Books: Condominium By John D. MacDonald (1977)

“Welcome to Golden Sands, the dream condominium built on a weak foundation and a thousand dirty secrets. Here is a panoramic look at the shocking facts of life in a Sun Belt community -- the real estate swindles and political payoffs, the maintenance charges that run up and the health benefits that run cut...the crackups and marital breakdowns...the disaster that awaits those who play in the path of the hurricane...” 

I sort of hate-read this novel. I stumbled upon this book and thought the premise was interesting. The 1970s was full of disaster films, so I thought I was getting a book that was sort in the vein of The Towering Inferno or Earthquake! And I’ve read –but no for a long, long time- a few of MacDonald’s Travis Magee thrillers. Those were tight, noir-ish “male gazing” comic thrillers. Here he tries something different, a semi-disaster tale written (supposedly) satire? At least for me, it does not work. But I generally –for whatever reason- feel compelled to continue reading, hoping it’ll get better. Read it to the end or as much as I can before I throw it in the corner. 

While released in 1977, this tale resembles late 1960’s early 70s look at the changing demographics of Florida (though always an enclave of the retired and aging conservative base). From my view, there are many flaws, from way to many characters – I got to point where a flow chart would’ve been helpful. Also, the other sin is not one of those characters stood out enough to hook me (and no real villain, as everyone seems guilty of something). Maybe the satire was just this, dubious businessmen dealing with groups of retired couples who all fear living longer than their money.  

It’s also clear very early on that MacDonald was going to take a meticulous look into how corrupt politicians, shady bankers, corner-cutting construction crews, greedy real estate salespeople and crooked land developers was setting the stage for disaster – hurricane that fills the last quarter of the book. But as much as some might find the minutiae aspect of all these deals fascinating, it really is dull and boring and the book drags. I mean analysis of the financial structure of condominium construction and the engineering of building might be worth something for some, but not for me. This very slow build annoyed me, and by page 100 plus, I was waiting for when the hurricane was finally going to show and smash it all to pieces. And that doesn’t show up for hundreds of pages. Bummer. 

While MacDonald may have been first author to take on these sleazy people of Florida, others like Dave Barry, Tim Dorsey, and Carl Hiaasen have done much better with their tales quirky characters, local politics, and satirical look into the local people and culture of the Sunshine State – even with a large cast of characters.

There was two-part movie version of this book that originally aired on HBO in April of 1980 and then syndicated by Universal Studios in November 1980. It starred Barbara Eden, Dan Haggerty and Steve Forrest, along with a cadre of aging Hollywood actors. You can watch it on Youtube.

Books: The Catch (Slough House 6.5) by Mick Herron (2020)

“John Bachelor is the saddest kind of spy: not a joe in the field, not even a desk jockey, but a milkman—a part-time pension administrator whose main job is to check in on aging retired spies. Late in his career and having lost his wife, his house, and his savings after a series of unlucky choices, John's been living in a dead man's London apartment, hoping the bureaucracy isn't going to catch up with him and leave him homeless. But keeping a secret among spies is a fool's errand, and now John has made himself open to blackmail by rogue elements within Regent Park that seemly also involves royalty.” 

Not sure how much of The Catch will play out in later full-length novels within the Slough House universe, but this novella takes a page from modern headlines. When Benny Manors, a one-time asset to the spooks around Regent Park, burgles a place and steals photos, audio and what not of young girls involved with (apparently) rich and well-placed men, he sees opportunity to up his lifestyle. When John is recruited by Richard Pynne to find Manors and that incriminating evidence, he has no idea why. But soon breaking news about the apparent suicide of an American billionaire (Jeffrey Epstein) and a connection to His Royal Highness Prince Andrew sends Bachelor on a mission that may get him killed. 

Once again, even these short novellas are smart, witty and devious. While no appearance from any of the slow horses, we see Lady Di fully engaging in her attempt to take power and have no compulsion what so ever of making spy vs. spy a delightful game.

Books: Joe Country (Slough House #6) by Mick Herron (2019)

“In Slough House, the London outpost for disgraced MI5 spies, memories are stirring, all of them bad. Catherine Standish is buying booze again, Louisa Guy is raking over the ashes of lost love, and new recruit Lech Wicinski, whose sins make him an outcast even among the slow horses, is determined to discover who destroyed his career, even if he tears his life apart in the process. Meanwhile, in Regent’s Park, Diana Taverner’s tenure as First Desk is running into difficulties. If she’s going to make the Service fit for purpose, she might have to make deals with a familiar old devil. And with winter taking its grip, Jackson Lamb would sooner be left brooding in peace, but even he can’t ignore the dried blood on his carpets. So when the man responsible for killing a slow horse breaks cover at last, Lamb sends the slow horses out to even the score.” 

For the most part, book six in the Slough House series continues author Mick Herron’s deconstruction and recreation of the spy genre. He continues with the dark humor and snappy dialogue as themes started earlier in the series come forward. While, we got the back story of Lech “Alec” Wicinski in The Marylebone Drop, he becomes a full-time character here. There are a lot of plot threads that weave themselves through Joe Country, with Wicinski’s hunt for those who betrayed him only being part of this tale. It doesn’t help that Jackson Lamb sort of goads Wicinski on, or that he’s working in Ho’s office space. The book opens with the funeral of River’s grandfather, David, and with the expected arrival of his mother and the surprise visit from his ex-CIA Dad Frank Harkness (who tossed him over a bridge the last time they met). 

But it’s Louisa who gets a good portion of the tale, as she’s contacted by Min’s former wife who needs her to find their missing son. With the help of Roddy Ho and ex-Dog Emma Flyte, Louisa heads to Pembrokeshire in Wales in search of the missing boy. Unknown to Louisa, is that River’s dad and 3 other European mercenaries are in Wales too.

A lot goes on here, and Lamb sees the plot unwinding too late, for his team is trapped in the most inclement of snowy and freezing weather and in a situation with much higher stakes than they are equipped to handle. 

Finally, we begin to see the plans of Lady Di Taverner and what she seems capable of doing to consolidate her power as First Desk (the final pages, written long before the second Trump administration, are very prescient). She’s a thoroughly unlikable character, despite Herron’s attempt to make it look like she’s appalled at Peter Judd’s suggestion on how she can take complete control of MI6. So beneath the humor and sometimes silly actions, we see some serious consequences and sad losses. It's clear there’s a conspiracy in the works, one even Jackson Lamb may not survive.

Books: The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder By David Grann (2023)

“On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty's Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as "the prize of all the oceans," it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes. But then . . . six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes - they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death--for whomever the court found guilty could hang.” 

The Wager is grand tale of human hubris, adventure, and the terrible cost of human life in a time when life and death hung in a desperate straits. 

It’s clear that some things never change when it comes to the idea of a manifest destiny. It’s 1740, and England is trying to establish British domination over Spain and thus control the sea and trade routes with the aim of empire building. Unfortunately, due to poor seamanship (despite “the central claim on which the British Empire tried to justify its rule of other peoples: that its imperial forces, its civilization, were inherently superior”), they had no issue with using press gangs –people who grabbed men off the streets and forced them to work on their ships. The problem was, beyond most crews being laid low by scurvy, a lot were often criminal elements and the scum of society, as well as invalids and injured veterans who were hauled out of hospital, carried out on stretchers and onto the ships to perform naval duties. After getting separated from the rest of the squadron by bad weather (which almost another character here), The Wager runs aground near the Patagonian coast, after getting separated from the rest of the squadron. So one calamity after another strike them, which leaves them stranded in one of the most treacherous spots in the world. 

Grann's recreation with the highly detailed notes and diaries left by the men show a dark and hidden world of life on a British warship (which writer Patrick O'Brian used for his novels in 20^th Century). David Cheap, captain of The Wager, comes off a lot like Alec Guinness Colonel Nicholson in Bridge Over the River Kwai (who becomes obsessed with keeping up the British Army’s superiority despite being a POW), but while I can understand keeping things inline, he eventually crosses that line. 

As with his previous books, Grann's talent shines in a work filled with incredible twists, and strong narrative that will captivate the reader.

Thriller writer Frederick Forsyth Passes at 86

 

Veteran British thriller novelist Frederick Forsyth has passed away at the age of 86. A former correspondent for Reuters and the BBC, as well as an informant for Britain's MI6 foreign spy agency, he penned the bestselling novel The Day of the Jackal and The Dogs of War. 

Forsyth said in his memoir that he “never wanted to be a writer,” but by the late 1960s, he was "skint, stony broke." According to him, as a boy, he wanted to be "a fighter jock," and when he traded his career in the RAF for journalism, it was "to see the world" as a foreign and war correspondent.

 

Still, his first book, 1971s The Day of the Jackal, suddenly made the once poor journalist into a wealthy writer of fiction. The novel was about an English assassin, who is hired by French paramilitaries angry at de Gaulle's withdrawal from Algeria. Written in just 35 days, the book was rejected by a host of publishers who worried that the story was flawed and would not sell as de Gaulle had not been assassinated. Nevertheless, Forsyth's hurricane-paced thriller, complete with journalistic-style detail and brutal sub-plots of lust, betrayal and murder was an instant hit.

 

The hugely successful movie version was released in 1973, starring Edward Fox, while a reimaged, more contemporary long-form TV version was done in 2024 from for Universal’s Peacock streaming network. That adaptation, starring Eddie Redmayne, was recently picked-up for a second season.

 

Other notable releases include The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Fist of God, and No Comebacks.