Bedbugs

Bedbugs
by Ben H. Winters


Publisher's Blurb:

FOR RENT: Top two floors of beautifully renovated brownstone, 1300 sq. ft., 2BR 2BA, eat-in kitchen, one block to parks and playgrounds. No broker’s fee.

Susan and Alex Wendt have found their dream apartment.

Sure, the landlady is a little eccentric. And the elderly handyman drops some cryptic remarks about the basement. But the rent is so low, it’s too good to pass up.

Big mistake. Susan soon discovers that her new home is crawling with bedbugs . . . or is it? She awakens every morning with fresh bites, but neither Alex nor their daughter Emma has a single welt. An exterminator searches the property and turns up nothing. The landlady insists her building is clean. Susan fears she’s going mad—until a more sinister explanation presents itself: she may literally be confronting the bedbug problem from Hell.

My Reaction:
I wanted something creepy, and this book delivered.  (There's a lot of what I believe is termed "body horror".  Also bugs, if it wasn't obvious from the title.  Both of those things are on my "Icky List", but it wasn't too much for me, this time.)  The story kept me guessing; I was switching back and forth between favored explanations until the end.  It's nothing ground-breaking, but there's a reason formulas exist: They work. There are (at least) a couple of issues that could have used more resolution, but that often seems to be the case, in this genre.  There is no easy explanation, sometimes, so the author leaves us to fill in the blanks for ourselves.  (I usually just shrug and move on to the next book.  Well, after writing a nitpicking review, that is.)

Not a favorite-- won't be reading it again-- but fine for what it is.


Random Bits and Pieces (with SPOILERS): 
--  All the references to modern/current technology/brands/whatever caught my attention at once.  There was a cluster of three of them in two sentences, right off the bat.  First paragraphs of the book.  It was so blatant that I decided to make a list of all I noticed.  I think some people like that kind of thing-- makes them feel like they're there-- like what they're reading really happened.  I don't know... Sometimes a little of that is fine, but when they're crammed in together too closely, I find it distracting, and it seems like it will "date" the book in very short order.
Anyway, here's my list:
~MacBook
~DVR
~"Craigslist ad"
~"folders from Corcoran"
~"bright-pink Maclaren stroller"
~Ray-Bans
~Crocs
~"sleek miniature laser printer"
~"big black Phil and Ted's double stroller"
~Design Within Reach
~"full set of Henckels Twin Select cooking knives"
~"the Altoids tin in which she kept her Ambien"
~iPhone
~"ancient Pearl Jam T-shirt"
~"H&M jean jacket"
~"the Leonard Lopate Show"
~WNYC
~KitchenAid
~Cuisinart
~"Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch"
~Yahoo!
~Time Warner
~Cartier
~"tight American Apparel T-shirt"
~"an Elephant and Piggie book called I Love My New Toy"
~"Dora the Explorer brush"  (and backpack, I think...)
~1010 WINS
~BlackBerry
~They Might Be Giants
~iTunes
~"Hell's Kitchen"
~"a Bob Dylan T-shirt"
~iPad
~Dashing Diva
~Amazon.com
~Google (Googled)
~d.b.a. (a bar?)
~"The Weir" (a play)
~"Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard's house, in Park Slope"
~"Tom Kitt, one of the guys who wrote 'Next to Normal'"
~Bed Bath & Beyond
~"the all-knowing Wikipedia"
~"the New York Times"
~"Old Navy camisole"
~"The 'Top Chef' season finale"
~Tiffany
~Barnes & Noble
~"Sesame Street
~"Elmo's falsetto giggle"
~Safari
~Facebook
~Gmail
~Wonder Pets
~Samsung
~Maytag repairman (not especially "current", I'll grant you...)
~"cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs"

--  I know that it's not quite the same thing as focusing on his "art photography" full time, but why can't Alex still flex his creative muscles by taking artistic photos in his free time-- weekends, the occasional weeknight?  This couple feels very "all or nothing". 

--  This is an extremely nitpicky nitpick, but at one point Susan soothes Emma by smoothing "her pale hair", when I'm almost positive that Emma was described earlier in the book as having her father's dark hair.  It's a little thing, but still...

--  It is strange (imho) that Susan has to have someone to babysit Emma at least half of the day.  And then on the one day that the babysitter (nanny, whatever) calls in sick, it's like Susan can't handle being solely responsible for her little girl for a whole day!  She calls Alex to see if he can come home early!  I mean, I get that kids can be exhausting, but come on.  One day alone with one kid-- your own child-- is too much for you?  That's embarrassing.

--  I was seriously annoyed by Susan's freaked-out reaction to Emma's freaked-out reaction to being told that, hey, little missy, you're not allowed to open the creepy door to the basement.  Ugh.  "'Did you tell her not to go down there, or did you raise your voice at her?' she demanded of Louis."  UGH.  Maybe Susan should be taking care of her own darn kid instead of blaming the person who had to step up in her absence.  Now, Susan does have a right to be frustrated with the babysitter (whatever her name was... Marni?), because you can't turn your back on little kids.  (She might've run out into the street!)

--  Also annoying-- the way Susan talks to Emma.  All the pet names-- doll, love, etc.  Blech.   Yeah, you love your baby sooo SOOOO MUCH.  You love her so much that you can't bear to be saddled with her for a whole day, even though all you're doing in the meantime is pottering around home/town or running silly little errands that you could do with a child in tow.  (Yeah, I'm being judgmental.  Whatever.  It's my nit-pickin' book-blog.  You're darn well right I sit in judgement! Judge, jury, and executioner, honey.  ...Ok, enough sass for one bullet-point...)

-- So.  The blood stain on the pillowcase.  ...These people get really freaked out over a small blood stain on a pillowcase.  (Is it blood?  Could it be blood?  Omigosh, I think it's blood!!! The sky's a-fallin', Henny-Penny!)  Which makes me wonder... Should I be more concerned about such things?  Because if it were me, I'd notice it and probably shrug-- at most tsk-tsk a little over the fact that the pillowcase is now stained.  I'd figure that I must've opened up a small sore in the middle of the night, scratched it or something.  No big deal, right?  Well, apparently it is a big deal, and you should jump directly to the conclusion that you have the dreaded BEDBUGS. 

--  Do these people (including their preschool-age daughter) ever just spend a whole day at home?  It seems like they're always going somewhere (and not just the normal, routine places, like work or school).  Emma in particular seems to have a very full calendar for someone who's three-and-a-half.

--  I know that bedbugs were (are?) a big deal in NYC-- for a while there, at least-- and obviously no-one wants to get the things.  They have a reputation of being all but impossible to eradicate, once they get a foothold.  All that said, some of the characters' behavior seemed out of scale.  When Susan calls the mother of Emma's new friends, she actually asks if Susan's having "an insect problem"-- because they saw an exterminator's van outside her building-- and then basically cuts all ties with her.  ("'I'm sorry, Susan.  I just can't risk coming over-- the kids--'")  Well, ok, I guess you can argue that this woman barely knew Susan... But then later on, Susan calls her "good friend" to ask if she and Emma can spend a night or two at her place-- and again, it's like she has the Plague! ("'I... oh, Sue.  I can't get bedbugs.  I just can't.'")  Of course, nothing was stopping Susan from going to a hotel, at that point, if it really was to be only for a night or two. 

--  We're regularly treated to tidbits like this one:  "Alex turned to look at the clock, and Susan gnawed furtively at her nails, wrenching off a hunk of thumbnail and spitting it on the floor.  A pulse of pain shot up her thumb, and blood welled where the nail had been and drooled down over the knuckle.  Alex turned back and planted a sweet kiss on her cheek."  ~*woozy*~  I have a bit of a "thing" about finger (and toe) nails falling off/bending back/etc., so... Yuck.  Also, at this point I'm pretty convinced that Susan is going ca-razy.  The whole "furtive" aspect is creepy, too...

--  Ekbom's syndrome, a.k.a. "delusional parasitosis"  ~shiver~  Honestly, I think that's one of the scariest things in the book.  Something that could really happen to you, unlike being cursed with demonic "badbugs".  I also think that it would have been sufficiently horrific if Susan had been suffering from Ekbom's syndrome, without all the paranormal stuff.

-- When Susan fires the shot that kills Andrea (and breaks the curse), Alex is upstairs, having just discovered the body of the exterminator, Dana Kaufmann.  Alright.  What I find difficult to believe is that the body "had been entirely consumed"-- "in a span of five hours".  Maybe if there were vultures or coyotes or something that had access to their apartment.  But just bedbugs?  In five hours?  *skeptical face*

-- Funny that in the end, everything's coming up roses for the family.  They've bought a house of their own-- no more rented apartments, thank you very much!  Alex has taken the winter off to be with his family. (Both these things even though money was supposed to be so tight just months earlier, which is puzzling... What's changed?  They got more/higher-end business after the Tiffany photos?)  They've even bought a puppy!  It's the American Dream, alright, except that Susan still checks the bed linens for evidence of bedbugs.  


Unanswered Questions (SPOILERS):
--  How did the bedbugs/badbugs change Susan's painting?  Or was she actually changing it herself?  That's what I assumed was happening, during her "insane" period.  Well, either that or that Andrea was sneaking in and doing it at night, but Andrea would need to have significant artistic ability to do that...

--  Why did the bedbugs/badbugs focus on Susan, in particular?  Was she just the most vulnerable person in the family?   In a similar vein, why did Andrea go to such lengths (supposedly, though throwing her down the air shaft seems a bit risky, because necks do break) to keep Susan alive for the bed/badbugs, when she just killed the exterminator and the handyman?  Why not keep all of them alive?  Did the bedbugs not care about the other people being alive?  Was it just part of Andrea's insanity?  Maybe she didn't feel she had a choice but to kill the others, since they were strong.  She had to strike a fatal blow or risk their fighting back.

--  What a coincidence that Susan and Jessie followed the same pattern-- even the point of each of them attempting to kill her husband/fiance.  Too big to be a coincidence.  So what does it mean?

--  Susan finds Jessie's own severed finger, with its engagement ring still on it, in the corpse's pocket.  Clearly, she has to find it there so that she can explain the "pinging" they heard earlier in the book-- and so we can all shudder over the thought that Jessica was still alive while the new family was already living upstairs.  It's plenty creepy, but it doesn't make perfect sense to me.  What would stop Jessie from just putting the ring on another finger and continuing to signal for help? Wouldn't it have been more useful for (the insane) Andrea to simply take the ring away?  (All this assumes that there was nothing else within reach that Jessie could've used instead of the ring, too.)  I suppose having her finger cut off could've been sufficient deterrent to prevent Jessie from wanting to try to signal again, but I'm doubtful.  She knew she was going to die a torturous death down there.  Any risk would be worth taking.   ...Only other explanation that comes to mind is that Andrea somehow pinned down her arms or closed the bin more securely after cutting off the finger...

-- Susan determines that Andrea purposely planted the seed of "hotel" to make Susan suspect Alex of cheating on her and to drive her over the edge.  But... How does that make sense?  Am I forgetting something?  How would Andrea know about the hotel matchbook and Susan's momentary suspicions (from earlier in the book)?  And how would Andrea know that Susan had read that bizarre bedbug book, which was the thing that convinced her that the only way to escape the infestation was to kill the person who'd invited it?  ...It doesn't quite fit together logically.  Of course, this is a book that expects you to accept the concept of demonic bedbugs from Hell, so...

Touch Not the Cat

Touch Not the Cat
by Mary Stewart


(Edited) Publisher's Blurb:

After the tragic death of her father, Bryony Ashley returns from abroad to find that his estate is to become the responsibility of her cousin Emory. Her family's estate with its load of debt is no longer her worry. Still, her father's final, dire warning about a terrible family curse haunts her days and her dreams. And there is something odd about her father's sudden death...

Bryony has inherited the Ashley 'Sight' and so has one of the Ashleys. Since childhood the two have communicated through thought patterns, though Bryony has no idea of his identity. Devastated, she believes that the mysterious stranger is her destiny... the lover-to-be who waits for her now at Ashley Court. Now she is determined to find him. But passion is not all that will greet Bryony upon her return -- for the crumbling walls of the old mansion guard dark secrets, tragic memories... and inescapable peril.

 
My Reaction (with SPOILERS):
I listened to the audiobook version, and as always under those circumstances, I find myself with less to say than if I'd read the words on the page.

Though it's not as good as The Moonspinners or Nine Coaches Waiting, I enjoyed the book!  It delivers just about everything you'd expect from gothic-mystery romantic-suspense.  It was a bit predictable that Rob would turn out to be Bryony's "lover"-- and of course there's a last-minute discovery that will be the saving of Ashley Court-- but still, enjoyable.

What I found less enjoyable were the snippets from Romeo and Juliet at the beginning of each chapter... and the flashbacks to the Ashley of the past (though I guess those were at least somewhat significant to the plot)... and Rob's "country" accent, as read in the audiobook version.  I eventually got used to it, but it's still not my favorite thing.  I found myself wondering if that accent was "written into his speech" in the book, or if the reader just gave her best effort at the accent, since it's mentioned that he has one.  I was even more irritated by the country accent of the woman in the flashbacks.  (Maybe I'm just an accent snob...)

I found it amusing, while glancing at a few other readers' reviews, that some are so utterly revolted by the thought of a first-cousin romance.  Now, when I think about actual first cousins I personally know getting married, it does seem odd, but for whatever reason, I've never had a problem with that in literature.  It wasn't that many generations ago that first-cousin marriages were very common occurrences.  Maybe it's all the old books and BritLit that I read, but I'm not troubled.  (Unlike the person who referred to it as "incest". (g))  Also, someone says that in the American version, the first cousins were changed to second cousins!  What a hoot!

Again, while browsing reviews, I saw people saying that the book is dated.  Well, at one point (near the end), Bryony says something like, "This is the 70s"!  Apart from that, I honestly didn't find myself thinking, "This feels so 70s!" If anything, it felt like it could've taken place any time after air travel became fairly commonplace (since Bryony takes a flight early in the book).  It was much less "dated-feeling" than many books I've read.  In fact, the one I'm reading now feels extremely dated-- and it was published within the past few years.  What makes it feel dated is the too-frequent references to specific brand names and current technology.  I didn't notice that Mary Stewart did that at all, in Touch Not the Cat. 

Sidenote:  The modern cover-- all black, except for a black cat walking into a purple and green spinning, glowing, magical/mystical vortex-- is very strange.  It seems more appropriate for science fiction-- or possibly fantasy.  Despite the telepathy, this book doesn't feel like either genre. 

Incidentally, I read just a few days ago that this author, Mary Stewart, had died.  She was in her 90s, I believe, so she had a long life.  I've only read a few of her books, but I look forward to enjoying more of them in the years to come. 

"The Monster in the Mirror"

"The Monster in the Mirror"
by M.J.A. Ware


Synopsis:

Could there be a hidden room somewhere in your house? And just what would you find lurking there?

Nate, his little sister, and best buddy Dan, stumble upon a hidden room during a sleep-over. What they find inside is anything but friendly.

My Reaction:
I got this as a freebie on Amazon some time ago, and when I finished the last book, found it already loaded on the Kindle.  Convenient and short, so why not?  I hadn't remembered it was a short story for "younger readers", so my expectations were entirely off the mark.

I think a young YA (pre-teen? "tween"?) reader might enjoy this story.  For me, it was a little too short and rushed, and there were many things that could've been fleshed out to make it a stronger story.  However, I'm not the target audience...  The kernel of the story is interesting, though, and it's definitely creepy. 

I think the ebook includes a bonus story or two, but I don't think I'll bother. 

The Flight of Gemma Hardy

The Flight of Gemma Hardy
by Margot Livesey
 

(Abbreviated) Publisher's Blurb:

Set in Scotland and Iceland in the 1950s and '60s, The Flight of Gemma Hardy--a captivating homage to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre--is a sweeping saga that resurrects the timeless themes of the original but is destined to become a classic all its own.

My Reaction:
(SPOILERS for Jane Eyre)
(I abbreviated the blurb, because I think it gives away too many details of the story.)

Jane Eyre has been one of my favorite books since the time I first read it (as a teenager), and from the very first sentence of this novel ("We did not go for a walk on the first day of the year."), I recognized a retelling.  (Yes, yet again I started a book without reading the blurb... Or if I ever read it, it must've been so long ago that I'd forgotten the Brontë connection.  I chose the book based on its cover, title, and availability.) 

When you have particularly strong feelings about a book, you are likely to have similarly strong reactions to other books that are "inspired by" or "based on" it.  Sometimes you love the new book for the sake of that connection.  More often, however, I think you expect more of it, and it rarely lives up to the comparison.  That's certainly the case in this instance.  The "borrowing" of themes and plot twists was so blatant that it was impossible to forget or even ignore.  That invites constant comparison, and the newer book simply couldn't live up to the original.

Several times I found myself wishing I were reading Jane Eyre instead.  I like Jane more than Gemma.  Jane seems more intelligent and mature and admirable than Gemma.  Jane and Mr. Rochester have better chemistry (dialogue) than Gemma and Mr. Sinclair (who is barely even a character-- completely lacking Mr. Rochester's powerful personality).  Jane is almost a real person to me; Gemma remains a limited and only moderately sympathetic character.  Jane Eyre is a feast, while Gemma Hardy is airplane food.

Once I'd started the book, I wanted to see where it went-- how the author would "re-interpret" the plot points of Jane Eyre for a more modern setting-- and I made it through the book alright, but I never enjoyed it as much as I hoped, and I mostly just wanted it to end.  I might have liked it more if I hadn't been comparing it to something so infinitely superior, but of course that's impossible to know. 


Nitpicks (with SPOILERS for this book and Jane Eyre):
-- "Louise now had her own horse.  She had tried to convert me to her equine cult by lending me Black Beauty and National Velvet.  So long as I was reading I understood her enthusiasm, but as soon as I was in the presence of an actual horse, all teeth and hooves and dusty hair, I was once again baffled."  Aside from My Little Pony and various and sundry rainbow-haired cartoonish unicorns (some with wings!), I guess I also skipped right over that particular (supposed) female obsession.  I don't come from "horse people", so I guess that's part of it.  (We're dog people, instead, I suppose you could say.) 

-- The multiple references to Anne of Green Gables were nice.  Sadly, I'm not sure that Gemma and I would be kindred spirits...

--  I suppose it's part of the effort at modernization, but I can't say I like the seamy, nasty little touches that pop up in the story, now and again.  Things like Gemma stumbling upon the disgusting tableau of Drummond and some random boy having sex in the field of raspberry canes.  Or Mrs. Milne's obscene rant.  Or the man on the bus who steals from Gemma and attempts to molest her.  Gross.

--  Ross is a despicable character.  I suppose we're meant to feel at least a little sorry for her, but she doesn't make it easy.  However little I like her, though, the repeated description of her chipped tooth and "muddy brown eyes" feels unnecessarily rude and juvenile.  She's unlikeable enough without the catty remarks on her looks!  (Also, I can't help but wonder if other people think that my eyes are "muddy brown", too... Poor, awful Ross...)

--  The ghostly young man at Claypoole (the school Gemma attends) is an odd inclusion in the book.  Then there's that creepy snow-thing that visits her when she's locked in the sewing closet... And of course all the other supernatural things that come later in the book.  The touches of the supernatural in Jane Eyre are more elegantly executed.

--  New words for me:  gymkhanas.  dreich.  harled.

--  One of the things I most admire about Jane Eyre is her strength of character.  She is clearly influenced and guided by her deeply-held religious beliefs.  Gemma Hardy brings up the issue of God and Scripture a few times, but never with conviction-- always with uncertainty.  Gemma leaves Scripture out of her schedule for teaching Nell, and when one person asks if another believes in God, the answer is repeatedly along the lines of "I don't know"-- or even bleaker: "'No... I think some things just are, like puffins and volcanoes, and then humans invent other things.'"  Another reflection of the changing times?  (This book is set in the late 1950s to mid 1960s.)  It's not a reflection I like...  I do appreciate that at least there are some sympathetic religious characters to balance the terrible preacher (vicar?) at Claypoole.

--  Gemma seems naive for a nineteen year old in the swinging 1960s.  Sure, she's grown up in a restrictive environment, but still!  In some ways-- many-- even Jane Eyre seems worldlier, by comparison.

--  Gemma also (at times) seems too good to be true.  Like when she calls a bee "poor thing" after it stings her (because a bee dies after it uses its sting).  Excuse me while I roll my eyes.  It's a bee.  Good grief.  Does she also shed a tear for the poor yeast when she bakes bread? ;o)

--  Now, I don't like Coco, but I had to sympathize with her when she showed no interest in Gemma's rather know-it-all, "let me teach you" observations about male birds being the flashier of the species, as opposed to human beings, where the women are generally thought the more visually pleasing gender.  I mean, sure, that's interesting and all, but I think most people have heard it by the time they've reached adulthood.  Coco remarks that it would be "super" if they found a chalice, "whatever that is", around some ruins-- and Gemma is "about to explain that a chalice was a metal drinking cup, and also that any finds belonged to the government..."  That doesn't make Gemma sound like a fun companion, to tell the truth.

--  At some point-- the mention of the last great auk, I think-- I had had it with all the mentions of birds.  Grah!  We get it!  She's obsessed with birds!  There's a reference to birds (ok, flight) in the very title of the book.  WE KNOW.  Now can you please let up a little?

--  The first kiss after the admission of love was a bit too... hands-on for my taste.  Why not take it a little bit slower?  It made their whole relationship feel trashy.

--  "Please swear the one thing I want.  That you won't allow anything, any secret, to change your feelings for me."  ...Yeah, no red flags there!  Besides, I don't think it's possible to honestly make that promise.  You can swear that you will stay with someone through whatever comes, even if your feelings change.  You can swear that you'll try to keep your feelings the same, always, but feelings change.  It happens, even in loving, committed relationships.  We change over time, and our feelings change with us.  What matters is how you handle those changes.

-- King Solomon's Mines, by Rider Haggard.  Possibly interesting to read at some point.

-- Gemma's reason for running away from "New Thornfield" is weak.  I mean really weak.  Of course, I never really understood why Gemma and Mr. Sinclair were getting married in the first place.  They fall in love so fast that if you blink, you've missed it.  Jane and Mr. Rochester's strange courtship, on the other hand, is deliciously drawn out and dizzying.  ...Actually, that's one of my biggest problems with this re-telling.  Jane Eyre is a story about a woman's struggle to find her place in the world, but a crucial part of the book is her love story.  To call Gemma Hardy a love story would be a painful stretch, imho. 

--  "'...people say in pure maths you reach a point where you can't understand what the numbers are doing.  Classics seem safer.'  'Why should you suddenly not understand numbers?  That sounds like something male teachers say to girls.'"  *eyeroll*

--  Of course the two sisters from the original have turned into a lesbian couple in the modernization.  Obviously.  Adds so much to the story to do it that way.

--  When Gemma makes a passing reference to Nell and Coco on the night she drinks too much at the congratulatory supper with Hannah and Pauline, I had to really think to remember who Coco was.  It felt like such a long time since her little bit of the book!

--  Gemma's theft was shocking.  It felt completely out of character-- something that Jane Eyre would never have done.  Her sudden desperate need to find her family in Iceland seemed manufactured.  Despite her objections (basically, "they might have refused!"), she could have asked someone for a loan-- or to help her find her family while still living in Scotland.  That theft was unforgivable, and after that, I didn't particularly care what happened to her. 

--  Considering how much of a whirlwind romance Gemma and Mr. Sinclair's relationship was-- and how immature Gemma seems, in some respects-- I think it's probably for the best that the novel ends with her telling Mr. Sinclair that she wants to spend a little time as a single adult before she agrees to marry him. 

--  One thing that was never resolved-- the precious personal belongings that Gemma left with her old teacher.  Maybe once she's matured a bit, she'll have the courage to go back to his sister and explain the situation.  Surely the sister wouldn't be (as) angry, once she knew the facts.  (And really, it was at least as much Mr. Donaldson's fault as it was Gemma's.  After all, he-- an adult who might have foreseen some potential for scandal, since he'd had problems in the past-- gave her those addressed and stamped envelopes.  Of course, both of them were completely innocent of any wrong-doing and the ultimate blame goes to Gemma's awful aunt.) 

--  I imagine that few readers really like St. John Rivers, so it's no surprise that his copy in this book, Archie, is similarly difficult to like.  However, while St. John is cold and severe, at least we know that he is capable of love and warmth-- just not in response to Jane.  Archie, on the other hand, is... I don't know what he is.  In Jane Eyre, we understand why St. John wants to marry Jane.  He needs an intelligent, hard-working helpmeet for his proposed work as a missionary, and because of the traditions of the time, he's convinced that they must be married for this to work.  Why Archie would want to marry Gemma, on the other hand, is harder to comprehend.  Clearly he doesn't feel passionate love for her... Maybe he's just hoping for a friendly companion or feels that he's "supposed" to get married, and since they share some interests, she's as good an option as he's likely to find.  In any case, while I don't really like Archie that much, I feel a bit sorry for him.  I don't remember feeling sorry for St. John.  He wouldn't appreciate pity. 

-- That's it.  I've nothing more to say, except that I'm glad to have this one done.  (I feel I've been saying that about a lot of books, lately.  I need to be choosier, apparently.)

Rise Again

Rise Again: A Zombie Thriller
by Ben Tripp

Publisher's Blurb:

A MYSTERIOUS CONTAGION. MASS HYSTERIA. SUDDEN DEATH.

And a warning that would come all too late . . .

Forest Peak, California. Fourth of July. Sheriff Danielle Adelman, a troubled war veteran, thinks she has all the problems she can handle in this all-American town after her kid sister runs away from home. But when a disease-stricken horde of panicked refugees fleeing the fall of Los Angeles swarms her small mountain community, Danny realizes her problems have only just begun—starting with what might very well be the end of the world. Danny thought she had seen humanity at its worst in war-torn Iraq, but nothing could prepare her for the remorseless struggle to survive in a dying world being overrun by the reanimated dead and men turned monster. Obsessed with finding her missing sister against all odds, Danny’s epic and dangerous journey across the California desert will challenge her spirit . . . and bring her to the precipice of sanity itself. . . .

Filled with adventurous human drama—and shocking inhuman horror—Rise Again marks a vivid and powerful fiction debut.

My Reaction:
Short reaction:  It was alright.   (Damning with faint praise again...)

I mean, it's a zombie novel, and let's just be honest-- we don't expect the highest quality writing from those.  Or rather, we can expect it all we want, but if we do, we're usually doomed to disappointment.  Based on my experience of them thus far, that is.  Possibly there are some amazing zombie novels out there.  I have a short list of recommendations I'll get to, eventually.  In the meantime, I've come across more bad writing than good, in this little niche-genre.  "Adequate" is the best you can say for most.  (Though to be fair, that's true for a lot of modern writing, from what I've seen, lately.  It just doesn't seem to take much talent to get published, these days, and the problem is certainly not limited to horror alone.  But to get back to the point...) 

So, no, it's not the worst I've read, but (with the exception of part of the beginning) it never really grabbed me, and there were so many things about it that annoyed or irked me that I had to make myself finish.  That's never a good sign.

And now that I've finished it-- but that's something for the nit-pick section...  Suffice it to say that it lacked a sense of real conclusion, and I just don't think I can muster the give-a-crap (sorry, side effect of reading this novel-- and that's the toned-down version!) to start in on the sequel.  So... ~shrug~  Ambivalence.

NOT recommended for children or anyone who objects to descriptions of disgusting horror-movie-style images (though given the subject matter, you should be prepared for that) or quite a bit of cursing. 


Nit-Picks, Etc. (with SPOILERS): 
--  The very beginning was confusing.  We start with a lengthy section about Kelley writing her letter to Danny, and if you haven't read the blurb (which I hadn't, recently), you probably think Kelley will be the protagonist.  I also thought Danny was a guy-- maybe a funny mistake for me (of all people) to make, since I'm also a woman with a masculine name.  Momentary disorientation.  I don't know if the juicy (eh, trashy and gross?) tidbits about the people in Forest Peak is supposed to give us a feel for the place or what, but it didn't make a good impression.  No wonder Kelley wants to run away!

--  Incidentally, Kelley's supposed to have graduated from high school, right?  Did I miss something?  Isn't she at least eighteen?  How can she "run away", then?  Kids and young teens "run away".  Adults just leave.  They really shouldn't steal their big sister's primo candy-apple-red Mustang, though.  That's not nice.

--  "Maybe she could get out of this one-horse sh*thole of a town."  Um, so what's been keeping Kelley and Danny there, if it's so awful?  I really hate this kind of thinking.  It is beyond exasperating.  If you really, truly hate where you are, go somewhere else.  They don't even have family to keep them tied down.  It might not be easy to get out-- might require all kinds of sacrifice-- but if it's important enough to you, you can find a way. 

--  The way that Danny defines herself and her world in terms of her military service in Iraq gets old.  Not to be insensitive to the issue of her PTSD... but I didn't enjoy revisiting it so often.

--  Things like this:  "He'd been in the Army during a rare lull in the endless national war program."  ...They kinda rub me the wrong way.  Then there are the repeated references to "New Orleans"-- meaning Hurricane Katrina.  (Don't get me started.)  For example:  "These were Americans, who had never experienced refugee status before, unless they were from New Orleans."  ...Yeah, because they were the first Americans ever displaced from their homes by destructive weather.  Or fire.  Or gas explosion, etc.  Another example: "'...I heard a couple of things that make me think it's the Gulf Hurricane, times ten, everywhere in the entire country.'"  The "Gulf Hurricane"... Like it's the only one that ever was or will be.  (I guess I take this issue a little personally.  Was Katrina awful?  Yes.  Was it made worse by a variety of poor decisions?  YES-- but maybe not the ones that most would identify.  Was it the end of the world?  Clearly not.  As someone living in a place where hurricanes are a yearly threat, I find the whole thing frustrating.)

--  Early in the book, when there's just a sense that something may be wrong in other parts of the world, but no-one really knows what's happening in Asia-- or even just down in L.A.-- I couldn't help but wonder if Forest Peak didn't have any Internet connections.  Even if cell phone service failed and the government managed to silence traditional media, what about Twitter and Facebook?  Twitter's the first place I check for breaking news, these days.  (Maybe I shouldn't admit it...)

--  "It vaguely reminded Patrick of the day Princess Diana died, and the shocking news rippled out into the world accompanied by an equal measure of disbelief.  It hadn't been the same with Michael Jackson."  ...Huh?  What's your point, Patrick?  That people almost expected Michael Jackson to die?  (I have no idea.)  Strange comment.

--  "A bunch of talking heads in Washington blaming the Muslims."  UGH.  UGH.  UGHHHHH. (No, haven't turned into a moaning zombie.  Just expressing my emotions. Enjoy!)

--  Danny doesn't seem to have much respect for other people's desire for autonomy.  Too much in love with her own position of authority, I guess.  "People in crisis preferred, Danny realized, individual action over imposed order-- even if the price was bloodshed and confusion." (Imposed order?  Imposed by whom?)  "Maybe that was the primary freedom they were celebrating every Fourth of July: the right to act like f**kups now and then.  She hoped there was more to it than that."  (That brought a tear to my eye.  Very moving. *eyeroll*)

--   After a "runner" ignores Danny's order that she stop at the barricade... "Now Danny could see her eyes, and there was no recognition behind them, no mind.  Time to make an example.  Stop one, maybe stop a thousand."  ...But if they're all like the woman-- no mind-- then how will "making an example" of one possibly influence the others?  (Danny ain't the brightest, sometimes.)

--  "All of her furry friends had escaped during the morning.  She hoped Diggler was all right.  He was some pig."  (I think I sprained an eyeball from the tortured rolling, the first time I read that bit.)

--  "'They're going to have thousands of refugees on their hands, but with our uniforms we might be able to get some love.'" Oh, preferential treatment for the sheriff and fireman?  That's wonderful.  What about the rest of us poor, un-uniformed nobodies?

-- Incidentally, why do so many zombie novels (etc.) have military or law enforcement types as the main character(s)?  Target audience?  I guess they'd likely be pressed into leadership roles (early on, at least) in any sort of crisis-- and likely to volunteer their know-how-- so it's fairly logical.  A bit repetitive, though, at this point.

--  "[The zombies] were so stupid, but so dedicated.  Like Republicans, Amy thought.  She wished irrelevant things wouldn't come into her head so much."  Yeah... We all do, Amy.  (I don't like Amy.  Shocker, right?)

--  Danny explodes cars by shooting at the gas tank (iirc).  Am I crazy, or didn't I see the Mythbusters disprove that particular action/adventure specialty?

--  Some of the gory descriptions are just silly.  A zombie that "puked its brains out of its ear", and another "with its head emptied out like a pinata".  So juvenile!


--  Uh-oh!  It's another episode of Danny Knows Best.  "There was more discussion than Danny liked, after she was done speaking.  In the service it was considered insubordinate to openly discuss an officer's judgment.  These civilians didn't try to hide their skepticism.  They were expecting a vote or something, Danny thought.  F**k 'em, they could vote in November.  She had to keep them moving."  UGH.  Look, Danny, thank you for your service, but you're not in the army anymore.  Time to adjust to your new reality.  Why should these people-- most of whom don't know you at all-- blindly follow you "just 'cause"?  No way would she be satisfied to shut up and follow someone else's lead, so why is she always so offended when someone else dares to have an opinion about the decisions that will determine whether they live or die?  (...I must confess, I don't really like Danny.  Strong, yes.  But such a rude control-freak with an unrealistic ability to survive anything.)  Also, I can't be the only one who finds it obnoxious when a person in the military/law-enforcement insists on referring to the rest of us as "civilians", like that.  Far too often it comes out sounding like an insult. 

--  Oh, goody!  Another instance in which Danny can teach everyone else how they're Wrong!!  When her group breaks into a closed gas station and starts taking supplies, she promptly accuses them of looting.  Um, Earth to Danny.  It's the zombie apocalypse, and they're hungry.  I think it's ok to take some food and water.  If things ever get back to normal, go pay the store owner for what you took-- but it's not like they're taking big-screen TVs or expensive tennis shoes just for the heck of it.  Later on, I guess she decides it's ok to "loot"-- because they break into the airfield and start using up all its supplies-- but evidently it's a no-no 'til she says you can, dagnabit!  (Also, this was after she was exploding cars left and right. ...And someone-- Danny?  Amy?  the fireman?-- apparently decided it was ok to raid the Forest Peak Quikmart for food, earlier.  How was this any different?)

--  "'Palm Springs was full of zombies to begin with,' Patrick muttered."  Hardy-har-har.  I don't know or care much about Palm Springs, but this seems like a cheap shot.

--  "Danny's stomach knotted.  Sh*t.  Those stupid bastards were second-guessing her every move, of course.  That slimeball Ted Shoemaker was probably the ringleader.  There might need to be another come-to-Jesus moment pretty soon."  Yes.  How dare they question her authority?!  She's wearing a uniform, dammit!  Are they bleeping blind or something?

--  "Danny's vision grew red again and she thought she was going to go over there and [do something too disgusting to repeat] the [S.O.B] with the shotgun."  Well, now I see why Danny should be head honcho!  So cool under pressure!  So level-headed!

--  It was so lovely when Danny and Amy invited themselves into Patrick's RV-- and then Patrick seemed self-conscious to Danny, which she hates, so she told him to join her in a drink.  Very kind of her to offer him some of his own booze, don't you think?  And then they all get drunk, because that's what responsible adults do when the world has fallen apart and there are zombies on the prowl.

--  Just about the only time we get any insight into Troy (the fireman), it has to be about his race.  (Of course.)  "Who gave a damn if he was the only brother in town?  The other dudes at the firehouse knew he was cooler than them.  They welcomed the change.  And he knew somebody had helped make all that possible:  The locals figured if they could have a lady sheriff, they could even have a colored fireman."  (*rolling-of-the-eyes*)  Wow.  What an amazing back-story of that mostly-white small town finally embracing Change.  Nothing annoyingly stereotypical in all that, no-siree, nope. 

--  On the radio, Danny hears conversations among groups that call themselves "Wolverines", "Rebel Alliance", and "Ghostbusters".  Evidently, the nerds have inherited the earth!  (But... Where are the Trekkies?  And the Browncoats?  Don't tell me Ghostbusters has a bigger following than Star Trek.)

--  I wonder if Senator Anka was modeled on Pelosi... Because that's who I was picturing-- and she does represent most of San Francisco... That said, she's probably the least realistic character in the book-- and that's including the zombies.  I mean, really.  She yells, "Don't lecture me, you ragamuffin!" at Danny.  Now, I understand the impulse.  A Danny-lecture would be enough to make me want to shout, too, but who uses the word "ragamuffin" seriously, these days?  Realism all shot to pieces!

--  Amy refers to the (too infuriatingly mean and stupid for realism) mercenaries as "psycho-birdies".  What in the world is a psycho-birdy?  (Amy strikes again.  She has a habit of saying weird things.  It's so endearing, doncha know!)

--  I sincerely wish more authors would make the effort to leave their political opinions out of their work.  I guess they're just so convinced that they're totally right-- and of course, anyone with a differing view must be an idiot who probably doesn't even really know how to read.  Trust me, there are readers out here who don't agree with you politically, and we don't like insults any more than you do. 

--  So, Danny has to gnaw off three fingers to save herself from the zombies.  I've heard of animals gnawing off feet to free themselves from traps-- and of course there are cases when people cut off fingers or even limbs for the sake of escape-- but I don't think I've ever heard of a person gnawing off a body part.  Of course, Danny is SuperWoman or something, so sure.  It's perfectly plausible.

--  Patrick says, "I was staring at this godawful spray-on acoustic ceiling material...".   What is with people these days about the darned acoustic ceilings?!  Good grief!  You'd think an acoustic ceiling murdered their families in cold blood, or something, based on the way some people bad-mouth them.  Get over it, guys.  It's not that big of a deal.  If a popcorn ceiling is your biggest problem in life, count yourself lucky.  (As you may have guessed, my home has an acoustic ceiling.  The shame!  The shame! *hiding my face in my hands and wailing*)

--  Ok.  Here's the situation:  Danny and Zero-Killer have a hunch that the zombos can smell human breath and are tracking them by scent.  So Danny's sneaking through enemy territory wearing a firefighting mask and an oxygen cylinder.  It's uncomfortable, "but at least she wasn't leaving a plume of breath smell behind her".  Uhhhh.  Yeah... About that...  Maybe I'm wrong, but when you breathe with the aid of an oxygen mask, doesn't the "used air"-- your exhalations-- go out into the surrounding air (or water, if you're scuba-diving)?  So... It wouldn't really help hide the scent of your breath, would it?  Maybe it's different with the air masks firefighters use...

--  I love it when an author demonstrates just how stupid s/he thinks his/her readers are by spelling things out too precisely.  I think most of us had already figured it out before we were carefully informed that the figure in the very visible cop car was actually a decoy-- a zombie in a police hat.

--  "The interceptor came to a halt, puking gasoline and antifreeze from its guts."  Ha!  Even the car's "death" is told in grody detail.  I've never seen a car puking from its guts before, thank goodness...

--  Yay.  There's a bit about "zealots" in the post-zombie world.  Because of course there is.  Everyone knows that religious folks are cuckoo in the head.  Now, I don't doubt there would be some psychos who would come up with their own twisted version of religion under those circumstances.  Goodness knows those types of people already present a challenge-- but would it kill an author to write a more balanced portrayal of religion?  Why can't there be a few good religious characters, too, if you're going to address the issue at all?

--  I get the impression from one other review I read that maybe there's a tacked-on, after-thought explanation of how Danny went from the zombie-filled streets of San Francisco to back on the road toward the rest of her group.  I must've missed it.  (Maybe one of those times I nodded off while reading, I accidentally skipped it.) 

--  "...a guy from Philly who had walked and fought a thousand miles before he ran into the convoy.  People called him 'Beowulf,' because his story sounded like something from Norse mythology."  Really?  I have a hard time believing that many in a random group of people would know about Beowulf, much less spontaneously appoint someone that nickname. 

--  "Danny had a theory that groups could get too large for travel.  She kept her band capped around one hundred individuals, simply because beyond that she didn't recognize everybody.  It got harder to gauge the merit of individuals.  Cliques formed.  Little knots of people started coming up with their own plans and rules, which inevitably ran at cross-purposes to the larger group."  *gasp*  People coming up with their own plans and rules?!  We can't have that.  Nip it-- nip it in the bud!  Ugh.  I'm pretty sure I would be getting away from Danny's "Tribe" ASAP.  Thanks but no-thanks on the offer to run my life for me, Queen Danny.

-- ...Actually, that about sums it up.  Thanks, but no thanks.  Not sure if I'll bother with the next book.  I'm pretty annoyed that the last line of this one was a major, major cliff-hanger.  I'm definitely not up for the sequel right away, no matter what.  I need a breath of fresh, non-Danny-tainted air.  At some point, maybe I'll care enough to read the next one.  We'll see.