Damaged: Pamela Callow

Book 1 in the Kate Lange Thriller series.

This series starts off in what feels like book 2.  Kate has recently changed jobs, broken up with her fiance and bought a new house.  So the reader is thrust into her turmoil from the very start.  As if this were not enough, Kate also has a guilty past she's trying to rise above.  Every. Single. Minute.  She's either wallowing in the past or fretting over present decisions and how they will affect the future. The only moments she is in the 'now' are when she's in danger or jogging.  There's only so much inner life the reader needs to be privy to.

Descriptions are hazy at times, some effort is made to make one man remind her of another-or maybe the first guy IS the guy?  Other than they are both blonde, there's not much else to go on as the reader. In another scene in her pantry, I read it over and over and could not picture what was going on, the description was not painting a picture.  That happened a few times other through the story, too.

The scenes between Kate and her ex (because of course they have to interact) read like watching a toddler play with magnets.  Attract and repel like a yo yo, he can't get beyond her past-which has nothing to do with her now at all.  A sinner of a father and a stupid teen mistake.  Should those really affect the way other people love you 15 years later?  I'd have kneed him in the balls myself.  I found myself flat not liking him and so the scenes were not exciting at all.

Now, complaints aside, the plot DOES pick up pace and Kate on her own and not brooding (read:in danger) is a good character and she develops once away from the ex, the bosses, the dog walker (all men-the only women in the book that got more than a quick mention are A) the one who betrayed her B) the elderly neighbors C) a funeral director) then she makes decisions quickly, takes action (in heels, UGH) and is generally a far more interesting person to read about.

By the end of the book, the writer seems to find their footing and the characters trot along nicely on that path she creates, leaving me to hope that Book 2 will pick up that pace and be more story than backstory.  Don't give up on Pamela or Kate too soon, I think they are both going somewhere.

Graphic Novel Review: The Damned, Volume One, Three Days Dead

Just finished reading Volume One of The Damned, Three Days Dead.

Set in the Prohibition Era, the plot is like any other involving two warring crime families each wanting the bulk of the profits.  But in this tale gambling, prostitution, and drinking are only the backdrop to the real currency-souls.  The rival families are headed up by demons and when their attempt to make peace is thwarted after their go-between is kidnapped, they need a special human to go find him.  So, they bring him back from the dead.

The story involves violence, tawdry women, bad men, a femme fatale, and our protagonist who isn't quite all back from the land of the dead.  In fact, he keeps popping back for visits.  An exciting tale that fills in enough gaps to keep the reader from being lost, but leaves enough unanswered questions to make the next volume in the series much anticipated.

Available in stores and online March 8, 2017

Book Review: The Many

by Nathan Field

Part conspiracy thriller part dire warning about online dating, this book, the first in a trilogy, struggles to find it's footing.  The co-heroes of the story are incredibly young at 18 and 19 and their insight and ability to deal with the very unusual situation they are in is...hard to believe.  I have had an 18 and 19 year old and they are bright kids, not coddled, independent.  I don't think either could have managed this storyline in real life.

The premise is the women in their lives, older relatives in both instances, are trying out online dating. Both women return the following morning totally changed.  In both instances, the teens in their lives think they have been sexually assaulted.  The stories parallel along twin plot point paths with minor variations until they intersect.

The teens launch an investigation are are eventually aided by a cop, a PI and a bartender.  The trifecta of the amateur gumshoe tale.  The Bad Guy is discovered and minor plot twists ensue.  There isn't a true ending because there's the next book coming.  Even in the dangerous bits, there was not any inner concern while I was reading because-main characters in a trilogy.

The human experiments and mind altering background story read like an episode of Fringe and I could only picture Walter from that point on.

It's about a 4 hour read and the writing does improve slightly over the course of the book, giving hope that the next book will be even more cohesive and rely less on standard plot devices that don't give a true reflection of the talent or ideas of the writer.

Examples: the female protagonist is a teenage girl who does not see herself as pretty.  It takes the male protagonist to assure her she really is.  She never has a positive image of herself until it's given to her.  *yawn* and guess what?  She really IS hot in the right clothes with her hair and makeup done!

He kills off characters left and right, including those that could have further advanced the plot.  This is usually done when there's a need to ratchet up the danger level 'these guys don't mess around' style but in a trilogy, again, the reader doesn't fear for the main characters.  So killing off everyone around them reads more like a movie plot than a book.  Oh, it's Mr and Mrs Smith at the end, the world a shambles around them.  Next move, coffee.

It's not a horrible book, but there's room for improving in the next two.  Maybe the writer will move away from the tried and true in every situation and look for a creative alternative.  Maybe he has the end in mind and is just filling space until that moment arrives.  Either way, it feels more like the reader is along on the tour trolley than on a face paced ride and neither is where I want to be because both follow a set path.

I am personally looking for more originality and this trilogy has not delivered yet.

Books in General

I have read many very good books over the years and many mediocre and many more that I can't even recall the main character or city or even a basic plot a week later.  I read like a binger eats.  It rarely matters what it is, as long as my eyes are full.  My hands are in constant stages of aches from being held in claw formation for hours each week, holding books and my ereader.  When I am in the tub reading, I sometimes carefully check that my hand is dry so I can highlight an unfamiliar word on a page to get the definition.  I only read bound books in the bath because I have a fear of dropping my tablet,  So I am just poking the paper like a dingbat.

I have a short list of books I think everyone should read, but really even after 40 years (yes, I was born reading) there is only one series I wish I could forget just so I could read it all over again for the first time. The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud.  So let's get that out there first.

In no real order, other series: Harry Potter, Golden Compass (though I will admit The Subtle Knife took two read throughs), Ransom Riggs books about Peculiar Children, a variety of police procedural and forensics books, though those tend to depend on the readers taste and there's a series for everyone.  From knitting women who solve murders with their cats to cops with addictions and a penchant for violence yet who pull it out one more time and celebrate the conviction binge drinking in dirty apartments looking at photos of the kids they see far too infrequently.  I'll say my favorite series are set in Scandinavia.

Justin Cronin has done an AMAZING job with his Passage series.  I have the final book. but can't seem to crack it open because I don't want to be done with it all just yet.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel is fabulous.  I don't like end-of-the-world books, but this is so much more and does the one thing none of the other books I have read in the genre does-it leaves the reader hopeful.  

I don't normally like lawyery books, but John Grisham has a handful I really enjoyed.  Gray Mountain, Sycamore Row (set after A Time to Kill), Ford County: Stories, A Painted House.

There are more books I have loved and I will share them along the way.  Since I do read do much, I plan to work some reviews into this space.