Lightness of Hands

It was three years ago when I read a draft of Jeff Garvin’s second novel, Lightness of Hands. At that time, the book was still not titled and I was forbidden to reveal anything about the content. But, the book was published this month (4/20) by Balzer & Broy, a subsidiary of HarperCollins. This is a young adult adventure story in the world of Magic, from sleight of hand magic to grand illusions. Also, the story is imbedded in issues of mental health.

Jeff Garvin has written a compelling novel about a 16-year-old girl, Ellie Dante and her father, the Uncanny Dante. They are down and out because 10 years before, he had failed in the midst of a televised grand illusion in which he was supposed to escape from a truck which was fully underwater. He failed, had to be rescued, and nearly died. The story of this failure made national news. Then, Ellie’s mother committed suicide. So, this story was a father-daughter adventure. But performing magic was the only way her dad knew how or was willing to earn money. So, dad and daughter traveled the country in an old and beat up RV taking whatever birthday parties or similar events where they could earn some survival money.

Sometimes, they paid for their next meals by lifting wallets. About the time Ellie and her dad were going to spend their last dollars, Ellie took a call from a magic team that had been on a long successful run in Vegas, and they wanted to do a show involving former magic performers, a sort of vintage magic show, and they wanted Ellies dad to have another try at the illusion that nearly killed him. They figured that if he succeeded, or if he failed again, that it would be good for their ratings. This was a trick that dad had not attempted since the big failure. Ellie accepted the offer without telling her father, and then she had to get him to Los Angeles without telling him why they were going there.

The author Garvin, filled out this story with a variety of cast members from Ellie’s life and from her father’s life, as well inventing some other particular interesting characters. This book is a winner, and I could not put it down. This one may be published as a young adult novel, but it is a very rich story that is also suitable for older adults. Garvin is a gifted story teller. The novel gets my highest recommendation.

The Last Scoop

The Last Scoop is the seventh novel By R. G. Belsky that have been reviewed in this blog, which means that they guys at Men Reading Books really likes his writing. He’s kept up the great writing with this new novel, the third in his series about Clare Carlson, a former Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, now the news director of a television channel in New York. Except, despite having promised herself she would always be truthful, Clare finds herself compelled to tell lie on top of lie, which she knows is bound to catch up with her, starting with the very story that won her the Pulitzer. That story was about the disappearance of Lucy Devlin

Now there has been a new murder. A former colleague and Clare’s former editor, Marty Barlow, was an old and washed up reporter who was still hot after one last big story. But, he was brutally murdered before he could reveal the fruits of his research into the dirty world that touches both politics and New York real estate. Clare felt compelled to pursue Marty’s work with the scant clues that he left behind which suggested he had been pursuing a serial killer that no one else knew existed. Meanwhile, her interest was still caught on Lucy, and if her unscrupulous behavior in that case was ever discovered, then her career would be at an end. Carlson is a most curious character, one who stands for truth while covering up a trail of lies, one who is impulsively pulled into love affairs with the wrong guys, but one who is incredibly consistent at uncovering the secrets of others. She is very loose about some standards, but obsessive about others.

Carlson rides a line between the politically powerful and the wealthiest of real estate magnates. Belsky has crowded his way the power rotation of my 10 favorite authors. He’s rubbing elbows with Michael Connelly, Daniel Sylva, Louise Penny, and C.J. Box, James Lee Burke, John Grisham, Ken Bruen, Robert Crais and Greg Iles. That is high praise for Belsky. If you’re a fan of murder mysteries, then start this book which you won’t put down until the story is over.

Diver's Paradise

Diver’s Paradise, A Roscoe Conklin Mystery is a very good story. Roscoe, better known to most as R, is a retired detective. He took his savings and most of his retirement money to buy an old resort on Bonair, a Carribean Island originally settled by the Dutch, lying just off the coast of Venezuela. Good weather and great reefs make it an ideal stop for divers. At the start of the story, R learns that his former police chief in Rockford, Illinois, along with the chief’s wife, Bill and Marybeth Ryberg, were shot to death in their home. They were also people who R loved. This occurred simultaneously with another friend from Rockford, Tiffany, who is on her way to the island for her own vacation. Tiffany is a younger woman with a 2-year-old son who was best friends with the Rybergs and R when they all lived in Rockford. Tiffany was on the plane when the murders occurred, so she arrives in Bonair and is unaware of their deaths. At the same time, R has a current love, a local woman from Bonair, Arabella, who is a detective in the police force on Bonair. R, who has a phobia of commitments, is truly smitten by Arabella.

Suddenly, murders start happening on Bonair. Tiffany dies in an apparent drowning while she is on a solo diver. Then, some other locals to whom R has been talking, also end up dead. Bonair is an island where there is almost no crime, until now.

The author takes us through a well-developed mystery. Good characters and a good plot, all the  way to a satisfying ending. He includes various other character and subplots to fill out a good picture of life on the island and the livers of R, Arabella, and the other main characters.

I would be happy to read another Roscoe Conklin mystery.

Sucker Punch

This is a first read/review of a book by Jim Carroll. The only thing I did not like about this book was the title, Sucker Punch. This is a very good story about the troubles of a Vietnam War helicopter pilot. There is both well-written humor and tragedy. The protagonist, Mack, got himself into trouble even before he left for Vietnam. He had just graduated from Snake School,, the nickname for flight training in Cobra helicopters, fondly known to all as Snakes. The Cobras were an awesome piece of fighting machinery and it was only the elite fliers who qualified for that honor. Both Mack and his lifetime friend Face made the cut. They went out for a wild weekend before being sent to Vietnam, and their focus was on getting laid. Mack found a beautiful and enthusiastic woman, only to be surprised to learn that she was the 15-year-old daughter of his Commanding Officer, a general. Upon arriving in Vietnam, Mack was sent to latrine duty, not combat helicopter pilot. As you might guess, this was disgusting work.

After a month, Mack was given the chance to get away from the latrines, but he had to agree to an undercover assignment who was investigating alleged black market activity by his combat teammates. The assignment was so dangerous that he was not expected to live through it, and the unit’s prior two pilots had just disappeared. But, Mack was desperate, so he accepted the assignment. This is when the story got better through a solid plot and good character development. Author Carroll described Mack’s interactions with each of his teammates, none of whom trusted him, at least not at first. He portrayed the good parts of the army, as well as the army at its worst.

I became a psychiatrist in the immediate post-Vietnam era, and having been assigned to work in four different VA hospitals in the US, I ended up listening to and treating, perhaps, 1,000 such soldiers, mostly in the 70s. I developed a sort of secondary PTSD as the result of their stories, and it took nearly 20 years to get over that. I could not go to war movies and chose not to read Vietnam era novels. Thankfully, I got through that and am now able to enjoy such well-written stories as this.

This story gets a praiseworthy review for its authenticity and the method of telling a good story. I think the title is a bit cheesy, although I don’t have a better title to suggest. Thanks to Jim Carroll for a good story.

Act of Murder

Act of Murder by John Bishop MD is good mystery. This book is not only plot driven which means the author has spent a fair amount of time on character development. The protagonist is Doc Jim Bob Brady of Houston. This orthopedic surgeon was in his backyard when he heard the squeal of tires and then a thud. When he ran to the front of his house, he saw the crushed body of a 10-year-old neighbor boy, Stevie. He was afraid to move the child because of possible damage to his spinal cord, but there was already no evidence of life. It turned out this was also one of his patients who had a rare disease, osteogenesis imperfecta, a disease which causes imperfect bones to repeatedly fracture, often causing early death. Paramedics were called, but their lifesaving efforts were unsuccessful.

Jim Bob and his wife Mary Louise were wonderful, warm, thoughtful and compassionate people who any reader could not help but love. They were friends with Stevie’s parents (Pete and Bobbie Huntley), but those relationships were greatly strained in response to the grieving for their son. Jim Bob attended the autopsy of Jonny, which only led to his discovery of another 10-year-old who had the same disease and died following surgery that same day of a more advanced form of the same disease. When he glanced at the body of Jonathan Fischer, he was struck by this child’s very similar facial appearance to the deceased neighbor boy. He wondered about the boys having been adopted, a fact which the Huntleys had kept hidden from everyone.

Brady was willing to do some investigation into this matter, and the Detective Susan Beeson was pleased for his help. So, the booked worked thru this mystery, clue by clue. The characters were good and well portrayed. The plot moved along at a good pace. This was a quick and enjoyable read, and it gets my recommendation. I’d be glad to read another Doc Brady novel.

Occam’s Razor by Joe Clifford

At one time, Oz Reyes was a UMiami running back. Potential 1^st round draft pick. Until a bar fight blew out his ACL. The NFL turned their back on him. A local Miami business, Ten +1, a global sports marketing company, picks him up and gives him a job in security. Now, 20-some years later, Oz overseas west coast security for big events like the NFL draft, Hollywood award shows. Stuff like that.

Ten + 1 is a family business. The Dupree family of Miami. The dad was a wiz at betting the ponies and used the profits to set the company off and running. His daughter, Delma, expanded the reach of the company into a Fortune 400 brand. She had two children. Jackson is the heir apparent. Janelle was the wild child. And Rodney, a street punk adopted by Delma as a project to be saved.

At 16, Janelle became pregnant. When the child, Juniper, was born, she was taken from her and Janelle went off the deep end, ending up in a super secure hospital for people with incurable mental disease. The daughter grows up to be just like her mother.

And, at 13, ends up dead. All the evidence at the gruesome crime scene leads directly to Rodney. It’s an air-tight, open and shut case. Rodney confesses and gets life without parole.

Delma summons Oz to Miami. She has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and is fading. As one of her last requests, she asks Oz to look into the Rodney’s case. She is convinced he is innocent. She give Oz the police’s case file.

One of the overarching questions is why Delma, with the ability to hire the very best investigators in the world would ask a washed-up jock who mostly makes sure events run smoothly to investigate. But Oz owes his post-college life to Delma and agrees. What he finds within the underbelly of the South Beach rich and famous isn’t pretty; dang ugly is what it is. Oz looks up his former girlfriend for a couple reasons. One is to see if they still have feelings for each other and the other is that her brother is connected to the Cuban underworld and can get him into places he would never be able to enter. Like Rodney’s prison. And Janelle’s hospital. And get the full police file that has details withheld from Delma.

Never read anything by Joe Clifford, but I hope my county library has some of his earlier work. This really was an entertaining story. Maybe he’ll start up an Oz Reyes series? He writes mostly mysteries (I see a ‘Jay Porter’ series of 5 books) 3 standalones (like this one), and some short story collections. Gotta respect a writer whose love for his craft extends beyond the printed page: his two sons are named Holden (for Holden Caulfield) and Jackson (for Jack Kerouac).

ECD

Tom Clancy’s Op Center: God of War by Jeff Rovin

The scene is a couple uninhabited islands midway between South Africa and Antarctica. Prince Edward and Marion Islands. Only a small research station is present. On a corner of Marion Island, a small yacht that ferries mineral poachers around in search of rare gemstones goes digging around in an easily accessible chasm of a coastal rock pillar. A combination of drilling and acid breaks open a chamber containing multiple storage vesicles. The lead geologist, Katrinka, grabs three intact vesicles thinking if someone went to such extremes to hide whatever is inside, the contents must be worth something. Breaking open the reinforced concrete vault damages a number of the other containers releasing contents into the air.

Minutes after opening the vault, Katrinka is back on o board the yacht. As she works to secure her discovery in the ship’s lab, she hears the crew erupt. Blood and internal viscera are being vomited up, flesh is being singed from the inside. With 20ish minutes, the entire crew is dead. Katrinka sees this through the lab door window and immediately dons her personal protective gear, boards the yacht’s small helicopter to escape. But not before arming the ship’s self-destruct device sending a ball of flame into the atmosphere and sinks the yacht, the heat of which helps send the emancipated contents into the atmosphere.

A commercial flight falls out of the sky over the southern Indian Ocean crashes nose-first into a remote corner of Marion Island. The research station head and his helicopter pilot go over to investigate. The helo pilot becomes ill, but not fatally. The station head was mostly sealed in his cold weather gear at first, but quickly pulls on his PPE, just in case.

The two explosions do not go unnoticed. Air traffic over the south Indian Ocean is locked down. South African military and intelligence organize to investigate. But so do the Chinese as they are keen to expand their influence in that region. As do the Russians, because they have connections with South Africa in part to stymie the Chinese.

And the Americans.

The President can’t send anything in publicly unless asked by Pretoria. But that doesn’t mean they’ll sit idly by. You never know.

The traditional Op Center morphed into mobile strike force in Sting of the Wasp (2019), previously reviewed by the MRB boys. Black Wasp is a single, small, mostly autonomous group that avoids the military bureaucracy and Congressional oversight by answering only to the President and funded by a non-existent budget line. They are tasked to find out what’s going on.

The Chinese have a navy vessel in the area and are the first to arrive. Katrinka has managed to get back to the mainland and hands over two of the containers to her boss. From what she saw, she’s sure they contain some bioweapon and other countries might be interested in purchasing it. Her boss, a native South African whose political views are exceedingly anti-white, has other more local ideas. 

The bulk of this book is the speculative research into the what, how, and why of the contents of the find and then what to do about it. The source of the contents is quickly uncovered. A treatment for HIV gone bad. A virus had been engineered years ago to hit HIV, but it turned out that the cure was worse than the disease. Not knowing exactly the best way to destroy the creation, it was sealed up tight and buried in one of the most remote locations on the planet. Dumb luck that it was uncovered. The dang bug has a short, but deadly life span when exposed to the atmosphere. It rose rapidly in the air when released and the jet flew right through the cloud. Within 15 minutes, every person on board was dead and the plane crashed.

Consistent with anything having Clancy’s name attached, this techno-thriller is told at a breathtaking, breakneck pace. Two-thirds of the book is planning and speculation. Once Black Wasp arrives in South Africa, the whole issue is contained within maybe 24hrs. But not before a mainland release of the toxin creates South Africa’s own version of 9/11. Love Clancy? You’ll love this. 

ECD

Fire and Vengeance

Fire and Vengeance is the second Robert McCaw book that I’ve reviewed, and it’s the third in the series with the protagonist Chief Detective Koa Kane who lives and works on the big island of Hawaii. I raved about the second book, Off the Grid, and this one is equally gripping. In the midst of a massive storm there’s a volcanic eruption. Because a grade school KonaWili, was built directly over a volcanic vent and the eruption happened when the school was full, 50 people were killed, mostly students along with some teachers. In the course of the investigation, it was discovered that someone tried to plug the volcanic vent – and that didn’t work. Given that the Chief of the department was on the mainland for surgery, the responsibility for dealing with all of the fall out was left to Kane.

McCaw captured the essence of this heartbreaking disaster, and Koa began the investigation which uncovered a feud between political rivals, Hawaii’s may, George Tanaka and Governor Bobbie Mahoe. Kane also learned about the longstanding corruption of the landed class of Hawaii who continued to control all major developments on the islands. Kane learned that Francine Na’auao, the Department of Education chief, had an apparent ownership in the housing development where the school was located. But, the money was hidden and Kane wasn’t sure how he could prove it.

So, the book is about untangling these stories, and McCaw filled out the characters with others, including the younger brother of Kane who had a longstanding history of psychopathic behaviors. This story kept me engaged. Now, I’ll go back and pick up McCaw’s first book in the series, Death of a Messenger.