Book Reviews

[RJK1981]

I don't read many short stories, but after reading Alice Walks (which I still gotta write a review for) I am very tempted to get Seven Deadly Pleasures

[Sock Monkey]

This is a great review, Sock Monkey. You've got me looking at both Alice Walks and Seven Deadly Pleasures. Thanks for posting!

Thanks, bugen. I would suggest picking up Seven Deadly Pleasures first to get a real feel for his work. I might do a longer review of that book soon.

[Sock Monkey]

Dinner With the Cannibal Sister by Douglas Clegg

4.5-5 stars for this one, absolutely loved it

This was an excellent novella. Shortly into the story I thought that it had been too long since I read something from Clegg. The writing in this story is crisp and smooth, making the story easy to follow and digest. The story isn't what I was expecting, but that doesn't matter because the story told here is excellent and satisfying. I found the end to this one to be perfectly suited for this story as it leaves certain things unanswered, allowing the reader to use their own imagination to imagine the answers for themselves.

I agree with you about Dinner. While I've found Clegg ' s work to be rather hit or miss in the past, this novella has Clegg on fire. Atmospheric and haunting, but not in the way you would expect.

I would also like to point out the fantastic book design. From the art to the page layout to the endsheets, the design feeds into the story, enhancing the mood and helping set the time and place. Kudos to CD for knocking it out of the park with this one!

[bugen]

Review for The Ruins temporarily housed here, now moved back to original spot at beginning of thread.

[RJK1981]

Dinner With the Cannibal Sister by Douglas Clegg

4.5-5 stars for this one, absolutely loved it

This was an excellent novella. Shortly into the story I thought that it had been too long since I read something from Clegg. The writing in this story is crisp and smooth, making the story easy to follow and digest. The story isn't what I was expecting, but that doesn't matter because the story told here is excellent and satisfying. I found the end to this one to be perfectly suited for this story as it leaves certain things unanswered, allowing the reader to use their own imagination to imagine the answers for themselves.

[marduk]

This one isn't published yet (hence lack of link) but should be soon. "The Directive" by Matthew Quirk.

It’s been said that you can never go home again. Whether that’s true or not, you can carry remnants of home around with you – but depending upon the type of family that created you, those remnants could very well push you into dangerous or even life-threatening situations. Mike Ford, the hero of Matthew Quirk’s debut novel “The 500,” is back, and despite his best intentions the ghosts of his past reach out for him again.

Mike Ford’s family has a long history of criminal behavior, and in his younger years he followed in the not-so-honorable footsteps of his father and brother. Eventually he was given the military-or-jail option, and he chose the Navy. He followed that up with Harvard, became a lawyer, and did his best to distance himself from his past. He got engaged to Annie Clark, a smart young woman from a well-to-do family. Life was good, but in moments of honesty with himself he realized he sometimes missed the excitement of his earlier days.

Mike hasn’t spoken to his brother Jack in years, but he thinks it’s time to bury the hatchet and ask if Jack would be best man at his wedding. What he gets instead is one of those old remnants rearing its dangerous head.

Jack has also tried a straighter path, but with less success. He is one of those hard-luck-can’t-catch-a-break guys often in the wrong place at the wrong time and in need of saving. When Mike shows up, Jack seizes the opportunity to share his trouble.

In this case Jack is being menaced by someone known simply as Lynch. Lynch has a plan to steal “the directive” - secret federal financial information – which would enable him to become filthy rich overnight. The problem is, Jack screwed up the plan by scaring away the insider who was supposed to steal the information, and is now on the hook to effect a solution himself. He turns to Mike for help.

Lynch and his goons show up, with threats aplenty, but Mike is suspicious that he is somehow being duped. Jack is, if nothing else, a good con man, and Mike wouldn’t be surprised to find he has ulterior motives. Nevertheless, Jack is his brother, so he agrees to meet with the insider in an effort to bring him back on board.

During that meeting, however, the stakes are raised when Lynch shoots and kills the man and tells Mike that he now has to steal the directive, and there isn’t much time left. At any point Lynch could pin the murder on him, so he has no choice but to see this to the end, even if it may jeopardize his engagement.

Mike starts to wonder if this manipulation could be part of a personal vendetta aimed directly at him – but he doesn’t know Lynch. Could someone else be pulling Lynch’s strings? Maybe someone from his past he butted heads with as a lawyer? He just doesn’t know.

He comes up with a plan, but he knows that even if it succeeds, the likelihood of him being alive at the end of it is slim at best – but he might have a chance if he can also figure out a way to sabotage the plan and make it backfire on Lynch.

Mike will need to make good use of all his old skills, from lock-picking to social engineering, to be successful. He’ll get some help along the way from friends old and new – but who can he really trust? Potential betrayal lurks around every corner and behind every action.

“The Directive” is a high-speed edge-of-your-seat thriller with a pounding pulse that beats faster with every turn of the page. In Mike Ford, Matthew Quirk has created a likeable modern-day hero with some old-school sensibilities and talents sure to appeal to a broad range of adventure-loving readers.

[marduk]

http://newsok.com/traitors-blade-a-c...rticle/5343780

Traitor's Blade. Quite a good adventure.

[bugen]

Before They Are Hanged – Joe Abercrombie

“You had better stay out of sight for a couple of days.”
“Out of sight? I don’t plan to see outside of a whorehouse for a week.”
“Very wise.”

The second novel in the First Law trilogy, Before They Are Hanged follows mainly two groups of companions through their ordeals, along with the fascinating Sand dan Glokta, Superior of the Inquisition.

Bayaz, the 1^st of the Magi, travels to the edge of the world with Logan Ninefingers, “The Bloody-Nine”, Ferro, Jezel, Longfoot, and other interesting companions in search of an object to help win the war.

Major (Colonel) West, is tasked with accompanying and protecting the arrogant and unprepared Crown Prince Ladisla in his first, disastrous command, eventually joined by “The Bloody Nine’s” former Northman companions from book 1, Dogman, Threetrees, Tul, Grim and Black-Dow.

Last but not least Glokta, the crippled Inquisitor, is tasked with the futile defense of a doomed city.

Mr. Abercrombie has his finger on the pulse of the dark side of today’s world, and it translates wonderfully into his creation spelled out in the world of The First Law. Immensely quotable, I count 32 gripping sentences and phrases pointed directly at the futility of our existence, our frailties, follies and absurdities, and our occasional triumphs.

A strengthening sense of companionship makes up much of these triumphs, and it’s sparing. Again, this is not a work looking toward a brighter future for mankind; it’s more focused on the present darkness. Occasional rays of light shine, but we mostly follow the characters through the mud and blood. Despite the mounting obstacles and pain for all involved, bonds were formed this time around, which is mostly in contrast to book 1 with the exception of the Northmen, who’ve long been brothers in battle.

I can hardly say enough about this author. I follow him on Twitter where occasionally he’s kind of an ass, but usually in a fun, intelligent and biting way. Two days back he tweeted, “I don’t like change. Or humans. Or parsnips.”

Yeah, we know, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. The projection of this attitude may be necessary in order to write like this. To speak the truth without shying from ugliness, to identify weakness without glossing it over, to unapologetically take us to task for destroying ourselves like we do. Utopia this is not - it’s Earth with the soft-filters removed.

“We do as we are told. We stand or fall beside those who were born near to us, who look as we do, who speak the same words, and all the while we know as little of the reasons why as does the dust we return to.”

4 stars

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[bugen]

This is a great review, Sock Monkey. You've got me looking at both Alice Walks and Seven Deadly Pleasures. Thanks for posting!

[Sock Monkey]

Alice Walks-Michael Aronovitz

Like most readers, I love a good first couple of lines. I liken the reading of the first couple of lines of a book like being on a blind date. Sometimes it takes a while for you to warm up to your date, maybe the introduction was awkward, but you struggle through and at the end of the night you’re happy that you spent that time together and might get together again at some point. Other times, it’s an utter disaster and the date is cut short after the prerequisite first drink. Then there are the times when the gods above cast a ray of good fortune down on you and it’s love at first sight.

With Alice Walks, it was the latter of the three. Now, it isn’t my favorite first couple of lines of all time, that still belongs to Straub’s Ghost Story, but it does have a knockout one that might just land it in second place:

“Alice walks. She walks ‘cause she can’t breathe. She’s angry that you can.”

Yep, that’s like your blind date turning out to be supermodel with a doctorate. The fact that Aronovitz follows this line up with a novel that is funny, scary, melancholy, and truthful is like that same supermodel sitting down at your table and thinking you’re both funny and cute.

Alice Walks takes the form of the letter written from the main character, Mikey, to his son about the events that occurred when he was a teenager that has shaped his life and just might shape his son’s as well. One winter night, after sneaking out with his friends to the cemetery where his father works as a caretaker after being fired from his job as an English teacher at the high school, Mikey decides to liven things up by deciding to show his friends the body of Alice Arthur, whose body is being aired out in her mausoleum due to issues with the sealer caskets. It is there that after touching the dead girl’s hand, that Mikey awakens something. Something cold and angry.

Aronovitz deftly weaves an involving tale not just about ghosts and the dead, but also about a family falling apart, about the lies people tell each other and the cost of bad decisions that aren’t just paid by those that made the decisions but also paid by their loved ones. To say anymore would rob you of the joy of experiencing it yourself. Suffice to say that the world, the characters and the relationships created in those pages feels real, but more importantly, it all feels true. Not to mention that the prose is crisp, clean and just fun to read.

Now, that’s not to say that the book is perfect. There were a couple of moments where the scares didn’t quite hit the mark the way I think that Aronovitz wanted and the resolution seemed a little abrupt, but he sure does know how to end a book. Don't let these minor issues make you hesitate in reading this. My slight criticisms are probably only because my expectations were so high after reading his collection Seven Deadly Pleasures earlier this year. Aronovitz has quickly become one of my favorite authors. Do yourself a favor and pick up one of his books.

3 and ½ (out of four) stars

[bugen]

The Hellbound Heart – Clive Barker

“She knew he was telling the truth, the kind of unsavory truth that only monsters were at liberty to tell.”

I was speaking to a friend about the book yesterday, told him that this was where all the Hellraiser movies came from, and he naturally responded with, “Oh cool, so you get to see the origins of all of that… the creatures and stuff.” No, this isn’t an origin story of the Cenobites or of Pinhead, but it’s the first time we ever got to see these amazing, depraved creations. The hellish minions are driving the action in most of the novella, but aren’t present as much as you might think.

This story details the relationship between 4 people: Rory and his wayward wife Julie, Rory’s wild brother Frank, and Kirsty, and younger, plainer girl with a crush on the married Rory. Frank, harboring a wild streak a mile wide has spent his life seeking pleasure. Eventually he’s run out of or bored with anything that pleases him, is given the puzzle box as the path to ultimate ecstasy. When he’s finally able to open the box, the Cenobites arrive, treat him badly, and leave him for dead, somehow stuck in the walls of his Rory and Julie’s house. Julie learns of Frank’s presence in the walls, and her own wild emotions and wickedness rekindle her passion from their previous affair as she attempts to help the brother.

We don’t get to see why the Cenobites are the ultimate expression of pain and suffering, inflicting pain (or the highest levels of pleasure, as they see it) using methods and experiences far beyond anything a mortal could dream up. We barely get a glimpse of the type of power they wield, though it’s there. So is Pinhead, though he’s not quite the spokesman he becomes in the movies. From what I’ve seen actual origins are told most extensively in the movie Hellraiser 4, which everyone hates including the director, who went so far as to have his name removed from the film. I liked it, but origin or not, it’s not nearly as good as this book.

Written very early in Barker’s career, he had already developed the chops to deliver lines like the above quote, like “But despair had taught her the fine art of squeezing blood from stones”, like “There’s no such thing as almost”, and a sentence I never thought I’d read, “The Cenobite tittered.”

The genesis of an expansive and important world, at least as far as we knew at the time, lies with The Hellbound Heart. This is a very highly recommended read if you’ve ever had an interest in Hellraiser, and a solid, brilliantly imaginative tale if you haven’t.

He has such sights to show us.

4(+) stars

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[bugen]

Deep Like The River – Tim Waggoner

“You can’t have her. You don’t deserve her.”

A short novella with a hell of a grip, the story takes place almost entirely on a canoe floating downstream as Alie and her sister Carin rush to preserve the life of a baby found alone on a sandbar upstream.

Told in an economic style, there’s little of the story that can be revealed without spoiling pivotal elements. It’s the one year anniversary of the birth of Alie’s deceased infant daughter, lost at just four months old, and her sister has planned this canoe trip to help distract Alie from the tragedy of the occasion. The baby is found in the first few pages and the entire plot revolves around the child’s well-being amongst the unprepared adults. And amongst the monsters.

I made the mistake of starting this without enough time to finish before duty called, and was enthralled in a way that made me quite late to work when I finally dragged myself away. It's an excellent story that seizes the reader early on and will not let up, and I recommend making sure you have the time to finish it in one sitting. It’s difficult to stop, and careens toward a marvelous and thoughtful ending.

4 stars

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[RJK1981]

Maplecroft sounds right up my alley. I've already put it on my wish list on Amazon. Just need to figure out when I can squeeze it into the budget... or hide it in a bigger order. "Honey, I had to buy something to qualify for the free shipping."

Ha, I can't use that one with Amazon since we had Prime and get free shipping. Definitely worth us getting prime, we've saved more on shipping in the last couple months than the price of our Prime membership! We did have to have a certain amount to qualify for free shipping the couple times we've ordered jeans from Eddie Bauer over the last couple months though. The jeans from there last a long time, so shouldn't need new jeans for a few years now, lol

[rusty23]

"Honey, I had to buy something to qualify for the free shipping." - I've used that line myself several times. Only to get bitten back when the wife uses it on one of her orders...

[Sock Monkey]

Maplecroft sounds right up my alley. I've already put it on my wish list on Amazon. Just need to figure out when I can squeeze it into the budget... or hide it in a bigger order. "Honey, I had to buy something to qualify for the free shipping."