Whew! That was fun.

Great Moments from last night's reading
Book: The Hell You Say
Author: Josh Lanyon
Spoiler level: medium (for relationship, but not the mystery)

So I finished this book, and I sure see why my pal lisabea, who turned me onto it, loves Adrien, the narrator here. This is a narrator you want to spend time with—smart, funny, vulnerable, curious. As I said below, the book has the one-two punch of great writing and being put together right in terms of plot and characters. Maybe that’s a one-two-three punch then.

I enjoy this book in the way I enjoy Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, and I would recommend this to lovers of that series, of which I am one. Basically, this is a really goddamn entertaining non-ass-kicking first-person narrator solving a mystery.

But I would contrast it with that series, too. For one thing, the writing is more dazzling (sharper, funnier, more pop culture referential, also darker). For another, the psychological realism is higher, by which I mean the people here act like they really would act in real life, or as close to real life as characters in a novel get. So like, if a car blew up in this book, or if a body part was delivered, you would get funny observations from Adrien, but he would find it awfully disturbing, and it would just mean more, and the ripple effect would be stronger. I’m not saying that makes it better than Evanovich, just a different sort of meal. I would say Evanovich is lighter, breezier, more escapist.

Also, the narrator, Adrien, has a cop boyfriend, Jake. I like Jake in the way I like Morelli, and I like these guys together, and I love their sex scenes. There's even this "I canna be gentle with you, lassie" sex scene I really enjoyed. I am rooting for this relationship in spite of a certain turn of events I will not divulge. I am! Please let them be together in Pirate.

I don’t know what possessed me to start with #3, but I am so definitely going back to read the first book, Fatal Shadows, and the second, A Dangerous Thing. Then, Death of a Pirate King is due out in August 2008. Ah, a new series to love. Hello. Thank you.

Shine on, crazy diamond

Great Moments from last night's reading
Book: The Hell You Say
Author: Josh Lanyon
Spoiler level: low

I have just started THE HELL YOU SAY by Josh Lanyon and it is so goddamn delightful. In fact, by page 3 the book had moved from the category of “book I’ll read and enjoy and eventually sell or give away” to “book I’ll keep around for a while.” And then by page 5, and people, this is a feat, it had progressed to “book I put pen marks in,” which means I think I’ll never sell or give it away. It was a fast commitment. A couple random ones from that page 5:

“You have no idea what he is, Adrien.” Jake, a ten-year veteran of LAPD, used that cop tone when I exhibited signs of civilian naiveté.

While we waited for our meal I watched him put away two baskets of tortilla strips. He munched steadily, as though he were being paid by the chip, gaze fastened on a wall planter bristling with plastic bougainvillea.

This is such great description - it sets a scene, it builds character, and it's highly entertaining. I love funny, clever writing. So anyway, I've been marking lines and pages in this book. Sort of a writerly OCD thing to do. Mainly, I will return to re-enjoy those passages long after I’ve finished the book, sort of the way I imagine a pirate might enjoy the coins and gems he’s collected, taking each one out of the chest, holding it up to the light. Yarrr, Mister Josh Lanyon!

Okay, here’s another early passage I rather enjoyed, and it gives a sense of the plot. It’s the main character Adrien, a bookstore owner, talking to this Professor Snowden about Angus, Adrien’s employee. Adrien asks if he was aware Angus was being harassed:

Once again Snowden raised the most supercilious eyebrow this side of the royal family. “I was not,” he said finally.

“Apparently Angus and some other kids took a course with you called Practical Magic. Witchcraft in modern society. Anyway, the enterprising little tykes went off and started their very own coven—but I imagine you already know that.”

“Ridiculous,” he said sharply.

“What is ridiculous?”

“Why, the idea that a student—my students—would attempt to put into practice—” He stopped.

I shrugged. He smelled a bit like pipe tobacco, which I like and Masculine, which I wear myself on occasion. I found it just the least bit distracting.

“You think these…classmates are harassing Angus? Exactly what do you mean by harassing?”

“Curses—I don’t mean cussing, I mean threats—I’ve heard a few of the phone calls. Alexander Graham Bell would not be happy.”

The green eyes narrowed. I had to admit that expression was not quite as enjoyable as the way he’d originally looked at me.

When I failed to be razed to cinders, he asked, “What is it you think you can do about this?”

Sometimes the downfall of cleverly written books is that they can be light on plot and character, the way pretty girls can sometimes be light on personality, but that is not a problem with THE HELL, which totally has it going on in those areas. It is strong in every area so far.

In fact, it’s getting so good, it's in danger of moving to the category of “too exciting to read before bed.” I am awash in all these immensely entertaining books. I am on a streak!

I didn’t mark this one so I can’t reproduce it exactly, but there’s this one place where Adrien observes some girl is carrying a Lord of the Rings lunchbox, and he goes, “by the way, what is it with chicks and that elf?”

Oh, I don’t know Josh Lanyon, but I secret have a thing for that elf, too, and he’s so not my type. And that line was like this crazy little treasure.