2011 book log

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As a regular reader of tor.com, I’ve seen quite a few book reviews posted by author Jo Walton. Walton has a penchant for picking out books that have been out for some time–and which, consequently, are currently rather hard to find. Such is the case with John M. Ford’s The Last Hot Time.

I previously knew of Ford only as the author of the comedic Star Trek novel How Much For Just the Planet?, and so was quite intrigued by the prospect of reading something entirely different by him. Originally published in 2000, The Last Hot Time is an urban fantasy from just before “urban fantasy” really came into vogue as a subgenre in its own right. Familiar hallmarks are certainly here, though: an ostensibly real-world setting impacted by the rise of magic, fey creatures of various stripes, crimes that have to be solved, humans living in a city occupying a borderland between the real world and the magical, a gritty overall atmosphere, and more.

In this particular case, the setting in question is Chicago–a Chicago profoundly changed by magic and by the re-emergence of Elves into human society. Our protagonist is Danny, who saves the life of the victim of a drive-by shooting, and winds up in the favor of the mysterious Mr. Patrise, who holds power in the part of this changed Chicago that sits between the human world and the magical. Danny, now called “Doc Hollownight” by Mr. Patrise and his other employees, soon learns of the Elf sorceror Whisper Who Dares, who’s on the loose in the city–and that he’s going to have to help stop him.

There’s a lot that’s familiar here if you’re a longstanding reader of the genre, to be sure. What pulled me in, though, was the juxtaposition of elves and gangster-style characters, which gives this almost more of a feel of a story set in the 30’s rather than a more contemporary time frame. What kept me was Ford’s excellent prose, and his way of naming elf characters. The aforementioned Whisper Who Dares is an example, and that’s even just the short form of that character’s name; the full form is Whisper Who Dares the Word of Words in Darkness. I also very much liked the character Cloudhunter Who Keeps His Sisters’ Counsel, a.k.a. Cloudhunter, a.k.a. Cloud. Ford’s version of elves in general read for me exactly how I like elves to read in any fantasy, urban or otherwise: i.e., elegant, otherworldly, and with a noble lyricism about them that can be either bright or profoundly dark.

It’s a great loss to the genre in general that Ford’s passed away, but fortunately, he’s left behind some excellent books. This one is well worth hunting down if you can find it; I checked it out from our local library, and am hoping to track down a copy of my own. Five stars.

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

To my satisfaction, Death Echo is one of the stronger Elizabeth Lowell thrillers I’ve read in a while. It’s #4 of her St. Kilda Consulting series, and of the set of those, this one so far has been my favorite. I’m pleased in particular that our heroine, Emma Cross, is the St. Kilda agent, while hero Mackenzie Durand is the freelance boat captain she has to work with; this does much to put these two on a more equal footing than I’ve seen in many Lowell novels.

Death Echo‘s conflict is driven by Emma’s mission to track down a yacht called the Blackbird, and discover what its intended cargo will be–for there’s a threat to a major American city at stake. Mac’s part in the plot is to provide her boat transport, and, familiar as I am with Lowell’s older novels, this called back hard to Amber Beach. But I enjoyed this book much more than that earlier novel, in no small part because of that equal footing I mentioned. There’s a great tense sequence through the climax where Emma has to take over the boat she and Mac are on, thanks to what happens to poor Mac. And if you’re at all familiar with this kind of romantic suspense novel, you can probably easily fill in that blank.

As always with Lowell, there’s angst-filled pasts galore for hero and heroine alike, and still nothing here that’s terribly new for her. Still, though, this felt like a maturer work than many of hers, and it was a good solid read. Three stars.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you would like to get into the Bethancourt-Gibbons mysteries by Cassandra Chan–an activity I’d highly recommend–then Book 4, A Spider on the Stairs, is probably not the place to do it. On the one hand, Chan does a good job of making each story self-contained, and it’s not a huge detriment if you come in at this point of the series. But on the other hand, events in the earlier books do influence the ones in this one, and I certainly found my ability to enjoy this story enhanced by knowing what had come before.

In this particular installment of the series, “what had come before” is Jack Gibbons’ getting shot in Book 3. A Spider on the Stairs is the first we see of him after he’s returned to active duty, trying to nail down whether a particular recent murder is the work of a serial killer at large. Meanwhile, Bethancourt has to deal with a trial of his own: his family over the Christmas holidays. Fortunately for these lucky boys, a new case quickly distracts them both: whether a bookshop employee found strangled on Christmas morning is the work of that same killer.

Overall I liked this one quite a bit. The bookshop murder is (for reasons that ought to be obvious) strongly Relevant to My Interests, but just as fun is getting to see Bethancourt having to deal with his family. On a somewhat more serious note, it’s also good strong character development to see both Bethancourt and Gibbons needing to regain their footing now that the latter is back on active duty. As with previous books in the series, there are several nicely portrayed side characters to populate the list of suspects–and of course, this being a mystery novel, the employees of the bookshop have far more drama in their backstories than meets the immediate eye. So yeah, good fun. Four stars.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read Ghost Ship, Book 2 of P.J. Alderman’s Port Chatham series, right on the heels of Book 1. And was delighted that I did, because while both are standalone stories, the continuation of the relationship between lead characters Jordan and Jase flows beautifully right out of Book 1. It is, hands down, my favorite thing about the second book.

But that said, everything else about Ghost Ship is also a fun followup to Haunting Jordan. Jordan is once again called upon by Port Chatham’s deceased residents to investigate one of their own murders, setting up another dual plotline that bounces back and forth between the past and the current timelines. This time the ghostly victim is Michael, the former rival for the affections of Jordan’s ghostly roommate Hattie–and Michael’s much more aggressive about having been killed. The modern murder is of Michael’s own descendant. Naturally, Jordan has to solve both at once!

We get some fun development of what all Jordan’s capable of seeing in this book, as well as some further explanation of what the ghosts of Port Chatham are themselves able to do. There’s advancement of Jordan’s friendship with Darcy, the (refreshingly) female sheriff of the town, as well as the aforementioned romantic advancement. On the strength of the image in my reader’s eye given me by the very last page alone, I almost liked this one even more than the first, and am greatly looking forward to what Alderman will be writing next. Five stars.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’m delighted to report that Haunting Jordan by P.J. Alderman was one of the most charming cozy mysteries I’ve read in some time. (And, happily, its Book 2 was equally engaging–but more on that in that book’s review.)

The Jordan of the title is our heroine Jordan Marsh, a therapist who’s fled L.A. to avoid the storm of controversy surrounding her philandering husband’s murder. She’s been a suspect, and indeed is still considered a suspect by a particularly determined detective even though she’s been cleared of any wrongdoing. Now she’s resettling in the Pacific Northwest, hoping to start a new life. Problem is, that quaint old house she’s hoping to renovate is already occupied. By two ghosts who want her to solve one of their own murders. And much to Jordan’s deep chagrin, her ability to see and interact with not only these ghosts but every other ghost in the town makes her an instant figure of color to everyone else in Port Chatham, especially Jase Cunningham, her handsome neighbor.

Thus begins a dual plotline, one with Jordan delving deep into researching the town’s history to try to figure out what happened to the deceased Hattie, and the other with the murder of Jordan’s husband and the fallout around it chasing her to Port Chatham. You have to suspend your disbelief a bit in regards to the historical plotline, and go with the flow that apparently every prominent ghost in the town had their lives so well and thoroughly documented that letters and journals and newspapers of the time are conveniently around for Jordan to read through–but even given that, the exploration of those characters’ fates is fun.

So is the current-day plot. It takes a bit to set up who the actual killer of Jordan’s husband was, given that the history plot gets so much camera time; astute readers will, also, probably figure out faster than I did who did it. But I didn’t really care, since I was having such fun with Alderman’s prose.

In particular, I had great fun with the developing relationship between Jordan and Jase. Alderman hit all the best ways to make a male lead character attractive to me, starting off with sentences that still stick out for me even as I write this review: “Caffeinated beverages notwithstanding, though, he looked… interesting. Broad shoulders, and a confident, ground-eating stride.” And, “Up close, his face was rugged and lived-in… and appealing.” This is pretty much all the physical cues that the author needed to give me about Jase’s attractiveness, as well as Jordan’s reaction to it. Throughout the rest of the book, Jase’s appeal is demonstrated through his actions and his participation in the plot, and through his overall laid-back nature–up until he’s called up to not be laid-back anymore, at which point he demonstrates his ability to ramp up his focus impressively. In other words, the hero is sexy not because he’s mind-bogglingly gorgeous, but because he’s awesome.

And I love that. Compared with the more blatant descriptions of so-called sexy heroes that I run into all over paranormal romance and much urban fantasy, not to mention the overtly physical descriptions of how heroines react to them, this was the best possible way to get me invested in the book’s budding romance. Combined with the town’s overall quirky reaction to Jordan’s ghost-seeing ability–i.e., not a single person in the town is surprised that the ghosts exists, and many of them envy her the ability to see them–I found this fun from start to finish.

It’s not perfect. Like I said, one does need to suspend a bit of disbelief when it comes to how well the former lives of the ghost characters are documented, and some readers may find the complexity of the plot lacking. But I loved Alderman’s prose and characters so much that I didn’t care about either of these things, and it is a measure of how much I adored this book and its successor that after I bought the ebooks, I went right back out and bought them in paperback as well so that I’d have offline copies. Alderman has definitely joined my list of authors I want to keep around in print. Five stars.