Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“Books open your mind, broaden your mind, and strengthen you as nothing else can.” —William Feather
Some book publishers send me a press release for new books along with access to a digital version of parts of it and want me to write a review from these sources; I will not. Other publishers used to send me photography books to review but not so much anymore. Few of the books I received got reviewed mainly because I prefer to write about books that are useful to the blog’s readers. These days there are far too many photo books being published because the authors have 100,000 Facebook or Instagram followers.
The reason I tend to write more car book reviews than photography books is because those publishers ask me if I want to review a particular book rather than sending me a stack of them and hope I like the books. So I get to pick and choose what car books I’m interested in and they are the ones you read about here. Some books, come from the library, such as…
Clown Town
I ordered Mick Herron’s Clown Town—it’s not about clowns, it’s about spies—because he was the author of Slow Horses, I really enjoyed the TV show on Apple TV+ based on that book and ones that followed.
What I didn’t know was that Clown Town was part of the Slough House series that the TV series is based on, so I knew many of its characters from the show. What I also didn’t know was what a great writer that Mick Herron is. Comparing his writing to music: If Le Carré is classical, Herron is Jazz.
Let me digress: If you are interested in becoming a writer or if you’re a writer that wants to work in the thriller genre, you can treat Clown Town as a text book. It will teach you everything you need to know from character development to plotting to style. On the other hand, if you just want to be entertained, Clown Town delivers the goods on every page, with sparkling dialog and twists and turns so no matter what you think might happen next, it won’t. But you will be delighted by finding out what actually does happens.
The book opens with a prologue that’s a flashback to an undercover op in Northern Ireland during “the troubles” that went bad before bouncig back to the present where the book’s protagonists, River and Sid are recovering from being chemically attacked and shot (respectively) in adventures that apparently were covered in a previous book. Sid is asked by the duplicitous Diana Taverner to take a message and some cash to the spies you met in the prologue while asking Jackson Lamb, leader of the slow horses, to get one of his spies to do a little extra-legal hacking. River is contacted by an archivist who is reconstructing his recently deceased grandfather’s library about a missing book that may not be a book…and by then we’re (figuratively) off to the races.
One of my favorite parts of the book is that when Sid goes to deliver the cash, she has (no spoilers.) Then River, along with Louisa, in separate vehicles, go to find out what’s up with Sid, only to…you’ve got to read this book. While the ending of the book sort of wraps up one of the plot points, much of the other threads are left ambiguous (sequel?) much like real life. Highly recommended.
Nero Wolfe
As I mentioned in the last book club, I have recently been reading several, four to be exact, Nero Wolfe novels because they are my “comfort books.” The most recent book I read was In the Best Families that appears to be a bit longer that the typical novel in the series.
Maybe that’s because there are two distinct parts of the novel. that in today’s way of structuring books would be labeled as Book 1 and Book 2 between the covers. Book 1 opens in a typical fashion with Wolfe taking on a case he might normally turn down because he needs the money. He sends Archie Goodwin to investigate and the client is later killed along with her pet Doberman. In case you’re put off by these kinds of killings, as in all Stout’s novels, there are no grisly details. Just when you think its business as usual with Wolfe and Goodwin, who shows up but Wolfe’s Moriarty—Arnold Zeck—to complicate the plot.
In Book two, Wolfe disappears and appears to have retired from the detective game. For months, Archie flounders around trying to effect closure on pending cases in Wolfe’s brownstone but eventually hangs out his own shingle as Archie Goodwin, Private Eye. Before you know it, he runs head long into, you guessed it, Arnold Zeck. How this all wraps up makes for a fascinating read. It’s not for the first time Nero Wolfe reader but one that’s worth picking up after you’ve read a few, mainly because of what happens in the story will be more of a surprise if you’re familiar with Nero and Archie and you don’t want to lose that.
On my TBR List
I’m not a huge fan of Dan Brown. I enjoyed The Da Vinci Code and requested The Secret of Secrets from the library to give it a spin. Similarly, I’m not a fan of Stephen Hunter but requested The Gun Man Jackson Swagger. I really liked G-Man, so maybe I’ll enjoy this historical novel as well. I’ll keep you posted.