The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin by Masha Gessen

My reading about Russia continues, from ancient history to current day stuff, so that’s what led me to this book about Putin. This is one eye-opening nonfiction book. I read two newspapers almost every day, and I’ve done that for many years. However, I was only vaguely aware that Putin was a despot, a tsar-like figure, and a man who fraudulently held onto power in Russia. But I really had no idea of the extent of his being a Stalin-like figure. As the title of the book suggests, his rise to power came from nowhere. When he took Boris Yeltsin’s place at the head of government, Russians had as little knowledge about Putin as we Americans had of Sarah Palin. His vicious disregard for the rights of others and his willingness to steal whatever he wanted became apparent within days of his ascent, and it has only gotten worse. The western press was distracted by 9/11 while Putin solidified his power based and completely destroyed the budding democracy movement in the country. Gessen skillfully writes about the details of how Putin did it and the people that he damaged, drove into exile, and killed along the way. Gessen estimates that in his power and money grab, Putin has amassed a person fortune of more than $40 billion. If you have an interest in current day Russia, then this book is a must read for you.

The Intercept by Dick Wolf

If anyone can tell a tale, it should be the creative force behind the Law & Order franchise. Especially with NYC as the backdrop.

Jeremy Fisk works the Joint Terrorism Task Force in NY – intel. He’s part of a team sent to Ramstein AFB in Germany to be the first to pick through the souvenirs of the Bin Laden take down. Nothing of note until one of the NSA geeks finds a coded message hidden in a touristy image of sunflowers.  OBL has grown weary of blowing up planes, buildings, and killing people. His caliphate is best served by destroying symbols.

Back in NYC, Fisk is trying to reason out what symbols would be targets for al Qaeda. He and his detective girlfriend are trying to assemble a puzzle for which they have no picture, getting nowhere fast.

An SAS flight from Stockholm is on descent into Kennedy airport. A Muslim man rises and rushes the cockpit door, screaming Islamic chants and holding a bomb detonator. When he can’t get through the door, he grabs a flight attendant and holds a knife to her throat. Suddenly, 5 passengers pounce of the would-be bomber and subdue him.

The plane lands safely and the 5 passengers and the flight attendant are instant heroes. For the next few days leading up to the July 4^th celebration and the opening of the new World Trade Center, ‘The Six” are headline news making all the right stops on TV and live events, all courtesy of the Mayor’s PR machine.

The captured Muslim sings like The Four Tenors, but he really doesn’t know much. And his detonator went to nothing - not even a dud. Fisk is sure this idiot was a throw down – a plant to distract authorities from the real villains and convinces his bosses at the JTTF to start perhaps the most comprehensive, yet quiet, manhunt in NYC’s history.  There is too much going on that weekend, too many high profile events and targets (including Obama and Bush) to not use every resource at hand.

Like I said, Wolf should be able to bring it when it comes to a police procedural/political thriller and he does. Some reviewers I read said it reads like a novelization of a script, including Wolf’s own son. Wolf sends the reader down multiple blind alleys, each with their own sleeper cell, none of whom have clue what awaits other than paradise. But I have to agree with some reviewers who say that the Fisk character needs to be developed more. Great plot, highly plausible and believable.

This book was way too easy to get caught up in and kept me awake far later than I should’ve been on multiple nights. OK, the ending was a bit less than triumphant, given the massive, breakneck buildup, but I’m not going to complain. Wolf’s TV producing career may have begun with Miami Vice, but this is his first novel making him a rookie, so I’ll cut him a break and wait to see how Fisk fares in the next installment.

East Coast Don

The Third Bullet by Stephen Hunter

Things aren’t always what they seem . . . even 50 years later.

Our boy Bob Lee Swagger is living the ‘retired’ life in the backwoods of Idaho. Occasionally he ventures to the local greasy spoon for a hot breakfast. For nigh on a month, this woman has been coming to the diner in the hopes of meeting up with the reclusive and infamous sniper. After some initial jousting, he agrees to hear her tale.

Her husband, a Baltimore reporter and occasional author, was run down while walking on a city street. No question he was targeted, but the local cops are stumped. She heard about Swagger from the friend of a friend of a friend and decided to go to Idaho and wait him out.

Her husband was working on a new angle to the Kennedy assassination and was close to having enough information to take a proposal to a publisher. The key piece of evidence was the uncovering of an overcoat stuffed amongst some ratty old carpeting on some makeshift shelves all behind the non-functioning HVAC machinery on the roof of the Dal-Tex bldg, which stands smack dab next to the Texas School Book Depository.

That in and of itself wasn’t enough to wet Swagger’s whistle. It was a stain across the back of the coat – what resembled a bicycle tire – that’s what raised Bob Lee’s eyebrows. So much so that he sets off for Dallas.

While in Dallas, he meets up with this Kennedy nerd who runs the Assassination Museum, a guy with an encyclopedic memory about Nov 22, 1963 and anything connected. Together they work out a theory of the shooter. Make that ‘shooters’.

From what Bob Lee had read about Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO for the true conspiracy nuts), young LHO had neither the smarts, the guile, nor the necessary skill to be successful. There had to be another shooter who was far more reliable and he had to be positioned in roughly a parallel angle to what LHO had in the Depository. LHO was a patsy from the get-go, nothing more. Anybody he hit would be icing on the cake. Enter the Dal-Tex bldg. next door.

So now Bob Lee is peeling back the onion in Dallas, Baltimore, rural Virginia, North Carolina, Connecticut and elsewhere as he puts his theory together, but not before fending off the murder-by-car driver with extreme prejudice. Timing has always been an issue. LHO didn't get the book job until sometime in Sept-Oct and the motorcade route wasn't announced until about Nov 20. How could someone have convinced LHO to take the shots, get the rifle into the bldg, arrange for a 2nd (and far better) shooter in the bldg next door and actually get away with it all in that time frame? Being so unbelievable, most assumed (TWC included - The Warren Commission) that LHO had to have acted alone.

Apparently Hunter had started this story quite some time ago, even before his Bob Lee character had come to life. The skeptic in me thinks that the timing of this book and the upcoming 50^th anniversary of 11/22/63 is more than a coincidence. While I love the Bob Lee character and will find it hard to not enjoy any book with him in the lead, this one started to wear on me from two fronts. First, about 2/3 of the way through, Hunter brings Swagger’s opponent’s backstory in as a mea culpa manuscript in preparation. This book-within-a-book presentation wore me down to the point where I was skipping large segments. Second, also in that last third of the book, Hunter reveals characters brought back from the dead (figuratively speaking) previously encountered in Point of Impact (the source material for the movie ‘Shooter’ – guess Hollywood took some creative license with these two characters in the movie). I kind of got lost in this ‘closing the circle’ gimmick. But the righteous ending for the Swagger’s nemesis and his hired thugs was a worthy finale, something only Bob Lee, even at 66yo, could muster.

East Coast Don

The Thieves of Legend by Richard Doetsch

Another from the good folks as Simon/Schuster.

Michael and KC live the idyllic life outside to NYC. Of course, their former lives as high end thieves helps. With friends Father Simon and Jon Busch (retired cop/now bartender), Michael and KC try to keep on the right side of law. Michael and KC agree neither will accept a job without discussing it with the other.

Like that’ll last. Michael is sent to Italy to steal a ceremonial box from the safe of an industrialist. When he arrives, he finds the family all beheaded and the patriarch is next in line. He returns home empty handed. And KC is so pissed she walks, headed back to her native UK.

Simon alerts Michael to a potential security contract for their company, but Michael doesn’t get a good feel and backs out. When leaving the Manhattan building, a purse snatcher robs a women right in front of him, so Michael gives chase, cuz that’s who he is. He catches the perp only to see the woman catch up, calmly pull a gun, and kills the guy right there on the street. Obviously, Michael gets hauled in to the local precinct for questioning.

KC packs her bag and heads to JFK. While waiting for her flight, she and this other woman start up a conversation. When offered the chance for a company jet flight to London, KC reluctantly takes it. Problem is, this stranger is the woman who gunned the guy down right in front of Michael.

All this sets in motion a rapid chase for an ancient Chinese map and the aforementioned ceremonial box. One is held in the depths of The Forbidden City in Beijing and the other is in a vault five stories underground in the most hi-tech security set-up ever, which is under a massive casino in Macau, China. And Michael must rob said casino or KC dies. And KC must penetrate The Forbidden City or Michael will die.

Twins separated at about 12 years of age are at each other’s throats. One twin was taken from LA by his Chinese mother and grows up to be the head of one of the Chinese Triads. The other, being raised by his Army father, becomes an obsessed Colonel. Both seek the map to this ancient island where untold riches await, but more importantly they seek the only antidote for a deadly virus.

The gist of the story has some merit, but personally, I’m not drawn to stories where the main characters have matinee idol good looks, speak 5 languages fluently, are experts in a half dozen martial arts, can run like the wind, hold their breath underwater like a pearl diver, can outsmart multiple levels of security at The Forbidden City and an impenetrable casino. Me? I like my characters a bit more flawed; Harry Bosch, Inspector Rebus, Bob Lee Swagger, et al. And there seemed to be far too many fortunate escapes and close calls. For me this was just OK. Too many fortunate conveniences happening to all-too beautiful people.

(while uploading this, I noticed that one of my partners in this venture, West Coast Don, had posted a review of this on Nov 11, 2012 that you may want to read. We arrived at the same 'conclusion.')

East Coast Don

Six Years by Harlan Coben

Six Years is a diversion from Harlan Coben’s usual formula.  In this stand alone thriller we meet Jake Fisher, a successful professor in a small prestigious New England college.  Six years earlier, Jake had a three month fling with Natalie Avery at a small town retreat several miles from the campus.  He thought he had found his soul mate when suddenly she ends their relationship and announces she is marrying her childhood sweetheart, Todd Sanderson.  She makes Jake promise to never contact them again.

Then six years later Jake sees the obituary of Todd Sanderson on the college website.  Still in love with Natalie, he decides to break his promise and attend Sanderson’s funeral in South Carolina.  Jake learns that Sanderson was brutally murdered and is stunned to find the dead man’s grieving wife is not Natalie.

Jake’s desire to find Natalie turns into an obsession.  He soon learns that Natalie has reason to be hidden and protected from a danger that Jake stumbles across.  He is beaten, kidnapped and shot in an effort to make him reveal Natalie’s whereabouts, something he does not know.  The deeper he digs the more he uncovers clues, secrets and betrayals that put him and Natalie deeper in danger.  Yet all the warnings serve to strengthen his perseverance to find the only woman he has ever loved and to try and save her life.

In Six Years, Coben is at his best, writing a suspense thriller with a creative, complex and compelling plotline. Yet the premise is simple, an ordinary man taking extraordinary measures…the classic definition of a hero.  Coben reveals layer after layer of mystery and intrigue, methodically exposing new information and tying it all together into a believable package…well done.

Son of Sedonia by Ben Chaney

As usual, full disclosure up front. The author was a groomsman in my daughter's wedding and is also a friend of my son. When Ben learned of this book review blog, he asked if I might give it a look. This is a first for MRB . . . an entirely self-published book. If you think you'd like to give this a go, your best bet is to go to the book's website (SonOfSedonia.com) for online purchase options.  In addition, this book is also a bit of a departure from the usual MRB fare in that it is more of a Sci-Fi thriller, set some 60 years in Earth's future. The book is entirely written, illustrated, and published by Ben.

Sedonia, the world's major city, is a class-revolution in waiting. The city is home to the privileged, walled off from the outside world, especially from the massive surrounding slums and the people unfortunate enough to have been born into the squalor.

Matteo is a sickly child who is being raised by his older brother Jogun. The slums are ruled by the T99 gang. They tear up wrecked transports by stripping them and selling the parts for something valuable - seeds. The shaky peace of the slums, particularly the most vicious of slums, Rasalla, is maintained by the police - EXOs - part man with sort of an exoskeleton that enhances their physical prowess. On one particular sweep, Jogun is picked up by the EXO and sent to prison.

Prison is a work camp on the moon where the inmates are chemically treated to make them docile enough to bear the cruel work conditions while forgetting their past. They are harvesting energy to be shipped back to Earth and meet Sedonia's increasing demands.

Years pass and Matteo is captured in a government imposed sweep to increase the number of workers in the mines because current production is not meeting Sedonia's needs. In the massive mining operation, Matteo accidentally comes across Jogun. Together they resist the mind numbing drugging and end up starting a revolt on the moon and now the inmates are controlling the asylum, intent on  heading back to Earth to sow what's been reaped upon the city-dwellers, especially on the government whose only existence seems to be to keep the city dwellers and slum dwellers each in their own place.  The mine revolt spreads back to Earth and the walls surrounding the city have been breeched. The fear of the ruling elite is that secrets of the future will be revealed, secrets that will have impact on city and slum-dwellers alike.

As stated above, this is sort of a Sci-Fi thriller. It's a story of upheaval by the most lowly who rise up against a ruling class, many of who barely know of the slum's existence. Of reluctant heros and the difficult efforts of those who struggle to reveal the truth. Ben presents a stark presentation of our future that, hopefully, never will come to fruition. Think of this as being equal parts Blade Runner (for the look at a grim future), City of God (for life in the slums), and Blackhawk Down (for the eventual battle between classes). Pretty good combination if you ask me. Not sure how many Sci-Fi fans read MRB, but if this sounds like it would trip your trigger, this is a very unique offering. This may be Ben's first novel, but that doesn't mean that you will be disappointed. Ben could very well find a solid following with the right audience.

East Coast Don

Standing in Another Man’s Grave by Ian Rankin

Interesting coincidence that Midwest Dave and myself posting Inspector Rebus stories.

In this episode, Rebus is sort of retired, but working as a civilian attached to a cold case unit in his former precinct. In comes Nina Hazlett to register a missing person, her daughter, who has been missing since New Year’s Eve of the new Millennium. Apparently she asked way back when happened and keeps coming back but after 10+ years, she is largely ignored. Rebus takes a bit of pity on the lady and starts checking.

And what he finds is that 4 other girls have gone missing over the subsequent years and during his investigation another goes missing. That makes things an active case pushing the now civilian Rebus to the back burner.

A local mobster is romancing the mother of the latest missing girl. And her 18yo son is a recent MIT grad – mobster in training. And there are mobsters all around, including a quasi-retired heavy who Rebus actually saved by performing CPR while the guy was in the hospital; now he’s Rebus’ new best friend, sort of, and continues to provide, and pump, Rebus for information. Not only does Rebus reluctantly take tips from a mobster, he also has been know to do whatever it takes to solve the case, even if his antics run afoul of their internal affairs, who really can't sink their teeth in Rebus cuz he really isn't on the force. 

The investigation centers on a tiny waterside village on the North Scotland coast with enough possible perps for both the cops and mobsters to stay busy. And it's not just the cops who are wrong when they think they have their man in the crosshairs. 

I’ve read a couple of Rankin’s Rebus books and find them extremely entertaining. His Rebus character’s career has been established over nearly 20 books and reminds me a bit of MRB fav Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch. The main difference between Rebus and Bosch is that Bosch seems far more world-weary while Rebus just can’t seem to keep his mouth shut when he should. If Connelly is high on your list and you are looking for something to tide you over while awaiting the next Bosch entry, head direct to Ian Rankin. You’ll enjoy his Inspector Rebus series. 

East Coast Don