I’ve been on a decent reading run. A few blurbs about my most recent completions.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – Quentin Tarantino
This has been sitting in my cabinet for something like two years. I’m glad I finally got to it. This is not a straight novelization of the movie, but rather an expansion on its base. Lots of weird tangents about the history of Hollywood. Lots of backstory about the characters in the movie. And very little overlap with the actual story (as far as I can recall). In fact, the biggest scene in the movie is a mere blip in the book. It is pulpy, entertaining, and fun. Now I need to watch the movie again.
Sunset Empire – Josh Weiss
The second book in Weiss’ Morris Baker series. Once again we are in the late 1950s, Joseph McCarthy remains president, the Korean War continues to rage, and American’s civil liberties are even more trampled upon in the name of stopping Communism and whatever else raises McCarthy’s ire. This time Baker, now working as a PI, is asked to investigate three separate missing persons cases, all of which are, naturally and eventually, related. And all of which point back to the people taking away American’s rights. This was more of a pure detective novel than the first in the series, but there were still some good alternative history nuggets.
While Justice Sleeps – Stacey Abrams
Former Georgia state representative and gubernatorial candidate Abrams put together a pretty engaging legal thriller. It centers on a cranky and old Supreme Court justice who puts himself into a coma just before a major ruling is due. A ruling that he is THE swing vote for and has major ramifications for the sitting president. The justice places his care not in the hands of his estranged wife or son, but one of his clerks, to the shock of pretty much everyone. There are many layers of bad actors who want to control the justice’s health, and they all press down on Avery Keene as she struggles with her new responsibilities.
I don’t know if the legal side of this book stands up to scrutiny, and a few basics of the story seem far-fetched. But the story is full of twists and surprises that entertain. You really hate the bad characters, who do really bad things. Summer is almost over, but this is a great beach read that will quicken your pulse and keep you turning pages.
All the Sinners Bleed – S.A. Cosby
This was one of my favorite reads of the year. Cosby writes so well about race and America’s history with it. Here he intertwines that with a deeply disturbing mystery.
The book begins with a shooting in a school in a small town in Virginia. As the local sheriff and his deputies attempt to clear the scene, the assumed gunman exits the school and runs towards them. A white deputy shoots and kills the Black suspect, who had killed a white teacher inside the school. Left to unravel that is county sheriff Titus Crowne, a Black man who much of the county (I.e. most white folks) view with suspicion. Crowne also faces pressure from the Black churches that helped get him elected, as they assume since he’s a cop he will not hold his deputy accountable for his shot.
Pretty good bones for a story there. Cosby pushes beyond those basics.
The initial investigation of the shooting uncovers a ring of child abuse and murder that crosses racial lines. Soon bodies, old and new, are piling up all over the county, and Crowne struggles to find the killer and end the deaths. There is intense pressure from both the white and Black communities, often for very different reasons. A confrontation between them seems inevitable, regardless of what Crowne’s investigation finds. And that investigation keeps turning up even more disturbing acts that have taken place just beyond the public eye for decades.
Along the way Cosby writes about the lack of respect for Crowne, despite his education and FBI background. He faces constant challenges from every side of the community as they project their own prejudices and assumptions upon him. Cosby slices through the hypocrisy of the aggrieved, Southern White Male and the dishonesty of the “Heritage Not Hate” movement.
I raced through this book. It was compelling, frustrating, made me angry, and kept me engaged from start to finish. I had only read one of Cosby’s previous books. I need to go back and knock out his others.