Very Bad DeathsVery Bad Deaths
288 pages
Baen
ISBN: 074348861X
JUST TO WARN YOU, THE LAST PART OF THIS REVIEW IS A POLITICALLY INCORRECT RANT AGAINST CERTAIN ATTITUDES EVIDENT IN THE BOOK.
YES, IT IS ALSO AN OPINION PIECE. IT IS TWO, TWO, TWO ARTICLES IN ONE.
You have been warned.
I found Spider Robinson’s newest novel “Very Bad Deaths” to be one of the possibly better books I have read by him in years. Robinson is able to convey political ideals and concepts together with personal beliefs of his characters into a wonderfully entertaining world, where the reader actually feels the pain and frustration of each character and what they are doing.
We first meet Russell Walker, our ‘hero’, who lives a hermit like life in British Columbia after the death of his wife and now who only wants to end his own life, we find that Russell is soon placed into a situation where he is not able to reconcile his own passions with what is suddenly needed from him.
Unexpected visited by a former friend from college of years before, Zandor, 'Smelly,' Zudenigo, he is confronted with a belief he has suspected but never gave voice to over the years. Smelly can read minds, and he also comes to the realization that this power hurts him, in fact causing him intense and drastic pain.
A pain so severe that for almost 30 years he too has lived in seclusion on a small wooded island not far from Walker, unknown to Russell.
He has come out of his hiding because he needs Russell’s help. Zandor has found out about a killer, a demented madman who takes joy in murder and torture. The killer envisions himself as a master of murder, an artist in the art of pain. And Zandor knows about his next victims.
Now, Russell finds himself drawn into the hunt for this mysterious creature that looks and acts like a human but embodies the darkest elements of what a human can be.
Russell is to be the intermediary between Smelly, and the skeptical police who need about the fiend.
Russell’s past as a ‘hippy’ makes him a most unlikely hero; he smokes dope, is a pacifist and has a very low opinion of government, the police and most authority figures. But this still does not stop him from seeking their help in this problem.
He enlist the help of a beautiful Vancouver cop, who has trouble getting ahead on the force since she is sexually straight, and the trio work together to track down this dangerous killer.
With few clues to work with, they set out to find all they can in the time they have while filled with dread at wondering what they will do in the final moments. Along the way, Russell finds out that he still has reasons to live, Smelly learns that even he has to trust someone, and Nika (or cop) learns that not every book is actually about what the cover shows.
The book is well written, designed to be a mystery as well as having just a touch of science fiction thrown in. One of my biggest problems was the various hints made by the author that there will be sequels to the story, as well as any story written in the third person almost always gives away the fact that at least the person talking will survive, which is sort of like telling me who Darth Vader actually is in the next film and expecting me to be shocked.
In general, the characters and the plot were intricate enough to keep most people entertained. But, probably a lot of people will figure out the ending well before the last page.
And that is all I am going to tell you about this part of the book.
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Like I said at the start, this ‘could’ have been one of the better Spider books I have read in a good while. It could also have been one of the best books of this nature I have read in a long time.
But, it lost me.
I believe in free speech. I believe in the right of anyone to say anything they want, to believe anything they want. A person can complain, gripe, whine and talk dirty about anyone and anything they choose.
I support the right of any individual to espouse any philosophy they want. I think Nazi supporters or Klan members have the right to spout their crap the same as the NAACP has the right to protest against them. I think the extremist Muslim people have the same right to state their hatred of the Jews, as the Jews have to talk about how they are the chosen people.
I support the right of militant feminists to talk about how lousy men are, and I support the right of Maxim Magazine to share information about how women can be talked into a threesome.
I don’t have to agree with any of these ideas, nor do I have to support them. In fact, I will be standing in the crowd around the Nazi or Klan members with a bag of rotten tomatoes or spoiled eggs, getting ready to take aim and throw.
I also however, have the right to say what I want about any of these groups.
Which is why I have a difficult time with the hypocrisy of Robinson’s character in this book. Yes, I support his right to complain about anything he wants to.
And god knows, he does complain. Almost every chapter is filled with his diatribes against the police, government, elected officials and how bad, dishonest, untrustworthy, stupid, incompetent, malevolent, and cruel they are. The police receive the most numerous of his attacks, moving from how useless they are to his reflections on how they are all nothing but bullies, terrorists and killers in disguise.
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At one point he compares President Bush with the killer, talking about how our killer can only have up to 4 digits in his own murder list, while Bush murders hundreds of thousands. I think this is crap. Again, he has the right to his opinion, no matter how outrageous it is.
Now, before I am covered with the “Pro Bush” brush, let me say that I disagree with Bush on this war, and his actions surrounding it. However, I simply can’t bring myself to call him a murderer or compare him to a fictional (or non-fictional) butcher.
Like I said, Russell goes out of his way to speak in almost every chapter about how bad the police are. His mistrust and actual hatred of them is evident in all of his discussions about them.
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But, when he is trapped by the bad guy, guess what? He whines that the police are not there to save him. He prays and hopes that any moment now, the hills around his house will be covered in police, SWAT teams and sharp shooters.
Gosh, after his stated mistrust and hatred of them, why didn’t he hire a few thugs who (according to him) hang out just a few blocks from the police station and have them guard his house?
Why didn’t he instead of hoping for the police, hope that the guy he buys his dope from would show up to save him?
As is usual with this type of person, they demand to be protected by the very people they despise, ridicule and hate. Russell complains about how vicious and cruel they are, but hopes that they will be vicious and cruel when it comes to protecting him.
His belief in how evil authority is went right out the window when his butt is in trouble.
Which is why this book didn’t turn out to be that enjoyable to me. Sorry, but if Russell had talked about how bad and vicious the police were throughout the book,
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And then carried out his escape, and the resulting actions without hoping for help from the same authorities, I would have been much more supportive of Robinson and this book.
As it is, the story is nothing more then liberal pabulum with the same shield that many liberals hide behind.
That shield being, they complain about the excess of the police and fight hard to force the authorities to be tied down by various rules and restrictions but when their house is broken into, they are mugged, a friend or relative is raped or murdered, they demand to know why nothing was done, or this person was released from custody, or why was this allowed to happen, or how can we blame someone other then ourselves?
They want to be protected by the same laws they often denigrate in others. They demand free speech, as long as it is politically correct free speech and offends only someone else and not them.