Great Leader, by Jim Harrison

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NY Times review

This is the first book I've read by Jim Harrison. His writing is unusual. There's a kind of economy to it that can be just a little confusing. He doesn't waste words on transition; a character will move from one place to another, one action to another, one time to another, with little or no explanation. Several times I had to stop and go back to see what I had missed, and usually discovered that I had missed nothing--I was simply being challenged to use my head to figure out what's going on. In general, I like this in an author; I don't enjoy reading unnecessary reams of exposition, but maybe Mr. Harrison overdoes it a little.

The story is pretty good. I like the Upper Peninsula Michigan setting, the cold and bleak images of Lake Superior, its role as a sort of symbol for evil in the book. Sunderson is a State Police detective who retires soon after the story begins, but who continues to hunt down his last suspect, a religious cult leader that he sometimes calls the Great Leader. The Great Leader's main transgression is statutory rape: he likes to have intercourse with underage girls who join the cult. He also welcomes adult women as long as they have lots of money to donate.

Sunderson is a complicated person, probably an alcoholic, although his personal brand of alcoholism doesn't exactly ring true, and I have a little expertise in this area. He is extremely sexually active for a 65-year-old man, and doesn't seem to have much in the way of moral compunction. Add to this his habit of spying on his 16-year-old female neighbor Mona, and it's a little difficult to see exactly from where his intense moral outrage against the Great Leader comes. Perhaps it's one of those instances where we hate others the most when they remind us of ourselves.

The Black Book, by Ian Rankin

An Inspector Rebus novel, (copyright 1993) in which Rebus becomes involved in several mysteries at once, which he, in his inimitable fashion, ties together, during which process he offends and alienates much of the Edinburgh police force.

This is a great book, a great mystery, and full of colorful language. While reading this book I decided to keep a list of what I imagine are "Scottish" words. Some of these I know the meaning of, some I guessed from context, some I need to look up. Page numbers are from my St. Martin's / Minotaur paperback edition, ISBN 0-312-97675-5.

• harr, n. Scot. and North Eng., a thick, wet fog along the seacoast.
  [1665–75; north var. of HOAR]*
• polis -- police
• ca' canny -- be careful?
• snell, adj. [Appears on p. 18 "weak sunshine and a snell wind" and 247.] Chiefly Scot. 1.    active; lively: a snell lad.
  2.    witty: a snell remark.
  3.    severe: snell weather. [bef. 900; ME, OE; c. OHG snel (G schnell) quick, ON snjallr excellent]*
•  stews -- I lost the page number for this one, but here's the quote I wrote down: "The Edinburgh establishment has never bided too far from the stews." (brothels)
• guttered -- "is he guttered?" [p.96]
• tadger -- penis [p.115]
• bunnet -- some kind of headgear [p.131]
• gey -- extremely? "...guide dogs are gey expensive these days..." [p.160]
• skited -- slipped, skidded? " ...nearly skited on wet linoleum..." [p.172]
• gardyloo -- "stepped under a gardyloo bucket..." [p.180] gardyloo, interj.
  (a cry formerly used in Scotland to warn pedestrians when slops were about to be thrown from an upstairs window.)
  [1760–70; Anglicized form of F gare (de) l'eau beware of the water]*
• heid-the-ba -- henchman? [p.189]
• keech -- shit? "They used to chuck all their keech out of the windows and onto the street ... the locals called it the Flowers of Edinburgh..." [p.190]
• blether -- talk, conversation [p.193]
• pulses -- beans? [p.241]
• fly-halfs [p.251]
• scoor-oot [p.263] -- a scattering, like throwing a handful of coins on the ground for children to scramble after -- search this page for "scoor-oot." Also, there's a rather expensive dictionary of Scottish words and phrases on Amazon.com with this word as its title.
• thrawn [p.321]
• teuchters [p.322]
• donnert [p.325]
• glaur -- mud? shit? [p. 333] 

*Thanks to my friend R.S. for these definitions

Another wonderful bit of color from the book: at one point, Rebus visits an elderly aunt that he hasn't seen since he was a child. She surprises him by grabbing his wrists and reciting the following grace before they eat:

     Some hae meat and cannae eat
     and some hae none that want it
     but we hae meat and we can eat
     so let the Lord be thankit

The Black Book is violent, funny, and beautifully written.

Rankin's favorite moments from his books, in The Guardian

Summary of The Black Book on Ian Rankin's website

Mystic River, by Dennis Lehane

Mystic River is a good mystery, and a terrific novel. Its characters and setting are irresistible. Lehane's skill is awesome; he manages to write exactly what I want to read: a novel that creates a world that draws me in, a world that I am loath to leave behind when I read the last page and put the book down.

We are introduced to the three main characters in their childhood. Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus, and Dave Boyle are pre-teens living in what is probably a part of Greater Boston which Lehane calls Buckingham. There is an incident, Dave is kidnapped by two men, but he escapes several days later and is returned to the neighborhood.

Many years and events later, the three are brought together by tragedy. Sean has become a State Trooper. Jimmy is an ex-con who owns a store, and Dave has a nondescript job about which we hear little. As the action begins, explodes, and the investigation and mystery progress, we learn more and more about these three men, their families, and their past and present lives. They become more and more real, more three-dimensional.

The mystery itself is a good one. I can brag that I figured it out at about the 70% point, but that didn't spoil it for me, as I couldn't really be sure. And the mystery, while it's every bit true to the form and strong enough to stand alone, is not all there is to this book. We are every bit as involved in the nature and lives of these men, and how they will each deal with what life has dealt them.

While I enjoyed Moonlight Mile quite a bit, I think that Mystic River better reveals the talent of this powerful writer.

A Publisher's Weekly review of the book

The Mystic River entry in Wikipedia (about the river, not the book -- but see the "disambiguation page" for more)

IMDb entry for the movie made of Mystic River

A New York Times review of the movie

A New York Times Sunday Book Review interview with Dennis Lehane

Lost Memories of Skin, by Russell Banks

Banks has long been a favorite.

This book explores a world that most of us probably don't want to think about: registered sex offenders. On parole in a fictional city in Florida, a small community of them lives under a causeway mostly because they have no choice. Enjoined to live at least 2500 feet from any place where children might congregate, this is one of the very few places in the county where they may legally reside, and they are required by the terms of their parole to remain in the county.

This man-without-a-country scenario is based on fact. In approximately 2009 I recall hearing on NPR about the sex offender community in Miami, FL, forced to live under a causeway for the same reasons as Banks' characters in Calusa, FL.

Sex offenders are a source of disgust and shame. Politicians who try to help them risk their careers. There is nothing to be gained from any non-vilifying comment or act toward this group of people.

Unfortunately, Banks for some reason found it necessary to introduce a character known as The Professor, whose complex life and background quickly takes the plot of this novel far away from the fascinating subject matter, and leads it down a path better trodden by writers of mysteries and spy thrillers. I regret to say that the result of this curious plot twist is a disappointing book.


New York Times Review

Second NY Times Review

Wikipedia Entry about the Julia Tuttle Causeway Sex Offender Colony