WPLongform

We need to listen

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By Ande Jacobson

Tess Gerritsen’s Rizzoli & Isles series completes for now with Listen to Me, first released in July 2022. This ultimate series installment follows a different path than previous Rizzoli & Isles books. Gerritsen writes this one from multiple points of view focusing on each of the main female characters. As the POV shifts, we get more insight into series regulars Angela Rizzoli, Detective Jane Rizzoli, and Medical Examiner Maura Isles, and into newcomer Amy Antrim. Each has several chapters devoted to them and their thoughts, motivations, inner turmoil, and actions. A major theme of the book, particularly from Angela’s perspective, is “If you see something, say something,” a motto that can either help and hinder depending on the circumstances. As always in Gerritsen’s mysteries, there are numerous subplots that mingle and merge in unexpected ways as the story progresses, generally surrounding a series of murders in some fashion. This time is no exception except perhaps in the complexity of the subplots that each come to the forefront at different points in the story. This one also brings the dangers much closer to home. Continue reading →

Substance matters

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By Ande Jacobson

I’m concerned. No, that’s not right. I’m terrified.

We recently celebrated another U.S. Independence Day marking the anniversary of when the United States of America was founded. Now the biggest election of my lifetime (and perhaps in our nation’s history) looms over us in just under four months, and we have a media machine that seems determined to foment division by continuing its years long assault on the Democratic incumbent while at the same time ignoring his record of accomplishments and ignoring or normalizing the outright malfeasance of his likely GOP opponent. The media has presented the presidential race as a horse race rather than focusing on the real issues at hand which does the country a huge disservice. Why they are doing this is the subject of a lot of speculation. On the one hand, the media long ago moved away from their role as impartial observers and sources of information about current events into a much more lavish, dynamic, and profitable role as entertainers. They are businesses intent on turning a profit, so they do all they can to build audience and keep people coming back for more. Division and controversy sells far better than dry data, so their move toward the former in this quest became their imperative. Profits after all are more important than informing the public to many of these entities. A GOP presidency, particularly with their likely candidate, would garner them higher profits given the crises and favorable tax modifications that would result. Unfortunately, far too many people accept what they are told by the media without looking beyond the hype, and that could spell disaster for the country and the world. Continue reading →

Childhood secrets can be dangerous

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By Ande Jacobson

The penultimate book (so far) in Tess Gerritsen’s Rizzoli & Isles series, I Know a Secret, was first released in August 2017. This one is creepy dealing with sociopathic tendencies, childhood frailties, and how a long buried secret can wreak havoc even decades later. For most children, certain situations elicit expected and appropriate displays of emotion. In sad or somber situations like a relative’s funeral, that can sometimes mean tears. For those rare kids who are wired differently such that they don’t feel the normal range of emotions, this might end up being a learned behavior rather than an instinctual one. For such a child, their response can look like those of their peers while instead being a coldly calculated act to avoid standing out. So begins the story narrated by an adult who was once such a child. How that ties into the murders at hand takes most of the book to unfold, but the ending is worth the wait, unsettling though it may be. Continue reading →

Insights through the arts

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By Ande Jacobson

Senior year of high school is often fraught with decisions. For the academically inclined, this is the year when students make a series of decisions that have a monumental impact on the rest of their lives. It’s the year when they have to decide which colleges they’ll apply to (if indeed they are planning to go straight from high school to college). Later when the acceptances start rolling in, they have to decide which college they’ll attend. For many of these students, these college related decisions overtake their world. They visit campuses. They talk with friends, family, school advisors, current college students, faculty, and admissions staff, and they try to make the decision that is best for them given what they know about their interests at that time. They also still continue to attend their high school classes through their senior year, maintaining their academic performance that got them to this point in their lives. They may also have part time jobs that require their attention. They have familial responsibilities. For those students seeking an arts related college program, they may also have to audition or submit portfolios for consideration as part of the application process. In short, they are busier than they have ever been. For Val Zvinyatskovsky, this was only part of what occupied his time through his senior year of high school. In addition to his studies, campus visits, and holding down several arts-related jobs across performance, tech, and teaching, he also put his thoughts into a musical production as the composer, lyricist, librettist, and director. Barely a week after his high school graduation, he debuted his new one-act musical, The Right: A Gameshow Musical, in a special one night presentation, a video of which is available for all interested viewers. Continue reading →

30 May 2024 was a good day for America

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By Ande Jacobson

On 30 May 2024, a jury in Manhattan unanimously convicted Donald J. Trump, a former U.S. president, of 34 counts in his first criminal trial. Some might think this was a sad day because for the first time, a former president was tried and convicted in a criminal proceeding. That former president is now a convicted felon, but it’s not necessarily a sad day in our history. The sad part really is that a former president would commit crimes in the way that this one has, but through both civil and criminal trials, we are showing the nation and the world that nobody is above the law, not even a former president, and that’s a very good thing. Continue reading →

The fascinating story of Lyudmila Pavlichenko

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By Ande Jacobson

The Diamond Eye is Kate Quinn’s largely biographical novel chronicling the story of Lyudmila Pavlichenko, a woman who made a huge contribution to defeating Hitler’s assault on her homeland during WWII. Pavlichenko was a Ukrainian born Russian woman who became a deadly sniper in the Red Army in the early days of the war. Her story shows that while there’s a certain amount of luck in surviving the horrific conditions she endured, her skills and determination were invaluable in her efforts. While Quinn is famous for writing historical fiction, weaving gripping stories surrounding historic times or events, this novel is drawn more directly from an original source than most. Her primary reference for the novel was Pavlichenko’s autobiography, Lady Death: The Memoirs of Stalin’s Sniper. She used an English translation by David Foreman as a central part of her research beyond various official records to which she had access. As such, almost all of the characters are from real life in this story, although one major character is a composite of two real men. Quinn also used a bit of poetic license with respect to Pavlichenko’s autobiography, at times reordering some events to create a more cohesive storyline and filling in some gaps in the timeline. It’s likely that some of the events in the source material were themselves smoothed and brightened given the work was approved by the Soviet Union and thus was potentially at least partially propaganda. On the other hand, the official record of various events is clear and independently verifies much of the material. Continue reading →

Lower birth rates are a good thing

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By Ande Jacobson

We’re seeing some disturbing reports of late that are born of a faulty thesis. We’re seeing manufactured panic over birth rates declining, but there are already over 8 billion people on the planet which is unsustainable over the long haul. As I wrote in January 2023, too many people combined with humankind’s bizarre focus on infinite growth on a finite planet rather than working toward a sustainable steady state is truly a crisis. So what do we do? We create the opposite crisis over the ideal mix of people on the planet based on greed, misogyny, xenophobia, and tribalism. Instead, we should be embracing a long term decrease in the human population to reach a level that is more in tune with our global environment and conducive to long term success under more equitable and comfortable living conditions for all. Continue reading →

Then and now, how different is it?

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By Ande Jacobson

When I was growing up, it was a turbulent time. Being a child of the 60s and 70s, I saw some thrilling scientific advances, as well as numerous disturbing events throughout my childhood. Both the positive and negative had an impact on how I viewed the world, but I always thought that things would continue to get better for society overall.

We had lots of books at home – both of my parents were avid readers of all sorts of material, and they instilled in me a healthy love of learning. We had numerous academic texts (both of my parents were medical professionals, so they had an extensive medical library), and we had our Encyclopedia Britannica along with the Great Books as more general references. We even had the Children’s Stories Great Books collection to round out things from the literary side. We had numerous dictionaries, lots of history books, and shelves overflowing with literary works including both fiction and nonfiction on countless subjects. We also had our library cards for both pleasure and for those times when our research needs exceeded what was available at home. Learning was fun. Continue reading →

The kids will be OK

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By Ande Jacobson

Last to Die, is the tenth book in Tess Gerritsen’s Rizzoli & Isles series and was first released in 2012. Like the previous book, the Kindle version of this one includes a bonus short story in the Rizzoli & Isles canon entitled John Doe also from 2012. For the main story, Gerritsen weaves a complicated web of unlikely connections that build to a surprising conclusion. The focus is on three unfortunate children, Teddy Clock, Claire Ward, and Will Yablonski. The first part of the book gives some background on all three, and they have a strange connection in that they not only lost their families in tragic accidents, they lost the families that took them in afterwards in equally horrific fashion. The three seemingly had no connection to one another other than being their family’s last survivors. Through a series of unlikely events, they all end up at the Evensong School in an effort to keep them safe while the authorities investigate what happened to their families. Before meeting at the school, the three didn’t think they had ever met and didn’t think they had anything in common, at least at first. Julian Perkins also plays a major role in this story, and he and Dr. Maura Isles help one another with the investigation. Anthony Sansone also joins the fray in an important but peripheral capacity. Of course the police regulars including Jane Rizzoli, Barry Frost, Darren Crowe, Lieutenant Marquette, and others are prominent in the story as well. Continue reading →

When myth and reality merges

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By Ande Jacobson

The Silent Girl, is the ninth book in Tess Gerritsen’s Rizzoli & Isles series, first released in 2011. This book is a treat in that the Kindle version also includes a bonus short story in the Rizzoli & Isles canon entitled Freaks from 2010. Gerritsen considers The Silent Girl a very personal story in which she ties in ancient Chinese folklore that her mother had related to her. Her mother learned these fables and legends during her childhood in China, and they add an ethereal element to the story that infuses the mythos into Jane Rizzoli’s world in unexpected ways. As often happens in Gerritsen’s books, she starts in the past giving readers a foundation they don’t realize connects until much later in the story. This time, although the story starts in San Francisco in the past, it quickly returns to Boston in the present where Maura Isles is testifying in court. Maura’s background matches that of the author to a point – both author and protagonist majored in Anthropology as undergraduates at Stanford and attended medical school at UC San Francisco. From there they diverge in specialty and position, but that’s merely background. The trial in the story sets the scene for why Maura is at odds with most of Boston PD for much of this story. Her factual testimony is key in convicting a police officer accused of killing a young man while in custody. Although the court case has nothing to do with the crimes being investigated in the bulk of the story, it makes the connection between Maura and Jane all the more poignant despite the growing rift caused by Maura’s crossing the thin blue line through her court testimony. Continue reading →