Roger Hyttinen

Review of The Christmas Train by David Baldacci

December 18, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

I’ve read a couple of David Baldacci thriller novels in the past, and The Christmas Train was completely different any from those. I listened to this in audiobook format and was delighted to discover that they added music and various sound effects during certain parts of the recording which really added to the experience. This book was also quite nostalgic for me as it brought back all the fun memories of the train trips I took while studying in France.

This story follows Tom Langdon, a disillusioned journalist and a former war correspondent Tom Langdon who finds himself on a train trip from Washington to Los Angeles during Christmas where he plans on spending the holidays with his girlfriend, a Hollywood voice-work celebrity.

We learn that Tom has been banned from flying for a year after an altercation with a TSA agent so deciding to make lemonade from his lemons, chooses to write a story about train travel.

So, Tom embarks on his journey across country and along the way, he meets all sorts of eclectic and colorful characters: there’s a young couple planning on eloping, a famous movie director who’s planning on creating a movie about trains, a retired priest, a former train engineer who lost his job due to budget cuts, a tarot card reader, several boisterous train personnel, a boys choir and even a reunion with someone from his past.

And there’s a mystery to solve as items begin disappearing from the passenger’s cabins, meaning there is a thief on board among them. But worst of all, the blizzard of the century is bearing down on them, and the passengers and crew are forced to come together if they want to survive the trip — and at one point in the novel, things don’t look too good for any of them.

This was really a fun and warm-hearted Christmas story about a man whose ride turns out to be quite an adventure — one he’ll likely never forget reminding us that it’s often the journey and not the destination that’s important. In fact, there was even a quote to that effect in the book:

“It’s not getting from A to B. It’s not the beginning or the destination that counts. It’s the ride in between”

This delightful tale has a little of everything…it has mystery, danger, thievery, setbacks, suspense, romance, relationship intrigue, unscheduled train stops, a wedding and of course, the miracles of Christmas, and with enough twists and surprises to prevent you from guessing the ending. It also provides an interesting history about trains and train travel that I found especially fascinating.

All in all, The Christmas Train is a sweet, magical story with memorable characters that just may give you the yearning to take a train trip yourself.

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Review of the 7 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Thurton

December 17, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

The 7 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (also titled The 7 1/2 deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle in the US) is Stuart Turton’s debut novel. I’ve heard quite a bit of hype surrounding this unusual story and given that I am partial to time-travel, and reliving-the-day-over-and-over tropes, this sounded like a tale that I’d enjoy.

The Story

Set around the late 1920’s I believe, the story starts when our narrator wakes up in the morning out in the woods, with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. He witnesses what he believes is the murder of a young woman whose name he knows to Anna. Nearly immobile and eyes clamped shut with fright, the so-called murderer comes up behind him, slips him a compass and tells him to go east. The narrator soon finds himself at the Blackheath manor and learns he has been invited to a masquerade ball hosted by the Lord and Lady Hardcastle.

He later discovers that his name is Aiden Bishop and he’s trapped inside a stranger’s body. A figure in a Plague Doctor’s mask informs him that in order to escape the manor and return to his normal life (of which he still has no memory), he must unveil the murderer of Evelyn Hardcastle, which will be disguised as to not look like a murder and will occur at 11:00 pm that evening. The kicker is that each time he awakens, the day has been reset from the beginning and he is now in the body of someone else, a different guest in the manor and in the process, he takes on the personality, mannerisms, and inclinations of the current host. There is also a race against the clock in that if he fails to uncover the name of the would-be murderer within eight days or eight hosts, he will return to the first day, memory wiped clean, and start the process all over again as he has apparently already done innumerable times before.

Matters become even more dire when Aiden discovers that he isn’t the only one who’s in the same predicament; there are two other people are also caught inside this time loop. Oh, and there’s also a knife-wielding Footman who is out to kill all three of them.

What I Liked

I loved how inventive and original this story was. It’s a mind-bending, multi-layered, intricately plotted murder mystery with a huge cast of characters and a multitude of interwoven elements as we, along with our narrator, try to figure out what is going on. I’ve always enjoyed the “nothing is as it seems” trope which is definitely in play here. As a reader, we constantly question what we know about the hosts and their secrets and soon discover that almost every character is unreliable; every fact untrustworthy. That being said, every little snippet of conversation is important, every encounter and every detail essential to solving the mystery. We learn that Aiden can change little details to the day which will, in turn, change the outcome, as well as help him to glean more information.

I enjoyed how the tension builds right from the first page winding tighter and tighter as the novel progresses and really, doesn’t let go until the utterly surprising ending, where everything is explained. The surprises come fast and furious, keeping you turning the page all the while with your heart in your throat. And just when you think you may have figured it out, the author drops another twisty bombshell.

I also loved how nearly every person whose body our narrator inhibits is despicable, scheming and untrustworthy and how it was a struggle for Aiden to keep their unsavory personality traits and compulsions at bay. In spite of that, Aiden was able to use the physical and mental talents of each of the hosts to gather more clues and bring him closer to figuring out what is going on.

I also liked the Victorian gothic feel to this story. It was atmospheric with haunting imagery such as the depiction of the masquerade ball, eerie the castle-like manor, the murderous footman, mysterious guests wearing Plague Doctor masks, and of course, murder.

Additionally, I loved the redemption aspect of the story which illustrated how even the darkest of individuals can be pulled back into the light and can overcome their darkness to move toward redeeming themselves. It also showed how those who have been severely wronged could move past a thirst for revenge to forgiveness instead.

What I Didn’t Like

I enjoyed this book for the most part, but it wasn’t a 5-star read for me. I felt there were too many characters to keep track of, some with too similar names like Donald and Daniel and sometimes, I found myself confused at times. It didn’t help that the story was non-linear with a really complex plot.

Reading this story requires a fair bit of work and intense focus on the part of the reader otherwise one risks missing crucial details and clues. So this isn’t the kind of book with which you can kick up your feet and relax at the beach, but instead, it’s a novel that requires your full attention. There’s a lot to keep track of.

I also felt that the story dragged a bit in places, especially around the 75% mark. But things heated up during the last 20% of the story as we skidded into the exciting climax where all is revealed.

Verdict

I loved this fresh, intricate and innovative story! It was like Agatha Christie meets Groundhog Day meets Quantum Leap. The 7 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle was an amazing, compelling, twisty story and I can’t begin to imagine the effort the author put into plotting this novel. The author does an amazing job of not showing his cards until the very end and expertly juggled the many moving parts of the book resulting in a tightly plotted, engaging, complex story as our main character struggles through emotional, physical, and moral challenges. This was a fast-paced plot-driven story marvelously crafted story with rich, detailed characters and beautiful prose. Recommended!

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Review of A Ghost for Christmas by J.D. Winters

December 16, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

A ghost for christmas cover image A Ghost for Christmas is the first book in the Destiny Bay Cozy series and follows our main character Mele who, recovering from a bad romantic breakup, decides to visit her Aunt Bebe. She arrives, however, to find a dead body on her Aunt’s doorstep.

As it turns out, the corpse was that of Kyle Madronna, a wealthy vineyard owner who was pretty much despised by everyone who knew him. He was also trying to steal her aunt’s business which made Mele suspect that her aunt may have had something to do with the murder. Then things heat up even more when a second murder takes place only days later. Mele, along with the help of two family ghosts and the local detective, gets closer to discovering the identity of the killer. Of course, Mele’s meddling puts her own life in jeopardy culminating in a face to face encounter with the killer.

It was a fun, humorous, light little mystery with no real violence or gory bits. The protagonist was likable as were the secondary characters (except for the villain, of course) and I felt that the story was believable. I was a bit disappointed, however, because given the title of the novel, I thought it would be more ghost centric but this was not the case. There were two ghosts in the story: Aunt Jane and the handsome Dante but they played a very minor role in the story, appearing only a couple of times and all we really learn about them is that Dante was a ghost from Mele’s childhood. The story also had little to do with the Christmas season so in this way, I thought the title was a misnomer; the title suggested that a ghost and the holiday would be central to this story, neither of which was the case.

A Ghost for Christmas was quite a quick read and really could have used some further character development, IMHO. But still, it was a fun, entertaining story though I’m undecided as to whether I’ll be continuing on with the series. I don’t mind a cozy mystery from time to time, but truth be told, I prefer my mysteries and thrillers a little more on the darker side.

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Review of An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

December 14, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

I’ve been following Hank and John Green’s vlog Brothers channel for several years now and was excited when I learned that Hank was coming out with a book. Let me say right off the bat that I listened to this on Audible and felt that the narrator was excellent.

The Plot

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing follows a twenty-three-year-old bisexual graphic designer named April May who shares an apartment with her roommate/girlfriend Maya (their relationship isn’t all that well defined as April May seems to have commitment issues). The story is told from April May’s point of view and is shared in a memoir format as she recounts a particularly wild and unusual time of her life. So in this way, we’re hearing the story from the future April May. I felt the casual conversion-like format of the book made it feel as though we were hearing the entire story from the mouth of a good friend.

The book starts out as April May is walking home from work at 3:00 am when she notices a giant robot-like sculpture that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. It’s 10 feet tall and resembles a giant Transformer wearing armor. April decides that the people should be paying more attention to incredible things like this statute in their city, so she calls her friend Andy to meet her. There, they create a video of the sculpture, name the sculpture “Carl” and then upload it to YouTube.

Much to April May’s surprise, she learned that overnight her and Andy’s video had gone viral but not only that, the “Carls” have appeared in cities all over the world, all identical to her “New York Carl” raising all sorts of questions, concerns, and discussions worldwide. Being the first to document the existence of Carl — the person who made “first contact” if you will — April May is thrust headfirst into the spotlight and soon becomes a social media sensation, appearing on numerous television shows and becoming quite rich in the process. In fact, she ends up becoming more of an idea to the people of the world than a person as she builds up her “brand” based upon her connection to the Carls. She gets so caught up in all the hype surrounding herself that she even begins to kind of lose herself as she morphs into this branded, fake April who exists solely for her social media and public persona.

The story really picks up steam as the world gets closer to solving the mystery of the Carls while April May tries to keep her life from spiraling out of control. It’s also worth mentioning that the world basically splits into two factions: Pro-Carl and Anti-carl with April May being the center of it all and though this, we end up seeing the best as well as the darkest sides of humanity.

What I Liked

I know there are a fair amount of people who disliked April May’s character but I rather liked her. What I especially enjoyed about her was how flawed she was. She’s narcissistic, self-centered, craves attention, is addicted to social media, is often insensitive to the feelings of others and makes more than her share of mistakes. Yet, it’s these characteristics along with all of her awful choices that make her human, all the more relatable and all the more likable. Sure, she made a lot of horrible decisions, and I disagreed with a lot of what she said and did. But through it all, I never disliked her. I think that was because she knew that she was flawed, knew she made terrible decisions and tried desperately to hide her flaws from her social media presence — though it was her social media presence that often caused her to make said poor decisions.

I enjoyed the fact actually that she was somewhat volatile and unpredictable, perhaps even an unreliable narrator, so we never knew what she was going to do next, which kept the story compelling.

I also loved how the whole world came together to help solve the literal puzzles of the Carls, a testament to the importance of working together and coming together as humankind. So in this way, the book was a commentary about humanity and how rather than taking things on as individuals, it’s when we work with others that things really begin to happen.

I also liked that though the message was a sharp commentary about our society, fame and social media, it wasn’t delivered in a heavy-handed or preachy way. I also found all the diversity and representation in this book refreshing.

Additionally, I found the mystery of the Carls riveting and though we do find out where they came from — kind of — we don’t learn everything about them. I hope this means that there will be a sequel to this book coming down the pipe.

What I Didn’t Like

I wish Andy’s character would have been built up a little more. As it was, I felt he was under-developed, and we barely learned nothing about him. I would have enjoyed seeing him share a little more of the spotlight with April May.

I’m also kind of on the fence about the ending. Though everything was wrapped up and we learned the mystery of the Carls, we are hit with a surprising cliffhanger which causes you to rear back and go “Whoa!”. Again, I’m hoping to see this vague-ish ending resolved in a future book. But that aside, I was satisfied by the conclusion and felt that the majority of my questions were answered.

Other than that, there really wasn’t anything I disliked about the story and felt the author delivered us a polished, high engrossing and spellbinding tale.

Verdict

I loved what the author had to say about such topics as social media fame, power dynamics, extremism, news, and Internet addiction, how we react to those different than us or that which is new or unfamiliar to us, and the effects that social media has on our society (for both good and ill), all the while delivering that message in a laugh-out-loud enjoyable way. I thought the book was not only a pleasurable romp but was also insightful and relevant to today’s times.

I thought this was an endearing book with quirky characters and a quirky story which provided an eye-opening social commentary on obsessive social networking, internet fame or any type of fame for that matter, ego and the horrors of extremism.

I’ve seen An Absolutely Remarkable Thing classified and referred to as a young adult book, but I think it should be classified more as New Adult. The main characters are in their early 20’s, most just out of college and though I loved the messages of the book, there is a good amount of swearing and conversations about sex (though not explicit), which many people may find inappropriate for younger readers.

I ended up loving this book and look forward to seeing what Mr. Green comes up with in the future. Recommended!

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Review of Mr. Frosty Pants by Leta Blake

December 13, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Mr frosty pants book cover Mr. Frosty Pants follows Casey who, when he left for college four years ago, ghosted his best friend, Joel. Casey had just come out to his parents which didn’t go all that well, and he decided not to go through the same thing with Joel. It’s also worth mentioning that he was and still is very much in love with Joel and didn’t want to risk Joel finding that out.

Now as for Joel, he’s curmudgeonly, ill-tempered and unapproachable, so much so that his employee at the hardware store that Joel owns has nicknamed him “Mr. Frosty Pants.” Joel initially comes across as a wholly unlikable character. But given that the story is told from alternating POVs, we learn the reason for Joel’s standoffishness: he’s been severely hurt in the past by his despicable and abusive father, leading to an overall feeling of unworthiness on his part as he struggles merely to survive day by day.

We also learn that he’s also not quite as straight as Casey believes and that he’s also been in love with and pining for Casey for years.

Still, when Casey shows up at Joel’s store with the intention of renewing their friendship, Joel wants nothing to do with him gives him more than a frosty reception. He certainly has no intention of telling Casey about how he feels about him and does his best to drive the man off. Joel thinks that Casey has no place in his life now, especially given that they come from two different classes; Casey from new money and Joel struggling to afford his next meal (Casey’s snobbish parents also do not approve of Joel and their son’s friendship with him). Joel believes that it would be easier on his heart if he kept Casey at a distance.

But Casey is not so easily rebuffed, especially once he learns from a mutual friend that Joel may have romantic feelings for him as well.

What follows is a sweet, slow-burn romance with two very complicated characters as Casey is determined to win Joel’s trust whereas Joel is determined to keep the gate protecting his heart firmly closed. Add to that class differences, homophobic parents and elitism, we quickly see that it’s not going to be an easy road for our main characters. Though this is a holiday romance, it’s not a typical one in that we see a little more angst in this story than one usually sees in Christmas romances but the overall result is worth it, and we end up with an intense, hard-hitting tale with plenty of heart.

I typically enjoy the friends to lovers trope and this novel was no exception. I loved seeing the relationship slowly bloom between Casey and Joel as barriers are torn down and trust earned. It’s a lovely story about opening one’s heart and taking a chance on love. There are several tropes in this book that work together wonderfully: childhood friends-to-lovers, second chances, ex-best friends, unrequited love, lovers reunited and rich boy vs. poor boy all of which, combined with the atmosphere of Christmas, add to the richness and depth of this tale.

Mr. Frosty Pants ended up being a story of redemption, acceptance and second changes that was heartbreaking in places and joyful in others. It’s not a fluffy or cheesy story but rather a hopeful, deep and fulfilling one about two characters discovering themselves. Their relationship felt authentic to me and their character traits believable and realistic, which wasn’t surprising given how complicated and multi-faceted each of them was. The intimate scenes are also tastefully done and in perfect proportion to the rest of the story.

All in all, a beautiful, heartfelt M/M Christmas story. Recommended!

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Review of Mistborn: The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

December 4, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

So I finally finished the third book in the Mistborn trilogy and wow, what a ride that was. It’s been several years since I’ve read a huge, epic, sweeping fantasy and I was just blown away by this one.

There’s so very little I can say about this book without giving anything away except that the world is dying and dying quickly and that the Emperor and his wife are tricked into releasing an evil entity who is hell-bent on destroying the world. Now it’s up a brave few to try and stop the creature — that is, if it isn’t already too late.

The Hero of Ages was superb though it completely destroyed me and wrecked. The bittersweet ending was both a thing of absolute beauty as well as heartbreaking. It’s one of those situations where you’re outrageously happy and completely devastated at the same time, and though it wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns, the ending felt right to me, which is quite a feat for an author to pull off. And just to be clear, there were no unanswered or unexplained questions at the end of this trilogy so, in this way, the conclusion was satisfying.

This series had amazing characters with a super kick-ass heroine whom I adored. The characters grew to be so much more than they had ever dreamed possible and their growth throughout the arc of the story was phenomenal: Elend, Vin, Sazed, Spook — even the Kandra. What I loved about this novel was the message that people are neither good nor evil, and even those whose actions appear to be evil and malicious in nature, may not entirely be so, once we dig further down to unearth the truth. There is also the theme of “nothing is as it seems” which happens to be one of my favorite tropes.

There are so many characters that I grew to love in this story, and at around 2,000 pages, it’s going to be difficult for me to leave them behind. I’m pretty sure that I’m going to be thinking about this story for a long time to come. Now there is another Mistborn trilogy referred to as Mistborn Era 2, so I do get to return to this world. However, I do believe it takes place 300 years after the first trilogy, so there’ll no doubt be new characters for me to love.

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