'Joyland' by Stephen King and 'The New Centurions' by Joseph Wambaugh

You get a double dose this week as I will not be updating the blog for 1.5 weeks. I should have a couple of new reviews queued up by the time I get back, as I plan to do a lot of reading :).  k

Joyland, Stephen King (3.5)

Stephen King can always be counted on to deliver a solid story with interesting characters, new plot and often, these days, a dose of nostalgia. This book is no different. It’s a story of a college kid who spends his summer working at Joyland – a less than Disney, more than carnival type of place. Add in carnies, fortune-tellers, a dash of love and a FunHouse mystery and you have a good yarn. The fast paced, short chapter style along with constant activity leads this to be a quick summertime read. I wouldn’t call it one of his best, but I really enjoyed the combination of good plot and thoughtful characters.

The New Centurions, Joseph Wambaugh (3)

Joseph Wambaugh is highly respected as an author of very ‘real’ fiction, specifically concerning inter-city police drama. As a retired LA police sergeant who worked in the 60’s, Mr. Wambaugh has unique experience and views of police life. This book follows three police rookies in LA just prior and during the famous Watts riots. Each section has three chapters (one first person for each officer) and skips a year for each section. You follow the three from the academy through their first four years of policing. I appreciated the real-ness of the stories, but frankly there was no real plot. Since this was one of his earlier novels, I expect it is appreciated for its raw portrayal of everyday life of rookie policemen, which was new and fresh in the 1970s. I just found I was waiting for more.

'King's Ransom' by Jan Beazely & Thom Lemmons

King’s Ransom, Jan Beazely and Thom Lemmons (3.5)

It is hard to find unique World War II stories that have unknown endings since much of the war has been discussed. ‘King’s Ransom’ was able to keep the suspense for me through a sad but thoughtful tale of Bulgaria’s role in WWII. While this book is historical fiction, only one of the main characters is completely fabricated and it follows Bulgaria’s actions accurately. It was interesting to follow the fate of a small, relatively powerless country trapped between Germany and Russia as the King tried to protect his citizens while dealing with Hitler and his thirst for the eradication of all Jewish people from Europe. The King’s attempts to placate the Third Reich and a sizable anti-communist faction within his country (who believed what the Germans were selling) were balanced against the common Bulgarian citizen and a powerful religious group to whom the behavior towards Jews was preposterous and unforgivable. Since I only knew the status of Bulgaria after the war ended, the delicate and only partially tragic path was interesting to follow.

'A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters' by Julian Barnes

A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters, Julian Barnes (3.5)

This is really 10 marginally connected short stories and an essay.  Each story has a place in human’s history – though often with a little twist. It starts with a retelling of the story of Noah and the ark, from the point of view of a stow-away (who pops up in many of the subsequent chapter/stories). This stow-away paints Noah and his family in a very different light – such as revealing the various animal pairs who did not make it and why (how did you think the human’s fed themselves??). Each story is thoughtful and interesting, though generally not easy to read. This may have been due to the fact that I lost the point of some of them. Mr. Barnes is obviously a gifted writer with a strong imagination and a good sense of humor. Though I felt a little dull when I couldn’t get the point of a story, the book is worth reading for the first and last chapters alone.

'Runner' by William Dietz

Runner, William Dietz (2)

While I found nothing wrong with this book, it really does not stand out to me as a notable Sci-Fi story. All the words I associate with it are milquetoast: e.g. fine, ok, all right. There was one interesting concept – the idea that the technology in space ships had devolved and degenerated to such a point that the advanced machines could no longer be fixed and that travel between planets was oddly risky. The ‘runner’ of the title is the main character. He is part of a group that is like a future postman, though the runners take messages or packages between planets. He gets an unusual request to take a package – in this case a person – and the perilous journey has begun. Add the obligatory side-kicks to join him and you have a group of five who must get to their destination(s) while being chased by bad guys and dealing with each new planet’s challenges. I really can’t point to anything bad about this- but it was formulaic and not particularly refreshing.

'Cyber Storm' by Matthew Mather

Cyber Storm, Matthew Mather (3)

I read this book a while ago, but have procrastinated when it came to the review. I think the timing of my read was partly to blame. The book revolves around an incident in the possible near future by which New York City is brought to a halt in the middle of winter with no electricity, no water and a possible quarantine. This is believed to have happened due to an attack on computer systems of the main utilities by the Chinese government. The story follows one man as he attempts to lead his family and neighbors through the chaos. The story is scary, gross and grim, but overall serves as a warning. Unfortunately I read this right after reading a non-fiction survivalist guide as research for my writing which happened to predict the most likely scenario of a disaster (in which survival techniques would be needed) would be an attack on computer systems of the utilities. The parallels were frightening. It was a fast paced interesting book and I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I had read it as pure fiction and not as a predictive future.