Well, that was pointless, with a side of weird book
I tried to be social, but the world didn't cooperate. The ghost hunting group did not show where the meeting was supposed to take place, nor did they cancel with the library (where they were meeting...theoretically), so either they were very late or the weather was too unpleasant or they're total flakes. The wind was pretty extreme, so I can sympathize if it was the weather. A note that they weren't meeting would've been nice, though. -_-
While I sat around the library waiting, I read the first couple chapters of a book that looked interesting, but went rather wrong quickly - The King's Gold by Yxta Maya Murray. I don't know whether it might have improved, since I didn't check it out, but the chapters I read didn't prompt me to. I was okay with the stylized writing - it's supposed to be a modern adventure novel and, I think, slightly humorous, so the fact that people don't talk or act like that can be skipped over (it seemed intentional) - but it quickly tipped into Idiot Plot territory in a way that made me uncomfortable. The main character, a bookstore owner and daughter of a famous dead archaeologist and revolutionary, is approached by a weird trio of men (who are described as seeming like X Men - a reference that made no sense to me O_o) who have an old Italian letter that may explain what became of Montezuma's gold. So far, so good. Then it turns out the leader of the men is the son of a man who died in the first book (it's a series) and he's batshit insane and blames her for his father's death. Not so good. He and his men kidnap her, get her to the airport... And the author realizes it's kind of hard to take kidnap victims into airports and stuff them on airline flights, so the crazy guy taunts her that she can't turn away from the letter (or the fact that her dad may have died searching for the gold) and call the police. So, naturally, she goes with the crazy guy because she has to know about the letter and the fate of the dad she never knew. Head, meet desk.
If the bad guy weren't crazy, I would be okay with this, because I can believe that a smart hero/ine would risk treasure hunting with a bad guy if they thought they could control the situation to an extent or if they didn't believe themselves to really be in danger. This guy is batshit insane. Seriously, when he was acting "normal," he wasn't. Then he started being scary threatening, bursting into tears randomly, and saying - in seconds of one another - that he loved and hated his father. I think it's supposed to be funny. I mean, his henchmen remind me of the "candy bars" in Hudson Hawk, but it doesn't come off funny, it comes of really creepy. She is physically helpless against these people and their leader belongs in Happy Acres Home For The Criminally Insane. And she agrees to go with them. After they kidnapped her. Gah.
I don't know. Maybe it would strike other people differently, but it bothered me. Her agreeing to go with them may have been supposed to make her more of an active character, but it didn't to me. An active character gives Loopy and the candy bars the slip and follows them to Europe, having mentally made note of the poem with the clues and with plans of breaking into their hotel room to copy it accurately. She can even bring her fiance along, rather than having him follow because he finds the wrecked bookshop (didn't get that far, but I know that's what was going to happen). Active is, well, active, not acquiesing to your own kidnapping for poorly explained reasons. Phooey.