Dan Armstrong: Prarie Fire

Guest Review by Kit Bradley

September 20, 2009

Readers of my contributions to this blog, at least those with very good memories, will have noticed that I went a little crazy at the annual Authors and Artists Fair (benefiting the Eugene Public Library) in December of 2007 and bought eight books written by local authors. I bought Prairie Fire by Dan Armstrong that day, and then gave it away as a Christmas present, intending to borrow it back and read it. This summer I met Dan at another fair and bought a sequel to Prairie Fire, and that prompted me to finally borrow the book back and read it.

Wow! This is a great novel! After the first fourth or so, the action picks up, and it becomes very hard to put the book down. I think the typical novel goes through about three quarters of the book building up background elements for the story, and then builds to an exciting climax in the last quarter. Prairie Fire is the opposite; the story is set in the first quarter, and the excitement builds up and holds for the rest of the book.

Dan Armstrong no doubt has a political agenda in writing this book. In the story we are very concerned about the damage industrial farming is doing to the land, the political efforts to control global oil supplies, the ability of industry to influence government in furthering its agenda, the free-wheeling antics of the CIA, and the list goes on. In Prairie Fire, however, there is an also all-inclusive sense. Republicans and Democrats collaborate, environmentalists and right-wing militia work side-by-side. On the other hand, while the government, the military, the CIA, and big industry have somewhat complimentary agendas, they are not as visibly cooperating.

Prairie Fire is a story about grain and oil, and it has a bunch of sub-plots that develop over the story. Linda Bennett is a political columnist who is investigating government, financial, and industry handling of various oil and grain issues. Ex-Colonel Nathaniel Cromwell is a highly awarded military hero who has returned to a quiet life of farming. Linda is attractive and single; Nate is handsome and single; you just have to assume something will come of that.

Early in the story Forest Mahan, president of the national farmers’ grange, talks Nate into leading a new farmers’ union, which will immediately make some demands to the agriculture industry and the government. They are prepared for a radical strike if need be. And General Vincent Hayes, head of the Montana Militia (with links to all the states), agrees to provide the sort of support his militia can uniquely give.

There are quite a few other players and sub-plots, which keep the story more complex and interesting. James Kenaghy, the President of the United States, is important to the story, but he is so powerless in Washington that we continually wonder about his ability to deliver. Kenaghy was elected to office with a popular liberal mandate, but in three and a half years he has been out-maneuvered and out-voted by the power interests in Washington.

As the story proceeds, there are successes and disasters. The good guys are sometimes smart, sometimes not. The CIA is never far from the surface and is uncannily prescient. Warning: There are some very X-rated scenes.

Prairie Fire is a very timely book, and as I read it, I felt like most of the story could really happen, indeed, parts may be happening right now. Our current president was elected with a popular liberal mandate. Is he succeeding? Or is the Washington power structure fully in control, running the country for the benefit of big industry? (Think about health care reform.) This added to my motivation to keep reading the book. And to check out Dan Armstrong’s website (www.mudcitypress.com) to see what else he has to say (a lot).

When is the movie coming out?

Dan Brown: Angels & Demons

Guest Review by Kit Bradley
July 8, 2009

I bought Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons a couple years ago but never got around to reading it. Now that the movie is out, I decided to read it right away. I’m now looking forward to seeing the movie and comparing it to the book.

As the story starts, some violently explosive “antimatter” has been stolen from CERN, a physics lab in Switzerland, and the scientist that created it is murdered. (Years ago I visited CERN and gave a product presentation to that famous research institution!)

Anyway, since the dead scientist was branded with a strange symbol, Robert Langdon, a famous symbologist, has been called to CERN to help discover who did it. It appears the Illuminati are responsible, but Robert, an expert in such things, thought the Illuminati faded out of existence a couple centuries ago.

The Illuminati are an ancient fellowship of scientists dating back to Galileo, and they have always been antagonistic to the Catholic Church, which they believe is anti-science. Faith and science are frequently contrasted throughout this book.

Well, we learn that the Illuminati are planning to use the antimatter to blow up the Vatican in less than 24 hours, so Robert and Vittoria Vetra (the daughter of the murdered scientist, his new side kick) jet off to Rome for the rest of the story.

Robert, Vittoria, and security people from the Vatican now chase all around Rome looking for clues that will help them catch up with the Illuminati “hassassin,” a really bad guy. Robert is very knowledgeable, but working under pressure he needs a high dosage of luck to succeed. Predictably he solves the puzzles, but not always fast enough. At first he is trying to save the lives of several cardinals, and later he is trying to save the whole Vatican. I don’t think he contributed very much, but at least he kept the action going. Vittoria didn’t add a lot either, although not surprisingly she got into a fix that required heroic action from Robert to save her.

By the way, I was never able to form a clear image of Robert Langdon in my imagination. I kept seeing Tom Hanks.

As the story nears its climax, we get a surprising twist that explains a lot of things, but the 24-hour deadline is fast approaching, and the Vatican is likely to be destroyed. How far will Dan Brown go in his story telling? Can he get away with killing high-level Catholics? Can he blow up the Vatican? You’ll have to read the book (or see the movie).

As thrillers go, Angels & Demons didn’t captivate me. Early in the book you could deduce and summarize the rest of the plot. At each mini-crisis the good guys and bad guys had predictable successes and/or failures. And I figured Dan Brown would never blow up the Vatican, so I thought I knew the ending. Of course there was that plot twist near the end…

Also the characters felt shallow and didn’t grow on me. Except the hassassin, who was very dedicated in his evilness.

Angels & Demons is a good story, somewhat more complex than I’ve summarized here, but it’s not a book I’ll be in a hurry to read again.

Scott Turow: Reversible Errors

Guest Review by Kit Bradley
May 25, 2009

I don’t seem to settle on a favorite type of book, so this time it’s a legal thriller. I’d read Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow years ago, and I was a little surprised to find Turow’s Reversible Errors on my to-read bookshelf recently. It has a sticker on the back identifying it as an “Amazon.com Bargain Book.” It must have caught my eye once. Well, fortunately it was a good read!

I’ve read a few complex novels with dozens of characters and multiple story lines, where I sure wished the book included a summary of the significant characters. (Some Neil Stephenson novels come to mind.) Well, Reversible Errors has only one story and only a handful of characters, but they are all listed just ahead of page 1. So there’s no excuse for forgetting who Genevieve is! Actually there is one character missing from the list. I wondered why for quite a while.

In summary, Rommy Gandolph was sentenced to death for a triple murder in 1991, and in 2001 he is making his very last appeal. Arthur Raven has been court-appointed to represent Gandolph, and Gillian Sullivan, the judge in the 1991 trial, gets involved, but not in that role. On the other side, Muriel Wynn, the prosecutor in 1991, and Larry Starczek, the detective who arrested Gandolph in 1991, come back to defend the original conviction.

As the story unfolds, Erno Erdai, another convict who knew Gandolph in 1991, comes forward at the last minute and asserts Gandolph is innocent. But do you believe someone like Erdai? The story takes us step by step through revelations from the various characters that help us learn what actually happened on that Fourth of July night in 1991 when three people were murdered. It’s a good story with a reasonable (albeit not “thrilling”) ending.

But wait, that’s perhaps less than half of the excitement and tension in Reversible Errors. The observant reader might have noted I listed two male/female pairs above – Arthur and Gillian on the defense side, and Muriel and Larry on the prosecuting side. Aha, will there be chemistry between them? Arthur has always been sort of geeky and unsuccessful in relating with women. Gillian has personal problems that have kept her out of relationships. Muriel and Larry have been hot for each other for years, but Muriel has ambitions and married a man that will help her succeed. And Larry has a faithful and overly patient wife. Did they or will they make the right choices?

The attraction between Arthur and Gillian, and Muriel and Larry, builds as the story goes on, and often overshadows the fate of poor Gandolph. Eventually we reach two emotional climaxes, each quite different in style and outcome. And then their lives go on, either on new paths or on the same old paths. You’ll have to read the book to see if Gandolph’s life goes on.

It’s a good story. The characters are well developed and act out their roles as you’d expect. You get to think like a cop, and like a lawyer, and like a prosecutor, and sometimes like a judge. I’ll read more Turow novels if they come my way. (And now I’m going to quickly read Angels and Demons while it’s still timely! It’s been sitting on my to-read shelf for quite a while.)

John Grisham: The Associate

Kyle McAvoy is the top law student at Yale at the beginning of John Grisham’s new book, The Associate. As he is ready to graduate, an unpleasant episode from his drunken undergraduate years surfaces. Although Kyle’s involvement was more embarrassing than criminal, he would like to keep it buried.

So Kyle succumbs to blackmail and accepts a job in New York at the world’s largest law firm. His mission? To worm his way onto the biggest lawsuit of the times, and steal privileged client information.

The background story is of Kyle and other young associates grinding through long hours of tedium, generating unconscionable hours of billable time, at outrageously high salaries. Boredom and burnout are at astronomical levels among associate lawyers trying to make partner. But Grisham does not make the job of Partner at a large law firm sound much better. I think we finally see why he writes novels instead of practicing law.

The foreground story is much more exciting. Can Kyle find a way out of his predicament? If he does what the bad guys want, can he avoid getting caught, disbarred, and maybe sent to prison? If he refuses, will he be disgraced, disbarred, and become an embarrassment to his family? Or is there a third way?

The first two choices would lead to short boring books. So naturally there is a third way. Kyle is feeling his way through the minefields. We learn his partial plans as fast as he thinks of them. He doesn’t know where his ideas will lead, and neither do we. But the longer he can avoid a full ethical breach, the longer he can keep his options open.

As I read The Associate I found myself thinking that full and open honesty up front sounds like the path of least resistance in the long run. But by not taking that route, Kyle McAvoy took us for a good ride. Grisham still delivers a great story, and this one is above his average.

Patrick F. McManus: The Blight Way

Guest Review by Kit Bradley
April 23, 2009

After Nate reviewed Avalanche, another Sheriff Bo Tully mystery, I decided to read a Patrick McManus book. The Blight Way is set in Blight County, Idaho, with the action shifting between Blight City and the small town of Famine. As the story commences, Batim Scragg, a rancher more likely to be on the wrong side of the law, calls the county sheriff, Bo Tully, to inform him there is a dead body draped on one of his pasture fences. Bo picks up his dad, Pap, the former county sheriff, and the two of them drive up to Famine to investigate.

As the story unfolds, we meet each of the quirky members of the sheriff’s department, a couple ranchers, some of the unusual citizens of Famine, and we find a couple more bodies. All the victims appear to be from Los Angeles, which suggests a drug connection. But Famine, Idaho seems an unlikely hot spot for drug dealings or killings. There are just enough incidents and clues to clear up this quandary by the end of the story.

The Blight Way is not a complex mystery. A lot of the interest is in getting to know the characters. Bo Tully, in addition being the sheriff, is a fairly competent artist. He has dated pretty much every unmarried woman in town, and he is always on the lookout for newcomers. (Watch out Susan Parker, the new medical examiner up from Boise!) Pap has a different style, but he isn’t much different.

The other draw to this book and Patrick McManus in general is the wry humor. I did chuckle a few times as I read the book, “’I hear it’s better to stay lost than to have Blight County Search and Rescue find you,’ Pap said.” Well, I guess you had to be there.

In summary, the story line is interesting and comes to a reasonable but not surprising conclusion; the characters are interesting although not captivating; and the book is sort of humorous. It is a good, easy recreational read, but it’s not a book to keep on my shelf to read again in the future.

Janet Evanovich: Plum Lovin'

A few years ago I picked up Three Plums in One, a volume that contained Janet Evanovich’s first three Stephanie Plum novels. I enjoyed them, although I was careful to set it aside between each novel and read something else. I did not want to get burned out. I keep telling myself that someday I’ll start moving forward again from Four to Score.

But in the meantime I ran across Plum Lovin’, a “Between the Numbers” story. It is 164 pages of Valentine’s Day fluff – and thoroughly enjoyable.

For those of you who don’t know, Stephanie Plum stumbled into the job of bounty hunter when she couldn’t find other work. She’s not tough enough for the job, but she is determined and foolish enough. And she develops friends who are tough enough to bail her out of trouble.

In Plum Lovin’, a strange guy named Diesel shows up in Stephanie’s apartment. I’m pretty sure Diesel has been around before, but since I never got past Three to Get Deadly, I can’t say when. In any case Diesel seems to be some sort of disciplinarian in a sub-culture of people with paranormal abilities. He’s trying to find Bernie Beamer, who tends to give hives to people near him when he’s upset. At the moment, he’s upset about problems in his marriage and blames Annie Hart.

Annie is a self-proclaimed relationship expert committed to helping five clients (who don’t happen to know that they are clients) find happiness – or true love – by Valentine’s Day. Annie is also on Stephanie’s list, wanted for armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.

Diesel has Annie hidden away while he searches for Bernie. But he had to promise to help her with her clients so she would stay hidden. If Stephanie will take care of Annie’s clients, Diesel will give Annie to Stephanie when he’s done dealing with Bernie. But in the mean time, there are also some serious bad guys after Annie. (Remember? She’s connected to an armed robbery and assault situation.) To further complicate the story, one of Annie’s clients is Stephanie’s sister’s live in boy friend.

Now if you don’t see the potential for humor in this set-up, you need to stay away from Janet Evanovich’s novels.

Plum Lovin’ is light, easy, and fun. It has no redeeming social value – my kind of book. It won’t last much longer than a TV movie. So stick a bag of popcorn in the microwave and take an evening off.

Joseph Finder: Killer Instinct

I like Joseph Finder because he writes about the corporate world. Although it’s not quite the same corporate world I remember. I found a copy of Killer Instinct on a discount table and bought it.

We meet Jason Steadman, a district sales manager for Entronics, a company that makes flat screen TVs of all sizes. He likes what he does, and is good at it. He has reached a plateau in his career and seems reasonably content. But his wife was raised in an “old but gone money” family, and would like some of the better things back in her life. So when a VP of Sales position opens up, she pushes him to try for it.

Jason meets Kurt Semco, an ex-Special Forces guy, driving a tow truck. One thing leads to another and Jason gets Kurt a job in corporate security, mainly because they need a good pitcher on the company softball team.

Kurt adopts Jason as his new best buddy, and will do anything for him. The problem is with how far “anything” goes. At first Kurt uses his Special Forces contacts to get Jason some inside information to help him close important deals. And, interestingly, at the same time some important deals for Jason’s main competitors for the VP job fall through at the last minute.

Kent “Gordy” Gordon is the Senior VP over the entire sales division. If, well actually when, Jason gets the VP job, he reports to Gordy. And Gordy is a jerk. A lot of the book deals with Jason trying to be true to his own beliefs while dealing with Gordy’s demands.

Jason enjoys the perks and salary of his new role, but begins to realize that he got where he is with more help than he wants from Kurt. But he is still tempted to use Kurt’s help on key deals. Ultimately he understands that Kurt is way out of bounds and needs to be stopped. But Kurt is much worse as an enemy than as a friend. The plot thickens....

Jason is mostly a likeable character. That’s not always a given with Finder’s books. Kurt is a little over the top in his abilities and resources. He seems a bit too omnipotent. That helps the plot line, but at a cost in believability.

Killer Instinct takes a business cliché and pushes it to a literal definition. The result is not pretty from the perspective of working for Entronics. But for the reader, the result is a fast paced thriller set in corporate America.

Jeffery Deaver: The Bodies Left Behind

I know I’ve read Jeffery Deaver before, but I’m not a regular. I’m not sure why. I was attracted to The Bodies Left Behind by its Book-of-the-Month Club review.

A call comes in to 911, a man’s voice says, “This”, and the call ends. The phone goes to voice mail when the operator tries to call back. Sheriff Tom Dahl of Kennesha County, Wisconsin learns that the call came from Lake Mondac in Marquette State Park in the remote northern part of his county. The phone is owned by a pair of lawyers from Milwaukee who own a vacation home at the lake. They were to meet a friend of theirs from Chicago at the lake. Dahl doesn’t like unresolved issues, so he sends Deputy Brynn McKenzie to investigate.

Just before Brynn arrives at the lake house, Dahl calls to let her know it was a false alarm, so she should come back. (A man returned the Sheriff’s calls and explained it was an error with his speed dial.) But Brynn is closer to the lake house than to the nearest gas station, so she decides to go on and borrow the bathroom. While there she finds two bodies on the floor, is attacked by a pair of thugs named Hart and Lewis, and finds a scared woman named Michelle hiding from the thugs.

To keep the book interesting, Brynn loses her phone, gun, and car in the lake before letting anyone know what is happening. (She’ll have quite a story to tell about that experience.) She and Michelle escape into the woods of the State Park with Hart and Lewis in pursuit. Meanwhile, everyone back at the office thinks she’s on her way home with plans to stop for dinner, and take the next day off. Oops!

Eventually, Dahl figures out that something is wrong and rallies the troops. He also finds the bodies, but by then he is hours and miles behind. Brynn and Michelle have been surviving on pluck and wits, while Hart and Lewis press on with a determination to leave no loose ends behind.

Deaver gives us plenty of plot complications and major twists that I did not see coming. But they all fit logically. The characters are pretty well developed, and I like Brynn.

The Bodies Left Behind is a good adventure romp with all the excitement and surprises I could ask for. I clearly need to read more Deaver.

Patrick F. McManus: Avalanche

For a rip-roarin’ good time, read Patrick F. McManus. I first encountered him years ago when I heard someone reading from The Grasshopper Trap on public radio. I bought the book and enjoyed it. But I could not read it out load because I would start laughing too hard. At the time, all his books were collections of outdoorsy stories that were simply hilarious.

Then a couple years ago, I found out that McManus had written a novel, The Blight Way. So I bought it; read it; loved it. Now I’ve finished Avalanche, his second novel. Sheriff Bo Tully of Blight County, Idaho, returns for a new mystery.

Mike Wilson, the owner of a fancy lodge is missing, and his wife asks Sheriff Tully to come investigate. She offers to feed and house him in the lodge during the investigation. He jumps at the case to spend a couple days in luxury. He asks his quirky tracker, Dave Perkins to meet him there. He invites Pap, his father and retired sheriff, to ride out with him. Things initially get complicated when an avalanche closes the highway behind him. No one can get in or out.

As the missing person case turns into a murder case, Tully is facing a deadline. He needs to solve the murder before the road is cleared and suspects can disperse. He gets the National Guard to fly his CSI Unit (a guy named Lurch) out to help.

Lurch seems to be afraid of most things, starting with flying, which gives McManus plenty of fodder for humor. Perkins and Pap are excellent characters to play off of Tully’s straight lines.

We have a murder, but that’s hardly important. Mostly we have outdoors misadventures and Pap, Perkins, Lurch, owner, staff, guests, and folks back at headquarters all irritating Bo Tully. Tully steps through his investigation in a very folksy but competent way. He’s sort of like a back-woods Columbo. As the mystery comes together, all the pieces fit, and the conclusions work.

Avalanche can be a bad book to read on a plane or other public place. People look at you funny when you start laughing out loud by yourself. I have no doubt that I’ll grab the next Sheriff Bo Tully mystery that I see.

Mark T. Sullivan: Triple Cross

I have signed up for several “Early Reviewer” books through my LibraryThing account. I finally got one from St. Martin’s Press that is due to be published soon – April, 2009. I don’t feel obligated to give it a good review, but I do feel obligated to give it a prompt review. So I have jumped it ahead of my unconsciously long backlog of completed books.

Triple Cross by Mark T. Sullivan is a fast paced thriller – my kind of book. Although Sullivan has written six other books, this is the first I’ve read. I will not avoid his books in the future, but neither will I go out of my way to find more.

Mickey Hennessey is head of security at the Jefferson Club, a private resort in Montana for super-rich and super-celebrity clients. Conveniently for the bad guys, the seven richest men in the world, as well as the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, have gathered at the Jefferson Club for a New Year’s Party. Hennessey’s three fourteen year old triplets (two boys and a girl) are also visiting while their mother is off on a honeymoon with a new husband.

A paramilitary force of about 50, led by “General Anarchy” attacks the resort, killing all the guards except Hennessey. They call themselves the Third Position Army, opposed to extremes on both the left and right. They embrace the message of the “anti-globalists” who are opposed to large international corporations and their political supporters.

In the early part of the book, I found myself thinking about a chapter from Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six. In that chapter, a group of terrorists wanted the secret codes that let the rich make more money than anyone else. When the hostage could not produce the codes, the terrorists got angry. Clancy’s point was that the situation was dangerous, because there are no such codes. But I found myself thinking that maybe Sullivan does believe in the secret codes for the rich.

The bad guys proceed to put the Senator and super-rich on trial one at a time. “Judge New Truth” presided, “General Anarchy” served as prosecutor, and “Citizen’s Defender Emilia” provided entirely inadequate defense. The trials were broadcast over the web, with millions of viewers casting “Guilty” or “Not Guilty” votes. “General Anarchy” had incredibly detailed dirt on each defendant, although the explanation for how he got the information was not very satisfying. Needless to say, the defendants are not sympathetic characters.

Beyond the initial attack, the action centers on the hostage rescue efforts. Hennessey is injured and watching helplessly with the FBI outside the compound, while his triplets are trapped inside. The triplets put their vast experience as teenage troublemakers to use causing problems for “General Anarchy” and his troops.

Once the book got going, it became hard to put down. Many of the twists and turns were interesting, although some major twists were predictable. Hennessey, though flawed, and the triplets were likeable characters. The hostages and Third Position Army members were caricatures.

On one level, Triple Cross is an enjoyable, mindless action story. On another, it appears to be a vehicle for espousing the anti-globalist perspective. All powerful and wealthy people are ruthless, greedy, and evil. Otherwise they would not be rich and powerful.

I have to admit that I did enjoy Triple Cross once the action really started moving. But it left me with no feeling of substance. The characters and plot were shallow, and the message left a sour taste in my mouth. The cover of my review copy includes a glowing quote from Douglas Preston. Interestingly, my complaint about Triple Cross is very similar to my complaint about Preston’s Blasphemy.

Joseph Garber: Vertical Run

I recently re-read Vertical Run by Joseph Garber. It is another of my favorites where someone’s life is suddenly and inexplicably turned upside-down. The protagonist is left trying to survive, while wondering what changed.

In this case, Dave Elliot goes to work as an executive running a few divisions for the conglomerate, Senterex. As he is preparing for his day in his 45th floor Manhattan office, his boss, Bernie Levy comes into his office and tries to kill him. And then his day gets worse. When he steps out of his office, two men he has never met also try to kill him.

As the story evolves, it turns out that someone going by the name John Ransome is leading a paramilitary team whose apparent mission is killing Dave Elliot. They have his building sealed off, and have no intention of his getting out alive.

But Dave Elliot has a violent background of his own. He has very specialized training from his service in Vietnam as a member of a team trained to track and kill the enemy on his own turf. In fact his background reminds me a lot of David Baldacci’s Oliver Stone. To Garber’s credit, I could not make that comparison if I had reviewed Vertical Run the first time I read it in 1995. Oliver Stone did not appear until the Camel Club was published in 2005.

It turns out that Elliot is a hard man to kill. But although Ransome is losing troops, he seems to have call on an unlimited supply of backups. Watching Elliot’s improvisations and quick thinking is probably the best aspect of the book.

In Vertical Run the story flips between Elliot’s maneuvers in his office building and his background learning his skills in Vietnam. Apparently he did not like the man he was becoming in the military, and stepped back just before going over the line. He left hard feelings behind, so wonders if his Vietnam background is at the core of his current situation.

As a re-read, I knew why everyone was after Elliot. But I was able to observe that Garber did not cheat. He told us the pertinent facts within the five pages it took Elliot to go through his morning routine and arrive at his office. But he cleverly presented the information in such an off hand way that we did not attach any more significance to it than Elliot did.

The action gets going within twenty pages, and hardly slacks off for the rest of the book. Talk about had to put down. The climax is suitably intense. But in some ways the post climax wind down does not feel quite up to the cohesiveness of the rest of the book. But that’s a pretty minor complaint.

I love Vertical Run for its intensity, mystery, and plot twists. All the parts work together well. Dave Elliot is a fun good guy. And John Ransome is a cold, calculating bad guy.

David Baldacci: Absolute Power

Guest Review by Kit Bradley
December 24, 2008

After reading Nate’s enthusiastic reviews of several Baldacci books, I decided to read one, and with Nate’s advice I started with Baldacci’s first novel, Absolute Power.

Lord Acton, a British historian, said “Power tends to currupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” As I read the book, I wondered if I would see “absolute power” in practice. Would that mean that the people weilding the power would get absolutely what they intend? And at what cost of corruption?

As the story begins, Luther Whitney witnesses a killing and a cover-up by the President of the US and his most trusted staff. The tension that carries the rest of the story develops between Luther and a few associates on one side against the White House on the other side. Does the White House have “absolute power” to control the outcome?

It doesn’t help that Luther is a convicted burgular and was practicing his trade at the time of the incident. Will anyone believe him? Luther’s daughter, Kate Whitney, is very put off by his profession and doesn’t like him much. Her one time boyfriend, Jack Graham, is more inclined to help Luther. Unfortunately, anyone who gets involved in this matter is very likely to fall to the “absolute power” that will do anything to protect the President.

Absolute Power kept me turning the pages. Some novels have an exciting climax towards the end that gets my adrenalin going. This book had three or four such exciting episodes. And it was never clear whether the “good guys” or the “bad guys” would win. Is the “absolute power” absolute? It might well be.

Which brings me to another observation. The plot of this story many times could easily have turned either direction, leading to the success of one side over the other. At least four times the plot turned on a matter of tight timing that felt contrived to me. Like when the bad guy was about to pull the trigger just as someone burst into the room and saved the good guy’s life. No skill there, just luck. I prefer the situations where the good or bad guy does something very clever or athletically challenging to turn the tide in his favor.

Overall Absolute Power was fun to read, a good story with plenty of tension. At times it seemed predictable, but I admit things didn’t always turn out as I expected. I’ll need to read another Baldacci book, but so far I like Tom Clancy better. His stories also build up tension and excitement, but I think they are more complex with more unexpected turns.

David Baldacci: Divine Justice

I started David Baldacci’s Divine Justice, and six pages into it I felt like I was missing important background. Well, duh! It picks it seconds after Stone Cold ends. We literally start with the first breath Oliver Stone takes following the end of the last book. So it’s going to be hard to say very much without spoiling the last book. I went back and re-read the whole series from the beginning.

I think it is fair to say that Oliver Stone has problems – perhaps more than even he can handle. But he does not want to drag his friends down with him, so he leaves the Camel Club behind and goes on the run by himself. Ultimately he ends up in the small coal-mining town of Divine, Virginia. (Hence the title of the book.) He gets involved with some interesting characters in Divine, and discovers that something sinister seems to be going on. He is drawn into the mystery and the corresponding dangers.

Baldacci excels at intertwining multiple story lines. So we meet Joe Knox, an expert at finding people for the government. He is tasked to find Oliver, but is pretty sure that when he does, General Macklin Hayes will send in a new team that will not bring Oliver to trial. And Hayes is so ruthless, Knox is more afraid of him than he is of the man he is tracking.

Oliver’s friends in the Camel Club are determined to help, regardless of his wishes. They don’t know how to find him, so instead they start to follow Joe Knox. Annabelle pulls off some delightful little scams, Reuben is his normal big, intimidating self, and Caleb shows some surprising talent as a wheel man. Everyone is pretty sure that Oliver has committed some serious crimes. Most of his friends don’t care, but Alex Ford is torn between his friendship and his sworn duties as a law officer (Secret Service).

As always, Baldacci’s multiple story lines mesh well. His new characters are either good fits with the Camel Club, or really nasty folks. His returning characters continue to develop in rational and satisfying ways.

Divine Justice is a delightful continuation (maybe conclusion) of the Oliver Stone series. I just loved it. Baldacci has done a really good job ending each volume at a clean and satisfying point. So you can stop reading at any point. (Why would you want to?) But the books do not start cleanly. So for heaven’s sakes, start at the beginning! Otherwise you will never really know who all these people are, and what’s going on.

David Baldacci: Stone Cold - Again

I read (and reviewed - http://nates-library.blogspot.com/2007/11/david-baldacci-stone-cold.html) Stone Cold by David Baldacci when it first came out. I enjoyed it, but I can’t believe I read it without first re-reading The Collectors. Big mistake! Stone Cold picks up a few days after The Collectors leaves off.

We meet Harry Finn, a really fascinating character. He is a doting father and husband who tries to never miss a school or sports event with his kids. His career involves elaborate, and successful penetration tests on contract to Homeland Security. And in the rest of his free time he is killing former CIA operatives.

Carter Gray was a pretty unsavory character in The Camel Club, but Oliver Stone dealt with him. Gray sees an opportunity to salvage his political/power career in this third book. In doing so, he makes life difficult for Oliver and his friends.

As I said in my first review Annabelle Conroy is back with her nemesis on her trail. Baldacci does a good job intertwining her problems with Oliver’s. In doing so, he brings the Secret Service agent, Alex Ford back into the story.

I think I may have enjoyed Stone Cold on the re-read more than the first read. I’m sure that’s because I had the continuing story clearly in mind.

David Baldacci: The Collectors

The Collectors by David Baldacci is the second Oliver Stone novel. He is still the leader of the Camel Club, a group of conspiracy theorists. And they are all still about as quirky as before. This book includes memories back to the first book, The Camel Club. Those memories add richness to the characters, but are not critical to the plot. So it would be OK to read this book without first reading The Camel Club. On the other hand, why not start at the beginning?

In The Collectors we get to know Caleb Shaw much better. A lot of the plot takes place at the Library of Congress, where Caleb works in the Rare Books reading room. Jonathon DeHaven is (or was) the Director of the Rare Books and Special Collections Division, and Caleb’s boss. Caleb finds his body in one of the vaults, and the story is on. As a book lover, I enjoy seeing the Library of Congress worked into a thriller. As the son of a librarian, I’m pleased to say that no rare books are seriously damaged in the development of the plot.

A parallel story line introduces a new character, Annabelle Conroy. She is an expert con artist setting up “two shorts and a long”. We watch as she recruits a team, and runs two short cons to raise funds for a big score. The target of the long con is Jerry Bagger, the extremely dangerous and nasty owner of an Atlantic City casino. Annabelle is trying to take Bagger for enough money to hurt. But what she really wants is revenge for Bagger’s killing her mother years ago.

The con artist story is a great story. Then it gets better as Baldacci draws Annabelle into the Oliver Stone story, as US secrets are being sold, and bodies are dropping. It is interesting to see how much Annabelle and Oliver have in common, one as a con artist, one as a former government operative. They keep impressing one another, but are also reluctant to reveal their pasts.

Alex Ford, Oliver’s Secret Service friend comes back for a small, but critical role in this story. Baldacci spins a complex plot for Oliver and his friends to navigate, or perhaps more accurately, to try to survive.

The Collectors comes to a solid, satisfying conclusion to the main plot lines. In other words, we are not left dangling waiting for the next volume. So the book can stand on it’s own. But there is still an unresolved issue. As it turns out, it is prominent in the next book, Stone Cold.

I had planned to take a break from Oliver and his friends by reading new ones from Le Carré and Silva, but I can’t.

David Baldacci: The Camel Club

I got six pages into David Baldacci’s latest Oliver Stone novel – Divine Justice. But I just felt that I was missing something. It seemed to be assuming that I should remember information from the previous episode (Stone Cold). So I backed off and decided to reread from the start.

Oliver Stone and his friends are introduced in The Camel Club. They are four friends who believe in government conspiracies, and believe that citizen vigilance can make a difference, and joined together as the Camel Club to watch. Oliver Stone has a permanent protest permit, and has maintained a tent in Lafayette Park across the street from the White House. He has been there long enough for the Secret Service to consider him essentially harmless. Agent Alex Ford has even gone so far as to enjoy playing chess with him.

Oliver has a hidden past under a different name. In that past he was very good at things he no longer believes in. That past help fuel his distrust of the government.

The basic premise of the book is that even conspiracy theorists can occasionally stumble across a real conspiracy. In this case, The Camel Club accidentally witnesses a murder that is intended to look like a suicide. Unfortunately for them, the killers know they’ve been seen. All the members of the club are quirky, and realize no one will believe them – except of course the killers that are now searching for them. Oliver leads them on the aggressive path of trying to uncover the killers, rather than simply trying to hide.

The dead man had a loose connection to the Secret Service, so Alex Ford gets involved in the investigation, although he is inclined to believe the suicide findings. Oliver gets him wondering if there is more.

As the story unfolds the murder leads to a much larger conspiracy involving high levels of America’s anti-terrorism forces. And we learn more about Oliver’s past. His old skills become critical in unraveling the conspiracy, and in keeping the club members alive.

Some books with the same characters are unabashed sequels in a series – like Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle or John Twelve Hawks’ Fourth Realm Trilogy. Others can be pretty stand-alone, like Lee Childs’ Jack Reacher stories. But others, like Rowling’s Harry Potter books, depend on the characters and backgrounds evolving across the volumes. The Oliver Stone books fall into thins last category. I like any of these approaches, but I do not like picking up a book when I never knew, or have forgotten the back story.

I like Baldacci’s stories and characters well enough that I do not object to his continuing the story line. But that’s largely because I have read them from the beginning. And as I’ve just confirmed with The Camel Club, I still like them on the re-read.

Lee Child: The Enemy

In my continuing effort to understand the source of Jack Reacher’s financial independence, I picked up a copy of Lee Child’s The Enemy. It is the prequel to the Reacher books. Unfortunately, it did not resolve the mystery. Fortunately, it was still a fun book – as I knew it would be.

In this case Reacher is still in the Army as a Major in the MPs. The Berlin Wall is coming down; Reacher has been in Panama trying to catch Noriega. But shortly before the book begins, Reacher was transferred to Fort Bird, North Carolina. Neither he, nor his boss know why.

When Reacher is notified that a soldier has died of a heart attack off post, he assumes that it is routine. But he quickly learns that the soldier was Major General Kramer, and that he died in a sleazy motel, apparently in the act of intercourse. With a briefcase missing, things stop being routine. Worse yet, the general’s wife is killed at their home in Virginia a few hours later. The general is stationed in West Germany, apparently en route to a conference in California. What was he doing in a sleazy motel in North Carolina?

Just as the investigation gets going, Reacher’s boss is transferred and replaced by the incompetent politically slick Colonel Willard. Willard orders him to drop the investigation. Further, when a Special Forces sergeant is found, obviously murdered, on post, Willard orders Reacher to write it up as a training accident.

Internal politics abound as various factions anticipate big changes in the Army as the Cold War is winding down. Two of General Kramer’s aids are running around sticking their noses into everything. Civilian authorities are interested in both off post deaths, although particularly the Mrs. Kramer’s.

So we have Jack Reacher bulling his way through political minefields, civilian relations, and direct orders to leave things alone. But Reacher is not much of a “leave it alone” sort of guy. As always, Child’s dialog is terse and blunt. Reacher is unstoppable, but does make bad turns and wrong assumptions along he way. He also manages to find some female companionship along the way.

I’m glad I read The Enemy. It was fun to see Jack Reacher in uniform. It was unique to see him carrying luggage and owning spare uniforms. But I still don’t understand how he meets his expenses in later books. I can’t see a military severance lasting that long, even though his tastes are rather simple.

Sandra Brown: Smoke Screen

After seeing Sandra Brown awarded an honorary doctorate, I read a randomly selected paperback. I liked it, so now I’ve read her latest, Smoke Screen. (No similarity to a book with the same title by Kyle Mills. This is a mystery. Mills’ book is about the tobacco industry.)

Britt Shelley, a prominent Charleston TV news personality wakes up in bed with Detective Jay Burgess, a police hero. She can’t remember how she got there. Worse, she can’t remember why Jay happens to be dead. Britt immediately falls under suspicion, and can’t offer much defense with no memory of the night.

Years ago, Jay and three others became heroes when they rescued a number of people from a fire when the old Charleston police headquarters burned down. Their hero status helped most of them in their subsequent careers in the police, politics, or commerce.

Jay’s childhood friend, Raley Gannon was investigating the fire. But his investigation was cut short when he was found in bed with a dead woman – in Jay’s apartment. He also had no memory of the event. He was hounded out of the Fire Department by innuendo and suspicion, mostly promulgated by sensationalized reporting by Britt Shelley.

The similarities between their stories makes Raley the only person who believes Britt. But after what she did to his career he is not real fond of her. Sandra Brown brings them together in an alliance to reach the truth in a delightful manner. I won’t describe it, but it’s pretty unique, and it works.

So obviously bad things are going on. And the old police headquarters fire is at the heart of it. We get to see what various potential bad guys are doing while Britt and Raley don’t. But we don’t get enough extra views to reveal various plot twists before their time.

I’ve noticed that Sandra Brown’s characters can be an amorous bunch. And she can get pretty specific as they romp around. But it all fits well with the story.

Smoke Screen is another fun, fast-paced, escapist mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Lee Child: Killing Floor

Lee Child wrote the Jack Reacher novels in a way that it does not matter what order you read them in. At least that’s what his web site says. And I mostly agree. But after reading several, I still had some questions about Reacher’s background – why he lives the way he does. So I picked up a copy of Killing Floor – it seemed to have the oldest copyright date.

I did learn more about Reacher’s past, and I appreciate that. And I was sort of right about it being the first Jack Reacher novel. But I now realize that there is a prequel, The Enemy, written a few years later. I may have to pick it up some time, because I’m still curious about some of Reacher’s back story. I am tempted to say what was still unanswered, but in a way that could be a spoiler for Killing Floor.

If you don’t know, Jack Reacher is a loner who travels around the country by bus, hitchhike, or foot. He deals only in cash, owns nothing that he isn’t currently wearing or carrying in his pockets. In short he is a pretty independent character. He is also a pretty competent, resourceful former-MP.

Killing Floor starts with Reacher walking into Margrave, Georgia. Before he can even finish his breakfast, four police officers come in to the diner and arrest him for murder. Margrave is a small town somewhere between Atlanta and Macon. But it is a remarkably clean and prosperous looking town.

We meet a competent police sergeant named Baker, a Boston raised black chief of Detectives named Finlay, an attractive police officer named Roscoe, and a fat worthless Police Chief named Morrison. We also meet a prominent town benefactor, the mayor, an Atlanta banker, and miscellaneous other characters.

It’s hard for me to say too much about the story because after about five pages things start to surprise both Reacher and me. I can say that it is a fast paced action story, as you would expect. A lot of people end up dead. To some degree Reacher did not seem quite as well developed to me as he does in later stories – perhaps because this was the first.

I can’t say that Killing Floor is any better than any other Reacher novel. In fact it probably is not my favorite. But then neither is it significantly worse than any other. I still want more of the history, hopefully from The Enemy, but I think I better wait a while. I suspect that I could burn out if I take too much Reacher too fast.

Douglas Preston: Blasphemy

I bought Douglas Preston’s Blasphemy because I was interested in the context. It deals with a fictional US supercollider and the friction between science and religion. I was disappointed when the real US supercollider lost funding, so I was interested to see what Preston would do with the theme. This is my first Preston book, so I was not sure what to expect.

In this story, Gregory North Hazelius is a brilliant Nobel laureate who has driven the 40 billion dollar project to completion in the Arizona dessert. We join the story on the first trial run. With project delays, and little information coming from the scientific team, the President’s Science Advisor recruits Wyman Ford to go in and find out what’s happening. Ford’s background is unusual: ex-anthropologist, ex-CIA, ex-monk. Supposedly he is to go deal with community relations and try to head off a protest by the local Navajo population led by Nelson Begay. But maybe Wyman’s main qualification is that he has a past with the Assistant Director of the project, Kate Mercer.

Spicing up the story, we have lobbyist, Booker Crawley. Crawley is counting on a continuing revenue stream from the Navajo Nation even though the task of getting the project built is done. When they cancel his contract, he decides to show them that they need him. So he makes a large donation to the televangelist, Reverend Don T. Spates, to preach against it. Spates launches his attack, accusing the government of spending taxpayer dollars to try to disprove Genesis. The political fallout ((in another fictional election year) is immediate. Add Pastor Russ Eddy, who preaches at a struggling mission on Navajo land near the supercollider, and our cast is mostly complete.

I think it’s fair to tell you that I like Wyman, Mercer, and Begay. The rest of the cast comes off pretty badly. The plot moves in ways I was not expecting, but definitely explores the debate between science and religion. Does the government fund Secular Humanism as a new state religion? Does religion still address the needs of society? Do charlatans in all camps undermine the good offered by government, religion, and science? Is Native American spiritualism viable in today’s society?

Blasphemy carries a lot of serious undertones in a rollicking good story. But I can’t decide in hindsight whether the book was an attack on religion, or an attack on science. Maybe it’s a call for moderation, an attack on extremism from all sides.