Jerry West

Today, Love All Books wishes the happiest of birthdays to author Jerry West (AKA Andrew Svenson).

Jerry West is, as I've mentioned here before, the author of the Happy Hollisters series of children's mysteries.

If you have read this post this far, you must read this one as well, especially if you never have before.

Consider it an essential bit of Techsplorer history (Techsplorer is a word here meaning me, your host).

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Keith Peterson: The Trapdoor (Rating: 7)

I just finished reading a book I've owned for years—perhaps since it was first published in 1988— called The Trapdoor, by Keith Peterson.

Keith Peterson is a pseudonym of Andrew Klavan, who has written—under his own name—a number of books that I have never heard of, and two that I have only heard of because they've been made into movies: Don't Say a Word and True Crime.

I'm actually amazed I've never heard of him; Amazon says:

Andrew Klavan is the author of several bestselling novels . . .

The Trapdoor is, possibly, not a book I would have chosen right now, but I've had it on the small bookshelf I use as a nightstand for some time now, hiding it from my son. (He's six years old and has had a—possibly unhealthy—fascination with the cover for years.)

Anyway, a while back I was doing some spring cleaning and that meant taking everything off of the bookshelf and dusting and rearranging and voila, there it was, so I gave it a go.

Things I liked about this book:

• the main character: John Wells, a dinosaur of a journalist who refuses to turn in his manual typewriter for a computer. I like a flawed character, and this guy has a few, not the least is that fact that he is haunted (not literally) by the memory of his daughter who commit suicide five years ago when she was 15.
• the situation: there have been a rash of teen suicides in a nearby county and he has been pulled off of his usual beat by his somewhat sadistic editor and sent up to cover the story. (The aforementioned editor knows John's personal history when he assigns him to the story.) Once he shows up at the scene, it quickly becomes apparent that there just might be more going on here.
• the pace: after a somewhat slow start, the book picks up to a nice clip, and the last half just flies by. The pace is further aided by keeping the chapters short and leaving you hanging at the end of each, sort of the James Patterson school of writing.
• the plot & resolution: I liked the way the story played out. Fiction writers use a technique, well—the good fiction writers do, anyway—that Rust Hills called (in Writing in General and the Short Story in Particular) the inevitability of retrospect which means, essentially, that:
  • as a character moves forward in time there seems to be any number of ways they can go, any number of choices they (and all the other characters) can proceed,
  • but when you reach the end of the story and look back, the whole process seems to lead inevitably to the resolution as it occurred.
  That's how the plot of this book works. When it is done right, and it is here, it is very effective.

Things I didn't really care for about this book:

• the main character: Yeah, I know what I said above, but there are things about him I just didn't like. For instance, he really needs to get some Nicorette ®. And though I've heard cigarettes called "cigs", has anyone ever called them "'rettes"? I've never heard that one. There are other strange words or phrases this guy uses as well, and perhaps they're just painting a picture of who he is and used for effect, but I didn't care for it.
• the plot & resolution: I didn't care for the fact that I got wind of what was going on so long before the end of the book. Maybe I'm just smarter than most folks (extraordinarily doubtful) or the ending was telegraphed a bit too much.

All in all, I can see why this book was an Edgar Award runner up. His next(?) John Wells book, The Rain did win an Edgar, though.

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Lloyd Biggle Jr.

Today, Love All Books extends birthday wishes to science fiction and mystery author Lloyd Biggle Jr.

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Janet Evanovich: Hot Six (Rating: 8)

I just finished reading Hot Six another extremely enjoyable Stephanie Plum novel from Janet Evanovich.

The usual cast and crew are back again, but this time there is a quite unusual twist: the FTA—that's bounty-hunter-speak for "Failure To Appear", as in for a court date—that Stephanie's boss/cousin (Vinnie Plum, owner of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds) wants her to bring in this time is no other than fellow bounty hunter (or should we say bounty-hunter extraordinaire) Ricardo Carlos Manoso—AKA Ranger.

It wouldn't be giving anything away to say that Stephanie is not the best bounty hunter there ever was—she sucks at it actually—but she's very lucky so she usually succeeds at bringing in her FTAs.

Ranger, on the other hand, is everything Stephanie isn't. And Vinnie wants Stephanie, of all people, to bring him in! You just know this has got to be good!

In addition to the usual crew, Stephanie has a few more folks in her life during this book: a dog named Bob (who she begins watching for a Trenton cop who never comes back for him) and a kind-hearted druggie named Mooner.

Oh, yeah, and did I mention that Grandma Mazur moves in with Stephanie as well?

Four dead cars later I have to say: these books just keep getting more enjoyable!

Addendum (April 16, 2007)—I forgot, I had a really funny quote from this book I wanted to share:

For as long as I can remember, every Sunday morning, my mother went to church and stopped at the bakery on the way home. Every Sunday morning my mother bought jelly doughnuts. Nothing but jelly doughnuts. It was like taking communion. I'm a Catholic by birth, but in my own personal religion, the Trinity will forever be the Father, the Son, and the Holy Jelly Doughnut.

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Three Genre Authors

Today Love All Books wishes a happy birthday to not one, not two, but three genre authors: James Patterson, Rudy Rucker, and Louis L'Amour.

If you like mysteries, then you don't need me to tell you who James Patterson is!

From his Women's Murder Club (one of Julie's favorites) to his Alex Cross novels (two of which—Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider—have been made into movies), this guy cranks out bestsellers like you wouldn't believe.

I'm ashamed to admit that I have had science fiction author Rudy Rucker's book Wetware Software on my bookshelf since it first came out—almost twenty about twenty-five years ago already—and still haven't gotten around to reading it. [3/25/2007 edit: about the strikeouts I just added, I went looking for Wetware to put it on my pile of what to read next and discovered that I had mispoke—it is Software that I've had forever! I guess I just loved the title of Wetware so much, and the interesting images it conjures up for me, that I just substituted that in my wetware!]

However, after finding his blog—and just reading a tiny bit of it—I see this guy is very cool, and I'm going to elevate his books much further to the top of the heap (and to remind myself, I just tagged this post To Be Read).

Finally, if westerns are your thing, then Louis L'Amour is a name that also requires no introduction.

In fact, I'd hazard a guess that even if westerns truly aren't your thing—as they are not mine—you have heard of this giant in the publishing field or, at the very least, some of his works.

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Janet Evanovich: High Five (Rating: 8)

I just finished reading High Five by Janet Evanovich (quite probably the best Stephanie Plum novel to this point in the series).

This time around the story does not center upon the fugitive Stephanie is trying to bring in (the word trying here meaning "trying, but not succeeding as easily as you'd think").

Instead, this story hits a little closer to home when her Uncle Fred disappears and the family asks her to snoop around to find him.

This book is filled with the usual cast of unusual characters that make these books so much fun to read: Stephanie's parents, Grandma Mazur, Lula, Joe Morelli, Ricardo Carlos Manoso (AKA: Ranger), Rex (the real man in her life), Vinnie Plum, Carl Costanza, and the ever-expected "soon to be scrap metal" (a phrase which here means "cars that get too close to Stephanie").

Yep! They're all here, ready to take you on a wild ride.

(Not that kind of wild ride! Get your mind out of the gutter! Okay—Joe & Ranger are probably thinking along those lines, but . . . oh . . . never mind!)

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Janet Evanovich: Four To Score (Rating: 8)

I just finished Four To Score by Janet Evanovich, a Stephanie Plum novel.

I must admit to being a bit unenthusiastic for most of this book, but by the end I was glad I stuck with it. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Evanovich knows how to get a laugh.

I'm a bit bummed though—I had a really funny quote involving Stephanie's loss of two things of value to her (the result of two different acts of arson) in one day (and yes, of course one of them was a car), but I can't find it at all now.

And she—finally—did the dirty deed! Good for her!

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Janet Evanovich: Three To Get Deadly (Rating: 8)

I've finished Three To Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich (another Stephanie Plum novel, as well as another enjoyable read).

These books are great for a laugh, if nothing else (yes, among other things, this means Stephanie has lost yet another car!)

I highly recommend these books.

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Janet Evanovich: Two For The Dough (Rating: 8 out of 10)

I finished reading Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich and, once again, I had a real good time, definitely better than the time had by the protagonist. Poor Stephanie Plum! Evanovich really puts her through some rough times. Well, at least she almost had sex this time; she actually got so far as getting almost naked for it but — alas — it simply didn't happen! Maybe next time.

One thing I'll say for Evanovich, she does create interesting, colorful, and fully developed characters.

She's also funny as hell (which, honestly, is a dumb phrase when you think about it; make it funny as anything, instead!)

This book wasn't rated any higher for the same reason that the previous book wasn't.

Oh, yeah, and there is a new Stephanie Plum novel out — a "A Stephanie Plum Between-the-Numbers Novel", they're calling it — called Plum Lovin' that I'll have to get around to reading when I'm all caught up with the numbered books.

Here is what Amazon has to say about it:

Watch your back Look both ways Because love is in the air And that means big trouble! Mysterious men have a way of showing up in Stephanie Plum's apartment. When the shadowy Diesel appears, he has a task for Stephanie -- and he's not taking no for an answer. Annie Hart is a "relationship expert" who is wanted for armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. Stephanie needs to find her, fast. Diesel knows where she is. So they make a deal: He'll help her get Annie if Stephanie plays matchmaker to several of Annie's most difficult clients. But someone wants to find Annie even more than Diesel and Stephanie. Someone with a nasty temper. And someone with "unmentionable" skills. Does Diesel know more that he's saying about Annie Hart? Does Diesel have secrets he's keeping from Stephanie and the two men in her life -- Ranger and Morelli? With Stephanie Plum in over her head, things are sure to get a little dicey and a little explosive, Jersey style!

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Janet Evanovich: One For The Money (Rating: 8 out of 10)

I finished reading Janet Evanovich's first Stephanie Plum novel, One for the Money a couple of days ago and I must say I was quite pleasantly surprised (more on that in a bit). In short though, I had a great time with it.

So what did I like about it? For starters, I really love mysteries. And I love to laugh. Evanovich excels at writing mysteries that make you laugh. Let me give you some idea what I'm talking about. The opening lines of this book are:

There are some men who enter a woman's life and screw it up forever. Joseph Morelli did this to me — not forever, but periodically.

As for being pleasantly surprised, well, I guess was somewhat skeptical about reading this book to begin with. I only read it because Julie, AKA "The Missus", has been gently pestering me to read them. I've had to live with her laying in bed beside me every time a new Stephanie Plum novel came out, laughing out loud at some of it.

This is a woman who rarely lets out so much as a chuckle when we're watching TV or even a really funny movie.

Plus, most of her talk with Kendra (her "Stephanie Plum Pal") is filled with talk about whether Stephanie needs to be with Ranger or Joe. Now I am not — admittedly — an overly macho guy, but this was a bit off-putting to me.

On the other hand, there were bits I was looking forward to reading about, such as Grandma Mazur, or the destruction of one or more cars.

For, it seems, poor Stephanie has an extremely hard time keeping a vehicle. One must figure that Evanovich must either love cars passionately, or (my guess) hate them to the core of her being. In this book the car Stephanie is driving at the beginning of the story doesn't last and she winds up driving another that has, to put it mildly, problems. Most notably, a massive oil leak. For example, when Stephanie (while following someone) thinks:

I prayed he wasn't going far. I only had a case and a half of oil in the backseat.

she means it!

What else did I like? Well, the characters are very colorful and interesting. The mystery itself was satisfying. And, oh yes, did I mention it was laugh out loud funny?

What didn't I like? (AKA, why didn't I rate this book higher than an eight?) Well, it isn't so much that I disliked anything so much as, as is the case with most mysteries, it really is only a good way to pass time.

There's nothing here that I'm going to muse over for days, questioning the meaning of my life, or actually perceive any personal growth.

To put it another way, this book is at the shallower end of the literary pool, fairly close to the kiddie end of things (but NOT in content or language; if your ten year old tries to read this book, take it away!)

That said, this is definitely worthy of a read.

And, so far, so is the next book, Two for the Dough.

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