The River of Souls

by Robert McCammon
257 pgs  (Matthew Corbett series #5)

The River of Souls is book number five in McCammon's ongoing series that he says will ultimately include ten books. The series features Matthew Corbett who is a "problem solver" in colonial America at the turn of the 17th century and it's one of my favorite series currently being written.

This time around Matthew finds himself back in Charles Town on an unusual assignment from the Hudson Agency. The assignment is only a precursor though to a much more dangerous adventure Matthew finds himself involved in, when the young daughter of a wealthy plantation owner is discovered murdered by a slave who then flees up river in an apparent attempt to avoid hanging. After examining the body, Matthew doubts that it was in fact the slave who committed the murder and decides to join the group following the escaped slave into the ominous swampland up river, hoping to convince the group to return with him alive so that Matthew can prove his innocence and discover the identity of the true murderer.

It doesn't take long for Matthew and the entire group to realize that the swampland they're entering is filled with its own perils and that they're own survival is in jeopardy.

Every one of the books in this series has been great. This one is no exception. But it's by far the shortest of any of them and so I feel a lingering resentment towards McCammon because of it. If it was up to me, each of the books would be as long as Speaks the Nightbird, the first in the series was and I'd be able to enjoy them for a couple of weeks instead of just a couple of days. But regardless, I highly recommend the series and look forward to the next one.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Tibetan Peach Pie

by Tom Robbins
362 pgs

When I first heard that a new Tom Robbins book was coming out, I was excited. When I learned that it was a memoir instead of a novel, I'll admit I was a little disappointed. Now that I've read it, I feel a little guilty for having had such doubts. His novels are the types of books that you need to experience in order to understand. It's impossible to have someone describe one of them to you and do it justice. Chances are it will sound more like an LSD-induced hallucination rather than a book. They're uncategorizable and categorically unique. Tibetan Peach Pie, even though it's not one of his novels, is no exception.

Robbins says in chapter one that Tibetan Peach Pie is not a memoir. But you know what they say about something that walks and quacks like a duck.... To his credit though, Robbins doesn't merely waste time describing his childhood and recounting funny stories from his past. Instead, each of the stories that he tells showcases his one-of-a-kind sense of imagination and curiosity that have been with him from a very early age and that have resulted in his truly imaginative life.

His curiosity has taken him all over the world. He visited Timbuktu, where he was cursed by an old crone and spent the better part of the next year suffering. He politely declined dining with the King of the Cannibals (the only time, according to him, that he turned down a culinary challenge). He was introduced to LSD many years ago and his books and his readers have reaped the benefits of its uninhibiting and mind-freeing effects ever since.

The book is worth reading, but probably only for those who've read and enjoyed his novels.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Robogenesis

by Daniel H. Wilson
362 pgs

Robogenesis is the sequel to Wilson's very entertaining book Robopocalypse, which detailed mankind's war against Archos 14, the artificial intelligence that brought about the robot uprising and decimated the human race. Robogenesis picks up immediately where its predecessor leaves off; mankind thinks they've destroyed Archos 14 and won the war (not a spoiler, since you find that out right at the very beginning of Robopocalypse). Unfortunately for the survivors of the war, however, their victory is short-lived, as Archos 14 had left behind many copies of its code.

Now the war moves into a new stage. It's no longer simply a war between robots and humans. Now, it's a war between different generations of robots. Mankind, and thousands of human-robot modified creatures left behind by Archos's experiments are simply trying to stay out of the crossfire and survive.

Robogenesis took me somewhat longer to get into than the first book did, and I think that's because the plot took awhile to surface. But the imagery of the world Wilson has created is fantastic and I was more than happy to wait for the story to unfold. It's clear from the first chapter, which gives an account of a man becoming the host to a robot parasite, which merges itself with the man's nervous system and takes over both his mental and physical functions, that Wilson's storytelling abilities have developed and progressed since the first book.

I'm hoping there's a third book coming.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

A Cold Heart

by Jonathan Kellerman
432 pgs

I stopped buying and reading Kellerman's books several years ago. He was one of those authors that I read pretty regularly when I was younger, but whom I eventually lost interest in following. That being said, I bought A Cold Heart a long time ago and finally decided to get around to reading it.

It's one of his books that feature Alex Delaware, a psychologist who is regularly called upon by the LAPD to assist with murder investigations. This time it's a string of homicides involving various artists: a guitarist, a punk singer, a painter, and a concert pianist, that are all killed seemingly without connection to each other that Delaware's long-time friend in the LAPD asks him to take a look at. Delaware helps in the investigation and is quickly able to identify the common thread they all share. Armed with that information, the search for their killer is on.

If you've read other books by Kellerman, you'll enjoy this one. It's on par with most of his others. It's an interesting story and it's got some pleasant surprises thrown in for good measure. It wasn't however, good enough to convince me that I shouldn't have moved on from reading his books back when I did.

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Mr. Mercedes

by Stephen King
436 pgs  (Bill Hodges trilogy #2)

Bill Hodges is a retired police detective who's having a difficult time adjusting to his retirement. He's overweight, lives alone, and several of the cases that he was unable to solve while on the force haunt his mind--so much so that he regularly takes out his weapon and considers putting an end to his misery. One of those cases involves a man who stole a Mercedes Benz and drove it into a group of people lined up for a job fair less than a year before Hodges retired. Eight people died that morning, and the man behind the random act of violence was never caught.

It's a letter that Hodges receives one morning, claiming to be from the man behind the wheel of the Mercedes, that draws him out of his depression and gives him a reason to live. It's very clear from the letter that it's from the perpetrator of the crime--he knows details of what took place that were never released to the media. But it's also clear that he's been watching Hodges and knows that he's been contemplating suicide. He even ends the letter by goading Hodges into going though with it. This letter reignites Hodges and sets him on a course to find the man responsible.

King quickly gets you to care about Hodges and his supporting cast of characters, and just as quickly creeps you out with the deranged antagonist he creates for Mr. Mercedes. And while I prefer King's horror books or the ones that at least have an element of the supernatural to them, Mr. Mercedes is a enjoyable book and well worth the time to read.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The Son

by Jo Nesbø
402 pgs

Remember the name Jo Nesbø. He's a Norwegian author who's best known internationally, and ever increasingly here in the U.S., for his series featuring Harry Hole, an anti-authoritarian cop. With Martin Scorsese slated to direct The Snowman (Harry Hole # 7), I think Nesbø's time of relative obscurity here in the States will be coming to an end soon. The Son is a stand-alone novel and therefore a great book to serve as an introduction to Nesbø if you've never read anything by him.

Sonny Lofthus is an addict whose life spiraled out of control at the age of 18 following his father's apparent suicide. Sonny has been serving time in prison ever since for crimes he didn't commit. He confessed to committing them on the promise of a constant supply of drugs for as long as he's locked up. He's a self-hating tool being used by a ruthless crime lord in Oslo, but that all changes when he learns from another inmate that many years ago his father was murdered. Sonny's life finally has a purpose again and he sets into motion his plan to escape from prison and exact revenge against those responsible for his father's death and his own imprisonment.

It's a great story and it reminded me throughout of one of my all-time favorite books, The Count of Monte Cristo. The characters are complex, from Sonny to Simon Kefas, the cop trying to stop his killing spree, and you can't help but pull for both of them, even though neither one of them is a knight in shining armor.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Kindness Goes Unpunished

by Craig Johnson
388 pgs  (Longmire series #3)

Sheriff Walt Longmire is far outside of his jurisdiction in this third book in the series. Normally called upon to keep the peace and to deal with those who'd disturb it in some of the remotest parts of Wyoming, this time his deductive skills and no-nonsense approach to law enforcement are called upon in the City of Brotherly Love.

He travels to Philadelphia with his long-time friend Henry Standing Bear, whose photography collection is being put on display by a museum there and since Walt's daughter Cady practices law there, Walt decides to join Henry on the road trip. Shortly after arriving in, and before Walt has any time to spend with his daughter, Cady is assaulted and left in a coma. Things go from bad to worse for Walt a couple of days later when Cady's ex-boyfriend is killed and even those who know Walt can't help but suspect him of being involved.

This wasn't the best Longmire book I've read so far, but it was still enjoyable. Walt's a fantastic character and even during the parts of the book that fell flat for me, he more than made up for.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆