Gilbert M. Stack's Blog, page 23

The Spirits of Brady Hall by M.L. Bullock

The Spirits of Brady Hall by M.L. Bullock

The last book in this series ended with two interesting subplots that I felt were begging to be turned into full-fledged novels. In both plots, people appeared to be using their psychic gifts to harm either members of the Gulf Coast Paranormal Team or people close to them. This promised a very interesting twist on the team’s standard investigations, but both subplots were dropped completely in this volume.

 

Instead, we got one of those standard investigations in which angry ghosts were causing problems. The story was interesting, but didn’t stand out in the way those two subplots from the previous book promised to do. Even though one of the ghosts seemed particularly interested in doing harm to Sierra, the threat level never seemed all that serious. The book is mostly important because it brings back the cowardly betrayer, Peter, who keeps getting kicked out of the group and coming back begging to be forgiven.

 

Colony One Mars by Gerald M. Kilby

Colony One Mars by Gerald M. Kilby

There is something about stories that focus on colonizing the solar system that always excite me. Mars has been an interest of mine since I first picked up Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars and I’ve enjoyed a wide range of other Mars-based stories over the years from Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars, to Ian Douglas’ Semper Mars, to more recently, S.J. Morden’s One Way. Gerald Kilby’s Colony One Mars has a lot in common with the best of these tales. There’s a mystery at the heart of the story, serious threats to the survival of the astronauts, and some decent characterization to ground the story around people we quickly come to like.

 

The mystery is what happened to the previous colony—that is, the Colony One of the title. A private corporation (COM) had set up the colony and then in one of Mars horrendous sandstorms, all contact was lost and everyone was presumed dead. Except, maybe they aren’t all dead and the colony infrastructure is not in nearly as bad a shape as the astronauts expected.

 

The astronauts, by the way, are not part of COM—except for one unidentified traitor whom we learn early on is actually on COM’s payroll as a double agent. So, the astronauts don’t know that the colony was actually set up to run illegal experiments on humans. This is unfortunate, because the results of those experiments still exist in the colony and cause much of the drama in the book. One of the astronauts is quickly infected with something and the results are…bad.

 

Overall, this is a tense story about survival that I enjoyed very much. I do have a couple of quibbles. The main character, Jann, is constantly referred to as undertrained for the mission with some astronauts outright saying she doesn’t belong. I thought this was both unrealistic and unnecessary. Why on earth send an untrained person to Mars? There would have been plenty of backup people ready to fill in if a slot unexpectedly opened due to illness or accident.

 

Also, Jann especially, doesn’t think about communications very much and it’s unrealistic. She’s attacked by the infected crewmember and just runs away never thinking to warn people about what she’s just experienced. And when she does finally reach the others, they choose to believe that she is the one having the break down, not the person who was made ill during the search of Colony One. I just didn’t think that made sense, but once we get past that part of the story, things pick up nicely again.

 

Christmas After All by Cece Louise

Christmas After All by Cece Louise

This is a cute romance that actually make the enemies-turned-lovers idea work. The reason it works is that the “enemies” moment comes when the two are just teenagers. Melissa is a cheerleader who just got back together with her cheating boyfriend (she refuses to believe he was cheating) when Tucker, a geeky kid in her class, gets on the football game announcer system and sings her a song he wrote asking her to go to prom with him. She is embarrassed and publicly rejects him. A year later, he becomes a country music star based on the popularity of a song he wrote about the incident, unintentionally humiliating her back. The novel focuses upon the two ten years later and it’s really a very sweet story.

 

Tucker comes home to his small town as a country music sensation and Melissa’s life has gone to hell. He’s buying the place she works and she’s finding the situation untenable, and things only start getting worse when circumstances force them together. Yet Tucker still has a crush on Melissa and she has learned a lot of humility in the last ten years. And because both of them have grown up, it gives them a chance to decide if they would like to try that relationship they didn’t get as high school students. It’s a lovely holiday tale.

 

Clovenhoof by Heide Goody and Iain Grant

Clovenhoof by Heide Goody and Iain Grant

I have mixed reactions to this novel. On the one hand, the main storyline about Satan exiled to earth never quite caught my interest. It moved slowly and I just didn’t care. On the other hand, there’s a story simultaneously taking place in heaven which I eagerly awaited each installment of as I trudged through the main storyline chapters. In heaven, the board of directors (people like Michael the Archangel, St. Peter, Francis of Assisi, Mother Theresa, and Joan of Arc) try to deal with the consequences of earth’s population boom greatly increasing the numbers of people dying and going to heaven (and hell). This was often humorous before its disturbing and totally predictable end.

 

So, it’s a mixed bag. I never cared about Clovenhoof but I was interested to uncover the plot that had ended up getting him exiled to earth. Also, the mystery surrounding the Throne of God was quite clever (if predictable). All in all, there was a lot of good fun.

 

Tribe by Jeremy Robinson

Tribe by Jeremy Robinson

I was really blown away by Jeremy Robinson’s book, NPC, so it was with eager anticipation that I started Tribe. Unfortunately, this novel never caught my attention the way the first book did. I started it in audiobook six different times before I finally decided to finish it. The plot is one that appears every once in a while. The best known of the recent books is probably the Percy Jackson series. Gods exist and they occasionally have children and this is about what happens to them. I will risk a spoiler by saying it isn’t very nice. The big bad guy gives new definition to the word “insane” and so do most of his children and his followers.

 

About the best thing I can say about the book is there is a ton of action—so much so that the words “too much” might legitimately be used. Fight scenes roll on chapter after chapter. The action is well depicted and interesting, but it didn’t totally make up for a storyline of youngsters discovering their godhood through enduring terrible stresses.

 

Overall, I’m glad I read the novel, but it’s certainly no NPC.

 

Death on Deadline by Robert Goldsborough

Death on Deadline by Robert Goldsborough

Every once in a while, Nero Wolfe is motivated to adopt a mission that makes him change his modus operandi. When Stout was writing, Wolfe decided to enlist in the army to fight Nazis and another time he decided to leave not just his precious home, but the entire United States to avenge the murder of a friend. This time, he is driven to abnormal behavior by the threat of a tabloid-esq publisher buying the New York Gazette. He spends more than $30,000 without a client or a crime to try and stop the takeover and the reader is deep into the story before a crime (murder, of course) is even committed.

 

Despite the unusual behavior on Wolfe’s part, this book reads like classic Rex Stout. Wolfe will not be deterred and when the murder gives him a more traditional path to achieve his ends, he grasps hold and pushes his investigation to a very satisfying ending.

 

The only thing that might be a little off in this novel is Inspector Cramer. After reading a couple dozen of Stout’s novels, I expect him to show up and yell at Wolfe a bit more than he does in this book. But that only occurred to me after I finished reading. It didn’t detract from my enjoyment of a superb tale.

 

Will Save the Galaxy for Food by Yahtzee Croshaw

Will Save the Galaxy for Food by Yahtzee Croshaw

My son bought me this book for Father’s Day which automatically makes it special in my eyes. It’s filled with a sort of slapstick humor as our hero, who is being paid a lot of money to pretend to be a notorious star pilot, gets himself into one ridiculous jam after another. The plot is fast moving and there’s quite a bit of action. And while the humor wasn’t quite my cup of tea, I think it will make a lot of readers smile.

 

The Ghosts of Oakleigh House by M.L. Bullock

The Ghosts of Oakleigh House by M.L. Bullock

Bullock builds some excellent tension in this latest book in the Gulf Coast Paranormal series. Much of it is in the main storyline, but the two best pieces are in the subplots.

 

In the main story, a ghost pushes a ladder over causing the man on the ladder to break bones. This results in an old crush of Midas’ calling in the Gulf Coast Paranormal crew to investigate and that investigation leads to a physical item that is attracting negative spirits and trapping more positive ones. It’s very interesting and takes a big step in expanding the foundations of Bullock’s paranormal world. But the subplots do that even better because both suggest that people—sensitives like Sierra and Cassidy—can use their abilities to harm less protected humans.

 

In the last book, we learn that Sierra’s mother-in-law may be having a problem with the supernatural. In the beginning of this book, we learn that an angry neighbor is behind the problem—and that has chilling implications. Then, in a separate subplot, an old art student of Cassidy’s seeks her out and messes with her, resulting in Cassidy getting very sick—a subplot that I sincerely hope Bullock will pursue. Could it be that the success of the Gulf Coast Paranormal team in resolving so many cases with a spirit unable to rest is starting to have repercussions as negative entities would like to put an end to their activities? That notion has not yet been brought up in the book, but it certainly seems possible after Bullock introduced these two problems. I can’t wait to see what’s coming next.

 

The Greek Coffin Mystery by Ellery Queen

The Greek Coffin Mystery by Ellery Queen

One of the joys of reading Ellery Queen novels is that moment toward the end of the book when the narrator steps out of character and challenges the reader to solve the mystery. I’ve read a bunch of them now and rarely come close to getting the solution right. This time I caught one of the red herrings with a fair degree of accuracy—which means I was wrong, but not as clueless as I sometimes feel when I reach this point.

 

This novel is a slow read but well worth your time. (It’s slow because you will want to take the time to consider each event as it occurs and try to decide what, if anything, it tells you about who committed the crime.) I’m reluctant to say too much about the plot lest I give something away, but this one has it all—missing wills, multiple deaths, and a plethora of possible criminal masterminds.

 

The Break Up Artist by Erin Clark and Lauren Lovely

The Break Up Artist by Erin Clark and Lauren Lovely

In many ways this is a completely traditional and predictable romance. Woman meets man, they get interested, they grow romantic, a secret causes a rift, but love wins out in the end. And on that level, it is really nothing to write home about. But the twist that makes this novel more interesting is the sideline of the heroine, Zelda, who runs a “business” (she doesn’t charge for her services) an anonymous internet personality who helps people who don’t know how to get out of their relationships. She’s “The Break Up Artist." Desperately unhappy people write to her with a list of everything that is wrong with the person they want to kick out of their lives, and Zelda writes a snappy email back that they can put their name on to sever the relationship. Many people, it turns out, just forward her letter complete with her signature, “The Break Up Artist,” so she is becoming a little bit infamous. There is also the impression that she is making money off of this, which is strange, since it’s basically a word-of-mouth business that started with a few flyers and she doesn’t charge.

 

Zelda seems to do this because she finds writing the letters cathartic and believes she is helping people. In a life that is basically falling apart, writing a breakup letter or two each night reenergizes her. Her mother has just died and within a year her father married a former classmate of Zelda’s and unfortunately, there is lot of evidence that they have sex all the time. (And isn’t that a little creepy to think your parent is having sex with someone your age.) Her work situation for a marketing firm is unrewarding with her boss taking her ideas but refusing to give her any credit. And apparently the first thing every guy who takes her on a date wants to know is if she can still have sex since she needs a wheelchair to get around.

 

So, her life sucks, and then she meets a wonderful guy whom she learns was the recipient of one of her breakup letters. I never really understood why this was a potential problem. After all, she only put into words what the ex-girlfriend told her. I think that on date number two, if I was Zelda, I would have brought a printout of both the ex-girlfriend’s email and the breakup response and given them to Jake with a little explanation of how she got into doing this and then I think they would have quickly moved on. But there is no drama in my solution so of course she holds off until the ex-girlfriend decides she wants her ex-boyfriend back so she can spend his recent inheritance money. (That’s not really a spoiler. It was obvious it was going to happen right from the beginning.)

 

But Zelda isn’t me and she can’t solve things that easily (although she does solve her problems with her new “stepmom” pretty easily—and I think unrealistically). So, we get a little drama which frankly makes the book more fun even if I think the idea embraced by so many in the book that the Break Up Artist is somehow evil was more than a little crazy.