Gilbert M. Stack's Blog, page 43

Writing the Bible by Martien Halvorson-Taylor

Writing the Bible by Martien Halvorson-Taylor

This is what a Great Courses book is supposed to be. Rather than get bogged down in faith stories as so many historical books looking at the bible do, Halvorson-Taylor jumps right into the problems of discerning where and how the books of the Old Testament were written and compiled and in doing so teaches us a lot about the history of the regions.

 

People tend to think that the great religions of the world began in their present forms rather than evolved over time. The thing I liked most about Writing the Bible was how Halvorson-Taylor shows again and again how the interests of the people writing about periods that happened centuries earlier put their own worldview on to the historical actors. A really interesting example was King Solomon, who is presented in the Old Testament as having abandoned his monotheism and worshipped other gods. However, those accounts were written centuries after his death. It is much more likely, based on an analysis of the texts and when they were written, that Solomon ruled at a time when the Jews were not yet staunchly monotheistic—something that later authors either didn’t know or couldn’t accept.

 

Another fascinating insight conveyed by Halvorson-Taylor was how the written word did not originally appear to be given the same trustworthiness as the spoken word, but that over time with the literate gaining in influence, the written word became viewed as much more dependable.

 

All in all, this is a wonderful book. I hope she does a sequel on the New Testament.

 

Will Hahn Is Narrating Flood of War

I am excited to announce that narrator extraordinaire, William L. Hahn, has agreed to record an audio book version of my ninth Legionnaire tale, Flood of War. Will has already recorded books 1-8 and the prequel, Jungles of Ekanga, bringing his exceptional vocal talents to the task of bringing the characters to life. In fact, I hear his voice in my head now as I write new dialogue. Let's hope that Will can find time in his busy schedule to quickly move on to recording the tenth novel, Calidus’ Stand.

Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler

Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler

Chandler presents the reader with two apparently separate crimes, both murders, and the fun of the novel is figuring out how they both come together. Getting there is quite a ride as Philip Marlowe stumbles from scene to scene getting cracked over the head so frequently that it feels like every other chapter. Yet Marlowe remains the quintessential hard-boiled detective. He’s tough and undeterrable even when he isn’t getting paid for the job. But there is also a genuine mystery at the root of this and I felt very bad for one of the murderers—as I’m certain Chandler intended me to. All in all, there aren’t actually many nice or even good people in this book—except, of course, for Marlowe.

 

The Spider 4 City of Flaming Shadows

The Spider 4 City of Flaming Shadows

Richard Wentworth is called into action once again when a new villain, the Tarantula, threatens all the money in the banks of New York City by figuring out how to cut out the power to the areas he wants to rob. To complicate things, he has also figured out that Wentworth is the Spider and kidnaps his girlfriend in an attempt to sideline the Spider from interfering with his plans. Naturally, this doesn’t work, so he also tries to frame Wentworth for his crimes.

 

One of the great weaknesses of this series is that in each novel the police all suspect Wentworth is the Spider, but never manage to prove anything against him. In this volume, one cop also suspects he’s the Tarantula but even though he washes disguise makeup off of Wentworth’s face, he only comes up with another disguise underneath. I felt like I was reading an episode of Scooby Doo when the villain wears two masks.

 

Yet the novel is still fun. There’s plenty of action in these stories, if not a lot of brains driving the action. That is true not only of Wentworth but the police as well. Still, it’s a lot of fun watching this hero out of the 1930s try to save civilization all by himself.

 

Over My Dead Body by Rex Stout

Over My Dead Body by Rex Stout

Nero Wolfe has a daughter who is every bit as cantankerous and all-around-difficult as he is. Visiting the U.S. she only makes her existence known when she gets in trouble—accused of stealing some diamonds from a locker in a fencing studio—but murder can’t be far behind in a Nero Wolfe mystery. This one stands apart because everything that happens involves a cast of international operatives seeking to advance a secret intrigue. Wolfe and Archie have to unravel a lot more than who killed who to get to the bottom of this mystery and they have to do it with a client even less helpful than Nero Wolfe.

Destroyer 51 Shock Value by Warren Murphy

Destroyer 51 Shock Value by Warren Murphy

Remo and Chiun are back to acting like The Destroyer again. An unknown foe who can program people to commit assassinations for him gets his hands on Harold Smith to force him to put his computer skills to use for the bad guys. Smith manages to leave Remo and Chiun one small clue and they use it to go after Smith to rescue him. The bad guys try to stop them and fail—badly. The high point of the novel comes in a nice scene toward the end in which Remo gets an insight into how truly capable his Sinanju-trained body is. Overall, this is standard Destroyer fair, but a truly big step up from the last few books.

 

The Golden Spiders by Rex Stout

The Golden Spiders by Rex Stout

When Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin have a spat over Wolfe’s rudeness, Archie tries to get back at Wolfe by permitting a 12 year old street kid who shows up with a “case” for Wolfe to join them at dinner, Wolfe uses the arrival to get back at Archie, making him take notes and treat the interview as a serious case. Both men are shocked a couple of days later when the boy is killed—probably by the man he came to get Wolfe’s help regarding. To make matters worse, the boy’s mother arrives and gives Wolfe the dead child’s life’s savings (a couple of dollars) because it was her son’s last wish. Angry at himself, but also (without acknowledging it) clearly feeling some responsibility toward the dead boy, Wolfe spends the money on a one in a million gambit that pulls him firmly into a fascinating case in which the major clue is a pair of bizarre spider earrings.

 

I love this novel because it shows a touch of humanity in Nero Wolfe that the great detective would clearly prefer that no one knows he has. It also shows him and his team of operatives at their best taking one impossibly small clue and using it to solve three murders. I didn’t figure this one out, but I certainly enjoyed watching Wolfe do so. This novel shows once again why Nero Wolfe deserves to be counted among the greatest of fictional detectives.

 

The Ghost Lights of Forrest Field by M. L. Bullock

The Ghost Lights of Forrest Field by M. L. Bullock

Gulf Coast Paranormal is back, this time investigating mysterious lights that appear over Forrest Field. The lights bring with them the ozone smell of electricity and there are stories of them burning people in the past so there is a greater level of danger than usual right from the beginning in this novel.

 

The mystery—the ghosts—date back to an eighteenth century judicial lynching of a woman accused of burning her friend to death. There is an undercurrent of racism in the lynching as the woman was having a relationship with a Native American that clearly scandalized the community. The GCP team has to figure out how to set all three spirits—the lynched woman, the burnt woman, and the Native American, to rest.

 

These novels are very short reads and they really work for me. I’m six into the series now and I’m still having trouble articulating just what it is that attracts me to them so strongly. I think the answer is in the relationships of the GCP team. I really like the characters and they all have their share of problems which help them come to life. I’m really looking forward to the next book.

 

Banker by Dick Francis

Banker by Dick Francis

Dick Francis finds yet another angle of the horse racing business to fascinate his readers with—this time the stud industry. To give this novel an even more unique feel, he tells the story through the eyes of a merchant banker and brings all the tribulations of high stakes investment into the novel. It’s a fascinating and exciting tale made more touching through some of Francis’ best character development. Like so many of his heroes, Banker’s protagonist falls in love with the wrong woman—not a bad woman, just someone who is not free to love him back. It adds a very touching subplot to a great mystery.

 

Some Buried Caesar by Rex Stout

Some Buried Caesar by Rex Stout

Wow! Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe mysteries just keep getting better and better. This one starts with a car crash in which Wolfe and Archie wreck their vehicle in the middle of the countryside. Wolfe has decided to enter some of his orchids in a competition at a fair in order to get the better of a rival orchid grower. He decides against waiting in the wrecked car while Archie goes for help and so the two start across a field toward a nearby farmhouse. That’s when they encounter Caesar, a gigantic bull who is totally opposed to sharing his field with them. And the story just gets better from there. In fact, we were many chapters in before the murder that will dominate the novel even occurs and the action and the dialogue and the tension between the various groups who will become the murder suspects was so engaging that I didn’t even realize the real plot hadn’t started yet. Stout had pulled me in and I loved every page of it.

 

Then the murder happens and the temperature gets turned up even hotter. Unlike the last time that we saw Wolfe out of his brownstone, he actually appears willing to seek out employment. It turns out (not known until later in the novel) that this is because he has already figured out all the particulars of the case within half an hour of the killing. But Wolfe in his arrogance makes one tiny mistake that turns an easy solution into a serious problem that may be beyond even his abilities to redeem.

 

About two thirds of the way through the story, Stout very subtly drops a clue that provides the thread that lets the reader figure out what Wolfe has known since the murder was committed. Now I often say in these reviews that I figured out who the killer was. This time, I not only used that clue to figure out the murderer, but I even figured out all the particulars of the how and why the crime was committed. What I didn’t figure out until way toward the end, was how Wolfe was going to prove it.

 

This is another absolutely wonderful Nero Wolfe mystery. It has the added benefit of introducing Lily Rowan who will appear in a great many future novels. If you like Nero Wolfe stories, or have been thinking of trying one, this is a must read.