Blood Safari by Deon Meyer

37. - 550.) Blood Safari by Deon Meyer – Lemmer is a private bodyguard in South Africa who has experienced a brutal upbringing, a successful career as a government bodyguard and years in jail for killing a man in a fight. He is assigned to guard the lovely Emma le Roux who is searching for her brother who disappeared in the Louveld over 20 years ago. She challenges his first law of not becoming involved with the client. Beneath Lemmer’s professionally calm interior a simmering violence is always present. The investigation leads them into the area of the Krueger National Park and the increasing danger to wildlife from modern and ancient societies. The book preaches a bit too much about environmental issues. Sara Paretsky often focuses her novels around her causes but does not make them seem like part of the book was copied from non-fiction research. The violence of modern South Africa is present throughout the book. It discourages me from visiting the country. Meyer does explore the collective psyche of modern Afrikaner residents of South Africa. We learn far more of the personal history of the characters than the average thriller mystery. Lemmer, in the grand tradition of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser, pokes around until the reaction against him breaks open the investigation. Lemmer has the strong moral code of the avenger. His personality is darker than most mystery heroes. He reminds me of Joe Pike, the dark hero, created by Robert Crais. I wonder alittle at how effective the translation is from Afrikaner. It is a good book. Paperback (Sept. 19/10)

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

38. - 551.) Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith – I had been seeing the distinctive cover (a man walking down railway tracks below a large 44 with the Red Star between the numbers) at bookstores for a couple of years. The novel starts in 1933 with a starving Ukrainian family trying to survive the winter. (Stalin had cruelly taken much of the harvest from the Ukraine causing millions of Ukrainians to die.) Desperate for any food, two boys pursue a cat into the forest and kill the cat. Suddenly they are attacked and one of the boys taken. Twenty years later Leo Demidov, a rising officer with the MGB (secret police) and WW II hero, is diligently capturing large numbers of Moscow residents considered dangerous to the State. He brushes aside a colleague’s insistence his young son was mutilated and murdered. His life changes when he must track down a veterinarian who is seeking to escape the U.S.S.R. Leo’s belief in the communist system is shaken when he realizes the vet was trying to escape because he realized he was being investigated. In Stalinist Russia everyone investigated was bound to be found guilty. Sentences were death or the gulag. Torture was routinely used to gain the answers desired by interrogators. Leo’s life is completely turned upside down when he is denounced. He refuses to denounce his beautiful wife, Raisa. Only Stalin’s death saves their lives. They are sent to Voulsk several hundred kilometers east of Moscow where he will be a member of the militia. The crushing downturn in their lives lays bare their real relationship. Each has entered and stayed within the marriage for different reasons. Their personal lives are far more complex than the average mystery. Shortly after arriving in Voulsk he realizes there is a serial killer of children. No one is pursuing the killer because the U.S.S.R. could not have a killer roaming the country. Each killing has been solved by finding some undesirable member of the community guilty. It is Kafkaesque. Leo and Raisa decide to risk their lives because they are questioning the system by seeking a serial killer. Mystery heroes come from many different circumstances. Few can be stranger than the detectives pursuing a killer who, the State says, cannot exist. Life in the U.S.S.R. in the early 1950’s fits Hobbes definition of “nasty, brutish and short”. Everyone lives in fear. I was reminded of Arkady Renko who, a generation later, also facing a State interested only in finding “undesirable” killers. I find it hard to read about the killer of children. His gruesome attention to detail is well described. As the book wore down I thought the inevitability in the story had the heroes destined to a Le Carre ending. It is a harrowing book. I look forward to Smith’s next book if the victims are not children. Excellent. (Sept. 27/10) (Best of fiction 2010)

Blood Sunset by Jarad Henry

35. - 548.) Blood Sunset by Jarad Henry – Detective Rubens McCauley has returned to the mean streets of St. Kilda after recovering from a bullet wound to his shoulder. 18 year old street kid, Dallas Boyd, has been found dead of an apparent overdose in the alley beside a restaurant. Against the background of a late summer heat wave and horrific bush fires raging north of Melbourne McCauley allows himself to be persuaded it is a routine O.D. that needs but a superficial investigation. Uncomfortable with his decision McCauley looks deeper into the facts and finds a series of anomalies. Boyd has been murdered. McCauley starts down the uncomfortable path of admitting his first assessment was wrong. At the same time McCauley is re-evaluating his personal life. His mother has had a stroke and he is reaching out to his ex-wife, Ella, hoping for a reconciliation. The plot takes McCauley into a sordid degrading area of street life. While the plot is predictable it is credible. The story is firmly rooted in St. Kilda. It is uncommon, but nice, to read a police procedural with a real mix of crime and family. It is a good mystery. (Sept. 7/10)

The Nearest Exit by Olen Steinhauer

34. - 547.) The Nearest Exit by Olen Steinhauer – It is the rarest of spy thrillers. At the heart of the plot is family. Milo Weaver has returned to being a Tourist after the drama of The Tourist. New superiors are testing him with minor assignments. His first major assignment is to kill a Moldovan teenage girl, Adriana Stanescu, whose family has emigrated to Germany. The assignment puzzles him. While Tourists do not analyze assignments he cannot understand the reason for killing her. As he considers the assignment he thinks about his 6 year old adopted daughter in New York. He eventually decides to kidnap rather than kill her and gives her to the safekeeping of his father, Yevgeny Primakov, a Russian employed in the U.N. At the same time a Ukranian defector claims there is a mole within the agency. His information is accurate but why would a Chinese spymaster trust a low level Ukranian spy. Then Adriana is killed. Weaver’s personal and professional lives are unraveling. He struggles to understand why she died and whether the agency is compromised. A complex game is being played involving American, German and Chinese intelligence agencies. Weaver wants to live an upright life with his wife and daughter but he remains caught up in the dark world of international espionage. On the book cover Stephen King described The Tourist as “best spy novel I’ve ever read that wasn’t written by John Le Carre”. While not as dramatic as The Tourist characters and agencies are explored more deeply. The ending is magnificent in drawing together the plot. The conclusion is not as bleak as Le Carre but it has the feel of his novels. Life does not go well for spies. A superb novel. (Aug. 29/10)

Murder in Gutenthal by Armin Wiebe

33. - 546.) Murder in Gutenthal by Armin Wiebe – Neil Bergen lives on a farm with his mother near Gutenthal in the southern Manitoba heartland of Mennonite Germans. Last century, possibly the 1980’s, he is making a living as a private eye watching the countryside and helping people with their problems such as herding cattle back through a broken fence and then fixing the fence. His neighbours give him small amounts of money for his help. Like all the characters he is better known by one or more nicknames which range from cruel, horny Corny, to apt, Corny Pee-Eye, to the most common, Schneppa Kjnals (Flat German for Corny the Snoop). His quiet life is disrupted when he finds a black zipper Bible in the cemetery. While arranging to return it a mysterious doll like lady in a black dress asks him to buy a grandfather’s clock at a farm dispersal auction. The complications multiply as Schneppa Kjnals tries to carry out his mission. Longing for love he looks at every woman’s physical attractions. The book is a vivid description of life in a rural ethnic enclave. The initial murder to be considered is that of a prize pig. The story grows more serious as the “simple” lives of the characters are more complex than an urban dweller might expect of rural folk. Life has a fast pace that is different from the urban rush. Their deep faith is an important part of their lives. The frequent use of Flat German expressions and names is interesting, even charming, but also frustrating (there are few translations and so many characters with nicknames it is hard to keep them straight). The complexity of the plot led to a slow developing conclusion. I enjoyed the book. I appreciated the gentle understated humour. The descriptions of farm life in Mennonite country reminded me of life in rural Saskatchewan in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. The good people of Gutenthal could have been my neighbours at Meskanaw. Corny’s shyness and awkwardness with women reminds of myself. By coincidence I was reading at the same time an article in The Saskatchewan Law Review Vol. 73(2) – Summer of 2010 – called Settling That Way: the Canadian Government’s Role in the Creation of Communal Religious Settlements on the Prairies. The article included a section on the Mennonites coming to Manitoba in the late 1800’s where they could carry on a semi-communal farming lifestyle. I had never heard of “The Privilegium” (The Government of Canada letter promising the Mennonites in Russia land in Manitoba, the right to live according to their faith in Canada including exemption from military service and other commitments to encourage their emigration.) See letter to author. Excellent. (Aug.20/10) (Third most interesting of 2010)

Tales from Spandau by Norman J.W. Goda

30. - 543.) Tales from Spandau by Norman J.W. Goda – Michael supplied me with this history of Spandau. I was surprised at how little preparation had gone on prior to the sentencing at Nuremburg with regard to a prison for Nazi war criminals not being executed. Once there were 7 prisoners the four powers – U.S.A., Great Britain, France and the U.S.S.R. - scrambled to find a prison. Spandau was the best of poor alternatives and became one of the Four-Power agreements. Guards and soldiers and governance were rotated. It was incredible how much time was spent in petty arguments over the prisoners’ routine, food, privileges and visiting rights. The Soviets consistently sought harsher punishment. Inevitably, sympathetic warders relaxed the rules. There was massive angst over how to deal with the bodies of deceased prisoners. The most interesting part of the book involved the efforts to free the prisoners before the expiry of their terms. Every prisoner sought clemency. Several lawyers and advocates did not aid their clients when they continually challenged the validity of the Nuremburg trials and punishments. Family members devotedly sought out sympathetic ears in German and foreign governments. Initially, the Soviets had no sympathy. When it became clear prisoners such as Van Neureth and Raeder were likely to die in prison the Soviets agreed to releases to avoid the risk of Spandau becoming a shrine for the far right.

            Albert Speer had the most concentrated set of appeals. Several lawyers were employed. Former colleagues and business connections provided substantial sums. His daughter, Hilde, was enlisted as the family advocate. Goda calls Speer a liar. In his memoirs Speer presents himself as indifferent to efforts to free him. The book establishes he was deeply and continually involved in the unsuccessful succession of petitions and appeals. Speer comes across as a master amoral manipulator.

            Curiously, there was never a co-ordinated effort by the families and advocates on behalf of the prisoners. Each prisoner had his own supporters. None seem to have realized a co-ordinated effort was likely to be more successful.

            The West German government is often ambivalent about the Spandau prisoners. Occasionally efforts are made to gain their freedom but there is never a sustained campaign.

            Even after Rudolph Hess is the sole prisoner Spandau endures. Despite the massive cost of maintaining the facility, borne by West German Berlin, there is no way to close the prison. No one wants to end one of the few enduring quadripartite agreements. Neither the Western powers nor the Soviets are willing to see Hess go into a prison that does not have shared control. More important the Allies want to preserve Four-Power agreements that justify the existence of West Berlin. Once it is agreed he will not be cremated Hess is doomed to die in Spandau. The Soviets have lost the one fear that could have persuaded them to agree to his release. He will not be a martyr. Finally Hess, at 93, abandons hope and kills himself.

            The book provoked thoughts on what will become of those convicted in the ICCJ. Who will be their jailers? How will illness, death and clemency be handled? Are we bound for an international prison? Spandau would suggest it is a very difficult arrangement. Those convicted of war crimes inevitably become political prisoners. It is easier to understand Churchill’s position that the top leadership of the Nazis should have been quietly and summarily executed after World War II. That Spandau existed gives hope there is an alternative to such brutal solutions of war time justice. (July --/10)

Dead Simple by Peter James

31. - 544.) Dead Simple by Peter James – A police procedural that grabbed my attention such that I almost leaped ahead in the book to find out what was happening. In a chapter that sent a chill down my back Michael Harrison, in an outlandish bachelor party prank, is buried in a coffin by members of his wedding party. Who does not fear being buried alive? A horrorific car accident kills the group that entombed him. English Detective Superintendent, Roy Grace, investigates the bizarre circumstances of the disappeared groom. At 39, the lonely Grace continues to wrestle with the disappearance of his wife, Sandy, 9 years ago. While rigorously following police procedures he is open to the assistance of mediums. As the book progressed there was a stretch I thought the story was veering off into the improbable but there is a realistic tying together of the plot. I raced along in the book anxious to learn Harrison’s fate. If the book is not a movie or mini-series in the near future I will be very surprised. Excellent. Paperback or hardcover (Aug. 1/10)

Think of a Numb3r by John Verdon

32. - 545.) Think of a Numb3r by John Verdon – Recently retired to the Catskills former NYPD detective, Dave Gurney, is trying to adjust to a rural lifestyle after a career focused on serial killers. University classmate, Mark Mellery, now an adviser and healer of injured souls reaches out to Gurney after receiving a creepy message which asks him to pick a number between 1 and 1,000 and then has the number in a sealed envelope enclosed with the message. A series of increasingly threatening poems follow the initial contact. Gurney half-heartedly resists being drawn into solving the puzzle. His wife, Madeline, had hoped he would change after retirement but Gurney cannot resist the challenge of the mystery. Gurney is himself a wounded soul. When murder occurs of the most bizarre and carefully staged way Gurney is ready to join the hunt for the killer. Gurney thinks his way through the investigation. He is a cerebral rather than physical detective. I was reminded of Adam Dagleish. The thoughtful detective who appreciates poetry is a rarity in crime fiction. With regard to the core of the mystery I tried hard but was never even close to solving how the killer thought of the number. Tension builds through the novel to an ending that, as in Dead Simple, almost compelled me to leap ahead to find out the conclusion. It was among the best conclusions I have read in a long time. Recommended by Sleuth I was not disappointed. The cover blurbs from a collection of the best thriller writers in America was over the top. What was most impressive was the combined willingness of the distinguished group to contribute comments on the mystery. I look forward to the next in the series. Verdon has created a memorable character in Gurney with an intriguing personal life and his own style of solving mysteries. Hardcover. (Aug. 14/10)