Elevation

by Stephen King
146 pgs

Elevation is a short novella by Stephen King that will take less time to read than it would to watch a movie adaptation of it, if one is eventually made. When I learned what it was about, I thought "Hasn't he already written this book before?" In a sentence, it's about a man who begins losing weight every day and can't stop it. But it doesn't take more than a couple of pages to realize that this story bears only a passing resemblance to Thinner.

Scott Carey is a normal guy who lives in Castle Rock, Maine. who inexplicably starts losing weight every day. Regardless of how much he eats, the weight continues to gradually drop off. But what's even more perplexing is the fact that his clothes seem to weigh nothing as soon as he puts them on. In fact, he can stand on his bathroom scale fully dressed and wearing a coat with pockets filled with quarters and the scale reads the same as it does when he takes everything off. But while he's getting lighter every day, his physical appearance doesn't change. His stomach still hangs over his belt just as it has for the last decade or so of his life.

One of the trademarks of a Stephen King story is that he takes ordinary people and places them in extraordinary situations. And from that perspective, Elevation is classic King. But it's also a departure from what I've come to expect form him. It' snot just a great story that incorporates elements of the fantastical. It's also a thinly-veiled allegory and social commentary on the weight our prejudices add to our lives, and the freedom that can come if that weight is dropped.

Elevation is a book I'd recommend to everyone. Even those who don't think they'd like a Stephen King book will like this one. Take an hour of your life and read it.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.

by Neal Stephenson & Nicole Galland
752 pgs

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. is a collaboration between Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland. While I've never read anything by Galland before, I have read one of Stephenson's books: Reamde. And based on it, I was expecting a book full of big ideas that would entertain me while it made me think. Stephenson's books are smart, serious, modern Science Fiction tomes, and Galland has made a name for herself more recently with her historical fiction books. The marriage of the two authors produced a child that is smart, entertaining, and oftentimes light-hearted and fun.

At its core, the book is a time travel story. Tristan Lyons oversees the U.S. Government's "Department of Diachronic Operations," a small, underfunded department that the government hopes will soon play a major role in ensuring the country's future military dominance. Tristan recruits Melisande Stokes, a Harvard linguist, to translate ancient documents having to do with magic. She learns that magic is real and once prevalent. Witches used to perform it by accessing alternate realities and influencing decisions and outcomes from the different realities to reach desirable outcomes. Now, there is only one witch left and she works for D.O.D.O. D.O.D.O. wants to use their witch to send Melisande, and eventually, other agents back in time in order to "nudge" the timeline in a more favorable direction for the country.

The story is a little reminiscent of the movie Groundhog Day, as Mel and others are sent back repeatedly to specific moments in the past to try to convince people to make different decisions or to do things differently. They must learn from their failures in order to increase the likelihood of success on their next trip, sometimes dozens of times until they achieve their goals.

I had a lot of fun reading D.O.D.O. Time travel stories are usually entertaining because of the never-ending possibilities. And this one didn't disappoint. I'm pretty confident I could tell what each author brought to the story-telling process. And based on that, I plan to continue reading Stephenson's books and will start reading Galland's.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Carrion Comfort

by Dan Simmons
636 pgs

Each year, around Halloween, I like to read a good horror story. This year I decided on Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons, which had been sitting on my bookshelf for the past few years waiting to be picked up. It's a sizable book. Which is a good thing. Simmons is a fantastic writer and he gives himself a lot of room to work in with this story.

Carrion Comfort is a vampire story, but his vampires don't have much in common with Bram Stoker's, Stephen King's, Guillermo del Toro's, and thank fully, Stephenie Meyer's versions of the creatures. Dan Simmons creatures are a select group of humans who possess "The Ability," a psychic power which allows them to control people with their minds. Using their powers rejuvenates them and allows them to live indefinitely. They use the Ability to entertain themselves and take pleasure in taking control of people's minds and using their bodies remotely to murder, rape, and anything else they choose.

Melanie Fuller, Nina Drayton, and Willi Borden are three of these creatures. Every year they meet together to boast of the assassinations and murders they've committed. It's become a game between them to see which of them has been responsible for the most notorious and creative deaths over the past year.

Saul Laski is a psychiatrist and concentration camp survivor. He has spent his entire adult life searching for the SS Officer who took control of his mind all those years ago when he was a prisoner, and from whom Saul was barely able to escape. The man's name was Oberst Wilhelm von Borchert, but Saul believes he now goes by the name Willi Borden.

Natalie Preston is a photographer in Philadelphia whose father was killed in a string of inexplicable murders which took place in one night, and she's searching for answers. She meets Saul, who traveled to Philadelphia after hearing about the murders in his search for Willi Borden, and after hearing his story and becoming convinced it's true, joins him in his search.

I mentioned at the start that this is a sizable book. (The version I read is an oversized hardcover edition with relatively small font size, and the paperback version is around 800 pages.) But it didn't seem like a long book. It could have been another 400 pages long and I'd gladly still be reading it. I've said in other reviews of his books that Dan Simmons knows how to write good books in any genre he chooses. Carrion Comfort and Summer of Night are proof that he has the horror genre down pat.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Macbeth

by Jo Nesbø
446 pgs

Hargarth Shakespeare is a project launched a few years ago, which enlisted bestselling novelists to reimagine some of the works of William Shakespeare. Norwegian thriller writer Jo Nesbø is the seventh author to contribute to the project with his take on Macbeth. Gillian Flynn will be next with a book based on Hamlet due out in a few years.

Nesbø's story is set in Scotland, sometime in the early 1970s, during a time of political corruption, rampant drug abuse, and high suicide rates. The city is run by Hecate, an untouchable drug lord who manufactures a drug called "brew," which many of the city's citizens are hooked on.

Inspector Macbeth is a member of the SWAT team, who is promised the position of police chief by three of Hecate's henchwomen as long as he does nothing to interfere with Hecate's operation. After he discusses the message he received with his "Lady," a casino operator, the two of them conspire to murder Duncan, the Chief Police Commissioner and frame his bodyguards. But Duncan's death is only the beginning, and soon Macbeth, egged on by Lady, and fueled by brew-induced hallucinations, finds his life spiraling out of control.

Nesbø does an admirable job balancing the overall framework of Shakespeare's play with the elements of a modern-day crime thriller, and those familiar with the play should enjoy the numerous head nods he gives it. But Shakespeare purists may have some issues with the story. He doesn't shy away from straying far from the source material while infusing it with the high level of grit and darkness he's best at.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆