Basket Case

Basket Case by Carl Hiaasen

Published by Grand Central Publishing

ISBN  0-446-61193-X

This is my first experience of a Carl Hiaasen book.  My husband read it before I did, and he was rolling about with laughter every time he picked it up.  On his suggestion, I gave Basket Case a try, and was soon caught up in the antics of the lead character.  Jack Tagger is a journalist whose career has seen better days, but due to a faux pas in his past, he is now writing obituaries for a local Florida newspaper.

When a famous rock singer is killed in a scuba diving accident, he begins to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death, which does not please his bosses.  He uncovers a complicated and confusing trail of events, which take him to the Caribbean and California in his quest for a front page story to revive his flagging career.  Finding the truth about the death of the victim tests his journalistic skills to the limit, and he has to overcome many obstacles to reach the truth.

We meet the family and friends of Jimmy Stoma, the dead singer in question, and the members of his old band the Slut Puppies.    His widow is a singer, who is planning to revive her career with a new song.  His sister disappears after her house is broken into, and there are other deaths to explain along the way. 

Jack is at loggerheads with his immediate boss, Emma, who wants him to write an obituary on a dead rabbi and leave the pop star story alone, but he continues to delve and he eventually gets to write the front page story that he has been looking for.  He now hopes that his time in the doldrums of newspaper journalism is over, and his career will hit the heights he has been working towards.

Fast paced, funny, and entertaining.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

by Mark Haddon

Published by Vintage Books

ISBN  978-0-099-45025-2

This is an unusual story, told through the eyes of a 15 year old boy, who suffers from Asperger's Syndrome.  Once I had checked out the nature of this illness, I cautiously began reading. 

The action begins with the discovery of the body of a neighbour's dog with a garden fork sticking out of it and Christopher, our protagonist, decides to don his metaphorical deerstalker and unmask the killer.  This is the beginning of a journey that will lead to a surprising revelation and turn his world upside down.

Christopher lives with his father, his mother having died of heart problems some years earlier, and because of his illness, he attends a special school.  His symptoms include dislike of certain colours, being touched, various foods, and mostly strangers and strange places.  His father disapproves of his detective work, and there are arguments between the two on this and other subjects. 

Being a stickler for detail, Christopher interviews the neighbours about the killing, but treads on a few toes and further upsets his father, which leads to the confiscation of his notebook containing all of his clues and notes, which is thrown into the rubbish bin.  Once his father has left the house, he looks in the bin to retrieve his notes, but the notebook is not there.  He searches the house and eventually finds the notebook in a box in his father's room, but there is more than his notebook in the box, and he makes a shocking discovery which forces him to make a long journey on his own.

The many explanatory drawings, tables and diagrams help to explain Christopher's view of life and how he deals with the day to day trials and tribulations he comes across and the processes he has been taught, and which he has taught himself, to deal with his illness.

An excellent book, and a worthy winner of the Whitbread Book of the Year in 2003.

  

Our Promised Land

Our Promised Land by Michael T Darkow

Published by Synergy Books

ISBN  978-0-9840760-1-7

The elusive dove on the cover of this book is symbolic of what most people in the world desire - peace.  This story is based in the Middle East, where Palestinians and Israelis bump heads, and between wars, they try to rub along together.  The prologue tells a tale from biblical times, setting the scene for the later troubles between these very different peoples, who claim the same territory as their 'Promised Land', and have been prepared to fight and die to regain or retain it.

As in the prologue, the story moves from the late 1940s until more modern times, with the theme of battling brothers, be they blood relatives or not.  With the creation of the state of Israel, the Palestinians were displaced from 'their land' and the Jews moved into 'their land'.  This was the spark for the whole ugly business to get even uglier.  The Jews had been through the holocaust and wanted to create a homeland where they could feel safe and rebuild their lives.  The Palestinians could not understand why the Jews should be given their land, and resentment and bitterness grew between the two groups, and many thousands have died in this struggle for the 'Promised Land'.

The lead characters are Ellie, a Jew who has survived the holocaust and Yasif, a young Palestinian who is sent to America to complete his education.  Yasif enjoys the life in America and becomes a professor, and often feels guilty for not being part of the fight for his homeland.  Ellie fights against the enemies of Israel, but he suffers for his conviction.

The story reaches its climax with the possibility of death and destruction on a massive scale - can it be averted?

This is an interesting tale, seen from both sides of the struggle, and a beautifully presented volume.

 

Worth Dying For

Worth Dying For by Lee Child

Published by Bantam Press

ISBN  978-0-593-06566-2

This is the 15th Jack Reacher novel produced by Lee Child and the character is as fresh and readable as he was in his first outing.

The stories revolve around Jack Reacher, an ex-military policeman who travels around America righting wrongs using his accumulated knowledge of fighting bad guys.  This time he is in Nebraska, helping out a small community that is ruled with a rod of iron, by a family who run a trucking business.  Most of the locals are farmers and their lives and livelihoods are controlled by the Duncan family, a truly nasty bunch.  Reacher comes across this difficult situation by chance, or so he believes.  He travels without the encumbrance of luggage, romantic attachments or any real destination, moving from state to state without prior purpose, and takes each day and situation at it presents itself.

As the story unfolds, Reacher uses his many and varied skills, mostly learned during his years in the army, to root out the bad guys and give the people back their lives, with the odd dead body along the way.  There are some Italians, Arabs and Iranians thrown in to the mix, but most of the bad guys are locals.  They have terrorized the population for decades but Reacher decides that it is time for them to stop their evil ways.

I am a great fan of Lee Child's work and this book is no exception.

A Hollow Cup

A Hollow Cup by Alan Thompson

Published by WingSpan Press

ISBN  978-1-59594-440-5

The action takes place in the small southern town of New Hope, in the late 1950s and early 60s, and is a tale of racial tension, politics and murder.  The younger protagonists of the story attend high school or college.   The adult population of New Hope has more than a few rogues and villains among their number.

The town is geographically split into black and white areas, and the council want to demolish the black school, which sits on prime real estate in the centre of town, and plan to replace it with apartments, shops and other businesses.  They think this will revive the town's fortunes, but battle lines are drawn, and animosity is rife.  During this long battle, a local girl is found murdered in the woods.  She had been active in the struggle for equality, and had gained a few detractors.  One of them, Big Mike, had been a target of her campaign, because he banned black people from eating at his diner.  He was arrested for the crime, but eventually released due to lack of evidence, and no-one else was ever charged.

We move the action on twenty-five years, and the case has been reopened, with the defence team being led by two of the victim's peer group from schooldays.  They investigate the case and unearth dark secrets, and after many red herrings, we finally learn the true identity of the killer.

The lives of the people of New Hope are cleverly crafted by the author, and their story is often sad, but you are left with the feeling that hope will return to New Hope.

The stunning artwork on the cover is an original work by B N Bailey.

A well written book and well researched, with a twist in the tail.