Tropic of Night

Rating:
Summary: Irresistably seductive
Review: The three converging story lines in this highly suspenseful novel compellingly draw the reader from his or her own reality into the depths of the supernatural (or is it vice versa). Either way, the suspense is nerve-wracking, as ancient forces collide in modern day Miami. There is much to be learned, by both the reader and the protagonists, as this book draws to a spectacular conclusion.

Here is an important piece of advice that the author neglects to mention: there is a highly useful glossary at the end of the novel...after I discovered it halfway through, I found it invaluable.

Rating:
Summary: What's with all of the fragmented sentences?
Review: The story seemed to have a good plot, but I found it very difficult reading because of all of the incomplete, fragmented sentences. As far as grammar goes, this is one of the poorest works I have ever seen.
A fragmented sentence is OK to use once in a while, but Michael Gruber uses them excessively, especially when detailing Jane Doe's thoughts and actions. I counted 35 fragmented sentences on one page.
Trying to figure out what Jane Doe was thinking was like trying to translate with someone who has a limited understanding of the English language, and making sense out of fragmented gibberish.
This book may as well have been written in Pig Latin. It would have been easier to read.

Rating:
Summary: guilt-free horror
Review: For us horror fans especially, books like this are worth their weight in hen's teeth. Regardless of why (on Earth) we're each addicted to such dark fiction, our common guilty admission is that we usually have to "dumb down" in order enjoy the ride. Not so with TROPIC OF NIGHT, which engaged and rewarded me in all respects I'm aware of. (The title put me off, by the way. Glad I ignored it.)
The above, if you resonate with it, should already make this your next book. So, no plot nibbles from me ...just read and enjoy. (I will note that the cover quotes Martin Cruz Smith, who declares the main character "indelible". He should know, and he's dead on ...a rare thing for those incestuous little inter-author blurbs.)

Rating:
Summary: Things go bump day and night
Review: This book is surreal. It covers, in magnificent detail, the witchcraft of the Chenka in Northern Siberia, the sorcery of the Yoruba in Mali and Nigeria, the voudou of Haiti, the Santeria of Cuba, and many more. The author presents it so well that it takes a while of indecision to make up your mind: is all this for real, or did he make it up? You be the judge.

The baseline is a series of murders indicating an unknown animalistic cult. Part time narrator is Dolores Tuoey, originally named Jane Doe. Helping her to clear the air in Miami are detectives Jimmy Paz and Cletis Barlow. The victims are women, pregnant and about to give birth, in Miami: Deandra Wallace, Teresa Vargas and Alice Powers. And then there is Dolores' husband, the famous writer De Witt Moore. He is in and out of Africa, apparently learning to be a world-class sorcerer.

Who did the killing, and why? We are told two thirds through the book. But how do you arrest a spirit. And how do you stop sorcery? This is not a story of black magic and legerdemain, but a fascinating and horrifying trip into the heart of African culture.

Rating:
Summary: What a ride!
Review: Cops. Ritual (serial) murder. Black magic. African gods. Zombies. Anthropology. Poets and poetry. Race relations. End Times. Such a wild mix shouldn't work, since in the hands of most authors it would result in overreaching. But Gruber, in a real swing for the fences, pulls it off. Home run! Gruber's key for success is in his character development. The central character, Jane Doe (no kidding!), comes across as a remarkable creation. A (very) rich woman who happens to be an anthropologist and sorcerer, who also happens to be adept at aikido. (Sounds like Laura Croft, but believe me, Jane is more resiliant.) No, she's not Super Woman. And her passages in the book remind me of a wry Joan Dideon (who can break your neck) caught in a nightmare. There are times when Gruber is telling Jane's story that the prose authentically soars and riffs (especially in the African and Siberian portions of the story), and in a way that reminds me of LeCarre's "foreign" scenes from, such as, for example, "The Honorable School Boy (Cambodia-before-the-fall). Like LeCarre, it's clear Gruber did quite a bit of research.

But Jane isn't the whole story. There is Jimmy Paz (and it's nearly as much his story, as it is Jane's), a complex mix of a man. He's a black Cuban-American homicide detective (with great Elmore Leonard like dialogue). He faces and harbors resentments in his daily life, but works beyond them. He's as much a hero as Jane, and not some author poster board for speeches and canned sentiments. Secondary characters, such as Barlow, Paz's fundamentalist-preacher cop partner, or Jane's father, same thing. Fully developed, leaving lasting impressions from their moment on Michael Gruber's stage. Cant' do much better than "Tropic of Night."

Rating:
Summary: Actually about 3 and 1/2 stars
Review: Although I'm not usually into "who done its" I found this book to be surprisingly good. First a warning, you owe it to yourself to read at least 3 chapters before you throw it away. I must admit that the first chapter pretty much turned me off. I wasn't into some strange woman killing a child's mom and then "adopting" the little girl. The second chapter kind of irritated me, and by the 3rd I had decided that the book was worth a read.

The things about the book that kept me away from the 4 stars were that, as I said, I'm not a big mystery fan and (like another reader) the inclusion of so much vocabulary about magic and sorcery. It's lends authenticity to supply facts, but I prefer my fiction without a glossary. (Yes, there is a glossary.)

But what I did like about the book was the writing. At first I found the inclusion of the journals hard to follow. Then I realized it's just like what I write in my daily planner. There are abbreviations and it's not meant to be full sentences, it just the capturing of thoughts. Once you get into the spirit, it gives so much background of how Jane Doe got there, what makes her tick, and what led up to the current state of affairs. Then there are two more narratives that are more traditional, the narrative given in the here and now by Jane and the one given by Paz. The mixture of the three view points makes for an interesting and rich writing style.

I'd be inclined to try another of Mr. Gruber's novels in the future.

Rating:
Summary: Jane Doe is on the Run
Review: Jane Doe faked suicide near her home on Long Island to get away from her homicidal husband. She has died her blond hair brown, bought cheap clothes at a discount store, has taken the name of Dolores Tuoey, a nun who died in Africa, and gotten a job at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami as a file clerk.

She is a white American, a lapsed Catholic, an anthropologist who studied magic in Siberia and sorcery in Africa with her husband, Dewitt Moore, a playwright who is seduced by the dark side of African magic and wants to become a black Hitler. When they moved back to the States, Dewitt used powers he'd acquired and killed someone and Jane fled.

In addition to hiding from him, Jane is running from the law because she accidently killed a drunken woman who was beating a small child at 2 in the morning in an alleyway. That made her both a murderer and unofficial adoptive mother of four-year-old Luz.

She has been in Miami for three years when she hears of the ritual murder of a pregnant woman. She knows at once it's Dewitt, practicing the forbidden fourfold sacrifice. Once he has killed four pregnant women and their babies, and eaten parts of them, he will achieve superhuman powers, which Jane fears he will direct against white America. As evil is unleashed on Miami, Jane must find a way not only to stay alive but to protect Luz and to keep DeWitt from committing more murders.

This all sounds way over the top, but actually I bought into the story as easily as if Gruber were writing about University life in Southern California. In the Western world we cleave to the material, but there are those in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean who delve deeply into the well of the spiritual. Sure, I don't believe in Voodoo, but I wouldn't want to make a guy with a doll and pins mad at me either. That said, TROPIC OF NIGHT not only tells a good old fashioned story, but it just might take reality as you understand it and stand it on its head.

Jeremiah McCain

Rating:
Summary: Very Smart and Very Scary
Review: Although this novel is a mixture of genres I usually avoid--the mystery/serial killer/horror/detective story--I somehow became intrigued by the reviews of this one and picked it up. To my delight I found it quite enjoyable, a perfect example of a light entertainment that is intelligent, witty, well-crafted and engrossing.

The story unfolds in alternating chapters: the first a first person narrative written by the protagonist, Jane Doe, (her real name); the second are the diaries written by her during her anthropological expeditions to Siberia and Africa; and the third a third person narrative having to do with the Miami detective whose path will eventually cross that of Jane's.

The plot has to do with Jane's studies into the spiritual or supernatural elements of two smallish societies in Siberia and Africa, and the unusual discoveries she makes about them. Her husband gets overly involved in the second African expedition, causing Jane a great deal of anguish and fear; he then sets into motion events which Jane comes to realize will unleash a demonic power on the earth the likes of which it has never seen. This causes her to flee in terror and go into hiding, which is where she is when the novel begins.

Sounds a bit preposterous, I know, and if you're raising your eyebrow a bit, I don't blame you. But the author handles it very well, making these powers seem to us as if they were misunderstood scientific phenomenon rather than the usual King-like made-up contrivance, and he is so knowledgeable about anthropology, geography, African folklore, mysticism, and voodooism that one finds oneself quite willing to suspend disbelief.

There are just a ton of surprising, bizarre, truly hair-raising moments. There is the ghostly, carnal visit in Siberia; the ritualistic Miami murders; the scary, shocking Santeria ritual; and the entire, nightmare African journey. Suffice to say, the book is very engrossing. And loaded with detail, too. As mentioned, the author is very knowledgeable, and there was a lot of stuff having to do with both contemporary and historical Africa which I found fascinating.

The detective story is a little more conventional but done very well, particularly the sardonic, witty dialogue between the two lead guys which is dead-on and often hilarious.

Look, I don't blame you if you're a little skeptical. I was too. But good writing is good writing, no matter what the genre, and this novel is loaded with it. Fun, entertaining, and rich in detail, the novel is a real blast. I look forward to more by this guy.

Rating:
Summary: HOODOO WHAT
Review: I have nothing against what has come to be known as the "literary thriller." I guess this means that it's supposed to be more than a thriller, and compare to writers like Dostoevsky, Hemingway, Fitzgerald? Amazingly, Gruber's first novel demonstrates his skills with the use of words. In my opinion, too many words. I found the whole inclusion of Jane Doe's journal not only vague, confusing and rambling, but boring. The narrative part of the novel, however, was spellbinding in its own way and I really liked the characters of Jane Doe, Paz and Barlow. However, the invasion of the journal entries, merely served to deflect the suspense of the novel, and does anyone really want to know all those different African luminaries? If a writer does this to show off his research abilities, this is unpardonable. I want to be informed of things necessary for the plot, but there is so much hoodoo and funny words, I found myself yawning, when I should have felt the terror the rest of the book so hauntingly portrays. Hopefully next time out Gruber's "literary thriller" will be at least a little more literate.

Rating:
Summary: One heck of a first novel!
Review: I couldn't agree more with the Amazon reviewer who wrote that this book blows the over-rated "DaVinci Code" out of the water. This is the kind of mystery-thriller we all hunger for, perfect for crawling into bed with on a stormy night or reading on the beach, yet remaining intelligent, challenging and provocative. I kept flipping back to the author Michael Gruber's bio in the back, dumfounded that this was his first novel.

Not since "The Possession of Joel Delaney" has a book delved so deeply into pagan voodoo ingratiating its way into modern society. And there are other, more humanistic undercurrents, about the difference between love and possesiveness that will keep you thinking long after you've put the book down.

Don't be thrown by the tacky, cheap-thriller cover. "Tropic of Night" is a total winner that you're very likely to read more than once.