City of Endless Night by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Published by Grand Central Publishing on January 16, 2018

Two decapitations, although only a day apart, seem unrelated. One victim was a mob lawyer, killed in his home with a bow and arrow. The other, a billionaire’s daughter, was shot through the heart and left in a pile of leaves inside a garage. By the time a third decapitation occurs, it seems a serial killer may be at work.

Pendergast is out of favor with the FBI, and is punished by being assigned to help the NYPD investigate. Normally, Pendergast chooses his own cases, but his breach of protocol in the last novel has not been forgiven. In addition, Pendergast is still suffering the rigors of his last adventure and isn’t his former self. He’s still arrogant and snobbish, but he has little interest in his former passions, including the investigation of murder. He’s also lost a good bit of his bulk and doesn’t seem inclined to regain his strength. But the real problem, the reader presumes, is that Pendergast is feeling the pangs of lost love. Fortunately, it takes only a tea ceremony to restore our intrepid detective.

Are the deaths related? A reporter is certain the victims, all fabulously wealthy and of disreputable character, were killed by a psychopathic vigilante, a theory that has New Yorkers cheering (at least, the ones who aren’t wealthy). But Pendergast is being his usual tight-lipped self. The billionaire whose daughter was killed, however, doesn’t like the way the reporter portrayed his daughter, and intends to do something about it. Something wicked.

The plot touches upon a number of hot-button issues without becoming overtly political, including reporters who may or may not publish fake news, publications that sensationalize news, protests against one-percenters, and the use of social media to manipulate opinion. The story begins as a straightforward serial killer investigation and ends with a prolonged action scene of the “Most Dangerous Game” variety. Some of the plot pushes the boundaries of credibility (particularly a nutcase who wants to build a big bonfire of the vanities in Central Park, a bonfire that the police handle in a strange way), but most of the story is plausible, and that’s more than one can say for a good many modern thrillers.

The plot does include a potentially life-changing event for Pendergast, but it comes in the epilog. City of Endless Night is more an action novel, and less a character-development novel, than some others in the series. Its pace and intrigue, however, are comparable to other Pendergast novels, which makes it a fun read.

RECOMMENDED

Peach by Emma Glass

First published in Great Britain in 2018; published by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC on January 11, 2018

Peach is a surrealistic novel about the aftermath of a sexual assault. The story has elements of a disturbing fantasy. Sexual assault is disturbing but it isn’t a fantasy, and I must admit that I’m not sure I understood Emma Glass’ purpose in telling a story about such a serious event from a perspective that is so obviously removed from reality. The reader is clearly not expected to view most of the novel’s events as plausible, but if that’s so, should we view the sexual assault as real? And if nothing in this story is meant to be accepted as real, what is its purpose? Perhaps the point is that the protagonist has unraveled as a result of the assault, but I can’t quite fit that in with the surrounding environment, including bizarre parenting and cannibalism. I have to confess that Glass’ meaning entirely eluded me. But I enjoyed the story, and perhaps more astute readers will unpack its mysteries.

Peach comes home bleeding but her parents don’t notice. If anything, they are pleased that she is “putting out” before she’s married. Peach wants to tell Green, her boyfriend, what happened to her but she can’t find the words. The details are not explicitly shared with the reader, but it is clear that she was sexually assaulted. She later receives a letter, words cut from newspapers, signed with the name Lincoln, that smells like greasy sausage, as did the man who assaulted her, and so puts the name Lincoln to her assailant.

Later Lincoln (or so she assumes) attacks Green, a vicious beating that is witnessed by Green’s friend Spud. Peach knows when Lincoln has been watching her because he leaves behind a slimy residue that carries an odor of grease and meat. Describing Peach’s ultimate confrontation with Lincoln would spoil the story, so I will say only that it is the stuff of fantasy or horror fiction. Not to put too fine a point on it, but my primary thought as I was reading that scene was WTF?

Mysteries for the reader to ponder include Peach’s sudden weight gain (which may or may not result from the obvious explanation), the meaning of Lincoln’s cryptic notes, the sex-obsessed behavior of Peach’s parents, the symbolic nature of Lincoln’s meat smell, the reason that Peach’s parents are so obsessed with eating meat (Peach is a vegetarian), and the parents’ reaction to the aftermath of Peach’s confrontation with Lincoln. My hat is tipped to readers who can answer those questions.

Peach tells a dark story in an incongruously light style. Some aspects of the story are bizarre, and I am not quite sure what message Emma Glass meant to send. Is the book intended to say something about female empowerment? Is it a meditation on the pain of rape? Is it a fantasy or the product of a disturbed mind? The reader will need to decide; I haven’t been able to settle on an interpretation, or even to begin shaping one that I regard as credible.

Emma Glass uses a number of literary techniques associated with poetry, including alliteration, assonance, repetition, imagery, and even the occasional rhyme, to give her prose a lyrical feel. She also indulges in a bit of wordplay. “Thick slick. Blood bleeds into the water, colour changes copper. … I tread, I tread. I reach between my legs until I find the final thread. I tread. The fine fibre I fumble to find with thick fingers, feel through viscuous liquid leaking out, leaking in. Treading still, I dread, I tug the thread.” A little of that can go a long way, but the novel is short, which makes it read like an epic poem.

And it’s good that the novel is short because the imagery is often quite disturbing, which might explain why Glass lightens the story, albeit with dark humor. Peach is a challenging novel but the prose alone is rewarding, and the story’s strangeness offers ample nourishment for thought. For that reason, and because I enjoyed the prose, I am recommending Peach despite my inability to make much sense of it.

RECOMMENDED

Green by Sam Graham-Felsen

Published by Random House on January 2, 2018

David Greenfeld, blond and blue-eyed, is starting middle school in Boston, one of only two white kids in his class. His teacher wants her advanced class to move on to Boston Latin for seventh grade, but David sucks at standardized testing and isn’t holding out hope of escaping MLK. To their credit, David’s hippy parents believe in public schools and refuse to send him to a private school. As a consequence, David needs to find a way to deal with his lack of acceptance.

David tries to be cool, in the way that white kids emulate black kids because black kids have style and white kids are nerdish. He speaks the vernacular (you feel me?), but he doesn’t have the right gear (his sneakers are old because his parents won’t buy shoes that are made in sweatshops), he isn’t athletic, and he doesn’t rock the kind of attitude that earns the respect of his peers. His white friend Kev is a baller and fits in easily, but Kev isn’t much of a friend. Eventually David is befriended by a nerdish black kid named Mar, nerdish in ways that are similar to David’s, although their different religious backgrounds are another reason for David to feel that he doesn’t fit in.

One of the novel’s themes involves the various aspects of racism. David and Kev and Mar are all studying to take a test that might get them admitted to Latin School, which might get them admitted to Harvard. But a city council member clues them into the reality that most of them won’t get into Harvard, and even if they do, society’s white power structure will impose obstacles to advancement that white students won’t need to overcome. Mar and David are both subjected to neighborhood bullying and both are subjected to racial slurs. This is a fair and nuanced view of society in which racism goes both ways, and race is often secondary to common interests, like a fan’s love of a particular team. And while the themes of race and class are serious, the broader theme is that kids are kids. Their confusion and anxiety as they try to get a handle on life transcends race and lends itself to easy laughter.

Green would be a coming-of-age novel except that David is too young to come of age. Still, he endures the pain of growing up and earns the kind of wisdom and maturity that characterize coming-of-age novels. The plot isn’t particularly eventful but the story has an authentic feel and it’s easy to relate to David’s unrelenting angst.

RECOMMENDED

Operator Down by Brad Taylor

Published by Dutton on January 9, 2018

I think this series took a wrong turn when Brad Taylor introduced Shoshana, the “supernatural predator” who kills by instinct but has a childlike view of the world. She isn’t a credible character but, even worse, she’s become little more than a caricature. She’s supposed to be the female version of Pike Logan (he was Soshana before the love of a good woman civilized him) but even without Jennifer’s civilizing influence, Pike would be capable of subtlety, nuance, and a reasonable degree of self-control, while Soshana is a one-note character who seems desperately in need of anti-psychotic medication to contain her mindless rage. Her self-perception as a “monster that shouldn’t walk the earth” has been overplayed. Unfortunately, the series has continually gravitated toward Aaron (a former Mossad agent) and his partner Shoshana, when it was sailing along just fine with the Taskforce characters at center stage. Alas.

My Shoshana rant notwithstanding, the story delivers the action and tension that is typical of a Brad Taylor novel. Mossad has hired Aaron to track the employee of a diamond broker in Soweto to learn whether he is doing anything that might embarrass Israel. Aaron stumbles onto something bigger (although he has no idea what) and gets captured. The thugs who capture him fear that he has communicated with Shoshana, so they travel to Israel to take her out. By happy coincidence, Pike Logan has been tasked with following a shady arms merchant who also happens to be a diamond merchant. Pike follows the dealer to Israel, accompanied by Jennifer and Blood, encounters Shoshana, then makes his way to South Africa while trying to understand how his mission has intersected with Aaron’s disappearance. Somewhere along the way, Knuckles adds his presence to the team, after being assigned to make goo-goo eyes at the new Secretary of State so that she'll support whatever actions the Taskforce wants to take.

The frequent stare-down confrontations between Pike and the impetuous Shoshana become tedious, but other aspects of the story are worthwhile, nothwithstanding the silliness of Knuckles' seductive glances at a cabinet official. Despite its length, Operator Down isn’t as meaty as some other entries in the series, but I always appreciate Taylor’s efforts to avoid standard terrorist villains in standard terrorist locations. Most of this story takes place in South Africa, and a detour (which soon becomes the main plot) involves a coup in Lesotho and Pike’s decision to take sides. Taylor’s formula has Pike doing things he’s not supposed to do (as opposed to taking illegal actions that the Taskforce sanctions), and the formula works well here. There’s a bit of character development involving Pike and Jennifer (she wants him to commit, he’s a guy) but the story is mostly about action, and the action is solid.

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Happy New Year 2018