Feast Day of Fools by James Lee Burke Simon & Schuster, $26.00, 463 pages, ISBN 978-1-4516-4311-4 Every fiction writer who's ever lived strives to create an alternate universe so compelling that the reader gets lost in it on the first page, and doesn't emerge until the very last word is read. Then, you know you've had a good, and enjoyable, reading experience. But, when the writing is so well
Children of Paranoia by Trevor Shane Dutton, $25.95, 371 pages, ISBN 978-0-525-95237-4 It looks like old man winter’s moved in and intends to stay for a while. To tell you the truth, he’s not one of my favorites either. I’d just as soon have him move to the North Pole where the polar bears need more ice. Don’t get me wrong . . . I enjoy the seasons changing
Night Falls On Damascus by Frederick Highland Thomas Dunn, $24.95, 259 pages, ISBN 978-0-312-33789-6 Night Falls On Damascus is about a world in terrible flux. Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Iraq and Kuwait were all created after World War I, “The Great War” as it was then called, from the remnants of the devastated Ottoman Empire. They were then made protectorates of the British and French governments by the League of Nations.
Road Dogs by Elmore Leonard William Morrow, $26.00, 262 pages, ISBN 978-0-06-173314-7 I wasn’t able to find a novel about criminality that represented the spirit and values of Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza or the holiday season in general, so I went for an old favorite of mine, a man whom many consider to be one of the best crime writers who ever lived. His name is Elmore Leonard, and
The Affair by Lee Child Delacorte Press, $28.00, 405 pages, ISBN 978-0-385-34432-6 Unless you’ve been living under a rock next door to the guy in the insurance ads on TV, it seems as though everyone has heard of Child’s implausible hero Jack Reacher, “just about the best butt-kicker in thriller-lit” according to Kirkus Reviews. Reacher’s almost Zen-like in that he owns nothing, wants nothing, and travels the USA
The Detachment by Barry Eisler Thomas and Mercer, $9.99 E-Book, ISBN 1612181554 My morning alarm is a radio, set to the local National Public Radio, or NPR station. I mention this because one morning a few days ago the discussion was an interview with a thriller writer named Barry Eisler, about his new book, which will be the subject of this week’s MBR NO. 27. Eisler is an author
Flower Net by Lisa See Random House Paperback, $14.95, 333 pages, ISBN 978-0-8129-7868-1 Who says there’s no such thing as magic? Of course there’s magic in the world, and to prove it, this week, through the magic of literature and books, the MBR will take us from Africa to China, just by finishing one book, and beginning another. Poof! like magic, we’re instantly transported from one world to another
An African Affair by Nina Darnton Viking, $25.99, 256 pages, ISBN 978-0-670-02288-5 Okay, class, raise your hand if you know where Nigeria is located. If you said “Africa, of course,” you’re right of course, but that’s like saying “the Catskills are in North America.” It covers a wide patch of territory. The truth is, I had to go look it up. Nigeria is in the “dog leg” of the
A Drop of the Hard Stuff by Lawrence Block Mulholland Books, $25.99, 319 pages, ISBN 978-0-316-17804-4 This week’s MBR is A Drop of the Hard Stuff, by Lawrence Block, a distinguished author of more than fifty novels. He’s as easy and comfortable to read as a favorite old flannel shirt is to wear beside a warm fire on a nippy fall night. The novel begins with two old friends,
The Angels are the Reapers by Alden Bell Holt pbk, $15.00, 225 pages, ISBN 978-140-134133-6 The second book in our Halloween bite-a-thon is The Angels are the Reapers by Alden Bell. It was described to me as a “quirky book” before I read it. All I can say is it’s in fact a quirky one. If you like the works of writers like H.P. Lovecraft, Brian Lumley or