Innocent Bystander

What I'm Reading: Agent 6 by Tom Rob Smith

I almost gave up early on Agent 6, the new novel by author Tom Rob Smith, and the third in his trilogy featuring Russian KGB agent Leo Demidov. Smith's first two Demidov books, Child 44 and The Secret Speech, were epic historical thrillers. Child 44 introduces Leo in the midst of Stalin's Soviet Union in the mid-1950s. Agent Demidov hunts down a serial killer, who simply cannot exist. Suggesting that a murderer is present in the Soviet "paradise" is a crime against the state.

The Secret Speech advances the timeline to 1956, when Kruschev takes over for Stalin and issues a speech repudiating the dead dictator, calling him a tyrant and promising the USSR will change. The book takes Leo on a journey, from Moscow to a gulag in Siberia where there seems to be no escape, to the front line of the Hungarian uprising in Budapest. The second Leo novel is an epic adventure across the expanse of Soviet Russia.

So, needless to say, I was eagerly awaiting Agent 6, which finally came out a week or two ago. I tore into it the second I got it and was quickly disappointed. 

Agent 6 skips ahead to 1965 and Leo--save for a flashback introduction--is barely in the first half or the book. The story revolves around his wife, Raisa, and their adopted daughters Zoya and Elenya, who are sent to New York City as part of a concert tour involving both Russian and American children. But the tour is just a pretext for a Soviet plot to discredit a famed African American--and Communist sympathiser--singer, Jesse Austin. To say anymore about the story will give away too much, so I'll stop there.

But both Leo--and the author, Tom Rob Smith--redeem themselves in the second half of the book, where Demidov is in 1980s Afghanistan, as a Soviet adviser during the ill-fated Russian invasion of that country. That part of the book has eerie echoes to the present-day United States involvement in that black hole of the world, a place where no foreign country will ever succeed. It's the combination of geography, climate, and people that make it the bleakest place on the planet, I think.

Leo, a broken man, addicted to opium, finds redemption in this hell hole and the latter part of the book takes him to New York City, to solve the mysteries created there in 1965. It's an emotional journey, one that ends--at least for me--in a less than satisfying final chapter that had me crying like a baby, but still left me somehow wanting more. But I guess that's the sign of a great character in a good novel...you always want the story to continue

I have high hopes that this is not the end of Leo Demidov, but by the early 1980s of the final chapters of Agent 6, he must be at least in his 60s. I think the one thing slightly wrong with this book (which for me did a 180-degree turn once Leo reappeared in Aghanistan) is that the success of the first two books depends on Leo being in Russia. Those books have such an epic feel to them, such an incredible glimpse into history--and an almost-secret history, to boot. I feel Agent 6 robs us a bit by taking Leo away from Mother Russia, a country that means so much to him. But I also feel that there is one more novel to write about Leo, about where he is and what happens to him and his family when the Berlin Wall falls in 1989 and the USSR ceases to exist. I hope Smith will tell us that story, but in the meantime, the three Leo Demidov novels that we already have tell an amazing tale.

Parker and Richard Stark are back: Butcher's Moon, Comeback, Backflash...

The three "latest" Richard Stark/Parker novels are out from University of Chicago Press and as always, they don't disappoint. If you're like me and reading Donald Westlake's seminal crime series for the first go-round as they're released again--most unavailable for many years--you're in for a treat each time another trio comes out. Sadly, we're nearing the end of the line with only six more Parker books to go. Westlake--who wrote the entire series of 24 under the pen name Richard Stark--died in 2008.

This trio of novels features the last of the original Parker series, Butcher's Moon, originally published in 1974, before Stark--and Parker--took 22 years off to return with the aptly-titled Comeback in 1997. Westlake intimated that Parker spent part of that time in prison (I'm not sure were "author" Richard Stark was), but the series continues as if it never stopped. The only obvious references to more modern times reflect how the world had changed in those two-plus decades: the Internet, ATMs, different car manufacturers, etc. Parker's Comeback was as if he never left.

Butcher's Moon is a great book, one of the best in the entire series. It reunites Parker with a number of his old cronies who have worked in other books with him and even takes them back to do battle with the bad guys from Slayground, the novel which features the thief trapped in a closed amusement park. Seems that Parker hid the money he was escaping with somewhere in the park and now he wants it back. Only problem is, someone else has found it. Parker and company once again stage an elaborate heist that not only takes down the people who took his original money, but the whole organized crime syndicate in the town where the park is located. Stark/Westlake must have known it was time for Parker to go away, and he heads out with a bang.

When we next visit Parker, he's involved with knocking over a television evangelist who stages profitable stadium shows. Comeback is the first Parker novel in 22 years, but it's as if he never left. No reference is made to where he was or what he's been doing. It's just another heist, except it's told in Stark's inimitable fashion. The fact that the author just started up again with the character, just like a couple of months have passed between jobs, speaks volumes on Westlake's comfort and familiarity with Parker.

The next novel in the series (#18) is Backflash and Parker and company (again, Stark brings back a number of old "friends" that we've met before in previous novels) rip off a floating casino on the Hudson River in New York state. This is the first Parker novel I had a bit of a problem with. It's a very slow starter, and the ramp-up to the actual heist takes forever (it doesn't start until halfway through the book) and Stark keeps throwing characters at us. The back half of the book, though, is pure Parker as the heist goes off without a hitch. It's when Parker and friends make shore that it all goes in the crapper.

There is something very different about these three novels: Parker gets away with the money in all of them. One of the ironic points of Stark's earlier books in the series is that many times life--or human nature--interfere with Parker's best-laid plans and he ends up without the money at the end of the heist. He always comes out whole and intact, but without the prize. I liked that about the books, that human factor, that one final monkey wrench thrown into the well-oiled machine of Parker's meticulous plans. But these three novels--not without their own last-minute complications--at least allow Parker and his crew to get away with the cash.

This series also features new introductions by noted crime/mystery writer Lawrence Block, and for once University of Chicago Press gets it right: Block writes a new intro for each book, giving us the background on his friend Donald Westlake and how Parker went away and then came back. Previous intros in the series were placed in all three currently-released books, which was annoying. I kind of suspect that this was Block's doing more than the publishers. Given the chance to praise his old friend, the author stepped up to the plate and hit three home runs.

The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly

I much prefer author Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch novels, of which a new one (The Drop) is coming in October. But these days it seems that when we don't get Harry, we get Mickey Haller,  "The Lincoln Lawyer," and Connelly's latest book, The Fifth Witness, featuring the attorney whose office is the back seat of his Ford Lincoln, is the best yet of that series.

It's a torn-from-the-headlines tale of Haller moving his law business into fighting foreclosures. One of his clients, a sad, obsessive woman named Lisa Trammel (as in trampled, kind of, but that's how she seems to be: trampled by life) is accused of murdering a bank official. Lisa has lost her husband, her house, and now is in jail under suspicion of murder. It's up to the intrepid Haller to put together all the pieces of the intricate puzzle that is the true story behind the homicide, all the while not at all liking his client, who is a bit of a pain in the butt.

Connelly is known for his police procedurals, so when he went down this road with Haller, readers didn't know what to expect. It's a definite trip into Grisham-town or Turow-ville, and Connelly rises to the occasion. This is a thoroughly engrossing book, a real page-turner with a twist (in some ways, a twist too far, I think). In this third book about Haller, Connelly grows his character into an attorney with more of a conscious and the next step--and hopefully, the next book--shows a surprise turn of events based on a decision reached by the somewhat, at times, borderline sleazy lawyer.

I recently saw the movie version of the first book, The Lincoln Lawyer. And while I had total reservations about Matthew McConaughey being cast as Haller, I did enjoy the flick, if not the lead actor. (Having Marisa Tomei as Maggie McFierce certainly helped, although she was in the film way too little.) Despite my enjoyment, I couldn't help think--especially after reading The Fifth Witness--what a great AMC or FX TV series The Lincoln Lawyer would be. I'm a bit mystified why anyone thought a movie would be successful as anything other than a one-shot. Neither the premise or the star warrant a tentpole/franchise type of deal. But as a TV series, with each book being one season, The Lincoln Lawyer shows real promise. With both of Connelly's characters--Bosch and Haller--it makes more sense to consider the TV series route then the movie one. Bosch's back story (which involves Viet Nam) and impressive set of novels featuring him would put him in his mid-60s now, not exactly exciting as a movie series to anyone but the Matlock crowd. But on TV...well, that's a different story, pun intended.

Vanity Fair Hollywood issue 2011...

The annual edition of Vanity Fair's Hollywood issue is out and as these things go, it's only a so-so one. Scheduled for "Oscar month" each year, the VF issue is always a behemoth (this year's weighs in at 352 pages...not the biggest ever, though; that honor goes to 2007 with 500 pages). I've been buying--and keeping--these since 1995.

The new issue--available on your local newsstand right now, and also at Barnes and Noble and--but don't blink, they might be gone soon--Borders--has a couple of good articles, the best of which is Sheila Weller's look back at Thelma and Louise, "The Ride of a Lifetime." This is one thing the VF Hollywood issues do very well: long, focused articles on movies of the past. In fact, they've collected a whole book full of them: Vanity Fair's Tales of Hollywood: Rebels, Reds, and Graduates and the Wild Stories Behind the Making of 13 Iconic Films (whew...that title alone is close to 352 pages, I think).

One thing the VF Hollywood issues do very badly (or very well, depending on your point of view, I guess) is their annual blowjob to some Hollywood fat cat. This year it's the fattest cat of all, the indestructible Harvey Weinstein, a man so totally devoid of personal appeal, he doesn't deserve such treatment (nor a blowjob). Also included in this issue is the usual beautiful photo portfolio of new, old, surprising and not-so-surprising stars and other assorted Hollywood types; a "Hollywood's Top 40" power list. (Didn't this used to be a cover-featured list of 100 people? Has the economy hurt that much that it's marked down 60%?); a really long article about former Tonight Show with Johnny Carson producer Freddy de Cordova's wife, Janet, who died in 2009 (I mean, really...what's the point...she was a nobody even alive...this is the kind of article I had hoped would disappear from the pages of VF once Dominick Dunne died); separate articles about both sex symbols and pudgy funny guys, then and now, plus star-crossed star lovers; a long article by Peter Biskind about Mel Gibson, which doesn't really decide whether he's the asshole of the universe or unfairly maligned; an article on Mark Wahlberg and his producing partner (kind of a handjob compared to the Weinstein one), and a back-of-the-book profile on Lauren Bacall.

So, yeah...there's really only one great article and one good one (the Bacall one). The rest is pretty much "meh." But one thing this issue does remind me of is that there are no really good American movie magazines anymore. The British imports--Empire, Total Film--don't count. I still miss Premiere, which was hit and miss for many years, but at least it was ours. I suppose print is almost dead anyway, so maybe it'll be up to the iPad and similar tablet-based computers to come out with something that includes video along with articles and stunning photos. Until then, we'll always have Vanity Fair in February.

The Daily...

It's been clear to me from the start that The Daily, the new iPad "newspaper"--for lack of a better word--is exactly what the Apple tablet device was made for. I downloaded the app last week and have been following it ever since. But unfortunately, it's not without its own set of problems.

I'm not sure I'm the right person for The Daily, but I sure like the idea of it. Essentially it's an iPad daily paper, one with video, vivid photos that move, charts that grow, and more. You can tell it's still in its infancy and that the programmers and writers are feeling their way about this absolutely new medium, and that's exciting. Some things work, others don't. I'm sad to say the level of illustration I've seen so far in The Daily is far from professional-looking, so maybe that's something they should steer away from. The photos are wonderful, the writing--well, not so much.

When it comes to articles, The Daily stands midway between a traditional newsweekly and USA Today, while maybe leaning a little more to the latter. There's no Pulitzer Prize writing going on here, and there's not likely to be any. And at times the filler material, especially at the end of the news section, seems like something out of The Grit or Readers' Digest, the large print version.

I'm not much of a sports fan, but their Sports section seems appropriately beefy and informative to me. The Daily's movie and book reviews leave something to be desired and often are the one thing that repeats from day to day. The Gossip section is negligible, as most such sections are to me in any publication, and the Arts section seems more geared towards trendy crap than not. There's also an Opinion section, one part of a traditional newspaper that I always ignore, and a more new-fangled Apps and Games section, featuring a crossword puzzle and Sudoku page that ties into Apple's game center app. And of course, there's the inevitable advertising, most "pages" of which are animated or contain video of some sort.

Where The Daily excels is in how its using this new medium. You can see a lot of thought and experimentation at work, and I'm hoping this is just the opening salvo in what the iPad--or any tablet computer--can do. Maybe this is the future of the daily newspaper. But before that can be decided, the people behind The Daily need to figure out how to deliver it to its audience. Today I attempted over 15 times to download the latest issue to no avail. I don't know if it's there Super Bowl commercial that has caused a log-jam on the Internet in trying to get it, or if there's a different problem. Earlier today I loaded the update to their app, hoping this would solve yesterday's similar problem. Today it's even worse. The thing starts up with it's usual logo screen and then attempts to load the latest issue and fails, dropping out of the app itself and returning to my iPad's home screen. At $39.99 for a year, The Daily seems like something I would invest in, but I'm not paying that much money to look at a screen that grinds away while saying to me "A new issue of The Daily is being loaded." No, it's not. Not right now.

I'm about to try again...wish me luck. I'm hoping this doesn't resort to Rupert Murdoch--unfortunately the man behind The Daily, which makes its intent suspect to a lot of people--hiring a fleet of paperboys to ride their bikes through the streets of America, throwing iPads with a deafening crash onto front porches. But right now the technological crash I keep hearing as I attempt to read the latest issue is just as loud.

ADDED: Deleting the app and downloading it again helped with the problem mentioned above.

What I'm Reading: Iron River by T. Jefferson Parker...

T. Jefferson Parker has quickly become one of my favorite mystery writers. I started with his sprawling California Girl, which takes place in Orange County and covers a few decades in the lives of two families, one good, one bad (but both with their strays). It was like Dynasty meets L.A. Confidential, with the accent decidedly--and thankfully--on the latter. (You can read my original review of California Girl here.) From there I moved on to his L.A. Outlaws, the story of Allison Murrieta, aka Suzanne Jones, elementary school teacher by day, fast food joint robbing outlaw by night. Convinced she is a direct descendant of a famous California outlaw, Joaquin Murietta, Allison quickly becomes a media sensation, but her story is a tragic one. However the story also introduces us to Charlie Hood, a young L.A. County sheriff's deputy, who becomes Parker's continuing character in a series of books. (You can read my complete review of L.A. Outlaws here.)

I've just finished Iron River, the third Charlie Hood book. (A fourth Hood novel, The Border Lords, has just come out in hardback. I managed to skip over The Renegades, the second book, mainly because it only existed in mass market paperback; I'm now reading it on my iPad.) I have to admit that I think Parker stumbles a little with Iron River, a book that places Charlie Hood on loan to the ATFE (Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Bureau), and in direct conflict with some of the deadliest  drug trafficers on either side of the U.S./Mexican border. When a fellow ATFE agent is kidnapped in reprisal to his accidental shooting of a drug lord's son, Charlie and company go after him and save him. But the drug lord refuses to give up. And while all of this back and forth, cat-and-mouse pursuit and rescue is going on, Charlie is also busy monitoring a major arms deal involving a shut down gun manufacturer who lost his company due to one of its guns accidentally killing a child. The drug lords' constant need for guns is too tempting to stay shut for Pace Arms. And in the thick of that arms deal? The young son of the dead Allison Murietta, Bradley Jones. Charlie is still haunted by his mother.

But here's where Parker stumbles a little. Iron River is a great read, but it gets entirely bogged down by the presence of Mike Finnegan and his daughter, Owens. Finnegan is a man struck by a car in the beginning of the book, someone who has Charlie Hood's phone number in his wallet. Charlie is called to the hospital and enthralled by the old man in a body cast--a man he's never met before--who knows so much he shouldn't know, and his damaged daughter, who spends part of her time trying to keep away from her father. Is Finnegan the devil, ages-old and unstoppable and can he really read people's minds?

To me, at least, Finnegan is a plot point that is entirely unnecessary, and he's someone who is obviously going to pop up again in Hood's adventures. I'm a little uncomfortable with mystic aspects trailing into a book whose storyline is so incredibly ripped from the headlines of my local newspaper. All of Parker's books that I've read so far take place in my backyard, and while San Diego doesn't seem to see too much drug violence (so far--knock wood), we're only 15 miles from the Mexican border. Finnegan's "is he or isn't he?" act gets tedious after a while and the only thing he adds to the book is doubt.

Still you have to love a book--and it's writer--when it has lines like this, straight from the devil himself, Mike Finnegan, as he tells Charlie, "Making history is like painting the inside of a house—it's mostly prep work." You keep writing like that, Mr. Parker, and I'll keep reading, even if you are quoting Satan in a crime novel.

Bossypants by Tina Fey...

I already love this book and I haven't read a word of it.

I mean, how can you NOT love a book with a cover like this?

It debuts--or as all the hip TV reporter/anchor-types say: "drops"--on April 5. Available for pre-order on Amazon.com (shameless plug).

I don't have a "What I hope to be reading soon" category, so please forgive me for filing this under "What I'm reading." Besides, April 5 is a lot closer than we all think.

Oh, God...APRIL 5 IS A LOT CLOSER THAN WE ALL THINK!

PS--I'm pretty sure she normally shaves her arms. Must have been a busy day.

The Last Run: A Queen and Country Novel by Greg Rucka

Tara Chace, Greg Rucka's British intelligence agent, is back in The Last Run, a novel that ties directly into the author's Oni Press Queen and County comics series. It's probably the best novel of the series (the two previous books are A Gentleman's Game and Private Wars), especially when it comes to fast-moving. This one clips along as Tara is inserted into Iran to bring out a long-hidden informant who is also a member of the Supreme Leader's family. But once she gets there things are not quite what they seem to be. Stranded and wounded, Tara has to take a major leap of faith to get where she wants to go: Home.

The Last Run scared me, to be honest. Rucka stopped doing the Queen and Country comics series a while back. I say stopped as opposed to ended, because there's always a chance it'll come back. So the title alone of the new Chace novel immediately signaled to me the possibility of someone--maybe even Tara herself--either dying or hanging it up. The book begins with Tara indicating it's time for her to stop being "Minder One" and move over to the missions planning desk. Nine years is an eternity as a field agent. The Last Run is definitely just that for someone, though. I'll leave it to you to find out who.

I wish someone would take the whole Queen and Country experience--close to 50 comics (with assorted mini-series and trades) and 3 novels--and turn it into another great AMC or FX series, ala The Walking Dead. A deep, fascinating, character-filled treasure trove, Q&C would make a wonderful series. But maybe the time is past for a thoughtful, character-driven counter-terrorism TV show. 24 is dead, and Rubicon died after just one seson. And Rucka himself seems to be moving on, to  a new publisher and what looks to be a new series of books, although in a recent podcast interview, he mentioned The Last Run is the end of what he referred to as Queen and Country Volume 1. I hope he'll return to Tara (the secret agent, not the fictional southern mansion) soon.

The Reversal by Michael Connelly

October is my favorite month for various reasons, and one of them over the past few years has been it's the month when a new novel arrives from my favorite mystery writer, Michael Connelly. And I'm happy to say that this year's offering, The Reversal, is the best Connelly book in years. Not that the other ones have been bad; this one is just incredibly good.

It teams two of the author's stars from his own little L.A.-centric universe, attorney Mickey Haller and his half-brother LAPD detective Harry Bosch. Bosch is the hero of 16 other Connelly books, including The Brass Verdict which also teamed him with Haller (and revealed their familial tie). This time out, Haller is asked by the Los Angeles district attorney to switch sides and prosecute the case of a child killer released from his prison term when DNA on the dress of the girl he killed turns out to be someone else's. He becomes a prosecutor for one case only, and asks Bosch to be his investigator.

The story is a twisty, turny kind of thing that is utterly engrossing. While you never doubt the guilt of the killer, Jason Jessup, the media coverage and the fact that the prosecution can't mention his previous trial (he was convicted of murder after the girl's death in 1986), makes for a difficult case for Haller and Bosch, and Haller's comely ex-wife Maggie McPherson (also known as Maggie "McFierce," and for good reason), who serves as Haller's second.

The good news here is how well Connelly has embraced the legal thriller. Just as he did with the police procedural and all those Bosch novels (not to mention the one-offs such as The Poet, Blood Work, Chasing the Dime, and my own personal favorite, Void Moon), Connelly knows how to write a compelling, fast-moving thriller, no matter who the protagonist. While I personally prefer a Bosch story to one with Haller (I don't like lawyers much...and I hate Matthew McConaughey who has been cast as Haller in the movie adaptation of The Lincoln Lawyer, the first Haller book...on the other hand Marisa Tomei is Maggie McFierce, so that's a win in my book), this book is the best of two possible worlds.

Now please, Mr. Connelly...bring back Cassie Black, okay? We know she's still out there...

What I'm Reading: Penguin 75...

I love books about books. A number of years back I bought a book (Penguin By Design: A Cover Story 1935-2005) about the history of British (and American) publisher Penguin Books, told through its covers. A hallmark of the publisher from the very beginning has been design, and a new book, Penguin 75, celebrates that in a brilliant way: It unites designers, art directors, illustrators, editors, and authors with commentary on the covers of the books they all collaborated on. It's a fascinating--and sometimes bitchy (boy, that Garrison Keillor is a cranky old fart)--look at the process of designing a cover. Along the way, you'll see a number of famous comics artists embraced by Penguin. There's a whole section devoted to their "Graphic Classics" series, which utilized the likes of Chris Ware, Art Spiegelman, Frank Miller, Michael Cho, Seth, Tony Millionaire, and a slew of other alternative artists, with (almost) free reign to interpret classics such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Frankenstein, White Noise, Huckleberry Finn, and many others, in beautiful wraparound covers.

The book itself is edited by Paul Buckley, the creative director for Penguin, who oversees the design department. It's wonderfully designed by Christopher Brand. The book is written in an engaging conversational tone that makes it fun to read, and the examples--which include preliminary and actual designs--are incredible. They also included my favorite series of books from the last 10 years: Rosanne Serra and Richie Fahey's James Bond 007 re-issues, which saw the entire run of Ian Fleming's books re-envisioned as new trade paperbacks, with Fahey's great retro photo-art style. I love these books and how they look, and I even labored through them all, re-reading Fleming's original Bond tales (I say labored because when Fleming is good, he's great, and when he's bad, man...does he suck). The book also includes their recent series of books designed by tattoo artists (Penguin Ink), and let me tell you...I ALMOST bought that Bridget Jones's Diary edition just for that Tara McPherson cover. As the book industry continues to involve and deals with dying stores and the rise of electronic books, I think there will always be room for a publisher like Penguin, which so obviously puts a great deal of thought--and love--into creating books that you not only want to read, but that you also want to look at, and most importantly, OWN.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I TOTALLY judge a book by its cover. I'm glad to see I'm not alone. Penguin 75 celebrates that quirk along with me.