Category Archives: Fiction

Fiction, Reviews

Reading report: ‘The Hobbit,’ by J.R.R. Tolkien

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It was a terrible battle. The most dreadful of all Bilbo’s experiences, and the one which at the time he hated most—which is to say it was the one he was the most proud of, and most fond of recalling long afterwards, although he was quite unimportant in it.

Recently I watched the Lord of the Rings movies (extended versions, of course; not the Hobbit films). And whenever I do that, it comes into my mind that I need to read the books again. Christopher Lee read them once a year, after all. I’m far behind that tally. So I pulled out The Hobbit, to begin the journey.

I’ll confess that at first I thought it kind of elementary. It is a children’s book, after all, and sometimes the author talks down to his audience.

However, it grew on my mind as I read that this book (along with the Trilogy) can be viewed from the perspective of veteran’s literature (I’m not a veteran, I hasten to note; but it’s something I can be aware of). When Tolkien tells us, again and again, that Bilbo wished himself back in his cozy hobbit hole, “not for the last time,” he’s conveying the feelings of the soldier at war. Not long ago, he was comfortable in his rooms at Oxford, eating well, cared for by servants, keeping regular hours. Now he’s slogging through mud or crouched in a flooded trench, struggling with boredom or dreading going “over the top.” Thoughts of home flood in; they are a torment and a comfort all at once.

And by the end of the book, I must confess, I had to blink back manly tears. I was moved.

The Hobbit is a great book. But you knew that.

Fiction, Reviews

‘Lucky Draw,’ by Mark Stone

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When I reviewed Mark Stone’s novel Lucky Break, first in his “Lucky John” series, the other day, I said (in so many words) that the book was slight, inconsistent, but rather fun. Having read book number two, Lucky Draw, I think I’ve had enough. It’s possible to be too slight.

“Lucky John,” the hero, is John Lucky, a former soldier and trucker who won the lottery and moved to Bonita Springs, Florida. He gets involved in investigating crimes, largely to keep himself occupied. In Lucky Draw, he’s hired to board a casino ship and participate in the world’s top poker tournament, in order to recover sensitive data that’s a threat to national security. He goes in accompanied by the girl who bought his winning lottery ticket, and they are soon surrounded by danger and betrayal.

The Lucky John books show strong signs of being written fast and not proofed for consistency. For instance, in the first book we were told John won the lottery in Iowa, and then he went on to tell people it wasn’t Iowa, but Indiana. Now we’re told it was in Illinois. I don’t think the author cares much.

The action is frequent and implausible, and in one scene I had no idea what was going on – the description didn’t make any sense to me. There was a nice moment when John counsels a young man to avoid pornography, but overall the story was long on fistfights and shootouts, and short on characterization.

It was fun for a while, but I think I’ve had enough now.

Fiction, Reviews

‘Nothing But the Blood,’ by S. D. Thames

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Recently, a friend reminded me of my review, some years ago, of A Mighty Fortress, the first book in the Milo Porter mystery series by S. D. Thames. I had lost track of this author, so I checked to see if there were more books. And there is one. Nothing But the Blood was published in 2017. I note that there have been no further Milo Porter books. I hope the author hasn’t given up, because he writes my kind of story.

Milo Porter is a Gulf War veteran who now lives in Tampa and works as a private investigator and process server. He suffers from PTSD, which expresses itself in bad dreams, (possible) hallucinations, and risk taking. He’s a Christian, as are most of his friends, who are also (including his girlfriend) mostly weight lifters. Milo is a pretty good lifter himself, and has just set a record. During the big lift, he sees a vision of blood and of his personal guardian angel.

That vision motivates him to take a job he’s offered the same day. A representative of a major league football team hires him to watch a young player whom they plan to select in the upcoming draft. Milo encounters surprising hostility from the player and his entourage. But then the player dies in a highly suspicious weight lifting accident, and Milo finds a new client and a new challenge – to unravel a complicated, ruthless conspiracy of fraud.

I enjoyed Nothing But the Blood a little less than A Mighty Fortress, probably because the pro football world doesn’t interest me a lot. But I was again impressed with the author’s professional prose, good characterization and plotting, and skillful manner of incorporating Christian faith into a (mostly) realistic story. I recommend Nothing But the Blood, with the caution that this isn’t a Frank Peretti book. Which, from my point of view, is a good thing.

Fiction, Reviews

‘Lucky Break,’ by Mark Stone

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I sometimes joke about the infinite number of fictional detectives today who live on a Florida beach, in emulation of John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee. And yet they never do seem to run out. My latest discovery is the Lucky John series by Mark Stone, of which the first installment is Lucky Break. “Lucky John” is actually (if improbably) named John Lucky. A former soldier and over the road truck driver, he rescued a girl in a truck stop from a robber one night. In gratitude, she made out a lottery ticket for him using her phone number. The number was drawn, and John Lucky suddenly had more money than he’ll ever spend. (He did give the girl a piece of the prize.)

Having no real roots or family of his own, John decides to move to the place he liked best of all the places he’s ever visited – Florida. He buys a house in Bonita Springs, with his amiable buddy Davey, who seems to have been born to be a sidekick. Before long they’ve found a new favorite bar together, and shortly thereafter John defends the attractive bartender from her angry ex-husband. This leads to a complicated (and implausible) adventure in which John finds himself suspected of murder before uncovering and thwarting a diabolical revenge plot.

Believability isn’t a big consideration in Lucky Break. Details are contradictory, and extreme, movie-style dangers come at our hero rapid-fire. There is little time for meditation on life. The book is a fast read that probably didn’t take long to write.

But I kind of enjoyed it. Lucky John is a likeable hero, and the general mood is sunny, which is nice for a change. I bought the second book.

Fiction, Reviews

‘The Framed Father,’ by J. R. Mathis

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In the second book of the J. R. Mathis’s Father Tom mysteries, The Framed Father, our hero is called back to the town of Myerton, Pennsylvania, where he recently solved the cold case murder of the woman he was married to before he became a priest. He left the parish in the hands of Father McCoy, a callow young priest who seemed the most innocent and inoffensive of men. But accusations have reached the archbishop that Father McCoy has been carrying on with his attractive administrative assistant. So Father McCoy is sent off into retreat, and Father Tom must take over at St. Clare’s once again. But when scandal turns to murder, Father Tom will again team up with Helen, his ex-fiancee, now a police detective (who is improbably open to amateur help) to try to save the young priest’s name and liberty.

I reviewed the previous book in the series, The Penitent Priest, as morally upright and well-composed, but weakly and improbably plotted. I thought The Framed Father somewhat better. There are still too many coincidences, but I didn’t guess the solution this time.

No bad language, heavy violence, or sex scenes to caution you about. Matters of the Catholic faith are treated seriously, and there are good depictions of crises of faith. Father Tom is a little too much the intuitive detective for my personal taste, but the book wasn’t bad.

Fiction, Reviews

‘The Penitent Priest,’ by J. R. Mathis

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I probably wouldn’t have purchased J. R. Mathis’s mystery novel The Penitent Priest if I’d noticed that its tagline said “A Clean Murder Mystery.” (Puts me in mind of the old joke about “a nice old-fashioned murder with no immorality in it.”) When the first recommendation a book offers is its lack of dirty words and sex scenes, it’s not usually a guarantee of literary quality. But The Penitent Priest turned out better than I would have expected.

Father Tom Greer came to the priesthood late in life, after the murder of his beloved wife. So he’s somewhat nervous when the archbishop assigns him to temporarily replace the parish priest at St. Clare’s in Myerton, Pennsylvania. Myerton is where he lived as a married man and buried his wife, and where he abruptly left a number of old friends when he dropped out of sight afterwards. So he has some personal fences to mend.

But when an unseen stranger tells him secrets no innocent person should know in the confessional, Father Tom knows he has the opportunity to finally identify his wife’s killer. But he’ll also have to face his own fears and guilt.

I was impressed with the writing in The Penitent Priest. You rarely run into a novelist these days who can parse a decent English sentence and spell words right. The plotting, unfortunately, was less wonderful. As is not uncommon among starting authors, author Mathis has laid on too many coincidences. Why should the archbishop assign Father Tom to precisely this parish, considering his personal history and the fact that he’s still a person of interest in his wife’ murder? And is it really likely that the woman to whom Tom was engaged before he met his wife should show up as a police detective here?

Also, the big surprise at the end of the story might as well have been printed on the title page in big red letters.

But because I liked the writing, and because Father Tom is a good character, I bought the sequel.

Fiction, Uncategorized

William Gillette as Sherlock Holmes

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https://youtube.com/watch?v=eFYd-Ip5kUI

What we have above is a genuine treasure of Sherlock Holmes lore. The original popular image of Sherlock Holmes came from Sidney Paget’s illustrations for the Strand Magazine in London (bald, long nose). But in American magazines, the foremost illustrator was Frederick Dorr Steele, who based his image on the handsome actor William Gillette, who played Holmes more than 1,300 times on stage in a play he wrote himself. Steele’s Holmes largely superseded Paget’s as the popular image of the great detective.

In 1916, Essanay Studios of Chicago filmed the play (with additions), and Gillette played the role yet again. This historic film was long believed lost, but in 2014 a print was discovered in France. This version had been released as a serial for the French audience, and included extra material not found in the American version. This French version has been splendidly restored, and the dialogue cards have been recreated using Gillette’s script. The orange and blue tinting is original.

Artist Paget bestowed Sherlock Holmes’ deerstalker cap on him, but it was Gillette who gave him the curved calabash pipe, which did not wiggle so much when the actor talked. I hadn’t heard about the re-discovery of this film, and am still astonished I can see Gillette himself in the role.

Like many an aging actor before and since, he’s playing younger than his actual age, with a love interest about old enough to be his daughter.

Fiction, Reviews

‘Most Likely To Die,’ by Rodney Riesel

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The saga of Dan Coast, Rodney Riesel’s self-destructive, alcoholic lottery winner living in Key West, continues with Most Likely To Die, in which Dan tries to clear a man unjustly accused of murder. Unless Dan is wrong. Which he often is.

Dan Coast doesn’t like the nurse Reatha Davis. She spoke condescendingly to him once, and corrected his grammar. But she works with Dan’s girlfriend Maxine, and Maxine likes her. So when Reatha asks Dan to find evidence to clear her husband, who’s been arrested for murder, Dan reluctantly agrees. Her husband, Reatha says, is a good man and had no enemies. And neither did his old friend, a schoolmate, who was murdered. Dan figures nobody gets murdered if they have no enemies, so he’s pretty sure somebody’s lying.

With the help of his ever-expanding posse, his big friend Rick, his surfer dude friend Skip, and now his childhood hero, astronaut Kip Larson, Dan runs around annoying people and interfering in the police investigation. Eventually they’ll figure it out, but only by crossing some legal lines.

I think I’m beginning to weary of Dan Coast’s act. The books are fast, and they have some laughs, but they’re not well-written (this one brings in a character from a previous book at one point, then forgets about him completely). They’ve never quite found their balance between comedy and tragedy, but this one was pretty much farce from the git-go. And not very believable.

Still, I won’t pretend it wasn’t fun. I’ve got something more serious to read now, but I may go back to Dan Coast when I need to rest my brain. Cautions for language and juvenile humor.

Fiction, Reviews

‘Double Trouble,’ by Rodney Riesel

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Book 5 in the Dan Coast series by Rodney Riesel is Double Trouble. Dan starts out doing a divorce case with the help of his friend Red (who still has to drive him around until he gets his license back after a DUI). They are discovered snooping, and have to make tracks.

Then Dan’s dog finds a body buried in the sand in front of his Key West house. Dan calls the police, but leaves the scene, and when the cops get there the body has vanished.

That mystery is explained (partly) when a man shows up looking for his missing sister. He had come to the Keys with his twin brother, who has also disappeared. Dan recognizes him as the spitting image of the guy in the sand. The surviving brother hires Dan to help him find the sister.

I keep complaining about the writing in the Dan Coast series, but then I keep buying the books. So they can’t be that bad. I still have some trouble with the tone – it alternates between buffoonery and deep tragedy. Often the characters don’t seem to be realistically affected by death, even deaths of people close to them. Author Riesel seems to have trouble hitting any notes in between Bottom and Othello. It can be disorienting for the reader.

Also, the big surprise in the book was kind of a chestnut. I saw it coming a mile off.

But I’m continuing reading the series. Cautions for language, inappropriate jokes, and misspelling.

Fiction, Reviews

‘Coasts of Christmas Past,’ and ‘Ship of Fools,’ by Rodney Riesel

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Dan yanked his pistol from his waistband, ejected the magazine from the grip, and looked at the bullets. Then he jammed the magazine back into place with the palm of his hand.

“What was that for?” Red asked.

“I have no idea, but they always do it on TV.”

(Coasts of Christmas Past)

I’m just tooling along through Rodney Riesel’s Dan Coast novels, because they’re short, mostly likeable, and not too demanding. I’ll do two books tonight – Coasts of Christmas Past and Ship of Fools.

Dan Coast, Key West lottery winner and dilettante private investigator, aims for a life of quiet self-destruction on the beach, drinking heavily to suppress memories of his great personal loss. However, in Coasts of Christmas Past, his friend Red and his parents have different plans. His parents show up unexpectedly, organizing a big Christmas for him, whether he wants one or not. Christmas was once his favorite time of the year. But that was before…

The preparations get interrupted when a close friend gets injured. The police believe he was hurt in a botched drug deal, but Dan and Red know better than that. So they ride to the rescue in Red’s borrowed pink Volkswagen. There’s also a touching subplot in this book that will break your heart.

Ship of Fools finds Dan where he’s been headed for some time – confined in a mental hospital, drying out at a judge’s orders. That’s how he gets to know “Officer Mel,” a fellow patient who wears a cardboard badge and thinks he’s a policeman. Nobody believes Mel when he says that somebody has kidnapped his sister, but Dan starts to think there’s something there. So, ruthlessly using his money and snooping skills, he orchestrates his own release and takes Mel with him. Thus begins a madcap adventure with some interesting twists.

I liked the serious aspects of these stories better than the humor. Humor is hard to do, especially the wisecracking kind. One expects drunks to be inappropriate, but even when he’s sober, Dan can be a real jerk. On the other hand, when he gets his priorities straight, he can be a pretty good guy.

The author still needs a proofreader.

Mild cautions for language and adult themes. Good light entertainment, if you can get through the annoying parts.