Titanic's in Vogue in The Dressmaker

I have to admit, I don't know why I would pick up The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott, beside it using Titanic as a jumping off point for its plot.   As a lifelong Titanic enthusiast, I guess I was compelled, much as I have been in the past, to see what historical threads an author or filmmaker chooses to weave into his or her fictional narrative.

I have to admit, I kept going every time historical facts bumped up against fictional narrative.  Alcott's story revolves around Tess Collins, an aspiring seamstress, who just happens to have the good fortune to be hired by Sir Cosmo and Lady Duff Gordon as a maid just before they embark at Southampton for Titanic's maiden voyage.   Lady Duff Gordon, or the haute courtier Lucille as she is also known, is renowned for her trendsetting fashion designs, and Duff Gordon, haughty and pretentious, quickly becomes drawn to the young Tess, ultimately choosing to mentor her.  In the course of the voyage, Collins meets up with a kindly sailor and midwestern tycoon, both of whom become romantic suitors later in the plot.

In some ways, I felt as if I was reading a historical trainwreck.   Something so wrong but something so compelling - almost as if witnessing a disaster in itself.  Don't get me wrong, Alcott pens a compelling piece of historical fiction, but I kept being jarred by it bumping up against historical reality.  When the disaster occurs, the Duff Gordons abandon ship - just as they did historically - in a sparesly filled lifeboat.   The recriminations upon rescue, in the press and in societal circles, test the young dressmaker's loyalty to Lady Duff Gordon and drives the remainder of the plot.

Don't read The Dressmaker for an accurate account of the Titanic disaster.  Although nearly citing the transcripts of both American and British inquiries into the disaster verbatim, this is not one for the historical record.  But if you enjoy a pleasantly compelling and well paced of historic fiction that just happens to be set in the era of the early 20th Century, The Dressmaker might be something to interest you.
-Michael

Defending Jacob by William Landay

Defending Jacob by William Landay is as much a mystery/legal thriller as it is a family drama.  Andy Barber is a district attorney in Newton, MA, a largely upscale inclusive community.  He is one of the first people called to a murder scene in which a 14 year old boy is stabbed three times and left for dead in the woods.  There are few clues and even fewer suspects.  While Andy insists on investigating a neighborhood pedophile for the crime, he is soon pulled from the case when his son Jacob becomes the lead suspect and charged with the murder.  Andy is adamant throughout the novel that Jacob is innocent.  However, Jacob’s actions and character are disturbing enough to place doubt in the minds of the town and Jacob’s own mother, Laurie.  The family dynamics is an integral part of the story.  Laurie’s doubts stem from Andy’s admission of a history of violence in his family - murder and rape - neither of which Laurie previously knew.  Did Jacob inherit a “murder gene”?  And if so, what does that say about Laurie’s parenting?  If Jacob did commit the murder could she have prevented it?  These questions haunt Laurie and send her spiraling down a destructive path.

I highly recommend this novel.  The legal procedures are described in such a way that you feel you’re actually in the courtroom with the characters.  And the surprise ending will shock you (it did me, even though I knew there had to be a twist, I still didn’t see it coming!).


~ Linette

The Formula Seems Off in the Devil's Elixir

I'm a big fan of Raymond Khoury's novels.   In The Devil's Elixir, Khoury returns to his series focusing on FBI Agent Sean Riley (begun in The Templar Legacy and continued in The Templar Salvation), this time with a story blending 1700s Mexico with present day drug traffickers.
The book is a page turner, with Riley leaping from one action sequence (if this were a film, they'd be called "set pieces") to another;  there's character development of his protagonist and love Tess Chaykin; the villain is ruthless and suitably menacing; and there's plenty of factual detail that fans of Khoury (not to mention of Steve Berry and Brad Thor) will relish too.  But there's something missing - or maybe a new ingredient weakens the mix.

While mysticism and magic have undergirded Khoury's earlier works, that element in The Devil's Elixir seems far more improbable than in in past books.   The resolution to this novel, while intermixed with all the successful elements Khoury has blended before, just felt a little too far fetched and too far removed from the realism he otherwise paints.

Not a bad read by any means, but definitely not one of my favorites.   Of course, I'll be eager to see what he has in store for us next, but this elixir just was not as palatable as his previous brews.
-Michael

Reagan Down, But Not Out

There's surprisingly little written solely on the topic of the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981.  Del Quentin Wilber's Rawhide Down attempts to fill that void, depicting from start to finish the events that surrounded the shooting of the President on March 30, 1981  Just weeks into his first term, the President was nearly fatally wounded when loner John Hinckley fired on him, wounding four people, outside a Washington D.C. hotel.   While Wilber's prose succinctly traces the events that led up to Hinckley's attempt on Reagan's life, the book is moreso seemingly a minute-by-minute account of the shooting, the actions of the Secret Service, the heroic effort doctors made to save Reagan.   Amid the chaos of the event, historic figures are brought to life with colorful detail in Wilber's narrative.   With a senior White House staff stumbling, the media pressing hard to confirm facts, and heart wrenching accounts of the doctors' efforts to save both Reagan and the believed to be mortally wounded press secretary James Brady - the most vivid portrait to emerge is that of the wounded Reagan, who, Wilber argues, was made more human and - therefore - a more identifiable figure in the eyes of the American people.   A page turner from start to finish, Rawhide Down is compelling, detailed history whose story flows with ease. -Michael