When Canaries Die

When Canaries Die is the third book in a three-book series in which the protagonist is a hotshot Harvard attorney Pierce Evangelista. This book is also the first, but not the last, review of a novel in this blog by Luis Figueredo. After finishing this book and before writing the review, I immediately downloaded the first book in the series, Dime. 

The story is a gruesome one about the next deadly virus that attacked the world. It originated with the Kayapo Indians in Brazil and it was quickly realized as having a fatality rate as bad as Ebola (93%) and was at least as contagious as Covid-19. As the disease rapidly spread throughout the world, there was no vaccine available and no other treatments were known. Initially, it was thought that blood transfusions would help delay the disease, and as a result, the world’s supply of blood was quickly exhausted. People were desperate to find a new source of blood, and it was then that Mexican cartels discovered it was more profitable to sell blood that it was to sell drugs. They began murdering people who were migrating through Mexico to get to the U.S. Meanwhile, the current American administration had put in place even more severe standards for letting anyone into the country as one means of containing the virus. Those people who were trapped on the Mexican side of the border became the cartels’ targets, and thousands were killed. The cartels were able to sell all the blood they could produce to one unscrupulous company, Lighthouse. The masterminds of Lighthouse managed to get the American administration to pass a law that would protect the company from any criminal liability.

 

It was an elegant argument before a federal judge when Evangelista explained the connection of the title of the book to the current horror, likening the use of canaries in coal mines as a safety measure to detect toxic gases, a technique that always killed the canaries. He said, “Today, the pandemic has made poor people targets as a resource for blood so others stricken by the virus can receive treatment. The migrants camped on our border desperately seeking asylum are human canaries.”

 

The first half of the book was about the spread of the disease and the worldwide panic that the disease cause, and the second half was about the legal battle between Evangelista and Lighthouse. This was one great legal drama. I’m ready for more from Luis Figueredo.

The Good Lord Bird

 

 

The Good Lord Bird by James McBride, the author of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store which I recently reviewed, is a historical fiction novel about the life of John Brown. As an undergraduate American History major, I was well aware of John Brown’s raid on the federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia which occurred in late 1859. I knew that this event was an important precursor to the Civil War. The greatest fear in the South was of a slave rebellion. John Brown hoped that the raid he engineered would lead to the capture of federal weapons, and as a result, would stimulate a slave rebellion. However, the raid was a miserable failure in which many of Brown’s small army were killed including a couple of his sons. Brown was shot and badly injured although he survived until his trial. He was captured, found guilty of fomenting an insurrection, and subsequently hung for treason. But that was really the extent of my knowledge of John Brown and the failed raid. Even when I did an online search for information about John Brown, I got only a little more details about his earlier years.

 

McBride has filled in a lot more information. The narrator of the story was actually a slave boy, about 12 years old in 1956 when he managed to join up with Brown because it was obvious Brown was fond of him and would provide him with food and shelter. Brown had been married twice and fathered a total of 22 children, some of whom died as infants or children. His first wife died and his second wife out lived him. Despite fathering so many children, Brown was often on the road, first as a preacher of apparent biblical material that he often made up. Because literacy was not common, there were few people who could challenge him about his knowledge of the Bible. When he became an obsessed abolitionist, he traveled with a small army to Kansas where he participated in the “bleeding Kansas” when the slavery issue in Kansas was to be determined by a vote of those living in Kansas. It was a most violent time, and Brown came to the attention of federal soldiers after he killed a couple local people there.

 

Meanwhile, the narrator was initially thought by Brown to be a girl who he affectionately called “Onion.” Onion chose to maintain his false identity as a young girl because he was afraid to challenge Brown who was a severe task master, and Onion perceived it was just safer to be a girl in the face of the violence happening around him. McBride mostly concentrated the story in the years in Kansas in 1956 until John Brown’s raid in October 1959, and his hanging two months later. The hanging was was only three months before the first inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as President. It was only about 5 weeks after Lincoln’s inauguration that the Civil War began with the firing on Fort Sumter.

 

The dialogue in The Good Lord Bird was incredible, spoken like the language of the time. In the drama of the story, I sometimes felt that Onion was like the ESPN sports commentator Stephen A. Smith who almost constantly yells at his listeners. But the language itself was rich as it seemed to accurately portray the generally uneducated people about whom McBride mostly wrote. Whether it was true or not, McBride wrote of Brown’s friendship with Frederick Douglas and his encounters with Harriet Tubman. There’s no doubt that he was one of the most famous men in the United States at that time. From Kansas to Virginia, John Brown was often operating on bad information, and time-after-time, he had lucky encounters in which he avoided injury or death. He always claimed that the almighty would protect him. He charged on with his goal of abolition, despite the loss of one son along the way before his arrival at Harper’s Ferry, and the loss of two more sons during the raid. He was constantly trying to build up his army only to constantly see his troops take their leave of him. He was continuously and comically preaching his version of biblical words and stories as support for his intent to free the slaves.

 

I found this story to be captivating and I recommend it highly.

 

 

Under My Skin

 

It has happened to me again. Although we’ve now reviewed 1,779 books, mostly mysteries and thrillers, thanks to an old friend (yes, that means we’re old and have known each other at least 50 years), I’ve learned about Lisa Unger. She writes in our genre and has written about 30 novels – what a substantial body of work not to have been discovered by Men Reading Books before now. I listened to Under My Skin, which was written in 2018, in audiobook format via the library app Libby.

 

The protagonist, Poppy, had her very ideal life disrupted when her husband Jack was murdered while running in the park in the early morning hours. Although they often ran together, they had just had a big disagreement and Poppy was still angry and chose not to join him that morning. She was then haunted by the notion that he might not have been shot if she had been along. The crime had gone unsolved for a year during which she had a complete emotional breakdown, was hospitalized, and was treated with significant doses of tranquilizing medication. Poppy and Jack had been working together in a business that Jack had dreamed up and she was willing to join him. They both had been free-lance photographers and had very interesting lives traveling the world in pursuit of their art. Their business was one of representing other photographers, and that meant staying at home in New York City to manage the careers of lots of other artists. It was a loss to give up doing art themselves, but the business was very successful and provided them with a rich lifestyle. After her partial recovery from her grief, which was sometimes literally psychotic, Poppy became determined to keep the business going. Fortunately, she had a staff that loved her and Jack and who were eager to work for Poppy despite her continuing symptoms of severe depression.

 

Poppy continued to have desperate moments, nightmares, flashbacks, some trouble distinguishing her fantasies from reality. It was true was that someone was following her. As her recovery continued, she wondered if her nightmares were also real memories. As a physician who practiced psychiatry for 50 years and who treated many patients who had been through severe physical and emotional traumas, I can attest that Ms. Unger wrote a very realistic portrait of people who have suffered such traumas.

 

The author provided interesting twists in the plot and I did not see the end coming until I got there. This novel gets my very strong recommendation. I’ve already chosen my next Unger novel.

 

Vicious Circle

 Vicious Circle by Wilbur Smith is the second of a three-book series regarding his protagonist, Hector Cross. Recently, I favorably reviewed the first book, Those in Peril. We quickly learn in this second book that not only has his step-daughter Cayla been murdered by the evil forces with which Hector had contended in the first book, but also Cayla’s mother, his wife, Hazel Bannock was murdered. Hazel is quite the remarkable woman in all regards. We learn much more about the death of her husband, oil baron Henry Bannock from whom she inherited billions and his significant net worth. The story dives deeply in the Bannock family history to help understand the horrible tragedies to which Hector was subjected. Importantly, more details about Henry’s death are revealed.

 

The plot is just as intense and fast paced as the first book. However, I must say that this is probably the darkest story that I’ve ever read with regard to human cruelty, torture, perversion, sexual trauma and hate. So, be forewarned about that if you choose to pick up this book. I need not write more except that I probably will eventually get to reading the third book in this series, entitled Predator. However, I need a break from the depravity before I get to that.

Shadows of Iran: Forged in Conflict: From Iranian Rebel to American Soldier

Shadows of Iran: Forged in Conflict: From Iranian Rebel to American Soldier is the debut novel by Nick Berg, a story that is partially autobiographical, but is noted to be historical fiction. In the book, the protagonist was Ricardo Rosen. The story began when his American father and Iranian wife were living in Detroit and it was there that Ricardo was born. He was a U.S. citizen. When his father suddenly disappeared and left Ricardo with his mother, life changed dramatically for them. When his mother spent all the money she had on unsuccessfully trying to locate her husband, she felt she had no choice but to return to Iran. However, because it was socially shameful for a woman in the 1970s to have a child and not be married, she chose to get remarried to a man who was abusive to her and her son.

 

When Khomeini helped lead a revolution against the Shah in 1979, life for Ricardo and his mother once again changed dramatically. Although he hid his anti-Khomeini attitude for his own safety and that of his mother and younger sister, life was most difficult. Even though he was a student with a legitimate deferment, He eventually was conscripted into the Irani infantry where he took advantage of his military training and experience. By being in the military he had a regular diet, something he could not count on otherwise. After he got out of the military, he joined the resistance to Khomeini and the Republican Guard. Ricardo actually became famous under the nom de guerre of the Shadow Rider of Tehran. He sabotaged many things during which he kept his name secret while he plagued local law enforcement by his actions.

 

The story takes him back to the U.S. and eventually to the U.S. military. Throughout his activities, he was secretly monitored by his father who was working for one of the three-letter agencies. There were many years of his father, David, watching over and controlling the dangerous assignments Ricardo received as he progressed up the chain from infantryman, to sniper, to Ranger, and finally to various black operations. He was frequently put in very dangerous and life-threatening situations, and it was only because of his great talent and demeanor that he survived. The author also wove his love life into the story, some of which were challenged by his dedication to his service duties. There were troubles in is marriage, and he constantly worried about the welfare of his daughter.

 

This period of time in history was one of high tension between the US. and Iran. The author described not only the dangers that Ricardo was having, but he also gave a clear portrait of what life was like for civilians in Iran. I found the civilian and military experiences experienced by Ricardo to be totally authentic. There were some plots that were not finished, such as his secret but highly influential father, and what was happening to his daughter under the tutelage of his troubled and alcoholic mother. Mr. Berg has set up a sequel to this story and I’m eager to see what happens to these characters.

 

I rate this book highly and it gets my very strong recommendation.

 

Pharaoh

 Pharaoh is the sixth of eight books in the Ancient Egypt series by Wilbur Smith. I have previously reviewed River God, written in 1993. Pharaoh was published in 2018. The story is essentially narrated by Taita, the eunuch ex-slave of Tamose, the current Pharaoh. While Taita is remarably brilliant and is terribly impressed with himself, the story is about the transfer of power from Tamose to the great young warrior Ramases. But in between, the cruel Utteric, the older brother of Ramases, seized the thrown and kidnapped Taita. Utteric had to be defeated for the true heir to assume power. There is warfare, blood lust, love, alliances and traitors.

 Smith is an impressively prolific author. Born in South Africa in 1933, he wrote for nearly 60 years and produced more than 49 novels. I fell into these novels as I was looking for books to read about Egypt. I don’t really have a strong recommendation for this one, but if you love stories about ancient Egypt, then the Ancient Eqypt series of eight books could be on your reading list. Personally, I don’t plan to read more of that series – enough is enough for me.

 

Damage Control

 Damage Control by Robert Dugoni is the fifth novel that I’ve read and reviewed. While I really liked two of his novels and was only luke warm about the other two, I had this book in my Kindle and decided to give it a go, and I’m grateful that I did. 

The protagonist is Dana Hill, a talented lawyer who worked for a monster of a boss in Seattle. Dana had so many things going wrong in her life besides a bad boss. Her marriage was failing, her father who was also a very successful lawyer died while he was in the middle of an infidelity, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and then her twin brother was killed. It made no sense to anyone that someone would murder her brother James. He had become a lawyer mostly to please his father, but he hated the work. He chose to quickly get out of the rat trap that he made for himself, sold everything that he owned, and eventually decided to lead as simple and cheap life as he could while earning enough to live by being a law professor. In the last couple years, both Dana and her twin had grown more distant from one another. She was busy and he was rather aloof, but she began to investigate what his life had been. She thought her twin was happy but was aware that he had begun to lead his life very close to the breast. Dana discovered that James had been having an affair with a woman he had known in law school who was currently the wife of the governor of Washington State. According to the press, Robert Meyers and his wife Elizabeth were the darlings that rightly belonged in the White House. Become president had been the lifelong ambition of Robert and in fact, he announced his candidacy in the course of the story. He had married Elizabeth because she fit the image of just such a woman. He was actually an ambitious narcissist and sociopath, but few people were aware of those traits, and he played at the role of returning the country to Camelot with Robert and Elizabeth in the White House, sort of like Jack and Jackie.

 

It was Dana’s investigation that led to the discovery of the affair, and she figured out that it was the governor who had ordered James murder so the affair would not have a negative impact on his election. The story told by Dugoni mostly was about Dana managing her many life challenges while carrying on her investigation and then her hunt for clues to prove the governor’s guilt. The plot and characters were excellent and believable. This is a five-star story and it gets my strongest recommendation.

Those in Peril

 

Those in Peril is the fourth Wilbur Book that I’ve reviewed, some of which I’ve raved about, others which left me somewhat bored. This one is also the first in Smith's Hector Cross series, and it falls into the category of a very good thriller. I was thoroughly entertained. So, not only does Smith write historical fiction, but he's also adept at the mystery-thriller genre.

The book begins with a history of the remarkable Hazel Bannock, a woman who was a tennis champion and fashion model who fell in love with one of the wealthiest oil barons in the world. She absorbed much about running a large corporation from her husband who then suffered an early death, leaving Hazel to run the company and manage their only child, a 19-year-old spoiled brat of a daughter, Cayla. The story is about how Hazel fairly quickly showed her business acumen. But given the global nature of her oil business, some of which is in a fictional country in the Horn of Africa. she kept her husband’s security forces intact. That’s how she met Hector Cross who is a true action hero. Hector has made enemies in the Middle East and the story, which is often times gruesome, is mostly about them working through those dangers.The characters and the plots are excellent.

 

I listened to this one in audiobook format, and I was caught up in it during my long dog walks. I’m going to read more of this series. It gets my favorable recommendation.