Morthon Wins

Big Rankin/Rebus fan but the narrator not so hot

Revisado: 10-19-19

As the series develops Rebus seems to be maturing in an interesting way. Among Rankin’s gifts appears not only to be narrative arcs within each novel but a long character arc for Rebus and the other characters.
However, Geoffrey Howard did not do such a great job. I’m no expert, (but I have traveled extensively through out the England, Scotland and Northern Ireland as well as the Irish Republic) and his characters sounded slightly Irish at times. He wasn’t able to capture the class differences between characters nor get at that trilled inflection that the Scottish have in their tongues.

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It’s a novel concept but many technical details strain credulity

Revisado: 07-11-19

Well written and plotted. But, honestly, if the novel wasn’t written by McKinty, I would have researched it more—found it was about child kidnapping and given it a pass. I am a mother too much like the mothers in the book.I can’t really deal with reading about children being kidnapped. I will read any kind of mystery, espionage, suspense novel but I don’t do kidnapped kids. Kind of ironic because the novel is all about what people will do for their kids. I did appreciate that the mothers were fierce but not token hysterical characters.

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Uncanny portrayal of a pre-9/11 NYC terror event

Revisado: 07-04-19

Finder ‘s book is a suspenseful and detailed tale in which he captures the dedication of investigators and first responders in the context of the strange solipsism that New Yorkers inhabit. There are no saints or demons in the story—although the terrorist is best described as a sociopath with a personal fantasy of having a heart. (I could be overestimating him.) But I guess my point is that in Finder’s standalone novels most characters are written with nuance. The female protagonist is smart, strong and human. A reviewer on this site said “she” was sick of reading about scared female heroins. I didn’t find the protagonist to be scared as any kind of defining trait. Men around her are literally pissing their pants. It’s a scary story. I don’t think Finder capitalized on his protagonist being a woman to place her in positions to be physically tortured or captive. I hate that and won’t read that.
I liked the technical detail, but Finder’s clunky delivery of some of it right at the denouement of the plot is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5.

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Very, very funny but as a Seattlite...

Revisado: 04-09-19

There is so much to make fun of in Seattle culture--especially the upper working class culture Semple satirizes. However, as a Seattlite (who can't afford to actually own a home in Seattle but who works here) at one point I felt oppressed by the satire. I didn't feel defensive. It was relieving to hear her hysterically funny take on Seattle. But there is so much annoying crap in Seattle that at one point it made me irritable to have all the issues hammered home by a character who is an East coast Ivy leaguer transplanted to Seattle via Los Angeles. We live with those critical people everyday and we wonder why they don't just go back home.... Don't get me wrong. I have 2 Ivy league degrees and have "done time" on the East coast, but the main character's difficulties in Los Angeles she doesn't seem to link to her being in Los Angeles. I find this weird. Los Angeles is so unbearable......
I know this is a spoof but the author does pull it out in the final analysis and the main character realizes from whence her problems actually arise. (I won't give anything away as this book is worth preserving from "spoilers".) In a way the book does a service to Seattle. Maybe more people will read it and NOT move here thinking it is going to be just like where they came from.
The title says it was made into a movie starring Kate Blanchett, but I can't find it on IMDB....

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Beautiful understanding and articulation of the female human condition

Revisado: 04-05-19

Dahl explores addiction, narcissism, love, abuse and the metaphysics of the parental bond in this exquisitely narrated novel. Marnò’s performance was as always wonderful to and the actor that read the part of the little boy was painfully marvelous. This is the suspense genre at its best—there were no innocent bystanders or straw men in this novel.

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It was hard to care about the characters

Revisado: 02-15-19

The main character wasn’t drawn with enough depth to explain why he is so seemingly perfect. I need my heroes with guns to have a moral compass but the writer didn’t finesse that enough. It felt like being good and helping others was, forgive the hyperbole, his psychopathy. I quit reading it which is unusual for me.

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A mash up between an espionage novel and a romance novel *SPOILERS*

Revisado: 02-08-19

This is just cringe worthy. We are to believe that “Viv” is such a gifted CIA analyst that she developed a (poorly described) computer program to gather intel on Russian sleeper cells, yet exists in a CIA universe rise where her husband was NOT vetted before their marriage. Best of all is the underlying Harlequin romance illogic that drives the protagonist’s behavior. Somehow the author has created a false dichotomy between having an internal moral compass (not patriotism, per se) and responsibility to one’s children. The character has childlike logic and it’s painful to read. I have to say that, with the exception of the fact that she doesn’t read or write Russian which would preclude being a CIA Russian analyst, the character is so emotionally insecure that she would make a good mark for a sleeper agent. So maybe the author does understand some fundamental things but the character is so annoying that it’s tough to get through. It is like watching a car accident and not caring what happens....

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Using a maleBritish narrator was a terrible choice

Revisado: 01-18-19

I enjoyed the author's approach to her primary and secondary characters. She gave them depth which is refreshing in a Swedish mystery novel. I cannot fathom why the audio producers chose to use a male performer and a British one at that. Almost killed it for me. But I am going to try another one of Lāckenberg's in this series and see how she progresses.

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Mystery of suddenly dead husband GONE WRONG

Revisado: 09-19-18

I like this kind of mystery but have to say at the outset that I didn't make it past Chapter 36.. I am a 50 year old married woman and may well be in the intended audience for this book. However given that the performer's voice was so grating, it is amazing that I made it so far. But I can only see grown women characters misjudging the world and men (in particular) around them for so long. The only mystery is that this book offers no mystery.. If, in 2018, these authors hope to have deeply buried in their narrative an object lesson encouraging women to be more independent and not rely on men then that mission is accomplished but if their readers don't know that by now, they must have attracted some romance readers by accident?

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Nichols appears to lacks awareness of his own position in his argument

Revisado: 01-26-18

Nichols fails to acknowledge that he is from the generation that got inexpensive bachelors degrees and could still get tenure. I got my BA in Political Science and Philosophy at Reed College in 1990 (full scholarships due to financial need—-gotta mix in some poor kids for diversity). Then I went to a PhD program at Johns Hopkins. One and 1/2 years into my second year rumors of hiring freezes and “the death of tenure” were circulating furiously so I looked into the demographics of the situation. My advisor, under pressure leveled with me. So I took the perfunctory Masters and let go of the dream of teaching and living immersed in a public and academic dialogue about civic political discourse. My heart was broken. You can write me off as having quit my graduate program for another reason and that I’m really just stupid. I am a psychiatrist now and I love my work. All of this cocksure certainty of the boomers is going to fall squarely on my Gen-X and the millennials as we struggle to pay for their platinum social security and Medicare which the CBO has determined which both be bankrupt in 2034. What will the Boomers have left behind? Better infrastructure? No. A vigorous, well funded university system? No. Nichols is the cat that swallowed the canary and is now asking the canaries why they aren’t better behaved (that is a problem) and continually reminding the canaries that we aren’t equal to him. No, we aren’t because we weren’t all born at 3rd base sliding into home thinking what losers all those people back in the locker room who are still trying to figure out the code to the locker. Although the author Cannon Gibney used the word instantiate way too many times, I recommend his book The Sociopathic Generation: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America. Lastly, Nichols writing style implies that he thinks his readers are stupid. I had high hopes for the book. It’s funny that he mentions the Dunning-Krueger effect because I think he suffers from it. Otherwise, if you’re going to talk down to your reader from his Trumpian “I’m a really really really smart guy” perch you shouldn’t tip your hand quite so obviously. I’m just not that impressed. All of my Reed professors’ books were better than this.

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