Review: The Bunker Diary

By Kevin Brooks
Available now from Carolrhoda Books (Lerner, USA) and Penguin (UK)
Review copy
Carnegie Medal Award 2014

It's no secret that I prefer books with happy endings.  But Kevin Brooks has written many books with unhappy endings that I've loved, most especially MARTYN PIG, which I first read way back as a teensy little sixth grader.

THE BUNKER DIARY makes the rest of his books look happy.

At the same time, I find it strangely optimistic.

Linus Weems is a sixteen-year-old runaway who has been on the street for almost half a year when he falls for the oldest trick in the book: helping a disabled man get something into the back of a van.  He wakes up in a bunker with six rooms, six notebooks, six plates, and six cups.  There's water, but no food.  And there are cameras everywhere.  Eventually, there are five other people too.  They don't know why they've been taking or what their captor wants, but they have to try to get out.

What's interesting to me is that as bleak as THE BUNKER DIARY is, there's hints of worse things around the edges.  Linus is the one writing the narrative, but he mostly dismisses the odd interplay he hears between one of the men and the woman who are trapped in the bunker is well.  He focuses mostly on Jenny, the second captive who is a little girl, and Russell, the final captive who is dying without his medication.

It's also interesting that Brooks doesn't have things simply devolve to THE LORD OF THE FLIES level.  Most of the captives don't like each other, but they aren't leaping at the opportunity to hurt each other either.  Perhaps it is because they're being hurt enough by their captor, who sometimes turns off the heat or turns it way up or withholds food or blasts noise through the bunker.  Seriously, this is a dark book about people struggling in a very unpleasant situation.

I'm not surprised that THE BUNKER DIARY winning the Carnegie was controversial.  It has an ending that makes you question whether the book was worth it, whether it was worth reading something so unrelentingly bleak.  I'm leaning toward yes, but I'm not sure I have the answer.

Review: Broken Monsters

By Lauren Beukes
Available now from Mulholland (Little, Brown)
Review copy
Read my review of The Shining Girls

This cover (reminiscent of Chuck Palahniuk's INVISIBLE MONSTERS) doesn't do justice to the strange cornucopia of imagery within.  There is a killer stalking Detroit, and he's leaving behind mutilated bodies.  Bodies that he sees as art.

BROKEN MONSTERS switches between a number of point of views including  Detective Versado, who is hunting the killer; Layla, her daughter; Jonno, a videoblogger looking for his big break; TK, a homeless man who works at a church; and Clayton Broom, a homeless artist looking for a break.  At first their lives seem completely separate, but they intertwine as the case goes on.  It's a technique I always enjoy, seeing the pieces come together.

It took me a touch longer to get into BROKEN MONSTERS than Lauren Beukes' other novels.  It's quite grotesque, and many of the characters aren't that likeable.  They're well rounded, but they're selfish and self deluding and the kind of human that is sometimes hard to spend time with.  But I was drawn into the case, which just keeps getting stranger, until a surreally frightening climax.

One particularly fun twist of the procedural (beyond the supernatural elements) was the use of the internet.  There are small passages of subreddits, police-line phone calls, and other ephemera of modern life.  (Some of it reads a little off, but most is pretty accurate.)  The population's reactions to a bizarre serial killer seemed quite authentic, scared and unhelpful and sometimes unjustly ignored.

I recommend BROKEN MONSTERS to fans of Stephen King.  Lauren Beukes is continuing to expand her genre-bending prowess, and BROKEN MONSTERS takes on many elements of horror.  The how isn't always answered, which just makes it scarier.

Review: The Naturals

By Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Available now from Miramax (Disney Hyperion)
Review copy
Read my review of Raised by Wolves

Jennifer Lynn Barnes is one of those authors that routinely has interesting new books coming out but has never found mainstream success.  Personally, I'm very fond of her work.  She's not someone who comes to mind when I'm making favorites lists, but I've never been disappointed by one of her books.

THE NATURALS is the story of Cassie, a seventeen-year-old girl who is a natural at profiling, who joins a group of teens at the FBI who have their own natural special abilities that can be used to solve crimes.  They each have their own reason for wanting to spend their days studying serial killers, statistics, and other related topics.  Cassie is driven by the unsolved murder of her mother, whose body was never found.

Obviously, that becomes relevant to the case the teens find themselves pursuing.

What really makes THE NATURALS work is the characters.  Cassie falls into a love triangle with Michael and Dean, but it doesn't seem forced.  They're attractive, intelligent guys and while they're both a bit standoffish at first, they explain their reasons and are generally perfectly nice to her.  The other girls, Lia and Sloane, both develop on their own.  Cassie becomes closer to Sloane, and not just because they're roommates.  All five teens have their own personalities.  It made me kind of sad that THE NATURALS is a standalone, because I'd like to see how their relationships would develop.

I'm totally not sad it's a standalone.  More standalones!

As for the detecting, it could use a little work.  THE NATURALS has a villain POV, a trope I'm not hugely fond of.  In this case, I don't think it really added or detracted from the story.  There are a few gory moments in those passages that might turn off more sensitive readers.  The kids aren't experts, of course, despite their abilities, but I wished they'd contributed more to finding out who the killer is.  The identity is a plot twist instead of a mystery solved by the characters.  That keeps things exciting, but I found it left satisfying after I finished.

THE NATURALS is a quick, fun read that will appeal to fans of ensemble procedurals.  I like that it doesn't resolve absolutely everything and that while there is a love triangle, it comes in a distant second to catching murderers.  The premise is a little silly, but I like bought into it, especially since a large part of the book is the characters training to use their talents effectively.  This isn't Barnes' strongest book, but it probably has the broadest appeal.

Review: Accidents Happen

By Louise Millar
Available now from Atria/Emily Bestler Books (Simon & Schuster)
Review copy

I have been trying to read this book for weeks and I am now throwing in the towel.  I have no desire to finish ACCIDENTS HAPPEN and I have other things to read.  I had really high hopes for this one, and the ever-so-slightly-off opening lived up to those hopes.  But then I just kept getting less interested.

1) Don't mention the thing.  In the first several chapters, Louise Millar has several characters mention a thing that paranoid Kate Parker bought without mentioning what it is.  This builds up quite a bit of hype, intentionally, since most of the characters have no reason not to just say what it is.  The actual object is a letdown.

2) Villain POV.  ACCIDENTS HAPPEN is billed as a psychological thriller where Kate doesn't know if she's right to be anxious and paranoid or imagining everything.  Good thing we slip into the villain POV and know that someone is breaking into the house!  It manages to deflate the tension without giving any indication (at least to over halfway through the novel) as to why the man is stalking Kate.

3) Broke my suspension of disbelief.  Kate is trying to overcome her anxiety, partially because she's sees the negative effect she's having on her son's life.  When she meets a stranger named Jago who is an expert in the field, she instantly trusts him despite the fact that he encourages her to do dangerous and illegal things.  There is a difference to not being afraid to go to the corner store and pick up some milk, and not being afraid to trespass.  There are dumb things to do even if you aren't anxious, so it just strained my credulity to breaking that Kate instantly trust Jago.

4) Unsympathetic to conflict.  Remember I mentioned that negative effect on Kate's son?  A central bit of conflict is that his grandparents are just about ready to report Kate to child services and take custody.  That motivates Kate not only truly seek to change, but to notice that he has been hurt by her behavior.  I'm all for Kate getting help and becoming a functioning mother, but I find it hard to be sympathetic to her keeping custody of Jack at this moment of time.  (Extra especially since I know what she doesn't due to the villain POV.)

I've heard good things about the end, but I just have no steam for those last 180 or so pages.  I regret forcing myself to read as far as I did and I'm sure I'll just be less kind to ACCIDENTS HAPPEN if I keep going.

Review: This is Not a Drill

By Beck McDowell
Available now from Nancy Paulsen Books (Penguin)
Review copy

Beck McDowell doesn't shy away from big subjects in her debut.  In THIS IS NOT A DRILL, an armed veteran comes to an elementary classroom looking to take his kid out of school early.  The completely awesome teacher tells him he needs to follow procedure and refuses to just let Brian Sutton take his son away - leading to Sutton taking the class hostage.

THIS IS NOT A DRILL is told through the alternating points of view of Emery and Jake, high school seniors who tutor the class part time.  They've very clearly got a past - Emery dislikes working with Jake and is mad at him for some reason.  The exact details unfold as the two work together to protect the kids.  Jake, I would say, has a more dynamic character arc than Emery, but both are fairly stock characters.  But THIS IS NOT A DRILL isn't about their character growth, so it doesn't matter that they're pretty thinly drawn.  It's a thriller with a decent-sized helping of political commentary.

McDowell puts little kids in danger, which both ups and lessens the tension.  It's scarier because no one wants little kids to get hurt and the kids are terrible at behaving and not angering the upset gunman.  They need to go to the bathroom, they can't sit for too long, they get into fights.  They're kids.  But it's less scary because I never felt that McDowell would actually transgress convention and kill one of the kids.  Only the older characters felt like they were in danger.  (McDowell also gives the death count at the beginning, which definitely makes it seem like the kids will be fine.)

As for Sutton, he's suffering from PTSD and clearly didn't integrate well into civilian life after his tour and Iraq.  His wife definitely has grounds to divorce him and go for full custody, and he definitely overreacts, but McDowell still makes a decent point.  Soldiers not getting the psychological support they need after spending time fighting a war is a real problem.  At the same time, the message of THIS IS NOT A DRILL is delivered in such a ham-fisted manner that I literally cringed while reading.

THIS IS NOT A DRILL is a surprisingly quick and easy read, given that it's about a school shooting.  There are some really clever moments, as the teacher, Emery, and Jake try to get help without Sutton noticing and hurting someone.  And I did hope than none of them would be included in the final body count, no matter how unlikely that seemed.  But what could have been a taut thriller went off the rails every time it started to harp on PTSD and the government's responsibility to soldiers.  It's even a point I agree with, but it just kept killing momentum instead of being folded into the action.  THIS IS NOT A DRILL is an okay read, but ends up being more forgettable than hard hitting.

Review: Dead Cat Bounce

First book in Jonah Lightbody series
By Nic Bennett
Available September 13, 2012 from Razorbill (Penguin)
Review copy

Confession: I find stocks very, very boring.  Reading passages about Jonah Lightbody learning about stocks and derivatives from his father and then his father-figure the Baron was like listening to my father talk about them.  Now, Bennett explains the bare minimum needed for DEAD CAT BOUNCE to make any sense, but that was still almost too much for me.  That is how boring I think stocks are.

Second confession: Economics classes and friends who work in financial sectors have pretty much convinced me that no one knows how the economy actually works.  (Look, I was studying the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis in 2008.  It's no wonder I have a negative mindset.)  Fortunately for DEAD CAT BOUNCE, it didn't ask me to give up that view. 

Nic Bennett's novel starts off with a terrific, in media res prologue.  Jonah's in a hotel room, downloading some secret program and shooting people.  It's tense and violent and genuinely suspenseful.  Then we go back in time to him being a twelve year old and gaining a passion for financial trading.  By sixteen, he's working for the same bank as his father, but as the protege of his nemesis.  Jonah's into taking big risks, whereas his neglectful father prefers to make small, safe bets.  Basically, there's interesting interpersonal dynamics but it's surrounded by a topic that I find extremely boring.

That doesn't mean others won't find it interesting.  Lots of people are involved in the stock market and plenty of them start young.  And DEAD CAT BOUNCE centers around the Financial Crisis of 2008, a crisis still affecting the world.  I can't imagine there aren't people who would find a conspiracy about the crisis fascinating.

As for me, DEAD CAT BOUNCE really started moving once it caught up to the opening.  International chases, shoot outs, confronting the bad guys - all good stuff.  I'm interested in reading the sequel, BLACK SWAN DIVE, since it will probably be more of an actioneer than DEAD CAT BOUNCE.  There's really nothing wrong with DEAD CAT BOUNCE, but if a thriller set in the City doesn't sound like your thing, then it probably isn't.  If it does sound like your thing, then have at it.

Review: Tokyo Heist

By Diana Renn
Available now from Viking (Penguin)
Review copy

TOKYO HEIST, available today, is Diana Renn's first novel.  It's a mystery that takes protagonist Violet Rossi from the streets of Seattle to the ryokan of Kyoto.  At first, I was very, very worried that I would hate TOKYO HEIST.  The press release claims, "[I]t's the Di Vinci Code for the teen generation with an exotic Asian twist."  That description made me cringe.  Violet doesn't make the best first impression either.  This is going to make me sound so old, but her bad work ethic annoyed me.

But the Asian part of TOKYO HEIST is more than an exotic background.  The book begins shortly after a set of Van Gogh sketches are stolen from the Yamadas, who are employing Violet's father to paint a mural in their main office in Tokyo, Japan.  Once Violet and her father go to Japan, almost all of the other characters are Japanese.  Violet's fellow lady sleuth is Reika, a friend who is half-Japanese, half-American, and all happy to have someone she can speak her first language with.  Even before the acknowledgements at the end of the novel, it is clear that Renn did her research.  She pays attention to cultural detail.

As for Violet, she never realizes that her comic book store boss was normal rather than overbearing.  (Seriously, being asked to stock the store and not spend your time doodling or talking with a friend?  Totally reasonable.  Her former boss even tells her about a comic contest she can enter.)  Fortunately, that's a very minor character quibble and most people aren't going to care about it like me.  Plus, she proves her mettle in other ways.  She's dedicated to solving the mystery and protecting her father.  She keeps working on her own comic, Kimono Girl, (including revising!) and helps the Yamadas catalog their art collection.

Kimono Girl often proves helpful to the investigation.  As Violet creates a plot loosely based on real-world events, she makes connections she wouldn't have noticed consciously.  I am a fan of stories-within-stories, so I liked following along with the fantastical action of Kimono Girl as well as the more realistic TOKYO HEIST.

The book does really get moving once the action moves to Japan.  You see, the sketches were stolen, but the painting they were practice for is still missing.  It should be somewhere in the Yamadas' possession, but they haven't found it.  And a yakuza boss wants the painting - or else.  The FBI does what they can to help, but the Yamadas prefer not to involve the police and undercover investigations are illegal in Japan.

The Japan section is also where Violet's love interest drops out of view.  Edge is a hipster and filmmaker wannabe who barely shows up.  I don't think TOKYO HEIST would've suffered by cutting the obligatory love interest.  TOKYO HEIST a mystery, yakuza, and a cool (female) best friend.  Who needs a boy?

I thought TOKYO HEIST was fun.  It's a good summer read, especially if you have a long plane ride ahead of you.  (Just don't start thinking everyone around you is in on an international art heist.)  I'm interested in reading whatever Renn does next, because she shows promise.

The Book of Lost Fragrances: Excerpt and Contest

THE BOOK OF LOST FRAGRANCES is the newest release from bestselling author M. J. Rose. Paranormal suspense isn't the most common genre, so I can see why her fans are excited by each new release. Later today I will post a short Q&A as well as a review.

Now, this is just a short excerpt. You can find more tomorrow at Kelly's Lucky You.

Now, here, he was afraid for himself and for his commander and for the men in this room. Had they all been poisoned by some ancient noxious scent?

He had to help. Grabbing a small gold box from a pile of treasures against the far wall, he opened it, dumped its contents—gold and colored glass—onto the floor, and then hastily thrust the still-intact clay pot inside. Scooping up the shards of the pot that the general had dropped, L’Etoile added them and slammed the lid shut.

The scent was still conspicuous, but now that the perfume containers were enclosed, the air slowly began to clear. L’Etoile watched as first one man and then another stood and looked around, each trying to get his bearings.

THE BOOK OF LOST FRAGRANCES revolves around (no surprise) a lost book of fragrances. In this case, it is a text catalouging perfumes from Cleopatra's time, supposedly found by an L'Etoile ancestor. Jac, the co-heir to the House of L’Etoile, becomes obsessed with her family's legend while trying to find her missing brother. To promote the novel samples of the perfume Âmes Soeurs were created. You could win one by filling out the form below. Contest ends 4/4.

Review: The Hypnotist

By M. J. Rose
Available now from Mira (Harlequin)
Review copy



M. J. Rose's Reincarnationist series is popular, but I've remained skeptical. I find reincarnation kind of goofy. Objectively, reincarnation is far less goofy than vampires or fairies, which I like. I prefer to treat it like magic instead of something serious, however, because if I take it seriously I find it kind of horrifying. But I did enjoy Kirsten Miller's THE ETERNAL ONES, so I decided to give Rose's THE HYPNOTIST a chance.

I have not read the first two books in the series, but I caught up pretty quickly. Lucian Glass is an FBI agent specializing in Art Crime, who is obsessed with proving that Malachai Samuels is a criminal. Samuels is a member of the Phoenix Foundation and dedicated to proving that reincarnation exists. In order to do so, he is trying to find Memory Tools, mystical objects created long ago to help people remember past lives. I found most of Rose's approach to reincarnation palatable, but I'm still giggling over the Memory Tools (which include a "fragrant pot of wax").

At the same time, there are a variety of odd things happening at the Met. There's a legal battle over the ownership of a dilapidated statue of Hypnos. Paintings that had been bequeathed to the museum, then stolen, are now being returned - in pieces. The construction crew on the new Islam wing keeps losing workers. And all of these things are possibly related.

The subtitle proclaims THE HYPNOTIST to be a novel of suspense. Rose takes an approach I'm not overly fond of - you know whodunit from the beginning, but you don't know why. (Well, there are a ton of crimes in THE HYPNOTIST. You know who done most.) At the same time, discovering why is most of the fun. Rose keeps the pages turning, which is the most important thing for me in the suspense genre. As I said, there are a lot of crimes to explore. Rose thankfully doesn't linger over the terrible things that happen to her characters. The violence is never described in loving detail. At the same time, much of THE HYPNOTIST is in villain point-of-views. It sometimes feels icky.

Most of the crimes in THE HYPNOTIST revolve around art and antiquities theft, which I find very interesting. Cultural heritage is an ephemeral but powerful thing. I might've enjoyed the book more without the reincarnation aspect, but I still found THE HYPNOTIST to be a good read. The plot is tight and driving and the good guy characters are likeable enough.

The Face of Death

By Cody McFayden



I've never read the first Smoky Barrett novel, titled SHADOW MAN. I suspect it deals even more with Smoky's tragic past. Since I was a first time reader, the beginning moved quickly. I'm not sure it would do so for a returning reader. Cody McFayden spends nearly fifty pages explaining Smoky's past and who the various characters are. It takes that long to reach the main mystery.

In addition to returning readers, newcomers may be put off by the beginning. Smoky's past is grisly. She seems to be coping well, and begins to clean out her dead husband and daughter's things from her home with the help of friends as the novel begins. Then she's suddenly called into work, to view a terrible crime scene where the only survivor asks for her specifically.

THE FACE OF DEATH lies on the darker side of thrillers. If you don't like descriptions of bodies and violent crime, this is not the story for you. Sarah's diary is also disturbing.

Serial killer novels aren't for everyone. I enjoy them when in some moods, but not in all. They examine the darker side of life, what events must occur to twist a normal, or even a good, person into an insatiable killer. THE FACE OF DEATH makes not only lead detective Smoky Barrett into a foil for the killer, but most of the other characters as well. These good guys have horrible pasts, but they manage to keep survive on the side of the law.

While this creates interesting parallels, it leads to some narrative problems. The characters have too much baggage for the book to properly address everyone's issues. As this novel is part of a series, that gives McFadyen the opportunity to address the problems over a number of books, but it still feels like some problems were only brought up when dramatic effect was needed. Either a tighter cast or the same number of characters with less damaged pasts would have given the narrative tighter focus.

Despite being a downer, THE FACE OF DEATH is a fascinating novel that unfolds in an interesting manner. Some of the killer's ultimate plan doesn't make much sense, but I'll give him a pass since he's insane. Perhaps the best part of the novel is the voice McFadyen gave Sarah. Horrors fill her life, but she still possesses an inner lyricism. It makes the brutality more evident, but does the same for the hope.

THE FACE OF DEATH probably isn't for those who dislike violence or the serial killer theme. For those who do enjoy (or not mind) the presence of those things, this is a good book to pick out. I might start with the first, but don't know how essential it is as I haven't read it myself. THE FACE OF DEATH is the sequel to SHADOW MAN. The third book, THE DARKER SIDE, hits shelves September 30th. More details are available on Cody McFadyen's website.

My review copy courtesy of Pump Up Your Book Promotion.

I'm Watching You

The contest winners are:

HOW I FOUND THE PERFECT DRESS - Bishiesruleme
THE ELITE - Marjolein
VIOLET IN PRIVATE - Mari

Thanks for participating! Please e-mail me (inbedwithbooks AT yahoo DOT com) with your shipping address within 72 hours. If you do not contact me within that time new winners will be chosen.

Please go to the archives of my radio show to listen to an interview with Cynthia Leitich Smith. It's full of all sorts of goodness, including information about the upcoming ETERNAL and BLESSED.

By Mary Burton



Lindsay O’Neil survived her father’s abuse. He killed her mother and then himself, but she managed to survive and begin a sheltered for battered women. But now someone calling himself ‘The Guardian’ is threatening that. He’s killing abusers in her name and sending her their severed hands. To complicate matters, her estranged husband Zach Kier is one of the lead detectives investigating the case.

She and Zach separated due to his alcoholism, fueled partly by his work as an undercover vice cop. Zach managed to get clean, but Lindsay is still wary of renewing their relationship. His partner Jacob Warwick believes he’ll return to drinking as well and treats him rather brusquely.

Lindsay works with the cops to catch the killer, but she also tries to continue protecting battered women – including her secret roommate Nicole Piper. Unfortunately, some of those women are suspects. Even more unfortunately, Nicole’s husband is looking for her. I liked that Lindsay both had a reasonable motive for not cooperating completely with the police and didn’t go looking for the killer on her own. She trusts them to do their job.

I likewise enjoyed Mary Burton’s portrayal of Zach. An alcoholic is easy to make unlikeable. But I know many undercover narcotics cops do have substance abuse problems, and he made the effort to change his lifestyle and get clean. Lindsay’s decision to kick him out wasn’t the best possible, but it makes sense given her background of abuse.

Some scenes in I’M WATCHING YOU are rather violent, but I don’t think Burton revels in the gore as much as some suspense writers. Children (teenagers) are hurt during the course of the novel, which I know bothers some readers. There are many references to and scenes of abuse that might not be palatable to those close to the subject. Nothing in the story bothered me, but it does tread close to issues that bother some people (often with good reason).

Burton develops an interesting serial killer who is all the more disturbing because his motives are altruistic. I’M WATCHING YOU plays well within the conventions of the genre and possesses the favorable characteristics of a non-jerk hero and a thinking heroine.

You can find more information at Mary Burton's website. I'M WATCHING YOU is available now. The follow-up, DEAD RINGER, will be available in November.

My review copy was courtesy of Pump Up Your Book Promotion.

Janeology

By Karen Harrington


In our world, most everyone has heard about a mother killing her own children. Yet it still does not feel commonplace because we cannot understand what went wrong. Society glorifies familial bonds and promotes the idea of a mother’s unconditional love and particularly special bond with her children. I lived in Houston when Andrea Yates (who was originally sentenced to life in prison) killed her five children and watched the details of the horrifying case unfold. It’s a murder where society almost cannot bear to declare the murderer as anything but insane, since no sane mother could do such a thing. In the Yates case, I definitely felt Russell Yates deserved to bear more consequences for his role in the children’s deaths.

This is the matter JANEOLOGY addresses: Is protagonist Tom complicit in his son’s death? He spent his time at work rather than with his family and failed to notice the deterioration in Jane’s mental health. He received a nasty wake-up call when he discovered Jane drowned their children; their daughter Susan survived by luck alone. As his trial approaches, he finds comfort in alcohol. He believes in his guilt because he never saw the darker side of Jane. The woman she is now is not the one he married.

His lawyer will not work for someone who has already given up. He hires Mariah, a psychic related to Jane, to explore her genealogy. She came from a long history of abuse and criminal behavior. Dave, the lawyer, pushes a dark biology defense. By nature and nurture, Jane was a ticking time bomb and Tom had no way of knowing this about her history. The psychic element could seem goofy, but Harrington makes it work simply by making the story engaging.

Both the main and embedded stories are filled with dark subject matter, but JANEOLOGY does not feel like a downer. Instead it’s a gripping glance into the environment that produced a terrible crime. I’m not so fond of the ending, but it’s hard to finish something that explores such a difficult question.

Tom was neither a good husband nor father, but he did love his family. He did not notice the changes in Jane because he only saw the woman he loved. One feels sorry for Jane as the secrets of her past spill forth, even as nothing can absolve her of her crime. I do not think JANEOLOGY is for everyone, but Karen Harrington makes a difficult subject highly readable.

JANEOLOGY is available now. Explore more about Harrington at her Myspace or her website.

My review copy was provided by Pump Up Your Book Promotion.