Tag: corruption

The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny (Mystery / Thriller)

Writing: 4/5 Characters: 3/5 Plot: 3/5

If you have liked every Louise Penny book so far, you will probably like this one, too. Gamache gets pulled into a mystery that smacks of domestic terrorism and calls into question everything (and almost everyone) he thought he could trust.

Penny writes taut, suspense-filled crime fiction with very accessible prose — this was an easy read for me — but I did not find myself enjoying it, and I’m not sure I will keep reading the series (despite the fact that I’ve read them all and pre-ordered this book in my enthusiasm!).

As the series has progressed (this is book 19), the stakes have gotten higher — too high. I preferred the highly psychological, small-scale, surprisingly twisted murder mysteries to these large-scale, conspiracy oriented, thrillers. At the same time, this book had a lot of filler. I love Three Pines (the town) and the many interesting characters we have come to love over the past two decades, but there were far too many filler scenes emphasizing the bounty of their lives: Many (too, too, many) food and wine descriptions, children bouncing around doing cute things, the love between our aging inspector and his (too) saintly wife. Somehow in this book this filler simply became too repetitive and too content-free to keep my interest during the many pages they occupied. Lastly, I honestly had a hard time believing that there could be a conspiracy to do something as deadly as planned, without any motive other than (apparently) power, that managed to attract so many previously decent people.

So in summary — second half a good crime thriller, characters had far less depth than they had in the earlier works; writing a little less polished — but an entertaining enough read.

The White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear (Historical Fiction)

Writing: 3/5 Plot: 4/5 Characters: 4/5
Elinor White has been trained to be a predator rather than prey which served her well during WWI when her home in Brussels was occupied by Nazis. It also served her well during WWII as she worked to protect her adopted country (England). But exercising those skills left their mark, and she finds herself torn between protecting those who can’t protect themselves and letting go of the violence that continues to haunt her.

A standalone (or possible new series beginning?) from the author of the Maisie Dobbs series, this book is kind of a mix between an historical novel and a mystery, with an emphasis on the former. It had a bit of a slow start but I was drawn in and found myself caring very much about the characters. I’m a big Winspear / Maisie Dobbs fan. I wouldn’t mind finding out more about Elinor White if this turns into a series…

Thank you to Harper and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on March 21st, 2023

The Boys Who Woke Up Early by A.D.Hopkins (Literary / Historical Fiction)

Great historical fiction — peppered with the kind of details that say someone actually lived this story (or something close to it). Most historical fiction can’t help but overlay modern sensibilities on the story, but this one feels completely embedded in the time — from action to dialogue to thoughts.

Thomas Jackson “Stony” Shelor is a high school junior in small town Early, Virginia. His first-person account describes his experiences from Sept. 1959 through Sept. 1960 — working “for free” in the sheriff’s office, getting into trouble with town bullies, hankering after a girl who knows her own mind, and befriending the somewhat crazy new kid in town. This is all amidst much bigger events: massive black voter registration and the resulting Klan rallies; the (very) slowly shifting attitudes of whites towards blacks; and the fine line a good sheriff has to tread to work with corrupt elected officials and still try to keep a town lawful and safe.

It reads like good journalism — no surprise as this is the debut novel of a 46-year veteran journalist. I had forgotten how much I like a real story — not overburdened by excess angst, overly bold characters, and well-defined narrative arcs that bear little resemblance to reality.

I love the way the clean writing describes both the action and our narrator’s perceptions, reactions, and evolving opinions. He does some (to me) stupid things but we are treated to a real understanding of how his worldview and principles led him to those actions. Billed as a YA novel (the main character is 17), for me it was much more a documentation of a particular time and place as experienced by someone growing up in that time period. A nice juxtaposition of history and personal development.

As an aside, lots of interesting details about things like learning to shoot and care for firearms, working at a sheriff’s office, a garage or an apple orchard. Just enough detail to be interesting to someone (like me) that isn’t actually interested in those topics, but never enough to be boring. Also, fascinating attitudes among the largely working class members of the town — they don’t map to any definitions of “liberal” or “conservative” today — just people using their own minds as to the right way to live and treat people.