Beat the Reaper

The debut novel by a writer we should keep our eye on

BY COLIN ENQUIST (originally posted on murmur.com)

Book club selections can sometimes be terrible. Making you read a novel so out of your comfort zone it sickens you as you read it (that is, if you read it). Although, leaving your comfort zone can be a good thing. But with the first book in the Murmur Book Club, Beat the Reaper, was right up my alley.

Checking the novel out of the library on Thursday afternoon before I head to the airport, I flipped through a few pages while waiting for my flight but put the book back in my bag. I must not have been in the mood to read. After I got seated on the plane and re-opened the book, it was like a flash of light, the plane was already landing at my destination. Confused, I look down at the book as I shut the crisp pages on my bookmark. Holy shit, the bookmark was sitting about halfway through the novel. Sunday night, return flight, four-hour flight delay. Bonus for me!! The only reason I mention this is because on the back cover, one of the blurbs specifically reads “It’s a book you wish you had with you when you were trapped in an airport during a three-hour flight delay”. This person was not wrong and I’m glad this book was in my bag!

Reading fast, this gut wrenching tale of a mob hit-man turned doctor in the witness protection program refuses to step off the pedal.

The character of Dr. Peter Brown (a.k.a. Pietro Brnwa (a.k.a. the “Bearclaw”)) is such a likeable creation. In the first chapter, writer Josh Bazell paints the picture of a unique, determined individual with a shady past. That first chapter hooks you in and takes you 280 more pages to shake the damn hook out of your mouth.

Although the story is about Dr. Peter Brown, the flashbacks are presented like they were completely new characters. To an extent this is true, because at each stage of his life, Dr. Brown is a vastly different person. Jumping between Dr. Brown (current time), Pietro Brnwa (young to adultish times), and the “Bearclaw” (troubled adult times) so seamlessly, Bazell makes the questions you want answered thrive by connecting all three “characters” ever so slightly.

In this form, we also get three stories as well, using characters we know already, but we just don’t understand how they got to (or from) that certain point. Yet Dr. Brown is the constant that ties it all together, while Pietro and the “Bearclaw” tend to cross paths in a ways to set up his evolution to Dr. Brown.

His evolution though could end before his next shift, when a patient figures out that Dr. Brown is the former mob hit-man, the “Bearclaw”. Dr. Brown knows that soon his time for redemption will be over, but what can he do to slow it down.

While Bazell did a fantastic job organizing the three stories into one, I felt that the story of “Bearclaw” lost a little bit of credence. Most of this was because you knew he survived every scenario thrown at him. Hand the chapter of the shark tank fiasco to a friend, who has no knowledge of the book, they may tell you how intense that was, but if you already knew he was going to survive it loses all its intensity.

During Bazell’s tale of murder and medical mumbo-jumbo, he uses footnotes to give the reader more information which is not really required. At least at first glance, this seemed lazy on Bazell’s part, just a way to add information to the novel that was not needed. Then I realized it was much more then that. Bazell created footnotes that were not essential to the story, yet added much to it, giving the reader a learning experience or just making us laugh during a situation that we wouldn’t be laughing at normally. The first footnote on page two sets up part of the ending of this novel, without the footnote, it probably would not have been as effective.

The effective ending makes me want more. Be it another novel by Bazell or a sequel to this one. I will probably go and purchase the book when I get a chance, as this is a must for a re-read. Hopefully this turns out better then my last new favourite book from a new author.

Still waiting on Godspeed, yes I am talking to you Will Christopher Baer!!

Liberating Atlantis

Liberating Atlantis
by Matt Luecke

I like getting Christmas presents as much as anyone. But sometimes when I get books as presents, it’s not always a perfect present. For example, many, many years ago, I got a Star Wars book, set well after Return of the Jedi. Leia and Han had three kids, Luke was a full Jedi, etcetera. Halfway through, I found out they killed Chewbacca off several books ago. I put it down and didn’t read any more. There was just too much back story I hadn’t read “as it happened.”

Thus, I was slightly apprehensive when I got the newest Harry Turtledove offering. Turtledove is one of my two favorite authors and I have read as much of his science fiction/alternate history work as I have been able to (he also writes fantasy). But, Liberating Atlantis is the third book in his Atlantis series. Hence, I was worried about back story.

First, let me back up. Alternate history is a sub-genre of fiction and can be alternate history-science fiction or simply alternate history. Turtledove has written both brilliantly. For example, he wrote a fascinating series of alternate history science fiction with the premise that aliens with late 20th Century technology invade Earth right at the beginning of 1942. Turtledove also tackled “simple” alternate history in a series with the premise that Robert E. Lee’s “Lost Order” (which led to the North “victory” at Antietam) wasn’t lost. The result was a southern victory and generations of strife between the Confederate States and United States.

In Turtledove’s Atlantis series, he starts with the premise that Atlantis exists—it seems to be the eastern part of the U.S. and Canada moved to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. (This is part of the back story I could not glean from this, the third book). So, in 1452, Edward Radcliffe sailed the ocean blue and founded New Hastings on a totally unpopulated Atlantis. Later, Victor Radcliffe led the Atlanteans in a revolt against the British and found the United States of Atlantis (yes, USA). The Atlanteans even defeated Cornwallis.

Liberating Atlantis tells the story of Victor Radcliffe’s grandson, Frederick in the 1850s. Victor is the only white ancestor of Frederick, so Frederick is a house slave in the southern part of Atlantis. Frederick starts a slave uprising of blacks and “copperskins,” the equivalent of American Indians who are also slaves in this timeline. Because of the Atlantean Constitution, two “Consuls” are in charge, but either can veto any legislation of the Senate. So, while the Northern Consul prevents the national army from intervening, the insurrection gains momentum. Once the national army goes into action to quell the rebellion, it’s too late and the former slaves end up pulling off a modern Cannae, surrounding the national army in a trap. The Senate then eventually approves freedom for former slaves.

Though I enjoyed this book, it is not Turtledove’s best work. First, it does not describe the geography of Atlantis very well. Perhaps that is described better in the first two books. Also, it gets a little repetitive in the arguments that the Northern Counsel (Newton) and the Southern Counsel (Stafford) keep getting into about slavery. There are only three characters that are well developed: Radcliffe, Newton, and Stafford. Perhaps this is just a personal preference, but I don’t like when authors introduce new characters who are critical to the action near the end of the book. But, a key southern senator and his butler/house slave are introduced very late in the story. Last, it seems clear from the beginning that the uprising is going to succeed. Of course, these bits didn’t stop me from requesting (and getting) the first two books in the series for my birthday! But, if you’re new to Turtledove, check out Guns of the South (time travelers bring AK-47s to the South in 1864) or the Invasion series instead.