HBO Game of Thrones Season 6 Trailer(3)

Well well well. Another trailer drops. Apparently HBO has finally decided to throw us some more crumbs before the new season starts on April 24. Enjoy. Unlike the previous trailer, which was just expanded from what had been already put out there, this one has new footage. What do you think?
UPDATE: New clips are available below the jump.


          

Television Reviews: Bates Motel and Damien

Some stories don't lend themselves to rewarding and interesting prequels. Not everyone has the talent or desire to dream up new backstory for a pre-existing tale, particularly if he or she didn't create the original story. Since we already know the story ending, the narrative conclusion is fixed. The creator may be unable to hold interest with a prequel. But if the original story left previous events unexplained or only vaguely detailed, the creator could make a lavish backstory that's independent.  The creator can birth a new work that expands on and gives new insights into the original story. Sometimes this works. Sometimes it doesn't. Two A&E series, Bates Motel and Damien, provide different examples of prequel/reboot success. Bates Motel, a updated prequel of Psycho, featuring Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) and Norma Bates (Vera Farmiga) is an example of a prequel that works. It has its own energy and plot. Though it's apparently inexorably moving toward the day where Norman will commit matricide and live out his remaining days pretending that he's his mother and "talking" to her, Bates Motel has enough quirks to lure the viewer and get him or her excited and unsure about what happens next. We know the big picture, but the devil's in the details. The Psycho story is stuffed to the brim with Freudian and Oedipal overtones. The show's writing and incisive acting of the two main characters breathe life into a trope that's almost a cliche now. Although the displayed unhealthy mother: son relationship is mostly subtext it's still noticeable enough to make the viewer and some in-universe characters more than a little creeped out. For most parents not named Norma Bates there comes a time when certain parental behaviors or activities aren't appropriate with their child, particularly if the child is opposite sex and post-puberty. Norma Bates is not necessarily an evil woman but she is a manipulative, deceitful and frequently bossy one. In the current season Norma has finally realized that her son Norman is unwell. She can't protect Norman from the outside world or his own demons. 

Well actually, Norma is more worried about protecting herself from Norman. It must be a scary thing to know that a loved one who is physically stronger than you has gone round the bend. Or from Norman's pov it must be a scary thing to know that your mother sees you primarily as an extension of herself.

The viewer can decide if Norma knows that her mollycoddling of and frequent lack of modesty around Norman, recurrent sleeping with him in the same bed, or sudden bouts of rage have helped to further psychologically twist her son. Norman may have just been born bad. At this point (Season 4), Norman has murdered at least 5 people, some of whom Norma doesn't know about. Norma has all sorts of serious emotional damage of her own to process. As a young woman, Norma may or may not have been raped by her brother Caleb (Kenny Johnson from The Shield). The product of this act, Norma's first son Dylan (Max Thieriot) is the relatively reasonable member of the Bates clan. Dylan is surprisingly well adjusted considering that he's recently learned that his father is also his uncle. Dylan has a love-hate relationship with both of his parents.  Dylan tries to look out for his little half-brother Norman when he can. Dylan is also a low key drug dealer/producer/wholesaler with a heart of gold. But that's ok as Norma's new husband, the local sheriff Alex Romero (Nestor Carbonell), is a ranking member of a local syndicate that primarily produces and distributes marijuana. The taciturn, sarcastic, and pragmatic Sheriff Romero is no stranger to murder either, as long as he can justify it by claiming to protect the town. For quite some time Romero has been carrying a torch for Norma while feigning indifference.  Romero agreed to marry Norma so that the couple can put Norman on the Sheriff's medical plan. Got all that? Good because having been guilt tripped by Norma into signing himself into a home for psychologically disturbed people, Norma has come to believe two contradictory things (1) he is Norma and (2) it's Norma who's doing all the killing. It probably doesn't help his fragile state of mind that when Norma's away Norman likes to play dress up. 

For a man who is frightened, resentful or disdainful of most people, ESPECIALLY women, prissy Norman ends up in far too many situations where good looking women want to share something special with him. This usually doesn't end well. So that's a wee bit unrealistic. Bates Motel could continue for another season before I would think it's just going through the motions. There are few signs of rot. Farmiga's Norma is a perfect maelstrom of repressed anger, touching naivete, unreasonable optimism, biting sarcasm, unearned entitlement and frightening coldness. Farmiga is a really good actress. I also believe she's a show producer and director. I freely concede the show can be melodramatic and well, cheesy. But it's good cheese. Maybe catch it before the mold takes over.

Where Bates Motel transitions beyond its source material, Damien takes a different approach. It quotes from the source material in every episode. It uses flashbacks and props from the first Omen movie. Damien tries to position itself as the heir to that movie. It's a sequel of sorts. Obviously the story must play around with the timeline a bit but just as Jesus Christ did not start his ministry until he turned 30, the AntiChrist or first Beast of The Book of Revelation won't discover his purpose until his 30th birthday. Now, given that according to the Book of Revelation, the AntiChrist, the Devil and all their assorted minions, worshippers and supporters will ultimately lose and spend eternity in hell, you might wonder why the forces of darkness would want to start the End Times. Either they are people who lack future time orientation or they think the prophecies are wrong, at least in terms of who wins in the long run. #TeamEvil is ready to throw down. Their putative leader , 30 year old Damien Thorn (Bradley James doing his best to impersonate Supernatural's Jensen Ackles) is an orphaned heir and war photographer who while caught in Middle Eastern turmoil, has an unexplainable experience with an old woman who speaks to him in dead languages. Before too much longer he's having strange dreams, remembering events from his childhood (the first movie), having odd people talk to him about the Beast, and seeing accidents occur all around him. This last is really the ONLY dramatic event that occurs in every episode. I'm serious. About a third of each episode is Damien emoting bewilderment, whining about his life or doing Biblical research. Another third involves people from #TeamEvil or #TeamGood wondering if Damien really knows who he is and if so what that means for their future plans.

And the balance of every episode depicts people who mean Damien harm or are looking too closely into his business coming to unpleasant, bloody and fatal ends. Often this involves Rottweilers. Big nasty silent Rottweilers. If you see a Rottweiler hanging around your house that is your final warning to stop looking into things the Devil doesn't want you to know. On those occasions where a Rottweiller is too obvious, corporate executive Ann Rutledge (Barbara Hershey) is always in the background to defend Damien and deflect attention away from him by any means necessary. She tells Damien, who doesn't remember her, that she's been there since his youth. Apparently she's also the representative of the Thorn estate. The sybaritic Ann is old enough to be Damien's mother but pretty obviously has some intense non-motherly feelings for him, which are not at this time reciprocated. Ann wants to make Damien aware of his true nature. Although Ann is a high ranking member of #TeamEvil, she's not in charge. She doesn't have the whole picture. There are other people aware of Damien's nature who have completely different ideas about how to proceed. But pretty much by definition you don't make your bones as a member of #TeamEvil without being willing and able to do a little judicious backstabbing when needed. And Ann's a vet. She combines a hidden fanaticism with real world wheeling and dealing skills. Like any good corporate player when faced with an order she finds displeasing, Ann will studiously ignore it or reinterpret it to her own advantage. 

Megalyn Echikunwoke provides some babe factor as Simone, the sister of Damien's deceased girlfriend Kelly. Simone didn't want to believe it at first but is starting to become convinced that Damien really is the AntiChrist. It probably won't be too long before Simone starts seeing Rottweilers hanging around her yard. Of course as the damsel in distress/babe you might wonder if she has narrative immunity. Look the first Omen movie was good. The gleeful suicide, ominous dogs, strange accidents, classical music and grim murderous nannies all made the movie work. But times change. In today's world where US allies rape little boys while US military personnel are ordered not to interfere, where people murder albinos for their body parts, where people bomb Easter celebrants just because, where people would rather spend scarce resources on nuclear weapons instead of preventing public defecation and resultant health issues, it might be difficult for some modern viewers to be frightened by the possibility of the Devil and his crew taking over. In some localities it looks like #TeamEvil is already firmly in charge. So this show tries and in my opinion fails to convince us why we should care if Damien accepts that he's Lucifer's son and Hell's champion. Whether it's the writing or the acting or both, James' Damien comes across as nothing more than an empty vessel. He's boring. Of course he's not the only one. Most of the characters are more symbols than people you care about (the clueless good friend who's being set up to be a sacrifice, the skeptical cop, the babe, the Big Bad, etc). 

Only Hershey brings some real brio to her role. It's unusual in American television to see a 68 year old woman vamping it up in a non-ironic or non-comedic role. All the same I don't see how this show makes it to a second season. My interest declined a bit with each episode. The subject matter doesn't lend itself to episodic storytelling.

Bates Motel Season Four Trailer
Damien Trailer

HBO Game of Thrones: Season 6 Trailer(2)

If you remember the last trailer HBO provided for Season 6 Game of Thrones made it appear as if Davos and perhaps Melisandre were about to make a grim last stand against the Night's Watch. Well as this expanded version of the previously released trailer shows that was only half-true. I don't know if Melisandre is in the room or not. But Davos and the handful of Night's Watch members who didn't stab Lord Commander Jon Snow are indeed about to make a grim last stand against Alliser Throne, Olly and the other Night's Watch members who shanked Jon. Davos has Jon's Valyrian sword, Longclaw. Also Ghost is there and appears to be ready to put in work. This is interesting stuff not least because this event is something which has not happened yet in the books. This season there may only be a few things that book readers know and show watchers don't. With only a few major storylines that have yet to be adapted and even fewer important characters unrevealed this season will have everyone on equal footing more or less. Davos, like Ned Stark is a fundamentally decent man, so I'm looking forward to seeing the fallout from his realization that he served a man (Stannis) that was willing to murder his own daughter. Given Davos' reluctance to leave and his gift to Shireen I think deep down inside he knew Stannis' intention. Anyway what's done is done. Perhaps Bran Stark isn't the only Stark who can warg. Does Jon Snow's spirit live on in the appropriately named Ghost? We'll see I guess. Check out the video clip below (start at 1:47 if you want to skip the show banter)

South Carolina Cops Strip Search and Sexually Assault Black Couple

Usually I defer, however reluctantly or conditionally, to the received wisdom that the best way to proceed with police officers who are behaving unlawfully or unfairly towards you or yours is to comply with directions, keep your mouth shut and live to fight another day. They have weapons and you likely don't. Your goal should be to stay alive. But as the saying goes, a nation of sheep begets a government of wolves. So there must be limits to the tolerance we grant police. Police are not gods. They are not above the law. They only deserve deference or respect to the extent that they follow the law. When police obliterate the line between criminal and cop, they're just another thug. If someone who wasn't a police officer came up to you and demanded that you remove your clothing and underwear so that they could stick something inside of you or ordered you to strip in front of their leering sarcastic friends, I'm betting that you would reject that order. You would likely immediately remove yourself from the location, were you able to do so. And if push came to shove you would defend yourself from this pervert's demented desires. You have a right to defend yourself from illegal behavior. You have a right to self-defense. The only reason that we don't normally behave that way with police is because we have agreed to give some extreme powers to police in order to detect and apprehend criminals while keeping the rest of society safe. But when police become evil for lack of a better word that consent can and should be revoked. A horrifying example of how evil some police officers can be recently came to light in Aiken, South Carolina.  A white police officer unlawfully stopped a car driven by a black woman with a black man passenger. He and his cohorts then proceeded to unlawfully search the car and to strip search the man and woman, including the man's rectum. Most of this was on video. 
Lakeya Hicks and Elijah Pontoon were in Hicks’s car just a couple of blocks from downtown Aiken when they were pulled over by Officer Chris Medlin of the Aiken Department of Public Safety. Hicks was driving. She had recently purchased the car, so it still had temporary tags.
In the video, Medlin asks Hicks to get out, then tells her that he stopped her because of the “paper tag” on her car. This already is a problem. There’s no law against temporary tags in South Carolina, so long as they haven’t expired.
Medlin then asks Pontoon for identification. Since he was in the passenger seat, Pontoon wouldn’t have been required to provide ID even if the stop had been legitimate. Still, he provides his driver’s license to Medlin. A couple of minutes later, Medlin tells Hicks that her license and tags check out. (You can see the time stamp in the lower left corner of the video.) This should be the end of the stop — which, again, should never have happened in the first place.
Instead, Medlin orders Pontoon out of the vehicle and handcuffs him. He also orders Hicks out of the car. Pontoon then asks Medlin what’s happening. Medlin ignores him. Pontoon asks again. Medlin responds that he’ll “explain it all in a minute.” Several minutes later, a female officers appears. Medlin then tells Pontoon, “Because of your history, I’ve got a dog coming in here. Gonna walk a dog around the car.” About 30 seconds later, he adds, “You gonna pay for this one, boy.”

LINK
This abuse won't change until someone (i.e. a bullying cop) gets put six feet under. I just don't see other ways. Marching and protesting and boycotting and avoidance and pleading and appealing to morality haven't worked. Cops who use their badge to insult, intimidate, harass and in this case sexually assault people just aren't bothered by the threat of legal consequences because everyone knows such consequences are very rare. Federal prosecutors just don't bring charges against local law enforcement personnel. In most cases like this there won't be a state criminal trial either. And if there is, usually prosecutors and judges do their absolute bare minimum. Juries are often reluctant to convict. This is especially the case since the system will do everything in its power to prevent people like Hicks or Pontoon from sitting on juries. Even when a police officer is charged and a diverse jury could be selected the cop can always just opt for a judge to decide the case. Many judges are former prosecutors. So legal penalties don't deter these cops. There's only a slim chance that they will lose their job. Apparently the endless diversity classes, Officer Friendly school visits and internal legal training haven't made a dent in the behavior depicted. From what I can tell, as far as the average police officer is concerned, the law on the street is whatever he or she says it is. Other people more qualified than I can argue all the legal whys and wherefores but according to the legal experts quoted in the Post story, everything that happened was illegal. The police had no reason other than bias and personal dislike (and sexual sadism?) to pull over the black couple. This policing is descended directly from slave patrols of antebellum America. Poor whites, who often didn't own kidnapped Africans, were able to vent their class and racial hatred and jealousy on slaves travelling between plantations or free blacks travelling to their home or business. It's also part of the War on Drugs and the resulting normalization of prison procedures (extreme immediate compliance, strip searches, aggressive interrogations) that have spread throughout society.

This sort of government overreach should be something that conservatives and liberals agree needs to be stopped. Unfortunately, with a few noted and honorable exceptions, the sort of conservatives who love to wave their Gasden flag, cite Thomas Jefferson quotes about the tree of liberty requiring blood, and yell about oppressive big government, don't seem to get that infuriated about examples of oppressive government physically violating citizens like Hicks and Pontoon. I wonder why that might be. This is the duality of America. A black man can be elected President twice. And yet a black man and woman can be treated by their own government as if it's 1816 and not 2016. How do we resolve that? I really don't know. Violence is a bad thing. I try to avoid it. But I can't let another man violate me or mine in such a manner. Somebody would have to go.

Movie Reviews: Macbeth

Macbeth
directed by Justin Kurzel

If you've not previously read or seen an adaptation or performance of this Shakespeare play I'd like to (1) know how in the world that is even possible in this day and age and (2) strongly urge you to see this adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy. And even if you have already read the play, seen it performed or viewed other film versions I'd urge you to see this film. It stands on its own. It simultaneously remains very faithful to the script while pointing out the modern and yet timeless urges that define Macbeth. Before Michael Corleone moaned in Godfather 3 that every time he thought he was out they pulled him back in, Shakespeare wrote in Macbeth that "What's done can not be undone." Macbeth influenced important themes of Tolkien's Lord of The Rings. Tolkien specifically reworked Shakespeare's prophecies of an evil tyrant being unable to be defeated by man born of woman or until the woods marched to a castle to what he thought of as much more satisfying and honest ends. Without Macduff revealing his unusual birth circumstances to Macbeth there is no Eowyn laughing and telling the Witch-King "But no living man am I!!" And like Tolkien's Witch-King, Shakespeare's gloomy Macbeth is someone who has thrown away his humanity forever. He's a blasted man whose soul is already in hell even though he still walks this plane of existence. And by the end, he knows it.  Terry Pratchett used interpretations of the three witches from Macbeth in many of his works, most notably Wyrd Sisters. And even if you aren't overly familiar with Macbeth you have almost certainly heard of quotes from Macbeth including such phrases as "By the pricking of my thumbs something wicked this way comes" or "Fair is foul and foul is fair" or "For mine own good all causes shall give way" or my favorite:

“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time; and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Talk about a cynical or blues interpretation of life's ups and downs! Of  course I am somewhat biased because Macbeth along with Richard III was my absolute favorite play to read/perform during my high school English class all those years ago. I'm always open to seeing a new interpretation of Macbeth.

Macbeth is a solemn examination of the cost of ambition, greed and evil. Once you get your hands dirty, you can't get them clean again no matter what you do. Although this version mostly sticks to Shakespeare's glorious and yet stilted dialogue it sheds the static nature of the stage by using the full range of film techniques to bring this story to life. You won't think that you're watching a play being adapted. Everything feels very lifelike with the exception of some twisted surreal scenes that give you a hint into Macbeth's state of mind. The music director and director's brother Jed Kurzel did a good job with a string driven traditional but at the same time modern score. I do believe I also heard some synthesizers and theremins perhaps? Or maybe it was just judicious use of reverb and amplification. I can't say for sure. But I know I liked it. The music is evocative both of the Scottish time period in which the story is set and of the emotions and events which haunt and define several of the chief characters. But film is primarily a visual experience is it not? Kurzel doesn't disappoint on that score. Sticking with the blue-gray motif which has come to define many historical or fantasy movies, Kurzel brings the viewer into the seemingly unearthly beauty of the Scottish countryside where the film was primarily shot. He also shows us both the darkness of the human heart and the literal darkness of the halls, tents and battlefields where most of the film's activity takes place. Some events which take place off screen in the play are shown here to devastating emotional impact. Macbeth's rivals consistently underestimate the savagery that he's capable of unleashing. By the time they realize what a truly horrible man Macbeth has become it's far too late.

Michael Fassbender inhabits the titular role. He's an ambitious Scottish nobleman with an equally purposeful wife (Marion Cotillard) who decides to forcibly retire his King (David Thewlis) after receiving word from three witches that he is destined to become King of Scotland. Anytime he doubts or hesitates his wife is there to put steel in his spine. But blood leads to blood and then some more again. In short time Macbeth and his wife learn that power comes at a very great cost. But this isn't just a simple morality play, though you can certainly understand it at that level. This movie raises the question of whether the witches are real or not. Macbeth is a war veteran who has seen and done horrible things even before he takes it into his mind to murder his king. And his wife is haunted by the death of their child. So both the lord and the lady are at very dark places in their lives. When life becomes cheap is it any surprise that someone who's well versed in violence can then justify using violence to unlawful ends? That's the modern layer over the story. My only quibble with the film was that the music, while enjoyable, was occasionally mixed loudly enough to interfere with the dialogue, which is often hushed and muttered. So you might find it worthwhile to have subtitles on for a few scenes here or there. So again, if you're unfamiliar with this play, see this movie. It should all be new and wondrous to you. The lavish detailed costumes, gothic settings, and of course the gorgeous Scottish location add to the viewer's enjoyment. Fassbender and Cottilard bring the intensity in this film.

TRAILER

D'Angelo Russell and Breaking the Code

For many reasons people often share private, personal and intimate information with those they consider within their circle of trust. I have done so. You have as well. Everybody has. It's part of being human. For most of us the group of people that we trust includes closely related family, past, current or would be intimate partners, clergy and really good friends. For some of us the group of people whom we trust without reservation even includes co-workers. I have never seen co-workers in that fashion but there are some jobs where it's critical to know your co-workers in ways that would be uncomfortably intimate for most of us.These types of jobs usually involve the requirement of spending much more than a 9-5 shift with your co-workers. And sometimes, no matter what kind of job you have or what sort of trust level you have with the people around you, you just need to vent or share information that probably shouldn't be shared. Whatever the case may be when you are giving personal information to someone you usually don't expect that news to go beyond the two of you, let alone be broadcast to the world. Basketball player D'Angelo Russell, LA Lakers guard, apparently didn't understand this. Russell had a conversation with teammate Nick Young. Young talked about his sexual exploits with women, some of which may have occurred while he was engaged to his fiancee, Australian rapper Iggy Azalea. The problem was that Russell recorded this conversation, evidently without Young's knowledge. The worse problem is that Russell or someone close to him provided this conversation to the entire planet. This action obviously embarrassed and humiliated Young and Azalea. It also revealed Russell as an immature and decidedly untrustworthy individual. Russell's Lakers teammates have responded to his breach of decorum by freezing him out of their social networks. At the time that this post was written they're still refusing to talk to Russell, acknowledge or sit next to him during travel or lunch. And some football players responding to Russell's actions have broadly hinted that in the aggressive and dangerous world of the decidedly macho NFL, Russell might have worse and more pressing problems than someone not wanting to be his friend.    

Now I suppose a person of a more moralistic bent might point out that if Young didn't cheat or boast about things best left unspoken then he wouldn't have to worry about public exposure and any hypothetical resulting damage to his relationship with Azalea. And that's true as far as it goes. The greater sin is Russell's violation of trust with his teammate. I think that the parameters and boundaries of Young's and Azalea's relationship are things they need to discuss with each other, not with Russell or the world. If I were to become aware of a co-worker's infidelity or negative feelings towards his or her spouse I would not think I was required to give that knowledge to the spouse or make it public news. After all the spouse by definition knows the co-worker much better than I do. He or she may already know all about whatever ugly dirt I'm dragging into the spotlight. The spouse may not appreciate my actions. And in a case where two young attractive millionaires who work in the sports and entertainment business travel the world it would almost be more newsworthy if neither one of them was ever unfaithful. So I think I'd just keep quiet. The only way I could ever see pulling someone's coat about their spouse's unfaithfulness is if I am directly related to the party that's being cheated on or otherwise had some strong pre-existing relationship with him or her. And even then I'd have to think twice about it. And then I'd have to think some more. I have enough of my own issues to solve. Getting into someone else's personal business is dangerous stuff. And sharing it with the world is damn near unforgivable. This is like going to confession and learning the next day that the priest posted details of all of your sins on the Vatican website. It's just not what you expected when you spoke to him. Few people stay angry forever. It's not healthy. There are only a small number of people on the planet with the sort of talent possessed by D'Angelo Russell. So I think that eventually the NBA fraternity of players and coaches will if not quite forgive Russell, come to some sort of understanding with him. But Russell will always have that "snitch" label attached to him. For now he might consider a stint in the Witness Protection Program until the heat dies down.

Would you ever reveal someone's bad behavior told to you in confidence?

Book Reviews: Known to Evil

Known to Evil

by Walter Mosley

This is book two in Mosley's Leonid McGill series. You can read a review of book one here. Or if you don't care to read an entire other review there are some very basic points which you should understand before reading this book. Mosley thoughtfully weaves them in and out of the story although he doesn't do anything as obvious as an information dump. Leonid McGill is a middle aged New York private eye who's trying to turn over a new leaf morally speaking. He's spent a great deal of his life running in some very dangerous circles and doing business with or favors for evil and dangerous men in both the NYC underworld and upperworld. A few years back McGill underwent a moral epiphany. He decided to only do legitimate private eye work. No more setting up innocent people in insurance scams. No more tracking down witnesses for the Mob. No more fixing juries or paying people to perjure themselves in court. And McGill promised himself to try really hard not to kill anyone if he could avoid it. McGill decided to try to make amends where possible to some of the people he hurt. He also chose, as penance for his misdeeds, to stay with his beautiful wife Katrina, who has given him three children, only one of which is his. Katrina is as faithless as she is striking. She's always searching for something bigger and better. The only reason Katrina may be staying with Leonid is that the years are starting to catch up with her, though she remains stunning for her age. Most of the more successful men Katrina might prefer want younger women. That's what Leonid thinks anyway when he imagines Katrina's motivations, which isn't often. He may still be married to her but it's a loveless marriage as far as Leonid is concerned. Leonid's mind is often elsewhere. It's not as if he were 100% true either. In this book Leonid continues to attempt to make amends but learns that you can't just wash your hands once they've been dirty. He's hired by arguably the most powerful man in New York City, the political fixer Alphonse Rinaldo, to find a young woman named Tara. It's supposedly an easy job with no nasty work required. And even a man as stubborn and as independent as Leonid doesn't like to say no to a man like Alphonse Rinaldo. Even more so than Leonid, Alphonse literally knows where all the bodies are buried. Alphonse has access to power which could greatly help or harm Leonid.

It would be a good and healthy thing for Leonid to do this job for Alphonse and have a favor he can redeem at a later time. Alphonse Rinaldo doesn't like hearing the word "no". So Leonid agrees to find the woman. But what should be an easy job turns out to be more complex. Tracking down the young woman, Leonid stumbles into a double murder investigation. It looks like Tara's female friend and a low level hitman have killed each other. And the police are interested in knowing what business Leonid had with the murder victims and Tara. The police brass want to take Leonid down by any means necessary. The top cops view Leonid as the White Whale who got away. If that's not enough to keep Leonid busy for some strange reason his wife of all people is making goo-goo eyes at him again. Leonid finds this more distracting than erotic. This could be because Leonid's true love Aura is stepping out on him with an arrogant lawyer who's trying to get Leonid evicted from his office building. And Leonid's sons, Dmitri and Twill, are in over their heads with various Eastern European gangsters and femme fatale hookers. There's also a subplot about how Leonid tries and mostly fails to help the hapless victim of one of his earlier schemes, a sad pathetic man who's only become more so after his stint in prison. Leonid's deceased father's voice provides Leonid a moral North but even that is warped as Leonid hates his father for having abandoned the family when Leonid was a child. I liked this book a lot. One of the major themes within and one which presumably animates the entire series is change. Can someone who was by any reasonable moral standard, evil, change himself? And what if by doing so he puts his family at risk? Is that worth it? Does someone who was evil have the right to stop doing bad without paying the cost for his misdeeds? Is saying I'm not like that anymore enough for your victims or do you owe them more? 

Not only is McGill an everyman character, he is as the author has confirmed, something of a stand-in for America itself. What does evil mean? Leonid will protect his wife and children but he really only likes one child, ironically the son who isn't his. He provides for his family but can fairly be described as emotionally distant to them. It's something of a shock to Leonid when he realizes that Aura's infidelity can drive him to insensate murderous rage, a trait the cool-headed boxer Leonid has always viewed as a weakness.  Leonid is not exactly an arrogant man but he is someone who has little fear of anyone on God's green earth, with the exception of his "friend" Hush, a notorious killer-for-hire who may be just as much serial killer as hitman. Many very tough people consistently underestimate the short and seemingly pudgy Leonid. It's not usually a mistake they make twice. You should read this book.