RIP Dick Francis

My Mom and my sister had been telling me for years to read Dick Francis's book and I ignored them. Why would i want to read mysteries set in the horse racing world? They just sounded boring to me and not something i would like. My brother and I were on the same page, fighting them off on this particular book front.

Until that fateful summer night of 1979 or so. I had completely run out of anything to read, I didn't see anything I wanted to read and it was late on a Sunday night, so I couldn't go to the library or bookstore. So I picked up one the several Francis book that we had lying around the house. Mr Francis, I'm sorry it took me so long to read your books. I'm sorry I made fun of my Mom and sister for reading them and I'm sorry I made disparaging comments without having read any of them. All I can say is that I made up for lost time that summer by reading every one I could get my hands on and then forcing my brother to do the same. The best things about his books was his ability to bring the reader into the horse world-but he also had a tremendous ability to draw the reader into the inner world of the main character. His main characters, always a decent sort of guy, are invariably beaten or tortured in some way, had some wrong done to them, or need to set straight some wrong and Francis's ability to bring about a satisfying conclusion may be the best parts of his books. Thank you for all the good times you gave me Mr Francis. I'm sorry I was so stubborn about it it the start, but I like to think I more than made up for it.

So Disappointed

I've always loved Jack McDevitt's books. He may not be the best writer, but his plots are always good and he's just a great storyteller. Which is why it pains me to say that his latest book Time Travelers Never Die, is a huge disappointment. Flat characters, flat descriptions, a plot which could have gone somewhere but did not...it was bad all the way around. I had to go reread Polaris to reassure myself it was the same author. You want a good read? Go read Polaris and skip Time Travelers.

I can't really pick on Zombieland just because I don't like Zombies. It was just really hard too watch-I found out that apparently while I have a high tolerance for violence, I have a low tolerance for zombie with gore coming out of their mouths and a desire to eat people. No offence zombies, I guess I have a weak stomach for that sort of thing. That said, it was very entertaining and everyone was good except the lead, who I found annoying.

What was good? Scotland, PA was awesome. A retelling of MacBeth in a small town in Pennsylvania, it was great. Joe Macbeth goes from being an amiable fry cook to an ambitious murderer, Patsy MacBeth goes from being an ambitious server to a woman slowly losing her mind. Played by James LeGros and Maura Tierney, it has parts that are genuinely funny and parts that are genuinely chilling. It may be the best story of MacBeth I've seen.

What was also good was The First Rule by Robert Crais. I've always liked Crais-his Elvis Cole series is very good. But this is Joe Pike book, which is a little different. Is it more violent? Yes. And Pike doesn't have Cole's sense of humor. But he does have a strict moral code and he always enforces it, so when some violent criminals kill his old friend, his wife family and the nanny, Pike takes matters into his own hands. It's all good.