Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Early Fall Leftovers

To Start A War: How the Bush Administration Took Us Into Iraq by Robert Draper

The Travelers by Chris Pavone

A Walk Among the Tombstones by Lawrence Block

Dark Fire by CJ Sansom

The Menendez Murders: The Shocking Untold Story of the Menendez Family and the Killings that Stunned the Nation by Robert Rand

Stasi Child by David Young

The Cover Wife by Dan Fesperman

So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison

Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich

Geiger by Gustaf Skördeman

Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll

Slow Horses by Mick Herron

The Devil Knows You're Dead by Lawrence Block

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I’ve read some interesting stuff lately and I wish I had made more time to document it but life gets in the way that life sometimes does. Not all bad, just life.

To Start A War****

I had a long thing here about connecting this to the 2024 election but I don’t want to talk current electoral politics on here, at least the specifics of them. A good book if you want to know the intelligence (ha) perspective of how we wound up in a war with Iraq for no reason.

The Travelers****

The bottom line is Hitchcock-meets-Ambler is so 100% my thing that it’s hard to screw up and Chris Pavone doesn’t. A travel book designed to be read to pass time during the act of traveling. Has its shortcomings and I don’t care, I enjoyed it immensely.

A Walk Among the Tombstones***

A lot of Scudder novels have held up better than I remember on this reread journey. This ain’t one. In fact, having a good idea of what was coming kind of made it worse. Also, it’s just needlessly long. Love TJ, love the tech sleuthing but beyond that, this is one of my least favorite of the series.

Dark Fire ****

Was prepared to dock it a star because I hate two-cases-at-once mysteries. And it wasn’t great. But I love how well Sansom evoked Reformation era England, complete with politics and paranoia. Also really liked the ending. This is a cool series.
The Menendez Murders****
I wasn’t aware of how wild this story was. A dry run for OJ. Slanted toward the brothers but still a very good true crime book.
Stasi Child****
Giving this the first book bump because there’s a lot to like here in terms of how David Young writes the story. He creates a vivid Berlin and GDR, one that is frigid literally and metaphorically. He captured the era well. I did have a hard time connecting with the protagonist, who seems interesting but wasn’t well sketched out. And like a lot of male writers, Young leans too hard on sexual trauma as a means of characterizing the women in the story. But again, enough works that I bumped it and will check out book two.

The Cover Wife **
It’s a mostly competent spy slow burn that probably deserves 3-stars but it falls into the trap of retconning 9/11 where everyone who wasn’t fired after was the smartest person in the room who knew better but no one believed them. Sick of these takes, both fiction and non.
So Thirsty ****
Not as good as some of her other work. Or maybe I’m unfairly judging it against Black Sheep, which was one of my favorite reads of 2023. But it’s still another fun addition to her feminist horror work. Good ending too. I may or may not have shed a tear.
Revelations of Divine Love****

This review is more a commentary on Revelations of Divine Love than the translation, which I thought did the job well. I was into this in the beginning but was quickly reminded why I admire the mystics more than indulge them: at a certain point, things feel redundant and I read emotion where the mystic wants me to read spiritualism. Mind you, this is how I personally encounter Julian and most mystics, it is not a commentary on how ALL persons should view the mystics. The writing is beautiful and the somatic language really spoke to me. I believe in the central theme of love but the salt loses its saltiness after hearing it repeatedly. Perhaps they are better encountered as devotionals than theology texts. Still, the language is beautiful and its take on God and gender is amazing for the age it came from.
Geiger***
cn. rape, child abuse, skip to next review if need be

I appreciate the author’s ability to write a thriller. This held my attention throughout and I enjoyed large parts of it. But two big problems…

1. There are two stories here and the one that gets the short shrift (espionage) is far more interesting than the one the author tries to focus on (the broken detective). I enjoyed the geopolitical aspect, even if it was clunky at times. But didn’t care for the second story, which made up for about 70% of the book.

2. I’ve long since been exhausted with books that use rape, abuse, torture of women, children, etc. as a plot point. Not gonna rehash the reasons here. This one does at length; the guy has clearly read Steig Larsson one too many times. And it turned me off from it almost completely.

Ghost Wars*****


Certainly deserves the Pulitzer. The CIA’s ineptitude in the region is one thing but the strength of the book is documenting the political evolution of Afghanistan from the beginning of the war with the USSR to 9/10/2001. Thoroughly researched, it left me feeling conflicted on what the best use of foreign policy would be in that region. No easy narrative, no heroes. Just violence and the anger that comes from violence and the cycle that never stops.
Slow Horses****

Third time is the charm. Love it. Still think Herron can overwrite in spots and the obstruction can frustrate but the characters and plot are fun. Gonna dive into the rest of the series.
The Devil Knows You’re Dead****
A little too long and convoluted but still fun and noirish as Block does.

 

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