*Inferno, by Dan Brown

9780385537858
Doubleday, 2013
463 pp

hardcover
(read end of June)

Okay, now you can really scoff at my summer reading choices!   To be really honest, I have no idea why I decided to buy this book (I even preordered it a long time back), because since The DaVinci Code (which was okay because the concept was so new at the time), every time Dan Brown puts out a new book I buy it for escape material,  read it, and come away feeling like I've read the same book over again,  reset in a new location.  Inferno continues that trend, this time in Florence.

The main thrust of this newest installment in the Robert Langdon series is the following: Langdon wakes up one day in the hospital with no memory of how he got there. When he finds out he's in Florence, Italy, he's even more shocked and confused. When he discovers he doesn't have his vintage antique Mickey Mouse watch, he's horrified.  Before he manages to get his wits together, he discovers that someone in the hospital has come in with a gun and is shooting the place up.  His doctor, Sienna Brooks, helps him to escape, but he's not safe even then -- in fact, he walks right into the middle of a mad scientist/evil genius plot but he doesn't know that yet. All he knows is that people are chasing him and Sienna, and that there seem to be two different groups looking for him.  He also has found a strange device sewn into a piece of clothing, with no knowledge of where he got it.  Meanwhile, a group known as the Consortium has been taking care of the above-mentioned mad scientist/evil genius client whose wish was to disappear while he worked on some research. The Consortium makes a great deal of money by clandestinely seeing to the wishes of their clients; this particular client, even though dead, left one last task for the Consortium to undertake.  They are to release a video to the media, one that has the client in a plague mask giving a bizarre speech and showing the world a hidden location where a plaque notes that "In this place, on this date, the world was changed forever." The date: tomorrow.  What he's left behind is obviously not a very good thing, and obviously the plot comes down to Langdon having to decipher a gamut of clues, this time all having to do with Dante Alighieri as well as  Florence and its history, in order to find whatever it is will change the world forever before it's too late.

Plague Doctor, from Alchemipedia

 --sigh-- It really wasn't long before I realized I was in trouble here when on page 18 a Lisbeth Salander type "dressed entirely in black leather...toned and strong with dark, spiked hair," breaks into the hospital and shoots Langdon's doctor.  Honestly, sometimes you can just tell that pop culture icon lookalikes at the beginning of a novel are the beginning of a downward spiral, and all of this before chapter 3. In an escape read sort of way, I  could deal with that, I could deal with the whole sameness of the plot except for being in Florence and using things relative to Dante, and I could deal with the whole twisty, turn the plot on its head direction the novel takes.  I could even deal with the dialogue.  What I had a real problem with was the revelation of what the mad scientist/evil genius character was working on and what he had hidden -- even for a summer novel and an escape read, that was just too much to take. If the book hadn't weighed so much, I probably would have flung it across the room -- after all I'd just been through, the whole reveal was just the proverbial icing on the cake, in a negative sort of way.

Nevertheless, I had pulled my back very badly doing my laundry (don't ask)  so was flat and needed some distraction, and Inferno definitely provided that for me. I can't help it if the plot was too silly for words so as to take the escape fun away from my reading time.  I have to say though, that Dan Brown is definitely someone who's  done his research, and the man certainly can put together some crazy puzzles.  And he's got millions and millions of fans who on Amazon and on Goodreads have awarded Inferno 5-star ratings and who have vehemently defended this book against people who didn't like the book, such as myself.  I'm really sorry, but I did not like this book. A) it's a rehash of plot elements from the other three novels he's written, and B) the horrible thing that is supposed to happen is just plain silly and not even in the conceivable reality zone.  The only really good thing about this book is that it was way better than his Lost Symbol, which currently serves as a doorstop for my guestroom.

Now, don't go accusing me of book snobbery as one reader did on Goodreads, because that's simply not the case. I just wasn't crazy about this novel -- and that's the bottom line. As I said, people are lauding it all over America.  And I bet Doubleday and Dan Brown are dancing for joy with the millions of copies they've probably sold.  If this kind of book is your thing, then you'll probably love it. What else can I say?

Fever Dream, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

9780446554961

Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Book Group

May 2010

405 pp

Fever Dream falls under my own heading of "escape reading," meaning books that are highly improbable, fluffy or just something not serious for passing the time. I had another sleepless night last night and this book was handy.

Fever Dream  is the tenth book of the Agent Pendergast series. In this installment, Pendergast is visiting one of his many homes, this time in New Orleans, and comes across some evidence regarding his wife Helen's death twelve years earlier. As it turns out, the evidence suggests to Pendergast that his wife's demise was not accidental as he'd thought all of this time, but a deliberate and cold-blooded murder.  Pendergast realizes that he needs help and enlists the services of  Vincent D'Agosta, a lieutenant of the NYPD and past associate.  As he investigates why someone would want her killed, he begins to uncover things about Helen that he never knew, leading him to wonder just who was this woman he married. But as Pendergast and D'Agosta get close to the truth, there are those who don't want them to find it, and they find their lives in danger. 

Since the end of the so-called Diogenes trilogy (Brimstone, Dance of Death and The Book of the Dead), the quality of the Pendergast adventures has gone a bit downhill. Wheel of Darkness I could have done without, and Cemetery Dance was much better than its predecessor but still not the same old Pendergast. The same holds true for Fever Dream.  The descriptions of place are well written (there's one scene describing an abandoned family home that was downright creepy) and how the authors get Pendergast in and out of some very sticky spots are fun to read. However, Preston and Child seem to be stretching on this one (missing paintings, parrots, etc.,) and then there's Constance Green, Pendergast's ward, who has returned from Tibet.  Why she was even written into this story is a mystery unto itself --she plays absolutely no part of the investigation; she just takes up space.

While the book was overall a fun read and a good way to spend a few hours, I think the authors could have done much better. Maybe they should go back and reread their earlier Pendergast novels to find out why their readers got hooked on this character in the first place.  

I would recommend this novel for those already fans of Pendergast; don't make this one the first of the series that you read.  The authors are slowly getting back on the right track, but they're not there yet.  However, when the next book in the series is announced, I know I'll be right there, with my finger on the "preorder" button. For some reason I can't resist.

A Dark Matter, by Peter Straub

It's like this. You will like or dislike this book depending on your expectations.  If you're expecting the kind of hackle-raising horror that is often associated with this author, you may be disappointed.  If you are expecting a slam-bang, linear narrative in which all is revealed, you probably won't want to read it. It is really not so much a novel of horror but more of a look at the whole concept of the connectivity of good and evil, so if you come at it from that angle, you will definitely get much more out of it than if you think you're getting say, a book along the lines of Straub's Julia or If You Could See Me Now. 

But if you're willing to put in the time and you can deal with a different approach to writing than you're used to seeing with this author, then it just might work out to be a good read, but this is not a passive book -- meaning that the reader has work to do here as well. 

The crux of this novel hinges on events that happened in the late 60s in Madison, Wisconsin. A group of high-school friends meet a strange and charismatic figure named Spencer Mallon, and find themselves held in thrall by his teachings.  With the exception of the narrator of this story, Lee Harwell, all of the kids go off with Mallon to be part of a ritual 40 years ago, accompanied by three other people, also followers of Mallon.  What happened at that ritual is what Harwell, later in life, wants to determine. His wife, also Lee (but called "the Eel") was there, but over all of this time, has refused to let him in on the details. Little by little he gathers the story in pieces from all of the various participants with two exceptions: one person who was suspected, even in the 60s, of being a serial killer, and a friend of his who went missing.  The book blurbs (and most reviews of this book) note that this is done in a "Rashomon" style, which is an apt description of how Harwell is able to glean an insight into not only what happened, but why things turned out as they did for each and every one of Mallon's groupies later in life.  

This is a work of metafiction, in which the author (Lee Harwell) is gathering information and retelling the story for a book he is writing. This sent up a flag for me -- can we really trust this guy in relating this information to the readers -- meaning, is Harwell a reliable narrator here? Also, this is mostly a character, rather than plot-driven novel, since each of the people involved have different aspects of the story to relate. While this is a cool approach, I was left with a sense of something lacking in most of the people involved that would provide more depth to this novel, with one exception, the kid who turned out to be the serial killer. Hmm.  I was also happy to find Tim Underhill mentioned in this novel, since he's been one of my favorite characters since the Koko years. 

Overall, it's a good novel, although often a bit repetitious and thus frustrating sometimes early on, but stick with it. What Straub is trying to say here may not be new, but it is worth the time you put in to read the book. His approach is different but a good one. I don't know that I would specifically label it horror, but more of a psychological suspense with elements of the supernatural involved.

 

Black Rain, by Graham Brown (Amazon Vine review)

 my edition

This is probably a record. Two negative reviews in a row, which is highly unlike me.  But this was an Amazon Vine read, and I've been putting it off, so I absolutely had to read it.  Let me get this out front.  I thought, from description of this book, that is was a CIA-thriller/suspense-type novel, which is why I chose to read and review it.  Imagine my surprise when midway through the book the author went off into the realm of science fiction and silliness. 

I will not divulge any plot elements here, because it would most likely wreck the story for anyone else wanting to read this.  To be very honest, I was definitely caught up in the story up until the characters' adventures in the jungles of Brazil, when I realized that the nature (and genre) of the story had changed. Not that I couldn't live with that, but the story became so unreal and so over the top plotwise that it was disappointing and caused my interest to wane, but I did go on and finish it.

I think this author shows promise in his writing style and his ability to think up incredible plots, and I did like the first part of the book, but if you write a book that is clearly sci-fi, please market it as such rather than as a CIA-type thriller. That's so not fair.  For the positives,  the book is very fast paced, there is a lot of action, and the author starts with a bang which sets up the later mystery of exactly what is out there in the Rain Forest jungle.  I really wanted to like it, but it just didn't do it for me.

However, as usual, I find myself swimming against the tide of other reviewers who gave it 4 and 5 stars (out of 5), so this is yet another one you have to check out for yourself.

*Impact, by Douglas Preston

 my edition

My review of this book should be subtitled "I feel like the Lone Ranger here."

I have bought and read every single book this author has published, and those that he wrote with Lincoln Child. I have to say that this one was not the best in the bunch ... I was so disappointed. I know, I know, I'm once again swimming against the tide of people who really loved this book, but, well, that's just how it is. And before you accuse me of book snobbery, I will say in my defense that I read this kind of stuff all of the time and normally can have a fun time with it, so it's not the subject matter -- I just thought this was definitely not one of the author's best moments.

As the story begins, two things are going on. First, A young woman, Abbey Straw, is out with her friend watching the heavens at night and the sky lights up over Maine's coast. Abbey believes that what just landed was a meteoroid (not meteorite)and after checking e-bay, she realizes that there are people who collect these things and will pay her a hefty chunk of cash. She does some research, realizes the thing did not land in the ocean as previously thought, and off she and Jackie go in search of their fortune. Second, a young scientist at NPF (the National Propulsion Facility) in Pasadena receives a hard drive in the mail from a now-dead associate.  As the action gets going, CIA operative Wyman Ford (a continuing character in Preston's novels) is asked by the President's science advisor to go to Cambodia and locate the source of some radioactive gems that have been coming into the country lately, worried about the possibility that the radioactivity might possibly fall into the hands of terrorists. Preston proceeds to interweave all three stories into one big one, and the action doesn't let up until the end.

Normally, I can sit back and enjoy a bit of far-fetched escape reading, one of my guilty pleasures in reading life, but this one was way too over the top plotwise and the ending was just silly. Although the premise was interesting (I bought this book, so obviously the premise caught my eye) many of the action scenes were just highly implausible, and overall I felt like this story was flat. Normally with this kind of thing, I can at least get into it a little, but not this time.

But then again, everyone else who's written a review seems to really like it, using superlative adjectives to describe it, so maybe it's just me. Try it for yourself.