I’ve been reading a lot of short story collections lately, not my usual fare, but short stories are a good way to get a sense of a writer, seeing how he or she handles a number of different plotlines, looking at the way stories develop, the way characters are presented and the patterns that emerge over the course of the… Read more
In Eric Van Lustbader’s new novel, the President is an ultra-conservative, ultra-religious extremist, and he and his supporters are willing to do anything to keep a lock on the country, even if it means torturing their own citizens and forcing foreign governments to be complicit in their dirty deals. It’s a future that seems all too plausible in our current… Read more
I have long been a fan of John Sanford’s “Prey” series, featuring Lucas Davenport of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. In this book, Sanford focuses on a different member of the BCA, Virgil Flowers, with the same excellent results. Virgil arrives in the tiny town of Bluestem in a rush of rain and fire – he’s speeding through a… Read more
This is the second book of short stories I have reviewed recently, and certainly the one I enjoyed the most. This is Sana Krasikov’s first effort, and while it has its problems, it is a very promising beginning. Krasikov is a Russian writer and this collection of short stories is all about immigrants and their families and struggles. Some are… Read more
I try to find something good to say about every one of the books I review. There is usually a story, a turn of phrase, a plotline that intrigues me, so I can provide a little something positive. Not so here. The book should be titled Another Chapter, Another Hangover. In the first 50 pages of the book, Lawyer managers… Read more
The Watercooler Effect is a very timely piece of work. It is, after all, election season. My inbox has been overflowing with forwarded bits of political “information,” most of it nonsense. I’d always believed this was primarily designed to sway my vote one way or another, but it turns out there may be other forces at work. I was most… Read more
Marcus Ripps is an ordinary guy – he manages a toy factory in Van Nuys, his wife, Jan, runs a small boutique, his son is getting ready for his bar mitzvah. Then the factory moves to China, Marcus loses his job and suddenly the family is struggling to keep a roof over their heads. Enter Marcus’ estranged brother Julian –… Read more
This book starts with a fun premise: Emmett James’ life has revolved around the movies, so he tells his stories in the context of the movies. From his first family outings to the cinema for Jungle Book to his appearance in a soft-core porn film, he manages to tie his significant life experiences to the movies. (Not surprising for an… Read more
I have written before about my love of travel and adventure books. Often, these are more accurately about misadventure – an expedition gone wrong, a plane crash, a shipwreck. Some people live, some die. Why did Robert Falcon Scott lose every member of his expedition, while Edmund Shackleton brought all of his crewmembers – including a stowaway – home safely?… Read more
Anya Achtenberg calls The Stories of Devil-Girl a novella, but it reads more like a poem – a wild, surreal poem that occasionally bursts out in pain, in suffering so clearly described that it’s painful to read. The stories are not straightforward, but it is easy to pick out the threads – abuse (both physical and sexual), poverty, rape, prostitution… Read more