{"id":1225,"date":"2013-12-29T22:50:15","date_gmt":"2013-12-30T04:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=1225"},"modified":"2013-12-29T23:04:15","modified_gmt":"2013-12-30T05:04:15","slug":"michael-gruber-the-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/michael-gruber-the-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Gruber: The Return"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Michael Gruber is one of the more original of all mystery writers,\u00a0 His wonderful brain takes the reader to all kinds of places, almost always an unexpected one.\u00a0\u00a0The Return<\/i>\u00a0is no different, following book editor Marder after a diagnosis of fatal cancer.\u00a0 Marder decides to spend his last days in Mexico, returning to the tiny birthplace of his beloved and now\u00a0dead wife.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>He doesn\u2019t want to burden anyone with his illness, so he cashes out (he has a large stash, despite his profession as an editor), buys a house in Playa Diamente, Mexico, severs ties and heads out in a camper.\u00a0 Unbidden, a (scary) old buddy of his, Paul Skelly, turns up and refuses to be shaken no matter what.<\/p>\n

As the two men arrive in Playa Diamente and scope out Marder\u2019s new house \u2013 beautiful, and complete with servants \u2013 it has a few less desirable traits, like squatters and a drug cartel that wants his land.<\/p>\n

Gruber skillfully ties the story in the present \u2013 an increasingly violent and desperate one, where almost no one can be trusted \u2013 to his desperate and violent days in Vietnam on the Ho Chi Minh trail, where almost no one can be trusted.\u00a0 It was in Vietnam the young Marder encountered the more seasoned and dangerous Skelly.\u00a0 A lifelong bond based on mutual respect and extreme loyalty was formed in the jungles of Vietnam, and it\u2019s now been transferred to the jungles of Mexico.<\/p>\n

As the story unfolds \u2013 one where Marder establishes a little village for the squatters on his property while fending off the increasingly violent attacks of the drug lords \u2013 the story of his past with his wife is teased out.\u00a0 He\u2019s estranged from his son but his daughter becomes curious and tracks him down.\u00a0 Gruber is no slouch when it comes to writing a kick-ass woman character, and Marder\u2019s daughter, a scientist with a curious mind, is no exception.<\/p>\n

All of the side bars in the story taken by Gruber as he unfurls his narrative are fascinating ones, and, as in all Gruber novels, you\u2019re treated to the author\u2019s often profound thoughts on various topics.\u00a0 In this one, the central topic is death, but there are thoughts on marriage, love, parenthood, children, friendship, loyalty, war and becoming a man and what that means to someone who is looking backward.<\/p>\n

While Gruber is frequently thoughtful and thought provoking, he\u2019s also a great thriller writer, and this novel has all the tension and excitement that any suspense fan could desire.\u00a0 The fact that as a reader you\u2019re getting a little more mental bang for your buck is icing on the cake.\u00a0 Sit back and enjoy the ride.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Gruber is one of the more original of all mystery writers,\u00a0 His wonderful brain takes the reader to all kinds of places, almost always an unexpected one.\u00a0\u00a0The Return\u00a0is no different, following book editor Marder after a diagnosis of fatal cancer.\u00a0 Marder decides to spend his last days in Mexico, returning to the tiny birthplace … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[11,13],"class_list":["post-1225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-international","tag-suspensethriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1225"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1228,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1225\/revisions\/1228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}