The Story

From the Chapters website:

“It’s the oldest question of all, George. Who can spy on the spies?”

The man he knew as “Control” is dead, and the young Turks who forced him out now run the Circus. But George Smiley isn’t quite ready for retirement-especially when a desperate Russian woman defector surfaces with a shocking accusation: a Soviet mole has penetrated the highest level of British Intelligence. His treachery has already blown some of their vital operations and their best networks. He is one of their own kind. But which one? Relying only on his wits and a small, loyal cadre, Smiley traces the breach back to Karla – his Moscow Centre nemesis – and sets a trap to catch the traitor.

The Response

I thought I didn’t enjoy spy novels. Seriously. I’ve been avoiding them all my life with an “oh, that’s totally not my type of story.” This is the first real spy novel I ever read, and even though I was convinced that I didn’t like spy stories, well, I completely and thoroughly loved this.

It may be because I loved the film – I can’t say exactly what I would’ve thought about the book if I had read it first, which had been my original intention. It was in theatres when I was in England this fall, so we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see it then. Even having seen the movie first, though, I had a hard time keeping all of the characters straight at the beginning – had to keep opening up IMDB to see which actor played what character – and so would have no doubt found that much more overwhelming had I not seen the film first.

This is not a fast-moving story. Even having seen the movie, even knowing what was going on, the first third of the book was very hard for me to get into. It’s not a book with a lot of action – it’s very much a character-driven novel. The majority of the book finds George Smiley doing interviews, research and remembering. You learn so much about Smiley, learn what motivates him and makes him tick, you see through his actions how he would’ve been a fabulous spy and can understand why he was practically Control’s right-hand man. And through the novel, Smiley became one of my favourite literary characters.

I was highly impressed by the way Le Carré narrated this book. You know how some novels are a pleasure to read just because of how everything is phrased and because of the narration style? This is one of those books, and that completely took me by surprise. It shouldn’t have – I’ll be one of the first people to tell you that just because a book is a genre book doesn’t mean that it can’t be a well-written book or have literary merit or whatever. And yet, it surprised me anyway.

The narration in itself just seemed so reflective of who Smiley was – holding off all judgement until all avenues have been explored, quiet and unobtrusive… goodness! Are all of Le Carré’s books written in this way?

So now that I’ve fully enjoyed the book, I think it’s about time that I see the film again – too bad it’s not in theatres here yet. (Curse limited release movies!) Hopefully soon…

The Bottom Line

Definitely enjoyable. Wouldn’t recommend it to someone looking for a high-action novel, but if you don’t mind a slower-moving fully character-driven plot, this is definitely something you should pick up!

Other Reviews

Rat’s Reading, Nick’s Cafe Canadien, 2606 Books and Counting, Adventures in Reading. Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Let me know and I’ll add your link.

The Story

The third book in Jennings’ Detective Murdoch books, Poor Tom is Cold tells the story of a police officer who is found after an apparent suicide. After the verdict is decided, some new evidence comes to light that shows that this may not be a suicide, but may actually be a murder. Detective Murdoch is on the case, trying to get to the bottom of things.

Meanwhile, at a house only a few doors down from where the dead police officer is found, the third wife of an older gentlemen (with children the same age as his third wife) is ushered to the insane asylum, after she is convinced that his children killed her own son and are out to get her next.

The Review

Oh, I do love Murdoch. I do also love Jennings’ Victorian Toronto! I really like that it isn’t romanticized and that we do see the dirty parts of Victorian Toronto – like the asylum in this one, and how its patients are treated. Having women strapped into baths for hours on end as a form of treatment? Not the worst of treatments people used to get, definitely, but long after the water has gone cold and whatnot? Hmm, not fun and still somewhat disturbing.

But the character of Murdoch is as wonderful as always, and I love his inner struggles – they totally endear him to me. I like characters that aren’t perfect, and you can totally see that with how he’s trying to work out everything in his head in relation to women, and faith and yes. He’s just figuring some things out, and it’s adorable. As I’ve mentioned previously, I also really do love the way Jennings’ portrays a very Catholic Murdoch in a very Protestant Toronto.

I found the end of the book to be a bit fast-paced… things were starting to draw to a close and it seemed that all of a sudden, the book was finished. Too soon, I think. I wish the ending had been drawn out a little bit more instead of the rush to the finish.

The Bottom Line

Definitely a solid book in the Murdoch series. Loved it, and I didn’t know how things were going to end up by the end of the book – it was definitely very cool to have been kept guessing. Cannot wait until I get a chance to read the fourth book.

Other Reviews

bookgirl’s nightstand. Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Let me know and I’ll add your link.

In the second of Jenning’s Detective Murdoch books, a midwife and abortionist in late 19th century Toronto is found dead by her foster sons. It soon comes to light that many of her clients have come from high-class society, and Dolly (the midwife) had a habit of getting every little penny that she could from her clients, even years after they have had need of her services – sometimes in the form of blackmail. Acting detective Murdoch is on the case, trying to find out exactly who murdered Dolly, and one of her foster sons who soon turns up dead as well.

I’m still new to the mystery genre, and I don’t know if I would really get into the genre if it wasn’t for Murdoch. I haven’t enjoyed any other mystery book quite as much as the ones in this series, I have to say. I find it unpredictable and thoroughly readable. The setting is so much fun – Victorian Toronto! – and the characters, oh! the characters. Love love love them all! Especially Murdoch himself.

Oh, Murdoch, how much do I love you? I don’t even know where to begin. You ballroom dance! You race bicycles. You are oh-so-smart. You feel guilty about being attracted to one of your fellow boarders, and it is so adorable. You are a practicing Catholic in a Very Protestant Toronto, and must go through so many struggles because of it. I do love you, and I think every book will make my love for you grow. In fact, I haven’t loved any fictional character this much since Horatio Hornblower and Lieutenant Bush.

As mentioned, I love that Murdoch is a very devout practicing Catholic in a very Protestant Toronto – it gives a bit of an insight to the struggle it must have been at that point in time, as well as how hard it must be to be a part of a minority group in the present time. And you can see how his beliefs have an impact on his daily life – especially when it comes to a fellow boarder that he seems to have a bit of a crush on. He believes he could never be with her because she isn’t Catholic, but he still likes her anyway (and it’s so cute – especially the part in the epilogue where he’s got women he finds attractive on both sides of him and he’s rather flustered).

I especially loved the interaction between Murdoch and Annie Brogan, a young stage performer who gets involved in the case. She’s a lot more outgoing and revealing than the women Murdoch is used to. It is quite amusing to see Annie go from being wary of Murdoch to trying to embarrass him constantly, and I would have loved to see more of her.

The Bottom Line: Definitely loved this book. Devoured it. Would highly recommend it, and I’m very much looking forward to reading the others in this series.

Murdoch is my newest fictional crush. I blame the television adaptation solely for that, because it really is one of the greatest TV shows that I’ve been watching lately. (It’s so nice to have good Canadian television that doesn’t make me want to cringe.) I also blame the TV adaptation for giving me yet another book series to become immersed into.

Except the Dying is the first of the Detective Murdoch mysteries by Maureen Jennings. Taking place in the late 1800′s in Toronto (Ontario, Canada) Murdoch is an acting detective for the Toronto police force. This case starts off with the murder of a pregnant maid from a wealthy family. Murdoch has run-ins with all types of people in this story, ranging from the pair of prostitutes who stole the girl’s clothes when she was lying dead on the snow-covered street, to the wealthy household the girl worked for. Soon more people are getting murdered – what seems to be those who know something about the first girl.

I can say upfront that I am certainly going to be making my way through the rest of the series. This book had so many great things going for it. First, it takes place in Toronto in the late 1800′s. How fun is that?! Second, Murdoch is positively wonderful! I may love Murdoch in the same sense and way that I love Horatio Hornblower, and that’s saying quite a bit. Thirdly, the rest of the characters are so real and wonderful – especially Crabtree, who is one of my favourites on the show.

Then there is Jennings’ style of writing, which sucked me in right from the beginning. I loved that she started with giving us a bit of the victim’s last night from the victim’s point of view, to actually make use care about the girl and the story. She was also able to surprise me with the ending of the book. Certainly not who I had expected to be the killer!

While there are some differences between the show and the book, I found the show keeps itself fairly true to the book. There were some differences (always are), but it had the same atmosphere, and the characters that I really care about were (for the most part) the same. And Murdoch was just as wonderful in the book as I had expected him to be!

Jon Fabel is a detective working in present-day Germany, and there appears to be a new serial killer on the loose who goes through rather disturbing rituals with his victims – by the time Fabel finds these women, the women have been tortured, their ribs have been pried open, and their lungs have been thrown (intact) over the victim’s shoulders. What’s worse, is that the serial killer has chosen Fabel as a type of nemesis for himself and has a penchant for e-mailing Fabel while he’s going through the ritual of killing his victims. What we discover soon into the book is that these killings mimic a ritual that the Vikings used to go through, and is called the Blood Eagle.

To make things even more complicated, it appears that the serial killer is also involved in a number of rapes in the community and might very well be a part of an underground mob.

Mystery books usually don’t appeal to me at all, but as I was intrigued by blurb on the back cover of Brother Grimm – the second book in this series (ah, the story of my life!) – I had to venture forth with this one first.

I feel that this book had so much potential, but most of the time it fell short of what I had hoped for. It was confusing at a lot of points – there were more characters than I could keep straight, even with my flipping back in the book to reread things, there were parts of the book that I thought was completely unnecessary, and a lot of the time the narration was just so cheesy. I can forgive some cheesy prose, I really can… but when the author tells us that, “It was a chill that radiated out from a single fact he had locked deep inside: as sure as the sun would rise tomorrow, this killer would strike again,” I’m really not sure what to think. Stuff like that throughout the whole book. Words seem to fail me.

I have a feeling Russell tried a bit too hard with the foreshadowing. It was so obvious that he was alluding to something that would be revealed later on in the book, and it just got frustrating that he didn’t completely explain himself at once.

Also, I know this is just my thing, but I felt the book was focused too much on the plot. I’m all for more character-oriented stories, where we see how experiences make the characters grow… I think this is one of the reasons I don’t enjoy mystery novels quite as much; the ones I’ve read have all been much more plot driven than character driven, and it leaves me feeling like I don’t really care what’s going on.

Overlooking all of that, though, there were parts of this book that were really good.

I loved how Norse mythology and the history of the Vikings was worked into the story. This isn’t the first time in the past month when I’ve though how much I wish I knew more about Norse mythology, just to understand a little bit more of what was going on. I think in the near future I’m going to have to start looking into it.

The other thing that I had found really interesting was another tiny little part. This is one of the few books that I’ve read that takes place in present time in Germany; I was intrigued by how the author wrote about the German people, how they view themselves as a nation, and how they might feel towards what had happened in regards to WWII.

In this installation, Stephanie is attempting to find Kenny Mancuso, a man who shot his friend in the knee and then skipped out on his court date. Kenny is somehow tied in with a bunch of stollen coffins and army guns, and Stephanie has to deal with the “help” of Morelli.

I’m completely torn between loving and loathing Stephanie. On one hand, she is a complete flake, and I really, really dislike flakey main characters. It’s the main reason I stopped reading the Shopaholic series, and why I won’t read any more of Kinsella’s stuff. It’s the reason I don’t read a lot of chick lit. Bridget Jones is probably the only main exception, and that’s because Bridget is a snarky Brit, and that automatically makes her enjoyable.

On the other hand, she sometimes seems more realistic than a lot of the characters in books I like. I mean, who wouldn’t freak out if there was a severed foot in her refridgerator? I know I certainly would.

Still, the other characters might be enough to keep me going in these books. I love Grandma Mazur and Lula, and honestly have such a soft spot for characters like Morelli.

Okay. People have been at me for years to read this book, and I have had absolutely no desire to. No desire at all. Mysteries aren’t my thing, and I already have a couple of fluff authors that I tend to stick to. However, as I said, certain people have been at me for years to read this, and I can only put things off for so long.

When I started this book, I figured that when I was finished, I could say that I had attempted the series, didn’t enjoy it, and be done with it. Boy was I wrong.

I started it two days ago, didn’t get any work done, and finished it last night after school. It didn’t feel like a page turner, I didn’t need to know how the book ended, I just didn’t realize that I was reading it quite so fast. It was also very funny, and when Stephanie wasn’t annoying me (and oh how she annoyed me at times!), I found her quite endearing.

I wasn’t surprised about the ending at all, but the book wasn’t really about figuring out who killed who, but more about the main characters themselves.

And now that I’m finished the first book, will I continue with the rest of the series? Part of me can’t wait to get my hands on the second book, while the rest of me knows that if I get my hands on it, I won’t be reading anything other than this series for the next month or so.