Eddie's Fancy

Well, that’s better. After the last book I was in the mood for something good, and this one fit the bill. A murder mystery of sorts, set in an alternate Britain where a peace treaty with Hitler was signed in 1941, it was book I couldn’t put down. The ending was by no means upbeat, but it was a good ending.

Ha’Penny, the sequel, should be coming out in paperback this summer, I’ll definitely be picking it up.

An interesting thing about how I ended up reading Farthing, Tor books is giving away ebooks for several weeks as part of a promotion of their upcoming new website. This was one of the books. I started reading it on my Treo while waiting while my wife shopped for shoes and finished it up the next day with a version on my Sony Reader.

I don’t know if the blurb would have been enough for me to pick this book up, but having it for free convinced me to seek out reviews and then start it. I’ll definitely be buying the sequels as a result.

Dean Koontz is an airport author for me. If I’ve finished all my books and have a flight to catch, I’ll sometimes pick on up in an airport bookstore to tide me over. Normally I’m done by the end of the flight.

This time I picked up one of his because it involved Golden Retrievers and a woman who runs a dog rescue and I thought my wife would like. Of course I read it just because it was there. That’s several hours I wish I had back. Not the worst book I’ve ever read but certainly one that I regret wasting money on, even at Half Price Books. The few others by Koontz have at least been readable, this was just, blech.

Spenser takes on a case involving a cheating wife that turns to murder, and he talks to Susan about marriage. That’s about it. The Spenser books are a quick read with familiar characters and cracking, tough-guy dialog. What can I say, sometimes I’m sucker for old favorites.

I passed on buying this in hardback, while I enjoyed the first few in the series there was a little too much chick-angst in the last book. However, I was in the mood to buy a book and the paperback was calling to me. Luckily, this one wasn’t as angsty as the last, but still a bit too much for my taste. The overall plot was advanced a bit and there was a surprising death and it was a quick read. But, I don’t think I’m going to go out of my way for the rest of the series. Paperback is fine, used is better.

As far as I know this is the last nautical history by Nathanial Philbrick written for a national audience. I know he wrote several local books regarding Nantucket but I’m not sure if they’re readily available.

Adventure, exploration, discovery of a continent, savages, and a flawed commander. I didn’t enjoy this as much as Philbrick’s other books but it was still a rousing good read.