The reason for these "quarterly" reports is that I just can’t keep up with the speed most of you read. It is not unlikely that I’ll only get one book done in a month and now that my "day" job has me doing less traveling, I don’t go through Books on Tape as often.
To Hell and Back by Meat Loaf is an autobiography of the rock singer, Meat Loaf. It is an interesting account of a personality who grew up during the turbulent sixties and seemed to hit some its high spots; (he grew up in Dallas and was there the day Kennedy was shot; he picked up a hitchhiker in California who took him to a party at one of the Beach Boys homes and later discovered it was Charles Manson). He was originally an actor having parts on and off Broadway in such shows as "Hair" and both the stage and film versions of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show".
His story chronicles his exploits and coming of age (and counting his concussions). His biggest record, Bat Out of Hell, was a culmination, the returning point of his career.
Potshot by Robert B. Parker is a Spenser novel. He is hired to investigate the death, and suspected murder, of Mary Lou Buckman's husband. The speculation is that a gang of "protection for hire" thugs run by a man known only as "The Preacher", had him killed when he refused to pay his protection money. With little or no help from the police, Spenser brings in Hawk and some other help (like "Cholo" who we met in Thin Air). Spenser and crew clean up the town, but there is more to it than just bunch of bad guys.
There are a lot a staples to which you may have grown accustomed in a Spenser novel. You have the banter between Hawk and Spenser. The "I Love You", "No, I love YOU" sparring between Spenser and Susan is in there. In this case, you also have an ending that isn't quite straight from the shoulder. This is an above average episode.
The Jasmine Trade by Denise Hamilton introduces Eve Diamond, reporter for the Los Angeles Times. The story starts off with Eve pursuing a story about "Parachute Kids." This is name used to describe Chinese children brought to America and enrolled in schools, then left unsupervised as the parents return to China to keep tabs on their business interests. The story comes to Eve's attention when she follows up on Marina Lu's murder during a carjacking. Eve discovers Marina was a Parachute Kid, but also, she may have been killed to keep her quite about something, rather than merely a victim of random violence.
This is the debut novel of LA Times reporter Denise Hamilton that introduces Eve Diamond, a reporter for the LA Times. The story novelizes the phenomenon of "Parachute Kids", to which Denise drew widespread attention as a suburban reporter herself. Denise's story provides a very realistic, plausible and apparently well researched setting. No surprise there, because Denise covered the phenomenon herself. However, what I did find a pleasant surprise is that the book seemed remarkably "polished" for a first novel.
The African Quest
is billed as "an archaeological mystery" and is the first book I've done
from Lyn Hamilton. Lara McClintoch is an antiques dealer and has
arranged a tour of Tunisia for some of her customers. This helps
subsidize her own buying trips and brings publicity to the shop.
Almost immediately upon arrival in Tunisia, something seems amiss, beyond the normal trials and tribulations of a bunch of strangers packed tightly together on a tour. Someone is rifling through someone else's room. One of the members may be blackmailing others on the tour. Suddenly, one of the members is found dead, floating face down in the hotel pool -- a victim of a tragic accident…or is it an accident?
The story has an interesting construction in that mysteries of the past, taint the present. Along with the "contemporary" story, the book is salted with a tale of intrigue which gives an historical context to subject matter of the present. It was a fun read.
John Lescroart's The First Law is a legal
thriller. Dismas Hardy, an attorney, has a client, Holiday, that is
being accused of three murders, but it doesn't seem to occur to the
police (even to the point of looking, once informed), that he had a good
alibi for the second and third killings and a flimsy one for the first.
Dismas also has a lawsuit pending against some of the people surrounding
the killings, and Holiday is a prime witness. It just may be a set up
and the tip of the iceberg of a corruption ring threading itself through
the police offices and into the DA's office.
This was my first
read of Lescroart. It's been a few years since I was first introduced to
him at the LA Times Fesival of Books a few years back. I was intrigued.
He was on a panel of people that wrote legal thrillers and was (if I
remember correctly) the only one that was not, himself, an attorney. It
took me a while to get into this story, however, because it started
with, what turned out to be, a flash forward as a preface. So I was
carrying that around with me trying to fit it in. Also, I didn't know
that Moses McGuire and Dismas Hardy were series regulars. There were a
lot of characters introduced at the beginning that didn't seem to have
much to do with each other and I kind of got lost on who was who and who
cared. But it did turn out quite nicely. I think I'll be getting back to
Lescroart.
Richard Barre's Blackheart Highway:
Doc Whitney, a country singer, was just released from prison for the
murder of his wife and daughter twenty years earlier. Wil Hardesty,
private dectective, is hired to find him. The story evolves through a
"search", through "find the bad guy", becomes a "who dun it", and
eventually to a "who did what to whom" and "why'd they do it". It is
done
without getting lost.
This was
Barre's fourth Wil Hardesty novel (1999) and, I think the best one so
far. The Hardesty character carries some baggage (Vietnam vet, he lost
his 10 year old son in a surfing accident, which eroded and finally
destroyed his marriage after 20 years, and he still loves her. Of
course, he's still fighting a drinking problem he had because of the
above), but it doesn't seem to get in his way. In fact, it appears to
make him a bit more tolerant and circumspective. Interestingly, this
seems to go to character rather than motivation or explanation for his
behavior.
I really enjoy this series and have been doling them out to my self in slow doses. I read the first (The Innocents, 1995) in 1997, the second (Bearing Secrets, 1996) about 6 or 7 months later in 1998, and the third (Ghosts of the Morning, 1998) only recently early in 2001. It's been almost two years since I've had a Hardesty fix. And now I get to do two in a row, as I just received the ARC for his next book.
It's been four years since Richard Barre's last book.
His latest (due in May 2003) is Burning Moon. Wil Hardesty is
approached by a Vietnamese fisherman who is unconvinced the
disappearance of his son at sea was an accident. Wil resists digging up
the ghost of those he fought and bled with, but is moved by Vinh Tien's
loss, for Wil, too, lost a son to the ocean.
This story stirs up more than just the hornet's nest of a cover-up. A number of threads going back to Wil's first adventure in The Innocents are entwined in this story. This isn't simply a good story; it's a good story done well. He has a vivid prose that not only colors the scene, but the background as well:
A late bus went by, its scattered, brightly lit passengers resembling refugees from an Edward Hopper painting.
Each one of Richard's books is better than the previous. Richard Barre is probably one of the best kept secrets in the mystery genera. It's been too long without him in it. I sure hope that his new publisher, Capra Press, let the secret out.