Book Report: Anatomy of Fear

Seems I've hit a run of great books, and 'Anatomy of Fear' by Jonathan Santlofer is no exception.

This is another book I picked because first, the title and cover grabbed me, and second, the plot grabbed me. I never even opened this book, which is a shame, because I would have read it months ago. 'Anatomy of Fear' is not a regular old novel, you see. It's got pictures.

Santlofer has created an experience I've never seen before: what he dubs 'A Novel of Visual Suspense'. This is not a graphic novel, mind you, but more simply a great crime story sprinkled with illustrations that compliment his unique character, Nate Rodriguez, a highly talented (and somewhat physic) police sketch artist. About half-way through this book I learned it was a series, but that only left me excited to read more. Nate is a likeable guy: honest, single, a racial minority, still bows to his grandmother and joins her every week for dinner. He's got a scared past and still carries a great deal of pain from his father's murder. He's smart, having graduated at the top of his classes and earned a double major in psychology. Plus, he's got the incredible gift of being able to pull images from victims--details they don't think they even remember seeing--and creating sketches so life-like, one out of every two leads to an arrest. He calls it transference , the ability to pull an image from someone else's head into his own. That's where the visual concept of this book comes in: as Nate draws, the reader can see his progress, see the stunning quality Nate can produce from an Ebony pencil and some paper.

In this story, Nate joins detective Terri Russo on a case in which the killer, a white supremacist who takes his deadly orders directly from God, leaves his own drawings at the crime scenes (also printed in the book). Nate turns to his Puerto Rican grandmother, a santera ("a sort of neighborhood priestess"), for help. Together, they come up with drawings that point to a suspect closer to home than any of them have imagined. Plot devices include a trail of red herring clues that threaten to implicate Nate, overbearing FBI agents and a female-in-peril chase scene at the end, while the romantic relationship that develops between Nate and Terri leaves room for more to come.

The writing style is not fancy, but is the dialogue that moves this story. My eyes tumbled over the pages, able to hear the voices with exceptional clarity. Being able to see the pictures made me feel like a part of the story, able to react to the images right along with the characters. This story has a massive ensemble, particularly when the FBI merges with the local police teams, but Santlofer handled them well and paid attention to all the major players. He is clearly a passive voice in his own story, giving the characters the spotlight they deserve. He's also done his homework, giving Nate the ability to read people's faces and know the names of all the facial muscles and what each movement means. I look forward to reading more.

5 out of 5 stars!

Book Report: Being Dead

Being Dead, written by British novelist Jim Crace, reads like the low rumbling of thunder under a cloud-darkened sky. Quite simply, the story is about being dead: It begins with a murder. Celice and Joseph, are found dead in the sand dunes, left that way when they are set upon by the murderer who beats them to death with a rock. From that moment forward, this remarkably written book by Jim Crace becomes less about murder and more about death. Alternating chapters move back in time from the murder in hourly and two-hourly increments. As the narrative moves backward, we see Celice and Joseph make the small decisions about their day that will lead them inexorably towards their own deaths. Eventually we learn about their first meeting, and that this is not the first time tragedy has struck them in this idyllic setting.

In other chapters the narrative moves forward. Celice and Joseph are on vacation and nobody misses them until they do not return. Thus, it is six days before their bodies are found. Crace describes in minute detail their gradual return to the land with the help of crabs, birds, and the numerous insects that attack the body and gently and not so gently prepare it for the dust-to-dust phase of death. Celice and Joseph would have been delighted with the description: she was a zoologist and he was an oceanographer, and they spent their lives with their eyes to the microscope, observing the phenomena of life and death. Some readers might find this gruesome, but the facts of death are told in such glorious prose that these descriptions in no way detract from the enjoyment of the book.

This story is very much passive, even when set in 'current' time, but that (while noticeable) did not bother me. The quietness of the story leeches through the pages and into your chest. I felt sorrow, I felt wronged, I felt disgust for my own fellow humans that we live in a world where such cruelty is not an exception but an everyday occurrence. Joesph and Celice's story it bittersweet and poetic, a story about love as much as death. Bold sentences ("It would be comforting, of course, to believe that humans are more durable than other animals, to think that by some miracle his hand and her lower leg remained unspoiled, enfolding and enclosed, that his one fingertip was still amongst her baby hairs, that her ankle skin was firm and pastel-grained, and that her toenails were still berry-red and manicured. But death does not discriminate. All flesh is flesh.") provoke introspection and debate with one's self.

This story is heavy with geological descriptions, and as I am not familiar with beaches and dunes, some of the meaning was lost on me. But I enjoyed the story and read till the end, curious and needed to know what the revelation was, what I should learn and take away from this story. I think the lessons are sprinkled throughout, and it is the entire experience that resonates its values.

Good read, but don't expect to feel good afterward.
4 out of 5 stars.

Book Report: The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint

Quite simply, this is the best book you've never heard of.

This book, a first novel by Brady Udall, is everything the critics praise it to be. The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint is exactly that: a heartbreaking, breathtaking life-journey told through half-Apache boy, Edgar. His story starts like this:

"If I could tell you one thing about my life it would be this: when I was seven years old the mailman ran over my head. As far as formative events go, nothing else comes close."

Don't let the easy-tone fool you, this is no humorous story. Through the grace of God, orphaned Edgar survives the skull-shattering accident and after months in a coma, awakes in a run-down nursing home with three other crippled old men in all stages of lucidity. The hospital turns uproarious; no one thought the boy with the lumpy head would ever wake up, let alone be able to function. Despite being plagued by seizures, Edgar learns to talk and walk and read and though he never masters the art of writing, he earns quite a reputation as the miracle boy. Trapped in a government-funded, dilapidated excuse for a nursing home, Edgar knows no better life. He develops a routine, builds less-than-friendly relationships with his roommates and the nurses, and in his view, is treated like a king.

But good things don't last forever. A distant relative, an uncle, is located and informed of Edgar's situation. Despite having never even known of Edgar's existence, the arthritic old man, who is a janitor at a boarding school for Native Americans, agrees to take Edgar so that he may attempt to have a normal life.

Uprooted from the only home he's ever known, Edgar is tossed into the hell hole that is Willie Sherman. Upon arrival, he is beaten by both male and female classmates before being doused with lice powder. Each day is progressively worse as he finds himself the target of Nelson, the school's overweight bully, who's creativity for suffering is endless. The only way Edgar can cope is to make himself invisible, never talking in class and always skirting the perimeter of the play-yard at recess. Soon Nelson puts Edgar to use, having him steal and spy and do dirty work that none of the teachers would ever believe Edgar even capable of. Eventually Edgar befriends another boy, Cecil, who is steady and calming in his near-silent presence. Still, Nelson and his gang dish out beatings at every free moment. The abuse is so bad that Cecil vows to kill Nelson. The following summer, a series of events lands Cecil in juvie and Edgar on the path to religious righteousness under the supervision of a pair of Mormons-- and ultimately, to a dysfunctional foster home in Utah.

But the story is only half done.

Udall is a master of words and emotions, always supplying the right word in the right place to give this novel a kinetic, unstoppable feel. Most of the story is internal, told through thoughts and actions, and Edgar's presence haunts the pages and seeps into your heart as he suffers and grows. The descriptions are beautiful and provide 3-D images, scents and sounds.
Some examples:

"Now that I have pulled down all the shades and switched off the furnace, the house is dim and cool and quiet as a tomb. Outside it's a clear day, a bleached winter sun glittering on the hard crust of snow and burning inside each icicle like a flame."

"That afternoon it began to snow. It was late February and we'd had a week of warm, blustery weather. Today, though, the sky had gone gray and flat and by the time I snuck out of the house that night there was nearly a foot of powdery snow on the ground. It continued to come down, the black, deadened air filled with tiny crystals of ice that fell with such a delicate slowness that the houses and humped forms of cars and shrubs and the glittering, skeletal trees seemed to rise up gently into the night sky.
I practically skied down the hill, shooshing through the powder, which swirled up in curtains of sparkling dust. "

This story is drenched in such visual, lyrical descriptions.

While some reviews claim this is a funny story, I cannot agree. There are delightful moments of reprieve wherein the collection of surrounding characters cause irony and chaos, but Edgar's tale is morose and emotional. Through it all, I did not want it to end. I loved every word, every quiet turn and bump, and the end had me very close to tears. This is the one book I own that I would save from a savage house fire. I recommend 'Edgar Mint' to everyone and give it ten thousand brightly shining stars.

Book Report: Pest Control

Pest Control by Bill Fitzhugh
Two words: LOVED IT.

Poor Bob Dillon can't catch a break. In the opening pages, he quits his job with a professional insect extermination company when the boss tells him to triple the amount of poisonous insecticide. This greatly clashes with Bob's position that humans are polluting the earth and making it unsafe, let alone creating more tolerant bugs. So after shoving the end of his sprayer up the boss's nose to make his point, Bob begins his trek home wondering how he will break the news to his wife.

At the same time, Klaus, a professional assassin for hire, shoots and kills one of Africa's evil tyrants during a celebration parade. But Klaus does not kill just anybody. He only kills those that deserve it. And forcing a population into extreme poverty definately fit the bill.

Bob makes it home, where he himself is in a state of poverty, and takes comfort in his bugs. He keeps them in aquariums and even has an entire room devoted to them. They were rare breeds, mostly killers (appropriately named Assassin bugs) and used in Bob's experiments: he wants to create the ultimate killing machine, an all-natural solution to the pesticide problem. His wife, while loving and wanting to be supportive, is realistic: they have a daughter and bills to pay and cannot spare to have Bob stay at home all day playing with his bugs. She wants him to find another job, still using chemicals, just until he's able to take his dream public.

Meanwhile, Marcel and Jean, two middle men for people who wanted someone dead but didn't want to do it themselves, have a problem. They need to find a killer, and quickly. They contact Klaus, who turns them down in a bout of reoccurring depression as well as the kill doesn't fit his moral code. Desperate, Marcel and Jean take to placing a discrete add in the newspaper. It reads: Professional Exterminator needed ASAP. $50K in a weekend! Major pest difficulty. Send resume to: 251 Kavkastrasse, Zurich 2VA-6P2. Pros only.

Bob, worried about his future and with only a few dollars to his name, lets a friend buy some beer at the local bar. Bob imagines how great his life will become as soon as he breeds the perfect Assassin bug. But he respects Mary's wishes and together with his friend, they scan the wanted ads.

Where, OF COURSE, they find the PERFECT job. Bob pulls on his 'Exterminator' hat and smiles as his friend snaps a picture, then off it goes with his application for the job.

And that, my friends, is just the first 55 pages.

This book is a wild ride. The action is vivid, the characters are real and memorable, the irony perfect and deftly played. I rooted for Bob the entire time, the poor bug-breeder caught in the nasty world of professional assassins and just not able to catch a break. I laughed out loud quite frequently and really LOVED getting lost in this story. The twists are outrageous, the dialogue audible, and the grubby city of New York springs off the pages. A handful of subplots are woven together so tightly I can't imagine this ending any other way. If I ever were to read a book a second time, this would certainly be one of them.

I give this 6 out of 5 stars. One of my favorites!!

Book Report: The Boy Who Couldn't Die

In a matter of hours, I read William Sleator's 'The Boy Who Couldn't Die'.
I think I'd sort of like my hours back.

The premise is grabbing: Ken is a 16 year old boy in New York who recently survived his best friend's death, a gruesome plane crash resulting in a closed-casket funeral. Ken, deeply disturbed, decides that death is ugly and he does not want to endure anything like what Rodger did. So he goes to see Cheri Buttercup, a sort of witch who claims she can make him invulnerable to pain and death for fifty dollars. She preforms a ritual which nearly kills Ken--a necessary part of the procedure, she explains. Cheri has taken Ken's soul from his body and hidden it, and now his physical body is immortal.
And it is. Ken experiments, eventually winding up on an island in the Caribbean hunting for sharks, hoping to further prove that he cannot die. While there, he meets a young local girl named Sabine, who steals his heart.
But of course, nothing is as it seems. Ken has horrible dreams. He confides in Sabine about his immortality, and she urges him to set things right. Cheri did not simply hide Ken's soul; she has turned him into an 'astral zombie' and is using his soul to do her bidding. When Ken confronts her, she demands fifty thousand dollars to replace his soul- which is hidden in a location known only to her.
With Sabine's help, Ken is able to decode his dreams and locate his soul himself--in an underwater cave near the Adirondack mountains. It is also winter, and a sheet of ice covers the lake. Oh, and Cheri has placed a guardian in front of the cave, which they will have to defeat first. And they are also on a time limit due to the small amount of air available in their scuba diving tanks. AND even if they make it, they will still have to find the hole in the ice that they dove through. *deep breath*

Great idea, poor delivery. Ken was unlikable, snotty and self-absorbed. Sabina was a flat character whose main purpose was to provide answers. Ken's parents were virtually non-existent. Too much thinking, not enough doing. Minimal attention to detail, other than the mechanics of scuba diving. No sub-plots, no other points of view. I was bored, tricked once more by the intriguing title and pretty cover.
But to Sleator's credit, the book is intended for teenagers.
Two stars out of five.

Book Report: To Dance With the White Dog

To Dance With the White Dog by Terry Kay
This short, intense novel took me only two days to read, but I'll remember it forever.

When his beloved wife of fifty-seven years dies, no one knows what will become of elderly Sam Peek. How can he live all alone on his farm with no one to talk to, and no one to look after him? And when Sam begins talking about a pure white dog that only he can see, his children think that age and grief have finally taken their toll on their father's mind. But whether the dog is real or imagined, Sam Peek is about to show everyone how much life he still has in him....

Sprinkled with simple yet clear and artistic descriptions ("The day was bright, the sun had untangled from the trees and was in its stretch across the day, and on the highway nearby, cars rushed into town.") the scenery springs to life. Dialogue is real and imperfect, and great care is given to describe the mysterious white dog ("There was the dog, leaping gracefully in the field beside the road, a white blur, like a burning star falling and rising, falling and rising.") It is no wonder this story was brought to the big screen.

With heartfelt emotion and touching grace, Sam and White Dog will dance from the pages of this bittersweet novel and into your heart, as they share the mysteries of life in a warm and moving final rite of passage.

Very sweet and poignant, with a heartbreaking end that lingers.
Four stars out of five.

Book Report: Intent to Harm

Let me just start this report by saying, "Thank God I'm finished."

Intent to Harm is a monster of a book, weighing in at 32 chapters, 343 pages, and 1.5 pounds (hardcover). Likable and honorable, police officer Toby Parkman narrates this story about his time on a task force dedicated to capturing a notorious and much-feared rapist. An apparent master of concealment and escape, the rapist stalks the intended victims in their own homes for days before raping and beating them. The tension increases for Parkman, his family, and his closest friends as the weeks become months and the rapist moves closer to their homes. The depiction of the tedium and frustration of actual police duty (false leads and long hours on stakeout, punctuated only by moments of hope or real achievement) is interspersed with vignettes that underscore the horror of the rapist's actions and the urgency of the police work. This slice-of-life first novel by a police reservist rings true, up to the anticlimactic ending, which after the lengthy investigation leaves the reader feeling slightly let down but reluctant to leave.

The author, Stan Washburn, served as a police reserve officer in California--and it shows. The story flips between dry, fast-moving action scenes that make me feel like I'm reading a police report, to stunningly intense and frightening scenes as the soon-to-be victims prepare for bed and endure very violent acts of rape. The book starts with one such scene and I got goosebumps immediately. One of the most chilling details is how the rapist enters the home days before hand, scouting his prey without any detection. These women come home to find things slightly out of place--in one place it was described as if everything in the house had been shaken gently. This becomes the rapists signature, and it is handled with respect. I'll be checking my house carefully for a while.

A 'moral' of this book is to highlight our (people as a society) lack of action to possible trouble. At one point, a male college student looks out his window and sees a man looking in his neighbor's house, but goes back to his homework with the attitude that the woman deserved to be spied upon. She was raped that night. At another point, the victim manages to scream once as she was being raped, but the neighbor that heard it figured it was just a nightmare. How many times have I see something suspicious and shrugged it off? I'll certainly think twice before doing so now.

The protag himself comes across as rather robotic, despite an honorable effort to show a range of emotions. Maybe it's because Toby is a cop, or maybe it's because he's a man, but very little thought or feeling is mixed in with his job in times of action. There are plenty of 'down times' where he fears for his wife and family, and even all the victims (fifty four by the end of the book), but nearly all of his thinking is strategic and explanatory. I happened to appreciate most of this, as it's information I can use for my own writing, but when reading to simply enjoy the story, I was sometimes very bored. And a note about chase scenes--I could not have been more confused when Toby and the other officers are trying to tail the suspect in their cars. People are turning every which way, all trying to avoid each other, and all the while they communicate to each other by radio, using badge numbers instead of names. On the same note, the minor characters blended together very badly early in the story--at one point, I had no idea which family member was the daughter or the mother or the neighbor. They had very shallow personalities.

As much as I struggled with this book, I also enjoyed it. The climax drew me in and there was no way I could put it down without finding out if the rapist would be caught. If you've got a LOT of time to kill, and possibly some pain reliever for a headache, this is a great book that will give you the creeps.
Two and a half stars out of five.