Blinded by the Light?

James Becker's The First Apostle is a work of mystery fiction in the vein of Dan Brown's work.  Though I enjoyed this book, I would have to admit that I find Brown's work to be more compelling to read.  They both suffer from the tendency to make characters, especially villains, one dimensional or caricatures.  Once again, the villain is the Catholic Church, who is in league with La Cosa Nostra in this particular tale.  Like Brown, Becker attempts to give his work a veneer of historical accuracy, but he does admit that much of his tale is speculative.  Without trying to give away too much of the plot, Becker's work is premised on the work of historian Joseph Atwill's Caesar's Messiah.  While Becker is hypercritical of the legacy of the Catholic Church, he seems to be willing to accept Atwill's work at face value, though most mainstream historians do not give much credence to Atwill's thesis.  With a title like, The First Apostle, most readers would likely realize that within a Christian context, this is a work related to the life of Paul of Tarsus, known to some as Saint Paul.  

The story begins with an accidental discovery of a Latin inscription "HIC VANDICI LATITANT", which translates into English as "Here lie the liars."A young British couple, Mark and Jackie Hampton, discover this inscription when they are remodeling their home in Italy.  After a seemingly innocuous Internet search by Jackie to learn more about this cryptic message, the story begins in earnest.  The Church and its associates are alerted to this search and trace it back to the Hampton's home.  Jackie ends up dead.  One of their close friends, Chris Bronson, who happens to be an English police officer comes to help Mark deal with the logistics of Angela's death and discovers a possible connection to Jackie's death and this inscription.  

Within the Vatican, a Cardinal Vertutti is alerted when the Vatican's Italian "partner", La Cosa Nostra learns of this inscription.  This inscription is related to the Vitalian Codex, an important and secret document that is lacked in the Apostolic Penitentiary, which is one of the most secretive and secure parts of the Vatican Library.  This codex contains information about the primary object of these searches, the Exomologesis. 

I wonder if there is a Library of Congress classification for fiction based on various conspiracies regarding the Catholic Church, the life, death, or possible marriage of Jesus, and assorted other figures like Peter and Paul.  All it takes is some historical vestige of an event or person and anything that is shady or incomplete can be accounted for by appeal to the Vatican Library, Opus Dei, or some other sinister wing of the Catholic Church.  I suppose I should disclose that I am a lifelong and practicing Roman Catholic, but I think my previous reviews show that I am pretty fair in my criticism of abuses of the Catholic Church past and present.  

Back to the story, once Chris Bronson begins to put the pieces together, the heat is turned up by his pursuers, who are truly pursuing information about the "liars" rather than Bronson and Hampton.  When Bronson realizes that he is out of his element with this historical and archaeological puzzle, he turns to the one person he knows who might be able to help- his ex-wife, Angela.  Angela works at the British Museum.  Once she receives pictures from Chris of the inscription, she forwards these to a colleague, Jeremy Goldman who is a specialist in ancient languages.  

Naturally, the Mafia is watching Bronson's every move, even in cyberspace, so no one is safe, especially Bronson and his ex-wife.  At this point, the book turns rather formulaic as the Bronsons race to solve the mystery, while the bad guys try to do the same and to tie up loose ends as well.  

The writing is good and Becker tells a fine story.  The narrative goes from the present day to first century Rome through the tragic fate of the Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade before returning to the  present with the frantic search for the liars in the hills on the outskirts of Rome.

If you like mystery thrillers with a historical twist, I think you might enjoy The First Apostle despite Becker's strong antipathy for the Roman Catholic Church and his skepticism regarding the historical origins of Christianity.  

God's Advocate

If it is not quite evident yet on this blog, religion and theology are two topics of great interest to me.  I have no formal training in either area, however, I do have a strong interest in these topics.  I would have to say that what I have learned is typical of the auto-didact, my reading is not particularly structured or systematic, but I think I am fairly well-informed on the issue of the existence of God.  Dean Overman's A Case for the Existence of God is a serious, intellectually dense, stimulating, and compelling in arguing for the existence of a God, a creator.  Overman, though he doesn't beat you over the head with it, is also a Christian.  However, as someone who is a lawyer, a theology student at Princeton Theological Seminary, and a former Templeton scholar in information theory, physics, and religion at Oxford. Overman is a formidable intellect in defense of God's existence, not an evangelist for Christianity.  

The book is only 160 pages long and contains 13 chapters. However, if you read the afterward and the three appendices, the book stretches out to around 200 pages.  In these pages, Overman packs a tremendous amount of argumentation and information.  I would not recommend reading it in one sitting.  You need time to digest the information presented.

Overman begins by arguing that if science can theorize about imperceptible objects, then one cannot be prevented from making arguments about God using theoretical and not empirical concepts too.  I think this argument is particularly timely given the fact that physicists recently spoke about finding the God particle (Higgs Boson), but cannot actually see it, we can only find traces of it.  

Overman argues that there is sufficient reason for the universe to be not only intelligible, but also rational and not merely random.  "The conundrum of using reason to argue against the existence of reason appears odd if not self-defeating. The intelligibility of physical reality appears to require the principle of sufficient reason." (25)

He goes on to also show why it is reasonable to conceive of a creator who is outside of its own creation and that our universe likely has a creator.  "Don Page, one of Stephen Hawking's collaborators, understands this issue well and uses the example of an artist's drawing of a circle to illustrate that the absence of a beginning or an end does not remove the artist as the cause of the circle." (40)

Overman next goes to the problem of a supernatural creation, but first he uses science to show how difficult a natural and random creation would be. "Moreover, because a creation out of nothing is not within the power of natural causes, one rationally conclude that, if the universe began to exist, it had a supernatural cause." (43) Why is it tough to prove a natural creation? Overman argues that at the very beginning of creation, at what is known as Planck time, there were no laws of physics, actually no physics at all. He elaborates," To be rational the atheist must show how something comes from nothing. Otherwise, the existence of something is not explained, unless that existence is a necessary existence, independent of anything else. One has to have a starting point, and if an atheist is not going to beg the question why her starting point exists, she must begin from really nothing- what Francis Schaeffer called nothing-nothing. This means no laws, no quantum fields, no wave functions, no observers, no energy, no particles, and no motion." (51)
The advantage of the theistic view is that God who is outside of the universe is the cause of creation. As a another trace of a creator, Overman spends the better part of "The new mathematics of information is consistent with the reasons for the existence of God emphasized in this book. These reasons are based on the argument for a necessary being, the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics, the order and rationality inherent in the universe,the fine-tuning of the universe for the development of conscious life, the evidential force of religious experiences, and the reason there is something rather than nothing." (73) Chapter 6 detailing how intelligle and mathematic the universe truly is. Overman writes, "The new mathematics of information is consistent with the reasons for the existence of God emphasized in this book. These reasons are based on the argument for a necessary being, the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics, the order and rationality inherent in the universe,the fine-tuning of the universe for the development of conscious life, the evidential force of religious experiences, and the reason there is something rather than nothing." (73)
As he continues building his case for God, Overman spends some time considering the implications of quantum physics for the universe and for the history of the debate over God's existence. As Overman notes, many of the most famous skeptics and opponents of religion based their arguments on a Newtonian scientific paradigm. With the work of scientists like Max Planck, Werner Heisenberg, and Albert Einstein, the atheistic arguments have not ncessarily kept pace with science. To use one example, Overman shows that a purely materialistic view of reality creates problems for trying to make sense of our world. He writes, "The observer cannot make the measurement or observation, and also be part of the probability description of a physical system. The observer must always be someone outside of the probability description of the wave function."(77) this is an application of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. Overman devotes most of chapter 8 to a discussion of the relatively new field of algorithmic information theory. Making use of this field, Overman makes a strong case that information may be the new paradigm for energy and an integral component of reality. It is also not reliant on matter for its existence. Overman explains, "Even when one attempts to apply a reductionist method and press on to deep-down reality, one finds that the foundation for all energy and matter appears to be an expression of information. This may remind one of the claim that 'in the beginning was the Word (Logos)." (86-87)
As you might expect from a trained lawyer, Overman does spend some space on the formal proofs for God's existence, relying heavily on the philosopher and writer, Mortimer J. Adler's book How to Think About God.  Overman doesn't think that proofs are superfluous to a belief in God and to the Christian faith, but he also doesn't feel there is any particular reason that one has to be convinced by reason to be a theist and Christian.
One of the weakest parts of the book is his argument, which isn't original, that without God there is no morality and no manner by which we can establish morality or distinguish between good and evil.  The famed philosopher and logician Bertrand Russell's classic What I Believe convinced me that an atheist can be moral and can make a case for ethics and morality. Overman's hyperbolic argument leads him to make comments like this: "Our distinction between good and evil between right and wrong are absurd if there is no God. If there is no God, a serial killer and a benevolent charity are ultimately of equal moral value. (Actually there is no moral value if there is no God.)" (89)  Now, this is just rhetorical grandstanding, in my opinion.  Overman is too smart to not be aware of philosophies like Utilitarianism that could make a compelling argument why a charity is more morally valuable than a serial killer.  If taking to its limits, Overman's argument makes some sense.  In other words, I believe that one should not murder or steal because I believe that God has created all of us humans.  Similarly, I can argue for environmental restraint because again God has created our world.  I do have an absolute standard that an atheist does not. However, just because there is no absolute moral or ethical standard does not preclude the development of a secular ethical and moral framework.  Also, this type of absolute standard has not prevented Jews, Christians, and Muslims from committing horrible atrocities against one another and even within their own faith traditions.
Overman does do a nice job of trying to argue for other approaches to God beyond the merely rational method.  In this portion of his work he appeals to famous scientists and philosophers like Blaise Pascal, Soren Kierkegaard, Martin Buber, Simone Weil, Mortimer Adler, and others.  Everyone one of these individuals possessed a keen intellect, but they also saw clearly the limits of reason.  I was familiar with most of these thinkers and their arguments, but if you are not, this is a good introduction to some alternate ways to attempt to develop an understanding and relationship to God.
In his appendices, Overman expands on why he sees the materialist and atheistic case for creation fall short.  Appealing once again to information theory, Overman argues, "The laws of physics are basically compact formulas, the millions of instructions (information) contained in the smallest living organism's DNA requires sequences that are too random and contain too much information to be derived from compact formulas.  If I understand this correctly, Overman is arguing that life as we know it cannot be derived from the relatively simple algorithms available in the natural world.  He cites the work of physicist Paul Davies, who has written a series of books that have over time drawn him to the side of theism.  Davies writes, "The heart of my objection is this: The laws of physics that operate between atoms and molecules are, almost by definition, simple and general.  We would not expect them alone to lead inexorably to something both highly complex and highly specific. ... genomes are more or less random sequences of base pairs, and that this very randomness is essential if they are to play the role of evolvable, information-rich molecules." (Davies, The Fifth Miracle, 254-256)
Overman concludes by invoking the work of the mathematician Kurt Godel and his Incompleteness Theorem which argues that mathematics and other systems of information cannot ultimately prove their own validity.  I am butchering this, but you can look up Godel's argument if you wish.  Here is Overman's take on it: Godel's theorem demonstrates that mathematics  is incomplete because the system leaves unanswered the truth or falsity of certain mathematical propositions that are the logical results of valid mathematical inferences. . . . There is clearly a limit on the ability of human reasoning to know that logical thought processes will lead to truth."
This is not an easy read and requires the reader to ponder many new and difficult concepts.  Overman does a masterful job of making many of these concepts comprehensible.  His use of appendices allows the non-specialist to stick to the text, but does offer more detailed analysis of these ideas, if you are interested.  He also uses extensive footnotes, but I did find these to be mostly helpful.  A most important book for the ongoing debate regarding the existence of God.

Czar

A World of Chaos

I have now finished Nick Drake's Egypt trilogy.  After finishing Egypt: The Book of Chaos, I do feel that Drake saved the best for last.  I have previously reviewed volumes 1 and 2 in this blog and readers will see that I am a fan of Drake's work.  However, he greatly expands the scope of his interests and the novel itself travels far beyond the comfort of home in recounting the final mystery and adventure experienced by Rahotep, the Seeker of Mysteries.
In this volume, Drake takes his readers into a world that is in transition and has fallen on hard times.  I don't know if he intended the parallel or not, but I cannot help but make comparisons between our present 21st century world that is also full of problems and the end of the 18th dynasty of Egypt that found itself on similarly slippery footing.  Rahotep is still working for the Medjay, but politics (his bureuacratic boor of a boss, Nebamun) and economics (he still needs to support his family) lead Rahotep into the world of being a hired gun.  Of course, working for his dear friend and mentor, Nakht, who we met in the first book and who figured more prominently in the second, is not the worst possible situation Rahotep could find himself in.  Drake describes this new dynamic: "Once upon a time, I had been an invited guest at Nakht's famous social functions. Tonight I was here because I was working. Nakht had started to employ me occasionally as his personal bodyguard, saying he could trust my discretion in a way he could trust no one else. With his customary tact, he had made it seem as if it was I who was doing him the favour. And given the unreliable and ever-diminishing payments from my Medjay work, and the spiralling costs of even the most basic of foods, I was absolutely desperate for any means to provide for my family."
Still, the book opens with Rahotep at a crime scene where he discovers a mysterious piece of papyrus in the mouth of one of the murder victims.  When Nebamun arrives on the scene to shoo away Rahotep, Rahotep keeps the papyrus a secret from his "boss."After finishing his security work for Nakht, Rahotep seeks refuge in a bar where he happens to encounter his former assistant, Khety.  Khety has been promoted and no longer works for or often with Rahotep.  However, he has discovered some important facts about a new gang of opium smugglers who are terrorizing other gangs and seem intent to corner the market on opium in Thebes and elsewhere throughout Egypt.  Though Rahotep is intrigued, his cynicism keeps him from agreeing to help Khety work on this new development in the Theban drug trade.
The next day while accompanying Nakht to a meeting that turns out to be at the Malkata Palace, Rahotep confides in Nakht about his meeting with Khety.  This narrative thread is overshadowed however when Rahotep learns of the true reason that Nakht asked him to accompany him to this meeting.  Rahotep finds himself before the King, the villainous Ay, and the Queen, Ankhesenamun, who befriended Rahotep in Volume 2, where she had previously been the wife of Tutankhamun. Once again, the marital affairs of the queen are of the highest concern.  Ay, who had been so important and powerful in the previous two volumes of this trilogy is dying.  With the imminent death of her husband, Ankhesenamun is concerned with the aftermath of Ay's death.  The figure of Horemheb who so desperately wanted to be made king in the previous volume looms even larger now.  He still controls the armies of Egypt and there does not seem to be any other Egyptian suitor who makes sense for Ankhesenamun.  However, she and most of the royals and the bureaucrats fear what life would be like under Horemheb, so the queen has come up with a most daring plan to circumvent the designs of Horemheb.
Egypt had been engaged in a long and seemingly unsuccessful war with the Hittite Empire to the North.  Ankhesenamun decides to send a letter to the Hittite King asking for him to send one of his sons to Egypt to become the new King of Egypt.  In one stroke, the war would end and both Empires would gain by such an alliance.  However, this mission cannot be conducted openly, so Nakht, the Hittite ambassador, Simut, the leader of the Palace Guards, and Rahotep will make a secret journey to the Hittites to bring the offer of marriage to them.  The queen personally asks Rahotep to go on this mission and he feels that he must accept such a request, if you can call it that.  To sweeten the offer, the Queen has authorized for Rahotep to succeed Nebamun as the Chief of the Thebes Medjay.  Furthermore, Nakht offers to allow Rahotep's family to live in his mansion during the duration of this trip.  If Nakht does not return, Rahotep and his family will inherit Nakht's house and his wealth.  Sounds like a great offer, but Rahotep, after his last adventure with Tutankhamun had promised his wife Tanefert that he would never leave his family again.  Now he must confront her with news that he is breaking his promise and under strict orders from the Queen, he cannot reveal what he is doing or where he is going.
As he did with his previous two volumes, Drake does a superb job with the dynamics of married couples.  In keeping with the more somber tone of this book, Drake shows how Rahotep's marriage has suffered over the years too.  "A little distance had opened between us, almost unnoticed, rarely acknowledged. We made love infrequently. The couch was for sleep at the end of exhausting days. I confided in her less often. Perhaps that is the fate of all marriages."
Rahotep did not mention the offer from the Queen, but goes into work the next day.  Here he discovers that his friend and former assistant Khety has been brutally murdered in the same manner as the victims from the crime scene that opened the narrative.  Rahotep is full of remorse, anger, and bitterness that Nebamun exacerbates when he arrives on the scene. He tells Rahotep that someone else will investigate this crime, but Rahotep demands to be given this case.  The argument ends with Rahotep punching Nebamun and losing his job because of it.
This gives Rahotep little choice but to go on this mission, though it causes a rift between him and his wife.  Rahotep learns that the leader of this new opium gang is called "Obsidian" and the opium source is high in the Bekaa Valley of what is present day Afghanistan.  Once Nakht learns of Khety's death, he forcefully tells Rahotep that he cannot do anything that would jeopardize their mission to the Hittites.  However, as they are traveling north towards the opium and going through many trading posts, Rahotep does try to do some investigating.  After almost getting killed in an opium house, Rahotep has the following vivid dream: "Later that night, when I had finally drifted off to sleep,  I dreamt a thin cord, clotted with blood, had been stitched into my mouth and tongue, and then down my throat, into my heart, where a thick black knot held it tight. And the knot was feeding on my heart's black blood, and growing bigger. And no matter how hard I pulled, no matter how much agony I tolerated as I pulled, I could not loosen that knot." This is but one instance of some of the phenomenal writing that Drake has in this gripping novel.
The group goes on and eventually confronts the enigmatic Army of Chaos that controls the opium growing region.  On their return journey from the Hittite Empire with one of the Hittite princes, Rahotep finds himself in a situation where he must betray his marital vows to save his life and potentially the life of Nakht and Simut.  In the course of this betrayal, he becomes an opium addict.  He is rescued from the Army of Chaos by the Egyptian Army and finds himself face to face with Horemheb.  Simut is imprisoned and Nakht is seemingly lost in the battle with the Egyptians.  Rahotep bargains with Horemheb in a plea to investigate the corruption within the Egyptian Army, who Rahotep has discovered is part of this new opium cartel.
Rahotep returns to Thebes in the course of his investigation, but is surprised by the reception he gets from the Queen and others.  They and even Rahotep's family had been told he had died in the battle.  The novel concludes with a masterful unveiling of the identity of Obsidian.  Nick Drake does justice to the world and characters he has created in this tremendous trilogy.  I don't know if there is much more he can do with Rahotep after the conclusion of this trilogy, but I would gladly accept more stories of his continuing adventures.  I would highly recommend this book to those of you who like historical fiction, detective fiction, and good old fashioned mysteries.

Rigging Jury

Maybe Shakespeare had it wrong when he advised, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” Lawyers are not well liked, in general. Often they are depicted as greedy, corrupt and/or incompetent. You do have the occasional quixotic lawyer who is trying to challenge the system, but that is the exception.

Korey Kaul, a public defender in Lawrence, I imagine is a lawyer that Shakespeare would have liked. Kaul, in addition to his legal career, is also the author of a new legal thriller titled “Jury Rig: A Legal Caper,” which is available from Barnes & Noble and Amazon. One twist that Kaul brings to the genre of legal thrillers is to choose a jury consultant and not an attorney for his protagonist. Kansas City-based Kate Summerlin is a plucky, sardonic and earnest heroine who readers will enjoy following through her most adventurous and intriguing journey to represent her clients in this fast-paced novel.

I suppose it is appropriate for me to add my own personal disclosure regarding the author of this novel so as not to appear biased or unethical. I have known Korey Kaul since we met at Landon Junior High as seventh-graders. Still, I am confident that my professional and literary judgment has not been compromised because of my relationship with Korey.

One of the strengths of this debut novel is the humor that Kaul infuses his narrative with. This humor is evident in the opening scene of the text where we are introduced to Kate Summerlin as she is attempting to help her client pick a jury for a capital murder case. Kate subscribes to the theory of “jury chaos,” which posits that if you get one or more annoying jurors in the group, the others will do nearly anything to get themselves away from these oddballs as soon as possible. Summerlin thinks she has identified just such a juror. “As Eighteen settled into her chair, elbows taking command of the armrests on either side, she raised her left buttock almost imperceptibly. No juror, except horror-stricken Nineteen, at whom Eighteen had aimed her silent flatulence, saw the sly maneuver. All apparently smelled it. ... Oh, yes, Eighteen was the perfect juror.” Not only did Kaul do a very fine job of describing the flatulating juror, but also he complements the description with understated humor.

From this opening scene, Kaul launches the reader into a rollicking journey that takes Summerlin through various parts of Kansas City, Lawrence and other locales in Missouri. Summerlin’s normal routine is interrupted when she is kidnapped by a strange Santa-looking man who takes her to an abandoned warehouse to meet her mentor and boss. Farley Greene, her mentor and the author of the standard book on jury selection, is being held captive by this stranger who has convinced a pair of stoner brothers that he might be the devil. In addition to this case, Summerlin is simultaneously working on a case involving a lawsuit brought by an undercover cop whose identify was revealed, a situation that resulted in the officer being shot. Finally, Kate is essentially coerced into representing a group of homeless individuals suing one of the richest men in Kansas City.

This is quite an impressive array of plots and characters Kaul has constructed. I feel that for the most part he keeps everything moving well. At the same time, I feel that perhaps Kaul could have done without one of these threads. He does provide quite a whopper regarding the true identity of the demonic Santa figure.

Kaul does a good job of tying up all the narrative threads by the end of the book. I think that readers will enjoy the character of Summerlin, who I feel is one of Kaul’s most impressive achievements. Not every debut novelist can create a protagonist who is so credible and likeable. I think Kaul demonstrates superb characterization and empathy in crafting a female protagonist like Summerlin. I hope this is but the first of a long series of novels recounting her adventures in the legal profession.

King Tut

In the second volume of his Egyptian trilogy, Nick Drake is in a groove when it comes to his narrative, material, and protagonist.  In Tutankhamun: The Book of Shadows, Drake gives us another adventure and complex mystery that the determined Medjay detective, Rahotep endeavors to solve.  At the end of his first volume, Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead, we are briefly introduced to two of the main characters in this story- Tutankhamun and his queen and half sister, Ankhesenamun.
In the previous text, Ankhesenamun is a young girl who is one of several sisters who is upset over the disappearance of their mother, Nefertiti.  However, in that story she is not even the most prominent of the sisters.  Tutankhamun is introduced in one of the last scenes of the book, though as the son of the King Akhenaten, he is then known as Tutankhaten.  What makes the dynamic intriguing at the opening of this narrative is the fact that as a dynastic couple, Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun represent two strands of the royal family.  He is the son of Ankhaten and she is the daughter of Nefertiti. So while they are a couple, they are much more companions and survivors then a typical romantic couple.  Of course, given that it was much more common to arrange marriages for dynastic purposes then for love, this arrangement is not surprising.
Drake brings back most of the characters from the first book, but adds a few too.  Rahotep now has a son, Amenmose, and his three daughters, Sekhmet, Thuyu, and Nedjmet.  His assistant from the last book, Khety, has been brought back by Rahotep to Thebes, where he serves Rahotep still.  Drake adds a new character, Nebamun, who is the Head of the Thebes Medjay.  Drake adds this petty and heartless bureaucrat as a nice foil for Rahotep.  Drake indicates that this position as Head of the city Medjay was something that Rahotep could have earned, however, Rahotep claims that he would not want such a boring desk job.  Nevertheless, by adding Nebamun, Drake provides another obstacle that Rahotep must navigate in pursuit of his latest mystery.
The book begins with Rahotep being summoned to the scene of a gruesome murder.  Before he can really have an opportunity to investigate this crime, there is an incident during a public ceremony involving the young royal couple.  Rahotep is discouraged from investigating the cause of this public act of rebellion by his supervisor Nebamun.  The real action of the novel begins when Rahotep returns home late after this public disturbance to encounter an official from the Royal Household who asks Rahotep to accompany him to meet someone who he cannot name.  Rahotep agrees and eventually finds himself in the company of Ankhesenamun, the Queen and daughter of Nefertiti.
In this second installment, I sense a confidence in his writing and in the handling of Rahotep that I did not sense in the initial novel.  Drake seems to me to have figured out who Rahotep is and how he is going to act and respond in various situations.  I had the nagging feeling in the first novel that Drake didn't quite know what a Theban detective would sound like or how to portray him in his surroundings.  Drake has allowed himself to also expand some of his discussions behind the mere exposition of plot or the rather mundane and formulaic action found in most detective/mystery novels.
During light dinner party banter, Rahotep has the following dialogue: "'Why don't you accompany me one night, and find out?'" I said. 'I could show you the back streets and the shanties where honest but unlucky people survive on the rubbish we throw out without thinking. And I could introduce you to some very successful career criminals, experts in viciousness and cruelty, who trade in humans as a commodity. Many of them have fine offices in the city, and beautiful wives and children set up in lovely homes in the comfort of the new suburbs. They throw lavish dinners. They invest in property. But their riches are made in blood. I can show you the reality of this city, if that is what you are looking for.'"
There is an honesty and credibility to this speech that shows Drake firing on all cylinders in this novel.  Rahotep is asked by Ankhesenamun to help investigate the appearance of some odd objects that are being left around the royal household despite guards and other safety measures.  At the same time, a series of grisly murders are being perpetrated by someone who might be connected to the events in the royal household.  All the while Drake is providing a credible portrait of what life could have been like for a young monarch like Tutankhamun.
At the center of the political action in the novel is the issue of who is the true ruler of Egypt.  Ay, who we met in the previous volume of this series, is still serving as regent and de facto ruler of Egypt.  However, age and bad health are taking their toll on him and Tutankhamun is chafing under his regency.  The young rising general, Horemheb, is asserting himself too since he has already married into the royal family as the husband of the unstable and mysterious Mutnodjmet, the sister of Nefertiti.  A power struggle is playing out with the King and Queen seemingly being more witnesses than actors in this drama.  However, Drake deftly shows that these two young rulers have more ability and bravery than they are given credit for.  Their marriage is often compared, though not necessarily directly, with the marriage of Rahotep and his wife Tanefert.  Drake writes:
It often seems to me that all troubles and all crimes begin with families. . . . And so it is with marriage. We have a good marriage. If I have disappointed Tanefert by my lack of worldly success then she has disguised it well. She says that she did not marry me for my fortune. And then she gives me one of her knowing smiles. But I know there are half-understood things between us that we keep in silence, as if words would somehow make them too painfully real. Perhaps it is so between all couples whose relations have survived for many years; the unnoticed influences of habit, and the perils of domestic tedium. Even the familiarity with each other's bodies, once so obsessively desired, leads to an undeniable hunger for the surprise of a stranger's beauty. The beauty and the contempt of familiarity . . . perhaps that is what I need to escape, when I relish the excitement of my work?"  There is some real understanding of humanity in that passage and it is so elegantly written.
In Tutankhamun: The Book of Shadows, Nick Drake has created a rich and intriguing work of mystery.  He makes excellent use of the historical backdrop of the life and death of King Tutankhamun.   From this historical scaffolding, Drake builds an intricate puzzle that Rahotep works to solve going through secret societies, astronomical phenomena, professional jealousies and disappointments, and the often ultimately unfathomable mysteries of desire, cruelty, and passion.  It was a great read and I would highly recommend it.

Daddy Gave Me His Name

To say that I am estranged from my father would be an understatement.  I spoke to him last month for the first time in 20 years.  It was odd speaking to him on the phone.  I didn't have to search hard to find him. He is living in my hometown and his number is in the phonebook.  I found him quickly with an Yahoo People Search.  Nevertheless, we are estranged.  So when I called him out of the blue last month from work, I wasn't sure what to expect.  Would he answer, would he hang up on me, would he remember me?  

All of these emotions and more have likely been shared by the fathers and children chronicled in Mark Bryan's book, The Prodigal Father: Reuniting Fathers and Their Children.

Bryan's book is more than a manual for how to actually work through reuniting with your father or child, though it is that too.  In fact, this part of the book may be the most valuable.  Bryan very sensibly and thoroughly provides a step-by-step process for fathers to reach out to their child(ren).  He also wisely includes many tips for how to reestablish a relationship with your former wife or mother of your child(ren) too.  Bryan argues persuasively that you are going to have a difficult time if you simply try to reconnect with your child, while ignoring the mother of your child.  He includes a special chapter for mothers that is sensitive, yet firm in arguing that a child needs to have the presence of his birth father in his/her life, regardless of what has transpired in the past.  

Another valuable component of Bryan's book is the various testimonials that he includes from both fathers and their children at the various stages of this process.  He is adamant that this is a process.  It is not like me just calling up my father and shooting the breeze with him.  Even I know that while I have reestablished contact with my father, this is only the first step of what I hope will be a full reconciliation with him.  For me, I am not doing it for myself only.  I have three children, only one of whom has ever met my father.  That son was less than one month old when the visit occurred, so I am not even sure if this  counts as meeting my father.  Bryan doesn't pull any punches or provide any false hope for what he calls "prodigal fathers", but yet it is ultimately a hopeful book that I no played no small part in my attempt to reestablish contact with my own father.  

The best part of this book for me is Bryan's own testimony.  He married his high school sweetheart when she became pregnant and they tried to make it work for a few years, before she basically kicked him out.  She had found another man, who would become his son's stepfather, and Bryan found himself alone and divorced when he was barely an adult.  While Bryan is an accomplished storyteller, I do feel that he is quite candid with his own experience and the various errors he made along the way.  Putting his money where his mouth is, he has also established The Father Project that is affiliated with Harvard University.  

This is a book that I would recommend to any son or daughter who has an estranged relationship with their father.  I would also recommend it to fathers who are not a part of their children's lives for whatever reason.  Finally, I think this is a book that divorced women with children should most definitely read.  It might provide some insight into why their ex-husband may find it difficult to be a part of their children's lives.  An eloquent and helpful book that addresses an issue that is so very common, especially here in the United States.  

Battling the Noonday Demon

There are times when you read a book and you feel that you have been waiting for this book your whole life.  It is as if this book had been written with you in mind.  I have always had an attachment to the books I read, sometimes too much of an attachment, but this book answered some lingering questions I had about my life choices and it helped to clarify how to deal with some issues I had been struggling with throughout my adult life.  I know I sound hyperbolic, but Acedia & me: a Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life by Kathleen Norris is a book that has made an important difference in my life.
Norris' book is partially a memoir, partially a meditation on our culture, partially a critique of how we deal with depression and other medical issues related to mental health, and it is finally a book on spirituality, a topic that Norris feels our "modern" culture has neglected in many ways.
The organizing principle for this book is Norris' exploration of the term acedia and its impact on her life and on our culture.  As she points out from the beginning of the book, acedia is a term that is not well-known and when it is discussed it is often mistranslated or grouped with related concepts.
One of the best features of this book is what she calls "A Commonplace Book" that has various monks, writers, and mental health professionals discussing the term acedia.
Norris when discussing the impact of acedia claims: "Life then looms like a prison sentence, day after day of nothingness."  When I read this I was reminded of Walker Percy's first novel, The Moviegoer.  In this novel, Percy, who was trained as a psychiatrist, speaks of the affliction known as "everydayness."  I think that Percy, as a Catholic convert who was familiar with Catholic tradition, perhaps had acedia in mind, though I don't recall him using that term in the novel.  Whatever term you want to use, Norris feels that this affliction, can suck the life out of one's existence.  During my senior year of high school, I went into a major funk that most of my teachers, family, and friends might have called depression.  I feel now that I might have been suffering from acedia.
Norris traces this idea back to a fourth century monk known as Evagrius Ponticus.  Evagrius and others also refer to acedia as "The Noonday Demon."  Norris explains: "The desert monks termed acedia 'the noonday demon' because the temptation usually struck during the heat of the day, when the monk was hungry and fatigued, and susceptible to the suggestion that his commitment to a life of prayer was not worth the effort."
Norris claims that we can become basically addicted to acedia, which "offers a kind of spiritual morphine: you know the pain is there, yet can't rouse yourself to give a damn."  Norris is also quick to point out that acedia is not depression.  She makes the argument that depression is often treatable by counseling and medication, but that acedia is "best countered by spiritual practice and the discipline of prayer."
As a writer and spouse, Norris has "come to believe that acedia can strike anyone whose work requires self-motivation and solitude, anyone who remains married "for better or worse,' anyone who is determined to stay true to a commitment that is sorely tested in everyday life."  I couldn't agree more.  Acedia is the temptation that it is easier or even better to walk away from our commitments, especially those most dear to us.
For monks and for Norris, one must re-engage in life, even though it may seem tedious.  "When I stop running from my life, I can return to living it, willing to be present again, in the present moment. But this means embracing those routine and repetitive activities that I tend to scorn."
However, Norris and other commentators don't want to entirely dismiss acedia.  The poet Joseph Brodsky in referring to "boredom" claims that: "The reason boredom deserves such scrutiny is that it represents pure, undiluted time in al of its repetitive, redundant, monotonous splendor." In other words, acedia or boredom is a gift, a spiritual gift.  This is what St. John of the Cross was getting at in his classic work, The Dark Night of the Soul.  You must live through this dark night in order to return to the light of morning.
According to Evagrius, monks and anyone suffering from acedia must cultivate cardiognosis, literally knowledge of the heart.  This is not something one comes by easily, which is why Evagrius, Norris, and others believe that the fight against acedia is a constant, if not a lifelong struggle.
Throughout this evocative and often heart-wrenching narrative, Norris deals with not only acedia, but also a struggle with loss.  Near the end of the narrative, she shares a prayer that helped her deal with her own demons.
"This is  another day, O Lord. I know not what it will bring forth, but make me ready, Lord, for whatever it may be. If I am to stand up, help me to stand bravely. If I am to sit still, help me to sit quietly. If I am to lie low, help me to do it patiently. And if I am to do nothing, let me do it gallantly. Make these words more than words, and give me the Spirit of Jesus. Amen."
Amen to for this graceful work that Kathleen Norris has shared with those of us who struggle with our own Noonday Demons.

Czar

More Jericho!

I did not watch Jericho when it actually aired on television.  I am a native Kansan and I knew it was set in Kansas, but having lived through a lifetime of Wizard of Oz jokes and then remembering The Day After, I was turned off by the premise of an apocalyptic narrative set in Kansas.  This was a mistake.  I had some friends who were passionate about this show and who rallied to try to save it, but even still I didn't jump on the Jericho bandwagon.
I came to Jericho through Netflix, actually my wife began watching it and she raved about it.  So I finally watched an episode or two and I was hooked.  I liked the writing, the storyline and the characters.  I was surprised that a show like this didn't catch on.  After watching the full season one and the abbreviated season two, I was hungry for more.
Jericho: Season 3 Civil War was exactly what I was looking for.  I must confess that I am not a fan of graphic novels, but this book does a very good job of continuing the story and tying up some loose ends that the cancellation of the series did not allow for.  If you are a fan of the show Jericho and rue the fact that is is no longer on the air, this will be a fix for you.
Of course, even the graphic novel ends with a cliffhanger and I am not aware if there is any plan to release another graphic novel or if fans will be left hanging once again.

Czar

Desperately Seeking Nerfertiti

I actually saw the third and final installment, Egypt: Land of Chaos at my local library. Not wanting to start at the end, I checked out Nefertiti first and will look for Tutankhamun when I return Nefertiti. I thought this book started slowly. However, this may just be because of my expectations from reading authors like James Patterson or Dan Brown. Drake's not the type of writer who is going to go at breakneck speed with his narrative, at least not in this book. Still, he does create a credible and interesting fictional world set in Ancient Egypt. 
I think the issues with pacing might also have to do with Drake trying to find a voice for his protagonist, Rai Rahotep. Rahotep as he is called and referred to throughout the novel, is a rising young detective in Thebes when he is called by the Emperor, Akhenaten himself to investigate the disappearance of his wife and empress, Nefertiti in the new city, Akhetaten, they have created in the Egyptian desert as a monument to the new religion of the Aten that Akhenaten is trying to establish. 
When Rahotep meets the Emperor, there has already been a threat issued to him on the boat that transported him from Thebes. During his audience with Ankenaten, he is told that he has about a week to either find Nefertiti or if she is dead to find her abductors and killers. If he fails, Rahotep and his family will be killed. Knowing that your wife and two young daughters are at stake, would certainly make me attentive to my task. 
Unfortunately, Rahotep is a stranger in this town and though he has the authority of Akhenaten, he does not know who he can trust since someone has already attacked the royal family. He is given an office with the local Medjay authority. The man in charge of this office, Mahu, is intimidating and resentful that the royal family did not trust him to solve this mystery. Khety, one of the officials assigned to Rahotep, does not seem to be particularly useful and Rahotep cannot be certain that he is not actually finding every lead and clue back to Mahu. 
Other potential subjects include Ramose, who was formerly much more important under the old religion, a young and ambitious military leader who has married into the royal family, Horemheb, and a mysterious, but seemingly powerful figure named Ay.
Setting a story in ancient times has many advantages. Readers are likely somewhat familiar with the setting, though many have only limited knowledge of ancient Egypt that doesn't go far beyond pyramids, sphinxes, and pharaohs. So Drake has ample room to create his own fictional world. What I really like is the undercurrent that allows Drake to discuss issues like religion, politics, change, belief, and power. We do know that Akhenaten tried to overthrow the cult of Amun, though this attempt did not survive his reign. 
We also know that King Tut had some connection to this family, which allows for Drake to set the stage for his second novel in this trilogy. 
Overall, I did find this to be an enjoyable read. It was well-written, the characters were credible, and the mystery itself was well-crafted. The manner in which Rahotep goes about solving his mystery reminded me of the monk/detective from The Name of the Rose who is often questioned and ridiculed for his newfangled ways of investigation. It you like good historical detective novels, this is one worth reading.

Broken Irish

Delaney is certainly a talented writer. The jacket talks about his short story collections and a few prizes he has won, but I think this is his first novel. I would recommend this novel for someone who is looking for a compelling narrative, but is also unafraid of a book with literary trappings. The novel is set in South Boston, or Southie, as it is affectionately known. It involves a group of approximately a half dozen characters whose stories do occasionally intersect and with one or two of them actually connect with one another. 
Tommy is a drunk, one with a dying liver, who at the start of the novel experiences a conversion experience of sorts. He doesn't find God, but after witnessing a man fall from a moving car and break his neck, Tommy decides he needs to stop drinking. He doesn't go to AA meetings or a traditional type of detox, he stops cold turkey. Delaney describes this experience well. There is a logic to why Tommy has stopped drinking and one of the interesting elements of this experience is what Tommy's life is or becomes without the alcohol. Tommy who is likely in his 30s had been drinking non-stop from his teens until the moment of the accident, so there are large parts of his life he simply does not remember or remembers through a drunken haze. 
Colleen is a widow and mother of a son, Christopher, who has become increasingly sullen and detached from his mother and most of the rest of his life. Delaney provides the back story for both Colleen and Christopher. As the father of sons and as a former adolescent boy myself, I thought that Christopher's characterization rang true. In general, I do think that we males do, in adolescence, go through periods of anger, depression, withdrawal, and a host of other emotions as we deal with the raging testosterone in our bodies. However, Christopher's attitude and choices become clearer as we learn that he was abused by a local parish priest who it turns out had a long and documented history of this type of behavior. In a plot twist that is all too familiar these days, this priest, Father John, had been moved throughout his career and in his final posting returns to Southie and the neighborhood he grew up in. 
This development does not please his estranged brother Terrence Rafferty who has climbed out of this neighborhood to become one of the richest and most well-respected financiers in Boston. Rafferty decides he needs someone to put his autobiography into some sort of order and he hires Tommy. This is an interesting fictional device, not quite an epistolary device, like in Frankenstein, but it is still not the typical exposition. It does make you wonder if Rafferty is engaged in self-censoring or if he is truly just giving Tommy the raw details of his life that Tommy is then asked and paid to shape into a presentable form. 
In the course of Rafferty's narrative, we learn that he has an enemy from back in the neighborhood. This enemy is someone that Rafferty has been competing with for years and years in a variety of forums. This unnamed enemy (we eventually learn that his first and middle name is James Joyce!) still lives in Southie, but is essentially the mob boss of the community. It also turns out that Mr. McX (as Rafferty calls him), has a daughter.
The other main character is a young girl named Jeanmarie. She has decided to run away from home to move into an apartment with her older boyfriend,Bobby. As she is literally leaving the neighborhood, Jeanmarie runs into Christopher who recognizes her. They establish an odd Platonic friendship, though Christopher and Bobby too are weary of Jeanmarie. It turns out that Jeanmarie is the daughter of someone who is rather important and dangerous in Southie. Yes, Jeanamarie is James Joyce McX's daughter. To make money, Jeanmarie and Bobby agree to have sex while a photographer takes pictures of them. Since Jeanmarie is not 18, they cannot do pornographic films, but apparently pictures of explicit sex for the Internet is somehow acceptable. Or at least this is what Jeanmarie agrees to, since the photographer, Marty is able to provide Jeanmarie with cash, an apartment, and hopefully a car when she learns how to drive. 
With this cast of characters, Delaney crafts a narrative that explores their lives and their neighborhood while also depicting each of them in various states of "brokenness." I must confess that while Delaney never explicitly states that Father John molested Christopher and countless other boys, there is no doubt this is what happened. This is the first novel I have read that addresses this issue, especially in its contemporary incarnation that allows the reader to provide his/her own context. With all of the lawsuits and prosecutions, I think Delaney feels there is not need to spell things out for his readers. However, Delaney manages to stay away from judging the priest, though he does put the Roman Catholic Church and its hierarchy, especially Cardinal Law, in a bad light. What I do admire, and I must be careful here, is the manner in which Delaney tries to get inside the head and emotions of Father John. He is not a monster, though his actions would certainly be predatory. It is a balancing act to make this priest fully dimensional, but Delaney pulls it off. 
The stories continue until they are all essentially entangled by the end of the narrative. Without giving anything away, I do find the resolution of Jeanmarie's story to be unsatisfying. However, this is a story about broken people, so why should their lives and stories be any less fractured

Cleaning Nabokov's House

            I have to admit that I was drawn to this book because of the title: Cleaning Nabokov's House.   The book jacket tells me that the author, Leslie Daniels is an accomplished writer and editor with an MFA degree.  So I knew that I could expect polished writing and a good narrative structure, unless she tended more towards the metafictional side of things.  Thankfully she doesn’t. 

            Instead, Daniels crafts a compelling and ultimately optimistic novel about literature, fame, motherhood, and the costs of divorce.  Barb Barnett is the protagonist who leaves her husband, only to find that trying to get a fair shake in divorce proceedings in her ex’s hometown is nearly impossible.  So, she not only loses her marriage, but she loses her children too.  She rebounds and finds work that affords her a fair amount of freedom during the day.  She learns that the house she is staying in had once been occupied by the famous Russian emigre novelist, Vladimir Nabokov.  When she finally begins to decorate her house, mostly for her children’s sake, she finds a set of notecards that may or may not be the foundation for a manuscript from Nabokov. 

            The potential novel is about love and baseball, one of which is not unfamiliar territory for Nabokov.  With her newfound fame, Barnett finds herself deciding whether or not to sell the manuscript or try to publish it.  She also is invited to a Nabokov convention where she finds herself surrounded by skeptical and condescending professional scholars.  She holds her own and Daniels allows her to deliver one of the best short descriptions of what Nabokov’s writing, and I would argue by extension, what great literature does to you.

“’I know about his sentences. His sentences are impossible to imitate, but I  know what they do.’” I told them what I had discovered about Nabokov’s sentences: "Because the word string and the thoughts behind the words are so original, the reader’s brain can’t jump ahead. There is no opportunity to make assumptions, no mental leapfrogging to the end of the sentence. So the reader is suspended in the perfect moment of now. You can only experience now. The sentneces celebrate the absolute instant of creation.  ‘It takes your breath away, ‘ I said.”

Barb Barnett continues to rebuild her life and I do love the plot twist that Daniels employs as Barnett fights for her children.  Some of the strongest passages and chapters are those that deal with the pain of divorce and the hurt created by not being able to spend time with your children.  For anyone who has been through a separation or divorce, Daniels’ prose rings true. This is a well-written, clever, and doggedly optimistic book that earns its optimism through mostly plausible circumstances and situations. 

Czar