Verses For the Dead - Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

   2018; 328 pages.  Book 18 (out of 22) in the “Agent Pendergast” series.  New Author? : No, and No.  Genres : Police Procedural; Thriller; Serial Killers.   Overall Rating: 8½/10.

 

    It’s a brand new day for Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast of the FBI.  For starters, he’s got a new boss, Walter Pickett, who admires Pendergast’s “successful investigation rate” but hates his attitude towards heeding authorities and working with others.

 

    So it’s no surprise that Pendergast also finds he’s been assigned to a new area: Miami, Florida.  Say goodbye to the Big Apple, Aloysius.  Say hello to The Sunshine State.

 

    That means Pendergast gets to work with a new partner, a Native American named A.B. Coldmoon.  Don’t ask him what the “A.B.” stands for; those are white man’s appellations.

 

    Oh well, it could be worse.  Some psycho killer could start slashing the throats of Miamians, cutting out their hearts, and leaving them on other graves.

 

    And also leave excerpts from classical works of literature, aka “Verses for the Dead”.

 

What’s To Like...

    I enjoyed the setting change for Verses For the Dead, even if it did mean meeting a whole slew of new characters and remembering which ones were Miami PD and which ones were Miami FBI.  Agent Coldmoon is developed into a worthy assistant for the quirky Pendergast.  Instead of being cast as a bumbling rookie, he impresses Aloysius with his investigative technique and shrewd deductions.

 

    As always, the case rapidly becomes more complex.  There are clues aplenty, but how do they fit together?  Road trips are taken, and bodies are exhumed.  Is the killer right-handed or left-handed?  Are some of the deaths suicides?  Why does Agent Coldmoon have a “malodorous chemical refinery” (Pendergast’s description, not mine) smell about him?

 

  Verses For the Dead is both a Medical Thriller and a Police Procedural, both of which  are among my favorite literary genres.  It was a treat to also learn a few phrases in Latin, Spanish, and even in Coldmoon’s native Lakota tongue, including “Atanikili” and “Philamayaye”.  Thank goodness for Google.

 

    The ending is delightfully 50-pages long, well thought-out, and filled with twists, thrills and nail-biting fights.  In other words, it’s vintage Preston & Child.  It’s also quite complicated, and the last two of the fifty chapters involve Pendergast answering the questions a Miami Herald reporter had, and which had puzzled me as well.  Verses For the Dead is both a standalone novel and part of a series.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.6*/5, based on 10,948 ratings and 1,069 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.22*/5, based on 18,296 ratings and 1,605 reviews.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Empyrean (n.) : heaven; especially the highest part of heaven.

Others: Diener (n.); Iconoclast (n.); Persiflage (n.).

 

Excerpts...

    Something even louder than the music blasted one of her eardrums; she looked over to see a skinny, goateed guy in a post-punk outfit yelling at her.

    She turned to him. “What?”

    “I said, are you a parking ticket?” he yelled back.

    “Parking ticket?  What are you talking about?”

    “Because you’ve got fine written all over you!”  He laughed wildly, eyes wide.  (pg. 85)

 

    “Coffee, partner?”

    Another, longer pause.  Then Pendergast accepted the cup; took a small, tentative sip.  “The floral bouquet of poison sumac blooms first on the palate,” he announced.  “Followed by notes of diesel oil and a long finish of battery acid.”  And he handed the cup back.

    “Exactly the way I like it,” said Coldmoon, closing his eyes contentedly and downing the lukewarm beverage in a single gulp.  (pg. 251)

 

“Of all the would-be witnesses out last night, not one mentioned seeing a blood-spattered man carrying a hatchet and a human heart.”  (pg. 101)

    The profanity level in Verses For the Dead seemed lighter-than-usual for a Pendergast novel.  I counted just 13 instances in the first 20% of the book, four of which were f-bombs.  Maybe Miamians cuss less than New Yorkers.

 

    One reviewer was disappointed that there was no “is it natural or supernatural” aspect to the story, which is a much-loved Preston & Child trademark literary device.  He has a point, but at least they didn't awkwardly force it into the plotline.  Similarly, some of my favorite New York characters, such as Constance Greene, Vincent D’Agosta, and Proctor, only get a brief mention, but I have a feeling they’ll make a dramatic comeback in the upcoming books.

 

    Enough of the quibbling.  I’ve now read 15 books in this series, and have been hooked on it since Book One, Relic.  The mystery storylines are always unique, well crafted, twisty, and devoid of any slow spots.  The character development is always superb, especially Agent Pendergast.  The endings are always surprising and plot threads always get tied up.  Verses For the Dead is no exception.

 

    8½ Stars.  One last thing.  As with any Police Procedural, acronyms are commonplace.  Here OPR and ViCAP are encountered, but their full-length meanings are given.  Not so for TBI, which shows up twice, and which I couldn’t suss out on my own.  It stands for Traumatic Brain Injury.  Now you know.

Unnatural Exposure - Patricia Cornwell

   1997; 367 pages.  New Author? : No.  Book #8 (out of 28) in the Kay Scarpetta series.  Genres : Serial Killer Thriller; Medical Thriller; Crime Fiction.  Overall Rating: 6*/10.

 

    It began as just a routine cadaver dismemberment case, a body unearthed at the local landfill.

 

    Well, okay, that wouldn’t seem very routine to you or me, but for Kay Scarpetta, the Chief Medical Examiner of Richmond, Virginia, it’s not her first mutilated corpse.

 

    Preliminary lab results offer only scant information.  The victim is female, and was old and emaciated.  A check of missing persons files doesn’t yield any likely matches.

 

    To make matters worse, Kay’s come down with some flu-like symptoms.  Probably picked it up while examining that corpse.  Oh well, she’ll take things easy the next couple days.  What’s the worst it can be?

 

    You’d be surprised, Kay.  Very, very surprised.

 

What’s To Like...

    Unnatural Exposure is my third read from Patricia Cornwell’s “Kay Scarpetta” medical thriller series.  Determining who the dismembered body belonged to is an important part of the storyline, but, as the book’s title indicates, this is more about a possible outbreak of a plague-like virus.  Is it deadly?  Where did it come from?  Do we take two aspirin and sweat it out, or are we all going to die?

 

    Being a chemist, I was fascinated by the lab scenes.  Yes, the analytical chemistry is medical in nature, but it was fun to watch Kay deduce things via laboratory procedures.  Being a medical examiner, Kay also has some knowledgeable and enlightening viewpoints about the details of Elvis’s death.

 

    The book was published in 1997 and it was fun to “relive” that era.  AOL is where you go to send an email.  One of the morgues is hoping to get an intranet computer system installed.  Cell phones are still in their infancy, so most people carry pagers.  A portable color scanner will cost you $500.  Zoom meetings don’t exist, but AOL chatrooms are a nice substitute.  And Kay’s first Virtual Reality experience was mindblowing.

 

     I enjoyed watching the bureaucratic (FBI, CDC, etc.) response to the *possibility* of a plague arising out of all this.  When you have only preliminary medical results, how do you balance prudent precautions with hysteria-inducing drastic measures?  Food for thought since the Covid virus still runs rampant in today’s world.

 

    The ending does tie up both the criminal plot thread (who put the corpse in the landfill) and the pathological one (where and why did the virus come from?).  It’s not particularly exciting, which is a plus for a medical thriller and a minus for a mystery tale.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.5*/5, based on 6,235 ratings and 461 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.07*/5, based on 61,231 ratings and 970 reviews.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Hinky (adj.) : nervous; jittery.

Others: Kerf (n.).

 

Excerpts...

    “I can’t believe this.”  I was only getting angrier.  “I have to release information to correct misinformation.  I can’t be put in this position, Marino.”

    “Don’t worry, I’m going to take care of this and a whole lot more,” he promised.  “I don’t guess you know.”

    “Know what?”

    “Rumor has it that Ring’s been seeing Patty Denver.”

    “I thought she was married,” I said as I envisioned her from a few moments earlier.

    “She is,” he said.  (pg. 68)

 

    “Ma’am, this flight is overbooked.  We simply don’t have room.”

    “Here,” I said, showing her the paperwork.

    Her eyes scanned the red-bordered Declaration For Dangerous Goods, and froze halfway down a column where it was typed that I was transporting “Infectious substances affecting humans.”  She glanced nervously around the kitchen and moved me closer to the rest rooms.

    “Regulations require that only a trained person can handle dangerous goods like these,” I reasonably explained.  “So it has to stay with me.”

    “What is it?” she whispered, her eyes round.

    “Autopsy specimens.”  (pg. 247)

 

“I think the public has a right to know if there’s a psycho in their midst.”  (pg. 97)

    There’s a moderate amount of profanity in Unnatural Exposure; I noted 14 instances in the first 10% of the book.  They are all of the “milder” variety, but a couple of f-bombs show up later, as well as a roll-in-the-hay.  I only noticed one typo: PH/pH, but this will only bother you if you’re a scientist.

 

    The text contains lots of references to past books and cases in this series.  Indeed, the tale starts with Kay in Dublin, Ireland, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the story.  To be fair though, this would not be bothersome if one is reading these books in chronological order.

 

    The book spends way too much time concentrating of Kay self-examining her life choices and having sharp words with anybody else foolish enough to render an opinion or offer advice to her on that.

 

    And as mentioned above, the ending is anticlimactic.  The key break in the landfill cadaver mystery felt arbitrary, and the whole rationale for the infectious assault seemed hard to believe.  For maximum enjoyment, it's probably best to ignore the crime-solving aspect, and just focus on the plague-stopping aspect.

 

    So read the books in this series in order, don’t try to solve the crime before Kay does, and for pete’s sake don’t try to tell Kay how to live her personal life.  The result will be an pleasant read and you’ll end up saying, “Well, at least it wasn’t Covid!”

 

    6 Stars.  One last thing.  Kay makes a business trip to Memphis, and checks in at the Peabody Hotel.  I’ve stayed there.  The book’s assertion that ducks are privileged guests there is completely accurate.  They even stage a daily “duck parade” there, during the noon hour IIRC.  If you’re ever in Memphis, be sure to check this out.

The Scavenger's Daughter - Mike McIntyre

   2010; 302 pages.  Full Title: The Scavenger’s Daughter – A Tyler West Mystery.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres : Serial Killer Thriller; Psychological Thriller; Hard-Boiled Mystery.  Overall Rating : 7½*/10.

 

    It was a black-tie affair, and San Diego’s finest citizens have turned out in force for the fun, free food, and photo opportunities.  The occasion is the grand opening of the city’s Museum of Medieval History and its debut exhibit “Torture Instruments of the Dark Ages”.

 

    Even the mayor of San Diego, James Stanton, has shown up for the gala event.  Alas, he’s partaken liberally of the free alcoholic beverages being served, and has ended up getting caught in the arms of a woman who’s not his wife.  Even worse, it isn’t really a flesh-and-blood woman; it was something called an Iron Maiden, a medieval torture device which is one of the many displays at the museum.

 

    Somehow, Mayor Stanton triggered the hinged-door, got trapped inside, and died from multiple stab wounds courtesy of the Iron Maiden’s internal iron spikes and knives.  A tragic accident, but such things can happen when one goes wandering around, rip-snorting drunk.

 

    But local reporter Tyler West is not so sure it was an accident.  The museum’s director. Merrill Addison, assured him that the Iron Maiden’s killing mechanism had been disengaged prior to letting any of the guests into the building.  Safety First, and all that.  So perhaps this was murder most foul.

 

    Just so long as it isn’t the start of some mass murderer’s career.  Because everyone knows that serial killers are bad for business and tourism, two things that San Diego depends on.

 

What’s To Like...

    First things first: if you’re looking for something along the lines of Fifty Shades of Grey, The Scavenger’s Daughter is not your answer.  There’s nothing erotic about sawing off the top of a cranium, puncturing someone’s vertebrae while simultaneously crushing their trachea, or squishing somebody’s head until it implodes (as shown in the book cover above).  The Inquisitors were trying to extract a confession, not get their jollies off.

 

    Instead, the book is a well-researched essay on a wide variety of torture devices used back in the Middle Ages, especially during the Inquisition. The book’s title is a corruption of one name of one of these; it was originally called “Skevington’s Daughter”, named for the nobleman who invented it, and was used to compress the victim into the shape of a medicine ball, resulting first in cramps, then hemorrhaging, then death.  Surprisingly, there’s not a lot a gore in the story; Mike McIntyre presents the victim’s dread leading up to the torture and the finding of the body afterward, but not the actual killing.  Nonetheless, I wouldn’t call The Scavenger’s Daughter a cozy mystery.

 

    The book is written in the storytelling style: “so-and-so said this, then this happened, then the hero did this”.  There’s an astonishing small amount of cussing in the text; I counted just six instances in the first third of the book.  The story starts a bit slow, mostly because Mike McIntyre is setting the scene and giving Tyler West’s backstory.  Once that’s done, the pace picks up admirably, with lots of thrills-&-spills and an ever-growing body count.  The 120 chapters cover 302 pages, so you’re never far from a good place to stop.  The tale is told in both first-person and third-person POV’s – the former used whenever we’re tagging along with Tyler; the latter used whenever we’re following anyone else.

 

    The Scavenger’s Daughter is set in San Diego, where the author lives, so there’s a nice “feel” to the various places Tyler visits.  I liked the nod to the late great Border’s Books and chuckled at the brief comment about Sedona, Arizona, in my home state, being the “touchy-feely capital of the Southwest”.  The San Diego library system gets some nice ink, I presume the sites cited are all real branches of it.  And I’ve never heard of the “green flash” that sometimes occurs on the San Diego shore, but I presume it is a real phenomenon.

 

    The ending is suitably exciting.  There aren’t really any plot twists, but the action more than compensates for that.  All the plot threads all get tied up, so you’re not forced to read a “Part Two” to finish the tale.  The Scavenger’s Daughter is a standalone novel, and I don’t see that Mike McIntyre ever developed this into a series.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.4/5 based on 135 ratings.

    Goodreads: 3.78/5 based on 374 ratings and 42 reviews

 

Excerpts...

    I questioned the stunned guests while Mel took photos of the mayor in the cruel embrace of the Iron Maiden.  I urged her to also shoot some pictures from more discreet angles.

    “Remember the Wheaties test,” I said.

    The Wheaties test is the standard editors use to pick photos.  If a picture is likely to make Mom, Dad or Little Johnny blow their Wheaties at the breakfast table, it doesn’t run.  (loc. 357)

 

    He returned to the paint department, known in the HomeMart vernacular as the paint pod.  His entire job consisted of mixing paint, eight hours a day, five days a week.  He didn’t actually mix the paint.  A computerized machine did.  He merely entered a color code on a keypad, and the tints were automatically dispensed.  It was so easy, a monkey could do it.  No, he thought, if a monkey could do it, HomeMart would make smaller aprons.  (loc. 2883)

 

Kindle Details…

    The Scavenger’s Daughter sells for $2.99 at Amazon.  Mike McIntyre has another five e-books for you, priced at either $3.99 or $4.99, but they are all non-fiction travelogues.  ANAICT, the author has not written any more fiction books.

 

“Don’t go all contrite on me now (…) I liked you better as a careless cad.”  (loc. 824)

    The writing is good, the storytelling is good, the character development is good, so there’s really only one thing to quibble about in The Scavenger’s Daughter: the mystery-solving.

 

    Simply put, the clues that enable Tyler to figure out whodunit, where his torture chamber is located, how to rescue a damsel-in-distress, and why the police are barking up the wrong tree are of the “oh come on now” ilk.  A couple spoiler-free examples:

    the freshly-dug grave that the police somehow overlook,

    the obscure “fingers” clue hastily thought up by one of the victims and later deciphered by Tyler, leading to a breakthrough in the case,

    the cold engine (how did he anticipate the need for this?), and

    the twin vans with identical license plates (wouldn’t it be better to different plates on them?).

 

    That’s about all there is to grouse about.  If you can put your sleuthing brain cells on freeze while reading this story, you’ll find this to be an entertaining and educational read.  You might even learn a thing or three about the horrors that thousands of people underwent during the Inquisition after being accused of being heretics, witches, gypsies, or other miscreants.

 

    7½ Stars.   FWIW, my favorite character in the story was “the Billboard Bandit”.  If Mike McIntyre ever does pen a sequel to The Scavenger’s Daughter, I certainly hope this guy gets developed into a recurring figure.