Everything is Broken

Everything to Lose: A Novel by Andrew Gross (William Morrow, $26.99, 336 pages)

Hilary Jeanine Cantor’s fall from grace is steep and rapid in Andrew Gross’s eighth novel (not counting those he co-wrote with James Patterson) Everything to Lose. She handles things in such a matter-of-fact manner that one wonders if this is her first experience dealing with a handicapped child, a divorce, job loss, money laundering, international mafia, prison, kidnapping, bankruptcy, and the death of a potential beau.

In the midst of losing her job, and with no help from her husband in sight, she stumbles upon a car accident that sets into motion a series of events. At the crash site, she makes a quick and desperate decision to take a briefcase that contains a half million dollars in cash. This action leads to her entanglement with Russian gangsters, a corrupt politician, several unsolved murders, and families whose lives have been devastated by Hurricane Sandy.

The impetus for her is a desire to help her son, Brandon – who is afflicted with Asperger’s Syndrome, remain in a private school. The bad guys trace her, as the reader will no doubt predict (there’s not much of a story, otherwise), and Hilary manages to stay one step ahead of every other character in the book; most of whom are dying almost as fast as one can say Prince Charming. A policeman named Patrick Kelty makes an attempt to serve as Hilary’s protector.

The story is written in a crisp fashion that keeps the reader turning the page. It’s enjoyable on its face, but has some problems. It is quite hard to feel sorry for the rich divorcee when her world begins to crumble, and it takes a pretty good imagination to stick with her as she morphs from from comptroller for a marketing firm to sleuth extraordinaire. Also, while there are novels that shift perspective – in which the story is told from multiple points of view – it seems a bit awkward and amateurish here. A writer as seemingly accomplished as Gross should be able to pick and stick with a single narrative voice.

Compared to other suspense/thriller/crime mystery novels I’ve read, this one is above average.

Recommended.

Dave Moyer

A review copy was provided by the publisher.

Dave Moyer is an educator and the author of Life and Life Only: A Novel.

You can read a review of Eyes Wide Open: A Novel by Andrew Gross here:

https://josephsreviews.wordpress.com/2012/06/16/these-eyes/

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A review of Everything to Lose: A Novel by Andrew Gross.

White Flag

Did Dido include too much or not enough of her music on a greatest hits collection?

I’ll admit to being a big fan of Dido. A few years back, I took time off from work in order to purchase her then-latest CD at the very hour of its release. That was Don’t Leave Home, which had some good songs. However, the album was overly compressed so that it sounded both loud and lifeless. Fortunately, bad sound is not a problem with Greatest Hits. (Most of the songs sound glorious in this edition, but no one is credited with the mastering.) As we will see, another issue comes to the fore with this 18-track, over 76-minute long compilation.

To her credit, Dido provides background information on most of the songs in this collection and confirms that she selected them and placed them in chronological order. One thing that’s clear on a first listen is that her best songs were created between 1999 and 2008. Later compositions are unimpressive. Although not mentioned in Dido’s notes, four songs in this collection (“Thank You,” “Sand In My Shoes,” “Don’t Believe In Love,” and “Everything To Lose”) are based on unique ’80s rhythms that appear to borrow from the work of Sade.

Greatest Hits kicks off with “Here With Me.” It’s now obvious how much this sounds like “White Flag,” her mega-hit that followed four years later. As with all of the songs on Greatest Hits, the stereo separation is excellent and the sound is full. “Hunter” is a stunning, dramatic song about a woman who feels like she’s nothing more than prey to a man. “White Flag,” which was the “Every Breath You Take” of 2003, sounds rich and bold, so much so that it’s as if one has never heard it before. (The programmed percussion is now audible.) Impressive.

“Life For Rent” follows, with drums played by Andy Treacey. “I still don’t live by the sea but I wish I did,” adds Dido in the notes. “Don’t Leave Home” now sounds fine. This is not a song about travel. It is actually a song about addiction, in which a young woman offers her love to a man as a replacement for his drugs. The lyrics are casually and coolly brilliant, in the style of Joni Mitchell: “I arrived when you were weak/I’ll make you weaker, like a child/Now all your love you give to me/When your heart is all I need.”

“Quiet Times” is a throwaway lullaby, but worth listening to as Dido plays the drum kit. One of the highlights of the collection is “Grafton Street,” a touching song (never released as a single) about a woman mourning the death of her father. Dido refers to it as “the most emotional” of her compositions. The ever-excellent Mick Fleetwood provides the drumming.

“No Freedom,” from 2013, sounds pretty weak and unimaginative. “End Of Night” comes off as a poor man’s version of Abba. Sigh. It may be that Dido has become too eclectic, or adopted eclecticism for its own sake in order to ward off attacks that her songs are too similar. And it gets worse with three songs on which she pairs with others: “Let Us Move On,” which includes a rap from Kendrick Lamar, “One Step Too Far” with Faithless, and the painful-to-listen-to “Stan” with Eminem. These three selections take up about 14 minutes. They all should have been dumped.

The compilation recovers to some extent with the penultimate song, “If I Rise,” with A. R. Rahman. It sounds like a Sting outtake, but grows on the listener. “Rise” was nominated for an Academy Award (used in the film 127 Hours). And then there’s “NYC,” the Euro disco closing track that sounds like the Bee Gees circa 1977. One can almost visualize Tony Manero dancing to this in his white disco suit!

Greatest Hits again proves the dictum that sometimes less is more. As a collection of 14 singles with a bonus track (“Grafton Street”), it would have been a perfect sampling of Dido’s music career. This 18-track compilation may give her fans and new listeners more than they bargained for. Still, if you’re willing to skip past three less-than-artistic recordings, it’s a worthwhile addition to your music library.

Recommended, with reservations.

Joseph Arellano

A review copy was provided by RCA Records.

This article originally appeared on the Blogcritics site:

http://blogcritics.org/music-review-dido-greatest-hits/

This review also appeared on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer site:

http://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/blogcritics/article/Music-Review-Dido-Greatest-Hits-5176380.php

You can hear a sample of each of the 18 songs here: