The Railway Man

Yesterday, we went to the Robinson, our local art theater that I've written about before, to see The Railway Man with Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman.  

Description:  Colin Firth portrays World War II prisoner of war survivor Eric Lomax, who years later attempted to reconcile with the past that haunted him by tracking down one of his Japanese captors. In the film, Nicole Kidman portrays his second wife Patti and Stellan Skarsgård portrays his best friend Finlay. Watch The Railway Man movie trailer for an overview of the movie's interpretation of the story, which was adapted from Lomax's book of the same name.

Based on Eric Lomax's memoir The Railway Man, the film is often difficult to watch, but absolutely moving.

I've added the book to my wishlist, but I'm still processing the film version right now.  

All of the actors did an excellent job, and this is just one of the remarkable stories about survival in these camps and the effects that follow throughout the lives of the survivors.

With Memorial Day and the anniversary of D Day just past, the film may have carried extra impact for me as far as being eternally grateful for those men in service of their country.




Images of POWs from Japanese camps.















In 2011, I read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, the story of Loui Zamperini, the Olympic runner/Army Air Corps bombardier, who survived horrific conditions in Japanese POW camps.  (my review).

Unbroken will also be released as a movie, possibly in December.  


(duplicate post on my other blog)

Fantasy and Once Upon a Time

I usually schedule my blog reviews within a month of the release date,

 but because I received several great possibilities 

for Carl's Once Upon a Time challenge, 

I reviewed some fantasy books early

 with the promise that I'd mention them again closer to the review date.

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson (reviewed here)

Half a King by Joe Abercrombie  (reviewed here)

I enjoyed both of these fantasy novels (and both were from NetGalley), and went on to purchase  The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Pearson (reviewed here).



A couple of other fantasy novels for the challenge that I haven't reviewed-- Luck in the Shadows and Stalking Darkness by Lynn Flewelling, the first two books in the Nightrunner series.  I really enjoyed both of these, but there was one element that made me a little uncomfortable.  I'm so far behind in reviews, I'm not sure I'll even review them, but the links will take you to the book descriptions.

Arcadian Genesis by Greig Beck

Arcadian Genesis is a novella, not a novel, and functions as a prequel to the series featuring Alex Hunter and his elite HAWCS.

I haven't read any of this series, but the novella was fast-paced and action-filled.  The mission of the HAWCS is to rescue a Chechen scientist who wants to defect with important information.    Alex Hunter's team is not alone in searching for the defector, and the Russian team has no compunction, no compassion.  It is best not to get between the Russian team and their prey.

Since I've not read any of the novels in this series, I can't appreciate the information Arcadian Genesis provides, but evidently fans of the series are happy to have some of their questions answered.

The first book in the series is Beneath the Dark Ice; the review sounds like a good action/thriller, and I'd much rather read a novel than a novella.

NetGalley/Momentum Books

Action/Thriller.  2014.  

Brick Books

Love these "books" found at Salvage & Selvedge!  Brick books with over a hundred titles to choose from...if you live close enough.  Shipping from Melbourne, Australia would be excessive.  Creator is Daryl of Light Reading Melbourne.

 Nice hot plate

I'd love to have some for my garden with the titles of old garden books like Old-Fashioned Gardening: A History and a Reconstruction by Grace Tabor or Children and Gardens by Gertrude Jekyll.  I'd love to see the cover for this 1908 edition.

You can get prints or gift cards from Life Chart.

Or several of Gladys Taber's  (no relation to Grace Tabor) Stillmeadow books.  Bet Nan would have plenty to choose from.  Or just some favorites from my own collection of garden books.  

Rain (Paper Gods Book 2) by Amanda Sun

Rain 


I reviewed Ink, the first in the series, last summer and really liked some aspects of the novel, including an interesting premise--an artist's drawings coming alive. Other elements that were promising:  the cultural information about Japanese customs, the difficulty of fitting into a school where another language is spoken, typical teenage rivalry exacerbated by supernatural events.

So...a little background:

Katie Green moved to Japan after her mother's death so that she could live with her aunt.  She made good friends, but still has some difficulties with school and learning the kanji characters for literacy.  She has a cute and talented boyfriend, Tomohiro; also interested in Katie is Jun, another cute and talented fellow, who completes the triangle.

In Ink, Tomo discovered his connection to the Kami, powerful supernatural beings, and he continues struggling to control the ink, to keep his drawings from becoming destructive.  Jun is also a Kami, and in the last book, Jun wanted to recruit Tomo for his own purposes;  Tomo refused.  Now Katie turns to Jun as a possible source of help because Tomo is having more and more trouble controlling his drawings, and when he tries to stop drawing, well...let's not go there.

But is Jun truly an a friend or are his own purposes paramount?

The characters are still well-drawn, but for me,  the plot becomes less involving as it becomes more complicated.  The Kami and the violent and misbehaving ink drawings don't completely draw me in.  They have become too powerful and too mythic.  What I like is the relationships between the characters--not just the major characters, but the minor ones as well.  The difficulties of being different, regardless of the reason, issues with which several characters find troubling.  

I was a bit disappointed because I'd lose interest at points that are supposed to be highlights, but I still had an interest in the interpersonal relations.  All should be resolved in the next book.

NetGalley/Harlequinn Teen

Fantasy.  June 24, 2014.  Print version: 320 pages.

Medieval Mysteries

Forsaken Soul by Priscilla Royal is the fifth in her Medieval Mysteries series.  I've enjoyed each of these books set in 13th century England at the fictitious Tyndale Priory. Forsaken Soul finds Prioress Eleanor's friend Ralph the Crowner widowed and with an infant,  brutal Martin the Cooper is murdered, and the new anchoress is causing a stir.  Prioress Eleanor, Sister Ann, and Brother Thomas once again have their work cut out for them.


Medieval Mystery.  2008.  Print version:  224 pages.

The Oathbreaker by Martin Jensen (translated by Tara Chace) is the second book in The King's Hounds series. Although Halfdan's role increased at the expense of Winston the Illuminator's, the setting, plot, and characters are still engaging.  The setting is England, but in an earlier period, the early 11th century.  King Cnut (king of Denmark, England, Norway, and parts of Sweden) came to power in 1016 and promptly and brutally dealt with many of his rivals.   The story takes place in 1018 when it appears that some of Cnut's actions may have come back to bite him.  Halfdan and Winston have been employed as eyes and ears, to gather gossip and information about possible threats and conspiracies.  

As guests in a monastery when a monk is murdered, the two are charged with the investigation.  Does the death have anything to do with a conspiracy?  There is certainly a possibility.   (and btw, the betrayal in the prologue actually did occur)

I would love to see more of Alfrida (Winston's paramour) in future books, and it appears that this may be the author's intention.  She will make an appealing third to the sleuthing team of Halfdan and Winston.

Medieval Mystery.  Most recent trans. 2014.  Print version:  258 pages.

A Dangerous Age by EllenGilchrist and The Vault of Dreamers by Caragh M. O'Brien

Darn, I have a ton of books to review, mostly just average reads.  But I've read two recently that really connected:

A Dangerous Age by Ellen Gilchrist.  I loved it, but I've just looked over some reviews, and it appears that I'm in the minority.  In a way, it isn't too strange, since the reviewers often mention the Rhoda books.  They loved them, and I didn't feel strongly about the ones I read.  Perhaps, then, it is typical that I like the book most Gilchrist fans don't like, but it is kind of disappointing that others didn't enjoy the book as much as I did.

The story is told from multiple viewpoints of the Hand family cousins, although most sections eventually settle on Olivia deHaviland Hand. The story begins on Sept. 11, 2001 and continues through 2005.  The style is a little choppy, sentences are very short, and perspectives change, but somehow, I found myself entangled with these lives.  

What I loved:  the closeness of the cousins, the way each of them dealt with Sept. 11 and the repercussions of the Iraq war, the struggle Olivia, a newspaper editor, has with the constant barrage of bad news, Olivia's grandparents, oh, hell, just about everything concerning Olivia.

Some of the language that cropped up occasionally felt jarring and somehow out of place, but most of the book is so sensitive, so personal, so gently drawn.   Without overtly playing on the reader's emotions, the book covers the ramifications of 9/11, the resulting war in Iraq and its effects on both the military and civilians, the changes in public attitudes about the war, and the role of newspapers.  There was a lot to think about, and I really loved the book.

This was an ARC from Algonquin books.  It is a re-release; originally published in 2008.



The Vault of Dreamers by Caragh M. O'Brien.  Truthfully, I suspected that this would not be very good, but I requested it from NetGalley anyway, and I'm so glad I did.  I started it last night, finished this morning, first thing.  I don't usually begin reading early, but I almost couldn't wait to get my cup of coffee.

What surprised and intrigued me is the way the author took a fantastic premise and drew me in so completely with the tale that I was wholly invested. That doesn't happen all that often--usually, I'm carrying a subconscious criticism in my head even when I'm enjoying a book.   Once I started Vault, I was hooked on both plot and characters, and my internal critic stayed silent and let me believe in the author's world.

My only criticism is that I didn't realize it was part of a series until the cliffhanger conclusion!  Not only did I not want the book to end, but certainly not leaving me wanting more!

I'll do a better review closer to the publication date, but I wanted to just share a bit now.

(from NetGalley; to be released in Sept.)

Some Fantasy

I've tried a couple more fantasy novels for the Once Upon a Time challenge.  Each is a part of a series, but I won't pursue either.  There will be plenty of people to love these books, but neither truly engaged my interest. 


Daughter of Time by Sarah Woodbury is a time travel novel in which the protagonist Meg gets transported to 13th century Wales and meets Llewellyn ap Gruffydd, the last (Welsh) prince of Wales.  There are a lot of implausible elements (I've never met a time travel novel that doesn't have some), and some of them could easily have been avoided.   

If you want an Outlander light, you will enjoy the book.  In spite of the implausible factors and the modern language Llewellyn occasionally uses, the novel was a  quick read, more entertaining for the historical elements than the story itself. 

The sense of danger and possibility of betrayal by even members of a family, the inclusion of  real battles and skirmishes, and the complicated political landscape were interesting.  Of course, then I did a little research to separate fact and fiction.

This book is actually a prequel to the alternate history series that Woodbury wrote about what might have occurred if LLewellyn had not died at Cilmeri.

Fantasy/Time Travel/Historic Fiction.  2011.  Print version:  352 pages.

The Wretched of Muiwood by Jeff Wheeler is a fantasy set in a medieval world, the first in a series. 

An orphan raised in an Abbey, Lia is a Wretched and a kitchen servant.  The explanation of treating orphans as Wretched didn't work all that well.  Lia's dream is to learn to read and write, but the Abbot will not allow it.  When a young squire is delivered to the Abbey kitchen where Lia works, she saves the young man's life.

The first part of the book was pretty good, but when the adventures started, instead of becoming more interesting, the book became too coincidental, too predictable.  The characters development--well, they started off fairly interesting, but the didn't really develop and became sort of pawns for the action.  I also had trouble with the magic system, which was too vague and felt forced.

The book ends in a cliff hanger, but I didn't care enough about either the characters or the plot to invest in the next installment.

Fantasy.  2013.  Print version:  300 pages.

The Transcriptionist by Amy Rowland

The Transcriptionist is a sort of introspection by proxy.  Lena is 33 and the last transcriptionist at The Record.  Her day consists of listening to reporters call in new stories (from the tragic to the trivial; a bombing in Kabul, a dance review) as she transcribes them.  Alone in the isolated Recording Room on the 11th floor, Lena is force fed thousands of words through her ear phones as her fingers rapidly record whatever is being said.  Lena thinks about "the passivity of witnessing tragedy, witnessing it with my ears, and serving as a conduit...passing the news through my body and sending it to be processed into tidy column inches."

It is rare that anyone visits the Recording Room in person, but Russell, a reporter, does so occasionally.  He seems interested in Lena, but is surprised to eventually realize that her name is not Carol, which he has been calling her for some time.  It is significant that she answers to Carol and doesn't feel it is important to correct Russell, almost as if she really is only a "conduit."

Then Lena discovers a story about a blind woman mauled to death by a lion at the New York Zoo.  It dawns on Lena that this is the woman she sat beside on the bus and with whom she had a brief conversation.  The story grips her; it is personal because she met and conversed with the blind woman.  Lena becomes obsessed with finding out more about her.  The more she learns, the more she sees a connection with her own life.

This investigation into the life of the blind woman may sound suspenseful, but somehow, it isn't.  What it does, however, is give Lena a chance to pay attention to the direction her life has taken, to evaluate,  and to make some decisions.

The Transcriptionist is a debut novel that " asks probing questions journalism and ethics"; that discusses the declines newspapers have suffered as a result of online news sources; and that examines the effects of isolation and complacency.

It is a strange little book.  I found it interesting, but not gripping, and yet, I don't think it is a book I will soon forget.

An ARC from Algonquin.

Literary Fiction.  2014.  246 pages.

The Blackhouse by Peter May

Sometimes you just luck up on an author that you have never read and find yourself immersed in a world or a character that demands your full attention.  

The Blackhouse is the first in The Lewis Man trilogy by Peter May.  Set on the Isle of Lewis, the most remote of the Scottish islands, the novel weaves past and present together as Edinburgh detective Finn McLeod returns to the island after a sixteen year absence.  His only other return was a brief visit to attend his aunt's funeral.

After investigating a brutal murder in Edinburgh, Finn is sent to the Isle of Lewis to see if he can make a connection to a hauntingly similar murder there.  He is wary of returning to the island and confronting old friends and enemies, and he is not welcomed by the DCI in charge of the investigation.

The victim, as it turns out, is someone Finn knew well--the island bully and bad boy.  As Finn investigates (he already feels sure that this murder is a copycat, not connected to the Edinburgh case, but he keeps that to himself), he finds himself returning to childhood memories.  

Alternating between the first person perspective of Finn's memories and the third person perspective dealing with the investigation, it is clear that the memories will somehow become crucial to solving the case.

I'm not going to go into the plot any further, but it is a rewarding one with some surprises.  The characters are three dimensional and complex, the atmosphere and landscape are beautifully depicted, and  the traditions and culture of the isolated island community are skillfully related.  

This is not simply a murder mystery or a crime novel--it is much more.   I will be looking for the sequel and some of the other novels by Peter May.  Highly recommended.

Some information about Peter May (via this source):

Peter May is the multi award-winning author of:

• the internationally best-selling Lewis Trilogy set in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland;
• the China Thrillers, featuring Beijing detective Li Yan and American forensic pathologist Margaret Campbell;
• the critically-acclaimed Enzo Files, featuring Scottish forensic scientist Enzo MacLeod, which is set in France;
• and several standalone books, the latest of which is Entry Island (January 2014, Quercus UK).

Every book in the series has won prestigious awards.

A beautiful video of the Isle of Lewis:


   
NetGalley/Quercus Books

Mystery/Suspense/Psychological.  2013.  Print Length:  401 pages

Terminal City by Linda Fairstein

 Terminal City  

Fairstein always does a marvelous job with the history of New York's buildings and institutions, and as usual the historical parts are fascinating

The iconic Grand Central Terminal gets the most historic detail, and indeed, it is a remarkable structure with a compelling history.  Also interesting, the historic information about the Waldorf-Astoria and the (no longer in existence)Biltmore Hotel.

On the other hand, I found the mystery aspect of this one slow, dependent on coincidence, and concocted mainly to connect it with Grand Central Terminal.  

I usually like Mike Chapman, but this time he was annoying and his typical repartee felt too caustic and too forced. Is that just me?  Did anyone else want back-hand him after some of his "clever" remarks?   Maybe I've just been reading this series for too long.

What would make a fascinating book is one that covers all of the historic sites that Fairstein has included in her novels.  The historic element has long been a draw in her novels for many readers; unfortunately, it was about the only draw in this one for me.

NetGalley/Penguin Group/Dutton

Crime/Police Procedural.  June 17, 2014.  Print length:  384 pages.

Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore

If you liked either The Secret History or The Bellweather Revivals, you might like this novel.

I wasn't particularly taken with any of them, but so many people love The Secret History that a comparison of Bittersweet to The Secret History and The Bellweather Revivals might be in order:

protagonist

• lower class individual inserted into a privileged society
• this individual  comes from a loveless home life
• is isolated in some way; little or no mention of previous friends 
• is covetous and overly desirous of being accepted
• is full of self-justification; rationalizes to absolve him/herself from guilt
• recognizes moral expediency and condemns it in the rich and powerful crowd he or she wants to enter, but rarely acknowledges it in personal terms

the rich

• "Let me tell you about the very rich.  They are different from you and me," so said F. Scott Fitzgerald.  We aren't talking about rich in the terms of a million or two, but the rich with multi-millions who can buy anything they want.
• The rich and privileged are treated pretty much the same in all three books; entitled and above moral or ethical considerations.
• abuse of power by way of money or personality

style

• long and winding books
• Gothic atmosphere and feeling of impending doom from the first page
• you know (generally) what will happen, but want the details
• none of the characters are especially likable and some are simply vicious

Plot of Bittersweet:

Plump Mabel is on scholarship to an exclusive university.  Her roommate Genevra Winslow, who pretty much ignores Mabel, is beautiful and privileged.  An incident allows the two to form a bond--at least the semblance of one--and Mabel is invited to spend the summer with Ev at Winloch, the family's exclusive compound in Vermont.

Of course, Winloch seems like paradise (and guess what?  Mabel is reading or trying to read Milton's Paradise Lost).  From the arrival of  the two girls to Ev's personal cottage Bittersweet, there is an obvious, but enigmatic mystery to the condition of their presence.  
Ev says there will be an inspection which might decide whether they will be able to stay.  And, oh, Mabel does want to stay.  

The extended Winslow family has some interesting characters, and the author does an excellent job in creating them, even if most of them are unlikable.  The pacing felt slow and the unraveling of several of the mysteries felt unnecessarily sluggish.   Several scenes could have been cut to add to the suspense (especially the meeting of Galway and Mabel) and move the novel at a better pace.

The author has well-drawn characters and great descriptive passages of the various areas of the Winloch compound.  I wish I could have liked it better.

ARC from Crown Publishers

Mystery/Suspense?  2014.  400 pages.

Treachery in Bordeaux by Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noel Balen

Treachery in Bordeaux  (trans. Anne Trager)

From the book description:  In modern-day Bordeaux, there are few wine estates still within the city limits. The prestigious grand cru Moniales Haut-Brion is one of them. When some barrels turn, world-renowned winemaker turned gentleman detective Benjamin Cooker starts asking questions. Is it negligence or sabotage? Who would want to target this esteemed vintner? Cooker and his assistant Virgile Lanssien search the city and the vineyards for answers, giving readers and inside view of this famous wine region. 

Treachery in Bordeaux is more of a novella than a novel, and it is definitely a cozy mystery.

If you are interested in the Bordeaux region of France and/or interested in the world of wine, you will appreciate the details included.  

The mystery portion of the book is light-weight and there is little suspense.  The books inspired a popular television series in France, and I can see that these little novellas would translate well to the visual medium.

Overall, unless you have a special interest in the region or the wine industry, you might find this short narrative slow and less than gripping.  

NetGalley/LeFrench Book

Mystery. 2012; 2014.  Print length:  144 pages.

Murder on Thames by Matthew Costello and Neil Richards

From the book description: 

Murder on Thames is the first in an innovative Crime series written in English but published by Bastei Entertainment – an imprint of one of Germany’s leading publishers Bastei Lübbe. Published in English first, to be followed by German in March 2014, the crime series features 12 self-contained episodes written by co-authors Neil Richards (UK based) and Matthew Costello (US based).

In a revival of the Dickensian tradition, a new eBook episode will be published each month with the second episode Mystery at the Manorto be published in the UK on the 19th January 2014.

A New York detective has retired to a houseboat on the Thames in the small village of Cherringham.  Jack Brennan is looking for a quiet life after his career as a homicide detective, and when Sara Edwards asks him to look into the death of an old friend, Brennan at first refuses.  The quiet life might appeal to him, but the puzzle of the death does as well, and he changes his mind about helping Sara when he finds himself agreeing that maybe the death of Sammi Jackson was not an accident after all.  

Jack and Sara investigate further, determined to discover the the truth.  

Murder on Thames is an interesting little cozy.  Cozy mysteries are not my favorite sub-genre, nor is the novella approach something I seek out, but this does everything it is supposed to within the parameters the authors have set, and I enjoyed it for what it is.

NetGalley/Bastei Entertainment

Cozy Mystery.  2013.  Print length:  119 pages.

Two by Michael Robotham

A couple of months ago,  I read Watching You by Michael Robotham and found it suspenseful and well-written.  At the time, I knew I wanted to read more, beginning with the first book in the series to get additional background on the characters.

Fortunately, NetGalley recently offered the first two books in the series:  The Suspect and Lost.  I snapped them both up and entered a two day read-a-thon.  

The Suspect centers on Joe O'Loughlin, a successful psychologist who loves his wife and child.  One of the things I was curious about was O'Loughlin's Parkinson Disease. The Suspect (the debut book in the series) covers the early symptoms and the period when he first gets the diagnosis.  It also goes into some of O'Loughlin's struggles to deal with both the physical and the emotional effects of this incurable disease.

Written in first person, the book opens with O'Loughlin on a roof trying to talk down a seventeen-year-old cancer patient who seems determined to jump.  The scene sets O'Loughlin up as an empathetic character.  

While he may be a respected psychologist and a compassionate person, O'Loughlin is far from perfect.  When he is drawn into a murder investigation, he realizes that the victim is a former patient, but doesn't reveal this right away.  As the novel twists and turns, it becomes obvious that O'Loughlin has some secrets he doesn't want revealed and that  he is being set up and may lose everything he holds dear.

Detective Inspector Vincent Ruiz becomes suspicious, and as more evidence piles up, he is unrelenting in his pursuit when O'Loughlin flees to avoid arrest.  Ruiz is a secondary character and mostly an antagonist in this first novel.

The mystery is convoluted and the plot not very believable, and yet, Robotham is so skilled that it is difficult to put the book down.   I couldn't wait to begin the next one.  

NetGalley/Mulholland Books

Mystery/Crime.  2004; 2014.  Print length:  432 pages.


 
Lost takes place a few years later and features D. I. Vincent Ruiz.  Like The Suspect, Lost is written in first person. D.I. Ruiz is pulled from the Thames with a gunshot wound and no memory of what happened.  Not everyone believes his amnesia to be genuine, and Ruiz turns to his friend Joe O'Loughlin to help him untangle what happened.

Ruiz knows that that somehow what happened to him is connected to the case of a missing child from three years earlier.  A step at a time, he regains fragments of his memory....

Another excellent mystery with lots of complications.  Joe O'Loughlin's role in this one is minimal.  

I've now read three books in this series, and each one features a different character.  I'm not sure I've read any other series with this approach; usually, a series will focus on one or two main characters and a single point of view throughout the series.  In Watching You, the main character is one of O'Loughlin's patients, in The Suspect, the protagonist is Joe O'Loughlin, and in Lost, it is D.I. Vincent Ruiz.  I like this approach and can't wait to read Shatter.  

NetGalley/Mulholland Books

Mystery/Crime.  2005; 2014.  Print length:  370 pages.

The Body in the Woods by April Henry

 The Body in the Woods  is a YA murder mystery with interesting characters and an involving plot.

Three adolescent misfits have joined the Portland County Search and Rescue team for various reasons.  Their first participation in a genuine search effort is for an autistic man lost in the woods.  What they discover instead is the body of a young girl.  

Ruby, Nick, and Alexis all have their own difficulties that separate them from others, but they forge an awkward friendship that develops over the course of the mystery.  I liked the characters and the way they eventually come to support each other.

This is the first book in Henry's Point Last Seen YA series, and I look forward to more.

Read in January.  Blog post scheduled for May.
----

Henry's novel Girl, Stolen earned praise and awards:

An ALA Best Book for Young Adults
An ALA Quick Pick for Young Adults

Winner of the Truman Readers Award (Missouri state award)

Winner of the Black-Eyed Susan Award (Maryland state award)

Winner of the Young Adult Reading Program (South Dakota state award)

Quote from Author's Page on Amazon:  When I was 11, I sent a short story about a six-foot tall frog who loved peanut butter to Roald Dahl, the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He took it to lunch and showed it to the editor of a British children's magazine - and she asked to publish the story! (For no money, which might have been a warning about how hard it is to make a living writing.)

:) I love that an eleven-year-old sent a short story to Roald Dahl, that he read it, and that he showed it to a friend who wanted to publish it.  Good job, Mr. Dahl.  Your influence lingers.


NetGalley/Macmillan Children's Publishing Group

YA/Mystery.  June 17, 2014.  Print version:  272 pages.

You by Austin Grossman

I'm at a loss about how to review or rate YOU.  I'm no gamer and have no idea about programming, early or late computer games, game development, or various computer languages.  

Book Description:  

When Russell joins Black Arts games, brainchild of two visionary designers who were once his closest friends, he reunites with an eccentric crew of nerds hacking the frontiers of both technology and entertainment. In part, he's finally given up chasing the conventional path that has always seemed just out of reach. But mostly, he needs to know what happened to Simon, his strangest and most gifted friend, who died under mysterious circumstances soon after Black Arts' breakout hit.

As the company's revolutionary next-gen game is threatened by a software glitch, Russell finds himself in a race to save his job, Black Arts' legacy, and the people he has grown to care about. The deeper Russell digs, the more dangerous the glitch appears—and soon, Russell comes to realize there's much more is at stake than just one software company's bottom line.

The good:  Austin Grossman knows video games.  From Wikipedia:

 Austin Grossman (born 1969) is a writer and game designer who has contributed to the New York Times^[1] and a number of video games.

He is the author of the novel Soon I Will Be Invincible, which was published by Pantheon Books in 2007.^[2] His second book, entitled YOU, debuted in April 2013.^[3]Grossman started his career in the game industry replying to a classified ad in The Boston Globe in May 1992 that led him to Looking Glass Studios. Since then, Grossman has worked with DreamWorks Interactive, Ion Storm of Austin and Crystal Dynamics.
Grossman, born in Concord, Massachusetts, attended Harvard University and is currently a graduate student in English literature at the University of California, Berkeley.^[2] He is the twin brother of writer Lev Grossman and brother of sculptor Bathsheba Grossman, and the son of the poet Allen Grossman and the novelist Judith Grossman. Grossman is currently working at Arkane Studios

I learned a good bit about how complicated it is to create and produce an interactive video game.  Whew!  Pretty overwhelming.   

The Not-so-good:  At least for me, the novel was way too complicated for my limited knowledge and abilities.  I'm not smart enough to understand anything about computers other than point and click.  The lengthy discussions about both the mechanics and the narrative story lines of various computer characters were initially interesting, then pretty exhausting for me.  I found myself skimming on numerous occasions.  If I'd so much as played any of these games, I'm sure I'd have found things more interesting, but after  several lengthy sections relating game narratives,  these sections became numbing.

Overall:  Unless you are very computer literate or seriously involved in the history of gaming or in playing various games,  this novel (?) might not be a great choice.  If the real characters and a more satisfactory "real" plot had been more developed, I would have like it much better.

I'm glad I read it, but I remained confused much of the time.

NetGalley/Little, Brown/Mulholland Books

Fiction.  April, 2014.  Print length:  379 pages.