Double Dexter

Double Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
(Dexter series #6)

Dexter, devoid of human feelings, deliverer of deserving death to the detritus of society, and now disguised as a devoted dad, has apparently been on display. While dispatching a man who moonlights as a clown-for-hire in order to prey on young children, Dexter becomes aware that he's being watched. He tries to catch his unwelcomed spectator, but is only able to catch a glimpse of  an old Honda with a dangling taillight as it tears away from the scene.

That, along with some unwanted notoriety in the press has got Dexter decidedly disturbed. He needs to identify and eliminate this person who is now following him around and sending him threatening emails before his fabricated image as a normal member of society comes crashing down.

Double Dexter is the sixth installment in Jeff Lindsay's fantastic series, and I think it's one of the best. Dexter is one of the best characters around and in this one, he doesn't disappoint. It's good to see that he's still active and kicking, even if those who he decides deserve his personal level of justice aren't.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Reamde

Reamde by Neal Stephenson

Reamde is the first book by Neal Stephenson that I've read. I had considered reading others of his books before but until now, I hadn't. I think it was due to a sense of intimidation. First of all, his books are long, (Reamde is 1,000+ pages) which means they're a commitment. Also, From the little I knew about his books, I was pretty sure most of it would go right over my head. I had heard that Stephenson is a very cerebral author and his books usually involve a lot of mathematics or cryptography, or that they require an MIT graduate's understanding of computers to understand. I thought, if I couldn't follow either of the TRON movies, then there'd be no way to follow one of his books. Finally, I once posted a question on a book blog asking for a recommendation on which Stephenson book was the best and received a response from a fan who's response made me question the mental stability of his readers.

That being said, I kept coming across reviews of Reamde and every one of them said that the book was great, so I decided to take the plunge. The title of the book is derived from the common subject line "Read Me" that usually accompanies an email that's going to infect your computer with a virus. Reamde, as the virus becomes known as in the book, is a computer virus that infects T'Rain, a multiplayer online role-playing game. It has millions of players all over the world and Reamde encrypts its users' computer files and holds them hostage until the user pays a ransom to unencrypt them. With as many players as there are in T'Rain, very quickly after the virus is released it impacts the files of some dangerous people.

The Russian mob, along with the world's most dangerous terrorist become involved in an action-packed chase that jumps from the Pacific Northwest to China, the Philippeans, British Colombia, and other places along the 49th parallel. The characters are well developed (as they should be, given the size of the book) and the plot is captivating. The book moves at a very fast pace which gives it the feel of a book half its size and not once did I feel like any of it was going over my head. Either my preconceived impression I had of Stephenson was incorrect, or I'm brighter than I gave myself credit for being. Either way, I really enjoyed it a lot and am sure it won't be the last book by Stephenson I read.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Machine Man

Machine Man by Max Barry

Back in 2009, Max Barry undertook a literary experiment. He attempted to write a book through email. he would write a single page of a story every day and then send that page to his readers. By doing so, the story his readers received was going to be in a pretty raw state. The pace he set for himself didn't allow for much editing or polishing. It wasn't like he had a story already written and was just going to type up one page of it in an email and send it out every day. Instead, every day he had to come up with that day's portion of the story, write it, and then put it out there for as many people as wanted to to read it, praise it, offer up ideas about characters, plot, etc. That story was the genesis of Machine Man.


Charles Neumann is not a people person. He's a scientific engineer at Better Future, a high-tech research and development company that develops and tests cutting-edge technologies and products, and he's more comfortable interacting with things containing a hard drive and power source than he is with things containing a brain and heart.

One day at work, in a moment of inattention, Charlie loses his leg when he gets too close to a hydraulic clamp moments before it shuts. The prosthetics he has to choose from leave a lot to be desired by his standards of efficiency and functionality, so he sets out to design and build a better leg. The leg he develops is far superior to even the best currently available to amputees, but he soon realizes that he will always be limited, not by his artificial leg anymore, but by his biological one. But that's a problem he can fix.

The book is pretty good. It has elements of my favorite genres: science fiction, horror, and thriller in it and Barry uses dark humor to counterbalance the implausibility of Charlie's gradual transformation. Machine Man isn't as good as the other book of his I read Company, but it's still a worthwhile read.

Book Trailer

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

A Game of Thrones

by George R.R. Martin
(674 pgs  A Song of Ice and Fire series #1)

I hesitated when I went to the label of this post in order to identify this book's genre. Before beginning the book, I thought it would be pretty straight forward. It's the first in Martin's epic fantasy series: A Song of Ice and Fire, and not having watched any of HBO's new series based on the books, I assumed it would be similar to Lord of the Rings or one of the other fantasy series I've read. This one is different. Not to detract from anything else in the genre, but A Game of Thrones possesses a maturity that its counterparts and most books of any genre don't usually have. It's a maturity that I usually only read in classic literature.

While there are still elements of the fantasy genre in it, these elements are not the prevailing characteristics of the book. The book lacks orcs and elves, and while there is a dwarf, he's the type of dwarf you see on TLC these days and not the battle-axe-wielding type in a Tolkien book. (Although Martin does arm Tyrion with an axe during one battle scene, maybe as a tongue-in-cheek nod to Gimli?) 

It takes place in a time when things are out of balance. Summer has persisted over the past ten years, but an equally long winter is anticipated. And just as the warmth of the summer is ending, so too is the precarious peace that has existed under the reign of Robert Barathean, King of the Seven Kingdoms. A game is being played by some - the game of thrones. And as Martin mentions several times in the book, when you play the game of thrones, you either win or you die.

If you enjoy fantasy books, you can't do better than A Game of Thrones and you probably know that already so I'm preaching to the choir. If you don't typically enjoy or read fantasy, I am confident that you will enjoy this one. If you're going to read the series, and I strongly recommend you do, be prepared to make a significant commitment. So far there have been five books published with two more anticipated. Each of them is a doorstop - at least 700 pages long, and there is a phone-book-size list of important characters to keep track of. But it's worth it. Don't believe me? Take some other peoples' word on it. James Rollins, or this Deseret News Review. 

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Shadow Divers

Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson

This book sat on my bookshelf for seven years. When I bought it I intended to read it soon but it never seemed to rise to the top of my to-be-read pile. It was a NY Times bestseller for several weeks and when it was published it was likened to Krakauer's Into Thin Air and Junger's A Perfect Storm which gives you an idea of what type of true adventure story it is and how good the book is.

Shadow Divers is about two American deep-sea wreck divers: John Chatterton and Rich Kohler, who discover a German U-boat sunk about 60 miles off the coast of New Jersey. No records of a U-boat  having been sunk in that area during WWII existed so this was the find of a lifetime for both of them. It also represented the beginning of a quest to identify the submarine and discover what it was doing so close to American soil.

The story of how these divers went about trying to identify this submarine was interesting. They made dozens of dives down to it to try to retrieve something from it that would help them make that determination. They also scoured every available record from World War II, but it took years before they were finally able to solve the mystery behind it.

But that part of the book wasn't what I found the most captivating. Instead it was the information about what men like these are like, and what drives them to engage is such a life-threatening avocation. With every dive they make, they take risks with their lives that most people would never dream of taking. They dive hundreds of feet to depths which cause hallucinations with even the most experience divers. And the decompression required during and after every dive are amazing. For divers who go below 200 feet or so, they  have to plan on a dive of a couple of hours. But only a quarter or so of the total dive time is used up at their targeted dive depth. The other three fourths of the time is spent waiting at various depths on the way back up as their body rids itself of the excess nitrogen that built up in their system.

The risk of the bends if they ascend too quickly or or don't decompress sufficiently is only one of the many risks they take. In addition to that, they also risk being lost at sea each time. I wouldn't have thought that was that big of a risk, but divers have to make sure to stay with the anchor line. A diver who looses contact with the anchor line, is more than likely to be pulled away by currents and come to the surface miles away from the ship.

I thought the book as a whole was fascinating. The men the book is written about are incredible and the mystery behind the submarine's identity is captivating. Robert Kurson did an excellent job of providing an insight into the life and mentality of the men who possess the inexplicable trait that makes them obsessed with the dangers and thrills that come with exploring wrecks on the ocean floor.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Plugged

Plugged by Eoin Colfer

Eoin Colfer is best known for his Artemis Fowl series for younger readers and most recently for reviving Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series with his And Another Thing . . . Now with Plugged he makes his first foray into adult crime fiction and in my opinion, he's done pretty well.

Daniel McEvoy is an Irish bouncer at a disreputable casino in New Jersey called Slotz. Daniel has a thing for one of the hostesses there. (They've been friends with benefits once and he's hoping it won't end up being the only time.) Unfortunately his hopes are dashed when she's discovered dead with a gunshot wound in the forehead out in the parking lot one afternoon. McEvoy believes he knows who the responsible party is and he sets out seeking revenge.

Soon his pursuit of the killer spirals out of control and he finds himself in the crosshairs of the New Jersey mob as well as the police. It also leads to the disappearance of the man responsible for McEvoy's newly transplanted head of hair. The title of the book acquires a double meaning with this little gem of a side story and McEvoy's manhunt is doubled as well. Now he's not only searching for his would-be-girlfriend's killer, but he now needs to also track down the doctor so that the procedure can eventually be finished.

The story was great. It did get a little slow a couple of times, but only briefly and Colfer's sense of humor more than made up for those rare moments. Some reviewers have described it as a cross between an Elmore Leonard story and one written by Carl Hiaasen. And that's a pretty good description. I enjoyed it a lot and will definitely read the next book he writes for adults. I might even try some of his books written for younger readers.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The Cut

The Cut by George Pelecanos
(Spero Lucas series #1)

With The Cut Pelecanos begins a new series with a whole new protagonist, Spero Lucas. Lucas is a recently returned veteran of the war in Iraq who freelances as an investigator for a defense attorney in D.C. The skills he learned in the Marines are now serving him well as he specializes in recovering lost or stolen property for owners willing to pay considerably for his services.

But it's not just little old ladies who have lost their jewelry that Lucas is willing to work for. His abilities have also gained him the attention of one of the largest drug dealers in the District. Someone has been disrupting his network by stealing shipments of marijuana and he wants Lucas to find out who is doing it and recover either the drugs or the money they were worth.

Tempted by the opportunity for a huge payday, Lucas takes the job and in a very short time becomes involved in something much bigger than he anticipated.

Once again, Pelecanos shows why many of his contemporaries consider him the best writer in this genre. With Lucas, he's created another protagonist who lives in the real world, where right and wrong are shades of grey rather than the black or white we'd hope them to be.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆