1570. The Club by Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg

 One of my infrequent forays into non-fiction. The subtitle of the book says it all: How The English Premier League Became the Wildest, Richest, and Most Disruptive Force in Sports.

A soccer book . . . of course. You were expecting something else from moi?

You don't need to know much about English professional soccer to grasp the premise of this book. All the history you need to know is provided. Main points. Pre 1990, English soccer was dull, predictable, and falling behind the rest of Europe. Owners were little more than local businessmen who viewed club ownership as sort of a hobby. Bragging rights at the pubs was the main goal. Making money was far down the list of priorities. 

But there was sort of a hierarchy. Of the 20 top tier (first division) clubs, 5 ruled the roost: Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool, and Manchester United. These owners were getting a bit restless so they decided the only way to drag the rest of the league into shape was to separate from the Football League's control and form their own. In the mid 1990s, the English Premier League was formed.

What the Premier League lacked was a marketing vision so they turned to the best there is - the NFL. Here they learned how to brand their clubs beyond the confines of their home stadium. Some NFL owners also saw a potential opportunity and started buying into ownership until maybe a half dozen clubs had majority owners from across the pond. That also helped foreign ownership from China, Malaysia, Thailand, and notably, oil money from the Gulf states. Lots of money. 

From here, owners went on a spending spree on stadiums, amenities, players, and managers. And with all this spending, the owners needed new sources of cash flow and that meant TV. 

minor tidbit: in 1983, Arsenal FC was valued at just under $2 million. Tottenham Hotspurs was valued at $2.4 million. Today, each are valued at between 2.5 and 3 billion euros. Not a bad return on investment.

The authors (both are seasoned sport and business journalists) tell the story mostly from the owners suite as owners try to outmaneuver the competition for players, managers, and ever increasing slices of the TV pie. And as dry as that might sound, it's actually an engaging read.

There is this Brit, now US citizen, (a long suffering fan of Everton FC) who does blogs, is part of the duo that does the excellent Men In Blazers TV show, writes books, and is all over social media about the EPL. His cover blub perfectly summarizes the book:

"A rollicking tale . . . part Great Expectations, part Game of Thrones."

Couldn't have said it any better myself.

Oh, and by the way. I'd be remiss if I didn't help you out. You don't want your Brit friends to look down their noses at you (any more than they already do). The authors correct we poor slubs on this side of the Atlantic.

It's not called the English pra-MEER League. It's the English PREM-yer League.   

You're welcome.

ECD

1569. Dead End Deal by Allen Wyler

Dead End Deal by Allen Wyler is a medical thriller. The author is a retired neurosurgeon, who  then retired from his second job as a medical director for a start-up med tech, before taking up writing on a full-time basis. Since 2005, he’s written 11 novels, and this book is a re-release of a book he originally published in 2013.

 

This is a story about the creation of a new technology for treating dementia, but the protagonist, Jon Ritter, is not only battling completing work in time for the NIH (National Institute of Health) in order to get approval to test his technique on humans, but he’s also battling his own board of directors, and others who are willing to kill in order to gain control of this new process.

 

While I thought the book had a great fundamental idea or the sort I could expect from Robin Cook, it just did not happen for me. I thought there was too little plot and too much chase. As the scene of the drama moved to Seoul, South Korean, Ritter had a love story as another subplot that kept getting interrupted by the murders happening around him. At any rate, I thought the character development was lacking and I did feel any real attachment for Ritter. The book does not get my recommendation.

1568. Autopsy by Patricia Cornwell

Autopsy by Patricia Cornwell is the first of her novels that I’ve read in about 15 years. Her prior books have been reviewed here, but we experienced a corruption of our data a couple years ago, and those reviews have been lost in cyber space. I was quite excited by the quality of her stories on about novels one through four, but by books five, six and seven, I had grown tired of what I felt was formulaic plot repetition, and I was not impressed with what she was doing with her long-term character development.

 

Autopsy is the 25^th novel about Kay Scarpetta, the Medical Examiner. In this story, Scarpetta had freshly returned to her job as the ME in Virginia. Immediately, her boss was depicted as a bad guy although he was responsible for bringing her home, and then she had her usual struggles with him over the course of the book, as well as her secretary who used to be the boss’ secretary.

 

Scarpetta was surrounded by the same characters of her husband, Benton, her niece, Lucy, Pete Marino, and her sister, Lucy’s mom. In the course of the book, Scarpetta solved the case of another serial killer, and she solved a murder that occurred in an orbiting medical lab in space. The latter case saw her called to the White House to help in that matter. Cornwell did bring the plots to a satisfying conclusion, but I’m not really interested in the story, and it does not get my recommendation for other readers. I expect it will be at least another decade before I choose to read more Cornwell.

 

1567. The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly

The Concrete Blonde is the third novel in the Harry Bosch series by the master crime writer, Michael Connelly. It was originally published in 1994 and was reviewed in this blog by ECD in 2011. Unfortunately that review has been corrupted in the years since we began writing reviews. It’s a follow-up book to The Black Ice which cannot be found in the blog either, although I’m sure all of the reviewers here have read it. That was a story about a serial killer known as the Dollmaker, which ended with Bosch shooting and killing the suspected killer. The Concrete Blonde is a follow-up novel in which more similar murders have been discovered. Bosch began to be uncertain that he had really solved the prior case. Meanwhile, the wife of the murdered man is suing the LAPD and Detective Bosch for having killed the wrong man. In the course of this, we learn more about Harry’s early life, having been born to a prostitute who was murdered when he was 11 years old. That murder was never solved, but this Dollmaker case forced Harry to looked at unexplored parts of himself, a most painful process. Once again, these early Bosch books show why Connelly is the king of crime novel writers.

1566. All The Sinners Bleed

 

East Coast Don has already reviewed two of S.A. Cosby’s novels, and Cosby has written about ten books already. His latest novel is my first, and I am so very impressed. As you might guess from the title, this is noir literature, and in Cosby’s case, it’s southern noir. Perhaps it would be more accurate to call it southern unholy darkness. He captures the racial flavor of living in rural Charon County, Virginia, a mythical place (although there is a small town called Sharon). In the beginning of the book, the author wonders about the people who would have chosen such an ominous name for the area. In Greek mythology, Charon, or the Boatman, was the figure who transported souls of the dead across the river Styx to Hades or hell. In this novel, Cosby writes about characters who become as ugly as humanly possible. I'll add that I listened to this in audiobook form, and the reader, Adam Lazarre-White, certainly added to the haunting experience that this novel provides.

 

A former FBI agent from the Fort Wayne, Indiana office, Titus Crowne has chosen to leave the FBI and return home where he ran and won the election for local sheriff. The author hinted that something nefarious had occurred in Fort Wayne which led to Crowe’s decision to leave the Bureau, but that was never detailed. Now I’ll have to read his earlier books to hopefully find out about that. As the author writes it, life in Charon County feels like the Old South. Progressivism has yet to find its way there. Racism is everywhere, and it is discovered that there have been multiple murders of seven black boys and girls, aged about 11 to 17 years. The murders have been going on for years and it is the new black sheriff who makes this discovery. Titus (same first name as the actor who plays Harry Bosch, Titus Welliver) is profoundly impacted by these deaths of boys who have never been reported missing.

 

To be succinct, Cosby deals with racism, religion, families, and politics as they exist and impact the locals in Charon. The character development is awesome and the plot is most believable. I don’t usually read literature that is this dark, but I could not put the book down and now I want to read more of Cosby. Furthermore, Cosby successfully brings this complex story into a very fitting conclusion. This novel gets a 5/5 and A+ rating. I can see why East Coast Don has raved about this author.

PS: I just heard a 37-min interview of Cosby on NPR's Fresh Air. Clearly, Cosby is one bright, articulate, and introspective man. If possible, I like him even more than before I heard the interview. This aired on 1/29/23.

High Wire by Kam Majd (1565)

 

This is the first book that Men Reading Books has reviewed by Kam Majd. Originally written in 2003, it has now been rereleased by Mind Stir Media, and it has been nominated as a finalist for the Edgar Award. Kam Majd worked as an airline pilot for 44 years.

 

Captain Kate Gallagher was an airline pilot with Jet East, in fact, she had been the youngest woman who had ever risen to fly first seat in the commercial air industry. On the current flight, she was paired for the first time with Flight Officer Edmond Bell. While Ms. Gallagher had proven herself over and over as a competent pilot in the years she had worked for Jet East, Mr. Bell was five years older than her and had been passed over for a first seat job. Clearly, he was a misogynist, and really as asshole in most regards. As their flight was headed for JFK, the winter weather was awful and kept getting worse. The vision outside was nearly zero, and the wind was blowing at 50+ mph. Meanwhile, Bell was complaining about everything and announced that he wanted the night to end. Gallagher was having trouble with her equipment giving her the data she needed to safely set the plane down on the runway, so she chose to do a fly around for a better landing. Once again, as she was about to set the plane down, her instruments went haywire and she could not control the aircraft. The plane inverted and landed upside down. Kate recovered from a short period of consciousness to find herself hanging upside down, and she found Bell also strapped into his seat and bleeding. She passed out again on the way to the hospital and awoke there three days later. She learned that six people had died and there were scores of injured passengers. Kate was horrified.

 

A cargo plane had gone down recently, killing the pilot and co-pilot, and it was blamed on pilot error. Although there was no evidence of a current depression, it was thought the pilot had intended to commit suicide. In Kate’s case, despite her fantastic record, she was blamed for incompetence. Allegedly, she was hired to improve the male-female hiring record of Jet East, and it was being said in the media that she had been inappropriately rushed into her role as captain. The national air safety board, in its investigation of the crash, was leaning towards pilot error having been the cause, but meanwhile there was a corporate struggle for control of the empire that developed and maintained the computerized flight systems that were being used in all aircraft world wide, and in fact, systems that were modified to fit all modes of travel, be that car, ship, etc. As Kate struggled to understand what had occurred, we were introduced to her family including her immigrant Greek mother and her now fatherless 5 year old daughter, Molly. She had risen to her job as airline captain after coming from meager circumstances.

 

Kate Gallagher is a fantastic protagonist. The pace of this book is rapid as Kate encounters one problem after another as it is suggested that she was incompetent rather than a hero who had saved the lives of her passengers when total fatality was a more likely outcome. The press was not on her side. She discovered that there was a sabotage underway with not only her aircraft and the one that had crashed just before her own tragedy, but there were more such accidents that had been programed into more aircraft, and that would mean the death of countless more people. Meanwhile, she kept rising to the challenges which faced her, requiring even higher heroic actions.

 

This book gets a 5/5 rating, and I’m pleased to know there is a sequel in the works with Kate Gallagher as the protagonist. Also, I plan to soon read a second novel by the author, Silent Voices. Thanks to Janet Hudson Hagan at Social Deviants for the chance to read this book.

Find Me by Alafair Burke (#1564)

 

There’s no prior review in this blog of a novel by Alafair Burke, a prolific writer in her own right with 18 crime novels and a nomination for the Edgar Award for best novel for The Ex, a 2016 publication. She has had two series, and the novel I just finished Find Me, was published in 2021. Find Me is apparently the sixth and final novel in her Ellie Hatcher series. It sure likes like Men Reading Books has failed to consider this novelist, and it looks like we have 17 more books that deserve a deep dive on our part.

 

Find Me begins with Hope Miller choosing to leave her protected environment in a small New Jersey town. 15 years earlier, she had been in a terrible auto accident when she was thrown from a car only to have no clue as to her identity. Typically patients with traumatic amnesia have a gradual return of their memories, but Hope did not recover any clues about her old self. There was always the background question about whether she was being truthful or was purposely hiding her identity for unknown reasons, and the book brings that issue to rest. (In the course of my career, I’ve only been involved in a couple cases in which traumatic amnesia was an issue, and in each of those, the claim of amnesia proved to be fraudulent.) Her best friend, Lindsay Kelly, was a defense attorney in NYC. She had been Hope’s chief protector for the last 15 years and worried that Hope’s need to strike out on her own was a more dangerous plan that Hope realized. The new home that Hope chose was in East Hampton. Lindsay’s fear materialized when Hope vanished, leaving only a drop of blood which matched a DNA sample that was a connection to a Kansas serial killer. It was that drop of blood that led Lindsay to Ellie Hatcher, the daughter of the cop who had been chasing the Kansas killer, the cop who had alleged died by suicide, which Ellie always thought could not be true. (Now I want to read the Ellie Hatcher series.)

 

There are issues from a sexual preditor as well as the connection of that person to someone who was seeking a political career. So, there are a couple old secrets which Burke brings into the plot. This is a well-written book with solid character and plot development. It gets my strong recommendation, and I’m excited to read another Alafair novel, and perhaps I’ll chose The Ex to read next.

The Jews of Birzai: The Last Sabbath (#1563)

 

Okay, once again, I’ve wondered off our usual genre path into ugly nonfiction. While traveling, I met Michael R. Bien, the author of The Jews of Birzai: The Last Sabbath. Not surprisingly, our conversation turned to books, and I choose to read his book. I should tell you that while it is difficult to read the close up look at the impact of the early WWII events on a small community in northern Lithuania, nonetheless, this is an important story.

 

I’ve always found reading about the holocaust to be extremely painful. The level of inhumanity that manifested during that era and the failure of society to contain the monstrous behaviors of its leaders is a sad statement about our human species. Having a background in history, I have probably read much more about WWII than most people, but this book provided a different take. It looked at a small shtetl (a small Jewish village or town located in Eastern Europe) and particularly the individuals who lived there. Essentially, this was a microhistory of the holocaust. As Hitler began his aggression against other European countries and then signed a non-aggression back with Russia, the locals in Birzai debated what steps they needed to take. For most of the inhabitants of the shtetl, there could be no escape from murder, but a few fortunate people found a way out. Bien tracks them all in his book in what is a meaningful addition to the holocaust literature.

 

1562. The Vicar by A.J.Chambers

Terry Nolan is dead. Died maybe 30 years ago. Divorced. Father to a dead daughter. He wanted out, but MI5 encouraged him to stay. Gave him a mission. Northern Ireland to work undercover. The successes of his work gave him more and more authority and independence. To the point where he managed a series of other undercovers referred to as Parishioners. Terry is their lead - The Vicar.

One of his parishioners in NYC sends a message. I'm blown. I need out. Terry is stationed on his boat in Boston where is he ambushed and the two bruisers call him out by his real name, not his cover name. His cover is also blown. Shea, is missing. She's nowhere to be found. He also learns from London that all of his Parishioners have been killed. Terry assumes Shea's dead too, but still has to know for sure. While searching her apartment, he's started by Kristen, a civilian who has taken up with Shea. She knows nothing, but refuses to let Terry go off on his own and ends up tagging along. 

In Nolan's search, he uncovers some disturbing information. The Troubles of Northern Ireland are far from over. Terrorists have managed to uncover a method of using nuclear waste to make a dirty bomb and they've make four of them. All are in transit to the UK via ship. If detonated, each bomb could make large chunks of he UK uninhabitable for decades or even centuries. The race is on to find each cargo ship, then search those beasts for a single container and then defuse each bomb. 

All right. I thought the last book was at best just OK. Not this one. The Vicar is a breathless race against time in NYC, the Atlantic, and separate destinations in the UK. All leading to a whopping twist at the end. 

This book rocks. And you know what? It's Chambers' first novel. And what a novel it is. Great characters, plotting, and pacing. A heckuva first effort. Can't wait to see what Chambers has up his sleeve for his next. 

Available 19 September 2023. Thanks to NetGalley for making this advance reader copy available.

ECD

1561. Tournament of Shadows by Andrew Watts and Dale M. Nelson

That China is trying to expand its sphere of influence is old news. How they are doing it may not be. In this book, China has been marketing software that will revolutionize how seaports handle incoming and outgoing ships and their cargo. Sounds fine until it’s learned that the software also peaks into how each country manages trade – cargo destinations, payments, transportations . . . effectively they can know each country’s trade infrastructure. And if they know all that, they can control worldwide trade entirely. It’s been installed in many countries, and more are signing on because, on the surface, it operates seamlessly with each country’s own managerial methods.

It's being installed in an Italian port, but some anti-globalists try to execute a plan that will force a significant delay by China. The US, not yet a customer, sends a team to watch over the installation quietly . . . until the shooting starts.

This band of terrorists is probably not effectively organized or funded to pull off their goals. Behind the scenes is a cabal of people whose goal is for more international independence than China would like to see.

To achieve China’s goals, they’ve had to incorporate AI into their products. But so have other countries and business organizations. In particular, Archon. On the surface, Archon uses AI for such projects as food and water distribution. Who wouldn’t like that? Behind the scenes, the CEO, Guy Hawkinson (nephew of a sitting US Senator who has an eye on the Oval Office) would like nothing better than to see the world thrown into chaos. And depending on how the major players get along, the possibility of WWIII is a possibility.

The good guys are that other cabal - Trinity. They fund and provide personnel to help the US and other players avoid the coming chaos. Then there is the litany of American and British 3-letter agencies trying to avoid any major conflict.

Want chaos? How about Folsom Dam outside of Sacramento going offline and opening all its doors? A rogue Russian was behind that, and the US knows it. Now to execute a proportionate response. Then the air traffic control system for east of the Mississippi goes out. That wasn’t the Russians. They don’t want to get blamed, so they too want to know who did it.

In all the investigations that follow, we are introduced to a plant with Hawk Technologies, a Chinese super spy, all the AI nerds within various arms of the US intelligence community.  

Lions and tigers and bears, OH MY indeed. The authors have a lot of plates spinning on sticks. As I went deeper and deeper into the book, I started to get the feeling that this storyline was an extension of any number of James Bond books where our hero has to face down the likes of criminal organizations like SMERSH and SPECTOR only this time it’s HawkTech/Archon vs. Trinity with the government agents filling in some gaps.

In another world, I might have thought the plot was just too outlandish and over the top and needed to be put down. But I charged on mostly because the book is so dang well written and plotted. But for me, quality writing doesn’t save the book (actually the 4^th is a series on technothrillers). It’s good and lots of folks will enjoy this. The authors have gotten this far so they have a valued audience. I just thought it was just a bit too intricate and overblown 

Available 20 June 2023. Thanks to NetGalley for making this advance reader copy available.

ECD