“Deliver Us From Evil”, by David Baldacci (Grand Central/Pan)

US    |    UK

The latest international thriller from a master of the genre

Evan Waller is a monster. He has built a fortune from his willingness to buy and sell anything… and anyone. In search of new opportunities, Waller has just begun a new business venture: one that could lead to millions of deaths all over the globe.

On Waller’s trail is Shaw, the mysterious operative from The Whole Truth, who must prevent Waller from closing his latest deal. Shaw’s one chance to bring him down will come in the most unlikely of places: a serene, bucolic village in Provence.

But Waller’s depravity and ruthlessness go deeper than Shaw knows. And now, there is someone else pursuing Waller in Provence — Reggie Campion, an agent for a secret vigilante group headquartered in a musty old English estate — and she has an agenda of her own.

Hunting the same man, unaware of each other’s mission, Shaw and Reggie will be caught in a deadly duel of nerve and wits.

This is the second book in Baldacci’s Shaw series, following on from the highly successful, and enjoyable The Whole Truth.

Shaw’s operation to deal with Waller is a cold example of “the lesser of two evils”; cold, hard realism in an ever-more dangerous, interconnected world. His handlers are aware of Waller’s sex-trafficking business, but are more concerned by his recent foray into nuclear arms dealing, and are willing to let the former slide if they can just prevent the latter. They’re reaction to Regina’s operation also adheres strongly to a realpolitik approach to international relations, and is presented in a well-conceived and considered manner (it’s not some conspiracy-loving critique, for example).

Regina’s outfit is an interesting one. A group of vigilantes, loosely connected, executing designated ‘monsters’ as their identities become known. It’s not entirely clear what each of the team’s members’ motivations are. Regina’s past is only revealed very late in the novel, and it was certainly a surprise, even if I didn’t see how it might explain her specific choice in profession.

“there will always be monsters. And we have to hunt down every one of them.”

Waller is looking for a “challenge” and believes moving from his steady, ludicrously profitable primary sex-trafficking business to weapons dealing with Muslim terrorists will provide both the needed challenge and a fresh experience. When the initial deal goes wrong, however, Waller vows to bring those responsible for betraying him to ‘justice’. Waller is a true monster: outwardly he is the calm and reasonable businessman he professes to be, but underneath he’s also a cold psychopath – just wait until Chapter 37 for his monstrous, chilling nature to be presented in rather gruesome detail.

One thing that surprised me about this novel was that, considering it’s meant to be the second in the Shaw series, it felt to me like he only featured in about a quarter of the novel (a third at most), with Regina’s story-line dominating, with Waller receiving roughly the same chapter-space as Shaw. This is one reason that might explain my disappointment with the novel, as it diverged a good deal from what I was expecting.

I always come to Baldacci’s novels with high expectations. With every one I’ve read, he has exceeded my expectations. For the first time, however, I am left a little underwhelmed. There’s just something about Deliver Us From Evil that didn’t quite click for me. The characters are good, and mostly well-rounded. The dialogue and prose are great – I flew through the chapters whenever I picked up the book, so it’s not a problem with Baldacci’s writing (always exceptional). It’s just the pacing of the story itself, and the progression of the plot doesn’t seem to work properly. There seems to be a lot of hurry-up-and-wait, or a stop-start feel to the narrative, and certain events felt anti-climactic, and things slow down too much on one too many instances. There are a couple of chapters which might be intended to be ‘cliffhangers’, but because the reader knows how much more of the book is left to go, they don’t achieve the intended outcome. The author sometimes loses the balance between exposition and storytelling, with – for the first time – his explanations of innovative elements of the story running a little too long, again diminishing the pace and impact of the story. One final thing that bothered me, was Shaw’s confused relationship with Katie James (who featured prominently in The Whole Truth and pops up a couple times here) and Regina – it is almost as if the author is as unsure as his character who Shaw should be with.

It frustrates me to write a review even partially negative for a Baldacci novel, but I’ve got to write the truth. This novel just didn’t have the impact of Baldacci’s other novels (all of which I’ve devoured with great enthusiasm and satisfaction), with a plot that meandered a little too much, and character interactions that failed to ignite. The final quarter of the novel redeemed itself well, and the final confrontation was pretty tense, but it was not enough to make me forget my occasional moments of indifference during the preceding chapters. I still eagerly await Hell’s Corner, the next book in Baldacci’s Camel Club series (published later this year), which has always been his strongest series, with his strongest characters.

Deliver Us From Evil will entertain, will keep you guessing (there are a fair few red herrings and switches), but might not be as fulfilling as previous novels from this brilliant author.

For Fans of: Vince Flynn, Daniel Silva, Christopher Reich, Kyle Mills, John Sandford, Tom Clancy, James Twining, Andrew Britton, Richard North Patterson

“Storm Prey”, by John Sandford (Simon & Schuster)

A botched robbery, a cop’s wife targeted

There’s a storm brewing... Very early, 4:45am on a bitterly cold Minnesota morning, three big men burst through the door of a hospital pharmacy, duct-tape the hands, feet, mouth and eyes of two pharmacy workers, and clean the place out. But then things swiftly go bad, one of the workers dies, and the robbers hustle out to their truck — and find themselves for just one second face-to-face with a blond woman who’s just driven into the garage: Weather Karkinnen, surgeon, and wife of top Minnesota investigator, Lucas Davenport.

Did she see enough? Can she identify the robbers?

Gnawing it over later, it seems to them there is only one thing they can do: Find out who she is, and eliminate the only possible witness to their crime...

Long-time readers of the site will know how much I like Sandford’s work. Having read all of the Prey novels, as well as Sandford’s much-loved, short series of Kidd novels, each new novel from the author is usually an exciting and important event on my calendar. For some reason, however, Storm Prey just kept getting pushed back, as other things came in that happened to appeal to my mood at the time. Now that I’ve got these things out of the way, Storm Prey is the first in a string of thriller reviews I’ll be doing for the site (including Sandford’s other two most recent releases, Heat Lightning and Rough Country).

Thankfully, Storm Prey was  a great read, and it was worth the wait.

At the start of the novel, Weather is introduced as a member of an important, ground-breaking surgery to separate twins conjoined at the skull. It is difficult, delicate, and dangerous work, but the media are interested and the stakes are high. The explanation of the procedure and medical detail at the beginning was a bit long, even if it was interesting, and as the story progresses we see how the surgery forms an important backdrop for the novel. It felt a little like padding at times, but this isn’t really a problem, as Sandford keeps the pace up throughout.

It was nice that Weather Karkinnen, Lucas’s wife, takes a more central role in a Prey novel after so long being in the background, playing the role of an emotional support mechanism for Lucas. In Storm Prey, Lucas is there to offer her support, so it’s a nice role-reversal. One thing that struck me, however, was that Lucas didn’t seem to feature so much in the story. One of the best things about the Prey novels is Lucas’s process of solving crimes – often internal mulling, but also unconventional investigative methods. This time around, they didn’t seem to form enough of the novel, for me.

For Storm Prey, there are a few more perspectives the novel is written from: two ‘bad guy’ factions, made up of four perspectives; Weather’s perspective; and also a little through Virgil’s eyes. So, it was noticeable how little written was told from Lucas’s point of view. Given that Sandford’s parallel series seems to be taking off, featuring Virgil as the main protagonist (book four, Bad Blood, is released this September in the USA), I wonder if the author’s getting prepared to retire the Prey series? I hope not, but equally after 20+ books, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Sandford’s classic, dry humour is present, this time commenting on American society as a whole, and the “perils of negotiating a capitalist economy”. I still love the rapport between the members of Lucas’s team; they form a real band of brothers, which makes a nice change from the lone-cop or partner/buddy-cop formula of many cop/crime thrillers.

The story initially seemed a little thin; that it might not really be that fulfilling (not to mention threatening to finish 100 pages in, before the proverbial shit hit the fan), but Sandford really makes it work, delving into the world of biker gangs, the US hospital system, drug addiction, and also the relationships between people with shared experiences and brought together under strange circumstances. A weird mix, but they made for a good story.

Basically, the group who robbed the hospital succumb to extreme paranoia; they weren’t close before the job, and when it goes wrong, suspicions go into overdrive. Some unexpected alliances form, not to mention a strangely touching friendship between Barakat (Lebanese medical resident and dope fiend) and Cappy (a cold-blooded, very young killer), which could have been the beginning of a beautiful bromance.

The plot meanders a little more than usual, and it wasn’t quite as fast-paced and exciting as previous Prey novels. But, that being said, I was still eager to read it all, and was annoyed whenever I was interrupted – I ended up snatching any opportunity to read, even if I only had time to read two pages.

Sandford remains one of the best thriller writers working today, and I eagerly look forward to reading everything and anything else he writes.

Recommended for all thriller fans.

For Fans of: Robert Crais, early James Patterson, Vince Flynn, Kyle Mills, David Baldacci, James Twining, John Grisham, Greg Iles, Christopher Reich, Daniel Silva, Linwood Barclay, Richard North Patterson

To borrow a couple of memes

Two posts from two bloggers I follow have caught my eye, so I thought I’d consolidate my responses to these memes into one post. The first, from The Speculative Scotsman, is a pretty short one, which I happened to be talking about yesterday with Alyssa (my newest writing-slave reviewer), so I liked that it was timely:

As reviewers, do you read other reviewers' reviews before composing your own?

Simple answer: no. In fact, I rarely read any reviews anymore, despite subscribing to so many RSS feeds from book bloggers. I guess it’s partly to avoid being (sub)consciously influenced by what people I respect have to say (which is actually limited to only a very few bloggers – who shall remain nameless, because we can’t be inflating any egos now…). It’s also because this site is predominantly reviews, so I would rather read more news and opinion pieces than reviews of books I might be reading, or will read in the future. It is, however, a weird feeling to discover a review that’s so similar to one I’ve written. I think the only reviews I read now are for books I’ve already read and/or reviewed. This can often be unhealthy, as I end up wishing my reviews were so insightful or, in some cases, literary (it’s a long time since I last studied literature, and I have a weird complex about not knowing all the proper phrases, sometimes). I do still read a lot of non-fiction reviews; not to influence my own, but mainly because I need to decide on what to buy for my PhD and my ever-growing collection of books on the US Presidents…

*  *  *

The second meme, which I came across in a post by Adam Christopher, is a little more involved and fun – and made me think of the “Top 5s…” from High Fidelity for some reason. There are a handful of books and/or series that could have been the answer for almost every question (Terry Pratchett, Scott Lynch, etc.), but I’ve tried to be as varied as possible to keep things vaguely interesting. So here are the questions (in bold) and my answers to each:

One Book that Changed my Life

This was quite an easy choice: James Clavell’s Tai-Pan, which I reviewed a little while ago, because it made me fall in love with reading ‘proper’ books. It had the unfortunate side-effect of also making it difficult to find other books as good or enjoyable for a while, but it is still a firm favourite and definitely a book that changed my life: mostly because it made me want to write.

I shall add another, which is important for a different reason. Scott Lynch’s The Lies of Locke Lamora, which opened my eyes to fantasy fiction again, and is also one of my favourite books of all time. It’s just brilliant and works on every single level for me. It is also one of the books I recommend most to other people…

… Except for everything Discworld by Terry Pratchett, which also goes in this category. Pratchett’s books showed me that ‘comic’ fantasy didn’t have to be ridiculous to be enjoyable, and that it could be intelligent and many-layered behind the jokes and gags. An exceptional talent who deserves every word of praise he’s ever received and more.

One Book you have to read more than once

Anne Rice’s The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned. I consider these novels as one, because I never read one without the other. They were re-released recently through Sphere, but I’ve been reading them for years. I even remember reading them in New York, when I lived there – one of my favourite winters, actually: the snow was deep and made the city even more beautiful, and I wandered the city, stopping at various coffee-shops to read my way through Rice’s first five vampire novels.

Lestat and Queen were written just as Rice was really taking off and producing her very best novels – her gift for description, atmosphere and scene-setting (perfectly employed in these two novels) are still unsurpassed, and she’s able to evoke powerful images and impressions of her characters’ emotions and also the different times and locations brilliantly. True, the series waned in impact as it continued (though I still really enjoyed Merrick, which properly brought her other series – The Mayfair Witches – into the timeline). I’ve read these two about four times, now, and I think I’ll be doing so again in the Autumn, when I’m hoping to get a review of the first five Vampire Chronicles written (Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat Lestat, The Queen of the Damned, The Tale of the Body Thief and Memnoch the Devil).

One Book you’d want on a Desert Island

I’m thinking something really long… If I had to choose something right this instant, I imagine I’d end up picking Justin Cronin’s The Passage, because it’s really long and I’ve only heard very good things about it.

But, to be really difficult, I’d actually take my eReader with me, because I have 90 books on it, and that should keep me going for bit. (I know, there’s always one person who has to answer ‘cleverly’…)

I’m possibly one of the biggest boosters for eBooks, as I adore my reader – so much, in fact, that I’ve rarely considered upgrading it to a new, touch-screen edition. (I’ll admit that I considered ordering a new, slate-coloured Kindle DX, but decided against it. I might also consider the new larger-screened Sony Reader, but it’s not available in the UK, yet.)

Two Books that made you Laugh

This would have to be a Discworld novel. It’s difficult to choose just the one, though. Probably something from the Guards selection: Guards Guards, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo, Fifth Elephant, Night Watch, and Thud!

That being said, there are a couple other Discworld novels that have made me laugh. Hogfather, because it is all-round brilliant and I still quote plentifully from it. The Truth, also, is a great novel and I like the central focus on the press and media. Also, it’s a novel that has meant I can’t help but find the name ING Direct funny (just read it, you’ll understand).

One Book that made you Cry

I haven’t cried at a book for years. Sorry, I just don’t tend to cry because of something I’ve read.

When I was younger, however, I did cry when one of my favourite characters in Brian Jacques’s Martin the Warrior (1993) died… It was a series I was completely in love with when I was a kid. Martin the Warrior, the sixth in the series (now at 21 books), was the last that I read. Jacques, as I recall, had a great skill at making his (young) readers feel connected to his characters, despite them being anthropomorphised rodents and small woodland creatures. The memories are just swarming back, now…

Anyway, let’s move on. A couple of things that do make me cry, are the first couple episodes of The West Wing Season Two (I am rather obsessed with that series, and have become very enamoured with the characters during the multiple times I’ve re-watched all seven series), and most recently the movie The Blind Side, which I thought was amazing (and Sandra Bullock definitely deserved the Oscar!).

One Book you wish you’d Written

Scott Lynch’s The Lies of Locke Lamora, for reasons of excellence and sheer imaginative brilliance. Perhaps also Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, because he made an absolute fortune from it. I would, of course, then write books I wanted to, hopefully better, without any fear of worrying whether or not I’d be able to afford to eat again…

Actually, the books I really wish I’d written are the ones I’m planning at the moment. Tentatively under the working series title The Amderlin Chronicles, they’re set in a world of my own making and I hope could be compared – in genre/style/setting (if not quality) – to Scott Lynch, Joe Abercrombie, James Enge, Brent Weeks and the like.

I’ve just started an  complete re-working of everything, so they’re still in the absolute basic stages of writing. I’ve got the basic story of the first three novels, as well as the international affairs environment they are set within, but I’m having difficulty working out the details. Not sure I’ll get too far on these until I’ve finished my PhD, however.

One Book you wish was NEVER Written

Amazingly, I can’t think of anything. I don’t like to be too negative about any books, as I always assume that there is someone, somewhere, who will like every book – even if it’s just the author’s mum. I shall demure, therefore, from answering this question.

Two Books you are Currently Reading

John Sandford’s Storm Prey – the 20th in the Lucas Davenport/Prey series, and shaping up quite well – although, Sandford is unusually giving a little too much detail of a surgery that helps anchor the story as a backdrop (it’s interesting, but do we need that much detail?). I’m a big fan of Sandford’s series, having read most of these in order and in one go, when I discovered them – my first was Certain Prey (released in 1999 in the US, but I read it in 2004).

Evan Thomas’s The War Lovers – perhaps the best book I’ve read about 19th/20th turn-of-the-century US history. Brilliantly written, researched and crafted, this is easily one of my favourite books of the year, and favourite history books ever. Simply amazing. Theodore Roosevelt is one of my favourite presidents, and the portrait of him in The War Lovers is one of the best I’ve come across – Thomas offers neither damning nor a glowing characterisation. TR’s friendship with Henry Cabot Lodge is equally fascinating. Overall, this is a fascinating book on one of my favourite periods of US history. (I will hopefully have the review done very soon, work permitting.)

One Book you’ve been Meaning to Read

As I am wont to do, I’ve done my own thing and come up with two (from an ever-growing list): Patrick Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind and Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Both of them have received a ridiculous amount of praise from all quarters – particularly the latter, which has been recommended to me by two of the people whose opinion I value and respect above all others. Considering its size, and the growing pile of books I have to review, however, it keeps getting put to the side. I’ve heard amazing things about Chabon’s writing, but have thus far only read a few samples of his non-fiction articles (specifically, his essays about genre narratives and superheroes).

Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind is a book that has sat on my shelf ever since it came out in paperback in the UK. Unfortunately, it came out just as I started to receive more books for review, which meant I focussed more on getting those read and reviewed than NotW read. I still intend to read it soon, but we know how flexible my plans and timetables can be…

 

So, that’s my take on these two memes. Hope they were in some way interesting. (Though, in all honesty, they were more self-indulgent than anything else.)

News: More Vampires on the way…

… might be a good thing?

I’m writing about a June 25th piece from theBookseller.com, which discusses a recent Angry Robot acquisition – specifically, a minimum of three books in a “stunning” series which centres around an “overworked police department in a city ‘full of vampires and werewolves’.” The series is by Justin Gustainis, and first in the series will be titled Hard Spell, and should be published in both the UK and the USA in Spring 2011 (which seems like a long, long way away).

Marc Gascoigne, publishing director of Angry Robot, bought world English rights to the series, and told theBookseller that “Justin’s series is a genuinely new twist on vampires and werewolves at a time when there are so many feeble Bella & Edward wannabes.” The series goes further than other series, doing more than merely plonking vampires into our world. As Gascoigne explains:

“As well as its gritty setting, amid the weary cops of the Occult Crimes Unit having to police these supernatural freaks, Justin has built a whole alternate history of the USA. The flashback to the McCarthy Witch Trials, with the line ‘Are you now, or have you ever been, a werewolf, vampire or member of a coven?’ is priceless. If it has any comparisons, it would be with Alan Moore’s legendary comic-book series Top Ten. There’s nothing in fantasy fiction to touch this.”

I am a big fan of vampires, werewolves, and innumerable other facets of the supernatural and fiction thereof. I can’t get on board with much of the recent ‘urban fantasy’ that’s produced these days – especially Twilight and the various other tie-ins, homages, and newly-rebranded series hoped to snare the attention of the legions of newly-reading ‘Twiglets’ - my less-than-fair nickname for fans of Stephanie Meyer’s phenomenally successful series. (As a quick aside, I should point out that I believe Mrs. Meyer is the most recent author to do what J.K. Rowling admirably managed so well: that is, get people reading – and for this, she deserves every penny she’s earned.)

That being said, I’m rather picky when it comes to such fiction – as I am with all genres. Anne Rice’s first seven books in her Vampire Chronicles series are superb, and the first five should be considered timeless classics. Even Terry Pratchett’s play with the myths are brilliant – though would you expect anything less from the master? Other fictional vampires tend to leave me a little cold and dissatisfied, unless they are in tie-in novels from established worlds – such as Black Library’s Warhammer vampires, or the ones found in White Wolf’s limited (and increasingly hard-to-find) line of Vampire: The Masquerade fiction and computer games. The vampires of Supernatural, Underworld and Blade are in my opinion the best on-screen vamps and werewolves, as are Joss Whedon’s creations (I wonder what he would have produced, if Twilight had been one of his…) – mainly because some proper thought and effort’s gone into the mythologies and histories created for the movies and series.

So, Gustainis’s series does sound pretty interesting, and like it might become another to add to the list of ‘worthy’ vampire series. Hopefully, this new author will be able to approach execution with as much imagination and aplomb as creating an interesting premise.

“Shadow’s Son”, by Jon Sprunk (Pyr/Gollancz)

US     |     UK

One of this year’s hotly-tipped debut fantasy

Treachery and corruption lurk at the end of every street, in the holy city of Othir. It’s the perfect place for a freelance assassin with no loyalties and even fewer scruples.

Caim makes – or, perhaps more accurately, takes – his living on the edge of a blade. Murder is a risky business, but so far he reckons he’s on the right side of it. Or he was... because when a short-notice contract job goes south, Caim finds himself thrust into the middle of a sinister plot in which he seems to be one of the primary marks.

Pitted against crooked lawmen, rival killers and the darkest kinds of sorcery, it’s going to take more than luck if he’s to get through this alive. He may lack scruples, but he’s still got his knives and instincts to rely on; not to mention a well-developed sense of revenge to fall back on.

But when his path leads him from the hazardous back streets of Othir and into the highest halls of power, will instincts and weapons alone be enough? If Caim is really going to unravel the plot which has snared him, to unmask a conspiracy at the heart of the empire, he will have to finally claim his birthright as the Shadow’s Son...

I’ve been waiting a long time for this. Naturally, this made me rather cautious when approaching the novel. Thankfully, I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, this presented me with the usual problems of reviewing a book I really like: how not to sound like a dribbling fan-boy?

There’s no need to go into the story in any great detail (the synopsis, after all, is above), so I’ll just dive straight into my observations: One of the most original and interesting elements in Shadow’s Son, is the inclusion of Kit – Caim’s personal ghost. It’s not entirely clear to Caim what or who she is, but she’s always been with him, helping him (more so since he became an assassin), and providing companionship – and occasionally acting like the less-idealistic half of his conscience. She flits in and out of Caim’s company, never entirely dependable but when it truly matters, she appears to lend her support – in any way possible – the our embattled hero.

Caim is a classic, taciturn, lone-wolf protagonist (perfect for this genre), though with more layers than might be expected from a lesser-talented author. Some might complain that he’s a cliché, but if he is, then it’s in a good way. His interactions with those around him are realistic, and especially interesting with Kit, who comes across as emotional and highly sensitive, but devoted to Caim. Josey bothered me a little – her entire manner frequently annoyed me, as she came across as having an affected aristocratic air with a rather literary waif-ness about her (even some of her dialogue read like it was ripped out of a ‘Victorian Maiden’s Handbook’). I was disappointed that she wasn’t made a stronger character, and that almost as much of the book was written from her perspective as from Caim’s, but she served her purpose well. Her reaction and subsequent comportment following a certain event about two-thirds of the way through the book was not quite as layered or nuanced as I would have liked; she seemed to consider it a trifle annoying… (I’m not going to spoil it for you – read the book!)

The world Sprunk has created is also well-crafted: classic, sprawling cities with a simmering class-struggle underneath the surface, surrounded by untamed wilderness. As the novel unfolds, the author does a good job of revealing more detail of the locales, the population, and the politics of his world – as well as laying some breadcrumb-like hints about supernatural forces of his world (which I hope will be fleshed out in subsequent novels). The overall feel is rather dark and dangerous, with a great magic system surrounding light and dark, but without being so delineated in terms of which is ‘good’ and ‘bad’; Caim’s powers, in particular – at once useful, frightening, unpredictable, and largely a mystery to him – provide interesting and intriguing danger to his life and profession.

All that being said, I think I would have liked a bit more – Sprunk’s descriptions and exposition are very sparse, which won’t offer much to fantasy readers who love world-building and grand inventions.

The events of the novel all take place in a short time – a couple of days, it seems – which makes some developments a little over-quick (Caim’s affections for Josey, for example), but also limited how much Sprunk could get done in the novel. The story is brisk and the dialogue doesn’t suffer from cliché, but I do think the novel could have been longer – I don’t feel like I’ve got to know Caim as well as I would have liked, given this is the beginning of at least a trilogy (Shadow’s Lure and Shadow’s Master are on their way). It doesn’t feel rushed or incomplete, just… I’m not sure, actually. The length and pace of the novel lend themselves well to a great, fun read, but at the expense of some extra character development and needed exposition: I didn’t really get a proper feel for the Caim-Ral rivalry, or really why Caim’s considered the most deadly and feared assassin in Othir. I appreciate that the author didn’t over-write (a major failing for some fantasy authors), but in this instance I wonder if he might be guilty of under-writing?

This being said, while the decision to keep the novel short (less than 300 pages) could have been a devastating decision, I also think the novel benefitted from the author’s brevity in one important way: by not descending into considerable tracts of exposition and world-building, Sprunk was able to write a novel that places the onus on the reader to round out one’s impression of the world. Shadow’s Son, therefore, is written much like a thriller, and instead of spelling everything out for the reader, allows them to form a lot of the picture themselves – no bad thing.

Ultimately these minor issues didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the novel – the pace is great, the story fun and engaging, and the characters are interesting. This is a solid fantasy debut that grabs you from page one and refuses to let you go. I am eagerly awaiting the second instalment.

To sum up, I shall not mince words: I really liked this novel, and had fun reading it; and I think most readers will, too.

Highly recommended.

For Fans of: Brent Weeks, Col Buchanan, James Enge, Scott Lynch, Joe Abercrombie, Patrick Rothfuss, Matthew Sturges

Shadow’s Son is released in the US through Pyr/Prometheus (who very kindly sent me the book to review) and is published in the UK by Gollancz.

(Tentative) Reading Plans

Things have been pretty quiet on CR over the last month and a half (certainly when compared to the month-of-super-productivity that was May), so I thought I’d write just a quick post about reading plans for the summer months – mainly to prove I’m still alive and reading.

Bearing in mind this will all be taking place as I try to put the finishing touches to my PhD, things might continue to be a bit slower than before, but I will still be reading and reviewing as much as I can (it still amazes me that I managed a 28,000-word chapter – on the role of the US Executive Branch in formulating foreign policy – during May and the first week of June).

So, what have we got in the works? Some novels from some great novelists, as it turns out…

There’s Crime Afoot…

Initially, it seemed like I’d be reading and reviewing masses of fantasy novels. Having done quite a few over the last two months, however, I’ve decided to take a bit of a break from fantasy and am going to catch up on eBooks, which I’ve left piling up for a few months. The bulk of these are thrillers, though there will be a couple of fantasy novels thrown in for good measure, too. So, first the thrillers in the works:

John Sandford: easily one of my favourite authors, I’ve got three of Mr Sandford’s novels stacked up, and I’m disappointed with myself for leaving them unread for so long. I won’t go into too much detail, but they’re the second and third Virgil Flowers novels (Heat Lightning and Rough Country), and the 20th Lucas Davenport novel (Storm Prey). Considering how long the series has been going, I am truly impressed by Sandford’s ability to keep the series both fresh, intelligent and entertaining for so long at the same time as producing a parallel series with a different feel and voice. Really very impressive, and clear evidence of why he’s such a success in his home country (and it’s doubly impressive because his novels are set in Minnesota and Wisconsin – hardly well-known areas outside the States, and not exactly among the top tourist destinations).

David Baldacci: Long-time readers of the site will know how  much of a fan I am of Mr Baldacci’s novels – all three series are great, as far as I’m concerned, and they have never failed to entertain me, without ever being cliché or ridiculous. Intelligently-plotted, exceptionally well written, Baldacci is hands-down one of the finest authors working today, so I’ll be getting to his latest – Deliver Us From Evil – very soon.

Nelson DeMille: A novelist who never receives as much  attention in the UK as I feel he should, DeMille is one of the best thriller writers, and his series featuring John Corey manages to mix intelligent and timely plots and stories with exceptional writing and the occasional well-placed touch of humour. I read the first three novels in this series (Plum Island, Night Fall, and The Lion’s Game) in very quick succession, and am very happy that he decided to return to the characters I’ve enjoyed so much. It’s not released in the UK for some time, but thankfully I managed to get it from the US. (Globalisation is a great thing, sometimes…)

James Rollins: I’m never sure how popular James Rollins actually is – his novels are usually poorly placed with Dan Brown’s in ‘style’ and ‘genre’, but really he’s very much different and much, much, better. Sure, he blends the occasional conspiracy in the plots, and uses some intelligent artistic licence with the science and technology he includes in the stories, but damn he’s good. I’ve read all the novels he’s written since Map of Bones (filling in the gaps whenever time permitted), and try to never miss a single one. I’ve reviewed a number of the Sigma Force novels on the site in the past, and Altar of Eden seems to be something a little different.

I’m also considering a couple of novels that I’ve already read, but would like to read again – namely, John Grisham’s The Brethren, which was the first of his novels I ever read, many moons ago. A couple of other authors under consideration: James Twining, Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, Andrew Britton, and Richard North Patterson (for the latter, it would be an ‘old’ novel, Balance of Power, the themes and issues within which I think might hold contemporary relevance).

Had enough of Swords & Sorcery, then?

Absolutely not! That’s not to say fantasy and Sci-Fi will be ignored – certainly not! Aside from reviews that should be coming in from Alyssa and Emma, I’ll be attempting to read a handful of big fantasy releases that have been sitting on my shelves for some time. Some I recently mentioned in the ‘Fortnightly Acquisitions’ post, but here are the others:

- Justin Cronin’s The Passage; MD Lachlan’s Wolfsangel; KJ Parker’s The Folding Knife; CL Werner’s Temple of the Serpent; Sam Sykes’ Tome of the Undergates

Then there’s also the limited selection of sci-fi/other novels that are still on my to-read list: these include a number of books that aren’t published for some time, though, so I shall keep schtum about them for the moment.

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Anyway, that’s a quick run-down of what’s coming up over the summer months (dependent on any particularly exciting acquisitions that might come through over the next couple of weeks, that is)

Fortnightly Acquisitions

It’s been a quiet couple of weeks for new books coming in, but I realised it had been a while so I thought I’d write another one of these posts to tell you about what’s coming up. It’s predominantly fantasy, with a couple sci-fi/horror/other. There were a couple of non-fiction books as well, but including them would have made this post too long, so I’ve excluded them from here.

Anyway, here’s a photo of the tottering pile, followed by individual descriptions, blurbs, and thoughts for the more interesting books…

“The King’s Bastard”, by Rowena Cory Daniels (Solaris)

Book one of The Chronicles of King Rolen’s Kin

Cloaked in silent winter snow the Kingdom of Rolencia sleeps as rumours spread of new Affinity Seeps, places where untamed power wells up. Meanwhile, King Rolen plans his jubilee unaware of the growing threat to those he loves.

By royal decree, all those afflicted with Affinity must serve the Abbey or face death. Sent to the Abbey because of his innate Affinity, the King’s youngest son, Fyn, trains to become a warrior monk. Unfortunately, he’s a gentle dreamer and the other acolytes bully him. The only way he can escape them is to serve the Abbey Mystic, but his Affinity is weak.

Fiercely loyal, thirteen year-old Piro is horrified to discover she is also cursed with unwanted Affinity. It broke their mother’s heart to send Fyn away, so she hides her affliction. But, when Fyn confesses his troubles, Piro risks exposure to help him.

Even though Byren Kingson is only seven minutes younger than his twin, Lence, who is the king's heir, Byren has never hungered for the Rolencian throne. When a Seer predicts that he will kill Lence, he laughs. But Lence Kingsheir sees Byren’s growing popularity and resents it. Enduring loyalty could be Byren’s greatest failing.

The first book in this highly-publicised series sounds pretty great. I’ve not read much that’s been published through Solaris, but I must admit to having not been overly impressed thus-far (apparently, it might have something to do with when they changed hands from Black Library to HarperCollins, but I can’t confirm or deny that). This, however, looks about to change.

This trilogy, which will be released close together, has caught my attention, and I’ll be reviewing them very soon – most likely as soon as I finish Shadow’s Son (see below). Everything I’ve read and heard about it is positive, and the descriptions and blurbs do make it sound like something I’ll enjoy.

“The Uncrowned King”, by Rowena Cory Daniels (Solaris)

The Chronicles of King Rolen’s Kin continues

Rolencia’s ancestral enemy, Merofynia, has invaded and marches on King Rolen’s castle. Powerless to help, thirteen yeard old Piro watches as her father, King Rolen, listens to poisoned whispers concerning his son Bryen.

How could the King doubt his second son? Determined to prove his loyalty, Bryen races across the path of the advancing army to ask the Abbot to send the warrior monks in defense of the castle.

As mentioned above, this will be released very soon (August), and the final part of the trilogy – The Usurper – will follow hot on its heels in September 2010.

“Hawkwood and the Kings”, by Paul Kearney (Solaris)

Re-issue of Volume 1 of The Monarchies of God series

The world is in turmoil. In the east the savage Merduks, followers of the Prophet Ahrimuz, have captured the holy city of Aekir. The western kingdoms are too distracted by internecine bickering to intervene and the Church seems more obsessed with rooting out heresy. It is an age where men go to the stake for the taint of magic in their blood, where gunpowder and cannon co-exit with werewolves and sorcerers. It is the turning point when two great religions will fight to the death and the common folk will struggle to merely survive.

I know nothing about this series, so it was a nice surprise when it arrived. I’ll probably end up reading it soon, but as you can see from this post, there’s a lot of other stuff that is higher on my priority list (as is something coming out next month, which will shoot straight to the top of the pile, if it arrives…). This does sound pretty interesting, though.

“Theodore Boone”, by John Grisham (Hodder)

Grisham ventures into youth fiction

Half the man, twice the lawyer.

In the small city of Strattenburg, there are many lawyers, and though he's only thirteen years old, Theo Boone thinks he's one of them. Theo knows every judge, policeman, court clerk - and a lot about the law. He dreams of being a great trial lawyer, of a life in the courtroom.

But Theo finds himself in court much sooner than he expected. Because he knows so much - maybe too much - he is suddenly dragged into the middle of a sensational murder trial. A cold-blooded killer is about to go free, and only Theo knows the truth.

The stakes are high, but Theo won't stop until justice is served.

I’m a bit hesitant about this, because I’ve not heard very good things about Theodore Boone. I’m a big fan of Grisham’s novels, but this is his first foray into fiction for younger readers. The text is huge, and it’s not a long book, so I imagine it won’t take long to review it. Not a priority, but it’ll get done at some point.

“Temple of the Serpent”, C.L. Werner (Black Library)

The second Grey Seer Thanquol & Boneripper novel

After a series of failures, Grey Seer Thanquol is offered a chance to redeem himself by going to the island of Lustria to kill the Prophet of Sotek. Dogged by assassins and stranded in a foreign land of giant lizards, temple cities and endless jungle, Thanquol must use all of his cunning and magic if he is to come out alive.

I’ve not read the first book in this series – Grey Seer – but I’ve got a fondness for the characters from the Gotrek & Felix series (this is the second ‘spin-off’ series, after the Vampire Ulrika series, which began with Bloodborn), so I’ll be reading this as soon as a sufficient gap opens up. I remember Thanquol being somewhat Machiavellian-yet-hapless, so this could prove a rather entertaining read.

“The Hunt for Voldorius”, by Andy Hoare (Black Library)

The latest Space Marine Battles novel

Captain Kor’sarro Khan of the White Scars is petitioned by his Chapter Master to hunt down and destroy the daemon prince Voldorius, a warleader of the renegade Alpha Legion, thus ending his reign of terror across the stars.

Hunting the beast doggedly for over a decade, Kor’sarro finally brings Voldorius to battle on Quintus, a world that has totally given itself over to the Alpha Legion. Together with their Raven Guard allies, the White Scars must fight an entire planet if they are to slay the daemon prince.

I’ve not read any of this series, either, but I’m interested to see what Hoare does with the White Scars – a little referenced Space Marine legion in the WH40k fiction published thus far. The premise certainly sounds interesting, and might lend itself to some intense battles and entertaining reading.

“Fear the Alien”, edited by Christian Dunn (Black Library)

Latest WH40k Short Story Anthology

The Imperium of Man has many enemies among the stars, but none are reviled so much as the alien. Dangerous races seek to destroy humanity wherever they turn –the brutish Orks, the ravening hordes of the Tyranid, the unrelenting Necrons and the mysterious forces of the tau and the Eldar. Across the universe, humanity and their defenders, the Space Marines, seek to eradicate these xenos threats. Yet all they can hope for is another day of survival – for to stand against the alien is to enter an unending war...

Featuring stories by Dan Abnett, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Nick Kyme, Juliet McKenna, C.L. Werner and many more, Fear the Alien is an unmissable collection for fans of Warhammer 40,000 and military science fiction.

Some of BL’s top authors contribute stories to this anthology, so I know I shall be reading at least a handful of them, if not all. Maybe I’ll sprinkle in reading these in between novels. We shall see.

“The Fuller Memorandum”, by Charles Stross (Orbit)

The Laundry Files continues

Bob Howard is an IT specialist and field agent for the Laundry, the branch of Her Majesty’s secret service that deals with occult threats.

Overworked and underpaid, Bob is used to his two jobs overflowing from a strict nine to five and, since his wife Mo has a very similar job description, he understands that work will sometimes follow her home, too. But when ‘work’ involves zombie assassins and minions of a mad god’s cult, he realises things are spinning out of control.

When a top-secret dossier goes missing and his boss Angleton is implicated, Bob must contend with suspiciously helpful Russian intelligence operatives and an unscrupulous apocalyptic cult before confronting the decades-old secret that lies at the heart of the Laundry: what is so important about the missing Fuller Memorandum? And why are all the people who know dying . . . ?

I’m only familiar with Stross’s Merchant Princes series, which I thought was great. The Fuller Memorandum is the third or fourth story in this setting, and again I’m not sure if it’s important to have read previous novels to really ‘get’ it. I’ve only heard good things about it, though, so I might still give it a shot when some time opens up.

“The Restoration Game”, by Ken MacLeod (Orbit)

Computer Games & Life collide with deadly consequences?

There is no such place as Krassnia. Lucy Stone should know – she was born there. In that tiny, troubled region of the former Soviet Union, revolution is brewing. Its organisers need a safe place to meet, and where better than the virtual spaces of an online game? Lucy, who works for a start-up games company in Edinburgh, has a project that almost seems made for the job: a game inspired by The Krassniad, an epic folk tale concocted by Lucy’s mother Amanda, who studied there in the 1980s.

Lucy knows Amanda is a spook. She knows her great-grandmother Eugenie also visited the country in the ’30s, and met the man who originally collected Krassnian folklore, and who perished in Stalin’s terror.

As Lucy digs up details about her birthplace to slot into the game, she finds the open secrets of her family’s past, the darker secrets of Krassnia’s past – and hints about the crucial role she is destined to play in The Restoration Game...

Don’t really know what to write about this, other than it sounds pretty cool. Cold War themes and so forth should make this a more interesting novel.

“Shadow’s Son”, by Jon Sprunk (Pyr/Gollancz)

One of 2010’s most-hyped fantasy debuts

Treachery and corruption lurk at the end of every street, in the holy city of Othir. It’s the perfect place for a freelance assassin with no loyalties and even fewer scruples.

Caim makes – or, perhaps more accurately, takes – his living on the edge of a blade. Murder is a risky business, but so far he reckons he’s on the right side of it. Or he was... because when a short-notice contract job goes south, Caim finds himself thrust into the middle of a sinister plot in which he seems to be one of the primary marks.

Pitted against crooked lawmen, rival killers and the darkest kinds of sorcery, it’s going to take more than luck if he’s to get through this alive. He may lack scruples, but he’s still got his knives and instincts to rely on; not to mention a well-developed sense of revenge to fall back on.

But when his path leads him from the hazardous back streets of Othir and into the highest halls of power, will instincts and weapons alone be enough? If Caim is really going to unravel the plot which has snared him, to unmask a conspiracy at the heart of the empire, he will have to finally claim his birthright as the Shadow’s Son...

I actually received this twice this week – the first time from the lovely people at Pyr/Prometheus, and also because I forgot to cancel my Amazon order for the UK edition large-format paperback. Nonetheless, I’m reading it at the moment and, not to mince words: I love it. It does everything I need/want a book to do, and it’s certainly living up to my high expectations. My review should be ready some time over the weekend, at the latest by Monday evening. I hope.

eBook Acquisitions

Don’t often get eBook review copies sent through, but this week I got four from Pry/Prometheus – including Shadow’s Son, mentioned above, and got another one from Angry Robot Books, which is one of the only publishers that have embraced this new practice.

[Just in case there are any publishers reading, I have a Sony Reader, so can accept ePub copies for review…]

“The Blood of Ambrose” & “This Crooked Way”, by James Enge (Pyr)

Introducing Morlock Ambrosius

Behind the king’s life stands the menacing Protector, and beyond him lies the Protector’s Shadow...

Centuries after the death of Uthar the Great, the throne of the Ontilian Empire lies vacant. The late emperor’s brother-in-law and murderer, Lord Urdhven, appoints himself Protector to his nephew, young King Lathmar VII and sets out to kill anyone who stands between himself and mastery of the empire, including (if he can manage it) the king himself and his ancient but still formidable ancestress, Ambrosia Viviana.

When Ambrosia is accused of witchcraft and put to trial by combat, she is forced to play her trump card and call on her brother, Morlock Ambrosius — stateless person, master of all magical makers, deadly swordsman, and hopeless drunk.

As ministers of the king, they carry on the battle, magical and mundane, against the Protector and his shadowy patron. But all their struggles will be wasted unless the young king finds the strength to rule in his own right and his own name.

I’ve been aware of James Enge’s books since this was first released last year, but for some reason I never got around to checking them out. After reading Enge’s short story in Swords & Dark Magic, which featured Ambrosius, I was eager (and yet still a little wary) to read Enge’s novels. Thankfully, the lovely people at Pyr have sent me Enge’s first two novels to feature Ambrosius, and I am eager to get started on them.

Here’s the artwork and synopsis of book two:

Travelling alone in the depths of winter, Morlock Ambrosius (bitterly dry drunk, master of all magical makers, wandering swordsman, and son of Merlin Ambrosius and Nimue Viviana) is attacked by an unknown enemy.

To unmask his enemy and end the attacks he must travel a long crooked way through the world: past the soul-eating Boneless One, past a subtle and treacherous master of golems, past the dragon-taming Khroi, past the predatory cities of Sarkunden and Aflraun, past the demons and dark gnomes of the northern woods.

Soon he will find that his enemy wears a familiar face, and that the duel he has stumbled into will threaten more lives than his own, leaving nations shattered in its chaotic wake.

And at the end of his long road waits the death of a legend.

The third in the series, The Wolf Age, will be released in October 2010.

“The Office of Shadows”, by Matthew Sturges (Pry)

The Seelie Empire’s war against the armies of Mab continues

Midwinter has gone, but that cold season has been replaced by a cold war in the world of Faerie, and this new kind of war requires a new kind of warrior.

Seelie forces drove back Empress Mab at the Battle of Sylvan, but hostilities could resume at any moment. Mab has developed a devastating new weapon capable of destroying an entire city, and the Seelie have no defence against it. If war comes, they will almost certainly be defeated.

In response, the Seelie reconstitutes a secret division of the Foreign Ministry, unofficially dubbed the “Office of Shadow”, imbuing it with powers and discretion once considered unthinkable. They are a group of covert operatives given the tasks that can't be done in the light of day: secretly stealing the plans for Mab’s new weapon, creating unrest in the Unseelie Empire, and doing whatever is necessary to prevent an unwinnable war.

The new leader of the “Shadows” is Silverdun. He's the nobleman who fought alongside Mauritane at Sylvan and who helped complete a critical mission for the Seelie Queen Titania. His operatives include a beautiful but naïve sorceress who possesses awesome powers that she must restrain in order to survive and a soldier turned scholar whose research into new ways of magic could save the world, or end it.

They’ll do whatever is required to prevent a total war: make a dangerous foray into a hostile land to retrieve the plans for Mab’s weapon; blackmail a king into revolting against the Unseelie Empire; journey into the space between space to uncover a closely guarded secret with the power to destroy worlds.

Another book that’s caught my attention, this follows Sturges’s previous novel Midwinter, and continues the story of the war against the Faeries. I’m not sure if it’s necessary to have read the first book, but I’ll still be giving this a go pretty soon.

“The Crown of the Blood”, by Gav Thorpe (Angry Robot)

Thorpe’s debut non-Black Library Novel

He had brought his master’s Empire to the furthest reaches of the world. All had fallen before him. Now he longs for home.

But home isn’t what it was. Could it be that everything he’s fought for all those years has been a lie?

A sweeping fantasy of immense battles, demonic magic and dark politics.

I’ve been familiar with Mr Thorpe’s Black Library work for a while, and I’m looking forward to giving this a try – a new world, an intriguing premise, and hopefully a great reading experience. I’ll hopefully get to it pretty soon – it’s moved higher up the reading list, certainly.

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So, that’s what’s come through recently. Expect reviews of some – if not all – of them over the course of the next couple months.

“The Ambassador’s Mission”, by Trudi Canavan (Orbit)

Reviewed by Alyssa Mackenzie

Canavan’s return to Kyralia and the Magician’s Guild

Sonea, former street urchin, now a Black Magician of Kyralia, is horrified when her son, Lorkin, volunteers to assist Dannyl in his new role as Guild Ambassador to Sachaka, a land still ruled by cruel black magicians. When word comes that Lorkin has gone missing, Sonea is desperate to find him, but if she leaves the city she will be exiled forever, and besides, her old friend Cery needs her help.

Most of his family has been murdered – the latest in a long line of assassinations to plague the leading Thieves. There has always been rivalry, but lately it seems the Thieves have been waging a deadly underworld war, and now it appears they have been doing so with magical assistance…

I must admit to being a little apprehensive when I began The Ambassador’s Mission. This book is Trudi Canavan’s fifth novel set in and around the Kyralia kingdom. Her previous books in this world include her bestselling Black Magician Trilogy, and The Magician’s Apprentice, a prequel covering events that occur some centuries earlier. The Ambassador’s Mission is the first in a sequel trilogy to the Black Magician books, entitled The Traitor Spy, set twenty years after the events of the Black Magician trilogy, and featuring many of the same characters. Of Canavan’s prior Kyralia books, I have read only The Magician’s Apprentice.

My concern when I started The Ambassador’s Mission was that, not having read the first trilogy, I would be simply lost, unable to appreciate either the characters or the demands of the world in which they live. In this, it turns out, I did a disservice to Canavan, both as a story-teller and as a world-builder.

The Ambassador’s Mission is told through four perspectives. Sonea, once a rogue magician, is now a Black Magician occupying an insecure position in the Magician’s Guild. Her son Lorkin is a recently graduated magician uncertain of his future. Cery is a Thief – an underworld leader - and Sonea’s friend whom she must meet in secret because of his criminal activities. Lord Dannyl is a scholarly magician writing a history of magic. All but Lorkin feature in the Black Magician; however, in the twenty years since the events of the first trilogy, it is clear that the people and politics of Kyralia have changed, in some cases dramatically. Canavan makes good use of this time gap to (re-)introduce her world and her characters, establishing events of the previous books for newer readers through the memories of her characters as she presents the new world that these events have brought about.

The four narratives that make up the novel fall naturally into two pairings: Sonea and Cery searching for a murderer, while navigating the hazardous social and political waters of the city Imardin; and Lorkin and Dannyl on their quest for magical knowledge through exotic Sachaka. While aspects of both are resolved at the end of the book, The Ambassador’s Mission is mostly concerned with setting up action and conflict for the trilogy as a whole. Canavan effectively balances competing plot elements, raising the stakes for her characters as the novel progresses, and constantly adding to their motivations. She weaves a complex story that will leave readers eager for future instalments.

My main reservation about this novel is that Canavan has an occasional tendency to rely too heavily on the interior monologues of her characters (rather than action or dialogue) to relay information, which means the pace drags in places. This can also result in action being reported rather than portrayed, and emotion explicitly stated rather than demonstrated through behaviour. In particular, I found that developing love between Lorkin and Tyvara suffered in this respect, especially early on. However, Canavan’s story and world are interesting enough to make this an enjoyable read regardless.

The Ambassador’s Mission has a lot to offer for new and old readers alike. It is a story of intrigue and adventure, drawing on previous books set in Kyralia (including, I was pleased to discover, the prequel: aspects of The Magician’s Apprentice prove to be very important to Dannyl and Lorkin’s storylines) but easily read without that background. New readers may find themselves wanting to read the previous books, but only for the pleasure of returning to Canavan’s excellently-imagined world.

Recommended.

Kyralia Chronology: The Magician’s Apprentice; The Black Magician Trilogy: The Magician’s Guild, The Novice, The High Lord; The Traitor Spy Trilogy: The Ambassador’s Mission, The Rogue (May 2011), The Traitor Queen (forthcoming).

“Union Atlantic”, by Adam Haslett (Tuskar Rock)

UK  |   US

The much-hyped debut novel from long-time and respected American journalist

At the heart of Union Atlantic lies a test of wills between a young banker, Doug Fanning, and a retired schoolteacher, Charlotte Graves, whose two dogs have begun to speak to her.

When Doug builds an ostentatious mansion on land that Charlotte’s grandfather donated to the town of Finden, Massachusetts, she determines to oust him in court. Charlotte lives in self-imposed exile deep in the forests of rural Massachusetts, stubbornly refusing to engage with a country she feels to be morally bankrupt. When Fanning decides to build himself a sprawling mansion adjacent to her home, her isolation is threatened and she determines to evict him from his land and, if she can, his kind from her country.

Doug Fanning lives an apparently gilded existence. A Gulf war veteran turned banker at the vast investment bank Union Atlantic, he is wealthy, handsome and powerful – he is the epitome of Wall Street success. As a senior manager of Union Atlantic bank, a major financial conglomerate, Doug is embroiled in the company’s struggle to remain afloat. It is Charlotte’s brother, Henry Graves, the president of the New York Federal Reserve, who must keep a watchful eye on Union Atlantic and the entire financial system.

Drawn into Doug and Charlotte’s intensifying conflict is Nate Fuller, a troubled high-school senior who unwittingly stirs powerful emotions in each of them.

Haslett could not have written a more timely novel. At once this novel is both an indictment and examination of two separate ways of life: one of high-flying wealth, the other of understated and self-imposed austerity. Haslett has written for The New Yorker, Esquire, and The Atlantic (my favourite news periodical, I should say here) – all high-calibre publications, known for their quality of writing (if not, depending on your political leanings, the quality of their argument). It was therefore with great anticipation that I picked up Union Atlantic: I am usually a fan of novels like this, which examine the relationship between different classes of American society and what people will do to maintain their position or ways of life (hence my fondness for novels such as Ethan Canin’s America, America). Sadly, however, Union Atlantic did not live up to my expectations – which had only been fanned by the glowing endorsements printed on the dust-jacket (the marketing manager is due a bonus, I think…).

Ok, so that’s a rather negative opening to this review. I don’t like writing ‘negative’ reviews, but there’s no denying that I am not as taken by this novel as some of the luminaries who claim to have loved it. The novel still has plenty to offer and much within it is worthy of being read by anyone with an interest in the current state of American society. Haslett’s got an excellent grasp of the facts, economics and politics involved in his subject, which he can convey in a good, clear manner. When describing the real estate market pre-2007, for example, he strips out the jargon, leaving it clear and easy to read:

“Thus were the monthly payments of couples in California and Arizona and Florida transformed by the alchemy of finance into a haven for domestic liquidity and the Chinese surplus, a surplus earned by stocking the box stores at which those same couples shopped.”

The global economic crisis and the state of the American financial system are important to the story, but not central theme. That would be the characters themselves. That being said, Haslett manages to get a lot of social and political commentary into such a slim novel: the negative role of financial titans in politics, the characters of the CEOs and high-fliers, the decline of economic politics:

“What had govt become these days but the poorly advertised fire sale of the public interest?”

The portrait of these CEOs is somewhat stereotypical – unsurprising as we’ve seen, over the last year or so, lots of evidence that Gordon Gekko was not a total caricature. Jeffrey Holland, the CEO of the Union Atlantic Group (i.e., Doug’s boss), is described as “A bit glib, a bit of a showman. In it for the sport of the deal.” They are all enamoured of the trappings of wealth (mansion, car, money, getting what they want regardless of who gets caught in the slip-stream), and the hollowness and blatant greed is competently portrayed and will perhaps make even the staunchest capitalist think twice before building an absurd McMansion. (At least, they’ll pause until they realise theirs is bigger than someone else’s, which will restore that warm, fuzzy feeling…)

Haslett touches on all the right topics (race, society, money, sexuality, loss, exploitation, and so forth), which should have combined to create an involving and engaging story, but it all seemed too familiar. I’d read most of this already, I felt – be it in previous novels, or in the excess of journalism I consume. Doug’s exploitation of Nate’s confused sexuality and proximity to Charlotte (she tutors him) could have been made more of – like I said, basically nothing had happened by the time I finished almost the first half of the novel (the scene-setting and general build-up takes way too long for a short novel).

Charlotte’s slow decline into dementia (a result of her solitary existence) sometimes amuses, but otherwise I thought it didn’t really belong in the novel, and was a distraction from her otherwise patronising, self-satisfying, arrogant, and strident interactions and conversations with Nate. It’s not that I inherently disagreed with her, it’s just that her entire manner in the novel was… well, obnoxious.

Doug is a bit one-dimensional. He’s in love with his life and himself; he comes across as vain and narcissistic, all about the game – and yet also liked by his co-workers and employees. This was disappointing, as a few more layers would have been interesting, and at least made him less obviously the ‘bad guy’. When he first gets ‘involved’ with Nate, there are a few moments when he questions what he’s doing, but that’s about it.

Nate, on the other hand, is an interesting character, and I did develop a fondness for him, and to care about his predicament. His inner sadness is clear, and permeates almost his entire life; his father’s suicide and his helpless concern for his lonely mother, unable to solve either of their problems. It was difficult not to feel his sorrow when Haslett writes from his perspective. He also has a few good one-liners, which he manages to get in, between Charlotte’s tirades. His friends are realistic, in their pretentions and quirks, their dialogue sounds so like some of my students’, and raised a smile on occasion. His devotion and attraction to Doug develop a little too quickly, as does his comfort at just turning up at Doug’s – this doesn’t quite match his supposed shyness and awkwardness.

Why, then, did I not love this novel? Why did it fail to ignite my passion for politics and fiction? Well, I guess it’s because it was all a little too familiar. Half the way in, I still didn’t care that much about what happened to the characters, though the story did pick up a bit in the second half as the story comes together. The dusk jacket includes an endorsement that describes the novel as “An enthralling, lucid and superbly confident work of art… a masterful debut”, and yet I didn’t feel particularly enthralled by it, and I wouldn’t consider it a “work of art”. Instead, it’s just a very well written, if not entirely original and slightly flawed, novel. It lacks ‘mastery’ because it doesn’t tell us anything we don’t already know (about the real world), or couldn’t see coming (in the novel).

Haslett is a very good writer, don’t get me wrong about that; perhaps he just has a little way to go before he’s a great story-teller. The prose in the novel is excellent, and the flow of his words and dialogue never felt forced, clunky, or disjointed – you will find yourself burning through the pages pretty quickly. He also has a good journalist’s ability to explain complexity through clear and simple language – which would be welcome in a lot of journalism, right about now – and his crisp prose probably a result of his journalistic career. There’s no extraneous exposition, no word feels like padding. Haslett has a very good economy of phrase and words that amounts to an accomplished writing style.

I wanted to like this novel, I really did. Sadly, however, I’m afraid I just didn’t love the story, despite the clear quality of writing on display. I’ll concede that I might just not have been in the mood for this, but I still feel that I wouldn’t have loved it even if I’d been starved of politics and fiction for months. Maybe it needed to be longer? Not used to suggesting that, but I can’t help wondering what he could have done with more space – perhaps Doug could have been rounded out; Charlotte could have been better explained and maybe more restrained; and Nate’s character and life could have been explored in greater detail.

Cautious recommendation for anyone who wants something well-written and timely, but not overly taxing.

Also try: Jonathan Dee’s The Privileges (2009 – review pending); Tom Wolfe’s The Bonfire of the Vanities (1987); Ethan Canin’s America, America (2007); Jesse Kellerman’s The Executor (2010)