#1491. Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra

This is one of those sweeping tales of a family’s tribulations over decades. Didn’t hurt that it is set (mostly) in the movie industry. Maria Laguna was born in Rome shortly before the outbreak of WWII. Father is a lawyer who is no fan of Il Duce. Once some subversive writing of his gets noticed by the secret police, he is imprisoned. Mom and Maria scrape by for a short time before emigrating to the US. Specifically, LA where Maria manages to become work her way up to become an associate producer for a 2^nd tier studio. Her mom isn’t a fan of her chosen vocation. The studio boss must testify in front on Congress. Her Asian boyfriend/actor can’t break through the stereotypes. And Maria must suffer the indignities of the studio system that is known for its misogyny, discrimination, type casting, its underworld connections and every other stereotype we’ve associated with LaLa Land.

I knew going in that this was a bit out of our typical story matter. Most of that description comes from the jacket blurb. Can’t remember who recommended this to me, but I reserved the book from our library. Pretty hefty volume at over 400 pages. The author has won numerous book awards (that I’d never heard of) and his vocabulary is through the roof. Way way way above my pay grade. 

I managed to get through about 75 pages at a tortoise pace that allowed me to check a dictionary almost every page. Some words I could figure out the meaning based on the context of the sentence/paragraph. Most I couldn’t. Only way I could’ve gone further was if I’d had the book on my Kindle so I could quickly determine a word’s meaning. As this is new (2022) and a hard copy, I just gave up. I’m sure this is a wonderfully ‘epic’ story with legions of fans that could end up multiple 'best of 2022' lists or be green lit as one of the 10+ episode shows that populate Netflix/Hulu/etc. Glowing reviews are all over the Internet.   

It’s just not my cup of tea.

ECD

#1490. Exposed – A Circle of the Red Lily Novel by Anna J. Stewart

Now this is an interesting mix of characters:

Riley Temple – freelance photographer/paparazzi . . . Owner of the Temple House (an apartment building where studios used to house contract actors, mostly women) . . . Lives with Moxie (great aunt, once a major player in the old studio system of Hollywood) . . . houses a colorful mix of women . . . In old downtown LA.

Detective Quinn Burton. 4^th generation cop . . . 10y as a homicide detective . . .  couple in his bloodline had risen to become Chief so the pressure is on for him to decide on his career path . . . partnered with newbie Wallace (not ‘Wally’).

Riley not only follows leads for to get photos of celebs, but she also has a hobby of finding old undeveloped film from repossessed storage lockers or pawn shops. Develops/prints them just because she finds it interesting. She gets this one roll from a pawn shop. Within minutes of leaving the shop, the owner and a homeless man who squats in the shop’s parking lot are found severely beaten or killed. She learns about this after tracking a starlet to a quiet hideaway. After rushing back to the pawnshop, someone tries to ransack her car while cops are working the scene.

Detective Burton is curious, obviously, but she quickly figures out that the rolls of film are in demand and says nothing. She returns home, develops/prints some of the photos only to discover that the photos are some sort of a snuff scene showing images of a woman bound, gagged, raped, and finally murdered. The rush is on to identify the victim and learn more about the circumstances of her death.

Burton knows Riley is hiding something and stays close. In the process of trying to pry bits of info out of Riley, we come to see that both Riley and Quinn are attracted to each other. The book becomes mostly a murder mystery with a trace of romance novel thrown in.

I’ll stop there. To say more would trigger a cascade of spoilers and we wouldn’t want that, would we. Suffice it to say, both stories are woven together tightly. I’m not a romance novel type, but I’m OK with this story line primarily because Riley and Quinn are just so dang likeable.

Doing a bit sleuthing myself, I learned that Stewart has 20 (20!) romance novels to her credit and in this book, her first foray into cop/crime themes (I assume. Haven’t looked at her other books), she has stretched well beyond her comfort zone. The romance part is entirely believable. The murder mystery and police procedural are deftly portrayed. I was entirely invested into both stories.

And here’s the only spoiler . . . This is but a prologue into a larger investigation about cults, murder, coverups, politics, and Hollywood. Lots of places for Riley/Quinn to explore in all that. And that’s story line I’ll want to follow.

Thanks to the good folks at NetGalley for making this book available. Just published 11/15/22. 

ECD

The President's Henchman by Joseph Flynn

Can’t count how many, but I seem to have read more than a couple books recently about the first female president. Here’s another.

President Patricia Darden Grant stepped into the national spotlight in Congress representing the ritzy northside Chicago suburbs. Before that she was a model and actress, so she wasn’t an unknown. She was married to Andy Grant, a wealthy philanthropist. Lots of old money in his family. But infertility had them childless in their lakeshore estate.

A few terms in, the issue that catapulted Patricia to the top of the Republican ticket was abortion. Being a moderate, her stance appealed to both red and blue voters. But the far, far-right wing Republicans of the populace weren’t as enthusiastic. The wife of a TV evangelist even threatened her. Telling Grant that she’d learn what it was like to lose someone close. The Grants amped up security around them and their home. Even had anti-assault barriers sunk into the lake bed off their shoreline. Worked fine until one evening, when Patricia was in Washington, Andy was seen in their 2^nd floor bedroom . Clear enough for a rocket propelled grenade fired from a boat took out the upper corner of the house. All those lakefront barriers were to guard against an assault, not a shoulder-fired grenade.

Local police, headed by Chief James McGill, and the FBI were able to convince a jury of the pastor’s wife’s guilt in the premeditated murder plan and she was convicted and imprisoned on death row. The pastor’s flock has a long memory. Not only about Patricia’s stance on abortion, but also towards Chief McGill and his chief investigator Margaret (Sweetie) Sweeney whose investigation and testimony sealed the deal.

In the months and years that followed Andy Grant’s murder, Patricia and McGill slowly became an item and eventually married. Grant was divorced with 3 kids ranging in age from 10 to 17. They live with their mother in Chicago area and the kids adore Patricia. These two blended families seem to get along quite well. Having the President in the family does have its perks.

When Patricia’s political star became transcendent, she was easily nominated and elected to be President. Much more than a pretty face. The sympathy vote didn’t hurt, either.

The nation now has ‘the first hubby’ to contend with. As a former police chief, he can’t see joining the DC social set and doing photo ops. With his wife’s OK, and the begrudging Secret Service going along, McGill sets himself up as a DC private investigator. You can bet his clientele will be well screened.

His first case is Chana Lochlan, part of the White House press corps and rising TV investigative journalist. She’s been receiving intimidating calls and notes. Not enough to involve the DC Metro police. But enough to think someone might be trying to use Chana’s White House access to get to the President.

One of the first military issues that Patricia must deal with involves an affair between USAF Colonel Carina Linberg (potentially the Air Force’s first female general) and Captain Dexter Cowan, a Naval officer in the Pentagon trying to add some stars to his shoulders. But he’s married, she's not. The case being investigated in adultery. A classic he said she said thing. A freshly minted OSI investigator, Air Force Captain Welborn Yates catches a doozy for his first case. Worrying that Pentagon brass might unduly pressure Capt Yates, President Grant has him assigned to be under her office. Pentagon ain’t happy about that.

Then there is Dr. Damon Todd. Civilian psychiatrist who seems to have worked out a way to modify personalities and manipulate his patients (subjects) to act how he pleases and remember nothing. Think of the technique as chemical hypnosis. Each ‘test’ so far is a success, some tests are even mildly humorous. Dr. Todd is trying to sell the CIA on his methods to ensure clandestine agents would effectively be immune to torture and divulge no secrets.

And if that wasn’t enough for President Grant and McGill to contend with, Cuba is acting up. And the pastor’s flock maintains a 24-hr vigil at the White House. The final straw is someone (church? Other?) threatens McGill’s children.

Flynn has a lot of balls in the air, right? And you know what? Despite the complexity of the intersecting plots, Flynn keeps everything heading towards interesting conclusions without getting all tangled up in plot details. To give all those plots the page space needed, this book is long, but not once did I even pay attention how much was left in the book. Sign of a seasoned writer.

But somehow, I ended with this book on my Kindle, so I assumed it was a recent release. Au  contraire. When I bothered to look, I was surprised to see this has a 2009 copyright and is the first (of 13) James McGill books. One per year and has maybe a half dozen titles prior to this book. Glad I stumbled onto this at book 1. Now I just must find more of these. A couple other Joseph Flynn books have been favorably reviewed here. I really liked this book and bet the series will be a ton of fun.

East Coast Don

Long Shadows by David Baldacci

It has been a year since I read a new David Baldacci novel, and Long Shadows is what you would expect, a well-written novel with a great plot line regarding murders and intrigue. Baldacci has had multiple books reviewed in this blog which have generally been reviewed favorably. Amos Decker is an FBI consultant who does not fit the typical FBI special agent mold. He won’t wear a tie, and he does not pull his punches when faced with a policy decision by a boss with whom he disagrees. While the FBI seems to want to get rid of this pain in the ass employee, the problem is that he keeps solving cases, maintaining a 100% conviction rate during his decades with the bureau. This is the seventh book in the Memory Man Series, so titled because of Decker’s perfect recall.

 

In Long Shadows, Decker has been sent to southern Florida to solve a case involving the murder of a female federal judge. Her body was found in her own home, and she had been butchered with multiple stab wounds. In the same house, there was also the corpse of her body guard who had curiously been hired privately by the judge rather than using the Department of Justice to provide her with security. Unlike the judge, the body guard had been shot.

 

Meanwhile, Decker was assigned a new partner, a young black woman named Frederica White who seemed to be the victim of racism in the department. Decker was famous for being difficult to work with and hard on his partners, so a scratchy relationship between Decker and White gradually evolved into a good working partnership. Both Decker and White were traumatized by the loss of a child.

 

It was Decker who thought the two murders which happened nearly at the same time might have actually been done by two separate murderers. The cast of characters involved the judge’s ex-husband, an attorney, and her 17 year old son who was a football phenomenon. The ex-husband, a horrible alcoholic, was obviously not over the loss of this relationship, but the son was his father’s alibi for the time of the deaths.

 

I didn’t see the end coming in this complex plot with many more wrinkles that I’ve reviewed here, and Baldacci was a pro at disguising the ending. There is a formulaic quality to this murder mystery, but the story is a good one and it still gets my strong recommendation.

 

West Coast Don

Wolf Trap by Connor Sullivan

President Angela Buchanan was just an inexperienced member of the House. But she and her husband had a vision. A Green vision. And when Bobby learned more about the potential of thorium molten salt reactors (it’s a real thing. Look it up) to replace fossil fuels, their political future took off. Other countries started following her lead and started building their own reactors. Being the elected member of the duo, Angela rode the wave into the political mainstream. Even to the point of people whispering that she’s the perfect candidate for a new green age. As her star blossomed, Bobby died suddenly of a heart attack. The resulting sympathy vote propelled her to the top of the ticket and then the White House.

Over her first 3 years in office, she continued to push the thorium initiative at home and abroad. Estimates that 7 reactors worldwide would effectively make fossil fuel a minor fuel source. President Buchanan put forth an international accord that would show which countries would follow her green plan. The first to publicly boast support came from an unexpected source – Saudi Arabia.

The current king is in failing health. The eldest son, a Kingdom fighter pilot, was killed maybe 8-10 years earlier when his jet was brought down by Iran. The next in line when the King finally dies, Raza bin Zaman, is a UK-educated moderate who doesn’t want to see the Kingdom lose its preeminence in the energy field. He and President Buchanan have formed a mighty alliance dedicated to getting the rest of the world on board. So far, around a dozen countries have joined in and dozens of others are lining up to sign the accord.

Brian Rhome is getting by driving a ski cat at a Montana ski resort. Once a group leader for the CIAs Ground Branch (the Agency’s paramilitary arm), Brian has become a recluse. When some intel on the leader of Al Qaeda Arabian Peninsula was deemed unreliable, Brian bullied his team into acting anyway. Brian’s entire team was wiped out in an ambush sending Brian into the mountains to deal with his emotions that are rapidly circling the drain.

Things are about to get interesting:

1.     Signing of the Green Accord will be broadcast internationally

2.     A Saudi strike force raids a Yemeni convoy transporting captured Saudi soldiers

3.     Ground Branch contacts Brian with rock solid intel that the AQAP leader (who led the extermination of his team) will be exposed at a wedding in Yemen.

4.     Not everyone in the US is as interested in the Green Accord as is the President

A complex, layered international plot is underway. A plot whose genesis dates to Reza’s brother’s death. If all the plans come together as planned, two outcomes will result. First, the Green Accord will be squashed. Second, the US and Iran, where tensions have always been on edge, will be in an all-out war.

In many fields, like sports and entertainment, there exists a pattern sometimes called a Sophomore Slump where an auspicious debut is followed by a less than spectacular 2^nd effort. Sullivan’s debut novel, 2021’s Sleeping Bear, was an out-of-the-park home run. When I learned (from our good friends at Emily Bestler Books) that Sullivan’s next book was due in the first quarter of 2023, I was both excited and a bit cautious (that sophomore slump thing). 

Have no fear. Sullivan’s 2^nd effort not only exceeds the quality, tension, and breathless pacing of Sleeping Bear, it grabs hold with a series of secondary plots, code names, back-stabbing and unforeseen twists that drags us through the White House, CIA, FBI, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and Switzerland before finally returning Rhome to the mountains of Montana.

Sullivan can no longer be thought of as a 1-time flash on the pan. With two solid, and I do mean solid, efforts, I’m adding Sullivan to my power rotation of must-read authors. Plan ahead for this one boys and girls. Set aside a few days when you won’t be disturbed. Hell, even if you are disturbed, you’ll probably shoo them away with a terse, ‘NOT NOW!’

Thanks again to the good folks at Emily Bestler Books and Atria Books for the advance reader copy. Made my day.

If you are interested, I close with one sad thought – It’s not available until March 14, 2023. That’s 4.5 months so mark your calendars.

ECD