Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch

Published by Doubleday on June 14, 2011

Jamrach's Menagerie begins in a seedy nineteenth century London that is reminiscent of Dickens. Charles Jamrach is a dealer in wild animals. When one of his tigers escapes, ten-year-old Jaffy Brown pats it on its nose and winds up in the tiger's mouth. Fortunately for Jaffy, the tiger has recently eaten and is sated. Freed from the tiger's grasp, the uninjured Jaffy is deemed a natural with animals and is offered a job with Jamrach, where he befriends the slightly older Tim and his sister Ishbel. When Jaffy is sixteen, he and Tim join Jamrach's best supplier, Dan Rymer, who has been commissioned to capture a dragon-like creature called an Ora. To that end they sail away on a whaler and Jaffy's adventure begins.

A fellow with second sight warns Jaffy and the rest of the whaler's crew that they'll bring on bad luck if they capture the dragon and take it on board the ship. The crew should have listened. Time itself changes with the Ora on board; they enter "dragon time." Their thoughts become muddled; Jaffy says "It was like an earthquake in the landscape in my head, and I no longer knew what I could count on." In light of the warning, it's obvious that disaster will strike; it's just a question of when it will happen and how bad it will be. It's bad.

Carol Birch's vivid writing brings this thrilling story to life. Reading the novel is like watching a movie in high definition -- better than that, really, given the clarity that language provides. Birch's style alternates between graceful and gritty, as the scene demands. Part seafaring adventure, part survival story, part tale of the supernatural, with elements of a morality play and psychological study, Jamrach's Menagerie delivers an exhilarating plot and convincing characters. As the climax nears, the story's intensity heightens; at one point I was reading through half-closed eyes for fear of what might happen next. Parts of this novel have been done before (to some extent, the characters' interaction reminded me of my favorite short story, Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat") but I don't think it's ever been done quite like this. Jamrach's Menagerie is powerful, sometimes gut-wrenching, but also insightful. There are traces of a love story here and even a coming-of-age story, but ultimately deeper themes prevail as characters confront their fears and struggle with unimaginably serious moral choices.

Sensitive readers (and those who screen books before letting their children read them) should know that there is a fair amount of salty language in this novel. It's all appropriate to the story (angry or frightened sailors don't respond by saying "oh gosh"); I mention it only because some readers will want to know of its existence.

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A Death in Summer by Benjamin Black

Published by Henry Holt and Co. on July 5, 2011

Richard "Diamond Dick" Jewell, a wealthy businessman, stable owner, newspaper publisher, and orphanage sponsor, is dead at his desk, his head blown off. He is found "clutching a shotgun in his bloodless hands," an obvious attempt to disguise a murder as suicide. Detective Inspector Hackett is joined at the crime scene by his friend Dr. Quirke, filling in for the government's pathologist, who has been rendered unavailable by a heart attack. The initial suspects include Jewell's sophisticated French wife, Françoise d'Aubigny, who doesn't seem overly distressed at his demise; Maguire, the yard manager who was convicted of a violent crime many years earlier; the arrogant Carlton Sumner, a rival businessman with whom Jewell had recently quarreled; and Sumner's son Teddy. Jewell and Carlton Sumner are also linked by Sumner's maid, Marie Bergin, who once worked for Jewell. Another link -- one that appears to join all the suspects -- is St. Christopher's orphanage. Quirke is also linked to St. Christopher's, having resided there during some of his childhood.

Quirke is quite taken with Françoise, particularly when she invites him to lunch to discuss her husband's death. The lunch is probably inappropriate given Quirke's romantic (or at least physical) involvement with Isabel Galloway; it's even less appropriate that he later becomes intimate with Françoise. It's sometimes difficult to understand what motivates Quirke -- why, for instance, would he accept an invitation from Giselle, Françoise's nine-year-old daughter, to see her bedroom during Richard's wake? -- other than to note that Quirke often views the world through an alcohol-induced haze and seems to move passively through his life without giving anything (except the mystery at hand) a great deal of thought.

A subplot has Quirke's assistant, Sinclair (an ambitious lad who wants Quirke's job), spending time with (if not quite dating) Sinclair's daughter Phoebe (whose status as his daughter Quirke long denied before acknowledging its reality). Sinclair happens to be a friend of Jewell's sister Dannie, a relationship that leads Dannie and Phoebe to meet and bond. Sinclair has a knack for collecting damaged women who want to use him as a therapist (and nothing else) -- the price he regretfully pays for being a nice guy. At a later point in the story, Sinclair plays a deeper role in the mystery after receiving anti-Semitic threats (and worse).

Benjamin Black (the pen name of Irish novelist John Banville) writes in an elegant style that befits a literary mystery. There are shades of noir in the story but Black gives his characters greater depth than is typical of noir fiction. The plot is tight and easy to follow but the solution to the mystery is less than obvious. Black supplies a nice bit of misdirection toward the end. On the other hand, this isn't a traditional mystery, in which the reader can play detective, picking out clues and trying to puzzle out the solution alongside the fictional crime-solver. There are subtle clues to the killer's motivation, but a reader who guesses the killer's identity will, I think, be doing just that: guessing.

While not a conventional mystery, the story is nonetheless strong, notable for its collection of troubled characters more than its plot. The story moves at a comfortable pace, neither frenzied nor languid. Black creates dramatic tension in small ways; scenes of violence, for the most part, take place offstage, leaving details to the reader's imagination. Black leaves no loose ends; the story proceeds to a skillful conclusion.  This fine novel made me a fan of Quirke; now I need to find time to read the first three books in the series.

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Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

Published by Orbit on June 15, 2011

The Canterbury, an ice-hauling ship, receives a distress signal from the Scopuli, a deserted ship with a hole in the hull and a transmitter that sends a signal as soon as the ship is boarded. Soon the Canterbury is attacked and destroyed by a frigate that appears to be part of the Martian Navy. Only the shuttle crew that boarded the Scopuli survives, including XO Jim Holden. When Holden broadcasts the details of the attack, the news nearly ignites a war between residents of the Belt (represented by the Outer Planets Alliance) and those of Mars. Holden's story, told in the odd-numbered chapters, unfolds from there.

The story told in the even-numbered chapters belongs to Miller, a security officer (essentially a corporate cop) on Ceres, a Belt gateway. Miller is assigned to find Julie Mao, the missing daughter of a wealthy corporate executive, and return her to her parents. Miller eventually hears that Julie shipped out on the Scopuli and he goes looking for her. A little less than halfway into the novel, the two storylines converge as Miller and Holden meet in a moment of unexpected violence. Miller's investigation leads him to a conspiracy that relates to the prologue in which a character melts into goo. More than that I cannot say without revealing too much of the lengthy but carefully plotted story.

This is throwback science fiction, an old school space opera married to a futuristic detective story. While much of the background in Leviathan Wakes is familiar (the privatization of law enforcement, the conflict between the old "inner planets" and the rebellious "outer planets" that resent being taxed and controlled by Earth), James Corey (the combined pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) does an impressive job of making it seem fresh. I particularly liked the Byzantine nature of interstellar politics as envisioned by Corey. I also appreciated the characters' philosophical debate about the merits of making potentially unreliable information openly available, even if it might lead to war (which Holden advocates) as opposed to concealing facts to prevent the aggression and rioting that might be sparked by faulty conclusions (as Miller advises). In the context of the story, neither position is clearly correct; that's the kind of nuanced writing that is too rare in science fiction.

Equally impressive is Corey's ability to tell an exciting story ("exciting" being a descriptor I don't often use). Battle scenes, both in space and hand-to-hand, are frequent and furious; they create genuine tension. While the novel is filled with action and thus moves quickly, none of it is mindless; the plot is intelligent and credible. The writing is sharp; occasional sentences and phrases are quite clever. The characters aren't particularly deep but that's the norm in plot-driven sf. Holden and Miller nonetheless work well as archetypes that play against each other: idealist vs. cynic (although neither character is so limited as to become a stereotype). Miller's dependence on his mental construct of Julie -- even after Julie's death, he almost thinks of this woman he never met as a trusted friend, a moral touchstone -- is an effective device that humanizes Miller.

If I have a complaint, it's that having characters melt into goo is sufficiently horrific without introducing the concept of "vomit zombies" (don't ask); the latter make it difficult to take the story seriously. Fortunately, vomit zombies are a relatively minor aspect of the plot.

Leviathan Wakes is the first book in a series that will collectively be known as The Expanse. Given the quality of this novel, I'll be sure to read the next one.

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The Upright Piano Player by David Abbott

Published by Nan A. Talese on June 7, 2011

David Abbott blends light comedy with tragic drama in a first novel that reads like the work of a seasoned writer. The Upright Piano Player begins in 2004 at the funeral of Henry Cage's beloved grandson Hal, a death for which Henry blames himself. The story then begins anew, this time in 1999. Forced into retirement from the business he founded, divorced from Neesa (a documentary filmmaker whose well-publicized affair Henry refused to forgive), Henry's solitary idleness leads to trouble: he's kicked out of the restaurant after a customer complains that Henry has been staring at the customer's girlfriend, and his home is vandalized after he complains that the BBC weather report gives undue attention to Scotland. Not knowing whether the vandalism is connected to the staring or to his criticism of the weather report, Henry resolves to stay awake at night to protect his home -- an endeavor that fails when he falls asleep while a mysterious envelope slides under his front door. The contents of the envelope eventually lead to the novel's most dramatic moment. Much of the story, however, concerns Henry's faltering attempts to make amends with Neesa and their son Tom.

Although the novel's focus is on Henry, other key characters have stories of their own. Neesa is dealing with twin regrets: the cancer that will soon rob her of her life and the fact that Henry is no longer part of it. Tom has had no contact with his father for years until he finally breaks the news that Henry has a four-year-old grandson. Colin Bateman, the anger-driven boyfriend of the woman at whom Henry was staring, ekes out a living taking photographs but his violent behavior undermines his ability to hold a steady job. All of David Abbott's characters are realistic, filled with flaws and idiosyncrasies and difficulties. Even the minor characters, like Henry's housekeeper, Mrs. Abraham, and Maude Singer, Henry's one-time lover and an on-and-off employee of the business that fired him, have carefully honed personalities.

At one point, Henry wonders whether his disconcerting relationship with Bateman is punishment for his "various failings." Henry's most significant failing is his self-centered nature: he blames himself for things that aren't his fault because he believes he causes things to happen when he is actually the random victim of misfortune. It's an interesting take on a common trait, a failure of introspection that I haven't seen explored in quite that way in any other novel.

The Upright Piano Player paints a convincing picture of an uncompromising man. Henry's refusal to compromise the integrity of his business might be admirable, although it ultimately costs him his career. Perhaps, in his personal life, it is the same inability to compromise that damaged his relationships with both Neesa and Tom. My most significant complaint about the book is that we really don't know; little can be gleaned from the text about the true nature of Henry's role as husband and father. My other, less serious disappointment with the novel is the lack of transition between the events of 2004 and the story that begins in 1999. The disconnect between the two time frames struck me as a bit jarring.

Given the serious nature of the subject matter, the tone is surprisingly light for much of the novel, although it darkens toward the end. The misfortunes that bedevil the characters are balanced with enough irreverent humor to keep the book from becoming maudlin. The story is briefly told yet comfortably paced. Abbott's prose style is winning. I look forward to reading his next effort.

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Consequences of the Heart by Peter Cunningham

First published in the UK in 1998; republished by GemmaMedia on May 4, 2011

On the strength of the only two Peter Cunningham novels I've read (this one and The Sea and the Silence), I have become a fan. Cunningham has written some thrillers and there are elements of a sedate literary thriller in Consequences of the Heart, but it is also a love story, a war story, and a generational story of two Irish families. Ultimately, this novel defies categorization other than to say it's a really good read.

Chud Conduit (sometimes known as Chud Church) is a bit of a cad. He has a gambling addiction, a lifelong problem with debt, and a chronic inability to keep his hands off other men's wives (and to be faithful to his own). His life in the small town of Monument, Ireland is inextricably tied with those of his childhood friends, Jack Santry and Rosa Bensey. In 1938, while they are coming of age, the three-way friendship leads Chud to the first defining moment of his life, the nature of which is slowly disclosed as the novel progresses, although the full truth is not revealed until the last page.

After spending some time in a Catholic reformatory, Chud takes a civilian job that leads to a position in the military. He rejoins Jack (who has become a colonel in the Santry family tradition of wartime service) and together they are part of the invading force on D-Day, where Jack's defining moment occurs -- one that, again, does not become clear until later in the story. Jack, Chud, and Rosa continue a difficult and evolving friendship after the war, leading Chud to commit a new life-defining act for the sake of Jack and Rosa.

I apologize for being a bit vague in that synopsis but I don't want to spoil what is quite a remarkable story. It is the story of Chud's life, summarized from interview transcripts that he has edited and arranged in twelve binders. The story begins with Chud's grandfather in the 1890's and ends with the marriage of Jack's granddaughter in 1999, save for a brief concluding chapter that takes place a year later. No synopsis could do justice to the rich tale that Chud tells. The pages are dense with information. Characters come and go, but Chud, Jack, and Rosa are the constants. Most of the novel is written in the first person from Chud's point of view, with a few passages written in the third person, describing events as Chud imagines them to have occurred. Although the novel covers much ground, the pace is often languid, creating the contemplative feel of a memoir. There are nonetheless times (particularly on D-Day) when action is intense and dramatic. Even at its slowest, the story is never dull. At nearly the midway point, when I was beginning to wonder if the novel would be a mostly uneventful chronicle of Chud's life -- a love story or one of love unrequited -- it took an unexpected turn. Dramatic events then began to pile on top of each other without ever reaching the point of melodrama. For the most part, the story feels intensely real.

Family conflicts and buried secrets are familiar turf for novelists, but when Peter Cunningham plows that ground in Consequences of the Heart, he makes it fertile. No matter how many character flaws Chud demonstrates -- and he manages a goodly number -- it's impossible to dislike him. At the very least, Cunningham makes it easy to understand Chud and to empathize with him. The war changed Chud because "if you land at dawn on the shore of a continent and actually take it by force, you are inclined ever afterwards to doubt the merits of caution." Chud is nothing if not incautious; that's one reason he's so likable.

My one quibble concerns Jack's daughter-in-law, who is very angry at Chud for the incident that occurred in 1938. That didn't seem credible to me, given that she wasn't alive when it happened. Her actions and the events that follow at the end of the novel are almost over-the-top, but I forgive Cunningham for that because it makes a good story. An odd story, to be sure, but this tale of lifelong friendships among three people who followed their natures, however unconventional, is one I'll remember.

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