Killing Castro by Lawrence Block

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Block’s book follows a handful of folks out to kill Castro. The story is very good and the outcome of the task is interesting as the reader learns about the ones out to take out Castro. Block does a very good job of crafting the relatively short story. The best part is the history of Castro and Batista and their rise to power interspersed throughout the book.

Block starts the book in Ybor City, near Tampa, in Florida. Considering the atmosphere of Ybor City at the time this book takes place in the early ’60s, it’s a shame Block didn’t know more about the area to be more descriptive.

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Trail of the Mountain Man by William W. Johnstone

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This third in the series is much like the second with the obvious intent to make it different. Almost as if Johnstone wanted to rewrite the second in the series.

It’s still a real good book. You get to really know the various other characters involved. Most are fleshed out. It was quite a task. I almost wonder if Johnstone went too far with his descriptions. Not sure if he needed to flesh them out as much. But that is a light complaint compared to the overwrought Reacher novel I finished before this.

This is also a fun story with all kinds of things happening, lots of side stories and a satisfying conclusion. Johnstone does give a view of the bad guy and the like to understand their positions. It’s a satisfying reading pleasure.

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Here’s a flock of artwork done at Chelsea Coffee this evening. Three caricatures, a Swampy cartoon and roughs for some proposed Swampy clothing.

Tripwire by Lee Child

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

My second run at a Reacher novel and I found much of what I found in the first: No editor. Well, Dell might have one around one around, but it seems they don’t get much involved with the Reacher series. There are hundreds of hundreds of unneeded words in this novel. It’s a great story, but poorly executed in it’s pacing due to the over writing. Basically the book is muddled. While Child explains nearly every move made by the main characters, it quicksands the reader to move on with the plot line. The reader really doesn’t need to know how the bad guy sleeps at night and the process of that. The reader doesn’t need to know back and forth banter at a ticket counter that had been covered earlier in the book.

Now, if Child were an outstanding writer and it was fun to see how he turned a phrase, my opinion would be very different. However, his writing is just good.

The plotting is what Child does best. I’d suggest he might think of teaming with another writer that might help reduce the excess. One thing ran through my mind as i read this: What a better job John D. MacDonald would have done with the book.

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The Gray Man by Mark Greaney

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

‘The Gray Man’ by Mark Mark Greaney is very well written, though the plotting leaves a lot to be desired. It’s basically a chase book. I found it like a Matthew Reilly book, but better written.

The hero is well defined as are many of the supporting characters. I wish there was more about the bad guys. I kept expecting a bit more of a plot to be revealed as reasoning for keeping them loosely drawn. Locations are very well written. The author has an opening acknowledgement pages telling of his travels to help make locations read as real. The main plot has many holes in it as a big business seems to have about anything it wants with a couple phone calls. Even in big business there is bureaucracy and the easy summons of whatever from around the world is a bit much.

A big plus is how well author Greaney gets his hero hurt along the way. It’s hard not to wince at parts where the hero gets injured. The hero is not invulnerable. A chunk of the book has an aside through the eyes of one of the characters who has a sibling. I found it interesting that the way this is handled had me wonder if the other sibling was imaginary as each is treated autonomously.

One thing kept crossing my mind as I read: This book would have been better set in the American west in the 1800s. Nevertheless, it is a thriller, fun and worth reading if you like lots of action and a very good chase.

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You Bet Your Life by Stuart M. Kaminsky

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A real fun book of the constantly depressed Toby Peters out to calm the anger of mob guys after Chico Marx, of the Marx Brothers. Much like the rest of the series, Toby encounters others known of the era of the ’40s.

Pretty well written, as always. However, there are a few loose ends that, I believe, may have been part of an effort to throw the reader as to who-done-it. Though, to me, it was pretty obvious from near the beginning. This was the first of the Toby Peters series I have read where the bad individual was figured out fast.

The depictions of the Marx brothers, of which I am a solid fan, is quite off from what they were off screen. Harpo was known to have, and I have heard it myself, a deep New York accented voice and Groucho was known to be far more subdued in regular life. Chico’s depiction by Kaminsky is what I have read it was.

This book also shows Kaminsky’s adept ability to write about Chicago and not Florida, at the time. Chicago is written in such depth, while only a glancing blow is made of an opening scene in Florida. This changes dramatically when Kaminsky writes his Lew Fonesca series based in Sarasota, Florida.

Overall, I recommend the book.

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Hernando de Soto among the Apalachee by Charles R. Ewen & John H. Hamm

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A terrific literal mapping out of DeSoto’s trek across Florida and his visit near Tallahassee. Very thorough and lots of cross referencing done within the volume itself. The best of this is reading the translated journals of those who chronicled the hike.

The focus is the Christmas encampment near Tallahassee. The well noted archaeological work, what is found, theories based upon mostly empirical data and the journals can ease the reader into a comfort of more historical facts than in some similar works.

In my case, i am sure to return to the journals and re-read them. Parts of it are quite something. At one point a journalist queries as to why, in that God had brought DeSoto to conquer the land for the Kingdom of Spain, the hikers couldn’t get the indians to see the conquistador’s superiority. Afterall, the Spanish visitors have “cut off their [the indian’s] noses and their hands”. Why can’t they all be friends?, he wonders. I can see how this attitude would greatly perplex those with today’s flowery, “reality” television laced and sugary view of the world today.

A definite book to read for better understanding of the impact of the Spanish on the indians in Florida – Despite much of what is going on this year of 2013 in Florida involving something called ‘Viva 500’ where much of what is written in this book is flipped for seemingly politically correct reasoning. Forgive me if I take my history with more factual accuracy than the fictional white washing today.

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Moonraker by Ian Fleming
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The best of the first three Bond books. Fleming moved forward with this far better fleshed out novel and a true threat for Bond to go after the bad guy. The beginning premise is a bit flimsy as to how the bad guy and Bond get connected, but the rest of the book makes up for the contrivance.

Reading this over fifty five years since its being written makes one marvel at Flemings ability to conjure rockets so well before anyone could get very familiar with them. I urge a reader to slow down reading parts about the rockets and take in Fleming’s depiction of the machinations of the rocket involved. Can’t imagine what that was like reading the same parts in the ’50s.

I recommend this and the previous two Bond books: casino Royale and Live and Let Die.

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Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I felt as if I had just read a short story than a book. This really goes quick. Part of the reason is the very good writing and pacing. The story itself was, oddly enough, a bit like the book I read before this in which it is a kind of a novel-length chase scene. This chase involving a deck of Bicycle. Unlike the book I read before this, this has far better writing and a real development of the characters. The ending is rather overdone. But then so is the card game which is central to the story. Meaning this short story novel could have been even shorter.

Involving the movie series: I really like the James Bond character in this book better than all the film versions. More intriguing character. This first of the set should be leading me on to the next in the series.

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Trail from St. Augustine by Lee Gramling

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Folks have been telling me for years to read Lee Gramling and, over the years, I picked up the Pineapple Press series. I just read my first one after starting to collect them in the 1990s. I almost wish I had not cracked open the book and just ride the praise I’ve heard of them.

The story starts in 1700s British St. Augustine and continues in the northern part of the state. That is, if you want to call it a story. It’s a very flimsy premise that is cloaked in a novel length chase toward a common goal. The writing is almost Ok and the narrative about the outdoors is less than that. His best writing is during the many scenes of action.

What might have my opinion extra low is reading prior to this Frank Slaughter’s ‘Storm Haven’ that is so beautifully written and well researched. This book pales in comparison. Gramling, being a fifth generation Floridian, I am sure did his best to construct the best novel he could about early Florida. He just needed direction in plotting, narrative and story telling.

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De Soto Didn’t Land At Tampa by Rolfe F. Schell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

‘De Soto Didn’t Land in Tampa’ is a hard book to review without balancing it with other accounts as to just where others think Hernando landed. Author Schell does an outstanding job making his point in under a hundred pages and it would seem he is correct. Punta Gorda sure feels he is with all their recognition of Hernando.

I’ll press on with my reading and have a few texts that have alternate ideas. I might come back and change my rating of the book and this review.

I’m giving this such a high rating because of how thorough Schell has accomplished his goal. The comparative chart of separate diaries of the explorers is very impressive. Schell’s knowledge of Spanish and his translation, further adds to his credibility.

I’m very familiar with the territory of the state that Schell lays out in his narrative as Hernando’s trail. Most all makes sense with the exception of the location of Ocali. Though, I think we may have spent too much time trying to interpret something that is not interpretable. We know names changed over the years and even Schell points out the trouble of multiple names for a single location.

Nevertheless, Schell’s effort in this book is impressive and I recommend it for those who wish to chase this ghost of a mystery.

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