A Better Man

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Without question, I love Louise Penny’s writing and story telling, and possibly, A Better Man is her best book in the 15 book Armand Gamache series. Every year, I look forward to her next novel. In her new story, she has the usual cast of characters including Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, Isabelle Lacoste, Clara Morrow, Ruth Zardo, and Myrna Landers, and as usual, Penny sprinkles in a few characters like Vivienne Godin, her husband Carl Tracey, her father Homer Godin, and Agents Cloutier and Cameron. It’s remarkable that Penny is able to write about the evil side of life and still do it with love for everyone involved. Her understanding and appreciation of the complexity of humanity is impressive. In this story, Armond, Jean-Guy, and Isabelle are still recovering from their physical and emotional wounds from the gun battle in the last book.

I won’t be a spoiler in this review, but it is a murder mystery as the result of Vivienne’s tragic death when she fell through the railing of a rotting old bridge over a flood swollen river which is threatening Three Pines, the mythical village where most of the key characters live. Penny keeps the reader guessing who is responsible for this death until the last few pages. Perhaps this plot is a bit more complex than some of her other books, but she holds her story together very well. There are subplots that the reader will best get by reading the books in order, but each of the Gamache series is also a stand-alone book. This one is a 5-star effort, and now I will impatiently wait for Penny’s next release.

True Believer by Jack Carr

When we last met former SEAL James Reece in The Terminal List, his family had been murdered, his team slaughtered, and he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor brought on by a drug company’s product that was designed to cure PTSD. His fit of rage resulted in the death of the company’s CEO, the Congressman who pushed the product for their own financial benefit, and more than a few Pentagon brass. The last Senator to die owned an ocean-going sailboat that Reece used to escape the US. Most of the US intelligence agencies were trying to find Reece.

True Believers picks up with Reece in the Atlantic (most of the first 100 pages are about his solo voyage). It takes him months to sail from the US, across the Atlantic, around Africa to Mozambique where he scuttles the ship. On foot, be crosses deep into the bush to a safari guide whom he knows via his best friend from college and the SEALs, Raife. At the Niassi Game Preserve, he learns the ways of the professional guides, becoming well accepted by those who work there. Their job is to take guests on safaris into the bush and also to weed out poachers.

They stumble across a group of poachers. In the ensuing gunplay, Solomon, one of the guides, is severely wounded. Reece uses his knowledge of battlefield medicine and gets him to the closest clinic. Little does he know that one of the doctors is a contact for British intelligence. Doesn’t take long for Reece’s description and abilities to filter back to Langley.

It’s been months since Reece left the US to go off the grid. Until a former SEAL-turned CIA contractor shows up. Being an international fugitive, Reece thinks his former friend is there to take him in. But Freddy has an offer that is based on some events that Reece has missed since he hasn’t seen a newspaper in months.

Terrorists ravaged a London shopping district when it was packed with Christmas shoppers. Hundreds killed, thousands wounded. The retiring NATO chief is assassinated in front of his wife when an RPG tears apart his parked car. Other coordinated attacks signal something ever bigger is coming. Western stock markets have been rocked worse than after 9/11. Chatter collected by the NSF points to Mo, an Iraqi protégé of Reece’s who appears to have been turned and radicalized. Freddy makes Reece an offer: find Mo, find out who’s behind this sequence of events and why . . . in exchange for all his offenses being wiped clean.

So, find Mo, who asks why his being looked for. He is still working for a CIA contractor and both are under CIA control, at least as far as Mo knows. Then find Mo’s controller and up the chain to a former GRU colonel who wants Mother Russia returned to her rightful place at the top of the food chain, and get rich along the way by shorting the stock markets.

Quite an array of culprits. The former GRU colonel who is at odds with current Russian president. This colonel runs a huge charitable foundation and has half of Congress in his pocket, meaning considerable political clout and consequences should his mission be curtailed. Then there is that rogue CIA ground branch sadist who continues to run agents, Mo included, who think they still are working for the CIA.  Behind the scenes is a CIA Russia analyst on the run in order to stand at the side of the Colonel’s triumphant return to Moscow. Can’t forget about a Syrian general with ties to Assad who is brokering weapons and mercenaries to the highest bidder. In this case, snipers, weapons, and enough chemical-based WMD to make 9/11 look like a picnic. All being tracked down by a disgraced but deadly SEAL on the run accompanied by his equally deadly friend.

This is a BIG story with more layers than I can count. One might not expect such a complex set of circumstances to be so expertly assembled by an author in only his second novel. But Jack Carr shows a maturity of plot, character, and presentation normally seen only in the most mature and experienced of writers. I’d suggest you read The Terminal List first to get a grasp on the rage that boils inside of Reece. True Believers then shows you how Reece focuses that rage into this epic hunt. And based on how the plot develops, I am sure we will be seeing a #3 in the James Reece series next year.

And surprise. It’s published by Emily Bestler Books. As I’ve said many times on this blog. Every book I’ve read out of Emily Bestler books is a top drawer, first rate, winner. This one included. Continued kudos to Emily Bestler Books.

ECD

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Dark Data

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Dark Data by Douglas J. Wood was just released in 8/19. It’s an incredible story about the combined efforts of a billionaire who is a financial terrorist and the forces of radical terrorism. It’s a story about cyber terrorism. This is a worldwide story that starts in Italy (one of my favorite spots in Florence, Piazza Della Signoria) jumps to Russia, to Cuba, to China, to the US, and more. The ultimate bad guy is a Russian, Constantine Petrenko, who is essentially a ghost, one who has hidden his identity from just about everyone, and he is not dumb enough to become a threat to Putin. Patrenko is being chased by US counter terrorists, but they don’t even know the identity of Patrenko. Wood spins a good story. While there were times the story stretched credibility, in an author’s note, Wood gives examples of why this plot is not so farfetched. This is a scary possibility. If you’re ready to a new and frightening espionage story, this one will keep you entertained.

The Dovekeepers

The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman is an Israeli story about the battle of the Masada in 74 C.E. Roman forces had already captured Jerusalem and completely destroyed the second temple. The Romans had captured or killed all other Jews, but the warriors of the fortress, built on a high plateau overlooking the Dead Sea on the edge of the Judean desert, were the last ones to succumb to the Roman power. The Jewish warriors numbered only 960, and the Romans had 6,000 troops. The siege lasted more than a year. It was close to night time when the Roman’s finally breeched the fortress defenses, and then they retreated until morning. Upon seeing that their defeat was inevitable, the remaining Jews completed a mass suicide so they would not meet with the same fate as others who confronted the might of the Roman legions.

This story is about four women who found their way to the fortress and participated in life there. I must tell you that while I love historical fiction, this award winning book did not capture my interest. I got through the story of the first woman, Yael, and at the 30% mark of the book, decided it was time to venture back to the genre that interests me so much more. I think this particular book would do much better in a blog entitled “women reading books.”

Golda

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Golda by Elinor Burkett, written in 2008, is certainly a definitive biography of Golda Meir, former prime minister of Israel. Perhaps this is not a title that the readers of this blog are interested in, but I found it to be a fantastic story about a very unique human being. If this content is of interest to you, then please dive in.

Golda was the first woman to lead a major western power when she became the prime minister of Israel in 1969, and she was the prime minister during the 1973 war. She was born in Russia in 1898, moved with her family to Milwaukee in 1906, and then moved to Israel in 1924. She was a remarkable woman who quickly moved upwards in the political movement to help create this new country. Although she had a long marriage and delivered a son and daughter, Golda’s interest was much more about working on behalf of Israel rather than being a wife and mother. She lived until her death in 1978 at the age of 80. As much as it is said that Israel would never have come into being had it not been for David Ben-Gurion, that was probably true as well for Golda.

I was entranced by her story.

A Dangerous Man by Robert Crais

Another gorgeous day in SoCal. Joe Pike has a little bank business to attend to. Stops in his usual branch. A couple tellers are drooling. Joe does what he needs to do. Heads out to his clean, red Jeep Cherokee, sorts though his paperwork. Looks up and sees the teller being forced into a car and driven off. To say this upsets Joe’s sensibilities is an understatement.

He follows the car. The car weaves around some side streets. At a stop sign, Joe gets out, smashes the driver window, subdues the driver and the captor. Isabel Roland, the 22-yo teller, is safe. The bad guys are locked up. Joe tries to calm her down.

The cops call Joe a couple days later. Want him to come back to the precinct to continue the interview. The 2 guys made bail. And were found dead within 24 hours. They wondered if Joe had anything to do with it. He didn’t. Which the cops should know. If Joe had done it, the bodies would never have been found.

Izzy is freaked to say the least. Why her? She lives alone in the house she grew up in. Left to her by her recently deceased mother. Works as a bank teller. Day or two later, Izzy’s bestie calls Joe. Izzy is missing.

Time for Joe to call in his partner, Elvis Cole. He knows the right questions to ask. How to find friends. Track cell phone calls and texts. The smart parts of a PI agency.

A few weeks ago, a retired US Marshall, who liked golf almost as much as gin, was found dead and buried in a cherry orchard in the nearby desert. The guy was a family friend that Izzy called after the first abduction, but never connected.

Turns out Izzy’s family history isn’t what her parents told her. Mom and Dad weren’t native Californians. They’d grown up in the Houston area. High school sweethearts who got married. Mom was working in the business side of a 2-man medical practice that was getting rich the wrong way. The docs were pushing knockoff (and sometimes deadly) meds and making a fortune. With the feds closing in, Izzy’s mom testified. The docs ended up in prison and Mom and Dad went into Witness Protection, settling in LA.

That should’ve been the end of it, but the docs were apparently in bed with a big-time cartel head who was convinced that Izzy’s mom had run off with a huge chunk of profits that should’ve been his. He’s been looking for the mom for 25 years. Doesn’t matter that Izzy’s mom is dead. Izzy must know about the money and he wants it back.

The drug king enlists a middleman to head up the abduction and information gathering. Might’ve been easy had Joe Pike chosen to grab a milkshake before going into the bank on that day and time. Joe Pike is a dangerous man. Once he gets a scent, nothing will stop him from following the scent to its final and righteous end.

Learned something about our county library system when checking out this book. When major authors, like Crais, publish a new release, the library buys at least 20 copies of the book (20 branches). For really big-time authors, 50-75 copies are purchased (and once the crush of requests falls off, the excess go to secondary book sellers or the library’s annual garage sale). People sign up on a wait list and get notified when our request comes to the top of the list.  When I signed up, I was something like 90th on a list of over 400 and growing by the day. The library also set aside maybe a dozen copies, scattered amongst the various branches, for their Lucky Day rack. I was in the library getting another book and spotted this highly anticipated book on the Lucky Day rack. Picked it up, checked it out, and my name was removed from the wait list. Wednesday was my Lucky Day. Now, 48hrs later, I post this review.

For those how don’t know, Robert Crais is (and may still be, I don’t know right now) the most reviewed author here at MRB. A Dangerous Man is the 22^nd title in Crais’ Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series. If you’ve never read Crais, pick up any title. Connections to prior books are clearly laid out, just in case. Crais just gets better and better. He doesn’t put out a new book every fall for the upcoming holiday buying crunch like so many other heavy hitters. Makes the wait even sweeter. Every book by Crais is a winner and A Dangerous Man will keep Crais firmly entrenched in our Power Rotation. 

Time to return the book for the next guy to have a Lucky Day.

East Coast Don