Tag Archives: sleuth

The Last Librarian by Brandt Legg (2015) – BR00178 (2020) – 🐸⚪⚪⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
January 21 2020

Plot or Premise

The year is 2098 and the world government has decided to close the last library and destroy all the remaining books.

What I Liked

The basic premise of everything having gone digital, the creation of world governments, and a plague that wiped out most of humanity fifty years before was intriguing. Equally, the idea of the “last library” on Earth being a large structure in Portland was kind of quirky, with two others having been closed in Australia and Europe. And the last librarian wanting to save the books was wrapped in a larger mystery about the content of the digital book copies being changed. Very 1984ish or Brave New World.

What I Didn’t Like

The main character is not very strong, and it is hard to root for him as the “last librarian”. But the book tells you it repeatedly so you don’t forget. There is also no explanation of why it is the Portland library that remains, as opposed to the Library of Congress or something similar, but that’s quibbling. It’s large, but hardly the Library of Alexandria. The story also can hardly go 3 or 4 pages without throwing in a literary quote, all from books already written now (i.e., nothing quoted from the next 50 years, although writing continues) and mostly in the 1900s and American. But it was an “okay” book, with enough mystery to keep me going to the end, probably a 3 rating overall (good). But the ending has a major PoV problem that is typical of beginner writers, and provides no closure to the story. Sure, it’s part of a planned trilogy, but the story can’t even stand on its own as a one-third portion. The whole component they were dealing with basically shifts to being almost a non-story. If it wasn’t on my tablet, I would have thrown it across the room. The only “upside” was that it was a Prime Reading selection so it was free. I will not be continuing for two more books.

The Bottom Line

Okay premise, ridiculous ending, poor writing

The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz (2017) – BR00177 (2020) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
January 18 2020

Plot or Premise

A fictionalized “true” story of the author observing a brilliant detective attempting to solve the murder of a woman who went to plan her funeral and was murdered the same day.

What I Liked

The premise of the story of the woman planning her funeral and then being murdered was a great Agatha Christie-style plot, more so than Sherlock Holmes. Yet the writing arrangement of Horowitz as Watson and Hawthrone as Holmes works reasonably well, even if Hawthorne is more prickly and flawed. Lots of different characters to meet. While I figured out several red herrings and had most of the clues assembled at the end, I didn’t quite interpret them the way the final answer is given.

What I Didn’t Like

There are three things in the story that bothered me. First and foremost, Horowitz has inserted himself as the narrator as if the premise is real. It’s a bit gimmicky, but if you ignore that, and treat it as if it was a fictionalized person, the premise works okay but not great. Yet, as a result, he pulls in various people he knows in real life, and, of course, they are treated with kid gloves. All positive words, meeting people like Spielberg for instance, so no chance he might be sued. Second, Horowitz or his fictionalized version is downright whiny. He complains about everything. He reads like a self-righteous child in many places. Third, there is a premise introduced very early on, and not only does it not play out the way it was described, the real explanation is done only through assumption and speculation. It didn’t feel like the book played fair with that clue or the character. Equally, the ending has a lot of exposition that implies “this is the only explanation” but there were several other equally plausible solutions.

The Bottom Line

Interesting premise, average mystery, soft ending.

Two O’Clock, Eastern Wartime by John Dunning (2001) – BR00176 (2020) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
January 12 2020

Plot or Premise

The year is 1942, and Jack Delaney is working as a writer for the local radio station where weird things happen, like actors going missing and potential German spies hiding in plain sight.

What I Liked

The story starts off confused, and a hint of someone in trouble. Delaney has to escape a chain gang to help a woman he loves, even if she is already spoken for in his mind. And the trail leads to a radio station in a coastal town where he gets work. At that point, the story is three-fold — a mystery involving German spies, a love story of sorts, and him learning about the radio business as a writer. The radio business part is awesome.

What I Didn’t Like

The German mystery is confused and the love story doubly so. Most of it makes very little sense and is more “hinted at” than “made real”.

The Bottom Line

Fantastic view of a wartime radio drama.

Zap! by Martha Freeman (2018) – BR00175 (2020) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
January 11 2020

Plot or Premise

A blackout hits New Jersey and two kids try to figure out both how it happened and how to fix it.

What I Liked

The level is middle-grade and moves along at an okay pace. The cause of the blackout comes down to computers, and the solution is relatively straightforward without seeming too simplistic. Good interesting characters, for the most part.

What I Didn’t Like

There’s a plot hole in the solution — without revealing spoilers, the solution might fix homes and businesses but it wouldn’t have fixed the street lights, for instance — but it’s a small quibble. The real challenge is the level of exposition that is frequently dumped heavily into the story. Since they’re kids, they don’t know the “details” so everything they find out, they ask someone to explain it to them. At length. It really slows down the pace. The book tries to ramp it up a bit with a bit of suspense and violence, but they seem more amateurish than threatening.

The Bottom Line

Okay, but expect most middle-graders would find it slow.

Winterhouse by Ben Guterson (2018) – BR00174 (2020) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
January 11 2020

Plot or Premise

A young girl who lives with her aunt and uncle is sent under mysterious circumstances to a resort hotel for Christmas break.

What I Liked

The story has a bit of a Harry Potter-esque feel to it at the start — things happening that seem magical, parents dead, not very nice relatives, and leaving on an adventure. The resort hotel is called Winterhouse and is an amazing place to hang out for a vacation. There’s another kid like her who enjoys puzzles, and she meets a few interesting characters who either live at the hotel or are other guests. The magical elements are “just right” (not too much, not too little).

What I Didn’t Like

I chose it as it is an Edgar Award nominee, and it was a bit disappointing that there are two plot inconsistencies, almost like no one did a continuity edit on the book for point of view. At one point, Elizabeth doesn’t know anything about what’s going on or why her aunt and uncle have “sent” her to Winterhouse, but then she later reveals that she overheard her aunt and uncle talking about it the previous week and she knew everything there was to know (someone else paid them to send her). In another spot, two characters are revealed as the schemers, but another character knew all about her arrival and some of her backstory, yet didn’t know the biggest piece which is the only reason he would know anything about her at all. Finally, if you have ever read a male-centric story and felt like the woman had nothing to do but be a damsel in distress, you’ll feel the same way seeing the other kid be completely irrelevant to the story. He adds a bit of Fifth Busines background info, as do some puzzle guys, but pretty lame. I am not sure the constant word puzzles add anything to the story; they didn’t for me, but were easily tolerated.

The Bottom Line

An okay book, will likely read the next two in the trilogy.