Review 689: Five

Five by Ilona Bannister
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



A different sort of thriller type book. Takes place in the underground tube of London and the reader is told one of these five main characters are going to die with the next train coming into the station in five minutes.

The five characters are a mother with her uncontrollable child, and a man approaching her, who appears to be shady. Later we find out they do know each other very well. The other two characters are an older lady who ends up having a heart attack and a young man who helps her. There are several other characters in the train station, several others that help out of the catastrophe not just of the woman on the ground, as several people end up on the tracks.

Most of the book is the backstory of each of the five main characters, while in-between is the current moment at the tube station where there is quite a lot of action going on. The book poses morality question for the reader, which of these characters do you want to die? All have flaws that may have the reader rooting for one character to not make it.

With the way it was presented and the author breaking the fourth wall too often, I wasn't much of a fan of the style. It was a quick read.

Review 688: The Madness Pill

The Madness Pill: One Doctor's Quest to Understand Schizophrenia by Justin Garson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Solomon Snyder, or Sol, was on a quest to find a cure of schizophrenia. In order to do that he thought he needed a drug to mimic what the illness does. So he searched in psychedelics for a while, but it wasn't quite right. When speed came about and psychosis from too much speed, well, this drug was closer.

I liked the succinct way the history of psychiatry was explained. Basically two types of approach to mental health, the environmental factors which talk therapy helps; and the biological approach, which is solved with medication. The later helped move the field into a more acceptable scientific field. This book covers many of the medications that were developed.

The book was divided into the two parts: psychedelics then speed, providing a short history and some of the people that were involved in the development. The book did not solely focus on one doctor, Sol, as there was a cadre of people working in this field, but it did keep coming back to Sol’s work. The organizational method of the book made sense, but it also meant that the timeline wasn’t completely linear.

The tail end of the book became a whirlwind of different drugs all with similar sounding names. It was hard to keep that all straight, but otherwise this was a fascinating and informative book.


Thanks to St. Martin's Press, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 687: Love Can't Feed You

Love Can't Feed You by Cherry Lou Sy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The book opens with Queenie immigrating from the Philippines to New York City with her father and younger brother. They reunite with her mother after 5 years of being apart. Mom has changed and her father has difficulty accepting how she is now. She is more independent.

It's a turbulent family life. Which culminates in the father leaving the small apartment and never returning. Now Mom takes up with a young doctor from the hospital she works at. Meanwhile, Queenie turns 18 and wants to go to college, but her mom makes her work first, earning the money she went into debt to bring them over.

Their live moves quickly along, and many different topics are brought up in the book, and this is where the book flounders. It started off strong, but meandered and went into too many directions and fell flat in the end.

Review 686: Dark Renaissance

Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare's Greatest Rival by Stephen Greenblatt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This book is set in the late16th century, a biography of Christopher Marlowe, although the title nor subtitle mentions that. It appears that he was a collaborator with Shakespeare not a rival, or at least that's not how it was presented in this book.

However, the biography of Marlowe, or at least what is known of him, and the details of his plays was fascinating. There is much more detail about Shakespeare’s life than Marlowe’s, but there are remnants that can be pieced together.

Marlowe was a bit of a genius, son of a cobbler in Canterbury he managed to get a scholarship to Cambridge. He stayed on after the initial degree, working on a Master’s for a couple more years of school. During this time he apparently started working as a spy for the government, spent time in France and generally was away from school more than was allowed. He was not to graduate, except a letter appeared from the Queen’s Privy Council that said, give him the degree.

Instead of becoming the anticipated clergyman, as the scholarship he won had expected, Marlowe went to London and wrote more plays (something he had started as a student). Perhaps he was also still working as a spy for the government. This time period was quite dangerous, the Queen with Walsingham’s spy network attempted to root out all Catholics or plots to overthrow her.

The plays Marlowe wrote were subversive, and the writing was in a new style, which helped to transform art of which Shakespeare benefited. Several of Marlowe’s plays were discussed in detail, which I did appreciate as I have no familiarity with them.

Marlowe was killed at age 29 under mysterious circumstances. Those details are described along with what may have happened. As with many other parts of the book many words such as perhaps, or maybe are used.

Review 685: The Last Kingdom

The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Last year on a whim at a used books store, during a sale I bought several books in this series by Bernard Cornwell. The ancient setting somehow looked appealing. Getting this deep into an author and series unknown to me is not something I typically do. But why not, it helps support a local independent bookstore.

After completing this first book, I am fine with continuing the series, even though I generally don’t read series (although exceptions abound).

Set in the late 9th century Uhtred son of Uhtred is captured by the Danes while trying to avenge the death of his older brother, and his father. Uhtred was still a boy, and Ragnor was amused by this boy’s attempt to attack him. So Ragnor adopted Uhtred.

This first book covers Uhhred’s early life, until being a married man with a young boy of his own. Uhtred became one of those men whose loyalty lies with both the Saxons of Britain and the invading forces of the Danes. He is steeped in the customs of both cultures and religions, as well as languages. It makes for a very interesting story line.