Pete Hatcher works in a Las Vegas casino as a low-level executive. When the big bosses decide that maybe he knows something that would interest the Feds, Jane has to help him escape to a new life. But the major complication for Jane is that they hire a couple of pros to find Hatcher.
What I Liked
The book covers a lot of ground, with lots of running around the country, and even up into Glacier National Park. It’s a bit different than the urban settings of the rest of it, and you get to see lots of new issues for Jane to adapt to while teaching the people how to live a hidden life. The pros that are chasing her are really good, and it adds lots of tension.
What I Didn’t Like
I liked reading the story, and still the premise of what Jane does, but this one had some challenges for me. First, Pete has no idea what’s going on because he doesn’t know why they suddenly decided he knows too much or what’s going on. But he hasn’t done anything wrong, and unlike a lot of other people trying to disappear, he could simply go to the authorities and say “Help!”. There’s no good explanation why he doesn’t. Secondly, the two pros that are chasing them are kind of nuts, but in very cliché ways. There’s no depth to the characters so there’s no menace, just pretty superficial. Finally, one of the big tension scenes is more resolved by coincidence than the actions of the people, which was unsatisfying.
The Bottom Line
A potentially excellent book brought down to highly enjoyable.
Jane Whitefield is back and trying to guide an 8-year-old boy with an inheritance and a 30-year-old woman with stolen bank money to a safe haven.
What I Liked
The methodology for how Jane helps everyone is quite good, and reads both simple and plausible, a veneer of realism that sells the stories. The explanations for both cases are relatively clear, you understand the motives and why someone is coming after the two of them. Most of the story is a cat and mouse world, and it works well.
What I Didn’t Like
The two stories seem unconnected at the beginning but it is blindingly obvious that they will eventually connect, even if it is a connection told in reverse (i.e., if you know the connection in advance, you can write two separate stores to get there), but it seems coincidental rather than natural. There are also two really long expositions, one at the beginning for the kid’s backstory and one in the middle for hers. Finally, there is some romance that comes out of nowhere for the character, particularly as you have been in her head for some time and then it’s like, “Cue the romance scene with a guy she knows but we don’t.”.
Jane Whitefield is a Seneca woman living in NY state. She honours her ancestors and helps those who are in trouble to disappear and start a new life.
What I Liked
The premise of the main character’s “job” of helping people escape bad situations and start a new life — serving as their guide — is a fantastic premise, and the first half of the book is primarily about how she goes about doing her job. While some clients are eased into the process a bit more gradually, her latest client is all-in from day 1.
What I Didn’t Like
You know as the story unfolds that something is going to go wrong, you just don’t know what or when. Despite some initial success, some of it seems even TOO easy for her to do with a minimum of fuss. Mid-book, the type of story changes considerably, as the hunted becomes the hunter, and it isn’t as good as her other books that have a bit more mystery to them rather than action.
The Bottom Line
A great first book in the series, Whitefield is awesome.
A new trio of Jason, Piper and Leo has arrived at Camp Half-Blood and are ready to set off on a quest, but something seems off about not only them and their memories, but also about their participation in a ritual for the children of Greek Gods at all.
What I Liked
The new trio are fun, and there’s enough mystery in both who they all are and why they don’t remember to keep things interesting. Jason has a lot of power, and some knowledge but a goddess has stolen all his memories. Piper has a big secret, namely that someone is whispering in her ear and in her dreams, when all she really wants to do is be in love with Jason. Leo also has a past, too much fire, and he’s really into machines. All great powers to have, and nothing like what we had with the previous campers.
What I Didn’t Like
The amnesia thing for Jason lands a bit trite at times, as he remembers just enough to move the plot along but not enough to be totally useful. The wind gods start off interesting, as does the flying dragon, but eventually they become almost clichés. And the entire media thing is way too Neil Gaiman/American Gods for my taste.
The Bottom Line
Seven half-bloods shall answer the call but we’ll start with three for now.
The name of the book club is not really competitive book club, but it’s a bit of a “in joke” for the members. Last year, I created a PolyWogg Reading Challenge where I had a “bingo” card for some friends to have a low-pressure book club to read different categories of books and “fill” spots on the bingo card for different genres or themes. It was okay, but it wasn’t that compelling, and people just tended to do their own thing.
For 2020, people suggested some changes to the reading challenge, including:
More monthly “categories” with a few specific ideas about themes (we added Indigenous for example);
Some flexibility within the month with a bit of nudging; and,
They want badges.
I kept wanting to say, “We don’t need no stinkin’ badges”, but as moderator of the small but mighty band of intrepid readers, that seemed discouraging. However, I wasn’t sure how to do them, what they would be for, or if anyone would care, even when they were asking for them (the desire for badges prompted the joke that we were turning it into competitive book club). Some months I have struggled to stay on top of the monthly totals and award the badges. A few months it was close to the middle of the month before I wrapped up the totals for the month. In short, there were times this year with the isolation where I just wasn’t feeling it.
It isn’t that I wasn’t spending time on my computer and couldn’t get to it; I just wasn’t enjoying it that much. Back in July, I had an idea and it turned out to be really terrible…for me. The way the monthly badges work is that I generally offer them four categories of books for the month:
A. A few specific books from the theme for the month (I pick them, but I take suggestions too); B. A secondary category, generally open-ended as to what they might want to read in that genre; C. A catch-all “Readers Choice” for anything else they read; and, D. A challenge book for the month.
They can get 1 of 5 badges depending on how “hard” the choices are…1 book of their choice, 1 named book, 2 books of their choice, 2 named books, or 3+ books or the challenge book.
My idea for August and September was that you could double-count across the months. So, for instance, if you read a mystery in one month for the theme, you could also count it as a reader’s choice the next month. I wouldn’t double the totals but I would let books count against more than one badge across months. And then I compounded it by offering the same deal for October…books in any of the three months could be used to win badges in the other two months. It was a complicated nightmare to work out and track.
Today I choose to work on the competitive book club by totaling up all the results for the three months. 91 books read in total (without double-counting) by the group, all the badges awarded, everything caught up and reset for November. In addition, I have a plan for December that had me go back and make a list of all the books people have read for the year. I wish I had been keeping track from the beginning, would have been a lot easier. It took some time, but as I said, I’m all caught up.
