The First Lie (A Selkie Moon Mystery) by Virginia King

The First Lie by Virginia King is a mystery unlike most others.  This is not your typical cop, PI or Wannabe PI jaunt through a bunch of clues foisted at them.  Yet, it is a mystery in the truest since.

You can't beat the setting.  Set in the beautiful and entrancing islands of Hawaii, there was plenty of rich imagery as well as history and mythology to dig into.  The historical and visual are used a bit more sparingly than I would have preferred.  There are a great many scenes that could have taken place in Kansas City and it would have fit.  I always like when an author can use the scenery to amplify mood or provide a bit of foreshadowing or even act as  a red herring.  While the author did not take advantage of these things, there was sufficient imagery to keep the story alive.  That is likely due to the story itself.  There is just enough uniqueness to keep interest up.  I was drawn in enough to keep me in the story but, it could have given a lot more.

We get to learn more about the main character, Selkie Moon, by way of her own narrative.  First person has always been my favorite point of view.  It makes it a bit difficult for the author to get all the information to the reader but, in that difficulty we get to feel the struggle of the main character.  That is one of the saving graces to this story.  We learn as Selkie does about herself, her friends as well as about the mysteries that surround her.

The First Lie by Virginia King has the potential to be the first of a series of intriguing mysteries based on supernatural subjects.  I really hope the rest of the books pick up on this and add a bit of local style and historical and mythological richness to take us even deeper into these stories.  There is a bit of language and frank (though not overly crude) discussions of sex and sexuality. For those reasons, I would give these a modest PG13 rating.

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Posted by Tynga at 02:00

 Fiction, Hawaii, Pronoun, Publisher, Purchased, Review, Selkie Moon Mystery, supernatural, Thrillers, Virginia King  Leave your mark

Congo by Michael Crichton

The best way to find your way around a city is to be shown by somebody who was born there.  What if the city you're interested in is a 'lost city'?  That makes it interesting but, as Karin Ross and Peter Elliot come to find, it's not impossible.

I have long been a great fan of Michael Crichton and his pioneering use of the sub-genre of the Techno-thriller.  Much like many of his other works, in Congo, Crichton builds a scenario  where technology is the bait, the trap and possibly the means of escape for those who wish to employ it.  As formulaic as that sounds, Congo proves that it is anything but.  The story starts off as a quest that, as characters are brought in, becomes larger and more intricate.  This sort of layered progression keeps the pace of the story at a high tempo without feeling too exhausting.

This also accommodates the introduction and exposition of characters.  Crichton uses interpersonal interaction to show depth of the main characters very well.  It's a nice variation of the writers' adage 'Show, don't tell."  Witnessing a characters react in support of their motivation is more compelling even than that character stating their motivation.  We get to see the quite a bit in this book.

Now, I would be remiss if I didn't point out there are some failings with some of the authors use of technology and tech terms.  I spend my days dealing with the very guts of the what makes modern technology work so, I tend to notice these things right away.  I won't go into detail but, suffice it to say, Mr. Crichton takes many liberties with technology and misuses a few terms throughout the book.  This is a book that was set and written in the late 1970's so, they probably could get away with those things more than they ever could today.  Besides, this is Sci-Fi in more ways than one, so, I usually just chalked some of those miscues to that side of it.

This is yet another "it's much better than the movie" stories. There is quite a bit of violence and language throughout the book so I think it should land in the safer section of PG13 rating.

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Posted by Tynga at 01:00

 Action amp; Adventure, Fiction, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, lost city, Michael Crichton, Purchased, Review, Science Fiction, techno-thriller, Thrillers  3 People left their mark

Sphere by Michael Crichton

Deep below the surface of the Pacific Ocean is a mystery and an enigma.  What has been waiting below the waves for hundreds of years? How did it get there and who put it there? How can the expedition deal with the answers once they're learned? These are some of the questions presented in Michael Crichton's Sphere.

While this is vintage Crichton, it is not quite the Crichton he will become in his later books.  It does, however show the promise soon realized by this master of science-fiction thrillers.  This story s a blend of real science, theory and science fiction.  While some of the science and technology doesn't age well, it does not take away from the story.  Much of the theory holds up mostly because Crichton stayed somewhat vague about it.  As far as the science fiction goes, well, it is science fiction.  It all serves the plot well.

The character make up of the expedition seem a bit like ones you have seen before.  Of course since this book was written almost 30 years ago, it is understandable.  Over the years, this type of line up has become the new archetype for this type of story.  That said, they do develop well and the reader is given time to appreciate each.  Since this is also a psychological thriller, we get to  see the characters reveal some of their most closely held secrets and weaknesses.

Sphere by Michael Crichton is a very intriguing and entertaining book that would be an excellent start for anybody who has yet to read anything by this author.  There are several others that might serve as well but, this is early in his career and can serve as an introduction to his later books.  There is a bit of violence and mild adult situations  so, I would give an easy PG13.

 



 

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Posted by Tynga at 01:00

 Hard Science Fiction, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Michael Crichton, Review, Science Fiction, Thrillers  1 Person left their mark