Showing posts with label Quirk Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Quirk Books. Show all posts

Sunday, July 13, 2014

The Last Policeman Trilogy: World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters


World of Trouble is the conclusion, and the most personal and passionate installment, of Ben H. Winters' pre-apocalyptic mystery trilogy The Last Policeman.

"And I won't let go and I can't let go
I won't let go and I can't let go
I won't let go and I can't let go no more"
---Bob Dylan, "Solid Rock"

There are fourteen days left before Maia, the asteroid known as 2011GV₁, collides with Earth on October 3rd. Chaos and fear reign as some people panic, losing control, while others brace for the worst and hope for the best. Some are barricaded in basements or holes in the ground, last minute suicides abound, and yet others kill and hoard goods in order to survive whatever may come. Money is worthless, but water, food, gasoline, and guns, are priceless.

Detective Hank Palace gave up the relative safety of Police House in Massachusetts to search for his sister Nico. Hank last saw her in July after she saved his life. He can't forgive himself for letting her go with a dangerously radical group and not keeping his promise to keep her safe. Hank's search takes him on a road trip to a deserted police station in Ohio where he finds evidence of a brutal crime and Nico's presence. As the countdown to October 3rd begins, it leaves him little time and desperate to solve one last, very personal, case.

The focus and attention to detail makes World of Trouble an outstanding mystery read. I don't want to spoil the mystery by summarizing the entire story, but I will give you this much, World of Trouble is not a stand alone and it is imperative that Countdown City be read beforehand as details from that novel become key to Hank's search for Nico and to solving a final case filled with twists and unexpected turns. However, as in the first two books of this trilogy, Hank Palace's character is the real draw.

With the imminent destruction of the world at their doorstep, to most friends and the people Hank encounters throughout his investigation, he appears as nothing more than a quixotic character wasting his time. But we all know that Hank cares deeply, and that gathering information, getting the answers, and solving the mystery, also allow him to process fear, grief, loses, brief periods of joy and an acceptance that serves as a respite from the chaos surrounding him.

Winters achieves this marvelous characterization by personalizing Hank's cases throughout the trilogy and tightly weaving them with his well established pre-apocalyptic world building. In a World of Trouble, Winters combines the tight timeline with Hank's strict methodology and his emotional investment in the case to build and maintain a thrum of tension felt throughout the whole installment.

How far would you go to protect a loved one? And how would you choose to spend your last days on Earth? The answers to those questions represent the final central theme for World of Trouble through Hank's search for his sister, and as the end approaches, through his experiences with other characters, and to the fantastic end of this trilogy.

The Last Policeman trilogy is an excellent fusion of science fiction and mystery. Its effectiveness is derived from Ben H. Winters' creation of a pseudo contemporary setting that gives the overall story arc plausibility, and a central character that comes to symbolize human civilization by asking the tough questions even at the end of times. Highly recommended.

Category: Science Fiction/Mystery
Series: The Last Policeman
Publisher/Release Date: Quirk Books/July 15, 2014
Source: ARC Quirk Books
Grade: A-

Trilogy:
The Last Policeman, #1
Countdown City, #2
World of Trouble, #3

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Highlight: Countdown City (Last Policeman Book II) by Ben H. Winters


There are just 74 days to go before a deadly asteroid collides with Earth, and Detective Hank Palace is out of a job. With the Concord police force operating under the auspices of the U.S. Justice Department, Hank's days of solving crimes are over...until a woman from his past begs for help finding her missing husband.

Brett Cavatone disappeared without a trace—an easy feat in a world with no phones, no cars, and no way to tell whether someone’s gone “bucket list” or just gone. With society falling to shambles, Hank pieces together what few clues he can, on a search that leads him from a college-campus-turned-anarchist-encampment to a crumbling coastal landscape where anti-immigrant militia fend off “impact zone” refugees.

The second novel in the critically acclaimed Last Policeman trilogy, Countdown City presents a fascinating mystery set on brink of an apocalypse--and once again, Hank Palace confronts questions way beyond "whodunit." What do we as human beings owe to one another? And what does it mean to be civilized when civilization is collapsing all around you?
The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters won the 2013 Edgar® Award for Best Paperback Original, the first book of the Last Policeman trilogy. Last year I read, and loved that book!  Countdown City is the second book of Ben H. Winter's pre-apocalyptic trilogy.

Hank Palace is one of the most unique protagonists to cross my reading path in a long while, and the imaginative, creative set of circumstances he faces in this series are more that just intriguing, they are fascinating. As you may well imagine, Countdown City has been in my must read list since last summer.  The time has come!

Release Date: July 16, 2013
Category: Science Fiction/Mystery
Publisher: Quirk Books

Reviews:
The Last Policeman, Book #1


Saturday, May 18, 2013

Highlighting: The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Doctor Spencer Black by E.B. Hudspeth


Philadelphia. The late 1870s. A city of cobblestone sidewalks and horse-drawn carriages. Home to the famous anatomist and surgeon Dr. Spencer Black. The son of a “resurrectionist” (aka grave robber), Dr. Black studied at Philadelphia’s esteemed Academy of Medicine, where he develops an unconventional hypothesis: What if the world’s most celebrated mythological beasts—mermaids, minotaurs, and satyrs— were in fact the evolutionary ancestors of humankind?

The Resurrectionist offers two extraordinary books in one. The first is a fictional biography of Dr. Spencer Black, from his humble beginnings to the mysterious disappearance at the end of his life. The second book is Black’s magnum opus:
The Codex Extinct Animalia, a Gray’s Anatomy for mythological beasts—dragons, centaurs, Pegasus, Cerberus—all rendered in meticulously detailed black-and-white anatomical illustrations. You need only look at these images to realize they are the work of a madman. The Resurrectionist tells his story.

E. B. HUDSPETH is an artist and author living in New Jersey. This is his first book.
resurrectionist n (14c) 1. an exhumer and stealer of corpses; a resurrection man 2. one who revives or brings to light again [f. RESURRECTION sb. + -IST. Hence F. resurrectionniste.]
The Resurrectionist is such a gorgeous book! When I first received the print copy all I wanted to do was pet it. It is the size of a coffee table book, and an excellent conversation piece as I quickly found out. The fantastic illustrations rendered by the author E.B. Hudspeth, The Codex Extinct Animalia, that make up the second section of this book steal the show. Of course, there is a story to go along with all those gorgeous illustrations and the aesthetically pleasing package.

Set primarily in Philadelphia in the late 1800's, the first section of the story is the fictional biography of Dr. Spencer Black. Although it is written in a biographical style narrative with journal entries by Dr. Spencer Black and occasional entries by his brother Bernard, the story soon takes a twist into dark fantasy as Spencer comes to believe that mythological creatures are the true ancestors of humans. At age twenty-one, Black is known around the world as a medical prodigy, but as his research grows into an obsession that takes him away from his brilliant works as a surgeon working with operable birth defects and into an entirely different direction, his credibility with the medical community is irrevocably damaged and his mental health rapidly deteriorates.

This section of the book is rather short, at times providing gruesome details of Black's experiments, while at others it leaves blank or unknown details up to the reader's imagination. Black's experiments and descent into obsessive darkness fascinated me to no end and left me disturbed. That is until I looked at those gorgeous illustrations again.

The Codex Extinct Animalia, or second section of the book, is dedicated to those fantastic illustrations I mention above. I wish I could show you instead of telling you about it. There is a page describing each mythological creature, another page with Dr. Black's notes about the creature, and a page dedicated to different illustration plates enumerating bones, muscles, internal organs, and the final sample of said creature. My favorites are the amazing illustrations of the Harpy Erinyes. But as beautiful as the illustrations are, they become deeply disturbing when placed in context with the story or Black's obsession. It is through these that the reader comes to realize the depth of the doctor's madness and realizes just how far he goes with his experimentation. A rather macabre thought...

Now, take the disturbing dark fantasy narrated in biographical style and put it together with illustrations that take the story up a notch into the macabre and you have a winning combination. For readers like me who love a taste of the unique and different, the aesthetically beautiful journey into the dark mind of a madman in The Resurrectionist will most certainly do.

Book Dimensions: 7½ x 10½
Also available as an ebook
Publisher: Quirk Books
Release Date: May 21, 2013

Visit the author's website or for more information go here.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Review: The Last Policeman: A Novel by Ben H. Winters


What would you do if the world was ending in six months? Would you make it to the end, or would you check out? These are the questions that plague the reader while reading The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters. These are the questions that plagued me while I quickly read this intriguing pre-apocalyptic police procedural.

The world and its people have six months left to live until the massive asteroid known as Maia or 2011GV1 makes impact and sets off a chain of destructive events that will rapidly overwhelm the whole planet. As people decide what to do with the last days of their lives, civilization begins a slow collapse as many leave their jobs to fulfill lifetime dreams or spend time with family, and while massive amounts of people across the globe turn to religion looking for hope, others find the answer in suicide. So at six months to impact, civilization's real collapse is near as most have physically or mentally 'checked out,' and what was once important has become incidental. That is to everyone, but Detective Hank Palace.

Our story begins as Detective Hank Palace is called to investigate what appears to be a suicide by hanging in the bathroom of a McDonald's in Concord, New Hampshire. In his short career as a detective, all the deaths Hank has investigated have been suicides, and since Concord is known as a "hanger town" because that is the popular suicide method, at first it appears that is also the answer to Peter Zell's death. However, as Hank observes the scene in detail, something doesn't seem right. Hank declares Peter Zell's death suspicious and begins a murder investigation. This becomes a source of disbelief and amusement to everyone Hank comes in contact with throughout his investigation, including his co-workers who, although still on the job, have already checked out psychologically.

One of the aspects that makes The Last Policeman gripping as a pre-apocalyptic science fiction story is that Winters sets it in what seems to be contemporary times and not a futuristic or unreal world. In other words, these events could happen... anytime. Of course that makes the circumstances in this book realistically bizarre and unsettling for the reader. I found this to be one of the most effective aspects to the story. What would you do?

In this case, Hank Palace is Winter's case study. Hank is a most interesting character too. A man whose way of dealing with the upcoming apocalypse is to concentrate on the daily grind, on the here and now -- at least on the surface. Frankly since this is the beginning of a trilogy, there is still much to be learned about Hank and what drives him. I personally can't wait to see where his emotions take him as the final time approaches.

However in The Last Policeman, in his own anal and obsessive way, Hank serves as a microcosm of humanity's conscience when there is no real conscience left -- he is what is left of civilization when civilization is crumbling around him. When nobody cares whether Peter Zell committed suicide or was murdered, Hank does... and later when Hank's sister calls him to investigate his brother-in-law's disappearance and events culminate unexpectedly, Hank once again proves where he stands on this question.

Winters uses the police procedural aspect of the novel to drive forward the overall story arc and to develop a subtle, detailed and very effective pre-apocalyptic atmosphere. However besides the gripping pseudo-contemporary setting in this science fiction novel, it is Hank's character that makes the most impact, as it is through his first point of view perspective that the reader experiences the apathy, depression, desperation, resignation, and even false hope of those who surround him. Winters combines all those elements in The Last Policeman beautifully, and most importantly because this is the beginning of a trilogy, the story ends at the right moment. Personally, I can't wait to find out what happens to Hank next, or where Winters will take the story.

Category: Science Fiction/Mystery
Series: The Last Policeman Trilogy, Book 1
Publisher/Release Date: Quirk Books/July 10, 2012
Source: ARC Quirk Books
Grade: B+

Visit Ben H. Winters here.
------------
About the Author: Ben H. Winters has written plays and musicals for children and adults; all sorts of magazine and newspaper journalism; and six novels: Bedbugs, Android Karenina, the New York Times bestseller Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, the middle-grade novels The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman and The Mystery of the Everything, and the upcoming mystery The Last Policeman.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Sunday Feature: The Thorn and the Blossom: A Two-Sided Love Story by Theodora Goss


The Thorn and the Blossom is the story of two star-crossed lovers.

Evelyn Morgan is a young American student studying at Oxford when she walks into Thorne & Son, a bookstore in the Cornish village of Clews. Little does she know, but she is about to meet the love of her life. And when Brendan Thorne hands her a medieval poem called The Book of the Green Knight, he doesn't know that it will shape his future forever. After that first meeting, they don't see each other for years -- yet neither ever stops thinking about the other. It's as if they are the haunted lovers in the old book itself.
I was offered The Thorn and the Blossom by Theodora Goss for review and frankly, besides the fact that this is a story about star-crossed lovers with a mystery, the format really caught my attention. This is a two sided story printed in an accordion-fold binding. The story is told from Evelyn's perspective on one side of the book and as you turn it around, you can read the story from Brendan's perspective on the other side. You can see how that works here. The result is quite interesting.

The book itself is gorgeous. It comes in a hard slip case (the cover you see above), and I think it would make a beautiful gift or just a great keeper for your bookshelf. I love it. Reading it was a bit awkward at first because the book doesn't have a spine and it has to be held a certain way, but after a while I found a way and it worked fine, particularly because the book is not heavy.

Although this novella is short (38 pages for Evelyn's story and 39 for Brendan's) I loved the fact that, using this method, by the time the end comes around both characters' motives or motivations are well-known to the reader even though both sides of the story mirror each other. Using that different perspective and developing each character in depth makes a big difference to the reader's experience. I began the book from Brendan's point of view and then went on to Evelyn's, but I do wonder how it would be to begin the story the other way... would the experience be different? Interesting.

The story itself is beautifully written by Theodora Goss. This is a combination of the contemporary and the mythological, as Evelyn and Brendan's story seems to mirror that of Sir Gawan and Elowen which is found in the medieval poem The Book of the Green Knight, simultaneously giving the reader a sense of a concrete present and a magical atmosphere. It's a wonderful combination. Goss packs a lot into this little book, yet I couldn't help but wish the story had been just a little bit longer.

The Thorn and the Blossom by Theodora Goss is a beautiful little book with an interesting format that works quite well with Evelyn and Brendan's sweet and magical love story.

Category: Fantasy
Series: None
Publisher/Release Date: Quirk Books/January 17, 2012
Source: ARC Quirk Books
Grade: B+

Visit Theodora Goss here.

About the Author: Theodora Goss won the World Fantasy Award in 2008 for her short story "The Singing of Mount Abora." She has been a finalist for the Nebula, Crawford, Locus, and Mythopoeic awards and has appeared on the Tiptree Award Honor List. Her writing has been showcased repeatedly in "Year's Best" anthologies. She lives in Boston, where she teaches literature at Boston University.