BillP's Book\Miniature\Wargame Blog

The last bunch books for the year were a bit of a mixed bag.

The First Activation by Darren and Marcus Wearmouth was pretty dire. The book starts with our heroes, a pair of ex-British Army special ops guys who now run a landscaping business, flying into JFK on holiday. Sometime before they land, the world goes crazy and suddenly everyone on the planet (except apparently those on airplanes) is irresistibly compelled to kill another human being, then commit suicide. Our heroes spend the next 273 pages figuring out what happened and dealing with the situation. I didn’t care. I got this for free from kindleunlimited and it might have been too expensive.

Since my last post I’ve finished five more books. First was Cheap Shot this is the 43rd entry in the Spenser series and the third one written by Ace Atkins, the writer selected by Robert B. Parker’s estate to continue the series after Parke’s death. This one is only OK. It was lacking the intricacies of plot and the characterizations that were Parker’s forte. I don’t see myself reading any more of the post-Parker books.

First up was the latest Harry Bosch book, The Crossing by Michael Connelly. This one deals with our favorite LAPD Homicide detective crossing over to work as an investigator for a defense lawyer to uncover problems with the LAPD’s case against Da’Quan “DQ” Foster. A wrinkle is that the defense lawyer Bosch is working for happens to be his half-brother, Mickey Haller (The Lincoln Lawyer). As usually Harry deals with all sorts of crap, but everything comes right in the end. The is the umpteenth Connelly novel I’ve read and he’s doing an excellent job of maintaining the quality and freshness. His characterization of Bosch is excellent. He writes him very three dimensional and authentic. I enjoyed this one and look forward to the next one. Potential readers should be aware that there is significant back story to this series that builds across the books. To fully enjoy them, they are best read in order.

I also finished an outstanding history book, Our Man in Charleston by Christopher Dickey. This book described the adventures of Robert Bunch, Her Britannic Majesty’s Counsel in Charleston, SC from 1853 until 1864, who did a remarkable job of keeping the British government informed of the machinations of the movers and shakers in the Charleston and Fire-Eater political scene in the run up to the Civil War. It was quite interesting that Bunch was able to effectively dissemble and move in the society and councils of the Southerners, while sending reports excoriating them, and their somewhat clandestine desire to officially re-open the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. The book makes an excellent case that the governments of the deep-South states (and later the CSA) were deeply committed to an expansion of slavery into Cuba and Central and/or South America by annexing territories and maintaining and expanding. And that this commitment was so fundamentally at odds with the anti-Slavery sentiments of the British people and government that recognition and military assistance for the Confederacy was extremely unlikely. Anyone who wishes to accurately evaluate Southern prospects in this area should read this book and Amanda Foreman’s excellent A World on Fire: Britain’s Crucial Role in the American Civil War.

104 for the year.

Lately I’ve been on a bit of a Spenser jag, and just finished three more books describing the adventures of Robert B. Parker’s laconic detective; Cold Service, Bad Business, and School Days and they were all excellent, especially considering that they are the 31st, 32nd, and 33rd entries in the series.