Texas Independence Day

Most people outside of the state probably don't give March 2nd too much thought, but it's a big day here. A buddy of mine had a post on FB about it, so I dug up my old copy of T.R. Fehrenbach's Lone Star, and found a passage I had highlighted. (If you're in the know, then you know that Lone Star is an outstanding go-to for Texas history).

From Fehrenbach: "Tired, dirty, bearded, hungry, angry - terrible - the army leveled its long rifles and went forward across the open plain. A Georgian Huegenot on the right, a Kentucky colonel on the left, at the head a Scotch-Irish agent of destiny from Tennessee, paced by a German fifer and a Negro beating on a drum, the Texans marched across the grass, up the swell, and down upon a dozing Mexican camp."

Happy Independence Day, Texas.

A Lonely Resurrection by Barry Eisler

TLDR: Buy all of Eisler's stuff and read it.

Authors lie. Their biggest lie is this: "Yeah, this is part of a series, but you can read it as a stand alone and not miss anything." They say it, but it's a lie.

The exception to my rule may be Lee Child's Jack Reacher series, but outside of him, you need to begin with book numero uno.

Now, to Eisler's book, A Lonely Resurrection (originally publish as Hard Rain), is the second book in the John Rain series, and you need to have read the first one (which I did and reviewed here!). I don't want to falsely claim that Eisler claims you can read these in any order, because he may not, but just don't do it. He recently got the rights back to his backlist, and the summarily changed all of the titles (he gives an entertaining explanation here).

To the book: Look, this guy can flat out write. There aren't plot twists every page, or explosions every paragraph, but he doesn't need them. This is about as close to a literary thriller I've read. Character driven vs. plot driven. I can tell by the writing that Eisler is a sharp cookie, meaning he's smarter than me, and that does piss me off a little.

I have several more of his books in first edition hard back (a couple are signed, I think), so I have more John Rain in my future.

Short of recapping the book, just read it. But be sure to read the first one first.

Fo' Stars, Barrio. Great job.

Stonewall's rating system here.