TINSEL by William Goldman

Refinished Su 11/26/23 

This is what was on the flyleaf of this ancient hardback; "Finished Sa 1/8/00-  First book completed of the last year of the century". 

There were so many characters and conflicting plotlines that I found it confusing. Also, it's a mix of real actors from the seventies and fictional characters from the mind of the author. This might have been mind blowing fifty years ago, but it's a little lame today. This was my least favorite novel by Goldman. 

From the book's page at Kirkus Reviews:

"Screenwriter Goldman (Butch Cassidy, etc.) is at his unputdownable best in fiction when using his slick knack for atmosphere and zippy dialogue as texture for genuine suspense--as in Marathon Man. In this bitchy Hollywood gossipfest, however, the only suspense is: Who will be cast as the lead in a film about Marilyn Monroe's last days, a role that Raquel Welch has already turned down because of the extensive nudity involved? Will it be desperate ""Pig"" Higgins--the bosomy sometime actress and ""hooker without portfolio"" who's shacked up in Vegas with the has-been rock-star who's doing the music for the picture? Or will it be sultry Ginger Abraham--long-ago victim of anorexia nervosa and bisexual ex-starlet, the only woman who ever really reached famed womanizer Julian Garvey (n‚ Garfinkel), who is producing this last movie (he's dying) along with his semi-catatonic son? Or will it be likable Dixie Crowder, ex-TV star (Daisy Mae in the Dogpatch series) now married to a millionaire Hollywood dentist-tycoon who loathes show-biz and will leave Dixie if she even thinks of acting again? Without any more plot than that, Goldman can only bounce around from character to character, filling in their sleazy show-biz backgrounds and mostly sleazy sex lives. Just about all of this is standard issue (especially the teen sex), with such predictable motifs as Pig's disastrous attempt at a breast-lift. . . a heavy irony right out of Valley of the Dolls. So why will Tinsel be read by many who eschew the pulp it so clearly resembles? For Goldman's stunningly cadenced, often hilarious movie-biz dialogue; for his mean-spirited, no-punches-pulled slashes at the business that has made him rich, complete with names named and other hinted; and for the occasionally inspired details of characterization and atmosphere (the opening chapter is dandy), which remind us that Goldman can be something like a real novelist when he tries. With so much going for it, Tinsel is never less than readable; but it can be read just about as well backwards as forwards--because this time Goldman has brought his bag of tricks and left the other talents at home. (By the way, in a cheap ending to a cheap book, Barbra Streisand gets the part, and Pig shrieks: ""With those tits is she gonna play it?"")".

THE FIX by David Baldacci

 Finished Tu 11/21/23

This is a hardback that I borrowed from Janny. It might be my favorite novel by Baldacci. 

'THE FIX' is the third book in the Amos Decker series and there are six books in the series.

"Amos Decker is shocked when he witnesses a crime right outside FBI headquarters: a man kills a woman on a busy sidewalk, execution style, before turning the gun on himself. As Decker replays the incident in his head and looks into the case, it only gets more and more puzzling. The victim and the shooter aren't connected at all, and there's no motive. Then the Defense Intelligence Agency gets involved and Decker is ordered to stand down, but rather than step back, Decker begins working with the DIA to solve this case, which has higher stakes than anyone realizes."

CENTRAL QUESTION: Why would a man shoot and kill a woman he did not know, and then turn the gun on himself?

 Amos Decker has two superior abilities: 

1) Hyperthymesia is an ability that allows people to remember nearly every event of their life with great precision.

2) Synesthesia- the production of a sense impression relating to one sense or part of the body by stimulation of another sense or part of the body. Example: When you hear music you see colors. Alex Decker 'sees' the color blue when someone is dying. 

From Google Books:

"Amos Decker, David Baldacci's unique special agent, who suffered a head injury that resulted in giving him the gift of a remarkable memory takes on another case in The Fix. Walter Dabney is a family man. A loving husband and the father of four grown daughters , he's built a life many would be proud of. But then the unthinkable happens. Standing outside the FBI Headquarters in Washington, D C, Dabney shoots school teacher Anne Berkshire in cold blood before turning the gun on himself. One of the many witnesses is Amos Decker; a man who forgets nothing and sees what most miss. Baffled by what appears to be a seemingly senseless and random killing, Decker is thrust into the investigation to determine what drove this family man to pull the trigger. As part of an FBI special task force, Decker and the team delve into the lives of Dabney and Berkshire to find a connection that doesn't seem to exist. What they do find are secrets that stretch back a lifetime and reveal a current plot of impending destruction that will send the world reeling, placing Decker and his team squarely in the crosshairs."

MYRA BRECKINRIDGE by Gore Vidal

 This is one of my ancient paperbacks that I've never read and I finished on Tu 11/16/23- "Thought provoking and hilarious".

For the first section of the book you believe the narrator is a woman, but actually it is a man waiting for 'sexual reassignment surgery'- Myron changes to Myra.

From the book's page at Wikipedia:

"An attractive young woman, Myra Breckinridge is a film buff with a special interest in the Golden Age of Hollywood—in particular the 1940s—and the writings of film critic Parker Tyler. She comes to the Academy for Aspiring Young Actors and Actresses, owned by her deceased husband Myron's uncle, Buck Loner. Here, she gets a job teaching, not just her regular classes (Posture and Empathy), but also, as part of the hidden curriculum, female dominance.

The spirit of the times is reflected in Myra's attendance at an orgy arranged by a student. She intends only to observe but suffers a "rude intrusion" by a member of the band The Four Skins, from which she derives a perverse, masochistic enjoyment. At an earlier regular party, after "mixing gin and marijuana", she eventually gets "stoned out of her head" and has a fit, before passing out in a bathroom.

As part of her quest to revolutionize Hollywood and American society, Myra preys upon a student named Rusty Godowski, and eventually anally violates him with a strap on. The rape leaves Rusty, previously a gentle lover, violent and brutish in regard to sex, causing his relationship with Mary-Ann, his girlfriend and fellow student, to deteriorate. The two break up, and Myra recommends Rusty to Leticia Van Allen, a casting agent who has sex with the young men she represents.

Still in the process of transitioning from male to female and unable to obtain hormones, Myra transforms into Myron, and, as a result of the injuries she has sustained in a car accident, is forced to have her breast implants removed. Now a eunuch, Myron decides to settle down with Mary-Ann.

I have read a few of Gore Vidal's novels and this one was totally different. For the late sixties this was probably outrageous, but these days it was pretty tame. Myron goes back to a man and today this wouldn't be allowed.  

THE BLACK BOOK by Ian Rankin

 Refinished Tu 11/14/23 after my yearly eye exam

One of my old paperbacks that I originally finished Th 5/29/14 and bought at the library book sale on Sa 1/18/14.

" When a close colleague is brutally attacked, Inspector John Rebus is drawn into a case involving a hotel fire, an unidentified body, and a long forgotten night of terror and murder."

There are 24 books in the John Rebus series. 'THE BLACK BOOK' is the fifth novel in the series.

Irn-Bru- an orange drink popular in Scotland for over a hundred years; "Scotland's other national drink". 

The novel features an 'Elvis Presley Themed Restaurant'; 'Blue Suede Choux'.

From a reader at 'GoodReads':

"In this outing, Rebus has to deal with his girl-friend who's had enough of him, his returning brother (an ex-con) with no where else to stay except with John, a flat full of late teenage university students on their own for the first time (and sharing his flat he's been forced to return to). And that's just his personal life. On the job, he becomes engulfed by a five year old murder, pursuing the investigation "on his own time" (and literally, too, as he is suspended at one point from the force), which leads to a gay bar / Elvis themed restaurant and ongoing encounters with ghosts from the arson of the Central Hotel where the body was found ... with links to organised crime in the present day. As the story threads come together, Rebus's personal and professional life become entirely entangled as a key piece of evidence to the old murder lands in his hands. And that's just the start of his troubles.

Rankin shifts between a third person narrative focussed on Rebus to the other characters as they uncover their own motives in the moment and on to richly detailed commentary about life and surroundings in the chief setting of Edinburgh. Dialects pop up; the Edinburgh lilt can be heard vividly; and local words are sprinkled into dialogue as a chef adds secret sauce to a favourite dish. Somehow, Rankin manages the verbal sleight-of-hand to conjure this Scottish setting in a way that seems entirely familiar, like ones own home town -- but wait, that's not true is it? And his winning character, Rebus, worms his way off the page like the best of the hard-boiled detectives, utterly convincing and sympathetic but no one's ideal of the perfect husband for your daughter. No wonder the series is occasionally dubbed "Tartan Noir"!"

SLEEP NO MORE by Greg Iles

 Finished We 11/8/23

This is a hardback that Janny loaned me and she got it at a yard sale. 

This is the story of a man who is happily married and meets a woman from his past. This woman claims to be 'a reincarnation' (?) of the love of his life who died almost a decade before. For almost the entire novel I was hoping that this was some kind of a 'long con' and it had nothing to do with 'shape shifting' or 'soul exchange;, but I was wrong.  

I guess I couldn't accept the premise and I thought it would have worked so much better if the man was being conned and not being visited by some kind of supernatural phenomenon. 

Part of a review by a reader at GoodReads:

"Set in Iles fictional town of Natchez, Mississippi, "Sleep No More" tells the story of John Waters. With his long-time friend Cole, Waters is part of an oil-drilling business that's had some solid success. He's married to Lily and they have a precocious daughter together. Their marriage looks great, but it's been on a shaky ground since Lily had a miscarriage several years before and they haven't exactly been connecting in a physical way.

Years before, Waters had a long romance with Mallory Candler, a beautiful woman who turned out to be a couple of tacos short of a combo platter. The romance took place in college and the couple aborted two unwanted pregnancies. This helped bring on some of Mallory's less desirable traits and led to her stalking Waters for a period of years. She was killed several years before and Waters hasn't forgotten her but has tried to move on with his life.

Enter Eve, a woman who claims she's been possessed by the spirit of Mallory. She comes to Waters and tells him this. Eve is a local real estate agent who has a certain reputation around town. Is she looking for a new fling with Waters or is she telling the truth? Waters is convinced it is Mallory and enters into an affair with Eve/Mallory. (It seems that Mallory can enter the body of a new host upon sexual peak only).

If it all sounds like it takes a huge dose of suspension of disbelief to make the story work, it does. But the thing is that by grounding Waters as he does, Iles takes a page from King or Richard Matheson and gives us an ordinary person facing extraordinary circumstances. Seeing how Waters reacts as the web slowly closes in around him keeps the pages flying, just to see what happens next. And Iles is willing to at least throw in a few things that are plausible reasons as to why this could be certain people in Waters' life trying to mess with him.

In fact, half the fun of the story is trying to figure out which twist is the right twist and which are red herrings.

According to the critical blurbs, "Sleep No More" was recommended as a beach read when it was first published. And that's exactly what it is. Iles has done some great stories and while this may not be his most profound or important, it's one of the more enjoyable stories he's told. Like a blockbuster, popcorn movie, don't think too much about it and just enjoy the ride. You'll be glad you did."

SLEEPLESS by Romy Hausmann

 Finished Sa 11/4/23

This is one of my recent purchases at Amazon Books. I received the novel on Tu 9/26/23. I got the book because I saw 'DEAR CHILD' (Netflix series) and was really impressed with the concerpt. This was a tale of a woman and children who had been kidnapped and held for many years. The book only concentrated on how it affected the victims and not very concerned about who did the crime and why. Usually, these type of books follow the perpetrator. 

'SLEEPLESS' is far to intentionally confusing. There are a couple of different storylines, at least two timelines, and each chapter is told from a different character's point of view. The writing is great and I could appreciate each individual scene, but the 'big picture' was beyond me.

STORY ONE: A young woman lives in a B & B with her grandfather and they watch old movies on a video cassette recorder during the long evening behind the night desk at the hotel. When she gets older she becomes involved with a man who dumps her. 

STORY TWO: A woman stabs her lover to death and contacts her husband for help. She tells her husband that she was trying to end the affair and her lover could accept this and tried to kill her. Her husband believes her and they develop a plan to pin the murder on somebody else. 

I'm only partially convinced that this is what happened and I don't like books that you need a scorecard to keep track of what's going on. 

Romy Hausmann is a great writer and I'd read something else if I could. I llistened to a podcast by the man who translated the book from German and I learned that she is writing a collection of 'True Crime' stories. 

From the book's page at GoodReads:

"t's been years since Nadja Kulka was convicted of a cruel crime. After being released from prison, she's wanted nothing more than to live a normal life: nice flat, steady job, even a few friends. But when one of those friends, Laura von Hoven--free-spirited beauty and wife of Nadja's boss--kills her lover and begs Nadja for her help, Nadja can't seem to refuse.

The two women make for a remote house in the woods, the perfect place to bury a body. But their plan quickly falls apart and Nadja finds herself outplayed, a pawn in a bizarre game in which she is both the perfect victim and the perfect murderer..."

An excellent review by a reader:

"This book is a unique enigma! It feels like you walk in the dark, collecting bread crumbs to find your way to the end of the tunnel which will lead you the bad witch’s candy house! You keep gathering missing pieces of puzzle : from different timelines, unreliable characters’ narrations.

Here are facts I gathered after reading nearly 50

pages: Nadja Kulka opens her eyes, fell from a cliff, probably pushed, suffering from concussion, blood oozing from her head, forcing herself to drive to some cottage in the woods after attracting suspicion of gas station owners. She’s carrying something in her baggage, wearing a wig( we don’t know why)

We are also introduced to Nelly Schütt by moving 5 years backwards: she’s young girl, with keen interest in black and white noir movies, working at her parents’ inn, having an affair with a married, older man which will be her ruin.

And we are also introduced Nadja’a workaholic and intimidating boss Gero and his free spirited, vivid wife Laura who was former assistant of Gero and resigned from her job to be stay at home mom to take care of her their daughter Viv!

And we also read so many letters describing chaotic mind of a woman who’s seen a therapist talking about her past: taking care of a woman named Martha! We don’t know who she is or to whom the were letters written.

All those storylines seem like separated but keep reading, be patient, the author is so smart, a mathematics genius: creating unique equations.

Eventually Nadja finds herself trapped in a very complex, dangerous game and only way to survive is confronting her past mistakes and unleashing the animal she’d locked inside!

I honestly didn’t like this book as much as Dear Child .

None of the characters were relatable. They did horrible things. They are mean, manipulative, cheater, killer, abuser, liar scumbags with psychopathic tendencies!

But this a creepy, ultra smart, well developed thriller with lots of cryptic mind games so dealing with very irritating characters didn’t affect my enjoyment!

But the bothering thing about my reading is at last third the pace was wobbled and I felt like the author had second thoughts about how she would end this story and which characters would be punished! Well, at the end she finally wrapped up well but the wobbling feeling left bad taste in my mouth!

I’m rounding up 3.5 stars to 4 enigmatic, chaotic, tragic, dark, bleak, harsh, intense stars!

I loved the author’s extremely dark and extraordinarily smart mind. I’m looking forward to read her future works."

SHAME THE DEVIL by George P. Pelecanos

 Finished Sa 10/28/23

This is one of my trade paperbacks that I bought at Powell Books when I went to Portland, Oregon- Tu 8/27/02. That was the vacation that I went to the west coast specifically to visit this book store and I finished the book the first time on the flight from Oakland to St. Louis on Sa 8/31/02. 

Another fantastic tale about the 'black & white' crime scene in the Washington DC area. 

In this book I learned about Dischord Records that promoted some dandy Punk Rock acts. 

PLOT: A robbery crew attempts to take out a pizza shop that was used by a criminal organization as a 'drop'. One of the robbers decides that they must kill everyone because if they left them alive they would become witnesses. 

Later, survivors form a group to deal with the emotional wreckage. They decide to get revenge on the killers. 

I loved the book and I'd read anything by Pelecanos.

From the book's page at Goodreads:

"Washington, D.C., 1995. What should have been a straightforward restaurant robbery goes horribly wrong. Several workers are shot in cold blood; the gunman's brother is killed by the police; a young boy is run over by a careering getaway car. Three years pass. Victims and their relatives gather in the aftermath, still trying to come to terms with their grief. But gunman Frank Farrow has other ideas. Now the heat has died down, he is on his way back to Washington, determined to avenge his lost brother - by killing everyone involved in his death."

From the book's page at Kirkus Reviews:

"After a three-book hiatus, Nick Stefanos rejoins the Pelecanos repertory company (The Sweet Forever, 1998, etc.) and delivers another bravura performance. Colorful, often violent, always passionate, it’s a remarkable group that Pelecanos has assembled for his saga of the seamy side of Washington, D.C., and over the course of seven novels his players have never failed to entertain. The curtain rises, this time out, on a routine robbery that goes horribly wrong, leaving five dead before it’s over. Among these is Dmitri Karras’s young son, and the effect on the elder Karras is predictably devastating: —I know now,— he tells his former business partner Marcus Clay, —there’s two kinds of people in the world: those who—ve lost a child and those who haven—t.— Three years after the fact, he’s still defined by his despair. Divorced, zombie-like, he’s a source of increasing worry to his friends. One of them contacts Nick Stefanos in the hope he can hook Dmitri up with a job at the Spot, the watering hole where Nick patrols the bar when he isn—t doing PI gigs. Object: occupational therapy, a last-ditch attempt to give Dmitri a reason for living that might transcend his obsessive desire to kill the killer of his son. And it works. Little by little, Dmitri begins to reassemble the pieces of a life. Then, almost accidentally, Nick stumbles on a clue he doesn—t really want to find because it will lead to a place he doesn—t want to go. Or rather, a place he doesn—t want Dmitri to go, which is into the path of the murderer he’s been hunting—a cold-blooded sociopath with his own all-consuming need for revenge. Vivid storytelling by a writer whose sense of the theatrical is a formidable strength and whose reputation lags way behind his talent."