Chaos

As a longtime reader of Bernard Cornwell, I have seen Patricia Cornwell novels on the shelves of book shops since the 1990s but had not read one of her novels until now.  I was given Chaos, which is the 24th novel in the series.  The story opens on the Harvard Campus in Cambridge.  Kay is walking across the campus and noting the extreme heat when she is contacted by longtime colleague, Pete Marino.  Pete is upset and demands to know where she is.  She is on her way to meet her husband for dinner.  Marino intercepts her and discusses a complaint call about her.  Both seem to make a lot of this call, giving the impression they are paranoid.  Kay has hardly sat down for dinner with her husband, FBI Profiler Benton Wesley, when she gets a call about a dead woman in a park by the Charles River.  Kay is a medical examiner and leaves to investigate, again joined by Pete Marino.  Eventually, Kay examines the body and determines the woman died from electrocution.  She heads back to her facility and performs an autopsy in the wee hours of the morning, confirming electrocution but now finding traces of an unusual alloy that lead her to decide it was murder.  She arrives home to find her archnemesis, Carrie Grethen, in the backyard of her house, holding family members hostage by means of an electrified drone that is hovering nearby.  Kay uses a nearby fishing pole to bring down the drone and save the day.

It took almost 350 pages before Kay was examining the corpse by the river.  During all this time, she, Marino, Lucy (her niece), various dunderheaded policemen speculated one what could have happened.  Kay was constantly curious if the dead woman was the same one she had met twice that very day.  When she finally arrived on scene, the reader is happy for this to be resolved so Kay could stop obsessing over it.  Conversations were hard to follow as Kay would think about her history with the person in the conversation.

"Good to see you, Doc," random character says.

Kay thinks about how she met random character, how well she knows random character, and various events in their shared history.  She ponders how random character is unusually talented in their field and Kay knows that and has always known that.  She would not want anyone else working in this position.

"Good to see you," she replied.

By the time she gets around to the next part of the conversation, one has to go back and see what was being said.  Worse, there are times when characters provide information that both know, but it gets provided nonetheless for benefit of the reader.  For example, when talking to Lucy, she mentions that Carrie supposedly died in a helicopter crash off the coast of North Carolina.  In addition to the constant rehashing of previous novels in the series and the excessive character sketches and location descriptions, the narrative is further muddied by the impending arrival of Kay's sister.  As with everything, Kay obsesses about her younger sister who is shallow, vain, and dimwitted.  To listen to her thoughts, Kay finds her sister to have no redeeming qualities and yet she is going out of her way to welcome her.  Ugh.

The characters are all unlikeable.  Kay is arrogant, paranoid, obsessive, unfocused, and self-conscious.  She frequently thinks about how she is going to upbraid someone for their temerity and then doesn't.  There is what she thinks she should do and then what she actually does.  That both are revealed give her a wishy-washy personality.  Despite constantly demanding that no one jump to conclusions or speculate on what might have happened, she spends much of the lead up to her initial examination speculating what might have happened based on the secondhand reports she has received.  Heck, she has already decided that Carrie Grethen is involved before examining the corpse.  Pete Marino is always either angry or frustrated.  He liberally seasons his conversation 'damn' to show how angry he is.  He was a blowhard who, like Kay, couldn't keep his speculation and conjecture to himself.  By contrast, Benton was unflappable and cold.  Of course, the endless character backgrounds tell us that Kay had an affair with him while he was married to his first wife.  Oh, great.  She later mentions how she had a fling with a colleague.  The more I learned of Dr. Scarpetta, the less I liked her.

Most of the novel is repetitive filler.  The novel could have been cut in half and still dragged.  Too much inner monologue from Kay and not enough events.  The villains are taken down with ease but promise to return in a future novel.  Not that I'll be reading it.

Hard pass.  Do not read this book.

The Late Show

Renee Ballard is an LAPD detective who works the night shift, colloquially called the late show.  She had been on a good career track in RHD on the Special Homicide Unit until she lodged a harassment complaint against her superior.  He kept his position, while she was transferred.  She and Kurt Jenkins, her partner, are the only 2 detectives on the night shift and mostly just take notes before handing investigations to the day crew.  On this particular night, a mass shooting occurred at a local club, resulting in several deaths.  The day shift was summoned, but she and her partner arrive to assist.  Leading the investigation is none other than her former supervisor and unpunished harasser.

Though she had come to like working the late show, Ballard longs to work cases from start to finish.  As such, she offers to pursue an assault case on a transwoman.  Kurt is against the idea; he is on the late show because it allows him to spend days with his cancer-stricken wife.  She is also keen on running her own investigation of the mass shooting, a potentially career-ending move.

Ballard is single and in her mid-thirties.  Her father was a surfer from Southern California who moved to Hawaii and married a native Hawaiian.  She has some casual relationships and a dog name Lola.  Her job is her life.  She is similar to Harry Bosch, but more reckless.

Though a good yarn, I found Ballard off-putting.  She was only too happy to repay a parole officer's favor with sex.  He's got a good body, after all.  Um, okay.  She also reveals that she has a sexual relationship with a lifeguard at the beach she frequents.  In fact, she usually sleeps in a tent on the beach.  She drives a van with a surfboard on top and changes of clothes inside.  The closest thing she has to a home is her grandmother's house up the coast from LA where she does her laundry on the weekends.  She sometimes treats herself to a hotel with room service.  Maybe this should have been called The Homeless Detective.  This lifestyle seems more like a man than a woman.

With simultaneous cases running and a constant chip on her shoulder about the sexual harassment incident, the story is scattered.  With a new character, maybe limit the number of threads to follow.  While her private investigation of the mass shooting is well-handled, her clashes with the rapist are inexplicable.  So much of the mystery here is left unsolved.  A lot is made of her confronting men who are much bigger and yet she wasn't able to handle a drunken supervisor.

Not a bad read, but certainly not on the level of Harry Bosch or the Lincoln Lawyer.  Maybe about like Jack McAvoy's first outing.

The Wrong Side of Goodbye

The story opens in Vietnam as several men race to a helicopter for evac.  The chopper has hardly risen into the air when snipers shoot it down.  As the helicopter plummets, the medic whispers, "Vibianna."  It crashes in a rice patty. leaving a flaming wreck.

Harry Bosch works as a private investigator, but only to keep himself busy.  He has been summoned to a security firm office by a former colleague and offered $10,000 just to meet with a noted local billionaire.  He accepts.  The billionaire is in his eighties and in poor health.  He never married and his vast fortune has no heir.  Or does it?  He asks Harry to find out what happened to a girl with whom he had an affair when he was in college.  She was pregnant when they parted ways.  Perhaps he has an heir?  The girl's name was Vibianna.  In addition to PI work, he also has a part-time job working cases for San Fernando PD, a tiny jurisdiction within Los Angeles.  He mostly works cold cases.  His search for Vibianna distracts him from the rape case he was working with Detective Bella Lordes at SFPD and she has suddenly gone missing!

An excellent Bosch story with two engaging mysteries to solve.  Recommended.

The Crossing

No longer with LAPD, Bosch has time on his hands.  His half-brother, Mickey Haller, needs an investigator as his has been put out of commission thanks to a car accident.  Bosch is less than keen on working for the defense; he has spent his career on the prosecution side of cases.  However, a brief look at the case and he is intrigued.  Though DNA evidence appears to make it a slam dunk case, Bosch is troubled by the lack of opportunity to meet.  Typically, such crimes have a crossing point, an incident where the killer encountered the victim and began stalking them.  He can find no instance.  Soon, it is clear that the car accident that took down the last investigator was not accidental.  Someone doesn't want Harry poking his nose into the case.

Here is another page-turning thriller by Connelly, an excellent crossover case with the Lincoln Lawyer.  Recommended.

Dune (2021)

It is the year 10191.  The story opens on Dune.  Chani (Zendaya) explains how the Harkonnens have ruled the planet since before she was born.  The Harkonnens have become richer than the emperor thanks to the spice, a substance found only on Dune.  Now, inexplicably, the Harkonnens are gone by imperial decree.  She wonders who the next oppressor will be.

On Caladan, Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) awakens with a dream of Chani still lingering in his mind.  He has visions, not all of which come true.  He is a skilled swordsman; he fights sword master Gurney Hallek (Josh Brolin) to a draw.  He has some training in controlling others with 'The Voice.'  His mother, Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), is a Bene Gesserit, an order of women with seemingly magical powers; the powers have been achieved through selective breeding and consumption of spice.  Paul idolizes Duncan Idaho (Jason Momoa), a skilled warrior and big brother figure.  Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac), Paul's father, has been called upon by the emperor to assume command of Dune and make the spice flow.  He accepts the assignment but knows there is more to this than it seems; it's a trap.

Arriving on Dune, Leto seeks to ally himself with the native Fremen; he doesn't want to be an oppressor like the Harkonnens.  However, the Harkonnens have left Dune in ruins, making it nigh impossible for Leto to meet the spice demands.  Worse still, there is treason afoot and saboteurs hidden.

Despite a two and a half hour runtime, the movie ends in the middle.  The sequel will have to complete the epic.  What is here is vastly superior to the 1984 version, and not on account of the better special effects.  The characters are given an opportunity to develop.  Duncan has lots of interaction with Paul and shows the bond between the pair.  Whereas anyone who hadn't read the book would wonder at the inclusion of Duncan in the previous attempt, here he comes to life and plays an important part in Paul's journey.  Lady Jessica likewise has more opportunity to develop.  Rather than an occasional support figure for Paul, she is a main player in the events.  Gurney has dispensed with the funny guitar, dramatic quotes, and laptop dog to become a hard-as-nails military man.  He's less quirky than Patrick Stewart's portrayal.  Likewise, the Harkonnens are much better.  Stellan Skarsgard's Baron Harkonnen offers measured and thoughtful villainy, rather than the obnoxious rants of a madman.  Indeed, where the last incarnation was wild and out of control, this baron is a chessmaster who has planned many moves ahead.  Beast Rabban (Dave Bautista) is full of anger and brutality, but he isn't a grinning, mindless thug with food spilling out of his mouth.

This is an excellent sci-fi epic and should definitely be seen on the big screen.  Thumbs way up!

Dune (1984)

The story opens with exposition about the universe in the year 10191.  The Emperor (Jose Ferrer) is confronted by members of the Spacing Guild.  The Guild is unhappy with his political machinations that appear to threaten the flow of spice, the life blood of the Guild.  He explains that he is seeking to undermine House Atreides and that House Harkonnen will resume control of spice mining soon after.  Before they leave, the Guild demands that Paul Atreides, the son and heir of the current Duke, be killed.

Meanwhile on Caladan, homeworld of House Atreides, Paul (Kyle MacLachlan) demonstrates his skills.  He has keen senses to know who is approaching simply by the sound of their gait, adept in knife combat, and in use of the sonic weapon of the weirding way.  Next, he is tested by the Reverend Mother of the Bene Gesserit.  The Bene Gesserit are a sisterhood with the power to bend others to their will, not unlike the Jedi Mindtrick.  After surviving the ordeal, Paul joins his father, Leto (Jurgen Prochnow) and the notables of House Atreides in instantaneous travel to Arrakis, the planet of spice.

On Geidi Prime, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Kenneth McMillan) plots the destruction of House Atreides.  Among his retinue is Feyd-Rautha (Sting), the heir of House Harkonnen.  The Harkonnens are wildly outlandish.  The baron shrieks and yells, just about his only form of communication.  One might say he has a short fuse, but he doesn't seem to have any fuse at all.  He's a series of emotionally-charged outbursts.  Rabban (Paul Smith) and Feyd-Rautha stand around with wicked grins while the baron berates everyone.  Only Piter De Vries (Brad Dourif) appears to possess a coherent thought.  As a whole, the Harkonnens are portrayed as comically evil.

As the source material is extensive and time is short, the movie is densely packed with exposition and the voice-over inner thoughts of the various characters.  Then there are Paul's enigmatic visions with more narrated thoughts.  Some characters who are obviously important feel tacked on.  Duncan Idaho (Richard Jordan) is greeted warmly by Paul, intimating a strong bond.  Duncan is a great warrior, but, when the Harkonnens attack, he dies after the briefest encounter.  I guess he wasn't that great.  Clearly, he was important in the book but he could easily have been removed from the movie.  Then there was Shadout Mapes (Linda Hunt), a Dune native who serves as housekeeper.  As with Duncan, it feels as if there was more to the character in the novel.

Gurney Halleck (Patrick Stewart) is bizarre.  He is introduced with a musical instrument over his shoulder and called a troubador-warrior.  He even offers some music to the Atreides principals before they travel to Arrakis.  He offers a melodramatic oration after Paul survives an assassination attempt.  During the Harkonnen attack, he charges to battle with a dog tucked in his jacket.  What the heck?  This may have seemed really cool in the book, but he looks like a crackpot here.  It is amazing that Gene Roddenberry cast him in Star Trek after this performance.

The constant reference to prophecy gives the eventual conclusion of the film the feel of inevitability.  Look, Paul has met this part of the prophecy.  Hey, there is yet another sign of prophecy.  The introduction of his younger sister in the climax doesn't fly.  There needed to be a lot more streamlining and editing to fit this much story into 3 hours.

Not terrible but far from good.  Most of the special effects have not aged well, especially the personal shields that make the characters look like Minecraft characters.  The fish-like navigator swimming around to fold space was entirely unnecessary.  However, it is worth seeing now to compare with the Denis Villeneuve version that is currently in release. 

Captain Kirk Boldly Goes to Space

William Shatner took a flight on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket this morning, ending Wally Funk's brief tenure as the oldest person to go to space; Funk is 82 and Shatner is 90.  Combined with last month's civilian crew of the Inspiration 4 on a SpaceX Dragon and the current Russian film crew on the International Space Station, it is clear that access to space is expanding rapidly.  As with many innovations, the wealthy are the first to enjoy the new technology.  Soon, prices will drop and allow more access to space.  Whereas I tell my kids that there were no iPads when I was a kid, they will tell their kids that there were no space hotels when they were kids.