Book Log 2019 #32: Maeve in America by Maeve Higgins

I first encountered Maeve Higgins on the NPR show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, where her wit and humor far outpace her knowledge of current events (it's kind of a running joke that Maeve will finish last, even if she's not in last place going into the final game). From those appearances I decided to read her book, which is loosely based on her podcast of the same name.

I say loosely because most of the material in the book is apparently not from her podcast at all (admittedly I have not listened to it), but rather mixes essays on topics related to her podcast (like immigration and her decision to leave Ireland and move to New York) with personal and cultural reflections. On the whole it works really well, and I got a much better sense of who Higgins is and what challenges she's faced in her career, as a single woman, and as an immigrant. I also got to read the essays with her delightful accent in my head, which just added to the enjoyment.

 Book Log 2019 #31: The Malta Exchange by Steve Berry

You may remember that, in the past, I've said that the Cotton Malone series should return to Europe as the US-based books weren't that great. Well, be careful what you wish for.

In this installment, a papal conclave, the Knights of Malta, the Donation of Constantine, and a pair of scheming twins all come together to put the world in peril, and only Cotton Malone can stop things. It's all a bit clunky and unnecessarily complex, which is too bad as I'd think there's enough actual history to mine for a good thriller. I also thought that it wasted Malta as a setting, as the country's unique culture and history should also be able to help flesh out a good thriller.

For completists only.

 Book Log 2019 #30: A Mind to Murder by P. D. James

Adam Dalgliesh is back on the case, looking to solve the murder of an employee at a private psychiatric clinic. There are plenty of possible suspects between the clinic employees and patients, and as he begins to investigate he finds that there are plenty of goings-on at the clinic that could drive someone to murder.

I still kind of feel like Dalgliesh doesn't do much in the course of his investigations, and had a hard time really getting into the book. I have to say I'm not particularly compelled to continue the series, but may go back to it after a while. I did read some of the books that come later on and enjoyed those more, so it could just be me.

 Book Log 2019 #29: We That Are Young by Preti Taneja

This book takes King Lear and puts it in present day India, where the founder of a large and prosperous company suddenly calls it quits and pledges the leadership of the company to two of his daughters (a third daughter is missing). The book follows the two daughters, and the two sons of the father's right hand man, as they start to wield power and face conflict from an unexpected direction. Or wholly expected, if you are familiar with King Lear.

Which I was not, at least not in anything beyond a cursory understanding of the story. You really don't need to know anything about the play to appreciate and enjoy this book. I do think that the setting is perfect for such a retelling, with India continually straddling the line between tradition and modernity. It's a long book but well worth the investment of time.

 Book Log 2019 #28: Old Man's War by John Scalzi

The colonization of space is on, but the other races we've discovered along the way are less than happy that humans are claiming planets left and right. The ongoing war requires that the Colonial Defense Force find a new source of soldiers, which they do in an unexpected place: senior citizens. Through the magic of bioengineering and a mind-transfer process, humans who reach their 75th birthday can be transplanted into a new, young body, the idea being that the combination of years of wisdom and experience paired with a body made for battle will result in superior soldiers.

The catch: you can never return to Earth. If you survive your enlistment, you'll be given a homestead on a new planet. Even with that restriction, it's a winning deal for many, including John Perry, whose experience as a new CDF soldier make up this novel.

I really enjoyed this book, which is much more in the vein of pulp science fiction rather than, say, The Three Body Problem. It's nice to remember that not all science fiction needs to be a somewhat dire philosophical meditation on Big Issues. 

 Book Log 2019 #27: Into the Woods by Tana French

In 1984 Dublin, three children go missing, and in the ensuing search only one of them is found. He's in the woods, sneakers soaked with blood, and no memory of what happened. 

Jump forward to today. That boy is now a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad, and he's just been assigned a case with a number of similarities to what happened in 1984. Only his partner knows about his past, and if the higher ups learn about it he'll be taken off the case. Complicating matters is the very close relationship between the partners - they're not romantically involved, but everyone assumes they are. All of these personal and professional entanglements are pushed to the brink over the course of the investigation, with life-altering results.

This is the first of the Dublin Murder Squad series of novels, and if the others live up to this initial entry it's going to be a very good series indeed. It's one of the few books of this type that works as both a murder mystery and a psychological thriller.

 Book Log 2019 #26: The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson

Nombeko Mayeki, born and raised in Soweto, seemed fated to a short and miserable life. But her natural intelligence allowed her to succeed where other orphaned children did not. But it also landed her in some unusual situations, forcing her to find ways to outwit and outlast the people behind South Africa's secret nuclear weapons program, the Mossad, domestic terrorists, and a potato farmer, and eventually save the King of Sweden.

It sounds a little crazy, and it is, especially told with the book's great humor. I don't often audibly laugh when reading, but did so at least a couple of times with this book.  There are parts where being able to suspend disbelief comes in handy, but by and large the comedy supports and advances the story. It's very much worth reading.