Fiction

So, Poppets, here comes Summer and heat and mosquitoes and, let’s be fair, a chance to walk and exercise or play tennis or golf, eat a good grilled hamburger and indulge in a Banana Split!  Thank goodness for air conditioning and iced tea, a few good movies, Rufus Cooper to enjoy the evening’s cooler air with on our walk, and pulling on a simple Summer shift to sit outside, in the evening, while reading one of my favorite types of books—a tough-to-figure-out Brit mystery—and what’s your favorite Fiction book? 

Well, some would say Danielle Steel and some Baldacci, some Mary Higgins Clark, and others Stephen King but whatever you like in your favorite “spot to read”, may I suggest some titles to be enjoyed from the following list?  Let’s begin with a very well-known and respected author of our country’s Civil War years, “A Blaze of Glory; A Novel of the Battle of Shiloh”, by Jeff Shaara, an author who researches his material well and this book reflects that. “With stunning you-are-there immediacy, Shaara takes us inside the maelstrom of Shiloh and, drawing on meticulous research, he dramatizes the key actions and decisions of the commanders on both sides, but—but—but, dear readers, what was going to interest me and will you, “here too are the thoughts and voices of the junior officers, conscripts and enlisted men who gave their all for the cause, brave participants in a pitched back and forth battle  whose casualty count would far surpass anything the American public had yet seen in this war.”  

Gallant young Southern gentlemen rode gaily out to war on their Chestnut blooded mares and/or geldings, carrying their daddy’s gun and enough ammo for three days while Southern women, with their black servants (a touch I’ve always found amusing but believable!) went up on the hillsides, and unpacked a picnic lunch to watch the battle of the day.  Ye Gods! The fact that, certainly at Gettysburg’s battlefield, there was no cover to hide behind as the troops tried desperately to get to the Union (Northern troops) guns, up on the high ridge above them, and it was like shooting ducks in a barrel—go to one of the Civil War battlefields and really listen to the stories—all true—that your guide can tell you. The courage—and blindness—the bitterness and bad decisions of the generals, the savagery of the heat of battle—all of it is here. 

When I saw the book in the library and grabbed it for the column, I was surprised to find it listed as “Fiction”, but then I read Shaara’s explanation; “This book had to be described as a novel because there is dialogue , and you are often inside the minds of these characters, but I recognize (and accept)the risk that you might not agree with my interpretations.  That’s as it should be.  My research is painstaking and I rely exclusively on original sources, in other words the accounts of the people who were there, and I make a strenuous effort to be historically accurate, to get the facts straight.” And in reading as little as I have of this wonderful period of history, the personalities, jealousies, “I know best” attitudes, he goes to great lengths to bring you into the minds and emotions of the participants, from Lee and Grant to the privates in the 2 armies.  It cost us, as a country, a lot and we lost a lot of great young men and they were magnificent, whether in victory or defeat.  Check out the book and carve out some “you time” to be transported back to a time of war, glory, anguish, dirt, disease, hunger, and, finally, being the country we are. 

This next author, John Katzenbach, writes excellent “tight” stories—no excess details or dialogue—but everything that needs to be in his stories are there—three of his books have been made into movies and while I can agree that a lot of mediocre books get made into movies—sometimes to give young actors/actresses a chance to practice their craft—I think I can say that Sean Connery and Bruce Willis are not in that category (nor were they in the same movie!) This book, “What Comes Next”, has a fascinating theme, having to do with a sadistic killer and a very frightened young girl, who is snatched off the street in daylight and her only witness is “a retired university professor diagnosed with a rare degenerative disease that will lead him to lose his memory and die within a few years” and as the police drag their heels trying to find that girl, “ he comes to realize (with the help of conversations with his deceased wife who urges him to help the girl) that if he doesn’t get involved and try to find her, she will die. 

“She” is Jennifer Riggins, who is being held prisoner “by a depraved couple who run an exclusive Web site, named What Comes Next, on which viewers can watch, in real time, the horrors inflicted on the couple’s victims.”  Cute, huh? The couple can drown their captured prey, burn them, tear them apart on a rack—whatever they think will keep the people turning to their Web site .  Jennifer is “Number four” and is certainly at the couple’s mercy and thousands of fans tune in to see “What Comes Next?” I really enjoyed not only the physical courage that the afflicted professor shows but also the common sense and urging on of his wife—who has been dead several years but is “back”, urging her husband on.  I’m sure that when I check it out for me, later, that I will find all of it spine-tingling and “a good read.”  

Anyone who does not recognize the name “Clive Cussler” in Fiction has been on the planet Neptune!  He collaborates with different authors (which would be an excellent way for the “newbies” to learn their craft!), and “The Storm”, with Graham Brown, is now available and is one of those in the series called NUMA files. “”In the middle of the Indian Ocean, a NUMA research vessel is taking water samples, when  member of the crew spots a sheen of black oil ahead of them.  But it is not oil. Like a horde of army ants, a swam of black particles suddenly attacks the ship, killing everyone aboard, the ship goes up in flames, and a few hours later, Kurt Austin and other members of the NUMA crew are on their way there.” Black particles that kill everyone on board?  I’m hooked already!  Apparently, this is a scheme to alter the weather patterns of the world, killing millions, and with that black particle disaster, it’s already in place.  

Now, obviously, Cussler ( and Brown) have vivid imaginations, and their villain is Jinn Al-Khalif, who plans to make leaders of countries be subject unto him, turn over their national treasures and money to him, and his faithful “Tonto” is Sabah, one of the few who can talk to Jinn and contradict him and not be killed. The thing, or rather strongest point that Cussler insists on is both a believable scenario, constant action, and believable dialogue between his characters.  Shakespeare he ain’t but a superb story teller he is, and you will keep turning the pages quickly as the action gets faster and more intriguing.  A dam breaks, guns are smuggled, a mastermind has to be stopped—the action is nonstop and, considering the state of the world, the scenario is believable where one brilliant mind could hatch a nefarious (there’s a 50 cent word!) plot to bring world leaders to their knees in the light of major calamity to their nation and the description of what happens in Egypt when the bad guy forces the big Nasser dam to split open and put water down into the valley is the equivalent of four Niagara Falls is told in very descriptive prose. If you or someone you know likes believable adventure tales, find this book and, no, I won’t tell you the ending but then, I never do. The description of the black particles alone are hair raising enough. 

A little change of pace with Luanne Rice and her newest “Little Night” is an intriguing tale wherein “Claire Burke’s life took a devastating turn when she tried to protect her sister, Anne, from an abusive and controlling husband and ended up serving prison time for assault. The verdict largely hinged on Anne’s defense of her husband, which were all lies, and the sisters have been estranged ever since.”  So, it’s now 20 years later,and Claire is living a quiet life when her niece, Grit, turns up and the two want to build a relationship.  This will entail both of them facing the past and the wounds inflicted by Anne and her husband and, hopefully, be able to heal. Then, logically, Clare begins to think that her sister will have followed Grit to New York and while both “hold out hope for a long-awaited reunion with her”, sometime plans go on a different path from dreams. Like Jodi Piccoult, her stories are full of emotion, family, “human interest”, and I found, in my random reading, that her portrayal of Grit was exceptional, very understanding of a young girl’s anxieties and need to feel welcome, and her aunt’s graceful trying to re-connect with and hope for the best in her relationship with her sister.  This book is truly delightful and I urge you to check it out and spend a very pleasant 3 or 4 hours.  

“Wish You Were Here”,by Graham Swift, be is going to be a soap opera tear-jerker, and I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way, since human emotions can bring forth a variety of responses, with tears of self-reproach being one of them. On the Isle of Wight, Jack Luxton, the proprietor of a seaside caravan park,”receives the news that his brother, Tom, not seen for years, has been killed in combat in Iraq.. The news will have unexpected effects on Jack and his wife, Ellie and emotions will run high. I think it’s a “sleeper” and should reward the reader with family tensions while Tom was asleep and how Jack and Ellie will deal with the fact.

So, dear and faithful readers, enjoy having longer days/evenings when you can get comfy, put your iced tea glass or cup of coffee or glass of wine by your side, pick up the book you’ve been looking forward to reading and just relax and forget about your family reunion over the 4^th of July, the next installment of your income tax, and the fact that no one in Congress has progressed beyond first grade in learning how to “get along with others”—just read and zone out!  Thanks for being part of my book world! Bye!