"The Detour" by Andromeda Lax-Romano (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu)

Official Andromeda Romano-Lax Website
Order "The Detour" HERE

INTRODUCTION:Andromeda Romano-Lax is the author of The Spanish Bow, a novel about an underprivileged child prodigy who grows to be a famous cellist and mingle with the noble society, while in the process bringing to life some half century of Spanish history. I liked that book quite a lot when I read it on publication in 2008 and the only negative for me was that towards the end it started lacking balance and devolved into a succession of vignettes rather than a coherent tale.

Overall The Spanish Bow was an impressive debut and when I found out about The Detour from the Amazon Vine monthly catalog of all places, the book became an asap and I even got two advanced review copies, the print one from Vine and an e-version from Net Galley. Here is the blurb which while accurate enough does not quite reflect the richness and power of this novel:

"Ernst Vogler is twenty-four years old in 1938 when he is sent to Rome by his employer--the Third Reich's Sonderprojekt, which is collecting the great art of Europe and brining it to Germany for the Führer. Vogler is to collect a famous Classical Roman marble statue, The Discus Thrower, and get it to the German border, where it will be turned over to Gestapo custody. It is a simple, three-day job.

Things start to go wrong almost immediately. The Italian twin brothers who have been hired to escort Vogler to the border seem to have priorities besides the task at hand--wild romances, perhaps even criminal jobs on the side--and Vogler quickly loses control of the assignment. The twins set off on a dangerous detour and Vogler realizes he will be lucky to escape this venture with his life, let alone his job. With nothing left to lose, the young German gives himself up to the Italian adventure, to the surprising love and inevitable losses along the way.

The Detour is a bittersweet novel about artistic obsession, misplaced idealism, detours, and second chances, set along the beautiful back-roads of northern Italy on the eve of war."

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: The Detour is a gem of a novel and while I expected to like it, I really did not expect to be blown away by it and to be honest the first 50 pages or so while good do not reveal how just superb the novel becomes once the narrator starts his Italian trek with two dubious twin brothers and a highly prized classical statue in the back of a truck.

As noted above, the author's novelistic debut, The Spanish Bow, scattered a bit too much towards the end, while in The Detour the opposite stands true - after a slightly disorganized beginning which starts making more sense only later in the book, the book pulls its narrative threads together and it is just stunning: a personal tale of discovery, suspense and ultimately life affirming amid the signs of the impending apocalypse.

The narrator, a seeming "loser" still young at 34 in 1948 when he retraces his journey of 10 years ago, turns actually to be a very decent young man, however unheroic and outwardly shy, and that is much more than could be said about many people living in that period. A working class background and an embittered domineering father, coupled with his failure to become the "world class athlete" of said father's dream, leads young Ernst to a seemingly going nowhere life of temporary jobs, essentially being another "male body good for construction work and army training" in the Reich, until a quarrel with his father and a gesture due to that is misinterpreted.

So by chance Ernst gets noticed by the higher ups of the Reich and gets a job as "cultural adviser" - ie cataloging art that the Fuhrer and his acolytes plan to loot - actually as this is 1938, for now they have to buy it, but big scale looting will come soon enough - from abroad.

Ernst does not realize at the time what happened, but later when he is offered the job he takes it as "salvation", only of course his "naive, loser" attitude marks him as an easy prey for the run-of-the-mill gangsters who thought the Nazis were their ticket to their riches as fellow gangsters with a powerful state and police.

"As it turned out, one could have too much knowledge and experience in the arts to be the best match for certain kinds of employment. Someone older than me, who had worked in the field longer and under a different zeitgeist, would have developed many ideas and tolerances that were no longer acceptable. When I first started working in our office there had been several modern art curators among us, but invariably, their tastes became problematic. Perhaps they defended an artist, living or dead, or had certain ideas about embracing new possibilities, or weren’t sympathetic to the anti-modern “degenerate” exhibitions supported by the government."

As structure, The Detour seamlessly weaves its 1938 mostly Italian tale with the back story that is both poignant and reveals a lot about how the Reich happened and why "normal" people supported a bunch of gangsters led by a charismatic madman. In addition there are several chapters that take place in 1948 when Ernst narrates the tale while back for the first time in Italy since 1938. This structure reduces a little the tension about the fate of Ernst - after all we know he survived both his ill fated trip of 1938 and the war - but in return it offers a dual way of seeing the events of the novel and that pays off big time as the book goes on.

The writing is top notch with excellent narrative flow, action and drama, while the Italian countryside and its seeming timelessness and detachment from the dramatic world events of the time is pictured pitch perfect by the author. Add to this the interludes where Ernst muses about art and its role in society and you will get a sense of why the book succeeds so well as it brings quite a few disparate elements into a whole that is more than the sum of its parts.

A great ending - not unexpected but still excellent - and no wonder I really loved The Detour and ranked it a top 25 novel of mine for 2012!

Instrument of Evil & Judgment of Evil by Lori Lowthert (Reviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)

Official Author Website

Read an excerpt HERE

Order the Books HERE

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Lori A. Lowthert was born and brought up in Florida. She did her BS in biology from University of South Alabama and molecular biology from Princeton. She is a practicing psychiatrist and lives with her family in Connecticut. This is her debut.

ABOUT INSTRUMENT OF EVIL: Have you ever had a really big secret? Rebekah Johnson has one, and she's afraid to tell her new boyfriend, Scott. She's afraid if she tells him, he'll break up with her. Or turn her in to the police. Rebekah is a fledgling serial killer who's not quite ready to give up murder. Will she choose killing people or her relationship?

ABOUT JUDGMENT OF EVIL: Rebekah had vowed to stop killing for love, but she finds herself unable to stop. Scott still knows nothing about her secret life. She is happily attending graduate school when the unthinkable happens--she is arrested and charged for one of the murders she committed last year. She spends a few nights in jail before she goes in front of a judge, who sets the bail at an exorbitant $1 million. Her father and Scott are able to raise the necessary money and get her out on bail. She kills again, even when she is out on bail. Rebekah has hired an excellent criminal defense attorney, but she's afraid it won't be enough and she'll go back to jail.

CLASSIFICATION: The Evil series is a cross between the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay and a coming-of-age storyline.

FORMAT/INFO: Instrument of Evil is 400 pages long divided over forty numbered chapters. Narration is in the first-person view focusing solely on Rebekah Johnson. October 8, 2011 marked the Paperback and e-book publication of Instrument of Evil by the author.

FORMAT/INFO: Judgment of Evil is 276 pages long divided over seventeen numbered chapters and a prologue. Narration is in the first-person view focusing solely again on Rebekah Johnson. November 25, 2011 marked the e-book publication of Judgment of Evil by the author.

ANALYSIS: Instrument of Evil is a debut which promises a look in to the making of a serial killer and to add to its credit the serial killer in question is also a female. With such a description I of course wanted to see how debutante author Lori Lowthert would handle the story and how different/similar it would be to the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay.

The story begins in first person narrative with Rebekah remembering her childhood beginning at three, it’s from here the readers are shown an intimate look at her journey onto adulthood. It’s not with complete adversity but it’s not in the form you would think. Rebekah’s childhood is as normal as one can expect, however the reader is slowly shown her sociopathic tendencies which are not noticed by her parents. The reader is also privy to all her thoughts and actions and once she’s discovers the visceral thrill of taking a person’s life, that's when the reader discovers just how dangerous she will be.

The story then slowly but surely veers off into thriller territory from the growing up phase wherein we see Rebekah trying to perfect her technique, getting to know herself as a serial killer and selecting her victims. The author has very carefully given the reader a detailed outlook of her life and since the character is a developing sociopath. The reader’s sympathies might not entirely be with the protagonist but the author does her best to paint a compelling picture of a person who willing does morally reprehensible acts. This is the book’s greatest strength, the protagonist’s characterization which completely overshadows every one else. Not that the other characters are caricatures but they are also given their due stage presence. However they only come around when Rebekah decides to interact with them and thus their presence is actively controlled by the protagonist. The second point which works for this book is that the book eschews its thriller aspect for getting deeper into the overall life of the characters. This allows the author to completely flesh out the entire life story of the protagonist, showing us the smallest events as well as all the big kills leading onto the eventual climax which is a dual pronged strategy focusing on Rebekah’s personal and perverse life and thereby going on to an ending which is not easy to predict.

The second book then begins after the events of the climax of the first book and one of Rebekah’s kills has made her the prime suspect and to add to her troubles, her killer instincts have not dimmed by any degree. This is the main theme of book II whether Rebekah can learn to manage her own predatory instincts versus her feelings for Scott. This battle of her natures is fascinating to read about as many of her actions in the previous book come back to haunt her in this book and cause a further strain in her relationship with Scott. The book then races along to its climatic portion wherein she is faced with a different sort of an issue wherein she might have to decide what she eventually wants.

The second book is nearly half of the length of the first and this gives the book the edge over the first book wherein the story sometimes lost pace or seemed to lack focus as well. The sequel very specifically focuses on the thriller aspect of the story which was missing in the first book. The characterization again like the first book is top drawer stuff and with the tightly focused plot creates a story which is definitely hard to put down. Another positive aspect of the story is the unpredictability of the climax which is carried forward from the first book. The reader is never quite sure how the author aims to end the story and that helps tremendously in gauging the reader interest.

Both these books share a similar kind of negative feedback that is that the story is less of a thriller and more of a coming-of-age tale, wherein the protagonist instead of coming into her own as a person is slowly developing into a serial killer. Granted that Rebekah seems milder than most serial killers we have been exposed to like Hannibal Lecter, Patrick Bateman etc… If any she seems quite mild to even the female serial killers found in the massive serial killer saga by J.A. Konrath & Blake Crouch. What is slightly different about Rebekah is that she constantly fights her own nature not in entirety but she does consider her nature to be an aberration and she’s slowly trying to come to terms with it. Lastly both the books have this thriller semblance but it never completely ventures into thriller territory. It constantly flirts with the edges and then casually rolls over into a simpler story whilst constantly changing its path. Some readers might not necessarily enjoy this combination and therefore I would recommend that readers read the excerpts to get a feel of the story and then jump in.

CONCLUSION: The Evil series by Lori Lowthert is a fascinating but inadvertently uneven saga of a serial killer who while being a female is no less deadly than her male counterparts. The author definitely deserves to be applauded for taking on this story as her debut effort, perhaps in a few years her skills will get the requisite polish to match her ambitions and then the author will be someone to look out for.

Thoughts on "Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon" by Mark Hodder and "The Midnight Palace" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (by Liviu Suciu)

"It is 1863, but not the one it should be. Time has veered wildly off course, and moves are being made that will lead to a devastating world war. Prime Minister Lord Palmerston believes that by possessing the three Eyes of Naga he'll be able to manipulate events and avoid the war. He already has two of the stones, but he needs Sir Richard Francis Burton to recover the third. For the king's agent, it's a chance to return to the Mountains of the Moon to make a second attempt at locating the source of the Nile. But a rival expedition led by John Hanning Speke stands in his way, threatening a confrontation that could ignite the very war that Palmerston is trying to avoid!"

Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon is maybe the last Burton and Swinburne novel and while I talked at greater length about The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack and about The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man, I will present here some thoughts about this book and the series in general.

The two main characteristics of Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon are that in "the local" - chapter by chapter, adventure by adventure, scene by scene the book is just superb; great writing, Burton and the supporting characters excel, the pages are turning by themselves, the world building is detailed and believable, while the tech is pure steampunk fun.

However in the "global", the book almost falls into the solipsistic - the action of one or more characters can erase/change timelines i.e. have God powers i.e. solipsism - trap that tends to afflict time travel changing the past novels. The "I do this, puff a whole history is erased and a new history that no one but me is aware of, comes into being" is ultimately a major destroyer of suspension of disbelief and while Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon stops at the "cliff" so to speak, the whole is less than the sum of its parts.

The ending was superb though - balance of ambiguity and necessity - but while I would highly recommend the book and the series, it is not quite at a top 25 level for me.

Looking back at the three novels as a whole, I would say that while Spring Heeled Jack was a little uneven until the author found his voice and the right narrative balance between steampunk and Dickensian stuff, with again an awesome ending to raise its level, The Clockwork Man was almost pitch perfect as it balanced the major aspects - the whys of the different history, the influences from the future, steampunk, social narrative - with great characters, addictive turn page writing and another excellent ending. Expedition offers arguably even better writing and more tension but by trying to tie things up and "explain" them, it also veers to close to solipsism as mentioned above.

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"Set in Calcutta in the 1930s, The Midnight Palace begins on a dark night when an English lieutenant fights to save newborn twins Ben and Sheere from an unthinkable threat. Despite monsoon-force rains and terrible danger lurking around every street corner, the young lieutenant manages to get them to safety, but not without losing his own life. . . .

Years later, on the eve of Ben and Sheere’s sixteenth birthday, the mysterious threat reenters their lives. This time, it may be impossible to escape. With the help of their brave friends, the twins will have to take a stand against the terror that watches them in the shadows of the night—and face the most frightening creature in the history of the City of Palaces."

The Midnight Palace is the second offering in Carlos Ruiz Zafon's YA series that appeared in Spain in the early 90's before The Shadow of the Wind made him a household name in the literate world. After the mediocre The Prince of the Mist which was very YA so it passed its expiration date for me a long time ago, The Midnight Palace has all the elements that made his three adult novels to date so extraordinary: narrative energy, inventiveness, great characters (even as sketches here) and twists and turns that make you turn the pages till the end.

In addition, the creepy descriptions that made the atmosphere of TSoW , The Angel's Game and The Prisoner of Heaven so awesome appear from the early pages and they are an integral part of why The Midnight Palace succeeds. Now the book is still YA, so we have relatively simplistic action and a generally predictable plot as the big picture goes, while the world building does not question the roles of our 16 year old heroes and heroines as main leads which is of course what tends to kill the suspension of disbelief for me as the world simply does not work like that - hence do not expect the layers and sophistication of the author's above mentioned adult novels.

If you want an introduction to the author and see what the fuss about his superb novels is, this book will do since it's short and fast. Recommended with the caveat that is still a YA novel so with all the implied limitations thereof.

"God of War" by Christian Cameron (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu)

Official Christian Cameron Website
Order "God of War: The Epic Story of Alexander the Great" HERE

"The story of how Alexander the Great conquered the world - first crushing Greek resistance to Macedonian rule, then destroying the Persian Empire in three monumental battles, before marching into the unknown and final victory in India - is a truly epic tale that has mesmerised countless generations of listeners. He crammed more adventure into his thirty-three years than any other human being before or since, and now for the first time a novelist will tell the tale in a single suitably epic volume. The combination of Alexander's life story and Christian Cameron's unrivalled skills as an historian and storyteller will ensure that this will not only be the definitive version for many years to come, but also one of the most exciting historical epics ever written."

I am a big fan of Christian Cameron's "Classical Greek World" novels - there are two duologies so far in the Tyrant series of which I reviewed King of the Bosporus (the fourth novel and second dealing with the children of Kineas who is the main hero of the first two books) and two novels in the Long War series that takes place some 150-200 years earlier and feature Arimnestos of Plataea, hero of Marathon and ancestor of Kineas and his twins, Satyrus and Melitta.

So while expecting the fifth Tyrant novel (which should have been published in Jan/Feb) and the third Arimnestos one (due in the summer), I was a bit disappointed that Mr. Cameron published God of War which supposedly tells (again and after a ton of similar novels and a few popular movies) the story of Alexander.

However I read a review and realized that actually God of War is told by Ptolemy, king of Egypt and important secondary character of the Tyrant series to Satyrus about the time when the twins found refuge in Alexandria and I realized that actually this book ties in perfectly with the Tyrant series, so of course it became an asap and I got and read it immediately despite its almost 800 pages.

Kineas is quite important in the book though indeed the novel focuses on Ptolemy's life from childhood till the death of Alexander in Babylon in 323. As "legal" son of the richest Macedonian noble and rumoured that he was actually Philip's illegitimate son, so Alexander's step brother, Ptolemy is raised with the prince and becomes one of his principal advisers and later a main general of his armies, though he never attains the influence of Alexander's intimate friend Hephaestion.

Nicknamed "farm boy" for his forthrightness and occasional lack of sophistication, Ptolemy both loves and later almost worships Alexander, while also tries to keep him grounded. If Hephaestion told Alexander what he liked to hear, Ptolemy told him what he needed to hear. The unquestionable loyalty he showed during their early years and later during the difficult years of Alexander's marginalization by his father, made Ptolemy the only possible person who could tell hard truths to the increasingly "god like" king.

That made Ptolemy less than popular on occasion with the king, but his immense wealth and later his relationship with Thais, famous Athenian hetaira and unofficial spy-mistress of the Macedonians, his friendship with Kineas, the Athenian nobleman and cavalry commander and his camaraderie with his soldiers and officers compensated for that, though of course after the Persian conquest it became more and more dangerous to offer even the slightest hint of dissent to Alexander as numerous Macedonian noblemen and generals paid with their lives for that.

"‘What’s he thinking of?’ I asked Thaïs, who rode between me and Kineas.
Thaïs smiled. ‘He isn’t going to lay siege to it,’ she said. ‘He’s going to make love to it.’
She was at her most witty when she was enigmatic. So I smiled at her and kept my scouts moving."

So the novel spans about 20 years, starting with their early teen years at Pella and their study under Aristotle, though the bulk of it deals with Alexander's ascension and then his Persian conquest, while his last seven years after the burning of Persepolis in 330 are mostly summarized in the last hundred fifty or so of pages which are vignette like.

As this is a Christian Cameron novel, the world building is exceptional and the description of army life, marches and supplies is as exciting and thorough as the description of battles and sieges. While Alexander, "the God of War" is always the main focus of the big picture, Ptolemy and Thais are the main characters and their relationship from their first meeting in Athens to their quasi-marriage and lifelong partnership is the keystone of the novel and what raises this book above the many offerings on its subject.

As I tend to believe that the author's take on Alexander is as close to reality as it can be done, 2300+ years later and few original sources beyond the brute facts - details of which are still unknown and/or controversial - the novel worked very well from this point of view.

"I didn’t think he was insane – if he had ever been sane by the standards of normal men, he still was. But the enormous wound he’d taken and the drugs Philip must have put into him to keep him on his feet – by Apollo’s bow, I still look for any excuse to cover him. He ordered almost fifty thousand men and women killed between Tyre and Gaza, and for nothing. Everyone else had already submitted. There was no example to be made. And the killing of Batis went clean against his code – except that more and more frequently, he seemed to be set on the annihilation of all resistance, rather than the honourable combat and complex warrior friendships of the Iliad.It was a paradox – the kind on which Aristotle thrived – that Alexander seemed to want to create the world of the Iliad – a world of near-eternal war and heroism – and yet seemed to want to destroy all of his opponents so that they could not continue the struggle."

God of War is a top 25 novel of mine in 2012 and as a standalone page turner with so much great stuff and a modern retelling of an epic story that has stood as a model for such for all these 23 centuries, I think that anyone who loves epics should give it a try.

The Assassin's Tear by Karen Azinger (Reviewed by Mihir Wanchoo)

Official Karen Azinger Website

Order “The Assassin’s Tear” HERE

Read FBC Interview with Karen Azinger

AUTHOR INFORMATION: Before venturing into the field of writing,Karen Azinger spent over twenty years as an international business strategist, eventually becoming a vice-president for one of the world's largest natural resource companies. She's worked on developing the first gem-quality diamond mine in Canada's arctic, on coal seam gas power projects in Australia, and on petroleum projects around the world. Having lived in Australia for eight years she considers it to be her second home. She's also lived in Canada and spent a lot of time in the Canadian arctic. Eight years ago on a hike in the Colombia River Gorge she realized she had enough original ideas to finally write an epic fantasy, resulting in The Silk & Steel Saga.

PLOT SUMMARY: Explore the medieval kingdoms of Erdhe, raid the tomb of the first emperor of China, and unravel the enigma of Dark Space in this collection of fantasy and science fiction tales from the author of The Silk & Steel Saga. The two signature stories, Prophecy’s Twist and The Assassin’s Tear, are set in the fantasy realm of Erdhe. Prophecy’s Twist discovers the dark deceit that started the War of Wizards, forever changing the kingdoms of Erdhe. The Assassin’s Tear follows the exploits of a petty thief whose ambition leads him to the dark corners of the Mordant’s Citadel.

The Emperor’s Shadow is an international thriller in the style of Indiana Jones, combining the power of superstition with archaeology. A Man’s World is a post-apocalyptic adventure set in Australia where coal miners discover all the rules have changed. Pieces of the Truth is a time travel story where a young physicist discovers a forgotten truth. Snakes and Ladders has Lynn Gallant out to shatter the glass ceiling by taking a walk to the dark side of New Orleans. Lastly In The God Planet, universal dreams spark a religious frenzy, summoning humanoid kind to the riddle of Dark Space.

FORMAT/INFO: The Assassin’s Tear is 185 pages long divided over seven short stories and an introductory note. Narration is mostly in the third-person for almost all the stories and in first person for the largest one. The Assassin’s Tear is a collection of stories that have been written as an experiment by the author.

December 15, 2011 marked the Trade Paperback and e-book publication of The Assassin’s Tear via Kiralynn Epics—an independent publisher created by the author. Cover art is provided by Peggy Lowe.

ANALYSIS: Karen Azinger first came to my notice last year with her debut The Steel Queen. In the penultimate months of last year, I was alerted to her new short story collection The Assassin’s Tear which seemed like a nice mix. When the author requested a review, I readily agreed as I had enjoyed reading her debut offering and now I wanted to see how she would do with shorter side of fiction. The collection opens up with a nice Introductory note in which Karen does a fine job of telling the reader about the background of each story. I enjoyed knowing how one of the stories was inspired by a fan or that another one was inspired by the history channel and lastly one which spanned the use of three cards and the images they carried. Karen Azinger enthusiastically cracks open about each story and therefore it fires up the reader for the forthcoming stories.

The stories then begin with Prophecy’s twist which is set several hundreds of years ahead of the timeline established in the Steel Queen, these events are crucial to read for fans of the Silk & Steel saga as they detail an event which molds much of the magic happening in the saga. However for readers unknown to these books, this story will seem surprising as in it things happen rather quickly and then the story hurls along to its calamitous end. The story has some nice surprises set in its path and this sets the tone nicely for the opener. The next story is the titular story of the book and is one of the best ones as it focuses on a thief called Dolf who decides to take a shine to the Mordant’s castle. This story is set around the same time as the prologue of the first book The Steel Queen, however while the first book had its moments of darkness , this story is almost covered by darkness stretching to the atmosphere as well as to the thoughts of the protagonist. This was the best story of the book for me as it showcased surprises as well revealed some crucial pointers for the actual Erdhe series (thought they don’t bode well for the heroes in the series).

The third tale seems to be inspired by Indiana Jones as Doctor Zebastion Kole is the protagonist who is given a task and he must use his wits as well as the full extent of his knowledge to help his nation. A fun tale which pretty much acts as a lighter foil to the earlier ones and is one which reminded me a lot of thrillers by Matthew Reilly. A Man’s World is the next tale, which is a post apocalyptic one and one which is based on an interesting premise that is without the presence of women. A group of miners are the focus of this tale, and among them Danny & Burt are the protagonists of this story. The story is about the nature of mankind and how indomitable one's spirit can be. The next story is called Pieces of the Truth and is about time travel, while the tale has the protagonist Linus going back to meet a very important scientist. The ending of the story was a nice surprise and very much enriched this story for me.

Snakes and Ladders is the penultimate story that features various themes such as women’s status quo and exploring them via means of the urban fantasy sub-genre. An interesting piece and one, which sets up the next story The God Planet. This story is the biggest one of the collection and is the only one using the first person perspective. This story focuses on religion, human belief systems and the nature of androids, the author quite skillfully mines these aspects to give the readers some questions to ponder about.

Overall this was an interesting story collection that encompasses various genre pieces and enough ingenuity to keep the readers immersed in the worlds created. Karen Azinger’s prose really helps in the setting of each story and also manages to present a different mood to each piece as well. The only thing that draws a bit of gloss from these stories is that they are predictable to a certain degree and that perhaps is the main drawback about this collection.

CONCLUSION: Karen Azinger’s short story collection is definitely a good way for readers to get themselves acquainted with her work. Focusing on a wide array of themes as well as different genres, she manages to invest a certain amount of gravitas in each of her stories to make them an interesting bunch to read. Definitely recommended for fans of her debut and for all readers who want to read an eclectic collection and discover a new author in the process.