Monthly Archives: August 2020

action/adventure, character, heart, humor, reviews, setting

Don Winslow — Broken

Six novellas in one book. Some better than others.

Broken (2**): Way too dark for my taste. A story about a cop family and a gang, each seeking revenge on the other. The only saving grace was the ending.

Crime 101 (4****): A dedicated cop looks for a thief he’s convinced has committed several robberies, although no one else seems to agree with him. The thief is planning a multi-million dollar heist before he retires. Both are interesting characters in this somewhat humorous story.

The San Diego Zoo (4****): Hilarious story about a young cop who tries to do the right thing, but keeps getting into trouble for stepping over the lines. And there’s a chimp who escapes the zoo with a gun. Picture it!  🙂

Sunset (4****): Great characters—a bail bondsman whose business is tanking, a washed-up surfer/addict who runs out on his bail, a surfer/bounty hunter chasing his friend, and more. Several characters are getting older and dealing with it in different ways. I understand many of them have appeared in previous novels, but this book is my first taste of Winslow’s writing.

Paradise (2**): The drug trade underside of Hawaii combines with a picture of surfing. (Winslow has surfing in all the stories.) In Paradise, his characters are a bit thin. The plot makes me think of a big wave, starting calm and building to a crescendo.

The Last Ride (3***): Some reviewers labeled this story political, but I feel it’s a strong character study of a border patrol agent fighting a broken system. I would give it 4 stars except the ending crushes my heart.

character, head, heart, humor, reviews, SF

Adrian J. Walker — The Human Son

*SPOILER ALERT*

Fascinating and well written, but in my opinion a few things don’t quite add up. The story has good concepts and questionable ones.

An intriguing concept—Erta, genetically modified, superior homo sapiens, created to save the earth from the destruction caused be humans. Humans have died out. The Erta have promised to bring back the human race when their purpose is complete. Five hundred year old Ima, who was programmed to clean up earth’s atmosphere, is assigned the task of raising the first human child.

Good: Ima maturing emotionally and becoming more human along with her human son, Reed. She even appears to go through some of the behaviors of puberty along with her son.
Questionable: How could Ima live so long without evolving emotionally, then in the relatively short time develop emotions, curiosity, and question what she has been told and believed all her life?

Good: A true villain, Caige, (every good story needs a villain) who wants to keep the earth free of humanity. He meddled with Reed’s genetics to make him weaker physically and less intelligent than Ima’s design. There are also lesser villains, some appear friendly in the beginning, and some who appear mean and evil at first but turn out to be allies.
Questionable: How did such an evil and emotional being, Caige, develop when all Erta are designed for the purpose of cleaning up earth with no emotional connections?

Good: A picture of a mother with zero experience or education on taking care of an infant or raising a child. A good mixture of head, heart (and heartache), and humor.
Questionable: Why would a race built around superior logic, education, and programming neglect educating the mother? (Possibly because she was meant to fail?)

Good: Full of interesting characters.
Questionable: Why do we even need Ima’s sister?

Good: The idea of transition at the end of the Erta’s existence.
Questionable: How do a people who are supposedly programmed for logic fall into an emotional “religious” belief? Why do they need this? I guess it adds to the plot.

Good: Ima’s journey through emotional maturity.
Questionable: Why the phase with alcohol addiction? Wouldn’t her perfect immune system see alcohol as poison and mute its effects?

I found other questionable ideas in the story, but overall it was engaging and kept me reading, wanting to know what would happen next. The ending was both good and frightful. It felt a bit like it was the beginning of a series.

action/adventure, character, head, heart, mystery, reviews, setting

Sara Paretsky — Dead Land

I’ve only read one other Paretsky novel, Shell Game, which I gave three stars—middle of the road. With Dead Land, I connected with the protagonist, V.I. (Vic) Warshawski, and found her determined and focused on solving the mysteries surrounding friends and family. Previously I found her too angry at the world, scattered in her investigation and her life, and making foolish mistakes. With this story, she seems to have reason behind her decisions, even when her moves are reckless and dangerous. She isn’t filled with anger and even has a sense of humor.

A side character, Coop, is interesting. Even though we see little of him, he’s a major character in the story. I love his dog, Bear.

Even though it twists and turns and has some almost unbelievable connections, the plot of Dead Land makes sense, where Shell Game didn’t. Paretsky connects greed and corruption in Chicago politics with greed and corruption in Chili, all revolving around a famous woman musician, first homeless then missing on the streets of Chicago. She’s another major character we see little of, but we learn a lot about her.

The settings in Chicago and Kansas are both well covered, making me feel the heat in the streets and the muddy rain in the flooded fields.

Although a bit too long, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.