Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (Frank Miller)

[****] ISBN: 9781563893421

This is a 5-star graphic novel, but only a 3-star book. I split the difference. The problem I have in being more enthusiastic about this book is that by now, twenty years after it was first published, this ground has been thoroughly covered and trampled to the point where it's hard to turn new dirt. It's obvious why it was considered groundbreaking at the time, but there are ways in which it doesn't wear well (Reagan and the communists are gone, you know). That makes it difficult for it to stand up as a true 'classic' piece of literature.

That being said, I do give it high marks for fresh story telling (especially for the time) and for overall endurance (it still is a decent read).

Disclosure (Michael Crichton)

[**] ISBN: 9780345391056

I'm torn on this one. The story finally sort of paid off. But I actually set it aside for a couple of weeks to read The Golden Compass. It's not that it was bad, the writing was OK. I just didn't care for the characters that much, one of the scenes actually made me very uncomfortable (and not just in the way the author intended), and some of the action hit too close to home (high-tech company politics). That last point could be a little disingenuous on my part, since it's one of the things that attracted me to the book in the first place. I guess I found that I wasn't quite over my recent encounter with that sort of thing (not the sexual harassment stuff per se, just politics).

Anyway, after I picked it up again, the story finally seemed to click and I enjoyed the mystery angle of it all. And I think this type of story will help with the one I'm currently writing, so that's good. But I think there were just a few too many characters, there was a genuine deus ex machina character at the end (someone that had been given one previous scene and then conveniently brought back out of the blue to provide critical information at the critical moment), and I lost a little respect when the author didn't quite get his local facts straight. There is no "Queen Anne's hill" in Seattle. It's simply Queen Anne hill. Wish I could give this three stars, but it only gets two.

Cryptid: The Lost Legacy of Lewis & Clark (Eric Penz)

[***] ISBN: 158348485X

Somehow I stumbled across this author's web site and got excited because he lived nearby, worked full time and had still managed to get something written and published. More dots connected because I had recently read (er, listened to) a history of Lewis and Clark and was also starting to work on a novel revolving around a fictional creature and a cover-up. Thankfully, Cryptid is both completely different than what I have in mind and proves that the concept can work.

The early chapters of the book worked the best for me. They draw vivid pictures of convincing characters in dire situations and create a fascinating world of paleontology, anthropology and history in which the creature (bigfoot) can exist, along with the cover-up. But then the story bogs down even as the pace picks up. The middle of the book, filled with thrilling scenes, turns into a muddle -- a seemingly endless chase through the dark (underground and in the forest), filled with nasty people, malevolent beasts and a rising body count. This was not at all what I expected or wanted. And then the end wraps it all up (just like that).

That being said, I found the book hard to put down. The prose is clear and compelling. The dialog is true. Events follow each other pretty logically (though I did find I lost track of a few things). I hope my story turns out at least this well.

Tyrannosaur Canyon (Douglas Preston)

[**] ISBN: 0765311046

I thought this would have everything I could want in a thriller: a mysteriously missing moon rock sample (which is ignored between the prologue and the last few chapters), an indecipherable treasure map, a murder, a trail of mystery with more questions than answers, men and women at odds with nature and each other - plus dinosaurs and a moon landing (!). Based on his track record, I guess the author should have been able to pull this off. He didn't.

Much of the story is admirable enough and full of suspense. The first few chapters had me really going. And for a while the mystery was somewhat interesting. But then it turned into a simple kidnapping story on the one hand and an oversimplified "CSI:Cretaceous" on the other. Followed up by the return of the moon rock by way of a rogue NSA black op.

On top of that, the storytelling was not up to my expectations of a best-selling author. I do not expect a potboiler like this to also be a piece of fine literature But I would like the story to move forward by means other than structure and inertia. I don't want the story constantly chopped up with irrelevant detail, description and storytelling (rather than showing). And I'd like chapters to be more than a half a scene, chopped up just for the sake of creating suspense.

While the characters were more than cardboard cutouts, they were fraught with cliché (the murderer is an ex-con, his boss is a fop, the ex-CIA monk is grizzled, etc.) and convenient coincidences (the wife knows how to handle guns as well as horses, the ex-CIA monk is a cryptographer, the geologist is also skilled at paleontology).

This is not a complete disaster. In many ways it was a fun read (er... listen). But I learned just as much about how not to tell a story than how to do it.

Rum Punch (Elmore Leonard)

[***]

I'd say this was a pretty decent Elmore Leonard book. Not great. But decent. I think the trouble that I had was that it was hard to find a character to really like and identify with. I had the same trouble with the movie (Jackie Brown), but the visual style of that made it fascinating to watch. In this one, many of the characters are just plain nasty and I didn't want to spend all that much time with them.

Golden Buddha (Clive Cussler and Craig Dirgo)

[*] audio

Wow! What a truly horrendous mash of contrived television-grade plots and stereotyped characters and clunky writing. How did this get published? If these guys can get a book into print, I think I can. From what I've read, this is not representative of Clive's writing. I will give him another chance. Please don't read this book.

Big Trouble (Dave Barry)

[***]

I did finished this rather quickly. Some of the scenes in the movie were word-for-word what was in the book. Some weren't. I think I actually liked the movie a bit more. The way the book laid out the story and characters didn't quite ring true, but it was still enjoyable. Pretty good for a first effort. I've read that his second novel wasn't quite as well received.