The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins; Deception by Randy Alcorn

There are no spoilers in this review.



  Normally I do not read best sellers but after reading a review of the movie, I became intrigued.  The premise is provoking.

A young woman commutes on a train into London every day.  She passes by a row of houses with porches adjacent to the train tracks.  

Each morning she sees a couple having breakfast on their porch.  They are openly affectionate with each other and the woman, Rachel, enjoys watching them.  In a way she feels a connection to them.

She has even named them:  Jason and Jesse.  Their happiness and marital stability gives her a kind of comfort.  Because just four houses down is the house she used to live in with her husband.

Her husband still lives there, only now with his second wife.

This aspect of the novel which is pretty much all I knew about it, resonated with me because I used to live in places where I took a commuter train or a bus to and from work and home.

I also would see the same people either at the depot or along the way and one does develop a sort of imaginary connection with them.  Not that I gave anybody names or fooled myself into thinking I had any relationship with them but I did enjoy the familiarity, if that makes sense.

That is where the similarity with my life and Rachel ends.  We soon learn that nothing is as it seems, not even Rachel.

Without giving anything away, because I know a lot of you would like to read the book or see the movie, which is currently out, I'll just say that a murder occurs and Rachel has the horrible feeling that she is somehow involved, maybe as a witness, maybe something worse.  When you read the book or see the movie you'll know why.

The book is written in first person, present tense.  Normally I do not like that format but it works in this case.  Mostly we get Rachel's perspective, but there are two others who also contribute a few chapters, which is well done and effectively serves to forward the story.

Having said that, this book does not encourage me to read any more best sellers. 

It seems the unreliable narrator is in vogue these days.  No one can be trusted, not even the person telling you the story.  It was fascinating when Henry James used it, here it comes across as trendy.  I noticed in other reviews many compared the book to Gone Girl, which apparently uses the same tool.  The comparison did not persuade me to read Gone Girl.

No doubt many will enjoy this book. It is your typical murder mystery and the writing is well crafted.

I personally found the characters, all of them, sad, pathetic, empty, isolated and alienated. I felt no sense of satisfaction at the end. But maybe that's how books are written nowadays: without a moral compass or sense of purpose, only nihilism.

  Is that the norm in popular novels nowadays?  Creating characters that all suffer from Radical Attachment Disorder?  I would be very interested as to why anyone would enjoy spending time immersed in stories like that.  Isn't life bleak enough without fantasizing about it?




 

Deception is the third in a series of murder mysteries by Randy Alcorn and, in my opinion, this is the best written.  It came ten years after the second book and he must have really developed his writing chops during that time.

Ollie Chandler, whom we met in the first two novels, though as a background character, is the star.  He is a homicide detective, recently widowed, estranged from his daughters, and the ultimate cynical agnostic. 

A professor of Philosophy and Ethics is murdered in his home and the evidence is bizarre.  Dr. Palatine has a rope around his neck, three gun shots in his chest and several vials of blue ink injected into his veins.  

On his computer is a message:

"I, Dr. William Palatine, do not deserve to live.  I've crossed boundaries and forfeited my life.  I admit my arrogance.  I deserve judgement.  I should be cast into a deep sea with a millstone around my neck."

Ollie arrives wearing his trench coat ( like Bogart in the Maltese Falcon, not a rain coat, "that's what Columbo wears") and fedora and accompanied by an Oregon Tribune journalist (the Chief's idea of creating good rapport with the press).   He sees too many "bread crumbs", like someone was trying to leave a lot of different clues on purpose to cover up any accidental clues they might actually have left.  They were left in a way only someone familiar with homicides could accomplish.  This discovery leaves Ollie with an uncomfortable and risky conclusion.

What I liked about this book?  Just about everything.  It was a well developed mystery that left a bread crumb trail of clues that the reader could add up and arrive at a believable conclusion.

In addition to that, Ollie is just plain funny.  He's a wise guy, quick-witted, sarcastic and cynical.  The banter between him and the other characters are fun to read.  I loved reading about Ollie.  I was sorry the book was over and I hope Alcorn is going to write more about him. 

In fact I'm re-reading it to my husband and I'm enjoying it all over again, especially since I know how it ends I can appreciate all the subtle hints and clues provided throughout the story.

Probably the only thing that someone wouldn't enjoy is that Alcorn is a Pastor and even though the protagonist is a non-believer, the story is written from a Christian world-view.  

That does not make the story sickly sweet and syrupy.  Alcorn does not shy away from the grittiness of life.  In fact, he is more realistic than the author of Girl on a Train because Hawkins' characters are paper thin and people in Alcorn's novel, as in real life, have more dimension.

Alcorn shows desperate people in desperate circumstances but pierces the darkness with an otherworldly light, which allows the reader to sympathize with every character as they struggle with their personal demons.

I'm glad I read both, even though I enjoyed only one because they provided a sharp contrast and provided me with the opportunity to evaluate what I value in a good read.

Free book giveaway: As One Devil to Another by Richard Platt

  

  In his book As One Devil to Another, Richard Platt takes up where C.S. Lewis, in his book TheScrewtape Letters, left off. Here is another correspondence between two demons, an older “uncle” giving advice to his “nephew” as to the most effective and expedient means to “win a soul” to perdition.

“Uncle” Slashreap gives lots of good advice to his “nephew” Scardagger. Scardagger’s “client” is a young woman at a prestigious University where she is working her way through the academic circles and hoops in hopes of becoming an established member of the faculty and, in her mind, a confirmed “intellectual”. I’m sorry to be using so many quotations but I believe they are all appropriate. Scardagger’s objective is to smooth the way to academic success for this young woman so by the time she achieves her aims she will be hopelessly entrenched in an arrogant, elitist mindset that will act as an effective barrier to her ever being reached by the “Adversary”.

Unfortunately for Scardagger, the Adversary is just as intent on winning the young lady over to His side and even more so since she is His child and He made her for Himself. His tactics, however, are different than the demons. He uses patience and long-suffering-never imposing His will on her but waiting for her to “draw near to Him” so He may then draw near to her. He is not, however, above putting a few people in her path. One person is a much-loved elderly aunt whose opinions she respects. This aunt doesn’t pull any punches when she lets her niece know how pretentious she’s being.

Another person is an elderly gardener who gives a powerful yet loving testimony of his own walk with the Adversary. A final person is a young scientist who, much to Slashreaps horror and Scardagger’s chagrin, falls in love with Scardagger’s lady client.

Don’t think Scardagger isn’t trying. He throws another woman called “the Minx” in the path of his client. This Minx typifies intellectual snobbery and man abusing feminism all in one package. If Scardagger’s Minx does her job right, his client will fall under her influence and revert to the affected intellectual snobbery that scorns the supernatural, upholds secularism as the pinnacle of human enlightenment and sees men as something to use, abuse and then lose.

Things go awry here, too, for poor Scardagger. Just when the Minx almost has his client in her clutches she makes the mistake of mooning over some incomprehensible garbage that is being passed off as art at a museum they’re visiting. The absurdity does not escape his client who snorts with contemptuous laughter. Thus endeth the friendship and influence of the Minx.

Richard Platt’s correspondence between the two demons as they strategize over condemning a soul to hell offers a lot of perspicacious insight for the reader. His observations about the modern female and her obsession with looks and male desirability that ultimately leads to desperation and plastic surgery as she ages was right on.

He also makes bold comments on our culture’s present mores concerning homosexuality, university education, art, and ethics that govern people’s professional and personal lives. His language is stark and clear but done with an affable wit that makes his book fun to read.

My only objection is a couple of questionable theological points he makes where he seems to imply that demons could be redeemed if they only returned to God. I don’t see that anywhere in the Bible.

Aside from that, I recommend this book that, if not as charming as Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, still goes a long way in offering insight into a sin sick society.

Tyndale Publishers are offering a free copy of this book.

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Giveaway is limited to people living on the continental US.

When Skylarks Fall: The Next Joe Box Mystery by John Robinson

Want to know what I’m currently reading? Tough, I’m going to tell you anyway. I am reading three books on the Vikings, four books on the End Times, two on Jewish history and a romantic fantasy by George Macdonald. That doesn’t include the books I’m reviewing for publishing companies or all the e newsletters I subscribe to online.

So what’s a lady to do when the weekend arrives and she simply wants a fun, entertaining read?

She reads When Skylarks Fall by John Robinson, that’s what she does! When Skylarks Fall is the next in the Joe Box Series. For a review of the first book, Until the Last Dog Dies, go here. Joe Box is a private investigator. A Kentucky native and a Vietnam vet, he currently lives in Cincinatti and, you guessed it, solves mysteries. The particular mystery this time involves, Kitty Clark, a fellow Kentucky native and world famous-legendary even- Country music star who is receiving mysterious letters and phone calls by someone who knows information about her so personal no one in the world could possibly know it. Yet someone does.

As the letters and phone calls become more menacing, Kitty hires Joe to find out who this “mystery person” is. Joe travels down to Kentucky to gather information in hopes of finding clues. With the help of a very rich computer expert and a couple of members of the mafia, Joe goes on a search that turns your normal ‘tough PI’ mystery into a suspenseful story that keeps you turning the pages. Each character introduced is a likely suspect but which one is it? The end is not predictable. Some of it is not entirely believable.

Let me start with the negatives:

Without giving away the ending, the “who did it” was within the realm of credibility but there were other developments in the story that I simply couldn’t buy. One part that undoubtedly was intended as a shocking turn of events merely had me rolling my eyes. If you read the book after reading this review, you’ll probably spend most of it wondering what I’m talking about, which, in my opinion, is giving the storyline an added suspense and a good thing. The author should thank me.

Another thing I didn’t like-and I really, really didn’t like it- had to do with Box’ girlfriend. Yes, her again. As shallow and undeveloped as she was in the first book, his attempts to make her more colorful failed on an epic scale. I guess Robinson was trying to make her less perfect and more “real,” but to inform us that a hugely successful architect was a prostitute in her younger days? Really? REALLY? Excuse me while I roll my eyes again.

The following is a sarcastic paraphrase:

“Uh, Joe, I’m sorry to break this to you but years ago I had a boyfriend that insisted I financially support us by having sex with men for money. He also tried to bludgeon me to death.  I’m telling you this because he’s just re entered my life, so excuse me while I go-alone- to the ghetto where he lives and tell him about Jesus.” Insert another eye roll here.

So why did I still enjoy this book and plan on getting the third in the series? Because despite the failings there is one thing that John Robinson succeeds at. Joe Box is an interesting character. I like him. I like reading about him and I want to keep reading to hear what he has to say next, to see what is going to happen to him next. He’s a tough old man who’s had many a hard knock but can keep getting up and giving as good as he gets. He’s dry and sarcastic and I enjoy the repartee he engages in with the other characters. He’s funny and human and the next time I want to take a mental vacation and just enjoy a fun read, I’m going to be reading about Joe and see him solve another mystery.

For more information you can go
John Robinson Books

I bought this book.

Or buy on Kindle for .99

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John Robinson

Until the Last Dog Dies: a Joe Box Mystery by John Lawrence Robinson

I just finished Until the Last Dog Dies by John Laurence Robinson. I must say that I don’t normally read Christian fiction because I don’t enjoy it. This book turned out to be an exception. Robinson has proved to me that Christian writers can cook up as good a suspenseful mystery with lots of action and interesting characters as any secular writer with the added bonus that the reader doesn’t have to wade through gratuitous sex or bad language to get at the actual story.

Story: Joe Box is a rough and tough Vietnam vet trying to eke out a living as a private investigator in Cincinnati. He lives in a beat up apartment with his cat, Noodles, whom he rescued from a couple of drunks who were trying to set the poor thing on fire.

One day at his office he gets a call from one of his “bros,” as he calls the men from the squad he fought in back in Vietnam. He hasn’t heard from any of them in years so this comes as a surprise. This “bro” who’s called “little Bit” is panic stricken and tries to warn Joe that someone from their past in Vietnam has come back into their lives and is going to wreak revenge on everyone in their unit. Joe dismisses little Bit’s ravings as drunken hysteria since apparently little Bit is not entirely sober, judging from his slurred speech. Joe hangs up on him and the next morning he gets a call from little Bit’s wife that her husband is dead. In the next two weeks three more of the squad also wind up dead.

All the deaths look as though they’ve been self-inflicted so the police don’t investigate or make any connections between them. Joe, however, sees a connection. He remembers a conversation he and his bros had one time in the jungle while hunting for a sniper that was picking off American soldiers like flies. They each confessed what they were most afraid of. And that is how each member of Joe’s squad dies. One by one, what they are most afraid of is what kills them.

The rest of the story is Joe trying to contact the remaining members of the squad while conducting his own investigation to locate and stop the murderer. He knows who the murderer is because he knows the one person back in Vietnam who had the motive. As a recently converted Christian, he also knows that the killer is not working alone. He has someone working with him. Or, to be more accurate, through him. The story takes the reader beyond the physical into the spiritual showing us that when good guys fight bad guys, there’s more to the war than what we can see with our eyes. Robinson puts into action St. Paul’s words that we’re not fighting merely flesh and blood but “against the rulers, against the powers, against this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

What I liked: Robinson’s characters are believable and interesting. He uses dialogue filled with dry wit and sarcasm that effortlessly bounces back and forth between the protagonist and the other characters he dialogues with. He knows how to infuse humor and make good use of the English language to draw the reader into a believable vicarious experience. Robinson’s characters were people I wanted to get to know. His best passages are the flashbacks to the jungles of Vietnam and the interaction between the platoon members. I found myself looking forward to getting back to the book.

What I didn’t like: Because this is Christian fiction, Robinson apparently wanted to somehow get a Christian message into his book. While I wholeheartedly agree with the effort, his attempt seems forced and inserted into the story almost as an afterthought in order to make the story qualify as “Christian”. As a result, his Christian characters are NOT interesting. They lack any kind of character development or color. Robinson may have been trying to make Christians look like great people who are there for you when you need them (something I don’t contest at all) but they’re so vanilla in flavor and their dialogue so stilted and predictable that I think he could be sending the wrong message to nonbelievers-i.e. Christians are good for help in a pinch but otherwise they’re boring and not worth getting to know.

This goes for Joe’s girlfriend as well. Other than a smile and supportive attitude towards her man she has no personality whatsoever. Please tell a single woman that men want more than a female body with a positive attitude for a relationship. That’s so discouraging.

One other thing: why would a woman who is supposedly a mature Christian engage in a relationship with someone like Joe who’s only just become a believer? Shouldn’t she be looking for a spiritual leader?

Having said that, I still like this book for the reasons already stated. I think Robinson could retool his Christian characters by making them more believable; more colorful. Christians have baggage; show that. Show their vunerabilities-show that being saved doesn’t turn you into a member of the Osmond family. Make them interesting. Let’s see some of that witty bantor fly back and forth between the saved guys. Add that to everything that’s so good about this book and that would turn a good read into a great one.

Until the Last Dog Dies is the first of three in the Joe Box Mystery series.  I enjoyed it enough to want to buy the next two.

Kindle Edition only .99

For more information on John Lawrence Robinson:

John Robinson's blog

Book review for "The Corruptible: a Ray Quinn Mystery" by Mark Mynheir

 





When reviewing books for publishing companies, I primarily select nonfiction. This time, for a change, I chose a book I normally would not have considered: a murder mystery. I must confess that it was a pleasant novelty to simply sit back and read purely for entertainment without necessarily “improving myself.” The book I chose, “The Corruptible” by Mark Mynheir, was pure dessert. Not something you want to make a complete diet out of but just that piece of chocolate after a healthy dinner. Something one can curl up with, relax and decompress at the end of a long, tiring day.


I enjoyed “The Corruptible” because it had all the right ingredients to make an interesting mystery. Each chapter was relatively short but provoking enough to propel you into the next chapter. It kept me going to the very end because I really wanted to know how everything was going to fall into place.

“The Corruptible” is one of a series of mystery stories by Mark Mynheir about Ray Quinn. I haven't read any of the other books in the series but in this book Quinn has retired from the police force and is currently working as a private investigator. Quinn is a hardened former narcotics undercover cop who has a jaded view on life. The fact that his retirement from the police was enforced by a shoot out that left him crippled and in constant pain hasn't lightened his outlook any.

So Quinn is now trying to make it as a private investigator. He has a sidekick, Crevis, who is training to get accepted into the police academy. Crevis is physically and mentally qualified for the Academy but has failed the written test a couple of times due to a deprived family background and a learning disability (he's dyslexic).

To further complicate his life (Quinn's), Crevis is being tutored by Pam, a woman who is forever grateful to Quinn for clearing her murdered brother's name in a previous case. The gratitude doesn't bother him so much as the fact that Pam keeps insisting on praying for him. She even asks to pray with him- something that, as an agnostic, Quinn is not inclined to do. He has more faith in his close companion, Jim Beam. (That's a whiskey for all of you that aren't from the South). Old Jim helps Quinn forget the chronic pain from a leg that's held together by nuts and bolts. Still, even though Quinn doesn't want to admit it, he likes that fact that a smart, attractive woman cares about him even if he hides those feelings under a gruff and sarcastic exterior.

Quinn is hired by a big wig CEO to track a worker who took off with some highly classified files. These files hold personal information about clients that could compromise their security if made public.

Typical formula. Someone steals something, someone ends up dead-read to the last chapter to see who did it.

What makes this story interesting is watching Quinn in action as he methodically works with forensics teams, the police department, SWAT team and one by one ticks off every possible suspect until he gradually puts each piece of the puzzle together and the whole picture materializes.

Mynheir worked as an undercover narcotics agent, SWAT team member and recently retired as a detective from the Criminal Investigations Unit in Central Florida (where his stories take place) which explains his thorough attention to the details involved in a murder investigation. His personal experience is not only his source of inspiration but allows him to be his own technical adviser. (For more information on Mynheir go to http://www.copwriter.com/)

One negative: On a couple of occasions (and they were rare) Mynheir uses what I would call “soft” swear words. Not everyone would agree with me about that but the words are unarguably vulgar and he could have left them out and nobody would have missed them. My objection to these words is that I do not like hearing them and I certainly choose not to use them but when I read them in a book, I have been forced to mentally speak them. Since the author is a Christian writing from a Christian perspective I think that he would do well to discard any profane speech. (Ephesians 5:4 )

One last negative: Mynheir uses the word, “smirk” too much. Everybody smirks. Mr. Mynheir, sir, please get a thesaurus and exchange some of those “smirks” for an equally effective but different descriptive word. (Mr. Mynheir, if you're actually reading this I hope you're not offended. Remember Proverbs 9:7-12)

On a positive note: Mynheir does not paint a pretty picture of life as a cop and the world they are exposed to. His protagonist Quinn is every bit as cynical about life as your average cop would be without any faith in God. The only Christian in the book is Pam and she hardly comes into play at all. When she does enter into a scene, however, her faith throws into sharp relief the darkness that it penetrates. Mynheir presents an honest Christian witness without being preachy or manipulating the story so that everything “comes out all right in the end.” Every character is believable.

Another positive note: Unlike most murder mysteries that use the corpse as a stage prop by which to build a story, Mynheir's murder victim was somebody with a multifaceted personality. Someone to have compassion on, whose death is mourned by the characters in the book and also by the reader.

So with the positives outweighing the negatives my verdict is if you need a good, entertaining read before turning out the light, “The Corruptible” will fit the bill.

This book was given to me by Blogging for Books. in exchange for my honest review.
If you buy the book please do so through my link below so I can receive a small percentage of the cost.  Thanks!



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