Zombies on Disc

So... as promised, my current driving entertainment: fluff on cd. Pride & Prejudice & Zombies was just the beginning.

But why not start there? Interestingly, there was a semi-serious bit at the beginning about what Jane Austen might have thought of such a thing. They seemed to be on to something, but never quite dared draw a conclusion. I'm not sure I dare either, but I will say this: she just might have been amused. Maybe. Otherwise, of course, she'd be horrified, but she just might have enjoyed the joke.

Also, I once tried to read this, and couldn't get through it, but listening had me laughing aloud while driving. I think it was the accents. How can you not laugh at zombie-fighting dialogue delivered in a posh British accent?

Since then, I've gone through quite a few audio books from the library. My favorite discoveries are The Harrison Investigations series by Heather Graham and the Bishop/SCU series from Kay Hooper. In both cases, "series" is a loose term (luckily, as so far I've only heard one book from each, both from somewhere in the middle of the series) for a group of stand-alone books connected by themes and/or background characters. You might learn more about the world by reading the series together, but you don't need to for the individual plots. They're also both mysteries, with supernatural elements. Guess we know what I like now.

The biggest flop was probably Tony Hillerman. And he had such potential, too! But despite a good mystery, by the end I was just about ready to kill Jim Chee and his friends myself, for being macho idiots. Women are perfectly capable of doing anything you can do, Jim Chee. Especially the ones who have the same badge and gun you do. A little respect, that's all I ask.

And no, treating someone as only a potential damsel in distress is not respect. Nor is it unacknowledged love, as far as I'm concerned. It's macho stupidity.

One Bad Apple

And the treasure hunt reviews continue!

One Bad Apple is the first in a mystery series. Meg Corey moves from Boston to an old colonial house in a small town (she thinks it's temporary, but we all know that's not going to happen) only to find her ex-boyfriend has made the same move (and the plumber's really nice). Next thing she knows, her ex is dead in her septic tank, and the detective in charge of the case thinks it was probably her, the plumber, or her and the plumber together.

A pretty basic mystery. Formulaic, but fun. I spent most of the book debating whether the murderer would be the character whose intro, even before the murder, set off alarm bells in my genre-savy head, or the character Meg gradually begins to suspect. Turns out it was both, so I'm happy.

Also, I know I've mentioned before that I don't like mysteries where the main character's accused, but for once it actually worked. The author (Sheila Connolly) follows Meg, not the detective, and the detective's investigation never goes far enough for her to be in real legal trouble. The accusation is just the incentive to investigate, nothing more.

Final conclusion: Enjoyable.

War Beneath the Waves

I miss my book reviews, even though I can't read all the bestsellers anymore, so here's a new section: Treasure Hunt. Books that I picked up at Borders' liquidation sales, or that I found cheap at used book stores. I've got quite a pile of these I've been meaning to go through anyway.

So first up is War Beneath the Waves, by Don Keith. It's a nonfiction book about a submarine crew in WWII, who suffered one of the worst depth-charge attacks anyone has ever survived – even though the top three officers were incapacitated early in the attack.

The story is interesting, the point – that such heroism deserves to be told and recognized – is appreciated, but somehow the editor in me is as fascinated as the historian. It's trying to figure out what went wrong.

I enjoyed this book. I really did. And any one section of it was an easy read, well-explained and plainly worded. The problem comes in the structure of the book as a whole. This was very obviously not written all in one go – or if it was, then the editor messed up badly. I could almost see it as a series of essays that were patched together, except that I don't know why anyone would write single essays on the events.

Terms and backgrounds are explained, re-explained, and re-explained again. Each time in slightly different wording, with a slightly different focus on the details. Each time as if the author thinks you've never heard it before. But the worst part, I think, is the timeline. This is not a linear story.

At first it seems to be following the man who will take command of the sub when no one else is available – Charlie Rush. But it keeps jumping. The main storyline meets someone important or interesting, and suddenly it's jumped back and is telling you their history. He gets assigned to a base or ship, and you get its history. These are all fascinating tangents – but they start to overlap after a while, and worse, you lose track of when you are in relation to the (supposed) main event of the book. The actual depth-charge attack consists of about four chapters, the central one only ten pages long – in a book with fourteen chapters, a prologue, and an epilogue.

It would probably make a great movie.

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Crystal Ball