WPLongform

Spies never really leave

A Good Reed Review Book Review , , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

Tess Gerritsen’s Martini Club series continues with the third book, The Shadow Friends. The main story takes place in Purity, Maine, a quaint little rural town with some big secrets. Maggie Bird, Declan Rose, Ben Diamond, and Ingrid and Lloyd Slocum form The Martini Club, a tight knit group of former CIA folks enjoying their retirement but their past lives keep cropping up in unexpected and dangerous ways. Maggie, Declan, Ben, and Ingrid were operatives, while Lloyd was an analyst, and their skills still come in handy more often than one might think they should now that they are retired and living out what was supposed to be a comfortable, quiet life with friends and family. Continue reading →

Falling in with the wrong crowd can be deadly

A Good Reed Review Uncategorized , , , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

The seventeenth (and final to date) Kate Burkholder mystery by Linda Castillo is Rage. Castillo takes readers on a very dark journey this time showing them just how dangerous falling in with the wrong crowd can be. Throughout the series, she’s given readers some insight into the Amish way of life including some of the things that young people get into during their rumspringa (or “running around” period). That’s the time when teens are allowed to disregard the strict rules governing the Amish way of life and experience the outside world for a time before they choose whether to commit the rest of the lives to the plain life or leave the community for the outside world. It happens before they are baptized, and it can last for a few years in their mid-to-late teens. The normal extravagances are things like shedding the traditional clothing, partaking of drink and perhaps tobacco, and using language that is frowned upon in Amish culture. Some of the more rambunctious kids take even greater liberties not only ignoring the Amish rules, but also skirting some of the laws governing the outside (or English) world. When things go even further afield, some of these kids can fall in with dangerous crowds or more sophisticated criminals looking to take advantage of their naiveté. When this happens, the results can be life threatening. This is one such story involving multiple innocents who stray way too far from the lives they knew with tragic consequences. Continue reading →

25 years later I am tired

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , ,

By Ande Jacobson

Like so many of us, I remember exactly where I was 25 years ago today when the twin towers were attacked on 9/11/2001. I was at work during a week I spent in the greater Washington, D.C. metro area. Although we were mostly cutoff from the outside world while at work, we were just outside the beltway, and within less than 10 minutes after the first plane hit everyone at our location knew that it happened. When I was able to contact my manager back in my home location later that morning, he told me that my colleague and I were not authorized to drive across the country to return home. We were to stay at our location until we could fly home. We were scheduled to fly back on Friday that week, but our journey got complicated, and our stay was slightly extended. We were lucky. We were safe, and although we weren’t able to return home until Sunday, we had a comfortable place to stay, food to eat, and work to do. The story of our attempts to get home is a bit jumbled, but in the grand scheme of things it is unimportant now compared to the trauma others suffered that week and in the weeks and months that followed. Continue reading →

Surprising Amish history comes to light

A Good Reed Review Book Review , , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

The sixteenth Kate Burkholder mystery by Linda Castillo is The Burning. This time, Castillo educates the reader on some disturbing Anabaptist history from the Reformation period. While the Anabaptists as a whole are pacifists, during the Reformation when the Anabaptists were persecuted by the mainstream Christians of the day, a sect arose that embraced violence when necessary in defense of the community. This sect was known as the Schwertlers, or loosely translated “of the sword.” Although its members knew that violence was a sin, they saw the need for it when the community was threatened, and as a group would use a particularly nasty ritual to eliminate threats while ensuring those so sacrificed a place in heaven as martyrs. While it’s thought that this group ceased to exist, an unusual and disturbing case sends Kate down an investigative path that includes digging into the details of this outcast group’s practices. Continue reading →

What you see is not always what you get

A Good Reed Review Book Review , , , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

Linda Castillo’s fifteenth Kate Burkholder mystery is An Evil Heart, and it starts with a horrific murder. An Amish man is murdered on his way to work when his assailant lies in wait along the side of the road where Aden Karn commutes on his bicycle each morning. Aden sees the man and stops. What follows is a horrific and graphic murder at the heart of the story. The obvious question beyond who did it is why would anyone do such a thing? Continue reading →

AI, ghostwriters, editors, and authorship

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , , , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the use of AI, ghostwriters, and editors, and what authorship really means. Having written a book myself, I know the kind of effort that goes into such an endeavor, even when you know the material extremely well. Getting the wording right, making sure that your ideas come across the way you intend, and even the aesthetics of the prose are all of concern. Writing an essay requires a similar amount of polish as well, although it’s significantly shorter and quicker to write compared to a book. One could even apply the same considerations to something as mundane as an email or a personal letter. All that said, what exactly is authorship? Are you technically an author if you use a ghostwriter to write your manuscript for you, or are you committing a type of fraud by taking credit for something that you didn’t actually do? Is the manuscript still your work if an editor changes it, or is that a matter of degree? Continue reading →

You cannot escape your past

A Good Reed Review Book Review , , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

The Hidden One, is the fourteenth Kate Burkholder thriller. Once again Kate’s past is the reason she’s sought. Three Amish men (a bishop, a deacon, and a minister) from a small Pennsylvania village show up in her office asking for her help for one of their flock. Jonas Bowman has been arrested for a murder that occurred almost two decades ago, yet the victim’s remains, the former bishop of the church district Ananias Stoltzfus, have only recently been found. How much the Diener (elected church officials) know of Kate and Jonas’ past is unknown, but they specifically sought her out because they don’t know how to help Jonas. They don’t think he did what he’s been accused of, and they claim to have no idea who committed the crime. They offer to pay Kate for her time, although because she’d be out of her jurisdiction by far, she’d have no official authority which will make it much more difficult to get the information she needs. The men ask her to sleep on it before giving them her answer, though she knows from the start that she has to go. She owes it to Jonas. Continue reading →

Following your dreams can be rough

A Good Reed Review Book Review , , , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

Fallen, is the thirteenth Kate Burkholder thriller, this time exploring the dangers of following one’s dreams. Kate isn’t the only one who left the Amish community when she approached the critical decision point of whether or not to be baptized. In Kate’s case, she never was. Rachael Schwartz was another young woman facing that difficult decision, and she too left the community, but under very different circumstances from Kate’s. Still, when she turns up murdered in a dreary motel room in Painters Mill, Kate catches the case, and it stirs up memories of her own past. She recognizes that she and Rachael never fit in, although their rebelliousness manifested in very different ways. Kate knew Rachael as a child, and she saw that even then Rachael followed her own mind in ways that Kate both admired and knew would cause her trouble as she grew older. Continue reading →

The past matters

A Good Reed Review Book Review , , , ,

By Ande Jacobson

The twelfth Kate Burkholder novel, Outsider, delves into Kate’s more recent past. The Prologue starts with a deadly and graphic raid where the target, Gina Colorosa, barely escapes. Gina is the person who helped Kate the most when she first left the plain life. At present though, Gina has troubles, and she quickly brings them to Painters Mill. She’s a detective with the Cleveland PD, but there’s far more than readers are aware going on with the raid. She’s badly injured and barely gets away, but as she gets to Painters Mill, she encounters a horrific blizzard, and crashes her truck into a tree. As Gina comes close to freezing, Adam Lengacher happens by in his sleigh with his three young children. Adam is an Amish man who lost his wife only a couple of years before and is doing the best he can. Their initial meeting is less than ideal, but despite Gina’s off putting manner, he rescues her and brings her to his home to get her out of the freezing cold. She tells Adam to contact Kate Burkholder which he does. So begins a convoluted and dangerous adventure. The trouble that Gina left behind eventually follows her putting Adam and his children at risk, but Adam is model of Amish good will. When somebody needs help, he doesn’t judge them. He helps them. Continue reading →

Writing can be therapeutic

A Good Reed Review Commentary & Pubs , ,

By Ande Jacobson

I’ve kept a journal since I was a child, although in recent years I’ve not made many entries. In some ways, the essays I write have taken its place helping me delve into things that I’m thinking about. Sometimes that means writing up thoughts on books I’ve just read or delving into a concept that intrigues me. Often though it involves taking a step back from current events and sorting out something that’s bothering me. That last category has covered a lot of ground over the last several years. Along with an increased focus on politics and the historical significance of various policies and actions, it drove me to add a history and politics page to my commentary library. Continue reading →