The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness - Michelle Alexander

I knew when I was on my third hour of the introduction that Michelle Alexander was not messing around in The New Jim Crow. Exhaustively researched, this book drops like a megaton bomb into the quiet assumptions we make about ourselves and our "so-called" criminal justice system.

And the shocking thing for me at least, is that I already knew a lot of the pieces presented here. I went to law school. I clerked for two years for the Cook County States Attorney's office and I saw plea after plea go down in the felony trial division. But seeing all the pieces I had seen and experienced put together like this, it was like I had been seeing pieces of a puzzle for over a decade and now finally saw the picture that the pieces made.

And it's not pretty. The puzzle is a horribly crippling and unjust system that perpetuates poverty and violence in communities of color. It's a system that tags people with the word "felon" and then never lets them go. It is a lifelong stigma and legal leash on people who are arrested and convicted many times for doing the same thing other people are doing in the less-policed suburbs of America, or the dorm rooms of our higher learning institutions.

How do we move on from here? How do we dismantle the War on Drugs when so many private interests are now invested in its perpetuation? Because that is the next step. It has to be. Lives have been destroyed. Communities have been destroyed. And for what? So the haves can keep having and the have-nots can foot the bill. Because in the communities of the affluent, these will continue to be "mistakes" and in poor communities, they are crimes.

4/5 Stars. 

Every Man a Menace - Patrick Hoffman

I have to admit I wasn't into this one. Every Man a Menace benefits from short declarative and perfunctory sentence structure. It's pace is quick and it moves well. Based in five parts from five different points of view, the book works backward in time, with the first part introducing the character of Raymond Gaspar, a recently released prisoner who has a simple job to perform for his protector on the inside. He needs to figure out which of two people involved in the drug trade have lost their edge. It becomes obvious early on that Raymond is being played by both the distributor, Gloria, and the dealer, Shadrack who are not too keen on letting Raymond in on their well run enterprise. We are told a lot that Raymond is frightened or scared. And then he's dead. 

Part two steps back in time to before Raymond's death to tell us about the two Miami club owners who are the importers of the ecstasy eventually distributed and sold in San Francisco by Gloria and Shadrack. Isaac and Semion are old friends from the Israeli army who have landed in Miami and have cut a nice niche for themselves in the ecstasy game. We are told when their Belgian supplier falls through, they start to wholesale out of Thailand. Determined to remain small, Semion is at odds with Isaac who has grander plans. So we know that's not going to work out well for Semion who is eventually set up and played by a "crazy" Brazilian woman who he knows is lying to him, but doesn't seem to care.

Step back in time to their contact in Thailand, a man who's name I cannot now recall has also been set up by the police as a shake down for a bribe after his grindr date ends up being a plant (by the police). He calls in a favor from the manufacturer of all this ecstasy and the favor ends up being called in right away in the form of forcing the contact to get Semion and Isaac to agree to a bigger order. 

So the last part of the book then fast forwards through all this back to Raymond and Gloria and Shadrack to make some kind of sense of who is cutting out who in this cut throat industry of the drug trade. The book is gritty without texture and full of interesting characters that are a complete blank. 

I'm good with non linear timelines. I'm good with morally bankrupt characters. I like diversity among characters. Check, check, check. But here, it felt like EMaM was merely checking off boxes as I have done here on a list, without taking the necessary steps to weave anything together. The extra piece is missing here to turn this from a page turning crime drama into something in which to become invested.

2/5 Stars. 

American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land - Monica Hesse

There's nothing like a good airplane ride to get some pages logged. I finished American Fire shortly after touchdown in Florida. I love a good narrative non-fiction book. This one felt a little less smooth than my favorites, but I really enjoyed the subject matter.

Essentially, abandoned structures start burning on the East Shore of Virginia. Accomack County has seen better days and the countryside is littered with buildings left behind when the County was. Brave crews of volunteer firefighters begin to battle the blazes and are shocked when three burn in one night. Something nefarious is going on. 

Hesse does not structure this like a mystery, so we know right away who the culprit is. The details of why are teased out over the course of the story. Charlie Smith, a one time volunteer firefighter and convicted felon has had a rough go of life. Seemingly below normal in IQ and decision making skills, Charlie has a recurring drug problem that leads him into trouble, but he is occasionally able to set that aside for the sake of love and a new woman. He does so about a year before the fires begin. His new flame (haha I'm punning) is Tonya Budnick, a bit of a party girl. The two of them fall in love and annoyingly have a joint facebook account. 

But there's a problem. Charlie suffers from crippling insecurity and he can never believe he is deserving of this woman. So he is unable to "perform" sexually. Which, combined with the couple's dwindling finances and problems with one of Tanya's children, lead to a whim one night to burn something down. So they begin.

And for 66 fires, they baffle the investigative teams sent to solve the crimes. Until they are caught. While Charlie confesses right away, Tanya remains steadfast that not only was she not involved in the setting of the fires, she also was not aware Charlie set any of them. If you find that far fetched, you're not alone, so did the jury that convicted her. 

I liked the woven themes of an aging and declining County and the arson. It was a good read.

3 1/2 Stars. 

Galveston - Nic Pizzolatto

Galveston was a good start for a new writer. The pace moved well. The writing, for the most part, was smooth and well structured. 

In essence, the story is about Roy Cady, a strong man for a New Orleans criminal organization run by Stan Ptiko. Stan's new girlfriend had a prior fling with Roy and it appears that Stan is not about to let that go. Right after Roy gets some bad news about a terminal illness, Stan asks him to go do a job, but to go "unarmed." Hmmm.... Roy gets suspicious and doesn't listen. Which is good because it turns out to be a setup. In the process of rescuing himself he also rescues a teenage prostitute.

The two head off to Galveston where Roy wrestles with his prognosis, a drinking problem, and a desire to do something good with the days that are left to him. Both he and Rocky, the prostitute are broken people, trying to figure out how to live life on the straight and narrow when neither have had any experience at it. 

So the elements of a good story are all there, and it was in the end, fulfilling to watch these two broken people be broken, but try very desperately to get something, anything right in their lives. Some scenes stretched credulity and some of the flashback writing style led to a lot of confusion. Some elements of the characters and some plot points didn't make sense. All in all this was a solid book, but lacked some finer tuning which would have made it really good.

3/5 Stars. 

Orange is the New Black - Piper Kerman

This book was all around excellent. I had heard of the TV show (I have eyeballs and access to the internet, so...) and was vaguely aware that it was based on a book. I'm glad I chose this one. There wasn't quite enough detail on her trial for the law nerd in me, but that's not the point of Orange is the New Black.

This very well done memoir of Piper Kerman, who follows her girlfriend to Indonesia in a slightly naive pursuit of "adventure" and ends up ferrying money for illicit drugs through US airports. She gets out of the game and moves on with her life but the incredibly slow wheels of the US justice system eventually catch up to her and she is sentenced to 15 months in federal prison. Due to some delays, she doesn't actually start her sentence until 10 years after her crimes. 

Sentenced to Danbury (sorry this was audio, I don't know how to spell anything) minimum security, Piper puts up with the monotony and doldrums that make up prison life. The hardest thing to deal with would definitely be the day to day nonsensical BS that comes with a large federal program. Piper seems to make friends along the way and serves her time without going too crazy.

This memoir is extremely well written and avoided cliches and hyperbole. It's not hard to guess why it has been so well received. 

5/5 Stars. 

Blood Work - Michael Connelly

Terry McCaleb is a medically retired FBI agent whose prior job hunting down serial killers in California somehow put too much of a strain on his heart. Following retirement and a heart transplant, Terry seeks to live on his boat, fix it up and then sail off into the sunset touring islands, or well something. But this is disrupted when the sister of the woman whose heart now resides in Terry's chest shows up and asks for his help in catching her sister's killer.

The details of Terry's investigation are interesting and his motivation is clear. Some of his actions are a bit bizarre but for the most part he follows along regular procedures to find the things the original police officers missed. Along the way he alienates his cardiologist and falls a little to conveniently in love with the sister (his heart's sister? too sappy). 

Finally when the killer is found, it's the killer's own motivations, having to do with an old grudge which don't really make sense. I liked how they figured out who the killer was, but the overall connection that is drawn is just a little too much (as is the final confrontation). 

Overall it was a good book to cleanse with after coming off some heavier stuff. This is a good pick for a beach bag or lake house. There is apparently a movie associated with this book starring Clint Eastwood that I'm interested in watching. I'll post an update with my thoughts on the movie adaptation. 

UPDATE: I've watched the Clint Eastwood flick. Interestingly in the acknowledgements to the book, Connelly thanks Eastwood for reading the book and giving him advice, so maybe Eastwood had this in mind from the very beginning. A couple things changed from the book, Graciela (the sister) is a waitress and not a nurse as in the book (this was a bigger plot point in the book but not necessary for the movie adaptation), the killer's catchphrase shifted from "take the cannoli" to "Happy Valentine's Day" which actually fit more into the motivations of the killer, and finally, well the killer was changed so that was kind of huge. It affected the entire ending. I can't say it was worse. Some elements were changed to be more ridiculous, and some of the changes actually were better than the book. So it's a mixed bag folks. Also, Clint Eastwood is too old for this romance stuff. Jeff Daniels was great though. Best character in the movie. 

2.5/5 Stars for this book. 

Monster - Steve Jackson

Wow! Just, wow. This is a true crime story, which I didn't realize until I was about a chapter into it, but it follows the deaths of three women in Colorado in the 1980s and 1990s. It focuses on one man, Thomas Edward Luther, as a ruthless serial killer and predator of women.

What a scary dude. This book was endlessly researched and the narrative is told in a thrilling combination of direct quotes from interviews and statements as well as reconstructed observations from those sources.

There is something completely fascinating about serial criminals that defies logic and understanding, but this book really delves into all of this. It also delves into the mind of a woman who loved Luther, despite knowing of his heinous crimes. Debrah Snider met Luther when he was serving time for a brutal sexual assault. She was working as a nurse in a prison hospital at the time. She fell in love with this guy and starting writing him. She somehow believed she could change him when he came out of prison, so long as he stayed away from other women. Great. At least she later admits that it doesn't make sense that she loves this man.

The book delves the most into the death of Cher Elder in 1993 and follows the investigation by Detective Steve Richardson. Richardson's dogged determination to put Luther behind bars was rewarded during the trial for Cher Elder's murder. 

Here is a picture of this brutal dude looking like a frumpy nobody. Good. He's evil and should rot and die in jail.
 

Thankfully, Luther is serving a very long prison term and not eligible for parole until 2085. This is seriously one of the best true crime novel's I've ever read. I'm going to be looking up more by Steve Jackson. 

4/5 Stars.