The Cobra

Frederick Forsyth burst onto the espionage and thriller scene with The Day of the Jackal in the early 70's and has consistently produced primarily clandestine operations best sellers in the ensuing years. The Cobra is his newest and, I found, somewhat disappointing novel. But then, perhaps that's the point. The writing, the details, the plot are not disappointing--just the outcome. There is no happy ending here. If the president of the United States gave you unlimited power and a virtually unlimited budget, could you stop the traffic in cocaine? That's the question posed to retired CIA operative, Paul Devereux, who was nicknamed The Cobra for his less than diplomatic dealings with people. After careful study, he agrees that he could, and through careful preparation, he proceeds to disrupt the flow of cocaine and turn the enemy inward to consume itself. But innocent people do die as the gangs begin to war with one another in response to diminishing drug supplies and strategically placed disinformation. And the United States would rather that kind of thing happened somewhere else, so Devereux is called off before the cocaine industry can completely self-destruct. It's fascinating to watch the man's mind work its way through what would be required. He does his research and keeps you reading as the machinations of his plan are revealed. The ending is probably realistic, even if the premise of the story stretches credibility--but I still wish it had turned out differently.

Bury Your Dead

The most recent of Louise Penny's "Inspector Gamache" series shows her in fine form and Inspector Gamache at a low point. We catch up with him in Quebec City just as winter Carnaval is getting underway. You can feel the sub-zero temperatures reaching right down to your bones. He has come to stay with his former chief and mentor, while he ostensibly does some early historical research at a local English library. But the reality is that he is recovering from a Surete operation that went wrong in ways Gamache feels responsible for...we only gradually learn the outlines of that story. Meanwhile, Jean Guy, also recovering from physical wounds, is sent by Gamache to Three Pines to re-open the previous case (The Brutal Telling ). Three Pines bistro and B & B owner Gabri sends daily letters to Gamache asking this vexing question, if his partner Olivier had really killed the old man in the cabin, why would he move the body where it could be found. Gamache, too, has wrestled with this inconsistency since sending Olivier to prison. Meanwhile, in Quebec City, the body of a well-known local figure is found in the basement of the Literary and Historical society where Gamache has been researching, and he is asked by the staff and by the local police to lend a hand. We begin to see the dimensions of a long-standing animosity between the English and the French in this tale, as it colors everything about how the case is being handled and publicized. Penny does a masterful job of revealing the three stories in parallel and developing the relationships between her characters with even more richness, so that I can hardly wait to see what will come next. Having discovered Penny when she was already four novels into her series, I could indulge myself on a regular basis; not sure how I will endure having to wait for her to actually write another book.

Grave Surprise

Although I have friends who really like the Sookie Stackhouse series ( the basis of the "True Blood" TV series I think) by Charlaine Harris, I haven't read them, but since I was familiar with her name, I grabbed this audiobook from another series of hers. The protagonist, Harper Connelly, was struck by lightning as a teen and has, ever since, been able to "read" the dead. That is, when in proximity to a dead body, she knows who it is (was) and what killed him/her. She is a "consultant" of sorts, often brought in to find the missing or known dead. Accompanied by her brother and manager, Tolivar Lang, she is now in Memphis to do a demonstration of her abilities for a college class on the paranormal. While "reading" a very old graveyard, she encounters a new body; in fact, it is the body of a young girl she was brought to Nashville to search for the previous year and never found. Needless to say, that connection places Harper and her brother high on the police's list of persons of interest. The premise behind this particular protagonist's talents are somewhat unusual and the aftereffects of her experience and subsequent dealings with people's skepticism are dealt with matter of factly, although it is clear what an emotional price she pays. Competently written with well-developed characters and setting, I would definitely seek out more of this series to find out how Harper and Tolivar are getting along.

Gone Tomorrow

This installment in Lee Child's "Jack Reacher" series precedes the one I just read and wrote about, 61 Hours, and so I grabbed it off the sale table in Borders while in San Diego. Reacher's old anti-terrorism training kicks in while riding the subway in New York in the wee hours of the morning. A woman is clutching a bag, mumbling to herself and wearing a large down jacket even though it is the height of summer. She meets all the criteria for a suicide bomber. Unsure what to do, Reacher approaches and tries to talk to her, tells her he's a cop, and she pulls out--not a detonator switch but a loaded gun with which she proceeds to shoot herself. In the ensuing investigation, a lot of people--including federal types and some private muscle--want to rule the whole thing a suicide and most especially want Reacher to walk away. But too many anomalies are bugging Reacher about this case and he keeps digging, getting in way over his head with international terrorists and federal agents all trying to silence him. He uses astute deduction to track down the major players, and all his military training to try and stay alive.  I wouldn't hesitate to recommend these books as well written with good character and setting development and plots that will keep you guessing til the very end.

Necromancer

What's absolutely astounding about these books by Michael Scott is that nearly 400 pages covers only a couple days and you just can't believe that so much can happen in such a short time. Of course it helps that a LOT of things are going on simultaneously in other realms...This is the 4th in the series "The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel" and the fate of the world as we know it is growing more dire by the hour. Evil forces appear to be getting the upper hand if for no other reason than Flamel has lost the diary pages that would allow him to remain immortal, and he is losing power as old age arrives at an accelerated pace--after all, he is several hundred years old. Twins Josh and Sophie try to go home again after the adventures of the first three novels, but it is not to be. Scathatch is missing as is Joan of Arc and Dr. Dee is finding a way to capitalize on Josh's mistrust of Flamel and bend Josh's growing powers to his dark ends. The action is non-stop, and the ending will leave you groaning for resolution--maybe in the next volume, The Warlock. Historical and mythological figures rub shoulders in these incredibly complicated casts of characters (think Machiavelli, Billy the Kid, the god Mars, and Prometheus just to name a few). You must read the previous books to have any idea what is going on here, but it will be an enjoyable task: The Alchemyst, The Magician, and The Sorceress.

Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code

I actually spent part of my Powell's holiday gift on this one because I was in the mood for something really entertaining and yet well-written. Eoin Colfer's protagonist, Artemis Fowl, is a teenage master criminal. Or at least he was in the two previous books (Artemis Fowl and AF: The Arctic Incident). But now that they fairies have helped rescue his father and brought him back to life in more ways than one, Fowl senior is rethinking his previous life of crime and wants his son to follow him in doing good deeds. Artemis wants to score just one more really BIG deal so there will be cushion in the family bank account before he goes straight, however. For once, both Artemis and his loyal bodyguard are outsmarted and outflanked. As they meet the highly shady business mogul, Jon Spiro, to negotiate the sale of a miniature supercomputer Artemis built using stolen fairy technology, Butler is mortally wounded and Spiro steals the computer. Fast thinking and a major dose of fairy magic might be able to save Butler, but the C-Cube computer in the wrong hands will concentrate power in ways too terrible to contemplate AND probably reveal the hidden world of the fairies. The LEPrecon want the computer and all Artemis' memories of the fairy world destroyed in exchange for helping Artemis save his friend--a high price to pay. And it's going to take the genius of Fowl plus the talents of fairies, dwarves and centaurs to pull off this heist.

Reading (and listening to) Elizabeth Peters

If you haven't read Peter's series starring archaeologists Amelia Peabody Emerson and husband Radcliff Emerson, you've missed a treat. There are nearly twenty of them and they are not only wildly entertaining adventure stories, but full of great factual information since Peters is a PhD in Egyptology from the University of Chicago. Set in Victorian era England and Egypt, you can follow them through from the initial meeting of Emerson and Peabody (Crocodile on the Sandbank) to their son being grown, married and with children of his own--well worth the effort to read them in order. Cool website with chronological listing of the series and character backgrounds is here.  Along with great settings, character development is wonderful--they are all extraordinarily feisty and endearing along with supplementary characters Ramses, "master criminal" Sethos, Evelyn & Walter Emerson, Gargery the butler, adopted daughter Nefret, and Bastet (a cat) typically rounding out the cast. The most recently consumed was Guardian of the Horizon (several published since this one) which involves an emissary from the Lost Oasis that was Nefret's home until she was rescued by the Emersons and adopted as their daughter. Now they are going back, ostensibly on another errand of mercy to help Tarek, the ruler of this secret place. But it is a trap and they will need to use all their tricks and talents to make good their escape. I really also enjoy listening to these books on CD as Barbara Rosenblatt does such an outstanding job with the voices of the character that you really forget it is only one person speaking all the dialog. I also recently dipped back into the Vicky Bliss series (The Laughter of Dead Kings) by Peters, with another indomitable female--an art historian-- as the .protagonist. These adventures are set in contemporary times, taking place largely in Europe and occasionally in Egypt. An overview of the series is provided in Wikipedia.

The Titian Committee

This is one of Iain Pear's art theft mysteries featuring Flavia de Stefano of Rome's Art Theft Squad and Jonathan Argyll, art dealer. A member of the Titian Committee, the only woman, is murdered in a public garden in Venice. Although murder is normally outside the realm of the Art Theft Squad, but the future of the department is at risk in the next budget cycle so Flavia's boss sends her help out in any way she can--hopefully without ruffling any feathers. That's pretty much impossible as the investigating detective takes umbrage at everything, especially Flavia being involved with his murder investigation. He foists her off by sending her to re-interview the other members of the committee. The committee is state sponsored and charged with locating, inventorying and authenticating all the works of the great painter Titian. Jonathan is supposed to be buying a small collection of relatively unimportant paintings from a Venetian marchesa, except that now her companion/secretary is asking him to get the works out of the country illegally instead of paying the relevant taxes and Jonathan has balked. Then the collection is apparently stolen and to top it off, the dead woman appears to have been very interested in one of the portraits in the collection. When two more members of the committee are dispatched, along with a former member, things go way beyond the local police force's convenient explanation of a mugging gone wrong. Working on separate lines of inquiry, Jonathan and Flavia uncover all the pieces that finally allow the puzzle to be solved. Once again Pears brings his extensive expertise on art and history together in a well-plotted tale that will keep you guessing til the end. See related review: "Italian Mysteries." I also highly recommend his other historical novels, such as Stone's Fall and An Instance of the Fingerpost.

The Graveyard Book

I have been wanting to read this YA book by Neil Gaiman for quite some time so it also went into the Powell's basket last weekend when I was on a sponsored shopping spree. A toddler is awakened by a noise downstairs and so clambers out of his crib, down the stairs, through the open front door, and up the hill to an historic graveyard. The cause of his disturbance is a murderer dispatching his parents and older sister and who is now hunting for him. As the child wanders into the locked graveyard he begins to see and hear things--ghosts--although he doesn't know that. Still the long dead take pity on the child and just as they are trying to decide what to do, the newly dead spirits of his parents appear and beseech them to protect the boy from the man seeking to kill him. The guardian Silas, neither dead nor alive, distracts the killer who has followed his keen sense of smell in pursuit of his prey and the dead meanwhile vote to let the Owens couple take the child on. Silas agrees to be the child's guardian until he is no longer needed for he can move back and forth between the world of the dead and that of the living in order to meet the boy's needs for food and clothing. And so begins the most unorthodox upbringing of Nobody Owens, who lives almost exclusively with the dead until he becomes a young man and decides he wants to go to school. In defending the victimized younger children at school, he becomes noticed and, as Silas has said many times, danger is waiting. The hunter befriends a friend of Bod's (short for Nobody) and finds where he has been hiding all these years. He is accompanied by other members of the Convocation who sanctioned the murder of Bod's family all those years ago. But Bod has learned some tricks that he can use to defend himself and the graveyard from these evil men, thus eliminating the imminent threat. Silas decides it is time for Bod to make his own life and sends him off to create his own adventures. This is a very endearing story that gives a new meaning to the phrase, "it takes a village to raise a child."

61 Hours

I haven't picked up a Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child for quite some time but I bought this at Powell's a few days ago on a shopping spree fueled by a gift card from sis and brother-in-law Joan and Mickey. I won't try to explain Jack Reacher in detail if you haven't met him, but briefly he is ex-military, managed an elite unit of the military police and now lives an itinerant life free of belongings and personal attachments. He hitches a ride on a tour bus carrying a couple dozen elderly folk towards Mt. Rushmore on a Dakota's winter day when a patch of ice changes course for him. The bus is wrecked and the passenger's all become stranded in the small town of Bolton, SD, by a blizzard. The deputy sheriff first interrogates Reacher and then begins to use him in helping the town deal with protection of their only witness to a drug buy. She is a retired Oxford and Yale university librarian and Reacher befriends her as he joins in trying to protect her from a hit contracted by Mexican drug king pin, Plato.  The drug dealers are based at an abandoned Air Force facility outside of town and they are selling huge quantities of methamphetamine, so it is assumed that there must be some subterranean facilities that are being used as a lab. But then the gang up and leaves town, and an examination of the site reveals only a mysteriously locked small stone building. Reacher contacts his successor back in Virginia  to gather intel and begins a conversation he may want to pursue after this is all over. The brutal cold becomes a character in its own right and threatens to kill Reacher if someone else doesn't get there first. No one is to be trusted in this town because big money and very scarey people are calling the shots from Mexico. Although there's a hint early on that something is not as it seems, the ending will still surprise most readers. This is a tightly crafted and suspenseful tale well worth reading whether or not you are familiar with the series.

Resolution

This is the 2nd in a series by Robert Parker set in the Old West. I actually listened to the first--Appaloosa-- some months back on audiotape and was so taken with the quintessentially laconic dialog that I jumped at the chance to buy this off the sale table at B & N over Thanksgiving.  The books are wonderful to read, but also wonderful to hear read well, so take your choice. With Appaloosa, you can also watch the movie with Ed Harris and Viggo Mortenson if you want. Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch have been providing itinerant law man services for several years now, riding together and backing up one another when push comes to shove. Everett has made the ultimate sacrifice in Appaloosa ( a small town) to keep his friend Everett from having to break the law over his new lady friend's infidelity. Everett calls out the interloper, there is a gunfight that Everett wins, and he leaves town because he has broken the law and Virgil would feel honor bound to uphold it and take Everett in. Everett has moved on to the even tinier town of Resolution which has several saloons, but no mayor, town council or marshal. He signs on to be the peacekeeper in one of these saloons, run by a man named Wolfson, who not only has designs to take over the saloon across the street, but also the whole town and surrounding ranches, mines, lumber mill, etc. Just as things are starting to heat up, with competing hired guns brought in by the mine owner, Virgil surfaces with his own problems--he shot a man who left town with Vigil's lady friend Allie and then abandoned her in Texas. This provides the fodder for some thought-provoking conversations about the meaning of the law, justice, and friendship. Meanwhile. Cole and Hitch align themselves with two of the hired guns, Cato and Rose, when Wolfson decides they are not stepping smartly enough in response to his time line for taking over the town. All comes out as it should and Cole and Hitch head off to Texas to find Vigils's wayward woman. As with all Parker's books, the dialog establishes the characters and defines the relationships--which is true of life also if people only realized that.