TRUTH OR DIE by James Patterson & Howard Roughan

 Finished Mo 12/16/24

This was a hardback that Janny loaned to me.

Another book that feels like it's been created by an assembly line. It crackles with plot ideas, but lacks character development and elegant writing. It's bare-bones and feels like reading a screenplay.

A professional man's girlfriend is a investigative reporter and one night she is murdered. At first glance, it appears to be a New York city mugging, but it is only the tip of a very deep conspiracy. 

From the book's page at Amazon:

"D. C. attorney Trevor Mann is about to discover a shocking secret . . . and to uncover the truth, he must solve the most shocking mystery of his life.

After a serious professional stumble, attorney Trevor Mann may have finally hit his stride. He's found happiness with his girlfriend Claire Parker, a beautiful, ambitious journalist always on the hunt for a scoop. But when Claire's newest story leads to a violent confrontation, Trevor's newly peaceful life is shattered as he tries to find out why.

Chasing Claire's leads, Trevor unearths evidence of a shocking secret that-if it actually exists-every government and terrorist organization around the world would do anything to possess. Suddenly it's up to Trevor, along with a teenage genius who gives new meaning to the phrase "too smart for his own good," to make sure that secret doesn't fall into the wrong hands. But Trevor is about to discover that good and evil can look a lot alike, and nothing is ever black and white: not even the truth."

GALACTIC POT-HEALTER by Philip K. Dick

 Refinished Fr 12/13/24

This was one of my ancient trade paperbacks that I first finished on Tu 3/14/95. I also finished the book at Midway airport in Chicago when I went to Las Vegas in December of 2003. 

Pot healer is a person who repairs and refurbishes cermanics. 

A pot healer is contacted by an entity (god?) who wants to raise an ancient city on a planet far away. He is gathering beings from all over the galaxy to help with this massive undertaking. 

It was odd & confusing and I'm not sure how to take the book. 

'ELMO PLASSKET SINKS GIANTS': One of the games that the protagonist plays was to locate crazy newspaper headlines and that was one of them. I checked and Elmo Plassket was a real major league baseball player and he played catcher, outfield, and third base for the Pittsburg Pirates.

From an internet post by Jason Koornick:

"Galactic Pot-Healer tells the story of Joe Fernwright, a low level bureaucrat who lives in an overcrowded dystopia and whose life has no real purpose. Trained in the art of pot healing, Fernwright is a restorer of old ceramics but in his time all the pots have been fixed and he spends his days in a cubicle waiting for any random assignment that might come his way. He passes the hours by playing a meaningless word game with his co-workers.

Joe’s life takes a turn when he receives intergalactic communication from an unknown entity through various channels. First, a message comes to him in his mail tube, next he finds a note floating in the bowl of his toilet. Not sure what to make of all it, Joe discovers that he is being contacted by a force called the Glimmung who is trying to enlist his pot healing services to restore an ancient cathedral on a distant planet.

We join Fernwright as he journeys across the universe on a perilous mission which confounds and astonishes him. We meet bizarre aliens and wise-cracking robots as Joe tries to discover the true nature of his mission and the intention of his flawed but omniscient host, the Glimmung. Appearing to the group of intergalactic workers in many various forms, the Glimmung is a being with a purpose and determination which goes back through the ages and needs the help of the otherwise useless workers in his efforts to restore what can be seen as balance and harmony on the alien planet of Plowman’s Planet.

Sprinkled among the quick moving plot and reckless abandon of this novel, one finds bits and pieces of the irony and humor for which Dick is known. Joe Fernwright is the perfect PKD character even if his story is vague and unclear.

Just like Joe, the reader is often confused and baffled by the events which transpire in Galactic Pot-Healer. This is not a book for the faint of heart or those looking for clear cut answers. The symbolism and message of this novel are buried under layers of false suggestion and distorted truths. Only by reading between the lines is a reader likely to walk away from Galactic Pot-Healer understanding Dick’s intentions with this book."

 

THE PARSIFAL MOSAIC by Robert Ludlum

 Finished Mo 12/9/24

This was one of my ancient paperbacks that I first read and finished on Sa 7/17/93.

I spent longer than necessary, but there were several more plotlines than in the average Baldacci novel. 

1) Two lovers in the intelligence system are pitted against each other by their bosses. A man witnesses his lover being killed and he's led to believe that she was working for the enemies of America. He leaves 'the business', but later sees his lover by accident. He sees her face and realizes that she hates him. Her handlers have her believing that he is working for 'the enemies'. 

2) A political figure, similar to Henry Kissinger, is praised by everyone for his expertise in international policy. However, this man has lost his mind and American intelligence has built a fake town so that they can keep him tethered to some sense of reality. 

3) There is a Russian mole who is the American Secretary of State. 

From an internet blog:

"The story starts with a defining moment in the life of "Consular Operations" agent Michael Havelock. Having learned that his lover, Jenna Karas, is working with the KGB he is forced to personally gun her down on a beach in Spain. Sickened by her betrayal of him, and by his betrayal of her (he did love her, after all, and he cold-bloodedly murdered her), he calls it quits and retires to an academic existence. But of course it is the case that like Michael Corleone in the third Godfather film, just when he thinks he is out when they pull him back in. The entreaties of various recruiters fail to bring him back to the Great Game, but something else does the trick in short order--Havelock, incredibly, spotting Karas in a train station in Rome. She’s alive! he realizes. And she knows he knows that she knows that he knows that . . . And off he goes after her as she desperately tries to evade the man who shot at her on that beach, Havelock determined to find out how he has been deceived, and why, while American intelligence determines to stop him.

During this phase of the book--which lasts more than half of its six hundred pages--there is an abundance of incident, but very little forward progress of the story. Rather the mechanics of pursuit, evasion, surveillance, combat are, a few hints of more apart (a Soviet mole in the upper reaches of government, the odd behavior of an American Secretary of State whose stature is basically the legend of Henry Kissinger times twenty, the fear that somehow this will lead to nuclear war), pretty much all the narrative has to offer. It is only after the midpoint of the book that Havelock succeeds in tracking Jenna down, and that they start investigating the conspiracy that brought them to this state. The biggest revelations come early, after which the remainder of the book consists mainly of Havelock trying to find a mole whose identity is unambiguously revealed to the reader well before the end (even if there are a few other surprises in store), and never packs quite the dramatic punch that it should because responsibility for Havelock's betrayal ultimately ends up being so diffused.

The result is that The Parsifal Mosaic feels like two, or two-and-a-half, smaller thrillers strung together, each of which runs longer than it ought as a result of the number of links in the chains being longer than would have been optimal, and a fair amount of overwriting, with many a lengthy scene or subplot amounting to less than the space allotted it ought to have warranted. (Havelock’s attempt to intercept Jenna at the Franco-Italian border was overlengthy, the description overly complicated. Meeting with a man in New York who has important information for Havelock about Karas’ whereabouts Havelock realizes that he is a Nazi criminal whose atrocities he personally witnessed as young Michal Havlicek back in Czechoslovakia during the war, now living here under a false identity--but in spite of adding yet another dramatic shock the fact is actually quite unimportant to the story. And so on.)"

Last night I ordered two more novels by Ludlum from Amazon.

FUNERAL IN BERLIN by Len Deighton

 Finihsed Su 11/17/24

This was one of my ancient paperbacks that I had never read. An enjoyable read and the writing was far superior than what I was expecting. Baldacci makes the plot more important than character development or tone, but Deighton's writing is just the opposite. I had a little trouble keeping track of the story, but the superior writing easily made up for the slight confusion.

My take on what happened: 

The 'hero' is tasked with getting a scientist out of East Berlin. He was to be smuggled out of the country in a casket, however another agent was in the coffin. He wanted to assume the identity of a dead Jew who was extremely wealthy, yet died in one of the camps. This man had phony ID and he was hoping to go to Switzerland, show the identification, and become a rich man.

From a blog on the internet:

"In this story, the nameless spy is sent to East Berlin to facilitate the defection of an East German scientist. He must work with the Russian security-chief Colonel Stok and Hallam of the British Home Office. An elaborate plan is set up to get the scientist out of East Berlin. This book was published only three years after the Berlin Wall was constructed; in the introduction, Deighton speaks of the time he spent in East Berlin shortly after the wall went up. The setting feels very authentic.

This book in the series had some interesting differences from the first two. There are over 50 chapters and  almost all of them start with a brief tidbit about a move or strategy in chess. For example: "Players who relish violence, aggression and movement often depend upon the Spanish Game." With no knowledge of chess, this meant nothing to me, but it was a nice touch anyway.

This story was not entirely told in first person. From what I remember, the first two books were told only from the nameless spy's point of view and in first person. In this book, there where chapters here and there that were in third person and focused on the story from various character's points of view. I liked that change, although the narration of the nameless spy is one of the best elements of the story.

There are lots of great characters in this story. The aforementioned Stok in East Berlin and Hallam in London are both memorable. Johnny Vulkan is a double agent that has helped the agency before. There is a discussion with the head of the agency regarding using Vulkan on this case:

'The point I'm making is, that the moment Vulkan feels we are putting him on ice he'll shop around for another job. Ross at the War Office or O'Brien at the P.O. will whip him into the Olympia Stadion and that's the last we will see of him...'

Dawlish touched his finger-tips together and looked at me sardonically. 

'You think I am too old for this job, don't you?'

I said nothing.

 'If we decide not to continue with Vulkan's contract there is no question of leaving him available for the highest bidder.' 

I didn't think old Dawlish could make me shiver.

Another element I like in these stories is the addition of footnotes. They are not extensive enough to break the flow of reading but do add bits of information which would not fit in the flow of conversation.

This book was made into a film, as was The Ipcress File. Michael Caine starred in both films. I had seen The Ipcress File film for the first time in May of this year. I enjoyed it; Caine was just wonderful in the role (called Harry Palmer in the films). However, it was only a bit less confusing than the book. I watched the film adaptation of Funeral in Berlin very shortly after finishing the book and I liked this film even better than the first one. Probably because I understood what was going on, plus my increased familiarity with the characters."

I borrowed the film from Hoopla and watched it on Tu 11/19/24 and the film was streamlined and I think it made more sense. The whole subplot about the 'science of enzymes' was dropped and how Broume was in the concentration camp and his rich family was barely mentioned. Harry Palmer is 'Edmund Dorf' and Johnny Vulcan was actually a Nazi prison guard who was trying to get Broume's paperwork so that he could claim Broume's two million dollars in a Swiss account. 

THE BOYS FROM BILOXI by John Grisham

 Finished Tu 11/12/24

This was a trade paperback that Janny loaned to me. 

It's a great (and well written) fictional tale about the 'Dixie Mafia'.

Two close friends; Keith Rudy & Hugh Malco.Keith was the 'good' boy who became a lawyer (with political aspirations- his father was the DA) and Hugh was the 'bad' boy who became a mafia chief within his father's organized crime family. 

A description of the book at Goodreads:

"For most of the last hundred years, Biloxi was known for its beaches, resorts, and seafood industry. But it had a darker side. It was also notorious for corruption and vice, everything from gambling, prostitution, bootleg liquor, and drugs to contract killings. The vice was controlled by a small cabal of mobsters, many of them rumored to be members of the Dixie Mafia.

Keith Rudy and Hugh Malco grew up in Biloxi in the sixties and were childhood friends, as well as Little League all-stars. But as teenagers, their lives took them in different directions. Keith’s father became a legendary prosecutor, determined to “clean up the Coast.” Hugh’s father became the “Boss” of Biloxi’s criminal underground. Keith went to law school and followed in his father’s footsteps. Hugh preferred the nightlife and worked in his father’s clubs. The two families were headed for a showdown, one that would happen in a courtroom.

Life itself hangs in the balance in The Boys from Biloxi, a sweeping saga rich with history and with a large cast of unforgettable characters."

Although this is novel, it reads just like a True Crime. The reviews were surprisingly luke warm, but I really liked the book. It's somewhat more than the usual 'beach read'. 

A link to a review of the novel:

https://charles-harris.co.uk/2023/08/the-boys-from-biloxi-has-grisham-taken-on-too-big-a-case/ 

A MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT by David Baldacci

 Finished Mo 11/4/24

This was a trad paperback that Janny loaned me. It's typical Baldacci. I loved it while I was reading it, but it's just a compelling storyline. 

This is part of his 'Atlee Pine' series. She is an MMA fighter, weight lifter, and an FBI agent; part of BAU- 'The Behavioral Analysis Unit'. 

Set in Andersonville, Georgia at the infamous Confederate Civil War prison. 

Two Storylines:

1) Atlee was a twin and when they were six years old, Mercy (her twin) was kidnapped and Atlee was physically attacked. In this novel she is trying to locate her sister because she might still be alive and she also wants to find her mother. This storyline is not resolved. 

2) A serial killer is operating in the area. People are murdered (a man and a woman) and dressed in wedding clothes. This storyline is resolved. The killer was a woman who was friends with her parents. 

US AGAINST YOU by Fredrik Backman

 Finished Tu 10/29/24

This is a trad paperback that Janny loaned to me. It's by the same  Swedish author who wrote 'A MAN CALLED OVE'.

This is about an ice hockey rivalry between two teams, The Bears and The Bulls. Each team is represented by the towns of Beartown and Hed. 

A rape pits the towns against each other.

A star player is gay and this pits the towns against each other. 

Many characters and a wise & pithy observation is on almost every single page.

I want more by Backman. 'A MAN CALLED OVE' was his first book and he has many more. 

Link to an excellent review at 'Medium'.

https://zachary-houle.medium.com/a-review-of-fredrik-backmans-us-against-you-4d61efe0204c

'US AGAINST YOU' is part of a trilogy. The first is 'BEARSTOWN' and the final book (can be read as a stand-alone) is 'THE WINNERS'.