Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road

Monday, February 10, 2020

The Guns of Tanith (Warhammer 40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #5) ★★★☆½

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Title: The Guns of Tanith
Series: Warhammer 40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #5
Author: Dan Abnett
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 416
Words: 104K

Synopsis:

WH40K.Lexicanum.com

In the Sabbat Worlds Crusade, the heretical forces of Chaos are fighting back hard. Dangerously overstretched, their supply lines cut by degenerate enemy troops, the Imperial forces grind to a halt. Colonel-Commissar Gaunt and the Tanith First-and-Only must recapture Phantine, a world rich in promethium but so ruined by pollution that the only way to attack is via a dangerous – and untried – aerial assault. Pitted against deadly opposition and a lethal environment, how can Gaunt and his men possibly survive?

The novel begins with the Tanith First training to take part in the airborne assault on Cirenholm, a dome-city perched above Phantine's toxic Scald. The archenemy's elite Blood Pact have captured the city, which the Imperial forces plan to use as a staging ground for their campaign to reclaim Ouranberg, one of Phantine's largest cities and a major source of promethium. After the Ghosts successfully infiltrate the Blood Pact's defences and prevent a disastrous loss for the Imperium, Lord-General Van Voytz re-considers his approach on the Ouranberg invasion.

A number of Ghosts are hand-picked to form specialist kill-teams, placed in a regime of additional jump-training and covertly deployed into Ouranberg prior to the invasion. Codenamed Operation Larisel, their mission is to kill Sagittar Slaith; the Chaos commander of the Blood Pact holding Ouranberg. Doing so will break the morale of the Chaos worshippers and enable the Imperial forces to recapture Ouranberg with greater ease. The task is made more daunting with the prospect of thousands of Blood Pact troopers and Loxatl mercenaries standing between them and their target. However, the rest of the Tanith First face their own trials as they await deployment; a great unease is brewing between the Tanith and the Verghastite soldiers, and a crime case involving several Ghosts highlights this divide.

My Thoughts:

Something about ground pounding marines in a science fiction setting really does it for me. While the Horus Heresy deals with demi-god levels of warriors, Gaunt's Ghosts are nothing but baseline humans. The common man fighting the forces of Chaos with gun and sword.

Both invasions, the first being a general free for all with everyone and the second with 4 teams of 4 infiltrating and attempting to assassinate Slaith, are just jam packed with fighting. More fighting than you could shake a Power Sword at!

The little side story about about the divide between the original Tanith and the newly integrated Verghastites keeps things from becoming to fight'y, if you know what I mean. Plus, the whole murder of a civilian and Cuu the bastard incriminating another Ghost added some spice to the story. I have to admit I'm looking forward to Cuu getting his just desserts, hopefully in an appropriately horrible way.

★★★☆½

All My "Gaunt's Ghosts" Reviews

Friday, February 07, 2020

Target Rich Environment, Vol. 2 (TRE #2) ★★★★½

Title: Target Rich Environment, Vol. 2
Series: TRE #2
Author: Larry Correia
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 450
Words: 122K

Synopsis:

From Amazon

“Tokyo Raider” pits giant robots against very big monsters in the Grimnoir Universe. “The Testimony of the Traitor Ratul,” set in the Saga of the Forgotten Warrior series, lets a man who has been called a fanatical rebel, despicable murderer, and heretical traitor tell his side of the story. And “Reckoning Day” gives an insider view into the day-to-day life of some of the most popular characters from the Monster Hunter International series.

Plus, stories set in the world of both Aliens and Predator; an Agent Franks /Joe Ledger mash- up cowritten by best-selling author Jonathan Maberry; a V-Wars story; a story set in Michael Z. Williamson’s Freehold series—and more.

Finally, Tom Stranger, Interdimensional Insurance Agent, is back in “A Murder of Manatees,” appearing in print for the first time!

Tokyo Raider

Testimony of the Traitor Ratul

Shooter Ready

Three Sparks

Reckoning Day

Weaponized Hell

Son of Fire, Son of Thunder

Episode 22

Absence of Light

Psych Eval

Musings of a Hermit

Instruments of War

Murder of Manatees

My Thoughts:

Just like the previous volume, this was loads of fun! Definitely a contender for Best Book of the Year.

My two complaints first, hence the docking of a ½star. One of the novellas, Instruments of War, is set in some other franchise fiction universe and went on just a bit too long for my taste. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't to my taste. Secondly, the Tom Stranger novella wasn't quite as funny as the first one. So those are really my only “complaints”.

I was really glad to FINALLY read Tokyo Raider. It has been audio only for years and I am not going to pay $10 for a novella on audio, or join Audible and use one of my promo credits for a novella. No one had even bothered to transcribe it and release it into the wild either. So I was pleased as punch to get to it. It wasn't the greatest story, but I'll take anything Grimnoir at the moment.

Three Sparks was a Predator versus Samurai story. After the abomination of a movie that was AVP, it was great to get a Predator story that was good.

Reckoning Day was a fun little MHI story about the orcs and how Shelly the female gunslinger is introduced. I'd never heard of her so I'm wondering if she is in some of the non-book stuff or in the new book, Guardian which is a collab between Correia and Sarah Hoyt.

Finally, I also enjoyed Weaponized Hell, a story about Agent Franks from MHI and some guy named Joe Ledger from another author. It was good enough that I'm adding the first couple of Joe Ledger books to my tbr to see if I like them (in a year or 3 of course). A short story that can lead me into another author's series? I count that as good story telling!

★★★★½

Target Rich Environment, Vol. 1

Wednesday, February 05, 2020

Two Gentlemen of Verona ★★★☆☆

Title: Two Gentlemen of Verona
Series: ----------
Author: William Shakespeare
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Play, Comedy
Pages: 84
Words: 24K

Synopsis:

Two young friends, Valentine and Proteus, go their separate ways as Valentine wants adventure and Proteus wants to woo a local girl, Julia. Valentine heads to Milan.

Proteus father sends him to Milan as well, as he's afraid of Proteus becoming a namby-pamby wuss. Proteus and Julia vow undying love for each other and Proteus gives Julia a ring as his troth.

Valentine and Proteus are united in Milan. Valentine, who excoriated Proteus for falling in love and allowing his love for Julia to keep him home, has fallen in love with Silvia, the Duke of Milan's daughter. The Duke has other plans for her though, ie, to marry her to Thurio, a rich man from another city state. Valentine tells Proteus that he and Silvia will steal away and secretly get married. Proteus has himself fallen in love with Silvia and betrays Valentine to the duke.

Valentine is banished and ends up becoming King of the Outlaws, a noble group of men who have been unjustly banished and rob the rich from Milan.

Proteus, under the cover of pretending to help Thurio, woos Silvia himself. She scorns him as a base man who betrayed not only his friend but his lover Julia and also his vows to her. Meanwhile Julia has secretly left Verona to find Proteus and becomes his squire, dressed as a page. She see's Proteus infidelity and vows to get him back.

Silvia runs away rather than marry Thurio and gets captured by the Noble Outlaws and taken to Valentine. Everyone else is chasing her and also get captured by the Outlaws. Valentine challenges Thurio to a duel for Silvia and Thurio declines, as he has no love for Siliva. The Duke is disgusted, gives his blessing to Valentine and Silvia's nuptials. Julia faints and Valentine discovers who she is. He and Proteus make up, as Proteus realizes his behavior has been abominable and repents. Valentine then reveals that his page is Julia. The Duke pardons everyone and they all head off for a double wedding in Milan.

My Thoughts:

Part way through this play I turned to Mrs B (as is our wont, we were sitting on our couch side by side reading) and said “I just don't like Shakespeare's plays. She nodded and agreed. The low-brow humor that Shakespeare uses just doesn't appeal to either of us.

That being said, I have no intention of stopping. These plays are foundational to Literature as we know it and yes, that is Literature with a Capital L. I don't plan on becoming a Shakespeare expert by any means, but I do want to have a passing familiarity with them.

One of the things that has bothered me about these plays is how characters can change at the drop of a hat. For example, in this play Proteus proclaims undying love for Julia and then wham, suddenly he's destroying his own and his friend's life for another woman. Then at the end of the play suddenly he reverts back to loving Julia. I'm beginning to realize that that is simply how a play operates. It isn't a book with all the time that a book has. It is a play and many of the things that we expect from a book simply aren't possible in a play. I don't like it but I am beginning to be able to accept it. For me, that is a big step forward.

★★★☆☆

Previous Shakespeare Reviews

Monday, February 03, 2020

Deadly Quicksilver Lies (Garrett, PI #7) ★★★☆½

Title: Deadly Quicksilver Lies
Series: Garrett, PI #7
Author: Glen Cook
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 316
Words: 86K

Synopsis:

Wikipedia and Me

With Dean out of town, the Dead Man asleep, and only the Goddamn Parrot for company, Garrett finds himself wishing for something new. When Winger drops by with a job investigating a woman known as Maggie Jenn, Garrett bites. Maggie, meanwhile, hires Garrett to find her missing daughter, Emerald.

Everything seems to be going just fine until Garrett is attacked in the street, knocked out, and thrown in the Bledsoe's mental ward. When Garrett escapes, he discovers that the man who put him there goes by the name of Grange Cleaver, also known as The Rainmaker.

As Garrett tries to find out more, everyone urges Garrett to be careful, as The Rainmaker has quite a nasty reputation. As usual, Morley gets involved, but when he and Garrett try to capture The Rainmaker, he manages to get away. Meanwhile, Garrett continues his search for Maggie Jenn's daughter, only to find that Maggie has disappeared. In fact, Morley and Garrett discover that she may not actually be a woman at all and could actually be The Rainmaker!

When the Outfit gets involved in The Rainmaker's business, the city Watch has no choice to get involved as well. Garrett gets off free of charges, but The Rainmaker is still nowhere to be found. As word of a long buried treasure gets out, even more parties climb into the fray, leaving Garrett bruised and battered again.

In a typical novel-ending plot twist, Grange Cleaver dies only to be revealed as Maggie Jenn, things settle down, and Garrett is left to mull over the possibilities.

My Thoughts:

This had Cook pushing the cross-dressing envelope as far as possible. He kept whether Maggie was actually Maggie or Granger a mystery right up until she dies and is revealed to be a she. It made for an uncomfortable read in places I have to admit.

The mystery side of things felt more twisty than in previous books. I don't know that it actually WAS more “mystery”, as I don't read much in that genre. Thankfully the fantasy elements kept me fully grounded in a genre I like, undertand and can comprehend ;-)

I enjoyed my time reading this, just like all the previous books. Same caveats as always.

I am finding Garrett's unwillingness to change in any significant manner starting to grate. Even Cook realizes it is an issue and brings it up in a sidewise manner. One of Garrett's former romantic interests makes it clear that she let Garrett go because he wasn't as mature as she was, and she's 18. I don't know how many more adventures Garrett can go through without some sort of change.

Speaking of change, Dean, Garrett's housekeeper is out of this story and 2 former military vets take his place. Of course, they conveniently die by the end of the book. That type of literary trick works once, maybe twice, but no more than that. Cook is going to have to up his game to keep this series interesting.

★★★☆½

All My "Garrett, PI" Reviews

Monday, January 27, 2020

The Dusk Watchman (Twilight Reign #5) ★★☆☆½

Title: The Dusk Watchman
Series: Twilight Reign #5
Author: Tom Lloyd
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 853
Words: 232K

Synopsis:

In the previous book Isak, using the power of the crystal skulls, forced the gods to remove the name of the Menin General from the world. This had the affect of cutting the heart out of the Menin army and allowing the Farlan and King Emin to survive to fight another day against Ruhen, aka Azeur the Shadow.

Azeur continues to collect more crystal skulls, as do Isak and Co. It is also revealed that Azeur has the Sword of Life and that he has some sort of plan for becoming the god of gods. It is up to Isak and Co to stop him.

Isak sets out on a quest to recover the Sword of Death, to counter Azeur's Sword of Life. At the same time Emin raises the last army in the lands to go against Azeur and stop whatever ceremony he has planned. Unbeknowst to them all, Azeur has had this all planned out from the beginning and the recovery of the Death sword and the massive death toll that a battle will entail is exactly what he wants.

After several betrayals by supposed Allies everything culminates as Azeur tries to go from being just a shadow to a god of gods. Isak has realized his weakness, as a shadow, and uses that against him. Isak sacrifices his own life and binds Azeur to one of Isak's allies, who dies. The ceremony goes through and makes Azeur the most powerful being, but since he is still a shadow attached to a human, it is more of a symbiotic relationship. This tempers Azeur's control over the gods and allows the land to heal.

My Thoughts:

I wasn't really paying attention when I started this book, so I couldn't remember if it was the final book or if there was one more after it and I was too lazy to go look it up. (for the record, it is the final book) Part way through though I decided that if there was one more book that I wouldn't bother reading it. I was bored and plot was overly convoluted and not particularly well executed.

That might very well apply to this whole series and it took me until this book to come to grips with it. This book wasn't worse than the previous, even though my rating plunged. It was the accumulated burden of it all crashing down on my shoulders.

Boring and convoluted are the best descriptions I can come up with. Lloyd doesn't write well enough to convey clearly what he is intending, or well enough that when he does reveal something that you realize what it is that he has revealed. I have to admit that I'm still very confused about the ending and how what Isak and Mihn (the guy who gets bonded to Azeur) did accomplished what the author said it did in the epilogue. Plus, Mihn was supposed to have died earlier in the book. How did he survive and get to where Isak and Azeur were? It was just a lot of little dots that were missing between the big dots that left me confused on how to connect them all.

After finishing this series, I wouldn't recommend taking the time to read it. At over 3K pages and 1.1million words, the pay off just isn't worth it. There are too many head scratching moments and poorly constructed sentences that left me going “huh?” to tell others to read this.

On the other hand, I do recommend the God Fragments series by Lloyd. Smaller in size, scope and characters, it is tighter writing and what THIS series should have had done to it. There are still awkward sentences but Lloyd seems to be getting over that, thankfully.

★★☆☆½

All My "Twilight Reign" Reviews

Friday, January 24, 2020

Knight of Stars (God Fragments #3) ★★★★☆

Title: Knight of Stars
Series: God Fragments #3
Author: Tom Lloyd
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 472
Words: 128K

Synopsis:

The Cards have taken a small, easy job for Toil. All they have to do is bust into a small headquarters which owes a banking consortium some money and hold the place until the banking soldiers can establish control. It is easy as predicted and now everyone can relax in a city made up of islands. Of course, it is also Teshen's old stomping grounds (he's the titular Knight of Stars) and back in the day he was a big to do. He was exiled after a failed coup and him coming back is not something people want.

The islands are also home to the lands most powerful mages, which gives the islands their name, Mage Island (how original huh?). Toil wants to find a source of god fragment bullets as the stunts that were pulled in the previous book means that the main source of god fragments won't be supplying her city. To accomplish this she dangles the marked Cards (those who all got a leaf mark from the magical tree construct) in front of the mages. She also takes up a contract with another mage to have her Marked Cards work on a duegar artifact.

The magical tree artifact from the previous book turned out to be a plug that the duegar used to seal a lot of magic out of the world. With the Cards having activated it, more magic is now available in the world. Do they learn their lesson though? Of course not. They proceed on their merry way and get a bunch of the lesser mages marked and powered up with this new artifact and release even MORE magic. Which has a lot of unintended consequnces. Like stirring up a double handful of the monsters that eat magic from the first book.

After a humongous battle in which they wipe out the monsters but the island is pretty much wiped out too, the Cards are forced to leave the Island as the inhabitants all want to kill them. They take several of the marked mages to be new Cards and return to Toil's home city.

My Thoughts:

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Not as much as the first book but I think that one, with Lynx as the main character, is simply going to be the high point of the series. I saw on devilreads that Lloyd stated there will be one more book in this series. I'm good with that too. Sometimes a series needs to just tell one story and then be done. I'm glad Lloyd has chosen that route instead of dragging this out forever, even if I am sad that he's not going to be writing more about Lynx.

Each of the books' titles has referred to one specific character within the Cards. First we had Lynx, then Toil and now Teshen. Sadly, neither of the latter hold a candle to Lynx. I'm glad that Toil and Lynx have hooked up simply because it means we get to hear more about Lynx than if he was just one of the main named characters.

I liked that the setting was very different from the previous 2 books. Both of those dealt with Duegar underground areas, while this was out in broad daylight on some tropical like islands. Of course, that doesn't stop the monsters from being totally bad-ass and destroying everything they can. Lloyd can write some seriously awesome monster fight scenes. The Cards are as Black Company-lite as ever and come across as drunk, curmudgeonly and greedy, just like they are. It is fun to be honest.

The reason this gets 4 stars and not 4.5 or 5 is because Lloyd flirts with the idea of same-sex relationships without actually inserting it into the story. That is part of why I'm glad he's ending this when he is. I'm a touch concerned that he'll cross the line and I'll have to stop reading him. This way I can finish the series and he can do whatever the frell he wants to in other stories and both of us, one as writer and one as reader, are happy.

★★★★☆

Previous "God Fragments" Reviews

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Hell's Gate ★★★☆☆

Title: Hell's Gate
Series: ----------
Author: Dean Koontz
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 190
Words: 68K

Synopsis:

Victor Salsburys awakes with almost no memories and a voice in his head telling him what to do. Without emotion and almost no control, Victor obeys and kills a man, who looks just like him. Wondering what is going on, Victor follows the instructions of the voice and finds a cave and falls asleep.

Waking up 2 weeks later, Victor moves into a house in a small town. He seems to have shaken off whatever control the unseen voices had over him but he is filled with knowledge that he doesn't know how he owns. He IS Victor Salsbury but he appears to also be something else, something stronger, faster and smarter. Victor is attacked one night by an automaton that uses weaponry Victor instinctively understands. However, Victor is wounded and is nursed back to health by the young woman who sold him the house. Victor also saw a glowing portal through the attacker came and behind that portal were beings of demonic visage.

One of Victor's pieces of luggage turns out to be a super computer and tells him that he is an experiment from the far future where Earth and all alternate Earth's have been conquered by the beings Victor saw. Victor is humanity's last chance at destroying the machinery that allows the creatures to travel across the multiverse. Victor must cross the portal, make his way to Earth Prime and destroy the starship base where the demons live.

He succeed with the help of other alternate Earth humans and returns to the girl and lives happily ever after.

My Thoughts:

Funny thing about Koontz. Even though he re-uses the same ideas over and over, he re-uses them in different combinations so that no story is the same. We have the name Victor, proto-flesh that doesn't bleed, inimical beings that want to destroy our world, etc. And it is a completely new story.

I had to wonder if James Cameron read this before he made the Terminator movie. While I was reading this I had to look up the published date (it was 1970 by the way) because so many of the things reminded me of the Terminator. A soldier returned to the past, portals that could only pass certain materials through, unstoppable killing machines that were vaguely humanoid. It wasn't a play by play but the similarities were enough that it raised questions in my mind. The ending is as rushed as ever, or maybe I should say Koontz rushes the ending and has never stopped that practice even in his books today?

And yet, while I complain about stuff and only give this 3 stars, I have no intention (as of yet anyway) of stopping my reading of books by Koontz. I still enjoy them even while acknowledging their inherent weaknesses. I guess that makes him a good author? Facepalm

Oh, and that cover? It really does look like that. It is the weirdest thing ever.

★★★☆☆

Monday, January 20, 2020

Kare Kano: His & Her Circumstances #2 ★★★☆½

Title: Kare Kano: His & Her Circumstances #1
Author: Masami Tsuda
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 192
Format: Paperback Copy

Synopsis:

Miyazawa and Arima continue their relationship but both are still dealing with putting up a fake persona for the public to see. Arima catches Miyazawa ostensibly reading Bridges of Madison County but that is just a cover for her reading a fashion magazine. Of course, everyone also thinks they are going out as a couple but the truth is they are just friends, even while having feelings for each other.

Miyazaw has decided that she will return Arima's confession but every time she tries to confess to him, she gets interrupted. She is also wondering if Arima still likes her and just doesn't have the courage to tell him how she feels. Arima asks her, again, for her answer to his confession and she runs away. She realizes that she is afraid of letting someone in to her life and decides that she will answer Arima. The next day in class she holds his hand and that is her answer.

2 months pass and the school festival begins. Both Miyazaw and Arima, being the top of their class, are on committees for everything and are as busy as can be. Neither know how to deal with being so busy and having a relationship. They realize that they can't have a “normal” relationship and so must make what they have work. Once they realize that, things start to go much smoother for them.

The next chapter introduces Hideaki Asaba, one of Arima's friends, who is also good looking, smart and popular. Miyazawa decides to introduce herself and Asaba cuts her off sharply. A war begins between them until Arima tells Miyazaw that Asaba is just someone he talks to. Asaba and Miyazawa meet and Asaba reveals that his interest in Arima is to use him as a magnet to attract more girls, as Asaba's dream is to have a generic harem of girls around him at all times. Asaba plays on Miyazawa's doubt about her worthiness to be with Arima and it shows in her behavior. Arima takes Asaba to task for hurting Miyazawa. Asaba and Miyazaw make up and become mutual friends and Asaba grows up a little by giving up his dream of becoming a Harem King.

The final chapter is a review chapter of how Miyazawa and Arima met, from Arima's perspective.

My Thoughts:

This is definitely a manga that I can only take in very small doses. The amount of “emotions” swirling around is akin to a hurricane. And yet, it made me remember my first time of falling in love. I was 19 and from that point on, until I met and married Mrs B, I was a maelstrom on the inside, with chaos occasionally breaking out to reveal that inner turmoil. All I can say is thank goodness we don't remain teenagers with hormones forever. You can't sustain that level of emotion forever without burning out.

So I guess I'm bashing on this series and praising it all at the same time?

Arima, the male main character, is definitely not your normal male. He's one of those feel'ers and this makes him a lot more vulnerable. Being of this bent myself, I really felt bad for him even while yelling at him in my head to man up and stop whining. What he needs is a mentor and I know that never happens in this series. That could be an interesting side of things in a shojo manga.

Now Miyazawa on the other hand is everything I expect from a teen girl. Even a wicked smart, determined one. She looks at Arima and turns into butter, a little pile of sighing, melted butter I might add. I'd have thought it was over the top except Mrs B has made it known that, no, this happens. So I just accept it as one of those mysteries of life :-D

The drama has ratcheted up already, with the introduction of Asaba and the war between him and Miyazawa. Thankfully, the friendship isn't destroyed and Asaba turns into an ally. Friendship is much more important to young people than romantic interest even if they don't think so. I like to see friendship and romance being allies and not enemies and so far the manga-ka is doing that dance rather well.

Speaking of the manga-ka, she does a LOT in the side bars of each page. She does little stick'ish figure type drawings of herself and things she's interested in. It is funny little things and adds to the sweet, saccharine flavor of the manga.

★★★☆½

All My "Kare Kano" Reviews

Friday, January 17, 2020

Pilgrim's Regress ★★★☆☆

Title: Pilgrim's Regress
Series: ----------
Author: C.S. Lewis
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Allegory
Pages: 256
Words: 52.9K

Synopsis:

From Amazon and Me:

Here is the story of the pilgrim John and his odyssey to an enchanting island that creates in him an intense longing -- a mysterious, sweet desire. John's pursuit of this desire takes him through adventures with such people as Mr. Enlightenment, Mr. Mammon, Mother Kirk, and Mr. Sensible and through such cities as Thrill and Eschropolis -- and through the Valley of Humiliation. John must then return to his home and head to the Landlord's Castle, which is the Mountainside of the Island. On his way back John sees everything he saw upon his journey but through new eyes.

My Thoughts:

This was a very hard book to get into or to get anything from. I lumped this in with my non-fiction even though it is allegory. Most of the references in the book, to various philosophies and “isms” of his day, are veiled or are written with an expectation that the reader will be fully aware of said philosophies and be able to pick up on Lewis's broad hints.

It had some interesting bits but overall I found it a bit dry and more circuitous than I preferred. If I were to ever re-read this, I'd probably go much slower and write notes down on paper.

★★★☆☆

Monday, January 13, 2020

Flight of the Fox ★★☆☆½

Title: Flight of the Fox
Series: ----------
Author: Gray Basnight
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 406
Words: 108K

Synopsis:

Sam Teagarden, former math professor and recent widower (his wife died in a car accident that also broke both of Sam's legs), is attacked by drones and only saved by the heroic sacrifice of his dog. This leads into Sam going on the run and his young neighbor being killed by the assassins after Sam. Said assassins then make it look like Sam did the dirty deed. All the while Sam has no idea why anyone would be doing this, he's just a math professor.

Turns out Sam was mailed an encrypted document that once he decodes it while on the run, details the love life between J. Edgar Hoover (head of the FBI back in the day) and his second in command. It also details how Hoover uses his position to hire other sexual deviants ostensibly for the FBI but in reality for his own pleasure. There are also references to Operation Over Easy, which is revealed as a secret hit team to take out any internal threat that Hoover considers a danger to the nation. Dangers like John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr, Hemmingway, etc.

The modern day successors to Operation Over Easy, the DFC, are the ones gunning for Sam. With no oversight, they can't allow the public to find out what their government has been doing for the past 90 years.

Sam outwits them all and releases the information to Congress, after many thrilling adventures and near-death experiences, all the while ostentatiously NOT naming the current President of the United States.

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed the story part of this ultra-paranoid thriller. It was fun to read about Sam as he dodges, ducks and weaves his way around, between and through some top notch assassins.

The author is from New York and sadly, his politics get in the way. The one republican shown is a caricature of a conservative christian who ends up practically insane after claiming that keeping the files secret is God's will. Then you have the democrat who is open, honest and only wants the truth to be told to the American public. What a crock of poo. The author's hatred of guns comes through loud and clear as well. Only the bad, evil, insane people in the story CHOOSE to use guns. Sam of course, being a paragon of virtue and goodness is FORCED to use guns by the bad, evil, insane people. But he really doesn't want to, honest. And of course, the tearing down of any authority because they're secretly corrupt and despotic is pretty standard for a liberal from New York. But the solution? Well, the author's brand of government of course!

While I enjoyed the story, I won't be reading any more by Basnight. He is everything that McCarthy was trying to fight against and lost.

★★☆☆½