entertaining to think of them in history and to follow their actions. I could easily see this story being made into a film.

Cyber Wars and Wall Street

Garrett Reilly is a well respected bond trader on Wall Street. He's a young hot-shot and notices a large sell off of US Treasuries by the Chinese. He analyzes what he's learned and determines that China is starting a cyber war against the United States.

He's contacted by people in Washington. They noticed that he was far ahead of the financial analysists in knowing what was going on with China and they agree with his assessment. They want him to lead a team to strike back against China.

He accepts. However, he comes to realize that some people in Washington are telling him the truth and others have their own agenda.

The story unfolds rapidly and we come to learn of a young rebel in China, Hu Mei, also known as The Tiger. She is a leader of a protest movement there and has many secret followers.

There is good character development as Garrett picks the team of computer analysists and finical experts to work with. He's a scrappy guy and sometimes likes a break where he can get a few drinks in a bar and if a fight develops, he doesn't mind getting involved with that.

Drew Chapman has a talent for writing a good story but it's best if the reader leave their sense of reality behind, as when, only a short while from determining about the possible cyber war, he's having a meeting with the President.  I enjoyed the book and found it a very exciting and interesting read.