Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane

I can honestly say that this book creeped me out in a very big way. It's 9 AM in the morning and I have spent the last three hours turning pages because I just HAD to get Terry Daniels, US Marshal off that evil rock of an island safe and sound. UH OH ... government conspiracy theory may go out the window. Wait, what? WHAT?

This is a book so horrifying because it hits you right where you are the most vulnerable - your fear of losing control and your grip on reality.  Loss of control is the scariest of scary situations for most people. It's what causes the panic for anyone who has a phobia. It's the premise behind strapping you into hellish amusement park rides, It's the dirty little secret behind why we inwardly squirm and steer clear from people who are obviously delusional. Being out of control or being in a situation where we have given control over to others who don't honor our vulnerability is terrifying. What's equally terrifying is being with someone who you think is solid, only to find that they are a quivering mass of psychoses. What seems real turns out to be unreal. What's unreal is the comforting way you wish things would continue. BUT ... if things go bad with the unreal situation , then what? THEN WHAT ?

US Marshal, Terry Daniels is a rock of a guy - smart, strong, always thinking. He's had his hard knocks in life. He's seen the worst of fighting and liberation activities during WWII. He's slowly bounced back from a drinking problem that he hangs on a case battle fatigue and become an esteemed US Marshal. He's slowly recovered from the tragic death of his wife in a horrid apartment fire. But he misses her and remains obsessed with finding the worthless dirtbag that set the building on fire. On top of it all, he's sent to Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance/escape of a deranged inmate. This, while actually doing undercover investigating for a US Senator into the top-secret psychiatric experiments that the staff are performing on inmates at the facility. This is a recipe for a classic cop thriller, but readers get more than they bargained for here ... and that's all I'm going to say about that.

Lehane has given his fans a story that will haunt them and make them return to the book to ponder Daniels, his partner, the doctors, the inmates, the events on Shutter Island and ultimately, the nature of reality and how we perceive it, deal with it, and live with it.

Shutter Island certainly fits with a current literary challenge that I've hooked up with ... RIP IX and I'll be sharing this reaction with the others at the review site.

A Time to Kill - John Grisham

I'm not usually a lover of the legal/criminal thriller, but over the years, John Grisham has captured my attention. I've usually become familiar with his stories through the movie adaptations of his work, but I've also begun to pick up his books on occasion. It started, though, with his book called A Painted House, which was NOT a legal thriller. I found it refreshing that he would leave the proven moneymaker formula that he'd cornered and branch out a bit. I also liked his book called Skipping Christmas, a nice comment on leaving commercialism and the rushed and fake nature of one up man ship that Christmas becomes in certain circles of society. The first legal thriller that I read was The Firm. That was good enough that I saw the movie when it was released. And then ... I left well enough alone for a long time.

A while back, I heard that Grisham would be releasing a new novel that picks up after A Time to Kill leaves off. Back comes the lawyer that was embroiled in the legal case that A Time to Kill brought to readers. Back comes the locale and the courthouse, the tension, the groups within Mississippi society that use the criminal case as a springboard for their own agendas, and the dark undercurrent of  'backstory'. My curiosity was piqued, but I'd not read his first blockbuster of a novel ... until now.

Let me say that vigilante justice is a scary proposition for me to consider. On page one, the book places the reader right smack dab in the center of a heinous act. A child is abducted, beaten, raped, and left for dead only to survive and suffer great psychological pain and irreparable physical harm. Her father, while calm and strong for his family, is so deeply traumatized by what has happened to his little girl that he snaps. He gets a gun and sets about killing these two drunken criminal thugs in a very public way.

Thus begins the domino effect that a sensational murder case will cause in this small rural county in Mississippi. Black leaders will galvanize the black community, white supremacists will drag the specter of the KKK back to the public eye, prosecution and defense lawyers will grovel for publicity to enhance their careers, local friends will be challenged to remain friendly with each other as they confront their biases, and a small tight-knit family will be thrown into the limelight under the worst of conditions. It's a tight story with a lot of threads and Grisham tells it well.

I was still left with uneasy feelings and questions about the discrepancies within the legal system where race is concerned, the ethics of lawyers and society's prejudices and passions for vigilantism. Perhaps that is precisely what Grisham aimed to leave his reader with ... boy, what a read!

Addendum- Sycamore Row , Grisham's new book, is currently sitting pretty at #1 on the New York Times best seller list ... ca ching, John!

The Sixth Man - David Baldacci

David Baldacci. He's so prolific a writer! And I had never read one of his books until a house-bound friend of mine pushed this title at me, saying, " This is the perfect book for a rainy week, Susan! You can stay in bed and read 'til you want to get up." Sounded like sound advice to me!

The thunderstorms that have passed through and rainy days have given me time to put my feet up and soak up the storyline that Baldacci delivers. In this case, his private investigators , Sean King and Michelle Maxwell happen into the world of international surveillance, national security, private sector security development, data analyses and counter-terrorism, and secrecy within government agencies ... well, THAT seems a timely topic for journalists AND novelists.

Ex-Secret Service agents, King and Maxwell are hired to meet with an ex-law professor of King's to confer on a tough homicide defense case. Off they go to an isolated federal detention center in rural Maine to meet the lawyer and his client. In the backwoods of Maine, on a desolate road, they happen upon what looks like a disabled driver who has pulled to the side of the road. Uh- ohhhh ... turns out it's the law professor. Turns out he's had a bullet put between his eyes. Turns out this case investigating strange goings on concerning an alleged serial killer who has 'clammed up' may be more than meets the eye. Turns out this is the first in a series of strange deaths, close calls, infuriating encounters with government wonks, and more double dealing and odd connections than you can shake a stick at. Heck, the confusing use of government acronyms is enough to make me take notes so I can keep things straight! The story, though, is intriguing enough to make me keep turning the pages.

I have always been encouraged to pick up Baldacci's books by my brother. He's a reader of intrigue from wayyy back. I've always resisted because of my squeamish stomach and my love for the more staid genre of historical fiction, but I must admit that while trying to expand my reading variety I have found a winner here. I like the chemistry between the two PI's. I like that their dialogue is quick, snappy and true to how good friends yack about things. It smacks of an old Bogart flick, but I like that. I like the pace of the story and I like that Baldacci is good about using characters' inner dialogue to explain political and security issues from a couple different perspectives.

I'm a newbie to Baldacci's work, but I sense that these two main characters have been central to other books that he's written. That would explain how well their personalities are developed, their tight dialogue and the 'backstory' comments that work their way into things. I may have to test my intuition by picking up some of his other titles to see if he continues to hold my interest. Like Dan Brown, he's got a way with a fast-paced intricate plot line. No wonder he's so wildly popular with the reading public.

Antonio's Wife - Jacqueline DeJohn

A first time novelist pens a story with its roots firmly in the author's past - a story of immigration from Italy to the rough tenements of New York City, a story of arranged marriages, social norms so strict that the sins of the parents are firmly passed on to their innocent children, a story about different kinds of love. This sounds like an opera, yes? Well, there's opera all wrapped up in this complex tale too.

Jacqueline DeJohn has penned an emotional tale based on the mysterious details of her grandmother's passage to America from the hills above Naples. Her main character, Mina/Maria Grazia comes to America as a mail-order bride. Settled in the tenements and new to a marriage that she hoped would bring happiness and escape from her 'past life', Maria becomes a seamstress for an opera company in Manhattan. Her marriage deteriorates around her into a frightening and abusive calamity and she pins her hopes on saving pennies from her pay to escape this second traumatic chapter of her young life. It is at this moment in life when Francesca Frascatti, a renowned Italian diva comes to the opera house to sing Tosca. This flamboyant singer needs a dresser and Mina is given the job. The story line takes a dramatic and operatic turn at this point and never stops careening toward a passionate, murderous, emotional, and yes, operatic, finish.

This novel, while dramatic and over-the-top coincidental, meshes together the characters, details of the history of New York City geography, famous names from the early 1900's, and the general themes of ethnic discrimination, immigration, the development of 'the Black Hand' aka Mafia, issues of women's rights, the history and development of opera as entertainment in America, the politics of Tammany Hall, and the development of crime investigation techniques. It's full to brimming ... like a good opera with an ending that takes a great deal of finagling to reach ... like a good opera.

Inferno - Dan Brown

I have read Dan Brown a couple other times, but his books always seem a blur to me. Now, that can be looked at as good and bad. On the good side, his stories are always fast-paced page turning novels that are full of references to art and political history. They're very well researched and the famous names and historical events that are enmeshed within the plot are always seamlessly woven into the storyline. The bad side of reading his books so fast is that there is always a lot to absorb and keep straight, and I tend to forget them almost as soon as I've finished them. Sure, I can tell you the basic ghist of the books, but most of the details go by the board; there's just too much stimulus load poured too quickly into my poor brain.

Inferno is no exception. Once again, Robert Langdon finds himself deep in the middle of intrigue and running for his life, as he fights the clock to solve a mystery involving a strange attack that puts him in the hospital with a bullet wound to the head, a bizarre hidden capsule that he has 'muled' in some weird way, a memory loss that is disorienting, strange dreams that are prophetic and somehow tied to what has happened to him during a 'lost couple of days'.  Once again, Langdon hooks himself up with a young female cohort that helps him navigate dangers and sticky situations. Once again, Langdon uses his encyclopedic knowledge of history, art, and literature to put the pieces of his life in order and come up with a solution to a potentially horrific international catastrophe.

No spoilers here ... this book will familiarize you with Dante's Divine Comedy, Italian Renaissance art, and the city of Florence. You'll enjoy padding around after Robert Langdon. He's a likeable protagonist. I can see Mr. Brown making a long series of stories with Langdon as the central character. Detective stories for art and history geeks ... there's a real niche there.

A word of advice --- read the book when you have a couple days to stay up late turning the pages. Sleep deprivation is a drag when you've read half the night away and then, you have to get up and produce.

An aside ---- betting on a movie production ... it can't be too far behind the book. The question is ... will Tom Hanks keep it up as RL or will we see a new face in the role?

The Distant Hours - Kate Morton

Kate Morton writes a good novel. She has a way with weaving 'mood' so deeply into the plot line of her stories that her readers are gathered close, as if their chairs are pulled in tight to the fireside in a dark, Gothic library. Sometimes, one turns from the fire to look back into the darkness with a sense of curiosity and sometimes, with dread. There are always mysteries just below the surfaces of her settings and characters. There is always one relentless character that serves to reveal all. She has a clever way of drawing the 'particulars' of each of her characters together in a web of events that form a compelling story.

In The Distant Hours, she weaves a tale that begins with a book about a strange, ghostly creature from the bog. In the countryside of Kent, lives the Blythe family. They reside in an ancient castle with lovely gardens and grounds, wooded copses, trails, and paths. Raymond Blythe is the renowned author of a novel about a ghostly creature called The Mud Man that haunts the residents of a castle estate. Raymond's checkered and tragic marital past has brought him three daughters that become tied to him and the estate, as he advances in age and becomes increasingly eccentric (and perhaps, mad?).  His daughters are all equally interesting characters - one mannish and practical, the other docile and maternal, and the last a creative literary wunderkind with a history of emotional and physical outbursts. These three struggle with their desires, ambitions, familial constraints during the era of second world war. They are sheltered from curiosity of the world about them by their famous author/father.

When a young girl from London comes to stay with them as part of the British government's efforts to keep urban children safe during The Blitz - the outer world invades the Blythe family in more ways than one. Years later, the young girl's daughter discovers her mother's connection to the famous author. As she begins to investigate this hidden period of her mother's life, her strained relationship with her mother becomes a major source of conflict. Another family, another set of family secrets to be unwound and revealed. Another parent/child relationship to contemplate - a Gothic web of events that explores just what children do to inspire parents, what parents do for and to children with their fears and expectations, what adult children do to break free from early familial stresses and how emotional distance and miscommunication can warp our perceptions of each other.

Ms. Morton writes a good novel.

Rebecca - Daphne duMaurier

I read this book when I was in high school and full of girlish romantic leanings that I kept pretty close to my vest. I was not the most popular girl in high school; rather, I was one of the nameless and faceless rabble that rambled though the halls with long lank hair, wire-rimmed glasses, blue jeans and bohemian blouses, and boots or sandals scuffing the floors. Reading a romance about a similarly plain young woman who catches the eye of an older sophisticated man was just the literary medicine for my poor beleaguered adolescent soul.

I identified completely with the nameless young girl who marries Max deWinter and returns from a whirlwind honeymoon in Venice to the wild coast of Cornwall and the fantasy estate of Manderley. It was like 'Jane Eyre grows up and does a bit of time travel' . I loved it. I loved hating Mrs. Danvers and thinking that Frank Crawley was just like my real -life dear friend Billy Carr - faithful, steadfast, and always ready to whisk me away in his car to smoke cigarettes and talk endlessly. I had the same unhealthy obsession with the idea of Rebecca and just knew that she was 'a bad seed'. And I was stuck on Max ... until I learned that he had a very dark secret. Then, my sense of righteous anger turned on him and I wondered how on God's green Earth could my mousy alter-ego stay true to him, when she had Frank Crawley, the best of men, so steadfast and true as a friend ?

I just re-read the book of my youth and l am still enthralled by the story in all its proper romanticism. I love the languidness of the story's unfolding, the dark foreboding of the descriptions of the house and grounds around Manderley and the weather that settles over the estate as the summer passes and the events of Rebecca's secrets unfold. One thing that I notice, now that I'm older, is the detailed descriptions of the plants and flowers and bird life of the book. Ms. duMaurier was a lover of nature, as her knowledge of the natural world comes through clearly in the book. As I have grown older and become interested in gardening and the wildlife around our home I can read the book with  'another eye'.  That's the beauty of rereading old favorites; they become new because of our growing maturity.

That does it. I need to order up Hitchcock's cinematic version of 'Rebecca' for this week's screen time ... Netflix, here I come! What a nice return to my romantic roots ...

PS - Wasn't she a stunner !

The Technologists - Matthew Pearl

Matthew Pearl's latest book, The Technologists , is just what I have needed to perk up my brain and make me pay attention to detail. His story is set in post-Civil War Boston at the time that MIT is beginning to educate young people in the various burgeoning sciences. This is a time when science and technology come face to face with the ever-growing working (and the beginnings of the middle) class. The story is set against the backdrop of economic threat that many workers felt whenever technology and the industrialization of manufacturing was touted, the moral threat that many in the academic world of humanist education felt when faced with the scientific theories of the new scientists (like Darwin) of this era of educational growth, and the political threat that society dealt with when differing political forces played out their philosophical battles in the public arena.

Pearl's way of writing is a bit weighty, in that he tries very hard to use the vernacular of the age in dialogue, develop characters that are historic within a purely ficticious plot line that has a fantastical element to it, and drop interesting historic tidbits about the geography and history of Boston's urban development. That's a big task and I will say he is partially successful at handling it. The plot does get weighed down at times, though, as he shifts between the many characters and sub-plots that all come together to make the big story.

This brings us to the storyline. Quick study: someone or some group is messing with the fabric of life in the city of Boston. Strange machinations have caused the navigational instruments of the ships entering and leaving Boston harbor to scramble and have caused a series of devastating shipping collisions within the harbor. Panic ensues within the city government when the leaders try to explain to investors and the public just what happened. Within days, other strange and disturbing events occur. The students and faculty of the new college, MIT, are suspect and the public panic threatens the very existence of the university. It's up to a group of students and faculty to figure out just what's happening and explain it to a troubled government and public. Therein lies the plot line. A tangled web indeed!

Of course, as one reads this book there are other issues that crop up. I thought about the level of academic competition that arises when political or public health issues arise and good sound research and cooperation is required to solve the ensuing problems. I also thought about the suspicious reaction that society often has when any new and novel way of looking at the world surfaces. Letting go of old ideas to embrace new ideas is difficult. Change is difficult. Often, man's lesser qualities surface when change is eminent and serve to stymy growth and innovation. It takes people of perseverance and fortitude, honor and humility, wit and resilience to move society along ... just such a group as the technologists.   

Let's just put it this way. If you like Boston history, know the city somewhat, have a love for the writing of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, enjoy a good 'Crimie' novel, and like the language of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens, Henry James and the ilk, you may just enjoy this book ... it's certainly worth a try!