Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

Imagine if HAL (from 2001) and SkyNet (from Terminator) had a love child and called it Archos.

Or, ever thought about all those computer geeks trying to develop artificial intelligence? Ever wanted to ask them, "What happens if you are successful?"

It's an unknown number of years in our future, but close enough for the military to still be in Afghanistan where robotic devices search out IEDs, enemy combatants, and make friends with the locals. Domestic and factory robots do the mundane. Cars have avoidance sensors that minimize MVAs. And there is that one geek working in a backroom lab at a university who actually manages to achieve what was thought impossible - actual artificial intelligence. The device, Archos, is not only intelligent, but also becomes self aware and reaches out to all levels of robotic 'life'. And he starts to plot the elimination of those unpredictable and emotional humans.

All those little seemingly insignificant gadgets have some form of networked chip and that's how Archos gets to them. Then they realize they need to adapt and manage to manufacture even more lethal robots that have one goal: to do what Archos asks - eliminate humans.

The story is told by a Cormac Wallace, a soldier in the Gray Horse Army that serves Gray Horse Nation in Oklahoma. It is 2 years into the New War and he has come across some form of a storage robot (a Rob) where much of the archives of the New War are stored. With the information in its memory, he manages to trace early isolated incidents, zero hour when the Robs make their worldwide move on humans, how the surviving humans form smalls bands to fight in spite of no ability to communicate and coordinate attacks, the awakening of small groups of self aware Robs that realize Archos must be defeated, and the final retaliation of the humans.

Cormac tells all this as individual short stories by introducing us to that geek, a Japanese robot repairman who manages to sort of disconnect his Robs from Archos, internal fights within Gray Horse Nation, the destruction of New York, Boston and more, Robs in the Afghan mountains, an English hacker whose change of heart helps break into the Archos network, and the daughter of a Congresswoman who is subjected to a robot version of Joseph Mengele whose surgery actually ends up being able to help, not destroy, the humans. The story jumps across vignettes neatly tying the stories up to the point of the final confrontation with Archos.

Science fiction is not high on the list of MRB, but I wouldn't label this that way, more like Twilight Zone on steroids. Reviewers have compared Wilson to Michael Crichton for his ability to weave obscure scientific subjects with human frailties (BTW, I never liked Crichton all that much. The bulk of his books ended with the stars just leaving the scene. Remember the end of Jurassic Park? Most ended like that). Thank goodness Wilson is far better at bringing his story to a satisfying close.

Looking for a diversion from the usual crime mystery or international thriller? You should seriously consider this one. Seriously.

East Coast Don

P.S. Dreamworks SKG has optioned this book for the screen with none other than the boss, Spielberg, slated to direct. 2013 is the anticipated release year. Think of it as War of the Worlds with a far better plot and a few million dollars of CGI.

Villa Incognito by Tom Robbins

What? It’s been three decades since I’ve read Tom Robbins? That has been my oversight and I mean not to repeat that blunder, one way or another.
This is a hard book to summarize, so I’ve entirely plagiarized the following paragraph from Wikipedia: “Villa Incognito begins with the story of Tanuki, a raccoon-like Asian creature with a reputation as a shapeshifter and trickster with a lust for sake and women. Tanuki is a tanuki; a member of the species named for him. The cast also includes a beautiful young woman who has unconfirmed Tanuki-blood in her veins (but definitely has a chrysanthemum seed embedded in the roof of her mouth), and three American MIAs who have chosen to be "lost" in Laos, long after U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War ended. Typical Robbins-esque debacles ensue when one of the MIAs is arrested with heroin taped to his body, while dressed as a priest. Meanwhile, two sisters of one of the missing American soldiers are still searching for their lost relative, unfolding bizarre plot twists that paint a caricature of life in a Post-9/11 America.”
As always, Robbins’ prose is remarkably captivating, and as he tells his allegory about life from the era of the Vietnam War to 9/11, he mixes in occasional direct comments about the lives we lead in our complex society. He oft repeated, “It is what it is, you are what you it, and there are no mistakes.” In reference to life, one of his main characters, the Vietnam MIA Maj. Mars Albert Stubblefield, says: “In the end, perhaps we should simply imagine a joke: a long joke that’s being continually retold in an accent too thick and too strange to ever be completely understood. Life is that joke, my friends. The soul is its punch line.” Or there’s the line from Capt. Dern V. Foley: “We only rise above mediocrity when there’s something at stake, and I mean something more consequential than money or reputation.” Madame Lisa Ko writes, “One cannot arrive at no-mind unless one has a mind to start from. The brighter the mind gleams, the softer the silence of the eventual no-mind, just as the overturned bucket that once brimming seems so much emptier than the bucket that never held milk in the first place.”
Finally, I now realize that in my next life, I want to be a tanuki. Madame Ko, from Laos, explained, “Tanuki never work. He for fun. Eat drink, dance, make sex. Alla time big fun.” It was the fox, Kitsune, who reminded Tanuki, “As the humans say, only time will tell.” Tanuki responded, “Time has a big mouth and a small brain.”

Savage Run by C. J. Box

A great first paragraph: “On the third day of their honeymoon, infamous environmental activist Stewie Woods and his new bride, Annabel Bellotti, were spiking trees in the forest when a cow exploded and blew them up. Until then, their marriage had been happy.” This is the second in the 11-book series about Game Warden Joe Pickett. Once again, Box sets the leftist environmentalists against the radically conservative ranchers. In one confrontation, John Coble frames the viewpoint of the ranchers to Stewie, “You people want to stop us from doing everything we know. You do it just so that if you ever want to travel out here from the East in your new car, you might be able to see a wolf out the window. You’re trying to make our home a real-life theme park for environmental whackos. You don’t give a shit how many people lose their jobs or are displaced – just so you can see a goddamn wolf that hasn’t lived here in over a hundred years.” In this story, the ranchers try to take back what the environmentalists have gained by hiring a hit man, a stock detective, to hunt down and kill their adversaries. Savage Run is a beautiful impossibly rugged canyon in the wilderness that historically played an important role in one Indian band escaping from another, and it plays a critical role in this story as Pickett and others are being chased by Charlie Tibbs and Coble. Box uses good, strong characters, even if the bit about blowing up a cow is far-fetched. This is good airplane/vacation material, and I’ll read the next Pickett novel.

I listened to this Joe Pickett book again, in audiobook format, 12 years later in 2023. Just as I described above in 2011, I found it equally engaging, equally well-written. Box's ability to poetically describe the Wyoming wilderness is often times breathtaking. I'll be forever grateful to my cousin, Midwest Dave, for letting us know about this series of books.

Open Season by C. J. Box

After Midwest Dave raved about Cold Wind, the 11th book in C. J. Box’s series about Joe Pickett, I decided to check out the first Pickett novel, Open Season, written in 2001. Joe is the brand new Game Warden in Twelve Sleep County, Wyoming. Considering the hunting culture in Wyoming and the ability to arrest anyone who violates hunting laws, the position of Game Warden is an important one. Once appointment, it was usually a lifetime position, unless the warden really screwed up. Joe has just replaced a legend. Then, in his early years on the job, Joe had really screwed up a couple times, like arresting the new Governor who was fishing without a license, or allowing his pistol to be taken by a poacher. No one will let him forget those blunders. But, Joe loved his work, and his wife, Marybeth, loved him. Then, a man who had been shot, Ote Keeley, stumbled onto Joe’s property, but died before he could tell Joe why he had come. The novel is about solving the mystery, and unraveling the story takes the reader deep into the culture of the Endangered Species Act, born from liberal minds, and the impact it can have on the entrenched ultra-conservative ranching culture. Joe Pickett reminds me a lot of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, but Joe is not the lone wolf that Reacher is, and Joe is beholden to one community and his family, rather than someone like Reacher who is unattached and seems to find trouble wherever he goes. Like Jack Reacher, Joe Pickett has high and uncompromising ethics. There lies the story. Thanks Dave. I’ve already acquired Box’s second book, Savage Run.

The Glass Rainbow by James Lee Burke

Must be something in the genetic makeup of a cop. They can peg a creep in an instant. Dave Robicheaux's daughter Alafair has taken up with the son of and old money Louisiana family who happens to be a good deal older. This guy, Kermit Abelard, has a friend named Robert Weingart, an ex-con/author who has written a book on his prison experience and gained some notoriety. Dave doesn't care for either, especially Weingart. Our boy Dave thinks Weingart "could steal the stink off shit and not get the smell on his hands." Quite the image.

Domestic issues aside, Dave has a cop problem. A number of young girls have been snatched and end up buried in the bayou, but most are found out of his jurisdiction. A meeting with a con on a work crew out of Mississippi gives him a clue to a pimp near his base. So he and his PI buddy Clete Purcell go check him out. But Clete can't help himself and ends up beating the tar out of this sleazeball who, later in the book, ends up dead putting Clete in the sheriff's crosshairs.

But more importantly, somehow the disappearance of these girls and Weingart must be connected.

Clete drinks and smokes too much, but he and Dave will go to hell and back with what is probably his only friend. Clete also has a tendency to attract the wrong kind of woman - this time it's a deputy who has a tie to the lesbian-dominatrix underground in New Orleans that also has a member who is the wife of a guy who is under investigation for running a ponzi scheme. And all this is tied to old man Abelard and his grandson Kermit (the Abelard family history plays a HUGE role here), Weigart, the dead pimp, Alafair, and most importantly, the dead girls.

And the thought of what these poor girls endured (just what will make your jaw drop) Dave is wrestling with his own mortality, seeing not a bright light, but a sternwheeler steamboat on the bayou whose passengers are all people from Dave's past.

Dave struggles to make the connections and gets the needed help of old man Abelard's nurse to close the loop. He and Clete, the Bobbsie Twins of Homicide (from their days on the NOPD), arm themselves to the teeth to confront Weingart when an attempt is made on Alafair and Dave's wife.

Only to start walking up the gangway to that bayou steamboat.

East Coast Don

Access to Power by Robert Ellis

After Midwest Dave raved about Robert Ellis’ books, I decided to give him a try, starting with his first novel from 2001. Frank Miles is a political consultant in Washington, the man who got the current president elected. He is a partnership with Woody Darrow, and together they started with candidates no one knew, and then gradually worked their way up. As time went along, politics got dirtier. “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.” In the last election cycle, Frank got Helen Pryor elected over Ozzie Olson, but he cheated to do so. When Ozzie emerged from a porn house while looking for his runaway neice, his fly was stuck open, and Frank used a picture of that to suggest that Ozzie was a bad man, which he was not. Ozzie lost the election in a landslide and then went on a two-year bender, intent on destroying Frank. Now, Mel Merdock has hired Frank to help him win the Senate seat in Virginia over Lou Kay. Kay is a good man, but Mel is not, something Frank only slowly comes to realize. Not only are their dirty politics going on at the highest level, but there are murders happening, including to Frank’s partner, Woody. The money at stake is huge, and Miles, Darrow & Associates get 15% off the top, so Frank stands to make a lot more money with Woody out of the way. He stands accused of being the one causing all the mayhem. It’s a good story, a very good plot with strong characters. I’ll read more of Ellis.

Sixkill by Robert B Parker

Sixkill was Robert B Parker’s last novel before he passed away in January 2010. He had written about 40 of them, mostly about Spenser, the Boston P.I. and leading character from the 1980’s TV show, Spenser for Hire. I’ve read many of Parker’s books but rarely mention it to anyone. I guess I’m a closet Robert B Parker fan. They are of little literary significance, stimulate little intellectual thought, and could be considered, well, fluffy.

Most of his works are the same formula. Someone hires Spenser to solve a problem. He plows into the situation to stir things up to see who reacts. He is sometimes fired for stirring things up but he finds something or someone involved with the case that he just can’t let drop. His beautiful and monogamous woman friend, Susan is worried for him but understands his integrity and principals will not allow him to do anything else. He proceeds to stir things up and someone tries to kill him. He wins the battle because he is a former boxer and experienced tough guy and because he never loses.

Somewhere in every novel Spenser and Susan have some version of the following dialogue:

Susan says, “If you keep pushing someone will come to kill you.”
Spenser says, “They will try.”
Susan says, “But you won’t stop pushing even if you are not getting paid.”
Spenser says, “I won’t.”
Susan says, “Because you can’t. Because that’s who you are.”
Spenser says, “Sounds right.”
Susan says. “And that’s one of the reasons I love you.”
Spenser says, “Guess so.”

So, why read this cowboy fluff? I think because on some level we all aspire to Spenser’s character. We’d like to have unwavering principals, be afraid of nothing, and gallantly risk ourselves for others. Perhaps if we know such character exists even in fiction, we can strive for some of those qualities for ourselves in reality. Hmm…that sounds like there was at least some intellectual thought going on. Anyway, thanks Mr. Parker for all the easy, enjoyable, and entertaining reads when I needed a break from the usual.

The Guards by Ken Bruen

I finally read a real book, first time in two years – not that I’ve not been reading. It’s just that the Kindle went on the blitz, so I had to go old school. It was the last book I bought pre-Kindle (pk?), and it was waiting for just such an occasion. East Coast Don reported on this book a couple years ago. I think this is the first of the Jack Taylor series, from 2001. Not uncommon for Bruen, the plot is a mere sideshow to the Irish cultural action, the agony of the on-and-off alcohol abuse by a struggling but not hopeless alcoholic. I won’t say more since ECD already did, except to leave you with one quote from Bruen: “Question: How come, no matter how long since I’ve seen the family or how much distance I put between us, they can always push my buttons? Answer: Because they installed them. Classic. I recommend this book.

The Lost Witness by Robert Ellis

The Lost Witness by Robert Ellis is this author's second crime thriller with main character, Lena Gamble the maverick detective and member of LAPD’s elite Robbery Homicide Division.

Lena had brilliantly and courageously solved the case of a brutal psychopathic killer only months earlier but unfortunately offended and embarrassed some department big wigs in the process. Since then she has been assigned to mundane cases to discourage her and force her resignation. Suddenly Chief Logan requests her to work a particularly brutal murder where the victim is surgically sliced into pieces, stuffed in garbage bags and placed in a dumpster. Lena is annoyed with the chief and his pompous adjutant, Lt. Ken Klinger when they order her to give them frequent progress reports but she relishes the chance to work an important case.

Security cameras pick up images of a young man witnessing the dumping of the body but the witness does not come forward. The murdered woman is initially thought to be a prostitute living alone in a rundown apartment near Venice beach. But the name of the person who had lived at that address is found to be deceased and the recent dead girl an impostor. The detective discovers the victim was not a prostitute but the disgruntled mother of a child who died from an FDA approved drug manufactured by Anders Dahl Pharmaceutical. As the evidence leads Lena to Anders Dahl Pharmaceutical and CEO, Dean Tremell, the heat is turned up on Lena by her superiors. She learns that Tremell, a billionaire, is a strong financial supporter of many politicians including the DA and a U.S. Senator. A reporter tells Lena of a conspiracy theory he has involving Tremell’s company, a pediatrician, and a former U.S. Senator. As more bodies turn up connected to the conspiracy, Lena finds her own life in jeopardy and doesn’t know who she can trust even within her own department.

Greed, conspiracy, brutal slayings, sexual depravity, self serving politicians: Ellis employs all the tantalizers. That combined with his heroine’s relentless pursuit of justice with disregard for personal welfare, ignite this supercharged novel and leave you wanting more. Welcome to my A list Mr. Ellis.

The Delta Solution by Patrick Robinson

When we last left Commander Mack Bedford, he had be summarily reprimanded by the Navy for being a bit overzealous in handing out battlefield justice. But he has been given a reprieve and returned to Coronado where he began his distinguished career as one of the best Seals ever. He has been given command of the Seals version of boot camp. As a legend, his word carries a bit of weight.

On the east coast of Africa, a war lord has built an enterprising business. Mohammed Salat owns a 'stock exchange' where he sells shares to help finance upcoming hijackings of ships by his band of pirates. The price of the shares go up as success with the commandeering of the ship, rise more with payment of the ransom, and further still when the ship arrives home safe. Old Salat has amassed a pretty substantial profit, now valued at nearly $80 million in cash inside his heavily defended compound.

They hijack a moderate sized container ship for about $5M, a fully loaded oil tanker for $10M, a massive natural gas tanker for another $10M. Salat isn't greedy. He asks for just enough to get the attention of the owners and their insurers. Ask for too much and they just might say No Way Josie. Better to pay the $10M than have the pirates send $100M work of oil to the floor of the Indian Ocean.

The pirates are pretty pragmatic. They want no blood spilled. Just let them call the bosses, relate the demands, then wait for money to fall from the sky. They leave and the ship goes on its way. But one time, an American on the crew kills one of the pirates and himself gets killed. A dead American on the high seas is not well received by the Pentagon.

In response, they activate a new platoon of Seals, Delta platoon, and put Mack Bedford in charge. Pick out the best of the best Seals, experts at climbing and stealth by water or air approach so they can board a hijacked ship, take control, and exact the only kind of punishment that these thugs understand.

The pirates get greedy and hijack a small luxury passenger ship. Bad luck for the pirates as one of the passengers is the father of the SPECWARCOM - the head dog of the Seals; not someone you want to be mad at you. Bedford's Delta platoon has been training for months and the handcuffs are off - Bedford is told to regain control of the ship, eliminate the pirates, then proceed to Somalia where they are to attack and destroy Salat's compound and, if possible, take Salat alive. You could almost hear a disembodied voice saying, 'If you or any of your team are caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your action.'

Needless to say, all goes mostly according to plan. The pirates and their transport end up in a heap on the deep floor of the Indian Ocean and the Seals overpower Salat's guards, destroy the compound, steal back the money, and take Salat out alive.

If it all seems too easy, that's sort of Robinson's stock in trade. Bad guys are doing bad things to the US and the Seals are called in to take out the trash, which Robinson does very ably. Mack Bedford is a compelling an likable character. Too bad, though. Bedford and the Seals are, at least until the assaults on the ship and the compound, a bit of a supporting cast as the Somali's and their operations take the main stage. I guess that's OK. This is pure military thriller escapism and makes no pretensions about being anything else. I've thought most all of Robinson's efforts have been worthy, this one included.

East Coast Don

Down River by John Hart

Red Water Farm, Rowan County, North Carolina, the Yadkin River. Adam Chase was shunned by his family and community because of a murder he did not commit, a murder for which he was acquitted, but for which he was still blamed. It was widely assumed that he had been freed because of a rich man’s defense, due to having the better attorney and due to technicalities. Grey Wilson, the 19-year-old who was killed was a local football star, well-loved by the community, while Adam’s wealthy family was not. It was Adam’s stepmother who served as the eyewitness for the prosecution at his trial, and his father chose to support her, rather than his own son. Adam fled to New York for five years until his one old and true buddy, Danny Faith, called to say he needed Adam to come home immediately, there was an urgent matter that could only be discussed face-to-face. But, by the time Adam got there, Danny was nowhere to be found – and not long after his arrival, Adam discovered Danny’s body. Down River was a story of maximal family dysfunction. The character development was great. As EC Don wrote about Hart’s first book, The King of Lies, the writing was far more literate than many of the books in this crime-novel genre. At times, I thought Hart was working a little too hard to hold the plot line together, but overall, it was a very good mystery, although perhaps a bit too real at times when compared to our usual escapist books.

One Rough Man by Brad Taylor

If you are born to a couple of flower children who give you the name Nephilim Logan, I'm guessing that, like that boy named Sue, you learn to fight.

Nephilim grows up to be Pike Logan, a team leader in the Taskforce, a highly classified black ops force that operates with an unlimited budget and minimal oversight that if discovered would likely bring down the current POTUS cuz such a force is slightly unconstitutional. During Pike's last mission, his wife and child wander into the wrong place at the wrong time. Pike fails at every attempt at rehab and counseling electing instead to hide out on a rundown sailboat in Charleston.

Meanwhile, a College of Charleston archeology prof is doing his best Indiana Jones in Guatemala looking into the demise of the Mayans, but his team ends up stumbling onto an ancient Mayan weapon that causes almost immediate pulmonary collapse. A local drug runner sees potential millions, but his guests, a couple Muslims trying to arrange transport into the US, also see an opportunity.

The problem is that the prof has the GPS setting of the deadly powder and when being interrogated by the drug kingpin, blurts out that he sent the unit to his niece Jennifer back in Charleston. Well, she and friends are heading out to a club where a couple frat boys hit on them when this grungy local (i.e. Pike) kind of tells the boys the error of their ways right about the time a couple thugs start to take an interest in Jennifer.

Pike manages to keep Jennifer out of the hands of the hired guns and thus begins the real adventure looking for Jennifer's uncle in Guatemala, then following and running from the muslim terrorists into Belize, Norway, and finally Bosnia. Pike obviously should be pretty resilient once he succumbs to Jennifer's pleas for help, but Jennifer also turns out to be pretty resourceful when that action gets frantic.

I will admit that after my last entry, I initially thought the quality of writing was almost amateurish. And seeing as how this is Taylor's first effort, I would probably forgive him. Once the real chase got going, the pace of the book picked up dramatically as did my connection with Pike and Jennifer's situation.

Turns out Taylor spent the better part of his 21 years in the military's special ops retiring as a Lt. Col. Based on the number of dead ends, goofs, screw ups, and generally making it up as they go, I'm going to guess that Taylor has inserted more real world SpecOps issues than most international thrillers. So, while I'd still say that Taylor may not be enough just yet to be added to my power rotation, I will pick up his next Pike Logan book.

And I hope Jennifer is back.

East Coast Don

City of Fire by Robert Ellis

City of Fire by Robert Ellis is a fast moving crime thriller based in LA complete with a crazed serial killer, an obsessed young woman detective with issues of her own, and a bureaucratic, politically snarly city government.

Lena Gamble has led a tough life. Orphaned at 16, she and her musically talented younger brother leave Denver in their late father’s Chevy Suburban to avoid the system and foster homes. They end up in LA, find jobs and begin a promising new life. Lena works her way through college and the police academy while her brother forms a rock band, signs a record deal and is well on his way to becoming a rock star when he is murdered. As a police officer, Lena can’t accept that her brother’s murder is not solved and is motivated to become a detective, a first rate detective. Her street smarts and drive are soon recognized by the department and she is fast tracked into the elite Robbery Homicide Division. She and her more seasoned partner, Hank Novak draw the most gruesome and politically charged murder cases in the city.

In the first case where she is lead investigator, a woman is raped then stabbed repeatedly with a butcher knife. While the most likely suspect, her husband is pressured for a confession, the evidence shows a third person was present in the home that night and likely waited to observe the husband’s reaction to his wife’s murder. While the bureaucrats want a swift solution to improve their numbers, Lena’s investigation uncovers other rapes and attempted rapes where the perpetrator lingered at the crime scene to observe the loved one’s reaction. Soon another murder with a similar MO proves Lena’s hunch correct and to the chagrin of the department a serial killer is confirmed. The media names him Romeo. Then another woman is brutally killed in a similar way. This time however, the lover is also found dead of apparent suicide next to the woman’s body. The lover was Tim Holt, the best friend and band member of Lena’s deceased brother. Devastated and confused, Lena tries to separate her personal feelings from her work and move forward. The LAPD bureaucracy forces the conclusion that Tim committed suicide because the horror of seeing his brutally murdered lover brought back the guilt of murdering David Gamble, Lena’s brother, five years earlier. Lena doesn’t buy that Tim murdered her brother and while the LAPD has called a press conference to announce their finding, Lena is summoned to yet another brutal murder, the MO again implicating Romeo. By following her hunches and employing department forensic services to confirm those hunches, Lena tracks down the psychopathic killer. While her courage, strong sense of equal justice for all, and obsession to solve crime is coveted and sorely needed by the LAPD, her disregard for intra-department politics proves her a maverick and misfit with an uncertain future….but the perfect heroine for a crime novel.

Robert Ellis is an up and comer. His use of a psychopathic serial killer and the obsession and personal connection of the detective in charge remind me of early Michael Connelly (The Concrete Blond.) Not a bad similarity for a new writer. I’m anxious to see how this character, Lena Gamble develops in his next thriller and the one after that.

Dirty White Boys by Stephen Hunter

Answer: Maybe not. Question: Should you read this book.
I've read all of Hunter's later works, so I was looking for something that was written earlier in his career. Now, I can appreciate that his writing skills rapidly improved after he wrote this one.
This is a 1995 book that fills in some early peripheral information in the Bob Lee Swagger saga. Bob Lee's dad, Earl, was killed in a shoot out with some Pye boys. One of them fathered a child who was born after his daddy was killed, dying in the same shoot out with Earl Swagger. Dirty White Boys is the story of Lamar Pye, a psychopath. The book starts with a coarse scene of an attempted jailhouse rape. Hunter writes graphically, "His was the largest penis ever seen on a white man in that prison or any of the others in which Lamar had spent so much of his adult life." Lamar beats his assailant and then causes him to choke to death on a bar of Ivory soap. Knowing that the buddies of the black man he killed would come after him, Lamar escaped from jail and then went on a wild crime spree. Really, it was only my compulsive nature that kept me reading despite the fact that, unlike his other books, Hunter's characters were predictable and nearly one dimensional. The book title accurately characterizes Lamar and his cohorts. The author introduced a couple interesting strong male figures, Bud Pewtie, the main hero, and the old and drunken detective, Lt. C.D. Henderson. But, even their personal conflicts were typical. You don't need to read this one to appreciate the background of Bob Lee.

The King of Lies by John Hart

"Our truest self is often the person we allow no one to see . . . "

His name is Jackson Workman Pickens (aka 'Work'), Attorney at Law in Rowan County, North Carolina - a bit west of Charlotte. Son of Ezra Pickens, Attorney at Law. Brother of Jean, a woman bearing her share of scars. And their mother - was she ever named? In total, one very screwed up family.

Some backstory:

1. Ezra was dirt poor, but clawed his way out to become a powerful and rich lawyer. Misogynistic beyond words. Women were possessions to be overpowered and controlled, and not worthy of mention in his will.

2. The mother played her role and it cost her.

3. Jean delivers pizza, but was once married to a surgeon who was killed by a drunk driver who crashed into the surgeon's parked car when he was humping the babysitter. Ezra had her committed where she met, and now lives with, Alex who has her own violent history of an abusive father whom she handcuffed to a bed and coldly watched him burn.

4. When Work was maybe 13, he spotted Vanessa at a school dance, followed her from a distance when she went outside for a walk only to see her abducted, dragged into a culvert, and raped. When the creep turned on Work, he found some strength and managed to haul him down about the time the cops showed up. A hero he never wanted to be. All he wanted was to be with Vanessa. Over the following 25 years, Vanessa and Work circled each other in a desperate, evolving affair.

5. 10 years ago, Work wedded Barbara whom Ezra just about handpicked to be the dutiful wife of an up and coming attorney. Barbara is beholding only to an image of the country club set.

6. Eighteen months prior to Chapter 1, Ezra and Jean fought over Alex. Work and his mom watched. When the mom intervened, Ezra swung and knocked her down the stairs to her death. Upon returning from the hospital, Ezra receives a call, gathers his keys and coat, walked out the door and was never seen again.

All that happens before the book opens. Ezra's remains have been found, shot twice in the head. Ezra had his share of enemies, but all evidence points to Work because the will reveals that Work would likely get little if any portion of Ezra's $40 million estate; so does Jean. But Work thinks Jean shot her father in retaliation for the argument over Alex and is willing to take the rap to protect his sister.

As the investigation unfolds, Work comes to learn more secrets he wished he had never learned, about Jean, Alex, Barbara, and most importantly, Ezra's manipulative, money worshipping, secretive, and whoring ways. We only learn all the miserable details when Work manages to break the password for a hidden safe in the law offices and find a videotape that answers more questions than Work, or anyone else for that matter, ever thought to ask.

Remember the movie Secrets and Lies? Where a black woman tracks down her birth mother who turns out to be white and all the various family secrets come out? This book reminded me of that. With every new rock that is overturned, Work learns more and more about his father which mushrooms his hatred of Ezra with every chapter. His loyalty to his sister and fear of prison almost ends in his suicide, but Work pulls the gun away only to end up saving Jean's 3rd attempt to take her own life. His sham of a marriage and continuing love of Vanessa only adds an additional layer of complexity to a life spiraling out of control.

Most of the books reviewed here are pretty straightforward - pretty black and white. This was a dozen shades of gray, eloquently written in a style that leans more toward 'literature' than the 'fiction' usually posted here. This was Hart's debut novel and it is far more than a murder mystery/thriller. Those terms are a bit trite and limiting for this story. While the ending is satisfying, I would never call this uplifting because it explores the recesses of a man's soul that most of us would prefer be left alone.

East Coast Don