Midnight Nation by J. Michael Straczynski

I went to the Annville Free Library's book sale last night. Unfortunately I didn't find any books to buy, but I did find a couple items to borrow. One item was the graphic novel Midnight Nation by J. Michael Straczynski. Try saying that last name three times fast. I had a strange sense of deja vu when I started reading the first couple pages of this novel before I realized that, yes, I did already read it. So I decided to reread it, and after I was finished, I found out that I still don't quite "get" what the author meant by the ending. I don't want to say much more than that because I don't want to spoil the story for those who haven't read it yet.

David Grey is a homicide detective for the LAPD, and the latest murders he's caught are some seriously nasty news. Grey starts poking around and a witness points him in the direction of "the men" a.k.a "the Walkers" (not a surname). He tracks down an ex-con who may be connected to the murders and nearly ends up a murder victim himself. Instead his soul is stolen by the leader of the Walkers. Grey eventually meets up with a woman named Laurel who will act as his guide on a cross country trek to New York City where he will meet up with the man who holds his soul. Once in New York the two will face an impossible battle in order for Grey to redeem his soul. They only have a year to walk all the way from L.A. to New York City (that's right--walk) before Grey will turn into a Walker, and Laurel vows to kill Grey before that happens. Grey and Laurel have to walk because they exist in an "in-between" zone where people and things that have been lost, abandoned and discarded go. The people in "in-between" can only touch and use items that have also been lost, abandoned and discarded. That's why Grey and Laurel must walk across the country because the only vehicles that work in "in-between" belong to the Walkers.

This novel is very well-written and drawn and in the end it presents some issues that will make you think, especially in the end, which is open to interpretation. The one thing that bothered me were the typos that I picked up as I read. Every once in a while I read a book that has some obvious typos or some lapses in editing, and it's always frustrating because then you have to tease out exactly what the author means. And sometimes this can be very difficult because in the end you don't know for sure if you're reading it right because of the mistakes in the print.

I highly recommend this graphic novel. It is available upon request from the Annville Free Library.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

In The Woods by Tana French

"What I warn you to remember is that I am a detective. Our relationship with the truth is fundamental, but cracked, refracting confusingly like fragmented glass. It is the core of our careers, the endgame of every move we make, and we pursue it with strategies painstakingly constructed of lies ... and every variation on deception. The truth is the most desirable woman in the world and we are the most jealous lovers, reflexively denying anyone else the slightest glimpse of her. We betray her routinely ... This is my job ... What I am telling you, before you begin my story, is this--two things: I crave truth. And I lie." opening lines of In The Woods chapter 1, pages 3-4 In The Woods by Tana French, an Irish writer, is an extremely well-written and well-crafted mystery novel. The downside is that this is French's debut novel, and her website (located at http://www.tanafrench.com/ ) does not off...

Broken by Karin Slaughter

Before I begin the formal review there are a few things I need to get off my chest in the wake of finishing this book; I'll do so without giving away too many (or any) spoilers. The OUTRAGE!: the identity of Detective Lena Adams' new beau; the low depths to which Grant County's interim chief has sunk and brought the police force down with him; agent Will Trent's wife, Angie's, sixth sense/nasty habit of reappearing in his life just when he's slipping away from her. Thank God for small miracles though because while Angie was certainly referred to during the book, the broad didn't make an appearance. One sign that I've become way too invested in these characters is that I'd like to employ John Connolly's odd pair of assassins, Louis and Angel, to contract out a hit on Angie; do you think Karin Slaughter and John Connolly could work out a special cross over? Hallelujah: Dr. Sara Linton and agent Will Trent are both back. There is no hallelujah fo...

Generation Kill by Evan Wright and One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick

Non-fiction books aren't really my thing; generally, this is how my relationship goes with non-fiction books: I see a really interesting one, I borrow it, I start to read it, and then I ditch it a chapter or two later when the dry, boring writing and non-existent plot fail to hook me. However, this a review of two non-fiction books that I read back to back after a five year old three article series that I dug up on the internet; it was written by Evan Wright and preceded his book Generation Kill , which is basically a book version of the article series that he wrote and published in Rolling Stone Magazine . Recently HBO adapted Generation Kill into a mini-series that ran sometime last year; I got the series on DVD and in the midst of watching it, I decided I wanted to get my hands on the book to read. In the meantime, I stumbled across One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick, the lieutenant of the platoon that Wright embedded with, and I read that book while I waited for Generation K...

A Series Of (Un)Fortunate Reviews

Search This Blog