It seems like we’ve been getting a new novel from Michael Connelly every six months or so for the past couple of years.  In most cases, this would be a bad thing because you’d worry the quality of the stories would suffer or that the author might experience some kind of burnout or that the author would become a generic name slapped on covers to sell books (I’m looking at you James Patterson.)

Thankfully, that hasn’t happened with Connelly’s novels, yet.  Each entry has been a solid one and it only looked like he was picking up steam not only as a storyteller but also a writer.   His last couple of books have been great and they really got me looking forward to his latest Harry Bosch novel, “9 Dragons.”

Which I suppose I could have had my expectations too stratospherically high that no novel could have lived up to it.   For whatever reason, while I enjoyed “9 Dragons” I didn’t find it quite as rich a feast as the past couple of Connelly novels.

Bosch is assigned the case of murdered liquor store owner from China. Bosch finds the owner was paying off the Chinese triade out of a sense of respect for the tradition and heritage of doing so.  Bosch tries to determine is the triad played some role in the shooting and if there is some larger conspiracy going on.  Bosch apparently begins to step on some toes, leading to his daughter in Hong Kong being kidnapped as a warning to Bosch.  Instead of giving up the case, Bosch heads to Hong Kong to find her.

“9 Dragons” works well enough for the first three-quarters of the story, driving along at a good pace and with revelations coming along at the usual Connelly clip–not too fast, but not so far between as to lose interest.  It’s once things hit Hong Kong and a series of twists begin to show up that the novel begins to lose its momentum.  It’s not a bad thing, but there are some moments in the final quarter of the novel that really took it out of the usual realm of Connelly’s work to something that was just pretty good by comparison.

I’d love to say more, but to bring them up here would ruin the end of the novel.  I’ll say this–your comfort with the twists and whether you think that enhance or detract from the plot will determine how much you like the book.  If you buy them, it’s a great book.  I didn’t buy them and so it’s just an OK book.

But the good thing is that given how prolific Connelly has become, we’ll soon have a new mystery to (hopefully) wash away this disappointment.

The old adage says you should never judge a book by its cover.

Maybe we should update it to say that we should never judge a book by its cover or its Internet marketing campaign.

Images of the cover for this “Star Wars” book began to slip out months ago along with the tease of stormtroopers plus zombies.  Based on that alone, the novel had to be worth reading, right?

Yes and no.

As a standalone novel in the “Star Wars” universe, the books is an enjoyable enough story as author Joe Schreiber introduces us to a bunch of character who are to set to be potential zombie fodder early in the story.

The story has a nice sense of atmosphere to it.  A prison ship breaks down with a full compliment of prisoners and is forced to dock with an abandoned star destroyer for help and to try and find parts.  Hope turns to fear as a mysterious disease comes back on board, wiping out most of the crew and prisoners apart from a handful of survivors with immunity to the disease.  Then, the dead start rising and become zombies, leading to lots of chasing and running.

The problem with “Death Troopers” is that there’s a twist mid-way through that completely took me out of the story and had me rolling my eyes.  And the book never recovered from that moment. In fact, a large chunk of the second half of the book depends on this twist, making it virtually impossible to escape it or maybe pretend it didn’t happen and get back to some zombie stormtrooper mayhem.

Laura Anne Gilman’s fantasy novel “Flesh and Fire” may not reinvent the fantasy wheel, but at least it has an interesting magical system in place.

The magical system of this world is built around grape and wines, with various vineyards producing grapes and wines that have various magical powers and uses.  It’s a fascinating concept and when the story delves into the system that Gilman is setting up and how people are chosen and trained in the ways of the magical system, the book really works.

Where the story falls down a bit is in the final third of the novel when it becomes apparent there’s some kind of huge new evil pervading the land and becoming a threat.  At this point the novel falls into the standard fantasy tropes and loses some of the momentum it gained and earned in the first two-thirds of the story.

Still, the magical system of this universe and the character work on our hero, Jerzy, is enough that I’ll be looking for the next installment in this proposed trilogy.

Fifteen-year-old Devon seems to have it all together in life.  She’s a solid student, a superior soccer player and she’s got her whole future ahead of her–bright and full of promise.  So why would a girl like this leave her newborn infant in a plastic trash bag in a trash can outside her apartment building?

“After” tries to answer this question and look at the circumstances and situations that would lead Devon to such a place in her life.

The story opens with Devon on the couch, not feeling well after having given birth.  When her mother (who had Devon at 16) comes in from her overnight shift at the local grocery store, talking about a baby found in the alley trashcan, Devon is non-responsive.  The police come to the door and upon further investigation, we find out that Devon delivered and discarded the baby.  She’s immediately arrested and sent to the hospital for help.

As Devon enters the legal system, we follow her story for two weeks leading up to a trial that will determine if she remains in the juvenile justice system or is tried as an adult.  The story of Devon, her pregnancy and her relationship with her mother is told in flashbacks, slowly filling in the details of what lead Devon to the point she was and how she could go without someone noticing her situation.  At times, Devon is an unlikeable character, especially early in the story when she is frustratingly non-responsive to not only characters within the story but the narration itself.  Once we begin to see that Devon has been forced to be the grown-up to her mother (who flits between dead-end jobs and dead-end boyfriends) and desperately fears becoming her mother, we begin to understand a bit of what lead Devon to the decision she makes.

As a story, “After” doesn’t try to justify the decision.  But it does, at least, allow us a character study of Devon to see how this girl who seemingly has it all together can so quickly lose control of the situation she faces.

The story is an effective one at times while at others you may find yourself screaming at Devon to open up and stop withdrawing from everyone and everything.  When Devon is abandoned by her mother in the story (her mother moves out of their apartment, can’t be found and doesn’t show up to see Devon in detention), you will feel sympathy for her.  But you’ll also feel horrified that she refuses to ask for help from anyone around her, even as you find out that there were people who could and would help if she’d asked.

In the end, the story asks us and the court to believe something that is an interesting idea (if you’ve watched Mad Men, you’ll probably guess it a long time before the novel really presents it) and it one that explains things without absolving Devon on consequences (at least non entirely).

The big problem with “After” is that it’s so concerned with getting to this particular diagnosis and finding that once it gets there, the novel loses steam and just abruptly ends.   The ending feels a bit rushed and like it’s trying too hard to end things on a more positive note than what we’d just gone through for the last couple of hundred page (or in my case, couple of hours on audio).

The back cover for “Undiscovered Gyrl” declares “only on the Internet can you have so many friends and be so lonely.”

That statement sums up a lot of the life of first-person narrator, Katie Kampenfelt. Katie has decided to defer her college for a year to find out what she really wants to do in life. She chronicles this journey via her popular blog that picks up a lot of hits, comments and e-mails about Katie and her lifestyle.

“Undiscovered Gyrl” is told in the conversational style of a personal blog, complete with mis-spellings, grammar errors and drunk typing entries. All of that makes the novel a fascinating read as we get to know more about Katie and while we may not necessarily like her, we do at least understand a bit more about what drives her.

Katie is stuck in neutral while life seems to be happening around her. She yearns for a true love, but is clearly having some issues from her parents divorce. At several points in the story, you’ll wonder how much of what Katie is reporting here is true and how much of it comes from her own need to entertain the readers and friends she’s made on her blog. At several points, Katie is clearly concerned about her readership base numbers.

“Undiscovered Gyrl” is a book I liked but didn’t love. It’s not a three-star book, but it’s not exactly four. Call it three and a half.

Part of that is that despite having a compelling and readable voice in Katie, the character herself isn’t always likeable. Readers will find themselves conflicted on how to feel about Katie and her choices in the novel. Like life, some are good, some are bad and a lot of them have unintended consequences. What does come through time and again is Katie’s loneliness and desperate need to love and be loved. In that, the novel is haunting and some of the events later in the story will keep you thinking long after the book is through.

When it comes to fantasy, I prefer the urban fantasy of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files or the Newford books of Charles DeLint.

But after enduring “Wizard’s First Rule” earlier this summer, I felt like I should give a fair shake to one of the giants of the genre–the Song of Fire and Ice series by George R.R. Martin. “A Game of Thrones” is a novel that’s long been on my bookshelf, sort of mocking me with its lengthy page count and complex political storylines. Each time I’d think about reading it, another book would come along to distract me.

Finally a reason other than “because it’s there” came along for me to read it. A book club I participate in chose it for our August selection. Finally, the motivation I needed.

And, at first, I was pleasantly surprised by the novel. It starts off well and manages to avoid a lot of the cliches that doomed my reading of “Wizard.” Namely the book assumes the reader has half a brain cell and can follow the on-going plot without the need to have characters sit around and contemplate events up to this point every 20 or so pages. For that, Martin should be commended.

Of course, Martin does include a long list of characters and relationships in the back of the book to help readers out and there were times at the mid-point I found myself flipping to it to keep in mind who relates to who and how. I say this because Martin has created an epic group of characters for the story. And that can be a good thing or it can be a daunting task. Add to it that the story shifts among multiple viewpoints and it would be easy to get lost in the details.

However, Martin never lets the reader get too far lost. There is a portion of the story in the middle where things slow to a crawl, but that’s only because Martin has to set things up for the final third of the novel when revelations begin to occur and the action jumps up a notch. I’ll admit it took me a while to plow through the middle third but the first and last third of the book are simply some of the best epic fantasy I’ve read of late. Of course, when the comparison is “Wizard’s First Rule,” that’s damning by faint praise. But the thing is “A Game of Thrones” works because it doesn’t fall back on the typical fantasy tropes. For a fantasy novel, there is very little of the magic usually associated with such books here–at least until the final few pages.

Also, I’ve heard Martin has a habit of taking unexpected turns and not keeping any character safe from death at any time. That certainly begins in this first novel, where based on how certain characters were developing and casting news for the HBO series, I assumed at least one or two characters would make it through the entire series.

Apparently that’s what I get for assuming.

The story is a long, complex and intriguing one that ends at a place that I’m curious to continue the journey. At least after in the near future. The idea of picking up the near 1000 page sequel to this one seems a bit daunting right now but I have a strong feeling I’ll be back to this universe soon.

Jonathan Tropper has carved a niche for himself in the Nick Hornby corner of the literary world.  And on some level it would be easy to dismiss him as a imitator of Hornby if not for one simple thing–his novels are always so damn good.

“This Is Where I Leave You” is no exception.  In fact, it’s the novel that takes all the Troopper tropes and pulls them together in a fascinating new character examination novel that is both compulsively readable and utterly fascinating.

Judd Foxman is in his mid-30s and facing a crossroads.  He’s separated from his wife, who he caught in bed with his boss and radio shock-jock, on her birthday.  That led to him quitting his job and as he wiles away days in a basement apartment with nothing but a TV and a few random pieces of furniture to keep him company, he’s summoned home to sit shiva for his recently deceased father.  Apparently, it was dad’s dying wish for the family to sit shiva for him, something that none of the siblings are too thrilled about.  Seven days at home with family could and does bring up some family issues that have been lurking under the surface for years but no one has ever had the time or energy to dig up and resolve.

As if that weren’t enough, Judd’s wife announces she is pregnant and he runs into an old high school flame who he made a pact with that they’d get together at 40 if they weren’t married or significantly involved.

It sounds like a lot to juggle in one novel, but Tropper deftly juggles all the storylines into a coherent, funny and fascinating whole.  Weaving together the various threads of the past, present and potential future keep the page turning and Tropper utilizes well-placed flashbacks to reveal pertinent backstory at the right moment.  He makes it look effortless to sew in seeds of the story and then allow us to witness the actual events at just the right moment for both the readers and Judd.   The fact that Judd used to date the now-wife of his older brother pays an interesting and humorous dividend as well as an emotional one as the story unfolds.

In the week, revelations will come for many family members.  They all feel authentic as we take this journey with Judd and as you read the story, the title becomes more and more relevant to the story.  It was a story I didn’t want to end, but I can understand why Tropper chose this week-long snapshot of Judd and his family.  I wouldn’t mind a return visit in the future (which would be a first for Tropper).  That said, I did leave the novel satisfied with the journey and feeling like it reflected real life and that Judd was a living, breathing character.  Things don’t always wrap-up neatly or as expected.

Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan originally conceived “The Strain” as a serialized television series for the Fox network.  After Fox execs balked at the original vision, insisting the writers inject more humor into the storyline of a modern-day vampire apocolypse, del Toro and Hogan decided to take their toys and go home.  Rather than create a movie version of this modern day retelling of “Dracula,” the two decided to go literary.

The result is a new trilogy of books, the first of which debuts this summer and is called “The Strain.”

And it’s one hell of a scary, thrillride.

The story’s television roots show throughout the novel with a huge cast introduced early in the story, many of whom are vampire-fodder by the mid-point of the story.  Del Toro and Hogan’s characters aren’t exactly deep, but we do get to know them enough to care for them, even as many of them succumb to the mysterious new virus that is infecting New Yorkers.

“The Strain” is a scary book that comes along at the right time.  Del Toro and Hogan’s decision to have vampirism spread not through one vampire creating another via bites but as an airborn pathogen is particularily chilling in the time of the H1N1 scare.   The story more than chillingly describes how the virus takes over its human hosts, rapidly transforming them into undead vampires.   And because this is a book with only the special effects limits of your own imagination, be prepared for to be grossed out at times.

You should also be prepared for some unrelentingly creepy moments.  The novel’s opening scenes with a jet plane sitting on the tarmac at New York airport, silent and completely dark are among some of the more unnerving moments in the book.

And while “The Strain” clearly owes an enormous debt to both “Dracula” and “The Stand,” it’s not quite in the same league as either one.  While the novel is populated by a sprawling, diverse cast of characters, many of them are two-dimensional, at best.   “The Stand” spent time developing its characters in its virus-induced apocolypse, making many of them cannon-fodder over the course of the story but still getting us to care about them.  “The Strain” has an equally high body count, but you won’t find yourself as invested in many of the characters here.

However, the pace and horror of what’s unfolding will keep you reading this one.  If your only love of vampires is those created by Stephenie Meyer, then you’ll want to skip this one.   “The Strain” returns vampires to the dark, scary recesses of the imagination, where they belong.

Seventeen-year-old Mina Hamilton has a seemingly normal life with one small exception–her parents are vampires.  Mina’s known for years, but when the vampire ruling council discovers this, Mina is enrolled in a crash course about everything it means to be a vampire and given a deadline to make one of the biggest decisions of her life–whether or not to join the ranks of the undead.

With the current crazy of teenager vampire books flooding the market, “Sucks To Be Me” stands out from the crowd for several reasons.  One of them is the central narrator and our hero, Mina Hamilton.  Told from Mina’s point of view, the story allows us to see into Mina’s thought process which is, at times hilarious, at times self-pitying and always authentic.

Another stand-out point is the novel’s creation of its own vampire mythology.   While it’s not groundbreaking, the novel does feature several points in which Mina debunks or backs up vampire lore.  The fact that Mina’s English class is reading “Dracula” as the book unfolds only helps things.  First-time author Kimberly Pauley has created a fresh, interesting new potential vampire lore in her book and while this story is complete in and of itself, more entries in this universe and involving Mina would be welcome.

Thirdly, the book is populated by an engaging group of characters.  The biggest of these is Mina, but there are a wide array of supporting characters to get to know and love over the course of the story.   And these characters behavior make for some genuinely laugh out loud funny moments such as Mina’s mom explaining vampire sex to her potential date over the family dinner table.

In a perfect world, a novel as fun, refreshing and as fun as “Sucks To Be Me” would do equal or better numbers as the Twilight saga.  With teenage vampire romance novels being the current rage in the bookstore, “Sucks To Be Me” stands out from the field with its good sense of humor, engaging characters and well-crafted romantic tension.

When the Enterprise rescues a ship from near destruction, they bring on board the mysterious Belis.  Part of an alien race, Belis has the ability to project his thoughts and will upon people–and that includes Spock.

By saving Belis, Kirk and company may have inadvertently started a war between two neighboring planets. Belis was sentenced to death as part of a peace agreement between the two people.  But when Belis is returned, he begins to take over the will of the people slowly as the other side escalates toward full-scale war.

Added to the dilemma is that Spock may or may not be under the influence of Belis.

The dilemma of what to do about Belis and how the Prime Directive applies to the situation makes for the kind of moral quandary novel that “Star Trek” does so well.  The ethical considerations for Kirk of whether or not the greater good needs to be served over the rights of an individual is a fascinating dilemma.

That said, a solution to the problem comes out of left field a bit, thus negating some of the ethical dilemma and giving our heroes an easy way out.