Watcha Reading in March/April

[Michelle, Overrun By Pets]

I read Rogue Lawyer and it was so outrageous that I couldn't get enough. From the rough and tumble street lawyer Sebastian Rudd who moonlights as a backer for martial arts fighters to his office which is a pimped out bulletproof van stocked with liquor and his firearm, this book is the gift that keeps on giving. My favorite character is Rudd's bodyguard, quite possibly because backstory details are sparse enough to construct a palpable air of mystery about him. This may be why John Grisham wrote Partners which is definitely on my to-read list.

We are introduced to a slew of the street lawyer's clients and these separate stories form the book at large. Between unsavory clients we see glimpses of Rudd's disaster of a personal life which includes the son he has limited contact with and a very prickly ex-wife. I'm not sure Grisham could have packed much more into this novel, it is like an everything but the kitchen sink retro Jello salad. While it may not be the most restrained composition, it is pulpy entertainment at its finest. It reminds me of wild nights when you've had 6 too many drinks and a hell of a good time. While you may not have any regrets about all of the fun you had, engaging in that level of raucous activity has got to be a rare event.

[Michelle, Overrun By Pets]

My husband commenced reading The Shadow Rising aloud, however our last soiree with this book was in May/June of 2017 so we rewound the narrative a bit. I'm fairly certain we backed up WAY further than we needed to, but the story is so darn good I didn't mind.

We picked up with Perrin preparing to travel home to the Two Rivers. He and Faile are still engaged in a bit of a domestic dispute since she insists on tagging along on this expedition. The group which includes several Aiel, both women and men, sets out to travel via the Ways with the assistance of Ogier Loial.

Elayne and Nynaeve negotiate travel via ship to Tanchico. They are on the hunt for the Black Ajah who are a threat to Rand. The ship is managed by two sisters. One sister is the sailmistress and the other is able to control the power of wind and weather by channeling magic. Although Elayne proposes a less is more tact with the Seafolk, ultimately Nynaeve decides to disclose the full truth. The ship's sisters appreciate the level of honesty and agree to make haste to Tanchico, particularly because their own prophecies are in alignment with current events.

After an earthquake type event originating from the Stone of Tear, the girls hurry onto the ship. Much to their surprise they are joined by Thom and Juilin, a Tairen thief catcher, who are also intent on a destination of Tanchico. Nynaeve, bossy as ever, agrees to allow the gentleman to join their party but makes them promise to acquiesce to her wishes along the way. Elayne has a bit of deja vu when she sees Thom, but she can't quite pin down why he seems so darn familiar.

Apparently the lady Seafolk operate the boat with their tops off, so this leg of the journey gets started with a spot of nudity. Some of our travelers are more comfortable with this scenario than others. Elayne witnesses the Windfinder of the ship doing her thing at the front of the ship and is intent on learning more about how to execute this sophisticated magic.

[Michelle, Overrun By Pets]

I read The Bookseller of Kabul and enjoyed it quite a bit. Åsne Seierstad did a great job of representing many different aspects of this particular Afghan family's life. Her narrative style was easy to read while still being informative and detail oriented.

My biggest struggle was reading this book through my Western feminist tinted goggles. I found it hard not to harshly judge Sultan Khan when he scouted and ultimately pursued a very young second wife against multiple family member's wishes. It got worse from there when Sultan sent his first wife Sharifa to live in Peshawar while he and his second wife continue living in Kabul as if she didn't exist. The author guides readers through arranged marriages, women traded as a commodity, and how the fantastical idea of love compares to the actuality of not having the right to choose your mate.

I much preferred Sultan Khan when he was away from home. Discovering his passion for books, how he translated that into a business at a young age and how he tries and sometimes fails to navigate the censorship system in Afghanistan were some of my favorites parts in the novel. As the story unfolds readers follow Sultan's treacherous journey from Afghanistan to Pakistan for business and learn of the power struggles and biases that lead to an extremely complicated relationship between people in the two countries.

The story eventually expands to include more of Sultan's immediate family. There are suitors and haggling and ultimately more weddings. This is where the yucky details of how a family views a woman's "worth" determines the husband she is paired with, where she will live, and what her life will be like. I enjoyed the wedding customs and festivities, but struggled with the business arrangement side of things.

I can't say this was necessarily a feel good book, but I did glean a lot of knowledge from it. I also felt hope that conditions could change for women who find themselves in similar positions. Although the content was difficult at times, this story helped me continue on my journey of being a better global citizen.

[Michelle, Overrun By Pets]

I plunged further into The Snowman with the help of Audible. Investigator Harry Hole is convinced that the gruesome decapitation of Sylvia Otterson and several missing women are the work of a serial killer. Police administration are not entirely convinced since Harry has a reputation for erroneously attributing several past crimes to serial killers.

Hole and his team try to identify similarities between the victims and early findings show that the women are all married and have children. The investigation starts to concentrate on the husbands of the missing/deceased women. The most detestable is Professor Filip Becker who is cold and distant to his son Jonas and verges on hindering police inquiries. I want Becker to be guilty based solely on my strong dislike of him.

Harry discovers that several children of the victims have gone to the same clinic and that oddly enough, the spouses are unaware of what these medical appointments are for. The clinic specializes in plastic surgery and the list of suspects quickly expands to include surgeon Idar Vetlesen. Detectives find that Idar has been tending to prostitutes several times a week at a sketchy brothel. This is out of character because Idar is known for associating with rich and powerful people, both socially and as clients. Upon further interrogation Vetlesen admits that the victims' children were being seen for a rare disease called Fahr's syndrome and that he considers himself a specialist of this disorder.

Harry consults with Matthias who is his ex's current boyfriend. He is a doctor and also a former coworker of Idar Vetlesen. Mathias casts suspicion on Idar of having inappropriate relations with children by relaying a story about seeing him alone with a small unkempt child in a cafe during the wee hours of the night. He also confirms for Harry that Fahr's syndrome is a hereditary disease

Harry's partner Katrine Bratt discovers that the murders occur in November and December when the first snow falls. Katrine is able to find additional victims based on this information. She also finds photographic evidence of an old case headed by Gert Rafto in which a snowman appears in the background. Gert Rafto has been missing for 12 years, thus further complicating this particular line of questioning. Based on forensic evidence found in a letter sent to Harry from the Snowman, he decides to travel to Bergen and revisit the original case. Since Katrine is also from Bergen, he assigns her as assistant investigator and off they go.

During a search of the missing investigator's family cabin, Katrine and Harry discover Rafto's body in a freezer. It is clear that he was murdered and stowed inside. His face has been disfigured into a rigid snowman, complete with a carrot nose. Katrine unearths additional information about Idar Vetlesen's location during some of the other murders and investigators make the plastic surgeon their prime suspect and vow to bring him in.

[Michelle, Overrun By Pets]

I read Gray Mountain and was extremely excited about the story having a female lead. Readers haven't seen a female in this role since Darby Shaw in The Pelican Brief circa 1992. Mr. Grisham this is long overdue. My expectations kept building because the tagline is "John Grisham has a new hero...and she is full of surprises." This is going to be amazing.

It is 2008 and we meet Samantha Kofer, a young associate at a mega NYC law firm. She works a nutty amount of hours and doesn't have much of a social life, but she makes six figures, lives comfortably in Manhattan, and has her sights set on being a partner by her mid 30's. Her plans are golden until the Great Recession hits and a huge number of employees are cut from the firm like a hot knife through butter. Samantha is put on an unpaid sabbatical for a year and the law firm suggests that she intern with a charitable organization while the firm tries to recover from the major implosion. Unfortunately there are now a huge number of lawyers looking to fill very few positions with a handful of organizations.

Fortunately Samantha acts quickly and get hired on as an unpaid intern with a legal aide clinic in Brady, Virginia which is a smidgen of a town in Appalachia. We soon find that Samantha has very little actual legal experience. As far as I can tell she was an overpaid assistant/gofer/paralegal/paper pusher in the massive NYC firm. Hopefully Sam is a quick learner because the low-income clients that need her help have serious legal trouble including seeking asylum from domestic violence and getting screwed out of medical benefits by coal corporations.

The director of the Mountain Legal Aide Clinic is Mattie Wyatt and she is everything I hoped Samantha would be. She is smart, resourceful, plucky, resilient, and a great mentor. Samantha meets Mattie's nephews: Donovan Gray a one man gladiator who fights behemoth Big Coal companies and Jeff Gray who assists Donovan with "not so legal" things. At one point Sam reflects that she is going to have a hard time deciding which brother she will sleep with - ugh, really? Samantha you are such a disappointment.

Regardless of my scathing critique of the main character, I reveled in the setting and backstory. I enjoyed hearing about Donovan Gray's cases and meeting the clients of the clinic. Lastly, Grisham never disappoints with the screaming plummet from the peak of the roller-coaster ride and this ending is no different. I just wish he would have written a compelling leading lady to match the other components in the story.

[Michelle, Overrun By Pets]

I listened to a few chapters of Shadow of Night on Audible. The story skips to the present day in Prague where Congregation member Peter Knox is investigating a letter about the missing pages of Ashmole 782. The letter was written by a Rabbi and chronicles alchemist Edward Kelley damaging the book and giving away three illustrated pages. One page went to the author of the letter who in turn gave it to a vampire named Abraham. Peter Knox contacts fellow Congregation member Gerbert in an effort to locate the missing page in present times. Gerbert discloses that Abraham is the son of Mathew de Clairmont and that this information is not widely known because Abraham dissociated himself from the family and has not been heard from for an extended period of time.

We zoom back to the 1590's where Diana and Matthew leave Prague and return to England. Queen Elizabeth is fairly pissed since she sent the de Clairmonts to Prague in order to bring Edward Kelley back with them. They failed in epic proportions and frankly never really intended to complete this task anyway. Matthew and Diana have further irritated the Queen because Rudolf's allegation that they stole a book from him have preceded their arrival. Mr. de Clairmont has to use a fair amount of charisma and a few well chosen words in order to calm his old friend Lizzie down.

While Matthew and Queen Elizabeth are tending to personal and political matters, Diana returns to her room at the castle. Much to her surprise she finds Kit there. Although they have had rocky times in their relationship, she wants to make amends with her husband's friend and thus agrees to an invitation to go with him to the Greenwich jousting arena. It seems a bit odd to me that she agrees to this because she is pregnant and exhausted from traveling, but off she goes nonetheless. Unfortunately this proves to be an incredibly bad decision on her part as Kit is in cahoots with Matthew's sister Louisa and together they intend to kill Diana.

There is a fairly tense scene as drug fueled Kit and Louisa make entertainment out of abusing Diana. With a little help from her familiar, a firedrake, and the not-a-moment-too-soon arrival of her husband and his entourage, she emerges while not entirely unharmed, at least not mortally wounded. Diana lives to fight another day, but it is never a good day when you learn that your husband is engaging in corporal punishment and torture from your enemy. Damn you Father Hubbard, you sure know how to broaden the tension in a marriage.

Diana responds, with Father Hubbard in tow, to find Matthew and Gallowglass really putting the screws to Kit and Louisa. Diana pleads for leniency and Father Hubbard pretends that he is running the show from the shadowy corner of the room. Finally sense prevails and Kit and Louisa's lives are spared.

Next we find Diana and Matthew taking a walk around St. Peter's Cathedral. Matthew picks up a very specific scent combination among the crowd. He pursues a man through the throng and when they are face to face we learn that this man is Diana's father who died when she was a child. He also just so happens to be in England at the same time as adult Diana. I'm pretty excited to get to know Diana's father a bit better since we have only seen rare flashbacks of him through Diana's childhood perspective.