Too Many Cooks by Rex Stout

 

(pb; 1938: fifth book in the forty-six book Nero Wolfe detective series. Originally serialized in six issues of The American Magazine, March—August 1938)

 

From the back cover

“As the great detective prepares to speak at a gathering of the world’s great chefs, one is found indelicately murdered. When the target for killing shifts to himself, Wolfe must close this case quickly or his next meal may be his last.”

 

Review

In Cooks, the distinguished detective and his worldly, ready-for-action associate and bodyguard Archie Goodwin deal with another murder, this time Philip Laszio’s. Laszio was a chef who’d magpied other chefs’ popular and distinctive dishes to further himself in the chef hustle—not only that, he stole a rival’s wife, a rival who’s also at the great-chef gathering, and a gathering that includes a few of Laszio’s high-profile victims.

Foodies may revel in the copious, detailed chatter about fancy dishes, while murder mystery buffs may enjoy Wolfe and Goodwin’s often dialogue-funny solving of the case. Part of the mystery, for many weathered readers, should prove easily figured out, but the second part of it—a possible second who— might keep some readers on edge.

Cooks, like other Nero Wolfe entries up till now, is an often-entertaining read (the foodie talk was lengthy), one worth seeking out. Followed by Some Buried Caesar (1939).

A Knight of the Word by Terry Brooks

 

(hb; 1998: second book in Brooks’s Word & Void trilogy)

 

From the inside flap

“In the eleventh century the Welsh hero Owain Glyndwr was chosen to combat the demonic evil of the Void and disappeared from history to fulfill that mission. Armed with powerful magic, Glyndwr became a Knight of the Word—a draining and demanding legacy passed on eight centuries later to John Ross, a professor of English literature on tour in Wales.

“In accepting the black runestaff that channeled the magic of the Word, John Ross accepted a solemn trust—and an awful burden. Each night he dreams of hellish futures wrought upon the world by the Void. And each dream is of a future that will come to pass unless Ross prevents it in the present. Crippled in body and soul by the searing magic he wields and the horrors he dreams, sustained only by his faith in the goodness of the Word. Ross drifts across America, a modern-day knight errant in search of the agents of the Void.

“Then an unspeakable act of violence shatters his weary beliefs. Haunted by guilt, Ross turns his back on the Word. With the help of beautiful Stefanie Winslow, Ross slowly builds a new life—a life whose only magic lies in Stefanie’s healing love.

“But a fallen knight makes a tempting prize for the Void, and merciless demons soon stalk Ross and those close to him. His only hope is young Nest Freemark, who wields powerful magic all her own. Five years earlier, Ross had aided Nest when the future of humanity rested upon the choice she would make between Word and Void. Now Nest must return the favor. She must restore Ross’s faith, or his life—and her own—will be forfeit.”

 

Review

Five years after the events of Running with the Demon, a reluctant, emotionally ruptured John Ross and Nest Freemark (now nineteen years old) confront an elusive demon whose presence threaten not only Ross’s fragile sense of peace but the world at large—in short, same fight, life-altered characters, different demon and locale. Seattle, Washington—author Brooks’s real-life home city—is lovingly (to a fault) described so much it should be labeled more character than location.

That said, Knight has all the qualities and reader-gripping flow of Running: a grab-you-from-the-get-go tone and fast-and-vividly-described flow that effectively matures its struggling protagonists (Ross, Freemark) while expanding—a little bit—their world,  now in urban surroundings, further setting Knight apart from Running’s rural events. Anyone who’s read this sort of book might easily spot who the demon is, but it doesn’t ruin the nightmare-driven and heartfelt ride.

Another great read, this, from Brooks, one worth purchasing. Followed by the final book in the trilogy, Angel Fire East.

Make Trouble by John Waters

 

(miniature hb; 2017: humor/inspiration/nonfiction. Illustrated by Eric Hanson.)

 

From the inside flap

“When John Waters delivered his gleefully subversive advice to the graduates of the Rhode Island School of Design, the speech went viral, in part because it was so brilliantly on point about making a living as a creative person. Now we can all enjoy his sly wisdom in a manifesto that reminds us, no matter what field we choose, to embrace chaos, be nosy, and outrage our critics.

“Anyone embarking on a creative path, he tells us, would do well to realize that pragmatism and discipline are as important as talent and that rejection is nothing to fear. Waters advises young people to eavesdrop, listen to their enemies, and horrify us with new ideas. In other words, MAKE TROUBLE!”

 

Review

Trouble is everything you’d hope for from the iconic “Prince of Puke” (one of the many titles the media has bestowed upon him, and of which he’s proud)—a life- and media-pragmatic outlook, flavored with his clever, subversive and sometimes raunchy/icky wit, as well as a strong sense of acceptance (of himself and others) and warmth, all in equal measure. This is a great book, one most (not everyone is open-minded) creative types should read, and one that transcends its art-focus and functions as life-advice work (e.g., “Remember, a ‘no’ is free.”) as well.

Uzumaki by Junji Ito

 

(hb; 1998-1999, 2013: manga omnibus)

 

From the back cover

“Kurouzu-cho, a small fogbound town on the coast of Japan, is cursed. According to Suichi Saito, the withdrawn boyfriend of teenager Kirie Goshima, their town is haunted not by a person or being but a pattern: Uzumaki, the spiral—a hypnotic secret shape of the world. This bizarre masterpiece of horror manga is now available in a single volume. Fall into a whirlpool of terror!”

 

Review

Narrated by Kirie Goshima, a schoolgirl who witnesses the escalating, increasingly grotesque spiral-centric horrors encapsulating her village (Kurouzu-cho), Uzumaki begins with her boyfriend Suichi Saito’s father becoming obsessed with circular patterns. After Saito’s father dies under seemingly near-impossible circumstances, the strangeness begins warping the emotional, psychic and physical fabric of reality for the people in the village bordering the mysterious Dragonfly Pond—and threatening to spread its cataclysmic ends to the world beyond it.

Each book-chapter of this omnibus is truly original in its tone, artistic and visual aspects, with a finish that, despite its holy-frak-that’s-wild elements and terrors, is masterfully personal.

Uzumaki is one of my favorite all-time manga, with its Lovecraftian though distinctive blend of crazy imagery, weirdness, ickiness, horror, romance, rural life and humor, a work that’s not for the faint of heart. Worth owning, this.

Running with the Demon by Terry Brooks

 

(hb; 1997: first novel in Brooks’s Word & Void trilogy, which, according to Wikipedia,  “precedes the action in [Brooks’s] Genesis of Shannara trilogy and serves as the start of Shannara saga”)

 

From the inside flap

“On the hottest Fourth of July weekend in decades, two men have come to Hopewell, Illinois, site of a lengthy, bitter steel strike. One is a demon, dark servant of the Void, who will use the anger and frustration of the community to attain a terrible secret goal. The other is John Ross, a Knight of the Word, a man who, while he sleeps, lives in the hell the world will become if he fails to change its course on waking. Ross has been given the ability to see the future. But does he have the power to change it?

“At stake is the soul of a fourteen-year-old girl mysteriously linked to both men. And the lives of the people of Hopewell. And the future of the country. This Fourth of July, while friends and families picnic in Sinnissippi Park and fireworks explode in celebration of freedom and independence, the fate of Humanity will be decided.”

 

Review

Demon is an immediately immersive, deft and character-intriguing rural/real-world fantasy with horror-ish and Americana elements thrown into its heady, swift-paced and cinematic-vivid mix, a read that fans of Clive Barker, Stephen King (albeit King with better editing) and other writers of that ilk may well thrill to—worth owning, this, and a prequel to Brooks’s second Word & Void trilogy, A Knight of the Word.

“Moon Knight” Omnibus Vol. 2 by various artists and writers (Part 1 of 2)

 

(oversized hb; 2021: graphic novel. Collects Moon Knight #21-38; Iron Man #161; Power Man and Iron Fist #87; Marvel Team-UP #144; Moon Knight #1-6 [second run, 1985]; Marvel Fanfare #30, 38 and 39; Solo Avengers #3; and Marvel Superheroes #1.)

From the inside flap

“Moon Knight’s first solo series comes to a close, including the climax of Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz’s artwork continues to evolve before your eyes, he and Moench put their tortured hero through a series of trials—including the return of the waking nightmare that is Morpheus and the vigilante Stained Glass Scarlet, now wielding a crossbow as her weapon of choice. But while encounters with these and other deadly adversaries take their toll, they have nothing on the task of juggling the identities of mercenary Marc Spector, millionaire playboy Steven Grant and cabbie Jake Lockley—not least the strain that puts on his love life. And just as Marlene Alraune starts to doubt their romantic future, her brother gets caught up in the madness—and things go from bad to worse. When a mystery man is inspired to seek power by becoming Moon Knight’s dark nemesis, will the schemes of the Black Spectre drive a final wedge between Marc and Marlene—or perhaps destroy the silver-and-ebon-clad marauder once and for all? Though that task may fall to Moon Knight’s very first foe, the Werewolf By Night—back and more ferocious than ever, as only Sienkiewicz could draw him.

“Other creators take Moon Knight in new directions as he fights killers, super villains and zuvembies—and shares adventures with Brother Voodoo, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, Power Man and Iron Fist, the X-men, the Fantastic Four, and more. But as he falls further under the influence of a certain Egyptian god, he emerges stronger than ever—as the Fist of Khonshu! It’s the dawn of a new era for Marc Spector, but where does that leave Marlene?”

 

Overall review

Caveat: (possible) minor spoilers in this review. Part 2 of the review is here. Vol. 1 starts here.

Vol. 2 continues in the dark, pulpy, socially relevant and unsettling dissociative-lead vein of its previous omnibus, with its mostly gritty New York City settings, morally gray characters (some of them returning from earlier issues), making for another t(w)een-friendly read, with its experimental tones, storylines, and other elements. Moon Knight is one of Marvel’s more iconoclastic characters and comic book runs. This is an excellent collection, one worth reading if you’re a lover of pulp, 1980s vibes and artwork, and a seriously disturbed protagonist.

Moon Knight’s original run went from 1975 to 1984; his second run went from 1985 to 1990.

 

Review, issue by issue

Moon Knight: “The Master of Night Earth” (#21): Mirebalais, Haiti. Moon Knight [henceforth to be called MK] and Jericho Drum (aka Brother Voodoo) track the revolutionary soldiers in service of coup leader “Grand Bois, leader of the Unholy Trinity, Lord of the Crossroads and Demons. . . the Master of Earth and Night Forests.” While tracking the speedboating soldiers, with help from Daniel (spirit brother of Drum) they encounter violent zuvembies (zombies) and other spooky horrors.

Entertaining, good issue, atmospheric. Always a pleasure to see Jericho and Daniel—they also appeared in Werewolf By Night (issue 39).

Also included in this issue: another “Tales of Khonshu” story, titled “Murder By Moonlight.” In “Murder,” a cop-killer (Herb Russell) flees a crime scene and takes desperate refuge in the Brooklyn Museum, where Khonshu’s statue, along with mummies, is on display. Fun, EC Horror-esque morality work.

 

Moon Knight: “The Dream Demon” (#22): Morpheus—last seen in Moon Knight issue 12—terrorizes his former dream-study doctor (Peter Alraune) through nightmares, whose repercussions spill into waking life. Morpheus has been sedated and treated with a new drug to siphon off his mind-blast “ebon energy” (which allows him to create waking-life nightmares), it seems he’s getting more powerful, his black energy infecting others (MK included).

Meanwhile, MK, Frenchie and Marlene Alraune (Peter’s sister, MK’s girlfriend) must also fend off Morpheus’s attacks, psychic and corporeal. Cliffhanger finish.

Also included in this issue: “Khonshu Tales: Moon Over Alamein”: October 1942. Alamein, Egypt. Two American soldiers (Ezzie O’Gourke and Davie Wadler) accidentally discover Khonshu’s alabaster statue in a cave. They leave everything as they find it, and the next day—no suprise—Khonshu’s influence is felt (anew) by O’Gourke, Wadler, and others. Another enjoyable Khonshu-in-another-place-and-time mini-story.

 

Moon Knight: “Perchance to Scream” (#23): Morpheus (aka Robert Markham), escaped from his energized dream-sleep and his asylum-prison, follows MK, Marlene Alraune and her brother (Peter) and Frenchie to Steven Grant’s (aka MK) country cottage with violent and tragic results. Good, intense issue.

 

The Invincible Iron Man: “If the Moonman Should Fail!” (#161): Members of a subversive technologist group (A.I.M., Advanced Idea Mechanics) trap Tony Stark (aka Iron Man), Steven Grant (aka MK, etc.) and several other people in an ocean-submerged “experimental power generating facility” (Project Neptune), to hold them for ransom. Fortunately, Iron Man and MK are there to deal with the situation. Fun read.

 

Power Man and Iron Fist: “Heatwave” (#87): MK is trapped in an empty water tank during a heatwave while Power Man and Iron Fist track and battle thugs of Commodore Planet, a weapons smuggler, to rescue the missing-for-days MK. Solid, good issue.

 

Moon Knight: “Scarlet in Moonlight” (#24): Scarlet Fasinera’s crossbow crusade against the mobsters responsible for her son’s death continues. This time she’s targeting upper echelon mafioso. MK is torn between helping and stopping her. (Scarlet was last seen in Moon Knight issue 14). Excellent, moody and emotionally relatable issue, with superb artwork by Bill Sienkiewicz and Christie Scheele.

 

Moon Knight: “Black Spectre” (#25, double-sized issue): A Vietnam vet with PTSD (Carson Knowles) sets out to become MK’s opposite-number villain—namely Black Spectre, a medieval-armor-wearing and grudge-bearing agent of sudden violence, wielding a pike and political influence. Another anything-could-happen, exciting issue.

 

Moon Knight: “Hit It!”/”The Cabbie Killer” (#26) –

“Hit It”: A jazz-beat sets the citywide tone and narrative percussion, in which MK must stop a grief-crazed man (Joe) from assaulting everyone around him.

“The Cabbie Killer”: Someone has hired a behemoth of a man in military garb (Commodore Donny Planet) to blow up New York cabbies, and MK means to find out who, one fist fight at a time. Fun story.

Commodore Donny Planet and MK previously crossed paths in Power Man and Iron Fist, issue 87, also in this omnibus edition).

 

Moon Knight: “Cop Killer” (#27): MK investigates a spate of murders where the victims were cops, leading him down some unexpectedly character-twisted avenues. Good issue, featuring an appearance by the Kingpin (aka Wilson Fisk). Good issue.

 

Moon Knight: “Spirits in the Sand” (#28): In this especially atmospheric, often spooky and possibly supernatural issue, MK—traveling as Steven Grant—and Marlene Alraune return to the desert tomb where Khonshu (might’ve) resurrected Marc Spector/MK/etc., and where they must survive grave robbers intent on finding Khonshu’s rumored hidden treasure. Excellent, return-to-MK’s-roots work, one of my all-time favorite MK issues, between its stellar writing and art.

 

Moon Knight: “Morning Star”/”Colloquy” (#29)—“Morning Star”: Desperate to hang onto power, a high priest (Schuyler Belial, aka Morning Star) of a comic-book diabolical satanic cult has his followers hunt Jack Russell (aka Werewolf By Night), so Belial can use Russell as a sacrifice to raise a devil. When one of one of MK’s cop buddies (Detective Flint) and MK get involved, things become more complicated. First part of a two-part tale, good story. (Jack Russell’s last appearance in MK was issue 4.)

“Colloquy”: Steven Grant is revisited by a ghost of his mercenary self (Marc Spector). Solid reiteration of one of MK’s themes.

 

Moon Knight: “The Moon-Wraith, Three Sixes, and a Beast” (#30): Schuyler Belial’s satanic cult members—first seen in MK issue 29 (“Morning Star”)—continue to hunt Jack Russell, aka Werewolf By Night. Meanwhile, MK and Detective Flint try to forcibly surcease the black-robed, pointy-head-hooded cult’s pursuit of Russell, also MK’s friend.  Above-average, especially pulpy issue, even for the clad-in-white MK.

 

Moon Knight: “A Box of Music for Savage Studs”/”Fly the Friendly Skies” (#31)—“Fly the Friendly Skies”: On Dough Row—a stretch of an especially impoverished New York tenements—a youthful gang of toughs (Studs), led by the merchant-predatory and loathsome Shank, run violent and wild.

Meanwhile, one of the Studs (Lenny) struggles with his conscience after two of their crimes directly impact his home life, and MK steps in to end the Studs’ reign of intimidation.

 

“Fly the Friendly Skies”: Eco-terrorists seek to hijack an airship—their leader (Douglas Brenner) means to end mankind’s pollution of the Earth by ending mankind! Of course, MK can’t allow this, so he does his vigilante thing, even after Brenner has him temporarily blinded. Fun, James Bond-ish issue, with its group-of-female-terrorists storyline.

This issue marks Kevin Nowland’s debut as a MK penciller, taking over for the consistently excellent Bill Sienkiewicz.

 

Moon Knight: “When the Music Stops”/“Cancer” (#32)—“When the Music Stops”: Conclusion of the two-part story that began with “A Box of Music for Savage Studs” (MK, issue 31). Lenny, “war chief” for vicious gang leader Shank, sees his personal struggle intensify after one of the strongarmed and potentially vigilante shop owners (Lewis) fights back against the Studs (led by Shank). This story ends on a note of momentary hope, grace, making its two-part arc especially impressive for a comic book.

“Cancer”: The jaded attitude of a brilliant-but-cold doctor (Dr. Steele) prompts the brother of a dying cancer victim (Joseph Fixler) to take drastic actions, actions that draw the attention of Steven Grant/MK. Sad, grim (it almost feels MK-writer reactionary) tone throughout this issue.

 

Moon Knight: “Exploding Myths” (#33): The social-ills/moralistic (and still timely) tone of “Cancer” (MK, issue 32) carries over into this issue, with an overly ambitious reporter (Joy Mercado) pushing a small-time criminal (Druid Walsh, a Vietnam vet) to a big-scale extreme, forcing MK and the fanged skull-inked behemoth (Walsh) into a fiery conflict atop the Twin Towers. Good story, eerie end-image.

The Left-Handed Twin by Thomas Perry

 

(oversized pb; 2021: ninth book in the Jane Whitefield series)

 

From the back cover

“Jane Whitefield helps people disappear. Fearing for their lives, fleeing dangerous situations, her clients come to her when they need to vanish completely.

“Her newest comes fresh from LA with a whole lot of trouble behind her. After she cheated on her boyfriend, he dragged her to the home of the offending man and made her watch as he killed him. She testified against the boyfriend, but a bribed jury acquitted him, and now he’s free and on her trail. Jane agrees to help, and it soon becomes clear that outsmarting the murderous boyfriend is not beyond Jane’s skills. But the boyfriend has some new friends: members of a Russian organized crime brotherhood, intent to capture not only Sara but Jane, whose secrets could be worth millions.

 

Thus begins a bloodthirsty chase that winds through the cities of the northeast before finally plunging into Maine’s Hundred Mile Wilderness. But in a pursuit where nothing can be trusted, one thing is certain: only one party—Jane or her pursuers—will emerge alive.”

 

Review

“Three or four years” after Jane’s kidnapping and torture in Poison Flower, Jane guides a young woman (Sara Doughton, later renamed Anne Preston Bailey) into a safer, not-on-the-predatory-radar life after Sara breaks into Jane’s old family house—Sara’s reason for doing so is that she’s trying to escape an obsessive, murderous, and across-the-board abusive boyfriend (Albert) who’s terrorizing her, even more so after she testified against him in court. Initially (relatively) easy, things become more exponentially more difficult when one of Albert’s friends enlists the Russian mob to help the selfish, immature Albert to trap his erstwhile ex anew.

Like the best Jane Whitefield novels, Left-Handed has tight editing, excellent, reader-immersing pacing and characterization, Native American/Seneca lore, short and sharp action sequences, plot- and character-relevant mentions of Jane’s past (shown in previous franchise books), and a satisfying ending that pushes Jane and her husband Carey into new, life-altering situations, even as another new, possibly series-spanning villain (smart, nuanced Russian enforcer Magda, another Jane doppelgänger) rises into prominence. Looking forward to Perry's next Jane Whitefield book!