In this 24th book in the 'Stephanie Plum' series, the Trenton, New Jersey bounty hunter becomes the target of zombies. The book can be read as a standalone.
*****
When grave robber Simon Diggery doesn't show up for his court date, bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has to track him down. Stephanie finds Simon taking refuge in a tree with his huge boa constrictor Ethel.
Simon explains that he was digging up a grave and accidently opened a portal for zombies, who streamed through screaming "brains" and tried to catch him.
Simon - fearing the zombies - says he'll let Stephanie take him to jail IF the bounty hunter will look after Ethel. Stephanie reluctantly agrees, which leads to various comic scenes, including Stephanie feeding the serpent hot dogs, barbecue chickens, and donuts.
Having dispensed with Diggery, Stephanie - accompanied by her zany, zaftig friend Lula - tries to track down other bail skips.
These include Zero Slick, a nutty activist who blew up a building while he was cooking meth; and Edward Koot, who shot up a coffeehouse because his cup wasn't full enough.
As Stephanie goes about her bounty hunter business she wrecks several cars (one by exploding a groundhog); drops in for meals at her parents' house; and dilly-dallies with the men in her life: police detective Joe Morelli (her sexy Italian boyfriend);
Ranger (a sexy security expert of Cuban heritage);
and Diesel (a sexy blonde hunk with a mysterious job).
Meanwhile, dead bodies - both corpses in funeral homes and murder victims - are having their heads snatched. This head-pillaging seems to be the work of zombies who are collecting brains, and a couple of the zombies focus on Stephanie when she sideswipes an 'undead' with her car.
Thoroughly frightened, Stephanie and Lula try to elude the zombies, who smell like 'carnations and outhouse.' Lula thinks about creating bizarre (and horrible) scents to ward off the zombies, but they're too stinky to wear. There's plenty of action before the zombie situation is resolved, which is dangerous but hilarious.
As always, feisty, gun-toting Grandma Mazur is on hand. Grandma likes to go to funeral parlor visitations (for the corpses and the cookies), and is mighty annoyed that the headless bodies have closed coffins. Grandma also meets a man online (whose picture looks EXACTLY like the actor George Hamilton), and Granny is determined to meet the lothario in person - which drives Stephanie's mom bananas.
George Hamilton
For pet fun, Morelli's dog Bob is on hand, as is Stephanie's hamster Rex - who has a sleepover at Ranger's apartment - along with Stephanie (uh-oh!).
Some of the later books in this series have been disappointing, but this is a good one. It's fun AND au courant, since it features designer drugs; drones; and online catfishing. I'd recommend the book to readers of cozy mysteries, especially fans of Stephanie Plum.
Rating: 3.5 stars
Anne Hillerman is following in her father - Tony Hillerman's - footsteps, carrying on with his Navajo Tribal Police series. This is the second book Anne Hillerman has written for the long series.
As the story opens Navajo Tribal Police Officers Jim Chee.....
.....and Bernadette Manuelito, recently married, are taking a vacation in Monument Valley when fate steps in.
Jim ends up helping a relative in Monument Valley while temporarily working security for a movie company. And Bernie returns to their home in Shiprock for an urgent situation involving her mom and sister.
While in Shiprock Bernie decides to resume her police duties. She had previously arrested a suspiciously nervous young man for attempted bribery during a traffic stop and she wants to find out what he was hiding. Bernie is dismayed to learn that there were no drugs in his car and that the FBI wants the tribal police to back off. Bernie can't let it go, however, and continues to investigate the fellow.
Meanwhile Jim finds a suspicious 'grave' in Monument Valley, which he suspects is a publicity stunt arranged by the movie company to advertise their zombie film.
The movie company honchos deny knowing anything about the grave but Jim continues to inquire into the matter. Before long an employee of the movie company is murdered in a hotel suite and Jim investigates the crime.
As Bernie and Jim pursue their separate inquiries each meets up with various suspicious characters that need looking into. They both turn to their mentor - 'The Legendary Lieutenant' Joe Leaphorn - for assistance. This is difficult because Joe is recovering from a bullet to the head and can't speak - but he's able to use a computer to assist his mentees.
I liked the setting of the book, in the beautiful mountains of the American Southwest, and enjoyed the tidbits of Navajo culture sprinkled through the story. The dual plots, however, were confused and less than compelling. By the end of the book the crimes that Bernie and Jim were investigating didn't ring true and I didn't really care who did what. There was an interesting array of characters, though, from Bernie's loving mom and alcoholic young sister to sleazy movie makers to Navajo elders who cherish the land.
For me this was just a so-so book.
Rating: 2 stars
Cory Friedman had an uneventful childhood until he was nearly five years old, when a combination of Tourette's Syndrome, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and Anxiety Disorder upended his life for 13 years. Cory's story - written by Hal Friedman (Cory's father) and James Patterson - is told in Cory's voice, with the aim of helping other people in a similar situation.
Cory's troubles began with a shake of his head shortly before his fifth birthday. Feeling tension in his neck while playing a videogame, young Cory jerked his head to the side. Then he did it again - and again - and again. Before long the shaking became uncontrollable.
Young Cory Friedman
Cory Friedman and his father Hal Friedman
The first doctor Cory saw for the head shaking thought he had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and prescribed Ritalin, which "was like trying to put out a fire by drowning it in gasoline." While on the medication Cory exhibited a range of uncontrollable behaviors such as moving different parts of his face all the time; repeating what people said (echolalia); constantly clearing his throat; repeatedly touching his sister's shoulder; grimacing; blinking; and more. In time Cory was diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome - a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by vocal and motor tics.
Tourette's has no quick fix, and a range of physicians tried different medicines on a trial and error basis. Over the course of his childhood and adolescence, Cory saw dozens of doctors and tried 50 to 60 medicines.....none of which helped for long. Some of Cory's treatment problems was caused by the fact that he had additional pathologies: OCD made Cory repeat the aberrant behaviors even more, and anxiety made him restless and apprehensive, so that - among other things - Cory constantly feared a disaster was about to befall his mother.
Cory's obsessions and tics were not only disturbing, they were dangerous. Shortly before third grade, Cory was riding with his mother when he got the urge to stick his face out the car window and make faces in the side view mirror; open the car door; and touch the steering wheel. All this distracted his mother so much that the car crashed.
Cory's illnesses isolated him, because the shaking and twitching made it impossible for the boy to stay in school for the whole day. Moreover, children were uncomfortable around Cory, and he had almost no friends. The kids Cory did know were acquaintances he met in the school's 'resource room' - a (supposedly) quiet space for special needs kids who required a time out. In reality, the resource room was anything but placid because of the 'out of control' students sent there. Thus Cory's anxiety increased, and his tics went off the charts.
In middle school Cory was able to become a pitcher for the baseball team, which he enjoyed. However, during an important game the players on the opposing team - encouraged by their coach - made fun of Cory's ticcing, which devastated him. (This probably wouldn't happen today, with the crackdown on bullying.)
Cory Friedman growing up
When middle school became overwhelming, Cory was sent to a hospital for people who can't control their body movements. Cory was given the anti-psychotic Risperdal, which exacerbated his head-twisting and foot-tapping. The doctors advised Cory's parents to 'let the medicine start working' and increased his dosage from 1.5 pills, to two, to four, to six.....which would make most people catatonic. The Risperdal made Cory gain weight, and the 5' 7" boy shot up to 230 pounds. In the end Cory had to be taken off Risperdal, which resulted in painful withdrawal symptoms.
Other medications followed, which caused Cory to bounce around his bed at night, and made him feel like another person was taking over his body. Cory's mom gave him Benadryl to induce sleep, but it didn't work. Cory wanted to die - wanted his mother to kill him. The doctors finally agreed that the treatments weren't working, and eased Cory off the medicines.....though different ones were prescribed.
Through all this Cory worried that his problems would break up the family and that his sister Jessie loved him less than she used to. Cory acknowledges that things WERE difficult for his sibling, because he got all the attention and he made it hard for Jessie to have friends and lead a normal life. In part, this may have been related to Cory's loss of control when he got into a rage. Cory would become ultraviolent and irrational, and scream and strike out at the people around him. (Note: Jessie probably loved Cory just fine because she went on to become a special education teacher.🙂)
Though Cory's body betrayed him, he had a superior mind and was able to remember everything his teachers said in class AND learn from homeschooling. Cory also took it upon himself to study internet marketing online.
As Cory advanced to high school, he kept hoping for the next medicine to work, for things to get better as he got older. But it kept not happening. Cory began to hang out with other troubled kids, who'd buy booze and drink in the park. Cory still didn't have friends at school, and his classmates continued to make fun of him. By now Cory was also smoking heavily, and constantly had to sneak out of school to grab a cigarette.
Cory had a series of bad experiences in high school:
He had to leave the football team because he couldn't always make it to practice on time.
He had to use a wheelchair (for a while) because his spasms made him a hazard in the hallways.
He was assigned an aide who got him suspended for smoking. Cory then wrote the aide a threatening email, which was a criminal offense.
During this time, Cory's questionable friends would hang out in his basement where they got drunk; made out; and sometimes got into fights with each other. By his own description, Cory was 'a fat chain-smoker who needed alcohol to get some peace.' (It's hard to believe Cory's parents put up with this, but apparently they didn't know what else to do.) The last straw for Cory's folks occurred during his junior year in high school - when Cory fell asleep on the basement couch with a cigarette in his hand.....and set fire to the sofa.
Cory's family knew they had to stage an intervention, and decided to check Cory into the Dressler Psychiatric Hospital for alcohol abuse. Cory was appalled at being in an 'insane asylum', and was removed 'against medical advice.'
Cory's folks then sent him to Wyoming's Roundtop Wilderness Camp for troubled teens - for a month; followed by the adolescent OCD ward of the Wellington Neurological Center - for six weeks; and then on to the Devereux School in New England - a private therapeutic boarding school with no cars, no alcohol; no cigarettes; and no life (in Cory's eyes). Cory hated Devereux, made a huge fuss, and was eventually allowed to return home and re-enroll in his old high school.
At this point, toward the end of Cory's junior year in high school - when he was clear of medication - he developed 'a sense of well-being', and his tics subsided. Cory's family became convinced that his worst symptoms were caused by the variety of medications that were prescribed in good faith.
In Hal Friedman's epilog to the book, which was published in 2008, he noted that Cory finished high school with good grades and went on to the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University. After graduation Cory worked in internet marketing and became the lead singer in his own New Jersey band. Though Cory still had some physical symptoms, he took very little medication and was doing well.
Hal credits Cory's recovery to his son's irrepressible spirit, his best doctor, and his mother - an "endlessly loving, unselfish human being."
Corey Friedman today
The narrative provides a compelling and instructive glimpse into the life of a person suffering from a combination of psychological disorders. I'd recommend the book to readers interested in the subject - and especially to parents, guardians, teachers, doctors, and others who deal with afflicted children.
Rating: 3.5 stars
Each of the Sparrow women of Unity, Massachusetts has an unusual ability which manifests itself on her 13th birthday. In this book - due to a confluence of circumstances - three generations of Sparrow women find themselves living together in the family's vintage "cake house" - which has the shape of a giant wedding cake.
Brought together are:
- Elinor - who can detect liars;
- Elinor's daughter Jenny - who can see people's dreams;
- and Jenny's daughter Stella - who can see how people will die.
At the beginning of the story Jenny, her husband Will, and her daughter Stella are living in Cambridge, Massachusetts when 13-year-old Stella 'sees' that a woman is going to be murdered.
Stella insists her father tell the police and when the woman is killed, Will - having 'suspicious knowledge of the crime' - is arrested for the murder. Stella's parents ship her off to Unity to protect her from the real killer and Jenny soon joins her there, where they remain.
There is conflict in the family because Jenny, who had been neglected by her grieving mother Elinor, ran off to marry her ne'er do well, lying, cheating boyfriend Will when she was seventeen.....
.....and Stella feels smothered and controlled by Jenny.
In the course of the story we learn a lot about the history of the Sparrow women (one of whom was drowned as a witch), which is interesting. There are also a variety of additional characters who help round out the tale but don't really 'pop' off the page.
As Jenny and Stella settle into Unity several couples fall in love or admit their love, which - in fairy tale fashion - is beneficial to their lives. In this book at least love cures a lot of ills.
I thought the initial premise of the book was intriguing but before long the story bogged down for me and I found that I didn't particularly like most of the characters. In fact some of the characters are so self-absorbed and oblivious and others are so self-effacing that I didn't much care what happened to them. Though skillfully written this book is more of a miss than a hit for me.
Rating: 3 stars
In this 24th book in the 'William Monk' series, the Victorian police detective investigates a kidnapping. I'm a fan of the Monk novels and had high hopes for this book. Sadly, I was disappointed.😒
*****
Commander William Monk of London's 'Thames River Police' had a difficult past. A decades-old injury left Monk with severe permanent amnesia, a condition he had to hide to remain a police detective. Monk struggled to maintain the pretense, and even recovered snippets of memory, but his life was a rocky road. Monk persevered, however, and eventually married a fine woman named Hester and secured his current job.
As the story opens, a wealthy London builder named Charles Exeter requests assistance from the Thames River Police.
Exeter's wife Kate was abducted, and the kidnappers have demanded a large ransom for her return.
Exeter can put the money together, but is unfamiliar with the location chosen for the exchange - a filthy, dangerous, dilapidated slum called Jacob's Island. Since the river police are acquainted with the hellhole, Exeter would like them to escort him in.....and back out (presumably accompanied by his wife).
Monk selects five of his best men, and the six policemen and Exeter approach Jacob's Island in a couple of boats. Two men stay with the skiffs, Monk and Exeter approach the exchange location, and the three remaining cops stake out various exits.....in an attempt to trap the kidnappers.
SPOILER ALERT / SPOILER ALERT / SPOILER ALERT
(The rest of this review contains possible spoilers)
Things go shockingly wrong, however. The police are attacked, the money is snatched, and Kate is killed. 😖
Exeter is distraught, and the Commander blames himself for the fiasco.
What really eats Monk up though, is the certainty that one of his men is in cahoots with the kidnappers, who knew exactly where every cop would be stationed.
As the rest of the story unfolds, Monk makes it his mission to bring the kidnappers to justice and to expose the cop who betrayed him. Monk REALLY hopes the traitor isn't Officer Hooper - a man Monk considers his best copper and his friend - but Monk investigates everyone involved in the Jacob's Island operation.
This exposes a lot of secrets, including a hanging offense. And in that era, you could be tried and hung in a matter of days! 😵
Monk also confides in his wife Hester, an intrepid woman who nursed soldiers during the Crimean War, and opened a free clinic for prostitutes and indigent people.
Hester asks Will (Scuff) - a young man the Monks took in as a lad - to secretly obtain information about the 'suspected' police officers - to determine if one of them could be bribed or blackmailed.
Before long some clues about the abduction come to light: a London ruffian starts spending A LOT of money he should not have; and a young woman who works at a bank discovers irregularities in Kate Exeter's trust fund. All this puts the police on the trail of the kidnappers.....and leads to more murder and mayhem. 🔪
Additional characters in the book include Celia Darwin - Kate's plain, almost impoverished cousin; Maurice Latham - a lawyer who's the trustee of Kate's trust fund; Mr. Doyle - the manager of the bank that holds the Exeter accounts; Oliver Rathbone - an attorney and longtime friend of William and Hester Monk; Police Officers Laker, Bathhurst, Marbury, and Walcott - who went to Jacob's Island with Monk; and more.
Sounds like a good story, right? Unfortunately it doesn't pan out. These are some of the novel's flaws (IMO):
- The solution to the kidnapping is glaringly obvious, but Monk is uncharacteristically obtuse. He comes across as willfully blind to the truth.
- The cops are constantly mooning around and sporting 'expressions of pity' when they think about crime victims. Come on! They're in the law enforcement profession! Not where we want a bunch of wusses.
- Observations about the investigation are repeated ad infinitum, and slow the book to a crawl. The novel could have been shortened by half.
- Two characters 'fall in love' almost as soon as they clap eyes on each other. I don't buy this in ANY book, and it's especially odd in this context.
- A key witness commits perjury for a reason that doesn't make a lick of sense. 🙄
- Hester, who's usually a major character, makes only a token appearance - mostly to comfort her husband. I don't like her being relegated to this role.
For me these (and other) 'blemishes' detract from the book.
One thing the author does well is demonstrate the snobby attitude of the supremely arrogant 'upper classes' - who openly disdain anyone they think is 'below them.' I'm always happy to see these snotnoses get taken down a notch (or ten). 😁
If you're a big fan of the Monk stories you might want to read this book. Otherwise, I don't recommend it.
Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Anne Perry), and the publisher (Ballantine Books) for a copy of the book.
Rating: 2 stars
