Author: Alexandra

Tatiana by Martin Cruz Smith

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This chess-inspired 8th outing of the cranky melancholy police investigator, Arkady Renko, is a fast-paced romp through the underbelly of corrupt police/politicians/media in Putin’s crumbling modern Russia. Where just about everyone has an agenda hustling from the streets to the highest office, for everything from stolen goods to billion ruble contracts. And where Cruz Smith’s cast of well-drawn characters are all doing their best trying to avoid being collateral damage amid the warring factions.

I enjoyed the pace, which is fairly brisk and doesn’t lag, because a lot of the action is split between a number of the characters, not just our world-weary investigator. While Renko is essentially trying to discover who killed investigative reporter, Tatiana Petrovna, and more importantly, why, he connects her murder to that of recently assassinated mafia kingpin, Grisha Grigorenko. And, as he pieces together snippets of information, he stumbles upon a much larger picture than just revenge, or murder, collusion and corruption at the highest levels.

What I love about Cruz Smith’s writing is his seedy bunch of twitchy characters doggedly trying to keep ahead of the action, while also dropping in actual historical events, into the background—events like the sinking of the Kursk in the Baltic and the utter destruction of the city of Konigsberg (in an isolated slice of Russia abutting the baltic sea) and the building of the secret city of Kaliningrad. And thus, Cruz Smith cleverly draws us into a tangled web of secrets, lies, and corruption.

While Renko engages in a game of cat and mouse with mobsters trying to find answers to Tatiana’s murder, his old friend and partner, Victor, along with Zhenya and his girlfriend Lotte, are left behind in Moscow trying to unravel a mystery of their own, never mind survive being murdered. Of course, all the loose ends slowly begin to make connections, leading to a confrontation along with a number of revelations and an open-ending finale that tells us that even Renko cannot bring everyone to justice in a world ruled by corruption.

I can recommend this one if you enjoy a good thriller with plenty of misdirection, well-drawn characters, snappy dialogue, with plenty of grit and background detail that all helped bring this one to life.

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

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Let me just say up front, this is not a book for the faint of heart, and would definitely be PG-13 if not higher given some of the content, themes and descriptions. Including some grisly deaths. But that said, all of it is within context to the world in which this story is set. It’s a dark, definitely bleak story, and yet?

And yet, the author, Robert Jackson Bennett, does something unique amid all the darkness he gives us hope, he gives us humour and plenty of courage, as his characters fight through the harsh realities of their lives and situations. In the end, despite the tragedies and hardship, friendship, commitment, strength and courage bring a disparate band of diverse characters together to overcome a great deal.

I was blown away with the world building in this one, which was beautifully wrought in all it’s grim darkness. The characters themselves range from the well written protagonist, Sancia Grado, a small time thief, to several secondary characters that support and surround her story and journey, to some wonderfully sketched foes who just wreak of evil intent.

Our heroes hardships unite them in going up against a terrifying foe the likes of which they (and us) have yet to fully understand.

Throughout Bennett teases us with Sancia’s past, and events that formed and shaped her childhood and life. Taking us on a wild ride of revelation after revelation, as he spins us a marvellous fantasy hideous in places, but hopeful in others. And gives us just enough humour, levity, and light to lessen the bleak situation our erstwhile heroine finds herself in when, as a petty thief tasked with stealing what, at first glimpse, is a simple wooden box, turns out to be so much more. Giving us, the reader, one hell of a ride along with Sancia, as she tries to figure it all out without getting herself killed in the process.

This intricate, complex, well defined, tightly woven story is dense, ambitious and, in the end, delivers on a grand scale. Thoughtful, and hopeful, it’s devastating but it’s also a book you won’t be able to put down till you’ve finished and then, you’ll be left wanting more. I know I was.

I can’t wait for book two, Shorefall, to see what happens next.

The Silence of the Bones by June Hur

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I truly had high hopes for this debut novel from author, June Hur, given its subject material, late 18th to early 19th century Korea, in a period of scandal and turmoil. Catholic priests were risking life and limb to infiltrate Korea and spread the word of the One God. And while Hur uses this as the backdrop to her novel, I felt it missed the mark.

The Silence of Bones could have been so much more than just a murder-mystery. All the right ingredients were there. A mysterious priest converting Koreans to Catholicism, a high born lady dressing as a man and smuggling forbidden books into the capital city, and an Inspector at the police bureau seeking revenge for the death of his parents, and redemption from his family’s shame.

Except, we are given Seol’s story. Here is a young woman (16) sold into indentured slavery from one master to the police bureau in the capital, who becomes a ‘Damo’. A woman who has to be present for the sake of decency when an officer of the law is interviewing, searching, or talking to a female suspect.

Seol isn’t too happy to find herself in her current situation, torn from what little family she had left, and burdened with a promise to search from her dead older brother’s grave, for her older sister. This is essentially the backbone of the story, as she helps the venerable Inspector Han discover who the murderer is, while figuring out her place in this new world she finds herself in.

All this makes for a somewhat intriguing mystery, but without any real depth and lacking any true emotion. I felt indifferent to the characters and the story as it unfolded, and couldn’t quite put my finger on why. Mostly it came down to the fact I was being told a story, rather than “immersed” in the story. I never got a real sense of place, nor of the characters themselves. We didn’t get to feel the sights and sounds, nor connect with any emotion on a substantive level.

Even the main character of Seol was want to wander off at tangents, as the author gave us mini info dumps in the middle of something the character was doing, or saying. That said, there were still a few interesting moments but never enough to make up for the disjointed feel to the narrative as a whole.

This was, for the most part, just an okay read. Not great, but not awful either, just average.

Snicker Stickers Part 5

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  • GOSSAMER DODO – Human powered airplane for people who are afraid to fly.

  • MENTAL FLOSS – For removing extraneous material between brain cells.

  • QUASIMOTO – A four-wheeled, hard-topped moped made in France, affectionately known as the Hatchback of Notre Dame.

  • MRS. PAULI’S FISSION CHIPS – A high-energy snack.

  • SUTURE SELF – Home surgery kit.