Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz

Review based on ARC.

Moriarty is the new book by Anthony Horowitz, touted as the only author approved by the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle.  I understand [House of Silk] to be an excellent piece of "Holmes" literature, though I have not read it myself. Although I have not read Doyle myself, my husband is a big fan, I intend to read the books someday soon, and I am a huge fan of the BBC's newest Sherlock series and, in particular, think the actor cast as Moriarty therein has made him one of the more intriguing characters in literature. So I was rather excited to have won a copy of Moriarty.

I was disappointed. The plot is interesting enough.. New York Pinkerton detective Chase heads to England in pursuit of one of the worst criminal masterminds America has seen, Clarence Devereux, who himself has purportedly headed to London to hook up with Moriarty in an effort to expand his criminal enterprise. However, Chase discovers that Moriarty and Holmes (and/or their cohorts) have just committed double homicide on one another at Reichenbach Falls. Chase follows the body, hoping to be given an opportunity to find a letter from Devereux to Moriarty discussing their suggested partnership. Thus he meets Scotland Yard investigator Athelney Jones, who has previously appeared in Watson's own explanations of Holmes investigations as a somewhat bumbling idiot. Jones has devoted many efforts to discerning Holmes' own investigation methods, and Chase and Jones create a sort of Holmes-Watson duo... like, the kid version.

Together, they set forth to try to hunt down Devereux, bodies piling up left and right in the brutalist of manners as they go. All the while, Chase ponders the apparent ill-information Watson has provided regarding Reichenbach falls and contemplates what really happened, and how.

So all that sounds great! And the plot wasn't bad. But... it wasn't really good either. It was choppy and weirdly paced and felt like ... it felt a little like a novice author. Which I know is not the case! And the conversations were weird -- they didn't feel normal even for the timeframe in which they were occurring. And it almost felt like Horowitz was trying to fit a puzzle and "make it work," rather than simply telling a story.

However, as I say, it *was* interesting. And it had some compelling reveals and turns. And the ending certainly redeemed a lot of what happened in the rest of the book (though I won't even hint at what that means because it is worth discovering on your own). Also, there was some interesting foreshadowing.. Although the ultimate reveal was somewhat predictable and a little unbelievable, I enjoyed it all the same.

So, overall? I thought this hyped-up book was not particularly well done. The language was inorganic, the relationships were stilted, and I just never felt like I was really there in the story... On the plus side, as mentioned, it was interesting, had some good plot development, and the end added a bit of credit.

Recommended to .... well, I think this is best recommended to people who need more Holmes, however they can get it. And maybe recommended to other Holmes fans, just with the understanding that it's not amazing.

THREE AND A HALF of 5 stars.

Shark Skin Suite by Tom Dorsey

Review based on ARC.

This is my first Dorsey and, of course, my first Serge Storms. Serge Storms .... appears to be some kind of serial killer homicidal psychotic maniac ... but, ya know, over the course of 18 books, may have become "loveable" and "your favorite." While I don't adamantly disagree with that, I also don't agree. And I suspect that has something to do with the fact that I'm coming at this 18 books in. Although the actual plot in this book can stand alone, all the inside jokes and characteristics and personalities must have taken 17 books to develop, so I think I missed out there. SO my recommendation based on that is: Don't start this "series" with #18!

So, while my rating is based on my experience with this book (and *not* decreased because I felt like I was missing out), it is possible that it would have been *increased* if I happened to know more about the background of these characters and, e.g., what the point, exactly, was with some of them (Serge's best friend Coleman).

But the story. So Serge is this... vigilante, really. He's one of those bad guys w/ a heart of gold who seeks to "even the score." And in this book, he meets this young, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed girl and maybe that, combined with a late-night legal movie spree sets him on this mission to... well, become involved in the legal field. Not legally, of course. But aggressively. He insinuates himself in all manner of ways -- he becomes a "fixer" (as a lawyer, I must confess I've never heard of this...) -- someone who "fixes problems" behind-the-scenes (think Nancy Kerrigan and much much worse). In his true psychotic style. And working for the little good guys, he slowly works his way through each of the problems to the final climax of the book.

Think: if Grisham met Evanovich and they co-wrote a sort of Grisham parody really quickly. That's this book. It's fast, there are moments of humor, it doesn't take itself too seriously, it handles some legal issues not terribly accurately, it creates problems for its solutions, and it throws in some love and some scorn and vengeance in there.

If that sounds like your thing? This will not disappoint.
THREE AND A HALF of five stars

Big Brother by Lionel Shriver

Review based on ARC.

Anyone who was around me while I was forcing my way through this book suffered for my having to finish it.  Why did I have to finish it? Because it was an advanced readers' copy, and I felt like I needed to finish the whole book in order to fairly review it.

But oh, the pain.
So, the premise. I was interested in this book and definitely wanted to read it because of its premise! (this is no more spoiler than what appears on the back cover) Main character (Pandora) picks up her brother (Edison) from the airport after not having seen him for several years and doesn't even recognize him at first because he's gained so much weight. On top of now being a morbidly obese person, the narrator also takes issue with her brother's other developed-habits, such as breaking furniture, convincing high school kids to drop out of high school, etc. So she has to decide between her husband and her brother, which is essentially what the book is about--that choice and the repercussions thereof.

Ok, yeah, sounds interesting! Good of her to take on a less developed theme in current literature and try to tackle the psychological reactions that people have in these types of tough situations. So I was excited.

Then I got the book and started reading. And this is what it was like: Imagine if I told you that a very interesting special was going to be on tv, but it was only going to air once and you couldn't record it because you don't have a DVR or anything. So you are excited about the special and are eager to get to the story, but as soon as it starts playing, your roommate just gets up and stands in front of the tv and starts waxing poetic about anything and everything---his/her opinions, theories, views on politics, social issues, his/her childhood, etc. Just keeps talking. And then they finally wind down and sit down and you are watching the special again, and just as you start getting into the special, s/he gets back up again and does it all over again.  Over and over and over.  That's what it was like reading this book. Shriver (or, purportedly, her narrator) just could. not. shut. up. shut up. shut up. It was infuriating attempting to read the story with the narrator constantly streaming her look-how-smart-I-am consciousness. And yeah, she had a few interesting things to say and said a few things in interesting ways, but I just couldn't CARE after she just kept GOING and going and going.

So around page 100, I decided I couldn't do it anymore. The book was literally giving me a headache and I was doing anything to avoid reading. I took a breather.

After ~a week, I decided, no, I can finish this. And so I did. Unfortunately, not only was Shriver's writing style infuriating, but her story was a disaster. This was one of the least convincing attempts at "understanding" fat people that I've ever been confronted with. It felt like Shriver literally knew NO-ONE who had ever really struggled with a lot of weight. And I understand that her real-life brother died from morbid obesity, weighing approximately what she puts her "big brother" at in the book, but it doesn't appear as if she spent any real time with her brother or talked to anyone who's ever spent substantial time around people who struggle with this kind of weight issue.

As someone with actual perspective here, I can assure the unknowing reader that Shriver is way off the mark. And it's offensive. And, frankly, it takes a lot to offend me. Shriver's fat guy is reckless, selfish, unaware, and stupid. Of course, because he's fat, right? It was a childish viewpoint and impossible for me to read without a scowl on my face.

So what's extra unbelievable about this whole thing is that Edison supposedly exhibits his I'm-a-disgusting-slob person while in the house of not only an essential stranger (his brother-in-law), but also while being openly judged and loathed by said-stranger. Fat people don't do that, Ms. Shriver. But yeah, supposedly, this guy will eat powdered sugar straight from the bag, but in the process just gets powdered sugar everywhere because of course he's a slob; takes a first serving at a first meal that is more than half of a casserole so that others are left hungry because of course he's hungry, stupid, and selfish; insists on making the rest of the skinny family inordinate amounts of terribly unhealthy food because he's inconsiderate, pushy, and stupid; etc.

And every single thing that "Pandora" (or, perhaps, really the author?) says about her brother, who she supposedly loves, comments on his fatness. Like, WE GET IT. HE's FAT. He doesn't just have a big jacket, his jacket is so big it is like carrying a sleeping bag. He doesn't just sit on furniture, he breaks it. Oh and of course he doesn't just sh**, he poops so much that there's literally poop chunks floating down the hall. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Not to mention the fact that his gaining just over 200 pounds in 4 years does not actually match up with what he supposedly eats in a day.

And this is all just in the first half of the book, and I haven't even touched on the celebrity childhood or her famous company, which she also insists on talking about ad nauseum. At page 176, I mistakenly believed it was going to get better. Something actually changed. It wasn't just going to be 400 pages of Shriver...  er, Pandora judging fat people but pretending to care about them. So narrator has to make a choice... choose her jerk of a husband or her fat disgusting slob of a brother.

What choice does she make? How does it turn out? What're the spoilers that everyone is so carefully avoiding? Here's the non-spoiler answer: who. cares.  Take it from someone who suffered through reading the whole thing... it didn't get better. It's not worth knowing. It's worse than pathetic. (if you really want the spoilers? go to bottom and highlight text to reveal)

In sum, I would recommend this book to literally no one.  I would not recommend this book to anyone who has struggled or is struggling with weight because it is unaware and offensive. I would not recommend this book to anyone who knows someone who has struggled or is struggling with weight because it is unhelpful, patronizing, and offensive. I would not recommend this book to someone who knows no one who has this kind of weight issue because it will simply give them the wrong idea about how fat people are in the so-called privacy of their own homes. Just say no. No.

ONE of five stars. A touch of credit can be given because she's poetic with her language.

THE SPOILERS:

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

DO NOT READ BELOW IF YOU DO NOT WANT THE END SPOILED

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

1. she chooses her brother. and is annoying and holier-than-thou in her choice. so she moves into a separate apartment with her brother to go on a crazy crash diet with him for a year. And I mean crazy. We're talking 6 months of less than 600 calories a day. And of course no one cheats. And they lose all kinds of weight. And then they have to struggle with reintroducing food. Etc. And than jerk husband wants a divorce. And crazy fat brother is happy. But then after all the weight is lost, husband wants Pandora back and Edison loses it. and eats a chocolate cake. like the slob that he is. smearing chocolate all over his face and clothes, etc. And then gains all the weight back. All of it.

2. But wait, Shriver thought she'd try to be clever. None of that happened. She didn't go live in an apt w/ her brother, she just let him leave. And be fat. and die. 

END SPOILER


END SPOILER

I mean. really? People enjoy this?

Light Shining in the Forest by Paul Torday

Review based on ARC.

This was my first Torday, and (1) I will definitely read more! and (2) I'm sad he's (apparently recently) deceased, so what's out there is what's out there!

So, as my first Torday, and having read a handful of other reviews on this book, I understand that this one is not "standard Torday" -- most of his novels are funny, I think.

This one is not remotely funny.  I don't mean to say there are no moments of humor -- those definitely exist, particularly dark humor in his analysis of civil servants in Britain, but it's not a funny book.  The book is not a satire.

Torday manages to work mystery, thriller, drama, a touch of romance, lite-horror, psychological thriller, and spiritual all into about 340 pages.  And well.  It is almost an everyman type of story, an analysis of faith and how most people these days respond to the potential for spiritual involvement in our lives.  Torday has been criticized by some of his fans for delving into the spiritual, but he did SUCH a good job of evaluating the various perspectives his everyman characters can have to the potential of divine involvement that, really, it makes those reviews just sound defensive in nature.  Torday definitely does not shove religion down everyone's throat and, in fact, his characters are such that there is an acknowledgement that most people ridicule those with strong faith.  This is a truth that was well explored in Torday's novel.

And yeah, now that I'm writing all this out, it sounds kind of boring. It is NOT boring.  It's a well-paced psychological thriller, mystery, evaluation of society and spirituality without being preachy... Just very well done.

So what's it about?  Remembering that this is an everyman take, there's (and these are my descriptions -- he just named the characters :)): The Civil Servant (Norman), The Young Semi-Ambitious Lazy Investigative Journalist with Big Ideas (Willie), The Smart Cute Assistant Who's More than Meets the Eye (Pippa), and then there are a handful of equally important characters who I won't define because this book is *definitely* one of those books that is better to discover while being read.

Norman has spent a life in civil servantry, working his way into more and more powerful positions, and has finally been promoted to Children's Czar in a small'ish town.  However, once he's appointed, the job comes to a standstill and Norman is left with a lot of time on his hands.  Lo and behold, a few months into his stalled Czarship, young aggressive and annoying Willie, trying to make a journalistic career for himself so he can get out of said small'ish town, confronts Norman with the existence of two missing children, and just WHAT, Willie wants to know, is the Czar going to do about the missing children?  The Czar position is not meant to be a hands-on type of job, and Norman is initially reluctant.  However, events proceed, family members are met and conversations are had, and his pushy smart little assistant Pippa gets involved... HOW are we going to save the children?  When a third child goes missing, there's no stopping the newly created team as they rush time to try to find the Children before they suffer any longer.

It's an interestingly paced novel... It starts off quite slow -- descriptive and scenic.  It never becomes a rush from one adrenaline-packed scene to the next, but Torday writes a story and establishes characters that invest the reader in the story... And once you are invested in the story, well it's just hard to put it back down.  It moves and you, the reader starts to rush... You must read more quickly... you must save the children!  The physical undercurrent is palpable.  There are so many elements involved (discussed above), and the characters, serving their everyman purpose, are engaging and well crafted.

It's hard to review this book because it was so good, so worth an involved review, but SO the kind of book that shouldn't be ruined by reviews.  Definitely recommended to open-minded thinkers, to people looking for a smarter mystery, for those who consider the possibility of "Maybes".

And, despite the fact that this was an unusual-for-Torday novel, I look forward to reading more of his writing.

FOUR AND A HALF of five stars.

Nicholson: A Biography by Marc Eliot

Review based on ARC.

Sigh.  I really like Jack Nicholson.  At least, I really like what I think I know about him.  I think he's a great actor and he seems really interesting.  I knew someone who was at a fancy resort'y island restaurant that Jack was dining at, and she said he was a complete A**.  This didn't shake my interest in the man or alter my favor of his acting.  Nor was it really surprising.  But then again, we all have bad days, and maybe that was just one of his.

I'm not a big tabloid girl (anymore) and I don't particularly love gossip.  I'm happy to watch actors on TV/movies and then maybe some day I'll read a biography or an autobiography.  Preferably authorized.

But, then again, this is Jack Nicholson, so I eagerly signed up for the advanced readers copy and I even more eagerly awaited my copy once I was informed that I'd won one!

So the "sigh."  Sigh.  This was not what I was hoping it would be.  And, from reading other reviews of other disappointed readers, I'm not alone.  The so-called biography felt more like an article in US Weekly than a biography.  I don't deny that Eliot did research, and I'm sure that he spoke with many "close friends" of Nicholson.  But the book took the tone of a gossip column... "hey, psst, READ IT HERE FIRST! Nicholson has problems 'down there'!"  It just felt kind of sad.

Who knows, maybe Eliot was on the receiving end of one of Nicholson's bad days.  But his tone was petty.  I'm not saying lift the man (Nicholson) up as a god and ignore his faults.  He has faults.  Great.  Show them.  But there are ways to show a man's fault (see, e.g., Walk the Line re Johnny Cash) without being petty and gossipy about it.  And, in this book, Eliot missed the boat.

So.  it's not a terrible thing -- there's a lot of good information in there, and I appreciated the time that Eliot spent seeking to learn more about a man that so much of the world finds fascinating.  So it gets a couple stars.  But the tone, the lack of real depth, the lack of a greater understanding of what really drives Nicholson, those things make the biography a bit of a disappointment.

Overall, TWO AND A HALF of 5 stars -- a middle-of-the-road rating for a book with a lot of potential and some noteworthy disappointments.

The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken by Tarquin Hall

Review based on ARC.

This is the third mystery by Tarquin Hall involving the endearing Vish Puri, India's "Most Private" Investigator.  I have not read the other two books but, after having read this one, am definitely interested in seeking them out!

Vish Puri a/k/a Chubby is a detective with an addiction to the flavorful and savory foods of India.  I can relate.  Butter Chicken, or what I have called Chicken Tikka Makhani, is one of my favorite dishes, and I can understand the obsession.  However, Puri is more than just a stomach with good taste.  Puri is a detective who can and will handle all manner of cases, even that as bizarre as a missing mustache.

The thrust of this book revolves around the murder mystery of the father of a Pakistani cricket hero while eating at a post-match dinner.  In order to solve the mystery of who has poisoned the victim, Puri investigates various dark underbellies -- gambling, smuggling, and match-fixing.  Puri even takes the investigation into history, and we lean about the blood and horror of the 1947 partition between India and Pakistan.  In doing so, Puri is eventually led a lot closer to home then he ever hoped to be:  he must work with his mother, Mummy-ji, who has herself sworn off investigation.

Throughout the food and the mystery, there is humor.  The book is endearing, entertaining, and satisfying.  Recommended to readers who like mysteries, who have a sense of humor, and who at least understand why Makhani is so good.....

FOUR of five stars.

Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison by Piper Kerman

Review based on ARC.

This is one of those books that was entertaining, informative, and infuriating.  Piper Kerman wrote a memoir that reads almost like a diary.  This is both a compliment and a criticism.  The problem with the non-diary-diary format is that it was scattered, unfocused, and anecdotal.  The good thing about the non-diary-diary format, however, is that it was interesting, personal, and present.

So, the story.  Kerman makes massively stupid and selfish decisions in her young life, as young ladies are wont to do, and years later, she begins to pay for it.  a little.  Her involvement in large-scale drug trafficking ultimately lands her in inside a minimum security federal prison, which she proceeds to detail in a manner that is, at turns, entertaining and lecturing.  There's not really much more to the plot:  she learns about being in prison, she learns about the people there, she learns about the impact of her actions.  Thus, a memoir.

What works is Kerman's tone, most of the time.  She takes an equally amusing and reverent tone in describing her prison-mates and describes heartbreaking, enraging, and amusing stories alike.  Kerman's own appearance and naivety land her, fortunately, friends with some of the more powerful women in the prison and, to hear Kerman tell it, she herself ends up being one of the most popular prisoners to ever grace Danbury's walls (this is a literal exaggeration of the tone that many of the anecdotes presented -- she never, of course, ever states anything quite so ludicrous).

Kerman flits between anecdotes, grant philosophical rants, political lectures, and summaries, which unorganized presentation was, at many points, annoying and disrupted the flow of the tale.  However, Kerman's voice was consistent throughout these variances, making the sudden switches more tolerable to read.

Kerman mentions in passing that her year had its rough moments... but aside from dealing with her Grandmother's illness, stays far on the surface of these times.  Which leads the reader to believe that her time in Danbury wasn't so bad--that maybe she was just a "whiney privileged white girl."  In reality, there were probably times when it was terrible for *her* (and not just one of the other girls there), and maybe she didn't want to relive those in her memoir.  Or maybe she didn't want to be too depressing for her readers.  Or maybe just being incapable of leaving the walls for such an extended period of time was rough.  She managed to remain a picky eater, looked years younger after LEAVING prison, worked out, got a lot of daytime, watched movies, had friends.... yeah, I know a lot of girls who'd kill for her crappy year.   But, as I say, maybe there was some stuff under the surface that she didn't divulge.

All in all, the book gets THREE AND A HALF stars (bumped to 4 on non-half-star sites for its importance) because Kerman tells a good story and creates a few vivid characters (though a few others are glaringly 2-dimensional), and because the story she is telling and the impact it has had and can have is important.  Important!  For any person who knows no-one who has been to jail or prison (even a "swanky" minimum security prison like Danbury), or anyone who thinks that prisoners cannot be rehabilitated and/or do not have any good in them, this book is a MUST.

For the rest of us who've had harder lives, I say go ahead and read it if it sounds interesting.  It certainly is not a bad book and, even though it's a bit disorganized, it tells an interesting story.

**side note: I am both interested in watching the tv show to see some of the characters come to life, and adamantly opposed in case my fears that it has created caricatures of very real people's lives, pain, and struggles are justified.

Future Two-Fer:: Rut by Scott Phillips & Selected Shorts and Other Methods of Time Travel by David Goodberg

I'll start with the not-as-good.
Rut was received from Concord Free Press.

Rut. Rut is a not-too-distant futuristic novel that sort of tracks a biology PhD student's interest in amphibian life in the small, former ski town, Gower, Colorado. It's about 50 years in the future, and humans have already trashed the place (the earth, that is). Cars are incredibly rare (government issue and rich people, plus, I believe, people in the big cities "on the grid"), medicine is readily available for almost anything (new eyes, new hair, new limbs, boner-pills, etc.), and electricity has become almost prohibitively expensive (for things like phones and non-solar energy). Bridget, the biology student, finds in Gower a lake/pond with non-mutated (though incredibly large in her eyes) frogs, so she settles in for the long haul (a year of research, observation, and sending reports back to her base). In the meantime, she also finds a "pond" with giant tadpoles (and no evidence of any morphing into frogs), clearly mutations, and sends samples back to her base for likely use in future research and development of pharmaceuticals.

But the thing is, even all of that description is most of what happens with Bridget. There's a little romance, a little crush, a little adultury (with other characters), a local business owner with two prosthetic legs (the image on the cover, apparently), a lot of conspiracy - most of which is neatly explained by the end, and a local stiff doctor who ends up learning probably more than any other character in the novel. In other words, there is a lot of life happening, but not much climax. There came no point in the novel where I felt I just *had* to know what was going to happen next. It was all mildly interesting and mildly amusing, but neither fascinating nor inspiring. In the end, I was happy to be done with it but not too excited for whatever I

had to pick up next.

Which was...

Selected Shorts and Other Methods of Time Travel.

Review based on ARC.

This is David Goodberg's debut and a collection of shorts. I almost hesitate to put that in the beginning of the review because a lot of people avoid short story collections. However, if you like time-travel and a wry sense of humor, read it! It was a thoroughly enjoyable collection. Again, I was grateful to follow a bit of a drag-read (Rut) with something so full of life, recharging my reading-stamina.

The short stories in Selected Shorts are amusing with often serious underlying morals or implications. Following each short story was a blurb, lesson, thought, etc. -- sort of a mini-story that filled up less than a page. These blurbs were at least as enjoyable as the stories themselves and often gave me pause. The stories are tied together by the world that has been established by Goodberg, even if the characters within the stories have nothing to do with one another. (e.g., the companies that developed time travel are frequently discussed, even if a character from the first story would never come into contact with a character from the 10th story, who lived a couple hundred years earlier/later in time).

Overall, the book kept my interest and each story only made me want to read the next more. Oh, and the illustrations warrant note: they were a perfect companion! I refrain from saying anything more beyond, Pick it up and read it. It is worth your time. (hehhehheh...)

Rut: THREE of five stars. Recommended for people with a less-than-optimistic view of our not-too-distant future.

Selected Shorts: FOUR AND A HALF of five stars. Recommended for people who like time travel and have a sense of humor... not to mention Hope for our future!

Dracula's Guest by Michael Sims

Review based on ARC.

This is an excellent introduction/compendium of victorian (as well as some pre-victorian and post-victorian) vampire stories.

Michael Sims does a superb job of not only gathering some of the most noteworthy and influential pieces of the genre, but he introduces the work as a whole and each piece with aplomb.

I typically do not read the introduction to a book until after I've read the book (and only then if I feel that it's "worth my time"). I know that this is counter-intuitive, but generally I want to read the work without someone else's opinion about the work first. (I typically do not read reviews until after I've read the book either.)

In this case, however, I read the introduction as it was meant to be read -- first. What a wonderful introduction. I have dog-earred many pages (I know, gasp!) in the intro for me to follow up on and read more about the topic. I also note that Sims explains his choices effectively and intriguingly. I could not wait to get started.

The stories themselves are wonderful. They represent true vampire culture and fears in the earlier times and we are able to see the morphing of the culture of vampire lore.

All in all, excellent choices and excellent work.

I would not recommend this book to people who think that Twilight is the end-all of vampire tales. But for those of you who are interested in the backdrop of current lore, the history, the progression, and are willing to take the time and energy to read victorian style prose... by all means, sink your teeth in...

FOUR out of five stars.