Book Review: The Hurt Machine by Reed Farrel Coleman

Genre: Thriller, Mystery

Series: Moe Prager #7

Publisher: Tyrus Books

Pub date: 18 Sep 2011

Source:Publisher via NetGalley

Synopsis (From GoodReads)

At a pre-wedding party for his daughter Sarah, Moe Prager is approached by his ex-wife and former PI partner Carmella Melendez. It seems Carmella’s estranged sister Alta has been murdered, but no one in New York City seems to care. Why? Alta, a FDNY EMT, and her partner had months earlier refused to give assistance to a dying man at a fancy downtown eatery. Moe decides to help Carmella as a means to distract himself from his own life and death struggle. Making headway on the case is no mean feat as no one, including Alta’s partner Maya Watson, wants to cooperate. Moe chips away until he discovers a cancer roiling just below the surface, a cancer whose symptoms include bureaucratic greed, sexual harassment, and blackmail. But is any of it connected to Alta’s brutal murder?

Review

Moe Prager is a brilliant character and a tenacious detective. Hurt Machine is the seventh in this series and I only wish I had met Prager eariler in, what I can only imagine was an explosive career. Not only is Prager long-retired and dealing with issues of aging, his doctor has given him a very unpleasant prognosis.

So when Carmella, his ex-wife asks him to look into this case, just weeks before his daughter’s wedding, he takes it on as a means to distract himself from the scary inevitable. Why did Alta and her partner refuse medical assistance? What were they doing at this fancy expensive restaurant? And was Alta’s murder in any way related to this incident?

The mystery itself is rather complicated and the people that Prager goes to for information are not forthcoming, The Fire Department is livid that Alta and her partner Maya have given the whole department a bad reputation. Maya Watson has broken under all the stress and the hounding by the press and is a reluctant witness. Other people that Prager digs up give him little driblets of information. On the whole, the case doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Nothing that Prager finds out seems to show Alta is a good light, and he worries about how he can tell her sister this.

As the investigation progresses, Prager finds many suspects and deals with the seedy side of life. Through the course of this investigation, Prager also deals with questions of death and hurt – the way we inflict hurt on each other and the inevitable reality of death. He finds himself thinking a lot about life, lies, hurt and death in a way that slips right in with the story.

Verdict

Highly recommended for fans of crime fiction. This story worked rather well as a stand-alone, but I suspect I would have got even more out of it if I had followed the series in order.

Rating: 4*

*See my Rating policy

Did you enjoy this post? You can subscribe to posts from Stargazerpuj’s Book Blog by mail or RSS to get updates.

© Stargazerpuj and Stargazerpuj’s Book Blog, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Book Review: The Legacy by Katherine Webb

Genre: Literary fiction

Publisher: Harper Collins (Harper Paperback)

Pub date: 1 September 2011

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

(This is a short review of a book I read a while ago and made notes on. I don’t have this book with me now, so you’ll notice the review is a little thin on the details.)

Synopsis (From GoodReads)

When they were children, Erica Calcott and her sister, Beth, spent their summer holidays at Storton Manor. Now, following the death of their grandmother, they have returned to the grand, imposing house in Wiltshire, England. Unable to stem the tide of childhood memories that arise as she sorts through her grandmother’s belongings, Erica thinks back to the summer her cousin Henry vanished mysteriously from the estate, an event that tore their family to pieces. It is time, she believes, to lay the past to rest, bring her sister some peace, and finally solve the mystery of her cousin’s disappearance.

But sifting through remnants of a bygone time is bringing a secret family history to light—one that stretches back over a century, to a beautiful society heiress in Oklahoma, a haunting, savage land across the ocean. And as past and present converge, Erica and Beth must come to terms with two shocking acts of betrayal… and the heartbreaking legacy they left behind.

Review

Erica and Beth have come back to their family home after many years. They spent many summers there with their harsh grandmother, difficult cousin Henry and Dinny, a traveler boy. But not all their time at this old house was happy. For both of them it brings back memories of a difficult time there when their cousin Henry disappeared.

This family tragedy has marked Beth, and her recent troubles have made her even more frail. Erica, the younger sister doesn’t quite remember all that happened that year, but she is sure that there is more under the surface. The sisters must make a decision about the house. Do they want to live there or sell it and give the proceeds away? Beth doesn’t want to be there and gets more nervous the longer they stay there. But Erica starts to go through old photographs in an attempt to uncover her family’s secrets.

The other story that we get to hear is about their great-grandmother Caroline. Caroline came over to America in the early 1900s and married Corin. She is very much in love with him, but her life is so different from anything she could ever have foreseen. The two stories stand on their own and I found them both intriguing and completely engrossing. What is great about the story is the way the two of them run in parallel and come together.

I was totally immersed in both stories. I wanted to find out what Caroline had hidden from her family for so long. And I wanted the sisters to uncover more recent secrets and perhaps find some comfort in finding out what happened. The characters in the story are interesting ( and there are many of them) and I loved getting to know them. The underlying mystery was also brilliantly told and expertly revealed. I can’t wait for Webb’s next book.

Verdict

Highly recommended. Fans of literary fiction and readers who enjoy stories about unraveling family secrets will love The Legacy.

Rating: 4*

*See my Rating policy

Did you enjoy this post? You can subscribe to posts from Stargazerpuj’s Book Blog by mail or RSS to get updates.

© Stargazerpuj and Stargazerpuj’s Book Blog, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Mini Book Review: The Good Muslim by Tahmina Amam

Genre: Literary fiction

Series: A Golden Age #2

Publisher: Harper Collins (imprint)

Pub date: 2 Aug 2011

Source: Publisher

(This is a short review of a book I read a while ago and made notes on. I don’t have this book with me now, so you’ll notice the review is a little thin on the details.)

Synopsis (From GoodReads)

In the dying days of a brutal civil war, Sohail Haque stumbles upon an abandoned building. Inside he finds a young woman whose story will haunt him for a lifetime to come. . . . Almost a decade later, Sohail’s sister, Maya, returns home after a long absence to find her beloved brother transformed. While Maya has stuck to her revolutionary ideals, Sohail has shunned his old life to become a charismatic religious leader. And when Sohail decides to send his son to a madrasa, the conflict between brother and sister comes to a devastating climax. Set in Bangladesh at a time when religious fundamentalism is on the rise, The Good Muslim is an epic story about faith, family, and the long shadow of war.

Review

The Good Muslim is the next part of the story that continues from A Golden Age. The Golden Age was the story of a family in the midst of the Bangladesh’s war of independence. The Good Muslim follows this family after Bangladesh has become an independent nation. Rehana’s children Maya and Sohail was very active during the war. They were reactionaries who believed in their cause and fought for it, much to Rehana’s discomfort and in spite of her fear for their safety.

Many years later, Maya and Sohail are rather different people than they used to be in those reactionary days. Once they come back to their home in Dhaka at different times, they are no longer able to get back to their old friends, parties and what they now see as a frivolous way of life. Sohail has become a part of a puritanical religious group. His son Zaid is growing up without any contact with the outside world and “normal” way of life. Maya is fighting the fight by providing medical help to women who have been affected by the brutalities of the war. Rehana is riddled with illness and is no longer the strong mother who supported her children’s reactionary ways. While the story deals with the fundamental conflict between brother and sister, this is really Maya’s story.

The country is also is a state of chaos that no one will admit to. During the war of independence there were rapes, and untold abuses and war crimes have been swept under the carpet to create the image of a shining prosperous new country.

While The Golden Age was Rehana’s story, The Good Muslim is Maya’s story and we see the world through her eyes. She feels rage for the women who were abused and are now forgotten and is perplexed by the person her brother has become.

The story is bleak and shows a realistic side of the problems. It is highly emotional and throughout Maya has to make some difficult and sometimes impossible decisions, with devastating results.

Verdict

Highly recommended. I do suggest that you read the books in order to see how the characters change over the course of the years.

Rating: 4.5*

*See my Rating policy

Did you enjoy this post? You can subscribe to posts from Stargazerpuj’s Book Blog by mail or RSS to get updates.

© Stargazerpuj and Stargazerpuj’s Book Blog, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Book Review: Everything Beautiful Began After by Simon Van Booy

Genre: Literary fiction

Publisher: Harper Collins (Harper Perennial)

Pub date: 7 Jan 2011

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

(This is a short review of a book I read a while ago and made notes on. I don’t have this book with me now, so you’ll notice the review is a little thin on the details.)

Synopsis (From GoodReads)

Rebecca has come to Athens to paint. Born and raised in the south of France, Rebecca’s mother abandoned her and her sister when they were very young, left to be raised by her loving yet distant grandfather. Young and lost, she seeks solace in the heat of Athens. George has come to Athens to translate language. Dropped off at a New England boarding school when he was a child, he has close to no relationships with anyone, except the study of ancient language and alcohol. Henry has come to Athens to dig. An archaeologist, Henry is on-site at Athens during the day, and roams the Agora on the weekend. Three lost and lonely souls whose worlds become inexorable enmeshed with consequences that ripple far among the ruins of ancient Athens

Review

This book was one among the favorites of book bloggers last year. And I when I read the book I completely understood why. Everything Beautiful Began After is a story of despair, loneliness and finding hope in unlikely places. Rebecca, George and Henry are all in Athens searching for something and dealing with their own darkness, despair and regrets. Something in each of their childhoods has affected the way they deal with life.

The story unfolds slowly, going back and forth and we get to know the characters more by the things they do rather than the things they say. The writing gives Athens a magical glow – a place where possibilities are endless if only the people knew how to use them.

A part of the story is told in the form of letters, telegrams and photographs. This not only gives the reader s personal glimpse into the very minds of the characters, but these devices on the page make for interesting design choices.

The story is beautifully written, and is complex and layered. It is a story of coming of age, growing up, seeing  and accepting things as adults. It’s also about falling in love madly and giddily – with a person, a place… And the things that you learn from them.

Verdict

Highly recommended for fans of literary fiction. It’s a touching hopeful story set in magical places.

Rating: 5*

*See my Rating policy

Did you enjoy this post? You can subscribe to posts from Stargazerpuj’s Book Blog by mail or RSS to get updates.

© Stargazerpuj and Stargazerpuj’s Book Blog, 2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.