Crime Fiction Dossier

Review of Michael Connelly's "Echo Park"

Michael Connelly's latest superb Harry Bosch novel, Echo Park, gets the full-length treatment from me over at the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Here's the money shot, for those who don't want to read the whole thing: "Among contemporary crime writers, Connelly is, quite simply, the best of the best."

For folks in the U.S., don't forget to set your clocks back one hour!

The decline of book coverage

Jerome Weeks has an interesting piece on the Collapse of Books Coverage in newspapers. As a veteran of the newspaper business -- and a casualty of its short-sightedness -- Weeks is in an excellent position to comment on this topic. So I recommend you read his post.

I've always thought that this is one area where the powers-that-be at the nation's newspapers are really blowing a big opportunity, both to provide a valuable service, and to advance their own cause as well.

Is it such a leap of imagination to think that covering books and writing in newspapers might help attract and cultivate people who are interested in reading -- presumably the same people who might buy a newspaper in the first place?

After all, most people don't read, don't care about reading, and don't give a whit about newspapers. On the other hand, people who go out of their way to read a newspaper might actually have an interest in reading something else as well, and therefore might like to see it covered in the paper.

But I suppose that's too simplistic for the bean counters.*

*No offense to the nice bean counters, who actually love books, like my wife.

It wasn't me!

The other day, I woke up to an inbox full of hate mail about an article I'd written. No, not because I chose a list of writers that didn't include a woman. This was serious business: an article in the Washington Post about the recent controversy surrounding Rush Limbaugh's comments on Michael J. Fox and the political ads he filmed.

The article was a straight piece of journalism, not commentary, but it still enraged a handful of readers enough to write to me and complain. Interestingly, the outraged letters were split between those who were fans of Limbaugh, and those who think he's an idiot. That suggests to me that it was in reality a fair and even-handed piece.

Of course, I wasn't the person who actually wrote the article. Believe it or not, there is more than one person in the world named David Montgomery. The David Montgomery in question is a staff reporter for the Washington Post, while I am a book reviewer who spends most of his time changing diapers.

There is also a David Montgomery who is a very distinguished professor of labor history at Yale, and a David Montgomery who is a pianist and conductor. (I used to get the latter's phone calls all the time when we were both at UCSB.) There's even a David Montgomery who snagged my domain name, even though he uses it to no good purpose.

So remember: even though Google is your friend, you still need to put on your thinking cap before sending hate mail. Either that, or next time I'll pull a Goldberg and post the emails on here.

The list that wouldn't die -- and a new blog

Jerome Weeks, formerly the book critic for the Dallas Morning News, has started a blog to share his thoughts on publishing, books and literacy.

One of the first topics he visited is my ever-popular list of the 10 Greatest Detective Novels. He then followed that up with a second post, the latter including his own list of favorite literary thrillers.

I could quibble and say that the books he cites are, for the most part, mysteries (or noir novels), not thrillers...But it's a very good list, so why complain?

He also has some very interesting commentary that I found thought-provoking. I didn't need another blog to read, but I think I'm going to enjoy this one.

Welcome to the blogosphere, Jerome.

Review of Stephen King's "Lisey's Story"

My review of Stephen King's latest, Lisey's Story, ran this morning in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Good book -- check it out!

Review of Steve Brewer's "Monkey Man"

Private investigator Bubba Mabry is having coffee with a prospective client when a man in a gorilla suit walks into the restaurant and shoots the client in the head. These are the kinds of things that only happen to Bubba.

Monkey Man is Steve Brewer's seventh book featuring the lovable galoot of a PI, and it's another winner. This time out, Bubba finds himself up to his ankles in alligators, figuratively speaking, when he investigates a series of unexplained deaths at the Albuquerque Zoo.

Part of the charm of this series is that Bubba doesn't take himself too seriously -- but the author takes the stories seriously, making sure that they're well-crafted and entertaining. It's hard work, blending comedy and mystery together into a seamless plot, but Brewer is one of the best at doing it.

If you're looking for light and fast-paced entertainment, this book is a perfect choice -- and that's no monkey business.

For more reviews like this one, please visit Mystery Ink.

Review of James Grady's "Mad Dogs"

James Grady helped to define the modern espionage novel with his classic book, Six Days of the Condor. Now, with his first novel in nearly a decade, he has created a twenty-first-century counterpart, a fascinating, frustrating acid trip of a story that is likely to be one of the most-talked about thrillers of the year.

Mad Dogs is a journey into madness and back again through the minds of five former CIA agents who are now all certifiably insane. Haunted and wrecked by the horrific events in their pasts, these lethal lunatics are stashed away in a closely-guarded, top-secret government institution in Maine.

When their psychiatrist is murdered, chaos ensues, loosing the five onto an unsuspecting world. Free at last, they head for DC to prove their innocence, using the black ops skills the government worked so hard to give them. Unless, of course, they descend completely into madness first.

Mad Dogs is a novel with mad energy, a fast and frenzied narrative that flashes back and forth in time between the main plot and the backstories of its five players. It’s an interesting device and most of the time it works, especially when the lead character, Victor, is in command. His story is by far the most interesting; the other four tend to be less distinctive, to the point where sometimes it’s hard to be sure which is which.

Another frustrating aspect of Mad Dogs is that the reader is never quite sure what is real and what is simply part of the delusion – fine fodder for a head trip, but not so much for a thriller novel. This is amplified by the book’s overly-stylized style, which only contributes to the confusion.

Still, those shortcomings, although worth mentioning, are not enough to spoil what is otherwise an enjoyable and always interesting story. If it weren’t for the fact that the bulk of the book is so original and so compelling, those limitations would simply be par for the course. As it stands, however, they make what might have been a great novel only a very good one.

For more reviews like this one, please visit Mystery Ink.

What's everyone reading?

I love to find out what other people are reading. (It's all part of my obsession with books. It's like when I go into someone's house for the first time...I'm always trying to peek at their books to see what they've got. Assuming they have books. If they don't have books, I just drink their liquor and leave.)

I'm currently reading James Grady's Mad Dogs. It's odd, but fascinating.

How about you?

Welcome back, Roger!

I'm very pleased to be able to report that my friend and colleague Roger Ebert is back on the job as the film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times. For those who don't know, Roger suffered severe complications following cancer surgery last summer and was very ill for a while.

Now, he reports, he's in rehabilitation for physical infirmaries, but his mental faculties are intact and he's raring to go. He'll only be reviewing on a limited basis until probably the first of the year, but it's great to have him back, even in a reduced capacity.

Roger was a key figure in my development as a critic, both through his superb body of work and through his generous personal advice. I probably wouldn't be a critic at all if it weren't for Roger, and I certainly wouldn't be writing for the Sun-Times. Sharing space with him at the paper has been one of my greatest honors as a writer.

A speedy recovery to you, my friend.

More lists of the best detective novels

In response to my own 10 Greatest Detective Novels list, Maxine Clark offers up a list of her 10 Favourite Detective Authors, James Reasoner shares 10 Detective Novels that stand out in his memory, and Sherry Early passes along her Best 10 Detective Novels.

I suppose I wouldn't enjoy this nearly so much if I weren't obsessed with lists, but I am. I find it fascinating to see which novels other people consider great, and how much we all disagree on them.

I'm especially pleased to see how often Rex Stout's name is mentioned. Stout was a wonderful writer who produced many fine books, but it seems that he is little read these days, which is a shame.