FINNEGAN'S WEEK by Joseph Wambaugh

 This is one of my paperbacks that I first finished in December of 2015 and refinished on Mo 1/27/25.

 From Kirkus Reviews:

"After a so-so show in Fugitive Nights (1991), Wambaugh returns nearly in top form with a very funny suspenser about toxic waste. Finbar Finnegan, a San Diego police detective and sometime actor, has a midlife crisis at 45, his existence having been dominated by three sisters while growing up and by three ex-wives as an adult. His theme song is "Someone to Watch Over Me"—he needs a mommy/wife, has sworn off marriage, but finds himself tied ticklingly to two female detectives at once, both of whom see him as romantically interesting despite immense shortcomings: happy, cheerful, pistol-packing Petty Officer "Ba-a-d Dog" Bobbie Ann Doggett, 28, an investigator for the Navy who's looking for 2,000 boots hijacked from a warehouse; and District Attorney's Investigator Nell Salter, 43, once divorced, and looking for a stolen truck filled with supertoxic waste. The truck actually was "stolen" by its tow drivers—porky meth-head Shelby Pate and his Mexican sidekick, Abel Durazo, who lifted the boots while picking up drums of toxic waste at a naval station, took them to a fence in Tijuana, then pretended their truck was stolen while they ate lunch. The truck, however, gets sold to a Mexican pottery maker, who repaints uses it to deliver pots to San Diego. During all this, the waste drums still on the truck spill horrible Guthion over two kids, killing one of them. In their investigation, the three San Diego law folk wind up in weirdest Tijuana for some surreal surveillance duty—and have a punchy pair of drunk scenes that show Wambaugh at his cleverest in the sexy, gin-soaked Nick & Nora Department. Smart, crunchy dialogue—too topical, yes, but for now quite witty enough."

I was surprised that there were so many jokes and funny observations in the novel. "...like getting a circumcision with only a Bud Light for anesthesia".

The perfect 'Beach Read'.....

TRANSCRIPTION: A Novel by Kate Atkinson

 On Saturday, 1/18/25 I finished 'CASE HISTORIES' by Kate Atkinson and immediately borrowed 

'TRANSCRIPTION: A Novel' by Atkinson from the library via Kindle.

It's about a woman who worked for the British at MI5 during WWII. They set up a phony Fascist organization to entrap Nazis in the UK into telling their secrets.

After the war ends she notices one of the men in the program, but he claims he doesn't know her. This was a great novel and I really like her writing style. 

From Wikipedia:

"In 1950, Juliet Armstrong, a producer of children's programmes at the BBC, sees Godfrey Toby, a man she knew during WWII. When she approaches him he denies knowing her.

The incident causes Juliet to reflect back to 1940 when she was a young 18-year-old woman who had recently been orphaned. Hired to work at MI5, she is quickly scouted for an operation run by the elusive Perry Gibbons. Working out of two flats, the MI5 team reveal that they are spying on a group of low-level Nazi sympathisers who report to MI5 spy Godfrey Toby, believing he is a secret spy for the Gestapo. The walls are bugged with microphones and Juliet's job is to transcribe the audio recordings of their conversations.

Juliet develops a crush on Perry, who seems to encourage speculation that they are having an affair but does not return her affections. Instead he recruits her to ingratiate herself to a woman named Mrs. Scaife, hoping that she will lead them to the Red Book, a rumoured ledger containing the names of influential Nazi sympathisers. Juliet is given the false name Iris Carter-Jenkins. She is also approached by Oliver Alleyne, Perry's boss, who asks her to spy on Godfrey. Juliet does so, but despite noticing Godfrey acting suspiciously does not report back to Oliver.

While searching for the Red Book in Mrs. Scaife's house Juliet accidentally leaves behind her handbag, containing her real identity card, and asks Mrs. Scaife's maid, an orphan named Beatrice Dodd, to help cover for her.

A few days later, Perry proposes to Juliet, who doesn't realise he is gay. The following morning Juliet is sought out by the police who believed she was dead as they found the body of a young woman with her identification papers. Juliet realises that the body is Beatrice Dodd and is frightened as the location her body was found in was one mentioned by Godfrey Toby's Nazi sympathisers. A few days later, Juliet takes part in a sting operation during which Mrs. Scaife is arrested.

By 1950, Juliet is working at the BBC after the operation, and her relationship with Perry, quickly dissolved. However, she still has MI5 ties and allows her apartment to be used as a safe house for Soviet defectors. At work she receives an anonymous note telling her that she will never be able to pay for what she has done. Juliet grows paranoid, believing the note comes from one of Godrey's recruits. After Mrs. Scaife's arrest, Juliet and Godfrey were involved in killing Dolly, one of the low-level Nazi sympathisers, after she accidentally discovered their operation. However, none of the other living members of the circle ever discovered what Juliet had done. On her way home from the BBC Juliet is attacked, but is relieved to find that her attacker is a former spy named Nelly Varga who was persuaded to work for MI5 after they kidnapped her dog, a dog Juliet was put in charge of who later died.

Returning home Juliet finds a mysterious visitor waiting for her, a friend of Godfrey's, and realises she was being spied on for years by MI5 as she was a double agent for the Soviets, recruited at her MI5 interview. Godfrey's friend persuades her to betray her soviet handlers. Juliet realises she will never truly be free of either party. She tries to escape but is quickly caught by MI5 agents. However, Nelly Varga attacks her a second time, allowing her to escape, and Perry helps to smuggle her to Holland. Thirty years later, MI5 forcibly repatriates her to help flush out other Soviet spies, including Oliver Alleyne.

In 1981, shortly after being repatriated, Juliet is hit by a car and dies."

"Atkinson said in an author's note that she was partly inspired by the story of Eric Roberts, an MI5 officer who spent the Second World War masquerading as a Gestapo officer in London, running a group of British fascists who believed themselves to be German spies, in what was known as the Fifth Column operation."

CASE HISTORIES by Kate Atkinson

Finished Fr 1/17/25

This is an ancient trade paperback that I first finished We 5/30/07. I had bought the book at West Branch "after a ride to Litchfield on The Shadow".

There are basically two cases in this 'Literary Mystery' novel:

1) Four sisters; one disappeared when she was four years old. When their father dies, many years later, they find the young girl's teddy bear with their dad's possessions. 

2) A middle aged lawyer has his college age daughter help him at his law office. She is stabbed to death in random attack at their office.

This novel is the first in the 'Jackson Brodie' series.

From an Internet blog:

"Opening with three seemingly unrelated case histories separated by many years, these cold cases become the backbone of main character Jackson Brodie's investigations. Jackson served in the army before becoming a police officer and now a private investigator. His own life is complicated, a tragedy in his childhood, a failed marriage, on-going custody issues with his ex-wife over his beloved young daughter, and an investigation business that isn't making any money. In fact, one of his most consistent clients is the elderly, genteel but racist Binky Rain, who is convinced that her cats are being stolen, and a husband convinced that his flight attendant wife is cheating on him despite the fact that Jackson has assured him she's not. Then one by one, the case histories presented in the opening chapters land in Jackson's lap. All of a sudden he's investigating three year old Olivia Land's 1970 disappearance at the behest of two of her surviving sisters, the 1994 unsolved murder of Laura Wyre at the behest of Laura's desperately grieving father Theo, and the unknown whereabouts of her baby niece after her sister Michelle killed her husband by splitting his head open with an ax in 1979 at the behest of Michelle's sister Shirley. Although there is only new evidence in the case of little Olivia's disappearance, evidence that only surfaced recently after the elderly Mr. Land died, Jackson isn't confident that he'll manage to uncover the truth in any of the seemingly unrelated cases. He can't afford not to take the cases though, both monetarily and emotionally. And as he is investigating, there are several attempts on his life, adding yet another mystery to the the layers already present.

This is billed as a literary mystery and it is that. It is unlikely that readers will solve the cases themselves and as this is not strictly a whodunit but rather a case study of human beings, a deep look at the impact of violence on the people left behind, how the uncertainty shapes them, and the lives they carve out for themselves in the aftermath of tragedy, not being given all of the clues is beside the point. Atkinson delves deeply into not only Jackson, but also people most effected by the devastation of the crimes. Chapters are told focused on a close reading of Jackson, Amelia Land, Theo Wyre, and Caroline Weaver, including passages that are almost stream of consciousness, as each of the plot threads twist closer and closer to their resolution, either partial or whole. The novel has a complicated structure weaving together so many disparate plot lines and gathering them into a tight and deliberate single story.

Case Histories is a good introduction to Jackson, showing his past and his present, the way he works, those things that are most important in his life, and who he is. His ponderings on each of the cases reflect his worries and feelings for his daughter. This is a book about loss and family dynamics, the horrors human beings endure and those they inflict on others. It is a novel about the taken, the missing girls and women who disappear, who seldom, if ever, get justice. The case histories that the novels open with do get closure in the end, where they are retold with their heartbreaking, sometimes ugly, truths fully on display. The writing is gorgeous but the structure of the novel may mean it's not for everyone. It is the first in a series, so plot threads from Jackson's life are left unresolved. The victims in the case histories do come across as fairly stereotypical but luckily Atkinson more fully draws the remaining characters and even makes the subjects of those case histories (with the possible exception of Olivia) much more realistic as the novel goes on, bringing them off the flat page of their police files. I don't know if I intend to read more of the Jackson Brodie mysteries, but I enjoyed this one and was pleased to see that Atkinson's skill as a writer was evident here."

Within minutes after finishing the book I borrowed 'TRANSCRIPTION' by Kate Atkinson on Kindle from the library. 

AFTER HOURS by Edwin Torres

 This is one of my ancient paperbacks that contains two novels by Torres. The first (and featured on the cover) is 'CARLITO'S WAY' (was made into a movie by Brian DePalma) & 'AFTER HOURS'. I bought the book at The Old Book Barn in Decatur on Sa 10/7/95. 

I finished 'AFTER HOURS' {the sequel} on Sa 1/11/2025

From the back cover of the book:

"Drug dealer, theif, murderer, Carlito Brigante was once just another Spanish Harlem street punk with a poor boy's dream of flash and fast money- now he's a Mob-connected professional with easy charm, stubborn pride and a hair-trigger temper."

This was written a few years after 'CARLITO'S WAY' and it took a while to get into the story.

Basically, it concerns a crooked lawyer who is trying to use his father's influence (his dad's a judge) to get out of some dire legal difficulties. The district attorney's office is out for blood. And during all of this, Carlito is trying to get out of the rackets and live a quiet life with his lover. 

Edwin Torres is a former New York State Supreme Court judge and author of Puerto Rican descent, who wrote the 1975 novel Carlito's Way. His book was the basis for the 1993 movie of the same name, starring Al Pacino, and for the 1979 book After Hours, the sequel to Carlito's Way. 

INNOCENCE by Dean Koontz

 Finished Sa 1/4/2025

This is a hardback that Janny loaned to me. I loved the book and plan on asking her if I can keep the novel. 

A 'monster' lives beneath the city. He is horrifying to look at and the reason is that he 'was born without sin'. He's like 'oil to water' when he is among normal humans. 

The book is kind of a reworking of the 'Garden of Eden' myths. 

From the Internet:

"Now, I have to admit that Innocence is one the most unusual novels I’ve ever read, especially by Dean Koontz.  The story deals with Addison Goodheart, who, as a young boy, was turned out by his mother, and forced to leave their isolated home out in the wilderness.  Since his birth, no one could stand to look at Addison’s face, or to gaze into his knowing eyes.  To do so turned people mad with an uncontrollable rage that was viciously directed at the boy.  This rage caused them to not only want to kill Addison, but to literally destroy him.   Even his mother could only bear to look at his face for so many years before finally throwing in the towel and making the child leave to fend for himself in the woods surrounding their cabin and then in a large city where he would have to avoid people at all cost or risk being killed.

Fortunately for Addison, he happens upon a man who appears to be in the same boat as he with regards to his facial features.  The adult offers his hand in friendship and takes the boy under his wing to live in the tunnel system underneath the city.  Together they flourish with the man teaching the boy everything he knows about survival.  Tragedy, however, erupts after a few years and Addison once again is alone.  That is until he sneaks into a closed library one night to read and witnesses a girl (Gwyneth) about his own age, fleeing from a well-dressed man who seems intent on killing her.

Luckily, Gwyneth manages to escape the killer and through a strange turn of events, become friends with Addison.  It’s love at first sight for Addison because Gwyneth is a real beauty, but she can’t bear to be touched or to be around people.  Still, she accepts Addison into her life.  On many levels they are both alike in their sorrows and inner spirit.  In fact, they are kindred spirits.  Gwyneth also makes it a point not to look at Addison’s facial features, understanding his need not to be seen by anyone.

Before long, Addison gets caught up in Gwyneth’s unusual adventures that deal with her murdered father and the man who’s after her.  They will have to figure out a way to defeat this individual and his accomplices if they want to survive the next twenty-four hours.  What the two young kids don’t realize is that this is only the tip of the iceberg and making it through the day is nothing compared to what’s ahead.

Dean Koontz has proven himself to be a master of character development.  He has a unique skill at being able to create relatively innocent children or adults, and then of putting them into highly dangerous situations with villains who are filled with such inner darkness that there’s not a shred of light emanating from their souls, if they have one.

Such is the case with Innocence. 

You have a young boy whose heart is overflowing with compassion and love; yet, no one can gaze upon his face or look into his eyes.  Then, you have a young, beautiful girl who is literally a genius; yet, she can’t bear to be around people.  Together, these two individuals will have to face the ultimate evil within humanity just to live for another day.  With all of this going on, the reader learns to care about these kids and to hate the men who are after them.  It takes a great deal of talent to hook harden readers like this, and Dean Koontz does it in spades.

Though it’s not important to the enjoyment of Innocence, Dean Koontz works every bit as hard on each upcoming book as he did at the beginning of his career so many years ago.  He may write each page thirty, forty, fifty, or even seventy times in order to find the right words needed to tell the story."

THE AQUITAINE PROGRESSION by Robert Ludlum

Finished Tu 12/31/24

This is a hardback library book that I bought used from Amazon and received Tu 12/17/24. It was from the Alexander Memorial Library in Cotulla, Texas. This is a tiny town between San Antonio and Laredo, TX. 650 pages and weighed 5 pounds.

I spent far too long on this novel, but I just had to know how it came out. 

The novel was released in 1984 and concerns Joel Converse. He's a man who realizes that a retired American general is masterminding a plot to turn the entire world into a fascist state. The general has set up false 'revolutions' in countries all around the world that will occur simaltaenously. This violence will allow the generals to step in and clamp down on any resistance and bring about 'peace'. 

Kirkus Reviews:

"A global Third Reich. . . One big Supreme Court, each chair owned by a fanatic . . . that group of men who've come together to promote a kind of violence that'll stun the world, toppling governments. . . ."" Don't Ludlum fans ever get tired of this same cartoon-conspiracy plot, shamelessly recycled virtually every other year? Apparently not. So here it is again, with fewer frills and convolutions than usual: the plot--though stretched out to 650 pages with repetitious talk and minor complications--is surprisingly straightforward this time around. Joel Converse, a young-ish lawyer on assignment in Geneva, is approached by old chum Avery, who (on behalf of an anonymous client) offers Joel $500,000 to undertake a patriotic mission against some world-wide conspiracy. Moments later, naturally, Avery is murdered--and Joel's on his way to Greece, where Avery's colleague outlines the mission: six militaristic super-fascists from six countries (US, UK, France, Germany, Israel, So. Africa) plan to take over the Western world by fomenting violence; to prevent this, Joel must somehow use legal means to undermine the plotters. Implausible? Indubitably. But Joel's off and running nonetheless--meeting the bad guys in Paris and Bonn, trying (idiotically) to infiltrate their group. Not that the bad guys are much more efficient: they capture Joel several times but keep allowing him to escape; they also frame him for a half-dozen murders. And so Joel, realizing that the ""Aquitaine"" conspirators have allies within all the Western governments, is now a fugitive from justice too, trying to get to Washington alive to convince someone in US power about the Aquitaine threat. The only person who seems to believe him: ex-wife Valerie, who rescues Joel in Amsterdam, takes his messages to America (more deaths ensue), and eventually joins him in the long countdown finale--when Joel (with CIA help at last) crushes the Aquitaine leadership, arranges an assault on the Aquitaine communications-center. . . but doesn't quite succeed in averting the assassination-festival which Aquitaine has already scheduled. Sounds familiar? Of course it does: to an even greater extent than previous Ludlums, this reads like second-rank John Buchan with a case of elephantiasis. Still, there's more old-fashioned action here--and much less murk--than in some recent Ludlum thrillers; and if some fans may miss the mysterious atmosphere, others will appreciate the absence of intricate, headache-inducing gobbledygook."

An excellent recap of the novel from 'Raritania':

https://raritania.blogspot.com/2022/03/review-aquitaine-progression-by-robert.html#:~:text=Alas%2C%20after%20the%20midpoint%20of,agent%2C%20capably%20dispatching%20enemy%20after

I spent far to long on the book because it promised far more than it delivered.