Title: Impact

Author: Douglas Preston

Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller

Publisher: Forge
Publication Date: January 2010
Hardcover: 368 pages

Wyman Ford is tapped for a secret expedition to Cambodia… to locate the source of strangely beautiful gemstones that do not appear to be of this world.

A brilliant meteor lights up the Maine coast… and two young women borrow a boat and set out for a distant island to find the impact crater.

A scientist at the National Propulsion Facility discovers an inexplicable source of gamma rays in the outer Solar System. He is found decapitated, the data missing.

High resolution NASA images reveal an unnatural feature hidden in the depths of a crater on Mars… and it appears to have been activated.

Sixty hours and counting.

Stand alone or series: Stand alone novel (although a protagonist from this novel has been seen in a prior Douglas Preston novel)

How did I get this book: Review Copy from the publisher

Why did I read this book: I’m sticking to my vow to read more of different genres, and this sci-fi thriller was a good way to continue fulfilling that resolution. It’s a pre-apocalyptic type story about some crazyass gamma rays being beamed at Earth. How could I NOT be excited about this book?

Review:

One starry night in a small Maine fishing town, a meteorite races across the dark sky in a brilliant streak. The newspapers theorize that the meteorite hit somewhere in the Atlantic, and while a physically stunning event, is nothing more than another mundane space rock falling to earth. Abbey Straw, an intelligent, enterprising young woman, however, has other ideas. Out photographing the Andromeda Galaxy with her new Celestron six-inch Cassegrain telescope, she captures the meteroite on film – and using that image, she extrapolates the meteroite’s impact location, which was not in the ocean, but on a small island off the coast. Eagerly, Abbey sets out to find the meteroite, with the intent to sell it to the highest bidder. On the other side of the globe, ex-CIA agent Wyman Ford signs on for a contract job to Cambodia to find the whereabouts of a mysterious new mine, responsible for flooding the international market with new, and extremely deadly, gemstones called “honeys.” Meanwhile, an ambitious and intelligent scientist named Mark Corzo has just received a promotion to head a division of the National Propulsion Facility’s Mars Mapping Orbiter project, following the professional demise and murder of his former mentor. When Corzo receives a package in the mail from that same mentor, sent just days before his death, Corzo becomes consumed with shocking new data concerning gamma rays – originating from Mars. Abbey, Ford and Corzo’s lives are on a collision course, with one of the most important and most dangerous discoveries in the history of mankind.

I hadn’t had the chance to read any of Douglas Preston’s work – neither on his solo work nor his popular co-authored books with Lincoln Child (I have, however, seen and loved Relic). Impact marked my first exposure to the bestselling mainstream thriller/speculative fiction author, and, while I’m not jumping out of my seat, I generally had a positive experience with this novel. The prose is clean (if somewhat simple), and the story fast-paced and easy to keep straight, following the standard separate characters whose fates eventually merge storytelling technique to build tension. What I liked the most about Impact – what caught my eye in the first place – was the premise (unidentified object falling to earth) and the overall idea for the story (well, at least the science fiction element). Rather than being another meteorite/asteroid/comet on the way to decimate life on earth as seen in many apocalyptic works (see Additional Thoughts below for a list), Impact takes a slightly different, unexpected route. The object seen streaking across the Maine sky is no mere clump of ancient space rock, but something infinitely more sinister. While the SF and actual science on the whole is more than a little wobbly (e.g. the open acceptance of miniature black holes rampaging through our solar system and more than a few questionable applications of astrophysics), it’s not really that big a deal as Impact is far more of a summer blockbuster movie than hard science fiction tome. Which is perfectly cool by me.

With the good, however, comes a lot of the mediocre. The characters are decidedly flat and really stretch the limits of credulity. Abbey, the small town adventurer girl, is also a pre-med Princeton dropout (forced to leave after losing her scholarship when she failed Organic Chem) who “took a few astronomy classes” and knows how to calculate the origin and trajectory of any body from outer space (amongst myriad other technical and scientific skills), in addition to being a master sailor and intrepid adventurer. Then there’s Ford, the ex-CIA op who is your typical Jason Bourne-grade badass (with a heart and troubled conscience) – smart, dashing, dangerous, unbeatable in hand to hand combat, etc, etc, etc. There’s also a huge plausibility problem in terms of timing (how did the gem mining in Cambodia become so lucrative in such a short period of time, just days after the meteorite strike?), in the chain of command seen at the NPF (the fictional equivalent of JPL) and in the US government in general. There are more than a few Jerry Bruckheimer-esque scenes involving the president and policy makers -heck, the whole book is very Armageddon! Which isn’t always a bad thing, but unfortunately it just did not work for me here in book form because…well, the thing that disappointed the most with Impact was how there was so much time spent on mindless and almost completely unnecessary action scenes, with barely any focus on the only true interesting part of the book (that would be the science fiction element). The questions that the gamma ray analysis raises, the implications of these scientific findings are brushed away in a few scant conversations, replaced instead with car chases, flooding boats, and bar shootouts. It’s just not really my thing, and I found myself getting impatient with each chase scene.

That said, I should mention that I loved the ending – which was a bit anticlimactic, but in a good way (at least in my opinion). While I was disappointed in the disproportionate nature of the book, with the interesting parts only filling about a third of the final product, the writing is solid and I can understand why adrenaline junkies or more action-craving readers would be thrilled with Impact.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

The trick would be to slip in the side door and get the box up the back stairs without making a sound. The house was two hundred years old and you could hardly take a step without a ?urry of creaks and groans. Abbey Straw eased the back door shut and tiptoed across the carpeted hallway to the landing. She could hear her father puttering around the kitchen, Red Sox game low on the radio.

Her arms hugging the box, she set her foot on the ?rst step, eased down her weight, then the next step, and the next. She skipped the fourth step—it shrieked like a banshee—and put her weight on the ?fth, the sixth, the
seventh…. And just as she thought she was home free, the step let out a crack like a gunshot, followed by a long, dying groan.

Damn.

You can read the first two chapters online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: Though Impact doesn’t really qualify, there are quite a few books and films that embrace the ‘celestial bodies slamming into the Earth’ (or the Moon, or some Earthly neighbor) apocalypse. If you’re looking for some books in this, I highly recommend Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle’s Lucifer’s Hammer (comet slamming into Earth).

Other books worth checking out are “The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion” by Edgar Allan Poe (short story again about a comet), When Worlds Collide by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer (death of Earth by rogue planet), and of course, one of my personal favorites, YA novels Life As We Knew It and the dead and the gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer (in which an asteroid hits the moon and changes its orbit, unleashing disastrous, apocalyptic effects on Earth).

Verdict: Great premise and original idea, but somewhat lacking in the execution. Still, I enjoyed some parts of Impact and recommend it to any thriller fans looking for a light dose of science fiction.

Rating: 6 – Good

Reading Next: Blackbringer by Laini Taylor

Title: Witch & Wizard

Author: James Patterson & Gabrielle Charbonnet

Genre: Fantasy, Thriller, Young Adult

Publisher: Little, Brown (US)
Publication Date: December 2009
Hardcover: 320 Pages

Stand alone or series: Book 1 in an ongoing series

How did I get this book: ARC from the publisher

Why did I read this book: I’ve actually never read a James Patterson novel, for all his bestsellers and apparent domination of the thriller genre, so when we received an ARC of Witch & Wizard, I have to admit I was very curious. I hadn’t read a good thriller in a while, and the synopsis of Witch & Wizard sounded delightfully fun…

Summary: (from amazon.com)
The world is changing: the government has seized control of every aspect of society, and now, kids are disappearing. For 15-year-old Wisty and her older brother Whit, life turns upside down when they are torn from their parents one night and slammed into a secret prison for no reason they can comprehend. The New Order, as it is known, is clearly trying to suppress Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Being a Normal Teenager. But while trapped in this totalitarian nightmare, Wisty and Whit discover they have incredible powers they’d never dreamed of. Can this newly minted witch and wizard master their skills in time to save themselves, their parents–and maybe the world?

Review:

1. All behaviors NOT in keeping with N.O. law, logic, order, and science (including but not limited to theology, philosophy, and IN PARTICULAR the creative and dark arts, et cetera) are hereby ABOLISHED.
2. ALL persons under eighteen years of age will be evaluated for ORDERLINESS and MUST COMPLY with the prescribed corrective actions.
3. The One Who Is THE ONE grants, appoints, decides, siezes, and executes at will. All NOT complying shall be SEIZED and/or EXECUTED.

N.O. The New Order has seized control of the country, and no one is safe – especially not Wisty Allgood and her older brother Whit. One night, N.O. goons march down the Allgood’s street and force their way into their home, apprehending the Allgood children on account that they are a Witch and Wizard. Whit and Wisty are enraged and terrified – there are no such things as witches or wizards, after all, so why should they go along with these horrible soldiers? Overpowered and with their parents’ safety threatened, the two teens have no choice but to be taken into custody…but soon they realize how hopeless their situation is. Without a proper trial, without due process, Whit and Wisty are convicted as GUILTY by The One Who Judges, and are thrown into a maximum security prison (that is actually a mental institution) with “power dampening” spells to stop the teens from using their magical abilities.

But then, they actually discover that they DO have magical powers. Wisty is able to transform objects, people and animals, and when enraged bursts into flame. Whit is incredibly fast and strong, impervious to weapons like stun guns. Together, the brother and sister must figure out a way to escape their prison, and to bring to fruition a prophecy – a certain prophecy that foretells their rise to power and make right the wrongs of the world.

From a purely theoretical standpoint, the actual story for Witch & Wizard is freakin’ fantastic. The absurdity of the New Order (so poetically reduced to the word “N.O.” on flags and insignias) is pure gold, and the concept of an all-powerful dictator on a determined witch hunt is social satire at its best. The concept of two very powerful siblings, oblivious to their significance to the world as protagonists is also solid gold, and could have made for some fascinating character development.

But…

But, unfortunately, as wonderful as all these concepts seem, they wre never brought to life on the page. There is no soul to this book – it’s written in an entirely simplistic manner with absolutely no skill or subtlety. The entire book, told from alternating viewpoints of Whit and Wisty, is written in episodic, extremely brief 1-2 page chapters. The overall impression I was left with was that Witch & Wizard read like a really bad made-for-tv movie; the ridiculously short chapters equivalent to reading ADD. Heck, in one of the later chapters, Wisty actually gives a bullet point recap of the novel so far. Seriously.

In addition to the simplistic writing, there also was a sad lack in terms of character development (beyond the fact that Wisty is the smart-alec younger sister to Whit’s golden boy/hunk persona). This is probably due to the fact that the chapters were so very short, and entirely focused on the next chase scene. The plotseed of strain between the siblings’ relationship evaporates almost as soon as it is mentioned, and you can forget about any deep, soul-searching thoughts about their newly developed powers or any questioning of the New Order world they live in. Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed.

Overall, Witch & Wizard had a great core concept and an intriguing potential for plot and character development. A Great Idea, but really shoddy execution. Top the bad writing with a really crappy, sell-out of a cliffhanger, and you’ve got some frustrated readers on your hands. Perhaps I’ll give Mr. Patterson’s Maximum Ride books a try, but Witch & Wizard disappointed me on so many levels. I’ll give book 2 a read, but there’s a lot of ground that has to be made up to win me over.

Notable Quotes/Parts: The Prologue…

YOU’RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE

Wisty

IT’S OVERWHELMING. A city’s worth of angry faces staring at me like I’m a wicked criminal—which, I promise you, I’m not. The stadium is filled to capacity—past capacity. People are standing in the aisles, the stairwells, on the concrete ramparts, and a few extra thousand are camped out on the playing field. There are no football teams here today. They wouldn’t be able to get out of the locker-room tunnels if they tried.

This total abomination is being broadcast on TV and the Internet too. All the useless magazines are here, and the useless newspapers. Yep, I see cameramen in elevated roosts at intervals around the stadium.

There’s even one of those remote-controlled cameras that runs around on wires above the field. There it is—hovering just in front of the stage, bobbing slightly in the breeze.

So there are undoubtedly millions more eyes watching than I can see. But it’s the ones here in the stadium that are breaking my heart. To be confronted with tens, maybe even hundreds of thousands, of curious, uncaring, or at least indifferent, faces…talk about frightening.

And there are no moist eyes, never mind tears.

No words of protest.

No stomping feet.

No fists raised in solidarity.

No inkling that anybody’s even thinking of surging forward, breaking through the security cordon, and carrying my family to safety.

Clearly, this is not a good day for us Allgoods.

In fact, as the countdown ticker flashes on the giant video screens at either end of the stadium, it’s looking like this will be our last day.

It’s a point driven home by the very tall, bald man up in the tower they’ve erected midfield—he looks like a cross between a Supreme Court chief justice and Ming the Merciless. I know who he is. I’ve actually met him. He’s The One Who Is The One.

Directly behind his Oneness is a huge N.O. banner—

THE NEW ORDER.

And then the crowd begins to chant, almost sing, “The One Who Is The One! The One Who Is The One!”

Imperiously, The One raises his hand, and his hooded lackeys on the stage push us forward, at least as far as the ropes around our necks will allow.

I see my brother, Whit, handsome and brave, looking

down at the platform mechanism. Calculating if there’s any way to jam it, some means of keeping it from unlatching and dropping us to our neck-snapping deaths. Wondering if there’s a last-minute way out of this.

See my mother crying quietly. Not for herself, of course, but for Whit and me.

I see my father, his tall frame stooped with resignation, smiling at me and my brother—trying to keep our spirits up, reminding us that there’s no point in being miserable in our last moments on this planet.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. I’m supposed to be providing an introduction here, not the details of our public execution.

So let’s go back a bit….

You can read more excerpts from Witch & Wizard online HERE.

Additional Thoughts: If you’re looking for a simliar series about two young protagonists fighting a totalitarian nightmare of a government, I *highly* recommend you check out Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series.

Thought-provoking, intelligently written, and with enough depth to satiate even the oldest, most seasoned readers, His Dark Materials is amazing. Start with The Golden Compass (UK Title: Northern Lights), then go on to The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. If you’ve seen the movie adaptation and are (understandably) hesitant, please do not be! The movie was NOTHING compared to the book’s greatness; it was a mere paramecium to the book’s complexity.

Verdict: Excellent idea marred by truly horrendous execution. Witch & Wizard is all action with no soul – a skelleton of plot with no muscle, sinew or flesh to cover it. Perhaps dedicated James Patterson fans will enjoy this book, but it was a disappointment for me.

Rating: 5 – Meh

Reading Next: A Rush of Wings & In the Blood by Adrian Phoenix

Title: Perfume (Das Parfum)

Author: Patrick Suskind, Translated by John E. Woods

Genre: Fiction, Historical, Thriller

Publisher: Diogenes-Verlag (Germany) / Alfred A. Knopf (US)
Publication Date: 1985 (Germany) / February 2001 (US)
Paperback: 272 pages

Stand alone or series: Stand alone novel.

Why did I read this book: Ana and I decided that we had gone too long without a Dare, so we cracked down. Ana picked Perfume: The Story of a Murderer for me, a literary fiction novel about a man born with a superhuman sense of smell. I read the blurb, and though I was a little scared (“realistic” literary fiction can do that to me!), I was also very excited to give Mr. Suskind’s international bestseller a try…

Summary: (from amazon.com)
An acclaimed bestseller and international sensation, Patrick Suskind’s classic novel provokes a terrifying examination of what happens when one man’s indulgence in his greatest passion—his sense of smell—leads to murder.

In the slums of eighteenth-century France, the infant Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with one sublime gift-an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he lives to decipher the odors of Paris, and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs. But Grenouille’s genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and frest-cut wood. Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the “ultimate perfume”—the scent of a beautiful young virgin. Told with dazzling narrative brillance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity.

Review:

July 17, 1738. Paris.

It is the dawning of the Age of Enlightenment in France, of coffeehouses and of reason struggling triumphant over religion. It also is a time when the streets ran rank with the odors of sewage, unwashed people, spoiling food and decaying corpses. In the most odiferous of Paris’s slums, in the heat and stench of the poorest fish market, a woman gives birth and tries to leave her child for dead beneath her spoiling wares. But, determined to live even as a babe, the newborn emits a shriek that alerts others to his existence. His mother is killed for her attempted infanticide, and the young boy is passed from wet nurse to priest to orphanage, and he discovers his true purpose and calling – scent.

Perfume is the story of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a proclaimed monster, a savant of the olfactory, and a murderer. It is not so much a story about his murders (as the full title, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, suggests), but about Grenouille’s life. From Grenouille’s hasty birth to his ultimate demise, this is the story of a growing monster, who knows the unparalleled power of scent. From orphan to tanning apprentice to perfumer, Grenouille realizes that scent can influence and change perceptions, and that every odor has its purpose. And, when he realizes that he himself has absolutely no smell at all, he begins his careful work to craft the ultimate scent – the scent of love.

I didn’t know what really to expect with Perfume – though I suppose I thought I was in store for more of a grisly murder tale. In actuality, Perfume is a character’s journey, and a scathing commentary on human nature. Yes, Grenouille’s murderous acts are portrayed in the book, but they are not gratuitous or gory – rather, this is an atmospheric, macabre tale. Far more terrifying than the corpses Grenouille leaves behind are his perceptions, his desires and ambitions. As a character, we know from the first sentence that Grenouille is a monster:

In eighteenth-century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages. His name was Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, and if his name — in contrast to the names of other gifted abominations, de Sade’s, for instance, or Saint-Just’s, Fouche’s, Bonaparte’s, etc — has been forgotten today, it is certainly not because Grenouille fell short of those more famous blackguards when it came to arrogance, misanthropy, immorality, or, more succinctly, to wickedness…

Just as from his birth, as a child without any scent at all, Grenouille never really had a chance for redemption with readers either. He’s a magician, an outcast, a recluse. But even more terrifying than Grenouille, in my opinion, were the malleable, ignorant humans around him, reacting to the scents he ultimately concocts. Mr. Suskind’s debut novel carefully constructs self-absorbed characters, all flawed monsters in their own way. And perhaps that’s the most terrifying thing of all – for as driven as Grenouille is to concoct his masterpiece, each other character he interacts with from the Orphange mam Madame Gaillard to the bereaved father Monsieur Richis are revealed for the selfish creatures they truly are.

Beyond the characters and insight to the selfish cruelty of the human disposition, however, Perfume simply is a beautiful book. The detailed background of French history that Mr. Suskind paints his novel against is incredible. The plotting, though slow at times and ultimately not a grand or sweeping epic, is strong in its own right. And the prose…ah, the prose! It is simple, sparing, and luscious. Mr. Woods, the translator, did a phenomenal job of interpreting the German to English, as this is one of the finest translations I can remember reading (comparable to Lucia Graves’ The Shadow of the Wind). I would never have picked up this novel had I not been dared by Ana – but I absolutely loved it. Perfume is an unforgettable bouquet indeed.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From the second chapter:

“Ah, I understand,” said Terrier, almost relieved. “I catch your drift. Once again, it’s a matter of money.”

“No!” said the wet nurse.

“Of course it is! It’s always a matter of money. When there’s a knock at this gate, it’s a matter of money. Just once I’d like to open it and find someone standing there for whom it was a matter of something else. Someone, for instance, with some little show of thoughtfulness. Fruit, perhaps, or a few nuts. After all, in autumn there are lots of things someone could come by with. Flowers maybe. Or if only someone would simply come and say a friendly word. ‘God bless you, Father Terrier, I wish you a good day!’ But I’ll probably never live to see it happen. If it isn’t a beggar, it’s a merchant, and if it isn’t a merchant, it’s a tradesman, and if it isn’t alms he wants, then he presents me with a bill. I can’t even go out into the street anymore. When I go out on the street, I can’t take three steps before I’m hedged in by folks wanting money!”

“Not me,” said the wet nurse.

“But I’ll tell you this: you aren’t the only wet nurse in the parish. There are hundreds of excellent foster mothers who would scramble for the chance of putting this charming babe to their breast for three francs a week, or to supply him with pap or juices or whatever nourishment . . .”

“Then give him to one of them!”

“. . . On the other hand, it’s not good to pass a child around like that. Who knows if he would flourish as well on someone else’s milk as on yours. He’s used to the smell of your breast, as you surely know, and to the beat of your heart.”

And once again he inhaled deeply of the warm vapors streaming from the wet nurse.

But then, noticing that his words had made no impression on her, he said, “Now take the child home with you! I’ll speak to the prior about all this. I shall suggest to him that in the future you be given four francs a week.”

“No,” said the wet nurse.

“All right-five!”

“No.”

“How much more do you want, then?” Terrier shouted at her. “Five francs is a pile of money for the menial task of feeding a baby.”

I don’t want any money, period,” said the wet nurse. “I want this bastard out of my house.”

“But why, my good woman?” said Terrier, poking his finger in the basket again. “He really is an adorable child. He’s rosy pink, he doesn’t cry, and he’s been baptized.”

“He’s possessed by the devil.”

You can read the full excerpt of the first two chapters HERE.

Additional Thoughts: This book, which went on to become an international bestseller, was recently made into a motion picture:

Starring Ben Whishaw as Grenouille, Dustin Hoffman as Baldini, Rachel Hurd-Wood as Laure (changed to “Laura” for the film), and Alan Rickman as her father Richis. I haven’t yet seen the film, though I will certainly be renting it very soon! I am kind of wary though – the book’s strengths are in the internal descriptions and interpretations of Grenouille and his scents, and I’m not sure how well that will translate to the big screen…

Also in random, very creative and somewhat disturbing news, in conjunction with the film, perfumer Thierry Mugler has interpreted the scents from the book and movie Perfume. The collection, which costs $700 total, contains scents such as Jasmine and Sea, but also contains “Virgin No. 1,” “Baby,” and “Human Existence” among others with explanations. For example:

Paris 1738

INSPIRATION
“It was a mixture of human and animal smells, of water and stone and ashes and leather, of soap and fresh-baked bread (…). Thousands upon thousands of odors formed as invisible gruel that filled the street ravines, only seldom evaporating above the rooftops and never from the ground below. ”
~ From Part I, Chapter 7

INTERPRETATION
“So real!  As if you were there! With ‘Human Existence’, it corresponds to the horror movie of perfumery.  It requires as many skills and special effects. Controversial ingredients were specifically used to come up with this one-of-a-kind olfactory conglomerate. The ambivalence of the cassis note, cleverly used, for example, makes a definite impression. Blackcurrants in fruity compositions have a slight odor of urine, however, when they are added to a dark scent, their fruity accord clearly dominates. The challenge was to hide the fruity aspect and to place the emphasis on the sordid effect.”

I’m simultaneously curious and repulsed.

Verdict: Almost against my will, I loved Perfume. This is a delectable novel, beautifully written and devastatingly dark. Absolutely recommended to anyone that loves a well-written novel.

Rating: 8 Excellent

Reading Next: Ark by Stephen Baxter

Title: Liar

Author: Justine Larbalestier

Genre: YA/Thriller

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books
Publishing Date: September 29, 2009
Hardcover: 384 pages

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

Summary: Micah will freely admit that she’s a compulsive liar, but that may be the one honest thing she’ll ever tell you. Over the years she’s duped her classmates, her teachers, and even her parents, and she’s always managed to stay one step ahead of her lies. That is, until her boyfriend dies under brutal circumstances and her dishonesty begins to catch up with her. But is it possible to tell the truth when lying comes as naturally as breathing? Taking readers deep into the psyche of a young woman who will say just about anything to convince them—and herself—that she’s finally come clean, Liar is a bone-chilling thriller that will have readers see-sawing between truths and lies right up to the end. Honestly.

Why did I read the book: Oh. Where do I start? The blurb. the cover. The online outcry about the cover. The premise. I love unreliable narrators.

Review: It starts with a promise:

“My father is a liar and so am I.
But I’m going to stop. I have to stop.
I will tell you my story and I will tell it straight. No lies, no omissions.
That’s my promise.
This time I truly mean it.”

Micah is the main character and the first-person narrator of this story, her story. She is a 17 year old girl who looks like a boy, the daughter of a black man and a white woman. She attends a private school for privileged white kids, but she is poor and she can only do that because she has a grant; she also has a boyfriend called Zach who goes to the same school. Micah loves three things: Zach, running (she is super, ultra fast) and her biology classes.

She is also a compulsive liar which is probably the most important thing you need to know about her. Her lies have made her a less than popular character in the school ever since she was mistook for a boy in her freshman year and she kept the ruse for two whole days. And when she was caught? She excused herself by telling everyone that she was a hermaphrodite.

When her boyfriend Zach is found dead and an investigation starts all the kids point the finger at Micah. No one really knows if he was murdered or not but the whispers start nonetheless. But Micah hasn’t seen him in days, has she? Of course, he is not really her boyfriend, given as how he has an official girlfriend called Sarah. Micah is more like an after-hours girlfriend but she swears that she has nothing to do with Zach’s death. But who can believe her?

“I am often in trouble. Mostly for things I have not done. I can’t expect to be believed. I am the girl who cried wolf.”

And that is really as far as I can go with details of the plot. As her solemn pledge attests, Micah is trying really hard to tell the truth – especially to the reader whom she is entrusting with her story. But can the reader trust Micah?

That’s where the brilliance of this novel lies. Because from page ONE, you don’t know if you can believe anything the narrator is telling you. Usually with unreliable narrators the truth creeps up on you slowly until it sinks in. But here? Every single thing that Micah ever tells the reader is subject to be scrutinised due to the fact that she is a known compulsive liar.

At some point half way through the book, there is The Twist or The Big Secret, and it blew my mind away. It sounds like the truth and it explains the first part of the novel and it explains why she lies in the first place. But then again, how can I possibly believe what she tells me, ever? But, she is so convincing. But isn’t that exactly what a compulsive liar is? But there are small clues, the small things she slips in, that makes one think about the nature of the things she lies about. THAT is the most important factor of all. Having said that: we are back to the unreliable narrative – how can I possibly base my interpretation of the book on what this narrator tells me?

The story is divided in small short sections divided in “After” and “Before” Zach’s death plus “History of Me” and “Family History” . Until later in the story when she starts to deconstruct some of her lies and how she did it. Because of that I am not sure I LIKE Micah. I am not sure I am supposed to. She is LYING to me. This whole book is like a written episode of Punk’d. I felt like Ashton Kutcher would show up at my house at any second.

Is Liar about character, or is it about narrative?

Because here is the truth and am I not lying to you: you do end up believing her. Actually, I found that the thing I wanted the most was to believe Micah, so very much. At least some of the things she says. It is impossible not to and that is because of the close relationship between the reader and the narrator and how one experiences a story. Days later and I am still thinking about it, theorising and most of all, I am psychologising it. Does she believe her own lies? What is the line between compulsive and pathological? Micah is aware of this conundrum, this impossible situation she has put her reader in and she taunts:

“You buy everything, don’t you? You make it too easy”

It is simply nerve wrecking. It also makes for a compelling, compulsive reading. I did not put the book – which is actually a simple thriller, a whodunit in its core- down.

Liar is abso-freaking-lutely brilliant. I loved it. Easily one of my fave reads this year.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: The opening of the second part. My jaw droped and I believed.

Additional Thoughts: A few ramblings on the unreliable narrator:

One of my favourite narrative modes – because I am a sucker for being outsmarted by the books I read. What can I say? That moment when one realises that what they read so far was not really the truth is one of the most exhilarating experiences when reading, at least for me. Either because the narrator straight out lied or omitted things; either because he/she believes in what they say because of say, bias or mental instability and it is down to the reader to realise that. I believe that books with unreliable narrators are those that require the most from the readers because it forces the reader to revaluate and revisit everything they read and saw to that point. I also think that the narrative mode is one that is not universally enjoyed as the unreliable narrator breaks that which is the most important thing between a reader and a book: trust.

There is also a weird line between writer and narrator in this narrative mode and I find that I am never more attuned to the writer and its presence within the book than when I am reading a book with an unreliable narrator. Because when that trust is broken it is easy to cross the line and blame the writer and not the narrator. In that sense, I can only but to assume that books like that most be really difficult to write? Any writers out there who would like to expand on that?

My first ever encounter with an unreliable narrator was when I was about 12 and it blew my mind away. It was Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. I was a goner then.

I recently read a couple which I really enjoyed. Of course (and excuse me from bringing this one up again) there is The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner – narrated by Eugenides, the Thief.

The book has a major twist in the end that re-writes the whole story to that point. In this one case, Eugenides is an unreliable character not because of bias or because he lies – he simply chooses to disclose only certain aspects of the story. If you go back, you realise he never truly duped you – all the clues you need to know the truth are really quite clear for you to do so. It is really YOU who chose to believe certain things because of your own bias. Now, that is genius.

Another recent one is Jasmyn by Alex Bell. Again, without spoiling it for you, the whole story is told by her but she is unreliable – and she doesn’t even know that. Again, she is not lying nor she is biased. It is something else entirely.

On the other end of the spectrum, I recently read The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and I did not like it and that is one the cases in which I could tell where the narrator ended and where the writer began and I ended up frustrated with the story and with the writer in the end.

Of course, I could not end these ramblings without mentioning my two favourite unreliable narrators in movies:

The nameless narrator/Tyler Durden from Fight Club and Roger “Verbal” Kint/ Keyser Söze from The Usual Suspects. Both are total shockers and also totally, totally cool.

What about you? How do you feel about unreliable narrators? Any recommendations?

Verdict: I love unreliable narrators and Micah is the ULTIMATE unreliable narrator. This book is gripping, mind-blowing and brilliant. I Loved it.

Rating: 9, Damn Near Perfection

Reading Next: Tempt me at Twilight by Lisa Kleypas

Title: The Infinite Instant

Author: Danielle L. Parker

Genre: Sci Fi/ Thriller

Publisher: Lachesis Publishing
Publishing Date: September 2, 2008
Paperback: 290 pages

Stand Alone or series: Can be read as stand alone but there is a sequel in the works

Why did I read the book: We were offered a review copy back in *gasp* DECEMBER 2008. I can’t believe it took me this long to read the book. Mea culpa, mea culpa.

Summary: : In this near-future thriller, Ms. Minuet James, proprietor of a Paranormal Services Agency, finds herself in hot water. Minuet has a past she’d like to forget, but too many people seem to know all about her guilty secret. When Minuet finds herself framed for a triple murder by a mysterious gangster called “Mr. X”, she’s forced to cooperate with a hostile police liaison, Alexander Ferguson, and help hunt down the mystery man. It doesn’t help that her would-be lover, Tomeso Lulliano, has seamy criminal connections of his own. She’s even less happy that her vengeful and ruthless client, Drago Navigator, would like nothing better than to see her in the clink forever. Minuet has a far worse problem. “Mr. X” has the same guilty secret she does

Review:

Minuet James’ Paranormal Services Agency is going through a dry spell. Regular clients are dropping their requests, new clients are rare and all signs point to the agency being blacklisted. When Minuet starts to investigate what is keeping her clients at bay she gets involved with some unsavoury characters and then she is framed for 3 murders and arrested.

Once under custody she is made an offer she can’t refuse – one of the most powerful business men in the world, one Mr Drago Navigator offers to arrange for her release if she helps him finding out who attacked one of his spaceships and wiped the mind of the pilot, who happens to be his cousin. The culprit is suspected of being a rogue telepath of “X” denomination and the same person who committed the murders she has been framed for. It turns out, Minuet is the only one that can help because she is an “X” telepath herself, a fact she has been trying to hide for 3 years and now her secret is back to haunt her. X telepaths are extremely powerful and potentially dangerous as they can expel a person from their own body and take over – there are only 10 known X Telepaths in the world and only one in the lose, if you don’t count Minuet. But now that they do know she exists and they also know just how her powers first became an issue, she is afraid that this is going to be her last job and she will be locked up for good. But things turn out to be more complicated and Minuet finds herself in a rollercoaster all the way to the surprising ending.

Infinite Instant is a Sci-fi slash Detective Novel and even though it is set in the future (undisclosed date – but California is out of the map and there are interspatial travel and robots , and mafia business are now legit) and there are enough scifi elements to justify the choice of genre, I still felt like I was reading an old time noir detective novel. For most part I felt that the sci-fi elements were under-used and the story could have been set at any given time.

Having said that, the plotting is pretty tight and interesting and I enjoyed not only the progression of the story but also the atmosphere. As for the characters, I felt the secondary characters were pretty conventional from the villain to the sidekick (who disappeared and was sorely missed by me), to the love interest. But, the main character, Minuet was a star and I loved her voice, courtesy of Danielle Parker’s writing.

At first, she too may come across as conventional and too good to be true. Minuet James (gotta love that name by the way) is the tough-as- nails protagonist: she is snarky, strong-willed, perfectly capable of taking care of herself and her business. She is also gorgeous, extremely intelligent with a PHD in cybernetics and one of the most powerful telepaths in the world – on paper she is almost too perfect. But she has the added vulnerability of having lost a lot, of having committed an act that she feels immense guilt for. She walks a fine line between her own perceived notions of right and wrong when she starts to fall for the son of a Mafia Boss or when she uses her powers to uncover thoughts closed to her. It is when walking in this grey area that Minuet comes to life as full-fledged character and one that I cared about.

The last thing to recommend The Infinite Instant is the strong, solid writing, without being too flourished. Although I, most humbly suggest that the use of italics to express the character’s emphasis on what they are saying is exercised with more caution in future endeavours. But that is maybe an editing issue that is easily fixed.

Two last comments: I think the book deserved a better cover that it got; and the way the story ends was enough to close this one storyline, at the same time that it opens up a myriad of possibilities. Kudos to the writer.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: Minuet lived in California when the Big Quake happened and she lost everything and I really like this passage:

No doubt there comes a point in the existence of any immigrant when he or she realises home is now here and not there. I’d never felt it. What had once been home was now an unearhtly city beneath the sea, the fall and ruin of the world, carrying with it not only mother and father and the dark-haired young man I meant to marry, but all of the dreams I had yet cherished in my life. Where I meant to help I had hurt, and where I fled to was not a home, but only a lair to hide in. Drago Navigator, and an unseen man whose fury and hunger had reached for me like a claw, had vomited me forth onto the streets, and the small space I had fleetingly called my own was as lost to me now as my pastel city with its sunken golden gate. Sic transit mundi!“

Additional thoughts: Infinite Instant just won the EPPIE award, for Best Electronically Published Book of the Year, in its category.

And you can read an excerpt of the book on the publisher’s website .

Verdict: Good writing, griping plot and an interesting protagonist make this a solid debut.

Rating: 6 Good (leaning towards a 7).

Reading Next: Goodness. I don’t know!

Title: Apocalypse 2012

Author: Gary Jennings, Robert Gleason & Julius Podrug

Genre: Speculative Fiction, Thriller, Historical-Fantasy

Publisher: Tor/Forge
Publication Date: June 2009
Hardcover: 384 pages

Stand alone or series: Book 3 in the Aztec series, but can theoretically be read as a stand alone novel.

Why did I read this book: I have been fascinated by the Maya ever since I met these early astronomers in the seventh grade. They had the concept of zero. They accurately recorded the length of the lunar cycle to within 0.00027 of our current measurements. They played sweet ballgames and built majestic cities, and, oh yeah, practiced all kinds of crazy human sacrifice. They also predicted the end of the world in 2012 (matching the predictions of numerous other cultures and ancient civilizations)…how could I resist this book?

Summary: (from amazon.com)
In ancient Mexico, the “End-Time Codex”–prophesizing the world’s end in 2012–is entombed. A young Aztec-Mayan slave tells us its story.

A thousand years later scientists discover the End-Time Codex. While struggling to decipher it, they realize their own age mirrors Tula’s. Can they crack the 2012 code and save their world from Tula’s deadly fate?

Review:

Apocalypse 2012 follows two parallel timelines. In 1000AD, the young Coyotl is one of the captured “Dog People,” taken hostage by the Toltecs. Because of a star constellation tattoo on Coyotl’s stomach, he is recognized by his captors as a stargazer, and his abilities are unparalleled. Soon Coyotl rises from lowly slave to King’s adviser, but finds himself enlisted in a struggle to prevent the power and blood hungry priests from seizing control of Tula. The King believes in the truth of the stargazers, and Coyotl rushes to complete the most comprehensive codex ever recorded without the priests’ knowledge. For more than just the future of Tula is at stake – Coyotl’s sightings not only predict the end of his civilization, but of the world in a far distant future.

Running parallel to Coyotl’s story is one of catastrophic proportions in 2012. A string of environmental catastrophes are occurring, and Earth is on the precipice of certain annihilation. NASA scientist and former professor of the US President Raab, Dr. Monica Cardiff presents these terrifying findings to the President’s Advisory Board with even more grim news – something is headed on a collision course for Earth, guaranteeing an extinction event for the planet. The same events nearly gripped Earth in Coyotl’s time, and Dr. Cardiff believes that only with the lost codex can humanity even hope for a way to save itself. Two of her finest students along with a mercenary team are in the Yucatan, evading the Mexican cartels that will certainly kill them if found, looking desperately for the last part of the codex that could save the planet…

From the synopsis, and upon reflection after having read this book, Apocalypse 2012 sounds like a blast. Engaging ideas, a pretty decent historical landscape, and apocalyptic flare – what more could a girl ask for? Unfortunately, Apocalypse 2012 fails on almost every conceivable level. The ideas behind the story are fantastic, and Coyotl’s storyline is engaging enough. However. The writing is atrocious. The characters, especially those in the modern timeline, are so flat you could scrape them off a griddle with a spatula. But Apocalypse 2012’s most grievous offense is the fact that THE APOCALYPSE NEVER HAPPENS! (Note: I refuse to spoiler tag, because this is essential knowledge for anyone that decides to pick up this book expecting an apocalyptic thriller)

I repeat: the apocalypse – the thing that the book is titled for – NEVER HAPPENS.

The book abruptly ends before any of the cataclysmic events Cardiff and the Presidential stiffs discuss at length ever happen. If that’s not false advertising, I don’t know what is.

Without the promised apocalypse in this so-called apocalyptic novel, Apocalypse 2012 is a sort of bumbling thriller novel. Coyotl’s world is sufficiently detailed, bringing to life the Toltec-Mayan landscape with images of thriving urban centers and blood drenched step pyramids. Though the writing is cringe-worthy and frankly bizarre for most of the book (for example, in one oddly placed sex scene Coyotl’s enormous manhood unleashes a tsunami of multiple ejaculations, drenching the poor girl he’s with – but this is only after they have both spanked each other to feel like they are no longer slaves), the Toltec storyline is far more interesting than the modern timeline. While Coyotl’s sexual prowess and stargazing skills are at least entertaining, the modern counterparts are yawn inducing, especially the story following the two lesbian grad students hunting for the codex in the wilds of the Yucatan. Apocalypse 2012 suffers from an identity crisis – it leads up to an apocalypse by the end of the book but doesn’t show it, and though the historical fiction is entertaining (if poorly written), it doesn’t really serve any purpose to the apocalyptic theme of the novel. We follow the struggles of a young slave made astronomer as he tries to survive the vindictive cruelty of the Toltec priests…and what significance that has for the modern timeline is pathetically contrived. Why are these codecies so important? If an asteroid or comet is going to hurtle into the planet, how will finding a codex stop this from happening?

It simply does not compute.

I finished the book, but was really struggling most of the way. And with that said, I cannot recommend this novel.

Notable Quotes/Parts: Here’s an excerpt from the first chapter, for those who are interested.

One-World, 1001 A. D.

Of our entire band, only two others survived: Tenoch, who lay on the ground unconscious—thanks to a towering, muscular warrior who had clubbed him into bloody oblivion—and Desert Flower.

Emerging from the forest, a ninth man walked through the camp—an elderly dignitary who had not participated in the fray.

His clothing confirmed his importance among his people. His loincloth was richly embroidered in vivid shades of red and green and yellow, with sparkling gems delicately weaved into the cloth. Hanging from knots were tiny bells of gold.

His mantle was long, falling from his shoulders almost to the ground. As colorful as his loincloth and as costly, it was lavishly decorated and fringed with gold.

He was at an age in life when most men no longer marched with an army unless their role was planning as opposed to leading warriors into battle.

As he stood over me and stared down, I knew what he was looking at: the star patterns tattooed on my lower belly and painted with black dye on my white loincloth.

“Who put these drawings on you?” he asked.

He spoke Nahuatl, the same language as the Aztecs, though his diction and accent were different from ours.

“I painted the ones on my loincloth.”

“Why?”

The question stumped me. I had never thought of why I had drawn them. I gave him the answer that came to my mind. “It’s what I see in the sky at night.”

Kneeling next to me, he examined the scars on my abdomen, fingering the pattern of scars.

“Where did you get these designs?” he asked.

The words were spoken almost in a whisper.

“I don’t know,” I told him, truthfully. “They were on me when they found me.”

“Who found you?”

“The Clansmen—”

“Dog People found you? Where? When?”

“I was found when I was a babe. In a basket, next to a river.”

The nobleman stood up. “Do not hurt this one,” he announced to the warriors.

Suddenly I felt a chill, and a shadow fell over me. A startlingly tall, shockingly muscled warrior had come up beside me silent as the grave. Possessing a hawk’s nose, wide flaring cheekbones and blood-streaked shoulder-length hair, black as a raven’s underwing, he was an imposing specimen.

He wore the close-fitting loincloth and white padded-cotton shirt of a warrior, but his shield and helmet told me he was far more important than a mere commander of what appeared to be a small force—only eight soldiers plus the elderly nobleman. The warrior’s shield bore the image of a jaguar, and his headdress included the actual head of a jaguar as well as the brilliant green and red plumes of rare birds.

Jaguar Knight.

I had never seen an actual knight, but I knew from cooking-fire talk that the Toltec had three orders of knighthood: Jaguar, Eagle, and Coyote. The Coyote Knights were in charge of the Toltec forces that guarded its northern border, the one it shared with us Dog People. The Jaguar Knights guarded the king.

What was a Jaguar Knight doing so far from his king?

Who was this man?

Glancing up at him, I was surprised to find his eyes were . . . kind.

He was the man who had subdued my tormenter, Tenoch.

“What is happening, Citali?” he asked.

Additional Thoughts: After finishing the novel in a haze of confusion and anger (I wanted the apocalypse to happen, dammit!), I did a little research online. As it turns out, Gary Jennings (the credited creator of the novel) passed away in 1999. He was the author of the Aztec series (Aztec, Aztec Blood, Aztec Autumn, etc) which were very popular for the well-researched nature of the stories, and for the brilliant, unflinching nature of his writing. After his passing, Robert Gleason (Jennings’s former editor) and Junius Podrug (writer of fiction and nonfiction) decided to carry on the Aztec series. Apocalypse 2012 is their third book together.

I think this explains a whole lot.

Verdict: Poorly conceived, badly written, and without an apocalypse in sight, Apocalypse 2012 simply was not my cup of tea. Perhaps historical thriller fans, or those who have enjoyed Gleason & Podrug’s earlier efforts will enjoy this novel, but I cannot recommend it.

Rating: 4 Bad, but not without some merit – and this is a pretty generous rating.

Reading Next: The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong

Title: Echoes from the Dead

Author: Johan Theorin

Genre: Crime

Publisher: Transworld (Black Swan)
Publishing Date: 3 July 2009 (UK)
Paperback: 480 pages

Stand Alone or series: Stand Alone

Why did I read the book: I was offered a review copy. Although I don’t read crime novels as much as I used to, I decided to give this one a try once I heard that 1) it is set in Sweden in and I am trying to expand the settings of the novels I read. 2) it won an award for best debut novel in its home country

Summary:
Can you ever come to terms with a missing child?Julia Davidsson has not. Her five-year-old son disappeared twenty years previously on the Swedish island of Oland. No trace of him has ever been found.

Until his shoe arrives in the post. It has been sent to Julia’s father, a retired sea-captain still living on the island. Soon he and Julia are piecing together fragments of the past: fragments that point inexorably to a local man called Nils Kant, known to delight in the pain of others. But Nils Kant died during the 1960s. So who is the stranger seen wandering across the fields as darkness falls?

It soon becomes clear that someone wants to stop Julia’s search for the truth. And that he’s much, much closer than she thinks . . .

Review:

1972. In the island of Öland, Sweden, a young boy is spending the summer with his grandparents. His mother is out for the day, his grandmother is taking a nap and the grandfather is working on his nets at the boathouse when six year old Jens decides to go on an adventure. He climbs the small wall at the end of the garden and goes for a walk in the Alvar. Soon though, he gets lost in the spreading fog and loses his bearing. He then meets a man who introduces himself as Nils Kant and reassures him that everything will be alright. Jens is never seen again dead or alive.

20 years later, his mother Julia is still unable to let go. Living in a dingy apartment with her only companions being wine bottles and the American Shopping channel , she merely gets by and she has been on a sick leave from her job as a nurse for ages. The working explanation for her son’s disappearance is that he went towards the sea and drowned but Julia does not believe that and deep down still hopes he is alive somewhere.

Until one day she gets a phone call from her father with some disturbing news : he has received in the mail, one of Jen’s sandals – the one he was wearing on the day of his disappearance and he urges her to go back to her childhood home to investigate further. Gerlof , now a 80 year old, retired widown, lives in a nursing home and struggles to live with a crippling chronic disease and the certainty that he is old and unimportant. Together with is best friend Ernst, he has been working in a new theory about his grandson and one that involves…..Nils Kant.

Julia goes back, even if only for a couple of days and is overcome with the memories. Then, Ernst is killed and all of a sudden there is the conviction that Gerlof is on to something. But then, Julia finds out that Nils Kant has been dead for over 30 years – even before her son disappeared! What is Gerlof hitting at – is Nils Kant not really dead?
Julia’s journey through the small villages of the island and Gerlof’s attempt at playing private eye are intercalated with flashbacks of Nils Kant’s story – going back to his own dark, disturbing childhood and the death of his younger brother to the crimes he committed as a young man. We then learn that this man’s past is intertwined with that of the island and that Öland, with its past and future, is a character in itself.

Until the two narratives coincide in the most surprising way.
The alternating points of view of these three characters add an incredible insight to the story and makes Echoes from the Dead more character-driven than plot-driven. Nils ‘ obsession with the island and with his self-importance, Julia’s depression and want for closure and Gerlof’s need to prove that he is still important and that his life still matters were poignant and interesting and added a human flavour to a whodunit. The author’s description of the island was amazingly haunting and spoke of a close relationship to the place. The bleakness and the emptiness of the surroundings were immensely evocative and emphasised the sombre aspects of the three characters’ personalities.

A couple of small things did bother me and detracted from the overall enjoyment of the novel – the fact that Gerlof was a bit too aloof and too close-mouthed about his findings, choosing to reveal things little by little made me impatient. They were dealing with a possible murder investigation not with one of the stories he heard in his childhood. It was a matter of great importance and I felt that his actions and Julia’s reaction to them were not realistic. And the presence of a paranormal element, that came out of nowhere and added absolutely nothing to the story. Still, this is a pretty solid debut novel and I admired the way the plot unfolded.

A few years ago, I used to be a voracious reader of crime novels until I sort of grew tired of the genre. Echoes from the Dead was a great reminder of why I used to love whodunits and I recommend it to lovers of the genre and to those who would like a different setting.

Notable Quotes/ Part: definitely the climax of the story when everything becomes clear to the reader.

Verdict: With its interesting characters and the haunting setting and narrative, Echoes from the Dead is a solid debut novel.

Rating: 6. Good.

Reading Next: Written on your Skin by Meredith Duran

Title: Don’t Look Twice

Author: Andrew Gross

Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Suspense

Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: March 2009
Hardcover: 384 pages

Stand alone or series: Book 2 following the main character, Lieutenant Ty Hauck; but can be read as a stand alone novel.

Why did I read this book: I haven’t really read any thrillers in a while, so when we were offered a review copy of this book, I thought…what the heck! I’m all for reading new things outside of my usual range.

Summary: (from amazon.com)
In this dramatic new novel following the bestselling The Dark Tide, a drive-by shooting rocks the posh suburb of Greenwich, Connecticut, and an innocent bystander is left dead.

Don’t Look Twice is a gripping story of profiteering on an international scale and an emotionally resonant domestic thriller from one of the hottest new talents in suspense fiction.

Review:

Lieutenant Detective Ty Hauck plans on sharing a relaxing boat trip weekend in upscale Greenwich with his teenage daughter. While at the local store picking up some last minute replies, a truck pulls up and a young man wearing a red bandana opens fire on the store, killing an innocent man who happened to be standing directly behind Hauck. The victim turns out to be a U.S. Attorney, and soon Hauck is plunged into a full-fledged investigation. What looked like a simple revenge drive-by shooting reveals to be anything but, as layer after layer of conspiracy is uncovered. Hauck finds himself embroiled in a pool of corruption and greed, involving gangs, a local casino, powerful political figures…and even his own family.

As I’ve said above, I’m not well-versed in the thriller genre. I tend to always think of these sort of murder mysteries/suspense books as “airplane reads” – you know, the ones you pick up at the airport newsstand when you realize you have nothing else to read and really don’t want to spend nearly the same amount of money on US Weekly and Cosmo. The last thriller I read was Whiteout by Ken Follett a few years back on a 5 hour flight. I always enjoy these books – truly, some of my favorite Urban Fantasy novels are thrillers with a few supernatural creatures thrown in the mix – so why not try one when I’m not on an airplane? Don’t Look Twice was my first foray, and I have to say I enjoyed it.

Don’t Look Twice is a solid novel, and it surprised me on a number of levels. I was most pleasantly surprised with the amount of detail and emotion in Mr. Gross’s characters. Ty Hauck is, by far, the most detailed of the bunch. He is a detective, a father, a brother, and a divorcee coming off another relationship that looks like it has run its course (with another character from the previous novel, Dark Tide). I was surprised to see that Ty’s feelings – from being worried about his teenage daughter growing from gangliness to a young woman, to his own mixed emotions concerning his relationships – were examined in some impressive length here. While Ty does suffer somewhat from Hero syndrome (complete with bad one-liners, always winning the ladies, and an unshakably black and white outlook of morality), Mr. Gross gives him enough emotion an human traits to make him come across as a solid character. The secondary cast is somewhat less sturdy; Annie (Ty’s love interest) is probably the best drawn as the chef fighting to get her life back together. Mr. Gross inserts a multitude of new characters into his story, giving them all a few definable traits, but never really exploring any of them so much as he does Ty. Unfortunately this at times leads to some caricaturish, cliched types of scenes – the Hispanic gang members, casino security and sexy employees, etc.

Mr. Gross’s greatest strength comes from his fast paced plotting, and his ability to tell a story. This is the first book I have read by this author, and Don’t Look Twice is his third solo effort, emerging from the long shadow of James Patterson. Mr. Gross’s style is brisk and quick paced; there are 94 chapters in this book, each no longer than a few pages, and each accompanies a shift in character or a new plot twist. While I was reading the book, I found this pacing wholly engaging and raced through the mystery; it was only upon finishing the novel did I sit back and realize that the overall story had a number of holes and was unnecessarily complicated. But, it is testament to Mr. Gross’s skill as a storyteller that I was completely distracted by this literary slight-of-hand. The thing I loved the most about this novel, however, was that despite the fact that the direction of the mystery was predictable, the ending was not. In my admittedly limited exposure to thriller novels, there is a standard ending where the mystery is cracked and justice is delivered in some way. In Don’t Look Twice, things come to a head, but not in the way I expected – a good thing.

Overall, I enjoyed Don’t Look Twice far more than I expected to, and I look forward to trying more of Mr. Gross’s work.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From the opening chapter, I had a weakness for Lt. Ty Hauck and his fatherly side:

Hauk reached inside and read the brightly colored label. Megajolt of caffeine. Highest bang for the buck.

“Your mother lets you drink this stuff?” he asked skeptically.

Jessie looked back at him. “Mon’s not exactly here, is she?”

“No.” Hauck nodded, meeting her gaze. “I guess she’s not.”

In just the past year, forbidding new curves had sprung up on his daughter’s once-childlike body. Bra straps peeking out from under her tank top. Jeans clinging to the hips in an “unnatural” way. Gangly suddenly morphing into something more in the range of troubling. Not to mention the newly mastered repertoire of eye rolls, shrugs, and exaggerated sighs. Hauck wondered if the request for an ankle tattoo or a belly piercing could be far behind. “You don’t get to win,” a friend who had teenage daughters once warned him. “You only delay.”

Jesus, he recalled, it was just a year ago that she liked to get shoulder rides from me.

“Toss it in the basket,” he said, acquiescing. “One.”

Jessie shrugged without even the slightest smile, failing to grasp the significance of his offering. “Okay.”

At the end of the aisle, a man in a green down vest and tortoiseshell glasses reached into the cooler and met Hauck’s gaze. His amused, empathetic smile seemed to say, Know exactly what you’re going through, man!

Hauck grinned back.

Also, you can take a sneak peek at the first three chapters HERE, and order the book online HERE.

Giveaway Details:

We’re giving away one copy of Don’t Look Twice! In order to enter, leave a comment here. The contest will run until midnight PST on Sunday, and we will announce the winner in the Sunday Stash. The contest is open to everyone. Good luck!

Verdict: Enjoyable thriller with a solid protagonist and an engaging plot. Definitely recommended for newbies to the genre (like myself), as well as seasoned fans.

Rating: 6 Good, Recommended

Reading Next: The Black Act by Louise Bohmer

Title: Drood

Author: Dan Simmons

Genre: Literature, Fiction, Mystery

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (Hachette Group)
Publication Date: February 2009
Hardcover: 784 pages

Stand alone or series: Stand alone novel, although draws from the works and lives of Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins.

Why did I read this book: Dan Simmons is an autobuy for me — I love everything the man writes, from horror to science fiction to historical fiction. When we were offered a review copy, I was ecstatic.

Summary: (from Amazon.com)
On June 9, 1865, while traveling by train to London with his secret mistress, 53-year-old Charles Dickens–at the height of his powers and popularity, the most famous and successful novelist in the world and perhaps in the history of the world–hurtled into a disaster that changed his life forever.
Did Dickens begin living a dark double life after the accident? Were his nightly forays into the worst slums of London and his deepening obsession with corpses, crypts, murder, opium dens, the use of lime pits to dissolve bodies, and a hidden subterranean London mere research . . . or something more terrifying?
Just as he did in The Terror, Dan Simmons draws impeccably from history to create a gloriously engaging and terrifying narrative. Based on the historical details of Charles Dickens’s life and narrated by Wilkie Collins (Dickens’s friend, frequent collaborator, and Salieri-style secret rival), DROOD explores the still-unsolved mysteries of the famous author’s last years and may provide the key to Dickens’s final, unfinished work: The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Chilling, haunting, and utterly original, DROOD is Dan Simmons at his powerful best.

Review:

On 9 June 1865, Charles Dickens, his mistress and her mother embark on a high speed train ride to London, only to be involved in a terrible wreck just outside of Staplehurst. As passengers in the first class car, Dickens and his lady companions luckily emerge from the wreckage unscathed, but the majority of the other passengers are not nearly so fortunate. Shaken but eager to help (as is his exuberant nature), Dickens rushes into the chaotic wreckage headlong, attempting to give aid to the many injured and dying. It is during this rush that the sinister Drood enters the tale, a gaunt, deathly apparition in a coat and top hat.

“I am Charles Dickens,” gasped my friend.

“Yesss,” said the pale face, the sibilants sliding out through the tiny teeth. “I know.”

This nonplussed Dickens all the more. “Your name, sir?” he asked as they slid down the embankment of loose stones together.

“Drood,” said the man. At least Dickens thought this is what the man said. The pale figure’s voice was slurred and tinged with what may have been a foreign accent. The word came out sounding more like “Dread.”

While Dickens rushes to help the many unfortunates at the scene, Drood moves as a deathly presence through the wreckage, and all those he has been ‘helping’ suddenly die. When Dickens finally reaches London, he is obsessed with the shadowy Drood and enlists his longtime friend — fellow author and narrator of this tale — Wilkie Collins to find this deathly figure, this master of mesmerism, this nefarious mastermind of crime. In the sweltering heat of a summer night, the effusive Dickens drags Wilkie into his quest for Drood, leading both writers into London’s ‘Great Oven’; the worst, most rancid slums of the city, teeming with raw sewage, cutthroats, and opium dens. Following leads from Old Sal and then King Lazaree, the ancient woman and chinaman running two such opium dens, the duo enter the mysterious Undertown to find a whole city of cannibal boys, hidden rivers and Egyptian gods in Drood’s domain.

From that night forward, a darkness hangs over the friendship between Dickens and Wilkie. Dickens becomes more withdrawn and refuses to speak about his strange allegiance to Drood, and Wilkie’s ever increasing use of laudanum (for treatment of his rheumatic gout) coupled with his feelings of inadequacy as a professional writer drives a wedge between the two friends. Over the next five years, Wilkie and Dickens’s relationship grows increasingly strained as Wilkie is blackmailed into discovering Dickens’s secret pact with Drood by a determined, retired Inspector. The web of lies and mistrust, fueled by professional jealousy and opium use, draws Wilkie deeper towards madness — and all the while Drood’s menacing, all-knowing presence hovers in the background.

At nearly 800 pages, Drood is a bonafide doorstopper of a book, dense and rife with psychological tension and drama. Narrated in the first person by Wilkie Collins, this is not so much a book about Wilkie and his life, but rather about how his life was shaped by the ineffable Charles Dickens. To be perfectly frank, while Dickens is the beloved son of England, an undeniable literary juggernaut, and one of the most renowned figures in modern literature, Wilkie Collins is no slouch either. His Woman In White, which I have just recently had the pleasure of reading, appeals to me far more than Dickens’s work ever has. Wilkie himself says it best in one passage:

To be honest with you, Dear Reader who lives and breathes in such a remote branch of my future that no hint of my candour could possibly get back to anyone who loved Charles Dickens, I am…was…almost certainly always shall be…ten times the architect of plot that Charles Dickens ever was. For Dickens, plot was something that might incidentally grow from his marionette-machinations of bizarre characters; should his weekly sales begin slipping in one of his innumerable serialised tales, he would just march in more silly characters and have them strut and perform for the gullible reader, as easily as he banished poor Martin Chuzzlewit to the United States to ump up his (Dickens’s) readership.

My plots are subtle in ways that Charles Dickens could never fully perceive, much less manage in his own obvious (to any discerning reader) meandering machinations of haphazard plotting and self-indulgent asides.

Though smattering of jealousy and self-importance, I generally agree with Collins’s assessment of Dickens, which strangely endears this truly unreliable narrator to me as a reader. It’s ironic then, that Drood is far more Dickensian in style than a work of Wilkie Collins: there is an over-arching mystery with Drood in the background, but it is not so much a plot-driven mystery novel as it is an exhausting study of the two main characters and their relationship. In true Dickens style, Drood is perhaps a tad over-long and wraps up with a happy coincidence:

I simply could not stop laughing. This story, this plot, was so wonderfully baroque yet somehow so tidily logical. It was so, so…Dickensian.

My feelings exactly, dear Watson. While this ending might rub certain readers the wrong way as Drood is chock full of red herrings and needless twists, in this reader’s opinion it is the perfect conclusion to Mr. Simmons’s heartfelt homage to two very important writers. In this fictional recounting, written by Wilkie on his deathbed to a posthumous audience, Dickens is shown as the unstoppable force of nature the man was — his romantic ideals, his love of exercise and long walks, his passion for the stage, his natural superiority to his peers. And every step of the way Wilkie is there, despising the man as he tries to measure up to Dickens’s long shadow, but still drawn to his friend’s undeniable charisma and extraordinary talent. It is the narration of Wilkie Collins that makes this book, as once again Simmons blends painstaking research with thrilling, beautiful writing. Collins’s slow descent into horror is brilliant and terrifying — Wilkie goes from a few daily doses of laudnum to full blown opium and has hallucinations that devolve ultimately into paranoid delusions.

As a Simmons fan I loved reading the thrilling little bits of his past work in Drood, a montage of images: the actual mention of the ill-fated crew of The Terror; the images of sweltering, festering India from Song of Kali in London’s “Great Oven”; the understanding of literature from the Hyperion cantos. Drood is another beautiful addition to Simmons’s impressive arsenal of work, and a book I highly recommend to all lovers of literature.

Notable Quotes/Parts: One of the most insightful passages to Wilkie Collins’s feelings regarding Charles Dickens. Perfection.

Over Esther’s shoulder, Dickens allows us to catch a glimpse of the harbour. There are many boats there and more appear, as if by magic, as the fog begins to rise. Like Homer in the Iliad, Dickens briefly catalogues the ships becoming visible, including a great and noble Indiaman just back from India. And the author sees this — and makes us see this — just “when the sun shone through the clouds, making silvery pools in the dark sea.”

Silvery pools in the dark sea.

Pools in the sea.

…I have seen the sunlight on the sea thousands of times and have described it in my books and stories scores of times — perhaps hundreds of times. I have used words such as “azure” and “blue” and “sparkling” and “dancing” nd “grey” and “white-topped” and “ominous” and “threatening” and even “ultramarine.”

And I had seen the phenomenon of the sun “making silvery pools in the dark sea” scores or hundreds of times but had never thought to record it in my fiction, with or without that swift and certaina dn slightly blurred sound of the sibilants Dickens had chose for its description.

Then, without pausing even for a breath (and possibly not even to dip his pen), Dickens had gone on having the fog in the harbour lift over Esther’s shoulder by writing, “these ships brightened, and shadowed, and changed…,” and I knew in that instant, with my agitated, scarab-driven eyes merely passing over these few words in these short sentences, that I would never — not ever, should I live to be a hundred years of age and retain my faculties until the last moment fo that life and career — that I would never be able to think and write like that.

The book was the style and the style was the man. And the man was — had been –Charles Dickens.

I threw the expensive, personally inscribed, moroccan-leather-bound and gold-leaf-edged copy of Bleak House into the ticking and clicking and crackling and f—-ing fire.

Additional Thoughts: You like or are interested in Drood and want to know what else to read? Besides glomming Charles Dickens or Wilkie Collins’s backlist (beginning with The Mystery of Edwin Drood or The Woman in White respectively), you could also read more Dan Simmons. For the horror fans, start with Song of Kali, Summer of Night, or Carrion Comfort. Historical Fiction? Try The Terror. Or, of course, there is the Hugo Award winning Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion for the science fiction enthusiast.

And I could not help but think of the film Young Sherlock Holmes when reading this novel. You know, the film from 1985 with a reimagining of Holmes and Watson’s first meeting as young men in a preparatory school where they try to solve the mystery of deaths around campus. There’s an Egyptian curse (sort of), mesmerism, and some wonderful special effects. Yeah, it’s a bit silly (a bit “Kali maaaaa!”), but I loved this movie as a kid and highly recommend it too.

Verdict: Another winner from Simmons in my book. I highly recommend Drood, which is on my shortlist for one of the best books of 2009 already.

Rating: 8 Excellent

Reading Next: Into the Forest by Jean Hegland