Mini-Reviews of Books #47…
Stray Cat Blues. Robert Bucchianeri, author. I often read “evergreen books” because they’re just wonderful, old-fashioned good vs. evil stories, even when they’re without major universal themes. The latter makes them more evergreen, of course. (An “evergreen book” is one that seems as current and relevant as the day it was written.) This novel is in the first category. No reader should find its themes politically or culturally controversial because it’s basically just about good vs. evil.
Frankie is looking for Johnnie. The first girl is a young twelve-year-old (Warning, Will Robinson! This is not a book for tweens!) who has a big sister, Johnnie. The big sister takes care of her, but goes missing. If this sounds a bit like A.B. Carolan’s Mind Games (which is a sci-fi mystery for young adults also featuring another young girl who’s poor, smart, and sassy), congratulations! You’ve discovered how universal good vs. evil stories can be.
Frankie hires Max Plank to find Johnnie, and Max is akin to a PI who likes to solve people’s problems—he doesn’t accept any money, of course (how does he make a living?), but Frankie doesn’t have much anyway. Max lives on a houseboat in San Francisco (that sounds a bit familiar too). He has some lethal friends and even more lethal enemies, like a crook named Poe who loves to recite Edgar Allan. (There are no similarities between this book and Steinbaum’s The Poe Consequence, though—see last week’s review for that.)
Besides the nits I picked above, my major complaint is the name of the protagonist. Maybe I’m one of many reviewers who will recognize the Americanization of the name of the famous German physicist who started the quantum revolution rocking and rolling, turning classical physics on its head. That’s like naming a PI Albert Einstein…just not right. (While a physicist can like to read and write sci-fi, he’s generally not an action hero or villain!) And this Plank doesn’t even look like Planck.
If you’re looking for a great evergreen book that’s a fun read, this is it. If you’re looking for the great American novel, it isn’t (and there’s no such thing, in spite of what your high school English teacher told you). But it’s set in SF, one of my two favorite cities (the other is Boston…in every season except winter). Great characters too, especially Frankie.
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Comments are always welcome.
More than Human: The Mensa Contagion. Another “evergreen book” from yours truly, that is, as current and relevant as the day it was published, and just maybe a story that might make you feel better during the pandemic (maybe COVID will force us to make some positive changes in our society?—it has certainly revealed some flaws!). An ET virus comes to Earth and creates Homo sapiens 2.0. What do the new humans do? They don’t go to Disney World after that big win—they colonize Mars! This is an epic sci-fi saga all in one novel. Available in .mobi (Kindle) ebook format at Amazon, and in all ebook formats at Smashwords and its affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.) and lending and library services (Scribd, Overdrive, Baker & Taylor, Gardners, etc.).
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
