Reviewed by James L. Thane
Four out of five stars


I confess that I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It’s the second in Jo Nesbo’s series featuring Norwegian homicide detective Harry Hole, and as those who follow the series know, for whatever reason, Nesbo’s publishers did not release the books in order here in the U.S. Rather, they jumped into the middle of the series first. I assumed that this was because they felt that the first couple of books were not as good as the latter ones and so wanted to put Nesbo’s (and Harry’s) best foot forward first.

The first book in the series, The Bat, was finally released here last year and seemed to confirm the suspicion. It’s a solid effort, and not bad for a first book, but it’s not up to the standards of the later ones. I expected the same from Cockroaches, which was finally released here last month, but as I suggested above, I was surprised by how much I liked it.

The book opens when Norway’s ambassador to Thailand is found stabbed to death in a sleazy motel in Bangkok, while apparently awaiting the arrival of a young prostitute. This is not the sort of thing that reflects favorably on an ambassador or on the government that posted him to Thailand. The Powers That Be in the Norwegian government are much more concerned about avoiding a scandal than they are in finding the guilty party, but they have to put up a good front.

To accomplish these ends, the government assigns Detective Harry Hole to go to Bangkok and assist the locals in the investigation. Hole has just gained some notoriety for solving a difficult case involving the death of a Norwegian citizen in Australia and thus to all outward appearances, seems an ideal choice. At the moment, however, Harry can most often be found in an alcoholic daze and not at his detecting best. The expectation is that Harry will go to Thailand for a few days, drink himself into a stupor, and allow the locals to sweep the whole embarrassing incident under the rug.

Of course, as everyone who’s ever read a crime novel understands, that’s not about to happen. Our intrepid hero will instead sober up and pursue the case to the ends of the earth, or at least to the ends of Thailand, no matter where the chips may fall. And in the process, of course, he will exasperate the hell out of his superiors.

The ambassador’s death turns out to be a murky and complex case, involving a large cast of intriguing and well-drawn characters. Hole is a great protagonist, and there are a lot of unexpected twists and turns. There are also a lot of interesting insights into the people, culture and geography of Thailand. The story moves along at a good clip, and all in all, it was a very entertaining read. As I suggested in my review of The Bat, it does seem a little odd that a series involving a Norwegian detective would begin with two books set in foreign countries, but in the end, I enjoyed them both and am relieved that I can finally read all of the books in this series in order. I’m going to enjoy Harry’s journey.

Snuffed Out My Desire To Read More Palahniuk

Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk
Reviewed by Jason Koivu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I feel icky.



Chuck Palahniuk's take on the porn industry blows wades of sex euphemisms all over the reader like moneyshots at a gangbang. The language is as base as the subject matter. The characters have all the nuance of a cookie cutter. The plot, slightly more complicated than the old school "I've come to fix the pool" porn of yesteryear, is nonetheless as formulaic as a whodunit mystery. And yes, all this works in the author's favor. He is, after all, writing about porn.

Is this titillation pure and simple, or is this an important truth? To me, it seems filled to the brim with both. Like moths to light, certain kinds of people seem drawn to join the porn industry. In evening news programs like 60 Minutes they've often been depicted as having preexisting "damaged" traits. Palahniuk plays this up to the hilt and then takes it a step further, going into the Hollywood world for examples of actors and actresses drawn to the flame of stardom, some on the cusp of making it only to fall into the necessity of making ends meet. But Palahniuk casts about too far in piling on the shocking examples of movie industry mishaps, which drift so far from the point as to nearly devolve into the sort of sensationalistic headlines found on the cover of gossip mags in the counter aisle.

Mmm, seafood!

EMPEROR MOLLUSK VERSUS THE SINISTER BRAIN
A. Lee Martinez
Orbit 2012


Reviewed by Carol
 ★   ★   ★   ★


It’s been a stressful month and I’ve had a challenging time finishing the ‘serious’ books malingering on my shelf. I recently picked up my Kindle (after charging it–I really prefer paper) and discovered this little gem hidden near the end of my title list, one of those bargain purchases I was saving for a rainy day. Or snowy day. Whichever–I think we’re going to have both tomorrow–thunderstorms and eventual snow. At any rate, I rather enjoy A. Lee Martinez’ books, but I recognize they work best for a certain kind of mood, the mood that wants fun, clever, and even silly, with feel-good endings. Emperor Mollusk perfectly fit my mood, and to my surprised, proved almost impossible to put down. Think every sci-fi/horror pulpy trope of the 1960s. They’re here, and they’re hysterical. But what’s even better is that Martinez takes this beyond parody by exploring evil, ethics and science through very human inhuman characters.


Poor (former) Emperor Mollusk. He’s been exiled from his native watery planet of Neptune, Saturnites hate him, and “the Venusians had had it in for me since I’d tried to conquer their planet after falling short on Neptune. I hadn’t really come close to subjugating Venus. Only claimed a couple of continents for a few weeks. No reason they shouldn’t have been over that by now.” Luckily, he conquered Earth Terra, so he still has somewhere to live. But even an Emperor of a world can get a little dull after you’ve solved a few of humanity’s larger problems.

He’s trying to back down from the emperor thing and live a quiet life pursing his scientific research. He’s on a grocery store run when his reptilian Venusian arch-enemy arrives, Commander Zala. She wants to take him into protective custody, much to his surprise (he was expecting her to ‘bring him to justice’).  Venusian intelligence has discovered a plot to assassinate Mollusk, and she considers it her duty to protect him until he is legally sentenced to death in Venusian court. Mollusk has no intention of going to Venus just to avoid another minor assassination attempt, so Zala assigns herself and her team as his bodyguards. The first attempt comes at his townhouse, and Mollusk, Zala and Mollusk’s faithful pet ultrapede (evil geniuses need disgusting pets) are soon investigating a trail of sinister clues that take them through classic B-movie sets as they seek to uncover the assassin and foil his sinister plot to rule the universe.


“While under normal circumstances, challenging the space-time continuum sounded like fun, I had a planet to save.”

Mollusk represents the ultimate in the scientific pursuit of information. Unfortunately, he occasionally displays a notable lack of judgement:

“I also thought storing my most dangerous technology on a dimensionally unstable island full of mutant dinosaurs would be safe. Much as it pains me to admit it, I do make my share of mistakes.“

Emperor Mollusk essentially follows a linear time frame, but does have a few interludes from his past that give a little insight into his complex character. Martinez achieves a perfect first-person narrative voice–dry, analytical and amazingly egocentric, he achieves a perfectly believable arch-villain. However, he’s also somewhat sympathetic, through a very dry sense of humor and an awareness of his social failings.  He is not entirely sure how to compensate, despite his formidable brain. Still, he’s glad of Zala’s company, even if he doesn’t trust her:
 “In a chaotic equation, she was among the constants. It was nice to have something to rely on.”

Martinez does a nice job of playing with the conventions of sci-fi/hero movies, giving them a broad wink in his writing:

“‘It’s a plan,’ I said. ‘Just not a very good one. If you have a better one, please share it.’
Zala’s feathers ruffled. She waved her arms in a sweeping gesture around the lab. ‘Use this. Do something. Notice some tiny detail. Jump to some ridiculous conclusion. Do what you do, Emperor.’“

There’s load of clever wordplay, often based on the absurdity of the set-up:

“He turned and led us to our suite. The unspoken understanding was that none of this was free, but a cephalopod of refinement didn’t comment on such things.”

“‘It’s an interesting theory,’ she agreed, ‘but there’s an old Venusian adage. ‘The hungriest clug can eat frot-shaped stones all day.’
‘I’m familiar with the expression.’
‘Then I trust I don’t have to explain it to you. Seeing as how you are so much smarter than I.’”

Giggle. Yes, it’s a variety of parody. But it’s elevated above simple mocking by heart, fun characterization, and an anti-buddy antagonist coupling that was fun to watch. And, I shudder to admit it, but I rather liked the ultrapede and her tendency to shriek with enthusiasm. Martinez surprised me with what he did, and I ended up devouring the book in a day. Consider it highly recommended, with the caveat that it be read with tongue firmly in cheek.

The denouement, like all super-villain plots, was needlessly complicated, but Martinez completely make me laugh out loud with the sidekick summation:

[for heaven's sake, people, SPOILER!]


“You were tricking them into thinking they were tricking you into thinking you were tricking them into tricking you?“



cross posted at  http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2014/02/19/emperor-mollusk-versus-the-sinister-brain/

Perfect

Perfect
by Ellen Hopkins

Four out of five stars
Reviewed by Sesana

Publisher Summary:

Everyone has something, someone, somewhere else that they’d rather be. For four high-school seniors, their goals of perfection are just as different as the paths they take to get there.
Cara’s parents’ unrealistic expectations have already sent her twin brother Conner spiraling toward suicide. For her, perfect means rejecting their ideals to take a chance on a new kind of love. Kendra covets the perfect face and body—no matter what surgeries and drugs she needs to get there. To score his perfect home run—on the field and off—Sean will sacrifice more than he can ever win back. And Andre realizes that to follow his heart and achieve his perfect performance, he’ll be living a life his ancestors would never understand.
Everyone wants to be perfect, but when perfection loses its meaning, how far will you go? What would you give up to be perfect?

My Review:

Maybe the first thing I should note about Perfect is that even though it's a sequel to Impulse, you wouldn't have to have actually read Impulse to be able to follow the action. Basically, the action in this book is happening at the same time as the action in Impulse, tied because one of the characters in Perfect (Cara) is the sister of one of the characters in Impulse (Conner). The crossovers are few and far between, and there's enough background here to understand what happened there. That's lucky, in some ways, because I didn't like Impulse, and this was a big improvement for me. I do think that Hopkins's writing has steadily improved over the course of her career, a little better with each book. The thread that tied all of these stories together is a little thinner than in some of her other books, but certainly closer than in Tilt. The one thing all four of her viewpoint characters have in common is that they're being pressured to be perfect, by their parents, by themselves, or both. We have two guys and two girls, Cara, Sean, Kendra, and Andre.

I wasn't surprised to find myself most riveted by Cara and Kendra. Cara is the one that I have the most hope for. Watching her break out of the shell her parents (especially her mother) have built for her was really nice to see, and I liked her romance with Dani. Kendra's story was sort of like watching a car crash in slow motion. And I think the worst of it was that the crash isn't over at the end of the book. Kendra hasn't entirely faced that she has an eating disorder, and neither has her family. And she hasn't yet realized that her new agent is taking advantage of her. I wish at least some of this had happened in the book, even if the dust hadn't entirely settled. I just hated putting the book down with Kendra still where she was. Cara isn't optimistic about her future, and neither am I, but I still would have liked to have a better idea.

Sean's narration could be tough to read, because we're watching him on a serious downward spiral. He's also the one character that I just couldn't connect with at all. He seemed toxic at the beginning, and I have no faith that he'll be any less toxic in the future. Andre, though... Well, I liked him, and I could understand him. But his story was less about him and more about his relationship with Jenna, Kendra's self-destructive sister. And I didn't at all enjoy watching Jenna implode. Still, I can't really complain about their voices, or the believability of their stories. I just didn't really care for following them.

This isn't the best thing that Hopkins has ever put out. But it is an improvement over Impulse, and it's a good sequel to that book. I get the feeling that there could be yet another book in this series, and I don't know how I feel about that. Maybe if Hopkins would stick to fewer viewpoints, it would be easier for her to finish out a story in one book.

After the Apocalypse

Maureen McHugh
Small Beer Press
Reviewed by: Nancy
4 out of 5 stars


Summary


The apocalypse was yesterday. These stories are today.

Following up on her first collection, Story Prize finalist Maureen F. McHugh explores the catastrophes, small and large, of twenty-first century life—and what follows after. What happens after the bird flu pandemic? Are our computers smarter than we are? What does the global economy mean for two young girls in China? Are we really who we say we are? And how will we survive the coming zombie apocalypse?

My Review

I’m not sure why I haven’t read more of Maureen McHugh’s stories. She has a subtle, quiet style and writes with a graceful economy of language that is powerful but not overwhelming. There is no filler here, no unnecessary words or overly descriptive scenes. What these haunting stories have in common is their exploration of various ways in which the world could fall apart and how humanity copes. I loved these wonderfully character-driven stories and am thrilled I was able to find this at the library.

This collection definitely has more hits than misses.

The very first story, The Naturalist, is not your typical prison or zombie story. The humans were definitely scarier.

Special Economics takes place in a China ravaged by bird flu. Young Jieling is desperate for money and takes a job in a biotech company that sounds perfect until she discovers the reasons why people can never quit.

Useless Things is about a dollmaker who lives in a southwest severely affected by drought. She is alone in her house, protected by several large dogs.

“I make reborns. Dolls that look like newborn infants. The point is to make them look almost, but not quite, real. People prefer them a little cuter, a little more perfect than the real thing. I like them best when there is something a little strange, a little off about them.”

The dolls creep me out, almost as much as clowns do, but the real strength of this story is the arid atmosphere, the loneliness, and the sense of danger.

In The Lost Boy: A Reporter at Large, dirty bombs explode in Baltimore and a young boy remembers nothing about his family.

The Kingdom of the Blind is an intriguing story about two programmers who work in a medical facility and discover that they can’t outsmart their computer system. Too much tech talk and too many acronyms kept me from truly enjoying this one.

Going to France went over my head, just like the people who were flying.

If I could pick out one favorite from this collection, Honeymoon would be it. A wedding that never happened, the start of a new life, and a need to save money for a trip to Cancun. This is a taut and disturbing story that made me miss my bus stop.

A young girl’s mom is dying of Avian Prion Disease (APD) in The Effect of Centrifugal Forces. This chilling story makes me never want to eat chicken again.

After the Apocalypse is the perfect conclusion to this collection. A mother and daughter do their best to survive in spite of homelessness, unemployment and a constant threat of danger.

I typically take short breaks between short stories, but I found myself immersed and had difficulty putting the book down.

Highly recommended to those who like thoughtful short fiction that feels intensely real. 

Also posted at Goodreads.

I Miss You Mr. Vonnegut

Bluebeard

by Kurt Vonnegut 

Review by Zorena

Five Stars

Summary

Broad humor and bitter irony collide in this fictional autobiography of Rabo Karabekian, who, at age seventy-one, wants to be left alone on his Long Island estate with the secret he has locked inside his potato barn. But then a voluptuous young widow badgers Rabo into telling his life story.

My Review

I would call this the most mature of any of Vonnegut's books that I have read so far. I know that Vonnegut began his novel writing close to the age of 30 which is considered an adult but his work still lacked maturity. Which can be a good thing as his earlier works were meant to be biting satire and not high literature.

Bluebeard is more melancholy and less slapstick than Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions which he is more renowned for. It has a more subtle humour that lends itself to better storytelling. This perspective and style work really well when looking at life through art. I felt I was looking into Vonnegut's heart and mind as I read each page. The medium is different but the message is the same. This really make's McLuhan's quote “the medium is the message” resonate with me. That's not to say he doesn't take the occasional bite out of how we view the art world. He does, and with great relish.

I think I've found a new favourite by Mr. Vonnegut and one I would rather use to introduce people to the real brilliance of his writing.

Alcoholic Musings

The Trip to Echo Spring: On Writers and Drinking by Olivia Laing
2013
Reviewed by Diane K. M.
My rating: 3 out of 5 stars



This book combines two of my favorite topics -- alcoholism and writers. And yet, I was disappointed.

Olivia Laing picked six writers who struggled with alcohol addiction: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, John Cheever, John Berryman, and Raymond Carver. Laing traveled around the United States to visit their old haunts, analyzed their writings about drinking, and mixed it all up with some scientific research into alcoholism. 

"I wanted to know what made a person drink and what it did to them. More specifically I wanted to know why writers drink, and what effect this stew of spirits has had upon the body of literature itself ... There have been many books and articles that revel in describing exactly how grotesque and shameful the behaviour of alcoholic writers can be. That wasn't my intention. What I wanted was to discover how each of these men ... experienced and thought about their addiction." 

What I found most interesting were the drinking stories and quotes she included from the writers themselves or from those who knew them. However, there are only eight chapters in the book, and instead of focusing on one writer in a chapter, she jumped between the six men so often that I found it jarring. For example, just when I would be getting in the groove about Cheever, she'd suddenly switch to a Fitzgerald anecdote. 

I think my favorite section discussed the friendship/rivalry between Fitzgerald and Hemingway, and how Hemingway would look down on Scott for not being able to hold his drink. Hem wrote: "Alcohol was a straight poison to Scott instead of a food." Of course, we know that alcohol is a poison, but Hem didn't see it that way.

There was also a strong section on Tennessee Williams and his time in New Orleans. Laing, who is British, said she "found it almost impossible to piece New Orleans together. It wasn't like any place I'd ever visited, though at times it reminded me in its rich confusion of Addis Ababa, especially at night."

Aside from the New Orleans section, the travelogue portions were the weakest part of the book. Laing took an Amtrak train for much of her journey across the States, and she included far too many pointless observations and random conversations with strangers that had no bearing on the narrative. 

It seems like Laing was trying to mix three different types of writing: scientific research into alcoholism, a travelogue around the U.S., and a critical analysis of literature and letters, but the final concoction was flat. 

Note: The title refers to a line in Tennessee Williams' play "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," when Brick, the alcoholic husband, says he's "takin' a little short trip to Echo Spring," which was a nickname for a liquor cabinet that housed a brand of bourbon.

Stealer of Flesh

Stealer of Flesh by William King
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When an ancient amphora containing a demon is stolen, Kormak tracks the thieves down until one remains. Staggering out of a blizzard, Kormak finds himself at a fortified manor where both the last thief and the amphora are guests....

I knew William King from Gotrek & Felix: The First Omnibus so I was pretty excited when this popped up on my Freebooksy email one morning.

Basically, a body-stealing demon gets loosed upon the world and Kormak crosses an entire continent to slay it. The story is told in five smaller tales, all linked, much like some of the old Conan paperbacks this was inspired by.

King's prose is a cut above it's media fiction roots. Much like the Gotrek and Felix books, there's a good dose of humor interspersed with the gratuitous carnage.

Kormak is much deeper than the Conan ripoff I originally had him pegged for. He's a member of a religious order dedicated to fighting the forces of darkness and doesn't have a great love of wizards.

Still, if you're not a fan of the way the Sword and Sorcery subgenre of fantasy treats its women, you aren't going to find it to your liking. The female characters are largely interchangeable.

While he's not going to unseat Joe Abercrombie or any other of fantasy's current juggernauts, William King delivers the goods in Stealer of Flesh. It's bloody good fun. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

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9 Tales of Henghis Hapthorn

9 Tales of Henghis Hapthorn by Matthew Hughes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

9 Tales of Henghis Hapthorn is a collection of tales about Henghis Hapthorn, Old Earth's best freelance discriminator. There are nine of them.

First, these tales occur in Matthew Hughes' Archonate Universe, in an age just before the time of Jack Vance's Dying Earth (or a very similar setting different enough to avoid litigation), an age where magic is slowly replacing science. Secondly, this would have been great to have before reading the three Henghis Hapthorn novels.

The Immersion: An old enemy hires Henghis to find out who dumped goo on his head and left him hairless.

The Immersion was a good way to reintroduce me to Henghis' sometimes confusing world. The tales are told in the first person and he talks like the Sherlock Holmes of thousands of centuries in the future. The mystery was fairly complicated, as Hapthorn's usually are, but still satisfying and somewhat hilarious.

Will it be the best tale in the collection? It would be premature to say...

Mastermindless: All the men of Old Earth have been rendered penniless, unattractive, and dull, and it's up to a penniless, unattractive, and dull Henghis Hapthorn to unravel what happened.

This was the first Henghis Hapthorn story published and the rise of magic is present in abundance. Where did everyone's looks, money, and intelligence go? Henghis beats his suddenly less effective head against the wall until a pattern emerges. Quite entertaining.

Falberoth's Ruin: Who wants Falberoth, Old Earth's biggest crime lord dead? Pretty much everyone so Hapthorn has the unenviable tasks of narrowing it down to just one suspect.

This one has the Agatha Christie ending where the suspects are gathered. Hapthorn is quite a character and I have to say the short stories are as enjoyable as the books. It's a pity it's not easy to read one without the other.

Relics of the Thim: A known charlatan has apparently figured out a way to snatch objects from the past. But everyone knows time travel is impossible. Or is it? That's what Henghis Hapthorn intends to find out!

Henghis didn't play much of a part in solving this mystery. His relationship with his Integrator continues to degrade. I'll have to consult the introduction but I think this story found its way into one of the Hapthorn novels because I think I've read it before.

Finding Sajessarian: Adventurer/criminal Sajessarian hires Henghis Hapthorn to try to find him. Is he up to the challenge?

This one was a little strange but very amusing. I like that Hughes isn't afraid to show Hapthorn isn't as brilliant as he thinks at times.

Thwarting Jabbi Gloond: Jabbi Gloond takes over Gresh Olabian's house and Henghis resolves to get to the bottom of things.

This was another odd mystery that almost had an Agatha Christie ending. I'm not sure if its in the appropriate chronological place in the collection, though.

The Gist Hunter: While adjusting to the profound changes in his integrator, Henghis attempts to clear the name of Turgut Therobar.

Turns out Turgut was kind of a bastard. I found the parts about the integrator adusting to life as something resembling a lemur rather than a machine way more interesting.

Sweet Trap: Henghis Hapthorn is hired to find a man who has fled Old Earth for parts unknown. Fortunately, aiding him are his Integrator, now a lemur-like grinnet, and Osk Rievor, the intuitive part of his brain that has taken on both a personality and a name.

This one also feels like something I've read before, especially since I don't forget names like Tabanooch.

Fullbrim's Finding: Fullbrim goes missing and Hapthorn is at it again!

Hapthorn is in fine form in this, what I believe is his last outing to date.

Overall Thoughts: While the stories probably weren't meant to be read consecutively, I really liked this collection. As I said earlier, it would have been great to have access to all the short stories while I was reading the three Henghis Hapthorn novels.

Hughes' writing evokes Doyle, Vance, and P.G. Wodehouse in equal measure. The mysterious, while not solveable by the reader, are very entertaining.

The later stories are easier to fit into the chronology of the series. For instance, Osk Rievor has become a second person by this point, which I believe happened at the end of the second book.

I don't know how accessible they'd be to someone with no previous background with Hughes' Archonate setting, however. Still, free on the Kindle, they were well worth my time. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

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Alex Morrow Investigates a Kidnapping Gone Wrong

Reviewed by James L. Thane
Three out of five stars

This novel features a cast of tortured characters, some good, some bad, and others somewhere in between. It opens when two relatively incompetent thugs named Pat and Eddy burst into a home in Glasgow, intent on kidnapping some guy named Bob. But there’s no Bob there, and the panicked family in the home insists that they don’t know anyone named Bob. The thugs refuse to believe them and, since Bob isn’t available, they kidnap the family’s elderly father instead, this after Pat accidentally shoots the family’s daughter in the hand. Pat and Eddie promise to bring the father back as soon as the family forks over two million pounds in ransom.

By rights, the case should be assigned to DI Alex Morrow, but for any number of flimsy reasons, her sexist, dimwitted boss assigns the case to Morrow’s sexist, dimwitted associate, a guy named Bannerman, and then instructs Morrow to follow Bannerman’s lead on the case. Morrow is not a very pleasant person to begin with and she’s deeply troubled herself for reasons we do not learn until very late in the book. She’s also the smartest cop on the beat, with a big mouth and a quick temper. Needless to say, this will not sit very well with her.

The crime and the case seem screwed up from the start. The kidnap victim is a Ugandan immigrant who owns a convenience store. The family is middle class at best and has only about forty thousand pounds in the bank—a far cry from the two million that the kidnappers have demanded. At first glance, it appears that Pat and Eddy have attacked the wrong home, but acting on her own initiative, Morrow discovers an important clue that suggests that there’s more to this situation than meets the eye.

The story is told from the viewpoints of several different characters and the bulk of it is a psychological study of them and their various problems. The investigation of the kidnapping proceeds at a very slow pace and, while it appears that other crimes may be involved, it’s hard for Morrow or anyone else to get a handle on them.

I enjoyed this book up to a point, but it didn’t work for me as much as I had hoped. For starters, I had great difficulty warming up to any of the characters. It was hard to feel any real sympathy for the family that was victimized, because they all seemed to be a bunch of losers. The sole exception was the kidnapped father who was my favorite character in the book. Whenever the story shifted to his point of view, I found it much more interesting.

I also had trouble liking Alex Morrow who was simply too abrasive to engender any empathy even when, at long last, I learned what her problem was. By then, I was completely out of patience with her and it was too late for me to reverse my opinion of her. Additionally, the crimes at the heart of the story, didn’t seem all that substantial, and, save for the hope that the kidnapped father would be saved, it didn’t seem all that important that the crimes be solved. Finally, there’s a love story in the book that I found totally implausible and could not buy into.

Mina is best at setting the scene, and her descriptions of Glasgow and the Scottish countryside are first-rate. She also does a very good job of creating and fleshing out these characters; I only wish that she had created at least one or two that I could have really cared about.