Dead Irish by John Lescroart

3.5 stars. This book was great. I needed a new author to follow and Lescroart provided me with a new character to puzzle over. Dismas Hardy is a hard drinking, former attorney turned bartender/private eye. Like all the best of his ilk, he is flawed in ways that drive you as a reader crazy but that make his story and motivations far more interesting. He has a complicated relationship with his ex and with himself.

The owner of the bar where he works asks Diz to investigate a case related to a family member. The cops are calling it suicide, the family is calling it murder. And while there are some who have motive, these are not clear cut or at all obvious which complicates the case.

The story is set in San Francisco evoking those old Chandler settings with a modern twist. But I loved the fog rolling in and the tours of neighbourhoods where suspects live and work.

This book has a lot of twists and turns and does not forecast the ending so that just a few pages in, you keep changing your suspect list. Right up to the end. Diz’s favorite weapon seems to be a cast iron skillet and frankly, it’s refreshing to see someone bashed over the head the old fashioned way instead of just shot. It lends nostalgia I guess!

The book does start a bit slow. I stuck with it and it picked up fast. It is more character than action driven so it requires a lot of patience to listen to Diz’s inner dialogue. This is the first book in the series so I am guessing that the deeper you go into the series, the more Diz will evolve and that is something important to remember with these series books. Main characters almost never start out fully rounded but become so over time.

I can’t write much more because of the plot twists. But if you love a series with a good flawed main character, this one is for you!

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

Many readers may know this story better by its film name – Blade Runner. For readers who enjoy thought provoking, intellectual science fiction you can’t bypass the works of Philip K. Dick.

Rick Deckard is a bounty hunter in futuristic San Francisco. His job is to eliminate androids on earth. Androids were developed in order to be shipped off planet to colonies in the galaxy to act as servants for humans.

There are small bands of humans left on earth in various cities around the world. News is limited to reality based gossip columns that play on television and radio. Emotions and moods are set and reset on a machine in each home in order to offset depression caused by the nuclear winter which hangs over everything.

A new religion or ideological following has emerged called Mercerism. It is tied in with the mood machine and a worship of animals. Many animals are extinct and the prices to own them are very high making ownership of a real animal both valuable and status adding to one’s life. Deckard and his wife are owners of an electric sheep but have aspirations to own a real animal.

A fellow bounty hunter of Deckard’s has been injured on the job and so the hunt for several androids is turned over to Deckard. With the bounties he hopes to be able to purchase real livestock.
From there the story is about the hunt.

The writing is excellent. A very descriptive tale of how the world works, the value of people and human versus android interactions and the role of sentient beings in our lives. One of the strongest underlying themes is that of emotion.

If you have seen the film first, then expect some deviation and a different experience. This author has had many of his stories adapted from page to screen. Some license is always taken because of the intellectual nature of the writing and it is hard to put thoughts onto film.

The story itself is fairly short but it is well worth any amount you have to pay to access it. If you are a sci-fi fan you are probably familiar. If this is a genre you do not usually read from, please try this author. You will not be disappointed.