Career of Evil ~ Robert Galbraith

Galbraith, Robert. 2015. Career of Evil. Boston: Mulholland Book Books.

I didn’t get very far in my first attempt to read the third title in this series by Robert Galbraith, the pseudonym for J.K. Rowling.  I loved the first book, Cuckoo’s Calling, and the curmudgeonly private detective, Cormoran Strike, along with his savvy and determined assistant, Robin.  The second title, Silworm, was a lot darker, with a ritualistic killing that was hard to stomach.  I wanted to give the third title a chance, but the evil thoughts of the serial killer in the first few chapters were too dark and disturbing, so I decided to give it a pass.  Subsequent to a discussion with a colleague who informed me that the book got better, I decided to try again, once the library holds on the book diminished. 

I did end up enjoying the mystery, the interactions between Cormoran and Robin, and the various characters they encounter in their investigation of an unusual mystery: Robin receives a severed leg delivered by motorcycle courier at their office.  Cormoran believes that the leg was sent by one of four enemies he has made, his step-father or one of three criminals he investigated when he was in the army. The novel alternates chapters conveying the thoughts and actions of the unknown killer, Cormoran and Robin.  I, obviously, preferred the latter chapters to the former and had to skim some of the darker chapters.  Maybe it’s my age, but I find I have less patience reading descriptions of evil and cruelty, and I feel that many authors feel they need to keep raising the “shock” value of their novels as we become increasingly desensitized to dark crimes.

I will continue to give Ms. Rowling a chance with this series, and, as she left a bit of a cliff-hanger in Career of Evil, I will be eagerly looking forward to learning more about the main characters in the next book.

 

A Darker Shade of Magic ~ V.E. Schwab (audiobook narrated by Steve Crossley)

Schwab, V.E. A Darker Shade of Magic. Narrated by Steve Crossley. Tantor Audio. 2015. CD.

I chose to listen to this book on CD, rather than read it in print, due to the number of holds placed on it in my library, and I am so glad that I did.  Audiobook narrators can be very good or very bad, just like books in print.  Steve Crossley has an impressive background in theatre and narration, having recorded over 200 audiobooks (according to his website).  The author, V.E. Schwab, set this tale in London, or one of many Londons, so Crossely’s British accent fits the setting nicely.  He has an impressive range of British accents, from the Queen’s English, to Cockney, and is able to clearly narrate the story so that the listener always knows who is speaking.

Kell is a rare Antari, a magical being able to travel between three different Londons: Red, White and Gray.  There was, at one time, a Black London, but magic there became so powerful that the door to that London was closed permanently.  Now there exists only three Londons, and Kell travels between them delivering correspondence among the royal families of Red and White London.  Gray London has very little magic left and most citizens know nothing of the other Londons.  It is in Gray London that Kell meets Delilah, a scrappy pickpocket who steals a piece of black stone from him and sets off this magical swashbuckling tale.  I do think I enjoyed this book more, having listened to it, than I would have by reading it alone, which is high praise for an audiobook, indeed!

Eligible ~ Curtis Sittenfeld

Sittenfeld, Curtis. 2016. Eligible. New York: Random House Publishing Group.
$28.00 USD.  ISBN 978-1400068326.

Kudos to Ms. Sittenfeld for delivering an excellent modern adaptation of the classic Pride and Prejudice, which I am sure was a daunting task!  Part of “The Austen Project” which pairs six bestselling contemporary authors with Jane Austen’s six complete works, Eligible is the most recent title published after Sense and Sensibility by Joanna Trollop, Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid,  and Emma by Alexander McCall Smith.

There have been a number of other prequels, sequels, movies and adaptations to, arguably, Ms. Austen’s most famous novel.  I am very impressed with how Ms. Sittenfeld was able to capture the character traits of each of the major players and keep some of the dialogue and diction consistent with the original, as well – especially the hilarious comments made by Mr. Bennett!  In this adaptation Elizabeth is a magazine editor who has been in a long-term relationship with the married Jasper Wick.  She and Jane, who is a yoga instructor,  both live in New York  and agree to travel to the Bennett family home, set in modern day Cincinnati, Ohio, to care for their father who recently had heart surgery.  Mrs. Bennett’s frivolousness, Lydia and Kitty’s uselessness, Mary’s extreme misanthropy, and Jane’s humility and goodness all shine through, like the original characters.  Darcy is just as awkward and egotistical, and is modernized by being a brain surgeon at a local hospital.  The title, Eligible, is derived from a “Bachelor” – like TV show on which Chip Bingley agrees to appear prior to the opening of the story.  There are many other differences, of course, as would be needed in a contemporary adaptation, especially Lizzy and Darcy being able to work out their tension with “hate sex, “ which would not have been appropriate in the time of the original text!

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and will add it to other adaptations the next time I put up my library display called “For Fans of Jane Austen.”  I applaud Ms. Sittenfeld for thoroughly modernizing this tale, yet keeping the characters and story-line consistent to the original.  A charming and engaging read!

A Bed of Scorpions ~ Judith Flanders

Flanders, Judith. 2016. A Bed of Scorpions. New York: St. Martin's Press/Minotaur.
$24.99 USD.  ISBN 978-1-250-05646-7.

Judith Flanders’ follow-up to A Murder of Magpies takes the reader back into the British publishing world, this time focusing on intrigue in the art world, as well.  The main character, Samantha Claire, cautiously settled in with her detective boyfriend from the previous novel, finds herself in the middle of a suicide investigation that is more than it seems.  She is caught between an old friend who owns an art gallery and her boyfriend, Detective Inspector Jake Field, who is investigating the suspicious death.  The author provides amusing details of the publishing and art worlds as the plot meanders along like stroll through a museum.  The obscure Colophon, which was a new publishing concept to me, is a fascinating plot point, and the suspenseful denouement is satisfying.  The author is an assured writer, but this second entry into the series didn’t quite capture this reader’s attention as much as A Murder of Magpies did.  However, I enjoy the main characters and the setting quite a bit, so will look forward to the next title, if one comes.

The Do-Right ~ Lisa Sandlin

Sandlin, Lisa. 2015. The Do-Right. El Paso: Cinco Puntos Press.
$16.95 USD. USBN 978-1941026199

Lisa Sandlin has hit a home run with her assured debut, The Do-Right, a full-length novel based on her short-story, “Phelan’s First Case.”  Tom Phelan is a brand new PI working in a Texas port city during the Watergate era of the 1970’s who hires a recently released female parolee named Delpha Wade to work as his assistant.  Tom is a Vietnam veteran who a hangs out his shingle as a private detective after losing a finger in an oil rig accident, and does a favor for a probation officer friend by hiring Delpha, recently released from a women’s correctional facility after serving fourteen years for killing one of the two men who raped her.  Both Tom and Delpha are narrators of this tale in which a variety of unusual cases (and characters) cross their doorstep, including a betrayed wife (or is she?), a missing prosthetic leg, an inheritance mystery, and an ultimately satisfying resolution to the violent assault suffered by the teen-aged Delpha.  Sandlin adeptly weaves the history of her protagonists’ lives throughout the story and shows how those histories affect their cases. The author, a Beaumont, Texas native, has an ear for southern dialogue, especially in the uneducated Delpha; but Delpha’s lack of education is not indicative of her intelligence or her street smarts, the latter honed by her years in prison.  Here’s hoping we’ll see more of Tom, Delpha and new cases for Phelan Investigations! (Warning: some fairly graphic intimacy is described in parts of the novel).

Rubbernecker ~ Belinda Bauer

Bauer, Belinda. 2015. Rubbernecker. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press.
$24.00 USD.  USBN 978-0802123961

It’s been quite a while since I read a novel in one sitting, and except for bathroom breaks and snacks, I stayed up until 2:30 in the morning devouring this unusual tale.  Winner of the 2014 Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award, Rubbernecker is an intriguing tale of a young man with Asperger’s Syndrome who unwittingly discovers something amiss with the cadaver he’s dissecting for an anatomy class.

Patrick has been obsessed with death since his father was killed in a hit and run accident, not understanding where the person goes, or what happens after death.  Hoping to satisfy his morbid curiosity, he takes an anatomy class at a local medical school and uncovers a murder mystery in the process.

The novel is narrated by four characters: Patrick, his alcoholic mother, a female student in the anatomy class, and most unusually, the consciousness of a man in a coma who witnesses a murder when he briefly awakens.  How all these narratives proceed and converge creates the page-turning experience of Rubbernecker, which has plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader engaged.  Patrick isn’t the most likeable character, but his struggles to live his life on his own terms with his disorder reflect some truly tender and at times, humorous, moments.  The surprise ending seems, at first, rather implausible, but upon further reflection (and this book does stay with you long after you finish) this story ends just right.

Jane Steele ~ Lyndsay Faye

Faye, Lindsay. 2016. Jane Steele. New York: G. P. Putnam & Sons. 
$27.00 USD.  ISBN: 9781472217554.  

It’s been a long time since I read Jane Eyre, so I cannot speak to how closely Lyndsay Faye’s new novel follows the structure of that classic novel, but it is very clear that Jane Steele is an adaptation, with a twist: Jane’s actions in the book point toward psychopathic tendencies – she’s a murderess.  I was intrigued, and a little nervous, about reading this book, because I wasn’t sure how the author would portray the protagonist, based on the description.  However, it soon becomes clear that Jane only murders bad people, typically men who are abusive to people she cares about.  The fact that she cares for so many of the people she encounters in the novel lead me to realize that Jane isn’t really a psychopath at all, but a tool for vengeance in a time when justice, especially for women, was rare.  The story follows her early years, banishment to a cruel boarding school, homelessness, brief employment writing the last words of executed prisoners, to finally working incognito as a governess at the estate Jane was supposed to inherit from her family.  I enjoyed reading this Jane’s story, but the introduction of Jane Steele’s familiarity with the actual Jane Eyre novel seems out of place to the narrative.  It’s a fine adaptation, but reading that Jane Steele is a fan of the novel Jane Eyre brought a discordant feeling to this reader. Other than that one negative, I enjoyed getting to know Jane Steele, who survives a childhood of horrors, but gets her revenge in the end. Other Jane Eyre adaptations I’ve come across recently are Ironskin by Tina Connolly, a historical fantasy, a YA title called simply Jane by April Lindner and last year’s Re Jane by Patricia Park.