Review: Masked Prey

Masked Prey by John Sandford
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received a free advance copy of this from NetGalley for review.

Wait a minute. This is the THIRTIETH Prey novel?!? That can’t be right because I remember buying the first Prey book when I was about twenty so that would make me….

Damn.

I better get this review done before I drop dead of old age.

The teenage daughter of a US senator is running some internet photo searches to see if any pics from her Instagram account have been shared when she stumbles across a chilling discovery. Someone has posted secretly taken photos and of her and other children of prominent politicians on a web site featuring racist propaganda as well as providing personal details on the kids. While there are no overt threats the implications are clear, and the fear is that some nutjob with a rifle will take the hint.

Deputy US Marshal Lucas Davenport is brought in by some of his political pals to quickly and quietly try to pin down the source of the pictures. With few clues to go on Lucas has to start talking to members of organized alt-right groups, but since most them are armed and make no secret about their hatred of the government it’s hard to whittle down the list of suspects. As Davenport tries to figure out who was behind the whole thing, a quietly angry man inspired by the site starts to make plans including committing his first murders.

This one starts with an intriguing and timely premise, and for most of the book it's John Sandford delivering as usual so I had no complaints. However, some serious cracks show up in the third act that undermined the foundation of the book for me.

First off is the political angle. Sandford has long been carefully walking through the minefield of having his lead character linked to prominent politicians without Lucas being particularly political himself. That’s served the series well because it provides the story logic as to why this one cop/federal agent keeps being involved in all these high profile cases without Sandford alienating anyone.

However, these days it’s getting increasingly hard to believe that Lucas can continue to dance between the raindrops while having powerful friends from both sides of the political divide. The idea that he doesn’t have any real political enemies coming after him while being able to solve the problems of other highly politically connected people is getting increasingly hard to buy, especially because his cases usually make national news. Somebody would be trying to tar and feather him these days.

The other problem I had with this one is due to a shift in the ending. When the series started Lucas was more of a lone wolf who was more than willing to do some highly illegal stuff to get what he considered justice. That’s faded over time, and since he’s become a federal agent he’s much more of a team player so that we haven’t seen Davenport running a shady solo operation for a while now.

Without giving anything anyway… It seems like Sandford made a conscious decision to bring back some of the old Lucas for the climax of this one, and we once again see Davenport pulling sneaky and underhanded moves to get the outcome he wants. The difference this time is that in the previous books Lucas was always very careful about covering his tracks, and his manipulations to set things up were generally subtle. This time his scheme is glaringly obvious with none of the cleverness or caution that we’ve seen him use in the past in similar situations.

None of the shortcomings ruined the book for me. It’s still Sandford doing a Prey novel so it’s highly enjoyable to read, but tight plotting and thinking through ramifications of actions have long been a hallmark of this series so it’s jarring to feel like the ending of one was a little sloppy.

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Review: Hollywood Homicide

Hollywood Homicide by Kellye Garrett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First comes the review, and then if you keep reading you’ll get the funny story of how I crossed paths with the author of this one. How’s that for a teaser?

Dayna Anderson had 15 minutes of fame thanks to starring in a string of TV commercials for a fast-food chicken place. However, after losing that job she’s now struggling to get by, and she’s desperate to make some quick cash to prevent the bank from foreclosing on her parents’ house. Inspiration comes after Dayna sees a billboard offering a large cash reward for tips on the hit-and-run death of a young woman, and Dayna realizes that she and some friends had almost been struck by a reckless car that was most likely the same one that killed the girl.

At first Dayna is just hoping that finding out the details will help jog her memory so that she can give the cops a clue and get paid, but soon she finds herself drawn into the mystery. Once Dayna sets out to find the killer not even the quickly dwindling minutes on her phone plan can stop her investigation.

Amateur sleuths usually aren’t my favorite sub-genre of mysteries, but I had a really good time with this one. Kellye Garrett has a great sense of comedic timing in her writing, and I had many a laugh-out-loud moment. (I listened to the audio version, and the narrator Bahni Turpin helped the jokes land as well.) She also uses the celebrity obsessed culture of Hollywood to great effect and gets a lot of mileage out of Dayna’s humorous observations about it. It’s also a nice touch that Dayna isn’t just pointing and mocking. She was part of that world, and still has an interest in it so while she may poke gentle fun at her best friend’s relentless seeking of fame it’s done with affection.

I also enjoyed Dayna because after reading about a ton of super-macho tough guy detectives it was refreshing to have someone who doesn’t really know what they’re doing as a lead character. Not that Dayna comes across as stupid, just inexperienced, and enthusiasm often gets the better of her common sense. That helps add to the comedic elements, but her pure determination and a wealth of knowledge from watching true crime shows keep Dayna hot on the trail of the killer even as she’s clueless about her own love life. She’s a classic underdog that you can’t help but root for.

Overall, it’s a funny and entertaining mystery with a great lead character that has some sharp observations about Hollywood.

And now for the bonus story…

I was at Bouchercon in Dallas last fall, and in addition to seeing some of my favorite writers I watched several interesting people I had never read before on panels so I made a point out of buying a copy of their books and trying to meet them at some point. That’s already paid off with books by authors like Eryk Pruitt, Jennifer Hillier, and SA (Shawn) Cosby.

Unfortunately, none of those authors was Kellye Garrett.

In fact, I had never heard of her or seen her on any panels. So I probably sounded completely rude and ignorant when I happened to meet her in the hotel bar one night and asked her what kind of stuff she wrote. The extra embarrassing thing for me is that although I didn’t know it at the time she had just come from the Anthony Awards where she had been nominated for Best Novel. She politely told me about this series and handed me a promotional card for one of the books.

Afterwards, I started following several of those authors on Twitter, and Kellye’s name kept coming up. That’s where I saw that her books were about to be released on Audible so I had this on deck when I read My Darkest Prayer. I noted in in my review that that Shawn Cosby had been a huge presence at Bouchercon.

And who should just so happen to comment on that review? That’s right. Kellye Garrett. She was shocked to hear that we had met at that Bouchercon. (I was relived that she didn’t say, “Oh, you were THAT asshole?!?) Then it was my turn to be shocked when she complimented me on some of the reviews I’d done on the Spenser series she’d read before.

After that I felt like I was destined to read this book, and I'm glad I did.

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Review: Batman: Tales of the Demon

Batman: Tales of the Demon by Dennis O'Neil
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Way back in the ‘70s when I was a kid who rode his pet dinosaur to school I started reading comic books. One of my favorites was a super-sized Batman collection that featured his first encounter with Ra’s al Ghul, and I probably reread it at least a hundred times. Later, when I was in my 20s, a broken water pipe at my parent’s house soaked some stuff I had stored with them, and that comic was one of the things that was ruined. Oh, and that book which had sold for $2 originally now goes for around $150. More’s the pity.

I didn’t fully appreciate how important that book was in my journey to full blown comic book nerd until much later. Not only was it the introduction of a major Batman villain, but it also came at a time when Denny O’Neil was in the middle of rehabbing the Caped Crusader’s image after he’d become a symbol of camp goofiness. As a stupid kid all I knew of Batman came from Superfriends cartoon and Adam West TV show. So this darker, more adult version of crime fighter driven by childhood trauma was shocking to me.

I also didn’t realize until later how the Neal Adams art locked an image in my brain that became the default setting of MY Batman. To this day that’s what I measure all other versions against.

Revisiting the story after all these years was a treat, and I was shocked at how so many of the panels were burned into my brain. This has some additional early Ra’s stories as well, and while I still think the ones with Adams’ art are the best there’s a lot of fun stuff here courtesy of O’Neil’s writing.

There’s some dated ‘70s silliness to the stories, but this was an important transition phase from the days of Batman using a handy can of shark repellent to the super gritty Dark Knight Returns. It was a great stroll down memory lane for me, and I won’t be storing this copy under any water pipes.

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Review: The Last Human

The Last Human by Zack Jordan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received a free advance copy from NetGalley for review.

So this is sci-fi set in the far future where humans caused a bunch of trouble for all the other known alien worlds, and after being driven to the brink of extinction they are still the most hated and feared species in the galaxy.

I can’t fault that story logic.

Sarya is the last known human living under a false identity with the protection of her adoptive mother, Shenya the Widow. (It’s kind of like having the queen from Aliens as a parent.) They live on a space station that is part of the vast Network which connects every alien and AI as well as organizing the structure of every facet of everyday life as well as providing the faster than light travel that connects them all.

When a stranger approaches Sarya with the knowledge that she is actually Human she soon finds herself on the run as she discovers just how big and terrifying the Network really is.

This is one of more unique and well thought set-ups for a future space civilization I’ve read, and it’s filled with interesting concepts. Most intriguing to me was how there are various levels of intelligence for Network users so manipulating lesser rated beings is a key point. I also admired how the story embraces the scale of it all because space is so freaking big that the Network can be enormous beyond all human comprehension and yet still be a tiny part of the galaxy.

However, that also turned out to be a stumbling block for me because at one point the story shifts away from trying to get us to really empathize with Sarya and instead tries to blow the reader’s mind. Which it does pretty well, but I think some of the emotions of the story got lost will all the effort to impress with the vastness of it all.


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Review: Jane Goes North

Jane Goes North by Joe R. Lansdale
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a free advance copy of this for review from NetGalley.

And I thought Thelma & Louise had a bad road trip…

Despite recently losing her job and being low on cash, Jane is determined to attend her estranged sister’s wedding so she goes looking for someone headed north that she can catch a ride with. Unfortunately the only candidate she finds is a surly one-eyed woman named Henry who doesn’t seem like the kind of person you want as a traveling companion on a long trip.

With no other options, Jane and Henry set off but have one misadventure after another involving a weird assortment of oddballs like an unusual thief, a washed up country & western singer on her last tour, and redneck slavers. Will Jane be able to make it in time for the wedding? And what kind of gift she should buy?

Joe Lansdale has written several types of novels over the years ranging from horror to westerns to crime novels. This feels like something different, and I mean that in the best possible way. There are similarities to his other writing like the Hap & Leonard series in the style and characters, but things take a turn in the second half of the book. What starts off as a goofy romp with some rednecks turns into a pretty moving character story by the end.

That mainly comes from what we learn about Jane along the way. At the start Jane seems like just an aimless women in her mid-thirties with a string of failed relationships and dead end jobs behind her, and she has absolutely no idea what to do next. One thing compounding her problems is that Jane has got a stubborn streak that compels her to resist listening to anyone, especially when they’re right.

Jane also lacks basic planning skills and is extremely limited in her thinking. For example, since she had a bad bus ride in school years ago she refuses to take a bus to the wedding because she assumes every bus trip would be just as bad. It's also not very endearing that the main reason Jane wants to go to her sister’s wedding is because she realized that nobody really wanted her there so this is all for spite at a time when she has far bigger problems like trying to make sure she keeps a roof over head.

In short, Jane seemed like the kind of moron who consistently always does the wrong thing but never understands why her life is so crappy. However, despite seeming like the kind of person I've been actively avoiding for most of my life I came to like Jane quite a bit. Through all her trials and tribulations we learn that Jane is essentially a good-hearted and honest person who can be tough as hell when need be. Lansdale pulled off a two-part trick here in the way that Jane realizes some important things about herself, and then he also subtly shifted my perspective of her until I realized that I had been thinking of Jane as just a stereotypical red state rube because of her circumstances rather than as a complex person whose opportunities were so limited to begin with that a few bad choices left her with increasingly shitty options.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I think it’s Lansdale’s best book since The Bottoms.

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Review: My Darkest Prayer

My Darkest Prayer by S.A. Cosby
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you want to know where the bodies are buried in a small town, ask the local undertaker. You can take that literally or figuratively.

Nathan Waymaker is a former Marine, an ex-cop, and he currently lives and works at the funeral home owned by his cousin. Despite being a generally good guy he also has a temper that would make the Hulk nervous, and his anger problems weren’t helped by the corrupt sheriff’s department he used to work for letting the man who killed his parents go free. When the leader of a local church was shot to death it seems like the cops may be tanking the case so some of the parishioners ask Nathan to check up on the police. Soon Nathan finds himself on the bad side of the cops as well as a dangerous gangster, but on the good side of the church leader’s estranged daughter who is a gorgeous porn star.

You win some, you lose some…

SA Cosby is another author I learned about at last year’s Bouchercon. He caught my attention with his reading of a short story at the Noir-At-The-Bar event. Then he impressed me even more with his participation on a panel about modern noir, and I saw him attending other panels in the audience where he asked great questions so I made a point out of meeting him at one of the signings. Every time I was around him it was obvious that not only was he a dedicated and intelligent fan of crime fiction, but that he was living his dream by being there as an author and loving every second of it. His enthusiasm was contagious, and I’d say he deserved a MVP award for the conference as well as the Anthony Award he won for best short story.

As for the book, it’s gritty, violent, funny, and almost as entertaining as its author. It follows some of the tropes of crime fiction with a well-intentioned detective of sorts taking what seems like a simple job and getting in over his heard. There’s even the obligatory bad ass friend in the form of Nathan’s buddy Skunk. If a good friend helps you move, and a great friend helps you move a body, then Skunk qualifies as a great friend. There’s also some humor along with it that reminded me of how Joe Lansdale mixes violence, profanity, depth, and laughs. Some angles of the story also reminded of Mosley’s Easy Rawlins series.

Yet Cosby has his own voice that firmly establishes the small town Virginia setting, and then he built an intriguing lead character to guide us through it. Nathan’s history as the biracial son of a white man dedicated to a life of peaceful non-violence and a more pragmatic black woman makes him conflicted in that he feels like he’s constantly failing his late father in some ways. Yet deep down he’s just not the kind of guy who thinks that turning the other cheek is the correct response to a cruel and unfair world.

While Cosby’s personality may have sold me on reading this book, his writing is what will get me to buy his next one.


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Review: The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian

The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian by Lawrence Block
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Bookstore owner/professional burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr returns home from a successful night of stealing on to find his best friend Carolyn in a desperate state in his apartment. Someone has taken Carolyn’s pet cat from her apartment and is now demanding a ridiculous amount of money to return the feline. It quickly becomes clear that the catnapper was trying to get Bernie to pull a job by going through Carolyn, but stealing a Mondrian painting from a museum is a bit much for a humble burglar. However, Bernie has the bright idea to steal another Mondrian from an apartment he was just in. What could possibly go wrong?

There’s all the usual things to like in this series with witty conversations and clever schemes to break into places. However, the plot gets incredibly complex and even after Bernie has laid it all out at the end I’m not sure I fully understand what happened which feels like too much in a book that features a kidnapped cat. It also seems like a cheat that a lot of the explanation brings in characters we haven’t even seen in the novel until that point.

Still, it’s Lawrence Block doing his thing with Bernie and Carolyn so there’s a lot to like. Block fans will also probably notice that this involves art, stamp collecting, and jogging which are all subjects he’s interested in that have come up in other books.


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