Sunk (me)

Sunk is the working title for the partial first draft of a novel I wrote in November for National Novel Writing Month (see my NaNoWriMo Adventure). And while it's not exactly something I read, it's what has kept me busy this month not reading other stuff. I should have some other books finished and mini-reviewed, soon.

Blog Reboot

I'm taking the opportunity here to repurpose this blog. I'm sure I'm the only one that cares.

Rather than mix in a bunch of blogistic murmuring about my life and how it relates to everything, I'm streamlining this to just comment on books that I've read. Previous posts about books are being split into their constituent parts and each entry will now be dated with the (sometimes approximate) day that I finished (or put down) the work.

Harvest of Stars (Poul Anderson)

[*]

The one star rating is as low as I'll go. I did not finish this book. Maybe it's because I don't feel like investing the time it in (it's 531 pages long). Maybe it's because it's filled with crazy dialect-ridden dialog. Maybe it's because it comes across as a hyperbolic rant against religion and government. I think it's all of that and because it just wasn't very interesting. The premise appears to be that there is some future where governments are mostly puppets of huge corporations and special interest groups. One of the more powerful and benign corporations finds itself in conflict with a somewhat fascist special interest that is currently running one of the larger governments. There is intrigue. There is an AI. There are special agents. Yawn. I could put it down and did. I don't know if I'll ever pick it up again.

Injustice For All (J.A. Jance)

[***]

On a lark, I picked this up from the $1 rack at Half-Price Books. I liked it. It's not necessarily one of my all-time favorite books. But it is a solid, enjoyable read in the mystery genre. The protagonist, J.P. Beaumont, is your typical hard-boiled police detective, softened up a bit for the Seattle P.D.

I discovered after reading the story that this is the second entry in the series. I knew it wasn't the first, based on references to previous events. In this entry, Beau is recovering at the Rosario Resort from the events of the first book. A dead man shows up on the beach almost on page one. From there the body count mounts and the detective must deal with his healing emotions, his feelings for one of the victims and clues that don't add up.

The writing is good. The characters are fine, though I question some of Beau's morals. And that's where some of the problems arise. I think the plotting that involves his relationships with other characters in the book are a bit hard to take.

All in all, though, a good read.