Carol's Notebook

I don't think I've read The Tempest by William Shakespeare before, but in my head it was about a magician on an island. Briefly, the play is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, and his daughter Miranda were ship-wrecked years before. Prospero plots to restore himself to his rightful place. He is a magician and has control over the spirits of the island, including his main helper, Ariel. The island sole other inhabitant who was there before Prospero is Caliban, a monstrous person who acts as a slave to Prospero, but speaks beautifully. A storm brings to the island Prospero's usurping brother Antonio and the complicit Alonso, King of Naples. Prospero can finally gain his revenge, but chooses forgiveness instead. In the end, Prospero will to return to his place in Milan, Miranda will marry Alonso's son, Ferdinand, and Ariel is freed. I'm not sure if Caliban will be left on the island on...

In Hell and Gone by Duane Swierczynski, Charlie Hardie is gone, hidden away in a secret underground prison that is effectively hell for him and the others trapped there. This is the second in the series, picking up where Fun and Games left off. Hardie has barely survived his encounters with the Accident People, but they've got worse things in store for him now. Just a note, you really do need to read the first one before Hell and Gone. Where Fun and Games was fast-paced and action-filled, Hell and Gone is more of a psychological thriller, in a way. Yes, there's plenty of violence, but the "inmates" and "guards" are all at the mercy of a bodiless voice, who orders them around, provides the food and heat or lack thereof. They turn on each other, test each other, form their own plans and loyalties in a closed society where a few have all the power. I do have to give it...

First an admission. I like the whole Jack the Ripper thing. It's rather fascinating. A serial killer running loose in the Whitechapel district of London in 1888, preying on prostitutes, committing at least 5 murders and as many as 11, depending on the theory. And he was never found, but theories abound as to who he was. Jack the Theorist by Jon Hartless starts with the first killing and follows two men, a ripperologist, Professor Wolf, and his friend Sir Arthur Smythe, a paranormal researcher, as the entire town follows the story, horrified and obsessed, and the media fuels the speculation. "Your paper printing the lurid accounts again and again, and putting up huge billboards showing half-naked women being stalked by a madman with a knife, had no part to play in creating this climate of 'public hysteria'?" "We cannot be held responsible for the credulous nature of the public," replied Sideways, disdainfully. (77 %) Wolfe himself is making good money by writing articles...