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| What day is it, again? |
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| Cuckoos Trattoria, Coombs |
Completed Books
(4 books completed since my last update. 70 completed this year)
"Assassin's Code is the 4th book in the horror / thriller series featuring DMS agent Joe Ledger and written by Jonathan Maberry. Ledger is still recovering mentally from the tragedy that occurred in the previous book and he and his team, Echo team, are in Iran about to help extract 3 American civilians who have been taken prisoner by the Iranian police. The mission is accomplished and the team splits up, most of them heading to a rendezvous point and Ledger, along with his faithful dog, Ghost, end up in Tehran.
This is where the story takes a turn and a new mission begins to take shape. He meets up with the head of Iranian intelligence, who is protected by a lone female sniper. Rasouli passes along a flash drive to Ledger, indicating that some agency has planted nukes at various locations around the world and plan to use them. The flash drive is damaged so Ledger sends it to his boss, Church, back in DC, to see if it's reliable.
All the while, Ledger is in constant danger. He is shunted from one spyhole to another and mostly finds his contacts dead or attacked. At one point he is attacked in his hotel room by a 'red knight' ( a vampire???) and saved by the sniper who had been protecting Rasouli. She, Violin, is a member of another group, Arklight, who are mercenaries (much more will come out about them as the story progresses). At another stop Ledger and Ghost are attacked by another group, the Sabbatarians, a group of vampire hunters slash exorcists who believer Ledger is a vampire.
Yes, it's a very convoluted story. It moves from the present to the past, during the Crusades, where a group of Hospitaler Knights make a compact with a Muslim group to .. well, I won't say because it will all come out as you progress through the book. The story also jumps from Ledger, trying to stay alive in Tehran, to his boss back in Washington and his team there trying to read what is on the flash drive and to determine where the nukes are, back to Violin and her mother, Lilith, the leader of Arklight... oh yes, and of course to the enemies, Vox (who we met in a previous story), Grigor, leader of the vampires and others.
Trust me, it's a complex, action-filled story. I personally think it could have been shorter. Maberry does like to get into detail about weapons, technology at times and while it's interesting, it doesn't really advance the story. But it's all very interesting and there are lots of characters that I quite like. It builds to a climatic confrontation and is resolved reasonably completely. I've enjoyed every book in the series and have ordered #5 now. If you like action, monsters, etc., you'll be entertained by this series. (3.5 stars)"
"I recently read Devotions by American poet Mary Oliver. It was a collection of poems from all of her books of poetry. There were 3 or 4 from Dog Songs: Poems, a collection which celebrated the bond between human and dog. These few poems struck a particular chord with me, as one or two of them dealt with the pain / emotion of losing such a companion in our lives. So to that end, I ordered the complete collection of poems.
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| Read another one, Dad! |
For I Will Consider My Dog Percy was especially touching...
"For I will consider my dog Percy.
For he was made small but brave of heart.
For if he met another dog he would kiss with kindness.
For when he slept he snored only a little.
For he could be silly and noble in the same moment.
......... (I jump ahead as this is a long poem)
For when he sickened he rallied as many times as he could.
For he was a mixture of gravity and waggery.
For we humans can seek self-destruction in ways he never dreamed of.
For he took actions both cunning and reckless, yet refused always to offer himself to be admonished.
....... (one bit more)
For when I went away he would watch for me at the window.
For he loved me.
For he suffered before I found him, and never forgot it."
It is longer than this but I think you can get a feel for the emotion and love both felt for each other.
It reminded me of our lovely dogs, all now in doggie heaven together, how they loved us unconditionally, kept us warm and happy as we tried to do for them. Anyway, I'm getting maudlin. It's a lovely collection of poems about love and friendship, happiness and sadness. (4.5 stars)"
"I've read the 1st two books in the Virgil Tibbs mystery series so far and enjoyed them very much. #3, Death For a Playmate (also published as Johnny Get Your Gun) by John Dudley Ball was also excellent and not what I was expecting at all. In fact, because of that, I think the story was even more powerful. Because I was too lazy to read the back of the book for the synopsis, I, with my empty mind, thought the story had something to do with the death of (not for) a Playboy bunny, or something like that... Playmate, get it... Was I every wrong!
So, young Johnny McGuire, 13 years old, is struggling at his new school in Pasadena. His family, Mike (his dad), Molly (his mom) and Johnny have just moved to Pasadena from Tennessee because his father hoped to find a better job for his family there. Johnny is a slight boy and has a funny accent and dresses rather shabbily because his parents can't afford to buy him new clothes. So, he's picked on at school, especially by bigger and more well-to-do, Billy Hotchkiss.
The only thing that Johnny has to hold on to is his dad's promise to eventually take Johnny to a California Angels game. Johnny loves them and even has a letter from their catcher, telling him, that if he's ever at a game to show it to the usher and he'll come out and shake his hand. Johnny also has a small transistor radio, that he received for his birthday, that he uses to listen to the Angels' games.
He takes the radio to school one day to listen to on his lunch break. Billy Hotchkiss catches him and hides it above Johnny's head. When Johnny gets very distressed, Billy takes it down and tosses it to Johnny, breaking it. Billy feels bad now and tells Johnny he'll buy him a new one, but Johnny is distraught and tells Billy that he'll kill him.
Unfortunately, Johnny's dad has a revolver at home and Billy decides to get his vengeance. He phones Billy and tells him he's on his way to kill him. Now, I'll stop there because it's a shortish story and I really don't want to ruin the plot anymore. Suffice it to say that Virgil Tibbs will be brought onto the case and the story will develop into a tense, finger biting tale that will lead you from Pasadena to Disneyland and Anaheim stadium. There will be tragedy along the way and the potential for an even bigger disaster because of the events that take place between Johnny and Billy.
It's an engrossing, fascinating story, covering race relations, mistrust of the police, childhood trauma, etc and through it all you have Virgil Tibbs, an excellent police officer, well respected within the police force, smart and logical. The investigation by Tibbs and the police force is methodical and interesting in its own right and the characters, even the more minor ones are all well-drawn and interesting as well. I really enjoyed the story. Was the ending am mite pat? Maybe, but it did not detract one bit from my enjoyment of this excellent crime drama. (4.5 stars)"
"The Bride Wore Black, originally published in 1940 is the 4th book I've read by noir mystery author, Cornell Woolrich. I won't ruin the story by getting too much into the plot as I think you need to discover it yourself by reading the book. Suffice it to say a woman is out for revenge for some unknown reason and a police is investigating.
The story is told mainly from three perspectives, with each section featuring the Woman, the Man and Inspector Wanger. The story takes place over approximately 2 and a half years and maintains a nice, steady pace and tension. Wanger keeps getting new cases that might be related by his boss, aka Wanger's superior.
It's quite an interesting set of stories, with seemingly unrelated characters entering and departing as Wanger keeps trying to bring the whole thing together in a cohesive case. At the end of each section we get Wanger's summary of the particular case.. basically, blank lines, quite humorous. His boss is excellent, for all that we see of him, adding a touch of ironic humour to the whole thing.
But it is a tense story and while you might have ideas about what is going, and you might be right, the ending does throw you a couple of neat little curve balls that leave you nodding happily. Woolrich was a troubled individual, so they say but his noir mysteries were very popular, especially in Europe. The book was turned into a movie by French director Francois Truffaut and quite famously, his short story, It Has to be Murder was turned into a little movie by Alfred Hitchcock, called Rear Window..
It is definitely worth exploring Woolrich's stories. I now have The Black Angel on order. (4.0 stars)"
Currently Reading
"It is in a harsh and eerie landscape - the crater formed by the meteor they called "The Stranger" - that another stranger is found... dead. In an area where the presence of every outsider is announced by the bush telegraph, how had this man passed unreported? Who was he? How had he died? No tracks around the crater and no stranger in town. It soon becomes obvious to Bony that both the locals and the Aboriginals are guarding a secret - until the will of the Tribe breaks their silence..."
"DETECTIVE KLING LOOKED AT THE PAIR OF FACELESS BODIES AND THREW UP...
A shotgun fired at long range can really do a job on you. But when it's fired point-blank in your face, what's left is sickening enough to make anyone puke - even a cop.A psycho had butchered a nice young couple - and he was loose somewhere in the 87th Precinct. He had a name, an address, an identity: Walter Damascus, a third-rate lothario who liked his women well-off, well-built, and - apparently - dead, along with their husbands. Sooner or later he would surface, and the men of the 87th would be waiting - for the biggest shock of their careers!"
Each recommendation includes a full synopsis as well as a quick overview of the book’s themes, style, and tone so you can narrow down your next read at a glance.
Featuring a foreword by New York Times bestselling author Josh Malerman and five brand-new essays from rising voices in the genre, this illustrated reader’s guide is perfect for anyone who dares to delve into the dark."
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