Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Walking Dead Vol. 19; Last of the Blue and the Gray; Deadly

Robert Kirkman continues the survivors painful journey in "Walking Dead Vol. 19: March to War". I honestly don't know why I keep reading them. More of the same: the survivors are gearing up to go against the current big bad, Negan. More people die. There's a guy with a tiger who is sweet on Michonne. Yeah, I don't even know anymore...

"Last of the Blue and the Gray" by Richard A. Serrano was very interesting, about the last survivors from the Civil War on both the Confederate and Union sides. A lot of veterans lived past 100, but many of them faked their service during the Great Depression in order to get a pension. Records of who served were spotty, especially in the South, and a lot of them ended up getting a pension even though Census records later proved some of them were born just before the war and were much too young to serve. Sorting out the real vets from the fake ones is quite a daunting challenge. No one wants to call a dying old man a liar, after all.

"Deadly" by Sara Shepard was really good. Maybe the last one for now? It's so hard to tell. It looks like the girls are being extradited to Jamaica for killing Tabitha Clark after Ali sends the news a video she faked of them beating Tabitha to death. The girls trust Agent Fuji and turn everything over to her, which Fuji then uses against them. I thought maybe Fuji was in on it, but maybe not. Shepard is so good at the red herring thing. In the end, Ali lures the girls to the basement of a house near Hanna's dad's campaign headquarters, and pumps cyanide in the room, with the help of Nick, who was in the Preserve with her and is "helper A", as the girls have been referring to him. When things go bad and Emily gets Nick's gun and turns on Ali, she creates a distraction and is able to slip away again. The girls are exonerated when Nick is arrested, but Ali vows revenge...someday.

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