Mysteries abound, especially in Two Castles. A handsome cat trainer, black-and-white cats, thieves on four legs and two, suspicious townsfolk, a greedy king, a giddy princess, a shape-shifting ogre, a brilliant dragon. Which is the villainous whited sepulcher?
Sharon Green
This weekend I took a short break from my regular fantasy reading for Matthew Dicks’ debut novel Something Missing. It’s another recommendation from my favorite blog, Books on the Nightstand, and I have been eager to read it as soon as I heard Anne Kingman describe the quirky and fun sounding plot of this book Something Missing is about an off-beat, socially inept burglar, with OCD tendencies, who regularly steals from a select group of victims, or “clients,” as he calls them, but only takes items that will go unnoticed. Groceries, liquid plumber and the occasional neglected piece of jewelry are Martin’s usual targets, each item carefully chosen by the likelihood if its disappearance being overlooked by the homeowner.
Each client is carefully selected and researched, following Martin’s precise list of requirements, which include:
Adhering to these rules is what has led to Martin’s success as a thief and has allowed him to maintain the same list of victims for many years. In fact, Martin has come to know these homeowners quite well over the years and had developed a fond attachment towards them, as he glides undetected through their lives. And so, when Martin one day accidentally knocks a homeowner’s toothbrushes into the toilet he feels compelled to replace it, horrified at the idea of the woman, whom he has come to care for, to unknowingly brush her teeth with a contaminated toothbrush.
Therefore, for one of the few times in his career as a burglar, Martin deviates from his carefully laid plans and breaks many of his own rules in order to right the wrong that he had inadvertently caused. But this deviation plummets Martin into a thrilling adventure that causes him to rethink his role in his victim’s lives, and changes his own life as a consequence.
After reading Something Missing I was reminded of one of the reasons that I love reading so much and that is the opportunity that it gives me to experience life through someone else's eyes. Martin is not a particularly likable individual, his awkwardness and oddities making him someone I would be unlikely to befriend. But Dicks causes us to not only get to know Martin, but to be him; to get inside his head and understand what makes him tick. I found Martin’s detailed explanations for each action and conversation to be fascinating, providing insight to a personality so different from my own. I particularly enjoyed the humor and cleverness in the numerous disguises that Martin adopts, from a writer of instruction manuals to an elderly retired woman who waxes eloquently of her worldly voyages.
My only real complaint is that sometimes Martin’s explanations were a little too wordy and bogged down the story a bit, but other then that I found Something Missing to be a delightful and highly enjoyable novel that I will enthusiastically be passing on to all my friends.
The second book, Blue Diablo, is a romantic urban fantasy that I saw described on a website that I was passing through and it looked intriguing enough that I decide to give it a try.
I am a 29 year old mother of four rambunctious children and I live with my husband, kids and two dogs in a wonderful little town in the Judean desert in Israel
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Isn't it pretty?
I love reading and discussing books and I started this blog as an extension of my science fiction and fantasy website so that I could have a place to talk about the books I'm reading in an informal manner.
Although I love to read all different kinds of books, including memoirs and travel books, fantasy has been my favorite genre ever since I first picked up The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe when I was a kid. While I don't read science fiction quite as avidly as I do fantasy, I have been making a concerted effort lately to become more familiar with the genre. So if you have any books to suggest I read, please feel free to do so.
I love receiving comments from visitors, either in response to something I wrote or to make a suggestion about something I should read. And I always, always, love to take part in a good book discussion. So if you have read any of the books that I have reviewed, I'm eager to hear what you thought of the book as well.
And if you are an author or a publisher that would like to have your book reviewed, please mail me at FortyTwoSciFi-Fantasy@Hotmail.com
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