Happy Holidays 2014

ATLAS 2 by Isaac Hooke

Published by47North on December 2, 2014

ATLAS 2 is long on action and short on substance. As was true in ATLAS, the novel starts with some excellent scene-setting before devolving into a predictable series of battles. The fighting scenes have a sameness (same weapons, same enemies, same fighting techniques) that eventually makes them wearisome to read. The novel too often has the feel of a point-and-shoot video game.

The aliens who troubled the heroes of ATLAS have found their way to one of the worlds colonized by Earth. They make their presence known by vaporizing humans with raindrops and by turning helpful robot into killer robots. After that promising start, Rade Galaal and his fellow MOTHs are dispatched to fight the aliens. They are tasked with capturing a "high value" target (not easily done since the targeted alien is composed of mist). Some of that was fun but the mission loses its interest as it drags on and on and on.

Galaal spent all of ATLAS trying to prove his manhood. He carries his insecurity into ATLAS 2. He continues to blame himself for everything that goes wrong, an annoying quality that makes him come across as self-pitying. Pages and pages of "I feel so bad about myself" whining could have been edited from the text to make this a tighter, more interesting story. And if I had a nickel for every time Rade refers to his "brothers" in combat, I'd have a whole lot of nickels.

About half the novel -- the better half -- is narrated by Shaw Chopra, the girlfriend Rade left behind in ATLAS. Her narrative voice is identical to Rade's but her story is more interesting. Shaw endures a moderately entertaining survival adventure that gives her some insight into the alien enemy. She is at least capable of insight, as opposed to Rade, who is long on platitudes (particularly "I would die for my brothers" and "I can't let another of my brothers die") but short on insightful thinking. He is apparently incapable of thinking or saying anything that isn't a cliché. Unfortunately, Shaw eventually adopts Rade's annoying tendency to feel guilt whenever the aliens kill someone else.

Well over 300 pages into the novel, the plot finally turns in a new direction. It isn't a particularly credible direction, but at least it is different. Maybe that means book 3 will be better, but I thought book 2 might be better than book 1, only to be disappointed with Rade's inability to grow up.

Isaac Hooke relies too heavily on a writing style that depends on one sentence paragraphs and three-to-five word sentences. That can work well in moderation, but too much of it creates the impression of a book written for a seventh grade reading level. In fact, I would be more inclined to recommend ATLAS 2 as a juvenile novel rather than an adult novel. Its simplistic story and unchallenging style make it a good fit for younger readers. Mature science fiction or action novel fans are likely to want greater depth than they will find here.

NOT RECOMMENDED

The Ploughmen by Kim Zupan

Published by Henry Holt on September 30, 2014

The Ploughmen will never be mistaken for a thriller or a typical crime novel. To a lesser and a greater extent, it is a discerning psychological study of two men. The lesser character is John Gload, a gristly man in his seventh decade of life who finds himself on trial for murder, one of the several he has committed, usually with greater success at concealing the victim's identity. Most law enforcement officers would prefer to keep their distance from Gload -- solving crimes isn't worth the risk of trying to deal with him -- and the animosity is mutual, but Gload seems willing to talk to Deputy Valentine Millimaki, who shares his interest in farming. They chat in the evening, after Gload finishes his days in court. Feeling a kinship with Millimaki, Gload discusses the origins of his antisocial life and confesses his sins (albeit without remorse for the blood he has spilled).

Millimaki is the more complex character and the one whose psychological profile is most finely tuned. When Millimaki isn't listening to Gload's confessions, he is using a dog to track missing persons in the woods. He usually finds them dead, a burden that adds to his mental deterioration during the course of the novel. Whether that deterioration is a cause or a result of his separation from his wife is difficult to say. Millimaki's inability to sleep, his growing depression, and his marital difficulties lead to some erratic behavior. He is nevertheless a likable character. Oddly, he finds Gload to be likable (or at least tolerable) although he would never admit it, even to himself.

In a strange competition with Millimaki are a couple of other deputies while the easy-going sheriff is on Millimaki's side. All of these characters are given believable personalities without wasting words. The novel is written with enormous sensitivity to the pain that people endure, pain that manifests itself in multiple ways -- emotional outbursts, suicide, and serial killing among them. Kim Zupan makes it possible to see beyond stereotypes, to understand that people who do good things and those who do evil all share the most common traits of humanity.

Understanding the affinity between Gload and Millimaki is the challenge that Zupan offers the reader. Do they have a friendship based on the fact that Millimaki is one of the few people Gload doesn't want to kill? "It doesn't get any truer than that," Gload says.

Zupan offers some excellent prose to the reader who follows the two men on their respective journeys. Here's a description of a prison: "He went slowly along a long gray corridor, the redoubtable masonry of clammy stone on either side stacked and mortared against the penetration of hope." Zupan also offers a truly chilling ending to the reader who follows the men to the final chapter.

RECOMMENDED

Chaos Quarter by David Welch

Published by 47North on December 9, 2014

Chaos Quarter is a surprisingly enjoyable space opera. The parts that are meant to be exciting serve their purpose fairly well. The parts that are meant to be funny made me chuckle. Characters have reasonably well developed personalities. As a classic space opera that doesn't require much thought, Chaos Quarter gets high marks for fun despite its adherence to genre conventions.

Rex Vahn is a Terran officer in the Commonwealth fleet who, having been "loaned" to the intelligence division, is sent to nose around the Chaos Quarter. Rex has cheesed off his superiors and their hope is that the mission will end with his death. Taking a souped-up freighter into the Chaos Quarter, Rex hires a Europan mercenary named Lucias to handle the ship's weapons, despite an ongoing war between the Free Terran Commonwealth and the Empire of Europa. Two unintended additions to the crew are a sympathetic hooker named Chakrika (who was still in Rex's bed when he made a sudden departure from a planet) and Lucias' illegitimate baby, whose unfortunate parentage explains the sudden departure. With that spirited start, Rex and his crew begin their trip through the Chaos Quarter.

Rex's adventure brings him into contact with the Perfected Hegemony, the rumored alien civilization he has been sent to spy upon. The aliens don't seem all that alien despite their aversion to technology (an aversion that explains their reliance on organic spaceships). The aliens nevertheless give David Welch an excuse to write some interstellar chase scenes and ship-to-ship battle scenes that are familiar but nevertheless lively and entertaining.

Chaos Quarter takes an occasional stab at deeper thought as characters discuss the Bible and whether Artificial Intelligence has a soul and free will and the nature of evolution, but the discussions are more distracting than enlightening. Depth is not the novel's strength. Themes like "slavery is bad" are not particularly profound but they give Rex an excuse for behaving heroically. The novel's strengths are its energy, the characters' likability, and a fun factor that comes from good storytelling. While Chaos Quarter didn't wow me, those factors might encourage me to read another novel with these characters if one comes along.

RECOMMENDED

Until the Debt is Paid by Alexander Hartung

Published in Germany in 2013; published in translation by Amazon Crossing on November 4, 2014

Until the Debt is Paid opens with the brutal death of a judge in Berlin named George Holoch. We then cut to homicide detective Jan Tommen who wakes up with a hangover to find that he's lost a day and is a suspect in the investigation of Holoch's murder. Of course, Jan's blood is found at the crime scene, the judge's blood is found on his shirt, and Jan's fingerprints are all over the murder weapon. And, of course, his only alibi is a girlfriend who dies of an apparent suicide before she can clear his name. Another death follows and Jan is a suspect in that one, as well.

As is the convention in this well-traveled plot, Jan evades the police while trying to find the killer who framed him. Jan is assisted by capably crafted secondary characters, including a Rwandan bouncer named Chandu, a priest named Father Anberger, a computer hacker named Max, and a forensic scientist named Zoe.

Alexander Hartung moves the novel quickly but much of the ground it covers will be familiar to mystery readers. The framed detective relies on the computer hacker who is a social misfit and the medical examiner who believes in his innocence despite all the evidence to the contrary. Jan indulges in the obligatory prayer despite his questionable faith (although, to his credit, he doesn't pray for himself). Red herring suspects are planted to misdirect the reader. Seasoned readers will recognize them as red herrings because they are too obvious to be shocking.

Despite the novel's formulaic nature, the reveal surprised me. Surprising reveals are often forced but this one follows the logic of the story. That's the key to success in this formula and so, to that extent, the novel works. Characters are reasonably well developed and the Berlin setting, while less than vivid, gives the novel some added appeal. The ending sets up additional novels with some of the same characters. On the strength of this one, I'm willing to give the next one a shot, but I would hope that it is less formulaic and makes greater use of Berlin's noir atmosphere.

RECOMMENDED