Trouble Follows Me by Ross Macdonald
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A pretty good mystery involving the navy and some bad guys. Much as would become tradition with Ross MacDonald,the book starts one way and transforms into something else. As Ross was just
starting and figuring things out, he lets the ending a bit obvious. In between are all sorts of travel and various characters leading all over the place. Eventually it all comes together. Though, Ross leaves a number of loose ends that are unanswered.

I found it odd travel is written in a few words and then extensively drawn out in a another spot. All to move the plot, of course, but inconsistent.

The plotting is well thought out. As with Ross, it’s over thought out to confuse the reader. That leaves the actually book wanting and I’m back to loose ends.

The characters, especially considering how may there are are very well written. As are the settings.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 6 out of ten points.

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Sawbones by William W. Johnstone
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Still, still,still,still another Johnstone Clan series start. Usually these are the best written of the dozens produced over the recent years. This is not one of those. Further indicating the Johnstone Clan needs to take all energies into the many current series existing as those are lagging more and more.

This one has a fresh perspective to the current efforts of revisionist fools wanting a fantasy view of history. This is also the best part of the book. The reconstruction view is as I’ve read it from first hand accounts and otherwise documented. The reconstruction Yankees were often far worse than Southerners, mostly due to the fact laws were in their favor and those moving into areas created the laws. This story is based in such a story.

The concept is a great one. Following a doctor and his adventures. That’s not what happens here.
The problem is the main character which has a consistency problem throughout. He is written as a gunfighter, then as a doctor, then as a member of law enforcement and then as a lost soul that wants to drift. The character flings from these stances at whim throughout the book. His views are written one way and then another and then another. With no practical reasoning why the views are all over the place. I found myself often disliking the character. The supporting characters are also a mostly unlikable lot. Even love interests were hard to like.

Due the shifting main character, the plotting doesn’t make sense as it could. The main character goes in one direction for stated reason. Then does the opposite for a stated reason. And then does the opposite. The ending is very frustrating as another shift occurs. I got the impression more than one ghost writer may have had this assignment and there were disagreements.

The characters are, as usual, very well created, except the main one. Each ends up shifting to one degree or other. Dialogue is very good. Setting is so-so this time around.

Something else is that the title stinks. Unless I missed it, the main characters is never referred to with the title and the title is further inconsistent with the character, as is the cover art.
The entire book is a recent example of the Johnstone Clan losing grips with consistency.

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

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Hag’s Nook by John Dickson Carr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Carr’s well, if not over, thought out plots are quite intricate while still fun reading. I like the tall, heavy, pompous Fell character. Having just discovered, British actor, James Robertson Justice, he became the Doctor Fell in mind throughout the book. Why the Fell character was never filmed with Justice is beyond me.

Back to the book: This is a really great and involved mystery that would never be written in today’s simplistic styling. The tale has a pack of characters that are well defined. The dialogue is also very good as the characters distinction is further enhanced. The Fell character,his wife and a couple of others really stand out. The mystery bad person(s) is the best handled. Though the motivations of the bad guy(s) lacks sense. Chalk it up to desperation.

The writing of the story unfolding the complex tale is very good. Does get muddled at times and I didn’t find any of the settings well written. The subject setting came across confusing for me. However the intricacies are strewn about and collected at the end.

An unfortunate abrupt ending leaving too much else outside the mystery dangling.

Bottom line: i recommend this book: 7 out of ten points.

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Fantastic Four: Antithesis (2020) #1 by Mark Waid
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

(Note: My continuous effort to read some amount of comments each month, as this is partof my work.)

Pretty standard plot for a Fantastic Four story. Especially one of multiple parts. Even the same conflicts. The writing is pretty horrible. Though.not as bad as, the just read, ‘Batman:Odyssey’ by same Adams.

The art is quite a number of step downs for Adams. Not sure if this is the fault of Dams, though likely, of the inker.

Don’t know what’s to come, but what’s to come seems certain.

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

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Riding Shotgun by William W. Johnstone
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Why on earth doesn’t the Johnstone Clan nab whoever wrote this and plug them into any of their older series???? Maybe it’s some contractual thing where the ghost writer gets to start their own series. Ot some other silly proprietary thing. Thing of it is, the older series are just not being well handled in the past decade plus. This coulda been a Smoke Jensen novel and injected some life in the stambling series.

Another year full of new series and here is one: Red Ryder. Ryder reminds me of, a now discarded character, Cotton Pickens. Why not just revive that series and toss Cotton on a stage?
OK. I’ll stop.

Beyond that pretty significant matter, this entry is pretty involved for a Johnstone book. Not unusual for a debut of a series by the Johnstone Clan. Also not unusual for the first book to be steps up from the rest of the crowd. This is both and worth reading.

There are plenty of variations of this tale in various Johnstone Clan books. All use only sections of the overall story. Each becoming it’s own book. There is a lot here. That is where this does stumble a bit.

There is a lot of territory and characters that pop up throughout the book. These more significant characters are around awhile and then are gone. That is fine and hints of what the actual Johnstone had in the books he crafted decades ago. This is more sloppy handling and loose ends are left at the end. A lot of them. I don’t believe most readers will notice. A lot of those loose ends seem to lead to a couple different endings. That is a plus, as the reader can’t be sure how the book will end.

However, overall, this is a very good tale with the Johnstone Touch of creating solid characters. I wouldn’t mind reading about many of the characters in separate series…oh, no…I’m providing ways of more series…. Ugh!

I really like how this is presented with more humor than usual and a great start to the involved story. The main characters (and really, this book should be a series of two, not one.) are established quickly and the book unfolds very quickly and so well, that a reader will be drawn in to learn what happens next. A ton happens, in many places with a lot of characters.

All of this complexity well handled and mostly well written. i did not like the appearance, more than once, of current pop phrases of our present time period. Also the dialogue is still mighty far from the communication of the late 1800s, but i get the book would be harder to sell and read, if more accurate.

I really like as characters interact and scheme and battle to the end. A surprise twist along the way. A sign of a very good novel draws you end and then flips you around as directions change and plots alters and, by the end, the read is satisfied that they have been through a story that was well worth the trip.

Bottom line: I recommend the book. 7 out of ten points.

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Intellectuals and Race by Thomas Sowell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Again, Thomas Sowell provides the reader with more than they paid for. Unlike most books about economics or political issues, Sowell thoroughly stuffs each page. Best to read this once or twice or thrice.

There is so much I want to write to entice you to read this book. There’s more than reading this book. For those lost in the Anointed Intelligentsia, this book will come across as entirely foreign territory. The Anointed Minions will scream this is all wrong and Sowell is making it all up and they know better! They need to calm down and really read his words. Check his footnotes. This is reality. Not the junk tossed out by the Anointed Intelligentsia.

If all read this book and learned what really has happened in the world, as I’ve read or experienced in bits and pieces before, the idea that racism is a problem would evaporate and we all can move forward to great success. THAT should be what we all do.

This book is somewhat a cut out of his ‘Intellects and Society’ and then expanded and enhanced.
In many ways this is a better book in it’s focus. ‘Society’ was too sprawling. That should have been 10 or more books, instead of so much in one place.

This is also stuffed, but is consistent in it’s title and the data is immense.
Could parts be better written. Could some loose ends be connected? yes. But the whole is so much greater than that.

Bottom line: i recommend this book. 10 out of 10 points.

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Batman: Odyssey (2011-2012) #5 by Neal Adams
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

The mess of a story finally comes to a bit better focus. The whys are explained by Adams. That’s when I knew how this story could have been written at all well and drawn, instead of this sprawling underground, confusing mess.

Unfortunately, that is not all in this entry. There is still another battle underground that has a wild range of characters all made up by Adams and make no sense. During the battle, characters yell position numbers to each other. Adams never shows there’s been anytime to know where or how the battle was staged. Worse, Adams alters locations from one locale to another and yet there is no defined reason as to why those locations are formed. Adams entire underground has been naturally created. He continuously presents an entire lack of knowledge of geology. His drawing of such I first saw nearly 50 years ago is what grabbed me so strongly into his work. It’s now I learn he’s just tracing photos.

During his video auction last week, he said he may have read one book this past week. This is what I thought as I’ve been painfully getting through this. Adams just doesn’t understand plotting a story. He just comes up with characters, chooses a cheesy, simplistic (dumb) story and throws it all together.

The artwork is still not up to par of the earlier entries, but still better than about 100% of all other comics out there.

Bottom line: i don’t recommend this book. 1 out of ten points.

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Invasion of Privacy: The Cross Creek Trial of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings by Patricia Nassif Acton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very good account of the trial that Vera Cason presented and upsetting Rawlings Life.

As this is a Florida book, my review is, again, in my podcast here:
https://anchor.fm/swampysflorida/epis…

Forgot to add the Bottom Line to the podcast again!

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

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Batman: Odyssey (2011-2012) #3 by Neal Adams
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

AS bad as this series is. In this installment, there is evidence of something being wrong with Neal Adams.

How can such an arrogant presentation of wrong science be littered with such bad dialogue and poor storytelling. The writing of these views comes across to me as very condescending to the reader. Instead of an effort to create wonder and solid scientific theory. This is an effort to indoctrinate the readers with Adams science views. He doesn’t want to write a serious science book. He can’t and demonstrates his lack of real scientific knowledge in this issue alone. The worse of all of this is that those of us who know much about geology and science studies of the earth, see the glaring errors in Adams’ thinking.

Adams has the entire story underground this time. That would be fine if he kept it all with silly science fiction, like the Batman tales of the ’50 and ’60s. Instead, Adams cakes the story with overt science explanations of the underground appearance of dinosaurs and mutant people. Also above ground humans and some effort of one group taking over another and then above ground.

Adams then writes more of his science ideas as Batman runs around in his typical costume, which makes no sense. Who is he keeping his identity from underground??? He doesn’t shed his cape until there is a ridiculous one-on-one fight with an Asian character Adams pulled from his early Batman work more than 45 years ago. There’s an explanation for that, too. All woven into Adams’ science views. Then the Asian does some magic to stop some attacks right after the Batman fight. Why didn’t the Asian use the magic to defeat Batman in the fight. Better question: Why doesn’t the Asian use his powers to simply accomplish take over and end the story.
What? And stop Adams’ from seriously pouring out more ridiculous geological and scientific views?
I suspect the worse is yet to come.

The artwork is very good. I do wonder what co-inker Bill Sienkiewicz thought of participating in this mess. I’m guessing it was just a gig to him, which is fine. The art in this issue appears more rushed.

Bottom line: Do not buy this! 1 or 0 out of 10 points.

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Adventure Down Under by Tome
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the best comic-type stories I’ve read in a few decades. A great cast of characters, an involved multi-level story and a very good grip of location, all while presenting indigenous history. Though all couched in a fun way. All of this drawn with great skill and outstanding story telling.

This is my first reading a tale with these characters. The writing deftly reveals who the characters as the story unfolds. Many novelists can’t adequately accomplish the effort, especially these days. The writer also has a large cast of many other characters. These are also distinct in writing. Even better in how all are drawn distinctly.

The story has the main characters doing one thing. Another set doing something else. Still another set doing something even different. Then there are the characters the main characters are meeting. I marvel how all of this is handled and then all comes together. All in 52 pages.

The ending also has layers as there seems to be one…and then another…and then another. I love how this is done!

This is an outstanding effort and I look forward to reading more.

Bottom line: i recommend this book. 10 out of 10 points.

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