“For more than half a century, there [was] no manned presence on the lunar surface. That was about to change …”
One of my fondest and most vivid read“For more than half a century, there [was] no manned presence on the lunar surface. That was about to change …”
One of my fondest and most vivid reading memories is my first reading of Tom Clancy’s THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, arguably English literature’s first techno-thriller. I recall holding my breath, eyes wide and eyebrows raised, and swallowing deeply as defecting Soviet submarine Captain Marko Ramius played a deadly silent game of hide and seek in the mountainous undersea terrain of the Reykjanes Ridge off the coast of Iceland. EAGLE STATION riffs on the same themes by moving that international chess match into the air, into space, and onto the surface of the moon, as a Sino-Soviet alliance wages covert (and officially undeclared but very, very hot) warfare (with extreme prejudice) against the USA over control of the lunar surface and the mining of the moon’s helium-3 resources.
There is no shortage of brilliantly exploited, fast-paced themes here to thrill even the most hard-core technology, political, and military junkies – hard-nosed international diplomacy; deployment of the recently created US Space Force; hard-core military tit for tat that treads ever closer to the boundary of a declared world war; high speed aerial battles; advances in weaponry that would make your head spin; and, of course, government decision making under the stress of all of these conditions.
EAGLE STATION is a snap to recommend to fellow readers and the latest nominee for my Top Ten of 2024 reading list.
On a side note as we rapidly approach the fateful November day on which the US will decide whether its future will include democracy and the rule of law, I shuddered when I tried to imagine a certain Donald J Trump in place of EAGLE STATION’s president, John Dalton Farrell. The possible results for the world as I pictured Trump making decisions in the same scenarios were simply terrifying. Food for thought … !
A jaw-dropping exposé of the realities of American presidential politics and US voting culture!
The premise of NO SAFE PLACE is simplicity itself. It’A jaw-dropping exposé of the realities of American presidential politics and US voting culture!
The premise of NO SAFE PLACE is simplicity itself. It’s a fictional biography of Kerry Kilcannon from a rough and tumble youngster, the child of Irish immigrants, through to his election as a senator climaxing with his contesting the crucial battleground of the California primary as the Democrat nominee for president. It’s dramatic, provocative, evocative, frightening, gut-wrenching, compelling and awesome in its realistic depiction of the insanity that is the American electoral system.
A handful of quotations will serve to portray the flavor of Patterson’s brilliant achievement:
On the character, capabilities, and competence of 20th century politicians: “Politicians were … petty men taking small chances for selfish reasons, trying to manipulate just enough of a cynical public to keep themselves in office.” or “A candidate should make speeches … not decisions. Decisions are too important.” and the succinct characterization “… everything that’s wrong with politics in the nineties – cowardice masked as cleverness, leadership b poll, symbolic gestures, careful attention to special interests.”
One might go so far as to say that NO SAFE PLACE was a door-stopper size condemnation of the entire political process in the USA which, in my opinion, is eminently warranted and absolutely deserved.
On racism and illegal immigration: “You and I will never live to see the day that being a white guy isn’t a better deal. And you have illegals in California partly because whites want cheap labor.”
On the 2nd Amendment: “The notion that James Madison wrote the Bill of Rights so that racists and sociopaths and madmen could slaughter innocent men, women, and children with assault weapons or handguns is one of the most contemptible notions that an irresponsible minority has ever crammed down the throats of its potential victims.”
On electioneering and political campaigning: “ … we have a ‘shoot to kill’ political culture premised on permanent scandal, where people in both parties don’t just try to win but to destroy each other with charges and countercharges. And I’ve stopped counting the number of special prosecutors there are.” (Aileen Cannon, are you paying attention? But I digress!)
On the country’s attitude toward its own military and veterans: “One of the ugliest truths of Vietnam was that the Americans who died there were disproportionately poor, disproportionately black, disproportionately less educated. And one of its ugliest legacies is the elitist notion the only men and women who now need serve our country are those for whom the military is a jobs program.”
Electoral reform, abortion, right-to-life and evangelical Christianity (obviously) popped up their heads repeatedly for consideration in a novel that, in a single phrase, needs to be read.
A great debut to what promises to be a creepy (and thoroughly entertaining) series!
TRULY UNFORTUNATE is definitely a blend of genres – paranormal, hoA great debut to what promises to be a creepy (and thoroughly entertaining) series!
TRULY UNFORTUNATE is definitely a blend of genres – paranormal, horror, psychological thriller, and murder mystery. Whether there is intent or malevolence remains an open question, even as the novel reaches its closing pages, but it is certainly true (as the title coyly suggests) that one would be truly unfortunate if one was to upset Truly DeCanter, a young girl apparently suffering from repressed memories of childhood abuse.
Drawing on whiffs of the supernatural abilities of Stephen King’s eponymous character CARRIE, C.A. King places Truly at the heart of a pattern of unexplained deaths in Knollville. The police investigators acknowledge that the solution to the mystery, if it is even possible to find one, lies beyond the realm of normal human experience.
TRULY UNFORTUNATE is short and sweet but it’s a gripping page-turner and a novel that will definitely raise your eyebrows with hopes to follow up on further entries in the series. And, more than that, I’ll definitely be looking for other novels by the same author. Kudos to an up and coming Canadian author I had the good fortune to meet at a recent local book festival.
“There were riots in Paris, but there are always riots in Paris”
Post-apocalyptic and dystopian, cynical, cautionary, satirical, hilarious, concern“There were riots in Paris, but there are always riots in Paris”
Post-apocalyptic and dystopian, cynical, cautionary, satirical, hilarious, concerned, realistic, evocative, ominous, thought-provoking … MR ADAM is all of the above and a good deal more besides.
Consider a hypothetical world in which a nuclear accident sterilizes every man on the planet except Mr Adam, a rather unassuming, mildly introverted man with a definite case of low self-esteem, who happened to be working deep in a mine shielded by vast quantities of lead deposits at the time of the accident. Pat Frank’s brilliant (but hopefully not prescient) tale tells the disconcerting story of a shocked world’s reactions to the situation from a variety of possible perspectives – young vs old; male vs female; government or military vs citizens; nation vs nation; and, of course, Mr Adams vs the rest of the world who see artificial insemination (with him as the sole source of semen) as the only possibility for the continuation of the human race (as if that is necessarily a good thing, LOL!).
Easy, easy, easy to recommend to other readers and a definite incentive to explore Pat Frank’s more widely known classic, ALAS, BABYLON.
A dead end street – nine houses, nine neighbours, nine creepy little horror shorts!
The host of a street dinner party makes the startling revelation toA dead end street – nine houses, nine neighbours, nine creepy little horror shorts!
The host of a street dinner party makes the startling revelation to his guests that the original residents of their houses were a coven of nine witches who made a pact to keep “the spirits bound to the other realm”. But, in time, that magic has been weakening, “barely holding on by a thread”. If the residents fail to strengthen the number nine in their lives, then the resulting failure of that binding could free those spirits. “Terrible things could happen on Nine Street”. And THAT is the basis for a thoroughly entertaining collection of tales indeed!
TWISTED TALES OF A DEAD END STREET is a bravura collection of fast-paced horror shorts with themes of murder, animal abuse, paranormal, and malevolent spirits delivered with humour, a cast of characters with tongue-in-cheek Dickensian names, and suitably gothic atmosphere. Although each of the chapters stands on its own merits as a compelling short story, the linkage between the stories provides the basis for a clever ending twist in the final chapter.
This is the first of three books that I purchased when I met the author at a local book fair. I’m definitely looking forward to the other two and I’m thrilled to have made the acquaintance of such a skilled local author that I can happily recommend to fellow readers.
“On a stone hearth in the centre, a fire of yak dung burned brightly and an old Tibetan woman was crumbling brick tea into a cauldron of boiling wa“On a stone hearth in the centre, a fire of yak dung burned brightly and an old Tibetan woman was crumbling brick tea into a cauldron of boiling water.”
Jack Drummond, an involuntary retiree from the British Navy, now makes his living as a mercenary gun-runner, a smuggler to order if you will, following the money he needs to live and prepare a dubious retirement. One last mission is in the cards delivering weapons to Tibetan guerillas in their hot/cold struggle against the Chinese Communists. But that idea goes down in literal flames when his plane, such as it is, is destroyed and Drummond is left with no choice but to help the local head man deliver his ailing son safely across land to the Indian border. The Chinese, including a treacherous turncoat double agent, see the child as a potential symbol that they can groom and use to secure their hold over the area. And it’s clear they’ll take whatever desperate measures are necessary to stop Drummond from delivering the child to safety.
THE IRON TIGER is an interesting, credible, and fast-moving adventure tale that entertains but, frankly, suffers somewhat by comparison to Higgins’ more popular novels such as THE EAGLE HAS LANDED. That said, Higgins is to be commended for providing a progressive female romantic interest in the novel with skills, backbone, some strength, and the determination to set her own path. Well done.
Recommended as an entertaining example of the quasi-military adventure novel typical of the mid 20th century.
“People … it appears we have a problem of some magnitude here.”
A heat wave in northern New England, a fearsome storm, a fog, and then an all-encom“People … it appears we have a problem of some magnitude here.”
A heat wave in northern New England, a fearsome storm, a fog, and then an all-encompassing mist traps a motley collection of shoppers in a grocery store. The mist is pure evil and what it brings to life with it will raise the hackles on a reader’s neck.
THE MIST is a fast-paced, gruesome, gothic, imaginative, creep-fest that showcases Stephen King’s flair for creating a cast of characters with a myriad of reactions to what is pure over-the-top Hollywood horror. But it’s great entertainment and, goodness knows, it’s easy to recommend to lovers of the horror genre.
On the surface, MIDNIGHT AT MARBLE ARCH is an exciting story of murder, sexual assault and serial rape in the hig“Decent women do not get raped.”
On the surface, MIDNIGHT AT MARBLE ARCH is an exciting story of murder, sexual assault and serial rape in the highest levels of Victorian society. Under normal circumstances, the rape of a wealthy merchant banker would fall outside Thomas Pitt’s jurisdiction as newly appointed head of Special Branch. But Pitt’s involvement becomes inevitable as the investigation leads to what appears to be a serial rapist who has preyed upon the daughters of international diplomats. The solution of the crime becomes more urgent as money, markets, international finance and potential skullduggery in South African investments lead Pitt, his brilliant wife, and his former superior, Victor Narraway down twisted paths. Then there is the looming catastrophe of a potentially wrongfully-convicted man facing imminent execution.
Perry’s atmospheric descriptions of the moneyed levels of Victoria society are evocative and graphic:
“Pitt … looked across the glittering ballroom of the Spanish Embassy in the heart of London. The light from the chandeliers sparkled on necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. Between the somber black and white suits of the men, the women’s gowns blossomed in every color of the early summer: delicate pastels for the young, burning pinks and golds for those in the height of their beauty, and wines, mulberries, and lavenders for the more advanced.”
The exquisite sensitivity of the entire list of characters in the novel to their position in England’s 19th century class structure is portrayed to a fault. It was clear that one false move by anyone in society or a presumption to status above one’s place in the recognized and inviolate pecking order would result in censure and scorn. Misogyny was an integral part of societal thinking and, to a great extent, even the most progressive women accepted it as just and normal. It was an unshakable belief that sexual assault or rape happened only to those women who transgressed and had somehow invited the crime by virtue of some inappropriate behaviour. To believe otherwise was to admit to the possibility that it could happen to anyone and that was simply not on!
MIDNIGHT AT MARBLE ARCH is easy to recommend - an enjoyable, gripping historical mystery by an author that most readers would characterize as a master of the genre.
WHITE FIRE places Corrie Swanson, Pendergast’s precocious protégé, at center stage while Pendergast lurks A disappointment from a series I once loved!
WHITE FIRE places Corrie Swanson, Pendergast’s precocious protégé, at center stage while Pendergast lurks in his very typical quiet, understated fashion backstage or in the wings. Swanson, majoring in criminology at a prestigious university with hopes to ultimately enter the field of law enforcement and forensic pathology, has begun her thesis reviewing the remains of a group of Colorado miners presumably mauled and eaten by a marauding grizzly bear. Pendergast, in the meantime, is seconded by an overwhelmed local constabulary to assist in the investigation of a serial arsonist with the rather gruesome MO of binding his victims, dousing them in accelerant, and burning them alive. In the entirely expected fashion of virtually every suspense thriller ever written, the story lines ultimately close with one another to a single story line and a hard-hitting climax.
Rather promising premise, wouldn’t you say? Sadly WHITE FIRE fails to deliver the goods.
Corrie Swanson is an unconvincing heroine. In fact, with a laundry list of negative characteristics (she’s spoiled, narcissistic, self-entitled, immature, irresponsible, reckless, ungrateful, and flighty, not to mention self-assured and arrogant to an entirely unwarranted degree), she is an entirely unlikeable young women that it is difficult to root for. Pendergast, on the other hand, remains Pendergast but his persona has devolved into a completely transparent (and sadly derivative) pastiche of a modern Sherlock Holmes imported into the body of a southern US gentleman and FBI special agent. His usage, for example, of far eastern meditation techniques to mentally reconstruct and examine crime scenes effectively in real time as they unfold verges on ridiculous.
I’m not prepared to give up on the series and put paid to my love of Pendergast on the basis of a single disappointment but I certainly hope that BLUE LABYRINTH, next up in the series, returns to the form I’ve come to expect.
“Human beings have been eagerly devouring notions of evil and horror since we dwelt in caves and jumped at the shadows and noises occurring just outsi“Human beings have been eagerly devouring notions of evil and horror since we dwelt in caves and jumped at the shadows and noises occurring just outside the comforting range of firelight.”
“Canadians, especially, have always been concerned with notions of what lies beyond our normal existence.”
In ONLY MONSTERS IN THE BUILDING, author Mark Leslie went to great lengths to assure readers who shared his concerns that while paranormals might be creatures that inhabit that realm beyond our normality, they are definitely people too. People, in fact, with all the frustrations, foibles, fears, and failings that we “normals” deal with everyday in our lives. And, in crafting his cast of what Leslie characterized as “supernatural misfits (a studious fairy, a vegan vampire, a shy mermaid, a clingy werecat, and an extroverted troll)”, he also crafted a clever mystery and a brilliant master class in “show, don’t tell” character development!
How did he do it??
ONLY MONSTERS IN THE BUILDING is effectively a novel length reproduction of conversations in a series of therapy sessions between a confused patient (distressed werewolf and definitely paranormal though he may be) and his therapist. But Leslie has managed to alternate those periods of the eponymous Canadian Werewolf Michael Andrews’ directed self-examination with chapters of real-time interaction with the rest of his fellow abnormal paranormals in a cozy locked-room style murder mystery that makes the entire package genuinely enthralling, entertaining, humorous, and compelling.
Leslie’s development of Michael Andrews’ skills as an author and his personality and back story may not constitute a birth to present day autobiography (I mean … how could it? Andrews IS a werewolf after all!). But the extent to which Leslie injects himself into the Michael Andrews persona would please even the likes of Charles Dickens, author of the classic DAVID COPPERFIELD. The novel is absolutely jam-packed with film, music, television, and 20th century cultural references that reflect Leslie’s love of the world he lived in as he grew up. He even managed to sneak in a few cheeky references to his own writing by attributing it to work in Andrews’ bibliography. Fairy Ellie’s gushing praise of SILENT SCREAMS, Michael Andrews’ first and wildly undersold and distinctly unpopular first novel, was in fact a stand-in for one of Leslie’s earlier collection of short stories, ONE HAND SCREAMING which he prefaced with this comment concerning his propensity to mentally collect everyday occurrences for use in his writing,
“Silent screams bounce around inside my head like an impending storm brewing into a force that will escape in a wild dance of chaos and be lost forever if I don’t stop to jot them down.”
If you’ve got more time and patience than you know what to do with, perhaps you might want to re-read ONLY MONSTERS IN THE BUILDING with a view to snagging and listing all of the cultural references or Leslie’s meta-references to his own previous novels, novellas and short stories. An aspiring future scholar of English literature might choose to use that as in a Masters or PhD thesis after Leslie has attained classic status as a horror humorist.
Definitely recommended as one of my Top Ten favourites for this year.
Paul Weiss
P.S. Recommended that is with the very strong caveat that this is NOT a stand-alone novel and would make very little sense without an understanding of the Canadian Werewolf back story. But, fret not, do yourself a favour a go back to A CANADIAN WEREWOLF IN NEW YORK, #1 in the series. You're in for a real treat!...more
“She was a slut, she was loud and crass, and she had the attention span of an insect … but she was so good, so much fun to have around.”
This was o“She was a slut, she was loud and crass, and she had the attention span of an insect … but she was so good, so much fun to have around.”
This was obviously not a murder victim it was easy to get a read on! But DCI Erika Foster, a young widow still in mourning, recovering from the untimely murder of her husband, and dealing with her own personal demons, is on the job and on the hunt for a relentless serial killer.
THE GIRL IN THE ICE is a gripping suspense thriller with a well-crafted compelling and suitably bizarre and gruesome plot. How could one fail to be drawn in by the death of young wealthy socialite followed by a series of three prostitute murders in which the victims were found hog-tied and strangled with the corpses unceremoniously dumped in bodies of water around the city of London? But, more than that, it’s also a brilliant, personality-driven series debut with a masterful “show, don’t tell” bit of character development that will serve as the superb foundation for what is obviously going to be an exciting series to follow.
Definitely recommended. DCI Erika Foster is obviously a character with plenty of literary mileage to come that will appeal to lovers of the suspense thriller and police procedural genres. I’m definitely looking forward to the second novel in the series, THE NIGHT STALKER.
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