Day 2,315, Quasi-Quarantine: Corruption And Ineptitude Still Manage To Shock In "The Cadaver King And The Country Dentist"

 

“‘The Mississippi system was run by the triumvirate for years,’ says one long-serving former coroner. ‘Imagine that. A pathologist, a small-town dentist, and a funeral director … The state provided an audience of adoring idiots.’”

In "The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist," Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington have painstakingly researched and compiled a searing indictment of the entire criminal justice system of the state of Mississippi and beyond. The idea that Steven Hayne, Michael West, and Forrest Allgood were never imprisoned -- or worse -- for their actions, is an absolute travesty. The fact that two of the three are already dead somehow isn't enough.

The reality that racism, politics, and ignorance are running amok in Mississippi won't surprise anyone with the ability to read. The sheer lack of repercussions might, despite our better instincts.

“Coroners were incompetent. State law at the time required just two qualifications for the job: candidates had to be registered to vote and ‘must never have denied the existence of a Supreme being.’”

While focusing on two specific cases of wrongful incarceration, the book unveils an entire system predicated on targeting those unable to defend themselves and the many individuals who both turned their backs on them and actively lied to end their lives as free persons.

Make no mistake: this is an infuriating read, perhaps made even more so by the fact that the work is a slow burn, with the feel of a textbook in many areas. However, the act of reading feels more essential now than ever, as the concepts of truth and accountability are constantly under siege.

“But I ain’t mad at any of them anymore. The system’s gonna do what the system’s gonna do.”

~Kennedy Brewer

Day 2,311, Quasi-Quarantine: Watching A Predictable Mets Loss While Going Back To Cali

Earlier this year, we spent our spring break visiting California. As part of our journeys, we ended up at Oracle Park to watch our Mets lose 7-2. We saw the only contest of the four-game series that New York lost, which is sort of par for the course for our fandom.

Checking another ballpark off the list was tremendous, as in recent years I've seen the Mets play the Red Sox at Fenway and the Giants and Rockies square off at Coors Field, in addition to catching a game at Citi Field. Oracle Park was beautiful and well situated, though the late-game arrival of the seagulls was straight-up Hitchcockian.

Seeing David Peterson get shelled and the Mets mostly flounder around the stadium was strong foreshadowing for a disastrous season. A few months later, Peterson would be relegated to the bullpen and then traded, while New York would be posting one of the worst records in the majors.

On the more notable side, I did have a $50 crab standwich -- the "Crazy Crab'z" -- and my son did eat a baseball helmets full of nachos.

Those were certainly the highlights of our entire Mets experience for 2026.

Day 2,309, Quasi-Quarantine: "Red Sky In Morning" Details Cross-Globe Manhunt As Loss And Vengeance Compete

 

“Night sky was black and then there was blood, morning crack of light on the edge of the earth. The crimson spill sent the bright stars to fade, hills stepping out of shadow and clouds finding flash. First rain of day from a soundless sky and music it made of the land. The trees let slip the mantle of darkness, stretched themselves, fingers of leaves shivering in the breeze, red then goldening rays of light catching. The rain stopped and he heard the birds wake. They blinked and shook their heads and scattered song upon the sky. The land, old and tremulous, turned slowly towards the rising sun.”

Starting in the remote reaches of Ireland and ending up in early 19th-century America, "Red Sky in Morning" follows the journey of Coll Coyle as he navigates the balance between escaping and returning.

Coyle committed a rash, rage-spurred act of violence, triggering a manhunt and a headlong game of hide-and-seek with an almost supernaturally gifted tracker, James Faller. As the two tangle, Coyle finds support and resistance in the unlikeliest of places, all while never letting go of a desire to return to his homeland and his growing family.

“In the boy he recognized the face of his own child, saw the hands of his daughter testing the shapes of stones, heard the small bundle of her voice, and he turned towards the great void of the sea, his breath held in his chest and he looked out into the distance where time and movement seemed to hold still, where nothing seemed to happen at all, a void bereft of love and pain, a great wash of unmemory held in its ceaseless eternity.”

I've been mesmerized by some of Lynch's other works, with "Prophet Song" having won the Scooties in 2024 and "Beyond the Sea" being an early standout this year. 

In his debut, Lynch displays an affinity for Cormac McCarthy, both in his prose and his antagonist, Faller, who evokes the legendary Judge Holden from McCarthy's "Blood Meridian." Faller is prone to existential soliloquies that seemed designed to justify or obfuscate his pure evil.

“To be the last thing a man sees before he dies, Faller said. Nothing will make you feel more alive.

“It’s quite a moment, said Faller. To be the sole judge of that person on earth. You meet his eyes and there’s an understanding quite like no other.”

"Red Sky in Morning" shies away from nothing, exploring themes like incest, torture, cholera, and racism, with Lynch's rhythmic prose lending an aesthetic that clashes with and complements the material. Coyle's morbid stint in America as part of a dig in Pennsylvania is based on a true story, lending a deeper horror to the tale.

If there was a quibble, it would be that Lynch's decision to occasionally shift perspectives between characters can lead to some minor confusion. However, the overall work is sublime, with a clever effort by the author to have the opening and closing language mirror one another.

Lynch has gone on to become one of our most accomplished novelists, but it's refreshing to see the raw talent apparent in his origin story.

“Oh the small place left behind unfolding into a universe. His ear cocked to the absence of it.”

Day 2,287, Quasi-Quarantine: Understated Prose Dominates Elegant Short Stories Of "The News From Dublin"

“It struck her afterwards that what he did in those few years when he was a fighter pilot was merely an exaggerated version of what we all do as we live: we swagger, we are full of pretense there is no real danger coming towards us, we talk as though the enemy is in flight, or under control. As time moves, however, it drags us with it until the time for pretending ends and the body lies spent.”

~“The Journey to Galway”

The settings and chronologies vary in this collection of short stories from Colm Toibin, but the themes of isolation and identity are consistent. "The News from Dublin" is marked by the author's trademark sparse prose and quiet restraint, permeating these tales with hints of melancholy and desperation.

The standouts were the title story, a shattering look at the effects of tuberculosis; "The Journey to Galway," a stark and powerful commentary on loss and war; "Free Man," a compelling view of sexual abuse and identity; and "Five Bridges," a moving and contemporary exploration of immigration status in the age of ICE.

"Sleep," "A Sum of Money," and "Barton Springs" were promising, but felt incomplete, while "The Catalan Girls" was incredibly long in relation to the other stories. With the emotional abuse and neglect at its core, it was rather difficult to read.

Toibin captures the fraught nature of family dynamics, the role of perception in finding one's place in the world, and how nature and nurture can alter the path of any individual. "The News from Dublin" lays it all bare for the reader's consideration and enjoyment.

“ … He would not grow old or live to regret anything at all or be forgiven. Action had given him a strange freedom, as it must have done for others, an avoidance of having to deal with his own complexity. Death, on the other hand, would give him nothing at all. From now on, it would be all absence.”

~“The Journey to Galway”

Day 2,282, Quasi-Quarantine: A Teen Navigates Grief, Neglect, And Family Dissolution In South Jersey's "Ghost Town"

 

“Maybe all that stuff catches up to you in the end, the demons you think you’ve outrun, the bad memories you locked away in a metal box, and then you hid the box in a dark corner of the basement under a heap of dirty blankets, and then you moved far away and did your best to pretend you were someone else. But that box is always right there, right where you left it.”

When a mid-tier author is asked to speak at the dedication of a building in his father's name in the hometown he's estranged from, memories of grief and identity flood in. "Ghost Town" captures the wistful, melancholy nature of bittersweet recollection almost perfectly, interspersed with the summery vibes that permeate many coming-of-age stories.

“ … His mind empty, his body glowing with that peaceful, washed-out feeling you get after a really good day at the beach.”

This book was purchased during an anniversary-celebration trip to beautiful Duck, NC, and it jumped out based on my previous experience with "The Leftovers," which was based on another Tom Perrotta novel. The Jersey Shore -- another old haunt of mine -- was the ideal setting for this quick, relatable read.

The prose is incredibly wry, leaving you to wonder where and whether Perrotta meant to joke or examine at times. His exploration of big teenage feelings is subtle, resulting in the book feeling like a potential coming-out tale in places.

“I used to tell people that I had two writing careers, one for love and one for money, but I don't believe that anymore. The truth is, it’s all been one thing, just a bunch of variations on the only themes that have ever mattered to me.

“Ghosts and Orphans.

“Orphans and Ghosts.

“The ways we’re abandoned and never left alone.”

Much like the overall theme, "Ghost Town" was short and fleeting -- like an adolescent summer that you wished there was more of.

“It was beautiful but a little unreal, almost like he was pedaling through a good memory, a summer that had already come and gone.”

Day 2,280, Quasi-Quarantine: "Strong Ground" Is Peppered With Useful Leadership Terms and Exercises, But Falls Short On Originality

 

“A leader is anyone, regardless of title and position, who holds themself accountable for finding potential in people and ideas, and who has the courage to develop that potential.”

"Strong Ground" features a number of unique terms and exercises for how to balance work systems and claims for attention, with Brene Brown citing a number of real-world examples. The included charts were also extremely useful for visual learners, and one could argue that the work could have benefited from more of them to break up the text.

“Fear is a terrible motivator. It has a short shelf life, and to maintain enough fear to drive behavior, you have to get comfortable with cruelty and create chaotic systems that might feed a hungry investor quarter but will eventually destroy you and your organization.”

The book can get a bit grandiose and feel derivative of other works, with lengthy abstracts -- on the off chance that the subtitle of "The Lessons of Daring Leadership, the Tenacity of Paradox, and the Wisdom of the Human Spirit" didn't warn you. Beyond the preachiness, there was the technical issue of the page numbers being too small in the hardcover version, making it needlessly difficult to orient yourself within the text.

“One hundred percent of the organizations that we’ve researched or partnered with have a list of values. Approximately 10 percent have operationalized their values into observable behaviors that are grounded in their mission and integrated across their systems.”

"Strong Ground" can give the impression of being a collection of thoughts on the broad topic of leadership, without a unifying throughline or overall coherence. Format aside, however, the guidance shared can only benefit anyone who's embarking on -- or continuing -- a leadership journey.

“While companies eagerly invest in AI, they often overlook crucial investments in change management and employee support. This oversight could lead middle managers to view AI as a threat rather than a tool, fostering resistance that may dramatically slow implementation and adoption.”

~Amy Webb

Day 2,273, Quasi-Quarantine: "Son Of Nobody" Deftly Balances A Classics Discovery With Family Estrangement And Tragedy

“History, however true, needs interpreting, and fiction, however invented, arises from life and reflects it.”

“What is one to do with the sadness of mortals?”

A decade since his last novel, Yann Martel delivers again with "Son of Nobody," another novel featuring a unique format and resonant emotional tones.

In the midst of a failing marriage, scholar Harlow Donne journeys to Oxford for research and ends up discovering a lost retelling of the Trojan War from the perspective of Psoas, a common soldier and "son of nobody." Parts of the tale mirror Donne's estrangement from his wife, Gail, and his separation from his daughter, Helen.

“ … To show that the past is never done with, that always there are parallels and returns and repetitions, always the song continues.”

I've long been a fan of Martel's, following up the sublime "Life of Pi" with the underrated "Beatrice and Virgil," which finished third in The Scooties in 2010. I was also a fan of "The High Mountains of Portugal" -- the winner of The Scooties in 2017.

“These footnotes have their share of things to say. Don’t neglect them. We all live lives that are footnotes to a greater story.”

This reader found himself looking for a few more insights into the dissolution of the marriage, and especially more about Gail and her perspective. But I can also see how that angle would have been difficult to incorporate into the format Martel chose.

“I loved Gail like a scribe loves a bard, like a candle loves a flame, like history loves the past, like a tongue loves speech, like a baby loves a honey-dipped finger.”

Martel interlaces the ancient poem with footnotes that document his own struggles to find a connection with his family from abroad and the growing tragedy that lurks. "Son of Nobody" is moving and clever, using its eccentric approach to overcome a narrative that can occasionally feel rushed and incomplete.

“And so the conclusion: life is a walk, and while our bodies are solid, our joints are strong, and our vision is clear, yet we walk on feet of dreams.”