1106. Gone Girl

Sometimes what we think of as a successful marriage is not, and sometimes when we think people are putting on appearances, they're doing just that. They are putting on a show to hide how they really feel inside. The voice inside might be crying, might be yelling obscenities or bloody murder towards a loved one or the whole world, but sometimes a calm person walks on by you, bathed in the thin veneer of nothingness. Is this person shallow? Or have we just crossed paths with a sociopath or worse, a psychopath? We have many examples in real life of seemingly normal people "snapping" and hurting those next to them, whether coworkers, fellow students or random people. But what makes people sociopaths? Art, and fiction in its many forms have tried over the years to explore this issue. Alfred Hitchcock was really successful in exploring it in some of his films, such as Psycho. Over the years, many writers have written some great and some not so great novels to investigate the issue, and explore it along with us. Into this space, comes Gillian Flynn, a former Entertainment Weekly reporter, writing her third published novel.

Considering that this is Gillian Flynn's third novel, and that both of her previous novels were successful commercially and with critics, there was little possibility this would be a flop, or a bad novel. The reality is that this novel has been on the best seller list for over 18 weeks, a remarkable achievement which suggests that people really like the book. But more importantly, it suggests that the book is successful in navigating the subjects it tries to explore.

The story begins simply enough when housewife Amy Dunne disappears in the middle of a warm summer morning (I believe it's the 4th of July weekend). It's also Nick and Amy Dunne's Anniversary. {ed: Why do so many people get married around the 4th of July?}  Nick returns home to find that Amy has disappeared and finds clues of a struggle. This is when he calls the police. Soon, two detectives arrive on the scene and the circus begins. Because you know or have seen or heard of cases like this on TV. After Amy's parents arrive, and the cops close in, secrets are revealed, and the tension builds as we, along with Nick, and everyone else, are marched forward to a dramatic precipice. The 24/7 climate of today's news and Internet culture takes cases like this and spins it out of control. There are TV pundits out there who would advocate for the missing wife, missing girl or boy, missing teenager, and have their picture on TV all the time, every night with guests who completely agree with her, prosecuting a case before an arrest is even made. This is an important factor in real life and Gillian Flynn incorporates it deftly into her book. Personally, I found it a bit distracting, but it does add to the characters' tension a bit, and in a way it provides a conduit of expression. Both Nick and Amy express themselves through how others perceive, so this is an important aspect of their personality.

I cannot give up any more of the plot and its twists and turns. It is very tense, and engaging. Is this a literary novel? Of course it's not. If you wanted a literary novel, you'd be reading "Crime and Punishment". I also would not recommend this book for anyone under age 21. Although it not a grisly novel, with blood and guts, and only mostly has a lot of language, it is very psychologically intense with a very mature subject. A well explored subject, but one that if someone who has not experienced certain aspects of life or is not familiar with them, would not be able to grasp what the book is saying. You can't ask a 16 year old girl to understand the give and take of marriage. Maybe she knows what goes on in a relationship at her age, but what makes a real, live, marriage work? The good and the bad? No. I am not saying a non-married person, a single person would not get this novel... Of course they would. But it gets some seasoning in life to really get it. A teenager would be completely lost in this book in my opinion.

And what about the sociopath, the psychopath? Who is the greatest among us? Is it the one who chooses to stay in an Epic Failure of a Marriage, an Epic Disaster of a Life, or the one that endures it all? Is this person a Hero instead? Does the book answer that question to your satisfaction? To me, it gives a voice to few things and makes me ponder some others in my own life. In other words, what else do you want from a great piece of fiction?

And easy 4.5 out 5 stars.

1093. The Sanctuary

Raymond Khoury was born in Beirut and studied Architecture. These things alone endear him to my heart, because he not only came from a difficult part of the world, but he also studied one of the sacred sciences with the intent to go back and rebuilt the once great city of Beirut. That may not have worked out as he planned, but at least he did design and built a number of novels, including this one. And for a bonus, he gets to use his knowledge of Beirut as a main character in this story line. This is the first novel of Khoury's that I have read, and whether it is a good starting point or not for this author, I do not know, because I am given to understand that "The Last Templar" was a much better story. But I have not read that book, nor am I reviewing it here. I can only judge Mr. Khoury based on this work.

By telling you some of the plot points of this book, I don't think I would be giving away the store so bear with me.  I, personally, have always enjoyed, stories involving immortality, including "The Eight" and a book from my past, "The Boat of A Million Years". The other thing that hints at this is the symbol on the cover, the Ouroboros, the serpent eating its own tail. The Ouroboros means a lot of different things, and has had many uses in the past, but one of them does bring us back to the quest for immortality. A hint of this is whispered at the beginning of the book when during the inquisition, a priest is entrusted with a secret from a man who falls prey to the inquisitors. This priest goes on a search across the continents and across the centuries for the missing pages of a book. But so do his pursuers who have realized what he has in his possession.

Meanwhile, in the 21st Century, Archaeology Professor Evelyn Bishop is kidnapped shortly after an Iraqi man contacts her about selling her some manuscripts. Her interest in this is simply as an archaeologist. It is right after the invasion and fall of Baghdad, and the Iraqi Museum of Antiquities has been raided. Many pieces are hitting the black marker and Evelyn is trying to ensure that these pieces somehow get returned to their rightful home. Evelyn's daughter is in town (Beirut), visiting to spend some time with a mother who wasn't all that involved in her upbringing. Mia was the result of a dalliance Evelyn had while at an Iraqi dig, back in the 1970s, back before Saddam, back before the Middle East and Beirut turned really dangerous.

Evelyn gets kidnapped, and Mia somehow is in the middle of it. There is a helpful CIA officer stationed in Beirut and there are the folks working for a shadowy doctor who is trying to get whatever that Iraqi man was going to deliver to Evelyn. It all becomes mystical, and mysterious with clues and puzzles to solve, as the past continues to enlighten us as to who the players are. Especially after the appearance of one of the mystery outsiders who is making a play for the manuscript and with whom Mia eventually hooks-up. Could he be working with the Shadowy doctor?

In many ways this is standard Thriller fare, but in many other ways there is an excitement underneath as the cloth is slowly pulled away to reveal more of the canvas. How are all of these characters connected? Is there something in this manuscript of very high importance? In some ways, I wish that the pacing of this story was a little tighter, and I also wish that a clearer focus was maintained on the singular objective of the 21st century characters. Because, especially after a while, the interludes into the past looked like random tangents going no-where. Once you established the main, critical, over-arching conflict of the book, it is not necessary to beat us with it time and time again. Maybe one brief interlude to either show us how the chase continued down into time, and then update us into the present. After a while, the past interludes got REALLY boring. But, you always come back into the present to see how the main characters were fairing.

In the end, a decent book that read like a quick adventure movie. I would recommend it without hesitation, and of course, I now have to read more Raymond Khoury. Three stars.

1053. Blasphemy

Blasphemy is the first book in which Wyman Ford, appears. Wyman Ford is the main character in Douglas Preston's Blasphemy and Impact. He's a Private Investigator, an ex-CIA Agent, a monk, and many other things. He's not really a Jack-of-all-trades, like the guy in Human Target or some other such heroes. He's, however, a man who tries to get the job done.

In this first real job for Wyman, we see him utilizing some of his knowledge of the Navajo language, which is really difficult to learn, getting on the rez (reservation) out in Arizona as a liaison with the tribe on the big project on their land. The US Government built a Giant Super-Collider near Red Mesa to explore the mysteries of the Big Bang. After all, we don't want the Europeans with their Large Hadron Collider to beat us. Wyman, knows one of the scientists at the project, apart from knowing a bit of the Navajo culture so he's embedded to find out why the project has fallen behind. Money has been spent, but there have been no results.

Meanwhile, the Navajo tribal council is having second thoughts. The lobbyists that were hired to represent their interests are trying to manipulate them AND public opinion. Additionally, a local preacher connects with a well known Evangelical Pastor who is aghast at the $40 Billion cost of the Super-Collider (called by the scientists "Isabella"). Wyman's history with a scientist on the project is that of a long ago love affair, when they were both young and in college. Her name is Kate Mercer. All these threads come into contact together with an immense discovery when the collider is first powered to 100%.

What is the discovery the scientists make and it's implications to theoretical physics? Does this discovery have theological implications? Can Wyman bring the truth out into the world or should he hide the truth from the President and his science adviser who recruited him for this mission? Why are the scientists hiding the truth? Why was a man killed to hide the truth?

This is a book worth staying-up all night for. It is the second Douglas Preston book that I have read, but is probably  the first Wyman Ford adventure. It is not as fantastical (in some sense) than "Impact" which I reviewed earlier in this blog -- since I read that one first! But I do think it stands very well on its own. It is an excellent book, because it shows the limits of this particular character in the face of an impossible situation. He's faced with something he knows to NOT be true, yet at the same time, he can not convince others of this fact. His faith is not the faith of others; OR, put another way -- Kate's faith is so strong that he can not change her mind without different evidence otherwise.

All in all, a highly satisfying book and highly recommended! 4 stars out of 5!

1048. Impact

Recently, I have had a run of good luck with the books I have been reading, as they have provided ample entertainment, and made for an exciting read. This includes this fantastic little gem of a book that I saw at the bookstore and I had to pick-up. It is called, Impact by Douglas Preston and it is a most unusual thriller.

Before, I get into the meat of this review, I am reminded that I had never read a book by Douglas Preston before this one, but he has been an author that I have kept my eye on in the past few years. For one reason or another, his titles have attracted me, but I had not had occasion to pick one up. I had previously purchased "Blasphemy", but I had not read it. Suffice it to say, I intend to change that oversight.

The other thing that I find interesting is the plot of this book. Without of course, giving away too many details, the book opens as your standard scientific-mystery-whodunit-cum-thriller. Recently (and this encompasses the past couple of years), I have been reading about the death of the Science Fiction Genre as a Literary Genre and how the amount of written material being produced in it, is nowhere near what we used to see during the Golden Age or even the Silver Age (anything after the 1960s into the 1980s) or even beyond.  Plus the written material has no coherence to it, and is all over the map, as in, there is no particular style that dominates science fiction as a Genre. This then, could be the reason why a lot of writers don't want to be categorized as Science Fiction writers anymore, even though they constantly delve into that Genre, and yet, their books are found on the more acceptable, mainstream, fiction sales, aisles. The supposition then is, that Douglas Preston here, has written a masterful Science Fiction novel, but one that will not be categorized as such in any bookstore or library, and similarly will never win any major Literary Science Fiction awards like the Nebula or Hugo. On the other hand, the author is able to sell his very masterful cautionary tale to a much wider audience. Is that an acceptable trade-off?  You be the judge.

The plot of this novel is simple enough: Something has impacted the Earth, hitting off the coast of Maine. In addition, one of the scientists from the Mars Mapping Mission at the California Institute of Technology has been found dead because of what he knows. Meanwhile, another scientist, has picked-up the mantle of the dead scientist and continued his research. Something is going on, on Mars. Is the Earth impact and the events on Mars related? This world spanning adventure, which is very well plotted, and paced, with good characters, will keep your interest through-out, and will leave you breathless in many places. It was hard to put down for very long and it was definitely one of those books that I finished in less than 3 days. If it wasn't for other obligations, I would have read it in one sitting.

Yes, some of the side characters are kind of sketchy, and some of the details are still left hanging out there, but in a book such as this, the main plot, and the people you really care about, who are at the center of things, are well conceived, and isn't that all you can ever expect from a well plotted book?

So, I highly recommend this book, and I give it a well earned 5 stars out of 5. A most enjoyable first read for me from Mr. Douglas Preston.