Book Review: The Whisperers

A few months ago, I heard that John answered all his messages on his official Facebook page. So, I thought, "Hey, I like Connolly a lot, perhaps I'll tell him that". So I sent him a message expressing my appreciation for his work and his signature Charlie Parker character. Much to my surprise, he actually did respond.

Dear Brandon,

Thanks very much for the kind words. Good for morale as I work toward the end of the draft of the next book, so much appreciated.

All best wishes,

John

Awesome.

Anyway, onto my review:

I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I know a whole lot about the Iraq War. Most of what's fed to me comes from either John Stewart, Saturday Night Live, or, most recently, the film, "The Hurt Locker". That isn't to say I'm opposed to the war, I just don't have enough of an opinion either way.

When I picked up John Connolly's newest Charlie Parker thriller, I was surprised that he wasn't dealing with pimps, religious oddities or child molestation. This time, he was delving into the world of post-traumatic stress felt by soldiers returning home from overseas. Except, that it's not REALLY dealing with that. Connolly always loves to mask his thrillers with a relatable issue only to delve into something supernatural. That's not a spoiler folks, Connolly is now 10 books into the Charlie Parker universe and if you haven't picked up a hint of otherworldly forces intruding into Parker's life, then something is missing in your understanding of the series.

Over the past 9 installments, Parker has amassed such a gallery of impressive adversaries. Somehow, Connolly keeps coming up with enemies that outdo the last one. In The Whisperers, we're introduced to Herod and his commander, The Captain. Herod is driven by a promise of relief from the cancer that has stricken his body. In obtaining that in which The Captain seeks, he will be given a much better existence on the other side. So basically, nothing is going to stop this guy. The Captain, described as "evil incarnate" is chilling. Appearing in only the reflections brought about by mirrors, still water and windows, Connolly writes him in a way that can disturb the reader, even without supplying the character with any dialogue or substantial actions. Just his described appearances are more than enough.

My only real beef with this novel is that the witty banter between Louis, Angel and Parker is stifled. I'm a massive fan of Parker's friends and am a little disappointed in the size of their roles in the two most recent installments. Perhaps Connolly is planning a follow up to the mostly Louis and Angel standalone entry, The Reapers. Who knows? Either way, I could've use a little more humor and sarcasm injected.

Overall, while it doesn't live up to the feelings I had after finishing both The White Road and The Reapers, it's still an excellent entry into the Parker series.

Ken Griffey Jr. Presents: Major League Baseball

I forgot just how fun this game was!

Ryan and I played last night and it was both extremely entertaining and fast moving. I haven't played a baseball game nearly as much since I owned this one years ago. Maybe that explains why I'm not that big of a baseball fan - I mean, why don't more players smash their baseball bats over there knees?!

Movie Review - Battle: LA

I read a few reviews last night about this movie and how it's supposedly terrible. It's only achieved about 33% on Rotten Tomatoes. Big deal.

This is not a movie that should be reviewed. Yes, I know that by writing this and stating that I'm not making a whole lot of sense. Look, it comes down to this - you're going to see an alien invasion movie. This movie doesn't pretend to be anything else, it knows exactly what it is and it plays to its strengths. There is some stuff thrown in there about the personal lives of a few US Marines, it touches on the Iraq war but other than that - it's just a loud, fun, blockbuster movie.

In actuality, Aaron Eckhart is pretty damn solid. I didn't really care for anyone else, that's not too say they were bad or distracting, they were just there to blow things up or to get blown up. The visual effects were actually pretty cool. I sometimes have to remind myself that these things aren't actually happening. No, I'm not that naive that I think they filmed all of this using real spaceships and what not; it's just the detail that goes into creating the alien technology is mind blowing. The only thing that had been running through my mind while watching it was how awesome this would be as a video game but I suppose that already exists.

All in all, it was a fun Saturday night at the movies. Aside from a douchebag with a laser pointer (who was promptly taken care of by Kevin), I really have no complaints.

Book Review: The Running Man

It’s the year 2025 and society is very different then what we know today. Unlike those that claim today the United States is the land of the free and that the ultimate “American Dream” is attainable by anyone, the system is now designed to keep those who are below the poverty line to stay just where they are. However, there is a way out, sign up as a participant in “The Games”. Yes, you can compete on a variety of dangerous game shows in an effort to obtain large cash prizes and get you and your family out of the gutter.

The novel follows Ben Richards, a man whose daughter has recently become quite sick. Without the means to hire a doctor to help her regain her health and tired of his wife having to turn to prostitution as an income, Ben signs up as a contestant. The only problem is that Ben has been cast in the most dangerous show of all, “The Running Man”. In the competition, you need to stay alive for a period of 30 days. Sound easy? Oh yeah, you need to hide from “The Hunters”, people whose job it is to find you and cut your time on the show short. You also need to avoid exposure to the masses as people can receive cash awards if spotting and reporting you. If that report leads to your death, they are eligible for an even higher cash reward.

Constantly on the move, Ben travels all around the United States in search for a place to hide, if only for a little while. He limits his stay for only a day or two at a time, fearful that his spot will be exposed as he mails in the required tapes day to day. Attempting to stay on the run for as long as possible, the final prize of $1 billion dollars is quite alluring. While he does receive some help from a few disgruntled members of society, it does little to help as he has to fight his own paranoia in resisting the urge to distrust everyone.

I know you need to suspend your disbelief for someone else’s vision of the future, especially when you’ve past a lot of the eras in which King has pinpointed specific events (i.e. a major outbreak in 2005) to occur. However, there really are no specifics into how society degenerated so rapidly in the 90s and the early part of the 2000s, which I dislike. Maybe it’s the crime fiction fan in me that needs to know so much in regards to details (thanks a lot, John Connolly) but I find myself craving that – especially in a dystopian society. I NEED TO KNOW WHY. *

Overall, I enjoyed the novel – not quite to the extent that I enjoyed other King books but it was entertaining nonetheless. As I said earlier, my need to know how society had changed to what it was sort of ruined my enjoyment. Obviously, that’s no fault of King’s as he clearly intended it to be that way. Supposedly, the man wrote it in a week so detail was not something he was going to dwell on.

I will say this - the ending (the very final chapter) was awesome. I'm not sure if I've giving anything away but it's the ultimate act of rebellion. I actually laughed out loud. I'm not sure if that's supposed to be a good thing or not, either way, it was outstanding.

*** Reviewers Note *** Yes, I’m aware that I still loved “A Long Walk” despite its lack of details surrounding society’s turn towards “The Long Walk” itself. I felt that this book suffered more considering society appears to be in far, far worse shape.

Kinect!

I can't believe how much fun this thing is!

We didn't even plan to pick this up yesterday. We were killing time at the mall before we checked out Liam Neeson's new movie "Unknown". We hit up Future Shop and noticed that they had the new Kinect all set up and ready to play. Ash ran over and pushed like 3 kids* to the ground and started up Kinect Sports and ushered me over! We played some bowling and realized that we just had to have this.

I was a little surprised at how low the price was..I expected much higher for whatever reason. We immediately wanted to take it home but remembered that we already bought our movie tickets, so that wasn't an option. However, the movie was fantastic (more on that later this week) so it all worked out well.

Luckily, XBOX live has a ton of demos online so we've been playing a few of those as well. I'm pretty sure we're at a mutual understanding that we need to get Kinect Sports or Joyride next. I've had limited exposure with Joyride but there is one thing that blows my mind. You have the option to paint your car..and if you want, you can hold up anything in the air and the system scans it, importing the color to the game. Blew my mind. BLEW IT.

I can also yell at my XBOX and tell it what to do. Another reason for the machines to eventually rebel.

I'm sure I'll have more to post on here once I have more time with a few other games but for now, it's awesome.

*May or may not have actually happened.

2011 Reading Goals

Some who read my blog may not be following me on GoodReads.com. On that particular site, I've set my reading goal for 2011 at 50 books this year. Currently, I'm at 24% of my goal having read 12 books. My general rule is that if I can surpass 50 books, I'll up it an addition 20 to 70 books. That's pretty ambitious on my part, especially when I haven't even come close to that in previous years. Last year, I met my all time high at 34.

The bulk of my 50 are probably going to come from Stephen King as I've become really interested in his stuff over the past year or so. Therefore, I'd like to at least have read 30% of his catalog read before the year is over. As of this entry, he has about 50 novels written..this is not counting short story collections. I've already read 8 and reading one now..so, here's hoping I can do it.

PLUS..I've got my e-reader now so books are far lower in price (or sometimes free) and delivered 100% faster (no, that's probably not accurate) than if I purchase them online or in store.

Any suggestions on books to add to my "to-read" shelf for this coming year? I've only got about 10 sitting on the back burner, so I'm open to suggestions.