Hotel Angeline: A Novel in 36 voices

 I’ve never read a book quite like Hotel Angeline before, and I bet you haven’t either. The subtitle is “A Novel in 36 voices.” Robert Dugoni, one of my favorite authors, lives in Seattle which he described as a particular rich community for both writers and readers. In the foreword by Nancy Pearl, it is asserted, “No two people read the same book, even when it appears to be identical, with the same author, same cover, same publication date, and same pagination." She quoted Paul Auster, “The one thing I try to do in all my books is to leave enough room in the prose for the reader to inhabit it. Because I finally believe it’s the reader who writes the book and not the writer.” Dugoni and Jennie Shortridge were planning to attend a month-long arts festival in Seattle, and they looked for a way to make it more fun for the writers by writing a book together, six authors per day, six days in all. So, 36 authors agreed to participate. There was very limited instruction and structure for the authors, but the intent was for each author to build on what had been written before. Included in the effort was a nonprofit group founded by Dugani called Seattle7Writers.

You might imagine that there were unexpected changes and twists in this story, but the authors had a beginning, a middle and a satisfactory ending. The content was more for young adult reading that being an adult thriller. At any rate, if you’re intrigued by this effort to write a book in such a format, then have at it. It is kind of fun, but if it was not for the structure of the writing, I probably would have panned the content.

Buy this book

Beyond Reasonable Doubt

 Robert Dugani is as good a courtroom drama writer as Grisham, and he demonstrates that talent in Beyond Reasonable Doubt, published in 2024. This story might remind you of the Elizabeth Holmes conviction for fraud which occurred in 2022. She had been found guilty of massively overstating what her new medical technology could do, and she misled her investors to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. However, I found Dugani’s story as being even more compelling than the real life drama of Ms. Holmes. The fictional CEO Jenna Bernstein also claimed that her new medical technology would be a great boon to medical science and to humanity. She claimed “the Link” would allow the development of cures for a wide range of human diseases. The technology might have eventually achieved the status of which Jenna dreamed, but it needed years more testing and research before it could be used safely, and she could not wait for that to happen.

Jenna was the CEO of Link, but her function was to be the primary fund raiser, and she was adept at getting very wealthy people to believe her pitch in the amount of hundreds of millions. Although not in love with Sirus Kohl, but she did love his money. They began a romantic relationship which they tried to keep a secret. Normally, a principal investor and a CEO would refrain from having such a relationship because it would not go well with other investors and the Board of Directors because of the increased chance of fiduciary irregularities.

Five years earlier, Jenna was involved with a similar scheme. When Eric Wei, her chief science officer was about to inform the investors that their technology was not as advanced as Jenna was claiming, he was murdered. Jenna was the number one suspect, but her trial for the murder was handled by the masterful Patsy Dugan, “The Irish Brawler.” He convinced her jury that they could not convict her because there was reasonable doubt. The Prosecutors were flabbergasted that Patsy had been able to get such a verdict, and the prosecutors never believed in her innocence.

Thus, Jenna was never convicted and she went free. In the next five years, Patsy’s alcoholism advanced to the point he could no longer do courtroom work, so when Sirus was found shot in the back of the head as he was about to release the information about her fraudulent sales pitch. Jenna asked for Patsy to defend her again, but given his still active alcoholism, she ended up with Keera Dugan, Patsy’s daughter, a young attorney. Keera had worked with the prosecution previously, but she left that work to cover for her deteriorating father and his criminal defense firm. Jenna and Keera had a long history since they had gone to the same schools while growing up. Keera knew Jenna was a liar, a woman who could not be trusted. She decided to take Keera’s case for a number of reasons as explained by Dugani.

It was the courtroom issues that were the meat of this book about a most complex matter. The arguments between Jenna and Keera were exceptionally well written. Meanwhile, Patsy entered an alcoholic rehabilitation program. The trouble that Patsy’s disease had on his family, on his relationship with his daughter, and the impact of that on his courtroom abilities were beautifully written.

I’ve given you enough information, and I’ll conclude that by writing that the story was excellent, and the book gets my strongest recommendation.

Buy this book

The Patriot’s Daughter by Brittany Butler

 This was unusual for me as you’ll see below.

Ava Anderson is a young and ambitious CIA case officer chasing two threads. First is her specific assignment (which she thinks is a bit beneath her) while also exploring just what happened to her CIA career officer mother who disappeared off the grid when Ava was a teenager. As mom was  a Russia specialist, Ava is convinced that her mom in alive and living the life of a turncoat from the CIA to the GRU. No matter what her bosses assign, Ava always has her senses attuned to clues about her mom.  

The story open with a barrage of of Russian cyberattacks creating widespread confusion and division within the cyber security ranks of the US. Part of Ava’s assignment is to find out who is behind the operation. Ava is sent to infiltrate Russia’s foreign intelligence service, where she focuses on Konstantine, an SVR officer whose past is somehow connected to her own.

The book’s success hinges on believing Ava is the agent she thinks she is. We are supposed to believe that this (for all intents and purposes) rookie case officer has the smarts, skills, and wisdom to sideline her personal family grief to focus on the task at hand. Personally, I thought her actions far exceed her limited intelligence experience. Each scenario seemed more outlandish than the previous. I didn’t buy most of her personal/professional relationships hard to fathom. Some might find this premise a plus, others (Iike me) weren’t all that convinced. The storyline just seemed so ambitious that I abandoned the story. I usually enjoy CIA thrillers, political conspiracies, and family mysteries. This just wasn’t my cup of tea.

ECD

Buy this book

Silent City by Alex Segura

Prepare for a gritty crime thriller in the vein of the mid-20^th century pulp; the first novel in the Pete Fernandez mystery series.

Pete Fernandez is a struggling newspaper drone whose life has fallen apart. His fiancée has bolted, his career is heading south fast, and the recent death of his father has pushed him deep into the bottle of the demon drink. For some reason, a coworker thinks Pete is the perfect person to find his missing daughter. A simple missing person case leads Pete into murder, drugs, a mysterious hitman, and secrets connected to his father’s past.

Pete is no conventional confident detective. He is troubled, usually reckless, and quite unsure of himself. On some levels, his flaws make him believable and adds emotional depth to his investigation. The case becomes an unexpected opportunity for Pete to regain a sense of purpose in his personal and journalistic life.

This Miami is quite different from what greets visiting tourists. Its neighborhoods, bars, crime, drugs, and the darker parts of the city are on full display making the city a critical hot, tense, and unpredictable character. This Miami feels authentic and lived-in. Kind of how George Pelacanos makes Washington, DC central to his street stories.

Segura does manage to keep things a little light with frequent references to songs and musical references that colors Pete’s mood and personality in various shades of noir. Yeah, the various subplots may be a bit derivative, but I didn’t care.  

Looking for something noir-ish, colorful, and entertaining? Give Silent City a go. Pete’s a fun and sympathetic protagonist running around amongst the less than touristy depths of Miami. A good read for lovers of detective stories, journalist/ bumbling investigator turning over an urban underbelly to find that missing young femme fatale.

ECD

Buy this book

Nothing Left To Lose by Danny Singer

 

Remember when Malaysian Air flight 066, on a flight from Kuala Lumpur enroute to China, just up and disappeared from air traffic control? The resulting long, massive, and expensive search found nothing.  Prepare for a retelling of that episode. In this reimagining of that flight’s outcome, the passengers have not vanished. It was all planned. The passengers signed up for the flight as a part of Project Lazarus, a secretive scheme intended to give people desperately in need of a ‘reboot’ the opportunity to leave their old lives behind and start all over again. Think of this as a variation of Fantasy Island. ‘De plane. De plane.’

An unusual premise, right?  Singer takes the true story a vanished aircraft and develops it into a complex story about people desperate enough to want to abandon their identities, fortunes, and previous lives and begin again. James is a former MI6 officer, Truman, a conspiracy theorist who believes the plane didn’t crash. It was intentionally diverted and all the passengers survived. Then there are all the passengers each with own stories and reasons behind wanting to effectively commit suicide only to reborn on their own terms entirely devoid of personal history.

The real question is can one truly escape the past. Project Lazarus offers its recruits just that: escape . . . but the passengers must keep up the charade. Changing your identity doesn’t necessarily mean changing who you are. An interesting take on the thriller genre.

The story seamlessly jumps between locations, characters, and timelines to learn the motivations of everyone from the captain, flight attendants, to some of the passengers (author can’t detail all the passengers; too many). The large cast and frequent flashbacks can be difficult to follow. Just know that going in and you’ll be fine.

I’m betting that most will find Nothing Left to Lose to be a thought-provoking thriller with a uniquely original premise that combines mystery, international intrigue, and emotional character. Deal with the overlapping and intersecting passenger plots and you’ll be rewarded with lots of questions without having political enemies setting the agendas.

ECD 

Buy this book

The Same River Twice by Wiley Cash

Full disclosure: this book is based in the rural surroundings of Wilmington, NC, about a 2-hr drive SE of the Raleigh area where I live. That means I’m partial (biased?) that it’ll be an interesting story. And having reviewed here an earlier Wiley Cash book (A Land More Kind Than Home), I think this’ll be a must-read book.

Same River Twice is a contemporary Southern novel about race, class, family history, and just who should tell stories about the past. Our story begins when human remains are discovered on the grounds of Bennett Place, a former rice plantation built primarily on the backs of enslaved people. The property’s new owner hopes to transform it into a historic landmark celebrating his own family’s heritage.

Aaron is a successful Black writer/university writer in residence who returns to the property because his family history is connected to the land. His grandfather once worked there, and Aaron is also searching for answers about his father’s disappearance.

Three complicated characters become intertwined by the discovery. 1. Jessica is a newly minted PhD in archeology struggling with enormous student-loan debt. She accepts a job managing the historic site and is now somewhat dependent on the wealthy benefactor. The discovery forces her to confront an ethical dilemma: protect her employer’s interests or pursue the truth about the remains? She must balance her historical scholarship vs. powerful people who want to control the plantation’s narrative.

2. The new owner pulls Kevin, the local DA, into the situation. He too is balancing two roles: public official and his own complicated family history. What he learns forces him to confront uncomfortable truths about race, power, and the legacy of the past. The novel also draws Kevin’s family and teenage daughter Amelia whose limited life experiences offer a more contemporary outlook on Southern life and the pressures faced by young people.

3. Aaron is the third character.  

All drawn together because a skeleton dug up by the renovation crew has conspired to  force these southern characters to face universal unresolved relationships in the South.  Cash encourages us to see the remains not as museum trinkets. Rather the remains teach us about how the past can impact modern truths.

‘They’ say history is written by the winners of conflicts. In this case, who owns this narrative? No one really owns history or is allowed to interpret it with all its flaws and imperfections. Don’t expect any real black and white (figuratively speaking) resolution to Wilmington's secrets.

The primary three perspectives allow Cash to show us how race and class shape these three divergent characters. Or maybe not. Regardless of what a reader takes from the book, expect to benefit from this thoughtful Southern novel and whether the past should just stay buried.

ECD

Buy this book

Head Cases by John McMahon

If you love Apple TV’s espionage series Slow Horses (early in it’s 5^th season), this just might be your next read. Slow Horses is about British MI agents who’ve screwed up on the job, but not so grievous to get fired. Mostly considered incompetent. They get kicked downstairs to Slough House, hopefully to get so bored that they’ll quit or get killed on the job. If you have access to Apple TV and haven’t seen it, turn on Season 1 Episode 1 for no other reason than to see how the Slough House supervisor (played by Gary Oldman) is introduced and report back.

Head Cases might be considered the FBI’s version. The main agent is Gardner Camden, an exceptionally intelligent but socially awkward FBI agent who is particularly adept at recognizing patterns, solving puzzles, and connecting pieces of information that other investigators overlook. Gardner in the motor behind the FBI’s Patterns and Recognition (PAR) unit, a small group of unusual and similarly talented agents who are brought in to investigate cases that have resisted conventional police work. They work out of Jacksonville, FL field office because no one quite knows where to put them

Our story begins when the DNA of a murder victim connects the crime to Ross Tignon, a suspected serial killer who was assumed to have died in a deadly fire seven years earlier. Gardner had previously investigated Tignon and suspected him of several murders. To discover that Tignon had survived the fire and was (recently) alive immediately raises troubling questions about the thoroughness of Gardner’s investigation. Then, another suspected serial killer is found dead. The evidence suggests that the two murders are connected. Gardner and the PAR team realize they may be dealing with someone who is deliberately hunting other killers (What? Another book that can trace its basic plot back to Dexter?).

The investigation becomes an increasingly complex personal and dangerous when the murderer begins leaving clues and riddles specifically designed for Gardner to challenge him intellectually. At the same time, the PAR team faces the possibility that someone inside the FBI is providing the murderer with confidential information about unsolved serial-killer cases (shades of Serves Your Right recently reviewed here on MRB). Who can be trusted?  How to protect families and themselves? The FBI is a big organization.

Gardner may be brilliant, but he struggles with ordinary social interactions, making him different from the stereotypical action-oriented FBI hero. His only real human connection is with his young daughter, Camila. The other members of the PAR team are an entertaining ensemble of unique skills.

As police procedurals go, the author combines police investigation, serial-killer suspense, multi-layered puzzles, and some creatively interesting twists to keep the reader guessing. A little more back story might help readers connect with the PAR team.

Head Cases is both entertaining and intelligent that introduces us to an unusual FBI team, puzzling puzzles, unpredictable twists, and memorable protagonist. Give McMahon's Gardner a shot.  

ECD 

Buy this book