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FIREWATCHING + RIVIERA GOLD - Review

It has been a long while since I read a first novel. [Editor's Note: Long time since you enjoyed one too.] But as the pile shrinks I have dipped my toe back into the waters of the first timer. FIREWATCHING by Russ Thomas falls into that category. While RIVIERA GOLD falls into the opposite as I have been reading Ms. King for over 20 years at this point.

Additional, it is nice to read exclusively 2020 releases. And because of this, 2020 will be the first year I would feel comfortable to post a 'Best of' list in December. Even the act of starting that post with a list of potential books has been fun.

FIREWATCHING - Russ Thomas

Late last year and into the early part of 2020 I listened to a podcast that, impart, dealt with the production of television show. One of the podcasters is a producer/show-runner of a television show and he gamely detailed the ups and downs of that adventure. One of the things he talked about, in detailing the shows writing process, was that you leave nothing on the table for the next season, in some ways even the next episode. No good ideas should go unused. Of course, this leaves out the part where you have to make all those elements work, but I hope you understand the point. 

With FIREWATCHING it was the characters that I found overstuffed. There were just one too many characters details. One too many trips into DS Adam Tyler's past about how the current moment connects to it, in particular as it relates to his dead father. One too many sides stories about his partner, or boss, or nemesis on the force, or the variety of characters/suspects that inhabit FIREWATCHING. Now I get it. Small towns. Fathers and sons. Dad's who are police and the sons that follow them into the life.  Sure, right, this is the meat and potatoes of a crime novel. In this case it just felt too much, and the integration of these details for all the characters, not just DS Tyler was off. I would rather have seen some of theses details teased out over a series of books. 

Let me be clear though, I can live with it as most of these concerns were swept away in a thrilling story with a satisfying conclusion that is both spirited and melancholy. The past is never dead, never. I look forward to Mr. Thomas's next.

RIVIERA GOLD - Laurie R. King

At various times over the last 20 years the Mary Russell books have been my favorite series. So much so that they are basically in my personal pantheon. There is Crais, Connelly, Burke, and King. I have always looked forward to these books as Ms. King is a flat out master. [Editor's Note: I feel like there is a big old 'but' coming....]  

RIVIERA GOLD acts a direct continuation of the story begun in the fantastically titled THE MURDER OF MARY RUSSELL, which I was not a fan. Briefly, I found the revisionist history of the Mrs. Hudson's story to be all too much. It is not that I don't think Mrs. Hudson deserved to come out of the shadows and at long last have her moment in the sun, not all. TMOMR was just a sour story that felt out of step with the rest of the Mary Russell books.

RIVIERA GOLD doesn't suffer a similar fate. Mrs. Hudson's past makes its reappearance but is structured much more in the present with a cryptic eye backward that hints of a nefarious past that intrigues more than it over explains. This sun kissed story in the South of France was quite enjoyable.

Currently Reading: WINTER COUNTS -- David Heska Wanbli Weiden
To Be Read Pile: 2 (Although effectively 4 with still to be purchased new Connelly and McGarrity released on November 10th.)
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