Author Archive
Holly’s Inbox by Holly Denham looks initially imposing. A chick lit novel at over 600 pages? A reader could be forgiven for thinking they just don’t have the time. Fear not, fans of Bridget Jones, this tome is an epistolary novel written in - mostly short - emails to and from Holly beginning when she starts a new job and ending when she finds the “one”.
Holly Denham (yep, same name as the author) has just taken a job as a receptionist in a busy London banking firm. She shares the desk with Trish who is initially cool towards Holly but eventually warms up. Because of the busyness of their job, Holly and Trish are not allowed to speak with each other and must communicate via email. Intertwined with her chats with Trish are emails to Holly’s best friend Jason, who manages a posh hotel, Aisha, a free and easy friend, and Hollly’s family (meddling mom, a married sister, a brother who is trying to open a fetish club and her snarky grandmother who is chafing at the restrictions at her senior living facility ).
Though this is a fast read, I was initially slow to warm to the novel. The set-up is clever and the author did a great job at showing who her characters are within the space of a few emails, but I think what took some time for me was Holly herself. She’s a bit of a doormat initially and it took a while for the reasons why to manifest. Once I began to get an inkling about the very real reasons for why Holly is the way she is, I was in and turning pages like a crazy person. But getting there took a little time. And with all of the build-up I was a little skeptical about the fast resolve at the end. On this point I’ll give the author a bit of a pass since a sequel is in the works. I’m guessing the ‘everything’s hunky-dory’conclusion will reverse itself to some extent and Holly will have to progress a little more to get her happy ending.
You can definitely count me in when the time comes.
October 22nd, 2009
Jane J. - Central Library
There are books that stick with you long after you close the back cover. The Hate List by Jennifer Brown is just such a book. Known more for her humor columns in the Kansas City Star (she is the two-time winner of the Erma Bombeck Global Humor Award), Brown surprised everyone with her not-at-all funny novel about the aftermath of a school schooting.
As The Hate List opens Valerie Leftman is about to start her senior year of high school. While that may seem like an everyday occurence to most of us, for Valerie it is a traumatic return to the scene of the crime. Technically it wasn’t her crime. But try convincing anyone of that when even Valerie has her doubts. How can anyone forget that five months ago Valerie’s boyfriend Nick Levil opened fire in the commons and killed six students and a teacher. Though she was wounded in her attempt to stop Nick and saved a fellow classmate in the process, Valerie is guilty by association and design. As the investigation shows, she was the first to come up with the list of things and people she hates and Nick’s targets were the very people who bullied them the most and who topped the list. Just about everyone, including her mom and dad, feel that Valerie is to blame for setting Nick on his deadly course by creating the list in the first place.
As the title and subject matter might suggest, this is a difficult book. Brown doesn’t let her characters off with easy answers. Valerie’s recovery is helped by her smart and sympathetic therapist, but nothing will ever be the same for her. She has complicated feelings about Nick - can she still love the guy she knew before or must she hate what he became - and her family is being torn apart. All of which is handled with skillful realism by this first time author. By interspersing the events of the attack with newspaper articles and Valerie’s present day struggles, the author makes sure nothing is white-washed. Very well done.
October 13th, 2009
Jane J. - Central Library
I’ll admit it, I’m a sucker for a man in a uniform. That said I don’t go for most military shows, but something about the combination of the legal puzzles and David James Elliot in that uniform sucked me into watching JAG. At least for the first few seasons - when Harm started to go undercover on secret missions to save the world, I considered it jump the shark time. Though the show became too improbable, the combination of law and the military still trip my trigger, so to speak. In fact, it’s what made me pick up Brian Haig’s first legal/military thriller featuring former infantryman turned JAG lawyer Major Sean Drummond.
In Secret Sanction Drummond is assigned a career killer of a case. The Bosnian war is in full swing and a Green Beret A-Team has been accused of a massacre of 35 Serbian soldiers in Bosnia. Nominally the army is supposed to be providing training and support for the Kosovo Liberation Army. They are not meant to be part of the action. So Sean is faced with a complex puzzle. Did the team kill the Serbs and if they did what were they doing there in the first place? No answer will make everyone happy. If he finds the Green Berets did commit the atrocity then the whole international effort to aid the Kosovars will be in jeopardy. And if he finds that they did not commit any crime but were merely acting in self-defense then Slobodan Milosevic will have a field day claiming that there has been a cover-up. It’s a no-win situation made worse by the animosity and lack of cooperation Sean faces when he begins his investigation.
Though a few readers have found fault with some of the military details, I think Brian Haig’s (and yes he’s the son of that famous other Haig) own experience in the military shines through. The story is compelling and the puzzle about what happened before Sean arrived has plenty of twists. Adding to my enjoyment was the fact that the military mindset was offset by Sean’s often sardonic (sometimes wiseass) narration. Combine that with the tension of not knowing who’s plotting against whom and you have a great read. So great, I’ve already requested book two in the series from my friendly neighborhood library.
September 17th, 2009
Jane J. - Central Library
“The thing people seem all too happy to forget is that where there be superheroes, there also be supervillains. It makes one wonder: If the heroes went away, would the villains follow?”
So opens Black and White by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge and a better opening would be hard to find for this clever, fun, adventurous, complicated novel. The white and black of the title are Callie Bradford, code name Iridium, and Joannie Greene, code name Jet. Callie and Joannie met at the Corp Extrahuman Academy where all superheroes train. And as with all super stories, forces conspire to send Callie, now known as Iridium, on the run as a villain. Once her training is complete Joannie, now Jet’s, mission is to find and defeat her one-time friend.
Jet is determined to be the hero she was trained to be but struggles with her heroic identity and the trappings that go with it. Coupled with the fact that the Corp corp is not all it seems and the academy not the shining beacon she remembers and Jet’s role becomes even more murky. And while Iridium is the one acting illegally her actions take on a more heroic tinge as time passes. Things are certainly not as Black and White as they seem.
The authors play with comic book conventions to great effect in their first joint venture (more adventures to follow). What would Batman be without the Penguin or Superman without Lex Luther? Just nice looking men in tights. Kessler and Kittredge play with that fact while exploring the thin line between good and evil. And tell a darn good story along the way. I look forward to more battles between Jet and Iridium.
September 1st, 2009
Jane J. - Central Library
Word on the literary street is that Oprah will be announcing her next Book Club pick on September 18th. Though I’ve not always been a fan of her choices, I am always curious as to which way she will jump when she makes a new one. To make it even more interesting this time around, I’m proposing a guessing game. Guess the book title and author and win a library book bag filled with goodies.
The rules:
- Make your guess by commenting on this post and be sure to include an email address so that we can contact the winner
- If there is more then one person with the correct answer a random drawing will determine the winner
- Library staff can guess, but only for the glory of being right (no prize)
If you need some hints, take a look here and here. And if no one gets it right, we’ll pick a winner randomly from all entries (excluding staff).
August 26th, 2009
Jane J. - Central Library
The big news this morning is that Elizabeth Gilbert’s sequel to Eat, Pray, Love has been given a title and a publication date. According to the New York Times Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage is due to be released in January of 2010. As she explains in that article: “It is and isn’t a sequel,” Ms. Gilbert said in a telephone interview from near their home in Frenchtown, N.J. “It’s the same two characters, but it’s a very different setting and emotional backdrop. The second book has more of an academic contemplation and more of my family in it.” Though this title hasn’t been added to LINKcat yet, you might check out the author’s earlier works, Pilgrims and Stern Men.
Other big forthcoming titles you can place holds on now:
The Children’s Book by A. S. Byatt
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
9 Dragons by Michael Connelly
Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton
An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton
A Separate Country by Robert Hicks
Under the Dome by Stephen King
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
The Vintage Caper by Peter Mayle
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
Angel Time by Anne Rice
Rough Country by John Sandford
Anything you’re looking forward to for the fall?
August 20th, 2009
Jane J. - Central Library
The recent swine flu hysteria makes Jacqueline Carey’s newest story very timely. In Santa Olivia a pandemic has panicked the US government into creating a buffer zone between Mexico and Texas. This buffer zone is miles wide (similar to the demilitarized zone in Korea), bordered by massive walls and has engulfed whole towns like Santa Olivia.
When the walls were built, Santa Olivia was just another sleepy Texas town. Given the abrupt choice between staying in their home town and leaving, many of the residents chose to stay (not realizing how bad it could get). Now Santa Olivia is known as Outpost 12 - isolated between concrete walls and policed by American military personnel. The only way out is to win in the sport that the military commander loves. Anyone who can beat the General’s choice in the boxing ring can win the chance for two people to leave Santa Olivia. To date no one has won that opportunity.
Half-siblings Tom and Loup Garon follow different paths in their quest to escape. Tom is determined to train for the boxing ring so that he can eventually win freedom for the two of them. Loup, who was born with a little something extra genetically speaking, takes a different route. What begins as a series of pranks, supposedly perpetrated by the patron saint of their town, soon begins to look like a revolution to the military powers-that-be.
Jacqueline Carey is best known for her minutely detailed, richly drawn, epic fantasy novels. In Santa Olivia the detail and richness are there but the story is more compact. The tightness of the writing made for great pacing; with a a quiet buildup leading to powerful finish. And while the book did wrap things up there is scope for more story. When I asked my Comic Con source, she said she asked Carey that very question and the answer is, yes, a return to the Santa Olivia universe is in the works. Woohoo!
July 31st, 2009
Jane J. - Central Library
When Tamora Pierce published a new novel set in her fantasy realm of Tortall I was thrilled. I’ve read a couple of her other series and loved them. Pierce specializes in strong, capable young women as protagonists. They are realistically drawn as they struggle with their life choices and in their heroics. Beka Cooper follows that pattern. Though her life in Tortall takes place 200 years earlier then Pierce’s other books and Beka lives in a gritty, inner-city world, she is still a practical-minded fighter of the good fight.
Beka was introduced in Terrier: The Legend of Beka Cooper, Book 1 where she entered the Provost Guard as a trainee (Puppy) in the city of Corus. Known coloquially as Dogs, these local police keep the peace in uneasy times. Beka and her fellow Dogs’ lives more closely resemble the early days of policing - bribes are the norm and a Rogue runs the criminal’s guild - and they struggle to maintain a law-abiding balance. Having successfully completed her Puppy training, Beka returns as a full-fledged Dog in Bloodhound: The Legend of Beka Cooper, Book 2.
In Bloodhound, Beka is on the job once again. Though she’s having a hard time finding a partner who fits, she is glad to be fully on the job and nabbing Rats at every opportunity. When she and her mentors begin to notice a disturbing trend - counterfeit silver coins are flooding the market and driving up prices - they notify the bosses. Since the coins seem to be originating out of Port Caynn Beka and her temporary partner, Clary Goodwin, are sent undercover to the harbor city to investigate. Once there they find themselves caught up in an ongoing war between Pearl, the local Queen of the criminals, and the local Dogs who may or may not help Beka when the crunch comes.
Though Pierce’s Beka books are set in a fantasy realm where magic is possible and Gods are present, these are police-procedurals more then anything else. The ins and outs of Beka’s life on the job are centerstage, which is all to the good. As she unravels the mystery of the false coins the pacing increases and the book ends with an action-packed chase. I can’t wait for the final book in this trilogy.
July 7th, 2009
Jane J. - Central Library
James Huston has been writing political thrillers for about a decade, but he’s really hit his stride with his last few books. Marine One starts off with a bang - the president and everyone else on board the Marine One helicopter are killed when it crashes in a thunderstorm - and builds momentum as the legal and political maneuverings get underway.
The helicopter crash is immediately blamed on WorldCopter, the French company that built it. Politicians are grandstanding, the Justice Department has opened an investigation, the NTSB’s preliminary report determines the helicopter was defective, and the widowed former First Lady has hired a powerful attorney to represent her in a wrongful death suit. Enter Mike Nolan.
Mike is a civil litigator who also flies helicopters for the Marine Reserves. He is hired by WorldCopter and their insurers to defend against all comers. When he begins his own investigation into the crash, Mike becomes convinced that it was not the result of defect. Was it the highly skilled but rabidly anti-president marine pilot? The 100 year storm? A governmental agent who wants to keep the President’s intended plans for that night secret? Or something else altogether? While some of the possibilities seem far-fetched, the rush to judgment by all parties involved makes Mike very uneasy. He knows that the only way to save his client is by figuring out what made Marine One crash.
I really liked the mix of legal, political and techno thrills. Huston’s military and legal background make this a well-researched and fascinating ‘what if’ scenario. Huston handles the myriad characters well and is able to meld plot and helicopter crash details without slowing the pace. And if I thought the ultimate revelation about what caused the crash was a bit of a let down, I had a heckuva read along the way.
June 20th, 2009
Jane J. - Central Library
Kevin Brace is the “Voice of Canada”, a famed radio personality and who’s considered by most to be a good guy. All that changes when Mr. Gurdial Singh delivers his morning newspaper and is met with Brace’s confession; “I killed her, Mr. Singh. I killed her.” The her in question is his longtime partner Katherine and Mr. Singh finds her dead in the bathtub, apparently stabbed to death. Now the voice of Canada is silent, refusing to say a word about what happened, even to his attorney Nancy Parrish.
The suspense in Old City Hall comes from the realization that you don’t know whether Kevin is guilty or not. No one does. The police and the prosecution are sure they have their man, but there are a few things that don’t add up. And truly, if that’s the case there’s no mystery for the reader. Did Kevin do it? If not, why won’t he tell his lawyer what happened? Is he protecting someone? How can Nancy Parrish defend a man who seems determined to be found guilty?
Because this debut is told from various viewpoints (Nancy’s, the prosecutor, the police) Robert Rotenberg is able to keep the reader guessing until the end. Nicely done.
May 4th, 2009
Jane J. - Central Library
Given the candy-colored cover and the peek-a-boo picture of the heroine, one might be forgiven for thinking that Addition by Toni Jordan is another in a long line of similar chick lit novels. Certainly Addition has wit and humor but it’s the appealingly quirky (some might say crazy) heroine that rules the pages. And that crazy adds depth in this Australian debut.
Grace Lisa Vandenburg (19 letters) has a compulsion to count. The behavior started when she was eight years old and has continued ever since. And up until recently she was maintaining quite happily. Sure Grace counted each step and each stroke of the hairbrush and each poppy seed on her cake, but she also had a job she liked - teaching grade schoolers - and she even dated from time to time. So what happened? How did she reach the point of being unemployed, on disability pay and considered to be nuts by her family and friends?
Interspersed with the history of Nikola Tesla (a man Grace admires and fantasizes about) is Grace’s own story and her slowly coming to terms with who she is and how she got here. Along the way she meets Seamus Joseph O’Reilly (19 letters), finds a new place in her family and a new role in life.
This charming, bittersweet novel hit all the right notes. I look forward to more from Ms. Jordan.
April 1st, 2009
Jane J. - Central Library
Mob stories aren’t usually my thing. Much as I can appreciate the writing and acting that went into The Sopranos I usually can’t make it through an entire episode. And I’m probably one of the very few who has never been able to sit through a Godfather movie. So imagine my surprise when I not only read Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell but ended up loving it as well.
I think my deal-breakers in most mob efforts are the acts of random violence being done. I don’t actually mind fictional criminal on criminal violence or even the violence that is done in pursuit of some other crime. What gets me every time is when some innocent bystander gets beaten to a pulp with a trash can (Sopranos) or shot in the foot (Goodfellas) just because the mob guy feels like it or wants to prove how tough he is. Contrary as it is, when I get to one of those scenes, I’m out. I think Bazell’s book worked - not just because of it’s humor and cleverness - but because the protagonist, Pietro “Bearclaw” Brnwa (aka Dr. Peter Brown) seems to feel the same way that I do.
Beat the Reaper opens with Pietro/Peter getting mugged on his way to work. This turns out to be a very bad beginning to an even worse day at Manhattan Catholic Hospital. As an Intern Peter already has enough shit thrown his way from day to day. But walking in to find that one of his new patients is former mob colleague Eddy Squillante, aka Eddy Consul, just adds icing to the cruddy cake.
See, Pietro used to be a hired hitman for the mob. His quest to become a doctor didn’t start until he was placed in the Witness Protection program after testifying against his former employers. Now his only hope is to make sure that Eddy stays alive. As long as he does, Eddy has promised not to let anyone know how to find Bearclaw. Of course nothing goes according to plan and by days’ end Pietro will not only have to fight for his life but figure out just what he wants that life to be.
Brazell’s debut is hilarious and scary and sad at turns. And as narrator, Pietro is about as down-to-earth relatable as any mob hitman turned overworked and overmedicated intern could ever be. His comments about both medicine and the mob are equal parts caustic cynicism and spot-on commentary.
On Medicine
“All the world loves a code, because you get to act like you’re on television. Even if you don’t get to yell ‘Clear!’ with the defibrillator paddles, you might get to squeeze the respirator bag, or inject drugs handed to you by nurses from out of the crash cart. Also, people come from all over the hospital–not just from Medicine, for whom it’s mandatory–so it’s a great opportunity to socialize. And if the person who called the code did it because the patient is actually crashing, you might even save someone’s life, and justify your awful career choice.”
On the Mob
“When Sicilians began to immigrate to the U.S. in the early twentieth century…the mafia followed to keep sucking their blood. During Prohibition the mob did something arguably socially useful, but when that ended they returned to blackmailing people with the threat of violence full-time. A Roman history fetishist named Sal ‘Little Caesar’ Manzaro even started a private army, using Italianized Roman rank names like capodecini and consiglieri, and life in New York got so bad the Feds finally became interested.”
Cynical, smart and funny is Pietro Brnwa. And that pretty much describes Beat the Reaper as well.
March 20th, 2009
Jane J. - Central Library
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