Category Archives: Book Review Blog

My book reviews and fun bookish news as a book blogger. All about other people’s books, and not my own. :-)

Review | Victims, Jonathan Kellerman

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Alex Delaware is back! I’m a huge fan of Jonathan Kellerman’s mystery series featuring child psychologist/consulting detective Alex Delaware. I’d been disappointed by the last few books in the series, because they felt more like police procedurals with Alex being a fairly generic amateur detective instead of the psychology expert that made me love the series in the first place. However, I’m happy to say that Victims, the latest in the series, is the Delaware series at its best. We have the creepy psychopathic killer, and Alex Delaware providing psychological insights that, at times, are almost uncanny.

Alex and his friend, Detective Milo Sturgis, are called in to investigate the murder of Vita Berlin. A thoroughly unpleasant woman, Vita had had a lot of enemies, but even the people who hated her admitted she didn’t deserve such a gruesome (think Jack the Ripper) death. Alex is struck by the clinical nature of Vita’s disembowelment; he is reminded of a child he’d once counselled who cut up animals not because he took pleasure in it, but because he’d been curious.

Here is the Dr. Alex Delaware-type insight that I’d been missing from the more recent books in the series — Kellerman may have put them in, but it hadn’t felt as essential to the storyline for a long time.  So when I read that, and I knew Alex and Milo were hunting a truly disturbed mind, I knew Victims was going to be classic Kellerman. More victims are then discovered, and none of them are linked, as far as Milo’s team can tell. Who is the killer, how is he choosing his victims, and why is he killing in the first place? It’s a dark, twisted, creepy psyche, which gives Alex lots of opportunities to use his psychology training.

Victims is a very chilling book. I made the mistake of beginning it at night, and I ended up reading until about two in the morning. I very reluctantly went to bed only because my eyes were literally closing, despite my mind still racing ahead and trying to figure out the solution to the mystery. I was also sufficiently creeped out by the killer that I had to gather up the courage to go into the kitchen for a glass of water. Granted, I’m a major chicken, but somehow the idea of a person who would kill others not because he is sick enough to enjoy killing, but because he is fascinated by human biology just makes me shiver.

Victims made me realize how much creepier human monsters are than supernatural ones. Then, as I learned more about the motivations behind the killings, the book just got even scarier. This feels much darker and more disturbing than previous Delaware novels, and I think it’s just because the antagonist here seems so much colder and more monstrous than I remember from Kellerman’s other books. Alex Delaware fans — this book is definitely recommended. New to Alex Delaware — Victims is a good place to start.

WIN A COPY OF VICTIMS!

An Alex Delaware fan or interested in trying out the series? Random House Canada has kindly provided me with a finished copy of this book to review, and I’d love to pass it on to a fellow mystery fan!

For a chance to win, please leave a comment on this post and answer this question:

What is your favourite mystery series and why?

Contest ends April 10th. (Canada only)

Creating Art Stories

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True story: I was once asked to teach a group of kids karate, and was so bad at maintaining order that a parent had to call the head teacher over to rescue me. In my defence, I did get better at teaching karate. I also taught a couple of non-karate-related workshops that went pretty well. Still, every time I have to teach anything, that experience always comes to mind. I don’t have a problem with public speaking, especially in front of adults, but the thought of getting up in front of a group of young people and making them actually care about what I’m saying? Some people are naturals at it, and others, like me, quake in our boots.

So when I pitched Tell Me A Story, a Harris Burdick-inspired creative writing workshop to my boss, I wasn’t really thinking about how I’d soon have to stand in front of a bunch of kids and talk. I only knew that I love the Harris Burdick books, and that I think Chris van Allsburg’s concept would be a lot of fun to adapt for the gallery. Confession: I’m a wee bit in love with the whole idea behind Harris Burdick. I gush about it here, include it in my Twelve Books for Christmas post and recommend it to practically anyone who asks me for a great kids book. Quick background: the Harris Burdick books present illustrations with unexpected captions and challenge young readers to finish the stories the captions begin. In The Chronicles of Harris Burdick, van Allsburg posits the challenge for writers like Stephen King, Lois Lowry and Cory Doctorow, and collects all these amazing stories in a single, beautiful volume.

I work for the Art Gallery of Mississauga and thought that van Allsburg’s concept is a perfect fit for an art gallery. What if we asked kids and teens to create short stories inspired by works from the AGM’s permanent collection? I often hear people chatting about the works in the gallery exhibits and wondering what the artist was trying to say. I thought asking people to actually create their own stories would inspire them to go beyond that conventional approach towards viewing visual art. I wanted participants to take the art beyond the canvas and surprise the heck out of us.

Carol Martyn, Unknown Woman, from the Art Gallery of Mississauga Permanent Collection; image used in the workshop promo material

The AGM has also recently launched a partnership with the Mississauga Library System, so I figured it was the perfect time for an arts + book type activity. I pitched my idea to Stuart Keeler, the AGM curator and director of programmes, and he loved the idea. He was so supportive in fact that he turned my idea of a casual weekend workshop into the official AGM March Break activity — with two sessions, even! One of the best things about this whole process, to be honest, is how supportive people have been. My friend and fellow blogger Steph posted about the workshop in her LitBits, and helped proof the press release. Since the workshop was inspired by Harris Burdick, I told Canadian Harris Burdick distributor Thomas Allen Ltd about it and asked if they could perhaps donate a couple of copies of the book to give to participants. I could hardly believe my luck when they generously provided ten signed copies! The kids were thrilled, Thomas Allen, thank you!

The night before the first workshop, I barely got any sleep. I couldn’t help but think of that karate experience, and I kept imagining Stuart having to step in and tell the kids to listen to the nice bookworm lady. Great news — the workshops went amazingly well! I couldn’t have asked for a more enthusiastic and creative group of kids, and I love how excited they got about writing their stories! Literally, after each workshop, I was positively giddy at the results. I did hope the participants would surprise me with their stories, but couldn’t have predicted how much they actually did surprise me.

I decided to kick off the workshop by presenting this image and asking participants to identify it:

The idea is that book cover or movie poster designs contain iconic images inspired by the contents of stories. In much the same way, we can identify potentially iconic elements within artworks to create our own stories. I showed Stuart this image in our pre-workshop meeting/rehearsal and said that I planned to break the ice by asking students to identify its source. “Harry Potter?” Stuart guessed. (In his defence, he has actually read and watched the entire Harry Potter series.) “It’s just because you’re not a teen,” I said. “Trust me, the people in the workshop will totally get this.” I then confidently presented it at the Monday workshop, only to be met by blank stares. So much for that idea. (Bright side, the Wednesday group did recognize it.)

Lila Lewis Irving, Tristan and Isolde (diptych), 2007, acrylic on canvas, 152 x 305 cm

After a brief introduction, we warmed up with some group story writing exercises. One of the things we did was create a story for Tristan and Isolde, a diptych in the AGM’s current exhibition Lila Lewis Irving: Con Spirito | Retrospective. Because of the original Tristan and Isolde story, I provided the caption “They could never be together.” I was really impressed by the stories the group came up with. In the Monday group, Tristan and Isolde fell in love with a grocery store, but couldn’t be together because Tristan’s family were environmental activists and Isolde’s family made non-biodegradable plastic containers. That story quickly turned humorous, with Isolde attending her prom in a potato sack dress. The Wednesday group noticed that the circle on the left half of the painting looked like a bloodied bruise, while the right half looked much brighter and more peaceful. So they made the man a psychologically scarred soldier, whose girlfriend preferred to keep ignorant of the harsh realities of war, and that was the cause of their romantic tension. That story then developed into adultery (the man finds a female soldier who understands him better), murder, time travel, and a revenge that spanned several lifetimes. All that, in an impromptu, fifteen minute discussion about an abstract, completely non-representational painting. Oh yes, and most of the kids were between the ages of 10 – 16. I couldn’t wait to see what they created when I gave them forty minutes to create their own stories.

Tom Forrestall’s Tide – Ebb and Flow, from the AGM’s Permanent Collection, inspired several stories. It features a car at the edge of a pier on a grey, cloudy day, and I gave it the caption “Every day, at 3 pm, the car was there.” The stories ranged from a family tragedy to a drug deal to the car being alive and so in love with her driver that she disfigures his wife with her air bags. Jorge Correa’s The Watcher especially reminded me of the Harris Burdick images — it has a shadowy house with a figure peeking out from one of the second floor windows. I gave it the caption “The house watched back,” and I was thrilled at the creepy stories that emerged. Participants gave the house specific addresses, which I love, and which reminded me of Andrew Pyper’s The Guardians with its neighbourhood-specific horror.

While the permanent collection works I suggested were primarily representational, I also told them they could write stories about Lila’s abstract works if they felt up to the challenge. A twelve year old saw an ominous shadow is Lila’s Alla Prima, and created a haunting story from that. Another twelve year old took Lila’s piece Wozzeck, an abstract piece featuring broad strokes of various shades of red, and began a story about a time keeper who had the responsibility of caring for a time travelling device that could be used by anyone, but only once in that person’s lifetime. I love the questions that story raised — if you could travel to any time at all, where would you go? And you have to choose carefully, because you’ll never get this chance again. While typing up these stories to feature on the AGM’s blog, I confess that I wish I’d given them an entire week to write their stories — I wanted to read more!

Doing this workshop was an exhilarating experience. I can hardly believe what the participants were able to come up with in less than an hour. More than that, I’m inspired to start writing again, myself. I hope the workshop inspired these participants to continue their own writing, and to continue looking to visual art for inspiration, as well.

Thank you to Stuart Keeler, for this opportunity, as well to James Dekens, Craig Todd-Langille and the Mississauga Library System, who worked with us on this program, and wonderful AGM volunteer Victoria Gunter. Thanks as well to Thomas Allen, for their generosity — the kids who got Harris Burdick books were thrilled! Such a fun experience!

For anyone interested in reading the stories from the workshop, I will be posting them on the Art Gallery of Mississauga blog over the next couple of weeks.

Review | Web of Angels, Lilian Nattel

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To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Lilian Nattel’s Web of Angels. I knew the protagonist, Sharon Lewis, was a mother with dissociative identity disorder (DID) in a small suburban town. From the cover image, I was expecting to cry at this story — I can’t even imagine how difficult it must be to have multiple personalities inside you. I get confused enough with just me in the my head! The cover model’s wistful pose and the title made me think it was a story about how hard it must be to have DID.

On the other hand, there was Primal Fear. If you haven’t watched it yet — do! It’s amazing! Edward Norton plays a young murderer with DID, and the last scene gives me chills every time I watch it. I also remembered Sidney Sheldon’s Tell Me Your Dreams, about a young woman with DID. In both stories, DID was portrayed as being really freaky. Neither Edward Norton’s character nor the young woman knew about their alternate personalities, and the solution was always to try to integrate the multiples into the original psyche. So that was the mindset I had when I began Web of Angels.

This book totally took me by surprise. DID was presented not as a disease, but as a natural survival mechanism. In fact, a therapist says that the term “disorder” is inaccurate for this condition; rather, DID is “an adaptation to early childhood trauma.” Contrary to my expectations, the story wasn’t about Sharon trying to integrate all her personalities into a single Sharon, but about her learning to acknowledge, and even listen to her other personalities. Web of Angels presents a fascinatingly unique take on multiple personalities, and to be honest, it was a bit difficult for me to buy at first. I don’t know anyone in real life with DID (at least as far as I know), and so can honestly say that I know nothing about it beyond what I read or watch. It’s a harsh wake-up call to realize that my long-held view of DID may in fact have been a form of prejudice, and this book made me wonder which portrayal of DID is more accurate. Is it a disease, where the multiples must be integrated, or is it a natural state, where the key is having the multiples learn to work together? In Web of Angels, each multiple knows his or her place, and either steps forward or steps back accordingly. For example, Sharon’s child multiple Ally knows she has to step back when it’s time for them (meaning, all the multiples inside Sharon’s body) to drive, or another multiple knows she must step forward when it’s time to reveal her condition to her husband. So they all actually work together really well; it is possible for them all to co-exist and live a happy life together.

The conflict in this story stems from the suicide of Heather, the daughter of Sharon’s neighbour and sister of Cathy, the girlfriend of Sharon’s son. As Sharon investigates the reasons behind Heather’s suicide, she realizes that she must face her own past and work with her multiples in order to help Cathy avoid Heather’s fate. I found the story of Cathy and her family fascinating, and I love how it was specifically because of Sharon’s experiences that she is able to help Cathy out. I did find the way the relationship between Cathy and Sharon’s son turned out somewhat odd. I understand that it wasn’t an important plot point, but I didn’t like how it just seemed like an inconvenient loose end to tie up quickly in the end.

I also found all the characters confusing. Nattel refers to each of Sharon’s multiples by their own name, and so while other characters are calling her Sharon or Mrs. Lewis, the narrator refers to her as Ally or Callista or Alec or whoever. Add to that a whole list of supporting characters — Sharon’s own family (including in-laws) had about ten people, then we have the neighbours and friends — and after the first few chapters, I had to stop and start from the beginning. I felt really bad for Sharon then — if I had this much trouble keeping all the multiples and all the characters straight, imagine how confusing she must find it! I do wish Nattel had cut down on the supporting cast a bit — I really didn’t care much about Sharon’s in-laws, with the exception of her sister-in-law and best friend Eleanor. It just felt cluttered, and I would have preferred to focus more on the core stories: Sharon’s facing her multiples and Cathy’s family issues.

That being said, I did enjoy meeting the different multiples. While I started out being totally confused whenever a new one emerged (even Sharon has no clue how many there are — and it turns out that it’s impolite to ask), I like how eager they were to experience aspects of life that they missed out on. For example, Alec jumps at the opportunity to go to a shooting range, and is thrilled to be a natural shot. Young multiple Callisto has never made love (Callisto was never the dominant personality in bed with their husband), and her innocence leads to an utterly beautiful kissing scene, possibly my favourite passage in this book:

Was the kiss on the forehead the only one she would ever receive? Surely this much she was allowed. She leaned forward, her lips touching Dan’s, warm lips, neither dry nor wet. His lips pressed into hers and her lips wished to part.

Remember: this is a middle-aged woman, kissing the man with whom she has had three children. Yet this is also a young girl, being kissed for the first time. I love the almost heart-breaking innocence of her lips wishing to part. I love it especially because this isn’t just a middle-aged mother, she is also a woman who had been sexually abused as a child. Even as Callista parts her lips,

Inside there was fear, little ones weeping. No burning, no hitting, someone cried. And someone answering, It’s just Dan. He won’t hurt us.

All the personalities are involved in this kiss, the more experienced ones reassuring the younger ones that their husband can be trusted. And all throughout, there’s Callista, who was experiencing her husband’s kiss for the first time. Her excitement is infectious, and the little voices of terror at the back of her mind heartbreaking. It’s a beautifully written scene of lovemaking, heightened by the realization that “through her, the others felt what it was to have made love for the first time.”

Web of Angels is a fascinating book. I like that it gave a completely new (to me anyway) take on DID, such that DID was more a strength than a weakness. I like its firm argument that the adults who abuse children and therefore cause DID should be brought to justice. I especially like that it subverted my expectations of what a book on DID would be about.