Recently in Books Category

On vacation, I read three books. Not a very impressive output, by my standards, and certainly fewer than I expected to read. But three it was. And here are two of them.

"The Enemy" is Lee Child's 2004 book about Jack Reacher. Although it's the 8th book in the series, it's actually a prequel to all the other books. The story takes us back to Reacher's days as an MP in the military. A general dies under suspicious circumstances, then his wife is killed, then a Delta soldier is killed, then the Delta commander is killed. Reacher and a woman MP fight through all kinds of institutional obstacles to try to solve the murders and figure out what in the world was happening.

Frankly, this was my least favorite Reacher book. It was very much a police procedural. The plot moved along slowly, without the "thriller" feel of his other books. I struggled to get through it. And when I got to the end, some things didn't really add up for me. I think Lee Child needs to leave really intricate plotting to people like John Grisham, and just let Jack Reacher cause mayhem.

"Cross Country" is the 14th Alex Cross novel by James Patterson. I've read all 13 earlier novels, and as far as I can remember, they were all winners. "Cross Country" may be the first Alex Cross novel I didn't really care for.

Patterson excels at creating villains. Here, it's a hulking Nigerian named The Tiger who leads a band of killer kids in home invasions, massacring entire families. It's all tied to things happening back in Nigeria. One of the victims is an old flame of Alex Cross.

Cross ends up traveling to Nigeria to catch The Tiger, and things immediately begin going badly. He also ends up in Sierra Leone, where we learn all about the civil war of the 1990s (though Patterson makes it sound almost like the rebel war is still going on), and then to Darfur, where we learn about the plight of refugees there. Then it's back to Nigeria, where we learn more about the sad state of affairs in that country. In the process, he gets beat up more than Rocky.

It all felt unnecessary, especially the jaunts to Sierra Leone and Darfur. Neither trip furthered the plot. Patterson just wanted to inform readers about the situation in these places, and decided to do it very awkwardly. Philip Kerr's "Berlin Noir" novels, set in Nazi Germany, provided a fascinating historical backdrop without sidetracking from his plots. A Michener novel educates you about times and places, without coming across as trying to "teach." Patterson just didn't do a good job with taking his story to a different country. He acquired some humanitarian conscience and wanted to spread it, and did it poorly.

A character as strong as Alex Cross does cry out for a TV series. Morgan Freeman played Alex Cross in a couple movies, but he was a bad choice--too old. A young Denzel would have been great.

Pam and I finished watching season 4 of "Dexter." The first season, with the Ice Truck Killer, was the best. But I'd rank season 4 as the second-best, thanks to the work of John Lithgow as the guest serial killer. Fairly early in the season, Dexter learns that the Lithgow character is the Trinity Killer they are looking for, and he strikes up a friendship with him. It develops in fascinating ways, starting with demented admiration and quickly deteriorating.

I consider Dexter a guilty pleasure. I don't like seeing movies with central characters who use drugs...yet I'm okay with the hero being a serial killer? I guess I justify it by the fact that the Dexter books are published under my beloved Black Lizard imprint, and that Dexter comes under the general category of roman noir, an umbrella which takes in Jim Thompson and other great pulp writers.

Speaking of the books.....

I just finished the fourth Dexter book, "Dexter by Design," by Jeff Lindsey. At this point, it's definite: the TV show and books have gone their separate ways. The first book was spread over the whole first season, scripted closely. But now, everything's different. The books and TV series bear little resemblance.

For instance, Sergeant Doakes died in season 2 of the TV show, but he lives on in the books, although with some appendages missing. Dexter is married to Rita in the books, but Rita's 2 children are, like Dexter, "damaged" and in need of the same direction he received from his father to channel his killer impulses. That's a start to the differences.

I'll also say this: the TV show is much, MUCH better. The first book was great, the second one very good, the third one terrible, the fourth one a bit less than okay. In "Dexter by Design," very little seemed to happen. There was way too much of Dexter, the narrator, reflecting on his Dark Passenger. It just got old. I'll keep reading the books, but only because of the black lizard on the spine.

During the past week I polished off two more Stuart Woods books, the 5th and 6th in the Stone Barrington series.

In "Worst Fears Realized," some people close to Stone are getting killed. Evidence points to the attacks being engineered by a guy who is currently in prison. So Stone and his partner, Dino, try to unravel who is actually carrying out the attacks. And then there's palace intrigue in the police department, as Stone is being unaccountably accused of carrying out one of the murders. What's up with that? Along the way, Stone strikes up a hot romance with Dolce, the daughter of a mobster.

There's a bit more violence in this book than in most. We also see Stone showing--even flaunting--wealth more than in other books (or maybe I just hadn't noticed). The guy has money, for sure.

"LA Dead" begins with Stone and Dolce getting married in Italy. It's a two-part ceremony--a civil ceremony, followed by a religious ceremony. Stone understands that both are needed to make the wedding official. In between the two, he learns that his old flame, Arrington, is in trouble and is asking for his help. So he rushes off to California.

Arrington's husband, movie star Vance Calder, has been murdered in his home, and Arrington seems to be the prime suspect. But she has amnesia--can't remember what happened. Stone hires a bigshot lawyer and begins planning her defense. Meanwhile, he calls Dolce back in Italy, and her attitude really stinks. He realizes he has made a mistake in deciding to marry her.

A lot of women come into the picture, all of whom have had sex with Vance and want to have sex with Stone. Then Dolce shows up. Remember, she's a mobster's daughter; her previous husband was killed execution-style after Stone entered her picture. She's very possessive, in a Kathy Bates "I'm your biggest fan" kind of way.

So Stone's dealing with his current wife (who might be a murderess) and his old flame (who most probably is a murderess). Not to mention all these other women.

This was quite an interesting book, especially because of the personal dramas.

I'd been catching some buzz about "The Hunger Games," with some people saying it would be the next big movie series, a successor to "Harry Potter" and "Twilight." In fact, "Hunger Games" is now in development as a movie.

I found a copy at Sam's Club in the Young Adult section, surrounded by the "Twilight" books and other novels  featuring vampires, werewolves, and post-apocalyptic themes.

"The Hunger Games" is in the post-apocalyptic camp. From what I could piece together, the United States is pretty much gone, except for 13 small cities scattered around a country now called Panem. Twelve of those cities are under the domination of The Capitol, a ruthless high-tech city in what used to be Colorado. The authoritarian Capitol keeps the other cities poor and subservient.

Every year (this is the 74th year), two teenagers are chosen by lot from each town. The 24 teens are then taken to the Capitol, where they compete to the death in the Hunger Games, a gladiatorial fight to the death. The winner is rewarded with lifetime perks. Everything is televised throughout the 13 cities.

The protagonist is Katniss Everdeen, a 15-year-old girl living in a mining town somewhere in the Appalachians (each town has some kind of specialty). When her little sister, Prim, is selected to represent her city in the Hunger Games, Katniss offers to take her place. Joining her is Peeta, a boy who has had a crush on Katniss for years, though she's oblivious to that.

Katniss and Peeta are whisked off to The Capitol, where they go through a period of training. Then the game begins. I'm not going to say anything more, lest I give away something. But I'll say this: I really enjoyed it. While the plot sounds like "The Running Man" and other movies, "The Hunger Games" plows a fresh field.

Being a young adult book, "The Hunger Games" is clean of sexual content and obscenity. That was nice.

All three books in the trilogy are in print, but only the first book is in paperback. As soon as the others reach paperback, I'll buy them, because I really want to know what happens next. Suzanne Collins, the author, created future that I'm eager to learn more about. We only catch some hints, dropped sparingly. Somehow, the Capitol needs to be overthrown. That doesn't happen in "The Hunger Games," so I anxiously await the next two books.

Donald Westlake wrote nearly 30 books under the name Richard Stark between 1963 and his death in 2009. Stark was Westlake's dark persona. Most of those books starred a hardcore professional thief named Parker. Westlake wrote 16 Parker books 1963-1974, then took a lengthy break before writing "Comeback" in 1997, and following it with another 7 Parker books.

A number of those books have been made into movies, but none use the name Parker.

The first book, "The Hunter," has been made into a movie twice. The first version, 1967's "Point Blank," starred Lee Marvin as Parker, though in the movie he was named Walker; he was joined by Angie Dickinson.

The second version, from 1999, is the excellent "Payback," starring Mel Gibson as Porter, which is the Parker character. I love that movie. It's tight, moves right along, has crisp dialogue, sets a definite noir mood, and follows a great plot. Mel Gibson's Porter nails the Parker character. He's joined by James Coburn, Lucy Liu, Maria Bello, Kris Kristofferson, and William Devane, among others.

"Payback" is based on the first Richard Stark novel, "The Hunter." The book's plot is far simpler than the movie's. Parker is double-crossed and left for dead after a heist, and spends the rest of the book tracking down his former partner, Mal, and getting even. Mal has bought his way back into the good graces of "The Outfit," a mob organization, which Parker must contend with.

Parker is ruthless, unconcerned with human life, uncaring about much of anything except himself. This comes through glaringly in one scene which didn't appear in the movie. To stake-out a building, Parker invades a small store across the street and ties and gags the owner while he's borrowing her location. But she's asthmatic, and accidentally dies on him. He thinks nothing of it. Didn't intend to kill her, but it happened. Oh well. This minor scene stuck with me more than any other scene in the book.

A number of scenes in "Payback" are right out of the book. However, the movie takes the plot much further and brings in additional characters, making it a richer story. This is one case where the movie is better than the book. But the book does what it needs to do. Interestingly, although the name Parker is changed to Porter, all of the characters in the movie use the same name as in the book--Mal Resnick, Stegman, Carter, Fairfax, Bronson.

I liked "The Hunter," so thought I'd try the second book in the series, "The Man with the Getaway Face." Having upset The Outfit, Parker buys a face-change. He then gets involved in an armored car heist. When the plastic surgeon is killed, he becomes involved in finding the killer, though only to keep his new identity secret from The Outfit.

The Parker of "The Man with the Getaway Face" seemed toned down a bit, not quite as ruthless, though there is little room for sympathy. He's just a flat-out hard case. And I'm becoming a fan.

"The Grifters" is a 1963 book by Jim Thompson (published by Vintage/Black Lizard in 1990). It focuses on smalltime con-artist Roy Dillon, along with his girlfriend Myra Langtry and mother, Lilly Dillon, who are also con artists. There are no "good guys." Everyone's a crook.

The book has no plot, per se. We're just dropped into their lives and watch things happen to them. You know events will lead up to a climax of some kind, but don't really know what it'll look like. Except that, this being Jim Thompson, there will probably be some dead bodies.

I'm not criticizing the book. It's a very good book, without the psychotic people who normally populate Jim Thompson books. I really enjoyed it. It's less than 200 pages and took me about three days.

In 1990 the book was made into a Stephen Frears movie starring John Cusack (one of my favorite actors), Annette Benning, and Angelica Huston. It as a good movie, a character study as much as anything. Donald Westlake, employing his darker Richard Stark persona, wrote the screenplay. I can't remember the movie well enough to tell you whether or not it faithfully followed the book. But I recommend both the book and movie.

"The Strain" is a 600-page collaboration between Chuck Hogan and film director Guillermo del Toro, published in 2009. It's the first in a trilogy. Since del Toro is a big movie director ("Pan's Labyrinth," "Hellboy"), I wonder if they envision a movie trilogy? If so, they need to make it more interesting.

An airliner lands at New York's JFK airport, and stops dead on the runway. All the power is off, the window shades down, no communication. It just sits there. Turns out all but four people aboard are dead, and those 4 are pretty close. Autopsies show a tiny slit in everyone's throat.

It comes down to vampires. This is a new take on the vampire legend, and a very different one at that.

The protagonist is Dr. Eph Goodweather, who works for the Centers for Disease Control. After it's discovered that everybody aboard the plane is dead, it is quarantined and Goodweather and his team are called in. When the survivors start "turning," and the dead regenerate, things get hairy.

A variety of people come together, and are no doubt characters in the remaining two books. The most interesting character is a pawnshop owner who has been stalking vampires for years, and waiting for an occurrence such as this. He's a Treblinka survivor who encountered a vampire there. He fills everybody in about these creatures.

The story is moderately interesting, and the book ended all set up for the second volume. But I'm not sure that I'll read it. We'll see.

I've been reading quite a few books about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Most have been very good, and they've all been quite different.

"War," by Sebastian Junger, is my favorite. Junger is best-known for his 1997 book "The Perfect Storm," a phenomenal work which became an international bestseller. But he has proven himself as a war reporter in such places as Bosnia, Liberia, Cyprus, Kashmir, and now Afghanistan.

Junger is an amazing writer. When I saw that he had written a book on Afghanistan, I knew I had to read it. Likewise for Jon Krakauer, another master wordsmith, who wrote "Where Men Win Glory" (which I reviewed previously). I was blown away by the poetry of "The Perfect Storm." While the writing of "War" is much different, it's still brilliant.

For over a year, Junger and a photojournalist embedded with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team in the remote Korengal Valley of Eastern Afghanistan, right along the Pakistani border (a bit north of Tora Bora and the famed Kyber Pass). They especially focused on Restrepo, a small outpost, which found itself in firefights on a regular basis.

The amount of combat experienced at Restrepo and the surrounding outposts is astounding, a real eye-opener. For a while, the firefights occur practically every day. American soldiers die and are wounded frequently. Junger notes, "Most Korengalis have never left their village, and have almost no understanding of the world beyond the mouth of the valley. That makes it a perfect place in which to base an insurgency dedicated to fighting outsiders."

The title, "War," is interesting, as if it's a book about war in general, rather than about a specific combat team in a specific place. But Junger does use Restrepo to generalize about warfare. He uses the experiences of soldiers in the Korengal Valley to draw analogies with previous wars and to cite various studies. We get to know the American soldiers very well, and we get engrossed in the life they lead in the Korengal. But through them, we learn what soldiers in all wars, especially modern wars, experience.

In one fascinating section, he explains what happens physiologically to men during combat--pupils dilating, pulse and blood pressure approaching heart-attack levels, blood flooding the heart, brain, and major muscle groups. A high heart-rate makes it difficult to aim a rifle. At 170 beats per minute, tunnel vision and loss of depth perception occur. It's fascinating stuff.

 The best way to tell you about this book is to use Sebastian Junger's words.
 

I recently polished off three books in the "Burke" series by Andrew Vachss. I was so engulfed in the environment he creates--the underworld and more sordid aspects of New York City--that I wanted to keep reading more. Burke and his friends--Max the Silent, the Mole, the Prophet, Michelle--live on the criminal edge as they seek to survive in the heart of New York City.

All of the Burke novels, from what I understand, deal in some way with child abuse. Vachss himself is an attorney and consultant who works exclusively with matters pertaining to children and youth--abuse, neglect, delinquency, custody, etc. He also founded an organization called PROTECT: The National Association to Protect Children. His wife, Alice, is a former sex crimes prosecutor who later became Chief of the Special Victims Bureau in Queens, New York. So child abuse is an area of enormous passion. 

The titles of the Burke books refer to the main female character in that book. I had previously read "Hard Candy" (the fourth in the series, but the first that I read), and then "Flood," the first book. Now I tackled, in quick succession, numbers 2, 3, and 5.

In "Strega," (number 2) a woman who calls herself Strega seeks Burke's help in locating a photo taken of her young nephew by a kiddie-porn ring. Along the way, you learn a lot about how sexual abuse affects its victims--a really good education on the subject.

Strega doesn't come along until you're well into the book. Before then, Burke deals with several other things, and we learn a lot of background (like how he ended up doing a very long stretch in prison).

Next in the series is "Blue Belle." The title character is a dancer. Much of the first half of the book focuses on her relationship with Burke. The main plot involves a "death van" which prowls the New York streets killing young female prostitutes. Then there's an expert martial artist who wants to face Max the Silent. Lots of other tangential things happen. The book doesn't contain as much background information about Burke or other characters as "Strega" did, but I liked it a lot.

The fifth book in the series, "Blossom," takes Burke to Merrillville, Ind., to help out a prison friend whose nephew is in hiding after being accused of multiple murders. When you take Burke out of New York City, you lose something. You lose his odd collection of friends, plus the atmosphere, the NYC underground. For that reason, "Blossom" didn't really feel like a Burke book, an indication of how closely Burke is identified with New York City. Nevertheless, it was a really good mystery.

I'd say I'm pretty well hooked on the Burke series, and on Andrew Vachss's writing in general. He's different.

You may be surprised that Robert B. Parker wrote "Passport to Peril" in 1951. That's because we're not talking about the Parker of Spenser and Jesse Stone fame, but of Robert Bogardus Parker, who wrote three books before dying in 1955 at age 49.

"Passport to Peril" (a silly title) was republished by Hard Case Crime in 2009. It doesn't really fit the imprint, because the book is more of a spy novel. Our protagonist, Blaine Stodder, is bound for Budapest, Hungary, now firmly in the grip of the Soviet Union. He's looking for his brother, who disappeared in Hungary during World War 2.

But on the train to Budapest, he's thrust into a plot involving a man who was murdered for the contents of a manila envelope, which now comes into his possession through an encounter with a beautiful women (all women in spy novels are beautiful). He doesn't know what's happening, just that a German named Schmidt wants the envelope, and Russians want it, a Polish countess wants it, and a couple of American agents want it, too.

Blaine makes his way through post-war Budapest, not sure whom to trust, eluding Russians, searching for that original woman from the train, and trying to figure out what the envelope is all about. The book was an enjoyable ride, but nothing great.

Of more interest to me is Robert B. Parker, himself. Working as a journalist, before WW2, he covered the civil war in Spain and the 1937 invasion of China by the Japanese. He accompanied the German Army on its invasion of Poland in 1939, rode with an armored division of Hungarians during the invasion of Russia, traveled with the Russian army, helped free European Jews from prisons, and had other adventures covering the war from the "other side of the lines." All this time, he was also an operative for the American OSS (the predecessor of the CIA). Interesting fellow.