Night Music by John Connolly

Published by Atria/Emily Bestler Books on October 6, 2015

Night Music is the second volume of Nocturnes, collecting John Connolly’s short horror fiction. In fact, it collects every short story Connolly has written since the first volume was published in 2004.

Two of my favorite stories concern a peculiar library. A man who is eased into retirement after the death of his mother sees a woman throw herself in front of a train, but since no body or blood can be found, the police suspect that isolation and loneliness may have had an impact on his mental health. The man is inclined to question his own sanity after he realizes that the woman in the scene was imagined, although she is not the product of his own imagination. “The Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository” taps into the secret fear of all avid readers that the line between reality and fiction might be uncomfortably thin. Fans of fantasy, serious literature, and libraries should all enjoy the story.

The Claxton library is also the setting of “Holmes on the Range”, this time hosting Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, who have made a premature appearance at the library after Holmes’ death (later rescinded) in “The Final Solution.” This is a fun story, maybe my favorite in the volume. Apart from its fun factor, it reminders readers why they read: for the opportunity to become lost in a great story, to occupy -- if only momentarily -- a different, more intriguing world.

Books also play a key role in most of the five tales collected under the title “The Fractured Atlas — Five Fragments.” The first tale takes place in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century and involves a number of people in different locations who experience misfortune when a book comes into their hands. The book contains worlds, but those who dare to touch it wish they had not. The second tale features a disagreeable bookseller in nineteenth century London who seeks the help of an occultist to learn the true nature of a book that attacks other books. The third and fourth installments take place in the World War I era. The relatively brief third tale, concerning the mud in which fallen soldiers dwell, sets up the fourth, which is more of a detective story involving a missing person who had been attempting to track down a rumored book of the occult that was known by many names, including The Fractured Atlas. The fifth is basically an epilog to the fourth. In the end, the five tales can be read as a story about how books change the world, although not always for the better.

“Blood of the Lamb” is a short, surprising, aptly named, and remarkably creepy story about a girl who has a miraculous power that, to her parents’ dismay, is both revered and feared. The need to feed the woods-dwelling Razorshins with bootleg whiskey during prohibition is the subject of “Razorshins.”

With the help of a … something … the rape victim in “The Lamia” gets revenge. Only a page long, “A Dream of Winter” is as chilling as its title implies.

“The Hollow King” goes off to fight an annual battle with the forces of evil, but each time he returns, the single tear shed by his Queen renews him … but how many tears will the Queen shed when she learns the truth about her King? “Lazarus” arises from the dead and is a disappointment to all, including himself.

Two men who rob the houses and bodies of the dead in a time of war realizes they’re looting the wrong house when they meet “The Children of Dr. Lyall.” An old man checks into a hotel room in “A Haunting,” finding it occupied by a younger version of his dead wife.

The story behind a gruesome painting that might not exist is told in “On The Anatomization of an Unknown Man (1637) by Frans Mier.” It is the least successful entry in the collection.

The collection ends with an engaging essay in which Connolly traces his history as a reader, viewer, and writer of horror. I often skim or skip nonfiction essays in a collection of fiction, but this one -- like the collection as a whole -- is both insightful and entertaining.

RECOMMENDED

The Clasp by Sloane Crosley

Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux on October 6, 2015

The Clasp is the kind of novel that reunites a bunch of old friends who show up for a special occasion. In some novels that occasion is a reunion or a funeral. In The Clasp, it is a wedding. That event is the jumping off point for the story, although it takes some time before the plot leaps forward. When it does, it involves jewelry, Guy de Maupassant, and an odd love triangle.

Victor Wexler has been fired (with good reason) from the company that operates the seventh-largest Google competitor (the one nobody uses). His college friend Kezia Morton, who rejected his college advances, now works for a jewelry designer, Rachel, whose jewelry is getting a lot of buzz that might soon turn negative since the latest batch has defective clasps. A third college friend, Nathaniel, writes for television when he is lucky enough to get hired, giving Sloane Crosley a chance to lampoon the plasticity of Hollywood, an admittedly easy target.

Since they are at a wedding, Victor and Kezia follow the tradition of hooking up with random sex partners. After the wedding, Victor’s hookup’s jewelry becomes the focal point of his life. Following comic logic, Victor goes to France on a quest involving Guy du Maupassant and, yes, a necklace. Nathaniel and Kezia also happen to be in Paris, giving Crosley a chance to make sport of the French, another easy target although perhaps a less inviting one in light of recent events.

None of the characters quite know how they feel about each other. Nathaniel, in particular, has ambivalent feelings about Kezia, who (as he sees it) swoops into his life every few months for the purpose of making him feel bad about himself. Nathaniel and Kezia are in each other’s company for most of the novel (as Victor pursues his quest), giving their relationship a chance to come into focus.

The Clasp is an assemblage of amusing moments. They occur at parties, in classrooms (I particularly enjoyed a professor who projected her woeful self into the character of the wife in “The Necklace”), in restaurants, and in the workplace. I kept reading because I enjoyed the amusing moments and the clever phrases, but I also kept wondering what the point was of a plot that seemed forced. It works as a vehicle to give the characters opportunities to make snarky observations about their respective worlds, but it doesn’t work as an actual story. Victor's quest is too silly to be credible, which shouldn't be a problem in a comedy, but Crosley's attempt to play that part of the story straight falls flat.

There are inevitably parallels between this story and “The Necklace,” but they seem thin and stretched. Still, the story’s value lies not in deep meaning but in insightful and funny observations of characters who can’t quite get over their pasts or move on with their futures.

RECOMMENDED

Dark Corners by Ruth Rendell

Published by Scribner on October 27, 2015

Dark Corners, Ruth Rendell's final novel before her death, is intended as a story of psychological suspense, sort of a modern version of Crime and Punishment set in London. The characters are well-developed, if sometimes puzzling in their behavior, and the story is interesting although not particularly suspenseful. The first half creates anticipation that one of the characters will crack up and do something horrid while the second half creates anticipation that the same character will react to the burden of guilt by making a choice between doing the right thing or continuing the path of horrid behavior. Wondering what choice he will make provides a reason to stay engaged with the story, even if it all seems a bit artificial.

Carl Martin inherits a house and a cupboard full of pills from his father. He sells some of the pills to an actress who is becoming chubby in the belief that the pills promote weight loss. Unsurprisingly, the actress dies.

To make ends meet, Carl is renting rooms to a fellow named Dermot McKinnon. It is again unsurprising when Dermot takes an interest in the unfortunate actress’ death. Yet Dermot, who commends himself on his adherence to his religious faith, is more of an opportunist than a conventional blackmailer. His demand for free rent darkens Carl’s mood and threatens his relationship with his girlfriend. Wondering what Carl (or his girlfriend) will do to solve his problem is the question that drives the early stages of the story.

Another plot thread involves the kidnapping of a young woman named Lizzie who (also something of an opportunist) takes advantage of the actress’ death in a surprising way. That leads to a case of mistaken identity, causing her to become the victim of a crime. The plot thread is plausible, I suppose, although Lizzie’s victimization ends in a way that struck me as implausibly convenient. Lizzie is an interesting character until the crime occurs; after that, she’s just dull.

A third plot thread involves Tom, Lizzie’s retired father, who passes his days by riding around on the London buses. He also becomes a crime victim in a couple of different life-changing ways. In many ways, Tom is the most interesting character, but his role in the novel fizzles out.

I was never quite convinced by the actions taken by any of the central characters (other than Tom). Carl is no Raskolnikov.

The ending also fizzles out as it comes to a well-telegraphed conclusion. I was disappointed that the story generated so little suspense, but I liked the richness of the characters and of the fictional world in which they live. Dark Corners is a pleasant departure from thrillers that are heavy on action and light on character development, but the storylines fail to cohere in a satisfying way.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS

Santa 365 by Spencer Quinn

Published by Atria Books on November 24, 2015

Santa 365 is a small Christmas offering from Spencer Quinn, the pseudonymous author of the Chet and Bernie novels. This short story takes place at some point before The Dog Who Knew Too Much but, as Quinn points out, the order in which the Chet and Bernie books are read doesn’t matter much. Bernie’s life changes a bit as the series progresses but Chet is always Chet.

As background to the story, Chet tells us that he once grabbed a fellow named Plumpy Bonaparte by the pants leg, allowing Bernie to send him to jail for running a Ponzi scheme. Now Plumpy is out and claims to have reformed, having started a business called Santa 365.

The story involves Bernie’s interaction with Santa 365. Bernie behaves in a way that is very unlike Bernie, both in his interaction with Plumpy and later by allowing (almost inviting) himself to be victimized by another criminal. Maybe Christmas has made Bernie naively trusting (if not downright foolish), but I thought Bernie’s out-of-character behavior made the story hard to swallow.

Of course, Chet is always fun, but this is a very short story, which limits the amount of amusing commentary that Chet is able to provide. There’s nothing new or fresh from Chet which, combined with a less-than-memorable plot, makes this story a disappointing entry in the Chet and Bernie series.

NOT RECOMMENDED

Happy Thanksgiving!