Gone Girl

Gone Girl by Gillian Glynn
Reviewed by Gerti

I picked up this text because I swaw it in the library book room and the movie based on the book was being advertised. I haven't seen the movie yet, but there are not enough words in the dictionary to tell you how good a book this is. My immediate kudos to Gillian Flynn for being the best writer I've read this year, and to "Gone Girl" for being the best book!

How can I tell that is true? Normally, while reading through a book, I'll fold over the pages that are exceptional, either because they have gorgeouly turned phrases, or amazing facts. The average book written by the average author gets between 2 and 8 fold-overs. With this book, I stopped folding early (about page 3!) and started reading with a highlighter, becasue there were so many amazing phrases and such fabulous writing that I would have dog-eared just about every page in the book. For example, three things struck me as great on page 17 alone. The phrase "Deep Hasbro thought for the day" - for being the first-time those words were ever combined in that way in the history of the English language. And we "took the Internet bubble bath in 2000" because it takes a mundane phrase that means losing money - taking a bath - and turns it into something more original and amusing. The third phrase? "We were Dunnes, and we were done," which I liked on so many levels. It refers to the narrator at that point, Nick Dunne, and how he had left New York because the journalism market there dried up. His sister is also included in that phrase, but she wasn't in the same career, but was also done with NYC.

I think I liked and trusted the narrator of this part, Nick, instantly, because I went to J school and knew people in New York who were "in the business," and knew he began his narrative about why he had left New York and returned to his home town with his wife, Amy. And I trusted his narrative when he talked about her being missing, and how he had nothing to do with it. Like the author intended, I felt his fear about his mistress being discovered, knowing that that would lead police to think he had a motive for killing his wife.

While Flynn does a great job creating separate narrative identities for Nick and Amy, I found that I did not like Amy, as a character. I did however, love the intricacy of the plot, and the perverseness of her mind, which enabled her to manipulate everyone in an attempt to get back at Nick for his infedelity. I won't detail the plot here, because you should read it for yourself, but I will say, that the end of the book is a fitting punishment to them both. The book is a tour de force, a force of nature that must be rushed through once, and then once again, slowly, because it is a terrible and complicated world that Flynn creates here, and I can't wait to read the other books she has written. Bravo to "Gone Girl" - my best book of 2014!

The Weight of Water

The Weight of Water by Anita Shreve
Reviewed by Gerti

Anita Shreve's "The Weight of Water" takes place in New England, but what makes this book special is that the narrative is split between two time periods, present day and the 18th century. The modern storyline involves a Boston Glove photographer named Jean, who is married to a famous poets, Thomas Janes. They have a young daughter named Billie, and are taking a trip to the Isles of Shoals off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on a sailboat owned by Thomas' brother, Rich. Also along for the ride is Rich's Irish girlfriend Adaline.

Jean is on an assigment to photograph Smuttynose Island, scene of two terrible murders back in March of 1873, and that event and the principals in that case make up the second story line. Norwegian immigrants Anethe and Karen Chistensen were brutally killed, but a third woman, Karen's married sister, Maren Hontvedt, survived the attack by hiding out in a sea cave with her little dog, Ringe. A man named Lew Wagner was convicted of the crime by a Maine court and hanged, but the story in Shreve's novel names another killer with far different motives than the simple theft supposedly behind Wagner's dastardly deed.

Jean goes to the Portsmouth Athenaeum, a historical library in the center of town, and finds a translated letter there, a hidden confession from Maren that no one seems to have discovered among the disorganized records of the crime. She spontaneously steals it after uncovering an affair between her husband and Adaline. The scenes between all four adults are rich with sexual tension. Thomas is obviously attracted to Adaline, who revels in his attention, but Jean is also attracted to her husband's manlier brother, Rich, and he to her.

When a storm comes up, it mirrors the building tempest of the group dynamic. Adaline is swept overboard, and Thomas goes to her rescue. It is only later that the group discovers Billie (who Adaline was supposed to be watching) has been swept out to sea, and lost. Her death breaks up Jean and Thomas' already fragile marriage, and of course, Rich and Adaline don't stay together either. Jean later meets with Adaline to confront her about leaving Billie alone. But where does the truth lie?

Living outside of Portsmouth for a decade, I had often heard of the Smuttynose murders, and while there is still a controversy over whether Wagner was the real killer, I never heard a theory as outrageous as the one Shreve presents here. Her books also seem steeped in sexuality, but it bothers me less here that it does in her novel "Fortune's Rocks." In this book, Jean is a very likeable protagonist, and her belief that her husband has strayed seems likely, given the evidence that she, as the narrator, shows the reader. I'm sure that Shreve sees a deeper connection between the tow stories - one of negligent death, the other of murder, but I can't see it. Still, "The Weight of Water" is a great read, and makes me likely to pick up another Shreve novel.

The Second Time Around

"The Second Time Around" by Mary Higgins Clark

Reviewed by Gerti

Describing "The Second Time Around" by Mary Higgins Clark as a thriller is entirely accurate. Not until the last few pages, an epilogue, was I sure exactly how all the pieces and players fit into the story. All I knew for sure was that I had to keep reading!

The protagonist is a financial reporter named Marcia "Carley" DeCarlo who as the story opens is attending a stockholder's meeting for a company called Genstone. The pharmaceutical firm was on the verge of releasing a cancer vaccine, and that kind of product of course drew lots of money and investors from all walks of life. But on the heels of the news that the latest tests on the vaccine can't replicate the early successful trials comes the bombshell that CEO Nicholas Spencer has been stealing from the company, and has now allegedly died in a plane crash. The stock is virtually worthless, and The Wall Street Weekly wants to figure out how it all happened. Carley is one of their reporters on the story.

But as Carley digs for answers in Spencer's hometown, she finds that he was a championship swimmer, and an experienced pilot, so she (and others) suspect that he may have faked his death at sea. Only his love for his son Jack put the lie to that theory. Making the story more personal for Carley, her step-sister Lynn was Spencer's second wife, as his first wife died from cancer. Now people suspect Lynn of being involved in the theft, and an angry stockholder has burned down her Bedford home, not knowing that Lynn was asleep in it. Lynn is burned and turns to Carley to help her garner sympathy with the media. Carley complies, even though she doesn't really like, or trust, the cold but beautiful Lynn.

As the story progresses, Carley must interview Spencer's administrative assistant, another beauty named Vivian Powers, and soon realizes that Spencer and Vivian were romantically involved. While Vivian is initially reluctant to talk to a reporter, Carley gains her confidence just before Vivian disappears. It begins to look more and more like Spencer faked his death and had Vivian join him in some villa in Europe. But when Vivian is located in a car five days later, she is totally disoriented and thinks she is 16 years old again. Carley now suspects a pharmaceutical rival has used a memory erasing drug on her. Add to the mix an unhinged investor with a rifle who is slowly picking off people with whom he is angry and you've got quite an exciting story.

I loved watching Carley interview one person after another, leading her closer and closter to the truth. There was real suspense for me as i kept expecting Spencer to show up, even though those who knew him best always suspected he hadn't done the terrible things of which he was accused. There is a throw-away romance here between Carley and a doctor friend, but other than that, the story is riveting, and the ending a real surprise. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a good "tale of deception and tantalizing twists."

A Darkness More Than Night

Review of Michael Connelly’s 

“A Darkness More Than Night”

Review by Gerti

I have read more Michael Connelly books than I can count, but this one is special, because he brings both of my favorite characters into it. The first book I ever read of his had as its protagonist former FBI detective Terrell “Terry” McCaleb, who got a heart transplant from a woman killed in a convenience store robbery. Her sister, Graciela Rivers, eventually marries McCaleb after he solves that murder for her, and the pair now have a child of their own, a little girl, and live on Catalina Island. McCaleb is now supposedly retired, but a former colleague asks him to help with a murder investigation, and against his wife’s wishes, he does.

McCaleb of course finds clues other investigators have missed, and hits upon the paintings of Hieronymous Bosch as the motif for the New Year’s Eve killing of a low-life named Eddie Gunn. Ironically, there is a famous homicide detective who also has the name Bosch, who is very familiar to Connelly fans, and is a friend of McCaleb, Instead of thinking that his buddy is being set up, as I did reading the book, McCaleb begins to suspect Bosch of the horrific crime. Bosch is in the middle of testifying for the prosecution in the trial of a powerful Hollywood producer, but once again, McCaleb fails to see that makes Bosch a prime target for a set-up.

The book twists and turns around these two powerful male characters, McCaleb and Bosch, both brilliant but not infallible investigators. It is a delight to see them work, and delightful to see how Connelly differentiates between two of his more popular protagonists. Eventually, McCaleb sees the connection between the two cases, and puts himself in danger, as the real killer of Eddie Gunn comes a-calling. Bosch saves his life, and in turn is able to guarantee that the puppet master behind the murder of Gunn also goes to prison for life.

Kirkus Reviews says of this book, “Bosch fan or McCaleb fan, you can’t lose with the chilling tour-de-force,” and I wholeheartedly agree. It was wonderful to see those two heroes working together, even though they are sometimes at odds. If only Mickey Haller had been the defense attorney for the producer, all three of Connelly’s greatest characters could have appeared together, but I guess Connelly didn’t want him to lose the case. This book is very good, but probably a lot more fun to read for those who have read enough Connelly to know both of these leading men.

The Drop

Michael Connelly’s “The Drop”

Review by Gerti

In this novel, Michael Connelly again puts the spotlight on his LA homicide detective and favorite protagonist, Harry Bosch. Bosch retired from the police force, but then returned under a program that only gives him a limited time to catch cold-case killers. That program is called “DROP”, and at the beginning of the story, Bosch was given 3 years to continue with the LAPD. But the two cases he is called upon to solve in this book test him to the point where he wants to retire immediately.

His partner in this book is David Chu, and the two do not work as well together as some of Bosch’s previous partners, including Kiz Rider, who is now working for the Chief of Police’s office. As a result, she is able to keep Bosch informed when another former cop and current city councilman’s son dies. Despite the fact that Councilman Irving and Bosch hate each other, Irving has asked for him to find out whether his son killed himself or was murdered at the Chateau Marmont. He knows that Bosch will try his best to solve the case, no matter his feelings about the boy’s father. And Bosch does pursue it, even though it’s a case filled with political implications. Irving has been squeezing police funding as a member of the city council, and there is pressure on Bosch from all sides to solve the case quickly and in a way that pleases Irving, so that the money rolls back in.

Bosch’s heart, however, is in another case he’s working on - the cold case of a 19-year-old girl, killed in the late ‘80s. The new Regional Crime Lab has matched DNA from her to a convicted rapist who is seeking treatment in a local program. Seems like the perfect suspect, but he was only 8 years old when the crime happened, so Bosch needs to see if the lab (or other homicide cops) have made a mistake, and that could have legal implications on a ton of other cases. He’s supposed to be putting all his energy into the Irving case, but he sneaks in a pretty thorough investigation of this one, and realizes that the rapist’s blood was on the victim because HE had been assaulted by the girl’s true killer.

By the end, Bosch has solved both cases, and justice is served, despite a last ditch effort from another victim to kill the killer before he goes to trial. Bosch does not put the wrong person in jail, despite evidence that a former cop was the last person to see Irving’s son alive. And he finds a serial killer who’s been actively killing for decades. On top of that, he finds a new girlfriend - the only part of the story I feel uncomfortable with, as Bosch frequently leave his teenaged daughter alone while those two drink and chat. It’s bad enough for him to abandon his kid while investigating murders, but to date? It almost tarnishes his hero status.

I love Connelly as a writer, and I love reading about Harry Bosch, his best protagonist. But “The Drop” is not my favorite Bosch novel, as Harry let’s a lot of people down in this book, including Irving, the new girlfriend, and his daughter. Unlike other books in which Bosch dominates, here he’s all action and little heart.

The Black Box

Michael Connelly’s “The Black Box”

Reviewed by Gerti

This is a crime novel that will make you cry. Author Michael Connelly is a former LA crime reporter who is a compelling storyteller with a consistently good, clear style of writing, but in this novel, he seems to rise above even his unusually high skill level. This story involves his frequent protagonist Harry Bosch, an LA homicide detective who, like Connelly himself, rises above his colleagues because of the level of emotion and sacrifice he invests in each case he solves.

In this book, Bosch is trying to solve a murder that took place during the LA riots following the Rodney King verdict in 1992. The victim was an international reporter named Anneke Jespersen, who freelanced for a Danish newspaper, and who had covered other conflicts around the world, including Operation Desert Storm. There were so many crimes committed during those days of violence in 1992, the case remained unsolved by the Riot Crimes Task Force, and has now gone to the Open-Unsolved Unit. But with the anniversary approaching, Bosch’s boss wants him to shelve this case, because the reporter was white.

But Bosch can’t let it go because he was one of the cops at the original crime scene, and something about it always bothered him. Under his blotter at his desk, he has a collection of pictures from cases which have gotten under his skin, and Anneke’s is one of those. Using his own memories from the night her body was discovered, as well as the evidence collected from the original crime scene, he methodically works the case, coming up with clue after clue that had been missed at the time, including the gun that killed her.

He ends up uncovering a conspiracy that involving several California National Guardsmen who helped keep order during the riots, but who were also involved in Desert Storm. Turns out they had drugged and raped Anneke on an R & R ship back in the day. Now one is a wealthy business owner, another is a county sheriff running for Congress, so they will do anything to hide the truth, including kidnapping Bosch and executing several former war buddies. Lucky for Bosch, he is being investigated, and the detective tailing him ends up saving his life.

That’s the story. But what makes this book special among Connelly novels for me is that he does more than simply tell a good tale. He goes under Bosch’s skin and reveals his emotions, which are what makes Bosch a better cop than his partner or his boss, who are primarily worried about solving cases to make quotas. Bosch cares when he’s talking to Anneke’s family, and the scene in which he tells her brother that he’s finally caught her murderer is heartbreaking in its emotional intensity. The brother’s anger over what happened to his sister all those years ago is mirrored by Bosch’s own, and that makes Harry Bosch my hero, and a champion for all those who’ve been waiting years for justice to be served. This book elevates Connelly from a good crime writer to a great one.

The Brass Verdict

Review of Michael Connelly’s “The Brass Verdict”

Review by Gerti

Now I’m Michael Connelly’s biggest fan. And I love his protagonists Mickey Haller and Harry Bosch. But five-hundred and forty-seven pages is just too much for me to tell one story. And that’s the only problem I have with “The Brass Verdict.”

Connelly is a master storyteller, and this story combines his two favorite storylines – Haller defending a guilty man who claims to be innocent, and Bosch tracking down the truth behind a high profile LA crime. Perhaps Connelly and his editors felt that one-two punch justified the book’s length, as there were two stories that needed telling. But maybe it was just overly ambitious to try to combine two strong but flawed heroes in one colossal novel.

But here are some positives - I loved seeing Haller out of rehab and trying to get back into the law game. I also loved his interaction with Bosch, who is his half-brother, although Haller doesn’t realize it until the end of the book. But I did not like the tricks Bosch played on Haller in order to solve the headline-grabbing crime in this novel, the murder of a movie producer’s wife and her lover.

One attorney has already been killed trying to defend the Archway Studios exec who discovered the pair, and that’s before jury selection has ever started. Haller lucks into that attorney’s case load, but he’s playing catchup. His wealthy client, Walter Elliot, doesn’t want the trial delayed, even though his first defense attorney’s calendar and files on the case were stolen when he was murdered. Turns out, Elliot has bribed a juror, so he’s not worried about a guilty verdict. Haller just can’t work with a stacked deck like that, and he tells the judge about the ringer, but that sets a whole house of cards tumbling. Haller is almost killed himself until Bosch and the FBI come to his rescue.

I am however bothered by the last few chapters, which seem largely extraneous, and as the book is already running over 500 pages, I get a little restless about literary excesses. I’m glad to see Haller and Bosch becoming friends in the midst of this turmoil, but it does make me regret all the ink Connelly used to set up the relationship between Haller and his new driver. Don’t get me wrong. I love spending time with Haller and Bosch. I just don’t want to spend ALL my free time with them.

In short, while I love the characters, and am impressed by the intricate plot which involves several of Connelly’s characteristic twists and misdirection, I felt the book could have been tighter. A good editor could have cut at least 50 pages out of here and made it a more manageable 400ish pages. The title, “The Brass Verdict,” refers to street justice, where a gun is used to dispatch the guilty party. I almost wish this book had been as quick to reach its conclusion.