Clanged Together Effortlessly

Posted on January 4, 2014 by Robert Downs

The Kill Order by Robin Burcell
My Rating: 3/5 Stars

You might say destiny brought this book and me together. I certainly didn’t discover it in the usual manner. Instead of purchasing it online, discovering it in a conference gift bag, requesting it on NetGalley, or snapping it up for free online via some form or fashion, it stared up at me from a pile of books next to the sink in the men’s bathroom in Albany, NY. Crazy, right? Well, I didn’t have to think too long and hard about it, since free books and I go about as well together as sugar and cocoa beans.

This book proved to be more thriller than suspense, and it certainly managed to hold my attention with a heroine that has a bit of a backbone and a quirky nature. Sydney Fitzpatrick may fail at relationships, but she’s not going to fail when it comes to protecting colleagues and individuals, and that’s why it was rather easy to rally behind her, even if she did make a mistake or two along the way. The world may have Armageddon on its doorstep, but she’s not about to back off. And I wasn’t about to back down from THE KILL ORDER.

It captured my attention right away, and I managed to hold on to the side of the cliff with what was left of my fingernails. Dangling on the side of a precipice, I could have used a string of random numbers and possibly a rope and a woman with more than a bit of gumption on the other end who has enough wherewithal to accept the challenge of pulling me back to safety.

Piper Lawrence proved to be an intriguing character. Saddled with eidetic memory, this allows her to remember strings of random numbers as soon as she reads them, more than a dozen license plates with effortless ease, or recite entire pages from Shakespeare after one perusal, which makes her an absolute hit at drinking parties. Even if she has few friends and even fewer people who understand her true talents, it’s hard not to soften your heart when she enters the picture and rally behind her with both hands placed firmly in front of you.

The dialogue punched and sang and clanged together effortlessly and easily; the story railed away at my senses; the characters fit together rather seamlessly. But I did find myself questioning the likelihood of the storyline, and I would have preferred more jagged edges, instead of the pieces fitting together a bit too easily.

I received this ARC for free at Bouchercon (via the men’s bathroom).

Creepily Good Read

Posted on December 20, 2013 by Robert Downs

Into The Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes
My Rating: 4/5 Stars

INTO THE DARKEST CORNER reminded me of a slow burn, of holding my marshmallow an inch or two above the campfire, the flames licking and dancing but never quite touching that puffy goodness. But minus the gooey center and the warm, fuzzy feeling that a sugar rush gives you. Instead, this novel has a bitter aftertaste that leaves you wanting to down shots of Jose Cuervo to take away the burn. To be honest, it kind of creeped me out, like a whisper just behind my left ear with nary a hint of a mouth or an individual to explain the voice I heard.

I understood Cathy’s character, but I couldn’t really identify with her. Rather than seeking out help or even fully recognizing her emotional disorder, she chooses to bury it and attempt to move on with her life, but she seems to fail somewhat miserably in her effort. I wrote those two sentences about a quarter of the way through the novel and before I completely understood her character. Needless to say, I’m willing to admit how wrong I was. She’s a freaking trooper, and four years later she’s lucky to be walking the Earth, all trust issues, anxiety, and OCD aside.

She may have to check a lock six times but it’s what helps her push through, to make it from one moment to the next, even if those moments turn into hours, and she has to repeat the process three or four times to help her feel truly safe. Catherine Bailey may have been a twenty-four year old carefree, fun-loving individual, but Cathy Bailey is one tough, yet emotionally damaged woman, and she’s not going down without a fight.

I had a hard time understanding that woman. You know, the one that stays in a relationship even when it starts going horribly wrong, and the boyfriend/husband/lover suddenly turns into a wife beating, knife yielding maniac who carves up his beloved like she’s some kind of Christmas ham. After reading this novel, I understand the dynamics of that particular relationship a bit better. And it kind of freaks me out.

Opposites Do Attract

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Robert Downs

18134787 King And Maxwell by David Baldacci
My Rating: 3/5 Stars

Mimicking the highs and lows of this novel, my rating had some higher points along with some lower ones (which you wouldn’t know based on my final overall rating). But trust me, my friends, they were there. But that’s the joy of reading: expect the unexpected. KING AND MAXWELL started off well enough, with desert scenery and a finger placed on the kill switch and high powered weapons pointed at foreheads, tripped over its own two feet a bit in the middle with some Swiss cheese dialogue and gouda lines, and then had a rather disappointing ending, at least in my opinion.

Let’s start with the good. Sean King and Michelle Maxwell prove rather emphatically that opposites do attract, that partners can banter as well as brother and sister, tease each other relentlessly in the pursuit of some comic relief, and that even while being chased by alphabet soup agencies, good humor never dies. The premise could have been straight out of Hollywood: There’s even a Jaws reference that I wouldn’t have gotten without the explanation. The action-packed plotline proved mostly enjoyable (I don’t read thrillers for the stunning, poignant prose and literary awards). I value entertainment, and I definitely felt the back of my knees on the edge of my seat.

Measuring this against earlier David Baldacci novels, though, I couldn’t help coming away a bit disappointed. There were lines of dialogue that could have been pilfered from an Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie, and the premise, while entertaining, probably was a tad outlandish, and was all wrapped up a bit too neatly for an edge-of-your-seat roller coaster ride.

I received this book for free through NetGalley.

Dark, Compelling Read

Posted on December 12, 2013 by Robert Downs

6348514 The Cold Room by J.T. Ellison
My Rating: 4/5 Stars

J.T. Ellison knows how to spin a tale with Taylor Jackson, a tough-as-nails main character who never seems to lack for passion. She finds it in both her professional and personal life. The Cold Room gripped me from the first page, and it didn’t let me go until I had reached the end. The chilling nature of the tale kept me in rapt attention, and while the plot may have seemed a bit farfetched to some, I found it to be both heavily researched and a compelling read.

I found myself intrigued by the descriptions of Nashville, and I attribute this to the outstanding writing abilities of the author. She turned a local tale into an international one, when Taylor and her fiancé, FBI agent John Baldwin, crossed the Atlantic Ocean to Italy. Florence never sounded so good.

It takes a special writer to delve into some dark places of the human psyche, when many individuals might shy away from such an experience. To her credit, she didn’t just skirt across the surface, she jumped all the way in, and her novel is a stronger, better book because of her willingness to peek beneath the surface.

Endings can prove a bit of a challenge, but Ellison pulls it off with ease. She sets herself and the reader up perfectly for The Immortals. While this is my first foray into Taylor’s world, it certainly won’t be my last.

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Unkillable Charlie Hardie

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Robert Downs

9583670 Hell And Gone by Duane Swierczynski
My Rating: 4/5 Stars

I blame erotica. My natural response is to proceed with a whips and chains and between-the-pages sexual binge until this burning desire extricates itself from my system, and the world turns itself right-side up. What does that have to do with HELL AND GONE? Probably not a whole hell of a lot. But here we are you and I. With that being said, I cannot be held accountable for my actions during this review.

Fun And Games had Mann in all of her infinite glory, with her nipples sticking straight up in the air, sunbathing topless on a deck in the middle of LA. But Mann has been relegated to cameo status in the sequel, and I couldn’t help the heartfelt sigh that escaped my lips. Now we have Eve Bell who can maintain the lotus position for hours on end, and I’m intrigued all over again. Her shower scene certainly captured my attention. I’ll say it right now: I have no shame.

Unkillable Charlie Hardie once again was forced to question his very sanity, spending his days in an inescapable prison with a team of guards and prisoners that proved to be some of the baddest dudes and dudettes around. The adrenaline rush proceeded at an IV pace (my finger pushing the magic button every three minutes or so), and I couldn’t avoid the post-nasal drip, the chlorine beach, the white tile, the blue scrubs, or the shower curtain divider that separated me from the guy on the respirator.

The other characters, while interesting and intriguing, didn’t capture my attention the way the secondary cast of characters popped into my brain and executed the mambo in the first installment. The action scenes, while intense and electrified, held back a bit compared to the first go round and the insanity that is LA. But don’t get me wrong, this was one hell of a ride, and I’ll be seeking out the explosive finale with equal parts enthusiasm and trepidation. I may need to sleep with the lights on, and my head buried underneath the covers, but it’ll all be worth it in the end. That’s what I’ll keep telling myself anyway, repeating the mantra until it’s permanently etched in my brain.

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Before And After

Posted on November 23, 2013 by Robert Downs

Lie Still by Julia Heaberlin
My Rating: 4/5 Stars

When I finished LIE STILL, I realized how absolutely ignorant I was about rape and women and the lingering effects of the horrific ordeal that no amount of washing or scrubbing or therapy or counseling or friends and familial support can ever hope to take away. And that for the rest of Emily Page’s life she will remember vivid details of the assault and Pierce Martin like he was the grim reaper sent down just for her: the empty Domino’s pizza box, the cloying odor of his shampoo, her final thought before he entered her—that he’s not going to marry her—the fingernail that raked her leg and the scar it left behind, and the sting of the alcohol, as she attempted to clean up the last remnants of him. And that when he entered her a part of her soul tore away, and that now her life is divided into two periods: before and after.

Even though Pierce is an asshole, a controlling, abusive, manipulative, done-this-sort-of-thing-before asshole, who had planned the violation for weeks and probably fantasized about it for even longer than that, Emily still thinks the rape, in this case date rape, was her fault. Her humiliation and guilt clings to her like a virus. Even though it wasn’t her fault, she feels culpable in the horrific ordeal, flashing her virginity around like it somehow made her better. This novel refers to date rape as “the last frontier of crime,” because the victims look and feel guilty, while the rapist feels pleased because he painted the whole picture himself. I had no idea rape victims were viewed this way, and it saddens me deeply to realize this is the case. I only hope our society can somehow figure out a way to right this horrible wrong.

This novel shows Texas like it was truly meant to be shown with fake mansions the size of convention centers, where fake women and fake breasts and fake tans loom larger than the Georgia sun. Where a middle-aged former beauty queen packs pistols and assault rifles in the back of her Lexus and shoots out the zero of interstate signs at 65 MPH. Where the twists and turns prove more complicated than Texas’s geographical landscape and interstate highways and where high school never seems to end. And where Caroline Warwick has more secrets and more enemies than one would like to admit.

I’d like to end with the “legitimate rape” legacy left behind by a US representative that Julia Heaberlin brings up in her Author’s Note. She takes the higher ground by not mentioning this particular bastard by name, but I believe he should be called out once again for his comment. Representative Todd Akin said, “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” That shows ignorance on so many levels, and it scares the shit out of me that he was actually running our country for six terms. Akin didn’t get reelected in 2012, and rightfully so.

I received this book for free through NetGalley.

Enthralled By The Eccentricities

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Robert Downs

White Fire by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
My Rating: 4/5 Stars

Seeing Douglas Preston in person (twice) and Lincoln Child via Skype (once), I can’t help but be enthralled by the eccentricities of these two individuals, and the odd dynamic that must ensue from this powerful writing duo. So it’s hard not to see how Aloysius Pendergast might have developed from these two brilliant minds fully formed and ready for action. He’s odd and eccentric and intriguing and his dark suits never manage to get wrinkle, even when he’s bounding through snow drifts up to his chin or playing Russian roulette with a loaded revolver.

More than just Pendergast, though, WHITE FIRE filled its pages with entertaining characters and a few individuals from the days of yore. With Corrie Swanson leading the charge and immersing herself in skeletal remains and mining caves and mountain passes, this novel piles on roadblocks and adventures in equal measure, and then douses the remains in cans of kerosene. With stoic individuals stepping to the forefront and the interweaving of a story within a story, this novel moves forward as much as it lingers in antiquity. Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde and Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson weave through the pages, leaving footprints in white blankets and half-eaten meals behind.

The rush of adrenaline helped me maneuver from the first page to the last, the throttle easing just enough to keep me from overexertion, the pages pounding with the precision of a jackhammer. The vibrations echoed through my hands and all the way up my forearms, as I drove my snowmobile through the ensuing avalanche. The tight plot fit about as well as a snug pair of gloves, and I leaned my back from the resultant wind current, my teeth chattering and my feet stamping in protest.

If you don’t mind Pendergast avoiding the spotlight as opposed to standing in the limelight, acting more as a mentor than the lead investigator, and you enjoy your plots more tightly woven than a pair of mittens, you’ll probably find yourself enjoying this Colorado tale.

I received this book for free through NetGalley.

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Needed An Adrenaline Injection

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Robert Downs

Never Knowing by Chevy Stevens
My Rating: 4/5 Stars

While this novel was good—some may even call it great—I couldn’t help but feel like this was a repeat performance of Still Missing. Had I not just read Ms. Stevens’s debut novel a couple months prior, I might have developed an entirely different opinion on the matter. The first time out the unique structure captured my attention and had me flipping pages faster than a sugar addict working his way through a dozen doughnuts, but this time the polish had worn off, and while I still devoured NEVER KNOWING, I flipped the pages with less enthusiasm.

The first half of the story, while certainly good, needed an adrenaline injection. Sure, the character and story development proved entertaining, but this is supposed to be a thriller. And when it comes to page-turners, I want to dangle on the edge of a cliff by my fingernails while a dog is nipping at the tips and a psycho serial killer points a revolver at my shaking corpse. The suspense and adrenaline came, but by then I had already pondered the existence of the universe more than once.

Sara Gallagher, though, proved to be an intriguing character, and one I understood a bit too well. Taking the world’s problems on her shoulders, she blames herself for anything remiss, prefers knowledge to a lack of awareness, and shoulders more problems than are hers to bear. Yeah, she may swallow the occasional white pill, but she has migraines, sister, along with a wedding to plan and a somewhat absentee fiancé who likes to play in the woods.

Even her relationships reminded me of my own. She had her first love Derek where she was head over heels and enamored and lost herself and ended up in what was ultimately an unhealthy relationship before she found Evan, her true love. This scenario resembled a bit too uncannily what I had faced before. At the time I had no real comparison for relationships and love and clinging to someone so tightly and losing myself so completely that I almost became two different people: one when I was with her and one when I wasn’t. Once I was in, though, I ended up so far inside the threshold there was no easy way to get out, without one of us clinging to that cliff, so I did what made sense at the time: I expunged myself from the situation.

Not being able to fix that relationship or somehow make it work, despite analyzing it from every angle, bothered me a whole hell of a lot more than what my ex thought of me. In fact, I still feel like I failed the universe somehow. But I’ve come to terms with my problems without the aid of prescription medication just as I’ve come to terms with my misgivings of this novel.

Slipped Out Of Sequence

Posted on October 8, 2013 by Robert Downs

17906972 The Last Winter Of Dani Lancing: A Novel by P.D. Viner
My Rating: 3/5 Stars

I’d like for publishers to make a concerted effort to stop the lazy marketing. This novel has been compared to BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP, MEMENTO, and THE SILENT WIFE, and for good measure, we’ll even toss in Tana French, Gillian Flynn, and A.S.A. Harrison. While this type of marketing may work in some instances, it probably fails more often than it succeeds. Sure, the neon lights flash, people’s expectations reach infinite proportions, and it makes for a great sound bite, but then what happens? If you don’t like the aforementioned authors or books, you skip right on over to the next enticing cover, and if you love those authors or books, you’re bound to be met with some level of disappointment.

Despite the massive consumption of drugs in THE LAST WINTER OF DANI LANCING, this novel felt as realistic as turkey, yogurt, and apple pie. Demons filled each character until the lines between good and evil were about as nebulous as a politician hitting the campaign trail with both hands. No character could escape the evil staring back at him or her, and this included the long dead body of Dani. Nefarious individuals piled up faster than runners at the finish line with Tom Bevans, Marcus Keyson, Jim and Patty Lancing, Duncan and Audrey Cobhurn, and Seb Merchant leading the charge with bullhorns firmly planted at their sides.

Told from multiple points of view, the story slipped out of sequence with relative ease, dipping into the past the way a swimmer might dip his toes into the icy water. The gimmick worked, holding the fast and loose tale in place, otherwise this story probably would have failed when held up to the microscope and examined via a petri dish. But all the jumping around left me looking for solid ground, as I constantly bounced between the various time periods until I finally decided to just strap myself in and appreciate the ride.

Most of the way through this novel, I sympathized with Tom and his love for Dani. Like him, I’d experienced unrequited love—in my case it was on more than one occasion and with more than one individual—only to have the entire experience shatter around me, leaving me with a broken heart and a pile of broken glass. Sometimes nice guys really do finish last. But I digress. In the end, though, Tom wasn’t as nice as I thought he was. Instead, he was more of a pretender than a true contender.

Without giving away too much, I think it’s safe to say there are more stories to tell, more questions that need to be answered, and more problems that need to be solved. But I still haven’t decided whether or not I’ll continue the ride.

I received this book for free through NetGalley.

Cotton Candy Stuffed With Razor Blades

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Robert Downs

Dare Me by Megan Abbott
My Rating: 4/5 Stars

Let’s be clear from the get go. If you want a more traditional review with a book summary, plot synopsis, and a character family tree, and then possibly a discussion on what the author was trying to accomplish in DARE ME and whether or not she actually achieved her goals, then you’ll probably just want to slide it on back and move on to the next review. Because I’m about as non-traditional as they come. Instead, I like discussing how a book made me feel, or didn’t feel, discussing writing insights where appropriate, tossing around similes and metaphors like used car parts in a Dumpster, and talking about my overall experience with a book, while taking into account my own knowledge of writing and reading and plain old random shit. In other words, I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I have a damn good time being ignorant.

So I’ll start with this: Teenage girls are bitches and badasses. A female praying mantis treats her mate better than high school girls treat each other. And each manages to accomplish this task with a smile on her face and nothing but love in her heart, right before she brings out the icepick and wields it around the same way a construction worker might employ a two-by-four in the middle of a construction zone.

One might argue the mystery was a bit thin, but this book transcended the typical books in this genre, and proved there’s more to a mystery than just the identity of the killer and the resolution of the crime. Instead, this was more about cheerleaders and their penchant to attack one another with vengeance, high school drama that unfolded before me on the page in pinks and purples and shades of red, and the extremes captains and coaches go to all in the name of victory. Yes, cheerleading is a sport, and in some parts of the country it’s mentioned in the Sunday prayers along with football and your best friends Jim Bob and Clara Valentine.

The shower scene in the girl’s locker room at the beginning of this tale reminded me of all the times growing up that I would have practically handed over bodily organs to be given even a brief glimpse behind that steel curtain. But what made this story really click for me was the relationship between Addy Hanlon and Beth Cassidy, gal pals that dance a relationship tango better left choreographed to the professionals. And proves there’s much more to a relationship than what’s shown to the public.

This tale was about as easy to swallow as cotton candy stuffed with razor blades, and now that I know what’s behind the pom-poms I wish I could give it all back, since more knowledge isn’t always the key to happiness, as this story aptly proves.