The Books I Read In October

 Fiction

'Dark Matter' by Philip Kerr

This is a standalone crime novel from Kerr, set in London at the end of the 17th Century when scientist Sir Isaac Newton was a leading member of the Mint housed at the Tower of London charged with combating forgery. The story is seen through the eyes of a former soldier, Christopher Ellis who is employed as an assistant-cum-bodyguard as he investigates a number of murders around the Tower and of people connected with it. Newton is very much presented like Sherlock Holmes, which given his polymath abilities, perhaps was not an inaccurate presentation. The novel really conjures up London of the time and the religious tensions as well as those between different staff employed at the Tower which was also an arsenal. The story works well with the perpetrators seeking ways to throw Newton off the scent and different deaths not all being connected to each other. 

The one flaw I see in this book are the sexually explicit scenes. I know Kerr felt a need to include Newton's niece, Catherine Barton, who kept his house at the time and that she 'progressed' in society by becoming the mistress and the wife of a nobleman and a politician, but all of that could have been covered without two scenes that are verging on the pornographic. I understand Kerr wanted to portray 'bawdy' London - a sado-masochist nightclub also features - but it really jars the rest of the novel. Barton is in the book too much to be ignored, but not enough to be developed beyond her sexual proclivities.

'Casablanca' by Michael Moorcock

This is a rather scattergun collection of essays and short stories from Moorcock. They are typical of him and I had read the one about the frozen cardinal in 'Other Edens' (1987). The title story about checking out a potential leader of the Maghreb in the near future is not bad but like most of the stories in the collection does not really go anywhere. 'Goldiggers of 1977' has an interesting premise in that people are using the Sex Pistols as the basis for a revolution in British society. It features Jerry Cornelius, his family and usual related characters so the idea is dissipated by the erratic rhetoric between them largely around locations in London popular in Moorcock books. The essays have reasonable pen portraits of Mervyn Peake, Harlan Ellison, Angus Wilson, Maeve Gilmore and Andrea Dworkin - who actually features a great deal among the other essays. Moorcock tries to chart a path between wanting the exploitation of pornography stopped without falling back on censorship or Puritanism and makes a case, largely launching from Dworkin's views that it can be tackled through a Feminist approach. However, it does not come over as a strong or clear argument.

This whole collection is very patchy and while Moorcock might have felt he was being as challenging and provocative as he was back in the 1970s by the time this was published in 1989, he comes over as grumpy and indeed at times petulant. The whole tone reminded me much of public statements of Alan Moore who never seems happy with anything and gives the air that he believes he can understand things that no-one else is capable of comprehending.

'Familiar Rooms in Darkness' by Caro Fraser

In many ways this is very much a literary family drama, with the compulsory big group scenes at a house in France. However, the questions Fraser asks about who/what a biographer should be loyal to and the question that comes up a lot now about whether we can continue to value someone's work when we learn that the person did nasty/criminal things, raises it a bit above most books of that kind. The story is around the fictional poet, playwright and author Harry Day. Nearing the end of his life he employs a journalist Adam Downing to write his biography. Day dies early in the book and Downing continues working with his family including his wife, his ex-wife and his two children Charlie and Bella. However, increasingly he encounters people that knew Day in the 1960s (the book was published in 2004 and is set contemporaneously) but who were not on the list of people for Downing to interview. Steadily this reveals much darker sides to Day, starting mildly with the question of his children's paternity and his sexuality to much nastier secrets. Downing has to navigate these elements which would make his biography a draw and the stories that the family members have long told themselves are the "truth". Downing falling for Bella simply adds to the confusion as he is increasingly asked to portray the stories the family told rather than what actually occurred. While rather trope-laden and probably referencing people I do not know, it does go a bit further than I had initially expected in questioning the set-up.

Non-Fiction

'An Illustrated History of the Gestapo' by Rupert Butler

Compared to Butler's 'Gestapo' (1981) which I read in 2022: https://rooksmoor.blogspot.com/2022/04/books-i-read-in-april.html this book is much more toned down and far more respectful. It was released in 1992 in part to raise funds for the preservation of Lidice in Czechia which was levelled and its population massacred following the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in Prague. It a well-informed sober way Butler outlines the growth of the Gestapo and those involved with it. It analyses the different approaches of the organisation in different parts of Europe and looks at what happened after the war to the perpetrators. It includes short biographies of some of those ordinary people affected by the Gestapo's activities. The photographs included do add to what is being told and have been chosen well to inform the reader. Overall while this might appear a brasher book than his earlier one, in fact it is a far better treatment of this grim element of German history and very useful for a general reader seeking to know what that particular arm of the Nazi regime was about.

'A Portrait of Europe 1300-1600: Authority and Challenge' by Donald Lindsay and Mary R. Price

This book was published as a contextual read for students of the time period. It works very well at that in large part rather than trying to progress chronologically through the era, by instead focusing on specific topics or the contexts created by particular individuals. There are very complex topics notably the Reformation and the Catholic Reformation, but the brisk writing really manages to provide detail without bogging you down in it. It is good in presenting the role that Ulrich Zwingli played in Protestantism which tends to be overshadowed by Luther and Calvin. For a book published in Britain it avoids being Anglocentric and it provides useful information on Russia and the Ottoman Empire, both with important roles, but which too often in general texts get left out as being 'peripheral' to Europe. It also does a good job of the complexity of the Netherlands fight for independence. Occasionally strange ideas from the authors break through, e.g. as on the origins of gunpowder, but overall it is a useful book for those wanting the historical background for fiction or dramas set in this time period.

Books I Read In June

 Fiction

'Who Was David Weiser?' by Pawel Huelle; translated by Antonia Lloyd Jones

If you do not like unreliable narrators then this is certainly a book to avoid. It is set in the summer of 1957 in northern Poland though goes on erratically into the future, probably the 1970s or 1980s. It is written in the first person and dodges around chronologically as the narrator talks about the investigation by teachers, local officials and the police into the disappearance of David Weiser, a Jewish boy at the narrator's school. The activities of the narrator and his various primary-school friends across the summer are recounted at length. It also keeps coming back to their engagement with Weiser and his girlfriend Elka. Weiser is a kind of Svengali character who seeks adoration from the narrator and his friends, largely through his semi-detached engagement with them, making use of munitions left over from the Second World War and perhaps pulling off genuine magic such as flying as well as odd but more down-to-Earth activities like dancing to Elka's pipe and playing football in a disinterested but highly skilled way.

The novel is engaging, richly portraying a particular time and place that does not feature in English-language writing. The characters are well drawn and you do have an interest in what happened to David and indeed Elka, though the outcomes for the two are different. The trouble is that the parameters are so constrained that it soon becomes tedious, going back and forth in time between the events that unfolded, the questioning of the boys and then references to later decades. After a while you feel like you have seen it all multiple times and in the end it felt a lot longer than its 220 pages. The idea and attention to detail are good. In a short story they would have been highly engaging, but everything is stretched far too thin and as a result the charm that the book initially has is soon utterly worn away and you lose interest in what finally happened whether for real or as a result of some magic realism.

'Mortal Causes' by Ian Rankin

In December I retrieved the remaining 10 Rebus books that I had in storage. As a result I came back to the series for the first time since May 2019. This is not a bad story, though as before I feel at times Rankin has lots of ideas that he does not really know how to take forward. There are odd things like Rebus sleeping with a lawyer he encounters even though he is living with his girlfriend. It seemed out of character and did very little to advance the story unless she is going to turn up in subsequent books. The story is a mish-mash of involvement of Northern Irish Loyalist paramilitaries receiving funding from the USA and importing arms via Scotland. The book opens with the scene of a torture and execution and Rebus gets entwined with different elements of the paramilitaries and numerous individuals both on that side and in various police units. Intrigue is fine but at times you do begin to wonder what the point is. I must say, though, that final fifth of the book works far better than the preceding sections and you wish that Rankin had kept tighter control over the variety of characters and various developments to raise the entire book to that quality.

'The Salmon of Doubt' by Douglas Adams

I misunderstood what this book was. In the middle of it are a couple of novelettes one featuring Dirk Gently and one Zaphod Beeblebrox, assembled posthumously from various fragments. However, the rest of the book is made up of various articles and transcripts that Adams made down the years, some are very short. They effectively form a kind of biography of the closing years of his life and the topics that interested him notably conservation of species and technology. In terms of technology Adams was very perceptive and accurately predicted things like texting with your thumbs on phones and the search for a universal charger format. Individual articles featured are interesting enough, but really this is a book for serious Adams fans who want to know a little more about the man they admire, but for the general reader there is little here.

Non-Fiction

'The Black Angels' by Rupert Butler

As I noted when I read Butler's 'Gestapo' (1981) - not to be confused with the subsequent illustrated versions: https://rooksmoor.blogspot.com/2022/04/books-i-read-in-april.html  - Butler was very much part of that populist history for sale in branches of Woolworths and newsagents. This book which focuses on the Waffen SS, though at times touches on other branches of the SS, is less sporadic than 'Gestapo' and the book is a pretty comprehensive study of how the Waffen SS developed and where they served. Butler does feature atrocities committed by the units, especially against Allied soldiers. However, he struggles to avoid slipping into hagiography and so praises the courage and speed of the Waffen SS units. He really downplays the strength of the opposition to them, notably in France, and over-estimates the strength and level of machinery that the German side had. He, also, like many populist historians of the war, sees Blitzkrieg as something carefully planned in advance and used in Poland as much as France rather than largely developing from the behaviour of reckless generals, ignoring orders. The hagiography becomes apparent too when he begins to speak of the East European SS units that were created and you feel that he sees them as a slur on the honour of the SS and to blame for atrocities, not seeming to recognise that his derogatory racial stereotyping was akin to the attitudes of the SS themselves. There are interesting elements in the book in terms of where the SS fought and their contribution to various campaigns, notably the so-called Battle of the Bulge. However, you cannot help by being unsettled by the extent to which Butler is an enthusiast for the SS and sees admirable traits in many of their soldiers, even while outlining the atrocities they committed.

Books I Read In April

 Fiction

'Fools and Mortals' by Bernard Cornwell

Having been disappointed by the Grail Quest (2000-03) books I read and finding 'The Fort' (2010) and the Starbuck (1993-96) tetralogy alright but not outstanding, I was eager to see Cornwell getting back to the kind of quality that is seen in his Sharpe series. This book, set in 1595-96 and seen through the eyes of William Shakespeare's brother, Richard, proved to be both engaging and refreshing. For Cornwell to be writing about a group of actors at the time when William Shakespeare was working on 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is a departure from the war stories he typically writes. There is intrigue and some fights, but the rehearsing and running of however, Cornwell puts his attention to historical detail - which can he never neglects - to really good use in this novel. It highlights the challenges of setting up and sustaining a theatre company; the challenges of being censored and negotiating with patrons. Richard is a performer of women's parts, as women were not permitted to act until 1660 but is ageing and is seeking ways to continue his career as he has to shift into male roles. All round, Cornwell balanced all these factors very deftly, while giving a real sense of jeopardy and at the same time richly conjuring up London of the late 16th Century. I think keeping it to quite a narrow focus allowed that richness to come out. I certainly feel that this was the best Bernard Cornwell book I have read in a long time and would certainly recommend it.

'Void Moon' by Michael Connelly

This is the last of the Connelly novels that I have been given. This one features Cassie Black a woman who with her lover, used to rob successful gamblers at Las Vegas casinos. On probation she has got a good job working for a Porsche dealership in Los Angeles. However, news about her daughter she was compelled to give up for adoption drives her to seek the 'one last job' to get funds. This job turns out to be much more complex than it first appears and soon involves two organised criminal bodies competing for the money. Connelly is very adept at representing the Nevada and California areas he clearly knows well. This novel is fast paced, alternating between Cassie's perspective and that of Jack Karch who is put on Cassie's trail by the owner of the casino that she robs from this time. It does manage to avoid slipping into many of the tropes we know around Las Vegas crimes, though there are perhaps one too many crashing through the glass roofs of casinos.

It is a stark, hard boiled environment. The details of Cassie breaking into the target room and overcoming all the security measures, is rightly praised by reviewers. The tone of that 'clinical' approach is repeatedly brought home as Karch tortures and kills without compunction as he hunts down Cassie. However, the US penal system is also an antagonist. Cassie is seen by her probation officer as being ambivalent in her responses, even though she is holding down a good job and this is sufficient for her to get an unannounced; armed visit from the probation officer. Cassie's partner on her last robbery was killed by being thrown from a hotel room window. While Cassie was far away from him at the time, under US law, because they were together on a criminal activity it is her who gets charged with his manslaughter. This sense that the justice system latches on to perpetrators and piles on whatever charges seem in even quite removed vicinity to the criminal and seeks to punish at all stages, rather than rehabilitate comes through very sharply in this novel. That harsh regime does provide motives but will jump out for UK readers as being alien.

Overall a crisp thriller that aside from a few points comes over as credible and engaging. It would make a great movie. While she is probably too old for the role now, but if Jennifer Lopez had played Cassie in line with her performance in 'Out of Sight' (1998), it would have been something worth watching.

'God Save the Queen' by Kate Locke [Kathryn Smith]

This is sort of a steampunk novel. It is set in the 2012 but in a world in which the Black Death mutated turning aristocratic people into vampires or werewolves. Queen Victoria, a vampire, is still on the throne of Britain. There are 'halvies', people born to concubines with traits of a vampire or a werewolf but also of humanity, like a 'daywalker' in the Blade series. There are also 'goblins' who combine werewolf and vampire traits but are confined to cannibalism in the sewers. The bulk of the population are humans who after a failed uprising in 1932, live very Victorian existences in a desultory world in which the aristocracy party. Technology has advanced but is different in style, so mobile phones are 'rotaries'. Clothing is still very Victorian or 1980s Gothic. 

The protagonist, Xandra Vardan is a member of the Royal Guard and her siblings work for the police and a private security firm. Children of a lord, they have a privileged existence, but in detective work and security are faced with the challenges of this society. Xandra is drawn into investigating the apparent murder of her sister, Dee, after being confined to the New Bedlam insane asylum. She is soon mixed up in an entanglement of conspiracies with some seeking to overthrow the regime and others experimenting on halfie children to try to produce better strains. Throughout she is uncertain both on who to trust and who she might betray herself. There are dramatic scenes as she tries to find the truth and hares through London to do it. There is also a nice romance between Xandra and the Scottish lord who is head of the werewolves, which in the hands of another author would have been handled differently, but Locke handles honestly, so providing a nice counterpoint to the entwined conspiracies.

Locke is Canadian and a professed Anglophile. She almost goes too far in levering in London slang and phrases. However, for non-British readers, I imagine this adds to the sense of this alien world. I spotted to elements that jar with this. In the UK 'French doors' are actually known as 'French windows' and no-one over here pours syrup on bacon! Aside from that, I found this novel growing on me as I went through it. At times it seemed a bit too much but steadily it comes together. The world building while drawing perhaps on some over-used tropes, is successful. However, Locke does not need to provide all the details, especially the complex genetic stuff at the end, to justify what she has portrayed. She needed to have more faith that the reader could come along with her without having a lesson. Locke is a prolific author, under a string of names, producing 39 novels, 2001-2022, mixing romance, modern fantasy and steampunk. If I come across any more of her books I would certainly buy them as, if nothing else, an old Goth cannot resist the styles in them!

'Nemesis' by Bill Napier

While Locke gave quite a bit of detail on genetics in an appendix, Napier piles in mathematical formulae in the body of his text. This is a weird mixture, being, if it was a movie, along the lines of  'Armageddon' (1998) meets 'Seven Days in May' (1964) and in part 'The Da Vinci Code' (2006 from 2003 novel) though that was produced after this book was published in 1998. It appears that the Russians, following a military coup in the 1990s, have altered the course of an asteroid so that it crashes into the centre of the USA. A team of Americans, along with a British astronomer Oliver Webb whose point of view we most see through, are brought together to identify the asteroid and work out how to divert it. There is a great deal of tension in the team, which is not handled subtly. 

There is a lot of science and mathematics in the early sections of the book as we are told about asteroids and meteorites; the damage such a collision would provide; what the impact on sea in terms of different levels of tsunami and climate would be and why you cannot simply blast an asteroid apart. There is not simply exposition, but there is also formulae as if we might want to work it all out for ourselves. As the book progresses, the thriller element increases. One of the team is murdered and we see Americans conspiring to use the incident to trigger a nuclear war anyway and then Webb goes to Italy to track down the manuscript of a Renaissance astronomer who may have identified the most likely candidate for the asteroid. He gets mixed up in brutal killings, with prostitutes, a cabaret and everything Napier can throw at it. 

There is perhaps a good idea somewhere in this book, but there is simply far too much going on and Napier does not seem to be entirely in control of it. I could almost imagine this book being written by a team each trying to get their bit in. Yes, we want to see that the disaster portrayed in the book is a credible one and that suggestions we might come up with would not work. However, we do not need mathematics and extensive sections about energy calculations in water and so on. The idea of it being revealed in a historic text works well, but Napier goes off on such an extreme situation that it morphs into yet another kind of book. We are not really sure of his age or his nature. At times he is bookish and geekish at others more of an action hero than Robert Langdon with a librarian throwing herself at him in messages who we do not ever see in person. There is probably enough in here for two or three different books. I have another thriller by Napier on my shelf and I wonder if it is handled any better than this one.

Non-Fiction

'Gestapo' by Rupert Butler

Published in 1981 this is one of those populist history books, often about aspects of the Second World War, that were numerous in the 1970s. While what it says is accurate, the style is far from academic. It is really a series of vignettes about the Gestapo and its activities across the life of the organisation. If it was a television programme then it would be a 'docu-drama' as Butler produces incidents and especially dialogue that we can guess occurred but of which there is no record. As the book progresses, the focus on the Gestapo itself becomes looser and we see things from the side of the Abwehr; the Resistance especially in France and Denmark and the assassins of Reinhard Heydrich as much as we see things from Gestapo perspective. Many of these incidents are well known anyway. Perhaps the most interesting elements are the less commonly aired ones. 

There is interesting material on the Night of the Long Knives in 1934 and on the struggle between various German agencies in the running of France; the coverage of the Venlo Incident and Operation Valkyrie are pretty well handled too. It might seem odd to say that a book about such a sinister organisation is easy to 'dip into', but because of this vignette approach, that is the case. This is a useful book if you were thinking of writing a story set during the Nazi regime and wanted to get up to speed about the secret police machinery without going into more detailed, academic sources. I guess books like this which used to be sold as more in Woolworths or newsagents than bookshops effectively have been replaced by Channel 5 and Netflix documentaries these days hence them not being published in the way they were 40 years ago.