SERENA by Ron Rash, 2008.

This novel sucked me in completely from the very first page, and I found it very difficult put it down or stop thinking about it when I wasn't reading it.
   Set in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, the story opens in 1929 with the return of George Pemberton from Boston to Waynesville, North Carolina, bringing with him his bride, Serena. Driven by greed, ambition, and power, and ideally suited, the couple is ready to lead a spectacular and thrilling life. They want to turn the area into a vast timber empire, harvesting the trees and despoiling the valleys and ridges until there's nothing left, and then move on. However, nothing in life is ever so simple, and they find themselves distracted by several issues: the Federal government's desire to create a national forest; the existence of Pemberton's illegitimate infant son; the numerous deaths of workers; the continuous hunt for new investors in their projects; an interfering local sheriff named McDowell, and Serena's tragic pregnancy. The Pembertons use every method available to vanquish all those who stand in their way--bribery, violence, and murder. And when Serena discovers she can never give Pemberton a child of her own, she ruthlessly sets out to murder both his young son and the boy's mother.
   Rash is a wonderful storyteller and brilliant in his writing--his descriptions of the western Carolina mountains are beautiful, the period details of the Great Depression in Appalachia are well integrated, his narrative flows smoothly, the story moves at a good pace. He provides details about timber harvesting, the logging industry, the whole concept of creating the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and how it was done, of the Appalachian people and their terrible poverty. His characters are larger than life: Pemberton, the handsome and powerful lumberman who realizes his fatal flaw much too late; Rachel, the young girl who gives birth to Pemberton's only child and then struggles to protect them both; McDowell, the honest sheriff who can't be bought and wants to stop the Pembertons; Galloway, the one-handed flunky of Serena's who protects her and carries out her bidding; old Adeline Jenkins, who takes care of Rachel's baby and pays dearly for it, and many others, some real--like Cornelia Vanderbilt Cecil of Biltmore--all brought to life by Rash's pen. But it is the character of Serena that is his most stunning creation--Rash's portrayal is amazing--she is brilliantly intelligent, practical, utterly ruthless, manipulative, and cruel, and at the same time able to show her care for Pemberton, her Arabian horse, her pet eagle, and, occasionally some concern for Galloway and other workers. I found this novel hugely entertaining, compelling, well plotted, with fine suspense and plenty of intrigue, violence, betrayal, lust, bribes, fraud; in short, an absorbing story of two intense and passionate people with a complete willingness to destroy a natural area for personal gain and to crush those who dared go against them. Hard to put down, totally recommend it.

DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY by P.D. James, 2011.

I'd never read a P.D. James novel, but the review of this intrigued me enough to give it a try, even though it's a departure from the type of writing she is famous for. I like Jane Austen's novels and will occasionally read one of the many knock-offs, updates, sequels out there, so I was game to try this one. Pride and Prejudice is probably my favorite Austen novel, so I was curious to see how she would do with those characters.
   It's October 1803, and the plot swirls around the death of Captain Denny, which occurs while traveling with Elizabeth Bennet Darcy's sister Lydia and Lydia's husband, the infamous Wickham, to Pemberley the night before the Lady Anne's ball. In the woodlands area of the estate, Denny leaves the carriage after an argument with Wickham, is followed by Wickham--shots ring out and Lydia hysterically drives on to Pemberley. A search party sets out from the house, including Darcy, finds Denny bloodied and dead in the woods, with Wickham standing over him, saying "It's my fault. I killed him." But why is Denny dead? Why would Wickham murder his only friend? Did he do it? And if not Wickham, then who? And why? The rest of the novel concerns the local police investigation, Wickham's imprisonment and trial, the final details and solving of the murder, and the aftermath. The epilogue shed light on what happened later to some of the players, which I found more interesting than the mystery preceding it.
   I found the book as a whole casually diverting, I enjoyed the updating of the well loved characters like Elizabeth, Darcy, Georgiana, and the Bingleys (plus several that James cunningly pulled in from Persuasion and Emma), and James got the Austen tone down right...but the story wasn't as compelling as I'd hoped it would be. When I picked it up, I thought I'd gulp it down quickly, but I discovered it wasn't hard to put down and walk away from. Perhaps I was expecting too much of it, knowing James's reputation, and maybe that isn't fair. The writing is fine and James does keep the story moving, but at times it seemed stretched out, and I found myself quite often unable to keep focussed on the story very well. I found myself less interested in the crime investigation than I was in the familiar characters' lives. And the ending was just rather ho-hum to me. All in all, it's okay for what it is, a light mystery using Jane Austen characters, but not anything to write home about.

 "The Immortals" (2011)--Went with a movie buddy last night to see this at our local second run movie house. If you liked "300" (and we both did), you'll probably like this one, too, although it's really not as solidly entertaining a flick as that one was. It was a no-holds-barred blood and guts movie, great for a guys' night out--it had everything: gut-wrenching violence, blood spattering, martial arts maneuvers, high octane battles, horrendous torture, evil vs. good, even some nudity thrown in. However, the sad excuse for a plot concerns the peasant Theseus, whose mother, Aethra, is killed by marauders of the loathesome King Hyperion, looking for the Bow of Epirus, which will release the Titans from their prison in Mount Tartarus (having been put there after their defeat by the gods of Olympus). The wicked, thoroughly nasty Hyperion wants the bow so he can release the Titans and rule the world or something dreadful anyway, and it becomes Theseus' quest to stop him and thus save mankind from utter destruction. He is helped in his quest by Phaedra, a Sibylline priestess, and the criminal (but brave) Stavros. Not based on any Greek myth I'm familiar with, it had great special effects, bad script, bad story, mediocre acting. So many things wrong with this movie besides its lack of a decent storyline--Zeus killing Apollo? Theseus a peasant? Theseus' mother being brutally murdered? Gods being slain by Titans? The gods claiming they can't interfere with mortals? BAH!! But when there's lots of noise, violence, and fantastic special effects, and it was a cheap ticket besides, who really cares? I will say that after seeing him in this movie, I think Henry Cavill (Theseus) will definitely be up to the challenge of portraying Superman, and hopefully he will be able to redeem himself in that upcoming production for participating in this film.