THE MADNESS OF CROWDS by Louise Penny

 THE MADNESS OF CROWDS

by

Louise Penny

   In The Madness of Crowds, the seventeenth book in Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, Gamache and Three Pines, like the rest of us, are trying to return to a post pandemic "normal". Gamache was spending the winter holiday/New Year at home in Three Pines with his family when he was asked to oversee security while an academic statistician, Abigail Robinson, spoke at the local university. Robinson's position was that statistics mandate the genocide of the weak, infirm, and disabled. Although Gamache detested the position she was espousing, he was required to see to her safety when there was an attempt on her life. And then there was another murder in Three Pines, with multiple suspects.

    Louise Penny is a master at character study, and her work in The Madness of Crowds is no exception. In fact, she may have outdone herself, as this book considers both the more superficial look at Robinson's proposal and the deeper underlying reactions of the suspects and others repulsed by Robinson's arguments. Gamache was not excepted from this, and I found it interesting how his reactions influenced the investigation.

    As is usual when I finish a Gamache novel, I am saddened that my friends in Three Pines are gone again. Like many other fans, I would love to live in Three Pines, with the Gamaches and the others. It is interesting how many people want to move to this village, despite spotty internet connectivity and a very high (for its size) murder rate. 

    Meanwhile, I will anxiously await the next installment and the return of my friends. But, The Madness of Crowds is a quality addition to this exceptional series, and I highly recommend it.

THE BOOKMAN'S TALE by Charlie Lovett

 THE BOOKMAN'S TALE

by

Charlie Lovett

    In The Bookman's Tale, by Charlie Lovett, we meet Peter Byerly, a bookseller from North Carolina who is living in Kingham, Oxfordshire. He moved to Kingham after the recent death of his wife, Amanda. While browsing in a bookstore one day, Peter was surprised to find a Victorian era painting of Amanda that had been inserted into a book on Shakespeare forgeries. We accompany Peter as he tries to unravel the mysteries surrounding the painting. Along the way, we learn about a longtime feud between two neighboring families and about Shakespeare forgeries. Resolving the mystery even requires that Peter authenticate a book that allegedly formed the basis for Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale.

    The Bookman's Tale is a lovely book. The complex plot meanders through three different time periods, leaving me wishing that I had paid more attention to the dates in the chapter headings. I am a book collector wanna be and always love books about books and book people. But Lovett's book included more detail than others that I have read, including a description of the process of repairing/rebinding a book that I found fascinating.

    I thoroughly enjoyed The Bookman's Tale, and I highly recommend it.

BETTER OFF DEAD by Lee Child and Andrew Child

 BETTER OFF DEAD

by

Lee Child and Andrew Child

    Better Off Dead, by Lee Child and Andrew Child, is the 26th installment in the Jack Reacher series. Its anticipated publication date is October 26, 2021.

    In Better Off Dead, Reacher is heading west and entering a small border town in Arizona. He meets another army veteran, Michaela Fenton. She is looking for her twin brother, Michael, who has gone missing. Naturally, Reacher offers to help.

    I am a long time fan of Jack Reacher, having followed each of his adventures, wherever his wondering has taken him. But after I began reading Better Off Dead, I was taken aback; this was not the Jack Reacher whom I know and love. For example, Reacher is described as scruffy and unkempt, like a hobo. Although the quirky Reacher buys, wears, and tosses cheap clothes, he is rarely scruffy and unkempt. It is mentioned about Reacher being a civilian. Reacher might be "separated" from the army, but I do not think that he sees himself as a civilian; his entire life has been the military, and his entire being is military. There does not appear to be a military presence in this Reacher, not in his demeanor or in his thinking. And, although Reacher has no qualms about using force, he does so only if needed, only if there is no other way, and even then, only to the level required; much of the violence I was reading about in Better Off Dead felt gratuitous. 

    Both the character and the writing were unsettling. They seemed flat, lacking the usual depth found in Reacher books. Facts about Reacher seemed to be thrown out there, almost as a second thought rather than incorporated within the plot. And, the plot of Better Off Dead also felt linear and flat, lacking the usual robustness and complexity I recall from prior Reacher adventures.Yet the conclusion to this book felt overly complicated; I still do not understand the resolution, and it does not seem to fit nicely together like prior Reacher books.

    Near the end of my reading Better Off Dead, I read that Andrew Child has taken over writing the Reacher books. I don't know whether this is true or, if so, whether it is the reason for my discomfort with this book, but I do not like this incarnation of Reacher. Better Off Dead was a nice experience with a new character, but as another adventure with Reacher, I was disappointed.