Review: Double Mint (Davis Way, #4)

Davis Way is back to uncovering crime and engaging in hi-jinks at the Bellismo Casino. Employed as a special undercover agent at the Bellismo, Davis is expected to uncover and take down criminal operations at the casino. Those who have read the earlier volumes in this series will recall that Davis was hired by the Bellismo because she looks exactly like her boss's wife. She has married the resort's security chief, and they reside in an on-site penthouse apartment. As this volume opens Davis has been forced to take over the special events coordinator's job, after the incumbent walked out of the hotel, never to return. She has also discovered the equipment to print fake currency lodged deep in the walls of her apartment. Then there's the fridge: it doesn't work, and needs to be fixed, except it's a crazy, ugly behemoth no one has ever seen before. Then a group of security professionals show up for a conference, with entertainment consisting of high stakes slot tournaments, and platinum goes missing from the casino vault. 

The story is a bit nuts, but it's also absolutely hilarious. It's high-energy, high-action, and high-humor. Davis offers significant snarky commentary about her apartment, decorated as if a Party City barfed up a New Orleans themed issue of a decorating magazine. Nothing in this book is expected. If you think you know where there plot is going, you probably don't. I'm excited to see where this series is going to go next. 

Gretchen Archer, Double Mint (Henery Press, 2015) 

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley for purposes of review.

Review: The Sound and the Fury

I'd not read any Faulkner prior to picking up The Sound and the Fury, and I must admit that I was a bit apprehensive about this book. But I was also looking forward to getting some Faulkner under my belt, and this was my book group's selection, so I had added incentive. The metanarrative of this book is the decline of an old southern family in a tale told by three brothers: one disabled, one suicidal, one horrible. All of the brothers are obsessed with their sister Caddy, and their three narratives explain their lives through their thoughts of and interactions with their sister. Caddy's own decline, in the form of an affair and resulting pregnancy, fundamentally shapes the life of all the family members. Each member of the Compson household is afflicted in one way or another, and these afflictions collectively bring the family into a downward tailspin. I enjoyed reading this book, though it's difficult for me to explain exactly what makes it a classic. It might be the beautiful prose, it might be the deep complexity of the story, it might be the investment the reader must make in getting through it. While I'm certainly aware of Faulkner's importance to the modernist movement and his place in the literary canon, it's something else that makes this classic literature for me. I did think that Faulkner's evocation of the New South was masterful, and for those who've not studied the history of the New South, this is an excellent snapshot. By the time I'd reached the final section of the book I wanted to devour it all in one sitting. I'll be exploring more of Faulkner's canon in the years to come.

William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury (Vintage, 1991) ISBN: 0679732241