Hey on the last day of the month, it finally snowed in New York! Huzzah!
Dead Wind****
I can’t talk about why I like this book without even the mildest of spoilers if you’ve been following the series. So I’ll talk about what I appreciate. I’ve been in an on-and-off reading slump the last two months. It’s been hard to finish stuff. Tessa Wegert’s Shana Merchant series really feels like the exception to the rule. I like her writing, her pacing, her protagonist. All good.
One of Us is Lying****
When you’re a book reader going through a crap time in your life, you’re basically hoping for something east that’ll get you through. This worked. Enough meat on the bone that I cared about the characters and found the mystery interesting. And the high school setting made the stakes feel perfectly level: not too serious. It’s a good book, no more and no less. And a good book does the job.
Messi vs. Ronaldo: One Rivalry, Two Goats, and the Era That Remade the World’s Game****
Not nearly as good as their book on the EPL, which is unsurprising given that there’s not as much material to work with. But it’s a decent time capsule on what Ronaldo and Messi meant to the sport at this critical stage of its global conquest. The paperback’s updated epilogue with Messi’s World Cup win and Ronaldo’s banishment to Saudi Arabia should be interesting.
The Sentence is Death****
A (mostly) fun and (frequently) clever mystery. However…
Anthony Horowitz has some sort of fascination with homosexuality. Between the Tragic Homosexual resolution in another book to needing to give Hawthorne’s homophobia a “balanced” take in these two…I don’t know, man. Maybe just leave gay folk alone? I feel like in trying to say something with nuance, he’s saying nothing of substance.
The Shape of Water****
What I expected when I picked this one up is not what I got. I figured it’d be a whimsical tour through the Sicilian countryside as a corpulent food-loving detective solves crime. Instead, it’s a sharp look at a murder (or is it?) with dysfunctional Sicily providing the most interesting background and Detective Montalbano doing clever things en route to solving the crime(?). Part police procedural, part whodunnit, aside from the brutal racism (a big aside, mind you, I barely had the stomach for it), I really enjoyed it.
The Title: The Story of the First Division***
This one should have been better. I picked it up only to put it down again before forcing myself to finish. It gave me a decent insight into the great teams of the old English Football League but there’s not enough meat on the bone to go deeper into what made the league special; it’s just a recapping of champions and great teams, occasionally with some interesting anecdotes thrown in.
The Vanishing Stair****
While I still would prefer Stevie to just do a Poirot routine every book instead of this overarching mystery, I like that she’s a fully realized character who doesn’t need to be quirky or have personality tics in order to be interesting. She’s just trying to figure things out; blessed with intelligence and hindered by imperfection. I enjoy her even if I’m kinda meh on the story as a whole.
Evil Under the Sun****
I find myself going back to the Agatha Christie well as I ponder what to write next. She’s the expert on clever plotting; indeed, there’s some great moments in this one. But I also appreciated her characterization. I felt like I cared about (some) of these folks more than usual. Ah…maybe it’s age. Either way, this is a good one.
The Fiancée****
For someone who is often critical of the popularity of thrillers, I sure do read a lot of them. This is my second Kate White one. I went back and looked at my first, which I read during the pandemic: I liked it and immediately forgot about it. But if I gave it 4-stars, I would remember enjoying it. So I picked up this one and I enjoyed it too. No doubt a made-for-Netflix type book but still some interesting twists I didn’t see coming and a messy ending that I’m fine with. I’d recommend hers if you’re into the genre.
The Guns of Heaven****
I had sworn off books featuring Tough Guys who Drink Hard and Screw Every Woman In Their Path but they pop up occasionally when I read my monthly Hard Case Crime novels. This one is better than most, with Pete Hamill’s excellent New York touches, some quality twists and a thoughtful meditation on violence. A bit too Die Hard-y near the end for my taste but I guess that was to be expected. Still a fun read.
