Readers United Book Reviews | Down River and Catch-22

In this installment, Fritz Legaspi '18 returns to share a couple of extremely thought-provoking stories.

Down River by John Hart

John Hart’s Down River dovetails themes of suspicion, rumors, and mob mentality. Five years ago, Adam Chase was just barely acquitted of a murder charge. The case had become so messy, his father had even thrown him out of the house. After his friend Danny Faith convinces Adam to return to the town, the entire county is on alert. Due to his conspicuous past, Adam is attacked, insulted, and harassed within hours of his return.

Soon afterward, dead bodies begin to mysteriously appear. Of course, Adam is the primary suspect, but without any evidence against him, no one can bring him to trial. However, the suspicions of society weigh on Adam immensely. With his former love interest now with the police, Adam’s already over-complicated life becomes that much more complicated. Down River is filled to the brim with characters carrying an enormous amount of secrets, and Adam must struggle to stay afloat.

Throughout the book, many different secrets are revealed, many of them shrouded at the beginning. Hart writes in a clear style while still successfully withholding the truth from the readers. The plot develops in an engaging, attention-grabbing fashion, with several recurring motifs appearing in the novel. Moreover, Hart’s background in criminal defense law provides him with an extremely novel viewpoint to write about the story of our barely-innocent protagonist.

Verdict: I’d highly recommend this book to anyone who feels up to the challenge of a book with many hard to decipher secrets. The novel progresses fairly quickly, ensuring that there’s hardly a dull moment while reading it. Adam’s background as an almost-convicted felon is the main driving point of this book, and is a large and welcome change from the innocent protagonists most series and novels seem to be based upon.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

What do you do if you were given an impossible mission, one which would be suicide to undertake? To get out of their missions, the airmen of the 256th Bombardier Squadron must request to be proven mentally unfit. Yet, per military regulation, to do so would prove one mentally fit. Known as a catch-22, this double bind is the reason so few men were able to leave the military during the second World War.

To go more into depth, Captain Yossarian, the protagonist, explains that those deemed mentally unfit, or simply crazy, would not be required to go on flying missions any longer. However, to apply to stop flying would prove a soldier sane, as doing so would indicate that they cared about their own safety. At first, the men of the 256th are proud to fly for their country, and for the defense of other countries in need. As the novel continues, we learn that similar regulations apply to many other facets of the military, preventing soldiers from leaving.

As Captain Yossarian faces this dilemma, we also learn about the other characters in the book. Through extreme amounts of detail, Heller leaves very few characters without their own background and history. Heller seems to greatly enjoy the irony of certain situations, and he gleefully inserts comic details in his stories of other characters. For example, when he describes a character as “good-natured, generous and likable,” Heller also states that nobody could stand the character.

I was thoroughly captivated as I entered the occasionally extremely deep perspective behind the thought process of military personnel during World War II; these airmen prove for an interesting read. Yossarian and others suffer from many mental afflictions, the foremost of which being post-traumatic stress disorder. Their journey, though fictional, is truly one to enjoy in.

Verdict: If you do not have an elementary understanding of warfare, (knowing about air squadrons in particular would help!) this book picks up extremely quickly. If not, an open mind to the struggles of these soldiers is highly recommended for optimal understanding of the novel. As the plot thickens and events seem to worsen, it is important to stay empathetic and sympathetic to Yossarian and the other characters.

Readers United Book Reviews | The Da Vinci Code and Gone Girl

Have you ever been thoroughly flummoxed by a mystery novel? You just know that the author has kindly dropped a hint of breadcrumbs along the way, but the answer itself is still obscure. In this installment, Readers United Vice President Fritz Legaspi is bringing to you some beloved mystery, horror, and thriller novels. He always has something to say and a new perspective to explore.

The Da Vinci Code

Note: This book is part 2 of Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon series, but can be read as a standalone novel.

As suggested in the title, Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code centralizes around a theory behind one of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous paintings, The Last Supper. You have probably seen this famous painting, or at least have heard references to it. Supposedly, the man standing to the right of Jesus in the painting is actually the woman that Jesus married, Mary Magdalene. The search for her crypt, also known as the Holy Grail, has inspired many to dedicate their lives searching for it.

In one of the beginning scenes of the book, a Louvre curator named Jacques Sauniére is shot and killed in a museum, causing the police to call upon Robert Langdon. Much like the rest of the book, Langdon is required to solve a puzzle, this time being a code written in Sauniére’s final moments. Soon afterwards, Langdon meets Sophie Neveu, a cryptographer, who reveals that she is Saunière's estranged granddaughter. After deciphering the message written by Sauniére, Robert and Sophie follow the address, arriving in Paris, where their adventures continue taking them around the globe.

Brown’s masterful usage of the third person point of view is immensely intriguing for the book, giving the reader a desire to devour more. Switching points of view at different points of the book, Brown keeps up an extremely mysterious air about the nefarious characters scheming behind the book. As Sophie and Robert get closer and closer to solving Sauniére’s puzzle, the connections between religious organizations and the Holy Grail are developed by Brown. Masterfully tailored with real-life research, Brown paints a burning question: Is the Holy Grail actually Mary Magdalene’s tomb and bones?

Verdict: Extremely recommended, especially if you have some time to burn. If you know a decent bit about art or the Christian religion, it’s pretty helpful, though not necessary.

Gone Girl

Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl is a book unlike any other that I had ever read before. This mystery and thriller capitalizes on a few exceptional motifs, and features a cast like no other. Nick and Amy are a couple that met in New York, but they both lose their jobs, due to the growing technological world. Soon afterwards, the couple move to Nick’s hometown of Missouri to take care of his ailing mother. Amy stays resentful of the move, missing her previous life in New York.

On their fifth anniversary, Amy is nowhere to be found, with the house’s door wide open, as Nick is informed of by a worried neighbor. The mysterious disappearance is the major plot-driving point, as the world crashes down on Nick. Seen as the primary suspect, Nick somehow refrains from revealing too much information, though this merely brings more suspicion onto him. The book continues, switching from the views of Amy’s diary and of Nick’s present-day experiences, and we focus on the question: What has happened to Amy?

Throughout the book, Flynn exquisitely relates between present and past, using Nick and Amy’s diary, respectively, to display how the relationship had deteriorated. Perhaps commenting on the effects of a long-term relationship, Flynn epically depicts an extreme scenario, with both halves of the couple arguably crazy, though one is definitely more so than the other. Via the medium of sharp twists and turns, Flynn leaves readers with an eagerness to read the rest of the book, but also with a slight thrill of excitement as to what might be next.

Verdict: Extremely engaging psychological mystery and thriller book, I’d highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in any of the mentioned topics.