Kiss Number 8 (Venable)

Kiss Number 8
Colleen A.F. Venable,
Ellen T. Crenshaw (Illustrator) (2019)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was a Pandemic Book Club selection. I was working during the meeting, which is a shame because Venable was invited to take part.

This is a graphic novel, which takes place in 2004. (I forgot that little detail between the first and second times reading the book, and everything in the story suddenly seemed dated. Oh, right.)

The story opens with Mads detailing her lackluster first kisses, particularly the first seven boys she kissed. Given what I knew of the book, I wasn't surprised that this led up to kissing a girl in a car. The girl tells her to get out of the car. There's more to this moment that will be revealed much later.

The story then rewinds a little bit. Mads has two friends, almost by default from where they all live, Cat, who's the fun, crazy one, and Laura, who's the dependable, boring one. Laura has an older brother, Adam, who's started to notice Mads more and more.

Mads goes to Tornadoes ballgames every week with her dad. (The Tornadoes are a nod the the Brooklyn Cyclones, who play in Coney Island, close to the author's home. Go Cyclones!)

Mads is going through typical teenage growing pains and such when she overhears a phone call her father gets from someone named Dina. She also finds a letter with a check for her, and a picture of someone named Sam.

She thinks her father is or was having an affair, and then later comes to realize that both her parents are lying to her. This causes her to spiral a little and act out with Cat.

It becomes more obvious that she is attracted to Cat, who is attracted to boys.

With Laura's help, they track find information about Sam, who used to be Samantha, and the story takes a new twist.

This was an enjoyuable book with the two stories intertwining. It wasn't preachy, and it's most devastating scenes are shown by Crenshaw in a flashback while the narration is stating that the opposite is happening. This is how some stories get twisted and passed along.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. The fourth book will be available by the time you see this!

Cast the First Stone

Cast the First Stone
Rivka Galchen (2021)

[NO IMAGE -- AUDIO BOOK ONLY)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

I needed a new audiobook to listen to while I'm out walking (and I do a lot of walking). It would be nice if the library had a tag for audio duration or if I could sort by time. Cast the First Stone came up as a "short enough" science fiction novel, so I gave it a shot without knowing anything about it.

Overall, I was pleased, and during the summer, I might look for the actual book after I've caught up with some other books.

The main character is a cop named Rembrandt Stone, who receives a watch from the former Chief of Homicide, who passed away, along with a box of cold cases. The watch doesn't seem to work, so he brings it to a jeweler who tells him that the watch is working exactly as it should be. Stone doesn't understand.

Stone wakes up "the next day" and he's traveled back in time to the time of an unsolved cold case involving three bombings. He also has the young body he had back then. He believes that he's still dreaming, but he goes along with it and tries to solve the case. He starts to realize something's off when he stays in the past.

While he's there, he sees the jeweler again, or for the first time, and sets up the future meeting. He also starts talking to the woman who would later become his wife, figuring that he could speed things up, instead of waiting years to start dating.

Instead of getting information to solve the cold case in the "future" (the present), he prevents the third bombing and solves the crime "back then".

Stone returns to his present time, feeling the pain of the injuries he'd suffered many years earlier. The book ends with Stone finding else what else has changed in the intervening years. This opens the book up for a series where he can solve more cold cases -- but are they really cold cases any more? -- while trying to repair the damage he's done to his own personal life.

Would I read more of these? Maybe, but first I have to read the first one.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. The fourth book will be available by the time you see this!

My Hero Academia Volume 40

My Hero Academia Volume 40, by Kōhei Horikoshi (2024)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

The story is winding down with the former All-Might facing off against the foe that ended his career. All Might had been using all sorts of technology to mimic the powers of the students in 1A (who should be in 2A by now, right?)

All Might had no chance at victory, but as with Batman said in an episode of Justice League, I'm not trying to beat you, I'm trying to stall you. Bakugo arrives for a final showdown. Remember that Bakugo holds himself responsible for All Might retiring.

The story is winding down, and Deku will have to take down Tomura Shigiraki.

I'll be sorry when this story ends if it means that publication ceases. The story will have been told, but there's more stories to tell with all these heroes.

Volume 41 is on hold at the library.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. The fourth book will be available by the time you see this!

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is A Witch (Galchen)

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is A Witch
Rivka Galchen (2021)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was a Pandemic Book Club selection. The meeting was postponed due to conflicts and had not taken place at the time of this writing.

I was able to get the audiobook quickly and then got a copy of the hardcover. There's a long wait for the ebook, which is surprising for a four-year-old book, particularly one that was "meh".

The book was a little better than the audio because I listened for a couple of hours and wasn't sure what I was listening to.

First thing, the book is historical fiction. The woman in question is the mother of Johannes Kelpar, and the events in the book are based on an actual incident. That being said, the author was intrigued by reading a nonfiction book about the case and decided to write her own book, a book which invents many of the characters and some of the incidents. This almost makes me wish I had read the original nonfiction book, if it's available in English. On the other hand, there are many nonfiction books that I read and think, "This should've been an essay."

I am seriously not likely to search for the original book because the incident just doesn't pique my interest enough, particularly after reading one book on the subject.

Basically, the book was boring. I kept waiting for something to happen. It's almost like this was someone's writing exercise, to write a journal in someone else's voice, and then sold it. I finished the audio a couple weeks back and I couldn't tell you how it ended.

Despite not enjoying this, I pushed forward to read the book, so I could finish it before the original meeting date. I didn't. And then a week later, I brought the book back to the library unfinished because others were waiting for it. I still have the audiobook, so I could re-listen to, say, the last hour, but I'm not sure that I will.

This will be one book that I give a medicre rating to, not because it wasn't well-written, but just because I was bored.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. The fourth book will be available by the time you see this!

Beyond the Ocean Door (Sathi)

Beyond the Ocean Door
Amisha Sathi (2024)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was an ARC I received from LibraryThing. Part of what is posted here will be in my review on their website. I'm confused, though, because their site says the book was published back in December.

Beyond the Ocean Door is a fantasy with an impressive amount of world-building and history before the book even begins. In a secluded valley, the Vale, there is a military organization, the Vow, that keeps the people safe from everything outside of the valley. We're never entirely sure just what's out there. The Vow was founded by legendary telepath Valeria Reed, who trains the telepath students. In the current class of "Rooks", there are only three of them.

Not all telepaths are the same, as there are nine different gifts that they might have, but all can create imaginary worlds called "Veils", which usually look like the regular Vale.

Kallista, who had her memories erased when she was brought to the Vale ten years ago, has the same powers are Valeria, while Maya, who was born in the Vale, has a different ability. Both Maya and Kallista want to leave the Vale because they feel like they are prisoners.

No ocean doors appear until nearly halfway through the novel. It's a door that Kallista discovers in her Veil that seems to lead into some chaotic dimension. We later learn that everyone has an ocean door and it leads into their subconscious, and by entering a telepath can manipulate a person.

I liked the world-building but I thought the book was a little long and dragged in places, but the pace picks up toward the end. And I enjoyed the use of "stories in three acts" to relay flashbacks through an unreliable narrator.

The story is basically over but with all the history, a prequel story about the formation of the Vow and what is beyond the valley could be interesting.

This took me longer to read than I thought it would, and I have to be careful about requesting 500+ page books from Library Thing in the future.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. The fourth book will be available by the time you see this!

The Silent Patient (Michaelides)

The Silent Patient
Alex Michaelides (2019)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was selected as my Pandemic Book Club's selection for this month. I listened to it first, and then started reading the hardcover from the library.

This turned out to be an unsual experience in that in the past, I've started listening first because the audiobook is usually available before the ebook. Print books are usually available first but I tend to read print books more in the summer when I'm off. Carrying hardcovers back and forth to work (and along for all the walks I take) isn't preferable. Anyway, once I get an ebook, I generally catch up quickly to the point where I've listened to and then finish the ebook. Generally speaking, if I finish the book electronically, I'm less likely to finish listening to it.

This time, I finished the audiobook before I even opened the print edition. And I almost didn't bother reading it at all. Why? Because I was annoyed with the ending. So much so that I didn't want to actually read the book I'd listened to. However, since this is a reading blog, I will at least read until I have the online group meeting. If I'm not finished reading by then, I might not finish at all.

Okay. So why didn't I like this book? What was wrong with the ending. Also, I am aware that this is the third book in a row, where I hated the ending, but each for different reasons.

I can point to three specific problems: First, the narrator is unreliable; second, the narrator withholds information while telling a very long-winded story with a lot of details; third, the events are not documented chronologically and we are not told that it is not chronological. What I mean by this is that some scenes are actually flashbacks but we are not told that these are flashbacks. And I imagine the ending is worse in the audiobook because there really seems to be a tonal change in the narrator's voice while reading the epilogue (or the last portion).

Other points: the book is called "The Silent Patient" but should be called "The Bloody Pompous Psychoanalyst Who is Full of Himself". He's the story, not the patient. There's a side plot about his wife having an affair, which doesn't seem to have anything to do with anything, but when it actually does later on, it's more annoying than revealing. And the reasoning why the silent patient is silent is unsatisfying at best, even when he gets her to talk again.

Knowing the ending before I starting reading the print book left me open to question why he's actually doing some of the things that he's doing. It's the opposite of rereads when you see the subtlety worked into the narrative and say, "Oh, that's why he did that!". The second time, things make less sense. There are reasons I supposed, but again, unsatisfying.

The story: Alicia Berenson is a famous painter who is married to a fashion photographer (Gabriel) and who infamously kills her husband by shooting him in the face, or so we're told. From the time she is found until the present, she is mute. She either cannot or will not speak. She is committed to a mental hospital (the Grove) instead of prison. The trial was a newspaper sensation for a while.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who is intrigued by this case and takes a position at the Grove so he can take her on as a patient. He left a good position for one that might not be there in six months, as the Grove is not doing well financially. While working the case, he acts like a detective, visiting surviving family members and others associated with her painting career. He does eventually get her to talk about the case.

Ther eisn't much more to say about the book or the other characters. I will add that someone on the discussing list for my book club mentioned that htey saw the "twist" coming long before I knew that there would be a twist instead of a simple resolution.

Again, this was an audio book and a hardcover. The ebook hadn't become available before the meeting.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs. The fourth book will be available by the time you see this!

Flume (Bigfoot)

Flume
Bigfoot (2025)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

I received an Advance Reading Copy of this book from Library Thing. The author's name is given as "bigfoot" (not capitalized). The review that I'll post there is included in this blog entry.

Basically...

This was an unusaul and imaginative tale in that the entire book takes place during the 33 minutes it takes three teens are in the world's largest water flume in London. The flume is over a mile long from London Bridge to Waterloo Station. We learn through a toy model in one of the many flashbacks that there's a secret Core in the flume that sliders can take and arrive at the bottom at the same time.

It's at this point where the book becomes fantasy, and it was difficult to suspend disbelief. Shanks, who's been afraid of the water since he was a child and who can't swim, is in the flume with two friends, Yam and Flo. Yam wants to search the secret of the Core when the builder of the flume, Poppity, disappeared in and was never found. Oddly, it's not sealed off and easy to get into. Once inside, they are in a world that could not exist in the structure of the flume, not without taking up a sizable amount of real estate in London, at which point, it would hardly be secret.

There's not much action but a lot of introspection by Shanks about his past. He also seems to do quite a bit of floating and swimming for someone who can't swim. I was ready to give this four stars just for being something different. However, the ending was out of left field and left all the questions that Flo and Shanks had been asking unanswered, or at least unproven as they were never challenged.

Shanks, who is an orpahn, has a phobia about water and doesn't like to swim. He's given a ride on the Flume by "Captain" (who has been raising him) as a birthday present, and he rides it with two friends. First is Yam who knows everything there is to know about Poppity, the sailor who created the flume, and Flo who wants to "hack" Shanks' code to figure out what his problems are. Shanks has flashbacks about a lighthouse and a woman falling from it. He realizes that the woman is his mother and he saw her die. He's not sure at first how she fell. If she was pushed, then who pushed her? Shanks believes he has the answer by the time he exits the flume, but then nothing comes of it because the author just goes off in an unexpected direction that has little to do with the everything that happened prior.

This was a free ebook.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

Fall Into Temptation (Score)

Fall Into Temptation
Lucy Score (2022)

[NO IMAGE, AUDIOBOOK ONLY]

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was a Pandemic Book Club alternate selection. The wait for the ebook and audiobook were so long that I got a print book. This, of course, was silly, because by this point, Starter Villain, had already been selected so there was no urgency to read this. However, I'd forgotten which month this was for and was thinking that it was a choice for April. And then the library told me that I couldn't renew it because someone was waiting, so I have to dive in, reading this on the train every day. As it is, it's more than a week overdue. It may have been reported "lost" and I may have accidentally purchased it.

The book says that it is a "Blue Moon Romantic Comedy". Blue Moon is the name of the small town. The Library says that it is book 2 in the series, but the "Also By" page lists seven other titles, along with six other series and a set of standalones.

A capsule review: It not a will they or won't they with Beckett and Gia, it's when will it happen, and how will they handle the fallout, consequences, and repercussions. The romance level is moderate (by my own reckoning) but could be considered "mild" or "tame" by others. There are ample descriptions but they aren't vulgar. For comparison, New Beginnings was basically nil.

Beckett Pierce is the young, handsome mayor of Blue Moon. He returns from a vacation wedding to find that his associate has managed to rent out the house behind his house to a mother of two. One of the first itmes of business is cutting the ribbon at the new fitness center (renvoated by a new owner). He spots the owner (Gia/Gianna) working out the night before and is suitably impressed by her form. The next morning, he rescues her from being locked in the studio's bathroom. Beckett later discovers that she is his new tenant.

To add to the intrigue, Beckett goes to the family's farm, where the three brothers are starting a brewery, only to run into Gia and her kids. Beckett, whose father is deceased, has daddy issues and now his mother is dating someone and it's getting serious. And it turns out Gia's father is the boyfriend of Beckett's mother.

Between this and the landlord situation, the relationship is considered by the two of them to be off-limits, forbidden fruit, nothing can possibly happen ... except for every time that the two of them are alone with each other. And, of course, the whole town knows.

The first book appears to be about one brother and his new girlfriend, who quit her job and came to Blue Moon, so I wouldn't be surprised if the third book is about the third brother getting back together with his ex who is in this book but they still aren't on speaking terms.

Do I plan to read any more of this series, or even of this genre? I'm not counting on it. Maybe I'd buy a book if the author is doing a signing in my neighborhood. That said, I enjoyed the book for what it is, and I'm happy to read different things that I might not have read otherwise. And it wasn't trashy.

This was a March read even if I didn't get to post about it until April.

Paperback, if case I'm checking at the end of the year.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

Suburban Hell (Kilmer)

Suburban Hell
Maureen Kilmer (2022)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

Updated 4/23/25

This was a Pandemic Book Club alternate selection. The audiobook becam available while I was reading Starter Villain. I haven't included an image because that's my rule if I only listen to it. That said, I've had the paperback from the library on my nighstand for a couple of weeks and the ebook should be available soon. Since nothing about it turned me off, I will likely read it and update this post.

A capsule review: It starts with breaking ground for a she-shed and then turns into a Poltergeist possession novel. Poltergeist is referenced in the text.

I'll keep this brief until I edit it.

In a small planned community in the suburds where everyone knows everyone, one person, Liz, suddenly starts acting weird. Amy notices and tells her concerns to Jess and Melissa. But it isn't until after an incident with some dead bunnies that it gets creepy. And then Liz tries to kill Amy in a ditch where something evil or demonic is trying to attach itself to her.

This leads to learning about demonic possession and exorcism, as well as learning more about the area the development was built upon and who lived -- and died -- there. The good guys eventually win, but there's an epilogue that unravels the entire thing.

I have to say, I hate epilogues like that. They basically say, "Nope, we failed. Evil will continue to win unless we do it all again and again.

That in itself won't stop from reading the book, but I don't think I'd do a sequel that follows the story unless I get a strong recommendation from someone I trust. As it is, this is out of my "comfort zone" for pleasure reading.

Update: Both the paperback and the ebook became available, so I was able to read the ebook. I finished it right before it was due back. (I might've turned off my wifi so the book didn't disappear for an extra 12 hours.) Reading it, I picked up on some details that I might've missed while I was listening, particularly at the beginning when I was learning who was who. Things get lost in audio, if only because I'm passively listening while I'm out walking. Also traffic and other noise sometimes interferes with it.

That said, not much changed in my enjoyment. The book was good, but the ending was not. The epilogue didn't make sense, and it undermined the resolution of the plot.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

I Know What UFO Did Last Summer (Garone)

I Know What UFO Did Last Summer
Kevin Garone (2025)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book (ebook). The following is what I plan to post on Library Thing:

I really liked this book. Twelve-year-old me would've loved this book. However, I think even young me might've found Marv's single-mindedness in seeing aliens and alien conspiracies everywhere to be a little tedious. He doesn't even refocus when confronted with both actual alien creatures and a real conspiracy while out one night searching the night sky for a possible invasion.

Marv's best fried Jace, aka Baller One, loves basketball and spew stats and history from memory, but he's still grounded in reality. Rounding out the group is their new neighbor, Nora, whom Marv gives the codename "Space Cadet". Marv believes she's actually an alien like her father but she might not be aware that she is. He also believes Nora's father knows something about the alien and the ship that appears in the woods.

After a freak lightning strike send Marv and Jace into the middle of the conspiracy, it's up to those meddling kids (and one dad) to save the day.

Four stars.

-----

If I had to give a rating on a scale of 1 to 5, I'd give it 4 because it was well-written, but Marv did get on my nerves sometimes. The story hits the mark for its target demo, in my opinion.

One comparison I might make about Marv is to Fox Mulder on X-Files. He believes in UFOs, and has an "I Want to Believe" poster in his office. That said, he doesn't see aliens and conspiracies in every case he investigates. He's aware of the conspiracies and can be a bit skeptical about evidence of aliens, and when he's not, he still has Dana Scully there to check things out and, hopefully, back him up.

Marv believes his neighbors are likely aliens from the moment they move in. In fact, I thought at first that they actually were and that the book was going to be set in a world where aliens had already settled among us. That was just my misunderstanding and my misreading of Marv's attitude. I guess I read so much science fiction that I thought "Of course, they're aliens" and not "There are no aliens living among us, duh!"

The father and the first "spaceman" who appears are both refugees from a scientific lab. They stole a prototype of a teleportation device before it can be used to take over the world by assassinating world leaders. The device has a couple of problems. First, there's a time lapse where the capsule reappears hours or even days after it disappears. Second, when it reappears, it's covered with "sleeches", what Marv names the small creatures that look like a cross between slugs and leeches.

When the capsule is later struck by lightning with Marv and Jace inside, the disappear for over a week, reappearing back inside the very lab that the ship was stolen from, there's a giant Sleech onboard, like the mother alien in Aliens compared to the eggs. The thing wreaks havoc with the lab, killing most of the security.

And one point, I would've expected or at least hoped that one of the security guards was going to turn against the evil villain if for no reason then the man was being ordered to his death because he wasn't going to be able to kill the thing when no one else could.

There is a "smart" move later on. They need to send the capsule somewhere where it can never be recovered with all the alien creatures aboard it, along with any new passengers that leech on the next time it jumps. But they need to capsule to get home, until Nora reminds them, "We're in Iowa." In other words, they don't need to teleport to Delaware. And they will be free to leave since just about everyone else is dead.

This was listed as "Alien Survival Guide (1)", so I have to assume more books in this series will follow. If I hear about them, I might check out one more just to see what direction the series takes.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

Audio: New Beginnings (Masters)

New Beginnings
C.C. Masters (2018)

[No image. Audio only]

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was basically a random selection from the Libby app. I needed something to listen to while walking. I chose Fantasy and looked for the shorter ones. There was one before this that was shorter which might've had a good story if not for all the "spicy" bits (basically, porn, but the "acceptable" kind).

The basics of the story: Lori lives with a pack of wolves who are usually human and go to human schools and everything is pretty normal. Except that her 18th birthday has arrived, and she knows that means that every male wolf in the pack that wants to have his way with her is welcome to do so. She has no rights and no longer has any protection. She's ready to attempt the first wolf through the door but it turns out to be her mother, who helps plan an escape.

The pack follows. Several die or are deeply wounded. Lori's mother is dead, so she has to continue alone. She hides in the back of a truck and manages to travel a great distance before sneaking out.

The new town seems friendly enough, and Lori is mistaken for a girl from the private school. She manages to get a job and a room at the Y (and a shower). She plans to lay low for a while.

There's abrupt narrative shift when suddenly a man's voice takes over. He's a wolf but not from her pack. He's one of four lone wolves without a pack who sense Lori's presence and start watching her. They think that she's been sent there to spy on them as there are no active packs around.

There's a clash between the wolves but Lori becomes part of the new pack. There's a lot of talk of pack dynamics. This small pack is opening a garage inside an old firehouse. A few people know who they really are, including one group (I don't remember the name of it) that runs tests on the wolves to learn more about them. Lori becomes a part of that in exchange for protection from her old pack.

There's not too much story here, other than her becoming part of a new pack and finding a place to fit in. The title "New Beginnings" should refer to that, but it also refers to an entire series being planned. (From what I've seen online, this is Hollow Crest Wolf Pack #1, and not a prequel.)

For one thing, there's much more to learn about that organization that helps them out. For another, the private school that doesn't associate with the town is a magic school. The only of the ice cream shop who hires Lori turns out to be not nice to say the least, and the owner of other garage in town has it out for the pack. (Plus the only cop we meet is corrupt.)

There's an epilogue setting up the next book with wolves from the old pack.

It was pleasant enough to listen to while walking. I don't think I'll look for it in print any time soon. Would I listen to Book #2? maybe. It's not my usual sub-genre but there was nothing wrong with it.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

Starter Villain (Scalzi)

Starter Villain
John Scalzi (2023)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was a Pandemic Book Club book. The ebook became available pretty quickly.

A capsule review: If you like John's Scalzi's Redshirts but though it fell apart toward the end, then this book is for you!

That might not be the greatest of reviews, but fans of Redshirts will buy and love this book. People who liked the idea of Redshirts but not necessarily the execution will enjoy this one more.

The one thing off about the book is the cover. As much as I like the picture of the cat in a suit, the tagline "Meet Your New Boss" is misleading. Also, the main cat we interact with is female, and cover cat is wearing a male's suit and tie. Granted, that could be how the most enterprising female cats dress. In any case, the cats aren't the boss, although they might rank higher in the company than others, including the dolphins (who aren't happy about that).

Charlie is a substitute teacher who's living in his deceased father's house while he gets his life together. His much older half-siblings want the house sold already as the estate attorney keeps reminding him. (There's a clause in the will that allows Charlie to remain there.)

The one thing Charlie wants to do is buy an old pub now that the current owner is thinking of retiring. He hasn't got the money for it, and his piece of the house isn't enough collateral. His family would have nothing to do with it (or for that matter, with him, being a much younger half-brother).

His life changes when Mathilda “Til” Morrison shows up, introducing herself as the assistant of Charlie's estranged Uncle Jake who recently passed. Charlie initially wants nothing to do with him since Jake couldn't be bothered with Charlie. He finds out that this wasn't entirely true and that there were reasons. Morrison wants Charlie to stand for Jake at his wake and Jake's company would make it worth his while. For one thing, they'd buy Charlie's house through a shell company and then gift it to him.

The wake fills with business associates including one guy who is ready to stab Uncle Jake's corpse just to make sure. Charlie, in the heat of the moment, prevents it by pushing the guy. The stabber, suitably impressed, allows Charlie to live. Apparently, no one is there to mourn and everyone is there to make sure that Jake is actually dead.

By the time it's over, Jake heads home where he finds his two cats, Hera, who he's had for a long time, and Perseppone, who he recently found and adopted, sitting on the curb across the street from his house. He stops to get them, then sees someone in his bedroom. That someone sees him looking back and disappears. And then the house blows up.

Charlie isn't doing so well.

And then he finds out that his Uncle Jake was a Villain, like in James Bond, and that there's an entire community of villains, like SPECTRE, which might've been influenced by the real group.

Charlie flies to a volcano island lair and starts to learn the business. In a couple of days, he's expected for a special convocation in Italy where the other members will size him up and decide what to do next.

Antics ensue.

It was a fun novel and a quick read. I didn't really have any problems with it. Scalzi played with the usual tropes.

...

Anyway, this should've been posted a while ago. I don't remember if there was anything else I wanted to add.

The book club hasn't met yet to discuss this book, but I've already started on future possible books.

If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.