Finished Mo 12/16/13
Dismas Hardy-Ex-cop, lawyer who now works as a bartender in a friend's bar. He saved this man in Vietnam. Divorced but trying to get back with his wife, Jane. Their marriage collapsed after their son fell out of his crib and died. Jane is in Hong Kong for business during the whole novel, and she has found a new guy, but Dismas has decided to marry Frannie. She is the brother of his friend and pregnant by her dead husband, Eddie.
Rusty Ingraham is a seedy lawyer and acquaintance of Dismas who warns him that Louis Baker is about to be released. He's a black career criminal who threatened Dismas and Rusty. Rusty sets up a phony crime scene in which his girlfriend, Maxine has been shot, Rusty is nowhere to be found (assumed shot), and it looks like Louis Baker did it. Rusty was trying to fake his death to get out from under a huge debt to the mob including thousands in 'vig' money. Hence the novel's title. Maxine had just gotten almost a hundred thousand in an insurance settlement and Rusty took that money as well, but he was really just trying to get the mob off his back.
Dismas tracks him to Mexico and captures him with the help of Abe Glitsky. Abe is a black cop with a distinctive scar on his face and lip and also the protagonist is several novels by Lescroart.
Many red herrings are introduced as to who actually killed Maxine and whether or not Rusty was dead or alive. Baker's gang pals at the housing project. Maxine's husband (they're separated). He might have been trying to bet the insurance settlement. Johnny Laguardia is the collection agent for the mob boss, Mr. Tortoni.
Not a bad novel, but pretty average. Beach or Airplane Read
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
ALEX by Pierre Lemaitre
Finished Mon 12/16/13
Alex Prevost
Novel opens as Alex is being stalked. She is captured, taken by van to an abandoned warehouse where she is suspended in a cage. She can't stretch out, rats are placed nearby, and her captor only comes once a day. Police trace the man, he's the father of her latest victim, and he jumps off an expressway as police close in.
Alex has murdered six men and a woman. She had been 'pimped' by her brother and her genitals had been disfigured by acid. That's why she knocks out her victims and then pours sulfuric acid down their throats. Uses numerous false names that are based on characters from classic novels that she's read. In the end, she commits suicide but sets the scene in such a way as to frame her brother for her murder. Drinks whiskey and takes pills. Her brother's fingerprint is on the pill bottle and she puts one of his hairs at the scene.
Thomas Vasseur- her brother. He is her step-brother and is seven years older. Has been raping her and pimping her since she was eleven.
Commandant Camille Verhoeven- five foot lead detective. His wife had been kidnapped and murdered. She was also pregnant. This is his first case since this incident. Maud is his mother who was a famous painter. She is dead and he has inherited her paintings and an old home.
Divisionnaire Le Guen-300 pound, dapper 'ladies man'. Camille's boss. He is soft-spoken and the antithesis of Camille's vitriolic temperament.
Louis- Very rich detective and an impeccable dresser. Buffer between Camille and Le Guen. Extremely intelligent.
Armand-Detective who works with Camille and Louis. Very determined, but incredibly cheap. Never pays for a meal, or anything else, if he can help it.
Vidard-Powerful political figure who is higher on the chain of command than Camille and he dislikes Camille. He is extremely vain and stupid.
Alex Prevost
Novel opens as Alex is being stalked. She is captured, taken by van to an abandoned warehouse where she is suspended in a cage. She can't stretch out, rats are placed nearby, and her captor only comes once a day. Police trace the man, he's the father of her latest victim, and he jumps off an expressway as police close in.
Alex has murdered six men and a woman. She had been 'pimped' by her brother and her genitals had been disfigured by acid. That's why she knocks out her victims and then pours sulfuric acid down their throats. Uses numerous false names that are based on characters from classic novels that she's read. In the end, she commits suicide but sets the scene in such a way as to frame her brother for her murder. Drinks whiskey and takes pills. Her brother's fingerprint is on the pill bottle and she puts one of his hairs at the scene.
Thomas Vasseur- her brother. He is her step-brother and is seven years older. Has been raping her and pimping her since she was eleven.
Commandant Camille Verhoeven- five foot lead detective. His wife had been kidnapped and murdered. She was also pregnant. This is his first case since this incident. Maud is his mother who was a famous painter. She is dead and he has inherited her paintings and an old home.
Divisionnaire Le Guen-300 pound, dapper 'ladies man'. Camille's boss. He is soft-spoken and the antithesis of Camille's vitriolic temperament.
Louis- Very rich detective and an impeccable dresser. Buffer between Camille and Le Guen. Extremely intelligent.
Armand-Detective who works with Camille and Louis. Very determined, but incredibly cheap. Never pays for a meal, or anything else, if he can help it.
Vidard-Powerful political figure who is higher on the chain of command than Camille and he dislikes Camille. He is extremely vain and stupid.
Sunday, December 8, 2013
THE WRONG END OF TIME by John Brunner
Finished Sa 12/7/13
Vasily Sheklov is dropped by submarine behind US lines and picked up by Turpin. Black 'reb' (current slang for hippie, beatnik, slacker) Danty witnesses the drop-off. He has psychic powers and 'born at the wrong end of time' which is a reference to Merlin in THE SWORD IN THE STONE. Turpin is a Russian sleeper agent and has been secretly in place for 25 years and enjoys a high position at Energetics.
'Johnny Reb and Jenny Reb'-slang for young slackers
Lakonia-beautiful lakeside city Cowville-the surrounding slum
Energetics General-the huge private corporation run and funded by Department of Defense
Russia sends Sheklov because they have received six pictures from an alien civilization that send them from a location near Pluto. They interpret it as a message that humans will be destroyed, but actually they are looking at them in the wrong order. It shows early man, the discovery of fire, and then humans traveling to other galaxies.
Sheklov's alias is Don Holtzer, a Canadian executive in the lumber industry. Danty makes him recite eastern philosophy while under some kind of hypnosis. Sheklov can't control his outburst.
Magda-lives with Danty and she's a kind of unlicensed therapist
Lora is Turpin's daughter and she is a sexually free spirit, and has sex with nearly everyone. Has an affair with Danty. She is raped by three blacks and she set it up for personal kicks.
Novel ends when security agents raid Danty and Magda's apartment while Danty, Magda, Sheklov and Lora are driving. They take off to cross into Canada using Danty's special powers to find the best crossing. Danty dies in an explosion on a train that he set so that they could make it across. Sheklov goes back to Russia to explain the alien photos to his superiors and the rest relocate to Canada. The book ends on an 'up note' when Sheklov leaves to explain his findings to First Secretary of Russia and the Chinese Ambassador that the world will not end and Humans will eventually visit the stars.
Brunner is quite critical of America. P. 149- The US, like the Romans, get too big and greedy. Then they trade freedom for security, and in this case, the true visionaries become 'rebs', and society stagnates.
Vasily Sheklov is dropped by submarine behind US lines and picked up by Turpin. Black 'reb' (current slang for hippie, beatnik, slacker) Danty witnesses the drop-off. He has psychic powers and 'born at the wrong end of time' which is a reference to Merlin in THE SWORD IN THE STONE. Turpin is a Russian sleeper agent and has been secretly in place for 25 years and enjoys a high position at Energetics.
'Johnny Reb and Jenny Reb'-slang for young slackers
Lakonia-beautiful lakeside city Cowville-the surrounding slum
Energetics General-the huge private corporation run and funded by Department of Defense
Russia sends Sheklov because they have received six pictures from an alien civilization that send them from a location near Pluto. They interpret it as a message that humans will be destroyed, but actually they are looking at them in the wrong order. It shows early man, the discovery of fire, and then humans traveling to other galaxies.
Sheklov's alias is Don Holtzer, a Canadian executive in the lumber industry. Danty makes him recite eastern philosophy while under some kind of hypnosis. Sheklov can't control his outburst.
Magda-lives with Danty and she's a kind of unlicensed therapist
Lora is Turpin's daughter and she is a sexually free spirit, and has sex with nearly everyone. Has an affair with Danty. She is raped by three blacks and she set it up for personal kicks.
Novel ends when security agents raid Danty and Magda's apartment while Danty, Magda, Sheklov and Lora are driving. They take off to cross into Canada using Danty's special powers to find the best crossing. Danty dies in an explosion on a train that he set so that they could make it across. Sheklov goes back to Russia to explain the alien photos to his superiors and the rest relocate to Canada. The book ends on an 'up note' when Sheklov leaves to explain his findings to First Secretary of Russia and the Chinese Ambassador that the world will not end and Humans will eventually visit the stars.
Brunner is quite critical of America. P. 149- The US, like the Romans, get too big and greedy. Then they trade freedom for security, and in this case, the true visionaries become 'rebs', and society stagnates.
Friday, November 29, 2013
AFTERSHOCK by Andrew Vachss
Finished Fr 11/29/13
NOTES-
Set in a small town on the Oregon coast
Dell and Dolly, he is a mercenary who trained in the French Foreign Legion (La Legion Estrangere); She is a nurse practitioner with Medecins Sans Frontieres.
Novel opens with Dell killing hunters near their property. He is 'setting the stakes'. Wants them out of the area because he is afraid that Dolly might be accidently shot, and he would be unable to live without her
Mary Lou McCoy- Lesbian softball star, kills one boy (Cameron Taft), and wounds two others
Danielle McCoy-her 13 year old sexually precocious and manipulative sister
Franklin Wayne-loyal 'big and dumb' friend of Mary Lou's. At the school only to play football, and appears to be retarded, but knows more than he lets on and his love of Mary Lou is unquestioned.
Tiger Ko Khai-name of the rape gang. They were signature jackets with raglan sleeves
Debbie Rollo-Expert witness who is part of Dolly's organization. This woman is expert on women who have been raped.
T.D. Joel-Expert witness on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The key to their defense rests on the fact that Mary Lou was not temporarily insane, but PTSD due to the fact she was convinced that Danielle was in danger of being gang raped.
Cameron-the 'pretty boy' rapist who Mary Lou killed. Danielle believes that he was in love with her. He wasn't.
Ryan Teller-the real leader of Tiger Ko Khai. Formed when he was in the military in Southeast Asia
Mr. Bradley Swift-lawyer retained by Dell for Mary Lou. Dell has him get a haircut and change to a dynamic and effective lawyer. He had been kind of a slacker.
NOTES-
Set in a small town on the Oregon coast
Dell and Dolly, he is a mercenary who trained in the French Foreign Legion (La Legion Estrangere); She is a nurse practitioner with Medecins Sans Frontieres.
Novel opens with Dell killing hunters near their property. He is 'setting the stakes'. Wants them out of the area because he is afraid that Dolly might be accidently shot, and he would be unable to live without her
Mary Lou McCoy- Lesbian softball star, kills one boy (Cameron Taft), and wounds two others
Danielle McCoy-her 13 year old sexually precocious and manipulative sister
Franklin Wayne-loyal 'big and dumb' friend of Mary Lou's. At the school only to play football, and appears to be retarded, but knows more than he lets on and his love of Mary Lou is unquestioned.
Tiger Ko Khai-name of the rape gang. They were signature jackets with raglan sleeves
Debbie Rollo-Expert witness who is part of Dolly's organization. This woman is expert on women who have been raped.
T.D. Joel-Expert witness on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The key to their defense rests on the fact that Mary Lou was not temporarily insane, but PTSD due to the fact she was convinced that Danielle was in danger of being gang raped.
Cameron-the 'pretty boy' rapist who Mary Lou killed. Danielle believes that he was in love with her. He wasn't.
Ryan Teller-the real leader of Tiger Ko Khai. Formed when he was in the military in Southeast Asia
Mr. Bradley Swift-lawyer retained by Dell for Mary Lou. Dell has him get a haircut and change to a dynamic and effective lawyer. He had been kind of a slacker.
Saturday, November 23, 2013
THE MERMAIDS SINGING by Val McDermid
Finished Sa 11/23/13
First novel in the Dr. Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series/1995
Val McDermid is a lesbian author from Scotland.
Four Gay killings
Tortured
Dr. Anthony Hill-Profiler with sexual problems. Mother distant. Grandmother demanding. Only able to 'fake' human interaction. Using phone sex as self-therapy, but only kidding himself.
Detective Inspector Carol Jordan
Bradfield Police Department
'Handy Andy' 'Queer Killer'
'Angelica' phone sex-Trans-sexual, but not gay. Sex change in Holland, denied by British. Works for phone company as computer specialist. Christopher Thorpe/Angelica Thorpe
First novel in the Dr. Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series/1995
Val McDermid is a lesbian author from Scotland.
Four Gay killings
Tortured
Dr. Anthony Hill-Profiler with sexual problems. Mother distant. Grandmother demanding. Only able to 'fake' human interaction. Using phone sex as self-therapy, but only kidding himself.
Detective Inspector Carol Jordan
Bradfield Police Department
'Handy Andy' 'Queer Killer'
'Angelica' phone sex-Trans-sexual, but not gay. Sex change in Holland, denied by British. Works for phone company as computer specialist. Christopher Thorpe/Angelica Thorpe
Monday, November 18, 2013
THE SINS OF THE FATHERS by Lawrence Block
Finished Mo 11/18/13
The first in the Matthew Scudder series, 1976
Wendy Hanniford, stepfather- Cale
Real father killed in Korea at the battle of Inchon
Scudder left the force after sixteen years after he accidently shot and killed Estrellita Rivera when two men tried an armed robbery at a bar where Scudder was drinking. Scudder tithes ten percent of his fee because of this accidental killing. He is divorced and the father of two sons who live with his ex wife in upstate NY.
Richie Vanderpoel- Gay roommate of Wendy and falsely accused of her murder. Actually she was slashed to death by his father, Reverend Vanderpoel. His wife committed suicide years earlier by slashing her wrists in the bathtub.
Wendy had a thing for older men. She seemed to constantly be looking out for a father figure (dead father). She even came on to her stepfather, and his negative reaction pushed her even further in that direction.
When she came on to the reverend, he took her up on it, had an affair and couldn't handle the guilt. When his son discovered Wendy's body, he lost his mind, and committed suicide in jail within a day.
Scudder visits the reverend and forces him to commit suicide with Richie's pills or he will expose him. He does.
The first in the Matthew Scudder series, 1976
Wendy Hanniford, stepfather- Cale
Real father killed in Korea at the battle of Inchon
Scudder left the force after sixteen years after he accidently shot and killed Estrellita Rivera when two men tried an armed robbery at a bar where Scudder was drinking. Scudder tithes ten percent of his fee because of this accidental killing. He is divorced and the father of two sons who live with his ex wife in upstate NY.
Richie Vanderpoel- Gay roommate of Wendy and falsely accused of her murder. Actually she was slashed to death by his father, Reverend Vanderpoel. His wife committed suicide years earlier by slashing her wrists in the bathtub.
Wendy had a thing for older men. She seemed to constantly be looking out for a father figure (dead father). She even came on to her stepfather, and his negative reaction pushed her even further in that direction.
When she came on to the reverend, he took her up on it, had an affair and couldn't handle the guilt. When his son discovered Wendy's body, he lost his mind, and committed suicide in jail within a day.
Scudder visits the reverend and forces him to commit suicide with Richie's pills or he will expose him. He does.
WAR AND PEACE by Leo Tolstoy
Finished Su 11/17/13
October and November selection for Classic Book Club, Lincoln Library
5 Disc Series BBC 1972 Anthony Hopkins as 'Pierre'
THE ILLUSTRIOUS DEAD by Steven Talty
October and November selection for Classic Book Club, Lincoln Library
5 Disc Series BBC 1972 Anthony Hopkins as 'Pierre'
THE ILLUSTRIOUS DEAD by Steven Talty
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)