Update on reading....

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I finished reading The Librarian by Larry Beinhart. Beinhart also wrote a book called American Hero which was turned into the movie Wag the Dog. The Librarian novel is a screed against unfair elections and campaign practices, corruption at the highest levels, conspiracy, fraud -- the works. There was humor, but not enough to blunt the points Beinhart was repeatedly hammering hammering hammering hammering in to the reader to get his political agenda across. So the book is a tiresome read, but it is also a book with no faith in the ability of an aroused citizenry to make a difference. Beinhart's "solution" is artificially ambiguous and he absolutely demands that the reader DO SOMETHING!:

It depends on the people as well. Will they just want to get it over within twenty-six minutes, solved like the conflict in a sitcom? Or will they demand to get the facts clearly and in detail and sort the wheat from the chaff and the flash from the trash?
It depends on you. Sorry about that. But it does.

After spending 430 pages portraying the American people as dupes, it's pretty disingenous to then demand they do something now that our hero has pointed out the correct problem for them to fight against. Give me a break!

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To get back to writing in the service of a good plot, I read the latest novel by John Sandford called Broken Prey. This is another in a long line of mysteries centering on Minnesota detective Lucas Davenport. The murderers in these books are so depraved and disgusting that it seems impossible that Sandford can top his last book for horrifying detail and concept. Yet he succeeds again with a plot hatched in an insane assylum in southern Minnesota. This time around, Davenport partners with Sloan, a detective who must have been an important part of the previous books, but I can't remember any of them clearly enough now to recall the history.

In addition to providing the creepiest of the creepy characters, Sandford also excels in providing salt-of-the-earth local police officers, troopers, cops and allied politicians who are fiercely loyal, and determined to track the killers. All in all, another very satisfying read.

The big disappointment, for me, was that Davenport's amazing wife, Weather, is out of the country during most of the events and their relationship exists across telephone lines only. What will be truly amazing, I think, is to watch Davenport deal with the conflicting pressures of work and family. Thus the fact that his wife and children are out of the country seems like a cheap way for Sandford to postpone that particular conundrum. Somehow, though, it feels as if he'll be able to write it once he decides to take it on. We'll see.

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Next I read the first in a series of mysteries by Jessica Speart featuring a Fish and Wildlife officer called Rachel Porter. The first book in the series, Gator Aide takes place in the swamps of Louisiana and in New Orleans. In addition to dealing with a new career she's not sure she can handle, Porter is also thrust into the deep south as a citified New Yorker. Porter gets mired in the swamps as well as in the bog of sexism, racism and southern distrust of northerners and nearly gets herself sliced and diced as a result. The book is a fast and pleasing read. Not too heavy, not too didactic and interesting enough to keep me reading straight through. It's interesting that Porter holds her own despite the efforts of many over-protective males to keep her out of the way. She doesn't solve the problems of sexism, she tries to work her way around the issue. She wins as often as she loses and it's satisfying to have a heroine who is not invincible, has lots of doubts, but pushes on through to the end. Along the way, she meets fascinating characters, making friends and enemies where she least expects it. Definitely worth checking out some more of Speart's work.