LAST YEAR by Robert Charles Wilson

Review by Cyndi J. (cyndij)

Sometime in the near future, time travel will be discovered. The Mirror, as they call it, has some limitations. It has a range – you can’t go back to the very near or the very far past.  And once you go into the past, you’ve really traveled into an alternate universe. The future of that place is now irretrievably changed from yours. There are no paradoxes – going back to kill the person who was your grandfather has no effect on you, because you’re no longer in the universe you came from. You can, however,  go back to your own future via the Mirror.

And so, to what amazing use has the Mirror been put? Tourism.  August Kemp opened a Mirror in 1870s, built a futuristic City in Ohio, and is selling tour packages to visitors from his time and carefully curated experiences of the City to 19th century customers. Many of the workers in the City are locals, who earn good money but are also not allowed to know everything about future technology.  The City has a limited shelf life though – the more exposure there is to the future, the more diversion there is from recorded history, and it becomes less interesting to the tourists. Five years in operation, and then it closes forever.

Jesse Cullum was once a drifter who got hired by the City. Jesse does low-level security jobs until the day he saves President Ulysses S. Grant from a would-be assassin. A 19th century assassin who is using a Glock-19 pistol, no less. Kemp is impressed by Jesse and teams him up with 21st century employee Elizabeth DePaul to investigate how the local got the forbidden weapon.   As Jesse and Elizabeth uncover a much bigger problem than one stray gun, they also become lovers. A doomed romance to be sure, because neither one of them can nor wants to stay forever in the other’s world.

But this is not a book focused on Jesse and Elizabeth’s relationship. Nor is it focused on the mechanics of time travel, although there’s an interesting bit about where the Mirror comes from.  The smuggling investigation is in the forefront although it is also more of a framework for the big questions.  Can you ethically provide access to technological marvels and then yank them away? Should you attempt to right the wrongs of the past, hoping it will lead to a better outcome?  And the alternate – if you know your present actions lead to future disaster, shouldn’t you change?  Wilson doesn’t beat you over the head with all this either, it’s nicely integrated into the rest of the plot.

Wilson’s characters don’t express reams of emotion, but they have plenty of trauma to be explored.  Jesse is very tolerant and accepting for the time, but there’s a reasonable explanation for it.  Elizabeth has her own issues, with a compelling reason to go back (and not just for indoor plumbing).  Eventually they will end up in lawless San Francisco, with the Mirror about to close, and everything else coming to a pulse-pounding head.

It’s a standalone novel, so the entire story is contained nicely. It has plenty of action to keep the pace moving along, decent characterizations, excellent imagery, and interesting philosophical questions.  It’s also one of the few time-travel novels that didn’t make me want to quibble about how it works. I recommend it.

INK & SIGIL by Kevin Hearne

Review by Cyndi J. (cyndij)

This new urban fantasy series from Kevin Hearne takes place in the same universe as his Iron Druid series, but a new reader does not need to have read that to enjoy this one.  That said, it does assume the reader’s familiarity with the Irish gods of the Tuatha De Danann, and there’s definitely references to the events of the Iron Druid series.  The reader won’t be lost without that knowledge, but certainly it adds depth.

Al MacBharrais is a “sigil agent”. He is one of only five humans charged with creating and enforcing contracts that keep the gods of various planes (the metaphysical kind, not aircraft) from popping up on Earth and causing havoc.  He’s been given magical symbols (sigils) that when prepared with special inks, have the power of spells like invisibility, healing, strength and so forth.  Al also has a problem – someone cursed him so that anyone who hears him talk for any length of time will end up hating him. Therefore after a few words he resorts to communicating through text or a voice app on his phone.

As the book opens, Al’s latest apprentice Geordie turns up dead in his flat, having choked on a raisin scone. This is the seventh apprentice Al has lost due to seemingly random accidents. Only it seems Geordie had a little sideline in trafficking magical beings, which is just as abhorrent as trafficking humans. Along with that he had knowledge of sigils and magical ingredients he should not have had. Al ends up with a hobgoblin sidekick named Buck Foi, and the two of them start investigating Geordie’s crimes.  Along the way, we’re introduced to a couple other interesting supporting characters as well. Nadia is an employee of Al’s with magical skills of her own, and there’s Saxon Codpiece the hacker.

Hearne’s Iron Druid series was very successful and he’s succeeded in continuing the same feel with new characters.  The main character has magical abilities and there’s a sidekick who provides comic relief. Hearne has his characters speak in such heavy Scots vernacular there’s a guide at the front to the language, just like the Irish guide in the Iron Druid. There’s a pesky human detective who keeps popping up.

If you’re new to this, or you just couldn’t get enough of the Iron Druid, I think you’ll really like this book. It definitely has the same feel to it.  Al is a sympathetic character (although kind of dense – really, he already knows he’s cursed but he accepts all those “random” deaths?). Nadia is good too, although her one trick is rather limiting.  There’s a lot of action interspersed with funny bits, and Hearne’s usual fan-boy nerdy humor. But for me, this story is just too similar to the previous series. I want something different and not to take that same journey again.  I’ll stop with this first volume.

The Limbo Line by Victor Canning

Review by Matt B. (BuffaloSavage)

This 1963 thriller combines an adventure yarn with a Cold War spy story. Readers that enjoyed Greenmantle by John Buchan or Conan Doyle’s Brigadier Gerard stories would probably like this tale.

Richard Manston, retired spy, lives in the English countryside as a gentleman farmer. His ex-spy master Ronnie Sutcliffe tempts him back into the Great Game with the chance to foil a fiendish Soviet plot.

The Soviet trade agency is acting as the façade for aa operation that kidnaps and brainwashes Russian defectors. The victims are then trafficked back to the People’s Paradise. They are forced to tour, lecturing about how they were duped into defecting and how unjust life is in the decadent West.

Sutcliffe’s joes have marked down Irina Tovskaya, a ballet dancer, as the next likely victim. Manston’s mission is use Irina as a lure to attract the attention of the Soviet thugs. Then, once they’ve snatched Irina, Manston is to follow them in order to identify the line of safe houses – the Limbo Line – back to the Eastern bloc.

Manston does his damnedest to keep things professional but he falls for Irina anyway. The chase leads to the countryside of France, the setting for an exciting climax with all the right elements: heartless henchmen, evildoing communists, a damsel in distress, and lots of original action sequences in curious settings.

Besides the intelligent writing we like to see in James Bond stories for adults, Canning could put across great characters. The bad guys are utterly believable as capable professionals who would be likeable even admirable were it not for their soulless and inhuman cause. The oppressors stand in contrast to Manston, whose cause is Irina. As somebody once said in a James Bond novel, “People are easier to fight for than principles. So surround yourself with human beings.”

Victor Canning was an extremely prolific writer who was considered in the same ranks as Desmond Bagley, Hammond Innes, Geoffrey Household, and Manning Coles. His masterpiece The Rainbird Pattern was awarded the CWA Silver Dagger in 1973 and nominated for an Edgar award in 1974.

The Hungry Ones (The Messy Man Series) by Chris Sorensen
Review by Melissa B. (dragoneyes)

This was a fantastic follow up to book 1, The Nightmare Room. I actually liked it more. This story takes the first book and turns and flips and winds everything around just enough to make your head spin and then smooths it out for you. So much so, that if you read book 2, then book 1 didn’t happen. Confused? Yeah, I was too at some parts of the story but I kept reading and it was worth it.

In this twisted tale we still have the Larson family but instead of focusing on the parents, we now pan in on their son Michael. Also, in place of the creepy house, we now have an even creepier hotel. Within the hotel are malevolent creatures that are looking to feed and they are very hungry.

I would highly recommend reading this one soon after the first book. I didn’t and really wish that I would have. I think it would’ve made the story less confusing. Even if you are confused, stick with it. It all comes together in the end.

The Book Spy by Alan Hlad

Melissa B. (dragoneyes)

This is a fictional account about a true event where librarians from America were sent to neutral cities to gather information from the written word via microfilm. It is quite an interesting subject and one that I have not heard of until now. The author seemed to do a good amount of research to compile this book and give us a glimpse into this part of history.

Our main character, Maria, a librarian, is determined to help the Allies in the war effort. She finally gets her chance when she and 2 other librarians are sent to Portugal to microfilm any information that can help. There she meets a bookseller named Tiago. With his help she is able to get the publications needed. He is also doing his part by helping refugees with forged papers. When Maria is asked to become a spy, she can’t say no. From there, things get chaotic and everyone’s life is changed.

Although I enjoyed the story the characters were my biggest complaint. I liked them. Who wouldn’t like them? They were perfect in every way possible. Except if you were a bad guy, then you were really, really bad. You were either flawless or flawed. There was no in-between. I couldn’t help laugh at how ridiculous it all seemed.  Especially with Maria. She was perfect in every way… strong, pretty, polite, smart, etc. She had no flaws. Characters stand out more when you can relate to them. No one is perfect. So, where the characters were likeable, they were not believable. The story itself is able to curb this fault and make it a satisfying story.

The Monkey and The Tiger by Robert van Gulik

Review by Matt B. (BuffaloSavage)

This is Book #6 of the 17 historical mysteries starring Judge Dee. The unique stories are set in different Chinese provinces from about 663 to 681.

This volume contains two curious novellas whose titles are based on the Chinese zodiac and, in particular, on the characteristic differences of the Yang forces of the Tiger (might, nerve, luck) and the Yang forces of the Monkey (cleverness, wit, creativity).

Both stories have a rapid development of the plot and details about everyday life in China during one of its golden ages, the T’ang era. The beginning of the first story (The Monkey) is atmospheric in that the author sets the tale in a tropical forest, like a fairy tale, while in the second story (The Tiger) Judge Dee finds himself in a fortress besieged, like a feudal adventure story. In The Monkey, there are lessons on how to approach cases that Judge Dee imparts to his assistant Tao Gan. Although he is cunning and slick on the streets, ex-con man Tao Gan lacks the critical thinking skills of his boss and inevitably inflicts his biases on the evidence.

In The Tiger, the author successfully describes the aftermath of a flood of the Yellow River and the quick thinking of Judge Dee. He faces a dangerous situation in an isolated country manor, in a position of weakness and loneliness. His authority as a high-ranking official has no meaning against a band of desperate brigands called The Flying Tigers. The time frame of this story is only one night, so he does not have much time to conjure up a plan to save himself and other innocents from a bloody end.

Without deep psychological descriptions, van Gulik still creates vibrant characters with human interest. In The Monkey is a man in the midst of a mid-life crisis. He falls for a young beautiful bandit girl and gets the notion to walk away from his humdrum life to join a band of highwaymen. In The Tiger, by observing the portrait and belongings of the deceased, Judge Dee gets insight into a personality and identifies the great obsession – the yearning for freedom – that had dominated a life.

Recommended to mystery readers who are looking for something different.

The Beatle Bandit: A Serial Bank Robber’s Deadly Heist, a Cross-Country Manhunt, and the Insanity Plea that Shook the Nation by Nate Hendley

Review by jjares

The real strength of this book is the author’s telling this story in the light of Canada in the 1960s. Twenty-four-year-old Matthew Kerry Smith donned a Beatle wig and walked into a  North York, Ontario, bank during the Beatle craze. In a day when few Canadians owned a gun, Smith walked into the bank with a semi-automatic rifle. He had painted the end of the barrel pink and cut a hole in a guitar case, allowing the pink barrel to protrude. Anyone noticing the strange young man would think it was a joke.

However, the outcome was no joking matter. A retired military sergeant, Jack Blanc, grabbed a gun (from a bank officer)* and started shooting. Blanc didn’t know that there were only four bullets in the gun. Blanc was a sitting duck when Smith opened fire, trying to escape.

Then, the author steps back and describes Smith’s life before that disastrous day.  Smith was the son of a successful businessman and a mentally-ill mother. She was later diagnosed as a schizophrenic. Because of the erratic life in the family, the couple divorced, and Mr. Smith took the kids. Young Matt was terrified of being mentally ill. It colored everything about his life. Young Matt jumped from one interest to another until he centered on guns and revolution.

Young Matt was able to keep his life together enough to get into the Canadian Navy (and was soon discharged). Later, he connected with a young First Nations wife, a group of hangers-on, and vague plans for rebellion. Amazingly, Smith was successful in two early bank robberies, and he used the money to buy a house and support his wife and others.

After the third robbery, Smith escaped and became the object of the biggest manhunt in Toronto Police history. Called “the Beatle Bandit,” Smith was captured, tried, and sentenced to hang. However, because Smith’s mental illness was discussed extensively in court, it created a firestorm of interest. Some wanted to hang Smith, while others thought hanging a mentally ill man was wrong.

Canadians had a national debate about gun control, guns in banks (as defense weapons), the death penalty, and the insanity defense — all because of this case. Eventually, Smith was sent to prison. However, he committed suicide while in prison.

Several reviewers have mentioned that the author wrote this book in a similar vein to Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. Early in the book, the author stated there wasn’t a word written that hadn’t come from court documents, magazine or newspaper articles, or interviews.

WINNER of the 2022 Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book.

* At that time, Canadian banks kept loaded guns in the bank. However, employees were told not to engage with robbers because the money was ensured. After Smith went to trial and this point was discussed widely, banks decided guns were not helpful.