HELPLESS by Daniel Palmer

This review is subject to my disclosure notes, which you can find here.

Given how much I enjoyed Daniel Palmer’s debut, DELIRIOUS, last year, I was looking forward to reading HELPLESS. That said, I wasn’t sure I’d love it because I’m not a fan of infallible heroes, and I was afraid lead character Tom Hawkins, a former Navy SEAL, would be just that. Frankly, I also wasn’t sure a guy author would be able to capture the motivation and voice of Tom’s teenage daughter, Jill and her friends, around whom the story turns.

I need not have been concerned.

HELPLESS will appeal to different readers for different reasons. For parents, it’s a cautionary tale about the aspects of what kids can get up as they tap away on tiny keyboards, and the devastating implications their communication can have. For those amongst us who eschew the online universe, it’s testament to the importance of paying attention to what people are saying about you online. For those interested in what the FBI really does on a daily basis, it’s a fascinating look into their Innocent Images National Initiative. And for those who just love crime fiction and throat-grabbing thrillers, it’s the whole package.

HELPLESS is far from a simple story, but it is in no way difficult to follow. It follows what happens to Tom when his bland suburban existence is fractured by his ex-wife’s murder, which brings secrets from his military past back to the fore as he endures an online attack that graphically accuses him of horrible crimes against the kids whose soccer team he coaches.

As in DELIRIOUS, it’s unclear until the very end who the bad guys are here. The know-it-all teens? The old friend from his SEAL days? The mysterious stranger? The town cop? All of the above?

One of the things that made Tom most believable for me was that when his reputation is attacked, he is truly and genuinely shocked. His distress comes in part because he can’t believe someone would say such things about him, but it’s also because he is confronted with the reality that when this happens, there’s not a whole heck of a lot he can do. It’s not like the old days, when someone posted a nasty flyer on the school bulletin board and all one had to do was take it down.

Before reading HELPLESS I also had no idea that the FBI’s Innocent Images Initiative even existed, never mind what it does. It’s very real—I’ve been lucky enough to work with Daniel and have had the opportunity to speak with folks at the FBI—and their work is accurately described in the story, but more importantly to readers, the subplot Palmer creates around this aspect of the story adds layers to HELPLESS that make it immeasurably richer.

Palmer also captures both the trepidation and bravado of kids today. We all remember worrying that someone won’t like us. The world might have changed, but that has not. But today, bullying has so many more forms than it did way back when. I also found Tom’s relationship with Jill fascinating. For much of the story, Tom seems afraid of his daughter, constantly asking her rather than telling her. Very different from my relationship way back when with my single dad.

HELPLESS has already gotten a bunch of rave reviews, and each is well deserved. This is a page-turner, to be sure, a story that races along and leaves you breathless.

Author's Website: /www.danielpalmerbooks.com

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5 Customer Service Tips for Authors

Today on Dead Guy, I have five tips for authors who want to provide fantastic customer service (to readers).

WHAT IS WAS by George Pelecanos

Much of the attention around George Pelecanos’ new book, WHAT IT WAS, has focused on the quite brilliant way that the good folks at Mulholland Books are publishing and marketing it. In case you haven’t read about it, instead of the standard e-book and hardcover release followed months later by a paperback edition, WHAT IT WAS is available now as a 99-cent e-book, a trade paperback for $9.99, or a limited-edition, signed and slip-cased hardcover for $35.

I think this is quite brilliant, but the reality is that it wouldn’t matter a whit if the story contained on the paper or e-pages wasn’t up to snuff. Luckily for us all, WHAT IS WAS is one of Pelecanos’ best, second only to RIGHT AS RAIN in my estimation.

WHAT IT WAS is set in 1972. Derek Strange has hung out his private investigator shingle. His former partner, Frank Vaughn, is still on the force. Red “Fury” Jones, a villain for the ages, is wreaking havoc in Washington DC, which Pelecanos brings to life in a manner that makes the reader quite certain she was actually there.

Many have called WHAT IT WAS noir, and I’m sure the label fits, but for me, it’s much more than noir. Derek Strange has been a favorite character for years and for him to remain surprising and engaging is testament to Pelecanos’ awesome storytelling prowess. Pelecanos obviously respects his setting, character and stories because he shortchanges none of them. Even the ancillary characters—like Red’s girlfriend and sidekick or Strange’s mistress or mom—are so vivid that I wouldn’t have been surprised to have any one of them knock on my front door (ok, a little surprised, but you know what I mean).

Pelecanos has always been unapologetic in his storytelling, both in his books and on TV shows “The Wire” and “Treme.” WHAT IT WAS continues this tradition, and I hope he never gives this up. WHAT IT WAS doesn’t flinch at violence or human frailty; on the contrary, it celebrates both.

This will sound frivolous to some, but I have to also commend Pelecanos for telling a complete and complex tale in less than 300 pages. In a world where publishers put authors under contract to deliver stories that run to 400 pages and more even when they don’t need to be, WHAT IT WAS is exactly the length it needs to be. It includes not one extraneous word, scene or plot element.

If you’ve never read Pelecanos, WHAT IT WAS is a fine place to start. While the books featuring Derek Strange are a series, they’re not bound by elements of surprise that make reading them in order necessary.

Come this time next year, I expect to have seen WHAT IT WAS on plenty of Best of 2012 lists. I know it will be on mine. It is blisteringly good.

Author's Website: www.hachettebookgroup.com/features/georgepelecanos/

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START SHOOTING by Charlie Newton

Before I read it, I saw a description of START SHOOTING that termed it “cop noir.” Cool, I thought, count me in. I love cop stories, especially those that are somewhat dark.

In START SHOOTING, though, Newton takes dark to new depths.

His first character, the grand and spectacular city of Chicago, is decidedly shadowy in this tale. Even Wrigleyville, which the last time I was there bordered on cute, is more than a bit dim. With two narrators—cop Bobby Vargas and waitress-while-awaiting-big-break-as-actress Arlene Brennan—START SHOOTING could have been convoluted or difficult to follow, but it is neither.

The story takes place over a compact timeframe, and builds numerous sub-plots to a thrilling and masterful conclusion. One of these tales, the rape and murder of Arlene’s sister many years ago, resurfaces in the midst of Bobby’s involvement in a drugs-and-murder case that is far more than it first appears. Add to these Bobby’s brother, also a cop who just might be evil personified, a production of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” a raucous group of lesbians who play rugby, and Chicago’s bid for Olympic glory…

Wait…hang on…so the crime is an old rape and murder? What do drugs have to do with anything? And the Olympics? Rugby? Huh?

Here’s the thing: I can’t outline this story for you without spoiling it completely. I can, however, tell you that it is as dark and graphic as it is tender and touching. It doesn’t shy from the complexities that I have no doubt cops face on the street daily. Nor does it put away the guns; true to its title, there is plenty of shooting and even some dying.

Since I finished reading it, I’ve had a couple of discussions with myself about which character was actually the primary, and I’ve concluded that Newton has achieved that ever-rare balance that means there isn’t just one primary character. Each of the interwoven tales presents multiple perspectives, and there aren’t any clear good or bad guys until the very end, and not even really then. The story is told through shades of gray, and it works beautifully.

If I have a criticism of START SHOOTING, it is that I found the twist that sets up the end of the story a bit far-fetched. But that said, Newton is a heckuva smart guy, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s one of those things that sounds unrealistic to this average Jane, but is actually completely plausible.

I can’t remember the last time I wanted to a book to be longer. Most novels these days I place at anywhere from 50 to 200 pages too long. START SHOOTING, however, could have gone on for another 200 and I would not have complained. It was that much fun to read. 

Author's Website: www.charlienewton.com

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Time for Disclosure

Please note that this is nothing to do with the Michael Crichton book nor movie called DISCLOSURE. So there.


As I get back into the swing of posting book reviews—and catching up on those I’ve yet to write—the time has come for a moment of disclosure. So here goes…

I am lucky enough to work with some amazing authors and publishers. And by “lucky” I mean seriously and profoundly fortunate.

When a client writes a book I like and I want to review, I’ll do so. But please make no mistake: What I write here is in no way influenced by my professional engagement with the author. This space is not for sale. My opinions are generally strongly held, and they are never—ever—available to any bidder, high or otherwise.

Because there are cynics amongst us, though, and because the feds seem to want book bloggers to be up-front about these things, when I post a review of a book written by someone with whom I have a professional connection, I will include a link to this very post right at the beginning.

And because the FTC wants to know these things: I am also incredibly lucky because publishers and sometimes others give me free copies of books. There is no promise, implied or explicit, in this transaction that I will read or review these books. If I choose to review a book it’s because I want to do so, and the opinions expressed are mine and mine alone. Once again, they’re neither bought nor paid for.

And if I get a copy of a book for free and I like it, I make a point of buying at least one copy, too, because I want the authors of the books I like to succeed.

After I read them, I don’t sell these books. If you choose to buy a book from one of the links I post, I get an “affiliate” payment, which amounts to (quite literally) pennies per book. As of this writing, my affiliate links have generated the princely sum of $2.32. If they ever get to a point where it’s enough for someone to send me a check, I’ll donate that money to a book-related charity. The links are there for the convenience of readers—not to pay my bills.

So that’s it. If you have any questions about this, don’t hesitate to ask.

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