American Princess

American Princess by Stephanie Marie Thornton    488 pages

I know it’s only the second week of January 2019, but I’m going to make a prognostication: “American Princess” is going to be one of 2019’s must read books. I haven’t felt such an intensely intimate reading experience since the 2013 publication of Melanie Benjamin’s “The Aviator’s Wife.”

“American Princess” tackles Alice Roosevelt Longworth, oldest daughter of Teddy, cousin to Eleanor and Franklin. Readers are taken inside one of America’s most intriguing characters. She was so popular that song and a color (like Alice Blue)) was named after her. She adored her Cuban pearls.

The story opens in 1970. Alice is being prepped for surgery. She knows she’s lead a life that most people only dream of, but that doesn’t mean it had been easy.

Her mother and paternal grandmother died on the same day, hours apart, in 1884, when she was two days old. Teddy was so distraught that immediately after the funerals, he packed his bags and left for the Dakota Badlands. Her aunt tried to get him to hold her, but he pushed her away, saying I can’t. She has her eyes…I just can’t. Alice spent the rest of Teddy’s life “trying to clamber onto his lap.” Eventually, the two became good friends and confidents.

Readers will learn that no-so-lady-like Alice, the snarky, “gun-chewing, cigarette-smoking, poker-playing First Daughter,” had a mind of her own and wasn’t afraid to speak it. Readers get to experience the highs and lows of a high-profile life, her world travels, her marriage to a swashbuckling congressman, the birth of her daughter, her affairs her love for her father and the bond they ultimately shared, and her keen insight into politics.

After Teddy’s death in 1919, Alice led the campaign against America’s membership of the League of Nations. So politically savvy was she that the Republican Party briefly considered her for vice-president on Herbert Hoover’s ticket in 1928.

There is so much detail in this epic story that it feels as if Alice has written a memoir. Author Thornton must have spent decades researching Alice’s life. One of my favorite parts was the epigraph that begins Part 3: “If you can’t say something good about someone sit right here by me.” That pretty well sums up Alice’s unreserved personality.

Alice lived to be 96 years old, dying in 1980. She had seen sixteen president’s and was often called Washington’s other monument.  “American Princess” is a tribute to Alice’s life. I enjoyed this novel so much that it receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Heartburn

Heartburn by Nora Ephron Audiobook 5 hours Book 179 pages

This is a story about a woman named Rachel who has just found out her husband is in love with another woman. As is typical of domestic fiction, hilarity ensues. This book is not new by any means, but I really couldn't tell from listening to it. It was narrated by the uber talented Meryl Streep, who did an amazing job. I felt like I really knew Rachel as a personal friend. I also felt like I was going through the stuff with her. I admire an author's ability to make me feel things so that I'm absorbed in the story. I liked the characters and the plot and I was a little shocked when it was over. In my opinion it could have gone on. The writing is hilarious and engaging. Rachel is a writer of cookbooks so there are also recipes in the book as well. Fir the sake of clarity I will say there was more profanity in this book than I usually like. That's my only complaint, everything else was good.

Deep State

The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution and the Rise of a Shadow Government by Mike Lofgren, 277 pages

According to former congressional staffer Lofgren, the elected government of the US is only the visible tip of the proverbial iceberg - the bulk of which is invisible, unaccountable, and actually responsible for the direction of policy.  This "deep state" is made up of dense networks of lobbyists, consultants, contractors, bureaucrats, senior military officers, and lawmakers, all of whom move so easily between the public and private spheres that the boundary has effectively ceased to exist.  Far from moving into the much-feared era of the "imperial presidency", there has been a slide into a "ceremonial presidency", where a figurehead president acts as a lightning rod for controversy while real policy is made elsewhere.

It is expected that any book of this sort is going to be cynical - cynicism and its sibling, wounded idealism, are the former insider's stock in trade.  It is a fine line, however, between cynicism, with its claim to cold realism, and bitterness, which suggests the settling of personal scores.  Lofgren zigzags back and forth across that line through the book.  The book is further handicapped by its Beltway provincialism, which tends to regard everything as ultimately caused by action from Washington, and important only insofar as it affects Washington.  The limitations this imposes become clear when it comes time for Lofgren to offer some positive solutions to the systemic problems he has vaguely outlined, and all he can recommend is measures that would only strengthen the same system.

Killer Pursuit

Killer Pursuit by Jeff Gunhus   350 pages

I discovered author Jeff Gunhus’ work in 2015 when I read his Night Chill and The Torment of Rachel Adams. Night Chill scared me so bad that I didn’t sleep for three days and still haven’t worked up the courage to read its sequel, Night Terror.

But now he’s turned to a new genre, the political thriller. In Killer Pursuit, the second in the Allison McNeil series, Gunhus takes on serial killers, FBI agents, and prostitutes in Washington, D.C.

High society call-girl, Catherine Fews, is brutally murdered in her Georgetown home. While Catherine is being dismembered, Allison is about to gun down another bad guy.

The D.C. detectives who are investigating Catherine’s death find not one, but two, cameras hidden in her bedroom walls. One is a traditional, security-like camera that has had its memory erased. The other is a highly sophisticated device that “is connected to the Internet through an encrypted connection…and no one knows who’s on the other end.” Hence the FBI’s involvement.

As the news of Catherine’s death travels through the city, many high profile politicians start to sweat, especially the man most likely to be the next President of the United States.

Because of the nature of the crime, the FBI Director asks Allison to run an off-the-record investigation. Seems this case is similar to the one in the first book, Killer Within, which justifies Allison’s probe. I haven’t read the first book. When Gunhus refers to that case, he does an excellent job in supplying the details the reader needs.

Killer Pursuit is a good read, not a great read, which is why I give it 4 out of 5 stars. It had a strong plot (the killer was a surprise). The writing was good, the pacing was excellent. The dialogue was natural and flowed well, and the characters were well-developed. However, there just wasn’t’ anything to set the novel apart from the hundreds that are already out there. 

Hanging Mary

Hanging Mary by Susan Higginbotham   400 pages

If you aren’t an Abraham Lincoln history buff, the name Mary Surratt won’t mean anything. Mary was the boarding house owner where John Wilkes Booth met with his fellow conspirators. She is also the first woman executed by the U. S. government.

A lot is known about Mary, biographical information mainly. But the truth of her role, or non-role, in Lincoln’s assassination is mystery to this day. In this first historical fiction work about Mary, which I know of, author Susan Higginbotham weaves an interesting story about Mary, John Wilkes Booth, Lewis Powell, David Herold, George Atzerodt,  and the others who played major roles in killing Lincoln. One of the questions that has haunted historians is what role did John Surratt, Mary’s son, play in the assassination and why did he never return to defend his mother after she was arrested?

Billed as the “The Untold Story of Lincoln’s Assassination,” Higginbotham tells the story from two viewpoints. First is Mary, then one of her boarders, Miss Nora Fitzpartick. Of course, Nora’s appearance, which I knew nothing of, sent me scouring Google to determine if she was a real character, or a plot device. She is real, although not much is known about her.

The story begins in August 1864 and ends on July 7, 1865, immediately after the hangings. There is an Epilogue for Nora that in June 1869.

I liked the back and forth of the narrative between Mary and Nora. It provides a realistic look at the time and at the players, especially the charming Mr. Booth. I didn’t get swept up in the story like I had hoped. That’s why I give Hanging Mary 4 out of 5 stars.

One to Go

 

One to Go by Mike Pace  365 pages

Tom Booker is in a hurry to pick up his daughter from her mother’s. Not only has he promised to take her to the Air and Space Museum, but if he doesn’t show up reasonably soon, he will catch seven kinds of grief from his ex-wife.

As he is crossing Memorial Bridge, he is texting his ex-wife. His car drifts into on-coming traffic and as it crashes into a mini-van, he realizes that his daughter, three of her friends, and his ex-sister-in-law are the van’s occupants.  When he awakens, the crash site has frozen in time. A young, yuppie couple approach Tom to make a deal. They will rewind time and let his daughter live, but he must agree to provide five souls, one every two weeks, in exchange for the van’s occupants to live. 

Tom quickly agrees, not fully understanding what he has committed to do. When he awakes again, he feels what happened was a hallucination. Only when his ex-sister-in-law is brutally murdered does he realize what he has done. He isn’t a killer and doesn’t even know how to go about planning a murder, much less four more.

Tom’s moral quagmire is at the heart of this fast-paced, absorbing novel. I was on the edge of my seat from the opening scene to the last page. Author Pace could have gotten away with having only four occupants in the as by the time the fourth soul was delivered to Satan’s representatives, Tom’s quandaries were starting to get a bit predictable. Some nice twists at the end involving a priest made for a satisfying ending.

I do have two things to criticize. First is the cover. The dust jacket gives the appearance that the book is to a legal thriller, but that’s far from the case. If I had seen the book in a bookstore, I probably would have passed. Yeah, I judge a book by its cover. Second is the genre. The dust jacket is lists the genre as thriller but it’s more paranormal suspense or supernatural than thriller.

Still, One to Go was a heart-stopping read, that I would give six out of five star, if I could. Highly recommend it. 

Legion

Legion by William Peter Blatty, 269 pages

Legion is Blatty's sequel to his best-known work, The Exorcist (Legion was eventually adapted into The Exorcist III, which Blatty directed himself, although the studio insisted on adding elements to justify the Exorcist title).  Detective Kinderman returns, investigating a series of murders that seem to be the work of a serial killer known to have been killed decades ago.  Father Dyer, Father Damien's best friend and fellow Jesuit, also returns, having forged a bond with the surly detective in the years since Damien's death.

Where The Exorcist held out the hope that the existence of supernatural evil implies the existence of supernatural good, Legion asks why natural evil seems to pervade the human world and whether there is any hope against it.

Unfortunately, the novel's problems run deep.  Kinderman, while initially charming in his endless, garrulous, rambling monologues, eventually becomes tiresome.  The Gemini killer is a silly Hollywood caricature of a serial killer.  The ending is absurdly anti-climactic, although it is thematically appropriate.  This is one of those instances where, against stereotypes, the movie is better than the book.

Koko

Koko by Peter Straub   576 pages

Peter Straub is considered one of the greatest thriller writers of our time; second only perhaps to the master Stephen King. Yet, somehow I missed never reading anything by Straub. Anchor Books re-released Koko, the first book in the “Blue Rose Trilogy” in 2009.

The Washington Post claimed that the 1988 work was “brilliantly written…an inspired thriller…(Straub’s) finest work.” I was ready, eager, anxious, and waiting when the almost six-hundred-page paperback landed on my doorstep.

I cancelled my evening plans and curled on the couch, ready to be scared out of my wits. The story opens with four Vietnam vets returning to Washington, D.C, for the dedication of Vietnam Memorial. The four hadn’t seen each other since they left the service in 1968. Shadowing the emotional events of the dedication, the men---now a doctor, a lawyer, a blue-collar worker, and a restaurateur---are drawn together with the resurgence of a serial killer.

The killer, Koko, could be either the writer Tim Underhill or M.O. Dengler or a Victor Spitlaney, from their old unit. But the four men are sure they are the only ones left alive. They decide to go back to Singapore and Bangkok, in search of their old Army buddies and to get to the bottom of the new murders, all seemingly unrelated.

That’s a great scenario, but fifteen days later, I’m still reading Koko. The story plodded along in agonizing detail. I read and read and read and read and read until my eyes burned. I wasn’t scared once nor did I find this “masterpiece” a page turner. When I finally did reach the last chapter, I have never been so disappointed in my life. Straub changed narration and basically ended the story with an “what happened? Nothing happened.” I know that is a set up for book two in the trilogy, but I don’t care enough to even bother learning what the other two titles are.

 I give this one out of five stars.