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The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – Book Review

04/19/202509/05/2024 by dr. gunga

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – Book Cover

I first read the most famous of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s four Sherlock Holmes novels during my elementary school years. Admittedly, It’s been quite a while since then, but I can tell you that the wretched beast scared me so much that I could hardly sleep. I vividly imagined its fire-breathing snout and its eyes blazing in the flames as it roamed the moors, hunting for prey and howling at the moon, so fiercely that it sent shivers down my spine. However, it’s been 120 years since the writing of The Hound of the Baskervilles, so it wouldn’t be too surprising if the notorious hound’s fur had thinned out a bit by now. And most of its teeth might have fallen out as well…

The Hound of the Baskervilles is a Terrifying Monster

It’s easy to understand why the tale of the bloodhound, which has been haunting the Baskerville family for centuries, is the Scottish writer’s most popular work. It’s self-evident, due to its supernatural aspects. The otherworldly creature that haunts the family as a vengeful spirit has become a local legend. The crime scene is an abandoned, dangerous moor populated by eccentric characters. All these elements serve to heighten the reader’s sense of dread.

Moreover, considering the impact of the story at the time of its release, it’s not hard to imagine the reaction it must have provoked. Doyle, who revitalized and pioneered the crime fiction genre, had an influence on his field comparable to, that of The Beatles on the music of the 1960s.

The unsuspecting Victorian-era readers, accustomed to a more leisurely pace of life, probably reacted the same way I did as a child: they were so excited that they ended up filling their pants.

Gone For Good by Harlan Coben – Book Review

08/23/2024 by dr. gunga

Gone For Good by Harlan Coben – Book Cover

I think I’ve found the most accurate three sentences that I will use from now on to start every review of a Harlan Coben book. They go like this: “There are two types of Harlan Coben. The brilliant author of the Myron Bolitar series. And the other one, who writes all his other books.” The Klein family’s past, marked by a brutal murder and a brother who disappeared a decade ago, belongs to the other Coben’s works. However, with Gone For Good, it’s not something you can clearly decide until almost the very end.

Harlan Coben, Master of Suburban Thrillers

Indeed. That’s why I usually stop reading all his books after a few pages. Except, of course, for the aforementioned series. The cynicism, coolness, and darkness of the Bolitar books are so sorely lacking in his other works that they all come across as uninteresting. Fortunately, Gone For Good is a different case.

The trials of the Klein family, plagued by grief and ostracism, set a sufficiently grim tone right from the start. This is compounded by a mystery that has remained unsolved for 11 years. But it’s obvious that things didn’t go down the way the police portray them; after all, there’s no way Ken would kill his beloved younger brother’s ex-girlfriend and then disappear without a trace.

What more does a book need to captivate you even more? Love, of course! And the love between Will and Sheila certainly seems like something made in heaven.

At least, until everything falls apart even more…

Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King & Owen King – Book Review

11/02/202409/24/2021 by dr. gunga

Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King & Owen King – Book Cover

I’ll admit, among all kinds of books, I’m particularly drawn to the hefty ones. Luckily for me, one of my favorite authors, Stephen King, has a bit of a reputation for being verbose, so he often treats us to some heavy-weight works. In Sleeping Beauties, the master storyteller, with the help of his eager son Owen, explores what might happen if all women suddenly fell asleep. Permanently.

Even just imagining it is terrifying!

Who would cook? Who would do the laundry? Who would clean up after that? I sure wouldn’t, that’s for damn sure. Not to mention, lesbian porn as a standalone art form would simply cease to exist!!!

Sleeping Beauties Is a Bit Bland

King (and diligent Owen) don’t explore this traumatic aspect of the premise in their joint work, Sleeping Beauties. Instead, they paint a broad, sweeping picture, centering the events around a small town and its women’s prison. It kicks off with a massive cast of characters, much like Under the Dome, and as in that novel, the story’s strength seems to dissipate and slowly leak away among all these characters. (Except, let’s face it, Under the Dome becomes a total snoozefest around page 70. This book, thankfully, doesn’t reach that level.)

Seasoned King readers, however, will likely feel that Sleeping Beauties falls below the usual standard. It’s as if Stephen King had his diligent son Owen subtracted from him by some mathematical equation. What’s left feels slightly sterile, stripped of the intense energy and deep characterizations typical of King. It’s almost as bare as a screenplay – if you were to turn it into a series, it wouldn’t take too much effort.

Uh, And Where’s the EVIL?!

In The Stand, the transition from normalcy to the post-apocalypse happens right at the beginning of the book. Here, the whole book is about that transition, the gradual slipping away into sleep. I won’t say that the highlighted characters (the upstanding Norcross family members) don’t carry it somewhat, but I also can’t say that all this drama (with some spousal squabbling and a complete lack of capital-letter EVIL) is particularly exciting or gripping.

One thing that does stand out, though, is how much calmer life on Earth would be if women took charge of everything from here on out. No arms race, no war, no worries—maybe just a bit more gossip, and that’s all. (Okay, by that logic, it would be great if the entire government packed up and left immediately, leaving only Kamala Harris and the other chicks behind! Hmm, wait a second. Never mind. Never mind!)

And locked away, yet still carefree,
Beams Eve, offspring of a big tree.

Wait, what?

No Need to Get Excited

Indeed, the catalyst of Sleeping Beauties, the Wooden Lady, aka Evie Black, enters the scene as an Omniscient Bee, an infallible oracle & Terminator, instantly removing any stakes from the start. So there’s no true dramatic clash, or if there is, it’s minuscule and entirely predictable from a mile away. (In case you still don’t get the hint, Evie helpfully spells it out halfway through the book for Dr. Norcross – and thus, for you, too – what the whole game is about. Thanks a lot, Owen, that was a brilliant idea of yours, saving us from any unnecessary suspense or thrills.)

Sleeping Beauties Is a Decent Piece of Craftsmanship

However, before completely ruining everyone’s appetite for this decent piece of work, let’s acknowledge that scene by scene, the book actually works. Despite the overwritten bits, the dragging pace, and the excess of unnecessary characters, Sleeping Beauties manages to keep you hooked because it’s packed with tiny conflicts, mini-stories within the story that, out of sheer curiosity, you just have to know the answers to, or that are simply engaging. What’s more, they’re mixed and paced so skillfully that they carry you through to the big finale – which, interestingly enough, turns out much blander and more boring than the drawn-out buildup.

The same paradox is present in the most unnecessary subplot – the Griner brothers’ antics, which add absolutely nothing meaningful to the whole, yet they’re the most entertaining and most “King-like” part of the book. It really seems like Dad pitched in the most here – if he didn’t write these few, darkly humorous scenes by himself. Plus, of course, he slapped his name on the cover, boosting sales for his kid’s benefit. The rest of the book was likely churned out by young Owen.

Let’s Paint the Whole Thing Green!

And Owen King is clearly a harbinger of new times. You’re not sure right away if his work is a feminist manifesto or more of a Greenpeace-style warning finger. But whichever it may be, you can’t deny there’s a need for it.

Therefore, the blog editorial team hereby awards Sleeping Beauties the Green Piece Prize, newly established this very minute (complete with a Gaia Theory Medal). Winning these is an impressive feat on its own, but if reading this book prevents even one single tough guy from giving his missus a well-deserved smack, or… oh, never mind, let’s leave it at that.

Rating: 7.7/10

Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King & Owen King
702 pages, Hardcover
Published in 2017 by Scribner
—
You also may be interested:
Fairy Tale by Stephen King
—
UPDATE:
The Green Piece Award is being retroactively granted to
Gun Island and
Earthly Remains as well.

The Silence of the White City by Eva García Sáenz De Urturi – Book Review

11/02/202409/18/2021 by dr. gunga

The Silence of the White City by Eva García Sáenz De Urturi – Book Cover

If you’ve read tons of crime novels, you’re well aware that American, British, Scandinavian, etc., detectives work their guts out when there’s a case. They know that as time goes by, it only gets harder to catch a criminal. But what do the Basque cops do in comparison? At least, if we’re going by The Silence of the White City. Well, they just don’t give a good goddamn about the whole thing.

They take it easy over the weekend—even if Spain’s most brutal serial killer in history is massacring half the city. They head to the countryside for a little gardening, plan their upcoming weddings, that sort of thing. Meanwhile, the bodies are piling up like nobody’s business.

Something’s Off with The Silence of the White City

Eva García Sáenz De Urturi’s book feels a bit… off. The foundations are mostly solid, but the quality fluctuates wildly. There’s nothing catastrophically wrong with it, but the constant little irritations keep it from rising above average.

Like what?

Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh – Book Review

10/23/202409/09/2021 by dr. gunga

Here we go, Gun Island is one of those truly engaging reads that you can really get lost in—it’s not every day you come across a book like this. Though Amitav Ghosh’s style feels a bit reserved and occasionally odd, as if he’s only 99% comfortable with the language he’s using, the interwoven stories soon become captivating. Whenever a new character appears, you can bet the plot will immediately take a turn and wander off. Yet these digressions aren’t true detours, because sooner or later, it becomes clear that everything is connected.

The mysterious and the everyday India

Deen Datta, a New York-based bookseller, stumbles upon an Indian legend. Deen is an unlikely protagonist (okay, not quite as much as the charming Alvina in Mad by Chloé Esposito), and sometimes you’d just love to give him a smack, he’s that hopeless. It’s a peculiar authorial choice to place such an inept character at the center of events. But, to Deen’s credit, he’s a lovable loser.

And just like Deen, the reader gets swept up in the events. The story begins in India, a land of exotic appeal—though here it mostly shows its everyday face, where profound poverty meets modernity (even the poorest souls seem to have a cell phone). Human trafficking and mass migration are as much a part of daily life as the centuries-old legends, not to mention the rampant environmental pollution.

A Thoroughly Cultural-Historical Investigation

The story of Gun Island is complex, and the Ghosh’s thoroughness is impressive across all themes he touches. It’s a curious feeling (at least for us here*) to read about love for language and homeland in a way that’s jingoistic but rather like the simple, joyful thrill of meeting a fellow countryman abroad, who, incidentally, speaks to you in the dialect your grandmother used half a century ago.

The author is just as well-versed in global warming as he is in Venice’s distant past, where our hero finally winds up in his journey across cultures—a journey that’s at times heartwarming, other times eerie.

(It’s a fascinating coincidence that, two books ago, in an entirely different genre [see Donna Leon’s Earthly Remains], the same problems came up in this identical setting.) Venice was built on wooden foundations, and believe it or not, these are now being devoured by shipworms that have appeared due to global warming. So, if you’ve yet to visit the Queen of the Seas, which is slowly sinking into herself, it’s time to hurry.

The essence of the book:

We live in a new world. No one knows where they belong anymore—neither people nor animals.

The Gunpowder Runs Out by the End

The lines of Gun Island and the fate of its characters mirror each other; the trader fleeing from the wrath of Manasa Devi, the goddess of snakes, and the Indian migrants setting out in hope of a better life share numerous parallels. However, as the story unfolds, the legend’s unraveling is increasingly overshadowed by the issue of migration, depicted with Ghosh’s empathetic understanding. (It’s worth noting that Ghosh also presents a fact-based background, tracing these events back to the colonial era.) This is Gun Island’s alpha and omega, where everything leads. But—regardless of your stance on mass migration—this is also where the book begins to lose steam.

By the end, you’ve learned all there is to know about the gun merchant, and the remaining afterthoughts simply lack impact. Deen’s romantic developments feel forced, Cinta’s fate is storybook-like, and the ultimate “grand miracle” is simply dull, despite the author’s intent to make it universally significant. But that’s only the last 50 pages; until then, everything is pretty much on point.

Rating: 7.8/10

Gun Island by Amitav Ghosh
288 pages, Hardcover
Published in 2019 by Hamish Hamilton
—
You may also be interested in:
The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota

Earthly Remains by Donna Leon – Book Review

08/31/202409/03/2021 by dr. gunga

Earthly Remains by Donna Leon – Book Cover

Average Crime in an Enjoyable Style

The American author lived in Venice for thirty years and began writing her crime series set in the city and its surroundings, featuring Inspector Brunetti, in 2003. The series is now at its 30th installment. Maria Vergine!* The cruel Hungarian** publisher, for some reason, skipped over more than half of the books in the translation process—sometimes leaving out as many as five in a row! So, for example, you might be surprised to learn that by the time Earthly Remains was published, Guido Brunetti had already been promoted to Chief Inspector! And you missed it! And how on earth did Vice-Questore Patta***, Brunetti’s utterly unbearable boss, not manage to block this promotion? Perhaps Signorina Elettra, the charming but mysterious secretary with her own connections, had a hand in it? We’ll never know!

What we do know is that Donna Leon’s novels can be placed in the same category as Simenon’s Maigret stories. (Though they are much more enjoyable.) Mostly, they involve average crimes with everyday culprits, nothing particularly flashy. However, they provide a thorough depiction of the environment and society, offering deep insights into Italian daily life, national character, and cuisine! (Yum—here’s yet another book series that will leave you constantly hungry while reading.) And, of course, Venice.

Let Me Move in With the Brunettis!

Locke & Key: Master Edition, Volume Three by Joe Hill – Gabriel Rodriguez – Comic Book Review

08/31/202408/31/2021 by dr. gunga

Locke & Key: Master Edition, Volume Two by Joe Hill – Gabriel Rodriguez – Comic Book Cover

A Stunning Finale at Breakneck Speed

The grand finale. No dragging things out. (In case you were hoping for more installments.) But perhaps that’s for the best, because in the previous volume, while not excessively, Locke & Key did slow down a bit when the focus shifted to everyday teenage problems. Well, there’s none of that here. Not a single panel is wasted. The conclusion hurtles forward at breakneck speed, right up to the final frames.

You start in 1775, discovering how and why Ben Locke created the keys. Then, instead of immediately stashing them in a very dark place where no one would ever find them, you jump to 1988 to find out what his descendant, Rendell—the father of the Locke kids—messed up. Now, in the present, it’s up to the kids to fix his mistakes, though it will come at a great personal cost.

The Necessary Level of Acceptance

Joe Hill is absolutely a 21st-century, deeply politically correct author. Alongside the dizzying pace of his graphic novel’s plot, he also makes sure to sensitively highlight the importance of accepting others, whether that involves race, sexual orientation, or disabilities. His father must be very proud of him from a parenting perspective. And maybe Hill feels the same about his father, the great Stephen King, given the respectful nods, like the homage to the infamous scene in Carrie.

Knife by Jo Nesbo – Book Review

08/31/202408/22/2021 by dr. gunga

How to Write a Harry Hole Novel

What’s the formula behind every Harry Hole novel? (Including Knife). It’s made up of four elements:

1. Harry’s EPIC struggle with alcohol.

2. During the investigation, someone close to him gets killed. (You wouldn’t want to be his colleague, trust me.)

3. A dizzying mix-up of suspects that leaves you in a daze.

4. A style that’s far more fluid and lively compared to typical Scandinavian crime novels, making it nearly impossible to put down.

The Recipe Fails

This formula worked pretty well up until the previous novel (The Thirst), but that’s where it all fell apart. It became impossible to take seriously the endless stream of obvious red herrings, each one blatantly screaming “fake” from a mile away. And they really were just that—fake. Then, of course, another one of Harry’s hunches would come along, and the whole cycle would start over again.

The Lost Man by Jane Harper – Book Review

08/27/202408/16/2021 by dr. gunga

The Lost Man by Jane Harper - Book Cover

Family Drama in Scorching Heat

To start, it’s helpful to know that Australia is scorching hot. It’s a wonder half the continent hasn’t caught fire. Oh, wait—it already has. Much like The Lost Man, Jane Harper’s first novel, The Dry, was set against this intense heat. However, The Dry turned out to be a fairly average crime novel (despite trying to present itself as more) and left me questioning whether I should bother reading anything else by her.

But of course, I couldn’t resist. (Damn curiosity!) And in the end, I didn’t regret it. The Lost Man is definitely an improvement over its predecessor, though for a long time, you might not even realize you’re reading a crime novel—it’s unclear if a crime has even taken place—or a leisurely paced family drama. In reality, it’s a bit of both. Regardless of what it turns out to be, I can imagine that the slow pacing might eventually deter some readers.

Australia’s Loneliest Man Investigates

The middle brother, who runs the family’s vast property far away from anything—except the desert—is found dead in the middle of nowhere. He left his car behind. Now, anyone who abandons their car in a place where 45°C (113°F) isn’t considered too hot is he is done for. Nathan, the LONELIEST PERSON in all of Australia and the estranged brother of the victim, doesn’t exactly conduct an investigation; like the rest of the family, he’s just trying to process the tragedy.