Tag: Fiction

The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly

The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly

Posted on by Jack

The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly may be the best in the Lincoln Lawyer series but I can’t say that. It may be, but I’m not the person to say. I had read the first Lincoln Lawyer book years ago. It was OK but I liked other books much better (including his Harry Bosch series). So I haven’t read them all so can’t really say this is the best. But I can say it is very good.

Also Michael Connelly is a very good story teller. In each of his books that I’ve read to date (and it must be close to 20 books now), he constantly surprises you and keeps your interest piqued. One more chapter leads to the next and it is hard to put down the book and take a break to take care of the other things in life. And many of his books are not short quick reads (this is over 400 pages) so this obsessive period where you get little done besides reading usually last several days for me. I started reading his crime stories which were mostly told from the point of view of the investigating detective. I found it surprising when he introduced the Lincoln Lawyer and demonstrated that he is so good at telling stories both through the eyes of a detective and a defense lawyer.

I skipped the next few in the series. But having seen the recent movie on the Lincoln Lawyer and heard this book was very good, I decided to give this book a try. I was not disappointed.

To very briefly summarize the plot (without giving much away), the bad economy has hurt business for Mickey Haller. There are still plenty of criminals and those accused of crime but fewer can afford to pay a defense lawyer. So Mickey has moved over to the new booming business for lawyers, homeowners who are facing foreclosure. But no sooner does the book start than things become much more interesting. A foreclosure client is accused to killing the banker involved with her loan. Yes, Michael Connelly does make the world of foreclosure interesting. And the murder defense makes things more interesting.

The book is excellent as a legal thriller and is also very relevant to current events. The foreclosure mess is very much in the news these days. I’d highly recommend The Fifth Witness.

I headed over to Amazon to see what everyone thought of the book. I thought the book was very good but wanted to know what others thought. There were over 200 hundred reviews so I just read the first few and they were very positive. Then I looked at the summary and about 25% of reviews gave the highest rating (5 stars) and all the rest were the lowest (1 star). There was nothing in between which seemed very odd. Then I remembered a blog entry that discussed the 1 star protest against high Kindle prices (http://thebookstop.wordpress.com/2010/11/06/thoughts-on-kindle-book-pricing-and-the-one-star-protest/) and I read further and that what was happening. The negative reviewers seemed to agree it was a very good book but gave it a 1 star because the Kindle price was too high (in their opinion of course).

I don’t think a review should be based on the price of a book or whether the reviewer thinks the version they read (or refused to buy) is overpriced. The publisher incurs many of the same costs – editorial, publicity, marketing, etc. So I would not expect the books to be extremely cheap since that would mean ignoring some very real costs. But save the cost of actually printing and shipping the book. Preparing and distributing the Kindle versions would also involve cost but I would think these should be lower than warehousing the printed copy and mailing it to the buyer. (Amazon, correct me if I am wrong here. ) It is generally the case that the Kindle version is a little cheaper but I have also seen cases where the Kindle version is actually a little bit more. This makes no sense to me. But it seems to me that the complaint is to the merchant or maybe the publisher, certainly not the author, and the price of various editions has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the work which is what most of us read reviews for.

Forever by Pete Hamill a novel New York City history

Forever by Pete Hamill a novel New York City history

Posted on by Jack

Forever by Pete Hamill is one of my favorite books. I read it several years back and re-read it recently. I’d highly recommend it. It is a novel dealing with the old Celtic religion, 18th century Ireland, the history of New York City (colonial times to the tragedy of September 2001), and love in an unusual way. I enjoyed it when I first read it several years ago and enjoyed it again recently.

The book is a bit over 600 pages; so be aware reading this is large time commitment for all but the fastest readers. And a fair bit of magic is involved. So unless you are willing to accept that for purposes of the story, the story will seem stupid. But if you do accept the magic for the story (or at least suspend your disbelief), you will be amply rewarded with a great story.

Pete Hamill is a great writer with a long history as a New York City newspaperman and author. It is hard to imagine someone better to tell the story of The City.

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire workplace disaster

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire workplace disaster

Posted on by Jack

After watching the PBS special on Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York’s Greenwich Village , I just thought I’d put a couple of books I read about that here. This fire was the largest workplace disaster in New York City until 9/11. Ironically, this industry and this factory had been picketed for unsafe working conditions. The owners fought the unions.

The will be 2 specials this month since the fire occurred one hundred years ago on March 25, 1911.

Triangle: The Fire That Changed America by David Von Drehle
is a well-written account of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City in 1911 where 146 workers lost their lives. In addition to covering this event in detail, he discusses the effects of this tragic event on the labor movement and government involvement in labor and safety standards. The author was one of many writers and historian interviewed in the PBS documentary. It has been at least 5 years since I read this but it was an excellent book.

Feel free to check out the reviews on Amazon and look around and see if more recent books look more interesting to you.

Triangle: A Novel by Katharine Weber is a novel based on the Triangle fire which came out a few years back. (See my opinion of a nonfiction account directly above here.) This novel is not just historical fiction about the event, but rather a much more complex tale of memory and human nature. The memory is that of a survivor. But it does cover the actual events, too. A thoroughly enjoyable book.

Gabriel Cohen: “The Graving Dock” and “Neptune Avenue”

Gabriel Cohen: “The Graving Dock” and “Neptune Avenue”

Posted on by Jack

Recently I’ve been reading some non-fiction and really enjoyed those books but large non-fiction books can be a bit slow and since I liked the crime fiction by Gabriel Cohen, I thought I would give myself a treat with a couple of his books that were on my “to read” list. These would be “The Graving Dock” and “Neptune Avenue”. And as expected, both were much faster and enjoyable in a different way.

In the past few months, I reviewed 2 books by Gabriel Cohen: “The Ninth Step” and “Red Hook”. I really liked both, the first and fourth in a series about Detective Jack Leightner. “The Graving Dock” and “Neptune Avenue” are and second and third.

Gabriel Cohen’s books are crime novels, they are so much more. Jack grew up near the docks in Red Hook, Brooklyn and is haunted by his childhood (his relationship with his father and the death of his brother mostly) and his failures as an adult (especially a failed marriage, an uneasy relationship with his son, and difficulties in relationships). All in this series have been excellent reads and now that I’ve read all 4 in the series to date, I guess I’ll just have to wait for the next.

Since the sense of place is so important in Gabriel Cohen’s novels, these books are wonderful for those who either know Brooklyn or want to know more about Brooklyn. By the way, a graving dock is a dry dock and is used to repair ships below the water line. And Neptune Avenue is in Brooklyn, the Coney Island, Brighton Beach area.

So I’ll finish up with a few links you might find useful or interesting:

Amazon’s Gabriel Cohen Page

Gabriel Cohen’s website

saveindustrialbrooklyn.org

My Reading Life and Fall of Giants

My Reading Life and Fall of Giants

Posted on by Libby

My Reading Life by Pat Conroy

Every time that I read Pat Conroy, I remember why I love his writing so much. This book doesn’t disappoint.   My Reading Life can be read a chapter at a time or read all at once.

Anyone who has read his books will love this – the books and people that made him the writer he is today.

Link to Pat Conroy’s page at Amazon

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

Finished the first of this planned trilogy. I enjoy historical fiction and Mr. Follett does a wonderful job in this book describing the historical years before WWI.

But the problems I had with this book were the characters. I didn’t care for most of them nor did I want to read about their romantic interludes. The book ends with all his characters surviving. (Kind of hard to believe considering the horrific conditions the author describes.) But I’ll probably will read the next book to see how it continues.

Link to Ken Follett’s page at Amazon

The Book, a dystopian novel

The Book, a dystopian novel

Posted on by Jack

The opening line is “Don’t read The Book” but I’m glad I did. The book is The Book by M. Clifford.

I thought the idea behind the book was important but I wasn’t always fond of how the author told the story. A good editor may have improved matters. The idea is somewhat similar to other dystopian novels in that the government controls and modifies information.

This book adds an interesting twist in that they do so not by banning books or burning books but by becoming a sole publisher of books which are electronic and can be edited as the government wants and paper copies are no longer printed and old paper copies recycled. The great recycling is presented as an environmental plus and government edits of books are a secret and only suspected by a few.

This reminded me of 1984 with government control of information but the technology is now more believable.

Thus this is a cautionary tale which features eReaders as an instrument of government control. It was an unintentional irony that I read my copy on a Kindle. By the way, the paperback version is about what you would expect to pay for a paperback but the Kindle version is only $2.99 (at least that is what I paid and it was still that when I looked tonight.)

Red Hook by Gabriel Cohen

Red Hook by Gabriel Cohen

Posted on by Jack

Last month, I reviewed “The Ninth Step” by Gabriel Cohen..

I really liked that book but it is the 4th in a series about Detective Jack Leightner. At the time I mentioned that I planned to look for the earlier books in this series. As it turned out I found the first of the series in our county library and enjoyed that as much as the other. Here is my review of the first in the series, “Red Hook” .

Although Gabriel Cohen’s books (or at least the two that I’ve read) are crime novels, they are so much more. “Red Hook” begins with a young Dominican man who is found murdered near the Gowanus Canal. The questions are who and why and there is no obvious answers. Sure the book is a crime mystery and in it Jack investigates a this crime and risks his career doing what he thinks is right (and his superiors disagree) but it is more importantly a story of an imperfect man dealing with his past and working toward a better future.
Continue reading “Red Hook by Gabriel Cohen”

Collusion by Stuart Neville

Collusion by Stuart Neville

Posted on by Jack

The second book from Stuart Neville Collusion continues the story of the violence in North Ireland during the “peace”. It is a bit different from the first (Ghosts of Belfast my review:

http://www.jackreidy.com/blog/2010/10/29/the-ghosts-of-belfast-by-stuart-neville/).

I liked both books. And although both were very violent, the violence hit me differently. I’m not sure why. I think it was because much of Ghosts was about a killer and the violence seems to fit naturally. But Collusion was perhaps less violent overall (I didn’t count the torture and death scenes) and more of a exploration of inner conflicts, right and wrong, and justice.

Much of this is done through the character of Jack Lennon. He was briefly mentioned in Ghosts (perhaps not by name) but here he is the center of attention. An Irish Catholic, he joined the Northern Irish Police because he thought it was the right thing to do and 15 years later is still struggling with the consequences of that decision (and with his Protestant superiors). The internal conflicts in Jack Lennon character are interesting and this book does an excellent job of presenting them. I hope to see him more in future books.

Other than one critical showdown near the end which I thought was overdone, it was a very good read. But the overdone business is just my taste. Another reviewer has a different take on this, see:
http://fionnchu.blogspot.com/2010/10/stuart-nevilles-collusion-book-review.html

If you have a kindle, you may want to consider the option of getting both books in kindle format.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy

Posted on by Jack

I guess most folks have heard of these books by now. Of course I refer to “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, “The Girl who Played with Fire”, and “The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest”.

First of all, I think it is a great trilogy. And although you could read then as separate books, you would miss a lot. It is much better to read them in order. The first starts out slowly. At least it seems that way to me and I’ve heard that comment from others. I didn’t really get into the story until about 50 pages. I’ve heard other say it was more for them. But I really think you need those pages to build the background for the characters on which the rest of the series is based.

And once you get thought that initial so period of 50 or more pages, you have 3 page-turners on your hands. And we are talking about a good number of pages. I guess it was about 1500 pages or so for me but I guess that may vary a bit depending on your editions. And of course it you have a Kindle or such there are no pages to turn. And I don’t think anyone has come up with a page-turner phrase for eReaders yet.

So “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” introduces with main characters and tells part of their stories in the first few chapters. Then goes on to involve them in a mystery with several unexpected developments. The characters and situations, like the mystery, are a bit odd (especially Lisbeth of Dragon Tattoo fame) but entirely believable. I know there are plenty of reviews that will tell you something of the plot but that is not what I am doing here. Plenty of reviews like that on Amazon (see my link below). I would have been satisfied with this as a stand-alone book.

But of course I knew there was a second and a third and as I enjoyed the first so much I went on with hardly a break. The second starts out with Lisbeth in an entirely new setting but some the tie-in is obvious, the action moves back to Sweden, and many of the characters from the first book re-appear. We learn a good bit more about Lisbeth and why she is like she is. And some events from the first book make more sense and become more important. The third book follows directly from the second.

Steig Larsson was a journalist and it is probably no accident that a main character is a journalist. They say you should write about what you know. It is the fictional journalist (Mikael Blomkvist) who is convicted of libel and gets involved in the central mystery of book one and brings Lisbeth in to help because of her special talents. She is clearly the main character in all 3 books.

So if you are interest in trying these books (maybe even getting all three at once) or just want to know more about the books or author, please check out the
Steig Larsson Page at Amazon

The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville

The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville

Posted on by Jack

“Maybe if he had one more drink they’d leave him alone.” So says the man in the bar with his 12 ghostly companions. Well, you learn that on the first page and are immediately pulled into “The Ghosts of Belfast” by Stuart Neville.

Now that Northern Ireland is at peace, it would seem there is less material around for a thriller. And you’d think that an ex-hit man would not be a good main character. But this book proves those ideas wrong. Certainly the peace is there but there is a bit of tension still in the air, mostly behind the scenes. And then there is a certain aftermath. Gerry Fegan had gained a certain status in his Belfast as a killer for the IRA but is now hounded by his past. It is hard to imagine feeling sympathy for a professional killer but somehow Neville manages manages that neat trick.

The peace is fragile. I don’t want to say too much about it as the presentation here is both wonderful and depressing and I certainly don’t want to try to summarize or say so much than it ruins some of your pleasure in reading about it here. Both sides (the IRA and Unionists) have their politicians and violent sides and there is a tension within and between. The book is does have a good bit of violence so if that sort of thing bothers you, this may not be a good choice for you. But if you enjoy a good story, try it now. The link below is for the paperback but it is easy enough to move around and get the hardback or the Kindle edition if you’d rather have one of those.

The book is published by Soho Crime. If you like good books, especially with an international flavor, you might want to check out Soho Press.

The Ninth Step by Gabriel Cohen

The Ninth Step by Gabriel Cohen

Posted on by Jack

Last month I was at the Brooklyn Book Festival and I attended a panel discussion there featuring crime writers. I am a fan of Michael Connolly and he was on the panel so I thought it might be interesting. Also on the panel was Gabriel Cohen. I never had read anything by him but had read that he wrote about a detective in Brooklyn and I thought since I was in Brooklyn, it might be interesting to hear him. He read from the first chapter of his new book. It was just a few pages but I immediately knew that I wanted to read that book.

In his new book, “The Ninth Step” the action starts with the detective at home eating his breakfast. Not very exciting, right ? Then the doorbell rings and the person at the door starts telling a story with much vagueness. Then comes the hook: the man at the door killed the brother of the detective years ago.

If that is not enough to make you want to read this, let me add a few bits. The detective wants to find something that will help solve the cold case of his brother’s murder for which he feels partly at fault. Then the cold case of his brother’s murder moves from an apparently random robbery into the Mafia, longshoremen, and a little known World War 2 event. The detective also is involved with solving what seems to be a rather routine but odd murder which gets involved in a possible terrorist plot, massive injustice, Homeland Security, and more. Part of fun and value of this book is the way the author handles these events (and often surprised me in the process) so I really don’t want to say too much here in case you decide to try this book.

“The Ninth Step” stands on its own as a great read but it is the 4th in a series about Detective Jack Leightner. I completely enjoyed it and plan to look for the earlier books in this series.

2 Short Reviews Veracity and Heresy

2 Short Reviews Veracity and Heresy

Posted on by Jack


Interesting novel in which the United States degenerates into a dystopian state in the near future. The story is also about the importance of words. The banning of certain words prevents certain thoughts which the state would rather not have. Certainly there are elements found in other novels of this general type (1984, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451 come to mind) but the emphasis on security in our society since 9/11 adds to the relevance. Thought-provoking and I’m going to think about it a bit.

A mystery with several murders set in 16th century Oxford University. Religous intolerance, conspiracies, plots against the crown, the Queen’s spymaster, and an undercover monk-scholar all work to make this a compelling historical thriller.

The Ghost Writer

The Ghost Writer

Posted on by Jack

As a test of how this blog works I thought I would begin by copying (and updating) a few reviews I wrote for my other site. 

I recently read The Ghost Writer by Robert Harris and liked it much more than I expected I would.

The book has been issued as a paperback to coincide with the movie of the same name.   I had read a couple of Harris’s previous books and enjoyed the first I read but not the next as I recall.  So I probably would not have looked to try another, however the previews for the movie looked pretty good and I thought I would try the book before seeing the movie.  I was totally taken by the book and read it is less than 2 days which is unusually fast for me.  For those who don’t know the basic story line, it is about a ghostwriter working with a former UK Prime Minister on his memoirs.  Without going into much detail on the plot, let me just say it is a mystery, a thriller, and political commentary on current events.

The story is told from the ghostwriter’s point of view and draws you in immediately.  And it continues to get better as he travels to a secure location (a billionaire’s estate on Martha’s Vineyard in winter) to meet the former PM (and staff) and confronts various issues related to the war on terror, human rights and war crimes. 

If you are still not sure this book is for you, just follow my link to Amazon and read the reviews there.