It's a lawn mowing day today. I think I'll relax a bit more and do a reading update before I head out. I finished one book since my last update. I'll provide my review and also the synopsis of the next book in line. I also received a few books this week so I'll provide the synopses of them as well. Then I'll continue with my look at women authors I'm enjoying reading.
Just Finished
"Pale Gray for Guilt is the 9th book in the Travis McGee mystery series by American author John D. MacDonald. It was originally published in 1968. This was one of the more straight-forward of the McGee books I've enjoyed so far.
McGee is living the good life (in between jobs) on his houseboat in Florida, partying, celebrating the upcoming Xmas season. He meets an old friend, struggling to run a holiday resort (cabins, houseboats) further up the coast. Investors want to by Tush Bannon out and are making his life difficult; using the local authorities to cause difficulties. On a 2nd visit to Tush's place, McGee discovers the place is closed and Tush is dead, a supposed suicide. His wife has moved up the coast to stay with an old friend. McGee wants to avenge the death and comes up with a plan to get at those who were involved in ruining Tush.
It's a fascinating financial scam. McGee gets the assistance of his best buddy Meyer, a hippyish sort but also a financial wiz. Also along for the ride is Puss, a tall redhead, the latest of McGee's girlfriends, but a cut above; independent, funny, intelligent, just a great lady. They all work as a great team, trying to find out who killed Tush and trying to help Tush's wife recover some of the financial losses.
McGee is an interesting character and he has many fantastic, loyal friends. His houseboat life is one I remember dreaming of when I was in university, well, not necessarily McGee's specific life, but a similar living arrangement. While MacDonald does have a tendency to wander off philosophically, I found this particular story fairly straight forward and maybe more enjoyable because of it. There is enough action to satisfy you if you like that and the setting is well described and easy to picture. All in all, it's a great mystery and a more than satisfactory resolution (beware of the heart breaking moment, I will warn you). (4.0 stars)"
Currently Reading
"He had done a big favor for her husband, then for the lady herself. Now she’s dead, and Travis McGee finds that Helena Pearson Trescott had one last request of him: to find out why her beautiful daughter Maureen keeps trying to kill herself. But what can a devil-may-care beach bum do for a young troubled mind?
McGee makes his way to the prosperous town of Fort Courtney, Florida, where he realizes pretty quickly that something’s just not right. Not only has Maureen’s doctor killed herself, but a string of murders and suicides are piling up—and no one seems to have any answers."
New Books
Six new books. Mostly new authors and a mix of Sci Fi and Mystery.
"Author of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, one of the most acclaimed fantasy series of all time, master storyteller Stephen R. Donaldson returns with this exciting and long-awaited new series that takes us into a stunningly imagined future to tell a timeless story of adventure and the implacable conflict of good and evil within each of us."
"THE YEAR IS 2420.EARTH,UNDERPOPULATED AND PROSPEROUS,HAS BECOME THE TARGET FOR THE PLANET CALM.10 MILLION ALIENS UNDER THEIR RUTHLESS GRAND MARSHALL FARRAGO,ARE APPROACHING IN SPACE SHIPS.THEIR INVASION WILL COINCIDE WITH THE WORLD GOVERNMENT CARNIVAL ON JULY 4TH.ONLY ONE PERSON ON EARTH KNOWS OF THE HOLOCAUST TO COME,AND HE BELONGS TO THE ONLY ORGANIZATION WITH THE RESOURCES TO OUTWIT THE ALIENS THE CABAL."
"When Amber Hewerdine
consults a hypnotherapist as a last resort, she doesn't expect that
anything much will change. She doesn't expect it to help with her
chronic insomnia ... or to hear herself, under hypnosis, saying words
that mean nothing to her: "Kind, cruel, kind of cruel". Words she has
seen somewhere before, if only she could remember where ...
She also
doesn't expect to be arrested two hours later in connection with the
brutal murder of Katharine Allen, a woman she's never heard of ..."
"It was just another after-work happy-hour bar downtown, where business professionals unwound with a few drinks . . .until something went terribly wrong. And after twelve minutes of chaos and violence, eighty people lay dead.
Lieutenant Eve Dallas is trying to sort out the inexplicable events.
Surviving witnesses talk about seeing things--monsters and swarms of
bees. They describe sudden, overwhelming feelings of fear and rage and
paranoia. When forensics gives its report, the mass delusions make more
sense: It appears the
bar patrons were exposed to a cocktail of
chemicals and illegal drugs that could drive anyone to temporary
insanity--if not kill them outright.
But that doesn't explain who would unleash such horror--or why. And if Eve can't figure it out fast, it could happen again, anytime, anywhere. Because it's airborne. . . ."
"THE ALIEN STAR SHIP LANDED IN A CORNFIELD,ITS CREW DIED RAPIDLY,LEAVING ONLY ONE SURVIVOR-A BABY,CONCEIVED ON AN UNKNOWN WORLD,CARRIED IN IT'S MOTHER'S WOMB ACROSS SPACE AND DELIVERED EVEN AS THE MOTHER DIED ON A HOSTILE EARTH.BUT THE ALIEN WOMAN HAD GIVEN BIRTH TO MORE THAN A CHILD.WITH HER LAST ACT SHE HAD BEQUEATHED TO THE EARTH THAT HATED HER AND HER KIND DECADES OF TURMOIL AND STRIFE THAT WOULD COME CLOSE TO TEARING THE WHOLE PLANET APART."
"Of all the criminal cases in which Philo Vance participated as an unofficial investigator, the most sinister, the most bizarre, the seemingly most incomprehensible, and certainly the most terrifying, was the one that followed the famous Greene murders. The orgy of horror at the old Greene mansion had been brought to its astounding close in December; and after the Christmas holidays Vance had gone to Switzerland for the winter sports. Returning to New York at the end of February he had thrown himself into some literary work he had long had in mind-the uniform translation of the principal fragments of Menander found in the Egyptian papyri during the early years of the present century; and for over a month he had devoted himself sedulously to this thankless task."
Women Authors I'm Enjoying
Catherine Bush
"In its simplest form, Arcadia Hearne has run away from home and past events and relationships and settled in London where she works for the Center for the Contemporary War Studies, studying war and intervention. Catherine Bush spins this story in such a manner that it's very difficult to put the book down. She interweaves present events with Arcadia's past in Toronto, slowly winding these two stories together to provide a clear picture of Arcadia and the reasons for her running off to London. While Arcadia studies war, she does so only theoretically, never actually visiting the places where these wars are taking place. She has relationships, most recently with an Iranian immigrant who also has a secret life trying to help refugees. Arcadia, while she likes the relationship, avoids the messier side of life. Discovering more about Amir, she runs away again, back to Toronto, where she tries to confront her past events and also deal with her parents. Catherine Bush is a wonderful writer, her prose is intelligent and thoughtful and her story telling skills superb. I enjoyed reading this book so very much and loved how Bush tried to resolve the various story lines, but also leaving enough unsaid that you can come to your own conclusions. Excellent! (4 stars)"
"Minus Time: A Novel is the second book I've read by Canadian author Catherine Bush. I enjoyed this as much as Rules of Engagement. Minus Time is an interesting portrait of a nuclear family (to the extreme somewhat).
The story centers around Helen, daughter of Barbara, a Canadian astronaut currently circling the Earth in the space station, trying to break the time away record. Her father David, travels the world trying to help people escape and cope with the destruction caused by earthquakes and other disasters.
Completing the family is Paul, her brother, who is working on an architecture degree in Montreal.
Helen and Paul travel to Florida to view her mother's launch into space. Interestingly, they don't go to Cape Canaveral but watch it from a distance. They see on the news that a replacement family has been installed in the bleachers to observe the launch.
Helen returns to Toronto, decides to stop attending her university course, takes a job at a health food restaurant and gets involved with a group of activists who are trying to make the world aware of the sufferings of animals (testing by cosmetic companies, cruel treatment by fast food companies, etc). She keeps her family secret from the friends she makes in the activist group, United Species - kind of a neat name, I think)
The story follows Helen as she tries to cope with her family life; it wanders from the past with Helen and Paul as youngsters and Barbara just starting her training as an astronaut and the stresses it places on the family; and moves back to the present.
All in all it's a very interesting story, well-written and if you're part of the nuclear family generation, there are things that are relatable. It made me look again at my family, with me on the West Coast, one brother on the East Coast, another in the center, and my sister with my father. It makes for a different family dynamic, neither good nor bad, just one that requires differing perspectives. All in all, a very interesting, entertaining, thoughtful story. (4 stars)"
Bush's other books are -
1. Claire's Head (2004)
2. Accusation (2013)
3. Blaze Island (2020).
Catherine Bush is definitely worth checking out. Enjoy your upcoming weekend. Stay safe. 😷
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