Verses for the Dead

by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
337 pgs  (Pendergast series #18)

Verses for the Dead is the 18th book in the Pendergast series, and while it's not a bad book, it, along with some of the more recent books in the series, makes me question how well the series is aging. It seems to have lost a step or two along the way, and I'm starting to wonder whether Preston and Child are struggling to come up with unique and seemingly bizarre cases for Pendergast to investigate. The fact that their next collaboration, Old Bones, which will be published in August, is a departure from the series and begins a new one featuring Nora Kelly, makes me that much more certain that they have.

The story begins with the discovery of a human heart left on a gravestone in a Miami Beach cemetery. The heart is accompanied by a literary note signed by "Mister Brokenhearts" and is left on the grave of a woman who committed suicide a decade ago by hanging herself. The case is assigned to Pendergast and his new partner, who has been assigned to him as a result of the Bureaus' efforts to keep Pendergast, and his unorthodox methods, in check. It's soon discovered that Mister Brokenhearts killed the heart's owner by slitting her throat and splitting her breastbone, and his work is only beginning. Soon other women are killed in similar fashion, their hearts also being left on the grave markers of other cases of women who committed suicide by hanging.

As Pendergast and his partner Coldmoon race to discover the true identity of Mister Brokenhearts and stop him, they realize the clue to discovering who he is and why he's doing what he's doing, lies in the suicides that took place so many years ago.

Verses for the Dead is an interesting enough story. But ultimately it didn't live up to my expectations. Like the last few books in the series have been, it was good enough to keep me reading, and I'm sure I'll pick up the next book in the series as soon as it comes out. But it's a disappointment when compared to the great books from earlier in the series.

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Inspection

by Josh Malerman
387 pgs

Deep in the northern woods of Michigan, there's a tower, which serves as the home for 26 gifted 12-year-old boys, all of whom have been raised there since they were babies by a man they know only as D.A.D. The boys, whose names are simply the letters of the alphabet, have been raised their entire lives with no knowledge of the world outside their tower and beyond the grounds immediately surrounding it. Unbeknownst to them, they are the subjects of a bizarre and unsettling experiment. D.A.D. believes that "genius is distracted by the opposite sex," and so is raising these boys without any knowledge that females exist, believing that by doing so, he will help them to unlock their full potential.

While these boys have been growing up in their tower, being taught by special teachers, and reading books and watching movies made specifically for them to reinforce the idea of a one-gender world, a similar experiment has been going on in a separate tower a few miles away. Only in this tower, there are 26 girls, being raised by M.O.M. with no knowledge of the male gender.

But these children are all extremely gifted, and for M.O.M. and D.A.D. to assume they will never figure out something is wrong with the world they've been raised in is naive. In fact, a boy named J has recently begun to suspect that D.A.D. has been hiding something from them, and a girl named K has been bothered by something she thinks she's seen off in the distance, something that doesn't seem right.

Inspection is the second book by Josh Malerman that I've read, and they've both made me excited about him as an author. I've yet to read his breakout book Bird Box. But with its sequel scheduled to be coming out in October, I plan to read it soon. I'm looking forward to both books and I'm pretty confident I'm going to enjoy them even more than I have these first two.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Someone Like Me

by M. R. Carey
500 pgs

In the opening scene of Someone Like Me, Liz Kendall and her ex-husband Marc, an ex-marine with a propensity for violence, get into an argument about his returning their two children, 16-year-old Zac and 6-year-old Molly, to her late again. As the argument progresses, unsurprisingly to Liz, it becomes physical and Marc knocks her to the floor and begins to choke her. But what is surprising to Liz (and to Marc) is the fact that she fights back this time. She gets ahold of a bottle, breaks it, and shoves it into Marc's face. The wound is significant, but not deadly, and the evening ends with the police taking Marc away and Liz comforting Zac and Molly.

But the events of the evening to continue to haunt Liz for the rest of the night, and not simply because of what Marc tried to do to her, but because of what she tried to do to him, and because of the way she felt when she did. When Marc had her on the floor, with his hands around her neck, Liz felt like she became a spectator in her own body, no longer in control of her body as she ground the broken bottle into his face.

Fran Watts is a 16-year-old girl who was kidnapped when she was a toddler by a deranged man named Bruno Picota. Although she was quickly rescued and returned to her family, she has suffered from PTSD ever since. The trauma also left her with an an imaginary companion named Jinx and a unique perception of the world around her. Sometimes, when she looks at things, what she sees "shift," almost as if she can see both it and a shadow version of it at the same time. Fran and Zac are classmates, and when Fran meets Liz, it happens again. She sees two separate and distinct versions of Liz.

Someone Like Me is a ghost story, but not your typical ghost story. It's smart and eerie, and Carey keeps the pace moving along throughout the story. It's the third book I've read by him, and while I'm still waiting for him to right a book as good as The Girl With All the Gifts, this one was still really enjoyable.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Skyward

by Brandon Sanderson
510 pgs  (Skyward series #1)

Skyward begins a new series by Brandon Sanderson (which brings the running total to four active series he's writing). The series is targeted to young adult readers and falls into the science fiction genre. The book reminded me of both The Last Starfighter and Ender's Game, two of my favorites in the genre.

Spensa is a young girl who has dreamt her entire life of following in her father's footsteps and becoming a fighter pilot, protecting what remains of the human race from the Krell, the alien race that has continually been attacking them, ever since they landed on the world of Detritus. But the likelihood of that dream coming true, and Spensa ever being given the chance to attend flight school, are remote at best. Because Spensa and her widowed mother have been living with the shame of what her father did on his final battle against the Krell. In one of the largest battles in history, Spensa's father, one of the greatest fighter pilots ever, inexplicably deserted his squadron and was killed, leaving Spensa to spend the rest of her life branded as the daughter of a coward.

Skyward is a promising start to a series Sanderson has said will likely be four books long, and it has everything you would expect from one of his books. It has fast-paced action scenes, characters that are relatable and endearing, and just the right amount of Sanderson's subtle sense of humor.

Starsight, the second, is due out in November, giving me another Sanderson book to look forward to while I wait for the fourth book in The Stormlight Archive series.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Last Argument of Kings

by Joe Abercrombie
670 pgs  (First Law series #3)

Last Argument of Kings concludes Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy. And although he has, and still is writing books that take place in the world of the First Law, the story arc he began with The Blade Itself has ended.

The Union is in a precarious position. The King is dead, along with both of his male heirs, and with no clear succession plan in place, and with an approaching war with the Empire of Gurkhul looming, the ultimate fate of the Union is unsure.

For years, Bayaz, the ancient First of the Magi, has been preparing for this exact moment, and has been laying the groundwork for a plan that will put a man on the throne whom he will have full control over. For years he's been grooming Jezal, the arrogant young swordsman, who turns out to be the bastard son of the old King, and as such, is the closest thing to a rightful heir alive.

Meanwhile, Logen Ninefingers, the barbarian warrior, has returned to the North to settle a score with King Bethod, and Glokta, the torturer, finds himself in Agriont in the middle of the Gurkish invasion.

Last Argument of Kings is a rewarding conclusion to Abercrombie's series. It's full of bloody battles and ruthless scenes of torture at Glokta's hands. But even better than those aspects of the story, is the extent of the political machinations rewardingly revealed by Abercrombie by the end.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The Malta Exchange

by Steve Berry
401 pgs  (Cotton Malone series #14)

The Malta Exchange begins with Cotton Malone arriving in Italy, on a special assignment from MI6 to track down letters between Winston Churchill and Mussolini, rumored to have been exchanged during the early stages of World War II. These letters are believed to reveal embarrassing information outlining a deal Churchill tried to make with the Italian dictator, which would have kept Italy from entering the war. But this is a Steve Berry book, so things are never as easy for Cotton as they could be, and he soon finds himself being shot at and attacked by a bear.

The trail to the letters leads Malone to Cardinal Gallo, who has his sights set on becoming the next Pope. But Gallo, whose ascendancy to power within the Catholic Church has been the result of plots, blackmail, and murder, is a man driven by power and control, instead of faith and devotion to his religion.

Berry's love for history is fully displayed in The Malta Exchange, and it was those elements of the story that kept me interested and turning the pages. There are long passages focused on Constantine and the origins of the Catholic Church that I found to be the most entertaining parts of the story. Unfortunately, the plot itself was a little tiresome and the action wasn't up to what I've come to expect from Berry. Hopefully he returns to form with The Warsaw Protocol next year.

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Crucible

by James Rollins
461 pgs  (Sigma series #14)

In Crucible, James Rollins's latest Sigma Force novel, Gray and Monk return to Monk's house late on Christmas Eve to find the house in disarray, Kat, Monk's wife, comatose from a blow to the head, and Monk's two daughters along with Gray's pregnant companion Seichan missing. With the help of Painter Crowe and their resources at DARPA, they quickly learn that the those responsible are also tied to the deaths of five women in Portugal the same night, women who were the leaders of a network of scientists funding groundbreaking advancements in AI (artificial intelligence) technology.

The Sigma team must simultaneously search for their team's loved ones, make heart-wrenching decisions as the extent of Kat's injury becomes clearer, and stop a group determined to use AI to send the world back to where it was hundreds of years ago.

Crucible is a fun and action-packed read. Rollins delivers what I've come to hope for and expect with his books. I turn off my sense of realism and just go along for the ride. There are definitely a few over-the-top elements to the story, but Rollins has become pretty adept at describing those and incorporating them int his stories in such a way that they almost seem plausible.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆