Never Go Back by Lee Child

Never Go Back by Lee Child
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lee Child is one of my favourite authors, so I always look forward to read his next book. In Never Go Back Reacher finally meets Susan Turner, the nice voice from the phone. But it doesn't go as planned. Of course it doesn't, this is why we read Child don't we?
I liked the character of Susan Turner. She is a capable woman, in her own way she is like Reacher. She doesn't whine, she picks up Reacher's pace and becomes a real partner.
I would have read more fighting scenes. Reacher is a big, strong guy, and his principle is to hit first and hit hard. But he dealt with his opponents too easily. I liked the books more when he got hit too.
Child is a master of dropping as much information as needed to keep the tension and the suspense, so we keep reading. In this book the final twist was a little bit less satisfying then in the other Reacher stories. Considering Reacher's capabilities he would have guessed it earlier.
Never Go back may not be the best of the series, but still a damn good read.


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Revision and Self Editing for Publication by James Scott Bell

I'm sitting at my desk, blue pen in my hand, and I'm drawing a branch of a tree. This is not an ordinary tree, and I'm not drawing a landscape. I wouldn't dare to attempt anything like that with my drawing ability of a child. I'm creating a mind-map. No, not the one scientists make to describe how neurons connect inside your brain to make you a smartass human. I'm making notes studying J. S. Bell's book: Revision and Self Editing for Publication. When ready it will be nice and colorful. I will make a picture and pin it here.
I hear a knock on the door, and I shout "Come in". Jack enters, whistling.
"Hi Uncle, can I borrow your car?"
"Where's yours?"
"Still in the garage, they are repairing the dent that stupid woman made the other day."
The 'stupid woman' refers to an old lady who didn't see the stop sign and drove directly into the side of Jack's car - at least Jack said it happened this way.
"Where are you going?"
"I promised Jenny to take her to her friend's party. She doesn't want to drive drunk."
"She's drunk?" I arch my eyebrow.
"Not yet. But will be, most probably, when I'm picking her up later."
I sigh, fish the car key from my pocket, and hand it to him. "Be careful with old ladies" I say.
He puts the key into his pocket, then steps to my desk, and studies my mind-map.
"What are you doing?"
"Mind-mapping."
"I can see that, but about what?"
I tell him.
"You take this seriously, don't you? This writing thing."
"I do."
"Does this book help?"
"Sure helps a lot. I just finished the first draft of my novel, and..."
"Oh, my! You wrote a novel? What is it about? Can I read it?"
"It's a thriller, but not ready yet. I have to edit and revise it."
"Amazing."
"You can be my beta reader."
"What?"
"Who reads the book before submitting to Publishers, and gives valuable advice how the story can be improved."
"I can do that. When are you going to finish it?"
"I'll let you know. So. I just finished the first draft, and I need to improve it. I bought this book to learn how to revise and edit."
He studies the blue and red and green lines on the paper, small letters written next to and around them. It is really like a tree: there is an oval shape in the middle, like a cut-through trunk, wide branches coming out of it, then narrow ones coming out of those. Every wide branch has different color, and their small ones are colored the same. Each one represents different subjects I studied from the book.
"Characters" he reads out loud, "Plot and Structure, Scenes. Where is the part it talks about editing?"
"It's all about editing. If you want to write a compelling novel, you need to know what makes a novel compelling. The book is mostly about that. How to create believable characters, how to raise the stakes infusing conflict into the story, what to put in the beginning, middle and end, and thousand other things you need to incorporate into your book. The last part is about the editing process itself."
Jack frowns. "It sounds complicated" he says.
"It is complicated first, and it never gets very easy. They say everyone has a book inside. But not everyone can put it on paper properly."
"I'm sure you can, Uncle. You're too stubborn to fail."
I take it as a compliment.
"I must go now, thanks for your car. I can hardly wait to read your novel. See ya."
I turn back to the mind-map. Man, I glad I have bought Revision and Self Editing for Publication, without it my novel sucked.

Ok, here it is, a few hours later:

The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi

Jenny went to see a movie with her friends, something involving romance and love and tears and happy ending. Jack is late from work, he sent me a message complaining about due dates and evil bosses. I'm home alone, so I'm playing my Best of 90's CD so loud that the walls are resonating. Those were the days...

Since nobody disturbs me, I'm catching up wit some reviews I should have written weeks ago. I start with the one about The Ghost Brigades. I'm big fan of John Scalzi, so this review will be totally subjective. If you want to read an objective evaluation of the book, try some other place. If you are still interested in my opinion, here it is.

I like John Scalzi's work since I listened to the Old Man's War audiobook. That was the first one I have read from him. I immediately appreciated his humor, which adds a layer to his books.

The story of The Ghost Brigades happens in the same universe as the Old Man's War, and I loved that Sagan was part of this story. (If you don't know: Sagan is the clone of Perry's wife, who dies before Perry joins the army.  Perry and Sagan have an interesting relation.) It gives extra connection to the previous book. By the way, it really helps if you read the Old Man's War, because a lot of ideas grow from that story, and you can understand better what's going on.

If you haven't read The Ghost Brigades, better go and read the description before I get to the details, so you have an idea what I'm talking about.

The Ghost Brigades could be a simple space-military type of book if it hadn't several layers. The base of the story: the Colonial Defense Forces fights against the threat from three alien species, who made an alliance against  the humans. This already gives reason for a few exciting actions, like taking a research base by force or kidnapping the heir of an alien race. Or blow up the generator and shot the bad guys' base to pieces.

But more is at stake, because by the end of the book we learn that hundreds of races making alliance and other races are making their counter-alliance, so something BIG is going on in the background.

If we go deeper, we see how the Ghost Brigades soldiers are born. Or made would be the better word, because they are clones of people who died on Earth and didn't have the chance to join the CDF as Perry did in Old Man's War. Which raises a series of questions. How can they coop with the fact that they are very young yet fully grown adults? By their "teenager" years they could be retired veterans. And how can they develop an own consciousness? The Brainpal implant seems to solve this issue by providing all the necessary information while they discover the world.

Talking about the brain implant: it is amazing. Not only because it's like an endless source of information, but because it provides deep integration between soldiers. Scalzi unfolds the possibilities of this technology to several degrees, and uses it's impact to create compelling situations and also trouble. Which makes the story more interesting.

The implications of the consciousness-transfer is well done, and its contribution to the final conflict is well played out. Also brings some interesting questions: who really is Jared? The newborn CDF soldier or the incarnation of Boutin, the bad guy? Can the consciousness of Boutin take over completely, or Jared develops his own personality?

There are some really good twists and turns in the story. And of course, there is the characteristic Scalzi humor (for example the stone throwing), which is like a good spice to a delicious food.

It may seem too sentimental, but I liked the ending: Perry, Sagan and Zoe will be a family most probably. I suppose I will know more when I read Zoe's Tale.

I already purchased The Last Colony, and hardly can wait to listen to it.

Don't Leave Me by James Scott Bell

"The snowman shoots a snowball with a cannon to the butt of the duck."

Jack looks up at me, narrowing his eyes. He is sitting at the kitchen table peeling potatoes to help Jenny out. His hand stops in the middle of the motion, half of the potato peeled, a piece of crust stuck to his knife.

"What?" he asks.

Jenny giggles, and continues slicing the meat. She is standing at the counter, preparing the dinner. I'm stirring the soup with a wooden spoon elegantly, this much I can contribute to the meal.

I repeat what I said, then I add "It's a riddle. So, what do you say?"

"The snowman. With a cannon. Uncle, are you alright?" says Jack shaking his head, his attention returns to the potato.

"OK, listen. You are kidnapped, they put you in a room, the security door has a keypad to open. You don't know the code, but secretly watch the bad gal enter it when she leaves the room. But you aren't good in remembering numbers, so you have a system. Every number is represented by a symbol, something easy to remember of. So when the guy left, you remember the snowman and the cannon and the duck. And the snowball. What is the code to your freedom, then?"

Jack puts his knife down and asks:

"Where does this stuff come from?"

"From a book. 'Don't leave me' by James Scott Bell."

"Is it a 'crack the code' type?"

"No, not at all. It's a thriller. It's about a former Navy chaplain who gets into a lot of trouble because of his past. He fights with his own demons, but on top of that gangsters want to catch him. He has valuable information buried deeply in his nightmare's and he has to find the reason why the bad guys want him. He has a younger autistic brother he needs to take care of. This brother is kidnapped and he can learn numbers in this interesting way, using pictures. Pictures belong to every number."

"Ah, it makes more sense now. What is the riddle again?"

I repeat it. "It may be phrased somewhat differently in the book, but you get the point, I think."

"OK" says Jack. "The snowman is quite obvious, it is the number eight. The snowball is the zero. The cannon could be... I think it's the six, the lower circle can be the wheel and the upper short part is the barrel. But which one is the duck? Maybe five? Or the nine, like a duck with its head submerged into the water?"

"You are close. You got the first three right. The duck is the number two."

"Yeah, that fits too."

Jenny is finished with the meat, she wipes her hand in her apron.

"Tell me about the book, uncle" she says.

"It's a good one. Fast paced, just as I like it. There are a lot of questions asked in the beginning, which made me turn the page - that is click the 'next page' button on my Kindle. I always appreciate hooks and cliffhangers, and there are plenty of them. Also twist and turns. I guessed some of them, but the author surprised me many times."

"What about the characters?" asks Jenny.

I know she is not really into thrillers and suspense, she likes romance and young adult books more, and she always enjoys complex characters.

"Chuck, the protagonist has a few layers, some of them pealed off during the story. I liked how Bell presented Stan, the brother. In his scenes it was interesting to see the events unfolding through his specific view of the world. And the cop woman was original too."

"I think I give it a shot" says Jack. He puts the last potato into the bowl, stands up and  walks to the sink to wash his hands. "I have reached my food preparation limit."

Jenny rolls her eyes and gestures towards the living room.

"Go, go, don't be under my feet here. I call you when dinner is ready."

"What? I helped, see?" says Jack pointing to the peeled potatoes.

"OK, I give you that. You can go now."

Jack leaves the room, but after a minute his head appears in the door.

"Can I use your kindle, uncle?"

"Sure" I say, then I turn to Jenny. "Is this soup ready yet? I'm stirring it for so long time, my arm hurts."

"You guys are unbelievable. Go, I don't want to see your sad face."

She takes the spoon from me and pushes me towards the door. I open my mouth to object, but think better of it. I'm sure she can finish the cooking less time if I'm out of the kitchen. So I shut up, and go to write a review for Don't Leave Me.

Zelda Pryce: The Demon Hunt by Joss Llewelyn

Jack and I are sitting in my car, waiting for Jenny, who is late. Girls and shopping - tell me about it! Jack taps his fingers on his knees, watching the people passing by on the sidewalk. He checks his watch hundredth time.

"She's late" he says.

I sigh, and reach to the back seat, pulling out my e-reader from my suitcase. I hand it to him and say:

"Here. Read something."

He shrugs, flips the cover open and switches the device on. He is silent for a while, browsing the titles, and I enjoy Vivaldi's Four Seasons playing from the CD.

"Hm... Zelda" says Jack. "Interesting name. What is this one about?"

I glance over, and see the cover of Zelda Pryce: The Demon Hunt written by Joss Llevelyn.

"Are you familiar with arcana?" I ask.

"Arcana? I have heard the word, but not sure what it is."

"It means deep, secret wisdom, known only by few selected."

"Kind of mysticism."

"Not exactly, but kinda."

"Like magic?"

"No. Arcana is more like science, but you won't read about it on the Popular Science's website."

"Because it's secret?"

"Known only by few." I nod.

He is clicking through the first pages to the beginning of the story.

"Is it a good one?" he asks.

"You bet. Zelda is a young arcanist, who builds arcane objects to help people. Prosthetic legs and arms, these kind of things."

"There is nothing mystic in a prosthesis." I can see the doubt on his face.

"There is, if it glues itself to the human body using arcane forces, and gives you the speed of a puma or the strong grip of a robot arm."

"Oh, cool."

"There are many exciting objects in the book. My favorite is the Certainty Engine, which predicts the future."

"That sounds interesting" says Jack and his expression changes, he is curious now. "Any action in the story?"

"A ton of action. Zelda and her friends go around the world to find this Certainty Engine. Exotic places. But I enjoyed more the cool ideas packed in the book. For example the one about the responsibility of humankind concerning the extinction of animal species."

"That's deep stuff, uncle."

"Yeah, it is."

"I will read this" says Jack and does as he says: starts reading immediately.

He doesn't get far, the back door opens, packages and shopping bags arrive at the back seat, followed by the smiling Jenny.

"Uncle, Jack, what's up?" she asks while arranging the packages next to her.

"You're late" says Jack.

"I'm sorry, but you know how it is when you do shopping. Time flies."

"My longest shopping was ten minutes" says Jack.

"Because all of your clothes looks the same."

"Hey, guys, just relax." I say, then start the engine. I pull out of the parking into the traffic.

"What are you reading?" asks Jenny.

"Zelda Pryce, the third book" says Jack.

In the mirror I see Jenny's wide smile.

"I love those books, especially the fantastic gadgets."she says. "I want Hypatian wings."

"What wings?" Jack turns towards Jenny with puzzled face.

"The ones made of copper. You put them on your back and you fly."

Smile appears on Jack's face, and he says:

"That's an excellent idea! Then you can go shopping with your little wings, and we don't need to spend the half of the day waiting for you."

I shake my head, but actually I can imagine her with those copper wings, flying around, laughing. It would be so Jenny.

Immersed in Hyperion

I'm sitting in the dark room, alone, my eyes tries to make out the forms in the shadows, and I see the furniture as pieces of the past long gone. I put my feet on the small table next to my armchair, like a wanderer who spends his well-deserved rest time after a long, exhausting journey. The fireplace glooms, flames dance around each other as they consume the logs relentlessly, converting the once living wood into dead ashes. Time seems to stop, like a slow creek entering the tranquil lake, which smooth as a mirror, in the absence of the wind. My mind wonders, I'm not in the room anymore, but I rise, I ascend high, I leave the stratosphere, and enter the metasphere, where space and time circle around each other trying to decide whether they are individual forces of nature, or they belong together joining their forces and swarming into a higher being, who may be perceived as hand of God. From here the material world is only the shallow playground of the soul, the human body is small, laughable, like the carapace of an ant. I recognise shadow-like figures around me, moving in slow determination towards their destiny. They are far, far away, yet so close I could touch them. They move to the rhythm, the symphony of the metasphere, they march to the sound of the drums of the time, unable to free themselves from the bonds of the space, determined to follow their destiny and fulfil their purpose. The game is set thousands of years ago, and I see unfolding the giant plot, which interlaces the galaxies, and moves the characters as marionettes on ropes. The symphony rises into a shattering crescendo, light fills the metasphere around me, the shadows are judged to extinction and cast out of the universe, the hero is lift up above all, and the justice wins once for all. Then everything becomes silent, very still, like dreams on the surface of the lake.
I open my eyes, and tapping on my mobile I close the audiobook application. I finished Fall of Hyperion written by Dan Simmons, narrated by Victor Bevine. It's not easy to return to the real world, but I stand up, go to my desk and opening my laptop I start to write the review of the book. I type: "I'm sitting in the dark room..."
Jack enters, but doesn't say anything. He takes advantage of that I'm sitting at my working desk, so my armchair is empty, and he sits down. He sits back, stretches his legs and clutches his nape with his hands. He waits until I stop typing and stare at the screen, still trying to figure out the emotions Hyperion caused inside me. Then he asks:
"What are you working on, uncle?"
"Writing review of Fall of Hyperion."
"Ah, Fall of Hyperion. That's an interesting one. What did you write so far?"
I'm reading the text aloud for him, like reciting a poem, my voice is trembling in some places, going sublime just before the end, then settling down like a fragile butterfly on a flower. The dim light of the fireplace and the screen of my computer add a soft touch to my performance.
"That's cool!" says Jack. "But not sure it's a review."
"I know, but it's hard to put Hyperion into a few sentences. I don't know what to think about it."
"Did you like it?"
"Yes. And no."
I hardly can see Jack's face, but I can tell he frowns. So I explain:
"I liked it, because there is cool stuff in it: space travel, teleport devices, future technology, cyborgs, artificial intelligence, time paradox and such. Simmons created a believable future world. The characters are alive, detailed. The story has a huge arc of events in space and time. There are a lot of compelling ideas."
"My favourite is Uman, the super intelligent being" - says Jack. Sometimes he surprises me with his preferences of story characters.
"But I didn't like that it was too complicated" I continue. "By the end of the book I felt it's just too much. Too many subplots, too many heroes, too many places."
"I hear you, uncle, the story is really complex. You should listen to the two Hyperion books again. Maybe you can grasp the details better."
"Maybe sometime later. Now I feel overwhelmed."
"You know what? Why don't we open a bottle of vine and talk about it?"
It's not a bad idea. The situation reminds me of my childhood summer camp when we sat around the camp fire and told ghost stories. I'm not a child anymore, and the Hyperion books are not ghost stories, but they have enough mysticism to talk about them next to the fire.
"I have a bottle of red Bordeaux" I say.
Ten minutes later I'm sitting in my armchair, Jack's in the other one. We nurture our vine in our hands, and staring into the dancing flames we talk about the fascinating world of Hyperion.

When the Heart Lies by Christina North

Jenny runs out the front door, and shouts back to me while taking her coat.
"I'm in a hurry, uncle. Don't forget to post that review. See ya!"
Oh, that review. I want to tell her it's not fair, she could write a much better one, because she is a woman, and understands those strange emotions much better than me, but she is already at her car, jumping in. I sigh, close the door, and go to my computer. I sit down, strech my fingers, and stare at the blank screen for a while. Then I stand up, pace the room for a minute, thinking hard. Finally I decide I cannot write a review of a romance as Jenny could, so I should do it my way. If Jenny won't like it when she's back, she can write her own review. So here it is:

"OK, this is a review from a guy, who is not the most romantic creature on the Earth - at least my wife says so. I like this book for two reasons.
One: Kinsley, the heroine took revenge on the
a$$holesbad guys. This is what Jack Reacher would do (if you know who I'm talking about). The bastards who beguile, deceit and finally kidnap her are finally punished. The good wins, and gets away with it.
Two: the chemistry between Jackson and Kinsley worked surprisingly well for me. There was wanting, there were obstacles, there were fighting emotions, there were misunderstandings. I'm not an expert in romance, but I found myself turning pages more quickly when they found the love in each other. You know what I mean.
Three (it just came into my mind, so I like the book for three reasons): there were some twists and turns I didn't expect. I don't want to spoil the book, you will have to read it yourself, but there are surprises along the story.
At first I found Kinsley week in character, indecisive, not knowing what she wanted, but later I realised that this is her personality, this is why she made bad decisions, and this is why she had a chance to stand up and get out of the trouble. Besides, who said a protagonist always has to be a strong-willed one?"

On Target by Mark Greaney

Sometimes I discover new authors, I mean they are new to me. One of them is Mark Greaney. I have never heard of him before, but I'm glad I've bought his book.
On Target is about an "independent contractor", meaning assassin called the Grey Man. At first it was strange to see a bad guy as a protagonist, but soon I learned that he is more like a surgeon: cutting out tumors from the body of the society. He is after the really bad guys, which makes him somewhat a good guy.

The story got me from the beginning, and kept my dopamine level high: cool, what's next? The idea of kidnapping the Saudi president is crazy on it's own, but when following the story, it's completely logical. Which doesn't make it less dangerous, because something always go wrong.  Planning is necessary, but plans are always turn into mess at the end. It is so in On Target. The Grey Man has to adapt and improvise right from the beginning to be able to accomplish the final goal. And at the end it's still not what he wanted. Ok, I may sound a little cryptic here, but I don't want to spoil the story, in case you haven't read it yet.

This is the second Gray Man book, I believe, and sometimes I missed some backstory (what happened in the first book), but there were enough references to enjoy this story.

The book is well written, and I could immerse in the story forgetting that I'm listening to a book.

 

Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

I liked The Name of The Wind, the first book of the Kingkiller Chronicles for the same reasons I like The Wise Man's Fear. It picks up the story right at the point when the previous book ends.

The author is very good in storytelling; I really enjoyed the way the book was written. (I listened to the audiobook, the voice narration added a lot to the pleasure.) Generally I enjoy more the fast paced stories. In this book the author took his time to build up the plot, and to explain the whys in detail, so I cannot say that the story flows quickly. But it didn't bother me at all. Moreover, I enjoyed that everything what happened had a well-established reason and explanation.

There were more adventures in this book, and they were more interesting. The trouble Kvothe got into were more serious, and the mood of the story grew darker.

The characters were well drawn, alive and believable. It was satisfying that Kvothe was not an undefeatable hero, who always won. He had his talent and also his flaws.

There is a well explained magic system, which makes the whole thing believable.

Sometimes the story got a little bit lengthy, I wouldn't say it was boring, but I could imagine some cuts.

All in all, it was an excellent book; I'm looking forward to the next one in the series.

Review: The sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut

Being a sci-fi fan, I don't really know why I haven't read this book earlier. It's a classic one.

The Sirens of Titan is very well written, I enjoyed the unmistakable style of Vonnegut. His satiric voice is famous, and is a trade mark of his stories. His choice of words is very good.

Using important subjects, for example religion, the book mocks at the human nature, which sometimes can take strange curves.

The story is funny, and often surprising. Vonnegut don't spare the characters, he gives them hard time.

I suspect that there were more hidden messages behind the front story, which I couldn't really grab. By one hand because I'm not good in deciphering symbols, sometimes I have trouble finding the hidden message between the lines. And by the other hand because the book was written in 1959, in a completely different era, with different problems, different world and all.

Still, there is something strange about the Sirens of Titan I cannot put my finger on - is it intentional? - so I gave four stars.

A painted house

Author: John Grisham

I have listened to the audio book version available at audible.com, narrated by Peter Marinker.

Description from Amazon: This novel is a story inspired from John Grisham's own childhood in Arkansas. The narrator is a farm boy named Luke Chandler, age seven, who lives in the cotton fields with his family in a little house that's never been painted. The Chandlers farm 80 acres, and when the cotton is ready they hire a truckload of Mexicans and a family from the Ozarks to help harvest it. For six weeks they pick cotton, battle the heat, the rain, the fatigue, and sometimes, each other. And, as the weeks pass, Luke sees and hears things no seven-year-old could possibly be prepared for.

My opinion:

Before I get to the details, I have to admit: this is my first Grisham novel. Sure I know his name, I have seen The Firm and The Pelican Brief. And the Runaway Jury, of course. But this was the first time I met him, I mean virtually, through his novel. He is a talented writer.

And before I get to the point, I have to make it clear: this book is not a thriller. At least not that fast paced one with dead bodies on every twentieth page.

So what do I think about Grisham's A Painted House? It is a very good book. Why? First, the characters are vibrant, alive, very well drawn. They are three dimensional, they have their hope, love and anger. Second, it is well written. The dialogues perfectly fit to the characters, everyone speaks in his/her own manners. The narration gives life to the story, and colours it.

The book has several layers. One is the life on an Arkansas farm in the fifties, that I found interesting (being European). Life without TV set and internet, silent evenings; the only entertainment is listening to the radio when the Cardinals plays. Life with harsh weather and hard work, always worrying about the crop.

The second layer is the small society, having its own slow lifestyle. In the town everyone knows everybody, and small events stir the still water of the provincial peace. And big things happen in this crop picking season, big enough to turn life upside down.

The third layer is that we see everything through the eye of the little Luke, seven years old boy. He sees and hears stuff he shouldn't. He is like other boy, always hanging around the adults, eavesdropping their conversations.

I liked the deep meaning of painting the house, which was never painted before. And I also liked the ending: leaving the old life behind in the hope of a better new one.

My rating: five stars. I know that the narration of Peter Marinker enhances the experience, so this rating goes for the audiobook in whole.