The Vig (Dismas Hardy #2) by John Lescroart

A solid, more upbeat sequel to Dead Irish

Published in 1990.

Although The Vig is intended to be a stand alone, I would strongly recommend reading the previous Dismas Hardy book entitled Dead Irish to understand some of the self-torment on the part of Dismas Hardy that continues into this book.

For those that have read Dead Irish, this book is not nearly so dark and tortured. Not that it's a comedy since there are plenty of people dying, being set up in criminal schemes and hard choices are faced by many of the main characters. However, the overall climate of the book is much less severe.

As to the general plot - an old colleague of Hardy's named Rusty from the DA's office warns him that a murderer who had threatened to kill them both when he was released was being released soon. Rusty's houseboat becomes the scene of an apparent double murder and it turns out that lots of people had a motive to kill Rusty, including an ex-cop, a jealous husband, the mafia, a prosecutor and the ex-con murderer.

Good, solid read. I give this one 4 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on April 6, 2006.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Vig by John Lescroart.

For Gold and Glory: Charlie Wiggins and the African-American Racing Car Circuit by Todd Gould

For racing fans of any stripe and any color

Published in 2007 by Indiana University Press

Todd Gould has written a number of articles and books on Indiana business and history. With For Gold and Glory: Charlie Wiggins and the African-American Racing Car Circuit he has addressed a fascinating time in racing history and Indiana history as well.

The main focus is Charlie Wiggins, an African-American auto mechanic originally from Evansville, Indiana who moved to Indianapolis in 1922 to take advantage of the bustling (yet segregated) cultural and business climate around Indiana Avenue. At the same time, several Indianapolis businessmen (both black and white) are looking into starting up the Colored Speedway Association (CSA), a racing division for Blacks that was to be modeled after Negro League Baseball. The hope was to demonstrate that African-Americans were fully capable of driving high-performance racecars and create a groundswell that would cause the American Automobile Association, the main sanctioning body of most races back then, to de-segregate big-time auto racing. Their main goal would be to race in the hometown Indy 500.

Charlie Wiggins
(1897-1979)

The title, Gold and Glory, comes from the name of an annual race, the Gold and Glory Sweepstakes started by the CSA at the 1 mile dirt track at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. This one mile dirt track hosted 10 'Gold and Glory' 100 mile races. Charlie Wiggins won 4 of them and earned the nickname 'Negro Speed King' in race cars of his own design and manufacture.

Gould tells about the active role the KKK played in Indiana politics in the 1920s and does a nice bit of 'parallel lives' biography with Klan leader D.C. Stephenson and Charlie Wiggins for about 50 pages in the book. He also tells about the mini-Harlem Renaissance that occurred in Indianapolis in the 1920s and the cultural life of Indy's near west-side. He also ties in a lot of basic history of the early days of auto racing - of the dangers and pitfalls of dirt track racing, of mechanics building cars in their garages, of having to tow your race car with a rope and having a young apprentice steer it while it was being towed, of race tracks being built in the middle of a cornfield for a one day event, and so on.

Gould tells the story of the CSA, Charlie Wiggins and the racial politics of the time in a near-seamless fashion. He ties it all together and leaves the reader a bit amazed. Amazed at how far we have come politically, amazed at the changes that have taken place in racing (long gone are the days of a big-time racer building his own car in his spare time) and heartened by the fact that racing really knows no color. While the sport was strictly segregated by rule, every racer and race fan knows that every advantage has to be pursued in order to win - white teams helped black teams and black teams helped white teams. Why? Because regardless of color, racers are a group unto themselves.

This is a must read for all auto racing fans, but especially for fans of the Indy 500.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on March 31, 2006.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: For Gold and Glory: Charlie Wiggins and the African-American Racing Car Circuit.

No Lesser Plea by Robert K. Tanenbaum

A legal thriller that gets lost in its own antics

Originally published in 1987.

Robert K. Tanenbaum has created a well-regarded series of legal thrillers set in New York City and featuring D.A. Roger 'Butch' Karp. I have read others in this series. No Lesser Plea is the first and is set from 1970-1973.

The main legal focus of the book and the source of the title is the case of Mandeville Louis, a user of men and women who masterminds a murderous liquor store heist and causes his getaway driver to die from an overdose. Louis has a plan to avoid punishment by faking to be mentally ill and eventually plea bargain his way to freedom based on time served in a mental institution rather than a harsher penal institution (shades of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest).

Butch Karp sniffs out the true legal motives of Louis and writes in magic marker on the case file 'No Lesser Plea' just in case it comes up for review again and he is not informed.

The legal story is quite good but Tannenbaum's story bogs down in the antics of the District Attorney's office (it reminds me of the movie M*A*S*H but without the excuse of an insane war to push the characters to the edge of sanity). Butch's friend Guma is insufferable (he drags pistols out of the evidence room to play cops and robbers and then promptly loses some of them, he sets of a C-4 charge in a reflection pool during an office garden party, has sex on his office desk and so on) and the whole office politics scene is too hurried. If Tannenbaum had paced himself a bit these antics would have been more tolerable. As they are presented, they distract from the legal thriller at hand.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: No Lesser Plea.

Reviewed on March 27, 2006.

Long Lost (abridged audiobook) by David Morrell

I was very impressed with the audiobook experience.

Published in 2002.

Long Lost is one of the best audiobooks that I have ever heard. Neil Patrick Harris does an absolutely wonderful job of conveying the emotions of Brad Denning, the main character. Harris makes you feel the loss of Denning, the joy of re-discovering his long-lost brother, the horror of having his family kidnapped...Well done!

The plot of the book is compelling. Brad Denning is a successful architect with a happy wife and son. One day, a scruffy stranger approaches him and tells him that he is Petey, Brad's long-lost little brother who was presumed abducted when Brad was 13. Something is not quite right about Petey (who has no real proof as to his identity) and Brad's wife has her doubts. But, Brad's guilt about his part in his brother's disappearance (he told his brother to get lost because he was being a pest and that is when he was disappeared) leads him to let Petey into their lives. 

After several disturbing episodes with Petey, Brad 's entire family is abducted. Brad follows clues across the country

David Morrell

This audiobook was an absolute joy and a thrill to listen to. If you are looking for something to do during a boring commute, this is the book you are looking for. I couldn't wait to hear more.

Note: as I am editing this review for inclusion in this blog I want to remark that the climactic scene of this book was written with such power and read with such force by Neal Patrick Harris that I can still clearly see the scene in my mind, including hearing the flames and imagining the smoke and the heat ripping across the landscape. It is one of the most vivid scenes I have ever had the pleasure of listening to in an audiobook.

I give this one 5 enthusiastic stars out of a possible 5 stars. Kudos all around!

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Long Lost.

Reviewed March 24, 2006.

Riding the Snake by Stephen J. Cannell

A thrill ride - and a joy to read

Published in 1999

After having slogged my way through a couple of books lately Riding the Snake was a real pleasure. Now, don't get me wrong with the 5 star rating here - it's not a life-changing book. It's just a whole lot of fun.

And it should be since it comes from famed television producer and writer Stephen J. Cannell (1941-2010). One can tell that he has plenty of experience (what kind of experience? How about working on Adam-12 and Columbo, creating the Rockford Files, Baretta, 21 Jump Street, The A-Team , The Greatest American Hero and at least a dozen more) with creating likable, interesting characters and putting them over their heads in difficult situations.

In this case, a white ne'er-do-well playboy from Beverly Hills and a black female street-hardened cop from South Central team up (out of desperation) to take on the Chinese Triad criminal syndicate in Los Angeles and Hong Kong while trying to solve two murders.

Sound hoaky? Sure, it does.

But, it works anyway.

Lots of fun and a breeze to read means that this reader gives this one 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found here: Riding the Snake.

Reviewed on March 22, 2006.

Chromosome 6 (audiobook) by Robin Cook

Published in 1997 by Putnam Berkley Audio.

Unabridged.

 I've read 2 or 3 Robin Cook books and Chromosome 6 will most likely be my last. To be completely truthful, I didn't read this one, I heard it as an audiobook.

A bonobo mother and infant

The story idea is quite original - scientists are using bonobos (a chimp-like primate in West Africa) to grow hybrid human/bonobo organs for the ultra-rich. These are specifically matched to each client and held in an animal preserve until needed. Unfortunately, there may be unintended results by mixing animal and human DNA...

Good premise for the story. Poor, poor, poor dialogue and awful follow through. There are stilted, silly sentences that sound unnatural when spoken out loud. Unexplained odd illogical behavior such as the downright stupid employees at the morgue. How stupid are they? The body of a mob boss disappears in the city morgue. The mayor is super angry and making telephone calls. People's jobs are on the line. The media is everywhere and asking questions. Do the morgue employees even bother to open up ALL of the body drawers just to see if the body was just misplaced? NO, because if they did they would have found one of the biggest clues of the mystery at the beginning of the book rather than towards the end.

The premise of the book is a sound one and it would have been a heckuva read if it had been placed in the hands of a different author.

I rate this review 2 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon here: Chromosome 6.

Reviewed on March 17, 2006.

Far Side of the World by Patrick O'Brian

An original - I appreciate the effort but...

Originally published in 1969.

Beware all readers who are looking for the literary counterpart to the Russel Crowe movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. While the books share the same title, the same premise (Napoleonic-era British ship HMS Surprise goes after an enemy that is attacking British whalers in the South Pacific) and many, but not all, of the same characters, they are in no way the same story.

Patrick O'Brian's attention to historical detail is almost unparalleled in historical fiction. He even extends this to his writing style. He writes in a style similar to the style that was used in the 1800s. To me, reading this book was akin to reading a Dickens novel or Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. The words and phrases were often archaic and I found that I had to re-read passages from time to time. While some may appreciate this unique trait of the series, I found it distracting and, at times, discouraging.

So, in summary, great historical detail but the writing style gets in the way.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Far Side of the World by Patrick O'Brian.

Reviewed on March 16, 2006.