Book Review: Assassin's Rage

The newest edition to Western Illinois University professor emeritus Charles O’Brien’s Anne Cartier mystery novels, “Assassin’s Rage,” is a tale full of deception, intrigue, violence, the mystery of several assassinations of royal officers and the murder of an innocent baker.

Anne Cartier, wife of prominent Colonel Paul de Saint-Martin, is an ex-vaudeville actress turned teacher of the deaf living in Paris during the pre-revolution years. The story revolves around the storming of the Parisian Bastille and the plots perpetrated by the Duc d’Orleans to overthrow the King.

Beware: this is a historical crime novel that is embedded deeply in historical facts. Not only that, but “Assassin’s Rage” takes place during the late 18th century in pre-revolutionary France. There are terms that may be confusing and words that are difficult to pronounce.

Like all great historical novels, there are several prominent real-life people depicted as characters with their personalities and mannerisms fleshed out by O’Brien’s image of who these people were.
It’s interesting that the protagonist of an 18th century based novel is a woman and an ex-vaudeville actress to boot. Women barely had social standing, yet Anne is able to make a stand, to investigate a variety of mysteries and gain the respect of a patriarchal society. She’s an amazing woman, a great protagonist and makes for an intriguing character to follow through the course of events.

Unfortunately, this is the 7th book in a series, so the author assumes that the other books were read prior to starting the latest. In order to fully understand the characters, their motivations and pasts, start with the first book, “Mute Witness,” and work your way through.

O’Brien taught European history during his time at Western. He started writing during the years he traveled between Williamstown, Mass. and Macomb “(wanting) to make use of his time on board and in airports.”
Both his interest in history and the reading choices of fellow passengers influenced his decision to write historical crime novels. “The idea of ‘Mute Witness’ blossomed in the air between Albany and Chicago,” he said.
The difficulty most academic writers find when writing a fictional piece is re-wiring how they think. Instead of simply describing an event in history, O’Brien had to write the event through the experiences of his characters, using their thoughts, feelings and biases to relay the event for the reader. With the help of a colleague in Western’s English department, O’Brien was able to make the transition to a true fiction writer while adding his own flavor of historical facts and well-researched backgrounds.

In his writing, O’Brien includes maps of the areas he talks about to aid readers as they try to grasp an image of where the story is unfolding. He also had more learning to do in certain areas of history.

For example, O’Brien says he “already knew a great deal of ‘high’ history,” such as political, social and economic trends, but he “needed to learn ‘low’ history” like puppetry, clothing, cuisine, popular customs and sports in order to etch out a well-rounded historical fiction. O’Brien’s effort has created a wonderful piece of literature, a great read for any student to broaden their horizon on 18th century French culture and intrigue.

4 stars out of 5

Book Review: The Bell at Sealey Head

“Inevitably his thoughts would turn to the bell that tolled each day, exactly when the last burning shard of sunlight vanished beneath the waves. As though someone in an invisible world watched, and in that precise, ephemeral moment, the dying sun and the single toll bridged one another’s worlds.”

World Fantasy Award-winning Patricia A. McKillip’s newest novel, “The Bell at Sealey Head,” is the tale of a seaside fishing town that is haunted with the ringing of an ethereal bell at sunset and the people who become wrapped up in discovering the truth.

Ridley Dow, a mysterious scholar from the big city, comes to Sealey Head in search of the bell and sets of a series of events leading to the destruction of an ancient ritual and discovery of a magical world inside the ancient Aislinn House at the outskirts of town. Along for the ride is Judd Cauley, son of the local innkeeper, Gwyneth Blair, bookish daughter of a local merchant, Emma Wood and her mother Hesper who work in Aislinn House and the strange and somewhat uptight Lady Miranda Beryl, heir to Aislinn House.

McKillip has a unique style of writing; she’s descriptive but not in the usual clichéd way. Her plots are captivating and her characters always multi-faceted. After reading several of her other works, I have to say that this is the weakest one yet. The story is blasé, and the characters are somewhat shallow. She doesn’t delve deep into what makes them tick and (aside from the aforementioned people) there are a multitude of characters dotting this new fantasy novel.

Even though the bell seems to be the underlying current of the plot (it is in the title, after all), you rarely hear mention of it. The people at Sealey Head have become so accustomed to the ringing of the bell that they don’t even notice it anymore, and even Ridley Dow mentions it only a few times and he’s supposed to be searching for it. The whole novel is pretty much all the characters riding to-and-fro in Sealey Head conversing about horses, books, and how to throw a dancing party without being rude. Disappointment comes to mind after reading this novel, but as a loyal fan of McKillip, I don’t want to put it down too much. “The Bell at Sealey Head” has its moments of suspense, romance, action and magic, you just have to stick with it through the parts that make you yawn and want to put the book down. I give it 2 ½ stars out of 5.

Book Review: 13 Things That Don't Make Sense

In Michael Brooks’ non-fiction hit “13 Things That Don’t Make Sense: The Most Baffling Scientific Mysteries of Our Time,” he blows open the door to science’s most notorious anomalies that have our leading scientists running circles.

It may not sound so exciting. After all, it is a non-fiction novel about science; most of us have difficulty staying awake while reading our chemistry textbooks.

So what makes this science novel different from the rest? Brooks’ unique style of turning complicated scientific materials into easy reads and adding his own brand of humor helps keep the story lively and fun. If Brooks wrote purely science fiction, he’d be the new Douglas Adams.
The book begins with Brooks standing in a hotel lobby watching three Nobel laureates attempting to close the gate of an old-fashioned elevator. He makes a great statement with this first observation, noting how he “likes to think of scientists as being on top of things, able to explain the world we live in, masters of their universe. But maybe that’s just a comforting delusion.” Scientists aren’t omniscient; they can struggle with the most mundane like anybody else. In a word, they’re human.

According to Brooks, these 13 scientific mysteries are the key to an upcoming scientific revolution. Scientists are stuck at an impasse, and now they must go back to re-evaluate data and theories that could rock the very foundations of the science world. In the first chapter, Brooks says only 4 percent of the universe can be accounted for. What happened to the rest? He delves deep into the past, citing a variety of different scientists (famous or not) who have helped discover bits and pieces, shaping the puzzle. Simply put, the universe is expanding at a rapid rate and unseen forces, labeled by scientists as dark matter and energy, are playing havoc with our laws of physics.

Also in that category are the two Pioneer probes that are openly flouting the laws, and 30 years later, scientists are still no closer to figuring out why.

Some of the other mysteries addressed in the book include cold fusion, a giant virus that’s a freak of nature, the ever-popular placebo effect, death and a radio signal from outer space.
One of my favorite chapters deals with free will. Neurologists have long wondered whether we can consciously control our movements and actions. Some argue that it’s all self-deception. Through experiments, they found in their results that before one is even aware that they are going to tap their finger, the brain is already firing signals to do the action. Basically, the brain is telling our bodies what to do whether we choose to do it or not. But if we have no free will, what makes us human?

Not all of the chapters are as riveting as others, but they are well researched and worth reading. I found myself laughing at times and struck speechless at others. Go out to your nearest bookstore or Amazon.com and purchase a copy for yourself. This is a must read book for anyone. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: The Eighth Day

New to the writing scene is author Tom Avitabile, a Senior Creative Director at a New York advertising firm that has dabbled in engineering, computers and has a few film and television credits in his back pocket. In his debut novel “The Eighth Day,” Avitabile explores the use of mind control and supposed terrorist attacks to prevent advances in technology.

The story follows a variety of different characters, mainly focusing on “Wild Bill” Hiccock, science advisor to the President. After a series of bizarre attacks on technology institutions by ordinary citizens, Hiccock is assigned to create a task force and track down the mastermind(s) behind the attacks. A part of his team is his ex-wife, Janice Tyler, a leading behavioral psychologist, an ex-Admiral who had speculated 30 years prior that these very incidents might occur and a hotshot computer hacker named Kronos. Together they follow leads and speculations to track down and prevent further attacks on advancing technology.

“Common” is the best way to describe the book. Amidst a shaky and improbable plot are a multitude of characters thrown at the reader on almost every page. Aside from the four to six “main” characters, it’s hard to keep track of who’s who and what their importance is to the storyline. The first five chapters remind me of any John Grisham novel with about 10-20 characters that have little importance to the plot that are introduced and are never seen again. Then there is the lack of depth to the main characters. All we know about Hiccock is that he was once a great football star, but gave it all up for his love of science (now there’s a dichotomy that’s screaming obvious). Everyone in the novel is two-dimensional; they lack the depth that authors such as Elizabeth Haydon or Thomas Harris give their characters with ease.

The storyline is mediocre at best and very slow to start out. A hundred pages in, I was still waiting for the plot to take off. I’ll give Avitabile some credit; it is his first novel, but I wouldn’t put it in my top 50 books of the year. This is a book to be read once, and only once. If you feel the need to read it, go to the nearest library and check a copy out. Be prepared though, you won’t be wowed or blown away — just lulled into a doze. I give the book 2 stars out of 5.