Chloe's Crusade (The Teddy Bear Chronicles Book 2) by Donnalyn Vjota; The Bears Are Back in Town

 

Chloe's Crusade (The Teddy Bear Chronicles Book 2) by Donnalyn Vjota; The Bears Are Back in Town

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: I should let you know that because this book refers to events from the previous volume, Hope in Paris, I suggest that you read that review first and be forewarned that this review contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the first book. Proceed with caution.

The plush bears and their attached humans are back in the second volume of Donnalyn Vjota's The Teddy Bear Chronicles Series, Chloe's Crusade. and this time they have added a couple of new bears to their Comfort Circle and some new humans with new conflicts. More trouble arrives and the stuffed ones are caught up in from their furry feet all the way up to their adorable wide eyes. 

Things have changed since our last encounter with the bears and humans. Love Bear’s human owner Richard and his girlfriend, Tori have married, Tori’s mental health has improved, and they adopted two of the orphans from the orphanage where Tori worked under the name of Rachel Verona. Fair Bear’s human friend, Kelli, who is also Tori’s sister, has recovered from her abusive relationship with her ex Mark and married Detective Sidney Lukas. Both couples live in Paris in close proximity to each other and are pretty tight. 

But there are some new problems on the horizon overseen by two new members of the Fur Squad. One is Tiny Bear, a small bear hanging on a keychain belonging to FBI agent Chloe Stodgson, Tori and Kelli’s friend, who is investigating a drug ring out of Venezuela. The other bear is Rocco Bear who lives with the family of Santi Alesso including him, his wife Anna, and daughter Kiara whom Rocco affectionately calls “Munchkin.” Chloe’s investigation ties all of these characters together as the Alessis have to join Witness Protection because of their proximity to organized crime and Chloe needs help from a scientist to make fake drugs to trap the dealers and an outside police officer with experience in narcotics. Luckily Richard and Sidney respectively fit that bill.

This book is almost as good as its predecessor however it loses a lot of the charm and magic of the original. This intricate plot involving drug deals, criminal investigations, stalkers, organized crime, and assassinations comes out of an entirely different genre and runs away from the original premise of bears talking about the personal dramas and conflict of humans. There are some genuine moments of suspense particularly while Chloe is dealing with betrayal within her team, the Alessis have to go on the run for their lives, and Kelli and Tori receive gifts and break ins from a potential stalker. But these plots could be within any book that doesn't need inanimate toy bears to narrate it.

Much of the conflict of the previous book lay in the bear’s inability to understand the subtleties and struggles within their human companions. Their narrative voices hover between childlike curiosity and wizened understanding with the occasional sardonic and humorous quip at their friend’s expense. This book throws a Thriller plot, actually several of them, around and reduces the bears to side characters whose narration becomes muted. They are just reporting the on the scene action as would any generic first person or third person human narrator.

That's not to say that there isn't anything to recommend in this book. To their credit, the characters, both real and stuffed, are still just as memorable as they were in the previous book.

There are some great moments where Tiny, the little adrenaline junkie, gets excited on “helping out” with the case even though its main involvement ends at just hanging on Chloe's belt while she does the real work. Tiny thinks of itself as a Sherlock Holmes in a bear suit and takes pride in being part of an awesome investigative team like when the boss calls Chloe and her partner, Sanchez in for a private conference. Tiny reminds us that she actually has two partners and that it is the most important of the two. One of Tiny’s most adorable moments is when it reacts with jubilation and glee when it finds itself pictured in a news story about Chloe's investigation. Okay granted the pic just got the top of its head but it counts!

Rocco is a tough little guy who is protective of his family, especially “Munchkin.” He has issues with her parents and when the family is forced to separate, Rocco ends up with them instead of Kiara. He has to witness the Alessis change their names, relocate possibly forever, watch what they say because they are being monitored, and take their anger and discomfort out on each other. Rocco sees their flaws magnified in this stressful situation, particularly Santi’s quickness to anger and infidelity. Rocco reacts with fear and anxiety but is also surly towards Santi whom it holds responsible for this mess. Rocco acts like an angry adolescent holding trauma inside a tough exterior that tries to brush off fear, worry, and hurt but only increases their vulnerability.

The original bears also have some great moments. Love Bear accompanies Richard to work as he prepares the drugs and responds with the usual support and humor at its geeky human friend (When Richard yells, “Fiddlesticks!” Love responds with embarrassment that its human is an 80 year old in the body of a man in his 30’s.). Love is proud when Richard makes a breakthrough and terrified when it sees someone break into the office to tamper with Richard’s work. 

Fair is enamored with Kelli and Sydney’s romance but is worried when Kelli’s life is in danger. It also empathizes with her concern about Sydney when he's on the job, always ready with a comforting snuggle as she sits down for movie night to get her mind off of her troubles. Even our old friend Sleepy Time Bear is back to remind us that it is doing fine while still living at Tori’s old orphanage and comforting children who can't sleep.

While Chloe's Crusade is a near miss with its thriller plots and abandonment of the original narrative structure, this second volume still has enough warmth, humor, and heart to make it bearable. 

The Lawless Legion MC by Patrick Klein; Motorcycle Club Thriller Revs and Sputters

 

The Lawless Legion MC by Patrick Klein; Motorcycle Club Thriller Revs and Sputters

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Patrick Klein’s The Lawless Legion MC is an intense thriller that revs when telling about the creation of an outlaw motorcycle club but it sputters by giving us characters who are too one dimensional to relate to or root for.

Sonny is going nowhere fast. He was just fired from his job at the local bar and has dwindling finances. His buddies Mike, Scott, and Johnny Boy have problems of their own. Sonny is hit with an idea. Since he and his friends have a passion for motorcycles why not form a motorcycle club of outlaws? The club called The Lawless Legion MC goes through various circumstances and capers to obtain new members, capital, and a word of mouth reputation that spreads fear.

The book has a strong beginning as it discusses how and why such clubs are formed usually from a desire to socially connect with others and a need to break out of poverty. Sonny and his buddies live in abject poverty, most of them in the same trailer park. Bills pile up, they owe more than they have, and everyone that they know is divorced, broke, homeless, drunk, addicted, unemployed or trapped in low paying jobs, and don’t see much of a future. It’s not hard to imagine why these guys would find crime a suitable means to escape the life that they have been handed since birth. 

The other thing that draws Sonny and the others into the idea of a motorcycle club is the camaraderie and fellowship that they share. They share a love of motorcycles that’s true but it goes beyond that. They call each other “brother” and treat one another like family. This is particularly true of Sonny, Mike, Scott, and Johnny Boy who have been friends since they were kids. 

Sonny wants to share the financial and influential benefits that this club can bring with those that he is closest to. Because of this strong bond among Sonny and his friends, it is a genuinely upsetting moment for him when one of his friends withdraws from the club when he grows concerned about their violent nature to the point of packing his things and leaving the trailer park without telling anyone. Partly out of concern for the direction that his friends are taking but also because if the Lawless Legion is as successful as they hope to be, he is afraid that they may attack him in retaliation.

While the book has a strong start by showing how a motorcycle club is formed and why members get into it, the interest fizzles the higher that the Lawless Legion climbs. Some of their plans to force competition out of town, get a cut of local drug money, and start a fight club are fun in a darkly comic sort of way. Sonny also shows genuine affection for a woman who is coming out of an abusive relationship. These are moments of good character insight but they don't last.

The Lawless Legion members had more depth when they started out but that depth crumbles as they become involved in a war against various enemies like a rival motorcycle club, an opportunistic police officer, and an acquaintance playing the various sides. 

Once they gain the power and influence that they crave, the members become one-dimensional and interchangeable. Some of the newer recruits are not as distinct as the original group and it can be hard to remember who did what. They also look for any reason or rationale to pick a fight, flash their muscles and attitude, and commit violence towards those that they perceive as an enemy. 

Even when a member of the Lawless Legion leaves, it isn’t looked on as an understanding that he made his choice. Instead it is looked on as a moral failing on his part as someone who betrayed them because he didn’t have the stomach to do what they did. As Sonny and the others are losing their humanity, they resent their former friend for still retaining his. 

Perhaps that’s the point, The Lawless Legion have become dehumanized. They have accepted that violent part of themselves and now there is nothing left, no empathy, no understanding, no real companionship even with each other. Just gain, just taking what they can and hurting anyone that gets in the way. Ironically, in their drive to get the money, power, and respect that they always wanted, they may lose the tight friendship and surrogate family that propelled them in the first place. They will lose their brothers. 

New Book Alert: Third Wheel by Richard R. Becker; Nostalgic High School Memories Turn Dark and Disturbing

 

New Book Alert: Third Wheel by Richard R. Becker; Nostalgic High School Memories Turn Dark and Disturbing

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Richard R. Becker’s previous book, 50 States, was an ambitious and ultimately successful endeavor in which he wrote an anthology of fifty stories that were set in each state. His drive to capture the setting, dialect, and character of each state and its residents was perfection beyond comparison.

Becker's next work, Third Wheel, is a bit less ambitious but still a brilliant work. It begins as a nostalgia piece of 80’s kids living their best days during a time of music videos, shopping malls, and Dungeons and Dragons. Instead it becomes a much darker and grittier tale involving greed, corruption, violence, and murder.

In 1982, teenager Brady Wilkins moved with his family from the Midwest to suburban Las Vegas. Brady feels out of place in Party Town and joins a group of friends including older boys, Mick and Brett in playing Dungeons and Dragons. After Brett moves away, Mick draws in another kid, Alex, into their inner circle. Unfortunately, Alex's interests lie less in the realms of fantasy with paladins, clerics, thieves, and wizards and more in the real world of gangsters, dealers, addicts, and criminals. Alex becomes involved in drug dealing and then gets his friends into the scheme. Suddenly, Brady finds his close network of friends are not the people that he thought they were.

The book is a definite change of tone. It begins light-hearted with a strong tinge of nostalgia. I actually lived in Las Vegas from 1989-90 (while my father worked at Nellis Air Force Base. Yes, that Nellis, conspiracy buffs!) so it's actually very easy for me to picture the setting and time period. 

The first few chapters seem to imply a fun romp with high school hijinks and plenty of details to remind any 80’s kid. If you were a D&D player, the references and descriptions of game play will be fun to read through. 

We also see the wild parties when the parents are gone. When underage drinking and drug taking flows freely, the hook ups are plentiful, the cops are a phone call away, and someone's parent arrives at literally the worst moment. It's a tried and true staple of any coming of age story particularly one set during the rad consumerist spoiled spirit of the 80’s.

Brady is the typical kid who is on the outside of this group. He enjoys the D&D games and the parties but he's on the outer fringes of the in crowd. He sees other kids acting more daring and wilder than he does. He is often just the hanger on and after thought, the one that the cooler kids “forget” to pass the joint to and probably think he should just stay home. He isn't geeky enough to be a nerd and not wild enough to be a stoner. Brady's just there.

During these early chapters, there are hints of a dark undercurrent because of Alex. During the D&D games, he declared that fantasy games are stupid and knows where they can have some real fun. Then he starts lecturing them about Church of Satan founder, Anton LaVey more to shock his friends than actually following any of LaVey’s teachings. At the parties, he gives his friends hard drugs instead of the usual pot almost as if testing the effects on them. He then gets Brady and Mick into drug dealing to the point that when Brett returns to the group, he barely recognizes his old friends.

Once the drug dealing and criminal activity becomes prominent, lighthearted nostalgia ends. Third Wheel becomes a dark gritty crime drama. What was once fun and games and a way to relieve boredom becomes a means to get money, respect, and to survive.

Brady falls into Alex’s world feet first. At first, it's exciting and shakes up his world but the more he falls in, the more he loses parts of himself-friends, love interests, family, and parts of his identity. 

There is a point in the book where the dark undercurrents become overcurrents. Violence ensues and everything that Brady once did, thought, and believed is called into question. He is left to face the real consequences of what a life can bring and how much he stands to lose.

Third Wheel takes different tones and does both well. It's a comparatively smaller work than 50 States but no less brilliant and powerful.