Whispers Underground, by Ben Aaronovitch. Ballantine 2012

London Police Constable Peter Grant returns for the third volume of this urban fantasy series with a well connected American murder victim that has a trace of magic attached to him. The complex plot weaves together a born again Christian FBI agent who does not like the idea of magic, some very special pottery, a teenaged girl who is catching on to the whole magic thing all too quickly, an underground world and the larger story arc of the deadly rogue magician- all told in the funny, snarky voice of Grant. This volume gets back to the frantic pace that the first in the series had.

I did find myself getting lost at times because of the large number of characters, unable to remember if this or that person was FBI, London police, or counter terrorism. Thankfully the main characters have had three books to flesh out their parts and there is no forgetting them! Character is one of the things that shines in this series; no one is a caricature and everyone is well drawn. London itself is so thoroughly described, history and all, that the city almost becomes a character in its own right. The other strong suite is the humor; a dry, witty way of describing things and great banter between the main characters. I hope this series goes on for many books! 

 

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Moon Over Soho, by Ben Aaronovitch. Ballantine 2011

In his second outing, young Constable Peter Grant of London is now a magical apprentice and member of the branch of the police that deals with supernatural crimes and events. In this book, jazz musicians are dying off suddenly, with a trace of magic on them- the strains of a jazz song popular in the 1940s. The story brings Grant’s father, a famous jazz musician, into the story. There is also a monster on the loose that is munching genitals- and not in the good way.

This book has a bit slower pace than the first one, which allows for more character development- I enjoyed finding out about Grant’s parents. Grant spends time learning more about magic and having an extremely physical relationship with a mysterious woman. His best friend, hideously injuring at the end of the first book, is learning magic faster than Grant is. While the jazz musician story wraps up at the end of this book, a longer story arc is woven in with it that is obviously going to take place over several volumes.

I didn’t enjoy this funny, violent, magical story quite as much as ‘Rivers of London’ but it’s still a great work of urban fantasy. 

 

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Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Wellness and Recovery: Interventions and Activities for Diverse Client Needs, by Andrew Bein. John Wiley & Sons, 2014

This book was written for therapists, but in simple enough language that it is accessible to mental health care consumers. It does presuppose a familiarity with DBT but it’s not necessary to use the book; Dr. Bein explains things well enough to get through it even if one has never been exposed to DBT or similar therapies.

Bein’s version combines the therapy of DBT with a philosophy of mindfulness similar to Buddhism and other spiritual paths, which offers great help in emotional regulation. This mindfulness teaches the client to not judge themselves or their thoughts & emotions, but to simply observe the emotions as they occur and take the time to decide how (and if) to act on them. It also teaches that thoughts & emotions are just that: they are not truths. The client does not have to react to the thought because it is not the truth. It can be ignored.

This method also teaches the clinician that they don’t get to be the one to set the goals for the client. Rather than striving to make the client compliant in taking his meds and showing up for group reliably, the client gets to set the goals. Does the client want to live on their own? What will they have to change to do that? Do they want to have a job? What do they have to do to manage that? The clinician has to accept the client, not remake them into a good little success story.

The first part of the book talks about the therapy and how it works. Chapter 6, however, is a set of 15 lessons and activities for the clinician and client to work through. They seem to be clearly written and I believe they could be used by a client on their own if they do not have access to a clinician using this system.

I think this is a great system and a great book and I hope it becomes popular. 

This book was provided to me by the Amazon Vine program in return for an honest review. This in no way influenced my review. 

 

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Mayhem, by Sarah Pinborough. Quercus, 2013

In 1880s London, grisly murders are taking place: women dismembered and disemboweled. But it's not Jack the Ripper; his modus operandi is very different. They come to the attention of Dr. Thomas Bond, medical examiner, insomniac, and frequenter of the Chinese run opium dens. He is quit the detective and forensics expert, and, haunted by the gruesome murders, sets out to find the killer. The murderer turns out to be both someone and something no one would suspect- or believe.

Pinborough depicts the underbelly of London with creepy and hair raising detail. As Bond discovers who the murderer is and he is put into the place of having to deal with it, tension mounts. The story is fairly tight, although the pacing sometimes lags. This is a very good Victorian horror/mystery with a new supernatural element instead of the usual vampires etc. Recommended.

 






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The Land of Painted Caves, by Jean Auel. Crown Publishers, 2011

Back in 1980, ‘The Clan of the Cave Bear’ was published; it spawned a genre of prehistoric novels, none of which ever grabbed me the way that book did. Jean Auel not only put an incredible amount of research into her books, but her heroine, Alya, was one of the most engaging protagonists I’ve ever ‘met’. I followed the series as this Cro-Magnon superwoman survived being orphaned at age five and then being raised by a band of Neanderthals, learned to hunt, tamed animals, learned herbal healing, and so much more. Auel showed, in an entertaining way, how various things could have been learned and invented. I read that book at a time when I was going through a back to the land phase, and Ayla’s adventures resonated with me.

I waited eagerly for each new volume. Sadly, the quality dropped as the series went on; the books started to drag. Still, I could not give up on the series, even though I didn’t get to reading ‘Land of the Painted Caves’ until it had been out for two years. I kind of wish I hadn’t read it at all.

There is little in the way of plot; Ayla and the First (the spiritual leader of the caves and her mentor) make a journey to visit all the caves with paintings in the area. There are some personal issues for Ayla, of course, but they seem contrived. And the book is extremely repetitious; every time Ayla is introduced (which, given the travel theme, is very, very often) her entire list of names and affiliations is given as if we have never read them before; as is the fact that she has an accent. We read about every person’s reaction to the horses and to Wolf. While it’s valid that people would have never seen tame animals before, we don’t need to know about every single reaction. Nor about every time Ayla brews up tea. It’s a huge book and I feel would have benefited from some serious editing.

It is almost like Auel felt she needed to finish the series but didn’t really have it in her. It’s a sad ending for the Earth’s Children series. 

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Carniepunk, anthology. Gallery Books 2013

Normally with any anthology they’ll be a few stories I like and some I either hate or just don’t get. ‘Carniepunk’ is an exception; there are a few stories I love, a lot I like and none I hate or don’t get. I’m not sure if it’s because of the subject matter or because of which authors have work included in it, but this is a great collection. These carnival themed stories are very dark, but, for the most part, not gruesome. The only annoyance I found was that a number of the stories were set in worlds that are the settings of series and had some presumption that the reader would be familiar with that world; on the other hand, these stories provided an introduction to some series I might follow up on.

 

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Dead and Alive: Frankenstein Book 3, by Dean Koontz. Bantam Books, 2013

 

In this book, the story lines that were created in books 1 & 2 come together and conclude. The beings that Helios/Frankenstein created are having programming breakdown faster and faster with every new batch; the latest Erika (his wife), Erika Five, starts misbehaving after only a few hours, and has made friends with a mysterious dwarf who appears in the backyard. The head maid now thinks she’s the mistress of Manderlay. The minions who run the county dump – where bodies are disposed of by Helios- are thinking for themselves. Something is happening the dump. And people who are supposed to be dead may actually be alive- for a while, anyway. 

Sadly, despite all these things happening, the breakneck pace generated in the second book is not sustained in this one. Sequences that should have been crisp and rapid dragged. Not all of them, mind you, but enough that I felt the book was a little longer than it needed to be. Still a good book with weird events, but not quite as good as it could have been.

 

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