THE FIXER (Mort Grant #1)

The Fixer by T.E. Woods
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Series are not my favorite thing. I often read the first book and stop right there. That will be the case with The Fixer.

From reading other reviews I appear to be in the minority, but I am not interested in torture of animals or people although I understand the fascination with vigilante justice.

My first confusion came with the title. I thought the series would be about 'the fixer'. It wasn't until later that I saw the clarification (Mort Grant #1). Mort is a detective with the Seattle Police Department who ends up handling and solving the murders.

So many characters were introduced at the beginning that I was having trouble keeping them all straight and Mort didn't show up for a while.

That being said, I did read the whole book. There was some talky exposition and the need to suspend disbelief, but the writing is good and there are some interesting and unique twists to the tale.

Basically the story is about a woman who fixes problems that the law cannot or will not handle. How she goes about her business is clever and intriguing. But has someone figured out who she really is?

The Red Hot Fix (Mort Grant #2) will debut on Kindle only June 10, 2014.

Bottom Line: RECOMMENDED if you like this type of thriller otherwise pass. Although the $2.99 price is hard to beat.

Title: The Fixer (Mort Grant #1)
Author: T.E. Woods
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Alibi
Kindle Edition Only
No. of Pages: 312 pages
Copyright: February 4, 2014
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Source: NetGalley

DISCLOSURE: Invited by NetGalley to request and receive this title for an honest review.

"Teri Woods is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Madison, Wisconsin. Her scientific writings are well represented in peer-reviewed journals and academic texts. Her literary works earned her First Place, Fiction at the 2008 University of Wisconsin Writer’s Institute. Dr. Woods enjoys kayaking, hiking, biking, and hanging around the house while her two dogs help her make sense of the world. Her habit of relaxing by conjuring up any manner of diabolical murder methods and plots often finds her friends urging her to take up knitting." (from Amazon)

THE TYRANT'S DAUGHTER (2014)

The Tyrant's Daughter by J.C. Carleson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First sentence: My brother is the King of Nowhere.

It wasn't until after I had started reading that I realized this was a young adult title and it turned out to make no difference.

The story: When her father, the King, is killed in a coup, 15 year old Laila is forced to flee her unnamed Middle Eastern country with her mother and young brother.

From privilege to poverty, Laila struggles with the adjustment to living in the Washington, D.C. area.

Political deceit and conspiracy surround the family making the story a compelling read for all ages. Can Laila even trust her mother?

Being able to view our country through Laila's perceptive and questioning eyes is a useful and fascinating exercise, but there is more to the story than this. It provides an understandable introduction to the bleak conditions elsewhere in the world and to people who think differently than we do.

The story is told in first person and constructed in three sections. Each chapter has a one word title to help shape the story as Laila draws us into her world. Many of the observations require further contemplation. For example:

Around the lunch table everyone seems to have given something up-dairy, meat, gluten, sugar, carbs. Only in a land of plenty could people voluntarily go without so much.

Interesting characters, believable situations, and an intelligent narrator will keep you questioning and reading until the end.

An interesting note from the author follows the end of the story as well as a commentary by Dr. Cheryl Benard called Truth in Fiction. There is also a useful recommended reading list for young readers and adults.

As at least one reviewer commented that it may take librarians and teachers to 'sell' this book to its intended audience. The rest of us should encourage everyone we know to read this brave story.

Bottom Line: RECOMMENDED for all ages but especially YA (12 and up).

Title: The Tyrant's Daughter
Author: J.C. Carleson
Genre: YA fiction
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
No. of Pages: 304 pages
ISBN: 0449809978
Copyright: February 11, 2014
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Source: NetGalley

Disclaimer: Invited by NetGalley to request and receive this title for an honest review. This book is not available until February 11, 2014.

J.C. Carleson is a former undercover CIA officer. Her near-decade of covert service took her around the globe, from bomb shelters in war zones to swanky cocktail parties in European capitals. A graduate of Cornell University, she lives outside Washington, DC. Visit her website at www.jccarleson.com. (from Amazon)

THE GOLDFINCH (2013)

Early in the morning I read the most astonishingly beautiful sentence and realized it was the end - that when I 'turned the page' there would be no more and I cried.

The night before I had been so intensely involved with read Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch that I stayed up until very late thinking I could finish it before retiring. Approaching 2:00 AM I realized that I would need to sleep first.

What's odd is that I was seduced into my late night attempt because my Kindle tells me percentage read. Intuitively I should realize that a percentage of a long book will mean more pages but reading on a Kindle distances one from a feel for the shape and weight of the book.

Right now I am longing for my own copy. I highlighted sentences and passages on the Kindle but I want to hold the physical book in my hands. I want to flip through the pages and re-read sections and write in the margins.

At GoodReads the reviews are passionate but not always positive. It makes me sad when others cannot find the beauty or even acknowledge it. You don't have to 'like' a book to recognize it's worth.

Donna Tartt's writing is like music. She has created fascinating characters that are unforgettable, who remain mysterious even when we feel we know them.

This is Theo's book and he tells the story in retrospect beginning at thirteen when a terrible disaster occurred that changed the course of his life. One might identify this as a Bildungsroman. It is that, but its form constantly morphs. Melanie, a reviewer on GoodReads commented that there are elements of “thriller, Bildungsroman, philosophical treaty, coming of age tale, epic, travelogue, memoir”.

Let this story surprise and delight you.

Bottom Line: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED but make sure you have the time it deserves.

Title: The Goldfinch
Author: Donna Tartt
Genre: Literature
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
No. of Pages: 784 pages
ISBN: 0316055433
Copyright: October 22, 2013
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Source: Amazon

Disclaimer: Purchased for my Kindle Fire because I couldn't get a copy from the library quickly enough.

Donna Tartt is an elusively private author but I did find this fascinating interview with the British Telegraph 12/9/2013. She has written two previous well-reviewed books: The Secret History (1992) and The Little Friend (2002), both of which I was lucky enough to read at the time they were published.

Want to Buy a Bookstore?

Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor, MI

Here's an article from Publisher's Weekly that explains why Nicola's Bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan is for sale. This is a well-established and well-located business. The owner is not in a hurry but wants to allow a smooth transition.

2014 Edgar Nominees Announced

Aunt Agatha's in Ann Arbor, Michigan

The Mystery Writers of America awards will be made in May 2014 at their annual meeting.

In the meantime we can amuse ourselves with the nominees worthy of their consideration. The whole list can be found HERE or visit the Edgars site for more information.

Of the nominees, the ones I have read are:

Best Novel - How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)

Best First Novel - Rage Against the Dying by Becky Masterman (Minotaur Books)

Best First Novel - Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight (HarperCollins Publishers)

Grand Master - Carolyn Hart (who writes delightfully intelligent cozyies)

Raven - Aunt Agatha's Bookstore, Ann Arbor, Michigan

VERY BAD MEN (2012)

Very Bad Men (David Loogan #2) by Harry Dolan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Very Bad Men is the perfect title for the second story concerning David Loogan. As the tale is told, more and more of the characters earn that designation.

Harry Dolan's descriptions of character and place appeal to me. His plotting in this story is complicated but I never had any trouble keeping up. Rather than a roller coaster ride, which can be fun, Dolan varies his tempo. For me that makes it all the more compelling.

There are certain elements that make a review useful to the reader. It wasn't until I met someone who refused to read fiction written in the first person that I even paid any conscious attention to the voice.

Recently I read another blogger's review of a book I had previously read. They mentioned that the tension of the book came partly from the first person perspective the author had chosen to use to tell the story. My review didn't mention the fact.

Then I read a review of Very Bad Men that was not comfortable with Harry Dolan's choice to use both voices in one novel. I thought the transitions were obvious and  quite appropriate in moving the story along.

Dolan's style is noir and sparse, but not inelegant. Even though the story is set around the time of the Art Fair in Ann Arbor, Michigan (July), which should conjure up a colorful world, the pictures in my head were black and white movie with lots of shades of grey. Partly it is this air of moral ambiguity that I find attractive.

David Loogan, has taken over as editor of a mystery magazine after the death of the previous editor, a friend. He has become close to Detective Elizabeth Waishkey who appears in Bad Things Happen. Loogan is a good man but struggles with guidelines that don't always serve the moment. That's part of his charm.

A manuscript left at the offices of the mystery magazine, Gray Streets, seems to be connected to a Northern Michigan bank robbery gone wrong seventeen years earlier.

Bottom Line: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED but start with Bad Things Happen because you are apt to want to read all this author's books.

Title: Very Bad Men

Author:  Harry Dolan

Genre: Thriller, Mystery

Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam

No. of Pages: 432 pages

Copyright: July 7, 2011

ISBN:  0399157492

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Source: NetGalley

Harry Dolan's latest book The Last Dead Girl goes on sale today (January 9, 2014) and the author will be speaking and signing at Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor. He graduated from Colgate University, where he majored in philosophy and studied fiction-writing with the novelist Frederick Busch. He grew up in Rome, New York, and now lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Harry Dolan at Nicola's Books in Ann Arbor!

Thursday, January 9th at 7:00 pm Meet Ann Arbor Author Harry Dolan for a Discussionand Signing of His New Book, The Last Dead Girl

Local author Harry Dolan will be at Nicola's Books for a reading and signing of his new mystery 'The Last Dead Girl'. In this prequel to 'Bad Things Happen', David Loogan's dark past is revealed. A chance encounter on a lonely road leads David into romance with Jana Fletcher, a beautiful young law student. When she is brutally murdered, he becomes the main suspect and sets out to find the truth with her killer watching his every move.  More Information

 

                          

2014 Michigan Notable Books Announced by Library of Michigan

Library of Michigan, Lansing, MI

I nominated two titles neither of which won the title of Michigan Notable Book but the competition was pretty awesome.

You can read the list and descriptions of the winners on MLive.

Then, even though they didn't win, you might want to download Jon Harrison's The Banks of Certain Rivers, pick up Kelly Barson's 45 Pounds More or Less, or read a Harry Dolan thriller like Bad Things Happen, Very Bad Men, or The Last Dead Girl (available January 9, 2014).

What Shall I Read Next?

It took me the better part of the morning to decide how to proceed.

Yesterday I set my 2014 Challenge goal on Good Reads to 36, far fewer books than I have pledged to or succeeded in reading for the last several years.

That suggests to me that I should be a little more discriminating in which books I choose to spend time with. It also tells me that I need to weed my shelves of those titles that constantly remind me of earlier but now vanished desires and interests.


So I have settled on Very Bad Men by Harry Dolan.

Back in January 2012 I mentioned reading Bad Things Happen and added it to my list of worthy books for that year. I immediately bought Very Bad Men and downloaded it to my Kindle where it has languished.

Time is running out. On January 9, 2014, Dolan's The Last Dead Girl (Amy Einhorn Books / Putnam) goes on sale. It's a prequel to his other two David Loogan books although the author says it can be easily be read as a stand-alone.

There's an interesting interview with Harry Dolan at The Big Thrill website.

Where Monsters Dwell (2014)

Where Monsters Dwell by Jørgen Brekke
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

For those who love Steig Larson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I give you  Jørgen Brekke's Where Monsters Dwell. Perhaps the book would receive a better rating from me if I were one of you.

There were lots of aspects of the story that were of interest to me initially. The  three main story lines involve a monk in the 16th Century who possesses a unique human-skin covered book connected to early dissection of the human body and two horrific modern day killings, one in Richmond, Virginia and the other in Trondheim, Norway.

Establishing all the exposition takes a while but eventually the story draws the reader in as connections between the two murders become more obvious.

Richmond homicide detective Felicia Stone travels to Norway to work with Police Inspector Odd Singsaker. I found myself caring for the flawed but compelling characters.

One expects unpleasantness in a thriller, but this story contains too much specific detail for my personal taste. You can expect to find multiple murders, scenes of torture, sexual abuse, gratuitous sex, drug overdoses, and much more. Many characters have back stories that don't seem to move the action forward although when you realize that this is #1 of what has become a popular series in Norway, it makes more sense. Brekke has written two more entries.

Reluctantly I have to say that this is a strong debut. Some of the writing seems awkward so I decided to check out the translator. Steven T. Murray, has great credentials. Under the pseudonym, Reg Keeland, he is credited for all the Steig Larsson books. I still can't decide if the passages of uneven writing are the results of the author's or translator's work or a combination of both.

Bottom Line: RECOMMENDED with reservations about horrific violence. For those who enjoy authors Steig Larsson or Thomas Harris' The Silence of the Lambs.

Title: Where Monsters Dwell

Author:  Jørgen Brekke

Genre: Thriller

Publisher: Minotaur Books

No. of Pages: 368 pages

Copyright: February 11, 2014

ISBN:  1250016800

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Source: NetGalley

Disclaimer: An advance copy of Where Monsters Dwell was provided to me by Minotaur/Net Galley for review purposes.

Jørgen Brekke was born in Horten, Norway. After completing his studies at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, he settled in Trondheim, where he currently lives with his wife and three children. Brekke taught school for some years, but recently has worked as a freelance journalist. Where Monsters Dwell, was on the Norwegian bestseller lists for four months and has been sold in twelve countries.