Book Review: Memory Man by David Baldacci

Amos Decker is the Memory Man, the protagonist of David Baldacci's eponymous series, which opens with Memory Man.

The bearded and massively built protagonist—a former homicide detective turned private investigator turned police consultant—has a rare gift: he remembers everything and forgets nothing. Events, experiences, people, faces, names, objects, shapes, numbers, dates and places are permanently imprinted on his mind, the result of a collision on the football field when he was twenty-two years old.

The accident ruins Decker's professional football career but leaves him with a super autobiographical memory, the ability to recall virtually everything that has happened in his life.

If you were a student preparing for a Maths or History test, you would probably give anything to have Decker's gift.

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In Memory Man, Decker puts his extraordinary perceptive faculties and deductive reasoning to good use by joining the Burlington Police Department, where he and his partner and friend, Detective Mary Lancaster, form a formidable team of investigators.

One evening, Decker returns home from work to find his wife, young daughter and brother-in-law murdered, his family brutally violated in the process. The tragedy sends his life into a downward spiral. He leaves home, gives up his job and drifts through life on the streets, largely indifferent to what becomes of him. Eventually, he manages to rebuild some semblance of a life as a reclusive private investigator, taking on minor cases, simply to survive. Meanwhile, the murders remain unsolved.

More than a year later, Decker is jolted back to reality by two extraordinary events: the appearance of a mysterious man named Sebastian Leopold, who confesses to the unsolved murders despite having a seemingly watertight alibi, and a carefully planned mass shooting at the local high school. His former boss, Captain Miller, persuades him to assist in the investigation into the shooting. Decker agrees, hoping it may finally help him uncover the truth about his family's deaths.

Decker joins his former partner, Lancaster, in the school library—the investigation's makeshift war room—with the FBI also on the case. But he largely works alone, much to the frustration of Lancaster and Special Agent Sam Bogart, bringing them in only after he has pursued a lead and uncovered something worth sharing.

What he uncovers over the next few days leaves him stunned: the person—or persons—responsible for murdering his family also orchestrated the killings of the students and staff at the school. Yet, even Decker's remarkable mental abilities fail to produce any face or name from his past that might explain the motive behind the crimes.

Amos Decker is one of the most unusual characters I have encountered in crime fiction. The tragedy has left him emotionally scarred and detached, but not devoid of empathy. His extraordinary mind makes him an effective investigator. Decker unravels most of the clues and assembles the missing pieces. Others on the case are largely content to follow his lead.

Memory Man is a well-crafted thriller with an unusual storyline and an intriguing hero. The novel's strength lies in its singular focus on Amos Decker, the Goliath-like protagonist who dominates the narrative from start to end, both as a grieving family man and a razor-sharp homicide detective. 

Book Review: Dangerous Lady by Martina Cole

The Ryans—Benjamin and Sarah—and their nine children, eight sons and a daughter, live in poverty and hardship in a seedy district of London. Michael, the eldest, is devoted to his mother and especially protective of his little sister Maura, the bright spot in an otherwise harsh household. His feelings toward his father, a habitual drinker who drifts through life with little purpose, are distant. It is from him that Michael and his brothers are drawn early into petty crime. 

It is not long before the “Bills”—as the police are called in the novel—come calling. Michael develops an intense dislike for the uniformed men. As he grows up to become a powerful and feared mobster, that antipathy toward the police becomes one of his main traits—one that nearly destroys the very family he is determined to protect.

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Martina Cole’s Dangerous Lady traces Michael Ryan’s rise in the London underworld. In many ways, Ryan—born into an Irish-English family and eventually ruling the West End underworld of London—echoes Michael Corleone, the Sicilian-American heir who comes to dominate New York’s gangland. The resemblance, however, is only partial.

In spite of Michael's intimidating presence through most of the 416-page novel, Dangerous Lady is not so much about him as his beautiful sister Maura. Following a secret love affair with a cop, fear of Michael and a painful abortion at the age of 17, she joins her brother and together they build a criminal empire that would’ve made the Sicilian Mafia proud. She proves her worth not just to Michael and her other brothers, but even to the traditionally male-dominated crime syndicates of London. But Maura also has a soft side to her, the result of unfulfilled love that comes back to haunt her and perhaps a chance at redemption.

British crime writer Martina Cole’s debut novel is more than a high-octane crime story; it is the violent saga of a crime family whose exploits stretch from post-war London in the 1950s to the mid-1980s. As the years roll on, the Ryans lose more than they gain, both within the family and on the streets of the West End.

Though Dangerous Lady is a crime drama with plenty of action and gritty scenes, I did have a few reservations about the novel. At times it feels rather long, with the narrative slowing and moving back and forth in time. I am not particularly fond of flashbacks, which may have shaped my reading of these sections. The writing is fairly straightforward, as is the dialogue. I also found it difficult to fully empathise with or connect to the characters—Michael or Maura, their strong-willed mother Sarah, or even the brothers who work in Michael’s organisation.

Despite these issues, Dangerous Lady is both entertaining and readable. It offers a dramatic canvas of organised crime, along with an all-too-real portrayal of an unlikely female gangster with a heart. I plan to read more of the Maura Ryan series, as well as other books by the author.

The novels of Jack Higgins: A master storyteller

Jack Higgins (Henry Patterson) is my favourite author. To me, the bestselling British writer ranks among the finest storytellers of his era. Like his compatriot Jeffrey Archer, Higgins made storytelling look effortless, whether he was writing wartime adventures, espionage thrillers or action novels.

Although I have not read all of his 85-odd novels, I have read many of them and look forward to reading the rest. My introduction to Higgins came in the early 1980s with his masterpiece, The Eagle Has Landed. It was followed by Hell Is Too Crowded, The Last Place God Made and A Prayer for the Dying—novels I still remember vividly.

Many of Higgins' protagonists are flawed—former IRA operatives, soldiers, mercenaries or reluctant heroes—who often live by their own moral code. They may not always be your conventional heroes, but they are easy to root for. The kind you want on your side because you know they're good men, almost saint-like, and all very likeable. 

Below are only a few of my favourite Jack Higgins novels. Ask me again tomorrow, however, and I might well replace some of them with Night of the Fox, Toll for the Brave, A Fine Night for Dying or The Keys of Hell. That's the problem—and the pleasure—of choosing favourites from an author whose books I've enjoyed for more than four decades.

Have you read Jack Higgins? If so, which of his novels would make your list?

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In Hell Is Too Crowded, American engineer Matt Brady follows a beautiful, frightened woman home to London after a night out—and wakes up to find her murdered and himself framed for the crime. Imprisoned and desperate, he must break free to clear his name. This is one of Higgins' early thrillers, first published under his real name Henry Patterson. 

Set in 1938 Brazil, The Last Place God Made is the story of down-on-his-luck British pilot Neil Mallory, who teams up with Sam Hannah, a once-legendary WWI fighter pilot now scraping a living running supplies over the Amazon. When a mission station is massacred and two nuns go missing, the two men fly into the deadly heart of the jungle to find them.

Set against the Troubles in Northern Ireland, The Savage Day introduces British agent Simon Vaughan who is sent undercover into a tense, gun-running plot involving IRA factions and a hidden fortune in stolen gold. Betrayal, sectarian violence and shifting allegiances drive this suspense thriller. 

The third in the Nick Miller series, Hell Is Always Today is a police procedural that follows Detective Sergeant Miller hunting "the Rainlover," a serial killer stalking London women on wet nights, while a separate case—an escaped boxer-turned-cat-burglar seeking revenge—runs alongside it.

In A Prayer for the Dying, IRA hitman Martin Fallon, sickened by a botched job that killed a child, flees to London hoping to escape his past—only to be blackmailed by a corrupt undertaker who witnessed his crime. Torn between a priest offering redemption and gangsters demanding one last kill, Fallon is trapped in a moral dilemma.

Blaze! Red Rock Rampage by Ben Boulden, 2017

Review & Interview

“I have no predilection about dropping you where you stand,” J.D. said. “Put the man down, gently as you would your breakfast egg, then raise your hands as high as God allows.”

© Rough Edges Press

I picked up Red Rock Rampage—No.15 in the Blaze! Adult Western Series—for three reasons. One, it's written by writer-blogger Ben Boulden whose reviews I read with much interest. Two, it's a western and packed with action, romance, and adventure. And three, it recounts the daring exploits of a husband-and-wife team of gunfighters I’d never heard of.

Red Rock Rampage is a fine debut by Ben. I read the book in three sittings, which I seldom do now. And I look forward to read more in the series, both by him and other writers.

A few pages into the book and I found myself riding at a distance behind bounty hunters J.D. and his beautiful wife Kate on their journey to Small Basin. Utah. The couple is on the trail of a gang of robbers who have been holding up trains in Arizona. They have been hired by a railway company whose northern route has been the target of the marauders.

If J.D. and Kate thought it would be a simple case of track and nab, they were mistaken. Small Basin turns out to be as hostile as an inhospitable desert under a ruthless sun. The settlement and the surrounding area are ruled by a renegade Mormon patriarch called Levi Skousen and his hired gunmen, and crooked Sheriff Allred who wants them to keep riding. The town is inhabited by a bunch of unfriendly polygamists and dirt farmers.

But our bounty hunters have no plans to vamoose now that they have tracked down their prey. And that’s when their troubles begin.

Skousen has kidnapped two young girls with the intention of adding them to his harem of twenty wives. One of the girls belongs to a poor Mexican settlement, the other has a thing for the outlaw’s estranged son. Suddenly, J.D. and Kate are forced to alter their plan and rescue the damsels with help from a priest who can shoot.

Red Rock Rampage, published by Rough Edges Press, is 115 pages of twists and turns, surprises and ambushes, and humour and excitement all the way. It’s a realistic portrayal of the Old West’s only husband-and-wife gunfighters whose derring-do and skill with guns does not hide their vulnerability. They find themselves in a tight corner more than once. When J.D. is caught and beaten up badly, Kate knows what she must do. The woman’s got guts. At one point I found myself thinking, “Come on, you should’ve seen it coming.” That they don’t adds to the reality of the plot, the descriptions, and the well-drawn characters.

I liked the book a lot, as much for Ben Boulden’s narrative style and relentless pace as for J.D. and Kate’s passion for each other and for adventure. They share a telepathic bond from the beginning. It lent a nice touch to this unusual western tale.

Recommended.

'I genuinely enjoy telling myself stories'

Photo by Kara Boulden

Ben Boulden, a trained accountant by profession, writes a column and regularly reviews mystery, crime, and thrillers for Mystery Scene Magazine. His essays, ‘Reading Ed Gorman’ and ‘Easy to Read: A Story of Rick Ollerman’ have been published in the Stark House Press editions of The Autumn Dead/The Night Remembers by Ed Gorman and Truth Always Kills by Rick Ollerman, respectively. He also regularly reviews books and interviews authors at his blog Gravetapping. Ben lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with his wife and daughter.

He spoke to the 3Cs about his debut novel in an email interview, which is split into three parts: the book, the characters and setting, and the author.

THE BOOK

Ben, why did you choose to make your writing debut with the Blaze! Adult Western Series? Why not a standalone western?
A really good question. A year ago I was interviewing Stephen Mertz, creator of Blaze!, for my blog Gravetapping and when everything was complete—questions asked and answered, formatted and posted—Steve asked if I would like to try writing a Blaze! novel. No guarantee of publication, but I unhesitatingly said, “Yes” and everything worked out. Pure blind luck aided by the kindness of Steve Mertz.

What made you pick the title Red Rock Rampage? How did you hit upon the idea?
The title was the last thing I came up with. The story was mostly complete, still lovingly titled “Untitled Blaze”, when Red Rock Rampage sprang into my head. It fit the setting, the painted rock badlands of Southern Utah, and the genre; rampaging desperados, outlaws. I especially liked the smooth alliteration.

The idea for the story arrived in a hurry. I knew I wanted it in Utah, where I’ve lived most of my life, and I narrowed it down to Southern Utah because of the beautiful, desolate setting. It was, and probably still is, wilder than Northern Utah; fewer people and less law. And, of course, it was and still is a hotbed of plural marriage. So

I took what I knew about the setting—it is called Utah’s Dixie because someone in Salt Lake City decided its arid landscape was perfect for growing cotton. It wasn’t. There was either too little water, or too much water (in the form of flash floods) and as far as I know there was never a successful crop. So I created a villain who, not satisfied with his failure as a cotton grower, found other means to gain wealth. The rest of the story bloomed from there.

You are more than familiar with western fiction. And yet, did you have to do any research for your book?
I  did some research for RRR. Mostly about the early Mormon pioneers sent from Salt Lake City to the Southwestern corner of current day Utah to grow cotton. My wife and I lived in a small college town in the area several years ago while I studied for my master’s degree and that, mixed with many trips to Canyonlands National Park (in Southeastern Utah) as a child with my parents, gave me a grasp to imagine the setting.

Were you influenced by other western fiction authors while writing Red Rock Rampage?
I don’t think it shows, but my major influence was Ed Gorman’s work. The way he develops characters, especially women, in his Western novels amazes me. Gentle, intelligent, long suffering, horny, angry, and everything else that makes a person a person.

I also followed two pieces of advice that came to me second hand, both heavily paraphrased. Ed Gorman wrote, on more than one occasion, that he owed his career to Max Allan Collins who told him to write a novel like every chapter was a short story to keep from becoming overwhelmed. And Stephen Mertz told me that Don Pendleton always said you should write, no matter what you’re writing, like it is a serious and important work.

In spite of consistent action, the narrative has an even and unhurried pace. Did you plan it that way or did it flow as you wrote?
I wanted the narrative to have a nice fluid pace, but to say I planned it from scene-to-scene (beyond hoping it worked) wouldn’t be accurate. Although I worked heavily to keep it tight and unhurried throughout the writing and then rewriting processes. I’m glad it worked. And I’m glad you told me since I still have doubts about it late at night.

Is there any part of the story or character that you wish you’d written differently?
Maybe  one. A gunny named Jackson Rockwell, who was originally intended to be the fictional brother of the Mormon gunfighter Orrin Porter Rockwell, who, as the story developed took a smaller role than I originally planned. I think the story would have benefited from developing JR’s character more as I had originally intended. Instead he became more of a stock villain with a mean streak and a desire to make his name by gunning down J.D.

CHARACTERS & SETTING
 
Both J.D. and Kate are very likeable and, in a certain way, vulnerable too. What were your thoughts as you wrote about the husband-wife gunfighters?
J.D. and Kate were the best part of writing Red Rock Rampage. I fell in a kind of literary puppy-love with Kate. Tough, smart, kind, beautiful. And I genuinely liked J.D. Although, based on the beatings I put J.D. through there may have been some jealousy at work (I hope I’m kidding). I liked the give and take between the two, and my favorite scenes are where both are present.

I couldn’t help noticing that Kate and J.D. seem to have the perfect marriage, which I felt was a great selling point. Of course, I’m basing my opinion on just this one Blaze! novel. Is that how they are in the rest of the series?
It is, I think. I’ve only read a couple of the other books in the series. I’m actually reading Stephen Mertz’s The Christmas Journey right now. But J.D. and Kate have something of a dream relationship. They have their moments, mostly when J.D. is, or isn’t, doing something Kate feels strongly about. Steve really deserves some kudos for creating this pair.

Kate is brave and determined, and more than capable of taking care of herself. I, for one, thought she stole the show. Would that be a fair assessment?
Very  fair assessment. Kate’s character really spoke to me. As I was writing the story her role, both as the ethical guide and tough as nails get things done kind of person, developed beyond what I had originally intended. In a sense, RRR is more her novel than J.D.’s.

How did you come to create Brother Skousen as the evil and lustful Mormon patriarch who terrorises young women?
He was the first villain I created for the story. In a sense, and I don’t mean this to be demeaning or derogatory to early-Mormon history, he is a composite character of the stereotypical Mormon leader. Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, etc. who practiced polygamy for a stated reason—to take care of the older women without a man (Sister Mary in the story)—but actually seemed to have an abundance of attractive 17 year old wives who, I’m sure, had a line of young male suitors. But, Skousen is a true scoundrel and many of the early Mormon leaders did some amazing things, like create the infrastructure for the American West to be settled and develop the way it did.

How easy or difficult was it to capture the descriptions of the settlement of Small Basin, Utah, and the surrounding area?
It was really fun and fairly easy. It all came out of my imagination based on my experiences in the Southern Utah landscape. The canyons with painted rock, red dirt, the Fremont Indian ruins, many still awaiting discovery, all captured my imagination as a boy and it still does today. I hope I was able to describe the wonder of the place, even a little.

THE AUTHOR
 
Ben, can you briefly take us through your journey as a writer and an author?
I've been writing fiction since my early teens and over the past six or seven years I gave up the idea of seriously pursuing publication. I had a few very small successes placing short stories in tiny literary magazines (circulation less than ten, probably) in the early-2000s, but my writing plateaued. Each story had the same flaws as the one before. Not developed quite right, out of sync narrative, underdeveloped characters, etc.

So I started reviewing novels and short stories, first for a website, then my own blog and finally for Mystery Scene Magazine, to see if critically reading the work of successful writers would help my own writing. And it did, but not exactly the way I expected. I learned a bunch about structure, and even more about style, but the knowledge was still a little hazy. Then I started writing individual scenes, not for publication, but rather for my own amusement, about anything that caught my fancy. A mother mourning a child, a firefight, cowboys finding a flashlight. This more than anything improved my fiction writing, but I was still an unbeliever.

Then, an amazing thing happened, which I talked about in a question above, Stephen Mertz—creator of Blaze!—asked if I would be interested in writing a Blaze! novel. And I did. And Rough Edges Press published it. My writing life, I hesitate to call it a career, has been one filled with mostly work and a few lucky breaks. The first was Ed Gorman’s unflagging support of my critical writing and his help getting me a chance to write for Mystery Scene and then Steve Mertz’s simple question. I owe them both more than I can say.

How would you describe the experience of writing, and especially writing a book?
Hard, but satisfying. I genuinely enjoy telling myself stories, but the daily grind of working all day, then coming home and writing is difficult. The self-doubt is hard, too. Never knowing if something is good, or even readable, as I write and rewrite. But as satisfying as anything I’ve ever done when I type “the end” after the last paragraph. And then as I started revisions, actually enjoying the story.

Where, when, and how often do you write?
I have a weekly goal of 2,500 to 3,000 words. I often don’t make it, but I try. I have a tiny office in the house, cold in the winter and hot in the summer, where I do part of my writing. I also write at the kitchen table, which is where I am now. I travel some for work, and I write in hotel rooms at night when I’m away.

I may write for fifteen minutes or two or three hours, depending on my schedule. On weekends I write in the morning, and during the week I write in the evening. It all depends, but it would be nice if I could find a rhythm with a defined schedule. 5–7 AM, or something. I think it would increase my productivity, but I haven’t been able to make it happen yet.

How long did it take you to write Red Rock Rampage? Can you take us through the process from the time you conceived of the story idea?
I started planning the story—doing a little research—and basically stalling the actual writing in mid-April, 2016 and I turned the final draft into the editor the first week of August. So, from that first idea to the finished product was about 3-1/2 months. The first few chapters went like wildfire and there were a few spots in the story where I found myself lost in those murky middle portions. I knew where I wanted to go, but my map disappeared. When that happened I stopped writing for a few days, once for nearly a week, and thought about the story, what made sense, what J.D. and Kate would be inclined to do. And I always figured a way forward. And it always felt natural to me. Something that much of my earlier writing didn’t have.

What can your readers expect after your brilliant debut—more in the Blaze! series or something else, perhaps?
I’m working, rather slowly, on another Blaze! novel now. It’s been slow for a few reasons. My work schedule has been unusual the last few months and I have been able to gain a rhythm on the story. But I like the story, and I’m hoping to have it finished in a few months. I just finished a hardboiled crime short story that I like a bunch. I’m not sure what is going to happen with it, but it felt great writing “the end” a few nights ago.

Once I finish my next Blaze! novel I may try something of my own. I have a few ideas percolating, mostly western and crime. We’ll see. But I’m excited that things are looking bright (in a very small way) for me.

Who are some of your favourite genre authors? Which books have influenced your writing?
I’ve already mentioned Ed Gorman. He is probably one of the most underrated writers of his generation. His works tends to be dark, which may be a reason it hasn’t caught on like I think it should, but he is well worth reading. Especially is mystery and western fiction.

Ron Faust is another favorite. No one writes better, more meaningful, or even beautiful prose than Faust did. He didn’t write enough, only 15 novels over four decades, but if you ever find anything with his name on its cover, buy it, steal it, or do whatever you have to do to get it home.

What were your thoughts when you first held Red Rock Rampage in your hand?
Woohoo! Then disbelief. Then woohoo! Then, man, I hope a few people like it.

Finally, Ben, what is your advice to people like me who aspire to publish someday?
Keep at it. I had given up, writing snippets of fiction here and there for my own amusement, but an amazing thing happened. I wrote a book, it was published. And I’m nothing special. Maybe lucky, but not special. So keep writing and something will come.

Thank you, Ben.

The Laws of the Spirit World by Khorshed Bhavnagri, 2009

In Ghost, Sam (Patrick Swayze) is killed by a thief in an alley, leaving his girlfriend Molly (Demi Moore) shattered. It is no ordinary street mugging. Sam comes back as a spirit to warn Molly that her life is in danger. But since he cannot be seen or heard, he takes the help of a reluctant psychic, Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg), to communicate with Molly and save her from his crooked friend and mastermind Carl Bruner (Tony Goldwyn).

The film was a big hit because of the unusual storyline and the romantic poetry of Swayze and Moore and, I suspect, its underlying theme—afterlife—and the mystery surrounding it.

Everyone at some point or another wonders—is there life after death? If yes, then what is it like? So far a credible answer has been as elusive as the possibility of life in space. It has even eluded mystics who, for want of a better response, instruct us to keep our faith and not question the here and hereafter.

In The Laws of the Spirit World (2009), Khorshed Bhavnagri takes the reader through her painful quest to find the answer that eventually helps her turn her personal tragedy into an endearing spiritual journey—and come to terms with the death of her loved ones. Along the way she rediscovers peace, solace, and more.

Khorshed’s small world and her faith in God came crashing down when her two motorsport-loving sons, Vispi, 31, and Ratoo, 30, died in a car accident one winter’s day in December 1980. It was all but the end of the world for her and her husband, Rumi Bhavnagri, who lived in Byculla in central Bombay (now Mumbai). 

“I had been very religious. Now, for the first time, I began to question whether there was a God. If there was a God then why should He do this terrible thing to me, snatch my sons away when I have never harmed a hair on anyone’s head? I was ready to give up God, religion and life,” the distraught mother said.

Khorshed Bhavnagri

A few days after the funeral, a chance encounter with a powerful medium changed their lives once again—only this time for the better and for the spiritual benefit of scores of other sufferers. The Bhavnagris provided guidance and comfort to both young and old, and offered counsel to troubled people. Questions about personal and spiritual matters were addressed and minds set at ease. These are reproduced in the second part of the book.

The psychic held seances to help Khorshed and Rumi “communicate” with their sons in the spirit world. They did so first by automatic writing and then via telepathy. “You must not cry for us or miss us, we are much happier here,” Vispi and Ratoo told their parents who, guided by the boys, set out on their noble mission of spiritual awakening. The devout couple were inspired by the life and teachings of spiritual messiahs.

The 380-page book, published by Mumbai's Jaico Publishing House, is the true and affecting story of grief-stricken parents and their desperate search for the meaning of existence, the realms of life and death, the power of the subconscious mind, and concepts of good and evil and heaven and hell. It is borne out of their sons’ desire to explain the laws of the spirit world to the mortal world.

The Laws of the Spirit World is not out of my comfort zone. Since I have been reading spiritual books from my early teens, the book resonated with me. But there is plenty of food for thought even for those not inclined to the metaphysical. What is required is an open mind and the willingness to accept concepts beyond one’s deep-rooted beliefs and principles. It offers a refreshing perspective on various aspects of life and death, and it is up to readers to accept or reject them. For example, readers who don’t believe in the afterlife and the mediums and seances associated with it can still take away valuable tips the author offers on how people, as individuals or families, can lead a happy and contented life. Isn’t that the purpose of every beautiful life?

The writing is simple and lucid and set in broad typeface that makes the book aesthetically appealing.

Rumi and Khorshed Bhavnagri passed away in 1996 and 2007, respectively, and as they would've, no doubt, liked everyone to know, “happily reunited with their sons in the spirit world.”

A few reviews from Amazon

“The book has changed my life, and I am sure it will change yours too.” 
— Shiamak Davar, noted Indian choreographer and follower of Khorshed Bhavnagri

“An excellent read. Changes one's perspective towards life. A book for believers in God, Karma and reincarnation. Death, the imminent event in everyone's life, is mostly an enigma. This book enables the reader to strike peace with death and solve that mystery i.e. death is nothing but a foray into eternal life.”
— Radha
 
“For one who has read Indian philosophy, and works (of) Dr. Brian Weiss etc., I find that this book reinforces the same universal message. It takes faith to believe in the spirit world but the message is universal—we need to connect with our inner selves and everyone around us is a noble person living out his/her 'spirit'ual goal.”
— J. Mallaparajuon

Killing Floor by Lee Child, 1997

Opening line: I was arrested in Eno's diner. At twelve o'clock, I was eating eggs and drinking from the highway to the edge of town.

The first thing I noticed the moment I read the opening lines was Lee Child’s writing style—refreshing and freewheeling without losing the intensity of the plot. The first-person narrative is matter of fact and almost conversational. It seemed as if the English novelist, who was born Jim Grant, was sitting across from me in a roadside diner and narrating his first story about Jack Reacher, his tall and hardy protagonist.

Jack Reacher is as appealing as Lee Child’s writing, as compelling as Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne. Neither knows fear. Both operate with grim determination and cold efficiency, and get to the root of things no matter what. Essentially, Reacher and Bourne are survivors. But the comparison between the two clever heroes ends there, for the stories and the worlds they inhabit are very different.

In Killing Floor, the drifter and former military cop is arrested for murder shortly after he arrives in Margrave, a murky town in Georgia. A case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Reacher and a timid guy named Hubble, who "confesses" to the murders, are interned in a state prison where our man becomes the unintended victim of a murderous attack meant for the other.

Convinced of his innocence, the police let off Reacher, who then discovers that one of the dead men who he was accused of killing was his older brother, Joe. Reacher stays back to avenge the death of a brother he was fond of as a kid and had almost forgotten when he grew up. He and detective Finlay and police officer Roscoe, to whom he is attracted, begin a secret investigation. The case takes them through a bloody trail lined with more bodies, including that of police chief Morrison and his wife, Hubble’s disappearance, and eventually to a brilliant counterfeit operation whose billion-dollar tentacles stretch into the mayor’s office and Margrave police.

Killing Floor has received mixed reviews, some good, some bad, and some average. I thought it was a realistic and hard-hitting debut by Lee Child who plates up a decent mixture of action, including some guerrilla-style killing by the fearless Reacher, and conventional detective work. The narrative is laced with some good lines, like the one I have reproduced below. Reacher is constantly on the move and so is the narrative pace. 

“You can’t find him, can you?” I said. “You’re useless, Kliner. You’re a useless piece of shit. You think you’re some kind of a smart guy, but you can’t find Hubble. You couldn’t find your asshole if I gave you a mirror on a stick.”

Elsewhere, the book is a fascinating study in counterfeiting which, we are told, is well-nigh impossible to accomplish in America. But as Joe, a government official who was hot on the trail of the crime syndicate, and Reacher find out, it can be done—and how.

Now that I have had a glimpse into the not unpleasant world of Jack Reacher, I’m eager to see how his no-nonsense character develops. The series has attracted a lot of attention, not least because of the 2013 namesake film where Tom Cruise plays the eponymous hero. Although, frankly, it’s a role that would have suited a younger Liam Neeson better.

Recommended.

Currently Reading: Fatherland by Robert Harris, 1992

Entry for Friday's Forgotten Books over at Patti Abbott's blog Pattinase.

Berlin, April 1964. Nazi Germany has won World War II. Adolf Hitler is alive and about to celebrate his 75th birthday. JFK's father, Joseph P. Kennedy, is President of the United States. Edward VIII is King of England. And a Cold War is brewing between the Third Reich and America.

Detective Xavier March of the Kriminalpolizei, or Kripo, is investigating the suicide or murder of a senior Nazi official whose naked body is fished out of Havel River on the outskirts of Berlin. The victim was one of the participants at the Wannsee Conference, held to gain political traction over America. March uncovers a sinister plot to eliminate the other participants which, I think, puts our protagonist on a collision course with the top echelons of the Reich.

The Wannsee Conference was actually held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee in January 1942. The meeting was called by Reinhard Heydrich, director of the Reich Main Security Office and one of the key architects of the Holocaust, to discuss "a final solution to the Jewish question." Heydrich, who figures in the book, was second to Heinrich Himmler in the SS.

Alternative history raises fascinating, and sometimes provoking, questions. Fatherland, the debut novel of noted English novelist and former journalist Robert Harris, weaves his 352-page crime-thriller around one of the most debated what-if scenarios—what if Nazi Germany had won WWII and Hitler were alive and ruling long after the war?

I have read only a few pages of the book so far and I'm already drawn in by Harris' fine narrative, both engrossing and darkly entertaining. In a way Fatherland, particularly the opening pages, has shades and starkness of Martin Cruz Smith's Gorky Park—picture Xavier March as Arkady Renko, post-war Berlin as Moscow, the discovery of a dead body (or bodies) in a public place, the Gestapo as KGB, and a government conspiracy to keep the investigation under wraps. This is my first impression.

Fatherland is first and foremost a detective-crime story. But what a setting in terms of scale and innovation! I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the book.

In 1994, HBO made a TV movie based on the film. Rutger Hauer played the role of SS-Sturmbannführer Xavier March.

Robert Harris specialises in historical fiction and has authored nearly a dozen such novels. His upcoming thriller, Conclave, slated for a September release, is "set over 72 hours in the Vatican" and follows "the election of a fictional Pope."

In Bitter Chill by Sarah Ward, 2015

Review & Interview

Sadler looked out across the whitening square. “I don't think it was ever closed.”

Detective Inspector Francis Sadler is talking about a three-decade old case in which two young schoolgirls in Bampton, a sleepy town in Derbyshire, England, were abducted. While Rachel Jones was found alive, her friend Sophie Jenkins was presumed dead—murdered by their kidnappers.

Way back then, the police investigation remained inconclusive and the case was closed. Was it really? Apparently not.

More than thirty years later, the unexplained suicide of Sophie’s mother, Yvonne Jenkins, in a hotel room, and the discovery of school teacher Penny Lander’s strangled body in a wooded area, comes back to haunt Rachel, survivor of that terrible event of January 20, 1978.

Rachel, now in her late-thirties, is a genealogist who digs up family secrets and histories, but keeps her own strictly under wraps. She’d like nothing better than to forget her past, the little that she remembers, and get on with her quiet life.

But the thing about the past is that it usually catches up with the present, and the outcome is not always pleasant.

When Detective Inspector Sadler and his diminutive partner, Detective Constable Connie Childs, link the two mysterious deaths to the old case, Rachel is sucked back into her past and forced to confront the sordid truth behind the abduction. She becomes an unwitting collaborator in the rebooted investigation of the crime.

In Bitter Chill—the debut novel of English writer and blogger Sarah Ward—is a compelling and well-written story of family secrets within secrets which, while being dark, is not discomfiting.

The novel is like a trident, a spear with three prongs, where each point holds three key plot elements of the story.

One, in spite of being a child-kidnap victim, Rachel becomes a genealogist when she grows up. She refuses to look over her shoulder but you can tell she is curious to know what happened to her and Sophie that day. Her own independent inquiries help her to come to terms with her mysterious past.

Two, Sarah has handled the subject of child abduction thoughtfully and sensitively, not to mention deceptively, because she doesn’t make it easy for the reader to guess why Rachel and Sophie were kidnapped. I had a few ideas, like child trafficking, for instance.

Three, DI Sadler and DC Childs are like two obsessive archaeologists who dig into the ruins of a thirty-year old case and put the skeleton of the crime together. They operate on the same wavelength in this mild police procedural. I expect to read more of their stories in future.

Sarah has written In Bitter Chill with engaging frankness. The narrative is well-plotted, evenly paced, and meticulously clean. The descriptive nature of the story fits in well with the small-town setting where everyone knows everyone by name. The three main characters, Rachel, Sadler, and Connie, are believable and drawn with ease. Each one works on the case with a quiet determination. The genealogist and the two detectives are bound by a common interest—putting a lid on the case and achieving a sense of closure.

On the flipside, at 310 pages, I thought the novel was a touch too long. There were moments when I wanted the author to cut to the chase, but that was largely because I was keen to see what happened in the end. Frankly, I didn’t see it coming. Another plus for Sarah’s fine debut.

Recommended.

I thank Sarah for sending me a review copy of In Bitter Chill as well as agreeing to do the interview that follows.


‘I became a writer because I'm a reader’

Photograph provided by the author.

Sarah Ward spoke to the 3Cs in an email interview, which is split into three parts: the book, the characters and setting, and the author.

THE BOOK
 
Sarah, how did the idea for In Bitter Chill originate? Was the child abduction and murder based on a true story?
It's based on an experience that happened to me as a child when I was walking to school and a woman attempted to persuade me to get into her car. Of course, I didn't go with her. But it left a feeling of confusion that I wanted to explore in my debut novel.

Did you always want to debut with a police procedural?
I see In Bitter Chill as a mix of police procedural and as a standalone book. Although the police investigation plays a role, I feel the book is primarily about Rachel's own investigation into her past.

What kind of research did you have to do for the subject of your novel?
I did a certain amount of tracing my own family tree and also talked to people about the impact of childhood trauma. I was keen to show that Rachel could come across as aloof but that this would be a response to what happened to her as a child.

Were you influenced by other crime fiction authors while writing In Bitter Chill?
Not while I was writing In Bitter Chill, but I suspect that I've been influenced by every book that I've enjoyed reading.

The narrative is slow but evenly paced for most part of the book and then builds up towards the end. Did you plan it that way or did it flow as you went along?
I suppose the flow was natural. I rewrote the book quite a lot, so it's difficult to assess In Bitter Chill objectively. I didn't want the book to be full of shocks but rather a gradual unfolding of the mystery.

CHARACTERS & SETTING

Sarah, I thought two of the three main characters, Detective Constable Connie Childs and kidnap victim and genealogist Rachel Jones, were similar in not too obvious a manner. Who or what inspired their characters?
That's interesting as I didn't intend to make them similar.

I see Connie as impetuous and investigating from the heart. She becomes involved in the story of the girls' disappearance when the rest of the team are lukewarm about the chances of discovering what happened those years ago.

Rachel, I see as more resolute, determined to find out what happened to her rather than it being done by an outside agency. She also comes across as slightly cold due to her self-sufficiency. Neither character is based on a real-life person. They developed during the writing.

Is Bampton, the small fictional town in Derbyshire, based on a town you knew well, or maybe, grew up in? 
Bampton isn't based on a real-life town but I wanted it to embody the sort of place where I grew up. There was one high school and one doctor's surgery. You would walk down the street and see someone you knew. It's the type of place where secrets can exist for generations and, at the same time, where everyone knows each other's business.

There is a subtle hint of attraction between Detective Inspector Francis Saddler and Connie Childs. Can we expect them to come together in future?
Who knows. I suspect Connie's path in life won't be a smooth one.

In spite of being an excellent genealogist, why is Rachel Jones reluctant to delve into her own past?
I think people are capable of drawing a distinction between their personal and private lives. I'm also drawn to how people can unwittingly choose professions that have a resonance with their own past.

How real are family secrets in the small towns of England?
I think every family has its secrets. But I think when families live in close proximity to each other, the potential for tension and conflict can be greater.

THE AUTHOR
 
Sarah, can you take us through your journey as a writer and an author?
I became a writer because I'm a reader. Crime fiction has always been my love but I do read other genres, particularly literary fiction and poetry. I started writing when I was living in Athens, Greece. In Bitter Chill was my second attempt at a novel. Both Sadler and Connie were in the first novel I tried but I decided I liked the characters better than the plot, so I had a second go!

What does writing mean to you? How do you describe the experience?
Umm...hard work! I wouldn't say it comes that easily to me although I have moments when the words flow out. But I am diligent and I try to write something every day. And I'm a conscientious editor and am happy to keep rewriting something until I like the ‘feel’ of it.

Where, when, and how do you write?
Usually in my house although sometimes at a cafe. And I do like to have at least one intense burst during a book's first draft. Mornings are my most productive time, afternoons are hopeless and I try again in the evenings.

How long did it take you to write In Bitter Chill?
About two years with long gaps in between.

What can your readers expect after your brilliant debut?
Thank you! I have just finished the second book in the series which will be called A Fragile Spring. It's coming out in the UK next September. It will feature the same police characters with a new female protagonist and a new mystery.

What books have influenced your writing and who are some of your favourite authors?
No individual book. My favourite crime writers are Agatha Christie, PD James and Ruth Rendell.

Do you have a specific time and place for reading?
Whenever I get a chance. Always in bed and on trains.

Finally, Sarah, what is your advice to budding authors?
Finish what you start and then make it better. I don't think there's any magic formula. Most of the best authors I know are extremely hard working.

Thank you, Sarah.


Reviews by my blog friends and acquaintances

Tracy at Bitter Tea and Mystery

Martin Edwards at Do You Write Under Your Name?

Bernadette at Reactions to Reading

Rebecca Bradley at Murder Down to a Tea 

Moira Redmond at Clothes in Books

Puzzle Doctor at In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel

The Thirteenth Day by Aditya Iyengar, 2015

The old warrior lay on a bed of arrows.

The Mahabharata and the Ramayana are the two great epics that most Indians hear about from childhood. At the heart of the larger-than-life stories about royal succession and moral dilemma are dynastic conflicts that take place on a grand scale.

Although the narratives are more mythological than historical, many scholars cite archaeological evidence to suggest that the two wars in the epics actually took place thousands of years ago. Each battle of right and wrong and good versus evil occurs during a yuga, or epoch, in Hinduism.

Mumbai-based writer Aditya Iyengar has set The Thirteenth Day: A Story of the Kurukshetra War (2015) in Kali Yuga—the Dark Age or Iron Age—the fourth and final cycle of life, the times we live in. The Kurukshetra War is the main element of the Mahabharata. It pertains to a fierce struggle between two sets of cousins, the Kauravas and Pandavas, for the kingdom of Kuru at Hastinapura, said to be in modern-day Haryana in North India. 

The succession battle eventually leads to an internecine war fought over eighteen days and decides the fates of the cousins and their friends and allies.

Iyengar infuses a fresh perspective into his story by narrating it through the eyes of Yudhishthira, Radheya, and Abhimanyu, three of several principal characters in the epic who are as flawed as they are infallible.

Yudhishthira, the eldest and most virtuous of the five Pandava brothers, fights his own inner battles as he tries, somewhat reluctantly, to prove he is as good as his more valiant brothers. The man who would be king would rather be elsewhere than on the battlefield.

Radheya, popularly known as Karna, is half-brother of the Pandavas. He lends his warfare skills to Suyodhana (Duryodhana), the Kaurava leader, after he learns the truth about his illegitimate birth to Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas. The stable boy grows up to become a great warrior and an expert archer. In this, he is almost equal only to Arjuna, the third Pandava. Radheya is bitter and confused as he struggles with his feelings towards his royal half-brothers and his desire to rule the kingdom as the eldest.

Abhimanyu, the warrior son of Arjuna, is desperate to prove himself on the battlefield. He resents his father’s instructions to stay in the reserves. Skilled in warfare and audaciously brave, the young prince enters the battleground, vanquishes rulers far more experienced than him, and pays with his life.

The thirteenth day in the title of the book refers to the 13th and most decisive period of the 18-day war when the wily Kauravas lure Abhimanyu into the Chakravyuha, a multi-layered battle formation akin to an onion, and kill him in cold blood. The event is seen as a game changer in the war as Arjuna, distraught with grief, vows to destroy the enemy and avenge his son’s brutal death. 

Author Aditya Iyengar

The author explains the premise behind his debut novel in his synopsis. 

“The 13th day treats the Kurukshetra War as a historical event rather than mythology. So the events are explained as if they really happened—without the fantastic elements: the flying asuras, nuclear potential astras and divine intervention. In doing this, I've tried to explain how real events and people become stories and legends, and eventually the myths that become a part of our living heritage.”

He continues, “In a sense, I've written the story as a parallel to our times and while the story is set a thousand years ago, it acts as a mirror to society today. The underlying theme of the story revolves around identity and deals with our need for a positive public impression and the lengths we can go to secure it. All the characters act with a motive to gain greater glory or public currency from the battle. None more so than Abhimanyu, who wants to be remembered as the greatest warrior of his times and who, like any young person, wants to be spoken of 'in the words of bards and poets' (the mass media of those times).”

In retelling a section of the Kurukshetra War, Aditya Iyengar has tried to remove the veneer of mystery and romanticism from the epic and redrawn its feared and revered characters and made them more realistic and appealing. While he has kept the famed celestial weapons of war out of his narrative, he has described the battle on the ground with graphic intensity. The brutality of the Kurukshetra is reminiscent of violent and bloody conflicts of the modern world.

I enjoyed reading The Thirteenth Day because of my familiarity with the epic. The Mahabharata can and has been interpreted in different ways. Iyengar chose to do so from the point of view of three disparate characters and, in so doing, demolished some of the myths surrounding the powerful warriors and the battles they fought. I saw them as more human and less supernal beings.

Iyengar’s writing is good and his narrative is engaging, though it tends to meander through some of the battle scenes. At 260 pages, I thought my ebook was a tad too long. It’d have read crisper with less, but that's the writer's prerogative. A reader not familiar with the Kurukshetra War will find the book of interest as it provides a glimpse into one of ancient India’s premier Sanskrit literature.

Recommended.

Noble Beginnings by L.T. Ryan, 2012

The conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq escalated ever since the Soviet Union invaded the first in 1979 and America went to war with the second in 1990. The Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein’s intrusion of Kuwait, which led to Operation Desert Shield, deepened the turmoil in the two volatile regions. Since then, both countries have spiralled out of control. The proxy wars waged by terrorists against the West culminated in 9/11 and provoked America into bombing its way back into the conflict zones.

Noble Beginnings, the first thriller in the Jack Noble series by L.T. Ryan, is set in the backdrop of America's heightened involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, which was sufficient reason for me to accept the free offer of the 222-page Kindle edition and read it in three sittings. I have a keen interest in war and espionage, both real and fictional.

Although the premise looked promising, I was disappointed with the story. It wasn't gripping, as the cover and the description hinted, and it wasn't very well-written, as I thought it would be. It was too long and meandering, and there were mistakes in the narrative. I got the impression that it wasn't read through and edited thoroughly.

Might the plot be the saving grace? Not really. I felt the writer lost the plot as soon as he returned the two marines, Jack Noble and his friend Bear, back to the US.

Noble and Bear are on loan to the CIA in Iraq where their expertise as highly trained US marines is wasted. They are made to stand guard when special agents conduct secret operations. After one special op, Noble and Bear are framed for the murder of an Iraqi family they tried to save.

Back in America, the fearless marines are constantly on the run from mysterious agents who want to silence them. In their defence Nobel and Bear are forced to kill some of their pursuers. The two friends realise they are victims of a conspiracy when the colonel, whom they trained under and trust, and a highly-placed government official end up dead. 

Who in the US government is after them? Who is imprisoning and killing fellow marines who took part in the ‘programme’ in Iraq? Does someone want to shut down the ‘programme’ because it has been compromised or is somebody high up in the government trying to hide something more sinister?

Jack Noble is desperate for some answers. Does he find them in A Deadly Distance, the second book, or others in the series? I'm not too eager to find out.

The plot of Noble Beginnings would have been convincing, had it been more realistic, in light of what happened in Iraq—Abu Ghraib, for instance, where US soldiers and CIA agents are believed to have tortured Iraqi prisoners. It was also a poor effort at introducing Noble whose character, I thought, lacked conviction.

This is the second thriller I read in recent weeks where the lead characters are either on the run or giving chase for far too long, without seeming to get anywhere.

L.T. Ryan is a writer of suspense thrillers and post-apocalyptic fiction.

Run Girl by Eva Hudson, 2014

Run Girl by British writer Eva Hudson is the first of five novels in the Ingrid Skyberg FBI thriller series. I downloaded it from Amazon partly because I liked the plot and partly because it was free. As a rule I don’t purchase ebooks by new writers, at least not right away. But now that I have read the first adventure of special agent Skyberg, I'm curious to read the other four and see how her character develops and what she gets up to.

© Amazon Digital Services, Inc.

Although Run Girl has been marked as a “thriller,” I thought it read more like young adult fiction and Ingrid Skyberg could have been Nancy Drew, only stronger and more sophisticated.

The young and attractive special agent is in London, for a dreary FBI training programme at Scotland Yard, when she is whisked away to the American embassy in a black sedan. Ingrid soon learns why. She must find an 18-year old missing girl before news of her disappearance leaks out and all hell breaks loose.

Rachel Whiiticker was accompanying her grandmother, US Secretary of State Jayne Whitticker, on a diplomatic trip to Paris when she decided to give her bodyguard the slip and run off to London, to meet secretly with her boyfriend and have a little adventure of her own.

The mandarins at the American embassy want to keep the crisis under wraps lest the political and diplomatic fallout of Rachel’s disappearance jeopardises a peace deal being brokered by her grandmother between warring African countries. 

© www.evahudson.com

There’s just one problem: the Secretary of State doesn’t know her favourite grandchild is missing.

Run Girl is a well-written story though it meanders through a series of false leads and hot pursuits as Ingrid Skyberg and Nicholas Angelis, a private security agent hired by the US embassy, race against time to track down Rachel and bring her back. The narrative is fast paced but it lacks the suspense and solidity that I expect in an FBI thriller. Still, I enjoyed the story. I thought it was inventive.

Recommended.

You can check out the book at Amazon and learn more about Eva Hudson and her books at her website.