{"id":8197,"date":"2019-10-14T06:59:13","date_gmt":"2019-10-14T10:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=8197"},"modified":"2019-10-14T10:37:33","modified_gmt":"2019-10-14T14:37:33","slug":"four-for-the-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=8197","title":{"rendered":"Four for the Road"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

****A Rising Man <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"India,<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Abir Mukherjee\u2019s 2017 debut novel<\/a> is an easy-to-read police procedural that shares many of the charms of his subsequent novel, A Necessary Evil<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> which I reviewed some time ago. Set in India around 1920, it provides a probably too-rosy view of the Raj, though many of the social problems, the racism, the unrest are certainly there. Nevertheless, within the frame of Mukherjee\u2019s clever plot, in the end, you come away feeling you know more about the culture and the country than when you opened the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

****If She Wakes<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Koryta\u2019s thriller<\/a> possesses what might be one plot thread too many, though the inciting event\u2014a murder in which the only witness is injured and suffering from locked-in syndrome\u2014starts the plot moving with a bang. If only she\u2019d come out of it, she might have useful information about the murder. The principal protagonist, an insurance investigator, knows this. The FBI knows it. Her sister knows it. And so do the assassins who want to ensure her silence lasts forever. Medical websites consider locked-in syndrome a \u201crare neurological disorder,\u201d but it\u2019s not rare in thrillers! Here\u2019s another good one<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*****The Siege of Troy<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Yes, that Troy. Theodor Kallifatides<\/a> uses a Greek classroom in WWII as the setting for a teacher\u2019s inspired retelling of the tale of the Achaeans\u2019 quest to recapture Helen, the frightful battles, the death of Hector, the loss of Achilles, and the cunning horse. Beautifully done, and a pleasure to read!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

****The Chain <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adrian McKinty has received considerable publicity with this book, in part because it almost didn\u2019t get written. Author of several excellent police procedurals<\/a> featuring Catholic Sean Duffy, a detective with the heavily Protestant Belfast police, with all the conflicts that set-up suggests, McKinty had just about abandoned writing. Then comes The Chain<\/a><\/em>, and, while I loved the Belfast books, the premise here is a stretch. On audio, the narrator, January LaVoy, beautifully conveys the fear experienced by frantic parents whose children have been ensnared by The Chain. They cannot get them back without paying a ransom and kidnapping someone else\u2019s child. It\u2019s diabolical, but is it even a bit believable? Hoping he\u2019s back on a roll. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos: India (Mario Lapid), Trojan Horse (Ian Scott), creative commons license.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

****A Rising Man Abir Mukherjee\u2019s 2017 debut novel is an easy-to-read police procedural that shares many of the charms of his subsequent novel, A Necessary Evil, which I reviewed some time ago. Set in India around 1920, it provides a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Four for the Road - a classic, a 1920s Raj police procedural, assassins on the prowl, and Adrian McKinty's hit, The Chain.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[77,52,1288,54,40,266,3,126,32],"tags":[1062,431,1650],"class_list":["post-8197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-audio-books","category-crime","category-culture","category-detective","category-fiction","category-history","category-mystery","category-reading-2","category-thriller","tag-abir-mukherjee","tag-india","tag-michael-koryta"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/28380918_b5a4cba08f_z.jpg?fit=640%2C439&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-28d","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8197"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8200,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8197\/revisions\/8200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}