Review: The Domino Effect by Davis Bunn

“Stop feeding the beast!”

In his latest novel, The Domino Effect, Davis Bunn shines a spotlight on investment banking – and the trading of derivatives, in particular – and through his heroine issues a warning for those who are troubled by the continuing economic uncertainty in not only in the United States but across the globe. Bunn, who studied finance and economics and worked in the field of international business before becoming an author, is adept at keeping the financial information flowing in a way that the casual reader follows easily and still keeps the suspense building.

Esther Larsen is a financial risk analyst for Carolina First Mercantile (CFM), one of the top ten banks in the U.S. She heads a division for the bank that identifies potential avenues for growth and analyzes the risk involved. Increasingly troubled by what she perceives as risky trading, Esther is finally able to share her fears with a small group of friends. When those friends share Esther’s fears with their friends, Esther finds herself moving to help those she can to avoid the inevitable financial crisis she sees coming.

One of the ways Esther disseminates information is through a website called BookOfEsther.info, where she provides her conclusions and the information that went into making them. Bunn, through Esther, gives a six-point plan for people to follow. The first – get out of debt – would appear to be a no-brainer until a person realizes just how many advertisements there are for debt consolidation services or businesses that help people reduce debt, fix their credit rating, or provide cash advances. People are encouraged to spend money they don’t have. Her advice is found in the first paragraph, above: Stop feeding the beast.

It is perhaps too simplistic to call The Domino Effect a cautionary tale. The fact is that the book scared me at times with mentions of transactions of stock purchases and sales that happen so quickly that they can’t be stopped and manipulation of the stock market solely for the purpose of improving the bottom line of a bank’s ledgers. Was I the only one who typed in BookOfEsther.info hoping to see a page where readers were welcomed with a “Now that you’ve taken the first step . . .” message? (I did check; typing in that web address will take you to Davis Bunn’s new Kensington Books website, where readers can find out about Bunn’s current and upcoming book releases.)

Bunn takes a front-page, ripped-from-the-headlines story and crafts it into a thought-provoking yet thoroughly readable story that will have readers turning pages to find out what happens next. Highly recommended.

Rating: 5 Stars

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Will Eisner's The Spirit Returns by Matt Wagner, Dan Schkade, and Brennan Wagner

Will Eisner is rightly held in high esteem for his pioneering work in the comics field from his early days as co-founder of the Eisner & Iger shop, the creation and first publication of The Spirit in 1940, and his work creating graphic novels in later years. In his afterword to the collected edition of Dynamite Entertainment's Will Eisner's The Spirit Returns, Paul Levitz says, "Stepping up to the drawing board of Will Eisner takes, well, chutzpah." Evidently, Matt Wagner agrees. He admits in his foreword that he turned down the invitation to write The Spirit -- twice!

I first encountered The Spirit through The Spirit Jam that was published in Kitchen Sink's The Spirit #30 during my senior year of high school. To this day The Spirit Jam is one of my favorite Spirit stories simply because it is a fun story created by some of the era's top writers and artists, including Will Eisner himself who contributed a framing sequence. Beginning in the late 1990s -- and with varying degrees of success (in my opinion) -- Will Eisner allowed other creators to play in his Spirit sandbox. The creative team of Matt Wagner, Dan Schkade, and Brennan Wagner aimed high and succeed in making The Spirit Returns a fitting tribute to celebrate the character's 75th anniversary in addition to it being a fun and exciting read.

The secret of the M. Wagner/Schkade/B. Wagner team's success is that they didn't set out to re-create The Spirit for the 2010s, nor did they painstakingly adhere to the 7- and 8-page story format Eisner used for The Spirit Sections in the 1940s. At the same time there are glimpses in both story and art that show a fondness for both Eisner and The Spirit.

The whole gang is back, including Commissioner Dolan, his daughter Ellen, Ebony White, Sammy Strunk, Lt. Klink. Several of The Spirit's more popular villains and femmes fatale have cameos, but writer Matt Wagner creates new nemeses for The Spirit in the form on Mikado Vaas and Sachet Spice.

Eisner crafted his Spirit stories in such a way that The Spirit could -- and often did -- play a supporting role, allowing others to take the lead. My favorite character in the original Spirit stories is Ebony White. While I understand the reasoning for Eisner removing Ebony from the strip in the 1940s (he did return), I always marveled at Ebony's brilliance in playing the innocent, the sage, the Greek chorus, or any other role in which Eisner placed him.

In The Spirit Returns, Wagner pairs Ebony with Sammy Strunk, who became The Spirit's assistant after Ebony was written out of the strip. At the beginning of the story, The Spirit has been missing for two years. Ebony and Sammy have joined forces as private investigators, and it is their digging into the mystery of The Spirit's disappearance that intersects with the hero's return to Central City.

Dan Schkade's art is reminiscent of Eisner's 1940s-era work without aping it line for line. His Ellen Dolan, specifically, has touches of the elegance that Eisner and others gave her in the 1940s and the looser style used in later years. Brennan Wagner's color choices, using a sepia tone-inspired palette that come off as bold and muted simultaneously, help in conveying the mood for the story. Though I am a purist when it comes to The Spirit, preferring to keep the coloring as originally used, I could be tempted to buy a "remastered" collection of Spirit stories if they were recolored by Brennan Wagner.

Dynamite has yet to announce a second story arc starring The Spirit, though the indicia indicates this is Volume 1. I would certainly welcome more, especially if written, drawn, and colored by the M. Wagner/Schkade/B. Wagner team. Maybe a Strunk and White, Private Investigators series (with The Spirit keeping an out eye for them, of course)?

The collected edition features a foreword by Matt Wagner, an afterword by Paul Levitz, sketches, designs, and thumbnails by Dan Schkade, and all the covers created for the series. Highly recommended.

Rating: 5 Stars

I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Rose Garden Arena Incident Book 1: Mosh Pit by Michael Hiebert

My original review as posted on NetGalley and Goodreads: Though the action starts at a concert, author Michael Hiebert quickly takes readers back eight days before "The Rose Garden Arena Incident" and begins building the backstory. I'm not crazy about the serial aspect of the story as much as I could be at this point. Mosh Pit ended with a cliffhanger designed to whet the appetite for the next book -- as it should -- but at the same time it was weird that the cliffhanger ended with a newly introduced character and not one of the characters readers follow through the book. Still, I'm ready for Book 2. Recommended.

Additional thoughts: Looking back at my original review, I believe I may have been more negative -- even though I gave the book four stars -- than I intended. Author Michael Hiebert begins an ambitious project, and readers will find themselves hooked and want to follow along with his characters as the story develops and unfolds in the days leading up to the Dakota Shane concert.

Rating: 4 Stars

I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

On the eve of a "Rebirth"

For the past two months, more or less, DC Comics has been hinting at a new publishing initiative called "Rebirth." Even though a list of titles has been announced, concepts, creative teams, and the first issue solicitations are just hours away from being revealed. While I am excited to hear more details about Rebirth, I admit there's a part of me that is thinking, Why do I care anymore?

I've been reading comics published by DC Comics since 1974. Yes, I admit it. I never grew up. I am the the comics equivalent of the Toys 'R Us kid.

To give a little historical background, 1974 was the year that President Richard M. Nixon resigned as a result of the Watergate scandal, gas shortages gave birth to the 55-mph speed limit, and work began on the Alaska pipeline. According to www.thepeoplehistory.com, gas was 55 cents per gallon, average rent was $185/month, the average U.S. yearly salary was $13,900, and a new car would set you back $3,750.

For me as a ten-year-old, it was the year that the four-color heroes of DC Comics' superhero titles entered my world of reading. Looking back, I can see why my mother hated seeing me read comics. I was already a voracious reader and at that point in time comics were still seen as more of a gateway to reading. I had read most if not all of the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys titles published up to that point -- several of them multiple times -- and I was just a few months away from reading my first adult novel, an Ellery Queen mystery (A Fine and Private Place) that I picked up at the local library because the paperback's cover intrigued me.

Yet it was in the pages of Superman #281 (the first appearance of Vartox), Wonder Woman #215 (during WW's 12-trials period for readmission to the Justice League of America), The Flash #230, and Batman #259 (co-starring The Shadow!!!), among others, that I was able to escape the rather ordinary life of a kid who lived on a farm. It was also the year I was introduced to my favorite super-hero team of all time: The Justice Society of America. That was the year that it was discovered that the Sandman's sidekick, Sandy the Golden Boy, had become "The Creature in the Velvet Cage" (Justice League of America #113).

In the nearly 42 years since I read my first DC titles I've seen characters launched, relaunched, and relaunched yet again. DC simplified their multiverse into a single universe in 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths (and that ended up creating continuity problems that plague DC's characters to this day). Superman and Wonder Woman were given fresh starts beginning in 1986. Batman was refashioned into a more obsessed crimefighter. Jason Todd, the second character to use Robin as a superhero sobriquet, was given a totally new origin, killed off in a call-in poll, and then eventually brought back as a violent anti-hero. After Crisis, DC created Legends, fought off an Invasion, faced Zero Hour, an Infinite Crisis, and a Final Crisis, and survived -- for lack of a better term -- the Flashpoint paradox before entering the New 52 with their iconic characters now younger and essentially starting over for a new generation.

It's clear that DC desperately needs a rebirth of some sort. What they need to do, in my ever-so-humble opinion, and what they will do, however, are two different things. My wish list for what I hope to see come to pass includes:

1. The original super-team reborn. The Justice Society of America made its debut in 1940's All-Star Comics #3 and was tied to the heroes' World War II-era origins until 2011. When DC launched Earth 2 in 2012, the heroes of that parallel Earth shared the names of the legendary superheroes but little else. It's been hinted that the original conceit of the JSA, including its World War II beginnings, is going to be restored but with a twist -- the heroes are going to find themselves flung forward in time so that the characters themselves will be young and not a group of centenarians who should have retired decades ago. Ironically, the time travel bit was used to explain the disappearance of the Seven  Soldiers of Victory, whose team members were largely forgotten by 1972, as seen in Justice League of America #100-102.

2. Iconic versions of characters brought back. The Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman seen the past few years have not necessarily been the heroes they'd been prior to 2011's New 52 launch. The popularity of titles like Titans Hunt and Superman: Lois and Clark is surely helping DC realize that fans would like to read stories featuring the original Titans line-up and a married Superman. And speaking of iconic versions, can I add a vote to undo the death of Nora Allen? Tragedy doesn't have to be the impetus for every character making the choice to be a hero. Barry Allen became a hero because it was the right thing to do. His tragedy came years later when the Reverse Flash killed Barry's wife, Iris. Is it too much to hope for that at least one hero lives an ordinary life outside of the costume? And I would love to see a return to a more classic (i.e. 1970-1985 Darknight Detective interpretation) of the Batman. You know, more focused, less obsessed and/or psychotic.

3. Give Jack Kirby's New Gods a rest. Introduced in 1971, Kirby's New Gods were self-contained for the most part until 1986's Legends miniseries. Though part of the Superman mythos from the beginning of the characters' history -- Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen was one of the titles Kirby used to tell his Fourth World saga -- for the most part the New Gods was a self-contained concept. Sure, Mister Miracle co-starred with Batman in The Brave and the Bold, Funky Flashman was seen in Secret Society of Super-Villains, the New Gods were featured in the JLA/JSA crossover for 1980, and Darkseid was the villain in the Legion of Super-Heroes classic, "The Great Darkness Saga." (I'm not including the Super Powers miniseries that were created expressely for the purchase of selling a line of action figures/toys.) Starting with the publication of Legends, however, DC has pushed Darkseid as the big bad of the DC universe/multiverse. Overexposure, like familiarity, breeds contempt.

4. And, speaking of overexposure, need I mention anything more than "Batman"? When the New 52 was launched in 2011 the Bat-world was at the center of 14 titles, if I remember correctly, including All-Star Western starring Jonah Hex, who found himself roaming around Gotham with an Arkham. It looks like Batman and his "family" are going to have a large number of titles after Rebirth. <sigh> I know Batman is popular, but can we dial it back just a bit, DC, and give some other characters a chance in the sun?

5. More fun. I've been enjoying the Paul Levitz/Sonny Liew/Lee Loughridge Doctor Fate series. It's had its share of serious moments, but seeing Khalid Nassour trying to figure out how to best use the power of Fate often brings a smile to my face if only because Nabu isn't much on helping/guiding our young hero on his journey, instead preferring to be cryptic and just a bit snarky. And while "fun" may not be the best word to describe Swamp Thing, I am having a blast with Len Wein's return to his seminal creation. Sugar and Spike as young adult private investigators. Bat-Mite. Bizarro. How about another Ambush Bug miniseries?

I could go on. I'm not holding my breath that anything major is going to change at DC. I hope I'm surprised with Rebirth and that heroes become heroes again, a light in a dark world.

As I re-read this before hitting the "publish" button, I stop for a moment. Maybe it's me who needs a Rebirth, a step back from the cynicism and darkness that permeates most modern pop culture. (And isn't it ironic that the Rebirth announcements are being made Easter weekend, when Christians joyfully celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead? But perhaps that's a discussion for another time.) Maybe it's time for me to walk away from comics and not look back. That hasn't been easy in the past, so I doubt it'd be any easier now.

Maybe it'll be easier after I read the Rebirth announcements from DC Comics later today.

TV Review: Fuller House

When Full House first aired in 1987 I was already past the primary age demographic for this show. I was a single male in my early 20s who, frankly, had better things to do on a Friday night than watch a show about a single dad whose best friend and brother-in-law move in to help take care of the three cute kids. I did occasionally see a minute or two while flipping through channels. Sometimes I managed to sit through an entire episode.

That's why I found it odd that I would binge-watch Fuller House, the 13-episode Netflix original series that dropped last Friday, February 26. But I did. And, for the most part, I enjoyed it.

Even without having watched every episode of the original series, I knew enough about the show to know the basic back story. I knew what I expected from the show and, more importantly, what I wanted to see.

Fuller House, like a lot of other shows, gets better as you watch the episodes. The first episode/pilot made me cringe in embarrassment repeatedly. Yes, it sets up the rest of the season, but it's basically a "let's get the band back together and do one last show" type of reunion show. The original cast are brought out one by one for a brief chance to shine and we're introduced to the new kids. After that, except for cameos from Bob Saget, John Stamos, Dave Coulier, and Lori Loughlin in various episodes, it's up to Candace Cameron Bure, Jodie Sweetin, and Andrea Barber to carry the show.

I believe they succeeded, especially with the nostalgia factor. Yes, there are some episodes that focused on the kids that got a little too close to "Afternoon Special" territory, but when the focus of the story was on D.J., Stephanie, and Kimmy the show exceeded all my expectations.

Widowed D.J. (Candace Cameron Bure) finds herself ready to begin dating and is the object of affection of two really nice guys, Matt Harmon, a fellow veterinarian played by Josh Brotherton, and former love-of-her-life Steve Hale, now a podiatrist, played by Scott Weinger. She is the mother of three, Jackson, Max, and Tommy.

Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin), who I remember most as being a pest, has grown up into a mostly responsible person trying to launch a singing career after touring for years as DJ Tanner (as in a club/party DJ).

And then there's Kimmy Gibbler (Andrea Barber). She was my favorite character from the original show, mainly because I had watched Barber as Carrie Brady on Days of our Lives in the early '80s and she went from playing cute kid to cute -- and oh, so quirky -- 'tween and teen on Full House. Pairing her with Juan Pablo di Pace, who played Kimmy's ex Fernando, was an excellent move. The two play off each other perfectly. Kimmy and Fernando have a daughter, Ramona.

There are some cameos/guest appearances in a few episodes. Macy Gray, San Francisco Giants outfielder Hunter Pence, Val and Maks Chmerkovskiy all made appearances. I'm not crazy about most cameos/guest appearances by entertainment or sports figures anyway as they come off as mostly awkward.

The kids come across as a little too cutesy at times, especially Max, played by Elias Harger, who may be the best actor of the group but also mugs for the camera a little too much.

Noticeably absent from the new show is little sister Michelle, played in the original series by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Much has been made of the fact that neither twin was available to film even a cameo for the first season, but the show doesn't suffer from her not making an appearance and may even be stronger for not dividing the focus even more. Should the show get picked up for a second season, however, I'd like to see one or both of the girls to film a scene or two as Michelle Tanner.

Would I watch a second season of Fuller House? Yes, especially if it continued to focus more on D.J., Stephanie, Kimmy and their lives.

Rating 3.5 Stars

The Proliferation of Profanity

*** CONTAINS PROFANITY ***

I keep experiencing a problem, a problem I'm sure that you've experienced as well if you read a lot or watch TV and movies or listen to music.

It wasn't a serious problem when I was growing up in the '70s, but it's become an epidemic in the past 25 years and it has invaded the entertainment industry like a wildfire raging through a forest, having taken a few hesitant steps and gaining momentum through the years.

I'm talking about profanity.

To understand profanity, we have to understand the root word -- profane. Merriam-Webster defines profane as (1) to treat (something sacred) with abuse, irreverence, or contempt; (2) to debase by a wrong, unworthy, or vulgar use. Therefore, profanity is profane language or the utterance of profane language. Merriam-Webster defines it even more simply as offensive language. In my lifetime I've heard it also referred to as bad language, strong language, coarse language, foul language, bad words, vulgar language, lewd language, swearing, cursing, cussing, or using expletives.

"But everyone talks that way," I hear from more than one person. No, they don't. There are a lot of people who have never had a "four-letter word" cross their lips and never will.

So, what is my problem with profanity? A lot of it has to do with the way I was raised. My parents rarely, if ever, uttered a curse word. Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I tried a few out when I was younger. I'd hear a word, sound it out a time or two -- take it for a test run, so to speak -- and then toss it aside. I knew if I tried using the word in a conversation with my family I'd be drinking dish soap for dinner. And no matter how good that soap may smell, the taste is horrible.

Later, in my teen years, good friends introduced me to a saying attributed to Spencer W. Kimball that has stuck with me: Profanity is the effort of a feeble brain to express itself forcibly.

George Carlin performed a monologue, "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television," beginning in 1972. Those seven words are shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits. Comedian Lenny Bruce said he was arrested in 1966 for saying those seven words and two others -- ass and balls -- in alphabetical order. I'd probably add a couple more: bitch and god damn. Fifty years later, every single one of those words has wormed its way into one or more forms of mainstream entertainment. Admittedly, I find some of those words far more offensive than others.

(I am particularly bothered by the use of "god damn" as it violates the third commandment given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. I realize that not everyone subscribes to Christianity as I do; however, I find it disconcerting that it is "okay" to take God's name in vain but not Allah's, Krishna's, or any other religion's major deity. To be perfectly clear, it's not cool to take the name of any religion's major deity in vain. That's a discussion for another time, perhaps.)

What gets me most upset about the use of profanity is how the occasional profane word, used emphatically, has become commonplace. How do I determine if the word is necessary or not? It's simple. If you can remove the word from the sentence without it changing the meaning of the sentence, it is unnecessary.

Truly, it is as simple as that.

I recently read a book (GJS II) where the F-bomb was used repeatedly. I don't believe there was a single page of the 500+ page novel where the word didn't appear. Some pages found the word in use multiple times. A recent movie based on a comic book, Deadpool, also suffers from excessive F-bomb dropping, and received an R rating where a PG-13 could have been given if the words had been removed from the script.

When did entertainment become "adult" based on the amount of profanity used instead of the contextual themes in the story? When did using certain words make the work more "real" than if they were excluded. I don't know.

As society continues to embrace social media in place of face-to-face or long-form written communication, verbal skills will further erode. Maybe that's why the use of profanity continues to grow, because people just don't have the vocabulary to express themselves without it.

And that may be the saddest commentary of them all.

Review: GJS II by Shawn Stewart Ruff

It isn't often that I read a book and discover so quickly that it isn't going to be a book I'm entertained by. Based on the description, which follows, I thought it would be different than what was delivered. That isn't necessarily the fault of the author as much as it is in my expectations based on reading the book's synopsis.

The book is described as:

Self-made Griffin Jewells Saunders II is a man of means: covetable connections, immense wealth, a glamorous TV-celebrity and fashion icon wife and five telegenic children. The sterling qualities that have made this handsome black embodiment of the American dream a Cincinnati mayoral prospect prove his undoing. A lucrative business alliance with his Clinton cabinet-appointed half-brother ensnares the partnership in the Republican attack machine. As the Monica Lewinsky scandal engulfs the White House, the brothers turn on each other, convinced an FBI sting is afoot. Distrust balloons and bursts...and the fallout sweeps Griffin's family into the maelstrom in this thrilling page-turner of political intrigue, fashion misdemeanors and murder.

I wanted to like GJS II, but ultimately it came across as an Empire wannabe with political connections and a love for fashion at its center instead of the music industry. What makes it worse is that on Empire, at least, the Lyons family may be fighting with each other but at the end of the day they also take up for each other. I didn't get that feeling with GJS II at all. Of course, that may have been Ruff's intent all along. If so, that makes it all the sadder.

Rating: 2 Stars

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Quote Editions, Inc. (through NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Fragment by Davis Bunn

It makes no difference whether The Fragment is the first Davis Bunn novel you’ve read or the latest, you, as a reader, are sure to enjoy the journey taking place between the first and last pages.

Smithsonian research fellow Muriel Ross traveled to Paris with her parents’ long-time friend, Virginia senator Thomas Bryan, to photograph antiquities he hopes to acquire. It becomes clear, however, that the senator waited until they were in Paris to tell Muriel their true mission – to photograph a portion of the True Cross, discovered by Empress Helena (in Bunn’s previous novel published by Franciscan Media, The Pilgrim), and then to head to Turkey to acquire another portion of that same Cross.

Set in 1923, The Fragment is like stepping out of a time machine and into history. The Great War may have ended nearly five years before, but it is still a world healing from the wounds suffered during that global conflict. Nowhere is that more obvious than in Paris, which suffered greatly during the war. Bunn’s description of the city and its peoples make the reader feel as if they are walking down those streets. Those descriptive abilities also come into play when Muriel, Senator Bryan, and Charles Fouchet – private secretary to France’s minister of the interior – find themselves in Constantinople to complete Bryan’s mission.

Filled with adventure and intrigue, I found the The Fragment difficult to put down and felt a keen disappointment that the story was ended. A world of possibilities opens for Muriel at the end of the novel, but I find myself hoping most that Muriel Ross find herself as the lead in a series of historical thrillers and/or mysteries set in the 1920s or ‘30s.

Rating: 5 Stars

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Franciscan Media in exchange for my honest review.