The Company we Keep, Robert Baer and Dayna Baer

I rarely allow my self the glossy-paged pleasure of reading a magazine even though I enjoy it so. I find they wake my inner “want” beast who insists I spend money on products and clothes I really can’t afford. Only when flying do I give in, and then I only ever get Marie Claire. Why MC? It’s progressive, has an international section and just flat out has the best content. Case in point – it was in an MC where I found an interview with husband and wife authors (and true-life CIA spies) Robert and Dayna Baer. They were promoting their new book The Company we Keep.

                                                                                                                     

This book has it all.

Foreign settings and languages? Check.

Secret Ops and spy vernacular? Check.

Hand-to-hand combat and weapons training at clandestine camps? Check.

Engaging writing that reads like a story even though is based on a true events? Double check.

These two meet while doing recognizance on suspected terrorists in Greece. I think it was in Greece… Might’ve been in the Middle East. They know cool stuff. Stuff like: ceramic is tougher than glass, can be found in a common light bulb and is your best option when you need to shatter a car window without raising too much suspicion. They know how to take down a 200-pound guy holding a knife to your throat. And, perhaps most amazingly of all, they know how to write.  

The Dovekeepers, Alice Hoffman

Apologies for my lack of December posts, but The Dovekeepers took up quite a bit of time. Alice Hoffman is one of my favourite authors. I rarely read books twice but I fell in love with Practical Magic and have re-read my tattered copy more times than I can count. So excited I was when I saw The Dovekeepers that it actually pains me to report bad news. I didn’t really like it. It was long, dragged on and detailed to the MAX. Forgive me Ms. Hoffman for I still worship your other pieces of work (I also loved Here on Earth); but this took some real muscle to finish. And finish I did because every step of the way I patiently waited for the story to pick up.

The book is broken into four parts, stories told from the perspectives of four separate women. Brought together by fate, the lives of these women are woven together in a secret village hidden from the Romans. One will find Hoffman’s usual themes tucked away inside the pages of this book. You’ll find love, magic and strong female characters; you’ll even find a history lesson. I could see a lot of literary critics hailing this as "an important piece of work" or "a brilliant look into the past" - comments like that came to mind when I read it. But overall, this book still yielded one big yawn from me.