My Verdict on the Brass Verdict

The Mystery Book Club read The Brass Verdict for June.  I'm sorry I will miss the meeting this Friday, but I hope that some of the members may leave comments of their own about the book here.

Last year, the club read The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly and it was so well received that the group decided to read the "sequel" this year.  I was not as enthusiastic about The Lincoln Lawyer as other members of the club; I gave it an 84 - a solid B, so not too bad. However, I really enjoyed The Brass Verdict (BV), yes, more so than The Lincoln Lawyer (LL). (I gave the BV an 90.)

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Part of it is that I like Mickey Haller more in this book. He is cast as a real human, that is, flawed, in both books, but he seems less cynical in the BV.  This leads to the frustration I feel about the book's ending.  The lies of all parties involved in the complex case(s) in the BV leaves Mickey so emotionally exhausted by the end of the book that he is ready to quit, to leave the practice of law - again. This really frustrates me because Connelly really drew me into Mickey's character and the support team around him including Lorna (his ex-wife and administrator) and Patrick Henson (his newly hired chauffeur).  I am interested in the whole team, and now it appears the Haller is not going to be a candidate for another book.

Yet despite the frustration of the apparently imminent closure of his briefly established law practice, Mickey's reaction makes perfect sense and enhances his character.  He has changed a lot over the two books, to the point where the lies of his client, his deceased and murdered co-counsel, the chief judge, and even the lead detective (who turns out to be his brother) completely knocks the wind out of his sails.  As well these things should. He has been manipulated and "used" by so many characters in the story.

It's too bad.  After a well accomplished recovery from prescription medications (the LL plot left him severely wounded - the physical recovery led to dependence on pain medications), Haller jumps enthusiastically into the challenge of "inheriting" two dozen active cases from his murdered co-counsel.  Haller does some really nice things, like helping out the accused jewel thief by hiring him as a chauffeur; Connelly has me rooting for him.  But the dismaying events of the corruption of justice and bragging client steals his love affair for the practice of law. Even his own native cynicism is not enough to shield him from all these cynical people: he wants to quit.

My problem is this: if he quits and the Haller series ends, I'm am going to be unhappy; yet if he doesn't quit, I will have a tough time relating to him. Hopefully Connelly will find a work-around to bring him back.

There was  just about the right amount of tension throughout the book. A few times I thought something bad would happen when it didn't (I thought Henson would get murdered by mistake by the unknown murderer going for Haller). I had no doubt, early on, that chief judge Holder would end up as a chief suspect.  But that thought did not dim my interest in the plot.  There were plenty of other surprises built into the ending.

Bringing Connelly's Bosch into this narrative was a welcome and creative idea.  However, weaving in the clues that lead us to discover the family connection was just a little bit too far-- it was the one thing that did not resonate with me at all.

All in all - a most enjoyable read.

Skin Deep by Gary Braver is Annoying

In Skin Deep we are thrown immediately into the investigation of a killing that is made to look a bit like a suicide - "autoerotica gone bad." Lieutenant Detective Steve Markarian, in charge of the investigation, counters the assessment of his partner Sargent Neill French by pointing out the clues that make clear that it is a homicide. This is just the beginning of differences of opinion that lead to friction between the two investigators throughout the book. It isn't long before it's clear that a serial killer is at work and the present case is only the most recent of a many. In each, the victim has a similar appearance and the method used to kill the victims is the same. But the investigators struggle to find the link that will break the case.

Complicating the case is the fact that both Markarian and French knew the victim, although both in different circumstances. In reality, shouldn't they both have been removed from the case? Yes, but both choose not to do so and do not report this to their superior officer. Further complicating the case: Markarian, a heavy drinker and long time user of the medication Ativan, had suffered a blackout during the time of the victim's death. Circumstantial evidence that he uncovers makes him think he is in fact the murderer. Yet he hopes fervently that it's not true and keeps investigating without a word to anyone.

I really loved Braver's Flashback, so I was truly looking forward to this story. But while the book was well written, and contained excellent pacing, I felt it was just plain annoying. To explain why I felt this way, I will have to continue with the assumption that you have read the book.



------WARNING------
PLOT GIVE AWAY!!
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It was annoying because the author deliberately sets about to mislead the reader as to the killer's identity. Hey! I know, that's what mystery authors are supposed to do. Well, there are ways that make sense and there are ways the are... well, annoying and... unfair.

You have to keep in mind that the hype about the book rather sets the stage:

• The title is Skin Deep.
• Picture on the cover: a scalpel (or something like that) preparing to cut skin.
• Testimonial on book #1: "An outstanding medical thriller..."
• Testimonial on book #2: "medical terror...that will make you question your own reflection in the mirror"
• Testimonial on book #3: "Put off that tummy tuck until you read Gary Braver's new chiller Skin Deep. ...the latest from this medical mystery master..."

See what I mean? Now if you read Braver's other books, you have already encountered wacko scientists and members of the medical community that want to make you smarter and others that want to keep you young forever, or at least stop senility. So, when I picked up this book, I already knew it would revolve around plastic surgery, and most likely, but not necessarily, a doctor, a plastic surgeon, would be at the root of the thriller.

Side Note: The other Braver books, where there was murder, it was pragmatic - in the name of research, or ooops! sorry, didn't know that would happen. There was a bit of a message, something to think about in terms of the science. On the other hand, this book is a straight serial killer book. There was a message intended, but it is weakly delivered.

OK, so I am already expecting there will be an evil plastic surgeon, which does in fact take place, although this is not confirmed until chapter 76 (out of 96). Now there are only a handful of characters that get much attention as suspects. But the author goes out of his way to make us think the suspect is in fact Lt Markarian. This is done by a series of chapters that flashback to the life of a boy who lives in a very dysfunctional home. The boy is sexually seduced by the step-mother, ignored by the father who is often away from home travelling for his job, and the victim of his mothers neurotic narcissistic behaviors. All the while, there are clues and situations that are deliberately meant to show us that the adult Markmarian and the unknown male child in the flashbacks are one and the same.

The idea that Markarian's wife was seriously considering plastic surgery arises in chapter 4 and then 8; he and she first meet the plastic surgeon in chapter 15. But the first of the series of flashbacks happen prior to even hearing about the surgeon, in chapter 5. The common bond between the Markarian and the unknown abused boy is headaches. Each time a flashback chapter arises, it immediate follows a chapter where the focus is on Markarian. The tie between the two is strengthened when the author causes Markarian to have a running dialog with himself, almost making it appeare as though Markarian is mentally disturbed.

Nevertheless, the whole time I am saying - What is all this about?... I know that the bad guy is going to be this doctor that is slowly becoming important to the story as Markarian's wife schedules plastic surgery with him.

I guess what I am saying is that as red herrings go, this was just to convoluted. Confusing me? Yes. Putting me off the track about the real threat in the book? Not at all.

No, there was none of the subtlety that made Flashback, and to a slightly lesser degree the other Braver medical thrillers, such great stories. Gary, even though I was annoyed, I'm still a fan.

Future Plans

My plans for this blog include:

1) Encouraging a large group of mystery reading fans to participate with me in reading pre-selected mysteries, and to join in the discussion of the book. (See note about "pre-selected books" in separate post.) Each month a book will be posted, and a due date will be provided. Discussion about the book after the due date can be "no-holds barred." Discussion about the assigned book prior to the due date must not contain "spoiler" statements.

2) Providing a rating sheet with questions to motivate discussion and comparison of various books.

3) Providing a plan to prevent "spoiler" postings. More on this later. The idea is that any post involving plot give-aways would appear only after the "due" date.

4) Providing some fun contests. One such will be submitting your guess on what others will think about the assigned book. The person whose guess about our group's average ranking of the book come closest will win a prize. I also have some ideas based on mystery book trivia.

5) Providing links and links to links that make it easier to find author websites, mystery writer and fan conferences, and other resources.

6) Providing brief anthologies of short stories in e-book form that can be downloaded. OK, a kind of mystery magazine. So I will be looking for stories to consider for "publication." More on this later.

7) Meet others with similar interests! Have fun.