The Martian by Andy Wier *****

The Martian by Andy Weir is about the time Mark Watney was stranded on Mars. This is the book that answers the question, “Why do I need Algebra?” Mark used Algebra to determine how many potatoes he could grow, how much water he could make, how long his oxygen would last, and so many more important questions. Barely a day goes by on Mars when he doesn’t use Algebra. If this doesn’t convince someone of the importance of Algebra, nothing will.

“Someone told me that each equation I included in the book would halve the sales,” Stephen Hawkings. This is a famous geek joke because the quote includes an equation. Clearly, Andy Weir and his readers didn’t receive the memo. This book has more numbers and implied equations than any novel. The only books that can compete are math, science, and engineering TEXTBOOKS.

The book includes many nerd themes: difficulty with authority figures, love-hate with NASA, reverence for engineers (“Fixing things is his job!”), internationalism, and duct tape (“Duct tape is magic and should be worshipped.”)

A nerd adventure. A cross between Apollo 13 and Robinson Crusoe for the 21^st century.

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Hell Fire Boy by Karin Fossum *****

HellFire by Karin Fossum (Norwegian) is another (#12) Inspector Sejer mystery. Similar to the other books in this series, it includes psychotic killers, selfish people, children in jeopardy, desperate lives, dysfunctional mother-son relationships, and Inspector Sejer as a pillar of strength and tranquility. These books are not for the faint of heart. The story opens with the murder of a mother and her young son, by (presumably) a twenty-one-year-old son of another single mother. Both sons are excessively dependent on their indulgent mothers.

As usual, Inspector Sejer solves the mystery more by luck than intelligence or deduction. Sejer seems to represent a tolerant, forgiving society, otherwise populated with flawed, unhappy people.

Sejer’s initial investigation undercovers two clues: a size fourteen boot print, and a suspicious red car. With these clues, he is confident he can locate the killer and hopes finding the killer will reveal the motive. Patiently he explores the life of the murdered mother and child. Interspersed with his investigation is the life of the other mother and son. While the reader knows the identity of the murderer from the beginning, the motivation is a mystery until the end.

A psychological mystery with plenty of surprises and sympathetic treatment of all characters who are all flawed, but none evil.

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The Drown Boy by Karin Fossum ****

TheDrown Boy by Karin Fossum (Norwegian) is a murder mystery, #11 in the Inspector Sejer series). The story opens with a couple finding their 16-month-old child drown in the pond in front of their house. The death is presented as an accident, but Inspector Sejer suspects otherwise. The child, who has Down syndrome, is found to have soapy water in his lungs, so he did not drown in the pond. The young parents are suspects. The true story is a mystery.

The parents Carmen and Nicolai are very young. Carmen is resilient. Her father Marian Zita calls her strong. Nicolai is depressed and withdrawn. Much of the book explores their private thoughts. Whatever happens, Carmen is optimistic and forward-looking, while Nicolai is stuck in the past and can not let go of the death.

After the discovery of the soapy water, Inspector Sejer has no additional evidence, but he manages to continue nursing his intuition. In the end, the mystery is revealed by serendipity.

The translation is odd. I think the translator was British as there are several UK words (bum). However, the target audience is the US (50 meters is translated to 165 feet, and the emergency number is 911). I found the US translation odd, as the setting is Norway.

This a psychological mystery told from the point of view of the parents and the Inspector, as much a character study as a mystery. Dark and brooding.

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The Caller by Karin Fossum *****

TheCaller by Karin Fossum (Norwegian) is a dark psychological mystery, #10 in the Inspector Sejer series). The story opens with a couple finding their young child sleeping in her pram and covered in blood. When the frantic parents bring her to the hospital, they discover that this was a prank, but the loss of security and psychological damage has been done. These “pranks” escalate as the reader follows Sejer’s investigations and the 17-year-old prankster’s angry life.

Our prankster lives with his drunk mother and visits his beloved grandfather. His pranks start off mild with calling a funeral service to pick up a man who hasn’t died yet and summoning a mother to the hospital for her child who had been in a serious accident (which never happened). With changing points-of-view, the pain of these pranks is shown. All the victims feel a variation of violation and loss of security. The emotional terror continues and escalates throughout the book.

Inspector Sejer remains calm and thoughtful throughout. He also is always one step behind the teenage prankster. In the end, Sejer does not solve the crimes.

Note on the translation: this is a British translation. Squash, in British English, is a non-alcoholic concentrated syrup used in beverage making.

If you like dark explorations of psychological stress and pain, this book is perfect. Just don’t expect a happy, or even neat, ending.

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The Whistler by John Grisham *****

TheWhistler by John Grisham features Lacy Stoltz. She’s an investigator on the Board of Judicial Conduct, a sleepy bureaucracy that monitors judges. Through unlikely circumstances, she becomes involved in an enormous corruption case involving Indian casinos, money laundering, murder, and a corrupt judge. As the story progresses, the scope of the crimes continues to grow. A fast-moving legal thriller.

The case opens with the secretive Ramsey Mix, living about a boat with the alias Greg Myers. He has information about a corrupt judge and a criminal organization (Coast Mafia or Catfish Mafia). Stoltz has never heard of the “Mafia” and the judge is highly rated. She has no reason to believe Greg Myers or Ramsey Mix, whatever his name might be. To make matters worse, his information comes from an unnamed middle person representing an unknown informer.

Lacy Stolz and her partner Hugo Hatch are lawyers, no badges, no guns. This is really something for the FBI, but Greg Myers won’t work with the FBI, and the FBI is not interested (“tracking sleeper cells and narco-traffickers was far more exciting than hounding derelict judges.”)

John Grisham’s early novels dealt with contemporary topics and often ended with negotiated settlements where both sides compromised for the good of society. Much of the tension came from the difficulty of judging which side had the better case. This book is an Old Testament story of good and evil and plenty of old fashion vengeance. It is a great story of the smart, good guys defeating the dumb, bad guys.

No ambiguity. Not one bad guy escapes unpunished, nor do any good guys not get rewarded.

As usual, Grisham delivers excitement and surprises. While his earlier novels presented important topics and often ended with ambiguous results reflecting the complexity of these issues. This is a black-and-white tale of good defeating evil.

Bird Box by Josh Malerman *****

The world of Bird Box by Josh Malerman is populated by creatures. People who see these creatures become murderous and suicidal. Anyone who is to survive must avoid seeing the creatures…at all costs. Malorie learns of these, initially isolated, incidents of murder and suicide, at the same time she learns she is pregnant. Living in this post-apocalyptic world of literal blind terror, she needed all the strength and perseverance she could muster to save her children.

Malorie’s story is told in two alternating timelines. The first is her arrival at a house occupied by four men and two women (one also pregnant). The windows are covered, and no one goes outside without a blindfold. They are isolated and scared. The other thread is four years later, with Malorie, Boy, and Girl rowing down the river. They are also isolated and scared.

The people in the house all struggle to live together. They support each other, share the tasks, and vote. No matter how hard they try, the stress wears on them, as they strive to survive, and find a way to make progress. How important is progress to sanity?

The first timeline intermixes the fantastic anxieties of the survival in this world of blindness and isolation with the quotidian anxieties of pregnancy. The former seems to be a malevolent force, while the latter seems to be a source of strength.

Given that Malorie was the protagonist, and the importance of pregnancy and motherhood, I was surprised to discover this was a male author.

On one level this book is an adventure like Robinson Crusoe. How can anyone survive in this alien world? The problems of food, laundry, water, sanitation, defense, are all presented and solved. This is a story of survivors and survivalists.

On another level, it is about children. Raising them, loving them, being saved by them.

I never understood the title.

In the house timeline, Tom finds a bird box that they hang outside as an alarm system.

In the river timeline: “It feels like a cage was lowered over them all. A cardboard box. A bird box, blocking out the sun forever.”

This is an uplifting story of the power of the human spirit and mother’s love. If you like an emotional rollercoaster with a happy ending, you’ll love this one.

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