Wulf's Book Reviews

Sherlock Holmes and the Missing Shakespeare by J.R. Rain My rating: 1 of 5 stars I learned to read by secretly snatching my mother’s early 20th-century editions of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. Since then, the fascination with anything Holmes has never left me. Many have tried to spin further tales of Holmes and Watson; some did well, others failed miserably. This one, sadly, falls into the latter category. The story is rather convoluted, albeit light in detail. Watson is reduced to a mere admiring fan, trapped in a constant " reverie and renewed admiration for Mr. Holmes ", while Holmes himself is more of a generic action hero than a detective. In one particularly jarring scene, " Holmes delivered a punishing uppercut to the man’s jaw " so hard his feet left the ground, before the detective " delivered an unforgiving heel kick to his jaw to finish him off ". This isn't the Holmes of Baker Street; it's a Victorian John Wick. The writing is medio...

The Girl in the Ice by Robert Bryndza My rating: 3 of 5 stars A young high society woman is murdered and DCI Erika Foster from the London Metropolitan Police is sent to investigate. Foster has just returned from extended compassionate leave after her husband’s death, which she blames herself for - on basically every single page. Either because of that or because she has a completely annoying personality, Foster is pretty much constantly acting offensive, rude, and annoying. As if that weren’t enough in itself, she keeps making spectacularly stupid mistakes: She goes to the slummiest bars on her own, she searches a home she has to assume is life-threateningly dangerous on her own, even after having been assaulted by the murderer before. There doesn’t seem to be much more to her character either: Throughout the entire novel, Foster remains a sketch of herself. Apart from working, she doesn’t seem to do or reflect on anything. Since she gets suspended for insubordination relatively earl...

These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant My rating: 2 of 5 stars Gorgeous setup, then a miraculous theological derailment Wow, didn’t that blurb read great? And it started off well enough in the woods where Cooper and his daughter have been hiding for years. The atmosphere felt genuine and plausible, the prose was smart and elegant, the characters endearing - what could possibly go wrong? Cooper especially, and Finch to a lesser extent, live a tense but ultimately peaceful life: they hunt and gather, roam through the wilderness, and they do so frequently, extensively, and repeatedly. Yes, some of these excursions bring new information, but did we really need to hear about the “King of Trees” and each of its manifold brethren? Well, yes, I felt bored with large parts of this novel, but then it got worse: A certain character is introduced, and suddenly, drastically, the story springs into action. What ensues is completely unbelievable and seems to be the author’s traditionalist theo...

Not Safe for Work by Nisha J. Tuli My rating: 4 of 5 stars I've been working as an IT consultant/engineer/leader for about 30 years now. During that time I've professionally met hundreds of men - and a handful of women. The men could (and sadly can) get away with almost anything, or receive a mere slap on the wrist. I've also interviewed men and women for jobs: Overwhelmingly, HR ultimately decided to hire a man over a (usually more competent) woman. The one woman I was actually allowed to hire and mentor went on to perform spectacularly in her job and is still thriving. In my field, women, just like Trishara in this novel, have to work more, work harder, and swallow a lot of abuse while doing so. I have yet to meet a woman of colour in such a position. (The one I tried to get hired was rejected by HR, of course…) This is pretty much Trishara’s starting point: Despite being a skilled engineer, she's been passed over for promotions for years and now she is to be the to...

We Do What We Do in the Dark by Michelle Hart My rating: 3 of 5 stars I’m really torn over this one: I liked Mallory, the queer protagonist of this story, and most other characters were also interesting. For me, the major let-down is the story itself: the first part tells us about Mallory’s affair with a professor, only ever referred to melodramatically as “the woman”, from her college and the affair’s circumstances. I found that mostly… boring. As problematic as this affair is due to power differences, conflict of interest, fairness to others, in the end it’s a “normal” affair - one partner (Mallory) silently hoping “the woman” will leave her husband (which she tells Mallory she won’t), the other hoping for non-disclosure and enjoying the hero worship by a younger person. We then shift to Mallory’s childhood and youth during which she discovers she’s queer. This part is relatable but, again, just not all that interesting. Finally, the story moves a few years forward and Mallory and ...

The Car Share by Zoe Brisby My rating: 2 of 5 stars A Feel-Good Road Trip Built on Unbelievable Shortcuts “ The Car Share ” by Zoe Brisby tells a rather simple story: Alex, a young man in his mid-twenties, is depressed and heartbroken by a rejection that didn’t even happen, offers a car-share ride to Brussels. Maxine (“Max”), a ninety-year-old woman from a retirement home who believes she has Alzheimer’s, joins him to undergo euthanasia while she still has capacity whereas Alex is trying to escape his emotional pain. Their journey is full of adventures and turns into a transformative friendship. Unfortunately, that promise is very sloppily executed: The “life-changing” trip consists of just two days. A recovery from diagnosed moderate depression in a mere two days is both belittling the illness and intrinsically questionable within the novel. Max, on the other hand, was married to a psychologist, is very scientifically minded, but fails to actually get a diagnosis instead of relying ...