Bookish TV: Babies and Bees - Reviews of Grimm and Once Upon a Time

Title: Grimm
Airs: Fridays at 9 on NBC
Stars: David Giuntoli, Russell Hornsby, Silas Weir Mitchell

"Beeware" (first aired November 11, 2011)

Plot: After a flash mob results in the gruesome death of a Portland lawyer, Nick and Hank find themselves engaged in an investigation involving bees, corporate intrigue, and an old enemy. Soon, Nick discovers that he may be in more danger than he realized.

Review: I'm not quite sure how NBC decides on which scenes to show in the previews for the next episode of Grimm, but there were several scenes in Friday's episode that had been used as previews for episode two, which makes me insanely confused. But this is supposed to be a review of an episode, not of NBC's practices, so whatever.

"Beeware," the latest episode of NBC's new series, is loosely inspired by "The Queen Bee," a Brothers Grimm tale that I had no idea existed until I was writing this review and was trying to figure out what was up with all the bees. I have an irrational fear of bugs in general, but bees are up at the top of the list of bugs that make me cringe. Anyway, a woman ends up dead after a flash mob does the "YMCA" on a city bus and the cause of death is an overdose of bee venom. Nick and Hank are sent to investigate and find a connection between the woman's law firm and an abandoned paper mill. Nick also discovers that two members of the flash mob aren't what they seem to be; they are, in fact, melafers, or bee-people. I won't give the rest of the episode away, but basically they're involved in a plot that Nick uncovers and that involves the hexenbeast that tried to kill his aunt in the first episode.

All in all, I'd say that this wasn't a bad episode. It was suspenseful and had some great Eddie Monroe moments (I'm not ashamed to admit that he's one of the main reasons why I watch the show) and the hints at a dark and dangerous future for Nick had me dying to see the next episode. There was some great tension between Nick and his boss, the nefarious Captain Renard (which means "fox" in French and will probably have some significance later on in the series), that made me wonder how Nick can't see that his boss is part of some sort of shadowy organization, but Nick's still kind of wet behind the ears in the Grimm-ing department, so I'll forgive him for that.

One thing that I'm still finding hard to believe is that three episodes in there still hasn't been much character development where Nick is concerned. I think that it's great that they've combined fantasy with a cop drama and created something new, but I want to care about the main character. His thinly-veiled anger at the hexenbeast was a good step in the right direction, but he could use more of a personality. I also hope that the show starts giving Hank and Eddie more to do than just whatever Nick asks of them. It's like he has two sidekicks (both of whom are more interesting than he is) and he just interchanges them when he has need of their skills.

I feel like the first two episodes were better, but "Beeware" wasn't terrible and it helped to introduce whatever's lurking around the corner for Nick in the next few weeks. I'm looking forward to more of this show, but I'm hoping that eventually I come to see Nick as more than just a pretty-boy cop.

Title: Once Upon a Time
Airs: Sundays at 8 on ABC
Stars: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Morrison, Lana Parilla

"The Price of Gold" (first aired November 13, 2011)

Plot: When a young pregnant girl assaults Mr. Gold and tries to flee town, he comes to Emma for help in locating her in order to make sure that she keeps up her end of a deal the two of them made. But when Emma discovers the truth about their deal, she cares more about finding and helping the girl than about anything else. In fairy land, Cinderella makes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin that she'll come to regret and we find out just how he ended up in that prison in the first place.

Review: I wanted to like Grimm more than Once Upon a Time (although I have no idea why), but this show has far surpassed it in my mind. The characters are multi-faceted and interesting, the plots are well-paced and relevant, and the structure of the show (the switching between stories and the playing around with time) is unique and fun. This has quickly become my new favorite show and "The Price of Gold" is a good example of why.

Introducing the new character of Cinderella, "The Price of Gold" also delves more deeply into Rumpelstiltskin's past and Mr. Gold's present. I've gushed about Robert Carlyle on here enough that it won't come as a surprise that these two have become my favorite characters on the show, but even without them, this would have been a great episode.

Changing the story of the girl who wore glass slippers and modernizing it to deal with the difficult and often controversial issues of teen pregnancy and single motherhood, Once Upon a Time has given new life to a tale that I always felt taught the regrettable lesson that all a girl needs to be happy is be pretty and find a man to marry. It builds on the show's already strong female cast and allows Emma's character a chance to grow (something Grimm hasn't yet managed to do with it's main character).

The show is visually beautiful and "The Price of Gold" was no exception. The costumes, sets, and scenery are so well-chosen and they're used to enhance an already great show. All the pretty sets and fun lighting in the world couldn't save a bad show, but Once Upon a Time has a great writing staff and a great cast that has really grown into their characters over the last few episodes. Gone is the poor acting from the first episode as well as the poor dialogue. Everything about the show has improved tenfold in the last few weeks and I can only assume it will get better as time goes on.

I loved how they combined the stories of Cinderella and Rumpelstiltskin and I also really liked her friendship with Snow White. In the real world (Storybrooke), Cinderella becomes just another statistic, a marked difference from her life as a princess and a stark reminder of the dangers of glamorizing the life of privilege portrayed in the stories of our youth. Emma's strength, which is derived from her past as an orphan and a teen mother, as well as from her life as a bail-bondsperson, makes her reaction to Ashley's predicament more genuine and poignant and, ultimately, more satisfying to watch.

This was such a good episode, perhaps their best yet, and it has given me even more incentive to continue watching.

-Gabe

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?: A Review of The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things by Barry Glassner

Title: The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things (Crime, Drugs, Minorities, Teen Moms, Killer Kids, Mutant Microbes, Plane Crashes, Road Rage, & So Much More)
Author: Barry Glassner
Edition: Hardcover
Publisher: Basic Books (1999)
Pages: 276
Challenges: 2011 GoodReads Reading Challenge
How I Came by This Book: As with most of the non-fiction titles I've been reading the last few months, this book was borrowed from my library as part of my research for a book that I'm working on.

About the Author: Barry Glassner is currently the President of Lewis and Clark College. A sociologist and the author of seven books, Glassner is probably best known for his best-selling book The Culture of Fear.


Synopsis: In this eye-opening examination of a pathology that has swept the country, the noted sociologist Barry Glassner reveals why Americans are burdened with overblown fears. He exposes the people and organizations that manipulate our perceptions and profit from our anxieties: politicians who win elections by heightening concerns about crime and drug use even as both are declining; advocacy groups that raise money by exaggerating the prevalence of particular diseases; TV news-magazines that monger a new scare every week to garner ratings.

Review: In the years following 9/11, Americans were kept in a constant state of fear by politicians and news anchors who disseminated information on everything from anthrax attacks to attempted hijackings to possible suicide bombings. Even now, ten years after the attacks, we still live in a society where we are reminded of just how dangerous the world can be...even if most of us will never be personally affected by many, if not most, of its potential hazards. Barry Glassner's The Culture of Fear came out two years before any of this happened, but his message is still highly relevant today.

The Culture of Fear touches upon many of the subjects that Bernard Goldberg's Bias did, but it is everything that Goldberg's book could never be. Well-researched, superbly-argued, and highly-critical of all news outlets (not just the liberal ones), The Culture of Fear is a deft assessment of American fears in the 1990s...and a skillfully-written and scathing criticism of the individuals and organizations who fanned the flames of those fears.

As the sub-sub-title of the book says, this is the story of the things that Americans were urged to fear by the mainstream media and by politicians desperate for approval ratings and election results--crime, drugs, disease, the breakdown of society as we know it. Each chapter is an exploration of one aspect of society that has been scapegoated by those in power and Glassner not only proves how small of a threat these things really are, he also argues that what's really to blame is society itself.

Let me give an example. For those of us who were kids in the nineties, I'm sure we can all remember Columbine, D.A.R.E., dangerous Halloween candy, and the "Stranger Danger"-type campaigns. As the over-protected child of an over-protective mother, I remember all too well how she reacted to each school shooting, how she would carefully check all of my candy after trick-or-treating to find anything that could have  been tampered with, and how I was constantly reminded by her of the best ways not to get kidnapped. I also remember George Bush the 1st coming onto my TV screen to inform me of the dangers of drug use and the countless hours of advertisements I watched that warned me that my brain on drugs would be like an egg being bashed by a big-ass frying pan.

Glassner points to each of these things as being endemic of the cultural atmosphere in the 1990s and he swiftly counters each of these dangers with solid facts that disprove how prevalent these dangers were thought to be. He then proposes an explanation as to why parents and children were subjected to years of fear-mongering--our nation's children are at risk, but not because of tainted candy (which was a hoax perpetuated by cases where family members poisoned their own children's candy) or from strangers. No, the real issues were much simpler and much more pervasive: child poverty, inequality, bad family environments, etc. His point being, of course, that the problems children faced were not outside threats but, rather, they were much closer to home and were caused by society's inability to accept culpability for what was happening to them.

I accept this, although I'm a dirty-hippy-bleeding-heart-liberal, so I guess that's to be expected. But, Glassner's argument is based on well-documented evidence and carefully-researched statistics. It isn't just gut feeling or opinion. The mainstream media, he says, was often unwilling or unable to report the real problems due to interference by network executives, politicians, or corporate sponsors who would never have allowed them to point the finger in the right direction. So, instead, they had to raise awareness of the real problems in society by creating problems where there were none. It makes sense, especially considering the fact that as crime rates were going down, the networks were constantly barraging families with news about just how bad the crime "really" was in this country.

There are other culprits of course. Politicians, interest groups and advocates (touched upon in a much less respectful way in Goldberg's book), and others who had a stake in creating a culture of fear. Just looking at the media today, I don't think that anyone can deny that this culture is still being created, still being shaped by those who use the media to gain power and influence. Even though the world of Glassner's book had yet to be marred by the scar of September 11, 2001, there was quite enough to be unnecessarily scared of at that point that The Culture of Fear never seems dated or out of touch with the times.

The book is fascinating, well-written, often-funny, and all-around a great read. I don't think that I could recommend this book enough. His societal and cultural analysis and commentary are right on the nose and hold significance even to this day. The dangers and the enemies that we're told to be afraid of may change, but the overarching principle remains the same: keep them afraid so that they don't pay attention to what's really going on; keep them on edge about things that aren't really a threat so that they don't try to fix the real, systemic problems that face this country.

I'm giving The Culture of Fear 5 out of 5 Gabriels.

-Gabe

Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks Walk into a Bar: Reviews of Grimm ("Pilot" and "Bears Will Be Bears")

Title: Grimm
Airs: Fridays at 9 on NBC
Starring: David Giuntoli, Russell Hornsby, Silas Weir Mitchell

Contrary to what you might believe given the post I wrote back in March about some of my favorite shows, I don't actually watch television much. Or, really, at all. There are some shows that I got into while they were on television (the now-gone Alias, Jericho, and Stargate Universe and the still-running Big Bang Theory), but normally the shows that I get into are already cancelled and I just watch them on DVD (Battlestar Galactica, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, The 4400). It saves me the trouble of having to wait a full week to see the next episode and, more importantly, it ensures that I don't have to be bombarded by mind-numbing and increasingly idiotic advertisements. I'm really picky when it comes to which shows I'll even give half a chance to and, as you can probably tell, the ones I end up liking tend to be sci-fi related.

When I heard that Robert Carlyle (The Fully Monty, Trainspotting, Stargate Universe) was going to be in a new television show I was curious to see what it would be like. I'm a huge fan of his work and I had heard that it was a fairy-tale related show, which piqued my interest. So, when someone mentioned that the show Grimm was going to be debuting the Friday before Halloween, I thought, "Hey, that must be the show, right?" It wasn't. Turns out that he's on ABC's Once Upon A Time, which I didn't realize until after I watched the second episode of Grimm. While I haven't seen the ABC take on fairy tales yet, I got hooked on NBC's within the first half of Grimm's pilot episode.

Given that this is a book blog and Grimm is a bookish television show, I've decided that I'll be reviewing the show on a weekly basis. It may not get posted the next day but it'll generally be sometime before the next episode airs. Today, you get a two-for-one deal because I didn't think about it until I was rewatching the episodes on Sunday night (thank you, NBC.com!).

Without further ado, here's my thoughts on the first two episodes of Grimm.

Warning: possible spoilers ahead.

"Pilot" (first aired October 28, 2011)

Plot: On the same day that his Aunt Marie (Kate Burton) comes for an unexpected visit, Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) starts seeing people in a whole new light--literally. He's one of the last of the Grimm family and it's his gift (or curse) to see the creatures that haunt the folk tales and fairy stories of old. The brutal murder of a college student and the disappearance of a little girl (both wearing red hoodies) lead him to Eddie Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell), a big bad wolf who's not so big and bad. Nick and Eddie work together to try and find the killer before he claims his next victim.

Review: I had gotten sick of police shows a long time ago. It doesn't matter if they get dressed up with fancy lighting or glitzy locales, they're all basically the same show rehashed over and over again. Grimm is nothing like these shows. It's not just that the criminals are supernatural beings; Grimm is a serial rather than a procedural and it has interesting characters and a good sense of humor in addition to its creepy atmosphere and fun twists on old stories.

This retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood" used its material well while still doing something new and fun. The juxtaposition of an age-old tale in a modern world reminds me a lot of The 10th Kingdom (a mini-series that was on NBC over a decade ago) but it's a lot scarier and a lot grittier. The episode started with a murder and continued to get more intense from there. The pace was good, with no real lulls in the action, and with an interesting way of using exposition. In the scene where Marie first starts to tell Nick about his family they get attacked by a creature called a Reaper. Definitely preferable to people just sitting around talking.

The characters, though, were what brought me back in front of the TV the next week, especially Mitchell's character, Eddie. Afterward, I had a short discussion on Twitter with someone who had said that the humor was a bit much for a show like Grimm and could be toned down, but I disagree. I think the humor, especially Eddie's, is what really sets this show apart from other cop shows, where everyone's so depressed and no one smiles. The partnership between Nick and Hank (Hornsby) is also fun to watch, although it's pretty similar to other cop partnerships out there. I much prefer the begrudging friendship that develops between Nick and Eddie. Eddie's reluctance to help Nick stems from the fact that his parents used to tell him stories about the Grimms and they "scared the hell" out of him and because (as we find out in the second episode) his family has a history of run-ins with the Grimms that never ended well. They're both fish out of water, really, and I like the idea of watching these characters develop as the season goes on.

I can't really find anything major to complain about for this episode. While the special effects aren't spectacular, they aren't horribly bad either, and everything else worked really well. The writing was good, the acting was good, and the story was engaging. I don't have a rating system for films or television shows worked out just yet, but the pilot episode of Grimm would most likely get the top grade.

_______

"Bears Will Be Bears" (first aired November 4, 2011)

Plot: A young couple, Gilda and Rocky, break into the home of an affluent family only to get more than they bargained for when Rocky gets attacked and Gilda barely gets away. Nick and Hank search for him while Eddie gets stuck standing guard over Nick's dying aunt--a woman whose family has a history of killing Eddie's  ancestors.

Review: Each episode of Grimm starts out with a quote that helps the audience guess which story will be incorporated into the plot that evening. This time it was "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" and it was just as interesting a retelling as the first episode's version of "Red Riding Hood" had been. The regular characters from last week were back but they were joined by not only Gilda and Rocky but by the Rabe family...who aren't all that they seem.

This episode was great but I liked it better the second time around than I did the first. A lot of people who were talking about it on Twitter afterwards said that it was even better than the pilot, but I needed a rewatch to fully appreciate it, I think. There was a lot that went into "Bears Will Be Bears," which continued the thread of last week's episode while introducing a new case into the mix. Much like a lot of the other shows that I've loved, Grimm isn't episodic, which I like because I feel serialized shows are able to get more in-depth and are more likely to draw you in the following week because of a cliff-hanger or some other hook. This episode ended with one just like the first did and I'm already anxious to see Friday's episode.

I like Nick's character, but he's sort of a blank slate. We don't know a whole lot about him just yet (or his, to me, suspicious girlfriend), so I'm looking forward to being able to fill in the gaps. We find out a little more about Eddie and a little more about Hank, both of whom have become my two favorite characters (in that order). If they'd just build Nick up a bit more than these two he could be a really strong character but so far I think he pales in comparison to them...even though the show is about him.

Again, the special effects aren't fantastic, but I'm okay with that. I don't need the best CGI to enjoy something. If you compare, say, the original Star Wars trilogy to the crappy new Star Wars films, the originals were so much better because they focused more on creating amazing characters and exciting plots than they did creating a bunch of awe-inspiring special effects. I would take compelling show over technologically-advanced show any day.

And Grimm is compelling. You're always wondering what will happen next and very often you're surprised by what you find. Even though I swore I would never get addicted to a TV show again, Grimm has become my once-a-week fix. All it really needs is to develop the main character more and to keep Eddie's humor at its current level. I could tell that the second episode had toned him down a bit and, while I'm okay with that, any more toned down and he won't be the character I've already grown attached to.

Again, I don't have a rating system figured out yet (it's coming), but if I did, "Bears Will Be Bears" would be pretty high up the scale.

For those who haven't watched the show but are curious about it, you can watch the first two episodes on NBC's Grimm site. It's enough of a miracle that I'm watching a television show, but that I'm this enthralled with it means they've gotta be doing something right.

-Gabe

A Dark World of Intrigue: A Review of The Dark Enquiry by Deanna Raybourn

Title: The Dark Enquiry
Author: Deanna Raybourn
Edition: Paperback
Publisher: MIRA 2011
Pages: 387
Challenges: Read Your Own Books Challenge; GoodReads 2011 Reading Challenge
How I Came by This Book: This was actually one of the last books that I purchased from Borders before it closed. I had been anxiously awaiting it's release but was financially incapable of getting a copy until a few months after it came out.

About the Author: A sixth-generation native Texan, Deanna Raybourn graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio with a double major in English and history and an emphasis on Shakespearean studies. She taught high school English for three years in San Antonio before leaving education to pursue a career as a novelist. Deanna makes her home in Virginia, where she lives with her husband and daughter, and is hard at work on the next installment in the award-winning Lady Julia Grey series.

Synopsis: Partners now in marriage and in trade, Lady Julia and Nicholas Brisbane have finally returned from abroad to set up housekeeping in London. But merging their respective collections of gadgets, pets and servants leaves little room for the harried newlyweds themselves, let alone Brisbane's private enquiry business.

Among the more unlikely clients: Julia's very proper brother, Lord Bellmont, who swears Brisbane to secrecy about his case. Not about to be left out of anything concerning her beloved--if eccentric--family, spirited Julia soon picks up the trail of the investigation.

It leads to the exclusive Ghost Club, where the alluring Madame Séraphine holds evening séances...and not a few powerful gentlemen in thrall. From this eerie enclave unfolds a lurid tangle of dark deeds, whose tendrils crush reputations and throttle trust.

Shocked to find their investigation spun into salacious newspaper headlines, bristling at the tension it causes between them, the Brisbanes find they must unite or fall. For Bellmont's sake--and more--they'll face myriad dangers born of dark secrets, the kind men kill to keep...

Review: I've gushed about Deanna Raybourn's novels several times on this blog (see especially my reviews of Dark Road to Darjeeling and The Dead Travel Fast), so I'll spare you yet another hagiography of the woman who has become my favorite contemporary female author. I'll just reiterate that she is an insanely talented writer whose novels transcend genres and transport the reader right into the heart of the worlds that she creates.

So it was again with The Dark Enquiry. This time, however, I felt that Raybourn's plot was a bit thin and her minor characters not as well fleshed out as they have been in the past. While I don't think any of her suspects could ever be as vivacious and detailed as they were in Dark Road to Darjeeling, the line-up of would-be murderers and the bit players in her recent murder mystery paled in comparison to any of the characters I'd seen before. They were, of course, unique and could have been fairly interesting had it not been that the nature of her story caused them to disappear soon after they were introduced. Instead of a complex tangle of competing motives that continued straight to the end, the murder suspects this time came and went almost as if this were a TV procedural.

There were some incredible new characters introduced this time around--most notably the mysterious Sir Morgan and Lady Julia's new footmen, Pigeon and Swan--and many of the returning characters, especially those in Lady Julia's own family, were welcome sights for those who have been following the series from the beginning. The Roma camp that plays an integral role in the novel featured some interesting characters from Brisbane's past as well. Still, after how deftly Raybourn juggled competing story lines in her last Lady Julia novel, The Dark Enquiry seemed a little flat, at least in the middle of the book.

The beginning and the end were both pure, unadulterated fun and were much more similar to the other novels. They featured the same witty banter, thrilling action, and gasp-worthy surprises that I've come to expect. Beginning with a literal explosion and ending with a figuratively explosive unveiling of secrets, this novel held my attention for most of the narrative. It was just some of the middle bits that I felt dragged. This time around I really had no idea who was behind the nefarious plot and when it was revealed I was more shocked than I ever have been by a Raybourn novel. Everything about the ending was satisfying (except for one or two things that I can't get into here) and I found myself coming to appreciate some of the things that had seemed superfluous in the rest of the book.

I guess what I'm really trying to say is that The Dark Enquiry is a bit of a quagmire. The somewhat-dragging middle contains a lot of things that are essential for the ending, which shows that Raybourn hasn't lost her touch. It's imperative that readers keep this in mind because otherwise they may find their attention flagging a little. While I won't say that on the whole this is her best novel, I will say that what happens in the latter part of the book makes it well worth reading.

I think if I could raise any real issue with the novel, it was that Lady Julia was more than a little aggravating at times. Her desire to be a part of Brisbane's life and work while not realizing how important she is to him made her say and do things that were, frankly, obnoxious. I found myself wishing I could hit her upside the head a few times, to be honest. She is such an amazing character and I would hate to see her devolve into one of those silly female characters who thinks of herself only in relation to the man to whom she is married. Brisbane remains one of the strongest male characters I've come across in years and I don't want Lady Julia to lose the strength that I've come to associate with her.

Another novel is hinted at on the last page of The Dark Enquiry and I'm yet again anxiously awaiting it, as well as any other book that Raybourn has kicking around in that brilliant head of hers. I'd like to reread this one again sometime, knowing what I know now about where it all ends up, just so that I can fully appreciate the intricacies of the text. I think this is one of those books where a second read is called for (much like Terry Pratchett's Hogfather, which I didn't like as much the first time as I did the second).

I'm giving The Dark Enquiry 4 out of 5 Gabriels. While there are better novels in the series, I still can't rate this one too low because, honestly, it's still one of the best mystery/historical fiction novels on the market today.

-Gabe

In Which I Know Nothing About Opera: A Review of Michael Dibdin's Cosi Fan Tutti

Title: Cosi Fan Tutti
Author: Michael Dibdin
Edition: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard (1998)
Pages: 247
How I Came By This Book: The library that I work at has a Take-a-Book/Leave-a-Book shelf that I frequently nab things from. I'd never heard of this author or of the Aurelio Zen series but the cover caught my eye (I'm a sucker for fishnets) and the blurb on the back sounded interesting so I picked it up.

Synopsis: In police inspector Aurelio Zen, Michael Dibdin has given the mystery one of its most complex and compelling protagonists: a man wearily trying to enforce the law in a society where the law is constantly being bent. And nowhere in Italy is the law bent more flagrantly than it is in Naples, where a police station may double as an after-hours brothel. But this time, having alienated superiors in all his previous postings, Zen is determined not to make waves.

Too bad an American sailor (who may be neither American nor a sailor) knifes one of his opposite numbers in the harbor, and some local garbage collectors have taken to moonlighting in homicide. And when Zen becomes embroiled in a romantic intrigue involving love-sick gangsters and prostitutes who pass themselves off as Albanian refugees, all Naples comes to resemble the set of the Mozart opera of almost the same title. Bawdy, suspenseful, and splendidly farcical, Cosi Fan Tutti is an irresistible offering from a maestro of mystery.

Review: I came to this book ignorant of two things: the character of Aurelio Zen and the opera Cosi Fan Tutte. Other than Carmen and Madama Butterfly, I really know next to nothing about opera period. So obviously there are parts of this book that were lost to me because I had never seen Mozart's opera. That didn't make the novel any less enjoyable so if it sounds interesting to you, don't be put off if you're not a fan of fat ladies singing.

Cosi Fan Tutti is a fun romp through Naples in the '90s, a time when crime is running rampant and there's not a whole lot going on that isn't somehow tied to the Mafia. In the midst of all this corruption, Aurelio Zen has had it with police bureaucracy and is determined to make himself as scarce as possible when it comes to his new job. He comes into work late (if at all) and tries not to know too much about what's going on at the station. Unfortunately there's a few things keeping him from his dream of being a no-namer in a new city.

First and foremost is the "Clean Streets" movement, a group of apparent garbage collectors who are assassinating prominent but corrupt figures in Naples. While that case is not under his jurisdiction, a fake American sailor kills a real Italian sailor, dragging him into an absurd case that brings him dangerously close to the alleged terrorist organization. To top it all off, a wealthy widow wants him to help her split her daughters and their beloveds up, thinking the two men to be vicious gangsters who will bring her precious babies no end of trouble. This leads him to employ a cab driver with questionable contacts, two fake Albanian prostitutes, and a wannabe gangster turned wannabe pimp. Plus, it seems like Aurelio is being followed.

This whole book is a case of mistaken identity. At times it was hard to keep up with all the changing names and identities, but for the most part it was fairly simple despite the complex plot. The chapters are titled in Italian--taken directly from the libretto for Cosi Fan Tutte--but are, thankfully, translated in the table of contents. It gives the book an extra something, as does the opening chapter which likens the beginning of the day on a street in Naples to the beginning of an opera. The characters are interesting, although no one shines quite like Aurelio Zen.

Rufus Sewell as Aurelio Zen in the BBC series, Zen.

I didn't expect to like him as much as I did. There's just something about a reluctant cop that really pulls me in. From what I gathered from the novel, he didn't used to be that way. In fact, he was somewhat of a notorious superstar before allowing himself to be demoted to Naples after he got on the bad side of his superiors. I'm really interested now in picking up the rest of the series (there are quite a few books so it'll take me a while to get through them) just to see how he began and how he ends up. Zen is quite funny in an often sarcastic way but the situations he gets himself into are also hilarious.

One of my favorite scenes in the book takes place rather early on. It's a rather lengthy exchange involving Aurelio, his second in command, Caputo, and the Questore of Naples' police department. Zen, who has no idea what's been going on with the case against the "American" "sailor" is on the phone with the Questore, who is quite angry with him. Caputo is feeding Zen information through mime and the following occurs:

"Caputo stood on the other side of the desk, his arm thrust forward, holding up three fingers.

'We are working on three main theories at the moment,' Zen replied evenly. 'The first is that the perpetrator...'

He glanced at Caputo, who was waddling bow-legged around the room with his hands clutched like claws beside his hips.

'...was a cowboy,' concluded Zen.

'A what?'

Caputo shook his head furiously. Zen covered the mouthpiece of the phone.

'An American!' hissed Caputo,

'...that he was an American,' Zen told the Questore." (p. 21)

Michael Dibdin is a man who can keep track of his subplots. The way this book twists and turns is probably not unlike the winding streets of Naples, which act as the setting for the majority of the novel. Dibdin describes things in such a way that the city appears to be both beautiful and hideous, both inviting and repulsive. I know practically nothing about Italian politics, but Dibdin apparently does and uses it in such a way that it forms the backdrop of this paperback opera.

The late Michael Dibdin, who died in 2007.

The book frolics along for almost three hundred pages and I was with it until the last, maybe, thirty or so. I wasn't a huge fan of the ending, although I enjoyed the fact that Dibdin created it in such a way that it mirrored an opera's finale. The full ensemble is there and gasp-worthy things are revealed. I think my real issue with the ending was that it was sort of bland. Zen ends up in danger, the case is solved, but there's no real excitement in either situation. It kind of just...resolves itself. And Zen barely does anything, although I guess that sort of plays into his "I-don't-want-to-be-involved-in-anything" mentality.

I was also sort of put off by Valeria Squillace, the woman who asks Zen to help her break up her daughters and their boyfriends. I liked her up until she gives a small speech at the end about how love between a man and a woman is much more real than homosexual love. It's brought on by a small and, in my mind, unneeded plot twist that felt almost offensive to someone in the LGBT community. Squillace's words only added to that feeling of offense, especially since the whole thing came out of left field.

NOTE: Mild rant ahead.

Regardless of what my readers may feel about homosexuals and/or gay marriage, I know for a fact that the love between two people of the same sex is just as real as the love between a man and a woman. My ex's mother and her partner have been together for almost thirty years--and that's without being able to legally get married. In fact, one of the first gay couples married in Massachusetts had been together for over seven decades before they tied the knot! If that isn't love and devotion then I don't know what is.

END OF MILD RANT

These little things aren't going to keep me from reading other Aurelio Zen novels. Cosi Fan Tutti was fun and enjoyable and piqued my interest regarding Zen's character. I'm giving the book four out of five Gabriels.

If anyone's interested, BBC1 had a short lived 2011 series called Zen which was based on the first few books in the series. I think I saw somewhere that PBS is thinking of picking the series up and working on a new season but I can't remember where I saw it. I'm sure a Google search will yield some results.

-Gabe

A Copper in Crisis: A Review of Ian Rankin's The Complaints

Title: The Complaints

Author: Ian Rankin

Edition: Hardcover

Publisher: Regan Arthur Books/Little, Brown and Company (2009)

Pages: 438

How I Came by This Book: Purchased at Borders after hearing about it on NPR.

Synopsis: Every police officer gets used to distrust and fear among some members of the public. It goes with the job, and it's more than worth it when a criminal gets put behind bars.

But there's little reward for a detective with the Complaints, whose sole occupation is to investigate accusations against fellow police officers. It takes a special kind of cop to withstand the stonewalling and low-grade contempt that comes his way when he takes on a new case. It takes a very special kind of cop to even enjoy it. 

Malcolm Fox is that kind of cop. 

But everything he's known and loved about his job is soon to come into question when he's asked to learn more about a promising young police officer whose computer shows disturbing links to a child-abuse ring. For one thing, Malcolm breaks one of the cardinal rules of any investigation: he starts to like the guy. For another, his suspect is the lead detective on a case that hits very close to home--a death that may involve Malcolm's troubled sister.

As paths cross and lines blur, Malcolm soon finds himself in as much trouble as anyone he's investigated--and when there's no one on the force who's got your back, that's a dangerous place to be. 

Review: When I first heard about this book, I knew that I had to read it. I'm not usually a fan of crime novels but I love Scotland and I like books about people fighting against impossible odds, which is what this sounded like. And it was, really. But sometimes it felt like things were just too...convenient. 

Ian Rankin

First things first: Ian Rankin's novel, The Complaints, is about Malcolm Fox a cop working in Edinburgh for the Complaints, which is exactly like Internal Affairs for us Yanks. He investigates dirty cops and he does it without the help of the rest of the force because, let's face it, who the heck wants to help sell out a fellow officer? So, Malcolm has very few friends. He also has a difficult family life, with a sister who covers up that her boyfriend beats her and a father who is in a nursing home that Malcolm tries to go see as often as possible. Around the same time that he gets asked by CEOP (Child Exploitation and Protection Centre) to begin investigating an officer named Jamie Breck, who is suspected of being involved in a child pornography ring, his sister's loser boyfriend ends up dead. And Jamie Breck is the lead investigator. 

Not being able to stay out of the investigation, Malcolm begins to work with and even like Breck. Breck, in turn, begins to trust Malcolm, not knowing that he's trying to pin some pretty nasty things on him. The two develop a sort of friendship...and are busted for improper behavior. As a suspect in each other's cases, they aren't really supposed to have contact with one another. Now on suspension, Malcolm and Breck begin their own investigation: who's setting them up? Breck honestly has nothing to do with the child porn ring and Malcolm realizes that he himself was under investigation for improper behavior before his sister's boyfriend's death. 

You with me so far? Yeah, it's a little confusing, although Rankin does a good job of keeping everything under control. In fact, there is not one unresolved plot thread in this entire novel. No holes, just resolution. It's one of the things that I liked about this book. In addition to this are the characters--Malcolm Fox is a thoroughly enjoyable, well-crafted character and Jamie Breck is funny and charming. I found the constant references to Jamie's love of online gaming to be a little obnoxious. I mean, the guy's a cop and he's got a girlfriend. When is he going to have time to play Quidnunc, a made-up online game? He also doesn't really seem the type. Other than that, however, I really loved these two guys. 

Hamish MacBeth has ruined me
for Scottish cops. I couldn't help
but picture Malcolm looking like
Robert Carlyle.

So, plot? Check. Characters? Check. Writing? Sort of check. Rankin is, most of the time, a really great writer. He's good at mixing description and dialogue and a lot of the characters have their own unique voice. But Rankin tends to get too detailed. His dialogue scenes go on for pages and pages--someone needs to learn how to show, not tell--and he gets a little carried away describing Malcolm's home life. I don't care what he ate for breakfast, I don't care what he did before going to sleep. If it's not important to the story--like Malcolm's persistent cold that didn't really mean anything to the plot or the fact that he kept trying to rearrange his bookshelves--why keep it in there? I mean, they weren't even red herrings. It was just a bunch of boring, extraneous information. I also found that Rankin was trying too hard to include social media into his novel. A text message here and there is fine but Facebook, Twitter, and online gaming get mentions as well and they seem only to be there to show that Rankin knows what they are. 

There were so many coincidences, too. Johanna Broughton just happens to be walking down the street? Someone just happens to hear something at just the right time? Even the ending seemed sort of convenient. I enjoyed watching Malcolm and Jamie try to get their lives back but I would have appreciated it if things had been a little more difficult for them. 

One thing that Rankin did that I appreciated is that he tied his plot to the current financial crisis. It's nice to have authors who utilize current events in such a skillful way. He took the kernel of Scotland's financial difficulties and built a plot around it, one with twists and turns and memorable characters. 

Rankin's best-known character, Inspector Rebus, has been retired (for now), so it looks like Malcolm Fox is his new focus. He has a new Fox novel coming out sometime and I'm looking forward to it, despite my complaints about The Complaints. It was a pretty decent book and I like Malcolm enough to continue reading about him. I'm hoping that Jamie Breck will continue to be involved as well because I like the rapport and the relationship that the two developed throughout the book. I'm just hoping to have more action, more great characters, and more twisty-turny plots and less convenient plot devices, less "and then he ate some cereal," and less of Malcolm's whiny sister (who I'm not even going to get started on). 

Favorite Quote: 

A lot of cops asked the Complaints the same question: How can you do it? How can you spit on your own kind? These were officers you'd worked with, or might work with in the future. These were, it was often said, "the good guys." But that was the problem right there--what did it mean to be "good"? (p. 5)

I'm giving The Complaints four out of five Gabriels. It was a good book but it could have used some improvement. Rankin is obviously a gifted writer but that doesn't mean that he can't make mistakes. 

-Gabe