The Blood Pit

Meh. Your average, formulaic paperback mystery. someone is murdered in a gruesome and ridiculous way. The cop (with the marital issues/drinking problem) and their brainy sidekick (i.e. the psychiatrist/archaeologist/professor) has to help them sort it out. Some people are suspected. There's a seemingly unrelated crime also afoot. Red herrings pop up. The usual.  

In the end, it the killer didn't even turn out to be anyone interesting.  for a guilty pleasure, not very pleasurable.  1 chain smoking, grizzled chief inspector out of 5.  

The Observations

I finished this book on the weekend, and I have to admit, it lived up to it's hype. Apparently the first 100 pages of this manuscript started some sort of giant bidding war between various publishing houses and caused both a big stir in the publishing world and garnered the author a huge chunk of money.

Anyway, this was a really fun read about a young girl who escaped a life of child prostitution to end up working in a manor house in Scotland in the mid-1800's. Now, as is evidenced already by my 2009 book selections, I love a good mystery, and I love it more when it comes with people in corsets and top hats. This might make me an easy target for "The Observations", and that would probably be true.

Probably what makes this book stand out among about 1000 others in the genre is the writing of the narrator, a young girl named Bessy (or Daisy) who has both a quick and caustic wit. Were it not for her, this would have been your average period piece, interesting but not particularly engaging. With Bessy, however, I found myself in that interesting and rare instance when you are coming to the end of the book and you try to slow down, as you know you are going to miss the character when it is done.

For me, the mystery that drives the plot forward was almost secondary to just wandering around with the interesting characters, although it was engaging and curious enough to keep your attention. Overall, I give the Observations a solid 4 poo pellets out of 5 (and I have downgraded "The Whiskey Rebels to a pleasantly mediocre 3 tricornered hats out of 5 - I am being much to liberal with my arbitrary ratings).

Up next is some schlocky detective murder mystery that I picked up for $5 at London Drugs. After that I shall try to read something a little more valuable (although we shall see, we shall see...).

Also, I just found out today that there is going to be a fifth book by Megan McCafferty. I am squeeing with delight!

The Whiskey Rebels

I have to say this for Mr. David Liss - Dude sure knows his economics. "The Whiskey Rebels", while a bit long, was both at least interesting and entertaining. David Liss really had a gift at writing his main characters, especially Ethan Saunders. I really got to like him, and I laughed more than once because of him. Joan Maycott, while a lot less funny, was at least very believable as an independent woman making things happen her own way. I really appreciated that she was written as ruthless as she was, it was a bit redeeming to read a historical novel where the major female character was not a victim nor overly motherly. She made shit happen, and didn't apologise for it.

The mystery itself that drove the story forward was good enough that it wasn't easily figured out in the first few chapters. I've never exactly been Sherlock Holmes myself, but if I can figure out whodunit, then it was way too easy. To decipher this bad boy, you needed to have a strong knowledge of both revolutionary American history and macroeconomics. Obviously, this isn't me.

My only major complaint on this book besides the length was the eye-rolling portrayal of George Washington. Maybe this is because I'm not American, but having your main character go to the omnipotent and Great George Washington to find all the answers? Barf. Now, I am sure that he was a great guy and there is no doubt that he accomplished a lot and fought hard for what he believed in, but really?

Anyway, pretty good book. I give it 3 tricornered hats out of 5, with a bonus raised musket for the cool cover, which is totally what made me pick up the book in the first place. Who judges a book by it's cover? This gal!

Revelations

Well, this was a piece of crap. Before I tirade, please let it be known that I have fairly low standards. all I ask is that a book be entertaining or informational. That's it. It doesn't have to be the next GG award winner or anything. Everyone likes a little brain porn every once in a while, and I am no exception.

With that said, we get to "Revelations". Now, you should know (if you don't already) that this is a the third in a series. I have read the two previous novels, and while not mind-blowing literature, they were a bit of fun. Unfortunately, the only thing "Revelations" shares with it's predecessors is the characters. The plot was convoluted and boring, the characters were unrealistic and completely dull, and the dialogue was stilted and flat. I think part of the problem is that by the third volume in this series, the interconnected relationships between all the characters and the secrets-wrapped-in-secrets featured within the overall arc of the books lead to a really heavy and confusing story. This could have been forgiven had it been written in a way that is at least entertaining, but unfortunately for me, no such luck. Urgh. Throughout the quick but painful read, I kept asking myself why I was torturing myself so - I couldn't remember who the hell anyone was, what their back story was, or why exactly I gave a shit. But then I remembered I had recently decided to blog all the books I read in 2009, even the vapid, embarrassing shit, so here we are.

"Revelations", I give you one barely raised eyelid out of five. And I want those three hours of my life back. Seriously.

Next up: "The Whiskey Rebels" by David Liss. I've been working on this for a couple days now, and let's just say that it is at least better than a garbage teen vampire novel. Also on the docket is "Rape: A History from 1860 to Present". Should be uplifting and sunshiney.

The Journal of Dora Damage

Well, the book that had the dubious honour of being the first book fully read in 2009 is "The Journal of Dora Damage". I picked this up on a whim, because everyone knows that I am a sucker for a) saucy period fiction, and b) a book with a corset on the cover. The big gamble was that in paperback it set me back 17 bones. Urgh. "Well," I thought to myself, "It better be good". And it was, at least for those willing to forgive a few flaws and just enjoy a decent story.

The strength of the book lied primarily in the first half to two-thirds. At the start, the descriptions of the poverty, lifestyle and period are quite good, and you can smell the fog and stench that was Victorian London. That, combined with the empathetic stress that I felt as a reader to Dora's desperate financial situation was fantastic. When she takes on that first commission, I could completely picture the process that the book went through. Another strong point was Dora's relationships with her daughter Lucinda, her housekeeper Pansy and the Lady Knightly. Belinda Sterling seemed to have a good voice when writing relationships with women. Unfortunately, her male characters were more lacking. They seemed more caricatures than believable human beings, especially Diprose and Knightly.

The book seems to stumble around midpoint for two reasons. The first is the introduction of the former slave, Din. For me, he added nothing to the story of any great value. The whole abolitionist subplot could have been removed without any sort of damage to the narrative at all. The romance seemed to come out of nowhere as I didn't really find anything at all remarkable about Din. He was a pretty flat character. I was much more interested in Jack, and when he got dropped three quarters of the way through, I missed him.

In my opinion, the biggest disappointment was the climax. The majority of the book was an atmospheric and grabbing story, but it seemed to drop away to farce. The whole kidnapping and tattooing bit was on the bad side of ridiculous, and the whole affair got resolved pretty easily and quickly. Finally, in the epilogue everyone lived completely happily ever after. Now, I forgive a lot of things in a book. I will suspend my disbelief, I can accept the crazy bits, but I hate it when the big finish is wrapped up too efficiently. It is, to me, a let down. I love a big finish, and it can make or break a book. When there is more of a peter out than a big bang, I get so frustrated.

All of that said, I enjoyed this book (although perhaps not to the tune of $17). I give "The Journal of Dora Damage" 3.5 naughty Victorian books out of 5. Next up...the 3rd in the teen "Blue Bloods" series, "Revelations". My embarrassing teen book habit strikes again...