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Recent book roundup

The Black Hand by Will Thomas

The fifth book in the Barker / Llywellan mystery series. I haven’t read the third or fourth book, which my book club seemed to think were just like this book, but as a solitary text, I enjoyed it. Barker continues to delight, as does his indefatigable assistant. Thomas’ London feels authentic without being overdone.

See also: Some Danger Involved and Kingdom Come

Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson

An excellent book that starts out like an alternate-history sf story and melds into something strange and interesting. The brief premise at the beginning of the book is that one day in 1912 the continent of Europe as we know it is swapped with the continent of Europe from a parallel universe where evolution took a different route (and is thus populated with an entirely different set of flora and fauna). America becomes the de-facto world power because all the European countries are suddenly gone. A really solid read; delightful.

California Fire and Life by Don Winslow

A crackling good read. Jack Wade washed out as an arson-investigator for the Sheriff’s department who now works for the eponymous insurance company. The story zips along and reads quick and smart. The dialog rings true and the characters are well crafted. The narrative voice has a “hey buddy” feel to it that works really well. For example, after it introduces a key character, the next chapter will start with something like “Now here’s the story on Jack Wade.”

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