The Professionals by Owen Laukkanen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Though a good story with outstanding characters, this is still another contemporary novel with needless, excessive content.

The novel starts with a series of events that seem to be drawing to a conclusion. By page 50 I had to wonder if the book would be blank pages for the rest of the 500. What happens is unexpected and exciting and builds to a thrilling ending. But, somewhere around page 275, I realized I was having enough of the whole thing and wished it over. It wasn’t that the ending was obvious, though seemed so. It was there was a lot of the same thing happening over over again. The story was moving, but at a glacial pace, considering the number of pages. A skilled writer would have knocked this book down to 250 pages covering the exact same ground.

The characters are the highlight of this novel. There was obviously a lot of time and care invested to make so many characters so well rounded. The dialogue also works well. I really like how the author crafted the story so that many of the characters dialogue and actions are not always equal. The extra depth is nearly non-existent in contemporary novels.

That gets to what is in this books and most all contemporary books of the action/espionage/adventure genre: They read more like a movie than a complete story. The author includes in the narrative more than once about characters confusing life and movies. The author, I feel, did the same here, which explains the extra 250 pages.

So, if you can get through repetitious narrative there is a really good story here with surprising depth.

Bottom line I recommend this book. 6 out of 10 points.

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Haunting Sunshine by Jack Powell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This collection of ghost stories is better than most collections. Powell works hard to make his writing read better than it is. Each is a nicely drawn story in itself. Love all of the legwork Powell did to actually be at the locations of the stories. As i well know, not an easy task, but makes all of the difference in the world to the end result.

Powell also does a great job presenting ghost stories from across the entire state. Most all have been written in short story or book form. Again, his writing is better than most handling these stories.

What i liked best about the book is something I’ve been doing in my little book series: Including in the back a list of the locations involved and how to visit there yourself. He also does something us researching types love: Provides his sources.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 7 out of 10 points.

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Florida Ghost Stories by Robert R. Jones
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Author Jones tees off with a book above par. He lays out the intent of telling ghost stories he has collected in north Florida. Then each story begins with some basis written as fact slowly reveling the ghost aspect. The stories are initially familiar to me. But as the book goes along the tales get longer and include more and more dialogue. It becomes obvious that a lot of literary license was taken throughout the book. There are definitely many ghost stories included that have been recorded over time. But all have dialogue imagined by the writer. Most all of these read more as fictional short stories than a recording of actual Florida ghost stories that could be believed.

The above complaint has more to do with packaging than content. The stories are written in an amateurish fashion. But tales are mostly good ones.

Plenty of areas are brought up that are little known to most Floridians. Areas like Archer, Worthington Springs, etc. rarely get mentioned in ANY book of Florida.

Bottom line: I recommend the book – as a a set of fictional short stories. 5 out of 10 points.

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Mrs. Pargeter’s Package by Simon Brett
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I found this book not written well but with a very good mystery. This is another Simon Brett I haven’t cared for. Judging by the reviews, I’m missing something. I find the main character uneven. Inconsistent dialogue, internal and external. It’s rare for me to read a book and find the main character hard to understand.

Not connecting to the main character had the rest of the book hard to connect to. I wasn’t nutty about any of the characters. I found all of them to be very loose or stereotyped. This made the rest of the book tough to get through. Brett certainly wrote a lot about the main, supporting and minor characters, but I found all of that writing to be empty.

The plotting is well done and, as written above, a very good mystery included. The writing putting it all together is just not strong enough to me to make the whole work.

This would have been an outstanding book in different hands. Though, in view of other reviewers, I am in a minority.

Bottom line: I don’t recommend this book. 4 out of 10 points.

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Specialists by Lawrence Block
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The characters are initially well handled and then given short shrift at the end. Scantily drawn. This is especially bad at the end when structures become important.series tales, but the plotting stinks. Seems to me Block had a much larger vision, maybe even starting his own series, and as he got near the end, he sliced his efforts to minimum, finished off the book and went on the to the next.

After a build up of a collection of new characters and their various abilities, they are collected to complete a mission that is then written off quickly to the point I wasn’t really sure if they actually met whatever goal they were trying to make.

The story is an odd case of vengeance involving important a treatment of a woman that ends up an effort to destroy the person involved but really ends with something different. I found the ending very unsatisfying.

The characters are initially well handled and then given short shrift at the end. Scantily drawn. This is especially bad at the end when structures become important.

Bottom line: i don’t recommend this book. 4 out of 10 points.

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The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is hilarious!!! I’ve read many, many humorous writings of the Hollywood set, love and mortuary humor…but not in one volume. Individually each is covered brilliantly. Waugh seems to have effortlessly assembled this seemingly simple volume. But it is power packed of humor and bright insight.

What is amazing is that this 1948 satire reads as fresh in 2017! The loony side of California has seemingly gotten loonier, or, with this book’s view in mind, has it?

I love the soliloquies by a character that underlines the ridiculous nature of various situations, the pre-Valley Girl incapable to grasp the world around her and the view of pet mortuaries.
This is a rare story of humor with an actual story included, no easy feat. It’s a good story with an ending that is likely not expected.

Bottom line I recommend this book! 10 out of 10 points.

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Action at the Bitterroot by Paul Evan Lehman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

VERY standard western story better written than most. All characters are the stereotypical types, with stereotypical dialogue and stereotypical actions.

This book is well written and the plotting I liked. I just wish there had been more to the whole thing.

Bottom line: I don’t recommend this book. 5 out of ten points.

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Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This first-in-the-series novel is written, wisely, as if there may not be a series. Maybe Stout had no idea he was to be as married to Nero Wolfe as singer Tom Jones is married to ‘It’s Not Unusual’. Except Jones has only one song over 40+ years and Wolfe was about to spend the same time crafting his character’s adventures.

This mystery was disappointing to me in that I had figured those responsible very quickly. I did have a few other theories as to who-done-it, but this popped out at me as obvious, as was the reason why. But that is my personal issue and seems not a trouble for a book still being published over 80 years later. I had issue with something else a bit contrived, but don’t want to reveal it here and really does add to the book.

The mystery is a good one, but it’s the fun of the character study that makes this most worthwhile. Wolfe is so clearly defined that I could easily imagine him (As Sydney Greenstreet, of course). Wolfe’s manager, investigator and milk drinker, Archie Goodwin is perfect as the contrast to Wolfe. I love the way Stout portrays Goodwin’s dedication to Wolfe. Dedication like that is nearly impossible to find these days.

The settings are written loosely, which likely helps Stout redesign as the series bounds on. This is a bit of trouble considering that location is essential to the crime to be solved and Stout must have assumed all would know about such a location.

Bottom line: I recommend the book. 8 out of 10 points.

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The Trail West by William W. Johnstone
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is clearly being written by a writer outside of the typical Johnstone Clan. The entire drive of the book is so very different from Johnstone books. I really liked it. This book is very much a character study and his adventures.

This Johnstone volume is head and shoulders above most Johnstone books. Thewre are many places throughout the book where I realized a typical Johnstone book would have had a simple, often poorly written, bit in it. This one not only gives more complexity, but it’s also entertaining reading.

The weakest parts of the books are the front and end pieces. Both are stilted.

Otherwise this is a great book.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 8 out of 10 points.

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Indiana Jones and the Peril at Delphi by Rob MacGregor
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

If one has seen any of the filmed versions of Indiana Jones, they are most likely to find this book very disappointing. If read without that background the reader is likely to find this book disappointing.

First let me review this objectively: This is a muddled book that has weak characters written and a plot with little to no suspense, though it’s clear there is an attempt to establish such. There are also obvious political overtones that are distracting to the already poor plotting. The author plots the second half involving visiting an area over and over again. Better plotting and a smoother story would have been to depict maybe two visits. Especially in that the visits all tie into a prologue before chapters of a flashback.

My biggest problem is that I didn’t like any of the characters. Teeing off with Jones making a political statement I extremely disliked. There’s a female character that alters character many times. Some is written off as this and that. But none is resolved at the end.
The writing is mediocre. Add that to poor plotting, poor characterizations adds up to a poor book.
If you know the Indiana Jones stories: MacGregor appears to have written this prior to the television series that establish a very different drive and past of Henry Jones, Jr. This book is written as if Jones couldn’t have cared less about archaeology all the way to college.

Even if MacGregor didn’t know of the TV origins, the first 30 pages steer very far away from the first reel of ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’. Frankly, it seems MacGregor was out to include his political views in the book. The actions written have little similarity to all else that exists of the Jones character.

MacGregor writing misses the Jones character in many ways and makes the overall story feel like it involves a different character.

Bottom line: I don’t recommend this book. 4 out of 10 points.

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Tyranny by William W. Johnstone
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

‘Tyranny’ is another Johnstone Clan entry in the US Against the World series. These are fun, in a way, in how a stout group works together towards defending their perception of what is best for America. This story is clearly based upon recent government attempts to take land based upon tax issues and the like. This entry starts off as government versus citizen and then spirals to nearly full-scale war. I find, thus, that the book starts off realistically and finishes into a melodramatic lot of silliness.

The characters, for a Johnstone US Against the World book, are standard: Old fellow, son, various relatives, friendly sheriff, etc. The bad guys are about the same: Power hungry Government Wonks. All involving an Alamo set-up. Back and forth and then battle to end. This end battle is more ridiculous than others. Of the series, Home Invasion is still the best of the lot.

Bottom line: I don’t recommend this book. 4 out of ten points

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