Over the weekend and into the early part of this week, I read four books. Each one merited four stars and all were good in their own unique way…
Hawkeye, Vol 1: My Life as a Weapon
It’s good. I guess. No really, it’s good. All good. It’s fine. Just…it’s kind of why I don’t read a lot of comics: simplistic hero narratives with twee dialogue. I know this is what everyone wants thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I’m not sure it’s what I want. But if I subtract that context and just look at the stories Fraction is trying to tell, it’s good for what it is.
Death Comes As The End
One of the Agatha Christie novels I really enjoyed. It’s a murder mystery but at the heart, an exploration of gender, patriarchal violence and family. Not sure why she felt the need to do this through the lens of ancient Egyptian aristocracy and not, say, the English nobility of her time. She claimed she got the idea at an art exhibit in NYC. But it’s still a well told tale and the mystery is good as well. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the ending but I appreciated it much more after sleeping on it. It made sense with what Christie was trying to say.
Country Dark
I expected this to be a gritty southern crime tale. It is in some way but it’s more a story of how people survive in difficult circumstances. I read the first part and assumed I knew where the story was going: suave young war hero becomes slick bootlegger. That was not it at all. Not the most uplifting of stories but a good character driven tale.
Heaven’s A Lie
Clearly, I need to read more Wallace Stroby. This was a smoothly written crime thriller that meditates on the morals of the choices we make. Would’ve liked a little less redundancy and a little more background on the protagonist to make me care deeper but still. This is a good work from a good writer.