The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter

This is the first installment in Malcolm Mackay's "Glasgow Trilogy" which centers on the criminal underworld of that Scottish city. Library Journal refers to this book as an example of the increasingly popular body of Scottish crime literature known as "tartan noir."  Our protagonist, Calum MacLean, is a 29-year old loner who kills people for money. He doesn't want the "security" of working for one of the crime syndicates--he's strictly freelance. But his mentor, who works for the up and coming Peter Jamieson organization, is aging and recently had surgery, so Calum is tapped to do a job taking out someone who has been encroaching on Jamieson's territory, namely Lewis Winter. Seems a simple enough job, but what his new employer fails to tell Calum is that Winter is being backed by a group that wants to challenge Jamieson for territory and business and that this group will take the death of Winter as a challenge that cannot go unanswered. And so the hitman becomes the target. Add to this mix the wily, beautiful, but aging live-in girlfriend of Winter, the corrupt cops in the pockets of the various syndicates, and the lives-for-his-job detective charged with solving the murder of Winter and you have a colorful yet totally believable cast of characters living out their gritty lives in a city with a dark underbelly. I would definitely read the sequels: How a Gunman Says Goodbye, and The Sudden Arrival of Violence. More detail in the reviews from The Guardian, Publishers Weekly. More about Mackay in this interview in The Independent.

Celine

I really liked this novel by Peter Heller, although the review sources are not as infatuated. I recognize its faults and yet still thoroughly enjoyed the trip. The characters, gradually revealed through both their own actions and reflections, and those of the people around them, are complex and intriguing. The settings are so richly drawn that you feel like you are there. Celine has been dubbed "The Prada PI" in an article in her alumni magazine because she comes from "old money" and that is how her new client, Gabriela, finds her. Celine specializes in finding lost family members, not just a professional job for her but one that carries deep personal meaning. At the age of 68, and struggling with emphysema from years of smoking, she nevertheless feels compelled to take on the case of this young woman who lost her mother to a freak accident when very young and then lost her father to grief over his wife's death. He supposedly died in a bear attack almost 2 decades ago, but Gabriela remains unconvinced. And as Celine and her husband Pete begin to investigate, it quickly becomes apparent that somebody very much does not want them to find the missing/ dead father. Set initially in New York City and then in the beautiful country of Wyoming and Colorado during the fall, you will feel the crisp air and immerse yourself in the brilliant foliage and dark forests. Celine will continually surprise you and, in fact, you will not come to know her full story in this book. If you can suspend your disbelief and immerse yourself, NPR suggests, you will "understand that Celine is also such a joy to be with...like stumbling across the sweetest, most dazzling grandma EVER at the corner bar, and then finding out three hours later that she was also a shooter for Mickey Cohen's mob." But the outcome is very satisfying and the clever plot will keep you engrossed to the very end.
Reviews provide more detail: NPR, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, NYT.

Sleep No More

One of my all-time-favorite mystery writers is P.D. James. This is one of 2 collections of short-stories published posthumously that I recently checked out from the library. The other is The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories. James wrote  21 books and I think I have read almost all of the fiction entries. I don't find the short stores as satisfying, although they are certainly clever and often surprising. Nobody gets away scott-free--or do they? The advantage, of course, is not getting drawn into a longer work that keeps me from going to sleep at night!
The Washington Post provides synopses of the 6 short stories in this volume and says of the collection, "James was never much interested in ax-murderers or serial killers; she preferred to examine respectable citizens who turn to crime. The stories collected here are variously surprising, sardonic and darkly humorous, and are always intelligent and beautifully written."

The Sympathizer

This first novel from USC professor Viet Thanh Nguyen won the Pulitzer for fiction in 2016 (among several other awards) and was the January reading selection for my book group. It is one I would probably never have finished on my own but feel it was well worth reading. It was slow to get started for me, but once I got past the first 100 pages, I was hooked.
The story deals with the fall of Saigon and the aftermath for several S. Vietnamese refugees, mostly members of the military or police who worked with U.S. military and CIA. The protagonist is a bastard, born to a teenage Vietnamese mother and a French priest father. As a result he is never accepted by the Vietnamese people and so is perhaps ripe for conversion to the Communist cause. He meets his two lifelong friends in high school, Man, who later becomes his handler, and Bon, a S. Vietnamese who works for the CIA. The Protagonist is known only as the Captain and many characters are also identified only by their role. In his public role, the Captain has served as the personal assistant to the General, who is head of the National Police, for years when Saigon falls. The Captain, the General, and Bon are among those on the last plane to get out of Saigon, arranged by Claude, their CIA contact. The description of the fall of the city to the N. Vietnamese communists is heartbreaking for it is a lethal betrayal of thousands of S. Vietnamese by the United States. Bon's wife and son are killed in the last few moments and the Captain has to literally drag him onto the plane. They are sent to refugee camps and finally settled in southern California in menial jobs.
But the large refugee community, outsiders in their new homes, never give up on returning to Vietnam, and the Captain is charged by Man to monitor any efforts to mount a resistance effort. The General continues to work with Claude and a sympathetic congressman to put together funds and re-train a group of soldiers who will go back and re-ignite the fight. Bon will be among the group that returns to Cambodia to organize other Vietnamese and take the fight to the communists. Although Man strongly warns the Captain about being among those who return, his advice is ignored for the Captain feels he must somehow protect Bon on this suicidal mission, and the final few chapters deal with the consequences. Yet another betrayal is underway, for the communists are not liberating their countrymen but killing them.
The author was born in Vietnam and raised in the United States. He was immersed in a refugee community that told and re-told their stories, so this is a unique perspective on that war. It was an eye-opener and a heart-breaker of a book. It is important to have this perspective because what we were told about the war was so much propaganda. As the Captain points out, "They [the Americans] owned the means of production, and therefore the means of representation, and the best that we could ever hope for was to get a word in edgewise before our anonymous deaths."
More detailed reviews are available here: The New York Times, The Guardian, Kirkus.
And an interview with the author by Terry Gross (NPR's "Fresh Air" program) is here: NPR

Magpie Murders

This book was actually a birthday present from sister-in-law, Patty, and I was excited about reading a mystery written by Anthony Horowitz, the creator of both the Foyle's War and Midsomer Murders series. That being said, I had to start this book 3 times before I finally got into it, even though it started out in lovely English cozy style and then on page 3 the narrator tells us that the story to come changed her life; she goes on to say "Unlike me, you have been warned."  Susan Ryeland is a book editor for a small London press, and specifically for one of their cash cow authors, mystery writer Alan Conway. She is all set to have a good read on a rainy weekend of the newest Conway script for his 9th book, but finds that the final chapters are missing. And then Alan Conway dies. It could have been an accident, or even suicide, but Susan begins to suspect murder. It is a story within a story, the first being the story in Conway's book, featuring his Hercule Poirot-like protagonist Atticus Pünd. Conway is planning to kill off his money-making character in this book, and that will turn out to be at the crux of solving the mystery surrounding Conway's own death. The stories are told with the expected expertly detailed English town and country settings as well as detailed character development. I did occasionally find the transitions between the two stories a little hard to follow, however. And the ending was a total surprise to me, so well-done on that score. 

Great review by The New York Times, USA Today, Kirkus, and NPR.

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La Belle Sauvage

I have been hearing about this new trilogy, "The Book of Dust," from Philip Pullman--of Golden Compass fame (published in England as Northern Lights)--and so jumped on Volume 1 when I got a gift card to Barnes and Noble. This is a prequel to the "His Dark Materials" trilogy; here, Lyra is a baby, being hidden from forces that want to destroy the child of Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter. She is being cared for in an obscure priory, just across the Thames from The Trout, a pub owned by the parents of Malcolm Polstead, the hero of this tale. Malcolm helps out in the pub, of course, and overhears lots of conversations since no one pays much attention to an 11-year-old boy. He also frequently runs errands for the nuns and, between these two sources, soon learns about their secret guest. He is besotted with Lyra and protective of her. When a menacing character with a 3-legged hyena as a daemon comes into the Trout asking about the baby, Malcolm is alarmed. There are strange goings-on everywhere and  Malcolm witnesses an apparent abduction, which eventually draws him into a spy network opposing The Magisterium, an organization of religious zealots with enormous political power. At one point he helps Lord Asriel surreptitiously visit his daughter at the priory, and in return, gets his little boat, La Belle Sauvage renovated. The masters of the River have made Malcolm's little boat seaworthy but also issued a warning of devastating rains and flooding to come. No one believes Malcolm when he tries to pass on the warning, however, so he becomes Lyra's rescuer when the rains come and the Thames River floods the nunnery,  sending Malcom and Lyra and the surly barmaid, Alice, on a surreal adventure in search of Lyra's father in London.
This is a totally engrossing tale from the first page and I can't wait for the next two volumes. No doubt I will have to re-read "His Dark Materials" when I finish.
Erudite review from The Guardian, which highlights the story's literary and political antecedents and underpinnings. Also a thoughtful review from the New York Times, Slate, and The Independent.

The Clock Work Dynasty

This is the newest book (2017) by our local (Portland, OR) science fiction/ alternative history writer Daniel H. Wilson, who has written several previous books, mostly robot related.  There is a good overview of what he has written on Wikipedia. He is certainly qualified with a PhD in robotics and masters degree in artificial intelligence. This novel alternates between an historical journey, beginning in 1700's Czarist Russia, and a present day Pacific Northwest thriller. The action begins with the revival of two human-like mechanical beings--a young girl and an adult man (Elena and Peter)--by the Czar's "mechanician." When Peter the Great dies, his wife, Catherine, vows to destroy these abominations and so begins their life on the run, so to speak.
In current day Oregon, June Stefanov is an academic anthropologist who studies these ancient machines and is about to make an astounding and life-threatening discovery. As these characters' lives collide, nothing less than the fate of the human race is at stake.
I felt the pace of the book was slow to get started, but eventually I was drawn into finding out the origin story of these mechanical beings, who continue to evolve themselves, and are hiding in plain sight. This review from Publishers Weekly pretty accurately sums up my reading experience. My curiosity is piqued now to check out some of his more futuristic novels such as Robopocalypse.
Positive review available from Kirkus, and excerpts from an interview on OPB.

The Little French Bistro

What a disappointment. I so enjoyed The Little Paris Bookstore, by Nina George, that I pleasantly anticipated reading this selection for our upcoming book group. The parallels to the first book are significant, a protagonist who has existed for decades without love suddenly realizes there is more to life during a journey of self-discovery. I almost never disagree with Kirkus reviews, who found this book to be "a satisfying virtual visit to the French Riviera," but I found the plot to be utterly predictable and the prose to be overblown. I would put that down to translation except that the first translated book was done by the same guy, Simon Pare.
Marianne is sick of her life and especially her unfathful and condescending husband. While with him on a tour in France, she sneaks away from dinner and attempts to drown herself in the Seine, only to be rescued by a homeless man and taken to a hospital, where her husband catches up with her and tells the doctor she is mentally ill.
Once again, Marianne makes her escape with suicide in mind and this time, inspired by a colorful ceramic tile she saw in the nurses' station, she heads for the coast to a tiny fishing village called Kerdruc, where she plans to walk into the sea. She is immediately adopted by an entangled group of locals (for more detail, see the NYTimes review) and made the chef's assistant at a local bistro. And of course she meets someone and falls in love. She has already fallen in love with the sea, the food, the countryside....and has begun playing the accordion again. Someone just happened to have a spare one lying around. She does not know what to do about her marital situation and chooses not to discuss it with anyone, until her husband makes a public appeal on TV and everyone recognizes her. She tries to run away again, this time from the people in Kerdruc, and go back to her husband. Realizing she has changed too much to make this possible, she returns to Kerdruc, her lover, and everyone else's romantic problems in the village are solved in the last chapter. Oh please spare me.
The reviewers all liked the book, however: Publishers Weekly, Washington Post, New York Times.

A Christmas Return

Apparently Anne Perry regularly writes a special mystery novella for the holidays and this is the 15th in her Victorian Christmas series. Certainly competent writing and a good plot. She is a prolific and accomplished author, but unless you are looking for something really light to read, not worth the investment of time. Apparently this is a character that has appeared in earlier novels, as has the character's granddaughter, Charlotte Pitt. Mariah Ellison is in her 80's and living with Charlotte and her husband when she receives a strange package--a Christmas pudding surrounding an antique cannon ball. She immediately recognizes it as the former property of a dear friend who died when a bookcase fell on him and the cannon ball hit his head. She hasn't had contact with his surviving wife in 20 years, but she resolves to make the trip and find out what prompted this unusual invitation. A cold case is being revived that threatens to dishonor the name of her deceased friend, and she is determined to save both his reputation and that of his wife. It is a proper detective story and enjoyable reading, but as I said, only if you have nothing better to do. 

Artemis

I am SO far behind on posting my books that I don't know if I will ever catch up, so I am starting with the most recent and working my way backwards. Just raced through this book by Andy Weir, author of the book, The Martian, which I did not read, although I saw and enjoyed the movie. Artemis has already been optioned for a movie. This was really a great plot, supported by interesting characters and lots of well thought out details about living on the moon. Yasmine (Jazz for short) is a 20 something wise-ass who has rebelled against her father's upbringing and his Muslim faith. She has lived on the moon in the small town of Artemis (pop. 2,000) since she was 6 years old and calls this home, although she was born in Saudi Arabia. She has had the same pen pal (e-mail pal, actually) since she was 9 years old and, since he now works as a loader at the main port for freight deliveries to the moon and Jazz is a delivery porter on the moon, they have set up a nice little smuggling operation for contraband like cigars, lighters, alcohol, etc. Then one of her customers, a very rich resident of Artemis, offers Jazz an enormous amount of money to help him take over the local aluminum smelter, which also produces all the oxygen for Artemis. She agrees, but only partially completes the job before he is murdered. There have been less than a handful of murders in Artemis in the entirety of its existence, so the population is shocked. And Jazz is even more disturbed to find that the killer is now after her. It turns out that the aluminum smelting company is actually owned by a criminal cartel back on earth who will stop at nothing to maintain their exclusive contract. Jazz needs to finish taking down the smelting operation if she is to have any chance of survival. Then she uncovers a complicated plot to take over the city of Artemis, and she is not going to stand by while that happens. She formulates a plan and rounds up some friends, some not so friendly acquaintances, and her father to help her execute the idea. Nothing ever goes quite to plan, but Jazz is resourceful and committed and wins through in the end. Jazz is an engaging character and her supporting cast is terrific. You don't need to be a science fiction fan to enjoy this one.
See reviews from The Guardian, Salon, and Publishers Weekly for more details.