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!

Pawn Shop by Joey Esposito

Published by Z2 Comics on November 26, 2015

A lot of books have been written about New York City and what it means to the people who reside there. Pawn Shop touches on a handful of lives, isolated people surrounded by other isolated people, who manage in ways that are large and small to make connections with other New Yorkers.

Pawn Shop is a graphic novel told in four chapters that read like linked stories. To a greater or lesser extent, each chapter revolves around a pawn shop. The first is narrated by an elderly man who can’t leave the city behind. He moved to Long Island after his wife died but he keeps coming back, despite his feeling that the city has moved on without him. Moving on is something he can’t do, as evidenced by his daily excursions to the city where his memories linger. One of his memories is symbolized by an object that represents more than the object itself. The story is a touching examination of loss and of moving on.

The second chapter is told from the point of view of a regular visitor at the pawn shop who is comforted by the safety of his daily routine. Part of that routine involves a minor character in the first story. But routines are limiting. The young man wonders whether he will find the courage to put his life on a different path.

Near the end of the second chapter, the young man encounters a young woman on a train who is the focus of the third chapter, which circles back to the old man in the first chapter and to the events that bring him to the pawn shop. A woman who appears tangentially in the first two chapters narrates the last one. Along with the old man in the first chapter, she has the kind of karmic experience that turns a big city into a small place.

Each of the four central characters is undergoing (or deciding whether to undergo) a life-changing transition. Each closes a door, but that creates the possibility of another door opening, a door to a less suffocating life. Each character benefits from connections to the other characters, often in ways that they will never understand. New Yorkers might feel isolated, but Pawn Shop tells us that they are never alone. Maybe the novel’s two karmic moments are hokey, maybe the message is a little obvious, but in the end, I didn’t care. This short graphic novel is emotionally honest and more moving than most of the 400 page novels I’ve read.

RECOMMENDED

Fate of the Union by Max Allan Collins and Matthew V. Clemens

Published by Thomas & Mercer on November 10, 2015

Max Allen Collins is a prolific, dependable writer. Prolific writers often depend on a formula and Collins (with the help of hsi co-author) used a reliable formula to construct Fate of the Union. The novel follows Supreme Justice as the second to costar security specialist Joe Reeder and FBI Agent Patti Rogers.

Fate of the Union takes place about a decade or two from now, perhaps for the sake of inventing fictional past and current presidents. An old colleague of Joe Reeder on the Secret Service who, like Reeder, retired and began working privately, apparently commits suicide. Reeder doesn’t believe it, in part because he doesn’t believe a guy who carried a gun all his life would hang himself. Reeder’s investigation takes him into an investigation that his friend was conducting, which apparently has something to do with a series of murders, or executions, of apparently unrelated people of different genders, races, ages, incomes, neighborhoods, and sexual identities who were all killed with two bullets in the back of the head. Were they victims of a serial killer? A contract killer? What ties them together and what did Reeder’s friend learn about the killings?

A related story line has Reeder befriending a billionaire who is planning to run for president as a centrist outsider, promising to free the country from the grip of special interest groups. There’s also a rather mild romantic subplot, not that Reeder has much time for that sort of thing.

Reeder is a body language expert, not exactly a profiler but close enough, which is the sort of silly gimmick that usually turns me off. Fortunately, Reeder’s ability to read “micro-expressions” (a phrase that pops up too often) doesn’t overshadow the story.

The plot -- which involves a conspiracy that is standard fare in the world of thrillers -- moves swiftly, but it suffers from a lack of originality. The climactic moment seems too easy for Reeder. It made me wonder “Why did the bad guy do that?” The answer, I think, is that if the bad guy had behaved sensibly, the novel’s ending would not have pleased readers.

The last chapter resolves the conspiracy in a way that is enjoyable but unsurprising. On the whole, Fate of the Union feels like a novel I’ve read many times before. That doesn’t make it a bad novel -- it is well-executed -- but it isn’t special.

RECOMMENDED