The Domino Effect // by Davis Bunn

//published 2016//

I do not usually request ARCs because there is a lot of pressure to get them read and reviewed in a timely manner.  (Which is totally reasonable, because they are basically paying me a book in exchange for my review, so I don’t think it’s unfair for reviewers to expect to see those reviews sometime within a month or so.)  However, I am still on the email list for Bethany House, and request only one or two books a year from them.  I received The Domino Effect free of charge, but it doesn’t impact my review.

The official synopsis from the back cover says:

Esther Larsen, a top risk analyst at one of the country’s largest banking institutions, is becoming more and more convinced that she has uncovered a ticking bomb with the potential to make the 2008 market crash look minor by comparison.  And as her own employer pursues “investment” strategies with ever-increasing levels of risk, she becomes convinced she must do something.  But Esther is only one person; can she stand up to an international conspiracy of greed?  And if she does, will anyone take her seriously?

Every moment of indecision edges the markets closer to a tipping point – the teetering first domino in a standing row that circles the globe.  And when Esther finds her voice, those she seeks to expose will not sit idly by.  With global markets on the brink, and her own life in danger, Esther is locked in a race against the clock to avert a financial tsunami that threatens worldwide devastation.

I really liked the premise of the story, and Esther herself is a likable character.  A mathematical genius, Esther still manages to not fit the “geek” stereotype so often portrayed in these types of books.  I really liked her independence, intelligence, and courage.

For those of my readers who may not be familiar, the book of Esther in the Bible is set during a time that Israel had been conquered and Jews were being persecuted for their faith.  Esther, through a series of events, became queen – but those in power did not know that she was a Jewess.  Her position enabled her to save the lives of her people when an evil man sought to destroy them.  As Esther’s uncle told her – “Who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?”  (Honestly, Esther is a gripping read that I highly recommend, even if you aren’t really interested in God or religion.)

Point being, it’s obvious that Bunn is making some connections between the historic tale of Esther and his Esther set in current times.  One young woman, in a position of knowledge and power, able to take risks and speak out against the powers that be in order to save the lives of many others.  In Bunn’s story, Esther’s father named Esther after the Biblical character, and although Esther has not been particularly interested in religion throughout her adult life, the many circumstances and “coincidences” of what is happening to her currently begin to draw her back to her childhood faith.

In the end, though, this book just wasn’t enough of a thriller to really engage me.  Bunn had to spend a lot of time explaining all the terms and activities of investment banking and stock investments, so there were multiple chapters that felt rather lecture-y, even though the lectures were brought into the story through more-or-less natural conversations.  And while I agreed with pretty much everything Bunn had to say about the current state of today’s markets, the story just came across as basically polemic.  I also found myself wondering if this book would even be interesting to someone in say, five or ten years: the story is very much set TODAY with lots of references to the 2008 crash and other specific dates and events.

There was also an entire subplot with Esther’s brother that added virtually nothing to the main thrust of the story – I thought maybe it would tie back in somehow, but it honestly didn’t.

I never really bought the concept that Esther was in danger.  The bad guys just didn’t seem bad enough, and most of Esther’s challenges were just overcoming her own reluctance to speak out, not fighting against any outside sources.  There were some halfhearted attempts on her life, but it never felt legit.  There weren’t any moments in this book where I couldn’t read fast enough.  The pacing felt rather slow, and the ending kind of abrupt.

While I liked the characters in the story, especially Esther, I was never completely invested in their futures.

So, overall, a decent 3/5 read.  Engaging enough to make me interested in picking up another of Bunn’s works, but I don’t give a particularly hearty recommendation to this one.

September MiniReviews

So I find that I not-infrequently read books that I just feel rather “meh” about and they don’t seem worth writing an entire post about.  However, since I also use this blog as a sort of book-review diary, I like to at least say something.  (And yes, I realize that that is what I’m supposed to be using GoodReads for, but I just can’t really get into GoodReads.  I just don’t have time to update fifteen different places with reviews/thoughts of the same book.  It’s a combination of reading a LOT of books and not having a great deal of spare time – since most of said spare time is spent reading – and it’s also part of the reason that I don’t really like reading ARCs all that much, because publishers expect reviews in multiple locations.  Anyway.  Where was I?  Oh yes, meh reads.)  So, inspired by the way that Stephanie reviews the unreviewed every month, I think that some months (or maybe all of them!) will get a post with minireviews of all those books that just didn’t get more than a few paragraphs of feelings from me.

The Bards of Bone Plain by Patricia McKillup

//published 2010//

This was a story set in this alternate Britain-like place, where magic is somewhat a thing, but there are already steam-engines and some technology of that sort.  The tale is in the capital city where the royal family lives, and where there is a school for bards.  One of the young bards, who is almost set to graduate, is writing his final paper on an ancient legend.  The book alternates chapters – one set in the current time, while the other chapter begins with a few paragraph’s from the young bard’s paper, followed by the rest of the chapter that tells what really happened back in the day.

There were a lot of things about The Bards that I really enjoyed.  McKillup weaves and engaging story with likable characters, and the tension between the two timelines was plotted really well.  The writing reminded me a lot of Diana Wynne Jones, where I had troubled putting the book down, despite the fact that I was confused a lot of the time.  I can’t tell if I genuinely am not clever enough to understand these kinds of books, or if it’s a case of Emperor’s New Clothes, where everyone pretends like there is a lot more to get out of them than there is so that they look clever.

At any rate, it was an enjoyable story, but not one that spoken to me at a deeper level, and one that still left me with some questions unanswered at the end.  I’ve already read a couple of McKillup’s books that I liked, and think I will still try to read some more.

The Heir and the Spare by Emily Albright

//published 2016//

This is definitely a fluff book.  But I enjoy reading fluff from time to time, where things are romantic and impractical and everyone gets happy endings all around.  Evie’s mother died of cancer when Evie was a little girl.  Before she passed away, Evie’s mother wrote her letters, one for every birthday (although one wonders how far ahead Evie’s mother planned?  Did she write a letter for Evie’s 70th birthday, for instance??).  And during her senior year of high school, Evie received another letter from her mother, this one the first letter of a quest.  And the first step of the quest was for Evie to leave Seattle and go to school at Oxford.  That is where the book begins, Evie’s first day at university.

While parts of this book were enjoyable and entertaining, it overall made my eyes roll so hard that it was, at times, difficult to read.  It felt like the author really blurred the line of what was improbable and just plain ridiculous.  With these kinds of books, you basically already know the ending within the first couple of chapters, so if there isn’t a good story leading us to that end, the whole thing is pointless.  While I really liked Evie, I was genuinely annoyed by her relationship with Edmund.  Even though Edmund was a super nice guy, it came back to that whole USE YOUR WORDS thing, and there were just tooo  many misunderstandings that dragged on and on, when about three sentences of conversation could have straightened everything out.

All in all, an alright fluff read, but not one that left me feeling like Alrbight’s books are something I need to find more of in the future.

The Pothunters by P.G. Wodehouse

//published 1902//

So I believe that I am going to start on a quest that I’ve been thinking about for a while – reading all of Wodehouse’s books in published order.  (!!!)  I realize that this means that I’ll have to wade through some of his earlier works that were basically school stories.  The Pothunters, Wodehouse’s first published novel, was not, if I’m honest, particularly engaging.  However, there are brief glimpses of things that will eventually become Wodehouse hallmarks – a butler “trying to look like a piece of furniture,” or, my personal favorite line of the whole book – “…an expression on his face [that was] a cross between a village idiot and an unintelligent egg.”

The story was originally a serial before it was a novel, as are many of Wodehouse’s early books, and it was intended to appeal to younger audiences.  The story’s heroes are all school-aged boys, and the entire plot revolves around various happenings at their school.  There is a lot (LOT) of cricket and other sports and slang and far too many characters, many of whom have multiple nick-names, making it quite difficult to track them all.

I’ll admit to skimming parts of this book as it just didn’t completely hold my interest as an actual story – I was reading it more for the background, and it was interesting to see where Wodehouse’s published works start.  Many of his earlier works are out of copyright now and are available for free as ebooks, which is how I read this one.  While this wasn’t a particularly engaging book (to me), there are definite glimpses of the droll humor that I know Wodehouse continued to develop throughout his writing career.

Misty’s Twilight by Marguerite Henry

//published 1992//

This book isn’t really a sequel to the other Misty books, but I went ahead and read it after those first three, because it is about a descendant of Misty.  Unfortunately, this story wasn’t nearly as good as the other three.  Twilight was very disjointed and unfocused, without a clear story or goal, or even main character.  Part of the problem is that this story covers almost two decades of time, which is a lot of ground to go over in a children’s book.

In Twilight, Sandy Price has always dreamed of owning a Chincoteague pony, ever since she was a little girl and read Misty.  As an adult, she takes her two children – who are completely uninterested – and drives to Chincoteague where they attend Pony Penning Day and buy four ponies, including one of Misty’s granddaughters, Sunshine.  Back home in Florida, the ponies who were purchased are basically ignored in the story until Sunshine is bred and foals – Misty’s Twilight.  Twilight is trained for a few different things over her lifetime, but Sandy doesn’t really do any of the training, and much of the time Twilight is off having her own adventures – but the narration is stuck at home with Sandy who just receives letters or phone calls with updates on Twilight.  I think the story would have been much more interesting if we had focused on Twilight instead of Sandy.

Published in 1992, I think that in some ways this book was an effort to introduce a new generation of readers to the Misty books.  This was one of the last books that Henry ever wrote – she was 90 years old at the time.  By this time, Wesley Dennis, the illustrator of so many of Henry’s books, had already passed away, so I think this book also somewhat lacked in that area.  Dennis’s illustrations are so amazing, genuinely bringing so much of the story to life.  While Karen Haus Grandpre’s illustrations are standard, they lack the magic of Dennis’s.

All in all, a 2-star read, and not particularly recommended – just stick to the original three.