Here are some quick reviews of books I read in 2020. It was supposed to be the post from Day 139, but I didn’t finish it in time.
- Into the Darkness by Barbara Michaels, B+: The granddaughter of a famous jeweler inherits half of his flagship store. The other half goes to his protege, about whom very little is known. With several men vying for her attentions and a secret enemy sending threats to her and her family, she’s unsure of whom to turn to for help. This one started out good and then fizzled. Disappointing.
- Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins, A-: This was a quick, easy, fun read about a boy who falls into a world below New York City that is populated by not only people but also large, sentient variants of city vermin. Surprisingly recommended.
- Prince of Darkness by Barbara Michaels, F: This story is a little different for Michaels in that the main viewpoint character is a man rather than a woman. The man insinuates himself into the household of a wealthy woman and her niece and tries, for reasons we can only guess at initially, to trick them into believing they’re being haunted. But he’s not the only one playing tricks. This actually isn’t Michaels’s worst novel in terms of story or writing. The failing grade comes primarily from the offensive language used to describe people of color. Though the sole black character is one of the good guys (arguably the only genuinely good guy), and though Michaels’s intention might have been to highlight the racism of the bad guys and contrast it with the moral clarity of the black character, the language was upsetting and IMHO unnecessary. There are also several instances of a man striking the woman with whom he had a romantic relationship, and that was also unnecessary. Keeping in mind that Michaels wrote the book in the late ’60s, and societal attitudes have changed, I’ll grant her forgiveness, but the book is not a keeper.