Old..Professional..Killer

 The New York Times has a stellar book review section. It's frankly one of my favorite sections of the paper to read. Usually they have a dedicated page of mystery/thriller reviews that pique my interest. Flush with a tax refund, I ended up ordering several of those books one day. At around 210 pages, Quarry's Blood by Max Allan Collins was a perfect quick read.

It's the latest in the Quarry series and, while I think I would have benefited from starting at the beginning, there wasn't much that wasn't explained from past books. Quarry is a former Vietnam vet/sniper turned professional contract killer turned old dude who wants to be left alone. He's in his 70s now and living out his life managing a little lodge resort in Minnesota. It's mainly set in current (COVID) times but we do get a flashback to the 80s to further set the plot in motion.

Ever the hyper alert former killer, even with bad knees, he's prepared when he gets an unexpected visitor to his cabin. Susan Breedlove is a youngish (to 70+ Quarry, at least) author who has written a book about him and his exploits in the past. Now she wants to do a sequel and wants his help. But wait, how does she find him?? Turns out his pasttime was writing "heavily fictionalized" books about his killings. WTF, man. That's not living in obscurity!

He sends Susan away and tries to get back to his life.

But wait! Someone is trying to kill him! 

That escalated quickly.

Despite the bad knees and prior heart surgery, Quarry is pretty badass still at staying alive. He teams up with Susan to figure out who has a grudge against him (um....everyone?) and ends up traveling around to meet people, maybe kill them, and get his questions answered. There's a lot of corpses. 

A lot of corpses. A lot of sex and strip clubs and sleazy hangouts and shady dudes. Just want you want in a hard boiled crime novel.

I'm off to read the back catalog. 

Razorblade Tears

 That moment when you find a new author that you LOVE and want to read everything, past, present, and future until you die.

S. A. Cosby has me hooked. After reading Blacktop Wasteland, I grabbed Razorblade Tears from the library. Laundry went undone, dishes unwashed, work unworked. I devoured this. And I want more.

I want to just unload about this novel but, alas, I don't want to spoil anything. So read this and get back with me, yes?

Ike Randolph has been out of prison for 15 years, keeping himself under the radar and getting back on his feet. He built up a lawn care/landscaping business that is doing pretty well. He has a wife, a son, and a granddaughter. All seems well until the first page when the police show up at his door to let him know his son has been murdered.

Buddy Lee has been out of prison for a bit and isn't making ends meet. Bills aren't getting paid and his travels into the bottles are getting longer. Buddy finds out his son was murdered.

Isiah Randolph and Derek Lee were married with a little girl. Both were brutally murdered, such that the funerals were closed caskets. Ike and Buddy Lee were the kind of fathers who really didn't take well to their sons being gay. We see the regret and sorrow their untimely deaths caused, enough so that, when the police make no arrests or even progress, Ike and Buddy Lee decide to do some investigating on their own.

Bear in mind, these are not old men who are wandering around town, chatting people up. These are ex-cons, tough, resourceful men. As they start digging in, all of their skills come in to play because shit gets dangerous real fast.

Ike and Buddy Lee play off of each other well, even if the start of their relationship is a bit rocky. The deeper they get into the situation their sons got into, the harder they fight to make sure the killer pays.

The actual killer is buried so damn deep that I honestly lost track of the body count leading to the head of this mess. Ike and Buddy Lee do not fuck around. 

Pretty much every part of this book thrilled me to my core. It's been a while since I sat with some whisky and just READ for hours on end. I needed this.

Cosby didn't just write an action book. When I say this novel is full, trust and believe. 

Interview with the author

Don't call it a love story

Despite my aversion to all things "Happily Ever After", I was inclined to pick up The Stationary Shop by Marjan Kamali because 1) it was described as a bittersweet love story, 2) it's set in Iran, and 3) Shelbey from Shelbey and The Bookstore raved about it (don't watch the video until after you've read the book!)

I honestly didn't feel this was a love story, per se. I personally didn't feel the deep and abiding love between Roya and Bahman but there was definitely something and I felt that. The novel starts off in 2013, in America, with Roya and Walter discussing making an appointment to see an old friend at a nearby nursing home. We really don't know much except that Bahman, the elderly man in the nursing home, broke Roya's heart.

Back in 1953, in Iran, Roya and her sister Zari are listening to their Baba proclaim how they are going to become SOMEBODY. Baba is incredibly progressive for the place and time and he wants his daughters getting a good education, becoming scientists, writers, great woman. Zari doesn't seem destined for any of that and Roya has her head in books all the time (I can relate). Roya's favorite place to visit is The Stationary Shop, where shop owner Mr. Fakhri sets aside books and other stationary items for Roya. 

One day, Bahman, a young man around Roya's age, blows into the shop and back out. But not without the two of them noticing each other. Mr. Fakhri is adamant that Bahman will change the world but jusst as adamant that Roya stay away from him. During this time in Iran, there is political unrest, to put it lightly, and Bahman is in the center of the activist world. True love is apparently meant to be as Bahman and Roya get together, with Mr. Fakhri even helping a bit.

Because this is a really wonderful journey for Roya, I'm loathe to spoil anything. Suffice it to say, Bahman breaks Roya's heart (but does he?) and she moves on to America for an education and a new life. 

I didn't see so much a love story as I saw a desperate need for mental illness to be recognized and addressed. I saw a desperate need for abortion to be considered essential health care. I saw generational trauma, when adults push their issues and trauma on to kids and the trauma-can keeps getting kicked down the road. I saw the need for gender equality (thank goodness for Baba!). 

There is so much more to this book than a love story. 

Interview with the author

 

Son of a ...

 I read Wicked by Gregory Maguire back in 2007. I know I liked it but don't remember more than the basic plot (ignoring the musical - although it's awesome, it's not the book). Somewhere along the way I picked up the second book in the Wicked Years series called Son of a Witch and it lingered in my stacks.

I finally picked it up after reading so many heavy books, expecting a light hearted take on Elphaba's son. That is not what I got.

Liir is just a kid when Dorothy did in Elphaba. He hid with Nanny and the Lion while the deed was done. Afterwards, Dorothy was matter of factly ready to get back to Oz to prove she killed the Wicked Witch, but Liir now had no one. So he went with the crew, back to the Emerald City. Again, as in Wicked, Dorothy is not painted in a good light here and honestly, she shouldn't be. Liir doesn't know if Elphaba was his mom or who his dad is, but he's hoping to find something in Oz. He has no choice. He no longer has a family.

We get this back story on Liir only because his body was found by travelers, nearly every bone broken and on the verge of death, who take him to some sisters (Maunts) who would take him in and try to repair him. His bones are set but he remains in a coma. That is, until Candle, an orphan dropped at the Mauntery by her uncle, sits with Liir and plays her Domingon, music that is causing all of Liir's memories to surface.

While this is happening, we have maunts and travelers who are turning up dead with their faces scraped off (see? not a light hearted read). We have the Wizard gone from Emerald City and Glinda in his place, until she is replace by a straw man government. We also have an Elephant Princess who made Liir promise to help her return to her Animal form with Elphaba's magic that surely he must also possess. 

Everything is a mystery... until it's not. There are so many plot threads to keep up with, but in the end, most makes sense. I enjoyed this book but I had trouble with Liir's moping until about page 200, when he finally became himself. I didn't like most of his decisions but seeing how he was raised and how he had to try and grow up along (Thanks, DOROTHY), he really did the best he could.

Interestingly, the book ends with another green child. The granddaughter of Elphaba.

Fun comparison of the Wizard of Oz movie and Wicked