A Plum of a Mystery

Intellect Genre: Mystery

Author: Janet Evanovich
Title: One for the Money
Genre: Books to movies; Chick lit; First person narratives; Mystery stories
Publication Date: 1994
Number of Pages: 290 pgs.
Geographical Setting: Trenton, New Jersy area
Time Period: contemporary.
Series: Stephanie Plum
 
Storyline: Character-driven

Tone: Funny; Upbeat

Writing Style: Conversational; Witty

Annotation:

Out of work as a lingerie buyer and desperate for cash, Stephanie Plum appeals to her cousin Vinnie for a job in his bail bonds office. Plum narrates her own story as a rookie skip tracer struggling to learn her trade. Some situations are graphically described. Self-depreciating descriptions of the events and people in her life pepper the story with both humor and pathos.

Reservations: This is not the best book in the series, nor is it as entertaining as later Plum novels. One for the Money let Evanovich rough out the regular players in Stephanie’s life. Plum’s early encounters with one of the felons she wants to apprehend and interactions with another particularly violent character are described graphically, including abusive and torturous behavior, creating an element of suspense and genuine fear for her safety. Much street language is used. Sexual situations are described frankly. This is not a gentle read, though it's many humorous moments keep the general mood lighter.

Subject Headings: Plum, Stephanie (Fictitious character) > Fiction.
Women detectives > Fiction.
Bounty hunters > Fiction.
Trenton (N.J.) Fiction.

Appeal: strong female protagonist, humor, first person narrative, entertaining characters, unpredictable situations, fast pace.

Three terms that best describe this book: Humorous, Entertaining, Street wise.


Read Alikes:

• Cabot, Meg. (2006). Size 12 is not fat.
• Crusie, Jennifer. Agnes and the hitman.
• Martin, Nancy. (2002). How to murder a millionaire: a Blackbird Sisters mystery.

 
Nonfiction tie-ins:

• Gaines, Ann. (1999). Private investigators and bounty hunters . Austin Sarat, general editor. Philadelphia : Chelsea House Publishers.
• Laney, Joseph and Mobley, Cyn. (2004). Gotcha! : tales from a black-belt bounty hunter. Guilford, Conn. : Lyon's Press, c2004.
• Chapman, Duane with Morton, Laura. (2007). You can run, but you can't hide. New York : Hyperion, 2007.

Intellect Genre: Science Fiction

Author: Robert A. Heinlein
Title: Tunnel in the Sky
Genre: Science Fiction
Publication Date: 1955
Number of Pages: 262 pgs.
Geographical Setting: Earth, Moon and a distant planet
Time Period: Future, when earth’s overpopulated and outer planets are being settled and interplanetary travel happens through “gates” to “tunnels in the sky” or wormholes.
Series: stand alone

Annotation:

The story centers around participants in a 2-10 day final exam for high school and college Advanced Survival students on a wilderness planet. Test conditions include: “any planet, any climate, any terrain, no rules, all weapons, any equipment.” When Rod Walker and his fellow survival students are sent to their test planet through a wormhole in space, things go awry and the test lasts far longer than planned. The students must choose to band together in community building a settlement, or try to survive alone.

Classroom or YA reading appropriate: 

This could be an alternate choice for a survival novel for the kid who’s already read everything else or doesn’t want to read Girl Who Owned a City because it’s about a girl. Faith is represented in an “all are equal light.” The main character is calmed by his family’s rituals but is more of pragmatist than a believer in a faith. The young people make some very deliberate and positive choices about the nature of their community and it’s survival.

Subject Headings: Civilization, Examinations, Life on other planets, Wilderness survival, Students, Teenage boys, Wilderness survival. (from NoveList)
Appeal: Adventure, Survival Stories, Strange New World, Future.
Great crossover tale for adventure lovers into the sci-fi realm.
Three terms that best describe this book: Cooperation, Survival, Subsistence, Training.

Aha! So that’s where that idea came from:

If you love these television series or films, you’ll recognize some elemental influence possibly came from this book.

• Firefly (2002) Joss Whedon
• Battlestar Galactica (1978-1979) Glen A. Larson
• Stargate (1994) Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin

Read Alikes:

• Girl Who Owned a City, O.T. Nelson. --dystopian survival tale of a group of children and their leader. 
• Princess of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs.-- Human surviving and adapting to new culture and alien planet. 
• The Transall Saga, Gary Paulsen. --Teen transported to a strange world uses his survival skills.

Nonfiction Tie-Ins:

• Time Travel and Warp Drives: A Scientific Guide to Shortcuts through Time and Space, Allen Everett and Thomas Roman. 
• Time Machines: Time Travel in Physics, Metaphysics, and Science Fiction, Paul J. Nahin.
• The Ultimate Survival Manual : 333 Skills that Will Get You Out Alive, Rich Johnson.

Adrenaline Genre: Adventure

Author: Clive Cussler
Title: Atlantis Found
Genre: Adventure
Publication Date: 2000
Number of Pages: 530 pgs.
Geographical Setting: Antartica, Telluride, Colorado, St. Paul’s Island, Metro Washington D.C.
Time Period: With background stories from 7120 B.C. and 1858, the main action takes place in early 2001.
Series: Dirk Pitt, #15

Annotation:

This action-packed, Dirk Pitt adventure features the breakneck pacing, exotic locations, technical background and oceanographic and archeological exploration typical of Cussler’s works. Starting with background tales from a 7,000 B.C. comet strike and resultant civilization loss and planet-wide climate and geologic alterations, to mid 19th century whaler locked in Antartic ice Cussler evolves an entertaining page turning yarn replete with Nazi descendants sparking a world endangering plot. Of course they have Dirk Pitt, sidekick Al Giordano and the ubiquitous National Underwater and Marine Agency to contend with first.


Subject Headings: Atlantis, Dirk Pitt, Geographic Myths (from Evergreen Indiana catalog)
 
Appeal: Breakneck Pace, Exotic Locations, Artifact Hunting
 
Three terms that best describe this book:  Action-oriented, Plot-driven, Heroic

Similar Authors from NoveList:

•    Fleming, Ian, 1908-1964   
•    Will Adams, 1963-
•    Douglas J. Preston and Lincoln Child
•    Ted Bell
•    Matthew Reilly

Relevant Non-Fiction or Ancient Works and Authors

•    Santos, Arysio. (2011). Atlantis: the lost continent finally found. Lynwood, MA: Atlantis Publications.
•    Plato. (2000) The Atlantis Dialogue. Shephard, Aaron, Ed. Shephard Publications.
•    Rink, P. (2006). Admiral Richard Byrd: Alone in the Antartic. Sterling Publishing.

Plot Summary [spoiler-laden]:

The story begins with some decently worded prose describing a large comet strike around 7120 B.C. in the Hudson Bay area. The impact causes cataclysmic events including wiping out most of the world’s civilizations and shifting continents around the globe. The story moves on to describe how the highly advanced Amenes culture predicted the event and left behind sophisticated predictions of a similar event. Nearly 9,000 years later a mid-19th century whaler discovers an 18th century ship frozen in Antarctic ice. In the older ship’s hold are artifacts from this ancient culture. As the ice field suddenly begins to break up, the captain’s wife manages to escape from the derelict ship caring an unusual black obsidian skull. Over 140 years later, a Colorado miner invites archeologists to the odd room he discovers off an old mine shaft which contains another skull. When attempts to-bury the mine explorers alive bring in a scuba-diving rescuer, we finally meet the multi-talented Dirk Pitt. Pitt and his partner, Al Giordino, work for the National Underwater and Marine Agency. Their agents seem to turn up wherever needed in the nick of time. The artifacts and archeologist, Dr. O’Connell, move to Washington only for the group to learn that another obsidian skull was found much earlier in Antarctica. The two skulls and the cave inscriptions are deciphered with the aid of the stereotypical computer geek and his A.I. supercomputer. As more clues become available, Giordano heads to the remote St. Paul Island near Australia while Pitt heads to the Antarctic. Both teams are attacked by the New Destiny group. New Destiny’s Wolf family, the clone-like, genetically engineered descendants of a Nazi officer, use their WWII U-boats and multi-national corporation to fund a maniacal plot to usher in the “Fourth Reicht” by explosively separating the Antarctic ice shelf from the continent. They hope to upset the balance of the earth in a cataclysm equal to the prehistoric comet-created one. This villainous family is worthy of a Bond megalomaniac. Lovers of technology and conspiracy theory will find much to geek over. Worth mentioning is the re-engineering of Admiral Bird’s failed Snow Cruiser. Pitt and buddy Giordino are on their way to assist the combined U.S. special ops forces in disrupting the explosion plan. They drive the Snow Cruiser through the ancient city of Atlantis, magnificent even though locked in a layer of ice. The pair save the world as usual. The book closes with exploration of the ancient city beginning.

A Parody of Family Harmony

Lowry, Lois. (2008) The Willoughbys. Houghton Mifflin Company.

With modern children pining to live the lives of 19th century story orphans, and uncaring parents planning to abandon the children The Willoughbys is a children’s novel turned on its head. It takes a few chapters and development of some likeability in the scheming siblings for the humor to gel. From there it’s a wild ride alluding to every children’s, rags-to-riches story between Oliver Twist and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Even when the children’s plans go awry, their solutions can only cause the reader to giggle. The Willoughbys is a sophisticated, laugh out loud, language-rich voyage through the tribulations of four resourceful child protagonists that will entertain children of any age. Quirky ending included.