Review of CITY OF THE LOST by Kelley Armstrong

3 Stars

Casey Duncan is a police detective who wants to help her friend Diana escape an abusive ex-husband.  They apply to be accepted into Rockton, a remote settlement in the Yukon.  Described as “a commune of lost souls” (117), Rockton has a population of 200 people seeking a safe haven.  Diana is accepted on the condition that Casey agree to serve as detective.  In Rockton, Casey assists the local sheriff, Eric Dalton, to solve some gruesome killings. 

The idea of a totally-off-the-grid village in an isolated part of the world is intriguing, but not very realistic.  There is no running water, electricity, cell phones, radios, or television.  Casey is told that “’Structural camouflage hides the town from the rare bush plane passing overhead.  Tech covers the rest’” (56).  When Casey flies over the town, she mentions, “The buildings . . . it’s hard to explain, but I don’t see most of the buildings, just a clearing with a few wooden structures” (76).  No kidding, that would be difficult to explain, as would the “blocking system that keeps passing planes from picking up the town’s footprint” (76).  When Casey first hears about Rockton, she dismisses it as an urban legend:  “’Think about it.  An invisible town?  In today’s world, you’re never really off the grid’” (34).  That’s exactly the problem, and the information given about Rockton does little to help me accept its existence except as “’fantasy bullshit’” (34).  There is some discussion of the economy and security but how about medical emergencies?  All Rockton has is “’a damn fine doctor’” (70)?  Also, considering the number of people who know about the town, keeping its existence a secret is implausible. 

Kelley Armstrong is probably best known for her contemporary fantasies with supernatural characters, and there is an almost supernatural eeriness in the setting of this novel.  The residents of Rockton are told not to venture into the surrounding woods without an armed escort because those woods have many dangers, including the hostiles, “’Those who lost something when they left Rockton – lost their humanity and ultimately reverted to something animalistic’” (117).  Unfortunately, such horror elements have little appeal for me.

Characterization is a problem because of inconsistencies.  Casey supposedly has an impressive record as a homicide detective (70) yet she makes so many mistakes that she herself wonders “Is it possible to screw up more than I have in the last few days” (47)?  There is nothing that she does during the investigations that shows her to be particularly astute.  In fact, her investigating is described very vaguely; there are statements like “I continue interviewing people all day, but I don’t get much farther” (396) and “I have three interviews scheduled and two additional people show up, not with anything significant to add” (421). 

Casey is not the only problem character.  It is difficult to see Dalton as the romantic hero.  What’s with him?  He tells Casey he jumped at the opportunity to have a homicide detective with her record of success (70) though when he first meets her he says, “’I need a detective, but I don’t want you.  End of discussion’” (55).  Dalton usually speaks only in grunts; his favourite word, when he actually speaks, is “Fuck”!?  This sheriff, who is not beyond using rough tactics, starts behaving like a love-sick teenager? 

The romance, of course, is expected.  It is very formulaic.  When they first meet, they argue, but then it becomes obvious that they are attracted to each other.  Inevitably, they can’t control their emotions and desires and have very satisfying sex. 

On the other hand, the solution to the murders is unexpected because there have been insufficient clues.  When there are clues, like the discussion of the Salem witch trials (418), they are rather contrived. The reader is not made privy to Casey’s thinking about the case so at the end there is a big information dump where she explains to the killer what the killer did!  How did Casey learn about the killer’s movements (454)?  Considering the nature and number of killings, the motivation of the killer seems rather weak.  The explanation that “In some part of us, there is absolute darkness, as much as we wish otherwise” (262) seems an attempt to strengthen the justification for the murderer. 

I appreciated the Canadian setting, but it seems that it was used only to emphasize remoteness.  For an American audience the Yukon might seem even more remote than Alaska.    There are other Americanizations which bother me.  For example, Canada does not have sheriffs the way that the U.S. does.  Likewise, the three-strike law (30) does not exist per se in Canada, except for sexual predators. 

This novel is escapist literature and can be enjoyed if it is approached as such.  Head for the beach and turn off rational thinking.  Unfortunately, I find it difficult to enjoy a book when I have to gloss over so many weaknesses. 

Review of CASE HISTORIES by Kate Atkinson

3.5 Stars

I recently heard that the latest book in the Jackson Brodie series is about to be released.  Two of Kate Atkinson’s books (Life After Life and A God in Ruins) are among my favourite novels so I thought I’d check out her mystery series, starting with Case Histories, the book that introduces the detective.

Jackson Brodie is asked to investigate three cases.  Amelia and Julia Land ask him to look into the disappearance of their 3-year-old sister Olivia 34 years earlier; Theo Wyre asks him to look into the murder of his much beloved 18-year-old daughter Laura 10 years earlier; and Shirley Morrison asks him to find her niece Tanya, the daughter of her sister Michelle who was found guilty of murdering her husband Keith 25 years earlier. 

The novel has shifting points of view.  Obviously, Jackson’s viewpoint dominates, but we also get the perspective of Amelia whose sister went missing, Theo whose daughter was killed, and Caroline who in the past lived another life “one she could hardly remember sometimes.  And at other times remember only too well” (136). 

Though the cases of the missing/lost girls are interesting, the focus of the book is less about the solving of the cases and more on examining sadness and loss and examining relationships between siblings and between parents and children.  The disappearance of Olivia has had a profound impact on Amelia as has the death of Laura on Theo.  Jackson has experienced loss in his life as well.  The relationships between/among the Land sisters are discussed, as is Jackson’s relationship with his sister.  Theo’s relationship with his two daughters and Mr. Land’s relationship with his four daughters are detailed.  Jackson has an 8-year-old daughter Marlee so that father-daughter bond is also developed. 

The cases of the missing girls are not too difficult to solve.  There are clues and, perhaps too obviously, Jackson thinks about Tanya’s age (300).  There is not always a happy ending, however:  “it was simply so rare that when you went searching for something precious that had been lost you actually found it” (361).  People involved in the three cases end up overlapping and it seems rather coincidental that they all connect. 

As previously mentioned, this is the first book of the series with this detective, so considerable background information is given.  Jackson was formerly a police officer but is now a private investigator.  His childhood and his marriage are described in considerable detail.  He is a decent, likeable person who believes “that his job was to help people be good rather than punish them for being bad” (79).  He has an especial interest in helping women.  There are many digressions in the novel where the reader is given Jackson’s opinions on a variety of subjects; these rants serve to develop his personality.

There are wonderful touches of humour.  Observations like “Well, that was the end then, she was Americanizing words.  Civilization would fall” (176) and “madness was endemic in Cambridge” (156) lighten the mood. 

I don’t think this is Atkinson’s best novel, but it is certainly enjoyable, so I can see myself returning to pick up another book in her Jackson Brodie series.

Review of 11.22.63 by Stephen King

3 Stars

This is my first Stephen King novel.  I didn’t actually read it; I listened to it on my iPod during my evening walks. 

I chose this one because of its intriguing premise.  We’ve all probably debated whether we would kill Hitler if we could go back in time.  In his book, King has a time traveller attempt to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 11, 1963.

Jake Epping is a high school English teacher who is convinced by his friend Al Templeton to use the time portal that exists at the back of his diner.  Al has used the portal and has learned the rules.  Stepping through, the traveller will always arrive on Sept. 9, 1958.  Regardless of how long he stays in the past, only two minutes will have passed in the present (2011).  A subsequent trip through the portal resets anything that might have been changed on the previous trip. 

Al persuades Jake to try and stop Lee Harvey Oswald from killing JFK in Dallas.  When he arrives in 1958, he becomes George Amberson.  He has five years to fill so he slowly makes his way to Texas - with a few detours along the way.  Once in Texas, he starts following Oswald to determine if he is the person who plans to assassinate the president.  Jake/George also takes a job at a high school and falls in love with Sadie Dunhill. 

At over 800 pages, the novel is very lengthy.  Much of the plot has nothing to do with the JFK assassination.  Even Jake/George’s spying on Oswald is not central.  Instead, the focus is on Jake/George’s life in Jodie, Texas, and his relationship with Sadie who has an ex-husband lurking in the background.  I’m not certain why so much time is devoted to this subplot.  In many ways, the book is almost romance more than speculative fiction.  I kept wanting to get to how the assassination would be foiled and what the consequences would be. 

The theme seems to be that the past is obdurate.  Jake/George repeats this numerous times.  When he tries to make a change to the past, obstacles are thrown his way.  These obstacles are directly proportional to the magnitude of the change being attempted.  There is also discussion of the butterfly effect which is best outlined in Ray Bradbury’s “A Sound of Thunder” – a story that is actually mentioned in the novel. 

I had problems with characterization, especially that of the protagonist.  Jake/George is just too good to be convincing.  Virtually everyone likes him.  He’s an amazing teacher who earns the respect of all his students.  People make allowances for him that just don’t seem realistic; for example, he has fake teaching credentials in the past yet he is able to get and keep a teaching position.  He never has difficulty getting people to trust him, even when he behaves strangely. 

I’ve always had reservations about reading Stephen King.  He is often described as the “King of Horror” and that is not a genre in which I have any interest.  For this reason, I chose to read a book which would probably be classified as speculative fiction.  I can’t say that I was overly impressed.  I know King’s books have sold over 350 million copies so I am among the minority.  At the risk of sounding like a literary snob, on the basis of this one book I can't say that King is an extraordinary writer. 

Review of BEAUTIFUL BAD by Annie Ward

2 Stars

I can’t say this book is really bad but I can’t say it’s beautiful either.

The book opens on the “Day of the Killing” when a 911 call is made; we know someone is dead but we don’t know who the victim is or who the killer is, though we know a child is present.  Soon it becomes obvious that the house has three occupants:  Maddie and Ian Wilson and their son Charlie. 

The story has three perspectives, that of Maddie, that of Ian, and that of Diane, a policewoman who is first on the scene.  By far, Maddie’s point of view dominates.  Through flashbacks she describes meeting Ian in 2001 while visiting her friend Joanna.  They have little contact for over a decade but eventually reconnect and marry in 2012.  They live in Kansas with their son Charlie, though Ian is often away because he provides security for people in dangerous parts of the world like Iraq and Rwanda.  Because Maddie suffered a head injury after a fall, she has become very anxious and fearful; to help with her anxiety, she sees a psychologist who specializes in writing therapy.  In those sessions, we learn of her concerns about Ian who seems to be suffering from PTSD; he is increasingly paranoid and drinks excessively. 

One of my issues with the book is that none of the characters is likeable.  When we first meet Maddie, Joanna and Ian, they are interested in nothing but partying and drinking.  Maddie becomes a dutiful mother to Charlie but her behaviour is erratic and she seems to enjoy manipulating people.  Ian is equally unsympathetic.  Ian has a girlfriend when he first meets Joanna and Maddie and his behaviour towards all three women is questionable.  Joanna just seems volatile and erratic.  Even the policewoman behaves strangely; her boss allows her to drink a beer while working but “she was not allowed much jewelry on the job”? 

The relationships between characters are also unconvincing.  Joanna and Maddie are supposed to be best friends but we see little that shows them behaving as best friends would; most of the time they are angry with each other.  The relationship between Maddie and Ian is even more problematic.  She is immediately attracted to him, but there seems little to explain the appeal.  Nothing really happens between them so it is difficult to understand why Maddie becomes so obsessed with Ian, even after they have almost no communication for over a decade.   

As a reader I kept feeling manipulated.  The narrative moves back and forth in time so it is obvious that things are being left out to keep the reader perplexed.  The description of the murder scene in the opening is intentionally scattered and that foreshadows the disorganization of the rest of the narrative.  I object to thrillers that rely on inept police investigators.  And it does not take a genius to quickly determine that Maddie is the unreliable female narrator that is found so often in contemporary suspense fiction. 

Actually, there is not a great deal of suspense.  The pace is slow and there is a great deal of unnecessary information in the middle.  The book offers little that is different from other books of the same genre.  Some might be surprised at the twists at the end, but I found them predictable. 

The style also has little to commend itself.  I got tired of having everything described as “crap” or “crappy” (10 times) and reading awkward sentences like “Dr. Roberts turns out to be a very thin, beautiful and gentle African man in loose taupe trousers with an accent” and “his bunker made of misery and anger under dirt” and “moving to an underground metal box with an oxygen generator in Montana”.  Surely an editor should have caught the awkward placement of prepositional phrases.

Like the characters, the book is shallow and superficial. 

Review of MRS. EVERYTHING by Jennifer Weiner (New Release)

3 Stars

This lengthy novel tells the story of two sisters, Jo and Bethie Kaufman, from the 1950s to 2016. Growing up in Detroit, Jo is the tomboy who dreams of being a writer while Bethie is pretty and popular and believes her destiny is to be a star.  Of course, their lives take unexpected turns.  The book is actually a journey through American social history, focusing on the role/status of women in society during this period, so the names of the protagonists are surely an allusion to Little Women.

The book references many historical events including the civil rights movement, Woodstock, the Vietnam War, the women’s rights movement, and even the #MeToo movement.  The assassination of JFK, the moon landing, and the 2016 Democratic National Convention are mentioned.  Cultural allusions to music and film abound. 

The emphasis is on the experience of women in a male-dominated society, and the major characters or their female family members experience virtually everything:  rape, sexual harassment in the workplace, sexual assault, abortion, romantic heartbreak, eating disorders, body image issues, traditional marriage, commune living, same-sex relationship, bi-racial relationship, motherhood, unwanted pregnancy, single parenthood, unfaithful spouse, promiscuity, divorce, widowhood, stay-at-home parenting, balancing of career and family obligations, conflicts with parents and siblings, economic hardship, career success and failure, drug use, cancer. 

My problem with the book is that the writer tried too hard to touch on all possible experiences a woman might have.  At one point, Jo wonders “whether [women] would ever not try to have it all and do it all” and this is the feeling I had about the author:  while bemoaning women being Mrs. Everything, the author becomes Mrs. Everything Writer.  It’s as if she had a list of female trials, traumas and tragedies which she had to check off one by one. 

The theme is that things for women have changed but they haven’t changed enough.  In the mid-20^th-century, women were told that the most important role for a woman was to be married and to be a mother so a woman who did not marry or a married woman who did not have children was regarded with suspicion.  On the other hand, a woman living in the 21^st century is expected to have a career so any woman who wants only to be a mother is considered unambitious:  “’You can say you want to be a mom and something else.  Or you can be a mom after you’ve done something else.  But that, just by itself, that’s not enough.’”  Appropriately, the book ends with Hillary Clinton’s nomination as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate but we know how that election turned out.  Perhaps, the author suggests, stories “about brave little girls and happy endings [can only begin with] ‘Once upon a time’.”

The message for women is that “women should forgive themselves . . . [and] take care of themselves with kindness.  The world was hard enough, would beat them up enough without them adding to the pain.”  In other words, they should not try to be everything to everyone and should focus on finding happiness by being true to themselves. 

The pace is slow at times so that the book felt overly long.  I also had issues with virtually all the men being portrayed as either weak or bad.  At the beginning, the author addresses her readers and acknowledges that this book is her longest and “the most ambitious work I’ve ever attempted.”  I applaud her efforts but think that perhaps a less-ambitious novel might have been more compelling.

Note:  I received a digital galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

Review of PIECES OF HER by Karin Slaughter

3 Stars

While out with her daughter Andrea (Andy) on her 31^st birthday, Laura Oliver confronts a gunman in a diner and kills him.  Andy witnesses the actions of a woman she cannot believe is her mother:  “None of it made sense.  Her mother was a fifty-five-year-old speech therapist.  She played bridge, for chrissakes.  She didn’t kill people and smoke cigarettes and rail against the pigs.”  Circumstances soon have Andy taking a road trip which becomes a quest to learn who her mother was.  Interspersed with Andy’s search into Laura’s past are flashbacks to 1986 which detail Laura’s activities as a young woman.

The book has its fair share of blood and gore as well as emotional and physical abuse.  There are also several family secrets and hidden identities and motives.  Andy has to untangle Laura’s web of lies but it soon becomes clear that Laura was also caught in a web of deceit spun by another. 

Laura’s backstory I found was a little too farfetched.  Her motivation for her involvement in activities does not ring true.  People can be very emotionally vulnerable and open to manipulation, but Laura’s inability to see the truth is unconvincing.  She continues to obsessively love one abuser though she willingly helped kill another abuser?  She claims to have a “tiny piece of herself that . . . could always [be nudged] into insanity”?  Considering her volunteer experience, she cannot see the truth of her brother’s condition? 

There are also issues with Andy’s characterization.  Though she is 31, she behaves like a teenager, an immature one at that.  She is drifting through life and seems incapable of making a decision.  She is insecure and naïve and lacks common sense.  As one character points out, she can barely complete a sentence.  Such a person would work as a 911 dispatcher?  And the reader is to accept that in a matter of days, Andy gains so much confidence?  Perhaps Andy is supposed to be a copy of her younger mother and so explain Laura’s naivety and poor choices?

Other characters are also unconvincing.  Andrew supposedly loves his sister but he doesn’t tell his sister what he knows about Nick?  Nick is supposed to be charming but we are only told that and never really shown his charm so his charismatic appeal is not convincing.  A marshal can be so good at following someone and yet be so inept as well? 

The book is entertaining enough so makes for a passable escapist read.  The reader would be advised not to analyze too much. 

Review of LIVING LIES by Natalie Walters (New Release)

2.5 Stars

Lane Kent is a young widow who struggles with depression and harbours a secret about the death of her husband, the circumstances of which have left her with guilt and shame.  She stumbles across the body of a young girl and so is drawn into a murder investigation led by Charlie Lynch, the handsome new deputy in the small town of Walton, Georgia.  What follows is a mystery and a romance.

The novel examines depression and its impact not just on the sufferer but also on loved ones.  The focus is on showing people’s misunderstanding of the illness and those who suffer with it.  The problem with Lane is that she has these abrupt mood swings.  Virtually all her dramatic shifts in mood are related to her feelings for Charlie.  For example, she sees Charlie talking to a glamorous woman and immediately “Lane’s mood turned as dark as the sky.  Who was she trying to fool?  She could pretend a lot of things.  Put on a smile for a camera.  Pretend like she was fine.  But believing she deserved someone like Charlie – that he could love someone like her – was just another lie she wasn’t willing to live.”  Her reaction seems more like insecurity and jealousy than a sign of clinical depression.  The reader is supposed to sympathize with Lane but at times she comes across as just whiny and full of self-pity.

Charlie is the ever-so-good-looking deputy who has just arrived in town.  He sets aflutter the hearts of all women.  He is just too good to be true.  Not only is he handsome, but he is also intelligent and patient and understanding and compassionate.  He wins not only Lane’s heart but that of her son Noah.  More than once he is like the knight in shining armour who charges in to rescue Lane.  There is not a single character flaw to be seen. 

Often the romance element takes precedence over the mystery.  Lane and Charlie keep bumping into each other (literally), and they both spend an inordinate amount of time wondering how the other person feels.  And the electricity that flows whenever they accidentally touch – oh please!  I believe in love but I find little enjoyment in formulaic romances.

Much is left unexplained.  Was something added to Lane’s glass of champagne at her parents’ barbecue?  Why did the killer become involved in the various nefarious activities described?  Certainly, more character development is needed to explain motivations.  Lane and Charlie’s problematic relationships with their fathers are resolved so quickly and conveniently.

Apparently this is the first book of a series entitled Harbored Secrets.  This first book is not so exemplary that I will seek out the next one.

Note:  I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers programme.