Friday, January 29, 2016

“The Green Ripper,” by John D. MacDonald

FM's rating:

1.      Premise 10
2.      Prose 10
3.      Plot 10
4.      Characters 10
5.      Overall 10


Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)


I have known how good John D. MacDonald’s books are for years.  I have only read maybe five or six of them, but they have all impressed me immensely.  I have been curious about the title of this one for years also, decades even.  The Travis McGee novels seem to always have the name of a color in their title, but “The Green Ripper” is an unusual title even among the others in the series.  “Ripper” seems to evoke a murderer of women, as in Jack the Ripper.  I had noticed on the book covers of this book a picture of what looks like the back view of a terrorist in a white, hooded robe with an automatic rifle slung across his back, and thought maybe the title was a nickname for some professional killer.  I had to laugh when, after all these years, I found out what the title meant:  “And on the way home she would explain to me how she had outwitted the green ripper.  I had read once about a little kid who had overheard some adult conversation and afterward, in the night, had terrible nightmares.  He kept telling his people he dreamed about the green ripper coming to get him.  They finally figured out that he had heard talk about the grim reaper.  I had told Grets about it, and it had found its way into our personal language.”  Ha!  I found that I was constantly being reminded of how good MacDonald’s books are by references to him in the works of several of my other favorite writers, including Dean Koontz and Stephen King!  A whole generation or two of top-flight writers have read and greatly admired MacDonald’s books and it’s easy to see why. These novels follow the formula of many mysteries of their day in that they wind up with the protagonist getting into a really tight spot and somehow coming out of it alive.  No book does it better than this one, with Travis being forced to take out a group of highly trained killers in their own compound.  Very intense, intelligent writing guaranteed to get the reader’s heart-rate up.  Here’s hoping it won’t be another five years or so before I remember to read another one of these masterpieces!



Here’s the February line-up! 

“They Came to Baghdad,” by Agatha Christie [2-6]
“Espresso Tales,” by Alexander McCall Smith [2-13]
“The Queen is Dead,” by Kate Locke [2-20]
“Terrorist,” by John Updike [2-27] 

(As always, if there are any books you’d like to recommend for the next month, please do so.  Also, if you have already read one on our previous lists, you are invited to give your ratings/comments for that book!)


Friday, January 22, 2016

“Underdog,” by Laurien Berenson

FM's ratings:
1.      Premise 7
2.      Prose 7
3.      Plot 8
4.      Characters 8
5.      Overall 7

Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)

This is a good, solid murder mystery, one in which the “sleuthing” is done by an amateur rather than a pro.  It’s part of a series centered on dog shows and the dog breeders and handlers that frequent those shows.  That works for me just fine, but the descriptions and details might be tedious for some.  The pieces of the “puzzle” that is the murder are presented very cleverly and there is a lot of original thought that went into this novel.  So why the “7’ rating?  It’s not a boring story, that’s not it.  Partly it’s the fact that there are so many mystery writers out there who do it better.  It’s hard to recommend one that is merely “solid,” lacking the Wow Factor that so many other Mysteries have.   As I’ve stated before about books given a “7” rating by me;  I’m glad I read it, but I don’t necessarily recommend it.  Will I read more by this author?  Yeah, I think so, just maybe not any time soon.  An author who writes this well deserves a greater spotlight.  Maybe she should write Suspense, Fantasy, or Horror?   (And maybe her other mystery novels are a lot better than this one; I don’t know!)  The first one in the series is “A Pedigree to Die For.”  I’ll keep that one in mind and give it a try some day.





Here’s the February line-up! 

“They Came to Baghdad,” by Agatha Christie [2-6]
“Espresso Tales,” by Alexander McCall Smith [2-13]
“The Queen is Dead,” by Kate Locke [2-20]
“Terrorist,” by John Updike [2-27] 

(As always, if there are any books you’d like to recommend for the next month, please do so.  Also, if you have already read one on our previous lists, you are invited to give your ratings/comments for that book!)

Friday, January 15, 2016

“Choke,” by Chuck Palahniuk

FM's ratings:

          1. Premise 9
          2. Prose 10
          3. Plot 8
          4. Characters 9
          5. Overall 9

Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)


From everything I have heard about this author and from having seen the movie made from his book “Fight Club” I pretty much knew that reading him would be a very special treat for me.  This one comes a lot closer to a “10” for me, personally, as it hits ALL my buttons, but attempting to be realistic, I grudgingly admit that it falls a little short in some areas.  Palahniuk definitely takes his place on my list of authors by which I want to read EVERYTHING.  I noted somewhere that he may rightly be considered “the new Kurt Vonnegut,” and think the comparison is a good one.  “[Blank] isn’t the right word for it, but it’s the first one that comes to mind,” is a Vonnegut-like device used throughout the book to great effect.  Of course, Palahniuk’s depictions of sexual scenes and themes, echoing Stephen King’s depictions of “gross-out” scenes and themes will keep a large percentage of the reading public from appreciating these fine authors.  Their loss.  This is brilliant writing with profound meaning disguised as cheap entertainment.  Love it!

Friday, January 8, 2016

“Shakespeare’s Trollop,” by Charlaine Harris

FM's ratings:

          1. Premise 9
          2. Prose 10
          3. Plot 9
          4. Characters 9
          5. Overall 9

Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)

This is the fourth of a five-book series and they are all superb.  This series doesn’t feature the humor that Harris’ most popular series, the Sookie Stackhouse novels contains.  The writing here is actually darker, despite the absence of vampires and other supernatural horrors.  This is in keeping with the protagonist’s – Lily Bard’s – darker outlook on life due to experiences that have left her both physically and mentally scarred.  The first-person narrative is brilliantly done, and the small-town atmosphere is perfect throughout the book.  The pace is perfect as well, never eliciting a sigh for the author to get on with the story.  I can’t say enough good things about Charlaine Harris’ works.  Once again, she comes out on top as my favorite female writer.

Friday, January 1, 2016

“Suffer Little Children,” by Peter Tremayne

FM's ratings:

          1. Premise 10
          2. Prose 10
          3. Plot 10
          4. Characters 10
          5. Overall 10

Comments (optional - but try to keep it under 3000 words!)


Kicking off 2016 with straight 10’s.  This is only the 3rd (of very many books) that I have read in this series.  I have many more that were given to me by a cherished relative who is a big fan of the series, and I will probably get around to reading them all.  I am not normally a fan of historical novels, but this author does it so extremely well, I might just have to change my mind.  These are Mysteries in the classic sense, complete with a thorough explanation in front of an assembly of people by the protagonist (Fidelma) at the end.  Formulaic?  Classic.  The reader readily sees how all the evidence was there, and that Fidelma has deduced the solution to the mystery by sheer logic.  Rating it all 10’s?  There simply are no flaws here, even to the ultimate criteria of entertainment value.  My heart was beating more rapidly along with Fidema’s as she presented her case.  One really can’t ask for a more well-crafted story than this.