Ears: 1

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The wait was five years for the next in the Robert Langdon series that includes Angels & Demons and the incredibly successful The Da Vinci Code.

The wait is now over and it certainly wasn’t worth it.  To summarize – The Lost Symbol is an overwrought, action less, poorly constructed novel that never rises above the pedestrian, and often succumbs to contrivance.

The story starts out well enough with Langdon summoned to Washington D.C. on short notice to fill-in at a lecture as a favor to an old friend.  The one great scene is the action at the Capitol rotunda where a severed hand is discovered pointing upward.  This puts the plot in motion, or rather slow motion.

Again, like the two previous novels, the action is confined to a very short period of time – in this case possibly only a few hours.  Brown changes his style a bit with several long flash-backs that try to provide background and context for various characters, but too often just bog down the narrative.   Rather than focus on the Catholic Church as Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code, this time we are immersed in the Brotherhood of the Free Masons.  I learned way too much about the history of the Masons, their beliefs and rituals.

Warning – minor plot spoilers ahead.  Sorry I have to mention them in order to point out how ridiculous the plot is.

One of the many problems of this novel is the author’s conceit that smart characters including a high-ranking CIA director would not simply explain to Langdon or others what is really going on.  When the term “national security crisis” is used to cover-up what turned out to be nothing more than some embarrassing videos, the reader is left hanging or laughing as was my reaction.  I had assumed there was at least a nuclear device involved somewhere.

And that’s the problem – the stakes were much higher in the other books: the selection of a Pope and the answer to one of the great questions of Christianity.  Instead we get endless blather about the “mysteries of the ancients.”   There was one good twist that I had not seen coming.  But the final chapters of the book that went on and on about the bible etc. were excruciating in their banality.   Even the symbol stuff – solving the puzzles isn’t very interesting.  The movie National Treasure was much more inventive using the Washington D.C. locale.

As a side note, the author seems a bit fixated on castration and shaved bodies of his villains. 

This long and tedious book might be of interest to some, it is well read by Paul Michael, but those of you who enjoyed The Da Vinci Code (and I was among them) will be disappointed.

Reviewed on 11/2/09 by Robert W. Karp

Bette Midler used to sing “you’ve got to have friends….” And that just about sums up David Baldacci’s fourth installment of the Camel Club series, Divine Justice.  Oliver Stone is on the run after the murderous conclusion of Stone Cold.  In order to protect the remaining members of the Camel Club he has left everything and everyone behind as he flees Washington DC.

In a Camel Club novel, much of the story is about Stone’s, whose real name is John Carr, past.  In this story we get much more of what went on before he became a triple six assassin.  Stone seems to have the ability to make enemies of people who ultimately reside in very high places.  In this case retired General Macklin Hayes, now a shadowy figure in the intelligence community has a grudge to settle.

Hayes is on Stone’s trail and has sent CIA agent Joe Knox to find Stone.  Find him, not bring him in because Hayes has other more lethal plans.

So far so good, Baldacci has provided a clean follow-up to Stone Cold, picking up almost immediately after that book ended.  I have my concerns about these “serial” novels becoming just an extended Bourne type of series, but the characters are entertaining and the action enjoyably easy-to-digest.  However as Stone goes off the beaten path to hide from his pursuers, the author goes straight into cliché territory.

Through the type of contrivance that just screams plot manipulation Stone lands in the town of Divine, somewhere in what I believe was western West Virginia.  As is the case in these sorts of stories, not all is what it seems in the small town of Divine.  Too many people have died in mysterious ways in recent years, and when Stone sees for the first time the maximum security prison called Deadrock looming over the town you know that Stone will see the inside sooner rather than later.

The story has two plots – Stone as the stranger getting involved in the intrigue of Divine, and Knox tracking down Stone.  As Knox threatens the remaining members of the Camel Club in order to find Stone, they now join the hunt for their friend to help him, even if he does not want their assistance.  I enjoyed that part of the story, how both Knox and the others slowly track down Stone.  The story involving Stone in Divine seems all too predictable, down to the widow running the diner, a sheriff that might not be what he seems, and a suicide that probably wasn’t.

There are some nice touches here including a villain whose actions are so horrific you can’t wait until he get’s what is coming to him.  I only wished he had gotten it in a way that was bit more satisfying.  But in the end you find out most of what you need to know about Stone and his friends come to his rescue in a clever and dramatic way.

This is not a very original work, nor is it very subtle.  However it is very entertaining.  Baldacci fans and fans of the Camel Club will be happy.  Those of you new to this author would be better served to start back at the beginning of the series, The Camel Club, or with Baldacci’s other current best-seller, First Family.

Ron McLarty continues to read this series with total control of the characters getting the rural southern dialect just right and giving each of the characters a distinct personality.

Reivewed on 9/22/09 by Robert W. Karp

Title:  The Scarecrow
Author: Michael Connelly
Reader: Peter Giles
Audiobook: 2009
Unabridged
Length: 11 hours

Ears: 4

Buy or rent for less at iAudioBookStore.com

Connelly has one of the best detective series going with the Harry Bosch stories.  In The Scarecrow he brings back two characters from earlier works.  Los Angeles Times reporter, Jack McEvoy and FBI agent Rachel Walling as the lead characters, Bosch does not show up this time.  McEvoy appeared many years ago in 1996's The Poet.  Now about to leave the Times, McEvoy stumbles on a big story that leads to a serial killer.

It all starts with a pink-slip, or as they say at the Times, being added to the 30 list.  McEvoy is given his two weeks notice as the Los Angeles Times continues on a relentless downsizing trend.  It's no comfort to Jack that he was last cut in the round of layoffs and that he can stay on to train his young and cheaper replacement on the crime beat.

 He takes this humiliation well, deciding to go out with a bang - a crime story that will rock the city.  He thinks he has found it in what appears to be a case of murdered prostitute in a crime-ridden public housing project in south central Los Angeles.  When it becomes clear that the teen-age drug dealer didn't do the murder the question is - who did?

The search for the answer turns up the scarecrow and much more as McEvoy turns to Walling for help as things quickly get out of control.

This book is Connelly at his finest.  Well-written with a just the right inside touches about the life of a journalist at a major paper like the LA Times, the plot moves swiftly along with lots of action and suspense.   It is no surprise that Connelly gets the newspaper and FBI in-fighting right, but I was delighted that he was able to convey how the internet and technology can be a tool of terror when used by a knowledgeable and determined adversary.

Told from the viewpoint of both McEvoy and the serial killer, Peter Giles reads with complete authority.  He doesn't overact and is able to give us enough difference in various character's speech patterns and delivery that the listener understands the various players.  There is a particularly hilarious scene as CNN is about to interview McEvoy, Alonzo Winslow, the teen-age drug dealer and his mother.  Giles shows he knows his characters well with a dead-on performance.

Connelly might be moving to make a new series out of the team of Walling and McEvoy.  If that's the case, I look forward to more!

Reviewed on 09/04/09 by Robert W. Karp

Ears: 4

Buy or rent for less at iAudioBookStore.com

This short novel is based on a magazine story that the author decided to turn into a full-length novel.

Taking place after Echo Park and before The Brass Verdict, Harry Bosch is still feeling the repercussions of the less-than-optimal ending of the Echo Park case.

Now he is assigned what seems to be a random case of violence when a body is found on the side of Mulholland Drive far above Hollywood. The case quickly becomes something much more sinister with national security implications.  At the crime scene Bosch runs into FBI Agent Rachel Walling, now assigned to a terroist task force after her involvment in the Echo Park case.

Bosch and Walling quickly try to take control of the situation.  Niether trusts the other to cooperate based on previous bad-blood between the LAPD and FBI.  What ensues is an intricate plot that leads to the wife of the victim, the LAPD Chief of Police while Harry's new partner learns to adapt to the Bosch style of investigation.  The key to the case seems to be as Bosch has put it - "this case never leaves a single map page."

In my review of The Brass Verdict, I lamented that the reader didn't have Bosch's weary and angry tone down.  Len Cariou reads this selection, and as in the past, he gets if right!  This is Connelly and Bosch at their best. While the story is shorter than recent Connelly titles - it packs everything you expect.

4 Ears out of 5

Reviewed on 6/12/09 by Robert W. Karp

Ears: 4

Available at:  iAudioBookStore.com

It is always great to see a classic title released in audio book format. Over the years many of the Rex Stout Nero Wolfe novels have appeared in audio. The latest, The Red Box, is from early on in the Wolfe series, written in the 1930s and taking place in 1936. Stout has created one of the most distinctive characters in mystery fiction right up there with Christie’s Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple. Like Christie, Stout gives the reader a structured plot with an always interesting murder up front, lots of suspects and a denouement where all the parties are brought together while our detective explains the crime.

The death of a young model at a dress maker’s salon (remember this is before off-the-rack dresses) isn’t at all what it seems. Apparently she ate some poisoned candy. Was it murder, and was the victim the target? Wolfe is forced to do something he never does – leave his Brownstone on business – and he certainly isn’t happy with the results. His client doesn’t seem to be all that interested in finding out the answers or paying Wolfe’s $10,000 fee.

Archie Goodwin is his usual droll self, particularly when he works hard to stop Wolfe from a relapse, something that can have disastrous consequences for all concerned. Regular readers of this series will appreciate Archie’s fear of the dreaded relapse. It is only after the death of one of many suspects in Wolfe’s presence, does the frustrated detective get serious.

For these classic mysteries I don’t like to give too much plot. The listener should enjoy the story as it unfolds in style. Michael Pritchard has been reading this series for some time and has Wolfe’s genius and Archie’s wit down perfectly. These stories have none of the violence, sex or snappy cynical dialog that shows up today’s detective fiction. What they do have is a great sense of time and place as well as an adherence to the elements that make great detective fiction. When the murderer is revealed (I got it right about half way through) you are not surprised. You will be surprised about what’s in the Red Box, however.

I believe I read all of the Nero Wolfe novels 30 years or so ago, but sometimes it’s worth a revisit. With over 30 titles in this series, those of you looking for a character to fall in love with all over again should take the time to get to know the very American Nero Wolfe.

Reviewed on 3/17/09 by Robert W. Karp

Ears: 3
Available at:  iAudioBookStore.com

There is some good news here. 7^th Heaven is a definite improvement over books 5 and 6 in The Women’s Murder Club series. For fans of Detective Lindsay Boxer and the other members of that make of the club, you will find a better constructed story with fewer silly diversions and far less cringe-inducing dialog.

The beginning is a detailed and rather disturbing description of a brutal robbery that ends in fire and death. This type of crime has become the trademark for this series. This is a very graphic opening to the book that gets your attention. As usual there is more than one plot; apparently the authors have little faith that they can sustain one story over what is a rather short novel filled with over 120 chapters (I have commented on this previously).

Michael Campion, the son of a former California governor has gone missing. No one seems to know anything about his disappearance until the police receive a tip that Michael was last seen entering a prostitute's house. Boxer and her partner, Rich Conklin, get a too-easy confession from hooker Junie Moon that Michael, who had a heart defect, died during sex and she and her boyfriend disposed of his body. This leads to a trial featuring assistant district attorney Yuki Castellano. Here the story runs slightly aground with too much courtroom dialog that doesn’t really further the story. Carolyn McCormick reads with assurance although she seems to over do it a bit here, making Yuki much too “chirpy” for my taste. The rest of her performance is dead on getting both the female and male characters just right.

On top of these two plots, there is a small diversion when Yuki gets involved with a celebrity writer who has decided to write about the Campion trial. Throughout I thought this pushed credibility, but there was a nice payoff to this subplot that saved the day.

Boxer and Conklin spend a great deal of effort to track now the serial arsonists who seem to have an agenda that only serial killers know and understand. The details of the arson investigation coupled with the police investigation or good and ultimately the killers do make a serious mistake that as in all good police procedurals, leads to their destruction in spectacular manor.

All this and a twist at the end that other reviewers seem to think was a big surprise, but I saw it coming from the very beginning. Yet this is much better than the recent past for this series. One can hope they have turned the corner and will continue to improve.

Reviewed on 01/04/09 by Robert W. Karp

Ears: 3

Available at: iAudioBookStore.com

I’m going to get this out of the way immediately. You may be wondering why my rating is significantly lower than most other reviewers. On Amazon this book gets almost 5 stars. I have my reasons which I will explain further on in this review. I don’t think I’m being contrary, but perhaps I was hoping for more than this novel delivered.

With that out of the way, on to the good stuff, and there is a lot good here. The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly puts two of his most popular characters in the same plot. That alone rates at least 3 ears. Mystery readers and fans of Connelly have been following the exploits of LAPD Detective Harry Bosch for over a decade. The Bosch stories provide a look into the heart of policing in Los Angeles as well as the evolution of Harry as he has grown older and seen much too much.

Lawyer Mickey Haller, seen previously in The Lincoln Lawyer, is rather new on the scene appearing in only a single novel and the author seems to have decided to give us the flip side of the justice system, from the point of view of the defense.

The story starts with a brief prolog about a case in the 90s which public defender Haller beats an up and coming assistant district attorney by destroying a jail house snitch’s credibility. It’s a big win for Haller and a big loss for Jerry Vincent, his opponent. It has a profound effect on both men’s careers.

Jump forward to the present. Haller is called into the chief judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court and told that Vincent, now a famous defense attorney, was found murdered the previous night. And Haller has inherited Vincent’s practice. The good news is that Haller can certainly use the work; he only recently has begun to resurrect his law practice after a year-long detour into rehab. The bad news seems to be that Haller may not be ready for prime time.

Prime time is the “trial of the decade”, the murder trial of Walter Elliot the chairman/owner of Archway Pictures. Elliot definitely lives up to the stereotype of a Hollywood mogul; he’s nasty, condescending, and imperious and those are his good qualities. He is charged with the murder of his wife and her lover. Haller wants the case and works to keep Elliot on board all the while trying to find out exactly why Vincent was murdered.

Enter Bosch who has been assigned to the Vincent murder. Readers know that Bosch has little regard for lawyers, particularly defense lawyers. The sparring between the two is amusing, and neither man seems to get the upper hand on the other. As the two plots unfold Haller wonders if the murder of Vincent and the Elliot case are connected. He and his defense team try to uncover a connection while they rush to build a strategy to defend a man that might be guilty of murder.

Connelly has layered quite a bit of plot into The Brass Verdict. Many characters seem to have secrets and motives that might explain the various murders. There are some good twists including a big one at the very end that will probably surprise you. However, I found it rather easy to guess one of the villains of the piece. It was a bit too predictable for me, one major clue was so obvious it would have been criminal for it not to have proved decisive later on. I also missed some of the elements that made earlier works by the author outstanding. For the Bosch plot there didn’t seem to be the sense of outrage the fuels Bosch when he is working a case. Bosch seemed to be going through the paces here, perhaps he is worn out? For Haller, one of the joys of The Lincoln Lawyer was the sense of humor about the life of a defense lawyer whose office is in the backseat of his car. I didn’t get any of that this time.

The audio book is read by Peter Giles who does a good job handling the various characters. Unfortunately he is not Len Cariou who has been reading the Harry Bosch audio books recently. Cariou was able to channel the weariness and anger of Bosch. To compare is a bit unfair, but Giles reading of Bosch didn’t work for me. Adam Grupper read The Lincoln Lawyer and again I think he was able to bring a touch of humor and irony into Mickey Haller the Giles missed.

I am being tough on this book precisely because Michael Connelly is a great writer and we have high expectations from him. The Brass Verdict is very good, I had hoped for fireworks when he brought Haller and Bosch together. I think we got sparklers.

Reviewed on 12/16/08 by Robert W. Karp

Ears: 5

Available at: iAudioBookStore.com

Could there possibly be a serial killer in the Soviet Union? That’s the question raised in Child 44, a stunning first novel by British author Tom Rob Smith. Set in 1953 Stalinist Russia, the story is as much a political thriller as it is a police procedural. Smith paints a dark and disturbing picture of a tyrannical government that at all costs tries to cover up a shocking truth: children are being savagely murdered in the most horrible way.

Smith starts the story in 1933 as he paints a picture of a society on the brink of chaos and disaster. These opening chapters are bleak beyond belief as villagers are faced with starvation or worse. The action centers on two brothers who desperately search for food – a neighbor’s cat that has wandered into the forest. Only one brother returns from the hunt. The story shifts to 1953 and to a MGB (the precursor to the KGB apparently) officer, Leo Demidov – a World War 2 hero who has gained status, a beautiful wife, a nice apartment in Moscow as he has systematically worked to find, capture and execute enemies of the state.

Leo is a true believer until another officer’s son is killed and Leo is sent to make sure that there is no investigation even though his colleague claims that the child was murdered. Things quickly deteriorate when a jealous subordinate manages to get Leo’s wife accused of subversion. Leo is told to renounce her, but he can’t and he is summarily exiled to a small town where he has no status, privileges or hope for survival. There he stumbles on the body of a child that seems to have been killed in the same way as the victim in Moscow. To continue the investigation Leo must risk everything.

Audio books that take place in foreign locales pose special challenges for the narrator. The challenge is to give some sense of reality through accents without making it difficult for listener to discern dialog and distinguish between various characters. Dennis Boutsikaris narrates with the right combination of enunciation and Russian accent that is easy to understand, yet doesn’t descend in the cartoon villain style. There are a lot of characters in Child 44, yet Boutsikaris, as did Jim Dale in the Harry Potter series, gives each a distinctive accent and speech pattern that makes it much easier for the listener.

I don’t want to give away any more of the plot (partly because I couldn’t begin to spell all of the characters names correctly – a curse of reviewing audio books), but I will tell you that I missed a crucial clue to the killer’s identity and was shocked when it was revealed late in the book. What elevates this work above the good suspense novel is that the author meticulously paints a picture of life in the Stalinist Soviet Union where a wrong look, a borrowed book, or an accusation can get you sent to the gulag. I have no idea how accurate this portrayal is, but it feels very right to me. I was totally immersed in the world that Tom Rob Smith paints. For that reason an enthusiastic 5 ears.

Reviewed on 12/1/08 by Robert W. Karp

Title: Savannah Blues
Author: Mary Kay Andrews
Reader: Susan Ericksen
Audiobook 2006
Unabridged
Length: 12 hours

Ears: 2

Available at:  iAudioBookStore.com

I may not be the right person to review this sort of book. Savannah Blues is certainly charming loaded with quirky characters and authentic southern atmosphere. In fairness perhaps this isn't a mystery at all but rather a romance novel.

Mary Kay Andrews, the author, does seem to want it both ways. The structure seems to be of a traditional mystery, our heroine, Eloise "Weezie" Foley, finds a body at a most inconvenient time and in a location that will be hard to explain. The body happens to be her ex-husband's mistress and current fiancé. Unfortunately it takes quite awhile to get to this point because Andrews seem a bit distracted from the basic plot.

A large portion of this book is given over to a detailed discussion of antiques, the business of antiques, yard sales, estate sales. all in service of Weezie's profession as a "picker." If you enjoy watching Antiques Roadshow and the various junk in the attic variations on cable television this is the book for you! More time is given to descriptions of furniture, silver, glass ware, china than details of the murder. There is also much time given to the peripheral characters with a whole lot of sub plots involving the ex husband, dishonest antique sellers, a long ago boyfriend who appears on the scene and the obligatory wacky best friend.

All of this is enjoyable but the mystery portion of the book is pretty standard and the author relies on the device of having the murderer decide to explain all when it wasn't necessary except to make it clear to the reader. All loose ends are neatly tied up by the end in ways that you can see coming long before.

Susan Ericksen narrates and gets the southern accents just right. Not making them into back woods types but changing them enough so that each character has his or her own style.

I'm probably being a bit too hard on this book, but Mary Kay Andrews built her reputation on covering Savannah's infamous Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil murder trials, and it is clear she knows how to write. If she can devote as much time to plot development as character and atmosphere she has real shot at writing mysteries in the style of Janet Evanovich or Diane Mott Davidson.

A last point, when I hear the name Weezie I can only think of The Jeffersons on television. I guess I'm showing my age.

Reviewed on 10/28/08 by Robert W. Karp