Books of May, 06

This month included the final two volumes of The Book of Words trilogy, a detective story, and two books aimed at teens.

• A Man Betrayed by J. V. Jones
  
• Heat by Mike Lupica
  
• Flush by Carl Hiaasen
  
• Master and Fool by J. V. Jones
  
• McNalley's Dilemma by Lawrence Sanders (& Vincent Lardo)
  
• Currently reading Idoru by William Gibson
  

A Man Betrayed by J. V. Jones (Book II of the The Book of Words trilogy) - Second on the Book of Words trilogy, it didn't really move the story along that much. It seemed more to me a sort of "fantasy comes in trilogies, I've got the opening book, I know where I want the ending to go, so I need something in the middle" book. Really, both this and the first could easily have been made one volume with half the stuff cut out. But, while at times tedious, it did keep me interested enough to move on to the third book -- though I needed a break prior to moving on.

Heat by Mike Lupica - Well, here's the thing. I've been wanting to read some of Lupica's fiction. I unexpectedly had two hours to kill, so I went by Sam's Club to see what I might could find to read. I saw Heat by Lupica and bought it without reading the jacket blurbs or any of the book. Turns out it was aimed at kids. Read it anyway, and it wasn't all that bad but if you're over fifteen you can probably pass it up. The story follows a kid, great baseball player (over the top "great" actually) who is struggling with a bit of a problem in getting to play.

Flush by Carl Hiaasen - Another book aimed at teens, though this one could be enjoyed a bit more by older kids and even near-fifty year olds. Number One Son had read it and wanted me to read it. He knew I had read some of Hiaasen's work (definitely not kid stuff) so wanted to see what I thought about this one. There were some fairly large-sized holes in the story I assume were allowable as it was aimed at kids, but overall not a bad book. I'd still pass it up for Hiassen's books aimed at an older audience, but not a bad book for teens.

Master and Fool by J. V. Jones (Book III of the The Book of Words trilogy) - The concluding volume of The Book of Words, and it ended the story in a fairly routine method. I've not read a lot of fantasy lately and, while it wasn't horrible, it didn't light me on fire. This trilogy is skippable in my opinion, but okay if you are hard up for a fantasy read.

McNalley's Dilemma by Lawrence Sanders (& Vincent Lardo) - My first book by Sanders, and it turns out to be by Lardo. I'm going to try and rustle up the original works by Sanders and start with those, then continue with the books that continue the series after Sander's death. Even though it was fairly predictable and I saw the ending (or at least partially saw it) fairly early on, but it was still fun to read. It reminded me a bit of Wodehouse, and I love Wodehouse. In fact, I need to hunt up another Wodehouse fairly soon to add to my collection. McNalley's Dilemma follows McNalley as he tries to sort out a mystery that involves a lovely young thing and the death of her father.

Currently reading Idoru by William Gibson. Gibson is know for writing cyberpunk and I've read a couple of his books and decided I'm not a particular fan of cyberpunk. But I picked this one up via paperback swap and thought I'd give it a try. I'll let you know.