Any Day Now - Terry Bisson

   2018; 344 pages.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Alternate History; Coming of Age Fiction; The 1960s.  Overall Rating : 5½*/10.

 

    It’s the 1950s, and all over the USA, the times they are a-changin’.

 

    You can hear it on the radio.  The “big band” music of the two previous decades is being replaced by a new sound that makes you want to snap your fingers and move your feet.  They call it “jazz” for whatever reason.

 

    Clayton “Clay” Bewley Bauer’s was just in grade school back then, in a small town called Calhoun, Kentucky; just outside the much bigger city of Owensboro.  His future, like all those in the Bewley clan, is already set in place:

    Graduate from high school,

    Graduate from Vanderbilt,

    Get a job in upper management somewhere.

 

    That sounds good.  The trouble is, that’s the “old way”, and Clay yearns to be part of those times that are a-changin’.

 

What’s To Like...

    In Any Day Now we follow Clay through three phases of his life.  Let’s call the first one his “Jazz Phase”, in the late 50s, wherein high-schooler Clay is introduced to new music from his friends and new ideas in the science-fiction books he reads voraciously.

 

    The next one is his college years in the early 60s; and we’ll label this his “Beatnik Phase”.  Clay eschews his family's tradition of attending Vanderbilt and instead opts for a small college in Minnesota.  But he soon drops out of there and moves to New York to be part of the Beat Scene and fulfill his career dream of becoming a poet.  His third phase is his “Commune Phase”, set in the late 60s and early 70s, after he moves out west and embraces the hippie lifestyle, including partaking of lots of recreational substances.

 

    The storyline resonated with me in several ways.  Clay’s approximately the same age as I am; we both spent our childhoods in small towns; and both had our long-haired, “Peace-Love-Dove” counterculture days.  To be honest, though, I never was tempted to go live in a commune.

 

    The first half of the book is Clay's Coming-of-Age saga, and felt like Terry Bisson was incorporating parts of his youth into the story.  One example: both the author and the protagonist were born and raised in Owensboro, Kentucky.  At that point I was disappointed that there wasn’t a bit of the Alternative History that the Amazon blurb promised.  Then abruptly, around 50% Kindle, a timeline anomaly pops up, and leads to a very different world that's going to sorely test Clay’s ideals.

 

    The ending is so-so.  After some exciting events in the “commune community”, Clay gets a much-needed rest.  But nothing is resolved, which makes me wonder if Terry Bisson intended to one day write a sequel to this.  Alas, it won’t happen.  Terry passed away in January 2024, and Wikipedia lists Any Day Now as his final full-length novel.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.1/5 based on 24 ratings and 11 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.36/5 based on 189 ratings and 38 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    "It has to be real jazz,” said Clay.

    “So what’s real jazz?” Ruth Ann asked.  They were sitting on the hood of the Ford with the motor cooling underneath, still warm on their bottoms.

    “Felonious Monk, Charles Mingles, Billy Ladyday,” said Clay.  “Very experimental stuff.  But it has to swing.  White people don’t do it as well.  Coal Train is good.”  (loc. 447)

 

    They were calling themselves Redeemers.  They wore masks on TV and talked about freedom.

    “The freedom to burn things,” Rotella said.

    They burned bridges in Indiana, barns in Idaho, buses in Detroit, cars and crosses in Georgia, and two kidnapped King’s Men in a locked shed in Illinois.  MLK called them misguided pawns; the UN called them terrorists.

    “Terrorism in the defense of liberty is no vice,” said Haig.  “It’s time the silent majority spoke up for America.”

    “Got a light?” muttered Clay.  (loc. 3649)

 

Kindle Details…

    The Kindle version of Any Day Now is presently priced at $9.99 at Amazon, which is rather steep.  Other Terry Bisson e-books are in the $2.99-$9.99 range.  It appears that a number of the author’s best-known works, such as Bears Discover Fire, are not yet available in e-book format.

 

Ernest was a rich kid working at being poor.  (loc. 862)

    There’s a fair amount of profanity in Any Day Now.  I counted 22 instances in the first 20%, but to be fair, half of those were the n-word racial epithet, which was mostly used to show Clay didn’t like the word, even though it was used frequently in the 1950s.

 

    Recreational drug usage is one of Clay’s frequent habits, and is generally presented in a positive and/or humorous way here, such as learning how “hold in” a toke, and how to properly prepare peyote before partaking of it.  I thought Clay’s first acid trip was presented particularly well.  Gay people are a common occurrence in both the Beat Scene and the hippie communes.  So if you’re a homophobe, you probably should skip this book.

 

    My biggest issue with Any Day Now is the storytelling.  Terry Bisson’s writing style is good, but the plotline doesn’t go anywhere or reach any conclusion.  Plus the previously mentioned genre-switch at the halfway point didn’t work at all for me.  Moreover, judging from the extremely low Goodreads ratings and several reviews there, I’m not the only one that felt this way.

 

    Despite that, I enjoyed Any Day Now, presumably because I could relate to so many of Clay’s experiences and have enjoyed so many of his sci-fi novels.  So let’s just call this one an ambitious and noble literary experiment that didn’t work.  RIP, Terry Bisson.  Your devoted fans dearly miss you.

 

    5½ Stars.  One last thing.  At one point during his Beat Phase, Clay goes to hear a 1950s hipster speaker by the name of Lord Buckley.  If you’ve never heard of him, go to YouTube and listen to some of his routines.  You will be amazed.

Phule's Company - Robert Asprin

   1990; 296 pages.  New Author? : No.  Book 1 (out of 6) in the “Phule’s Company” series.  Genres : Humorous Science Fiction; Military Sci-Fi.  Overall Rating : 5½*/10.

 

    It was a most unfortunate accident.  And there were some mitigating circumstances.  The spaceship’s communications gear was on the fritz, and they were under orders to maintain com silence.

 

    Still, there’s something egregious about strafing the ceremonial signing of a peace treaty, for goodness sake!  And the Legionnaire who led the strafing run, Lieutenant Willard Phule, needs to be duly punished.

 

    But that’s where it gets tricky.  Lieutenant Phule is the son and heir to the owner and president of Phule-Proof Munitions, the largest arms manufacturer and distributor in the galaxy, and the present supplier of all arms and munitions to the Space Legion.  Busting him could have serious consequences.  Hmm. There’s got to be some way to punish Phule without offending his family.

 

    I know! How about promoting him to Captain, and putting him in charge of the Space Legion’s notorious Omega Company?!

 

What’s To Like...

    Phule’s Company is the eponymous first book in Robert Asprin’s six-volume Phule’s Company series, arguably just as popular as his Myth Adventures set of fantasy stories.  This was my introduction to this series, but the overall tone of the book reminded me of the 1980s television series The A-Team.

 

    Captain Phule is just as resourceful and witty of a leader as John “Hannibal” Smith, and the supporting cast of characters here are just as diverse and well-developed as Hannibal's gang if misfits.  Omega Company is the dregs of the Space Legion, and the Space Legion is the dregs of the Intergalactic Military.  A lot of Phule’s Company chronicles Phule’s efforts to whip his motley crew into a viable fighting force, as told by his staff butler, Beeker.

 

    Most of Phule’s Company are humans, but Robert Asprin works a couple of extraterrestrial species into the narrative  the Voltons (sometimes called “Voltrons”) are huge tusked-beasts, which belies the fact that they are also strict pacifists.  And the insectoid Sinthians, Louie and Spartacus, seem at first to be ill-fitted for the military, but Phule cleverly finds a perfect fit for their physical make-ups.  Phule’s Company learns the optimum way to navigate through a “confidence course” (aka an “obstacle course”), and the strategic resolution of the competition between the Red Eagles and the Space Legion was a wonderful coup by both Willard Phule and Robert Asprin.

 

    The best part of the book is the last 10% when contact is accidentally made with a research ship of the Zenobian Exploratory Forces, and Captain Phule once again demonstrates his problem-solving talents.  There’s a short teaser for the next book in the series, and plot-wise, all’s well that ends well.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.7/5 based on 230 ratings and 15 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.99/5 based on 9,723 ratings and 327 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “We have a situation here.  I thought I should alert you as soon as possible.”

    Phule felt a sinking sensation in his stomach, but kept his voice calm.

    “Very well.  What’s happened?  Start at the beginning.”

    “Well, Do-Wop took a shot at a lizard . . .”

    “A lizard?”

    “It sort of looked like a lizard . . . only bigger.  Currently unidentified.  Anyway, it shot back at him, and . . .”

    “It what?”  (loc. 3399)

 

    “What are they doing out there?” the general said as the three officers stared at the display outside their window.

    “If I had to guess, sir,” Battleax murmured, not taking her eyes from the formation, “I’d say it was a demonstration of support for their commander.”

    “A demonstration?  It looks like they’re getting ready to assault the spaceport.”

    “I didn’t say it looked like a peaceful demonstration.”  The colonel smiled humorlessly.  (loc. 3747)

 

Kindle Details…

    Phule’s Company presently sells for $8.99 at Amazon.  Books 2-6 will run you anywhere from $1.99 to $8.99.  Robert Asprin has penned several other series, including Myth-Adventures which I’ve read quite a bit of, and Thieves’ World which I haven’t read at all.  Those books are also in the $1.99-$8.99 range.

 

“I don’t care if they’re talking mushrooms!”  (loc. 3578)

    The cussing is light in Phule’s Company; just fifteen instances in the whole text.  I only noted two typos outside the Volton/Voltron boo-boos: gaff/gaffe, and duo/duel.  Whoever edited the book did a terrific job.

 

    The main problem for me was the storytelling.  I’ve read a number of the Myth Adventures tales, and my recollection is that they were more humorous than Phule’s Company, and more exciting as well.  Also, for all of Captain Phule’s cleverness, the thing he resorts to for solving most of his challenges throwing his father’s multi-million dollars at them.  That’s okay, I suppose, but it’s not very ingenious.

 

    To sum up, Phule’s Company was a decent sci-fi tale but not a spectacular one.  I vaguely recall the Myth Adventures also losing their sparkle after a while, around the time the recurring characters, Guido and Nunzio, started showing up.  I snagged the final book in Phule's Company while it was temporarily discounted, but I may or my not read the intervening ones.

 

    5½ Stars.  One last trivia detail:  it was an enlightening to learn about the etymology of the word for "ladies of the night": “Hookers”.  It's always fun to learn more about the history of our English language.

A Count of Five - Erin L. Snyder

   2015; 259 pages.  Book 1 (out of 9) in the series “The Citadel of the Last Gathering”.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres: Time Travel; Fantasy; Alternate Timelines.  Overall Rating: 5½*/10.

 

    Alaji has learned a new spell!

 

    Actually, that’s not such a big deal, since magic, at least on a limited basis, is a common ability among her people.  Men learn spells to help them in combat.  Women, including Alaji, are taught household magic, such as self-weaving thread and fire-starting spells to instantly light torches.

 

    However, Alaji has figured out how to do a decidedly more powerful spell, one that allows her to travel through time.  So far, all she can do is skip back a couple seconds at a time, not a very useful talent unless, say, someone is trying to punch you.  There must be some way to make bigger time-jumps, transport others through time with her, and jump forward in time.  Alaji plans to keep experimenting with the spell until she discovers how to do these things.

 

    There is a catch in all of this.  Time-travel is considered to be “a spell of the gods”, reserved solely for deities, and forbidden to humans.  If any of Alaji’s fellow tribesmen find out she’s learned how to cast this spell, they will kill her without any hesitation.  The gods demand it.

 

What’s To Like...

    A Count of Five is the first book in Erin L. Snyder’s sword-&-sorcery/time-travel series “The Citadel of the Last Gathering”.  The book’s title references the Alaji's people’s counting system, based on 5 digits, instead of our 10-digit system.  Surprisingly, that allows them to quickly do complex additions via their fingers, and presumably their toes if whatever they’re counting are numerous enough.

 

    I liked the character-building of our protagonist, Alaji.  Yes, she has the usual heroic qualities, but she is also capable of cold-blooded murder if need be.  Her on-again/off-again sidekick Yemerik is equally “gray”; he will quickly switch allegiances if the situation calls for it, and his past is shrouded in mystery, both as to where he comes from, and when.

 

    For now, the fantasy angle takes a back seat to the time-travel element.  The only otherworldly creatures I noted were goblins and dragons.  Both species can be a threat if you’re wandering around in the wilds, but they don’t have a major impact on the plotline here.  However this is only Book One.

 

    There’s much greater emphasis on the time-traveling.  It has a huge impact on the main storylines: Alaji wants to get back home and “revive” her dead brother by altering the timeline; Yemerik wants to get to the titular Citadel of the Last Gathering and (from his viewpoint) restore the timeline to its original and proper sequence of events.  Along the way, they will make use of a huge Time Portal door, which, if you have trouble envisaging it, is depicted on the book’s cover.

 

    The ending is more of a stopping point than the culmination of a tale.  Alaji is still honing her chrono-hopping skills, her traveling companions change frequently, and both Yemerik’s and her quests are a long way from being completed.  The book closes with some helpful background information about time-magic and what I presume is a teaser for the next book.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.0/5 based on 26 ratings and 12 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.14/5 based on 22 ratings and 7 reviews

 

Excerpts...

    “The words may be different or have altered meanings.  Even the syntax could have changed.  I have a pendant that will equalize my speech, but it might take time to adjust.  Until it does, I’ll have to make do with body language and tone.  It will be awkward until then.  Even after that, you won’t understand much of what we’re saying, if you understand any of it.”

    “And if they attack us?”

    “Then forget everything I just said and kill as many as you can, starting with the leaders.”  (loc. 1546)

 

    “Well.  I think that should do it, more or less.  I hope.  We’ve got several thousand years leeway, so there’s reason to be optimistic, anyway.”

    “The gate is . . . open?”

    “No.  It’s primed to be opened.”

    “Then . . . what?  It opens when we go through?”

    “Yes,” Yemerik replied, somewhat surprised she’d figured that out.  “When we go through with the fragments, the gate will open.”  He cleared his throat then corrected himself.  “Should open.  I’m still working more from theory than experience.”  (loc. 1951)

 

Kindle Details…

    A Count of Five is presently priced at $2.99 at Amazon, as are the other eight books in this series.  Erin L. Snyder also offers three standalone novels for your Kindle; they too cost $2.99.  The most recent e-book by this author, the closing volume in this series, was published in 2020.

 

“I’m a constructive historian, not a thaumaturgist.”  (loc. 1515)

    There are some things to quibble about.  First the good news: there’s amazingly little cussing in the book.  I noted just five instances in the first 40%, one excretory mention and four references to cosmic condemnation.  I’m always impressed when an author doesn’t rely on an overuse of cusswords to set the tone in a book.  That's what adjectives and a thesaurus are for.

 

    I found the pacing of the story to be slow and, for most of the book, not a lot of action to keep the reader turning the pages.  To be fair though, the ending does include an exciting and unanticipated calamity.  Still, I expected more thrills-and-spills given the presence of dragons, goblin, magic, and time-traveling.

 

    A map would have come in handy, although admittedly that would be a challenge since landmarks change over the course of centuries when centuries of time leaps occur. There are no page numbers in the Kindle format, but to be fair, the reader can use the "percentage read" figure to estimate how much more he has to go.

 

    Last, and nit-pickiest, syncing the “time remaining” estimates to the 70 “Sections” instead of just the five “Parts” would have been far more useful.

 

    Overall, I greatly enjoyed the time-traveling aspects in A Count of Five.  Erin L. Snyder is not afraid delve into the realms of Time Paradoxes and Timeline Manipulating, and I was impressed with that.  A few readers found that confusing, but I like it when a storyteller isn't afraid to tackle thins like "what happens if I go back in time and meet myself?"

 

    For me, the main issues were the shortage of action and lack of any of the plot threads being tied up in the ending.  This is a nine-volume saga, and I have to wonder if other books in the series have the same drawbacks.  Luckily, Book Two, A Tide of Ice, is on my Kindle, and perhaps reading it will give me a better idea of where this series is heading.

 

    5½ Stars.  Yemerik is an enigmatic character.  He is aware of things like tuning forks, coins and other historical anachronisms.  I found myself wondering if he’s actually from our present time and world, and can't wait to learn more of his backstory.

Atlantis Lost - J. Robert Kennedy

   2018; 250 pages.  Book 21 (out of 34) in the “James Acton Thrillers” series.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres: Technothriller; Pulp Thriller.  Overall Rating: 5½*/10.

 

    It's a good-luck/bad-luck situation.

 

    While diving in the ocean off the shores of Pico Island in the Azores, Sergeants Carl “Niner” Sung and Jerry “Jimmy Olsen” Hudson find themselves dangerously close to an underwater landslide just as they're running low on oxygen.  Bad luck, guys!

 

    Ah, but the shifting of the seabed has uncovered what looks like some ancient Roman columns.  That might mean there’s a whole sunken city here, previously undiscovered, and who knows, it could even be the legendary lost city of Atlantis!  What a stroke of good luck!

 

    Too bad neither Sung nor Hudson know anything about how to excavate a site, especially one under a couple hundred feet of ocean.  Bad luck, guys.  If indeed this is the remains of Atlantis, you might’ve become famous.

 

    Luckily, you’re pals with a husband/wife team of archaeology professors, James Acton and Laura Palmer.  You can give them a call once you get back to shore, and they can fly over and check out those columns.  There’s nothing wrong with sharing half the fame with them.

 

    As long as no one else snorkels into the area in the meantime.

 

What’s To Like...

    The title of the book notwithstanding, the book’s main storyline involves a group of anti-technology, anti-social-media protesters that just happen to also be carrying out their plans in these same waters.  They don’t appreciate the archaeological intruders, and intend to take steps to oust our heroes no matter what.  And although their ideology is ultimately flawed, it appears that J. Robert Kennedy sympathizes with their aims, which I thought was kind of neat.

 

    The action starts right away, and continues slam-bam throughout the entire book.  Most of the excitement is over-the-top, but if you like Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt tales, you’ll love this series.  There are a pair of secondary plotlines: one set in ancient times as Atlantis faces its impending doom (which is not a spoiler; the reader is told this on the first page of the first chapter); the other set in present-day Shanghai.  More about these later.

 

    As the author notes, although Atlantis is generally considered a myth, Plato makes reference to it in his writings, implying that it had sunk into the ocean centuries before his time.  The truth is, to date no reliable evidence has ever been found of Atlantis’s existence, but that just means J. Robert Kennedy can let his imagination run wild in creating his version of it here.  I thought the Atlantean rapid transit system he dreamed up was quite intriguing.

 

    I chuckled at the interjection “damn skippy”.  Until reading this book I had always assumed it was just a made-up phrase coined by Janet Evanovich.  I was also happy to see the Luddites get mentioned, and loved the cited copyediting conundrum: “is it ‘Briticism’ or ‘Britishism'?  

 

    Speaking of which, it should be noted that someone did a great job at editing Atlantis Lost.  I didn’t catch any typos, although the history buff in me needs to mention that an ancient Atlantean seen wearing “undergarments” at one point is historically unlikely.

    For those averse to excessive cussing, Atlantis Lost is quite clean; I counted only 8 instances in the first 25% of the book.  There were a couple rolls-in-the-hay, however, which makes me wonder who the target audience is.

 

    The ending, at least for the main storyline, is decent, if predictable.  The bad guys get their comeuppance and most are disposed of; the good guys all survive, ready to save the world yet again in the next book in the series.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.5/5 based on 233 ratings and 46 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.33/5 based on 220 ratings and 11 reviews

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Damn skippy (n., phrase) : a term of approval or excitement.

 

Excerpts...

    The fringe elements were, of course, out in full force, claiming pending doom, but they had always existed, long before the earthquakes began.  Killer waves, angry gods, invasion fleets from beyond the Pillars of Hercules, even massive rocks from the skies, were always dominating the conversations of those with too much time on their hands.  (loc. 557)

 

    “Do you want to get real answers, or continue the name-calling?”

    There was silence for a moment before Nelson took back the meeting.  “We’ll move forward with your suggestion, Leif.  In the meantime, we have to assume that this individual is serious, and decide what to do about it.”

    The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs shook his head.  “We can’t pay the money.  We don’t negotiate with terrorists.”

    Morrison grunted.  “We all know that’s bullshit.  We’re always negotiating with terrorists, we just do it through third parties.”  (loc. 1592)

 

Kindle Details…

    Atlantis Lost costs $7.99 at Amazon right now, with the other books in the series running anywhere from free and $7.99.  The prices generally increase as the e-books get newer.  J. Robert Kennedy has several other action-adventure series to offer, with similar pricing strategies.

 

“Somebody remind me to insult him when we go topside.”  (loc. 509)

    There are nits to pick.  Atlantis Lost was my introduction to this series, and I gather that there is a recurring multinational, multi-agency team of agents who help our husband-wife pair of archaeologists save the day on a recurring basis.  I don’t think this hampered my ability to grasp what was going on, but it did introduce some head-scratching tangents.

 

    Most notably, the subplot featuring CIA special agent Dylan Kane in China has absolutely no tie-in to the main storyline.  For that matter, about the only purpose the Atlantis-based subplot served was to give the book a catchy title.  I kept waiting for it to tie in somewhere; but it never did.  Indeed, after flip-flopping chapters with the main storyline, it disappears around 50% Kindle, surfacing only briefly at the very end as a disappointing and predictable epilogue.

 

    The characters are either all black or white, none are gray.  The Russian and Chinese officials are corrupt, cold-blooded, and cruel, and will only cooperate with the Western agents if they’re sweet-talked into it.  They also like to hire simpletons to serve as guards for very critical missions.

 

    The Atlantean worldbuilding was unconvincing to me.  The “copies of portraits” didn’t make any sense (did they have copying machines?), and “message stream” strained my suspension-of-disbelief ability.  The “protests for free speech” felt 20^th-century, not ancient, and the whole idea of a "Senior Enforcer" being a young female is historically doubtful.

 

    But maybe my expectations for this series are askew.  First and foremost, Atlantis Lost is a pulp thriller, not a work of historical fiction.  Perhaps I should just put my analytical brain into deep-freeze at the first page, and sit back and enjoy the thrills, kills, and heart-pounding thrills, without musing about how Atlantis, if it ever existed, might have really been.  Indiana Jones would approve.

 

    5½ Stars.  I have a couple more books from this series on my Kindle, which means I have a couple more opportunities to get the hang of J. Robert Kennedy's literary approach.  For the record, the only Clive Cussler book I've read did not impress me at all, but I have many (adult) friends and acquaintances who are totally addicted to Cussler's Dirk Pitt tales.  I may be in the minority on this.

The Obsidian Chamber - Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

   2016; 408 pages.  New Authors? : No & No.  Book 16 (out of 20) in the Pendergast series.  Genres : Suspense; Thriller.  Overall Rating: 5½*/10.

 

    The spacious mansion is eerily silent, and that suits Constance Greene just fine.  The butler Proctor, and the housekeeper Mrs. Trask, have both taken temporary leave from their duties.  Mrs. Trask is attending to a sick relative, Proctor left with no explanation, although his departure seems to have been a hasty and unplanned one.

 

    Of course, the owner of the mansion, who also serves as Constance’s guardian, the FBI special agent Aloysius Pendergast, is also missing and presumed dead.  He was swept out to sea while working on a case with Constance a couple weeks ago and undoubtedly drowned.  The FBI conducted an intensive search, but it came up empty, finding neither a dead nor alive Pendergast.

 

    Constance now wanders the mansion halls alone until Proctor and Mrs. Trask return.  She’s in no danger, the estate’s security system is incredibly thorough, and besides no visitors ever come calling.

 

    So it’s quite the shock when some secret admirer starts to woo her, leaving strange gifts for her like a book of love poetry, a feather, a bottle of champagne, and romantic notes.  How in the world did he get past all the security?  Outside of the servants, only Aloysius could do that, and he’s dead.  Even if somehow he survived, romancing just isn't something he would ever do.

 

    So if he’s not the mystery suitor, who else could it be?

 

What’s To Like...

    There are multiple storylines in The Obsidian Chamber to keep you turning the pages.  We start out with Proctor’s abrupt departure, with frequent cutaways to the wooing of Constance.  The equally important plot thread, Pendergast’s whereabouts, is then initiated.  It's not a spoiler to reveal that, since Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child have dubbed this the “Pendergast series” and there’s four more books after this one, which wouldn't work if Aloysius is a corpse.  After that, the last main plotline is introduced: the FBI’s investigation into the Pendergast's demise.

 

    As always, the action and plot twists begin immediately, here with a protracted, 68-page chase that starts at Pendergast’s mansion in Harlem and spans several continents.  I liked that its first stop was the fine city of Teterboro, New Jersey.  My company used to have an important customer there, and I once had to drive the New York and New Jersey thoroughfares to call on them, capped by a timely slam into the New York City 5 o’clock rush hour traffic.  It was quite the hair-raising experience.

 

    Preston & Child never skimp on a variety of exotic settings for these stories.  Here we mostly travel up and down the North American east coast, with brief stops in Europe, and southern Africa.  We are also treated to some Latin classical literature (the poems of Catullus), Afrikaans dialogue (quick, name any other book you’ve read that used that language), and conversational French, including several cusswords plus the esoteric insult “del glouton souduiant!”, for which I was unable to find a precise translation, but it will definitely land you in a fight.

 

    I liked the brief music reference to three extremely obscure, but real, classical composers: Ignaz Brull, whom I've actually listened to, Adolf von Henselt, and Friedrich Kiel.  The book’s title is first referenced at about 60%-Kindle, and plays an important role in the tale.  I finally learned what the initials in the protagonist’s name, A.X.L. Pendergast, stand for, although I’m sure that information was given in earlier books as well.

 

    The ending is so-so at best.  It accomplishes its basic task – Pendergast successfully rescues Constance, which of course was the obvious culmination.  I didn’t find it particularly exciting or twisty.  All the major characters live to see another day, and I was disappointed in how the fate of the main baddie was resolved.  Didn’t any of the good guys ever watch those Austin Powers movies?  Don’t they know what to do when you capture your main adversary?

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.5*/5, based on 2,561 ratings.

    Goodreads: 3.97*/5, based on 14,884 ratings and 1,378 reviews

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Palapa (n.): an open-sided dwelling with a thatched roof made of palm leaves.

Others: Cilice (n.); Incunabula (n.).

 

Excerpts...

    “Mr. Longstreet, these men are clearly not stupid.”

    At this, Longstreet unfolded himself from his chair in a sort of easygoing way, then strolled to the front of the room.  “I’m sorry to be blunt, Agent Spann, but I believe this plan of yours will pretty much guarantee Pendergast’s death.”

    Spann stared at Longstreet.  “I respectfully disagree.  This is classic, exhaustively researched and tested SOP.”

    “Which is exactly why it will fail.”  (loc. 1497)

 

    The feeling of surrealness overwhelmed her again, seeing him sitting in a leather wing chair, smiling in domestic content as he removed a bottle of champagne from a silver ice bucket and poured two glasses, offering one to her.

    “Nineteen ninety-five Clos d’Ambonnay, by Krug,” said Diogenes, raising his glass and touching the rim to hers.

    “Good champagne is wasted on me.”

    “Only until you develop your taste.”  (loc. 3000)

 

DeJesus was a reliable man, but about as intelligent as a side of beef.  (loc. 1211)

    The writing is as always superb, but the storytelling is another matter.

 

    For starters, that opening chase scene is entertainingly quick-paced, but the timing involved in each stage of it is incredibly far-fetched.  I’d forgive that if it was important to the storyline, but it isn't.  Proctor is removed to a half-a-world-away locale, apparently for no other reason than to get him out of the house.

 

    The same letdown arises with the leadership of the FBI probe.  The guy officially in charge, Agent Spann, gets upstaged by a higher-up, Agent Longstreet.  I expected to see some departmental infighting throw spanners into the works, but no, Spann just fades into oblivion and Longstreet performs investigative miracles.

 

    I was shocked when Proctor, alone and in the wilds of a foreign country, brutally stabs one of the locals there, not once but twice, and based on no more than a suspicion that he’s legitimately withholding confidential customer information.  Really?  I expect the bad guys to engage in aggravated assaults, and they do, but not one of the heroes.

 

    Also, it must be nice to have both the FBI computer-geek team and Aloysius’s personal hacker buddy available and capable of tracking down shady business dealings and the whereabouts of anyone, at any place or time, no matter how encrypted that data might be.

 

    Lastly, there’s the matter of the main storyline itself, which in this series usually involves saving the world, solving a murder, stopping a monster, or capturing a psychopath.  Here, Pendergast is stalking his ward Constance, who *willingly* took off with someone else.  You couldn’t even make a kidnapping charge stick against the baddie, and any information about his misdeeds would never be allowed into a trial.

 

    Still, let’s keep things in perspective.  The Obsidian Chamber is the thirteenth book I’ve read in this series, and the first one that failed to thrill me.  It kind of felt like Preston & Child “mailed this one in”, but hey, they’re still batting 12-for-13, and that’s impressive.  The high Goodreads and Amazon ratings notwithstanding, it appears a lot of other reviewers were likewise disappointed in this book.  The big question is whether this was just an anomaly, or marks the beginning in the decline of the quality of this series.  We shall see.  The next book, City of Endless Night, is on my TBR shelf.

 

    5½ Stars.  One last vocabulary tidbit.  Around 40%-Kindle a nautical term comes up referring to a part of a ship’s deck: gunwale.  It’s not the first time I’ve come across it in a novel, but it’s not a word I’d ever used in conversation.  Mentally, I’ve always pronounced it “gun-whale”, but it turns out it rhymes with “tunnel”.  Funnily enough, when it crops up again a short time later, it is respelled, phonetically and incorrectly, as “gunnel”.  I'm now left wondering how many other words that I'm mispronouncing because I only run into them when reading.

Bone Box - Faye Kellerman

   2017; 481 pages.  New Author? : Yes. Book 24 (out of 26) in the Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus series. Genres : Police Procedural; Serial Killers; Crime Thriller.  Overall Rating : 5½*/10.

 

    It’s a perfect day to be out hiking in upstate New York.  Rina Decker is thoroughly enjoying it, even if there’s no one along to chitchat with, and apparently the newly-opened Bogat Trail was not well-known to other local hikers yet.

 

    It’s autumn, the best time of year to take some nature photos, and Rina’s brought her camera.  Everything is lush and green, the trees are colorful, and there’s one particularly stately oak tree off-trail in the distance, just begging to be photographed.

 

   Wandering off the trail is a little risky:  you could get lost, but Rina’s done it before, and she's carrying a compass for just such a venture.  So it’s off across the woodland, enjoying Mother Nature, and at one point accidentally stepping on a twig sticking out of the ground and snapping it off.  Well now, isn’t that cute, the twig looks like skeletal hand trying to free itself.

 

    Uh-oh.  Upon closer observation, that twig is a skeletal hand.  Don’t touch anything, Rina, you don’t want to disturb the crime scene.  And call your husband immediately, since he's a member of the local police department.

 

What’s To Like...

    Bone Box was my introduction to a long-running police procedural series by Faye Kellerman featuring the husband/wife team of (police detective) Peter Decker and his (private investigator) wife Rina.  This is the book 24 in the 26-book series, so I’ve missed most of the backstory, although I gather they used to live in Los Angeles, and at some point moved to upstate New York to escape the hustle and bustle of city life.

 

    Despite Rina literally stumbling across the first body, most of the focus is on Peter and his intern detective partner, Tyler McAdams as they try to identify the remains that are years-old, and discover who did the dirty deed(s).  This is a police procedural, my favorite crime-mystery sub-genre, and so not surprisingly Peter, Tyler, and the reader spend a large amount of time interviewing any and all those who may have known the victims.

 

    I liked the writing style: it’s witty and fast-moving, full of interesting and well-developed characters.  One of those happens to be transgender, with a spouse who’s also transgender, both of whom are beginning the process of getting a sex-change.  Sound improbable?  Well maybe, but I remember a 1970s article in our local newspaper, The New Times, which chronicled just such a circumstance.

 

    There are a bunch of recurring characters in the storyline: old friends, kids and step-kids, former police coworkers, et al.  I struggled to keep track of them, yet that didn’t negatively impact my grasping of the storyline.

    I liked the literary nod to Stephen King, and the musical nod to Jane Monheit (who?).  I was astounded to learn that Akron, Ohio is reputed to be “The Methamphetamine Capital of the Country”, and if there was a tie-in to the titular “Bone Box”, I missed it.  There’s a small amount of cussing, not a lot, and that impressed me.  I like it when an author can keep you turning the pages without having to resort to excessive use of profanity.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Hinky (adj.) : (of a person) dishonest or suspect.

Others: Orthogonal (adj.).

 

Ratings…
Amazon: 4.4*/5, based on 1,111 ratings.

Goodreads: 3.98*/5, based on 6,964 ratings and 636 reviews.

 

Things that Sound Dirty but Aren’t…

    “I know you’re not the problem.  But, at present, you’re the only scapegoat I have.  Put some clothes on and let’s get out of here.” (loc. 1161)

 

Kindle Details…

    Bone Box sells for $4.99 at Amazon,  The other 25 books in this series cost anywhere from $4.99 to $9.99.  Faye Kellerman has also written some standalone novels, all in the crime-mystery genre, and which range in price from $2.99 to $11.49.

Excerpts...

    “I’m just trying to get a feel for Delilah.  Were the two of you close?”

    Natalie took a tissue and blew her nose.  “She could be secretive.”

    “About what?” McAdams said.

    “If I knew that, I wouldn’t have said she was secretive.”

    Decker smiled.  “What do you think she was secretive about?”

    “Anything she didn’t want to talk about, which upon reflection, was probably a long list.”  (loc. 1567)

 

    “Thanks for coming down.”

    “Like I had a choice?  Why am I here?”

    “I’m asking for your help.”

    “What help?  I can’t help you.”

    “You don’t even know what I’m asking for.”

    “It can’t be good.  You don’t drag a person down to the police station just to get help.  So either arrest me for something or I’m going home.”

    “You want me to arrest you?”

    “Well, no.  I don’t want you to arrest me.  I didn’t do anything arrestable.  I don’t even know if that’s a word.”  (loc. 5637)

 

“I’m old.  I don’t have time to be patient.”  (loc. 4812 )

    Sadly, there’s a lot to quibble about in Bone Box.  We’ll try not to get long-winded about these.

 

    There are way too many WTF’s.  Some examples: Decker leaves Rina alone at their house, despite knowing there's a psychopath stalking her.  Predictable things ensue, but the day is saved by a well-armed good guy showing up at just the right and most improbable moment.  At another point, a key witness who just happens to be hiding out in Decker’s former stomping ground of Los Angeles is quickly located, despite her having changed her name and assumed a new identity.  Such coincidences might be okay in an action-thriller, but not in a police procedural.

 

    The bad guys seem incredibly chatty during interviews, and easily talked out of wanting a lawyer to be present during the questioning.  They're easily persuaded to rat out each other, even when Decker lacks enough evidence to arrest them for something.

    The storyline meanders too much.  The original victim is a transgender male, and I thought the plotline might extensively explore this angle.  But he/she quickly fades into the background as other bodies and near-misses turn up, all female, all young, all straight, and all assumed to be of more interest to the readers than someone looking to get a sex-change.

 

    The biggest problem is the ending.  There isn’t any.  Decker finally figures out who did what to who, and why, but both he and the perps know that he lacks enough proof to convict the them.  This is normally addressed with a few more chapters where the baddies succumb to some clever ploys the protagonists, but here, the story just ends with everything still unresolved.  Talk about a major letdown.

 

    5½ Stars.  In reading the Amazon reviews, I’m not the only one to find the ending to be disappointing.  So maybe Bone Box is just one of the weaker books in this series.  Maybe Faye Kellerman was burnt out when she wrote it.  Maybe that’s why it was discounted at Amazon.  Maybe the earlier books are much better.  We’ll see.  I not ready to give up on such an acclaimed author after just one book.