Books, Books & More Books

Fated by Benedict Jacka is an example of a book I bought on sale where I got lucky. Just 4.95 ahs opened the door to what looks like it’ll be a great series. Alex Verus runs a magic shop in London. Not your typical magic shop, Alex is a mage who can foresee the possible futures. When an ancient relic is uncovered, Alex is approached by factions to figure out how it works. This first book put me in mind of Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden series. Very entertaining. I’ve already put the next one in my cart.

The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty. This is author that keeps delivering. In this lovely story, Sophie is left a house and when she moves into Aunt Connie’s house on Scribbly Gum Island she sets into motion a series of events that may explode her life. Grace is suffering from a wicked case of post-partum depression. Margie is looking for a way to reclaim her life. Aunt Rose thinks it’s about time to make her own decisions. As things evolve, Sophie’ life become increasingly complicated. Will she ever find a mate even as she listens to her biological clock ticking? And what is the truth about Scribbly Gum Island and the baby left behind by the couple that mysteriously disappeared? Moriarty weaves another thoroughly engaging story that balances the darker elements of the plot with moments of delightful levity.

The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman is yet another delight. Coralie’s dad is the guy behind the Museum of Extraordinary things: a Coney Island boardwalk freak show. Coralie is a part of the show. An extraordinary swimmer trained from childhood by her dad, she plays a mermaid. Growing up alongside the wolfman, the butterfly girl and a 100-year old turtle, Coralie’s life is extremely unusual. It’s also the story of Eddie’s life as a Russian immigrant who has left his jewish community to follow his dream of becoming a master photographer. The city of New York is another character in this book, as is the evolution of the garment industry and the historic Triangle Fire that claimed the lives of 146 garment workers. Coralie and Eddie eventually discover each other!

The Poet by Michael Connelly was a great read. I’m not really a Connelly fan, but this one was on sale and I’m glad I stuck it in my cart. When Jack McEvoy’s twin kills himself, the Rocky Mountain News crime-beat reporter decides to investigage the phenomenon of police suicides. Soon a pattern emerges that might indicate that his brother’s death was not a suicide after all. It seems a cop killer is on the loose leaving a coast-to-coast trail of “suicide notes” drawn from the poems of Edgar Allan Poe. This is the first Jack McEvoy story and I’m considering picking up The Scarecrow, which is the second in the series.

The Gods of Guilt by Michael Connelly there’s a good reason why Michael Connelly is one of the highest paid authors in America: he can weave a good yarn. This one features Mickey Haller – of The Lincoln Lawyer fame – and Connelly isn’t above making fun of the way his character’s life has been affected by the movie that was made. Funny. The murder case is pretty serious though, expecially when Mickey finds out that the victim was a former client of his. Pretty good court-room drama.

Gun Machine by Warren Ellis was a great read and I was disappointed that there weren’t a mess of books behind this one. Ah well. Detective John Tallow watches as his partner is killed in a shootout in a condemned tenement building on Pearl Street. That’s when he finds the apartment stacked high with guns laid out in an unusual pattern on the wall. Turns out, each gun leads to a previously unsolved murder. A killer has been at work for two decades or more, 20 years or more and John Tallow has to figure out what the hell is going on. Aided by a couple of smart, funny CSIs, John sets to unscrambling the mystery. It won’t be a cake-walk.

The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss tells the story of Ethan Saunders a disgraced ex-spy in Washington’s army who is on the trail of a missing man and a way to defeat the proposed excise tax Alexander Hamilton is planning on spirits to help fund America’s new government. The resulting turmoil, which has come to be known as the Whiskey Rebellion, ended with George Washington marching an army into western Pennsylvania to put it down. The widely evaded tax had collected little revenue, and Congress eventually repealed it. The other character determined to defeat the new tax is Joan Maycott, whose’s husband was killed after his whiskey distilling drew the ire of his greedy landlord. There’s lots of action is this book: ambushes, roadblocks, code-breaking, and party-crashing.

The Unlikely Spy by Daniel Silva is a spy novel set in World War 2 Britain and is all about stopping an unknown spy from uncovering an allied plan for the D-Day battle. While I don’t read a lot of spy novels – I find some genres become predictable if you stick too tightly with them — throwing the odd one into the mix keeps them fresh for me. And I enjoyed this one. An innocent woman is murdered and her identity assumed by a German spy, who then lays low until called into action. Alfred Vicary, a professor and longtime friend of Churchill is called into service as a spy master to find the German spies who have infiltrated British life. I thoroughly enjoyed the story right up to the unpredictable plot twist that came at the end. The characters were believeable, the twisty tale engaging.