WHAT THE DEAD LEAVE BEHIND – David Housewright

Posted by Daniel on September 4, 2018
Posted in: MYSTERY. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

I don’t know if I’m alone in this feeling or not, but there are a few authors whose work I always enjoy and yet for whatever reason, I don’t seek them out. Yet when I come across one of their books I think, “Oh yeah, I like this writer.”  David Housewright is one such author for me.

What the Dead Leave Behind is the fourteenth book in Housewright’s Rushmore ‘Mac’ McKenzie series.  McKenzie is a former St. Paul, Minnesota police detective who, years ago, accepted the reward money for the solving of a crime, even though it was through his police work – a decision that made him a millionaire and for which he has taken a lot of flack. Now he does some detective work – usually getting beaten up along the way – as a favor for friends in need.

Here the request for help comes from his step-daughter, Ericka. The father of Ericka’s friend, Malcolm Harris, was found murdered in a park the year before in a Twin Cities suburb.  With not many clues to go on, the case has gone cold and Malcolm isn’t handling it well. Mac starts looking into it and his investigation takes him from suburban hot-dish groups to corporate espionage and bar brawls to shootings.

I started reading the Mac McKenzie books because of the Minnesota connection (being Minnesotan I enjoy books written by Minnesotans and featuring Minnesota landscapes).  But once I get into the books, I stay with them because of the character of Mac McKenzie.  In part he’s a throwback to the Sam Spade-like, hard-boiled, noir detectives of the 1930’s. But he manages to live comfortably in the modern day.  He’s no Luddite, despite his throw-back toughness.

And make no mistake, McKenzie is tough. He takes a beating that would kill a normal man. Said beating is so intense it almost becomes laughable that McKenzie survives.  Almost.  Housewright pushes the scene to the very edge, maybe toes just over the line, and then pulls it back.

And like all good literary PIs, McKenzie has a code of ethics that he lives by. He’s in a committed relationship, but enjoys flirting with the attractive women he meets.  And while he might be tempted to go beyond flirting, he manages self-restraint.

The story here is quite interesting and while I can’t say that I saw the ending coming, it also wasn’t a surprise.  This is a good detective mystery with a great character in the lead.

Looking for a good book? What the Dead Leave Behind by David Housewright is the fourteenth book in the Mac McKenzie series and judging by the strengths of this volume the series is going strong and will be around for many more volumes.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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What the Dead Leave Behind

author: David Housewright

series: Mac McKenzie #14

publisher: Minotaur Books

ISBN: 1250094518

hardcover, 320 pages

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9 FROM NINE WORLDS – Rick Riordan

Posted by Daniel on September 3, 2018
Posted in: CHILDREN'S, MYTHOLOGY, SF/FANTASY, YA. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

How do you appeal to the younger (late elementary/middle school) readers?  You give them a popular series with some recognizable characters and you add some crude humor (“Thor was letting out farts like a sputtering engine.”).

This book is nine short stories told from the point of view of different characters.  We start with Asgard: Home of the Aesir -“Just Another Decapitated Head” by Odin.  The others are:

Midgard: Home of Humans – “This Is Why I Hate Clothes Shopping” by Amir Fadlan
Nidavellir: Home of the Dwarves – “This little Light of Mine, I’m Going to Let It Shine” by Blitzen
Alfheim: Home of the Light Elves – “Speaking of Trolls…” by Hearthstone
Jotunheim: Home of the Giants – “Nice Doggy” by Thomas “T.J.” Jefferson
Niflheim” World of Ice, Fog, and Mist – “So’s Your Face!” by Mallory Keen
Vanaheim: Home of the Vanir – “Well, That Was a Surprise” by Halfborn Gunderson
Muspellheim: Home of the Fire Giants and Demons – “I Play with Fire” by Alex Fierro

I’ve enjoyed a number of Riordan books (including the first Magnus Chase book) and he definitely continues his strong sense of character here.  He also manages to maintain a sense of playfulness – just look at the titles of those stories! – that will delight the target audience. And what is this target audience?  The same youngsters who relish Captain Underpants.

If you are planning to read this because it’s a Magnus Chase book – please look it over carefully.  It isn’t really a Magnus Chase book in the sense that we have Magnus interacting with the Nordic gods.  Instead we have a few gods telling stories. This could be very disappointing to a few dedicated Riordan readers but I suspect it will garner a new audience, which is what is likely intended.

I personally wasn’t a big fan of these stories, but if youngsters came into my library and asking for recommendations, I can see this being a popular choice.

Looking for a good book? 9 from the Nine Worlds by Rick Riordan is part of the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard collection of books, but the target audience here is a bit younger the those who read the 500 page books.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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9 From Nine Worlds

author: Rick Riordan

series: Magnus Chase and the gods of Asgard

publisher: Disney-Hyperion

ISBN: 1368024041

hardcover, 176 pages

MURDER, SHE REPORTED – Peg Cochran

Posted by Daniel on August 31, 2018
Posted in: HISTORICAL FICTION, MYSTERY, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

In 1938 Manhattan ‘Society’ it would have been unthinkable that a young woman would go out and get a job, but that’s precisely what Elizabeth Adams does.  Elizabeth loves taking pictures and she hopes someday to see one of her photos gracing the front page. But it’s 1938 and a woman in the newspaper office isn’t about to do much more than fetch coffee now and then. Until a veteran reporter needs a photographer and Elizabeth is the only one around. The story…?  It’s time for Society’s big ‘coming out’ party at the Waldorf.

Ralph, the veteran reporter, is impressed that Elizabeth seems to know all the women at the event and can get in to talk to them (he has no idea that Elizabeth is a Society dame) and he tasks her with getting some good photos and any insider information she can gather up.

When Elizabeth hears crying in a bathroom stall she opens the door and accidentally snaps a photo of a friend, capturing her bleary-eyed and with running make-up.  She promises not to publish the picture (though of course we all know what’s going to happen).  When that woman’s mother is later discovered murdered and Elizabeth and Ralph have the scoop, beating all the other papers, Elizabeth’s photo makes the front page. Feeling guilty for the breach in promise, Elizabeth vows to help her friend find her mother’s killer.

I really enjoy a good historical fiction story and the time period here is very appealing to me.

I like seeing a strong female protagonist – particularly for this time period, though I’d go so far as to say she’s not strong enough yet. Elizabeth tends to fall into good luck over and over, rather than taking control on her own.

Author Peg Cochran has clearly done some research.  And yet … Cochran has done some research and shares it such that it doesn’t really add to the story. It comes across as filler to make sure we know what era we’re in because really this doesn’t feel like 1938.  We only know it because we’re told it with the little research snippets dropped in, and most of those snippets are things that could be found with a quick Google search.

This has some potential and I liked the basic character, but I’d like it much better if she were a stronger female character.

For historical mysteries, I’d still prefer the Jake and Laura series by Michael Murphy also published by Alibi a few years ago.

Looking for a good book? Murder, She Reported, by Peg Cochran, is a simple mystery set in the late 1930’s with a female protagonist that is sweet, but not particularly engaging.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Murder, She Reported

author: Peg Cochran

publisher: Alibi

ASIN: B0776JSR44

Kindle Edition, 223 pages

THE SALINGER CONTRACT – Adam Langer

Posted by Daniel on August 29, 2018
Posted in: MYSTERY. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Connor Joyce is an author, though he’s hardly a household name. In the opening chapter, our unidentified narrator sees that Connor is having a reading at a local bookstore.  The narrator, having a connection with Connor from doing an interview with him years earlier, attends the reading and is embarrassed that only one other person has shown up for the event.

But the moment reconnects our narrator and Connor Joyce and Connor, desperate to tell someone his story, shares it with our narrator (and hence, with the reader).

Connor, it would seem, being an author looking for that big contract with a publisher that would guarantee a sizable income for a few years, is approached by a stranger with an offer … a lucrative, but unusual offer. Our mystery man, Dex Dunford, is willing to pay $2.5M for an original Connor Joyce manuscript. But there’s a catch, of course. The book will never be published, there can be no copies of it, and Connor must never tell anyone about it.  The penalties for breaking the contract go beyond the return of the money – Connor suspects his life would be in danger.

To prove he fully intends to honor his part of the bargain, Dex Dunford shows Connor the original manuscripts by J. D. Salinger, Norman Mailer, Harper Lee, etc.  The writers on that list of Dex Dunford authors are writers who became recluses with limited or no published manuscripts after writing for Dex.  But $2.5 Million is a good amount of money, and Connor agrees to the terms, only to regret it later.

Connor, you must understand, is a writer of crime fiction and not long after turning in his manuscript and receiving his final payment, a crime is committed by the exact means he uses in his Dex manuscript. But he can’t go to the police to explain it because it’s in his contract not to talk about it.  And Dex could easily blackmail him because he created the idea, and committed it to writing – writing of which Dex has the only copy.

Connor struggles with what he should do with his knowledge of the events.

There are some really interesting ideas in this book and author Adam Langer’s prose is hypnotizing … which is a little bit deceiving. We can get so caught up in the language that we don’t realize that everything is happening at a snail’s pace.

Our introduction and set-up of who Connor Joyce is takes up nearly the first quarter of the book alone, and we have to meet Connor before we meet Dex and finally hear the offer.  And then Connor has to struggle with whether or not to accept the offer before the ‘action’ of the story takes place.

And while the concept of a billionaire being interested in collecting one-of-a-kind original manuscripts is really fascinating, we can’t help but wonder “Why Connor?”  He doesn’t seem to fit in to the same crowd as Salinger, Lee, Mailer and so on. We’re told it’s because of his uncanny ability to write crime fiction and Dex apparently wants to commit a crime that would never be solved, but … really?  That’s what this entire novel is all about?

Looking for a good book? The Salinger Contract by Adam Langer is an enjoyable read in the moment because of Langer’s prose and clever concept, but the story doesn’t stand up to much scrutiny.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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The Salinger Contract

author: Adam Langer

publisher: Open Road Media

ISBN: 1453297944

paperback, 269 pages

THE BROKEN ONES – Danielle L. Jensen

Posted by Daniel on August 27, 2018
Posted in: SF/FANTASY. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

I had only just finished the initial trilogy (The Malediction Trilogy) by Danielle L. Jensen when I began this book, a prequel. It was definitely nice to have some of these characters very fresh in my mind as I went in to this.

I wasn’t entirely enamored of the trilogy. I thought that the first book was a great YA book with a lot of promise, but the series then seemed to change direction and it was less of a YA ‘forbidden’ romance as it was a political fantasy with a touch of romance. What The Broken Ones does is nicely set up the ultimate direction of the trilogy. Looking back on the trilogy, I can definitely see where this would have been very nice to have read before going in to the trilogy.

This prequel does not follow Tristan of Trollus and Cecile, though Tristan is in the book.  Instead, because this is more of a political romance, we follow Marc, who is the right-hand to the leader of Trollus, but he is also a leading informant to those who want to overthrow the current regime. Marc’s girlfriend is Penelope, a daughter to the Duke of Angouleme. We did (or we will) learn a little about both of them in parts of the trilogy, but this is really their story and how they fit into the other books.

Just as the other books are told from different viewpoints – Tristan and Cecile – this book is told from both Marc’s perspective and from Penelope’s. Their roles, we come to learn here, are much more important – incredibly major- compared to the almost footnote feel they had (will have) in the trilogy.

And I liked them more.  Cecile, who started out strong and became a bit simpering toward the end, became much less interesting, whereas Penelope is a strong female character whose role in a major political conspiracy is truly fascinating. And yet she never loses her sense of love and passion for Marc as well.

The political intrigue works really well here, but so does the romance.  I’d be much more interested in reading more about these two if there was more to tell.

Looking for a good book? The Broken Ones by Danielle L. Jensen is a prequel to her popular Malediction Trilogy, but this book succeeds where the end of the trilogy let the reader down.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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The Broken Ones

author: Danielle L. Jensen

series: The Malediction Trilogy #o.6

publisher: Angry Robot

paperback, 320 pages

A CLOWN AT MIDNIGHT – Andrew Hudgins

Posted by Daniel on August 24, 2018
Posted in: OTHER. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

It was five years ago that I requested (and received) a copy of this book.  I was just beginning to get started with my serious book reviewing.  I’m sure – very sure – that at the time I requested this, I was not aware that this was a book of poetry.

I don’t enjoy poetry.

I’ve tried.  I’ve read a lot.  I co-created a poetry hotline in college (call the toll-free number and hear a new poem every day).  But I can tell you exactly how many books of poetry I’ve enjoyed.  One.  A collection by Galway Kinnell.

But this comes pretty close. I enjoyed a few here, and for me, that’s pretty good.

I thought poet Andrew Hudgins was establishing a theme pretty early on.  The first line of the book is: “A joke is washed up on an island,” and three poems later the first line reads “Down these means streets a bad joke walks alone,”.  But there are no jokes here.  Just sad, lonely people.

One of the first poems that I really liked was “At the DMV.” This one really caught the essence of a moment – one, perhaps, I’ve felt I’ve lived myself.

I also appreciated “The Wild Swans Skip Coole” for its simplicity and the ability to capture a visual image and a rhythm found in nature.

The immature child in me laughed at “The Humor Institute.”

A couple other poems stood out for me : “Two Bourbons Past the Funeral” “In a Distant Room” “March” and “Fleeing Time.”  Each of these spoke to me in that way a poem should reach a reader.  The rest … well, they were readable (again…I mean that as a compliment), even for someone who doesn’t typically enjoy poetry.

Looking for a good book? If you enjoy reading poetry, then A Clown at Midnight by Andrew Hudgins is a good bet for you.  If you are not a fan of poetry, this has some good poetry in it, but it’s not likely to convert you.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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A Clown at Midnight: Poems

author: Andrew Hudgins

publisher: Mariner Books

ISBN: 0544108809

paperback, 112 pages

CHANGE YOUR WORLD IN 71 DAYS – Tom Connellan

Posted by Daniel on August 22, 2018
Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

I discovered this book at the back-end of my reading queue, and since I’m trying to catch up on my reviews I will periodically choose the oldest books in my ARC library to read and review.

Change Your World in 71 Days.  By Tom Connellan.

Yes.

I had two immediate reactions while reading this.  The first was “Duh” as in of course this is pretty obvious.  Most of us know that we would be better served to increase/decrease incrementally rather than trying to make a big change all at once.  And my second reaction was, “Where’s the rest of the book?”  The concept is easily explained in a paragraph and the rest of the 150+ pages is spent giving examples of the concept.

This sort of self-help book drives me crazy.  I’ve seen it with writing books, diet books, finance books.  Someone’s got a ‘great’ idea but when they actually try to explain it, they simply repeat the same thing over and over.

To make it worse, Connellan writes down to the reader, as if we weren’t very bright to begin with.

I’m all for improving one’s self, but I’m definitely not going to be doing it by reading this book.

Looking for a good book? Change Your World in 71 Days by Tom Connellan is a self-help book with a simple concept and a simpler address of the ‘how-to.’

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Change Your World in 71 Days: How to Get Maximum Results with Minimum Change

author: Tom Connellan

publisher: Peak Performance Press

ISBN: 0976950669

hardcover, 152 pages