Sam Vimes really can never steer you wrong. If you take anything else away from this book, take that.
Vimes has always been one of my favorite characteSam Vimes really can never steer you wrong. If you take anything else away from this book, take that.
Vimes has always been one of my favorite characters mainly because he embodies a lot of the qualities that I really love. From the beginning, way back in Guards! Guards! he shows that redemption is possible. He starts as a washed-up copper who's lost his will to be what he was meant to be. The night watch is a laughable institution, without the respect of anyone in the city. Over the course of the book, he begins to remember what it is that made him want to be a copper in the first place, and his long road to becoming a better person begins.
In subsequent books, Vines is constantly tested, and that's one very important constant to his character – he's always struggling not to become the bad man that he could be. He knows that there is a bully, a blackguard, a murderer hidden deep down inside him, and it's a struggle not to let that person out. He uses the Law as a touchstone to remind himself of why he can't let that part of himself show, but it's hard sometimes. It's very hard indeed.
It's harder still when he's in a place where the law is more… fluid than it is in his city of Ankh-Morpork. Where he is not immediately respected and obeyed by the high and the low. And when the crime he's investigating isn't technically a crime, but really should be.
Vimes' wife, Sybil, has insisted that the family take a vacation out to her ancestral estates. It would be good for Vimes' health, she thinks, and she could be right. He has a high-pressure job, and while Sybil is an outstandingly supportive spouse in every respect, she also worries for her husband. What's more, they have a young son to take care of, and he does need to see his daddy as often as he can.
So it's off to the countryside, a place where they do things differently. It's a place where there's always someone watching you, even if you don't know they're there. It's a place where things are done in black and white, where the differences between the high class and the low stand out in sharp relief. It's a place where the law is whatever a self-appointed group of magistrates say it is, and that law all too often bends to serve their whim. It would be hard enough with the retired old lords, the lippy pub proprietor, the arrogant blacksmith, and the lady who writes wildly popular children's books about poo – when goblins get involved, the whole thing gets worse.
Goblins, of course, are considered one step below vermin. They're ugly, they stink, they steal, and they're good for nothing at all. Even the goblins know that they're no good, so it'll be hard to convince anyone to care about them.
The problem is, someone kills a goblin in order to frame Vimes for another murder entirely. When Vimes starts to look into the goblin's death, the thread he pulls eventually leads to a long and sordid history of slaughter, theft, and terror that only he can untangle. If he survives, of course.
Let me get the good parts out of the way first. I enjoyed this book, but by now that's not really a surprise. It has a good mystery, some fun action sequences, and covers some interesting topics that are good for heavy thinking. For example, Vimes – ever the egalitarian – has a hard time believing that he is more valuable than, say, a housemaid. The maids at the Ramkin estates are exceedingly deferential to him, as are all the servants, and that sets his teeth on edge, and I can understand that. But if something happens to a chambermaid, few people will shed a tear. If something happens to Vimes, it's very possible that nations will go to war.
It's hard to deal with people thinking that you're somehow above them. I had a hard time with it when I started teaching – students treated me like I was someone important, and I wanted to say, "No, really I'm not!" But to them, I am. I'm the Guy Who Knows Things. I'm the Guy Who Grades Them. I judge them and I am part of the class of people who holds their future in its hands. They've been taught from their first day of kindergarten that teachers are to be treated with respect, regardless of whether that respect has been earned.
The reverse of that is also addressed. What causes us to treat others with contempt, and what can it lead us to do? In this book, the goblins are pests, and not considered "people" in the same way that Dwarves and Trolls and Humans are. But the goblins sing and make music; they have a complex language and religion. They marry and have children and mourn their dead. Objectively, they're as sapient as any human. But "everyone knows" they're worthless.
So, a lot of this book is about value, and what it means to be "worth" something to others. It deals with issues of class and law, and presents an interesting parable.
The problem I have with it is that I didn't particularly like how it was written. And I feel really, really horrible for saying that.
As you probably know, Pratchett is faced with Alzheimer's disease, and it's already taking its toll on him. This book was written with speech recognition software, and the difference in style is highly noticeable. There never used to be a whole lot of long speeches in Discworld novels. Much of the real side-splitting humor was provided from the narration [1] or from the razor-sharp dialogue between characters. Speeches were usually reserved for key moments in the story, giving them a much greater impact.
This book, however, is full of speeches. Vimes makes speeches that go on for nearly two pages, his wife makes speeches, Willikins makes speeches – even the Patrician, one of the most laconic characters in the series, makes these long, drawn-out speeches, and it feels just wrong. Like Pratchett is writing new characters who are similar, but not identical to the ones we've come to love after so long.
I suspect – but cannot confirm – that this is due to the way he's writing. Using speech recognition to write a novel means that the writer is, in effect, dictating his novel, and writing is very different from dictating. We can speak in ways that sound great when they're coming out of our mouth, but the same thing pasted to a page falls flat, especially when the speech is given to a character not known for making speeches.
What's more, the speeches are rarely punctuated with any kind of narrative description of what anyone is doing during the speech. The result is that there's no picture in your head during the speech – it's just Vimes standing there talking for a couple of pages, and it feels different. It feels… wrong.
Like I said, I feel terrible picking on that, because if my choice is Terry not writing any more books or Terry using speaking software, I would happily choose the latter. And I understand why he can't just sit down at his computer anymore and type the way he used to. Certain facts are unavoidable, no matter how terrible they are, and one of those unavoidable facts is that Terry can't write the way he used to. The new way will inevitably result in a change in style, much as if a master of the acoustic guitar picked up an electric and started playing. They're two different instruments, and one cannot be made to sound like the other.
Terry's working with a new instrument now, and I suppose it'll take me a while before I can get used to it.
Also, it's entirely probable that the entire story was written to set up a pun in the last line. Again, I can't prove anything…
That aside, though, it's a good story, and it has a great deal to say about the inherent worth of people, which is something we all ought to give thought to from time to time.
------------------- "That just goes to show that you never know, although what it is we never know, I suspect we'll never know." - Sam Vimes, Snuff
In the acknowledgment section of the book, where Butcher very kindly thanks all the people who helped it come **spoiler alert** Hell's Bells count: 27
In the acknowledgment section of the book, where Butcher very kindly thanks all the people who helped it come into existence, he clarifies something very important: the end of the last book, Changes, was not a cliffhanger. Absolutely not, no matter that it really, really looked like one, smelled like one and felt like one. After all, in that last scene, Dresden is on a boat, and then shot through the chest by a sniper of some sort. He drops into the cold waters of the lake and sinks and, as far as we know, dies.
In order for it to be a cliffhanger, then, Butcher would have to reveal at the beginning of this book how Dresden got out of such a terrible situation. Maybe he could call on some last reserve of magic or be saved by merpeople or something, but the strictures of the cliffhanger would demand that Dresden, once the next book began, not be dead but saved by some unexpected, yet still believable, means.
So, yes, Butcher is right - it's not a cliffhanger. Dresden is, indeed, dead. He did not escape, he was not rescued. He is dead.
Now in most series (comic books excluded, of course), the death of the main character would be something of an impediment to continuing the series. But The Dresden Files is not most series, and Harry Dresden is not most main characters. He has done too much and is far too important to be allowed to do a silly little thing like die. Harry Dresden is necessary to a great number of plans and schemes by a great number of people. What's more, his death wasn't exactly fair, insofar as such a thing is possible.
And so he is brought back by the Powers That Be in order to balance the scales and set things right, which is ultimately what Harry Dresden has been doing all along. He's to go back to Chicago and find his murderer, lest terrible things happen to those he loves.
The catch, of course, is that he has to come back as a ghost. This is a problem for many reasons, not the least of which is that doing a murder investigation is substantially easier when you have, well, substance. It's hard to punch someone in the face when your fists just go right through them. So Dresden first has to figure out how to make himself known to the living world, in addition to coming to grips with his limitations as an untethered spiritual entity. Once he's figured that part out, he has to not only solve his own murder, but keep a body-hopping necromancer from becoming indescribably powerful, save the only man who knows how to deal with being a ghost, try to redeem a bunch of street kids who are under the influence of a minor sorcerer, and figure out what to do with the real mess he made when he died.
You see, Harry's death, and the events that led up to it, created a power vacuum - not only in Chicago, but all over the world. With the destruction of the Red Court of vampires, the magical rulers of the world are fighting tooth and nail over land and resources, and what has mostly resulted from that is bloodshed. Forces all over the world are converging on Red Court territory, each one determined to claim what they can.
In Chicago, the news of Harry Dresden's death invited all sorts of new power players into the city, who were previously smart enough to stay out. Harry never truly understood the reputation he had until he sees what his friends have to do to match it and keep the city safe. Now that the Great and Powerful Harry Dresden is out of the picture, a newer and more terrible protector has emerged to keep away those who would do the city and its inhabitants harm. The Ragged Lady is all that stands in the way of the Chicago that Harry knew being overrun.
Mix in the Faerie, a new group called the Formor, the mob, and a few representatives of the afterlife, and you have a confusing and volatile situation. Which is pretty much where Harry Dresden is most at home.
As with the other Dresden Files books, this is a lot of fun to read, mainly because it looks at Harry and his friends from a new point of view – the outside. In the six months that he's been "away," the people he loves have had to go on without him, and even in that short time they have become different. They have had to make choices that they wouldn't have made while he was there, and they certainly don't interact with him the same way they once did. Harry has to re-learn who these people are, with the understanding that his decisions did not change their lives for the better.
In addition, we learn more about Harry's past and what made him the way he is, and we finally see him start to think about whether being the person he is is really a good thing all the time. He excels in showy violence, hitting first and asking questions later, without taking a more nuanced view of the situation. Well, now he can't hit, at least not in the ways that he's used to. He has to look at his old ways in a new light and figure out how to get what he wants through other means.
Really, if you've read this far in the series, you'll enjoy this one. Butcher continues to do a good job in giving us what we want, while at the same time showing us things that are truly unexpected. There are some wonderful moments in the book, a few exposition-heavy moments while Harry is filled in on the situation, and a good mystery to be solved. Enjoy.
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Death should be a learning experience, after all, or what's the point? - Leanansidhe, Ghost Story ...more
This review is acceptable to the forces of Light. - The Night Watch
This review is acceptable to the forces of Darkness. - The Day Watch
When I finishedThis review is acceptable to the forces of Light. - The Night Watch
This review is acceptable to the forces of Darkness. - The Day Watch
When I finished The Twilight Watch a couple of years ago, I thought that was it. Night, Day, Twilight, done. But when I announced that I would be doing the Night Watch trilogy as my end-of-month podcast, I got several emails from listeners who were quick to correct me. The series is not a trilogy, they said, but rather a tetralogy (okay, no one actually used this term). There is a fourth book out there, and I had no idea it existed!
Thanks to modern technology, I was able to get the final (as far as I know) book, The Last Watch on my Kindle and get myself up to speed.
Much like the previous volumes, this one is divided into three novellas, which all tie together into a greater plot. In the first, we are once again introduced to Anton Gorodetsky, an agent of the Moscow Night Watch. Due to the event s of the last book, Anton is now a Higher Other, having been elevated by the use of the fuaran a mystical book that can create or raise Others. His abilities are far beyond most, and that makes his responsibilities that much greater.
He is assigned by his boss, Gesar, to investigate a mysterious killing in Edinburgh, Scotland. A young man, the son of a Russian magnate, has been murdered, and it looks for all the world like a vampire – a Dark Other – has done the deed. The pact between the Dark and the Light expressly forbids such actions, and the violation of treaty could lead to terrible consequences for all.
Problem is, the Day Watch has no idea who or what killed the young man, and they're just as hot to find the killer as Anton is. And of course, the clues don't add up. The method of the murder doesn't fit the M.O. of your standard vampire, and the place where the murder occurred – a horror funhouse in the middle of the city – has its own mysterious properties as well. Anton knows he's on the right track, though, when someone tries to kill him, and he ends up fighting his way through the Twilight to get his answers. What he finds, however, is evidence that the mythical Merlin had left something in Edinburgh for safekeeping. Something truly terrible, no matter whose hands it fell into.
In the second story, Anton is sent out to Uzbekistan to find one of the greatest Others who had ever lived, a man by the name of Rustam. Almost a legend among Others, Rustam is probably the only one who can come even close to figuring out what Merlin hid, and why. But he won't be easy to find. Anton not only has to deal with the Watches of Samarkand – which are far less efficient and well-staffed as others in Europe – but there's still someone out to kill him. This time, though, they're using ensorcelled humans to do the job, something that is also expressly forbidden.
It soon becomes clear that there is a small conspiracy of very powerful Others – one Dark, one Light, and an Inquisitor, who serves neither – who are trying to recover the artifact that Merlin left behind. Their reasons are unknown, but they're willing to destroy anyone who poses a threat to them. Including, of course, Anton.
It is in the third story where the whole plan finally comes together. That three-person conspiracy is determined to get their hands on Merlin's power, to collapse the Twilight and fundamentally change the world. If they have to kidnap Anton and threaten Moscow with a nuclear warhead to do it, then so be it. Their ends are, in their minds, wholly justified. It is up to Anton and his allies to avert this tragedy and see to it that the power they seek is never wielded by anyone ever again.
As with the other books, the great supernatural action hides a greater exploration of the fundamental differences between right and wrong, good and evil. As terrible as the Last Watch are, they are doing what they believe to be right, and even Anton can come to understand their motives at one point. But they way they go about it, through dark magic and darker murder, doesn't nearly justify their aim. And so we see that evil done in the pursuit of good merely produces more evil.
Depending, of course, on how you define "evil."
What's more, there's quite a bit of metafiction in this book. It's clear that Lukyanenko is a fan of fantasy – he references Tolkien and Pratchett, just to name a couple of great authors. But he also knows the tropes of fantasy that have survived for so long, and makes sure his characters know them as well. When words are written on the walls, when people go in search of a great object of power or an unwinnable quest, chances are that one of the characters has read something like it in a fantasy book.
At one point, when talking about how there are Others who would like to rule the world, the Inquisitor Edgar notes that it's what people really want. It's why fantasy is so much more popular than science fiction, he claims, because everyone dreams of being the magician or wielding the magic sword. It all makes sense, in a way that science fiction doesn't. Anton, of course, doesn't buy this, noting that most people who live in a Medieval Thaumocracy would be just like the peasants of long ago – poor, dirty, and dead by forty. So even in a world where magic is very real and very important, the characters know the difference between fantasy and reality in a way that we can relate to. I just find that fascinating.
It's good fun, and a nice way to close out a very imaginative series. It's exciting and heartbreaking and funny – with a nice hat-tip to the Night Watch movie thrown in near the beginning. What's more, it's a well-built magical system and society that allows for a great variety of stories and characters. Honestly, I would love to see Lukyanenko expand on this universe, or even open it up for others to play in.
------------------------------------------------ "There is very much in the world that is bad. But usually the attempt to defeat evil engenders more evil. I advise you to do good; that is the only way to win the victory!" - Rustam, The Last Watch ------------------------------------------------...more
There's a reason that clichés become clichés. That's because, no matter how much we may hate them, they concisely describe som"Hell's Bells" count: 14
There's a reason that clichés become clichés. That's because, no matter how much we may hate them, they concisely describe some feature of human existence that is common to us all. The reason everyone uses them is because they're just so... right, and there's really no need for us to come up with something else. It's like saying, "Yes, I could use a screwdriver to put together my new IKEA desk, but everyone does that. I'm going to invent my own, completely new tool instead." So we use clichés, no matter how much we don't want to, because there's no reason not to.
Having said that: Reading this collection of Dresden Files stories is like visiting with an old friend. One of those people you've known for ages, never get to see often enough, and always know you'll spend a good time with. From the moment you start reading, you know where you are, you know who you're dealing with, and you're ready to jump right into the story without a whole lot of character building, exposition, and the nuisance of trying to decide if this is something you'll like to read. If you're picking up Side Jobs, odds are that you already know The Dresden Files, and odds are that you'll really enjoy these stories.
Most of them have been published before, in one form or another, but if you don't follow the various anthologies that are put out from time to time, these'll be new to you. They're not especially necessary to understand the overall series plot, but they do help to flesh out some characters and ideas that have already been presented – and hand us a few new ones as well..
The first story, "A Restoration of Faith," is a little rough, as Butcher himself admits. In the introduction to the story, he tells us that it was written when he was still in school, before he had really built up his writing chops and figured out his voice. And it does show, but in a kind of amusing way. As if, to continue on with our cliché of the day, you got to see the high school photos and videos of a friend you've only known in adulthood. It's a little awkward and a bit weird, but you can see the person he would one day become. In the same way, we get a glimpse of the young Harry Dresden, just getting his start as a private investigator. Working with Ragged Angel Investigations to get his license, Harry finds himself in one of his classic intractable positions: find a little girl whose parents don't particularly want her found. To make it more fun, she doesn't really want to be found either.
The story looks at what Harry does and why he does it, and how no matter how dark the world gets, he sees himself as a person born to hold a light in the darkness. He saves the girl, of course, with his classic nick-of-time timing, and the story ends with the introduction of Karrin Murphy and a rather punny ending. It's not really the Harry Dresden that we know, but we can see the Harry Dresden that he will become.
The other stories are good fun, too. In "It's My Birthday, Too," a story written for an anthology with a birthday theme, Harry sees the worlds of fantasy and reality collide. Violently, as usual. His brother Thomas has a birthday, and Harry has so few opportunities to do "normal" things - like celebrate birthdays - that he's determined to see that his brother gets his present. He tracks Thomas down to a shopping mall which, after hours, plays host to a LARP club. For those of you not in the know, LARP is Live-Action Role-Playing, wherein people like I was a decade ago dress up in costumes and pretend to be vampires and werewolves and wizards and things. When done well, it's good fun, and it's a great way to put on another personality for a few hours. Unfortunately for this group, their session gets interrupted by some real vampires. Drulinda, of the Black Court, is out for some social revenge against her former peers, and she's willing to kill everyone she finds in order to get it. Harry and Thomas work to bring her down, of course, while also bringing the rest of the mall down at the same time.
In "Day Off," Harry tries to take a little bit of time for himself. With no cases to work, no calls from the Chicago police, and no official duties with the White Council, he is intent on having just one day to be somewhat normal - sleep late, go out with a girl, that kind of thing. Of course, things don't work out that way, because he's Harry Dresden. Instead, he ends up with a group of wannabe wizards who think they can take him on, a couple of bespelled, amorous werewolves, and an apprentice who is only moments away from blowing herself up. It's good fun, and reminiscent of Dante in Clerks, who laments that he's not even supposed to be there.
"The Warrior" is, in many ways, a response to the readers who thought that Michael Carpenter got kind of a raw deal at the end of Small Favor. Michael had been a Knight of the Cross, a literal warrior of God, who had helped Harry fight the forces of evil many, many times. He's very different from Harry in many ways, but their differences work well together. What's more, Michael is a genuinely good man, of the Atticus Finch variety. He is honest, dedicated, and devoted to his friends, his family and his duty. That's why, when he was nearly killed at the end of Small Favor and forced to give up his position as a Knight, a lot of readers were upset.
Why? Well, because horrible things aren't supposed to happen to people as good as Michael, and yet they had. What's more, without his strength and his sword, it was hard to see how he could continue the work that he so obviously loved. This story, then, is all about how the battle to make the world a better place isn't always about the big fights and battles against entities of indescribable evil. It's also about small gestures, about stopping to talk to someone when no one else will. It's about a word or a gesture or a joke, and the way that these little things can have huge effects later. Michael may not be swinging a sword around anymore, but we know that he is still part of the fight.
Two stories that really stood out were "Backup" and "Aftermath," mainly because they were told from the point of view of someone who wasn't Harry Dresden. In "Backup," we get a story told by his brother, Thomas. A vampire of the White Court, Thomas feeds off emotion, rather than blood. This doesn't make him any less dangerous, of course. More dangerous, actually, in that so many of his potential victims give themselves to him willingly. but Thomas is trying his best to stay on the side of Good. Through his eyes, we not only get to see Harry from a new point of view, but we also get to see a lot more of a world that Harry never gets to see. Because of who he is, Harry will never really get a good look at the inner workings of the White Court and the Oblivion War – a concept that is fascinating and frustrating, because we know that Harry can never get involved in it. By telling a story through Thomas, Butcher expands the universe of The Dresden Files and makes it even more interesting.
The other non-Harry story is "Aftermath," which takes place after the most recent novel, Changes. Told from the point of view of Harry's oldest friend, Karrin Murphy, it's a look at what's happened in Chicago in the hours after Harry's disappearance (and presumed death). Without him (and without the now-destroyed Red Court of vampires), there is a huge power vacuum just waiting to be filled. Whether it's the mafia or mermen, the absence of Harry Dresden is an opportunity for many. Murphy gets involved in the hunt for special people, anyone with a trace of magical nature, who are to be used for their power. Without Harry to rely on, she has to use her own knowledge and resources to save her friends. At the same time, she has to face the reality that Harry is gone, maybe dead, and that is more terrifying than all the monsters that might try to take over the city.
It's a great collection of tales, one that's quick to get through. If you're just itching for the new book to come out, this should hold you over for a little while.
------------------------------------------------------ Harry Dresden. Saving the world, one act of random destruction at a time." - Jim Butcher, "The Warrior" ------------------------------------------------------...more
Well, the title promises changes, and that is certainly what you get in this book. And the first of these comes right on page "Hell's Bells" count: 20
Well, the title promises changes, and that is certainly what you get in this book. And the first of these comes right on page one: Harry Dresden has a daughter. Surprised? Yeah, well so was he.
The mother is Harry's old lover, Susan Rodriguez, whom he hasn't seen in many years. The reason for their separation is pretty simple, the kind of story you've heard over and over again - boy and girl meet, avoid their obvious attraction to each other for a while, and finally hook up. Boy tells girl all about the world of supernatural horrors in which he lives, girl finds it more intriguing than horrible, and manages to get herself bitten by vampires. Girl is able to resist turning all the way, but knows that she can't be around boy lest her emotions overwhelm her and she devours him whole. Boy and girl have one last night of fun together, girl vanishes into South America to join an underground cabal of vampire hunters.
Boilerplate, really.
No sooner does Harry discover that he has a daughter that she finds out she's been kidnapped, taken as a hostage by the Red Court of vampires for some purpose that is no doubt terrible and nefarious. As much as Susan knows it will hurt Harry to find out she'd been hiding their daughter from him, she also knows that he is the only one with the power and the resources available to get her back.
After all, Harry is a Wizard, a member of the White Council, if not one of their favorite members. He has contacts within the council that could prove useful, as well as resources that reach from Heaven to Hell. A far cry from the lone wolf that we met way back in Storm Front, Harry now has connections and resources that will allow him to take on some of the most powerful beings in the world as they attempt to use his daughter for their own evil ends.
As the title implies, of course, Harry does have to make some very serious choices in this quest; choices about how far he's willing to go in order to save his daughter, to say nothing of whether saving his daughter is even the right choice to make in itself. After all, the Red Court has been at war with the White Council for some time now, and the slightest mistake one way or the other could just make the whole thing worse. The last thing the White Council wants is their least favorite loose cannon (and, not for nothing, the guy who got the whole war started in the first place) complicating matters unnecessarily. The supernatural world is pretty much ready to fly apart as it is, and one mis-step could mean death and destruction on a scale greater than anyone has ever known.
In the end, the choices that Harry has to make in this book will haunt him for the rest of his life, if not longer. I would probably not be wrong in saying that this book marks a major turning point for the series.
If you've been reading this from the beginning, which you really should have, then this is going to be a rough book. I've made mention before of how Butcher likes to play hardball with his characters sometimes, but this book is so much more than that. This book is an all-out attack on everything that Harry holds dear to him, a scouring of his life that puts him into an entirely new situation. What this is in preparation for is anybody's guess, but I can tell you this much without really spoiling anything - Butcher had better damn well have the next book on a fast track or he'll find me sitting on his front porch with a torch and a pitchfork and a haunted look in my eyes. [1:]
Given that, as of this writing, the book has just come out, there's not a lot I can say about it in detail. If you've been following the series, you're going to read it no matter what I have to say, and I don't want to ruin anything for you. All I can really say is that this isn't my favorite of the series, at least not upon first reading. It's a little rushed in parts, and has one too many deus ex machina moments for my liking. The only thing that mitigates that is the knowledge that Butcher wastes nothing in his storytelling, and even the biggest miracles come with a price that will have to be paid. And I expect that the payoff will be something to see. Having said that, though, Changes will probably hold up as one of the most significant of the Dresden Files books once the series is done. In terms of what happens to the characters in this book, it's really like nothing else that's come before it.
So brace yourselves, kids. This one's a bumpy ride. As with all the Dresden Files books, though, it's well worth it.
[1:] Yes, yes, I know that, to paraphrase John Scalzi, the author is not my bitch. Still and all, waiting for the next book to come out will be like trying not to fart in church - interminable, impossible not to think about, and oh so relieving when the opportunity finally arrives....more
My brother gave this book to me for Christmas, and to be honest, I was a little bit hesitant to start reading it. Not because I thought it would be baMy brother gave this book to me for Christmas, and to be honest, I was a little bit hesitant to start reading it. Not because I thought it would be bad. On the contrary, all of my siblings are creative, intelligent and insightful people, and I would trust any of their reading recommendations without a moment's hesitation. I just can't always promise that I'll like what they recommend.
The book my brother gave me before that was Narcissus and Goldemund by Hermann Hesse. It wasn't a bad book, really.... it's just that I hated the main character Goldemund with a white hot passion and wished grave misfortune on him for the entire book. In fact, the main thing that kept me reading the book was the hope that he'd eventually fall down a dry well and break his legs, or perhaps get hit in the head by a two-by-four and live the rest of his life as a drooling moron. That the book aroused such great passion in me is a testament to the author's skills, although I don't think that was quite his goal. Let's just say that there were a few unpleasantly familiar themes that made it hard for me to be and objective judge of his actions.
Anyway, I figure my brother couldn't have known that, so I don't blame him. This book, however, more than makes up.
Killer on the Road is a book about a serial killer. Now I know what you're thinking - the serial killer angle has been done to death (HAR!). There are serial killers in all kinds of airport novels, comic books, movies, and TV shows. It would seem like there’s really no new way that you can do a serial killer, other than to have him use more and more horrifying means to kill people, and that’s all just flash. But trust me, even if you’re feeling a bit worn-out on serial killer fiction, I think you'll want to read this one.
The standard portrayal of a serial killer in most modern literature is that of a cipher - we don't know why he does what he does, and we don't really care. The recent TV drama “Dexter” is an interesting exception, of course, although if I were a gambling man, I would suppose that show owes something of its origin to this book.
The traditional serial killer is a monster to be hunted down and destroyed. Even when serial killer characters are handled well, they're still just foils against which we can play the police characters. Where the killer is a hyper-intellectual, the cop’s street knowledge and common sense will prevail. The twisted perversity of the murderer helps play up the straight morality of the cop – and society as a whole, by extension. Ultimately, of course, we just enjoy the chase in the sure and certain knowledge that we'll see the Bad Guy in jail by the end of it.
In this book, the Bad Guy is in jail from the first page. Already, the author has taken away that carrot, and so we have to readjust our expectations a bit.
Martin Plunkett is a serial killer. Over the course of a decade, he murders nearly 70 people across America until he is finally caught in New York. This book is his story, and his explanation of why he did what he did.
Ellroy obviously did a whole lot of research for this book, probably both from the law enforcement side of serial killing and the psychological side. There would be no way to write the character of Plunkett as thoroughly, convincingly and - to a point - sympathetically as he did.
Make no mistake, Martin Plunkett is a monster. He kills without hesitation or remorse, and he does it to satisfy urges that normal people shouldn't have. But at the same time, he is a human being. For all that his moral scale has been skewed waaaaaay off to the bad side, he still has worries, hopes and dreams. We get to see him grow up from childhood. He meets the circumstances and makes the choices that all eventually lead him to his vocation as serial killer. He didn't just wake up one day and start killing, any more than I woke up one morning and started teaching English. There is a chain there, a somewhat logical series of events that he follows willingly. Once he gets going, the murders become defining moments of his life, rather than simply the horrible acts of a madman. The story isn't about the dead. It's about the killer.
In the end, what made Plunkett what he was? That is, after all, what the book is ostensibly trying to figure out, and it’s the question we always ask when we see something on the news that horrifies us. We want there to be a reason for such terrible things, because if there’s a reason for a problem, then the problem can be fixed. If we know that violence arises from factors X, Y, and Z, then all we have to do is correct for those things and it’ll be done. Right?
The answer is.... we don't know. Was he a frustrated misanthrope, trying to get revenge on the world? Kind of. Was he an abused child who had no other way of expressing his childhood traumas? Sort of. Was he an avatar of true Evil, spawned by our corrupt and decaying culture? Maybe. It doesn't matter to Plunkett, and therefore it doesn't matter to us. He is what he is, and there's no getting around that.
Ellroy could be warning us against trying to find such simple explanations for terrifying things. That in our search for order, there will always be the anomalies that simply cannot be fixed. There will always be people like Plunkett out there, and there’s not a whole lot we can do about it. In that way, he’s defying the expectations of serial killer fiction – the killer will never truly be understood and will never truly be caught. He’s always out there somewhere, even if the Plunketts of the world are in jail. There will always be a killer on the road somewhere…...more
Seriously, he's one of my favorite literary characters. Tough, dogged, unafraid to get his hands dirty and I want to be Philip Marlowe when I grow up.
Seriously, he's one of my favorite literary characters. Tough, dogged, unafraid to get his hands dirty and completely ethical. He's always got a good line at the right time, and he knows well enough not to get involved with crazy ladies.
This is one of his later books, published in 1954, and it presents Marlowe as we know him best - just about to get involved in a mess he never wanted. It all started with a drunk, as so many things do. The drunk was a man named Terry Lennox, the off-again on-again husband of a rich heiress, Sylvia. Philip and Terry hit it off well, and it's obvious right from the start that Terry's hiding a big secret. But Marlowe doesn't press because it's not his business. He figures it Terry wants to tell, then he will.
Or he would have, except that Sylvia ended up dead, with Terry taking the blame. Marlowe helped him get to Mexico, but all he knew after that was that Terry killed himself in a dusty Mexican town. And that should have been the end of the story, but for Marlowe's new case - Roger Wade.
Wade was a big-time writer, the kind of guy who made millions selling swashbuckling romance to lonely housewives. But he was plagued by demons, and only drink would make them go away. His wife hired Marlowe to bring her husband back to her, which he did, and then tried to hire him as a full-time minder, which Marlowe refused to do. Nonetheless, he found himself part of the Wades' drama, one that was inextricably linked to the fates of Sylvia and Terry Lennox.
It's hard to believe that Chandler's work was derided as "pulp" back when he was writing. He was one of the pioneers of the "hard-boiled" mysteries - the best of them, in my opinion - but like so many visionaries, he was unappreciated in his own time. If I still smoked, I would light one in his honor. As it is, a stiff cup of bad coffee will have to do....more
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