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.

The Green Man by Michael Bedard

Review based on ARC.

What a lovely teen fantasy. Bedard pays tribute to bookstores, creativity and poetry, and the Green Man himself in his aptly named book. The Green Man is the bookstore owned by Ophelia's ("O") aunt Emily, named after the legend of the Green Man, a protector who stands between the worlds and where life began. While O's father travels to research Ezra Pound, he sends O to Emily for the summer in a dual effort to ensure both are taken care of. Initially, fifteen-year-old O and seventy-year-old Emily clash in some to-be-expected ways, but eventually their similarities and common love of poetry and all things related thereto draw them into a very close relationship. Although each believes she is really taking care of the other, Bedard has deftly created an actual dual relationship that feels organic and true.

While visiting Emily at the Green Man, O learns about not only the magic of poetry and poets, but also about a recurring sinister plan that continues to plague her aunt and the town in which she lives. Saying much more about the plot would ruin it, so I won't.

What I will say is that I loved this little YA novel that is atmospheric, soft, and lovely. It has ghosts and books and hot summers. It lifts up jazz and pays homage to the receding world of used bookstores. There is also darkness and hard life, an acknowledgment of the deterioration of such a world and the effects it can and does have on real people. It is somewhat gothic and somewhat romantic.  It is simple as a YA, but will appeal to book and bookstore lovers alike. To me, it gave just a little of a lot, just enough to satiate, just enough to squeeze your heart and then leave you for a peaceful night's sleep.

Highly recommended.
FOUR AND A HALF of five stars (boosted to 5 on sites w/o halves).

I note that I am *not* typically a fan of poetry. While this novel is about poets at its heart, and the power of poetry to those moved by it, and while this novel occasionally drops a poem here and there, it is not overdone and definitely did not turn me off, despite my natural disinclination to poetry.

The World Before Us by Aislinn Hunter

Review based on ARC.

This book has been quite the disappointment for me.  It's not that it's a terrible story and the writing is certainly poetic at times, but it took me weeks to slog through this... during the winter holidays, when I hoped to have accomplished much more reading!

The plot? Sounds so interesting... Jane is 15 and half-babysitting a little girl (the father is with them, but doing other things and Jane is charged with watching Lily) when the girl goes missing in the woods. Unable to move forward in her life whatsoever for the next 19 years, Jane obsesses over her failure and her devastation at the loss of Lily and the apparent loss of respect of Lily's father William, also Jane's first crush. So she spends her career focused on the same types of things that William (a scholar) also studies, and there is no surprise that their paths must once again cross. Where Lily was lost also happens to be the rough location of a lot of happenings surrounding (and the home of) certain historical figures (the Chesters, the Farringtons) about whom William and Jane study/research/write about/work in a museum about. This location also happens to be the rough location of the Whitmore convelascent hospital, from which yet another young lady, N--, had gone missing over a hundred years ago.

So right. You've got the two girls going missing, just sort of disappearing out of thin air, from the same location, and Jane who is able to research both.  So various ghosts converge on Jane to follow her around her life, hoping that someday she might stumble upon the answer of who they are, why they are there, and what happened with the missing girls.

This all sounds very intriguing to me. But that's not really what the book is about. That's almost more just like the backdrop for what feels like an excuse for the author to philosophize and wax poetic, redundantly, repetitively, meanderingly, aimlessly, and frustratingly (for the reader).

Sure, Hunter seems to have an ability to put together pretty sentences, and she seems to have a desire to drop little "a-ha" sentences along the way that are supposed to make the reader ooo and aaa.. But, unfortunately, those moments were more eye-rolling moments for me.  I was frustrated that the *story* never seemed to move forward. Between Jane's inability to progress and her ghosts' obsession with the past or the moment (but never the future), it just stagnated. That's how the story felt to me.... stagnant. And, frankly, a little obvious. It was clear to me rather early on who the ghosts were and what they were doing there.  I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how it took them 19 years to figure out some of the things it took them 19 years to figure out.

And personally... I thought the love interest was a cheap throw-in. It seemed to be an unnecessary sub-plot point created for no purpose other than to add some ... I don't know, steamy interactions? Wasteful to me.

So what was good? Well, as I said, Hunter is able to put together pretty sentences. And there was a great idea and a certain amount of intrigue. And although I felt she spent too much time on the nitty gritty details of the Farringtons or the Chesters that were wholly irrelevant to the rest of what was going on, there were interesting stories there. Certain characters were interesting (George and Norvill), and some of the dialog moved. So it wasn't terrible.  It was just terribly disappointing.

This is one of those books that just takes one step at a time... there's no real point, there's no real climax, there's not even really a resolution... But Hunter has presented arguably thought-provoking points made by the characters, an interesting way to look at the world and people, and arguably relatable characters simply attempting to make it through their lives... if that appeals to you, you will likely enjoy this book!

Overall, 2 and a half of 5 stars (round to 3 on sites w/o half-stars). A middle-of-the-road rating.

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

I Am Sophie Tucker: A Fictional Memoir by Susan Ecker & Lloyd Ecker

Review based on ARC.

Sophie Tucker was undoubtably a fascinating person. She seemed to know anyone who was anyone... from Al Pacino to Arthur Conan Doyle to ... well, herself! And this fictional memoir seemed intriguing. I didn't know much about Tucker going into it -- more a recognition of the name than anything else. But I thought it sounded intriguing... a murder mystery, an insider's look at early Hollywood (or, at least, earlier...), the world of Vaudeville.... ok, sign me up!

And... it delivered. to some degree. So, fictional memoir. What was I expecting? I don't know, something more akin to Devil in the White City, I guess... a sort of novelization of real events. An adding of thoughts and emotions -- a researcher's best guess -- and maybe that's what this was. But it seemed a lot more fictional than that. It *felt* like someone was creating a whole persona for a real person. Which just felt weird. It felt like someone had decided THIS must be Sophie Tucker's *real* personality -- her behind-the-scenes personality.  And.... it was unsettling to me.

It felt surface. It felt false. It felt over-simplified. Like, rather two-dimensional. And,  I understand the authors did an inordinate amount of research, and had scrapbooks and many items of Sophie's own words to pull from... so perhaps Sophie was really just a two-dimensional person? Seems far-fetched. Much more far-fetched than the so-called "life and times of Sophie Tucker."

And that was my other complaint. Eyebrow-raising, inward gasping, behind-the-scenes reveals? meh. I get that this was a long time ago, and our standards are different now... but it still felt like this fictional character was going from "hey hey, listen to this CRaaaaay-zee story about me!" to yet another and another... nothing felt organic or ... well, real.

Buuut.... It was Interesting. It was somewhat satisfying to read about that time from a so-called insider's perspective. It was ok. I didn't love Sophie; I didn't hate her. I didn't really feel that particularly strongly about anyone except for her first husband.

As for the others... were they husbands? It felt like a lot was left out. How did she meet her 3rd husband? What happened? How did they break? What about the 2nd .... how did that become, er, formal? (did I just miss that altogether?) So yeah, it was the organization. The organization needed work. And as a result, the story suffered.

But it was ok. And if you're really interested in Sophie Tucker's life, from an arguably inside perspective... check it out.  The memoir is pretty consistent from beginning to end, so if you don't like the first few chapters, then you won't like it. If you do, you will.

Overall, three of five stars.

The Magician's Lie by Greer Macallister

Review based on ARC.

It really wasn't what I was expecting.  The Amazing Arden is the most famous illusionist... illusionist. Right. I get that. But then that word "magic" kept appearing everywhere (reviews, descriptions). And it's not really that kind of book.  Not that there isn't a magic, per se, but this is no fantasy.

So what is it? It's a murder-mystery, a love story, a story about a woman learning about her strengths, and her weaknesses (and of both, she has many). It's a tale, and you (or, rather, Virgil Holt, small-town officer) must decide where there is truth, and where there is illusion.

It starts with murder. It begins with a spectacular show, where the Amazing Arden uses an Ax to cut a man in half. And then voila! He's whole again. It commences with a couple of police-friends enjoying the Amazing Arden's show and then some drinks afterwards.. something to help ease the pain.

And then, once the show is over, one officer is called to investigate the murder of the Amazing Arden's husband. And the other, tiny-town officer Virgil Hold, heads off toward home.

Stopping for a brief bite, Holt suddenly finds himself with the Amazing Arden in his hands---the prime suspect for the murder his pal was called to investigate. And she appears to be fleeing. So Holt takes her in to his office. It is now up to Holt to decide whether and to what extent Arden is innocent, and so the tale begins.

Arden insists on not skipping to the end. She insists on telling of her origin, her loves, her losses, her lessons. And as her tale unfolds, Holt must decide---is she telling the truth? How far does her illusion extend? What can she do for him? What must he do for her?

To say more is to give away too much. It reads quickly enough--dragging only a little toward the middle. Macallister has created at least one great character (Ray), a couple of pretty darn good characters (Miss Bates and Holt), and several additional characters to fill the pages and move the story along. While I didn't particularly like Clyde (though I imagine some will love him!), and I thought a few of the characters were rather two-dimensional, I don't think I *needed* to like Clyde or those other characters. They simply aren't the point.

And the magic? Well, perhaps there's magic. Or perhaps it's an illusion of magic. Or perhaps we'll never know...

FOUR of five stars.

The Happiest People in the World by Brock Clarke

Review based on ARC.

I have been meaning to read anything by Brock Clarke for years! I'm so glad I won this ARC and was "forced" to read it now (sooner, rather than later). He IS funny and smart and dry and witty and thoughtful and enjoyable to read!

This book.... how to describe it. Jens is a newspaper-political cartoonist in Denmark. When an assignment goes horribly awry, an assassin tries to kill him, and the CIA must step in. He heads to the American northeast, to a small town in New York and poses as a high school guidance counselor. And.... that tells you kind of nothing about the book, but serves as a skeleton. And it's not worth anything because what is great about this story has nothing to do with its plot. Rather, it's the characterization and descriptions and humor and observations of an outsider looking in... and of insiders looking at an outsider that make this book so wonderful to read.

It's a quick read, it's funny, it's though-provoking... It presents political and social commentary without being preachy, and it's a story about chances and second chances. One of my favorite things about the book.... I couldn't possibly tell you because it's a spoiler.  But I will say (and I really don't think you should read this unless you've already read the book), I finished the book, laid my head down to sleep, then had a Eureka! moment, where I had to re-read the first chapter. Love what he did there. (highlight to see spoiler)

Highly recommend for people who are looking for a funny, dark, thoughtful commentary, or just an amusing tale about a Dane in New York....

FOUR of five stars.