Gilbert M. Stack's Blog, page 61

Review: The Hidden History of Holidays by Hannah Harvey

The Hidden History of Holidays by Hannah Harvey

This is the sort of book that you ought to listen to slowly, over the course of a year, as each new holiday occurs. It’s packed full of trivia about holiday celebrations and how they originated. It’s more for fun than deep thought, but who doesn’t need a little more fun in their lives?

 

Dangerous Games by Warren Murphy

Destroyer 40 Dangerous Games by Warren Murphy

This is one of my favorite Destroyer novels. A terrorist group has threatened to kill all of the American athletes at the Moscow Olympic Games in 1980. (Yes, I know that the U.S. didn’t attend those games, but this book was obviously written before Jimmy Carter made that decision.) The Soviets will not let the U.S. send security teams to accompany their athletes, so Harold Smith, head of CURE, sends Remo and Chiun. To get there, Remo has to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Team and the only challenge for him here is to not perform too well—because as the heir to the mysteries of Sinanju, Remo could make the Olympic athletes in every sport look like toddlers coming out onto the field.

 

So on one level it was just a lot of fun watching Remo try not to perform too well, but there are a couple of great subplots involving a jealous athlete and a young gymnast who intrigues Remo enough to help her excel at her art in a way she never before imagined. Then there is Chiun who wants Remo to win so he can get endorsement deals. And there is also the not insignificant problem of stopping a terrorist organization from killing all the Americans at the games. Suffice it to say, that this was one of the best of the series and I enjoyed every page of it.

 

Review: Hold Back the Night by Axel Blackwell

Hold Back the Night by Axel Blackwell

This is a great police procedural with one significant problem—Blackwell shows us the answer to half of the mystery in the first chapter of the book wherein a very young girl manages to escape a horrific pedophile before dying of exposure and hypothermia just before she reaches help. This first chapter is extremely well written, but it gives the reader way too much information when you consider that the police procedural encompasses the rest of the novel and the first third of those pages are dedicated to the detective discovering things we already know. The repetition almost caused me to abandon the book, but I’m glad I held on because when we move from locating where the girl came from to who her abuser is the novel becomes everything you would expect from this sort of mystery.

 

Blackwell is clearly a talented author who has created a cast of engaging characters. I just wish he hadn’t written he first chapter.

 

 

Review: Methuselah's Children by Robert A. Heinlein

Methuselah’s Children by Robert A. Heinlein

This is the book that introduces one of Heinlein’s most famous characters, immortal Lazarus Long. It opens up with a plot that has the classic Heinlein feel. The existence of tens of thousands of members of the extremely long-lived “Howard Family” has become public knowledge and their extremely tolerant society has decided to throw out their constitution, capture, torture, and study these people out of the belief that they must have a secret to their longevity other than good genes. (The truth is that they have been marrying for longevity for centuries, but no one wants to believe that.) So roughly the first half of the novel is devoted to how the family can survive this sudden persecution.

 

The second half of the novel was not quite as interesting and fast moving. Having escaped into space, Heinlein uses the opportunity to explore two opposite lifestyles—one of total conformity and the other composed of lotus eaters. Unsurprisingly, Heinlein’s heroes don’t like either choice, but it’s always fun to watch Heinlein bring us to that conclusion.

 

I don’t think this is one of Heinlein’s great novels like The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, or Stranger in a Strange Land, or even my personal favorite, Double Star, but it’s a good example of classic Heinlein.

 

Review: Missing Link by Warren Murphy

Destroyer 39 Missing Link by Warren Murphy

President Carter’s brother-in-law, who I think (based on my elementary school recollections) is loosely (at least I hope it’s loosely) based on his brother, Billy Carter, disappears under mysterious circumstances and Remo has to find him. Frankly, there isn’t a lot in most of this book that required Remo’s skills, but it was still fun from beginning to end. The side plot was in many ways more memorable than the main storyline. Chiun has been watching Olympic Trials on television and realized that his Sinanju training makes him capable of winning in every category. It’s a delightful image—a ninety-year-old Korean man outlifting the weightlifters, out sprinting the runners, out jumping the jumpers, and so on. Chiun is, for all intents and purposes, superhuman. However, it would be difficult to keep the low profile required for their work for CURE if Chiun was on the cover of every magazine and cereal box. So Remo has to talk him out of this by convincing him that it would be against the rules for him to compete in his kimono. This only momentarily diverts Chiun who then realizes that Remo could compete for Sinanju instead. I presume that this is setting up the next novel which will occur during the Olympic Games in the Soviet Union.

 

Review: Alexander X by Edward Savio

Alexander X by Edward Savio

Lots of authors enjoy writing about immortals, but I had never come across Edward Savio’s take on the long-lived before. He posits that there is a peculiar genetic condition that causes some people to age at roughly 1/100th of the rate that everyone else does and since much of maturity involves developments in the brain and changes in hormone production in the body, his fifteen-hundred-year-old fifteen-year-old is in fact a typical teenager in many regards. The more I think back on it, the less convinced I am that this idea is workable, but none of that bothered me while I was actually reading the novel. Savio’s artistry with words and the fascinating quirks of history that populate his pages were more than enough to make me suspend my disbelief to enjoy the story—a not so original tale of two immortals contesting with each other over the fate of the world. One wants to keep it as it is, and the other would like to see it permanently set back a century or two so that the immortals can continue their masquerade as normal humans. The result is a book that belongs firmly in the young adult category—thoroughly enjoyable but definitely focused on the fifteen year old.

 

There is one major weakness in the story. The plot revolves around Alexander’s importance because he is his father’s son, but we later learn that Alexander has a brother who turns out to not be important at all to the storyline even though he has exactly Alexander’s qualification. Still, it’s an interesting tale and I’m glad I read it.

 

Review: Bay City Blast by Warren Murphy

Destroyer 38 Bay City Blast by Warren Murphy

This is one of the better Destroyer novels. In the destitute New Jersey town of Bay City, an eccentric and wealthy man arrives and begins taking over, eventually blackmailing the mayor into leaving and getting himself appointed to the position himself. He then begins to invite major organized crime figures to come to Bay City and set up shop. This attracts the attention of a group of vigilantes whose leader calls himself The Eraser, He’s come to town to rescue Bay City from the criminals. Finally, this results in Remo and Chiun being called in to protect the mayor who has caused all the trouble. Yes, you read that right. Remo is assigned to protect the bad guy from the vigilantes.

 

What follows is a delightful parody of the “shoot ‘em up” subgenre—especially of books like The Executioner, or even, The Destroyer. And it does this without Remo having to be his normal absolutely dense self. This book breaks the “bodyguard” rules that Murphy and Sapir have established in many earlier books and allows Remo and Chiun to do what they do best. There’s the usual banter to liven things up and one of the best endings of the series so far.

 

Review: Airliner Down by John Etzel

Airliner Down by John Etzel

There’s something especially captivating about the damaged jet—filled with passengers—trying to make it safely to land again. It’s been the subject of several movies and of a number of excellent books and John Etzel has added a worthy story to that proud company. To make his novel even more exciting, roughly the first half of the book is told in a “countdown” mode working its way up to the “event” with the tension building all the way. In those pages, we meet the main characters, jump into Afghanistan where we learn that the entire motivation for the bombing (the murder of a village supposedly by Americans) is based on a lie, and watch events lead right up to the explosion of the bomb on the plane. Then we spend the rest of the novel watching the surviving passengers try and figure out how to land the aircraft.

 

This novel is brimming with tension helped along by two of the stupidest air marshals to ever be given a badge, a really crafty bomber, and a number of personal problems which greatly complicate the rescue of the airplane. We also get to see the people on the ground come to the realization that the bomb is on the plane and being unable to do anything because the jet is far out over the Pacific on its way to Hawaii. The technical aspects of the novel were also very credible (at least to a non-expert like myself) and helped build the excitement.

 

In the first few pages, however, I almost gave up on the book. The introduction of the hero as a guy having an affair with a married woman made me instantly dislike him, but Etzel coaxed me back onto the hero’s side and had me cheering for him through a flashback that greatly clarified what kind of man he was.

 

The ultimate solution to the crippled aircraft and its fuel problem also surprised and delighted me. It felt incredibly creative and also totally believable. There were also a number of touching scenes that just pushed this novel over the top for me.

 

If you enjoy cultivating your fear of flying, give Airliner Down a try.

 

Review: Bottom Line by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir

Destroyer 37 Bottom Line by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir

In Bottom Line, Remo and Chiun are once again given the task of protecting people rather than killing them. In this case it is a wealthy and influential American family whose youngest members seem to be going crazy before killing themselves. They, of course, don’t seem to think there is anything to fear. The plot was completely transparent to everyone (including the reader) except Remo. That being said, it was still a quick and enjoyable read.

 

Review: Saturn's Monsters by Thomas K. Carpenter

Saturn’s Monsters by Thomas K. Carpenter

I love the premise of this story. A scientist has figured out a way to grow interstellar spaceships in the atmosphere of Saturn, but, as you might suspect, there are a few problems to be dealt with along the way. First, the scientists who run the project in Saturn’s atmosphere will all die because of the damage done to their bodies by the radiation in Saturn. Second, the ships keep taking a nose dive before they finish growing. But the biggest problem is that the head scientist, who goes to Saturn to figure out how to save the project, has gone insane with grief over the loss of her partner and their child. There’s lot of pain in this story as people struggle to make their deaths mean something to the human race. I thought the ending was predictable, but still enjoyable.