THE GUARDIAN by Jeffrey Konvitz

Finished Th 4/26/18

The sequel to THE SENTINEL, and this one is nowhere near as good.

The premise is the same; The Catholic Church locates an individual who has attempted suicide and is then selected to prevent Satan, Charles Chazen, and his minions from releasing all the fiends of Hell. And, The Sentinel becomes the guardian to the portal of Hell.

The apartment building is still in NYC, just down the block from the location in The Sentinel. A cathedral is being built in the neighborhood- further protection for  the new Sentinel.


The Hook-
Faye and Ben Burdett are the primary couple in the apartment building. Faye seems to be the next sentinel, but they are actually a gay couple. Faye is a transgendered man.

In the end, it appears that Charles Chazen has prevented the new sentinel from assuming the role. This leaves the door open to a sequel, but I'm fairly certain that Konvitz never wrote one.

Worth a look, but not by much.

YOUNG JANE YOUNG by Gabrielle Zevin

Finished Sa 4/21/17

A hardcover edition that I got on Amazon. This is the April, 218 selection for the Contemporary Book Club.

The story is that a college aged woman working for a congressional candidate has a sexual affair with the congressman. It becomes public and the woman bears the brunt of the affair- with the Internet, You Can Run, But You Can't Hide.

Told in Five Sections-

1. Aviva's grandmother- Rachel Shapiro Grossman  (heart surgeon husband, Mike Grossman) and her friend, Roz Horowitz

2. Aviva's tale when she changes her name to Jane Young and relocates with her daughter, Ruby to Maine. She becomes a wedding planner (using her background in political science and Spanish).

3. Ruby's emails to her penpal in Indonesia about her life in Maine.

4. Embeth Levin, Congressman Aaron Levin's wife, Embeth. She has cancer (and an imaginary parrot- might be the drugs). Ruby comes to see her in Miami on a quest to meet her father.

5. Aviva's blog about what happened to her.


Sections 3 and 5 are in 'epistolary novel' form- emails and blog entries.
"An epistolary novel is a novel written as a series of documents. The usual form is letters, although diary entries, newspaper clippings and other documents are sometimes used."

The Hook-

Ruby's real father is Jorge, the head campaign worker, and it really was a one night stand.

Question-

Rachel's mother tells her to contact the congressman's wife and alert her to the affair. She thinks that Embeth would have the power to have her husband end the affair. I don't think that this was good advice- to say the least!!

Ask the group what would be a more workable solution, or is it better to do nothing.

About the author from wikipedia-

"Gabrielle Zevin (born October 24, 1977, New York City) is an American author and screenwriter.

Zevin graduated from Harvard University in 2000 with a degree in English & American Literature and lives in Los Angeles.

Zevin's father is a Russian-Jewish American, and her mother is Korean.

DEADWOOD by Pete Dexter

Finished Th 4/19/18

I bought this trade paperback from Amazon after seeing the HBO series 'DEADWOOD' on Amazon Prime. After reading the book, it's clear that the book is much richer and better done, and few of the characters are accurately portrayed in the series.

The book is primarily James Butler (Wild Bill) Hickok's story, and then, his closest confident, Charlie Utter. Of course, the setting of Deadwood, South Dakota is central to the theme.

The book is divided into several sections with a character as the focus, but the book is so rich in detail that it's always very interwoven and interdependent.

Custer's Last Stand occurs June 25-26, 1876 and Wild Bill's murder by James McCall happens on August 2nd the same year.

The novel opens with a man on a horse carrying a human head through the town of Deadwood. On one end of town is 'Badlands'; the Bad Side of Town, also the location of the Asian ghetto. The Chinese are referred to as 'The Celestials'.

Jane Canary (Calamity Jane) is a major figure; drunkard, gun fighter, Indian scout, liar, and 'healer'. In the end of the book she is the only 'medical figure' who treats patients during the small pox epidemic. She claims to have been married to Wild Bill, but Bill is actually married to circus performer, Agnes Lake. They never live together- his excuse is that he will send for her once the city is 'civilized'.

Al Swearingen, the operator/ owner of The Gem Saloon is radically different from the TV show. (famous line from the show, "Get Fucking"!!!).  He rapes Malcolm Nash, Charlie Utter's nephew (his then wife's brother), and lives in fear of this boy. Malcolm becomes spellbound by the local crazy preacher.

The TV show is full of swearing, but the novel's characters (especially Charlie Utter) have a more formal and elegant way of speaking- very 19th century.

Solomon Starr and Seth Bullock- two friends that own the town's kiln. Solomon kills a Chinese prostitute, China Doll, because he's deeply in love with her and probably can't accept her profession; A brutal knife killing.

The epilogue is set in Panama- 1912, but most of the novel takes place over three years beginning in 1876.

From the novel's page at Amazon-

“Unpredictable, hyperbolic and, page after page, uproarious; a joshing book written in high spirits and a raw appreciation of the past.”

"Dexter's strongest suit is his exquisite understanding of the finely meshed engines of greed, appetite, and interest."

“Splendid. . . . Rumor put straight. . . . A carefully researched knitting of events into their most dazzling fabric.”

"Dexter's strongest suit is his exquisite understanding of the finely meshed engines of greed, appetite, and interest."

I loved PARIS TROUT, and I also bought from Amazon- THE PAPERBOY and  TRAIN. Pete Dexter is an amazing writer.

'361' by Donald E. Westlake

Finished Tu 4/17/18

I picked this up at the Prairie Archives Book Store on Th 3/15/18. It was in one of the bins by the front door and only cost a quarter- worth every hard boiled penny of it!

I'm not sure what the title refers to. It's not a police code, but this is what is written before the novel begins-

".361 (Destruction of life, violent death. Killing".- Roget's Thesaurus of words and phrases

Willard 'Bill' Kelly
Ray Kelly
Bill Kelly

Eddie Kapp

Story line-

Ray Kelly is just twenty-three and is being mustered out of the Air Force after being stationed in Germany. His father, Willard Kelly picks him up from the bus station in NYC where they stay for a few days. While driving back home in Binghamton, NY, his father is shot and killed while driving, and ray is badly injured in the accident. He loses his left eye and one ankle is disfigured.

Ray learns that during Prohibition (the novel is set about 1960) his father was a lawyer for the Mob. Ray and his brother, Bill Kelly, seek revenge and try to locate the mobster that was responsible for the hit.

Eddie Kapp is being released from prison after a twenty year sentence. He is planning a take-over to become the main mafioso on the scene. On the day he is released, Ray and Bill are outside the prison and save Kapp from a hit.

They go with Kapp and later learn that Kapp is Ray's biological father. Kapp wants Ray to become his 'son and right-hand man'.

All the heads of the mob assemble at an upstate lodge in Lake George, NY to decide how they will divide up the mob world.

Ray learns that Kapp staged Bill's murder to look like a suicide. Ray doesn't want any part of the life, and he kills Kapp.  He grabs Kapp and another mobster at their hotel. He tells them what and why he is killing Kapp and lets the other guy live so that he can tell rest of the mob. Later, the mobsters pay him $500 (with a note "No Hard Feelings- LG"; he gets it that 'LG' stands for Lake George) for the hit and tell him that they won't bother him.

The novel ends as Ray is recounting his story to a journalist, Arnold Beeworthy, and ready to begin his new life.

The book only took me a day and a half to read. It's terse and tense and the epitome of 'tough talkin', no nonsense hard-guy'. JUST THE FACTS.

I loved it and Westlake has so many different tones. Not at all like Westlake's,  Dortmunder series, but he's so versatile that I like all of his writing styles. Anything by Westlake is fine by me.

KEEP QUIET by Lisa Scottoline

Finished We 4/11/18

I picked this hardback up at The Prairie Archives on Th 3/15/18 for two bucks.

An easy and enjoyable read and this author would be great for the book club. I'm sure that many of the members are familiar with Scottoline.

Set in the Delaware Valley- probably near Philadelphia, PA; Upscale suburban community.

Ryan Buckman- son, high school junior, basketball star, on the fast-track to a bright collegiate future.

Pam Buckman- mother and local judge; she's up for a federal appointment. An interesting section of the novel dealt with the extensive background checks that are involved when one is selected to be a federal judge. Not only her, but friends, family, and neighbors. You must have a spotless record. Clearly it's easier to become president.

Jake Buckman- father and CEO of Gardenia Investments. Before he started his own company he had been out of work for many months and this had a detrimental effect on his entire outlook. Instead of 'captain of the ship', he saw himself more of a 'stowaway'. The experience was a confidence killer.

The setup to the novel is that Jake has been spending too much time getting his new company going, and he's not very involved in Ryan's life. Pam suggests that he pick up Ryan from the movies and share some 'bonding time'. On that evening Jake lets Ryan drive part of the way home even though he knows that his son's permit is no good after 11pm. On a desolate road they hit and kill a teenage jogger. This girl goes to Ryan's high school. With just a moment to decide what to do, Jake decides that since the girl is dead, it would be foolish to toss away his son's bright future. They decide to clam up. "I've got this".

The irony is that their bonding time becomes a cover-up. "It's not the crime, it's the cover-up that gets ya every time".

Checking the Pennsylvania law Jake learns that they both could face jail time.

Pam is having an affair and it's later revealed that this man actually killed the girl and placed her on the road.  And, he also killed the man that was blackmailing the Buckman's.

This was  a real page-turner and I plan to get more by this author.
Scottoline is a native of the Philadelphia area and writes a column with her adult daughter.

THE SECRET HISTORY by Donna Tartt

Finished Mo 4/9/18

The reason that I ordered this paperback from Amazon was I saw a podcast with Greg Iles and he said the Donna Tartt was his favorite Mississippi writer. After finishing book, I ordered another by Tartt.

Hampden College, Vermont (fictional college and city)

The plot-line revolves around six friends that are attending college and majoring in a special program studying classical Greek- philology, anthropology, and sociology.

John Richard Paypen- the protagonist, He's the 'outsider' because he doesn't have any money or social standing. He's from a small town in California and his father runs a gas station...."We're in oil".

Charles and Camilla Macaulay- twins that may or may not be sexually involved, but they are smart and intuitive.

Francis Abernathy- He is from a very wealthy family. The family told him that his grandmother was his mother, but his sister is actually his mother. He and his real mother were raised at fancy schools and treated almost as siblings. His family owns a huge mansion that the friends use that's not too far from the college.

Henry Winter- Very smart and ominous fellow- super intelligent and wily (possibly evil). He's the brains of the outfit.

Edmund 'Bunny' Corcoran- 'The loose canon'. He is killed (pushed off a ravine on the local college hiking path) because he threatens to expose the group for the murder of the farmer.

Professor Julian Morrow- He's running a special Greek program at Hampden. He pretty much is not controlled by the administration whatsoever.

The five friends (without Rich or Bunny) recreate a Dionysian orgy/ religious observance and a local farmer is killed. The actual details of the murder and how it occurred is never really addressed.

The whole book is a 'cover-up' of this crime and Bunny is killed because he might expose the group.

Bunny, Francis, Charles, and Richard are heavy drinkers. And this adds to the possible leaking of the facts of their notorious adventures.

 The plot from wikipedia-

"As the story opens, Richard leaves the (fictitious) small town of Plano, California, where he is generally unhappy, for (the fictitious) Hampden College in Vermont. His disdain for his background establishes a contrast—aestheticism and literary beauty, as opposed to harsh reality—that continues throughout the novel. He misleads others about his background, replacing his mediocre working-class childhood with a fabricated, glamorous one of boarding schools, wealth, failed actors, and parents who own an oil well.

In Vermont, Richard tries to continue his study of Ancient Greek, only to be denied admittance to the course, as Classics professor Julian Morrow limits his enrollment to a tiny hand-picked coterie. Richard becomes obsessed with the group, observing them around campus and noting what he considers a cold attitude toward the world around them and an obsession with studies that he admires. Eventually, he manages to ingratiate himself with the group by helping to solve a Greek grammar problem. Soon after, armed with advice from the group on how to impress Morrow, Richard meets with him and is finally admitted to the Classics tutorial.

The group includes fraternal twins Charles and Camilla Macaulay, who are charming but secretive, as well as Francis Abernathy, whose secluded country home becomes a sanctuary for the group. (Francis reappears, in a sentence or two, in Tartt's later novel, The Goldfinch.) Two students become the central focus: linguistic genius Henry Winter, an intellectual with a passion for the Pali canon, Homer, and Plato; and back-slapping Bunny Corcoran, a bigoted jokester more comfortable reading Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu novels.

The pair's friendship, which Richard finds odd, becomes more mystifying when Bunny announces that he and Henry will spend winter break together in Rome, Italy—although Henry appears to barely tolerate Bunny, and Bunny cannot afford such a lavish holiday himself. In fact, Henry is footing the bill for the trip. To avoid revealing his fabricated past, Richard takes a low-paying job on campus and spends winter break, the coldest in a generation, in an unheated warehouse. He nearly dies from hypothermia and pneumonia, but is rescued and taken to the hospital by Henry, who has returned early from Italy.

After winter break, Richard sees the relationship between the others and Bunny becoming even more strained. Ultimately, he learns the truth from Henry and Francis: during a Bacchanal (from which both Richard and Bunny were excluded), Henry inadvertently killed a local farmer who lived near Francis's country estate; Richard questions Henry pertaining to the nature of their Bacchanal, which he understands to be a sex ritual, and Henry confirms this but refuses to elaborate. Bunny, suspicious for some time, uncovered the truth about the group's accident during the trip to Italy by reading Henry's diary, and has been blackmailing the group since. The group, led by Henry, now view Bunny as a danger, and Bunny's penchant for playing on his friends' fears and insecurities does little to assuage their concern.

No longer able to meet Bunny's demands, and fearing that he will report them, the group resolves to kill Bunny. Henry forms several plots, one of which is finally put into motion after a drunken Bunny tells Richard of the killing. The group confronts Bunny while he is hiking, and Henry pushes him into a ravine to his death.

The rest of the novel follows the group's collapse, the psychological strains of remorse borne by the members, and their efforts to maintain secrecy as investigators and other students inquire into Bunny's disappearance. (The other students include loquacious drug user Judy Poovey, a reader of "those paranoia books by Philip K. Dick".) They attempt to act natural, joining the search parties combing over the campus looking for Bunny.

Charles develops a drinking problem and becomes increasingly abusive towards his sister Camilla. Francis confirms to Richard that the twins are having sexual relations, at the same time admitting he has also slept with Charles on a number of occasions that Charles is in the mood. Francis himself begins to suffer panic attacks. Morrow discovers a pleading letter sent to him by Bunny, imploring him to help: "You're the only one who can." He never reports the crime, instead leaving the faculty. This action creates consequences for the main characters (though mainly just Richard, the only one without an inheritance at his disposal). Left without a teacher, they have little options for the coming academic year and will be unable to complete their majors, forced to change up their plans, though this is hardly the most troublesome thing on their minds.

As the group splinters, the members must deal with things in isolation. Henry begins living and likely sleeping with Camilla, which drives Charles further into alcoholism. Henry, deeply upset by Morrow's departure, sees it as an act of cowardice and hypocrisy. When Charles is arrested in a drunk driving incident with Henry's car, Henry fears Charles will let something slip to the police. The climax comes when Charles, jealous of Henry and now a full-blown alcoholic, barges into Camilla and Henry's hotel room and tries to kill Henry with Francis' Beretta. In the struggle, Henry gets hold of the gun; the others pile on him, and Charles ends up shooting Richard in the abdomen. The innkeeper, hearing the commotion and gunshot, forces his way into the room. Before anything else can happen, Henry calmly kisses Camilla farewell and shoots himself fatally. Apparently, Henry, wishing to uphold the principles he feels Morrow, whom he "loved more than anyone," has betrayed, covers for Charles, his suicide leading the police to conclude that Henry shot Richard.

With Henry's death, the group disintegrates. Francis attempts suicide and, though homosexual, is forced by his rich grandfather to marry a woman he despises; Camilla, taking care of her grandmother, becomes increasingly isolated; Charles runs away from rehab with a married woman and no longer speaks to Camilla; and Richard, after recovering from his wounds, becomes a lonely academic with an unrequited love for Camilla. He sees Henry's death as having cut the cord that bound them, setting them all adrift. The book ends with Richard recounting a strange dream where he meets Henry in a tall atrium, unable to say all he feels about what has happened. Finally, he settles on asking, "Are you happy here?" Henry replies, "Not particularly. But you're not very happy where you are, either," and walks away."

This was a slow read, but I loved all of it.

HOWLING AT THE MOON by Walter Yetnikoff with David Ritz

Finished 4/1/18- Easter Sunday

I bought this for two bucks at The Prairie Archives on Th 3/15/18.

The 2004 biography of Walter Yetnikoff who ran CBS records- late 70's to early 90's.  He guided the careers of Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, Earth, Wind & Fire, Cyndi Lauper, Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Gloria Estefan, and a host of other well-known artists. And, a major abuser of drugs, sex, and alcohol. The excesses are the main focus of the book.
-David Ritz specializes in Entertainment Biographies- he's written dozens!

Born 1933; raised in Brooklyn, Russian/ Jewish background. Columbia Law School and Law Review. No background in music, but he really knew 'contracts'.
Instrumental in blending CBS Records with Sony. He made the companies multi-millions and he made millions.

Personal friends with Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, and Bruce Springsteen. Jackson is weirder than he appears, Jagger is smarter, and Springsteen is more authentic.

When he finally hit rehab, it took and he became 'a believer' in the program. So much so, that it seems like he developed another addiction.  A Catholic priest, Monsignor Vincent E. Puma, had helped him recover from his addictions to alcohol and drugs.

Married early and had two sons. Cheated on his wife and she died of lung cancer. In the end, they were still friends, yet his behavior was indefensible by any standard. 

An interesting read, and about what you would expect. I'm a sucker for anything about the music industry and all of the lurid excesses.

PARIS TROUT by Pete Dexter

Finished Sa 3/31/18

I ordered this from Amazon after seeing the Nick Nolte movie, MULHOLLAND FALLS. The ultra-violence intrigued me, and surprised to learn that the author, Pete Dexter, also was responsible for DEADWOOD.

And, his back-story as a journalist and how he became a fiction writer is wild.

From his page at wikipedia-

"Pete Dexter began writing fiction after a life-changing 1981 incident in which a mob of locals armed with baseball bats beat him severely. The perpetrators were upset by a recent column about a murder involving drug deal-gone-wrong. The brother of the homicide victim was a bartender at a local bar in the Schuylkill neighborhood. Dexter went to the bar to talk to him after the family had called the newspaper to complain. Dexter was roughed up at that meeting and later returned with a friend heavyweight, prizefighter Randall "Tex" Cobb. In the ensuing fight outside the bar in the street, Cobb's arm was broken and Dexter was hospitalized with several injuries; including a broken back, pelvis, brain damage and dental devastation. Cobb's injuries cost him a shot at WBA heavyweight champion Mike Weaver."

This is where I read the term, 'dental devastation'.


From wikipedia-

"The Plot-
In a small Georgia town in the 1950's, Paris Trout, a bigoted store owner, kills a young black man's younger sister and wounds his mother when a car deal between them goes wrong."

Paris Trout might be one of the most 'villainous villain' I have ever read. He's a toxic blend of violence and racism.

Novel begins when Rosie Sayers is bit by a fox that might be rabid. She's buying bullets for her mother's lover. She was on the way to Trout's store when she is bit. Hanna Trout takes her to the doctor where she refuses treatment- a big needle in the stomach, and is driven back to her home.

Trout arranges a car loan for a young black man. A lumber truck rams the car on the way home and the black man brings the car back and says that because he signed up for insurance he won't pay, and it's Trout's problem.  "I git my money"!!!

Trout goes to the black's house with his enforcer, Buster Devonne,and they shoot and kill Rosie Sayer and wounds Mary McNutt. Trout feels that he's done nothing wrong- this is his business, and if he doesn't take a firm stand, his business will flounder.

The town and the authorities are sympathetic to Trout and he pays off everyone in sight. His case goes all the way to the Georgia supreme court, but he his sent to prison for several months. Ward Townes was the prosecutor. On the way, he kidnaps the car but shows up at the jail with his cop driver. He pays more cash, and gets off.

Hanna Trout, his wife, throws him out of their house and tries to free herself from Paris, but it becomes almost impossible. Evil is hard to delete.

In the end, Paris Trout stages a bloody shootout at the court house. He shoots and kills his mother who is suffering from dementia, he shoots and kills his wife's divorce lawyer, Carl Bonner (the youngest Eagle Scout in Georgia history), and he shoots and kills his criminal lawyer, Harry Seagraves (he was having an affair with Trout's wife).

The town feels that Paris Trout's estate owes the town because he murdered two of the town's most prominent citizens. There are several large and impenetrable safes in his store. They must send for specialists to blow the locks and in the safes are jars of Trout's urine. He leaves a note saying that in the event of his death, this is proof that he was being poisoned by his wife.

This was a great read and the character of Trout is truly one of a kind.

I'm going to watch the film on YouTube this morning, Easter Sunday- 4/1/18. The film is not carried by Netflix and it costs a hundred bucks on Amazon.

The movie was faithful to the novel except at the end. Hanna is in the room when Paris kills his mother and Seagraves, but he doesn't shoot Carl Bonner- he's not even there. And, the whole subplot about the beards for the civil war celebration/ town stockade is deleted. Nothing about the safes with the bottles of urine which I thought was a very nice touch.
The film was directed by Jake and Maggie  Gyllenhaal's father, Stephen.