NEON PREY by John Sandford

NEON PREY

by

John Sandford

            Neon Prey is the 29th book in John Sandford’s Lucas Davenport series. In this installment, we are reunited with deputy U.S. Marshall Davenport and two of his co-workers, Bob and Rae.

            Clayton Deese is a hired goon who failed to make a required appearance while on bond. When law enforcement went looking for Deese at his Louisiana home, they instead found numerous graves with murdered, cannibalized remains. Just the sort of case to interest Marshall Davenport. Suspecting that Deese has fled to his half brother in Los Angeles, Lucas takes the hunt – and Bob and Rae – first there and later to Las Vegas.

            As always, it feels good to be back with our old friend Davenport; but, this Prey book is a bit different from prior installments. There is no real mystery, or crime to solve, in Neon Prey. We basically know who did what. Rather, the plot focuses more on where the perpetrators are and how Lucas finds them. We are treated to Sandford’s methodical, step by step progression of Lucas’s hunt; there are no leaps in logic, no unrealistic surmises involved. This Prey installment has Sandford’s typical good writing, as well as some of his humor. However, Neon Prey feels more superficial than the earlier books. Although the plot is detailed, there is only a mention of some of Davenport’s family and old friends like Flowers, Jenkins, and Strake. Although this may not trouble many new Prey fans, to a long time Davenport devotee, this feels like the picture of Lucas portrayed in Neon Prey is flat or missing a dimension.

            Nonetheless, I enjoyed my visit with Marshall Davenport, and I look forward to Sandford’s next installment in the series.

BLOOD OATH by Linda Fairstein

BLOOD OATH

by

Linda Fairstein

            Blood Oath, the twentieth (20th) book in Linda Fairstein’s Alexandra Cooper series, will be released on March 26, 2019. And, this milestone book is a blockbuster.

            After some difficult times and a leave of absence, Alex Cooper returns to work. She meets Lucy Jenner, a young woman who had been a witness to murder ten years earlier. Something had happened to Lucy while she was a witness; something untoward, committed by someone who had a great deal of power and prestige. As Alex delves into the events and tries to find the truth about what had happened to Lucy, the danger rises and threatens Alex and those close to her.

            I have always enjoyed Fairstein’s Alexandra Cooper series. The books present good mysteries with some history mixed in and are well written. In Blood Oath, the history component deals with Rockefeller University, a prestigious and somewhat secretive research institute and hospital in New York City. In many of the books, the police have a murder and Alex helps them resolve the case. But, Blood Oath feels a bit different. Fairstein seems to have returned to her roots, so to speak. Although there is still overlap between the police and their case and Alex and her legal work – as one would expect to find with an attorney working for the district attorneys office – this book focuses on Alex's work as an attorney. There is a sense of realism, or authenticity, that permeates the book.

            In Blood Oath, Alex is back – and back with a vengeance. Fairstein is back, too. She has put together a powerful, awe inspiring book that goes beyond the “normal” good quality found in her Alexandra Cooper series.

            My one regret is that my Blood Oath reading experience is over. Blood Oath is truly one of Fairstein’s finest.

THE ALCHEMIST OF LOST SOULS by Mary Lawrence

THE ALCHEMIST OF LOST SOULS

by

Mary Lawrence

            The fourth book in Mary Lawrence’s Bianca Goddard series, The Alchemist of Lost Souls, will be released on April 30, 2019. I have been a long time fan of these historical fiction books (see prior reviews*: The Alchemist’s Daughter, March 24, 2015; The Death of An Alchemist, January 4, 2016; and, Death at St. Vedast, December 24, 2016), and this new book does not disappoint.

            In The Alchemist of Lost Souls, Bianca’s mother and father, Malva and Albern, play a prominent role. As we know from prior installments in the series, Albern is a disgraced alchemist and Malva is a white witch. Albern has created a new glowing element that he hopes will get him back in favor with the king. When the element is stolen, and Albern suspects Malva is involved, he asks Bianca for help in retrieving it. When the element is apparently involved in a murder, Constable Patch asks Bianca for help in the investigation. Meanwhile, Bianca is already struggling with the facts that she is pregnant and that John is conscripted into Henry’s army. In this installment, we also learn more about the Rat Man, the mysterious character who has inhabited the shadows in the series.

            As with the other Bianca Goddard books, The Alchemist of Lost Souls is a well-written and seemingly realistic portrayal of life in the sixteenth century. Lawrence’s writing is wonderful and appears to improve with each book, becoming freer and more natural. At the same time, her plots continue to evolve as well, becoming more complex, detailed, and pleasantly convoluted.

The book includes an Author’s Note, and reading it feels like discovering a hidden gem after the book has ended. My one wish is that Lawrence would expand this note, including more explanation about the sixteenth century issues contained within the book and about how/why she decided to deal with those topics in the manner that she did in an effort to recreate/maintain the historicity of the book.

The Alchemist of Lost Souls is a brilliant addition to the Bianca Goddard series, and I continue to look forward to more adventures with Bianca.

*These reviews were posted to the IMO Book Reviews blog, http://imobookreviews.blogspot.com/

UNSHELTERED by Barbara Kingsolver

UNSHELTERED

by

Barbara Kingsolver

            In Unsheltered, by Barbara Kingsolver, we are introduced to Willa, a journalist, and her husband Iano, a college professor. They have moved to an inherited, historic home in Vineland, N.J. and live there with, at various times, four generations: their kids, Zeke and Tig (Antigone), their grandson, and Iano’s father. Willa is a freelance journalist without work, Iona is unable to find a tenured position, and the house is literally falling down around them; they cannot afford the repairs or the escalating health care costs of their extended family.

We also learn about Thatcher, a science teacher who had lived in the historic house in the nineteen century with his wife, Rose, and her mother and younger sister. They, too, have difficulty maintaining the crumbling historic home. Thatcher befriends their neighbor, Mary Treat, a scientist who is conducting numerous experiments, as well as corresponding with Darwin and other great scientists of her time. Meanwhile, Thatcher, who loves science and simply wants to share that love, encounters difficulty with the Creationists running the school and the town.

            Unsheltered moves back and forth between these nineteenth century and twenty-first century residents of the house. Mary and Thatcher were ahead of their time. But, Willa and Iano portray a new reality. They are overeducated, overqualified, and underemployed. They are unable to “make it” – i.e., they are unable to cover their basic needs for shelter and medical care. Despite their years of hard work and “doing everything right,” they have not accrued the security needed and expected at their stage of life. As Tig tells her mother:

[Y]ou prepped for the wrong future. It’s not just you. Everybody your age is, like, crouching inside this box made out of what they already believe. You think it’s a fallout shelter or something but it’s a piece of shitbox, Mom. It’s cardboard, drowning in the rain, going all floppy. And you’re saying, “This is all there is, it will hold up fine. This box will keep me safe!”

Unsheltered, p. 308.

Kingsolver presents a harsh reality, but, unfortunately, it is a reality that more well-educated people of Willa’s generation are facing. You can do everything right – do everything the way that you are “supposed” to – and still not attain the elusive security that is needed later in life.

There is a change occurring in our society. Once again, Kingsolver has uncovered the nub of the matter in this poignant, wonderful work.

            This latest Kingsolver work is so well written. Although the chapters are long, I thought it very cool how the end of the last line of each chapter is the title of the next chapter. In typical Kingsolver fashion, Unsheltered is melodic and insightful.

Unsheltered is one of the best books of 2018. Highly recommended.

EMPIRE OF THE SUMMER MOON by S. C. Gwynne

EMPIRE OF THE SUMMER MOON

by

S. C. Gwynne

            Nine-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker was kidnapped by the Comanche Indians, from the Parker Fort settlement in Texas. Her “mixed blood” son, Quanah Parker, is the primary subject of Empire of the Summer Moon, a Pulitzer Prize finalist by S. C. Gwynne (subtitled “Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe In American History”).

            But, Empire of the Summer Moon is much more than Quanah Parker’s story. The book details the settlement of Texas. It explains the slaughter of the Indians. It tells of slaughter by the Indians. It mentions the slaughter of the buffalo (according to Gwynne, 31 million buffalo were slaughtered between 1868 and 1881). And, it portrays the failure of the treaties and the reservations. In the midst of this, we learn about the Comanches – some of the best horsemen amongst the Indians and who changed military engagement – and about the “last and greatest” of the Comanche chiefs, Quanah Parker.

            Gwynne does a wonderful job not just of telling the story about the clashes between the Indians and the white settlors at this time in our country’s history, but also in capturing many of the deep seated cultural differences that lead to much of this dark time. Empire of the Summer Moon is well-written, informative, captivating, and engaging. I recommend it.