The Lost Prince by Selden Edwards

“The Little Book” was the best novel that I read in 2012, and it was Selden Edwards first novel. Now he has a second, “The Lost Prince.” I wrote gushing praise about his first novel and there was no way his second could live up to that, and it didn’t quite get to that same lofty level. “The Lost Prince” provides the backstory to “The Little Book,” it’s a parallel story, and it’s a fore story, as well. You’ll have to read his first book to understand that characterization. As a great fan of the first novel, I’m glad I read this second one. With many other authors, you can start in the middle of a sequence of books which stand alone, but this new novel does not stand by itself. Do yourself a favor and read “The Little Book,” and then dive into this one.

Eleanor Burden is the protagonist, and the story dates back to the late 1890s when her husband performed in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. Eleanor led a secret life in which she kept secrets from her husband, with regard to her own investments that were spectacular, her intellectual pursuits, and especially with regard to her relationship with Arnauld Esterhazy. It their relationship which propelled this drama. And, there were remarkable other secrets. Her godfather was William James, and in this story, she had contact both with Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Edwards explained some of the differences that led to the split in Freud-Jung relationship. The author created a conversation between Burden and Jung in which Jung said of Freud, “In time our differences became impossible to conceal. I could no longer pretend to accept, for one, that human motivation is exclusively sexual, and I could not accept, for another, that the unconscious mind is entirely personal and peculiar to the individual.” Jung said, “To me, the very notion of psychic energy, libido as Freud calls it, cannot be wholly sexual. To me, libido is a more generalized ‘life force,’ of which sexuality is but one part.” Another important character, Will Honeycutt, said to Jung, “The human mind cannot stand randomness, don’t you see? Randomness makes one distraught. It means that anything can happen…. Randomness is insanity.” Edwards then took the reader into a brief explanation of Jung’s concept of “the collective unconscious.”

Much of the action in this book took place at the end of World War I, when the Austro-Hungarian empire came tumbling down. The descriptions of the physical and emotional wounds from the war were impressive, and I learned more about WWI history than I had known before. After Jung failed in the task, it was the character of Will Honeycutt, a Harvard physicist turned financier who took on the task of curing Esterhazy from his “shell shock,” the old term for PTSD. The quality of Edward’s writing and especially his character development are impressive. My advice: read Selden Edwards.

Right as Rain by George Pelecanos

On the recommendation of fellow blogger ECD, I decided to try something by George Pelecanos.  I chose Right as Rain because it is the first in the author’s acclaimed series featuring Derek Strange and Terry Quinn.  Strange is a black man and former DC cop but now in middle age runs his own successful private detective agency.  Quinn also a former DC cop left the force after he, a white man, shot and killed a black off duty police officer.  Quinn was cleared of any wrong doing but is haunted by the incident as he struggles to come to grips with his own racial prejudice… a prejudice he previously was sure did not exist.

Strange is hired by the off duty cop’s mother to clear her dead son’s name.  Derek tracks down Quinn working at a used book store and finds him forthcoming with details about the shooting.  Because Quinn himself seeks closure about the incident, he agrees to partner with Strange on his fact finding mission.  The two discover they have common interests beyond the case.  They both love music, old westerns, cars and boxing and begin to form a friendship.

 

Their investigation leads to the crime that envelops the grity streets of Washington DC.  They uncover an illegal drug operation that includes prostitution, police corruption and violence.  In dealing with this evil under belly of society and placing their own lives in jeopardy, Strange and Quinn each find their own social and moral consciences.  Strange who has been a ‘player’ most of his life realizes he has feelings for his long time secretary, Janine.  Quinn realizes he has deep seated prejudices that he unknowingly has tried to disguise in his own life.  Their partnership and their friendship seem to fill a void in their respective lives and make them both want to be better people.

Pelecanos is a good story teller and does a great job with character development in Right as Rain.  We learn a lot about the Derek Strange and Terry Quinn characters from the music they like, the books they read, the bars and restaurants they frequent and the cars they drive… all interestingly entwined into the plot.  Even Quinn’s ride a 1969 Chevelle SS 396 with a four speed Hurst shifter tells us something about his personality.  But mostly we learn about how two human beings deal with each other in a backdrop of poverty, violence, and racial prejudice. Herein lies the author’s true gift.

The Cairo Affair by Olen Steinhauer

I do love it when one of my power rotation authors comes out with a new book - especially when they really deliver, like this one.

Budapest, 2011. Emmett Kohl, a mid-level career diplomat, and his wife Sophie are in a restaurant when Emmett starts to confront Sophie about an affair she had during his last assignment in Cairo. The conversation hasn't gone too far when this Albanian bull of a man walks up, calls Emmett by name and then puts 2 bullets in Emmett's head.

The assassination of a nothing diplomat starts a chain of events that stretches from Budapest to Cairo, Munich, Frankfort, Libya, the former Yugoslavia; even Langley and Alexandria, VA.

It's right after the Arab Spring uprising in Egypt and any mid-management and above bureaucrat in government is worried about their future, especially those in security. Around 2005, a young Libyan-born CIA analyst named Jabril proposed a plan (Stumbler) to destabilize Libya and get rid of Gadhafi. It began with the kidnapping of exiled revolutionaries, organizing the various factions into one and insert them back into Libya and get busy. But the CIA said no and the plan ended in a folder. In 2011, Jabril notices scattered news reports of kidnapped Libyans around Europe and thinks someone has co-opted his plan and put it into motion. He heads for Cairo to go overland to the border with Libya to see if and how his plan is going. He actually thinks that someone stole the plan and that the CIA is going to try and ride its back to Gadhafi's demise and take credit when Jabril knows the only way for regime change is from within, not from the CIA.

Instead of accompanying Emmett's body back to Boston, Sophie goes to Cairo to see her old flame in an attempt to get information about Emmett's murder.

And this is where Steinhauer is without peer.

This exotic world is littered with governmental agents from across the globe watching each other, on their own side or not. Spies from a couple Egyptian security bureaus, the US embassy attaches (code word for CIA), Hungary, Croatia, and more are playing the 'perhaps', 'what if', 'maybe', 'could be' game with who has what information and what's happening with said information and just how does it related back to a weeklong visit to Yugoslavia in 1991 by newlyweds Kohl just as that country was splitting at the seams. The cynicism of the agents contrasts with the optimism of the Arab Spring. The  problem is that there "could be no new world . . . because the people who filled it would be the same ones as yesterday."

This standalone (I think) book is not part of a hell-bent-for-leather ball buster series like Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp. After Emmett is killed, the only 'action' is a brief ambush on the Egypt-Libyan border. Other than that, it's all about trying to peel the onion to get to the ultimate truth behind Emmett's murder, Stumbler, and who knew what, when, where, and why about the flickering connections. Steinhauer cleverly tells the story from the viewpoint of the various main characters that shift forward or back in time so that connections are seen once something is repeated, but seen in a different light. Could be confusing to the reader if from a writer with lesser skills, but Steinhauer never faltered and never lost me as he told this convoluted tale that covers only about a week or 10 days.

LeCarre and Graham Greene carried the espionage banner for years. Following up his Tourist series, Steinhauer has demonstrated he really does need to be considered alongside those 2 greats.

ECD

Chasing Chaos: My Decade In and Out of Humanitarian Aid

This is a nonfiction work which was suggested to me by my daughter, Jenna, who is working as a writer for the International Medical Corps, an agency that is a first responder to worldwide natural disasters. Chasing Chaos: My Decade In and Out of Humanitarian Aid was written by Jessica Alexander. If you are interested in the ins and outs of international aid, as I am, then this is a must read. Alexander worked in Darfur, Rwanda, Sri Lanka and Indonesia after the tsunami, Sierra Leone following the atrocities of Liberian President Charles Taylor, and Haiti. She told about the expected horrors, the staggering loss of life, and interruption to all life-sustaining services which occurred at each site. However, the unique part of this book was the honest description of what it was like to be an aid worker on the ground while facing overwhelming human needs with inadequate resources. Alexander did not identify herself as being saintly for having pursued such work and wrote that she had gotten involved in it when she was seeking adventure. Her views were not always favorable about the various agencies who do such work, the people who are hired to do so, and Americans who wanted to be involved. What was most painful was the fact that she ended up feeling that she did not fit in anywhere. She certainly was not accepted as a member of any of the cultures where she was delivering aid, and after seeing the difficulties of life in those places, she no longer felt like she fit in with her old friends in the United States who could not appreciate the disasters she was managing. Alexander also talked about how international aid can best be delivered without creating dependencies that are impossible to break. This is a good book, definitely worth reading if you ever follow stories in the news about natural disasters in the world. Also, you might check out the website for the International Medical Corps. It is an impressive organization. (https://internationalmedicalcorps.org/)

The Keeper by John Lescroart

In The Keeper John Lescroart returns to the foundation that fosters his success. He features the original characters of his quarter century old series... Dismas Hardy, defense attorney and Abe Glitsky, now retired homicide detective plus many of their cronies in the tight knit fraternity that comprises the San Francisco legal system.

  

Hal Chase is a guard at San Francisco county jail.  On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving he leaves home to pick up his step brother at the airport but the flight is delayed.  When he returns four hours later his wife, Katie is missing.  By Monday morning the police decide this is a likely murder and homicide detectives visit Chase.  Hal realizes he is a suspect with a hole in his alibi and hires Dismas Hardy to represent him, against what... he isn’t sure yet.  Hardy concludes the police have stopped investigating Katie’s disappearance and he figures the best outcome would be to simply find her.  He hires his best friend, the now retired homicide detective Abe Glitsky to find Hal’s wife.  Abe fights all his cop instincts that ‘the husband did it’ and investigates as objectively as his training will allow.  He learns that Katie had been seeing a marriage counselor (coincidentally Hardy’s wife Frannie), Hal had recently ended an affair with Katie’s friend, the rich and beautiful Patti, and Hal was an alibi witness for a deputy sheriff who is a person of interest in more than one suspicious death in the county jail.  Oddly the more Abe learns, the more he believes Hal is innocent.

 

Katie’s body is found in the underbrush in a park near her home.  With no evidence that Hal committed the crime the grand jury is convened to point the finger of guilt his way.  Hal is arrested and put in jail, the same jail where he is employed.

Meanwhile the DA, Wes Farrell has assigned an investigator to uncover the suspected conspiracy in the county jail.  The investigator makes some significant progress but is murdered by a supposed robber before her findings are made known.  Farrell asks Glitsky to become his new investigator and with Hardy’s blessing Abe accepts the job.  By now Glitsky is obsessed… not only with clearing Hal Chase but with slamming the door on the corruption in the county jail.  Of course this makes him a threat to possibly more than one murderer.  The keeper, the book’s namesake refers to a keeper of secrets… old secrets worth killing for.

I’m a longtime fan of Lescroart but have to admit I’m sometimes disappointed when he brings in new younger characters. The Keeper is Lescroart at his best featuring cornerstone characters, Dismas Hardy and Abe Glitsky.  While fans require no further character development for this well-defined duo, we get a deeper look at Abe with his handling of retirement and concern for his young family.  But mostly we get to share that adrenaline rush from his obsession as he closes in on his prey.  This old dog can still sniff out the rotten smell of deceit and learn some new tricks along the way.  Let’s hope the author sees it that way too and creates the next Hardy-Glitsky adventure.

Vanishing Act by Thomas Perry

Vanishing Act by Thomas Perry is the first of seven novels about the protagonist, Jane Whitefield. (I previously unfavorably reviewed the book he co-wrote with Clive Cussler called “The Tombs.”) It’s unusual for my wife’s book groups to read a crime novel, so that’s where the lukewarm recommendation came from for this book. Whitefield is a Seneca Indian who moves easily in and out of Indian circles, and her cause in life is to help people drop off the grid. She’s adept at making virile men look inadequate, which is perhaps what this story was doing in a women’s book group. She refers to herself as “a guide,” and in an understated way that is consistent with many of our favorite books which have strong male heroes, Whitefield said, “Sometimes people need help. I sometimes give it to them.”

In this novel one of the men she helped disappear was Harry Kemple, and he ended up dead, so he had not disappeared as well as Whitefield thought. Another man, John Felker, who had also sought her out to help him disappear was merely using her to find Kemple. It was Felker who took out Kemple, so then Whitefield pursued Kemple with the intent to kill him, since she knew he would be after her. The pursuit of these two took the reader into various Indian tribes, their histories, and then into the North Woods for a remarkably rugged adventure. Jane Whitefield is a combination of Steve Hamilton’s Alex McKnight and C.J. Box’s Joe Pickett. That is high praise to be linked to those two authors.

My response to this is better than just lukewarm, but I’m not ready to elevate Perry to power rotation status. I’ll read the second book in the series at some point, but at the moment, my reading queue is long, so I’ll dive into that first before I work my way back to Perry’s Ms. Whitefield.

After Shock: A Novella (Lucy Guardino FBI Thrillers)

After Shock is a novella, considered by the author, C.J. Lyons, to be the 3.5 novel in the series about Lucy Guardino, an FBI agent. It’s not a good sign when the author is barely a few pages into the plot and character development when this reader starts thinking “Give me a break.” I thought the writing, plot, and characters were well beneath the standards that the reviewers in this blog expect. I’m surprised I finished it, and did so only because I had an abundance of time and it was really short. I have no interest in picking up other novels by this author. It was one of the cheap reads on Amazon, so I got what I paid for. I won’t spend any time commenting about the details – enough said.

The Accident by Chris Pavone

The Accident is Chris Pavone’s second novel, the first being The Expats for which he won an Edgar Award.  This second thriller gives an insider’s look at big time publishing and corruption in big business, politics, and the CIA all premised around the pending publishing of an unauthorized biography.  The subject of the biography is media mogul Charlie Wolfe who has aspirations for public office and secrets worth killing for.

The biography contains accusations that Wolfe had accidently killed a young coed when he was in college and then with the help of his father (then deputy CIA director) covered up the crime. David Miller, Wolfe's best friend and later business partner witnessed the crime and fostered the cover-up. Wolfe goes on to build a hugely successful news network at times covertly altering world events for exclusive news value. Now decades later, Miller has found his conscience and is exposing Wolfe’s criminal activity to the world in this telling book.  To avoid criminal charges himself and the wrath of Wolfe and his co-conspirators, Miller fakes a terminal illness then his own death and goes into hiding to author his book anonymously. He then releases it for publishing through Isabel Reed, a New York literary agent.

Isabel Reed receives the mysterious manuscript and distributes it to a few of her cronies in the publishing world. That list includes her assistant Alexus, publisher friend Jeff Fielder and movie agent Camille.  With the conventional publishing business in a state of decline, the right manuscript could bolster careers for a lucky few.

After an all-night read Isabel realizes the explosive nature of the book.  Not only would Charlie Wolfe’s career plans be ruined but politicians and CIA insiders would be investigated for their sinister roles in world political events.  Clearly Wolfe and his rouge CIA insiders would kill to keep this story under wraps.  So not only is Isabel’s life in danger but also everyone to whom she had distributed manuscript copies the previous day.

 

Isabel’s assistant, Alexus is found murdered in her apartment, the copied manuscript missing.  Isabel quickly goes into hiding collecting Jeff as she flees.  Little did she know Wolfe had anticipated his partner’s rebellion… even Isabel’s and Jeff’s involvement… so Isabel’s survival depends on her wits.

There is a lot right with The Accident.  It has all the elements of a great mystery/ thriller.  A high stakes game with deception at its core, Pavone creates the mystery then meters out the key info with plenty of thrills and intrigue on route to a satisfying conclusion.  However, each chapter is told from the perspective of a different person and many times the author fails to identify that person… interesting oversight from an author who was once an editor himself.  A couple times I was on page two of the chapter before I figured out which character was narrating.  This makes for a very confusing journey, particularly if you don’t read it in one sitting.  Nonetheless, I think this new author holds great promise… just still a little rough around the edges.