The Searcher by Tana French

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The Searcher is a modern-day western set in Ireland.   Cal Hooper is a divorced, retired American who has moved to rural western Ireland, looking for peace, trying to leave behind a lifetime of police work and a broken marriage.   He picks a run-down house on the lower slopes of the mountain and sets about to fix it up, go fishing, and get a fresh start.      There are secrets in the village, though, and a young teenager (Trey) asks him for help in find a brother who has gone missing.    The story moves along slowly.    Characters, dialogue, and local color are well-developed and detailed.   It is partly a mystery, partly a crime story, partly a slow-burning thriller, but it is mostly a well-crafted novel about finding one’s moral compass.    A lesser writer may have clearly-defined good guys and bad guys, but the characters of this novel are ordinary people who face difficult choices and must call on themselves to make the right decisions and actions, regardless of the accepted  laws, what the police may require, and what people might think.   Cal, Trey, Cal’s neighbor Mart, and Lena allow us into their complex inner lives, and we are asked to understand and we are challenged to decide what we might do in the same situation.

Tana French is a gifted writer who brings creative insights and clever plots, unexpected twists, and rich layers of complexity to her books.    The Searcher is one of her best [4.8/5].

Vincent by Don McLean

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The song “Vincent” has long been a favorite.   Don McClean wrote it after reading a book about Vincent van Gogh.    The song starts off with a reference to a painting (Starry, Starry Night).

Starry, starry night
Paint your palette blue and grey
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul
Shadows on the hills
Sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills
In colors on the snowy linen land

Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now

This is a poignant and artistic song worth listening to.    I have continued to have it on my own playlists now for a half century.

Razorblade Tears by S.A. Crosby

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Razorblade Tears is a thriller novel by S.A. Crosby.   Two hard ex-cons unite after their sons are brutally murdered.    Although the fathers were homophobes and were distanced from their gay sons, they did love them in their own silent and rough manner.    One of the fathers is black and the other is a somewhat racist white man, but they find common ground to seek justice for their sons.   They soon come to realize that they will need to exact revenge themselves and what follows are raw, action-packed sequences, with lots of blood spilled.   Between these sections, the fathers reconcile their feelings for their families and vow to protect those who are left.   This is a quick-moving visceral story, well-crafted by the author.   Recommended, but with a note about the level of violence.   4.4/5 stars.

Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd

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Wish You Were Here was written by Pink Floyd and released on an album of that name in 1975. It is song about loss (Syd Barrett, a band member) and disillusionment with the music industry.   Over the years it has been sung by Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, and David Gilmour in their concerts and it has been included in the greatest hits compilations.   I heard it performed live twice.   Pink Floyd remains a long-term favorite and there are many other of their songs on my playlists.

How I wish, how I wish you were here
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl, year after year
Running over the same old ground, what have we found?
The same old fears, wish you were here

Things Have Changed by Bob Dylan

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Things Have Changed was released on the for the film The Wonder Boys in 2000 and went on to win an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.    It was released on Dylan’s compilation albums afterward.    It is a song about disillusionment and isolation, written in a storytelling style, full of imagery, references, and memorable lyrics.   I have been a Dylan fan for almost 60 years and have many favorite songs.     This one works very well for me:

People are crazy and times are strange
I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range
I used to care, but things have changed

Fair Warning by Michael Connelly

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Michael Connelly’s books have given us over 30 crime books in the last 30 years with central characters like Detective Harry Bosch and lawyer Micky Haller.    He has also written books featuring Jack McEvoy (crime writer), Terry McCaleb (criminal profiler), and more recently Renee Ballard (detective), all set in Los Angeles.     His books can be described as crime-related procedural novels, doggedly investigating violent crimes.   As the protagonist works her/his way to follow clues and leads, various obstacles and dangers are encountered, adding thriller elements along with strong characters, and clear thematic tones.

Fair Warning follows the contemporary issue of genetic research and genetic testing and adds a “what if” conspiracy.    Jack McEvoy is an investigative journalist who follows leads to discover how some individuals are victimized by those who have access to genetic information.   Michael Connelly was a crime reporter and journalist so there is a strong sense of authenticity in McEvoy’s procedures, practices, and approach to ethical issues.   All of Connelly’s books have well-developed characters and ethical issues are always at the forefront.

I have read almost all of Connelly’s books and he continues to bring me back to read his latest.    There are 23 books that feature Harry Bosch, but we don’t tire of him because Connelly cares deeply for victims and Harry is his voice.    Fair Warning is the third Jack McEvoy book and we hope to see him back again.  Almost all of his stories have solid plots, exciting sections, and carefully considered endings.   Fair Warning is not in my list of his top books, but it is a good crime novel, with some new and fresh characters and interesting topics so it is a recommended book.   My rating – 4.3/5

Some Lie and Some Die by Ruth Rendell

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Some Lie and Some Die is a mystery novel by Ruth Rendell, the 8th book in the Inspector Wexford series.   The setting is a music festival in Kings Markham.    A woman is found in a quarry, a murder victim, and Wexford’s team need to investigate.    There are lots of interviews with witnesses and suspects, lots of checking up, and a number of meetings, often in pubs, to discuss theories.    This is standard detective fiction, but Ruth Rendell’s books always have a lot of in-depth character development, an unravelling of secrets, and some dark behaviors.    In her books, the criminals are not usually villains.     They and their friends and families are ordinary people, many with personal problems or relationship issues, and crimes are a result of trauma, obsession, and ill will.   Some of her books are called psychological thrillers.

Some Lie and Some Die is a solid story, not her best, but she sets a high standard in the crime novel genre.    Recommended, but there are some better Ruth Rendell stories to start with.    4.3 stars/5

Billy Joel’s She’s Always a Woman to Me

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I remember the first time I heard Billy Joel’s first album.    A friend (now deceased) played the vinyl record and stated that this artist would be around for a long time.    He was right.    Many of Billy Joel’s songs are memorable and his voice perfectly provides the emphasis and empathy for the words sung in the tune.     I heard this song performed live by a tribute band, and of all the songs, this one resonated with me.

 

She can kill with a smile, she can wound with her eyes
And she can ruin your faith with her casual lies
And she only reveals what she wants you to see
She hides like a child, but she's always a woman to me

 

Gallows View by Peter Robinson

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Gallows View is the first book in the Inspector Banks series by Peter Robinson.   There are 28 mystery books and they have won a number of awards in the period from 1987 to 2023.    All of the stories take place in Eastvale, a fictional city in the Yorkshire Dales.    Banks moved there from London for a quieter life, but with the number of murders and other crimes portrayed in the series, it could not have been all that peaceful.   The plots follow the police procedural structure, and the stories are reminiscent of the Ruth Rendell mysteries (high praise indeed).

Readers are often surprised by how good the first novel is and then they read more books and find that the series is consistently strong.    In Gallows View, Banks deals with a peeping Tom, a murder, a rape, and some break-ins, all in the same time period, and we find that there are some links to the criminals and the events that unfold.    The story is well told and a satisfying read.

All of the Inspector Banks stories are recommended.   Rating – 4.4/5 stars.