Marked for Revenge by Emelie Schepp

 

(hb; 2015: second book in the Jana Berzelius series. Translated from the Swedish by Suzanne Martin Cheadle.)

 

From the inside flap

“When a Thai girl overdoses smuggling drugs, the trail points to Danilo, the once criminal MMA-trained public prosecutor Jana Berzelius most wants to destroy. Eager to erase any evidence of her sordid childhood, Berzelius must secretly hunt down this deadly nemesis with whom she shares a horrific past.

“Meanwhile, the police are zeroing in on the elusive head of the long-entrenched Swedish narcotics trade, who goes by the name The Old Man. No one has ever encountered this diabolical mastermind in person; he is like a shadow, but a shadow who commands extreme resepect. Who is this overarching drug lord? Berzelius craves to know his identity, even as she clandestinely tracks Danilo, who has threatened to out her for who she really is. She knows she must kill him first, before he can reveal her secrets. If she fails, she will lose everything.

“As she prepares for the fight of her life, Berzelius discovers an even more explosive and insidious betrayal—one that entangles her inextricably in the whole sordid network of crime.”

 

 

Review

Set seven or eight months after the events of Marked for Life, Jana Berzelius still hasn’t found all the answers to her questions regarding her violent and mysterious past—but there are others who hold those answers, and they’re protecting or seeking to harm her (and it’s hard to tell which, e.g. as with Danilo Peña). Not only that, the events, elements, and people involved in her life, past and present, might also be involved in her current case, involving the overdose of a Thai bodypacker with heroin inside her, more deaths, and deeper political corruption.

Revenge is an excellent, immediately immersive sequel, just as—if not more than—hard to put down than its action-oriented thriller source book, with a deepening of its characters, new and recurring. Worth owning, this. Followed by Slowly We Die.

Constantine by John Shirley

 

(pb; 2005: movie tie-in)

 

From the back cover

“Hidden from mortal eyes are the angels and demons that coexist with mankind. . . supernatural beings who seek to influence our lives for better or worse. Amoral and irreverent renegade occultist and paranormal detective John Constantine is blessed and cursed with the ability to interact with this secret world. When Constantine teams up with skeptical L.A. policewoman Angela Dodson to solve the mysterious suicide of her twin sister, their investigation catapults them into a catastrophic series of otherworldly events—even as the forces of Hell conspire against Constantine to claim his immortal soul.”

 

Review

Based on the 2005 film (itself based on a six-issue story arc** of the DC/Vertigo-label comic book Hellblazer), Shirley’s movie novelization captures the moral and physical grime of John Constantine’s world as he, a P.I. with a shady past, investigates supernatural crimes while trying to save humanity from spiritual beings who seek to subvert humanity to their misguided or evil ends. 

This time out, the guilt- and dead friends-haunted Constantine has stage 4 cancer, which will soon claim him, even as he puzzles out and tries to prevent a Hell-bound being from physically traversing the boundaries of spirit and flesh. His initially reluctant endeavors—he’s more inclined to tip a pint or ten at a local pub—take on a new urgency after he meets a L.A. policewoman (Angela Dodson) whose suicidal twin births more than a sibling’s grief. This is a great film tie-in read which, while it diverges from its noticeably expansive source material in terms of scope, captures and boils down the essence of its core characters (Constantine, his friend Chaz, etc.) while making for an entertaining flick and companion read. 

Penned by an overall excellent writer, Constantine is worth reading for fans of horror/supernatural and movie novelizations as well as fans of its source comic book series, provided they don’t expect the resulting film work or novel to be an exact translation of the writing that spawned it (film and books are different mediums, and its cinematic setting is Los Angeles, not England). Also worth owning, this.

[**Hellblazer, issues 41-46]

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The source story arc (“Dangerous Habits”) of Hellblazer (again, issues 41 through 46) was written by Garth Ennis; it was illustrated by Will Simpson. The film version was released stateside on February 18, 2005. Directed by Francis Lawrence from a script by Kevin Brodbin, Constantine features a noticeably streamlined and relocated storyline, with several source-story characters absent or encountering different fates. Below, the Hellblazer omnibus, which collects issues 41 though 133.

Marked for Life by Emelie Schepp

 

(pb; 2014: first novel in the Jane Berzelius series. Translated from the Swedish by Rod Bradbury)

 

From the back cover

“When the head of immigration is shot dead, suspects quickly emerge. But no one else can account for the mysterious child-size fingerprints at the scene.

“Public prosecutor Jane Berzelius steps in to lead the investigation. Young and brilliant but emotionally cold, Berzelius, like her famous prosecutor father, is not swayed by the devious widow or threats of blackmail. She is steely, aloof, impenetrable. Until the boy. . .

“On a nearby shore, the drug-addled body of a young teen is found along with a murder weapon. Reviewing his autopsy, Berzelius sees something hauntingly familiar. . . Carved deeply into his flesh are initials that scream child trafficking—and trigger in her a flash of recognition from her own nightmarish childhood.

“Now, to protect herself and keep her dark past a secret, she must solve the crimes and find the depraved mastermind first. . . before the police do.”

 

Review

Fans of Jo Nesbø, Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series (and its streamlined David Lagercrantz and Karin Smirnoff-penned sequels), and other Nordic thrillers might find Schepp’s Marked for Life to be their burn-through-the-pages catnip—like Nesbø,Schepp alternates between past and present in her chapters, with strong characters, strong writing, excellent pacing and well-timed reveals. This is an excellent, tear-through-it read, one worth buying. Followed by Marked for Revenge.

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Viaplay, a streaming service specializing in Nordic thrillers, dramas and comedies, put out the Marked for Life-based series in 2024 (Jana—Märkt för livet). It was canceled after one season because of its production company’s “downsizing.” (As of this writing, it's streaming on for no extra charge on the Amazon site.)

Princess of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

 

(hb; 2023: twenty-fourth book in the Dune series)

 

From the inside flap

“Two years for Dune: The never-before-told story of two key women in the life of Paul Muad’Dib—Princess Irulan, his wife in name only, and Paul’s true love, the Fremen Chani. Both women become central to Paul’s galaxy-spanning Imperial reign.

“Raise in the Imperial court and born to be a political bargaining chip, Irulan was sent at an early age to be trained as a Bene Gesserit Sister. As Princess Royal, she also learned important lessons from her father—the Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV. Now of marriageable age, Princess Irulan sees the machinations of the many factions vying for power—the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, the Spacing Guild, the Imperial throne, and a ruthless rebellion in the Imperial military. The young woman has a wise and independent streak and is determined to become much more than a pawn to be moved about on anyone’s gameboard.

“Meanwhile, on Arrakis, Chani—the daughter of Liet-Kynes, the Imperial Planetologist who serves under the harsh rule of House Harkonnen—is trained in the Fremen mystical ways by an ancient Reverend Mother. Brought up to believe in her father’s ecological dream of a green Arrakis, she follows Liet around to Imperial testing stations, surviving the many hazards of desert life. Chani soon learns the harsh cost of Fremen dreams and obligations under the oppressive bootheel of the long Harkonnen occupation.”

 

Review

Princess, like many of the Dune books, is a slick, often hard-to-set-down (especially in the last third) science fiction tale with plenty of action, drama and series-recurring characters—while Princess is not a vital entry in the series it, set two years before the events of the original Dune novel (1965), is a welcome addition to the series, further explaining some of the relations between certain characters and organizations (e.g. CHOAM and the Tleilaxu). I especially enjoyed Wensicia's story arc as well as her relationship with her oldest sister, Irulan.

Apeship by Carlton Mellick III

 

(pb; 2024: third book in the Apes**t series)

From the back cover

“An intolerable prick takes his weird daughter, his college-aged girlfriend, her douchey brother, and her awkward best friend on a boating trip to show off his new yacht. But when they come across an abandoned cruise ship in the middle of the ocean, they find themselves hunted by a group of sadistic mutant killers hellbent on keeping them as their immortal playthings for all eternity.”

 

Review

Mellick returns to the risible, out-there horror of the pink crystals (which keep the dead, however mutilated, alive and alert) with Apeship, this time set on the ocean, first on “Daddy Cool”’s yacht (The Crotch Moistener) and later on the long-lost-at-sea The Pacific Princess (its exterior seen in the first season of the television show The Love Boat, 1977-87). As with the first book, Apes**t, there’s little/no explanation how the decades-at-sea Pacific Princess became a floating home to the pink crystals and new(?) mutants, so those craving backstories in their entertainment might see that as lacking; if Mellick writes a fourth Apes**t novella—an idea he mused about recently—he might do what he did in Clusterf**k and provide more background about the pink crystals and specific characters.

Another recurring Apes**t element: cringey characters with strange and wild secrets. This time out, they’re less cringey and almost likeable at times. Also revisited are Mellick’s piss takes on political correctness and generational differences (e.g., the ‘r word,’ cultural appropriation), 1970s/1980s television, sex (tacky, gory, horrific), and other social affronts, all spot-on hilarious, and not recommended for the easily offended.

For the rest of us who appreciate deviant humor, unkillable mutants and often-horrible people, Apeship may prove to be a laugh-out-loud, equally over-the-top entry in the Apes**t series.

 

Note to new Apes**t readers: Apeship can be read without reading the books before it. They also can be read in any order. That said, those who enjoy the series may get more enjoyment reading them in publication order because they are loosely linked via character. In this most recent Apes**t entry, Lily and her father (Blaise, aka “Daddy Cool”) are cousin and uncle to frat bro “Extreme Dean” (from Clusterf**k)—early on in Apeship it’s noted that he “went missing last fall.”

Up the Line by Robert Silverberg

 

(pb; 1969)

From the back cover

“Judson Daniel Elliott III thought of himself as being a pretty square type. But he was simultaneously attacked by restlessness, weltschmerz, tax liens and unfocused ambition. This left him, with several horrible alternatives.

“In the circumstances, he was glad to accept the advice of Sam, his friendly black guru, who introduced Jud to the Time Service, Sam himself being a part-time Time Serviceman.

“And a roistering bawdy lot they turned out to be. Judson was astounded at the ease with which he took to the swinging life of a Time Courier—and before he knew it, he had, of course, landed himself in a marvelous transtemporal paradox whose name was Pulcheria.”

 

 

Review

Set in the “now-time” of 2059 (for the most part), Up is a lusty, socially freewheeling science fiction tale, with a young lothario protagonist who time hops and leads tourist groups through the early centuries of mankind, and quickly learns and exploits the loopholes in the rules regarding his profession. This fast-moving, well-written first-person narrative has the distinctive tone of the free-love 1960s, with occasionally egregious (especially in the uptight now) language—e.g., Elliott’s sex-enthusiastic attitude and his brief, well-intended and wince-inducing descriptions of “black guru” Sam, and Elliott’s pointed, and quick-temper use of a certain racial epithet—for which he promptly apologizes).

If you are mature and open-minded enough to take these occasional that didn’t age well elements with maturity, understanding and brief-wince grace, Up might be a humorous, blast-from-the-past science fiction thrill-source. If you’re not, skip the mostly deft, historically pulpy and time-travel picaresque Up.