Duane Swierczynski

I didn't know what to make of 'California Bear' at first. I was a little dazed by how bizarre it was. The tone was somewhere between Don Winslow and early Carl Hiaasen. The story, told from the point of view of four characters, each of whom was going through a major change in their lives and none of whom are at the centre of the personality bell curve, was intriguing and original. I could see that the intent was to satirise the True Crime industry. There was definitely crime but very little interest in truth.

We followed an ex-cop who got a killer's conviction overturned on a technicality so that he could get a cut of the compensation payout, we have the California Bear, a 'retired' serial killer who was never caught but who, in his old age, wants to be given credit for his 'work' and we have a Hollywood documentary producer who wants to make a big sale to the streaming companies but who says all the right words about justice and truth and respecting the victims.

Moslty, I liked the dark humour but I was uncomfortable with being in the Bear's head. He wasn't one of Hiaassen's larger-than-life- but-not-as-nasty-as-they-seem villains. He was a sadistic misogynist who still hungered for the rush of the kill. That didn't seem very funny to me.

I kept reading the book because I wanted to hear more from The Girl Detective. She's the tween daughter of the man whose murder conviction has just been overturned. She's smart, organised and passionate about doing the research to find out the truth about the murder her father was jailed for. She's also in hospital undergoing chemotherapy for an aggressive form of leukaemia that is likely to kill her. She lifted the book for me. She was brave, bright and had a dry sense of humour.

Then the tone of the book changed. It became less of a satire and more of a love-letter to the bravery of The Girl Detective. The California Bear transformed in interesting and unexpected ways. The women in the story came to the fore and started to subvert the agendas of the men around them. The Girl Detective started to put together what had happened and what was going to happen and did what she could to bring order to the chaos.

I was able to settle into the humour then. I had no idea where the story was going but I was happy to be along for the ride. I liked the fast pace of the story, the convoluted twists in the plot that linked everyone together in unpredictable ways and the unabashed confidence of the larger-than-life characters.

I was sad to get to the end of the book because I started to like some of the characters by then. The ending was neat and tidy and perhaps just a little to happily-ever-after but it was done with style and heart and it made me smile.

I recommend the audiobook version of 'California Bear'. It's done with multiple narrators and delivered with energy. I also recommend listening to the author's afterword where he explains how his own daughter's illness affected the novel.… (meer)

My rating is divided into two parts:

A. Design
The design of the book with the real clues is simply beautiful. It could hardly be better for a book (which should also remain affordable).
The designer and the printing company have done a very good job and it is simply a pleasure to hold it in your hand.

B. Riddle to guess along
Well - with a bit of good will you can figure something out, but not screaming.

Here are my SPOILERS that will lead you to the result.
1. the clues in the first half of the book are the important ones.
2. forget the two clues in the book. They are not important.
3. important are: Theater ticket, train ticket, postcard
4. what is the play about - it is in the newspaper, you can also find it out in a theater encyclopedia or on the Internet.
5 Which woman really appears as a character in the book?
6. well - it must have been her...
7. now you can gather together from the clues what points to this woman.

I could now write a rant about the fact that no real evidence of any kind has been shown here. "Judge, I'm innocent because I have this ticket to a play about an unhappy wife."

You can read this book for the shear joy of looking at the clues, but don't expect a logical mystery with clues that stand up in court.

My recommendation instead: Murder off Miami… (meer)

Second collection finalizes the story-line from vol 1. After defeating the attackers from both inside and outside of Ku'n-Lun Iron Fist leads the Heavenly Cities Immortal Weapons to Earth to find out about the mysterious 8th City.

Book is full of fights, exotic locales and mystical kung fu powers and remains loyal to its pulp novel roots. For all means and purposes this is good ol' action adventure that does not try much to flesh out the characters but to take reader for one truly interesting ride.

Art is more diverse than in first volume and (for me) it oscillates between awesome work (Danny Rand's return to K'un-Lun) to extremely simplistic (Lei Kung showing the secret army to Danny). Overall not bad but for me art in first volume was much better.

If you like pulp fiction novels like Mask, Phantom and likes give this one a chance. I am sure you will enjoy it.… (meer)