The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown

 

"Death is not the end. There's more work to do, but science continues to discover evidence that there is indeed something beyond all this. That message is one we should be shouting from the mountaintops, Robert! It's the secret of all secrets. Just imagine the impact it will have on the future of the human race."    

        -Katherine, from the novel

I was very excited to find Dan Brown's newest novel at my small local library when it looked like I might wait months for the public library to have one available. What I didn't pay attention to was the length---671 pages! I don't really like tackling more than 450. I thought I might never finish but then it became a page-turner, and I was racing toward the end.

This was another thriller featuring Robert Langdon, a renowned symbologist. Here he travels to Prague accompanying Dr. Katherine Solomon, a noetic scientist who has been invited to give a lecture about her trailblazing work on human consciousness. The two long-time friends have become lovers so when Katherine disappears and her completed book manuscript is stolen from the publisher, he sets out to find her. In the process he finds plenty of trouble!

I am rating this novel a 4. Descriptions of landmarks in Prague made me wish I could visit. The story was compelling, the writing was excellent but the subject matter was more than a little beyond my comprehension. Examples of what I've called psycho-jargon: deep spectrum panoramic displays, fractals, neural plasticity, anterograde amnesia, eidetic memory, photolithograph, nano electric biofilament, dissociative identity disorder and numerous others. All of these relate to Solomon's work: noetics, defined as "of or relating to the mind."

Add into this intellectual stuff a mysterious "monster" and some nefarious experimentation by foreign powers and you definitely have another gripping novel by Brown. I can't say much more without revealing secrets. 

Chief Joseph and the Flight of the Nez Perce by Kent Nerburn

 

"Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before, I have it in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Too-hul-hul-sote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are, perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."  

               -Chief Joseph, from his Surrender Speech, October 5,1877

I was familiar with this portion of Chief Joseph's speech, especially the last few sentences. I had always wondered about his story and that of the Nez Perce people. Perhaps this book told me more than I wanted to know. It was dense with details and difficult to read, not because of the writing, but because of the disturbing content. I have said I like a nonfiction that reads like fiction, and this one did not. There was really no dialogue, only some quotes, but such a gripping and sad story. I guess I knew better than to expect a happy ending.

The flight of the Nez Perce begins in their homeland of the Wallowa Valley of Eastern Oregon in June of 1877. Joseph and others were leading 800 men, women and children on a 1500-mile retreat being chased by various U.S. Army officers under the command of General Sherman, head of all the U.S. armies. He delivered orders to "pursue them to the death." Not so different from his notorious march through Georgia.

Joseph never wanted to fight; he only wanted to protect his people, look out for their welfare and be allowed to live peacefully on their ancestral lands. He would be forced to fight and then to flee with his people. After the Nez Perce surrendered they were forced from one fort to another under inhumane conditions, often with little food and medicine and insufficient housing and clothing suited to the weather. In 1885 they had been relocated to the Northwest but never to their homeland as had been promised more than once by military leaders.

As a student of Florida history, the story of the Nez Perce reminded me of the Seminoles and their years-long harassment by the U.S. Army, particularly Andrew Jackson. I have to wonder how many other native culture groups experienced similar tragedies.

This book was thoroughly researched---the author says he worked for 4 years. Because of that and the excellent writing I rate it a 5. I was inspired by Chief Joseph's story---his determination, resilience and devotion to his people. He has been referred to as the "Red Napoleon" and Buffalo Bill Cody called him the "greatest Indian America ever produced."

The Maid by Nita Prose 4

 "Justice is like truth---it, too, is subjective. So many of those who deserve to be punished never receive their just desert, and in the meantime, good people, decent people, are charged with the wrong crimes. It's a flawed system---justice---a dirty, messy, imperfect system. But if the good people accept personal responsibility for exacting justice, would we not have a better chance of cleaning the entire world, of holding the liars, the cheaters, the users, and the abusers to account?"         -from the novel

Protagonist and narrator Molly Gray is a maid at the illustrious Regency Grand Hotel. She is naive and somewhat gullible with odd mannerisms that keep her distanced from her peers and she is so fastidious about her work that the other maids are either suspicious or jealous. Also Molly is grieving the passing of her adored grandmother and feeling lonely as she is living alone for the first time in her young life.

When a guest, Mr. Black, is found dead in his bed in one of Molly's assigned rooms, she is an easy target for a murder charge although she is completely innocent. Can she help find the true criminal?

The Maid was the Page Turners' selection for November.  I am rating it a 4. I liked it but maybe not enough to read further in the Molly the Maid series.

The Apprentice: A Rizzoli and Isles Novel by Tess Gerritsen 2

 

"Jane Rizzoli would never allow herself to be so spineless as to suffer a nervous breakdown. In the course of her career, she had chased a perp across a rooftop, had kicked down doors, had confronted her own death in a dark cellar. She had killed a man. But until this moment, she had never felt so close to crumbling."

       -from the novel

I had read 3 other novels from this series in 2014. Apparently, I liked them giving ratings of 5, 5 and 3. I enjoyed the TV series of "Rizzoli and Isles" very much from 2010-16, especially the two lead actresses, Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander. I am sure that's what led to reading the novels. I must have moved beyond this type of thriller because I really didn't enjoy this one so much, rating it a 2. I could hardly wait to finish it! I guess it had something going for it if I didn't quit.

I do enjoy a good murder mystery but this one about a serial killer known as the Surgeon, is just too graphic for my taste. It is the reason I gave up on James Patterson some years back. Too much technical/medical jargon, too. 

Apostle's Cove by William Kent Krueger 5

 

"There was no predictable pattern to life, Cork reflected that night. Chaos was in control. No direction was true. Every road turned blindly. For twenty-five years, a door had remained closed. Now it was ajar. But there was no telling what might be revealed if he yanked it wide open. And here was the oddest part---the man who stood to gain the most from an investigation might be the least willing to help."

                -from the novel

I had to wait almost a year for this newest installment of the Cork O'Connor series! It was well worth the wait but now I am sad thinking of how long before the next.

A short description of the plot: Cork gets word from his lawyer son that when he was sheriff he may have arrested an innocent man, Axel Boshey, who has been in prison for many years. Always one to care about justice, Cork is compelled to seek out the truth and do the right thing. As that investigation begins, other murders take place. They are all connected, but how?

Of course, I will rate Apostle's Cove a 5. It is number 21 in this series, and I have read and enjoyed them all. Through the series I have "seen" Cork's 3 kids grow up. The family dynamic in this novel is so interesting because Stephen and Jenny are adults now. Steven is an attorney working with the Great North Innocence Project and Jenny is a writer and something of a chip off the old block. (Annie had passed away in an earlier story.) Most of this novel, however, flashes back 25 years when Stephen is in utero, Jenny and Annie are youngsters and Cork O'Connor is sheriff of Tamarack County. This is where the reader finds out the details of the murder of Chastity Boshey and the arrest and conviction of her husband, Axel.

I was reading the novel in October, nearing Halloween, which was the same as the setting of the story. That was cool! I was happy to find out Henry Meloux, one of my favorite characters, the native Mide, is still alive, a centenarian. 

Wouldn't this set of mysteries make a great TV series?

Teacher Man by Frank McCourt 5+

Written in 2018:

 "If I could travel to my twenty-seventh year, my first teaching year, I'd take me out for a steak, a baked potato, a pint of stout. I'd give myself a good talking to. For Christ's sake, kid, straighten up. Throw back those miserable bony shoulders. Stop mumbling. Speak up. Stop putting yourself down. In that department the world will be happy to oblige. You're starting your teaching career, and it isn't an easy life. I know. I did it. You'd be better off as a cop. At least you'd have a gun or a stick to defend yourself. A teacher has nothing but his mouth. If you don't learn to love it, you'll wriggle in a corner of hell."                   -Frank McCourt, from the memoir

I fell in love with Frank McCourt's writing after I read Angela's Ashes a few months ago. I was lucky enough to listen to a good portion of it narrated by the author, his Irish brogue greatly enhancing the story of his youth in Limerick. It didn't take long for me to find his second memoir, 'Tis in which McCourt describes his return to the U.S. where he was born. I was delighted to find Teacher Man in  both the audio and print versions. Though I enjoyed the first 2 books immensely, this one may be my favorite. Could it be because I taught school 37 years?

As the quote indicates, Frank McCourt began his teaching career at age 27 and for 30 years taught in several New York high schools. Even though I taught elementary school I could totally relate to many of his experiences. Some were laugh-out-loud funny like the sandwich-throwing incident. Many others were quite touching like Kevin's and Serena's stories.

I was impressed by McCourt's teaching strategies---unorthodox, very creative, motivating and relevant to his students' lives. The lesson in which he had students writing excuses for historical figures is a great example. He was the kind of teacher I aspired to be (and hopefully was, at least at times).

On a scale of 1-5, I want to give Teacher Man a 6! I don't often reread books but I can see myself picking any of McCourt's memoirs up again in the future. Since he began his writing career late in life, his body of work is limited. I read Angela and the Baby Jesus, a very short illustrated children's book about his mother as a child "rescuing" the baby Jesus figure from a church nativity. The only other McCourt books are co-written with his brother Malachy like A Couple of Blaguards. I'll find it soon!

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I just reread this memoir and loved it just as much the second time! 

Happy Wife by Meredith Lavender and Kendall Shores 5

"As Will's twenty-eight-year-old second wife, I'm something between arm candy and dinner theater to most of his friends. A spectacle to be sure. At best, I am a strange interloper, someone new who doesn't know any of their inside jokes. At worst, all the wives jeer at me like I'm the Ghost of Christmas Future, a harbinger of younger second wives to come. Never mind that Will's divorce from his first wife, Constance, is well behind him---a divorce she initiated."            -from the novel

 

I really enjoyed this novel! I am not sure if I would have liked it quite so much if the setting had not been in my own backyard, Winter Park, Florida. Normally, I would not choose a book that sounds like a romance. This one did involve a romance but also a mysterious disappearance that kept me turning pages. I will give it a 5 rating for its entertainment value.

Nora Davies is a newcomer in Winter Park and working two low-level jobs to eke out a living when she meets Will Somerset, a rich, well-respected lawyer who hob nobs with the elite. He is almost 20 years older than she but there is undeniable chemistry between Nora and her "mean, hot lawyer." This is the backstory because...

The real plot is woven when Will disappears after the birthday party Nora has thrown for him. Gone without a trace! While Nora and others try to find clues as to Will's whereabouts there are flashbacks to the beginnings of their romance and marriage.

When Nora feels she is a suspect in Will's disappearance, she is desperate to find who is really responsible.

I mentioned that the novel is set in the city where I live. It was so much fun to be familiar with so many places in the story----Rollins College and Annie Russell Theatre, Park Avenue, the Morse Museum, the Winter Park Chain of Lakes, Fiddlers Green Irish Pub, Hannibal Square, the Farmer's Market and the famous peacocks of Genius Drive. And much more!