Tripwire - Lee Child

Former MP Jack Reacher is digging pools in Florida, fitter than he's ever been in his life and reveling in the sheer physicality and simplicity of his life. He's become accustomed to flying under the radar and, though not specifically hiding from anyone, is happy not being found. So when a stranger, obviously from out of town, asks him if he's Reacher, he denies it. Costello's a private detective, looking for him on behalf of a Mrs Jacob, someone Reacher's never heard of.
When Costello turns up dead, Reacher feels responsible - he backtraces the PI to new York, and discovers that Jacobs is the married name of Jodie Garber, the daughter of Reacher's one-time CO and the only man who really felt like a father to him, although he harboured distinctly non-brotherly thoughts about the far younger Jodie.
Unfortunately, Reacher's not the only one to have found Jodie, and it's up to him to not only save her from a man murderously intent on protecting his identity and his vast, illicit wealth. And if his relationship with Jodie takes a bend toward the carnal, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Tripwire is the third in the unabashedly escapist Reacher series - this early on there's still some filling in of background, accomplished in this case by Costello telling the anonymous Reacher about the man he's searching for. Members of the ABC's "First Tuesday Book Club" discussion about the thirteenth Reacher book, Gone Tomorrow, criticised the lack of characterisation, but for loyal readers the history's already there. That said, I have been reading them only roughly in order and had no problem, and there's certainly nothing approaching a series arc here.
Instead there's a fast-paced, action-driven, plot-based drive that captures what one imagines is the Every Man fantasy of a baggageless life, unencumbered by responsibility, family or possessions, where casually meaningful sex is available as required.
All of which sounds like the antithesis of my interests, and yet I've had to slow down from munching through the baker's dozen (thus far) of published Reacher novels. And I'm not alone - according to the author, some 60% of his readership is female, a statistic I heard on the ABC discussion above and tracked down. This workshop review provided a really interesting take on why that is, as well as allowing me to discover that my very genre-driven, heavy reading father's something of an anomaly.
One of the things I like about the Reacherverse is that women are as likely to be strong, intelligent and self-rescuing as men, which certainly makes sense now I realise that women are deliberately targeted as part of the target audience. There's also a keen sense of justice throughout, which is apparently something women feels strongly about.
Often learning more about the author, the writing process and the way a work is aimed puts me off, but I have to say that's not the case here. I think the Reacher novels are like the best kind of romance fiction - engaging, relateable but separate from real life, with a comforting and comfortable predictability that the ending will be satisfying after an interesting journey. And I still have ten or so ahead! - Alex

The Jack Reacher novels
Killing Floor; Die Trying; Tripwire; The Visitor; Echo Burning; Without Fail; Persuader;The Enemy; One Shot;The Hard Way; Bad Luck and Trouble; Nothing to Lose; Gone Tomorrow; 61 Hours; Worth Dying For

Silver Borne - Patricia Briggs

When Mercy Thompson, skin walker and mechanic extraordinaire, receives a call from Tad, the son of her mentor Zee, she expects a little weirdness – par for the course when dealing with the fae. Tad’s friend Phineas had leant Mercy an antique book by and about the fae; he left a message for Tad, asking Mercy to take care of it. Sensing something awry, Mercy heads to Phin’s apartment – he’s not there, and his trying-hard-to-pass-for-human neighbour hasn’t seen him. Although everything seems to be okay, Mercy feels uneasy.
That all fades into insignificance when Mercy’s hit by a string of unpleasantness - someone in the pack uses her connection to it to influence her emotions and behaviour; Samuel, a lone wolf in Mercy’s partner Adam’s pack, is seriously injured in an accident that’s no accident; and bounty hunters, accompanied by a film crew, try to arrest Adam on a bogus warrant.
Series in other genres tend to focus on character development and, on occasion, a wider narrative arc, or the protagonists continue through each book little changed but possibly growing a little older. Paranormal series, on the other hand, tend to add characters, often supernatural, building and complicating the universe they inhabit. The first couple of chapters of each subsequent instalment are filled with back story upon back story, artlessly patched on to the narrative or, worse, the writer jumps right in, expecting the reader to be as intimately acquainted with and invested in the history of the character and their world. After a handful of books I sometimes feel as though I need a flowchart or timeline to keep all the developments, characters and entanglements intact, and there’s no real possibility of picking up a book midway through the series if you want to have any chance of being able to keep up. While the Sookie Stackhouse series is one of these, a stronger example is Harrison’s The Hollows series.
Silver Borne is the fifth in the Mercy Thompson series, and so far Briggs has done a great job of keeping the ‘twist’ developments that have to then be referred to and the extra, intermittently recurring characters to a minimum. Like all the paranormal series I’ve read thus far, each instalment expands the universe in which it’s set, adding new characters and, often, new supernatural creatures. The difference is that the focus is primarily on Mercy, her adoptive family (pack and work), and a world that is gradually discovering that mythical creatures really do walk amongst them.
Although there’s a plot involving the fae book, a fairy queen, murder, subterfuge and fantastic creatures, the heart of Silver Borne is the relationships Mercy has, primarily but certainly not solely with her Adam, head of the pack and recently her mate, and Sam, perhaps her closest friend. As these relationships grow and change, Mercy is also dealing with the aftermath of being raped (see Iron Kissed), which ties in with an attempted coup within the pack.
I found all these elements beautifully done. Briggs’s characters are complex and rounded, with histories and motivations that go beyond the purposes of the plot. Although surprised from time to time, because her writing is neither predictable nor formulaic, I have yet to find a description of someone acting out of character. So secure was I in this that when Mercy began behaving like a passive-aggressive princess I noted the section so I could complain about it in my review, only to have it be a pivotal, explicable plot point. And I know I mentioned it above, and in my review of Bone Crossed (book 4), but I so appreciate that Mercy has not just moved past being raped – though she is finding ways of dealing with it, it has profoundly affected her and her relationships.
I have been thoroughly engrossed in and captured by all the books in both this and Briggs’ sister series, and am hopeful that future additions to the universe will be equally well crafted and meticulous, even if that’s at the expensive of a long wait for the next one. - Alex

The Medieval Murderers: King Arthur's Bones

From the back of the book-

Five compelling interlinked mysteries from Michael Jecks, Susanna Gregory, Bernard Knight, Ian Morson and Philip Gooden.
During excavation work, an ancient leaden cross is discovered buried several feet below ground. Inscribed upon it are the words: hic iacet sepultus inclitus rex arturius… Could this really be the legendary King Arthur and his queen, Guinevere? ... As the secret of the bones’ hiding place is passed from generation to generation, those entrusted to safeguard King Arthur’s remains must withstand treachery, theft, blackmail and murder in order to keep the legend intact.

This collection of five novellas follows King Arthur’s bones from their discovery at Glastonbury Abbey in 1191 to the rediscovery of them in London in 2004. As might be expected from the authors’ pseudonym these tales take the form of mini murder mysteries. And as might also be expected in any anthology some stories appealed to me more than others but unlike other works of its type I did enjoy all of these to some extent.
I particularly liked the seamless way in which each story interconnected with those that went before. I also found realistic the way the history of the bones was slowly forgotten by those into whose hands they fell until at the end their relevance is completely unknown.
I was a little disappointed that in a couple of the stories the bones themselves didn’t play a central role. While these instalments were good enough as a fan of all thing Arthurian I would like them to have stuck a little closer to the theme.
Overall an enjoyable collection and a great opportunity to try a few authors I hadn’t read before.-Lynn

Never Look Away - Linwood Barclay

Investigative reporter David Harwood’s been concerned about his wife Jan’s apparent depression – she’s been taking mental health days at work, had a couple of not so accidental accidents, and told him of flirting with the idea of jumping of a nearby bridge. So when she has the idea of a family expedition to the local amusement park David jumps at the idea, even if their four year old son Ethan is more anxious about roller coasters than excited. When Jan loses Ethan, taking her eyes off his stroller for only an instant, David is terrified. The sleeping child is found within minutes, before park security even start looking, but David’s relief is short-lived, because Jan abruptly vanishes. Unlike Ethan, not only does she stay vanished, the preliminary investigation shows no sign of her entering Five Mountains, of booking the tickets, or even of her recent depression. As David looks increasingly like the chief suspect in a domestic crime he tries desperately to make sense of his life, and his marriage.

Barclay’s stock in trade is domestic terror, and Never Look Away is a worthy addition to a fine stable. The reader is quickly aware that David was duped from the beginning, and as the novel unfolds we learn more about Jan’s motivation, alongside David’s increasingly frantic search to uncover the truth and protect his child. There’s also a secondary plot, about a political intrigue David was working on in the lead up to the Five Mountain’s trip, and some nice character development overall. There are a couple of gory moments, but for the most part this is more a psychological suspense and very well done; though not my favourite of his works to date, Barclay off his best nonetheless excels. - Alex

The First Stone Elliott Hall

The American ideological and political landscape, once separate and now one, looks very different in the aftermath of a terrorist attack on home soil. Southern-style fundamentalism has swept most of the country, and the Elders have established their own law enforcement structure, primarily manned by home-schooled, secularly-naïve Daveys. But private eye and former Greater Middle-Eastern War soldier Felix Strange has bigger things to worry about, chief of which is managing the nameless Gulf-War-like syndrome that doesn’t officially exist but nonetheless manages to beset him unless kept at bay by a complicated and expensive cocktail of off-label prescription drugs.

Felix doesn’t work homicide cases, but when Brother Isaiah, Elder council member, is found dead in a hotel room filled with obviously planted pornography and illegal drugs, he has little choice but to investigate at the instigation of Ezekiel White, head of the Committee for Child Protection, better known to the non-faithful as the Holy Rollers. Spurred on by the carrot of enough money to pay for a year’s worth of medication, and the stick of infinite harassment (beginning with, but certainly not limited to, tax audits), Felix looks at who might have had the motive and opportunity not only to kill but also attempt to discredit America’s most trusted and beloved religious figure.

I’m writing this review almost a month after finishing The First Stone, and over many intervening novels, which means my faint recollections are going to do this first in a planned trilogy inadequate justice. Despite this, several elements of the novel remain clear, particularly the stunning Revivalist Holy Sons of American Liberty’s attack on New York’s Christopher Park, in the gay and lesbian heart of Greenwich Village, which was triumphantly overturned by the Gay and Lesbian Self Defence League. The character of Felix is engrossing and unlike any character I’ve encountered in recent memory. The noir style of dames and grittily hard-boiled detectives, usually an uneasy style in contemporary works, sits particularly well in a world where feminist equality and homosexuality have vanished. The alternate history, in which September 11 was replaced by a nuclear bomb on American soil, is fascinating, and the almost unnoticed transfer of power from a secular base to a Christian ideology as fundamentalist as any organization in the Middle East, is chillingly convincing. In The First Stone, the reality of a movement that those on the West and East coasts were able to dismiss as not really affecting them becomes overwhelming evident, and I was left with a sense of their shaken complacency. I was so captured by the premise and the writing that I borrowed and almost immediately devoured the sequel. - Alex

Lost and Found - Carolyne Parkhurst

Laura hoped that competing on "Lost & Found," a reality TV show that combines travel, team work and problem solving, would bring her closer to her daughter Cassie. Well aware that she let Cassie down at the time her daughter needed her the most, Laura can see that her very eagerness to be close and to please is counter-productive, but can't seem to stop. And when things are going well with Cassie, she always tries to take advantage of the bond, ruining the moment in the process.
Cassie has secrets her mother knows nothing about - including the fact that the show's producers not only know all about it but that the rift, and its cause, is the reason they're on "Lost & Found" to start with. They're one of half a dozen other couples who have pre-existing relationships - brothers Carl and Jeff, geeks Riley and Trent, formerly gay born again Christian husband and wife Abby and Justin, where-are-they-now childhood TV stars Dallas and Juliet, long-ago high school sweethearts Jason and Betsy - competing for a million dollars. But all the competitors will find, and lose, things they never expected.
This is the first book I've read twice since beginning this blog and, not yet having re-read my initial review, I'm interested to see how my reading has changed in the last year. Although I remembered a lot of the basic plot, including the event that drew attention to, rather than caused, the rift between Cassie and Laura, many of the plot details had faded a little.
Something more of a reality TV watcher than I care to admit in real life, I strongly engaged with the premise, and anticipate my viewing of the latest season of "The Amazing Race" to be a little enhanced by my increased awareness of the production side of reality television, including the use of carnets to facilitate passing through customs. I remember wanting to watch the show on my first reading, and that certainly hasn't changed - I'd love to see "Lost & Found" broadcast!
The characters are beautifully and sparsely drawn - they all have clear motivations and are easily destinguishable, not always the case in a relatively slender, well-populated novel. Although the action is important, relationships are at the heart of this novel, and I really enjoyed the layered, resonant portrayal of these, particularly the mother-daughter relationship.
From Laura's perspective, everything changed when she was woken by Cassie in the middle of the night to find herself a grandmother. Berating herself for not noticing Cassie's pregnancy or her withdrawal, Laura bitterly regrets her first, angry response to the news, and her guilt is still twined with anger. But for Cassie the baby is just part of a growing estrangement - from her oblivious mother, more focused on a post-weight-loss relationship than on her daughter, and from her best friend and now not-so-secret crush.
The mother-daughter dynamic is captured for me here:

I wanted to say something... "I'm having a little trouble with this," I said.
Cassie yawned. "I'm sure you are," she said.
"You could have told me," I said, trying hard not to sound critical.
Cassie looked down... when she spoke, her voice was careful and even.
"You could have noticed," she said.

There are a number of sub-plots running alongside the main relationship development. I was particularly interested in the 'formerly gay' couple, and in the whole behind the scenes production aspect, from host Barbara's deliberate on-air persona construction and need for "Lost & Found" to succeed and rescue her career, to the agendas of the support crew. but there are no wrong notes - from dialogue to character, narrative arc to premise, the whole novel was a delight the second time around. - Alex

For my initial review of Lost & Found click here; for Lynn's review click here.

Lincoln's Dreams - Connie Willis

Historical researcher Jeff Johnston is familiar with the way his employer, historical writer Thomas Broun operates. His twelfth Civil War novel, The Duty Bound, revolves around Robert E Lee – Jeff’s job is to ensure every detail is correct, from the location of Abraham Lincoln’s son Willie’s temporary grave to when lee’s beloved horse Traveller was bought and died. Broun has tendency to obsess over one aspect of his work or other and, when particularly stressed, retreat to the opus he’s been working at on the side. With the publisher’s ready to run the presses, and Broun changing each new version of the galleys, Jeff’s work is harder than ever.

Broun’s current focus is on the dreams Lincoln had in the nights before his assassination – could the tragedy have been avoided had their meaning been recognised? Did they have a meaning? Fortunately, Jeff went to college with Richard Madison, who now works at the Sleep Institute and specialises in dreams. Through Richard, Jeff meets a young woman to who he is quickly attracted. Richard is an expert of dreams and related disorders; he’s also both Annie’s therapist and, possibly, her lover, a situation Jeff finds distressing on more than one level.

There are several familiar elements in *Lincoln’s Dreams – the protagonist is surrounded by dominant, single-minded characters who have clear agendas, he often has an overwhelmed and slightly jet-lagged sleep-deprivation that obstructs clear thinking, and explorations of human psychology. In this case, the psychology of dreams – less about the hidden meanings of dreams than their impact on the dreamer. Is Annie in the throes of a mental illness, or is she somehow connected with Robert E Lee, dreaming his dreams?

There’s also a lot, understandably, about the American Civil War – while I found some of this interesting, Willis also assumes a level of knowledge that I didn’t have, despite a fair enough general vague awareness of the main players and events.

She does a beautiful job of describing dreams that would now be categorised as post-traumatic stress, and these are the most vivid parts of Lincoln’s Dreams. They were also, at least for me, the sole highlight of an otherwise thin and unsatisfying novel that was part historical, part romance, part fantasy/science fiction, past psychological suspense and wholly like the curate’s egg. The setting and the central drive of the novel, the source of and reason for Annie’s dreams, were not that interesting to me; combined with the then more inexperienced author’s less honed skills, I found this fairly early work far less interesting than Willis’s more recent novels. I have Blackout, the first in a new duology set in the same Oxfordian time travelling universe as The Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog, sitting in my To Be Read pile (which is growing only slowly, as opposed to my ever-expanding To Be Read list). I have high hopes, but will wait until the memory of Lincoln’s Dreams fades a little. - Alex