Last week I finished the latest from Val McDermid, How the Dead Speak.
Tony's in jail, Carol is out of the police, so that's a twist. The new head of her old unit is a moron, as are the new hires. The old stand-bys are still there - Paula and Stacey - and there's some comfort in that, but without Tony and Carol the investigation is more muddled than it needs to be. Val McDermid is big on forensics, and there is lots of forensics involved, but the crimes are mostly solved by legwork, interviewing suspects, etc., usually by the old crew. So, a good read, but a little disappointing.
I'm doing a bit of slogging through the next one in the series by Arnaldur Indidason, Arctic Chill, about the murder of an immigrant teenager. Indidason does a great job capturing the conflict between Icelanders and immigrants. Sort of the American story under trump but on a more human scale. I think there are five more to go to catch up.
I finally finished listening to the uncut version of The Stand by Stephen King, around 36 hours. What's remarkable is that he wrote this book in the late 70s and early 80s, and yet it resonates today, probably because of the pandemic. He doesn't address the political component of his pandemic but rather the impact of the (much worse than Covid) pandemic on the ground. I have mixed feelings about watching the new mini-series of the book. This may not be "classic" Stephen King, but it's definitely work the time.
Now listening to Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin. Almost finished. It's a tremendously depressing book. Don't get me wrong. It's well written, a good story, great character development complete with baggage, flaws, etc. I'm not sure how realistic is his portrayal of black-white relations in Mississippi in the 70s and 80s, but it strikes me as plausible, complete with mixed relationships. ingrained and unrepentant racism, etc. The "present" is the early 2000s, and the way Franklin discussed racial issues in the context of the more recent period is subtle. I haven't read Tom Franklin before, and so I don't know if this is is "thing," but IMHO you can't go wrong giving this a try. I'll try his other books, though none is available on audio from my library.
I have four books out from the library now so that I have something else to pick up when I finish the Indridason book:
The Less Dead by Denise Mina
The Mountains Wild by Sarah Stewart Taylor
Braised Pork by An Yu
Under Pressure by Robert Pobi
Not sure which one will get the nod - probably Denise Mina, though I think this is a standalone.
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