Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas

  Huh? That was my reaction upon turning the last page of Catherine House. That and, "What was this even about?" I love a good what-really-happens-behind-closed-doors mystery thriller set at a boarding school or college but this wasn't that. There is a college and strange things happen at the college but no one, including the main character, appears to be that interested in finding out what happens behind closed doors.

Inez is a girl with a troubled past who gets accepted at a prestigious school that counts many rich and powerful among it alumni. The deal is that students agree to spend 3 years (classes are year round) immersed at Catherine House and cut off from the rest of the world. No phone calls, no internet, no TV. No contact with family or friends. The school provides for all their essential needs - food, toiletries, clothes, and lots of wine.

So the school is special but why I don't know. The curriculum sounds like BS. No one is pre-med or trying to write the next great novel. There is a major called new materials which is the main thing the school cares about. Mostly the school sounded like a weird pseudo-science religious cult. It is clear students are being experimented on but it is all very low key. None of the students seem to mind or care that much, except for perhaps the new materials majors.

Inez, the main character, spends much of her time drinking and sleeping with other students but none of it seems to matter to her. Everything about Inez felt shallow. She is completely uninterested in questioning anything around her and her lack of interest made it difficult for me to be interested.

This story felt incomplete. If I could edit this book I would condense the 300+ pages here to half the size and then add a second part where either Inez digs deep into the mystery of Catherine House or figures out her life and makes a radical change that leads to her becoming more invested in her own life and the world around her.

Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink

  I have wanted to read this story for a long time, even more so after visiting New Orleans for the first time earlier this year. It is the story of what happened at Memorial Hospital during and immediately after Hurricane Katrina struck the city of New Orleans and the levees broke, and the resulting aftermath. Long story short, after Katrina hit medical personnel (mostly doctors & nurses), 100+ patients, as well as family members and pets of personnel and patients found themselves stranded at the hospital. They made it through the hurricane but then as everyone knows, the levees broke. The floodwaters rose, power in the building failed, the heat rose, and running water became a thing of the past. Help was slow in coming and was sporadic. Medical personnel made a decision about who should be evacuated first - the healthiest. As the days passed, another decision was made to administer what turned out to be lethal doses of medications to some of the patients. Later, after the waters receded and the city began to grapple with what happened criminal charges were brought against one doctor and two nurses for the second-degree murders of several patients.

For prosecutors the question in the case was did Dr. Anna Maria Pou and nurses Lori Budo and Cheri Landry administer morphine and other medications with the intent to hasten the death of certain patients or was their intent simply to ease patients pain? According to a grand jury, the answer was no. I would break this down into two questions: One, did they inject patients with drugs to hasten their death? Two, was that the right thing to do, or if not excatly right, at least justifiable and understandable given the circumstances? After reading Sheri Fink's account of what happened, my answer to the first question is an unequivocal yes. I don't at all believe Pou, Budo, and Landry were simply easing pain. In one case, a patient was given something like nine times the amount of morphine in a single doze that he normally received and he hadn't been complaining of pain. As to the second question, I don't know.

When something like this happens the people involved are either portrayed as heroes and villains, but in reality people are often a little both or maybe neither. One of the problems with portraying a story in black and white is that it leaves little room for nuance or for talking about what could be done better. Dr. Pou, Budo, and Landry are not villains as I see it, but nor are they unsullied heroes either. Perhaps better choices could have been made, but they did the best they could under the circumstances. That being said, it is bothersome that in the end there seemed to be no accountability for what happened. Dr. Pou and nurses Budo and Landry were not entirely forthcoming about what they did after the fact. (And, there was a fourth doctor that was never charged even though he also administered the lethal doses.) For legal reasons I get why those involved would be wary of telling the full truth of what happened. Still, I wish there could be a truth and reconciliation commission to discuss what they did, why they did it, and why the other doctors and nurses didn't intervene or speak up if they thought what was happening was wrong (or help if they thought it was right). Further, I wish the company that owned the hospital, especially the executives in charge, as well as state and local officials were held accountable for what they did and didn't do. One of the things that struck me in this story was how the possibility that New Orleans might be flooded was not a surprise to anyone. For decades that had been concern but few precautionary measures were ever taken.

"Forensic Expert Cyril Wecht did not care if Pou was punished. What he cared about was the truth and what could be learned from it. For heaven's sake, he thought, Memorial wasn't on a goddamn battlefield with enemy shells coming in. This was New Orleans, and there were helicopters and boats. And really, were they saying they couldn't get patients off the seventh floor? Given a choice, would someone rather die a painless death or live after being lowered, however uncomfortably, from a window? A great disservice was being done to the field of medicine, because the events were covered up and medical leaders reacted emotionally, without knowledge about what had happened. For now the lessons seemed to be that in a disaster if you're a doctor, you're in charge. If you feel giving large doses of morphine and Versed are appropriate, go ahead. It's your call. 'Is this what we want young doctors to learn?' he asked. It's a goddamn precedent, a very dangerous, bad precedent." [page 454]

Although I don't want to condemn the doctors and nurses involved in what happened in Katrina, I have to admit this book undermined my faith and trust in the American medical system just a little bit. So many decisions were made without talking to patients or their families even when it was possible. There didn't even seem to be consensus or a discussion among all the medical personnel present at the hospital. Rather a few people made a decision that effected many. But of course when there was a threat of criminal prosecution then all the doctors and nurses rallied together, leaving little room for a real discussion of how to make life and death decisions during a disaster. My biggest takeaway from Five Days at Memorial, and I mean this is all seriousness, is that if there is a major disaster, do not go to the hospital. The doctors and nurses might help you. They might not. Or they might take active measures to hasten the process of helping you "let go" (a euphemism used often in the book) because they have decided that your quality of life is poor enough to justify ending it, all without consulting you or your family. And the doctors and nurses will never have to justify their decisions, because unless one can prove they acted with actual malice it seems to be considered "unfair" to question the decisions of a doctor or nurse during a disaster.

Network Effect by Martha Wells

 

I’m so glad Liberty Hardy talk about the Murderbot Diaries on one of the Book Riot’s podcasts or else I might have missed this series that has become one of my very favorite things to read.

My favorite rogue SecUnit is back, the sentient AI with organic parts and its dry, sardonic humor. Murderbot is living and working with his chosen human family when another ship attacks and kidnaps him and Amena, one of the humans he is protecting. Once aboard Murderbot realizes he knows the ship. It’s ART’s ship and ART need’s Murderbot’s help.

The plot is great but what I love about this series are the characters. For a non-human, Murderbot has a lot of human feelings, mostly annoyance and anger with humans and their stupid decisions and messy feelings. Despite its best efforts Murderbot seems to be forming relationships attachments with humans and other AI. (Murderbot would of course have a sarcastic thought at the idea that it was in a relationship.)

I love this series so much an when I truly love something it is that much harder to explain why. So instead, here are some of favorite passages from Network Effect.

Quotes

Humans have a bad tendency to use weapons unnecessarily and indiscriminately. Of the many times I had been shot, a depressingly large percentage of hits had come from clients who were trying to “help” me. [page 20-21]

Since the festival had started, I had been taking note of a potential hostile that Amena had been associating with. Evidence was mounting up and my threat assessment was nearing critical like. Things like: (1) he had informed her that his age was comparable to hers, which was just below the local standard for legal adult, but my physical scan and public record search indicated that he was approximately twelve Preservation standard client years older, (2) he never approached her when any family members or verified friends were with her, (3) he stared at her secondary sexual characteristics when her attention was elsewhere, (4) he encouraged her to take intoxicants that he wasn’t ingesting himself, (5) her parental and other related humans all assumed she was with her friends when she was seeing him and her friends all assumed she was with family and she hadn’t told either group about him, (6) I just had a bad feeling about the little shit. [page 29]

If a bunch of desperate colonists came up in the drop box, the ship could just do a quick detach from the dock’s airlock and it would be unreachable. It wasn’t a foolproof method but it was 90 percent effective. (Foolproof is another weird word. Shouldn’t it be smartproof? It’s not like you’re going to breach and seize control of a ship attached to a space dock by tripping or forgetting to bring your weapon or something.) [page 228]

Overse added, “Just remember you’re not alone here. I never know what to say to that. I am actually alone in my head, and that’s where 90 plus percent of my problems are. [page 242]

Silence Fallen by Patricia Briggs

  Silence Fallen is the tenth novel in the Mercy Thompson series and might be my favorite. It opens with the werewolf pack family enjoying a game night. Needing eggs to bake her delectable cookies, Mercy heads to the store. It's a perfect evening until a semi-truck slams into Mercy's car. Next thing she knows Mercy is waking up in a foreign country as a prisoner of a very powerful vampire. It seems someone told him that Mercy was the most dangerous and the most powerful person in the Tri-Cities and he wants to know why.

Silence Fallen presents and interesting discussion about power. Mercy isn't the strongest being in the Tri-Cities area - werewolves and vampires have her easily beat there. She's fast, but not necessarily the fastest. Aside from being able to turn into a coyote and talk to ghosts, she doesn't have much in the way of magical powers. Instead of physical strength and magic, Mercy's power comes from her relationships. The world of Mercy Thompson is populated by a variety of types of beings - humans, werewolves, vampires, witches, fae, goblins, and a bunch of other things I'm not sure how to classify. Most of the non-humans interact with other supernatural beings as little as possible. Circumstances may sometimes compel them to work together, but they aren't really friends. Yet Mercy has somehow forged friendships or at least earned the respect of members of all the different communities. That's what makes her so powerful, and to some, so dangerous. 

One of the best parts of this series is the relationship between Mercy and Adam. Sadly, they are separated for 95% of the story. Even worse, Mercy's kidnapping temporarily severs the mate bond connection between Mercy and Adam and that loss is deeply felt by both of them. She's trying to survive in surroundings that are foreign to her. He is desperately trying to find her without losing control and letting his wolf go on a rampage. Even apart their relationship is strong.

I loved this book! It was action packed and emotional. Plus Mercy, and by extension I as a reader, got to explore new territory as Mercy made her way from Milan to Prague. I can't imagine how Briggs is going to top this one, but I am eager to find out.