So this week I spent a great deal of time finishing The Burglary, by Betty Medsger. This was a so so read for me. There were parts where I found myself riveted but other parts that really dragged. I think the parts that dragged where the sections where she gave a lot of background information on the way the FBI worked. I liked the stories of the burglars and the stories of what happened after. I realize that there were sections there to flesh out the history and the place but I found those sections difficult going. I think it’s an important read, particularly for those who don’t remember the era of the Burglary. There’s a lot of information about the motivations and concerns and a comparison to what is going on today.
I also read Daniel Silva’s the English Assassin. A much faster read for me. I happened to hear about it on Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s blog at the same time I heard about The Burglary. (Just a note, KKR gives the Burglary a much better review than I do). I liked this one. Daniel Silva is a writer that I see on the shelves but have never read but I suspect I will be changing that a great deal in the near future. A very fun ride.
Then there was Janet Evanovich’s Top Secret Twenty-One. Not the best, but if you like the series, you’ll probably want to read this. Bob is in good form, eating a human heart that arrives as a threat for Stephanie. As others have said, there isn’t that much original in this book and there are few laugh out loud moments. I would love to see the characters actually develop rather than stagnating the way they have for the last ten books (or is that ten years?)!.
I also read Margot Adler’s Vampires Are Us. I expected more from Adler. I remember devouring Drawing Down the Moon. I remember learning so much. In this book I got one section of some information about the things vampires typically represent for us (sex is not one of them) and then the other two thirds of the book was devoted to short descriptions of the 270 vampire books she read to research the book. I would have liked the first part to have gone on and been done with a little more in depth. The book was short, almost rushed, as if Adler and her publisher knew that she didn’t have that much time. For those who aren’t acquainted with Adler, I highly recommend Drawing Down the Moon. An amazing book. If you read vampire novels and are looking for some more good reads, check out her book. You’ll probably get some more titles for your to-read list.