Book Review - Dani Amore's The Killing League

This book really frustrated me. I felt like author Dani Amore, had a potentially great idea, but then poorly executed it.

Amore's novel, The Killing League centers around a mysterious figure named, The Commissioner, who has invited a group of serial killers to participate in a killing game that he has named The Killing League. The story alternates between the Killing League's members and two characters that are the ultimate targets, Mack, former FBI Agent and Nicole, a woman who narrowly escaped after a flubbed serial killer attempt and has been trying to rebuild her life in Los Angeles.

There were several things that drove me nuts about this book.

First the structure. It's incredibly formulaic. The book goes through every character and then circles back around. We hear how each member of The Killing League kills their victims in each round of the game. The kills are unique to the individual (like the nurse who kills her victims with an injection), however none of the kills are very unique overall. It's pretty straight forward and quite dull. The formula then goes back to Mack and Nicole, who each get those alternating chapters, whether or not the info conveyed in the chapters adds much to the story. It's filler.

Thank goodness it was a short read, because the pacing is incredibly sluggish, especially the last half.

The characters are flat. The serial killers might as well melt into one person. They are all stereotypes and lack real motives or depth. Mack and Nicole were particularly uninteresting. I was rooting for them to die the entire story.

It's like the characters are from a comic book, with the villains and heroes existing in a black and white world.

The worst part of the story was the lack of conflict. None of the killers seem to have a big problem with receiving a mysterious invitation from a person who knows about their kills. They all show up at a hotel for a conference to receive their instructions for the league. There is zero conflict. Mack seems to solve crimes with ease. There is never a good explanation of how betting on the KL is allowed in Vegas. This story has too many convenient explanations and holes.

What really bothered me the most was the missed opportunity. I like the idea of a game with a group of serial killers. It made me think of stories like Ten Little Indians, Clue and Rat Race, but with killers. I love the competition aspect and the mysterious commissioner. I wanted to get into the minds of the killers and to have the story be truly twisted and creepy. I think that Nicole and Mack should have been eliminated as primary characters. They shouldn't be the story. The story should have been about the Killing League itself and should reduce Mack and Nicole to minor characters.

Although it had gruesome parts, it was definitely rated PG. It's a beach read. I wanted it to be full on sick and twisted, like a Saw or Hostel movie. I wanted the commissioner to have a more valid and compelling motive for creating the league and I wanted see more of its origins. I wanted the killers to struggle and get creative.

This story could have been so much more entertaining.

Book Review- Sally Smith O'Rourke's The Man Who Loved Jane Austen

I have a rant. However, before I rant, I need to state that I did not find anything technically wrong with Sally Smith O'Rourke's novel, The Man Who Loved Jane Austen. The story is solid and the characters are more or less developed. O'Rourke's novel is an easy read and I feel like she probably is a decent writer. I would give her another chance if she writes a book on a different subject.

O'Rourke's novel follows an artist named Eliza, who buys an antique vanity table and discovers letters written by author Jane Austen, hidden inside. In the process of trying to get the letters authenticated, Eliza meets a mysterious man, who is desperate to acquire the letters and has a very bizarre story.

Admittedly, I didn't see the twist that came 1/3 into the story. I wish that the twist had played out in a less conventional manner.

Now the rant...

This book was recommended to me by a close friend, whom after I acquired the book, admitted that it wasn't that good. She just liked it based on the subject matter, tending to read anything involving Jane Austen. I love Jane Austen, but I find all of the Jane Austen mania to be tiresome.

O'Rourke's novel is another book to add to the long list of overly sentimental, Jane Austen themed crap. I think what bothers me the most about these modern Jane Austen books, is that they nearly always obsessive over the romantic parts of Austen's books, in particular, Pride and Prejudice.

I feel like behind everyone one of these books is an author who needs to get their personal literary obsessions on the page. They don't add anything new to the genre and lack creativity.

I find it irritating that the focus is on the romance, rather than Austen's wit and social observations.

O'Rourke's book drove me extra nuts, because her modern characters were like caricatures of Austen's characters. I see what O'Rourke tried to do by having the modern characters mirror Jane's fictitious ones, but it never quite worked. Eliza, is often completely unlikeable in her superior attitude and the turning point where we are supposed to warm to her, never quite happens. I don't buy her connection with Darcy for a second. Darcy is just too weird and too perfect to be believed.

I feel like this is a fairytale, lacking all depth and meaning. The last few chapters with the Rose Ball were an overkill fantasy sequence.

Maybe lovers of romance novels with Fabio on the cover will love this book?

Book Review- Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air

In 1996 journalist Jon Krakauer took an assignment from Outside Magazine to join and report on a guided group climb to the summit of Mount Everest. A massive storm and a series of critical mistakes led to the deaths of four of the members of his expedition. Krakauer survived the climb and his subsequent article for Outside Magazine garnered a lot of attention, both positive and negative. Krakauer's book Into Thin Air is an expansion of his Outside Magazine article and his attempt to try to make sense of the tragic events that occurred on May 10, 1996.

I've read several of Krakauer's books and he always writes on events that leave me feeling very unsettled. I started this novel with rather romantic notions of mountain climbing and the adventurous spirit of those who attempt it. I'm not a climber myself and prior to reading this book, didn't know much about the effects of high altitude climbing.

After reading this book, my views shifted dramatically. The people who climb Everest are just a bit crazy. It's not to say that everyone that attempts the summit has a good chance of dying in the process, but it does seem that if you manage to get that high, the effects of the altitude will leave you severely impaired. You will likely experience a loss of reason and coherence, leaving you to navigate the mountain in a drugged like state.

That's just insane!!!!

Now, I am sure that climbers have strong opinions regarding high altitude climbs and Krakauer's observations, but just solely going off what is written in this book, climbing Everest under the best conditions sounds like nightmare. The events in this book are the worst kind of horror story.

I was even more amazed at the callousness of some climbers, who put their own aspirations above helping a person desperately in need. On the reverse, Krakauer's story is also filled with heroic deeds and selfless individuals.

Irrespective of the disaster chronicled in the book, Krakauer does a solid job of bringing out the various personalities of the other climbers. Mountaineering is a sport that brings out driven, A-Type personalities, even when some of those qualities are masked beneath a hippy exterior. The people in this story and their motives are as interesting as the impending disaster.

This is a very quick and upsetting read. It's an intense ride handled deftly by a solid non-fiction writer.