Crime Fiction Dossier

My latest Chicago Sun-Times round-up column

My latest round-up column is in this morning's Chicago Sun-Times. It includes reviews of the following books:

• George Pelecanos - The Way Home
• Travis Thrasher - Ghostwriter
• Attica Locke - Black Water Rising
• Dennis Tafoya - Dope Thief
• Ken Bruen - Sanctuary

Enjoy!

Latest Daily Beast review: Janet Evanovich's "Finger Lickin' Fifteen"

Back again so soon! My new review is up on The Daily Beast: Janet Evanovich's Finger Lickin' Fifteen.

This was a fun one to write. Fun book, too.

Latest Daily Beast review: Gregg Hurwitz' "Trust No One"

My latest review is up on The Daily Beast. The book is Gregg Hurwitz' Trust No One, one of the best thrillers I've read in a long time.

I first read this a year ago in an early galley form -- and was blown away by it. I then re-read it recently in order to write this review and was impressed by it again. It's a very entertaining, suspenseful book with a great main character and an interesting plot. What more could you ask for?

Review of Michael Connelly's "The Scarecrow"

I forgot to check the Sun-Times' website last weekend and it turns out my review of Michael Connelly's The Scarecrow finally ran. It seems like the book section has been having some space problems recently, thus the delay in this review running.

If you haven't picked it up yet, The Scarecrow is an entertaining book and worth reading. I like the Harry Bosch series more, but I'd read anything that Connelly wrote.

Edited to add: The URL for the review changed and it's now dated today. So maybe it ran in this morning's paper. I don't know.

Edward Gilbreth, RIP

Ed Gilbreth, the man who held the post of mystery critic for the Chicago Sun-Times before me, has died at 76. The Trib has a nice obituary in today's paper.

I never met Ed, nor knew him in any way. But whenever his name would come up, mostly in conversation with Chicago crime writers, they always spoke very kindly of him.

My condolences to his family.

Who is the best thriller writer working today?

I've been thinking about this question for a while now... Who is the best thriller author working today? For historical reference purposes, my favorite thriller writer of all-time is Ross Thomas.

But who's the best who's still writing?

I've come up with a list of candidates -- obviously I'm leaving off a lot of people here -- in alphabetical order:

John le Carre
Lee Child
Harlan Coben
Jeffery Deaver
Barry Eisler
Robert Ferrigno
Joseph Finder
Alan Furst
Lisa Gardner
Gregg Hurwitz
Gayle Lynds
David Morrell
Thomas Perry
John Sandford
Daniel Silva

This is a somewhat arbitrary number, but the person should probably have published at least, say, five books. Maybe Harper Lee can achieve immortality based on one book, but not so for most writers.

So, what do you think? Who is the best and why?

(Remember, we're looking for thriller writers here.)

Latest Daily Beast review: Lisa Gardner's "The Neighbor"

My weekly column is up at The Daily Beast: a review of Lisa Gardner's The Neighbor, in stores on Tuesday (6/16).

Gardner is a great example of an author who has improved significantly over time. I didn't care much for some of her early books, but I've really enjoyed her last few. It's nice to see when an author gets better as the years go by -- because so often it's the opposite.

Welcome to The Daily Beast

I have some exciting news to share with you all...I have joined The Daily Beast, Tina Brown's web magazine, as a critic and will be writing a weekly column about thriller/mystery fiction.

I will still be contributing to the Chicago Sun-Times on occasion, but have given up the monthly roundup column I wrote for the paper for the past six years. I enjoyed writing that column and was a little sad to say goodbye to it. However, I decided it was time to move on to new things and when this opportunity came to me, I jumped at it.

My first column -- a roundup of "5 Hot Summer Thrillers" -- is now live over on The Daily Beast. It contains short reviews of the following books:

• Michael Connelly - The Scarecrow
• Lee Child - Gone Tomorrow
• John Sandford - Wicked Prey
• Lisa Scottoline - Look Again
• Jeffery Deaver - Roadside Crosses

I hope you'll stop by to take a look. And please leave a comment once you're there.