My Gal Sunday

 

My Gal Sunday by Mary Higgins Clark

Review by Gerti

I’ve gotten used to Mary Higgins Clark writing books with titles based on the popular culture of her youth, but this title was a new one for me. Apparently back in the day, there was a radio soap opera called “My Gal Sunday,” so it makes sense (to Clark) for the characters here to reference that now obscure show and call the former president’s wife “Sunday” when her real name is Sandra. However, it seems an odd reference to the modern reader who has never heard of the original, but I guess it’s no more unusual than the Preppy Handbook from the ‘80s recommending women be nicknamed “Bunny” or “Buffy.”

The real meat of this collection of vignettes by Clark is that there is a mystery-solving couple comprised of a former president (with another impossible name – Henry Parker Britland IV) and his lovely young Congresswoman wife, Sandra “Sunday” O’Brien. As seemingly mismatched as Dashiell Hammet’s detective and socialite pairing, Nick and Nora Charles from the Thin Man series, the Britland’s first mystery is whether or not his friend and (former Secretary of State Thomas Shipman) murdered his young lover, Arabella. Strangely, Shipman doesn’t even remember her death, although it happened in his house, in his library, with his gun, right after their relationship broke up. The Britlands believe Shipman is being set up, but whodunit? This first mystery is so easy this reader solved it even before the evildoer is revealed.

In the second vignette, Sunday is kidnapped, which drives her husband and the secret service who still protect him crazy. They think an international terrorist is behind the act, but it turns out the terrorist is just using the situation to improve his living conditions in jail and knows nothing about the crime at all. The true criminal is the brother of someone Sunday couldn’t keep out of jail back when she was a public defender. But the good guys manage to rescue Sunday just in the nick of time, thanks to a canny media message she manages to send her husband, who we find out here also happens to be a pilot. Yes, sometimes these people are so talented it defies credulity, and that weakens the stories.

Speaking of which, the third story involves a little French-speaking boy who also gets kidnapped by a bad babysitter and escapes during the Christmas season. Luckily, Jacques finds the Britland’s home, and they treat him to a glorious holiday celebration (having no children of their own) until the mystery of his origin can be solved. Another case goes back to Britland’s own childhood and involves a murder on the presidential yacht. Sunday is determined to solve it, and so she does, bringing a foreign head of state to justice for the crime.

These four stories of Clark’s are fun to read in a “Movie of the Week” way, where you leave common sense behind and just enjoy the ride. No secrets of the universe are revealed, no Nobel prizes won or lost, but if you are looking for a bit of escapist fun to brighten your day, these stories provide just the right touch.

The Walking Dead - Book 7

The Walking Dead – Book Seven by Robert Kirkman

Review by Gerti

I have been a fan of the AMC series “The Walking Dead” since it first premiered a few years ago. That said, however, I am not a fan of the graphic novel format, preferring Kirkman’s story on the screen to the bleakly colored page. But this season, where Rick Grimes and his ragged group of survivors entered Alexandria outside of Washington DC, had me too anxious to wait for the next televised episodes to find out if yet another post-apocalyptic Eden was too good to be true.

As a result, I chose to read “The Walking Dead – Books 6 & 7” in graphic novel format, hoping that I would be far enough along in the series to catch Rick’s group as they entered the zombie-free Virginia enclave. My timing was just right. It is in Book Six where the survivors I have come to know and care about approach DC. But this review is about Book Seven.

Reading “ahead” like this showed me that the little paradise that Rick and his people stumble onto does not stay one – and that is their fault to some extent. Former law enforcement officer Rick comes to find that one of the inhabitants of Alexandria is being abused by her doctor husband. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that that is the same lady that widowed Rick is attracted to. And knowing Rick as fans of the story do, it is not at all surprising that the situation between the two men comes to a head, with violence being the only solution. He is, after all, “one-strike Rick” now. There are no second chances for these people who have been living with violence and death for so long.

The other fact that is revealed in Book Seven is that the walls that looked so secure early on are much like Alexandria themselves – partially illusory – as the survivors from outside find out too late that some of the posts holding the walls up were not sunk in concrete, and therefore, likely to come down if a herd of zombies large enough pushes on them. We’ve seen the solution they try here before at the Georgia prison where the group holed up, parking trucks against the sagging walls, and therefore readers know the walls will eventually come down before the characters do.

Disaster strikes, and Rick and company try their best to fight off the un-dead interlopers, but Carl is seriously injured in the last few pages. I’m not sure what that means for the show this season. Carl has already been shot once, a few seasons ago, so perhaps they won’t shoot him again on TV. In the comic-book storyline, Rick has one arm and his baby is dead too, so the print world may be more brutal than the producers are willing to show their vast television audience. But I anxiously await both the arrival of Books 8 and 9 for me at the library, and Sunday night, so I can see what twists and turns Kirkman’s story has next.

No Place Like Home

No Place Like Home by Mary Higgins Clark

Review by Gerti

One of the better Mary Higgins Clark books, even though one of the "surprises" was pretty evident from the beginning. It involves a woman names Celia whose husband buys her a house for her birthday, a house in which she killed her mother when she was a child and bore a different name. I accept the fact that a child who becomes famous for a crime would want to change her name in order to reclaim her anonymity, but I don't see a husband EVER buying a house for wife that she hadn't seen and approved. And a house with such a terrible history for her? Too great a coincidence to believe, and that makes him an immediate suspect in my book!

Celia, however, has no such suspicions, even though creepy things start happening almost immediately. Those include someone vandalizing the lawn in front of the house and their heavy wooden front door, works which prove to be more than the actions of teenage ne'er-do-wells. Then the realtor who sold the house to her husband is found dead near some spilled paint that was used to write "Little Lizzie's Place. Beware!" on the lawn. Liza Barclay was Celia's childhood name, and the press dubbed her "Little Lizzie" after infamous parent killer Lizzie Borden. But in Liza's case, she accidentally shot her mother, Audrey, while trying to protect her from Ted Cartwright, her sexy but violent stepfather.

Celia hasn't told her new husband, Alex Nolan, about her past, but any fan of old movies know this plot - where the creepy husband tries to make his rich new wife feel like she's losing her mind, possibly even get her convicted of some crime. And that's where it's headed in this book, as the bodies begin to pile up, and Celia seems to be strangely close to each location! After the realtor, the lawn boy is found shot to death, then a riding instructor of Celia's who is also linked to her father and stepfather. One local detective in on the verge of matching Celia's fingerprints to those of Little Lizzie, but luckily, the Morris County prosecutor thinks the finger-pointing has gone too far and that Celia may in fact be more victim than crazed criminal.

All through the plot twists, Celia tries desperately to remember what her mother shouted while fighting with her stepfather, and when it finally comes back to her, she is able to put the pieces together herself. A bullet pulled from a tree decades ago and a yellowing press clipping also help knit the story together, and soon all the non-deceased baddies are behind bars, including Celia's current spouse, who just wanted her for her money.

A fun book to read, like most of Clark's efforts. "No Place Like Home" would make great reading around Halloween, when all the spooky vandalism would fit right into the season of ghosts and goblins. I'm glad I bought this book at a local book sale.

Ordinary People

Ordinary People

Movie Review by Gerti

I am a crier. I cry at a lot of things: movies, books, Hallmark commercials, dead animals by the side of the road. Just because I cry a lot doesn’t mean there aren’t things worth crying over, and this movie, “Ordinary People,” contains one of them. That is, I cried because a young man tried to kill himself. I cried because his mother was a cold fish who loved her dead son more than her living son. I cried because… because “Ordinary People” contains so many weep-worthy twists of emotion as I watched this family tear itself apart.

The story is a simple one. An upper-middle class family has two teenaged sons. Both went sailing on Lake Michigan. One died when their boat overturned, and the other is wracked with guilt at the death of his older sibling. The dead brother, Buck, was good at so many things, but the younger brother, Conrad, is the sensitive one, so he doesn’t see himself as strong. He tried to commit suicide after his brother died, but instead comes home from the hospital to find that his mother resents him for his brother’s death, for his suicide attempt, and in fact for everything he does that makes their family seem less than perfect to her friends. There is a beautiful scene where Con yells at his mom for never coming to see him in the hospital, and the father simply makes excuses for her. Hard to watch!

Con tries to solve his issues by going to see a psychiatrist, Dr. Berger, but his mother also finds that embarrassing. Con quits the swim team and tries to connect with other people, especially girls he knows, all in an attempt to find his true identity in the face of tragedy. He also tries to reconnect with his mother, but it becomes heartbreakingly clear that she is unavailable to him, that all she wants to do is get out of town, out of the country, away from her surviving son, and just play golf. The devastating aspect of it is that she tries to take Con’s father away, too, leaving Con no one within his household with whom he can communicate.

It all unravels eventually when Calvin, the father, confronts his wife about her coldness toward their surviving son. Instead of talking to him, or seeking psychiatric treatment, she chooses to pack her things and leave. But you get the feeling that abrupt as that action seems, it means good things for the two remaining family members, dad Calvin and son Conrad. The final scene shows them connecting outdoors (the house is poison?) and hope grows that their relationship will blossom in the absence of the cold, manipulative wife & mother.

The title is ironic, because this family is anything but ordinary with their wealth and their twisted relationships. But the two surviving members in the Lake Forest, Illinois household, dad and son, are seen as working toward a day when they will only be troubled by ordinary irritations - low grades at school, a weird swim coach, or unprofitable stock transactions. I love how the father, despite being browbeaten by his wife, reaches out to the son who needs him so desperately, which opens his eyes to the real cancer in the family, his aloof spouse. Must see.

The Walking Dead - Book 6

The Walking Dead – Book Six by Robert Kirkman

Review by Gerti Zaccone

I have been a fan of the AMC series “The Walking Dead” since it first premiered a few years ago. That said, however, I am not a big fan of the graphic novel format, preferring Kirkman’s story on the screen rather than on the bleakly colored page. But this season, where Rick Grimes and his group enter Alexandria, had me too anxious to wait for the next episodes to find out if this post-apocalyptic Eden was too good to be true.

As a result, I chose to read “TWD – Book 6”, hoping that I would be far enough along in the series to catch the group of survivors as they enter the zombie-free Virginia enclave. My timing was just right. It is in Book Six where the survivors I have come to know approach DC.

What I find fascinating about this graphic novel is not so much the story, however, but how this story differs from the one being told on TV. I’ll wander into fan-talk when I say that I was interested that the leader of the oblivious village of Alexandria is a man in this story, while on TV it is a woman, named Deanna. Several characters that I love who have died on the series, like Dale and Andrea, are still here in Book Six, while others that I love on the series like Carol and Darryl, don’t appear in this book. Other decisions are also different – here Michonne is the one who creates a scene at the cocktail party, while on AMC it is Sasha who begins to shout.

I don’t know why the creators of the TV series decided to make these changes, but I would love to know. I think any fan of the show would also like to read this graphic novel. However, I prefer the portrayal of Rick on TV. Who wouldn’t prefer sexy British actor Andrew Lincoln to the skeletal one-handed Rick drawn in these pages? I think of reading these books as a supplement to my enjoyment of the show, but it truly makes me appreciate the genius that went into casting the actors who bring my favorite characters to life every Sunday night.

You Belong to Me

 
You Belong to Me by Mary Higgins Clark

Review by Gerti

There is a great and plausible plot in Mary Higgins Clark’s offering “You Belong to Me” up until a sour note sounds when the killer is revealed at the end. The novels tells the story of a man who targets lonely women on vacation. The whack-job (and I think I can call him that!) uses the old song as the basis of his killing spree. If you don’t know the tune, it goes – “See the pyramids along the Nile. Watch the sunset on a tropic isle. Just remember darling all the while, you belong to me.” There are other verses, but you get the point. He takes women away from their tour groups and to the places named in the song, and then they disappear. Oh, and being freaky, he gives them all identical rings, which is what makes him easier to catch.

Dr. Susan Chandler is a radio psychologist like Dr. Fraser Crane. Hoping to warn women against being victims, she has a guest on her show who wrote a new book about women who disappear and have become victims of crimes due to their loneliness. That on-air discussion puts Dr. Chandler in the swirling heart of danger. She is contacted by the mother of one such victim, Regina Clausen, a wealthy successful woman who found romance on a cruise and then was never heard from again. Other women begin to call the show with clues about a ring that reads “You Belong to Me”, but when Chandler tries to track it down, she finds both that girl caller and the New York maker of those custom rings are dead. Is the killer someone Susan knows? Has he been listening to her show? Or is it the author of the book himself?

Like most Clark stories, there are red herrings thrown into the plot before the true killer is revealed. There are also other evil characters, male and female, who give spice to the action, including Susan’s man-hungry sister, Dee. In the end, however, I find that Clark’s killer choice seemed wrong. He was the least likely suspect, and even at the dramatic conclusion of the story, seems like a square peg shoved into a round hole for the sake of Clark’s being unpredictable. The rest of the writing was in Clark’s usual easy-going style, which made “You Belong to Me” a pleasure to read, although I did get tired of hearing about the lyrics to the title song! Not her best, but still fun.

A Month by the Lake

“A Month by the Lake”

Movie Review by Gerti

There are few forms of entertainment that I can abandon after committing to them. Once I start a book, I have to finish reading it, no matter how bad. Once I start watching a movie, the same thing happens. But fortunately for me, in my lifetime there have been few books and movies so bad that I wanted to stop before I had finished them. This film, “A Month by the Lake,” is one of those.

Famous actress Vanessa Redgrave stars as Miss Bentley, an older British woman at a lovely villa by Italy’s Lake Como. She has been vacationing there for 16 years, always before with her father. But now he has passed away, and she is alone. Well, not really alone, because she knows everyone else there: the owner, the staff, more older anglo ladies, and a wealthy vacationing Italian family. But the excitement this year is that a bachelor has come into their midst, an older, British gentleman named Major Wilshaw. What a perfect setting for romance!

It would be, except that I HATE Vanessa Redgrave’s character. Since she is the protagonist, I should be sympathetic to her plight, but I find everything she does annoying and distasteful. Her personality is grating, and she says all the wrong things when she is introduced to the Major, whose name is Paul. They attempt several “dates”, but things always end in disaster. They make a date to eat together, but she runs late and then decides to eat with the huge Italian family instead, and he must join them. They decide to take a boat trip together, but her watch stops, and hence they miss the boat back. She decides to hitch a ride with some hot male motorcyclists, even though he cautions her not to.

Is it any surprise then that he is far more attracted to the American nanny hired by the Italian family to care for their two daughters? This woman is young, blonde Uma Thurman, and although she seems initially to be sweet on him (giving him a rose and kiss when he leaves), she is merely playing with him. But so is Vanessa’s character, who is also flirting with a young Italian man who finds her lithe aging body attractive. He has spent time with British women before on holiday in the UK, and apparently thinks she will find his attentions welcome. She does not, although she is willing to take nude pictures of him (her idea, not his).

Behind this terrible story is flimsy political wallpaper, as several fascist parades occur and the owner of the villa seems concerned about the changes that are coming. But it is all a thin gilding of high art on what is a very bad film about British and American characters who are all terrible people. Vanessa sums her character up when she tells the major she had a 15 year affair with a married man, but when his wife died, he somehow no longer wanted to marry this mistress of his. She is an insanely selfish person who has never grown up and makes the lives of those around her miserable with her whimsy. In the end, she and the Major find romance, but that is as far-fetched as the idea that a 20-something Italian model boy would stoop to romancing a British pensioner.