Bad Intentions

Synopsis
A young man named Jon Moreno drowns in a frigid lake. Was it suicide? Was it murder? Was I supposed to care?

My thoughts
It was murder, and the weird thing about this book is that the reader knows it from the get-go, making this not so much a whodunit as a whydunit. This slim mystery took its sweet time meandering to the answer, and when it came it left me wondering, "that's ... it?".

I've never read a mystery novel like this before. It's billed as "Inspector Sejer #9," but the good inspector is merely a periphery figure. He shows up on the crime scene long enough to form the suspicion that Jon's friends, Axel and Philip, may have something to hide, but then he disappears and the main action (if you can call it that) unfolds mostly from their points of view.

Steig Larsson's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series made Scandinavia seem utterly depraved, but this book left me with the opposite impression. Bad Intentions was probably the tamest mystery I've ever read. Maybe I should have started at the beginning of the series so that I would have gotten to know Inspector Sejer and appreciated his brief cameos in this book.

Bottom line
A quick read but there are better mysteries.

Fine print
Bad Intentions, by Karin Fossum
Genre: mystery
Photo from Goodreads
I borrowed this book from my library.

The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln

Synopsis
Alternate history in which Lincoln survives the assassination attempt only to be impeached. Told from the point of view of Abigail Canner, an African-American law clerk who winds up on his legal team.

My thoughts
It's a rare author who can meld action with courtroom drama in a way that keeps the reader flipping pages. It's especially difficult with historical fiction. Stephen L. Carter is a law professor who's written both non-fiction and fiction (both contemporary and historical), and he manages his task well.

What would have happened if Abraham Lincoln had not been killed? It's one of the most intriguing questions in U.S. history (right up there with what would JFK's legacy have been if he had lived). Carter argues convincingly in an author's note that's almost as interesting as the novel that some of Lincoln's actions during the Civil War could potentially have been construed as impeachable offenses, and the postwar political climate could have swung against Lincoln.

Abigail Canner is a smart, dynamic protagonist, and seeing the story unfold from her point of view makes it all the more fascinating. She is uniquely placed to unravel the plot against Lincoln because of who she is. However, this also strains credulity. Would an African-American woman have been able to serve as a law clerk on the impeachment trial of the President of the United States? That would have been impossible in the 1960s, never mind the 1860s.

One minor quibble is a little romance that seems to be thrown in just because. It's alternately sweet and slightly irritating when it interferes with the main narrative.

Bottom line
Enjoyable alternate history.

Fine print
The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln, by Stephen L. Carter
Genre: historical fiction
Photo from Goodreads
I borrowed this book from the library.

A Wizard of Earthsea

Synopsis
This is the first book in the Earthsea Cycle. It follows the adventures of a boy named Ged as he unleashes a dangerous magical enemy and then tries to defeat it.

My thoughts
This is technically a YA novel, but Ursula K. Le Guin's writing is sophisticated and neither the prose nor the plot is dumbed down for a young audience. The plot is actually fairly dark—Ged's arrogance leads him to attempt a spell that nearly kills him (and does kill one of his mentors). Humbled and wracked with guilt, Ged slowly recovers and becomes a full-fledged wizard. But he is pursued by the shadow he unleashed with his ill-advised spell and he knows he must eventually confront it and either defeat it or die trying.

It sounds exciting; unfortunately, it's not. There are lots of details of magewinds and maritime jargon and not enough adventure. It's a good thing it was less than 200 pages or I wouldn't have finished.

Bottom line
I really wanted to like it because the book's themes—friendship, coming of age, coming to terms with one's own limitations, the search for meaning in life—resonate with all audiences. But it was just too slow.

Fine print
A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula K. Le Guin
Genre: YA, science fiction
Photo from Goodreads
I bought this book at my library's used book sale.