Other Women's Stories: What I'm reading this week (11/12/18)

It's getting toward the end of a long, heavy reading year, and I'm getting a little exhausted writing a review. for. every. book. Forgive me if I flag a bit. I'd always rather read than review, but I'll try to stop "circling the chair" and get started.

Last week I finished:

Way back in the spring or early summer, when I discovered a presidential thriller coming out written by James Patterson and President Clinton, I was very, very excited. Being the presidential book nerd that I am, I started counting down the days until The President Is Missing came out. And then when it did hit the shelves, there was so much hoopla over it, I kind of lost interest. Because nothing makes me lose interest in something more than other peoples' interest in that thing. Go figure. But when the dust finally settled, I bought my copy and commenced reading. The plot is this (warning, possible unavoidable spoilers): President Duncan has gone missing just days before he's scheduled to have a hearing regarding his recent involvement with a known terrorist. The president is involved in an underground plot to stop cyberterrorists from taking down American computer systems, sending us back to "the dark ages." I pretty much got what I expected with this one. The writing isn't great, the action is rather unbelievable, but the whole thing was fun. It was sort of nice to be carried away by a book that is fast-paced and had cliffhangers at the end of every (very short) chapter. I kind of resented all the red herrings and being kept on a need to know basis, but I just rolled with it. I also questioned why America going back to no computers would put us in the dark ages instead of say, the 1970s, but maybe you have to suspend disbelief more than I was willing to roll with that. Also, knowing that Patterson only outlines his books, then gives them to a staff of writers to actually write, and knowing that Clinton, though billed first and in equal font size as Patterson, likely only "consulted" on the book, I wasn't terribly invested in the collaboration or its product which might have softened my opinion had I known it to be a true collaboration. I don't know if this book is representative of Patterson's work, as it's my only Patterson read, but it's possible I'd pick up another of his books to see. The very long book (over 500 pages) read very quickly, and while I likely won't return to it, I had a fun time. In short, keep your expectations low, and you won't be disappointed. My rating: 3 stars.

I love a good mystery, but thrillers are something I've never spent much time seeking out or reading. Still, I've heard good things about Tana French's books, and my TBR is dangerously short, so I read a bit of her first book in her Dublin Murder Squad series, In the Woods, and decided I really liked the writing. And since I'll read pretty much anything as long as it's well-written, I got on the hold list of the audio of this book. This is the story of a murder investigation of a girl in the same area where the Dublin Murder Squad investigator, Rob Ryan, lost his two best friends in a presumably grisly way when a boy. Together with investigator Cassie Maddox, the team try to solve the current-day crime while wondering if it's related to the twenty-year-old cold case that Ryan has almost no memory of. This is one of the best books I've read this year. French is everything she's been lauded as, and I can't say enough about the mastery of her writing. The pacing was excellent, and the characters were some of the most real I've met this year. I loved how French lets us into the minds of the investigators who are asking the same questions we are. They never know more than we do. My only quibble was that the ending seemed to drag--in fact, it seemed like there were several endings. I'm a bit nervous, having liked Ryan so much that he is not in the second book, but I'll definitely be continuing on with the series regardless. I listened to this book, and the audio is top notch. I did not want it to end, and each CD was perfectly timed with a cliffhanger. For sensitive readers, I will caution that the book, by nature of the crime, is intense. There is also the expected rough language and swearing. I will say, though, that neither the intensity nor language or adult situations are gratuitous. I highly recommend this one for those with the predilection to enjoy a good thriller. My rating: 5 stars.

Being the history buff and presidential nerd I am, I am really not all that interested in the policies of most presidential administrations, especially old administrations. Still, being a big fan of Chris Stirewalt's political analysis and almost encyclopedic knowledge of political history, I was eager to read his first book, Every Man a King. In it, he discusses American populists like Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, Huey Long, George Wallace, Ross Perot, and Pat Buchanan. The book wasn't exactly what I expected. Stirewalt is a rather longwinded bloviater, and I was hoping, since the book was short, this would be cut short a bit, too, but not so. I think I just wasn't all that interested in the topic, but whether that was my problem or the author's for not making it interesting enough, I can't say. I didn't get a good feeling for American populism's effect on American politics, I think, so I left the book with pretty much the knowledge I started it with. It wasn't a bad book, and I'm sure I missed something by not being a policy wonk, but I just didn't love it. (Though I still love Chris.) My rating: 3 stars.

Several weeks ago, when I was floundering around looking for a Kindle book, I started the Mutual Admiration Society, and I found it entertaining, but I knew I wouldn't finish it on Kindle. It just wasn't keeping my attention, and Kindle books are the easiest kinds for me to put down and never pick up again. So, I decided to switch to audio to finish it. This is the story of two sisters, Tessy and Birdie Finley, ages 11 and 10, who blackmail people for money and solve crimes in their 1950s blue-collar Milwaukee neighborhood. They've just lost their father, their mother isn't interested in them, and their lives are ruled by nosy neighbors and the Catholic church (at least, this is Tessy's perspective, as she's our narrator). Birdie is a bit intellectually slow, so much of the book, which takes place in a 24-hour period, is spent working within the confines of Birdie's intellect, fleeting attention, and always-hungry belly. Sister Margaret Mary has gone missing, and Tessy saw a man who looked very much like the kindly cemetery caretaker carrying a limp body in the dead of night. They follow the clues and make some assumptions and try not to get caught before they catch the murderer. This book had a very odd undertone to it. There's a current of drunkenness and adultery that sometimes eludes Tessy, but it doesn't elude the reader, and the book often felt a little uncomfortable to me. I get very uneasy when the serious and the lighthearted mix in books featuring children. The book often felt like a middle-grade reader, but then it would trot out some four-letter words and adult situations, and I wouldn't know what to think. I think the author tried too hard to make the book funny, but it just came off as a poor rip-off of the Flavia de Luce books that do this whole child sleuth thing so much better. It was fun, but I didn't love it. My rating: 3 stars.

What I'm reading this week: