May Book List

May is going to be a fun month, I can feel it in my arthritic bones. Or maybe that's just the heavy rains that have graced the Bluegrass, I can't tell which. I hurt my back back in a car crash in September of 2018, and that, coupled with the juvenile arthritis that followed me into adulthood, made me feel the weather like a sailor. It was only a matter of time, after all, as I have been swearing like one since I was thirteen.

This month my lofty goal is twenty books. I think I'm going to cheat a little and read the remaining five short stories (about 60 pages apiece) from Dean Koontz' Nameless sextet. I enjoyed the first one quite a bit and am excited to dig into the others. I do have a few non-fiction books I'm itching to read as well, which will be a challenge for me as I tend to process non-fiction far slower than fiction. But, I know I can do it! I have a vacation the last week of the month; a glorious eight days of freedom from work and school! Term ends this month, and all that stands in my way are two exams.

In other words, it's go time!

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Book two of the Nameless series by Dean Koontz is the lackluster followup to the first, In the Heart of the Fire. Not to say Photographing the Dead isn't a good story; on the contrary, were I to have read this first I would have still been intrigued by the idea of Nameless and the complex, mysterious network headed by the entity "The Ace of Diamonds." It just simply wasn't as compelling as the first book. Our villain is admittedly a true wretch, and perverse and disgusting, but I feel like his story was a little more rushed than I would like. I did enjoy the mind games Nameless plays and the secrets and plot twists that lie within, but it read like an episode of Criminal Minds and not a thriller.

Ohmigosh this one made up for Photographing the Dead! I loved The Praying Mantis Bride. I thought it was paced well for a short story and gave enough background to really explain our villain, as well as plenty of time for the psychological games Nameless likes to play with his sordid victims. The supernatural elements were much stronger here and we get a glimpse of what Nameless' life may have been before his memory was wiped.

The book was well written, of course, as Dean Koontz is a good writer, but there's one very eyerolling thing. It's constantly mentioned that Nameless is a good tipper and that's something important about his past life - it's just weird how often Koontz mentions it. The books are 50-60 pages long, and 2-3 times a book is excessive. I just don't see how it is going to become relevant, but I am open to surprises.

What is with this series and alternating good and bad books? Hello, is Emily Larkin writing these? I'm being a little dramatic, it's not necessarily bad but the pacing was way off and left me confused. The associates of the Ace of Diamonds are definitely not as put together as usual and our villain's murder wasn't nearly as satisfying as the others.

We do see a little more of Nameless' curiosity about his past, and the personal connection to the victim on this assignment, but I just felt that this was a filler book and was as lackluster as Photographing the Dead.

So, obviously, I like to punish myself and read memoirs of real murders written by real family members of the victims. Becky: The Heartbreaking Story of Becky Watts by Her Father was very true to its name. I was sobbing at this heartfelt story of a father's unyielding love and the complex and horrific aftermath of the murder of a girl by her own stepbrother. Darren and Anjie Galsworthy have been through hell and back, but the story of their wonderfully supportive family and community gives a glimmer of hope for their happiness in the wake of the murder and dismemberment of Becky Watts, dubbed The Angel of Bristol. Darren is an exceptional writer who tells his poignant story eloquently. I hated this book but I am glad I read it, if that makes sense.