Military Bookshelf: The Books of Summer, Part III
Military.com - Tom Miller
Aug 11, 2008
It's hot. It's humid. It's the dog days of summer. Get used to it. It'll be around for a while. Our advice: Six words: Cozy hammock. Cold drink. Cool books.
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Good People, by Marcus Sakey.
Dutton, $24.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-525-95084-4
For his third crime novel (after At the City's Edge), Sakey, a former advertising copywriter, explores the fate of an ordinary couple caught up in a world of hardened criminals.
Tom and Anna Reed are a normal thirty-something couple with lucrative white-collar jobs—Tom, a technical writer and Anna, an advertising exec—and a half-million dollar mortgage. They also have thousands of dollars in debt—mostly for expensive fertilization treatments.
The Reeds also have a tenant, Bill Samuelson, who rents the lower floor of their building. When they discover a fire in the apartment, they rush in to find Samuelson dead in bed. They also discover $370,000 in cash hidden in the pantry.
After some soul-searching, they decide to keep the cash. It's a very bad choice, and it seems improbable. But, without it, Sakey has no story.
Anyway, these are supposed to be smart people. Professionals. Their combined annual income is about $150,000. They own a $500,000 building. And, they're going to risk everything, including their lives, for $370,000? It could happen. I guess.
The money, it turns out—Surprise!—is stolen, and someone wants it back. What's worse is that Samuelson—a.k.a. Will Tuttle—also stole a cache of drugs along with the money.
Tuttle was part of a gang led by a hard-bitten crook named Jack Witkowski., and he absconded with the loot after killing Witkowski's little brother. Now, Witkowski wants the money back and wants revenge for his brother's death. Further complicating matters is the drug kingpin who wants his merchandise back.
With Tuttle dead and the money and drugs still missing, Witkowski and the drug dealer set their sights on the Reeds, who get much more than they bargained for before an improbable end.
Sakey's premise is intriguing and his execution is fast-paced. There are enough thrills and high-octane action here to keep even the most jaded reader turning pages.
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The King's Gold, by Arturo Perez-Reverte.
Putnam's, $24.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-399-15510-9
If you haven't discovered Spanish novelist Perez-Reverte, you've been missing a lively historical series set in 17th Century Spain and featuring Captain Diego Alatriste, professional soldier and swashbuckling hero.
The fourth and latest in the best-selling series finds Captain Alatriste and his charge, 16-year-old Inigo Balboa, who narrates the story, returning to Spain following their service in the brutal war in Flanders.
It's not long, however, before Alatriste is recruited for a secret mission on behalf of King Philip IV. His assignment is to board a Dutch ship that's smuggling contraband gold and steal the gold for the royal coffers.
To protect official deniability, Alatriste recruits a gang of criminals and ruffians, and disguised as pirates, they board the treasure ship only to discover that it's guarded by a troop of mercenaries.
Combining fast-paced storytelling with colorful characters and sanguinary action, Perez-Reverte brilliantly recaptures the atmosphere of decadence and decay that characterized 17th Century Spain.
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Another Man's Moccasins, by Craig Johnson.
Viking, $24.95 (290p) ISBN 978-0-670-01861-1
The fourth in Johnson's Walt Longmire Mystery series, Another Man's Moccasins is two mysteries—separated by four decades—in one.
When a young Vietnamese woman, Ho Thi Paquet, is found dead along a stretch of rural road in Absaroka County, Wyoming, Sheriff Longmire not only has a homicide to investigate but also an intriguing reminder of his days as a Marine Corps investigator in Vietnam.
Among Paquet's possessions is a faded photograph of Lt. Longmire in a Tan Son Nhut bar with local prostitute Mai Kim in 1967. While Longmire tries to unravel the connection between Mai Kim and Ho Thi, he flashes back to his Vietnam experiences including his unlikely friendship with Mai Kim and her brutal murder.
Longmire quickly arrests a giant homeless Indian, Virgil White Buffalo, for Ho Thi's murder. Virgil, a Vietnam veteran with a troubled past, is discovered sleeping in a culvert near the spot where Ho Thi's body was dumped. Worse, deputies also find Ho Thi's purse in the culvert. Despite the circumstantial evidence, Longmire isn't convinced that Virgil did it, especially when other suspects surface—including Tran Van Tuyen, a Vietnamese who shows up claiming to be Ho Thi's grandfather.
As usual, Johnson's latest novel is full of picturesque settings and exotic characters including Longmire's best friend Henry Standing Bear, eccentric ranchers Den and James Dunnigan, and deputy sheriff and love interest Victoria Moretti.
The Western sheriff is an iconic figure in the American imagination, and Walt Longmire is a reasonable facsimile, even if updated for the twenty-first century.
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The Last Pope, by Luis Miguel Rocha.
Trans. by Dolores M. Koch. Putnam's, $24.95 (304p) ISBN 978-0-399-15489-8
Pope John Paul I died suddenly on September 29, 1978, only thirty-three days after assuming the office. The Pope's untimely death has prompted many questions and more than a few conspiracy theories.
In his debut novel, former television writer Rocha offers a fictionalized version of what he assures readers is the truth of John Paul's murder and a Vatican cover-up. He even claims to have a source—who happens to be the murderer and is identified only as J.C.—for his version of the events.
In Rocha's telling, John Paul I is killed because he learns that the "Church had been converted into a den of thieves," and he planned to reform it. The bad guys—a secret society called P2 whose membership included high-ranking prelates—murder the Pope to keep their secret and their positions of power and influence.
Years later, a cleric comes across documents in the Vatican archives—including a P2 membership list—that points to John Paul's murder. Fearing for his life, he mails the list to Sarah Monteiro, a Portuguese journalist based in London. It turns out that Sarah is his goddaughter and her father was once a P2 member.
The list, however, immediately puts Sarah's life in danger since P2—now led by J.C.—is desperate to recover (and suppress) the list. Aided by a mystery man named Rafael, Sarah races across Europe—before ending up in New York—always one step ahead of P2's deadly agents and accomplices, including the omnipresent, omnipotent CIA, in this fast-paced and colorful account.
We may never know how Pope John Paul I died. I suspect that the official report that specified natural causes is closer to the truth than any conspiracy theory. But, where's the excitement and intrigue in that?
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Copyright 2008 by Tom Miller
A former history professor, Tom Miller is a novelist and essayist. His most recent novel, Freshman Sensation (2007), is available from the publisher at http://www.ccjournal.com/. His reviews and essays have appeared in numerous books, journals, and newspapers, including The Encyclopedia of Southern History, American History Illustrated, the Chicago Tribune, and the Des Moines Register. He also is a former Army Officer and Vietnam Veteran.
