A cursed painting. A puzzling theft. A suspicious death.

Book Review:  The Black Painting by Neil Olson

Arthur Morse, an avid art collector, enjoyed the dark reputation of the painting hanging on his study wall but he seemed to fear it as well.  He kept his back to it and never allowed his grandchildren into the room. It was one of paintings produced by Francisco José de Goya at a time when the artist believed he was possessed by a demon; legend had it that anyone who looked at the painting would suffer madness or death.   After the painting is stolen and his young grandchildren are the crime's only witnesses, accusations fly and the family becomes estranged.

Several years later, the grandchildren, now adults, are summoned to their grandfather's house. Teresa finds her grandfather dead when she arrives, a look of terror on his face.  Once more, accusations and suspicions rise among the family members.  As the police investigate, Teresa and a P.I. investigate as well, uncovering long-buried family secrets.

As compelling as the premise is, this book simply didn't resonate with me.  It's a solid mystery with a supernatural, creepy atmosphere but there's something lacking with the character development that I just can't pinpoint.  Most of the characters are unlikable and the narrator is unreliable, but I loved Gone Girl and you don't get much more unlikable and unreliable than that. Meh.  Onto the next book.


 

The Perfect Ghost? The Perfect Twist

Here's a look at the first book I remember re-reading immediately after reading it the first time.

Book Review:  The Perfect Ghost by Linda Barnes

Em Moore is painfully shy.  As the silent partner of a successful writing team, she’s able to live a mostly solitary and self-sufficient life; she does the writing, her partner Teddy does the information gathering and the PR.  When Teddy dies in a mysterious car accident, her world changes drastically.  Determined to finish their last project together, the biography of reclusive movie director Garrett Malcolm, she leaves the safety of her apartment and resolves to complete the interviews with the man himself, despite everyone’s doubts.

The story unfolds slowly but deliberately, told by Em and addressed to Teddy in absentia.  Details from her past seep into the narrative and they aren’t pleasant.   Em is a survivor, but will she fall victim to a fatal accident herself?  Malcolm clearly has secrets, and it seems more and more likely that Teddy’s accident wasn’t an accident at all.  Did he discover something scandalous?  Was he up to something scandalous himself?

This book was impossible for me to put down and the ending caught me by surprise — I love it when an author can do that!  I immediately began re-reading and became even more impressed.  It takes a lot of skill to show readers everything they need to know but lead them in an entirely different direction.  Linda Barnes just made my “Must Read” list.

*Originally posted on my first blog (Lighthearted Librarian), December 2014

One small colony for earth, one harsh but awe-inspiring frontier for mankind

Book Review:  Artemis by Andy Weir

Established by the Kenya Space Corporation, the city of Artemis sustains itself by smelting the anorthite ore found on the lunar surface.  Smelting breaks the rock into aluminum, calcium, oxygen, and silicon.  The aluminum, calcium, and silicon are sold -- the oxygen supplies the city's five habitable domes with breathable air.   Enough is produced that there's a regular surplus and that's sold as well.

Jazz Bashara came to live on Artemis when she was six years old.  She's now in her twenties, legally working as a delivery person and illegally working on the side as a smuggler.  She makes enough money to rent a bunk-sized space to sleep in and to afford a daily diet of flavored algae.  She'd planned to earn her EVA license, allowing her to lead tours outside the domes and earn a decent wage, enabling her to pay off her debt and rent a place with its own bathroom.  She failed the test however, so when one of the wealthy businessmen she regularly smuggles for offers her a huge amount of currency to sabotage a competitor, she accepts.  Things do not go according to plan.

I loved The Martian.  I enjoyed Artemis, in spite of a few details.  If it's made into a movie, I will watch it.  And, if there's a sequel, I will read it.

The story starts off a bit slow, but once the second sabotage attempt was enacted, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.  Weir makes a lunar colony believable.  He even makes it someplace I'd think about visiting, if I were wealthy enough to afford a vacation there.  He's at his best when he's describing the colony and its inner workings.  And if you like nitty-gritty details about welding, hull pressure etc, you'll be in heaven.  (I skimmed over the nitty-gritty details.  I just wanted to know what happened next.) 

His character development needs work I think, especially if he's going to continue this as a series with Jazz as the protagonist.  I like that the story is told as if she's having a conversation with the reader.  I like that's she's snarky.  That said, there were a few times I was taken out of the story by a particularly crude reference.  I watched Sex and the City when it was on HBO and Weir wrote statements/reactions for Jazz that I think would have been out of bounds for Samantha.  Yes, women talk about sex and women joke about sex, but the instances I'm referring to just didn't seem believable, even for a character completely comfortable with her sexuality.  I don't know a single woman who would find it funny if a man implied that she regularly received shots to the face (I'm not talking about botox).  Basically, scenes like this felt more in context with Beavis & Butthead than the perspective of an adult woman.

There were other character development problems as well.  Once the history between Dale and Jazz was revealed, their first scene together in the book didn't ring true either.  And Svoboda is more cartoonish than awkward.    

My only other quibble is that the resolution seemed a bit too easy.  Maybe appearances are deceiving, however.  There's speculation that Weir may turn this into a series.  Things may not be wrapped up as neatly as we think.