Like its predecessor in this series, The Burning Soul, this effort lacks the original shadowy supernatural atmosphere that has characterized Charlie Parker and his astounding world. I have been a avid reader from the start but a bit of the air has been left out of late. Parker and both his allies and enemies are now a tad too familiar. This familiarity has greatly reduced suspense and eeriness. In short, Connolly is a victim of his own success as it is tough to maintain the intrigue and freshness. I remain committed to future works but hope that they will be more nuanced to regain the mysteries of Maine (and more Fulci brothers please).

I am not exactly sure why this story and book interested me. I am not usually drawn to soap operas or reality TV or gossipy topics. In short, I am not a fan of the type of programming that The Today Show, Good Morning America, or This Morning feed the masses. It actually amazes me that millions tune into a big network show that replays YouTube videos of waterskiing squirrels and covers the Casey Anthony and Amanda Knox cases ad nauseum.

These morning shows are equal parts content, personality, and entertainment. And there is a universal tension at all times between the three. That must explain the layers of management that exists at NBC to oversee The Today Show. Granted, these shows are big brands representing big money so oversight is needed. However, what author Stelter's book truly proves for me is how subjective the entire enterprise truly is.

The audience, including myself, reacts in a highly subjective manner to the morning personalities delivering news and info-tainment in a folksy, friendly manner. The result is so plastic that it is incredible people tune in at all. Morning show management subjectively chooses the content, the personalities and format based on ratings that they frequently discount. It is all very unscientific and contradictory.

Top of the Morning largely covers Ann Curry's ouster. I was for that before she even started. Speaking subjectively (because that is the theme of this review), I felt Curry "was out of position" long before a NBC memo said it was so. Stelter pulls no punches on providing evidence of Curry's "Sheer badness as a broadcaster". He catalogues "frequent faux pas", her disingenuousness, the weird whisper talking, the trying too hard and became more grating as a result, and that she lacked self-awareness. Surprising is the contention that she was very ambitious - "ego-driven and career consumed". Personally (and subjectively) I saw something vacant or scary in her eyes and expressions. The author writes of the "unsettling ambiguous look in her beautiful Bambi-like eyes".

I puzzled over Currey's Twitter account bio that reads, "Journalism is an act of faith in the future." Her own casting as a cross between Edward R. Murrow and Christiane Amanpour was never credible. Yet, she had a fan club because it walked away from The Today Show in large numbers. This boggles my mind but each to their (subjective) own. I would never attend an Ann Curry Fan Club Jamboree...all those big vacant eyes and barely audible conversations would creep me out.

It was interesting reading about GMA that is termed the "fluffy" morning option. That is concerning given how The Today Show is extremely fluffy now. Interestingly, both Matt Lauer and Curry voiced their own displeasure over how their show had become "pop-culture news". One thing I could not really abide on GMA was the use of Robin Robert's sad illness. That was and is a visceral huge turnoff.

Continuing with subjectivity I find replacement Savannah Guthrie a bland brand and Nathalie Morales a scared and never entirely comfortable presence. I keep waiting for Morales to knock over a glass out of nervousness. Both are pleasant enough but seem devoid of substance. As to Matt Lauer, it is not entirely clear how culpable he is in Curry's removal but it does prove that it cannot be The Matt Lauer Show. Al Roker is probably the sharpest player disguising himself as an affable everyman.

Stelter's book is factual and well written but I wished I had not read the long reviews and coverage ahead of time. As a result, the book was only a lengthy confirmation of the commonly known conclusions. Somewhere along the way The Today Show forgot that the enemy is on the outside and they rested on their laurels. The tweaking of content, personality, and entertainment is their daily chore but for too long they went into work without adjusting the dials.

This is a split personality review. The Fall receives four stars because the assembled work is curiously eclectic and because of the relatively low price. In terms of overall story quality it is frankly a three star effort. What I mean to say is, about a third of the stories are truly engaging and entertaining. Most of the better tales are at the front end including "Trust" that delivers a nice twist and "Hairline Cracks" that enters the mind of a sentient zombie. One of the finest was "Solar Flare" as it had an innocent, coming-of-age quality in a world rapidly losing any semblance of innocence. "The Last Day of Fall" and "Crumbs" both explored being female in a post-apocalyptic world while the overall theme for the collection is, quite simply, survival.

***Spoiler Alert*** There was something very orderly about the structure of this book. A handful of characters are dispatched corresponding to subway cars. And at the end there is an interesting twist and resolution (not dissimilar to the movie Predators). However, for all that neatness the novel is limited for two reasons. First, it is unnecessarily gory to the point of giving the reader little credit for imagination. Secondly, it read like a movie script and becomes very distracting as a result (thus the gory detail). If the intrigue and subtlety were upped a few percentage points the enjoyment would have increased exponentially. Perhaps, if we had met the characters before they got to the platform that would have added some richness.

The similarities between Jurassic Park and Fahy's "Fragment" were hard to miss. Now with his follow up there are parallels with Crichton's The Lost World: Jurassic Park. The location shift and there are some slight plot changes but it is mostly the same novel...and that is okay. It is still an entertaining outing with the stars being "Hender" and the others of his kind. Just don't examine too hard or ask too many questions of your own intellect as you read it.

NPR's Book podcast swayed me to give this novel a try. Maureen Coorigan's honest but enthusiastic review intrigued rather than disuaded. I loved how she viewed it, "The Burgess Boys is not only a novel — it's a big, floppy, shambling jumble sale of a novel. I mostly loved it because it feels like life: Color it chaotic." The book's flaws actually add texture and richness. It didn't hurt that it reminded me of Richard Russo's work as I am a huge fan.

The sadness and melancholy Strout achieves is finely balanced with whispers of hope and promise. It explores the unresolved and the unsaid. Other themes are prejudice and ignorance that are explored both explicitly and subtlety. Strout ably demonstrates that no one regardless of race, class, age, gender or other identifier holds a monopoly on admirable behaviour.

Fuchs and James have created a rich and fast-paced post-apocalyptic world. The first outing. Fortress Britain, had solid action and great pace. In this second instalment, there is more tension and intrigue. There is also a World War Z aspect developing with multiple story lines that really speed things along. The much reduced human population mostly resides in the UK and is protected by a United Nations of special forces along with elements of former nation's navies.

The offensive operations of these forces is focused on inserting teams into zombie infested cities. Their task is to gather research from overrun medical facilities to cobble together a cure for the zombie virus. The latest insertion is Chicago and suffice it to say, there are challenges. Most enjoyable are the characters who are agreeably developed by being both highly capable and sympathetic in the midst of such a strange world.

“Why are there so few people who seem to enjoy working in advertising?” So asks a character towards the end of this debut novel. It is a question that I have pondered many a time over many a scotch. Having worked for a Madison Avenue agency for six years and in the larger marketing industry my entire career, I really wanted to like this book.

Once I finished it, I took some time to reflect on how author John Kenney reconciled his time as a copy writer in an industry that clearly fascinates many. He has poured much of himself onto the pages. This included a certain sardonic melancholy given Kenney was laid off from his agency (but that was a good catalyst as it prompted this book).

In a backwards manner, I checked out published reviews of the book after I read it. The usually friendly USA Today called it ‘lazy and self-impressed’. The Boston Globe rolled out ‘hackneyed dramatic tropes’ whatever that means. Publisher’s Weekly thought it, “a hilarious ad-world satire and a modest family drama”. The Denver Post got wordy with “another entry into the midlife bildungsroman pioneered by writers like Nick Hornby”. And The Washington Post initially classified it as a whiny white man novel. The reviews were incredibly divided with the exception of the consistent use of the word “witty”.

It has extreme failings but for some reason still impresses especially as a debut. But by no means does it live up to the promotion of being “wickedly funny, honest, at times sardonic, and ultimately moving story about the absurdity of corporate life, the complications of love, and the meaning of family”. At best Kenney strings together a few ad industry bon mots musings that masquerade as a novel. I had to totally discount Finbar Dolan’s extreme family history and his never-ending incredibly unattractive self-doubts. He and most of the primary characters were near impossible to like.

It was especially difficult to enjoy or identify with Fin when he digressed into imaginary conversations and interviews that were thin devices for integrating pop culture references. The ongoing rumination was grinding. The characters are largely stereotypical. This is not the author’s fault, it is a result of the ad industry pushing people into a handful of moulds (and those people allowing themselves to be moulded).

So many of the people I met in advertising were extremely talented but they acted like they had some other place else to be. It was as though they were barely one step ahead of being found out as fraud so they had to keep moving. It is not inaccurate to say that so many in advertising are jaded, bitter, cynical, and whiny. These sad traits permeate the industry because so many within it question the value in what they do. They seek a higher sense of purpose but seldom do any of them make a change. This crisis of conscious is consistent and actually boring. Kenney gets it right in novel when Fin says being in advertising. “You must be a believer.”

The novel struck me as an advertising campaign, a few ideas loosely strung together but packaged as something awe-inspiring and behavior changing. It will appeal to people in the industry but they will probably skip over the parts that do not directly involve Fin’s job. A couple of cool reads I suggest are Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris for a fun fictional advertising agency romp and the awesome nonfiction effort called Where the Suckers Moon: The Life and Death of an Advertising Campaign by Randall Rothenberg.

After Patient Zero I was hooked on the Joe Ledger series. This fresh formula has special operations personnel facing off against a range of clever baddies. However, the last two outings have been a bit over-involved plot wise. And in the case of Assassin's code, a bit too talky. The plots have become burdensome and the pace has slowed. The first entries were akin to Matthew Reilly's fun romps but now have become more like Dan Brown efforts.

But perhaps the most off-putting development is in the character of Joe Ledger himself. For many parts of the book, we are inside Joe's head and he has become a less appealing character. The silly pop culture references and abrasive personality almost has me rooting for the bad guys. This has also happened with Nelson DeMille's grizzled detective, John Corey. Both fictional creations have become so caustic and irreverent that they lose credibility and my interest. Still, I remain a fan overall and will pickup the fifth in the series because Mayberry has now managed to jettison some of the draggy story lines.

Post-apocalyptic novels appear to be outweighing YA vampire fiction in volume. Which is great because I am a big fan of the genre. Jones' short novel is the launch of a trilogy that is a tease of things to come. In this first outing he introduces the main character and the circumstances for the human population's near demise. The latter's premise has some originality which is admirable give the spate of novels that end our world. However, the lack of personality in the main character and a quick reversion to formula impacted enjoyment. As well, I had a hard time believing Emily Baxter could be New York's last survivor.