Faithful Place

Faithful Place by Tana French
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Frank Mackey who was introduced in The Likeness as Cassie's undercover handler is now the protagonist and he is drawn into a mystery a little closer to home. Literally. He hasn't been to his childhood home since he left at 19 and it soon becomes apparent why. There is very little to find likeable in this clan of overly-emotional, alcohol-driven, violent, and angry characters. Frank is only slightly better and a little unbearable simply because he thinks he is better than them. The mystery spools out slowly and satisfyingly (if sadly) and Frank actually grows a bit. Once again, I am amazed at French's ability to allow the voice of the protagonist to be unique from her other characters--she completely inhabits a character, even if they aren't the most palatable. The exploration of class and community in the Irish culture is also explored. Dialogue was beautifully done.

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The Dry

 

The Dry by Jane Harper
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Aaron Falk returns to his childhood home when his old friend seemingly commits suicide after killing his family. Aaron is a financial detective but even he can see that there is more to the story after he starts looking into it. There are old mysteries to unravel and old relationships to navigate and the landscape plays a part as not only setting but perhaps part of the motivation, an accomplice in more than one way. The plot flashes back and forth from stories from his youth, to the unfolding drama but perhaps because I was also reading Tana French, I found the psychological inner workings shallow and so I wanted more understanding of the motivations of many of the characters.

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The Likeness

 

The Likeness by Tana French
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is one of the more unlikely set ups: the murder victim is a dead ringer for a detective who used to be undercover. So she is persuaded to go undercover and resume the victim's life to suss out the guilty party. The detective in question is Cassie, the partner of Rob Ryan from the first book (Ryan doesn't make a personal appearance). Like the first book of this series, what goes on in the protagonist's mind is at least as interesting as the mystery. What was refreshing was that Cassie had her own voice (as opposed to a female version of Ryan). Instead of being thoroughly detailed like Ryan, Cassie is a woman of action. She doesn't stew in introspection, but acts with plenty of justification but not too much stewing. She's desperate to prove herself and to regain a sense of self after the last case but becoming someone else makes her question where she begins and the character of Lexie ends. Once again French focuses on the special relationships that can develop in your youth--and its ultimate demise.

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In the Woods

In the Woods by Tana French
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is more of psychological thriller than detective story since the more interesting parts of the story happen in the protagonist--Rob's--head. It's a story about friendships, the close kind that only occur at certain times of your life and rarely more than once--where two or three of you are so in sync you feel like they are an extension of you. And how those friendships inevitably ends, due to moving, death, growing up, falling out. The mystery gets solved but questions still remain and I actually like they do--it lets the book haunt you after it ends.

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In some ways grief anonymizes as powerfully as a Greek tragedy mask, cut in others it pares people down to the essential.

People need a moral code, to help them make decisions.

the morally right thing is by definition the thing that gives the biggest payoff.

All these private, parallel dimensions, underlying such an innocuous little estate; all these self-contained worlds layered into the same space.

Sometimes I think about the sly, flickering line that separates being spared from being rejected.

The Spy and the Traitor

 

The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War by Ben Macintyre
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love spy novels and this was one of the best, especially since it was true. I can't imagine the courage and intelligence of Oleg Gordievsky. I also admired the diligence and thoroughness of Veronica Price, who helped orchestrate his escape, but to do so was required to run the plan for years, even when he wasn't in the country. It struck me the reasons Oleg turned traitor to his country and the reasons many of the spies for Britain and America turned--he did it for truth's sake, they did it for money or power. The women married to these spies are the unsung heroes--they didn't choose this life, but had to deal with the consequences and sometimes apparently had to play a crucial part. Changing diapers was never more fortuitous and monumental! Great book!

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Crudo

Crudo by Olivia Laing
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I can't really put into words why I liked this book so much. From the first paragraph which I finished and said to myself, that is a perfect paragraph, to the fever finish, I couldn't help but feel excited, even though it is mostly just a stream of consciousness written as third person but felt as first-person. I didn't even understand everything but the writing was just so electrifying. It also helped that it occurred during Trump's first weeks on the job in 2017 and so it perfectly mirrored the time I was reading it. I didn't know anything about Kathy Acker, who is the main character in this book (had she lived). Acker is known for being shockingly vulgar and this book is not that, but it does quote her often. My surface swimming didn't pull up any Acker writings that seemed much like Laing's, so without doing a deep dive I don't know where Laing got her writing style from, but like I said, it tickled me.

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She failed to get a death-grip on time

Memory showers desire, desire infects memory.

Imagine what a process it was to unnumb yourself, he said, to see it as it actually was.  That's the only reason to be an artist: to escape, to bear witness to this.

what is art if it's not plagiarising the world?

Loot

Loot by Tania James
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I wanted to like this much more than I did. It's about an automaton built in the 18th century. That part was totally fascinating. In fact, everything was fascinating and that was what was frustrating. There would be these in-depth explorations of characters and events, like the defeat of Tipu Sultan, or the life of the watch-maker who helped craft the tiger automaton, or the English lady who acquired it and was quite non-conventional. All of these stories started to unfold only to be left and time to skip forward without too much of a bridge. I normally think things should be edited out, in this case I wanted more. I kept investing and not feeling like I got a pay out.

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