Copyright 2020 by David Benjamin. Published by Last Kid Books, Madison WI.

Full disclosure: the author is a friend. A very good, lifelong friend. We met in high school, in Madison WI in 1963. That is particularly relevant because this book is set in a high school in Madison WI in 1963. It is semi-autobiographical. The protagonist, Cribbsy, a 16-year-old wiseass aspiring author is Benjamin, for sure. Some of the other characters – but not all – are identifiable as people I know and grew up with. I see myself in one of the characters and many of the places are both real and very familiar. That familiarity makes this book exceptionally interesting to me.

But I believe anyone would find this book interesting. It is a fascinating look back at the turbulent month of November 1963, when Kennedy was shot. But, despite the title, this is not about Kennedy, nor the assassination, except as a backdrop to the adolescent drama and angst of a fascinating group of teens.

The characters are complex and fully developed. Their problems are real – sometimes shockingly real – and the narrative is amusing and chock full of literary references. I laughed, I cried. I even, occasionally, had to put the book down and reflect on that period in my life. And interspersed with the witty prose are real headlines and snippets of news articles from November 1963. For those old enough to have lived through that month, it it a collage of news that I had forgotten which made me realize both how much things have changed (e.g., all the references to “Negroes”) and how much they are still the same (e.g., the overwrought reactions to social change). There are also quotes from JFK, presented in a different font, which in counterpoint to the other nonsense, make him seem like an absolute oracle of the times.

How much did I like this book? It is 568 pages and I finished it in a week. That is over 80 pages per day. I haven’t read a book that fast in… well, forever.

9.5 out of 10. Maybe I would have given it a 10 if Cribbsy had gotten the girl. But that wouldn’t have been Cribbsy. And, in a way, he did get the girl. You will see what I mean.

Copyright 2004 by James Patterson. Published by Little, Brown and Company, New York.

This is one of Patterson’s wildly popular books featuring Alex Cross, FBI agent and psychologist. It appears to be the 9th of his Cross books and the second where Cross is up against the Russian supervillian known as “The Wolf.”

This book scores high on several counts. First, chapters are short – 2 to 4 pages. I like that. I can pick the book up and read a few chapters in 15 minutes. Second, it visits many interesting places. Washington, Seattle, New York, London, Paris. A few others too. I like a book that takes me to places I would like to go. And it has an archvillian with a big agenda – destroying four major western cities in this case. Cross has a worthy adversary.

But there are negatives, too. Lots of gratuitous violence. The Wolf seems to want to kill everyone he works with, along with a few thousand innocents. You would think his reputation would get around and others would be hesitant to do business with him as all of his allies end up dead. Second, the deadline to destroy the four cities if the ransom – some $2B – is not paid is extended 3 or 4 times, apparently because the book wasn’t long enough. And the four cities change. Frankfurt is dropped and Tel Aviv is added. For a guy who supposedly plans his evil to the last detail, changing the list of cities in the middle of the blackmail made no sense. Maybe Patterson decided he would rather research Tel Aviv than Frankfurt? Didn’t matter because neither city figured into the plot at all. Puzzling.

My biggest problem with the book, though, was its lack of consistent pace. After reading 80% of the book it was apparent that Cross and his colleagues were not one bit closer to catching The Wolf than at the outset; it was just one long, frustrating chase around the world. I also had a hard time swallowing that The Wolf, a supervillian who had been on the “most wanted” lists of law enforcement around the world for 30 years, was so mysterious that no one had an inkling as to his identity. Or her identity, as it was suggested many times that The Wolf might be female. This, despite the chapters of the book that were written from the viewpoint of The Wolf used male pronouns. This conceit was maintained up to the very end where there was a brief, final attempt to pin the identity on a woman.

Then there was the threat to the cities. The Wolf, to prove his power to wreak damage unless he gets his money, destroys bridges in New York, London and Paris. Why bridges? No good reason, but the havoc is sufficient to extract the ransom from the blackmailed governments. True, The Wolf demonstrates that he had access to some “suitcase nukes” so the payment would be small change compared to the cost of rebuilding major cities. But after the ransom is paid the nukes are not found and no one seems to care. Uh, wouldn’t the existence of the devices continue to be a bit of a concern?

Cross finally tracks down The Wolf and the villain dies. But the takedown is more a matter of luck for Cross and stupidity on the part of The Wolf, which seemed out of character for a supervillain. And (spoiler alert) he commits suicide before he can be interrogated. And before the money can be retrieved. So the book ends with $2B and some suitcase nukes still missing. Not a very satisfying conclusion.

So was the dead guy The Wolf? We will never know. Until Patterson finds a reason to resurrect him in a future novel, like a popular character on a soap opera.

It was a fun read, for the most part, but left me feeling manipulated.

6 out of 10.

Copyright 2013 by Splendide Mendax, Inc and Preston Child. Published by Vision, New York.

I really liked the first 80% of this book. Then it got ridiculous.

This is the 13th book in the Preston & Child series featuring Aloysius Pendergast, a rather effete FBI agent. My wife loves these books and I can see why. They are easy to read, the story was compelling and Pendergast is one interesting guy. But I like my stories to be somewhat realistic. This one has, as a key plot element, a very detailed reverie by Pendergast where he transports himself back more than 100 years to overhear a conversation between Oscar Wilde and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Yeah.

Up until that point the plot was interesting. Corrie Swanson, a student at John Jay and an aspiring FBI agent and acolyte of Pendergast’s, chooses a thesis topic that takes her to Roaring Fork CO, a ski playground of the rich and famous. The topic of her thesis was a forensic analysis of the bones of 12 miners who were killed, ostensibly by a grizzly bear, in the summer of 1876. She soon discovers that they were likely victims of a serial murderer. But things spiral out of control for both her and the town while she is there. A series of murder/arsons and a guy shooting at her car, plus a second crazy who stalks her. Not a typical ski vacation.

Besides the self-seance, I have a few other objections to the plot. Both Pendergast and Swanson commit B&Es and Swanson also steals a snowmobile and some items from a museum. A few bones, too. Not exactly exemplary behavior from law enforcement professionals.

Then, as the end of the book, Swanson goes out in a snowstorm, against Pendergast’s advice and is attacked by not one but two criminals and is saved by another woman who is tailing one of the culprits. Pendergast shows up, too. That is 5 people out in a raging snowstorm. On Christmas Eve. And, while being pursued by two men bent on murdering her, Swanson discovers the remains of the 1876 murderer and collects bone samples. I suppose I should be impressed at her desire to put a bow on her thesis while being shot at, but it was a bit much for me.

5 out of 10. But there is enough here that I will try another in the series. Maybe one of the early ones – Jett says they are better.