NEW REVIEW - London Boulevard by Ken Bruen

London Boulevard by Ken Bruen

Minotaur / Hardcover / $24.99

ISBN 978-0-312-56168-0

1 December 2009

After three years in a British prison on an aggravated battery charge, Mitchell is back on the streets when Ken Bruen’s London Boulevard begins, and the forty-five year old ex-con is determined to salvage what he can out of life. Unfortunately, he is unlikely to follow a friend’s advice to “lighten up” and not take everything “too seriously” because he is dangerously preoccupied with yearnings, losses, and regrets.

Although his future on the outside seems to be in jeopardy, Mitchell nevertheless stumbles into a singularly promising job as handyman (and on-call companion) for an attractive actress whose star has been somewhat dimmed by the passage of time. However, at the same time, Mitchell remains unable to resist involving himself also with some of the more shady associates from his past. Meanwhile, as he attempting to balance the various demands on his time as a resourceful employee who is much sought after because of his incredible talents (and stamina), Mitchell also finds himself head-over-heels in love with an unlikely admirer. And as London Boulevard progresses, the body count in London escalates, which underscores a simple fact of life: Mitchell is a superb friend and a dangerous enemy.

Bruen’s dark portrait of a man living on the absolute precipice between life and death moves along quickly with some of the sharpest dialogue and the most compelling characterizations found anywhere in crime fiction. Fierce, violent, and nasty—as sharp as the ragged edges of a broken whiskey bottle wielded in a barroom fight, and with more energy than a coke-head who has consumed half a dozen cans of Red Bull™—London Boulevard (previously published in 2001 in the U.K. but now finally available in the U.S.) is first-rate noir novel. This is one you will definitely want to read and enjoy in advance of the forthcoming major motion picture starring Colin Farrell and Keira Knightley.

Review - A World Undone

A World Undone: The Story of the Great War, 1914 to 1918; by G. J. Meyer

Delacourte; May 2006

ISBN 0-553-80354-9

Hardcover

On June 28, 1914, the relatively unimpressive heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife were visiting the beautiful city of Sarajevo in the remote province of Bosnia at the southernmost tip of the Austro-Hungarian domains. On that otherwise peaceful summer day in Eastern Europe, Gavrilo Princip, a nineteen-year-old Serbian nationalist—one of several other fanatical conspirators with the same goal—was standing impatiently at a spot on the roadside along which the archduke’s motorcade was scheduled to pass. Then, when the time was right, an obsessed Princip pulled out his revolver, pointed it at the car that had stopped merely five feet in front him. He fired twice. Suddenly, a thin stream of blood came spurting out of a bewildered Franz Ferdinand’s mouth. And within minutes, the archduke and his hapless wife (who had been unintentionally struck by one of the bullets) were both dead.

Political assassinations, of course, throughout history are not really unusual. Sometimes they merely became anecdotal footnotes in the grand scheme of things, full of sound and fury but actually signifying nothing. At other times they became undeniably dramatic though relatively peaceful catalysts for profound political or social changes. Franz Ferdinand’s assassination, however, became particularly significant and singular—as every student of world history knows—because in a little more than a month later, the entire world began to fall apart.

In the immediate aftermath of the archduke’s assassination, Austria-Hungary had made humiliating demands upon Serbia. Almost inexplicably—when considered in retrospect—imperial, territorial and economic interests rather than prudent diplomacy and good common sense prevailed, and Austria-Hungary declared war of Serbia. Other declarations of war from other countries (taking opposing sides on profoundly foolish and disturbingly short-sighted issues) followed quickly, and soon nearly every major power in the world was at war.

G. J. Meyer’s highly recommended, immensely readable, and impressively detailed A World Undone tells the story of that war, World War I, the Great War that “reduced Europe’s mightiest empires to rubble, killed twenty million people, and cracked the foundations of the world we live in today.”

More than an excellent history, which it is, A World Undone is a provocative analysis of one of history’s most perplexing events. But this book is more than a conventional presentation about early twentieth century politics, military strategies, and battlefield horrors; especially noteworthy for the many specifically focused chapters that alternate with the superb chronological narrative, Meyer’s compact but comprehensive treatment—in less than 700 pages—gives readers essential additional “background” information about the personalities and places relevant to an understanding of the Great War. Too often, other histories of World War I have left non-specialist readers confused because too much “background” information had been overlooked. A World Undone now gives readers in 2006 all the necessary information so that readers can more completely and critically evaluate one of history’s greatest (and most baffling and senseless) tragedies.

Review - The Ruins

The Ruins by Scott Smith

Knopf, August 2006

ISBN 1-4000-4387-5

Hardcover

Meet four young Americans who are on a vacation in Cancun. First you have Amy (attractive and petulant) and her boyfriend Jeff (rational and self-assured). Then you have Amy’s very best friend Stacy (impulsive and distracted) and her boyfriend Eric (sanguine and enthusiastic). Amy and Jeff will be going on to medical school at the end of the summer; Stacy will be going to graduate school where she will study social work; and Eric—well, he is simply living too much in the present to be very much concerned about his future as an English teacher in a Boston prep school.

As their idyllic and intoxicating escape from their perceived rigors of life back in the States is coming closer to an end, these four Americans—having been befriended by several Greek and German tourists—find themselves drawn into a spur-of-the-moment adventure: One of the Germans, Mathias, is concerned that his brother Henrich is overdue in returning from an excursion to an ancient Mayan archeological site; moreover, Mathias wants to go looking for his brother. So—with Jeff taking charge and relying upon directions on a hand-written map left behind by Henrich—the four Americans, accompanied by Matthias and one of the effusive Greek’s who has been calling himself “Pablo,” leave the comfort and safety of Cancun and travel several hours on bus and taxi to the jungle west of Cobá. When they arrive at a spot several miles from their apparent destination, however, the pickup truck taxi driver drops them off and warns them: “This place no good. No good you go this place.”

Undeterred by the departing driver’s warning, the six adventurers press onward in their search for the missing Henrich. After trudging through several miles of jungle, they come upon a small Mayan village where the inhabitants seem strangely indifferent about the group’s arrival and presence. Then the six international travelers finally arrive at their destination, the abandoned Mayan ruins, a place that is remarkably enlivened by a profusion of beautiful vine-like plants, especially unique in their appearance because of their vivid hand-shaped leaves and their tiny poppy-sized flowers, each the color of brilliant red stained-glass.

As the members of the group makes their approach to and their ascent of the ruins, the six travelers make a series of life-changing discoveries: First, it appears as though the Mayan villagers—seemingly unconcerned earlier about the outsiders’ presence—are now quite determined to focus all of their considerable attention upon controlling the movements of the outsiders. Second, there are troubling signs that others—including Mathias’s brother—have also recently been at the ruins, but nobody can be found—at least not right away. And third, there is something else at the ruins—quite other than the Mayans—that is quite powerful and horrible, something that is determined to keep each of the six summer travelers from ever again leaving the ruins.

Well, with all of that being said (and after having finished reading The Ruins), I found myself confronting a question: What exactly is The Ruins? Is it a horror novel? Is it a parable? Is it science fiction? Is it a character study? Is it a post-modern cautionary tale about the fragility of civilization? It may be all of those things. However, if you want to think of Scott Smith’s novel in terms of a larger thematic scale—if that is not too much to impose on The Ruins—imagine H. P. Lovecraft, William Golding, and Stephen King collaborating on something like a gothic travelogue in which human nature—naïve, egocentric, and feckless—finds itself confused, debased, and finally victimized and defeated by the cosmic irony and ineffability of Nature’s cruel, deliberate, and merciless progress. However you finally categorize the novel, you will find that The Ruins is a darkly fascinating and compelling novel that you will want to read in a single sitting, but when doing so you may want to make sure that you first take measures to keep yourself and your environment quite clear of the kinds of terrors that are at the root of Smith’s disturbing story.

Review - The Peloponnesian War

The Peloponnesian War: Athens, Sparta and the Struggle for Greece

By Nigel Bagnall

St. Martin’s Press, August 2006

ISBN 0-312-34215-2

Hardcover

If you were to begin talking about the Golden Age of ancient Greece, you would inevitably need to talk about the monumental personalities: Pisistratus and Pericles; Socrates and Plato; Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes; and the list would go on to include many other political and cultural figures. You would also have to acknowledge the singular significance of the physical structures and cultural institutions including (but certainly not limited to) the Acropolis and the Parthenon, the magnificent hillside Theatre and the nearby Temple of Dionysus, the Athenian Assembly and the Council of Five Hundred, and—perhaps most significantly (and certainly too often romanticized and misinterpreted)—the birth of democracy.

However, if you were not to focus fully upon one other very important factor—the Peloponnesian War—your perspective on this era of ancient Greek history might be erroneous and would certainly be incomplete. In fact, the Peloponnesian War is quite unique in that it is one of those remarkable events in history, and a familiarity with and understanding of that war is absolutely indispensable to anyone who wishes also to have an accurate and more complete understanding of the culture in which it occurred. If you do not acknowledge and understand this long and brutal conflict between neighboring city-states and regions, you cannot really understand the rise and fall of ancient Athens.

With that being acknowledged, if you want to read an accessible history and analysis of the Peloponnesian War, you will want to find a copy of Sir Nigel Bagnall’s compact and focused study, The Peloponnesian War: Athens, Sparta and the Struggle for Greece. In the prefatory materials, Bagnall begins by including an introduction to the principal personalities of the era, a brief historical survey of the period, and several indispensable maps. Bagnall then goes on to talk about the Greeks and their backgrounds (including their very important military engagements with and ultimate victory over the Persians).

With that as prologue, the author continues by focusing on the 27-year civil war between Athens and Sparta (a war that began in 431 B.C.); the Peloponnesian War (as it was later labeled by historians) “began a violent and destructive period never before seen in the Greek world” and “ended in Athens’s loss to Sparta and the depletion of material and intellectual wealth.” Bagnall’s rhetorical focus is built upon three levels of analysis: the strategic (“the definition of strategic objectives to be achieved in fulfillment of government policy”), the operational (“the planning and execution of military operations to achieve stated strategic objectives”), and the tactical (“the planning and conduct of battles in pursuit of the operational aim”).

Yes, you can find other versions of the transformative war’s history in many other places. For example, you can take on the political subjectivity and dense prose of Thucydides and Herodotus, or you can wade into one or two of the several other notable histories included in Bagnall’s suggestions for “Selected Further Reading.” However, for a condensed, straight-forward, and (admittedly) rhetorically focused presentation (because of the author’s strict focus upon military history), you can significantly enrich your understanding of ancient Greek history simply by reading Bagnall’s history of the epic war that signaled the end of the Golden Age of Greece.

The author Sir Nigel Bagnall (1927-2002) also wrote The Punic Wars: Rome, Carthage and the Struggle for the Mediterranean. Born in India, Bagnall joined the British Army in 1945 and served in Palestine, Malaya, Borneo, the Canal Zone, Cyprus, Singapore, and Germany. He ended his distinguished military career as Chief of the General Staff in London. He was an Honorary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford.

Review - The Copper Scroll

The Copper Scroll by Joel C. Rosenberg
Tyndale, August 2006
ISBN 1-4143-0346-7
Hardcover

Following in the aftermath of The Ezekiel Option (the spell-binding, roller-coaster reading experience which followed The Last Jihad and The Last Days), author Joel C. Rosenberg continues his explosive, Biblical prophecy-based saga in the exciting, action-packed thriller The Copper Scroll.

The novel begins on January 9th—in an unspecified year but apparently in the very near future—and the horrific one-day Ezekiel’s War is over. Iran and Libya (and many other hotbeds of Arab-Islamic radicalism) have been destroyed by Israel. Mecca and Medina no longer exist. Elsewhere, other countries (including Russia, Turkey, Germany, and Austria) are still reeling within their smoldering wreckage. However, the seemingly apocalyptic war “wasn’t the end. It was just the beginning.”

Iraq had been spared, and that country’s leader, President Al-Hassani, is now wasting no time secretly reorganizing what remains of the Middle East and Europe. If Al-Hassani is correct, his new alliance will dominate the world and thoroughly subordinate western (non-Islamic) capitalist societies—as well as finally obliterate Zionist Israel. But a significant problem in the form of an enigmatic archeological discovery threatens to undermine Al-Hassani’s plans. Now he must take ruthless action.

In the meantime, Eli Mordechai (former Mossad chief and author of the prophetic memorandum that predicted the devastating one-day war), Dr. George Murray (the chief archeologist for the Smithsonian Institution), Professor Barry Jaspers (an archeologist who has been collaborating on a book with Murray), and a number of other prominent archeologists have been working on a provocative mission, and they have been poised to unlock the secrets of the Copper Scroll and finally make “the most spectacular archeological find of all time.” Found in 1956, the Copper Scroll seems to have described “unimaginable treasures worth untold billions buried in the hills east of Jerusalem and under the Holy City itself. In the years that followed, scholars came to believe that the Copper Scroll could be history’s greatest treasure map, one that could not only lead to the treasures but pave the way to the building of the Third Jewish Temple.” Moreover, the Copper Scroll has the power to radically change the temporal and spiritual world and thoroughly determine the future.

When several of the archeologists die violent deaths in apparently unrelated incidents, the President of the United States—because of his respect for Eli Mordechai—calls upon the services of two of his White House advisors, Jon Bennett and Erin McCoy. Although recently married and on their honeymoon in Spain, Jon and Erin are, of course, quite willing to answer the president’s call for action and to investigate the incidents—especially since one of the murdered men was their very good friend.
Jon and Erin immediately travel to Israel where they secretly confer with Prime Minister Doron and Dr. Yossi Barak (a prominent Israeli archeologist). Thereafter, within the space of less than ten days, the newlyweds—guided by Hebrew scriptural prophecy and their own evangelical Christian faith—will find themselves drawn into an eschatological race against rapidly diminishing time—and a race against an aggressively rising tide of terrifying threats and murderous violence—in order to discover and set into motion the incredible secrets and powers of the Copper Scroll.

Exciting and thought-provoking, The Copper Scroll builds upon ancient prophetic suggestions actually found in Hebrew scripture and recent archeological discoveries, and it becomes a very successful fictional rendering of end-times prophecies. As Joel Rosenberg’s ever-growing legions of faithful readers already know, this author’s novels have an uncanny way of anticipating actual events. That in itself is for many people sufficient reason to read Rosenberg’s latest novel. Through the author’s adroit and imaginative use of plotting, characterization, and settings, this Rosenberg thriller is certain to become—among the constantly growing market of readers of Christian fiction—another popular and critical success.

Flannery O'Connor's Biographer Interviewed at PBS

The PBS interview of Brad Gooch (Flannery O'Connor's biographer) is impressive and provocative. Enjoy!

Revisited Book Review Friday - A Garden of Vipers

A Garden of Vipers by Jack Kerley

Dutton, June 2006

ISBN 0-525-94952-6

Hardcover

When we join the taut, cinematic action and vividly portrayed characters of Jack Kerley’s powerful new novel, veteran police detective Carson Ryder of Mobile, Alabama, is about to embark on his most challenging case. As a member of the southern city’s two-man Psychopathological and Sociopathological Investigative Team, Ryder joins with his longtime partner Harry Nautilus in an attempt at solving the particularly sadistic murder of Taneesha Franklin, a talented young reporter for one of the city’s smaller radio stations.

Soon, however, several other women—apparently victimized by the same psychopathic assailant—are discovered in Mobile, and suddenly the Franklin case becomes even more complicated and critical. One of the victims had been restrained with handcuffs, her body had been savagely mutilated, and her badly charred body was discovered by firemen in the smoldering ashes of a burned out building. Another young woman had been physically and emotionally tortured and sexually abused but had been more fortunate than the others because she survived and now recovers in a hospital.

Ryder and Nautilus have very few, apparently isolated clues—a witness at the Franklin crime scene, the surprising identity of the incinerated victim, and some unusual sensory observations by the visually impaired third victim. Now the two detectives more urgently continue tracking a person who seems well on his way to becoming the city’s most dangerous predator of all times.

Then, when Ryder and Nautilus hear about yet another victim—very similarly brutalized and mutilated four years earlier in another jurisdiction—they are finally able to put the disconnected pieces together and close in on a possible suspect. As Nautilus points out to Ryder, “It’s all the same case—find out something about one, we find out something about the other.”

Ryder and Nautilus, however, are about to discover that evidence and appearances can be deceiving, and they will soon discover that finding a way to more clearly focus the blurred lines between innocence and guilt can produce some surprising results.

And there you have the framework for a most praiseworthy crime novel. A Garden of Vipers is a compelling tale of shameful manipulation, deadly deceit, murderous insanity, amoral greed, and festering corruption. Through some very gritty characterizations and plenty of slice-of-life verisimilitude, Jack Kerley’s intricately plotted novel takes readers on a harrowing trip into the nightmarish world of a malignant psychopath—a world that is overflowing with disturbing action and chilling surprises.

NEW REVIEW - The Ragged End of Nowhere

The Ragged End of Nowhere by Roy Chaney

Minotaur / Hardcover / $24.99

ISBN 978-0-312-58253-6

10 November 2009

When The Ragged End of Nowhere opens, former CIA agent Bodo Hagen has returned from Germany to Las Vegas just in time to attend his murdered brother ’s graveside interment. Now, with virtually no clues to follow, Hagen is determined to take revenge on whoever killed his brother.

Quicker than you can say “Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon,” Hagen finds out that his brother (a tarnished veteran of the French Foreign Legion) had been trying to sell a valuable, mysterious artifact. As Hagen’s brother learns too late, more than a few people are interested in laying claim to the apparently purloined dingus, and those people are more than willing to commit murder.

So, as Hagen retraces his brother’s final movements in southern Nevada, the body count in Las Vegas escalates, and the hardened and haunted Hagen encounters police officers with singular agenda, shady fences interested in fast money, paranoid casino owners eager to avenge past, questionable antique dealers with dodgy motives, and plenty of blood-thirsty mercenaries.

Before the fast-paced narrative of The Ragged End of Nowhere explodes in its pulse-pounding conclusion, Hagen—if he can stay alive—stands (like the novel’s readers) poised to make some remarkable discoveries. As winner of the prestigious Tony Hillerman Prize, Roy Chaney’s gritty noir mystery is a superb debut novel. Enjoy!

NEW REVIEW - The Fleet Street Murders

The Fleet Street Murders by Charles Finch

Minotaur / Hardcover / $24.99

ISBN 978-0-312-56551-0

10 November 2009

This highly recommended Victorian mystery opens on a winter evening in 1866 when two London journalists are murdered, but as far as the police are concerned, the incidents seem unrelated since the apparently coincidental murders are separated by time (5 minutes), geography (different parts of the city), and modus operandi (different weapons and different circumstances).

Part time sleuth and full time gentleman with political ambitions, Charles Lenox finds himself drawn into the two cases by a friend in the police department, and Lenox begins to suspect that two killers with a single motivation were responsible for the murders. As the early evidence begins to point to the journalists’ unique connections with a notorious traitor’s trial and execution, the police surprise Lenox when they move quickly to arrest one obvious suspect.

Meanwhile, Lenox’s attentions are divided between politics (as he campaigns for a seat in Parliament), romance (as his betrothed becomes increasingly reluctant to proceed with the marriage), and crime (as the police, in Lenox’s view, are determined to follow a trail of seductively obvious red herrings).

Then, when foul play catches up with the suspect, when a second suspect is identified and apprehended, and when cryptic evidence implicates others, Lenox knows that the police are on the wrong trail in the case, and he agrees with a friend who says, “It’s all fearfully complicated.” In the end, though, Lenox will make a shocking discovery that underscores a simple proposition: never trust your first impressions.

Full of Victorian era details about politics, society, and criminology, The Fleet Street Murders, a deftly plotted mystery with first-rate characterizations, is the third installment in Charles Finch’s superb series of historical whodunits.

Review - Dead Wrong

Dead Wrong by J. A. Jance
William Morrow / HarperCollins, August
ISBN 0-06-054090-7
Hardcover

J. A. Jance—no stranger to fans of suspense-filled, character-driven, deftly plotted mysteries—has written dozens of well-received novels including seventeen J. P. Beaumont mysteries and eleven Joanna Brady mysteries. Now, in another adventure in starkly beautiful Cochise Country, Arizona, the resourceful and fascinating Sheriff Joanna Brady returns in J. A. Jance’s Dead Wrong.

All the familiar characters are here again. Butch, Joanna’s husband, is busily engaged in promoting his first mystery novel. Eleanor Lathrop Winfield, Joanna’s mother, continues to be “one of the most difficult people on Earth.” Other returning characters include Dr. George Winfield, the local medical examiner and Joanna’s stepfather; thirteen-year-old Jenny, Joanna’s daughter; and, of course, there are Joanna’s colleagues at the sheriff’s department—Jaime Carbajal, Ernie Carpenter, Dave Hollicker, Tica Romero, and Frank Montoya. Two other visiting characters who arrive unannounced in their RV at Butch’s and Joanna’s High Lonesome Ranch also deserve mention: Donald and Margaret Dixon (Butch’s father and mother, the latter being the mother-in-law whom Joanna not-so-fondly refers to as “a ring-tailed bitch”).

So, with all of these and plenty of other people surrounding her, with all of the responsibilities of being sheriff in a vast southern border county, and with her pregnancy nearing the very end of the final trimester, Joanna has been keeping quite busy (even though a lot of people are urging—or actually pestering—the red-haired, hot-tempered expectant mother to slow down and take it easy). Then, however, things get complicated, and Joanna suddenly has her hands full with one of her most baffling cases.

A dead body wrapped in a tarp is found along the roadside in the southern end of the county near the U.S./Mexico border. The unidentified man in his mid-to-late 50s with lots of cheap dental work and a homegrown tattoo (“One Day at a Time”) was found without any identification and—most notably—without his ten fingers which had been cut off after his death. Somebody obviously did not want this man identified.

Some preliminary investigation soon reveals that the dead man may have at one time been a convict in the Arizona prison system. Recently paroled, the murdered man—as facts begin to surface—was apparently Bradley Evans, and he may have been wrongfully convicted and imprisoned more than 25 years earlier. And, as Joanna gradually discovers, the man who had then arrested Evans was her now deceased father: Sheriff D. H. Lathrop. So, attempting to find out who murdered Bradley Evans, and attempting to find out the truth behind the her father’s involvement in Evans’s arrest, conviction, and imprisonment, Joanna begins to follow an increasingly dangerous trail of clues—through the past and the present—that will take her through plenty of twists and turns to some very disturbing discoveries.

I dare not say more about the plot and action of Dead Wrong, but I will close by saying this: As is always the case in a J. A. Jance novel, the readers are in for a real treat because Dead Wrong is yet another of Jance’s fast-paced, character-rich mysteries guaranteed to keep readers thoroughly entertained. It’s worth noting that the author once again makes a little bit of room in her plot for some of her “hot button” issues—alcoholism and recovery, the fight against cancer, and the humane treatment of animals—but those personal issues, as always, are never obtrusive or distracting simply because Jance is the kind of solid professional who knows how to build her novels on the strongest of foundations: great plotting, compelling characterizations, and plenty of suspense.

Review - The Second Perimeter

The Second Perimeter by Mike Lawson
Doubleday, July 2006
ISBN 0-385-51532-4
Hardcover

Dave Whitfield, a nuclear propulsion specialist and a nephew of the Secretary of the Navy, seems a little paranoid. At least that’s what his immediate supervisors at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard think. After all, the air-tight security measures at the nuclear ship repair facility are absolutely unassailable, so everyone tries to ignore Whitfield when he starts complaining that two contract consultants may be involved in very serious breaches of national security.

So, when Whitfield contacts his uncle, his uncle contacts a friend in congress, John Mahoney (the Speaker of the House), and Mahoney sends Joe DeMarco, one of his aides, on a straight-forward fact-finding mission to the shipyard in Bremerton, Washington. DeMarco has a simple job: Find out what’s going on out there (which is probably nothing), and report back to Mahoney as soon as possible so that he can convince the Secretary of the Navy that Whitfield is simply imagining problems.

With plenty of latitude as to how to proceed, but with a deadline to get things sorted out quickly so that Mahoney can get the Secretary off his back, DeMarco enlists the assistance of his good friend Emma (a “retired” Defense Intelligence Agency operative). When the somewhat naïve DeMarco and the more experienced Emma arrive in Bremerton, they begin to look into the matter by talking first with Whitfield and then interviewing Norton and Mulherin, the two contract consultants whose substandard performance on the job (and recently acquired affluence) have spurred Whitfield’s suspicions. Going a step further, DeMarco and Emma meet with Carmody, Norton’s and Mulherin’s contract employer.

Emma, although she does not initially realize it, crossed paths previously with Carmody (a former Navy Seal with an enigmatic background following his naval service). Eventually she suspects that Carmody has connections with (and even seems subordinate to) an Asian espionage agent—a woman named Li Mei—who definitely crossed paths with Emma twenty years earlier during a CIA operation in Hawaii.

However, before Emma and DeMarco can put all the pieces together and sort out what (if anything) has really been going on in Bremerton, the problems—and dangers—begin to accumulate: A shipyard worker—central to the investigation—is stabbed to death in a Bremerton parking lot, a contract manager in the Navy department dies mysteriously in an “automobile accident, Mulherin is assaulted and threatened by a couple of Asian men, two contract workers are apparently killed when their small boat explodes in the waters of Puget Sound, another man with whom Li Mei had been friendly suddenly appears to have disappeared when his fishing boat capsized, and—just to keep things interesting—three policemen are killed. And all of that is in the first half of the book!

Negotiating more twists and turns than a treacherous mountain road in Bremerton’s nearby Olympic National Forest, The Second Perimeter moves along quickly at a dizzying pace. This book is, to say the least, an action novel; you won’t be encumbered by complex characterizations, provocative issues, and mind-numbing themes, but you will be treated to a cinematic thriller with plenty of excitement and surprises. As a novel of suspense that at first appears to be all about espionage and duplicity, The Second Perimeter suddenly shifts gears and appears to be all about personal revenge and psychopathology; then, just to keep readers on their toes, author Mike Lawson’s thrill-ride forces everyone to accept the fact that all appearances are deceiving. In fact, DeMarco and Emma have all that they handle (what with all the violent fights, gun battles, and high-speed chases), and not even the Speaker of the House is safe. Really, nothing seems certain until the final scene. But don’t cheat by jumping ahead to the final pages. Simply enjoy every moment of the exhilarating (and occasionally bewildering) ride.

Review - Sailing from Byzantium

Sailing from Byzantium: How a Lost Empire Shaped the World by Colin Wells
Delacourte Press, August 2006
ISBN 0-553-80381-6
Hardcover

This is a remarkably concise yet thoroughly engaging book. Straight-forward in its thesis, and paradoxically encyclopedic in its scope within its mere 335 pages, Sailing from Byzantium, as noted by the author, is written for the curious general reader rather than the specialist.

The author Colin Wells states that his book “is a work of popular synthesis with no pretensions to original scholarship,” and his main argument is simple: “One of the most fascinating things about Byzantium [ . . . ] was the way it influenced the younger civilizations that grew up around it.” In fact, without Byzantium—an empire that fluctuated dramatically in its size, power, and influence during its relatively brief history—a great deal of our world would now be quite different: the separate cultural worlds of the Italian Renaissance to the west, the medieval Islamic empire to the south, and the Slavic cultures to the north would have been radically altered in their respective developments and successes.

Vibrant and unique, the Byzantine Empire stood as “the cultural pinnacle” of the world during the thirteenth through fifteenth centuries, “leading the world in the arts, sciences and philosophy.” Frequently overlooked by students of Western history, Byzantium was the pivotal successor to the Greek and Roman empires, and in that capacity it became a remarkable, essential medieval bridge between the ancient and modern worlds.

Without Byzantium’s intellectual vigor, the majestic works of Homer, Herodotus, Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles, Aeschylus and many others would have remained buried in the ancient past. The works of these canonical geniuses would have simply disappeared without a trace. Instead, Byzantium preserved these important keys to ancient civilization and shared them with the humanists of the Italian Renaissance and the philosophers of the Golden Age of Islam. Moreover, Byzantium’s religious legacy was profound. Byzantine missionaries “converted Bulgarians, Serbs, and Russians to Orthodox Christianity, which led to the creation of the Russian Orthodox alphabet and a popular form of Christianity” as well as new architecture “and one of the world’s greatest artistic traditions.” However, “when the city of Byzantium fell to the Ottoman Turks and was renamed Constantinople, its citizens scattered throughout Europe, leaving an incalculable cultural loss in their wake.”

Fresh in its insights and crisp in its narrative flow, Sailing from Byzantium is further enriched by several maps, a comparative timeline, and a glossary that helps readers keep track of an elaborate (I could even say, a byzantine) assortment of historical figures. An appendix of endnotes point readers to other sources for some of the author’s commentary (although the publisher and the book’s editors should have taken more care in correctly cross-referencing and annotating the erroneous page numbers for the notations). Notwithstanding the problems with the endnotes, the book is a comprehensive and fascinating survey. Sailing from Byzantium is highly recommended.

Review - Learning to Kill by Ed McBain

Learning to Kill by Ed McBain
Harcourt, July 2006
ISBN 0-15-101222-9
Hardcover

When Salvatore Lombino was growing up on 120th street between First and Second Avenues in New York City’s East Harlem during the ‘30s and ‘40s, no one could have really foreseen the kind of future and fame that awaited this descendent of Italian, Irish, Jewish, and German immigrants. Even when a youthful and enthusiastic Salvatore came back to the city after his wartime service in the Navy and attended Hunter College as an English major, people still barely recognized the potential in this ambitious young man.

After working for a while for the Automobile Club—answering calls from motorists in distress—Salvatore then worked as a telephone salesman for Regal Lobster—angling with chefs and managers to sell them live lobsters for NYC restaurants; however, Salvatore made what may have been his most important career move in 1951 when he answered a blind ad in the New York Times Help Wanted columns: “EDITOR. No experience necessary. Must be familiar with book and magazine markets. Reply to box number . . .”

Answering the ad, wrangling an interview, and landing the job at the Scott Meredith Literary Agency (a job that he kept only until 1953), Salvatore—a fellow who had for a long time wanted to be a writer—began his metamorphosis into one of this country’s (the world’s?) most prolific and well-respected writers of crime and police procedural fiction. Writing under the pseudonyms Hunt Collins (a tribute to his alma mater), Richard Marsten (a tribute to his sons), and Evan Hunter (another tribute to his alma mater, and the name he adopted legally in 1952), Salvatore Lombino eventually came to be most widely known by yet another pseudonym, Ed McBain, a pen-name which he inaugurated in 1956. McBain went on to fascinate and entertain readers with his creative fecundity for more than half a century, and even though his death in 2005 may have forever silenced the tough kid from East Harlem, readers of today and tomorrow fortunately have more than eighty of his novels and dozens of his short stories to enjoy.

Here now in one generous volume entitled Learning to Kill, Ed McBain was able to assemble a fascinating anthology of his early short stories, the work that would be the foundation—the apprentice’s training ground—for all of the 87th Precinct novels; the Matthew Hope novels; other novels of crimes and passions; and (worthy of special mention) The Blackboard Jungle (the canonical Evan Hunter title).

Readers who know and love McBain’s work will be particularly interested in devouring this collection and getting another look at the consummate artist’s work as a young man; moreover—as a bonus—readers will enjoy McBain’s personal commentary and biographical reflections, which are generously sandwiched between sections with stories about Kids, Women in Jeopardy, Private Eyes, Cops and Robbers, Innocent Bystanders, Loose Cannons, and Gangs.

From the twenty-five commendable stories in Learning to Kill, consider the following previews from seven representative tales:

Join a youthful offender who seriously underestimates the seriousness of his crimes and his punishments, and must deal with disastrous consequences. Meet a alcoholic, down-and-out former PI who relentlessly tracks down and confronts a Bowery bum’s killer. Follow along as a duplicitous woman becomes a troublesome pawn in some desperate men’s disputes over stolen money. Watch as an innocent man, mistakenly accused of murder, runs away from police and descends into a nightmare of fear and tragedy. Look at the ways three would-be bank robbers run into unexpected problems because of the most unlikely obstacles: the Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company. Eavesdrop uncomfortably on two rival gang members who are forced to resolves their gangs’ disputes by participating in a one-on-one deadly game of chance. Linger in a barroom while a naïve Midwesterner insists upon buying a surly New Yorker a drink but finds out that the holiday season is suddenly not so jolly.

Frankly, for readers of crime fiction and police procedurals, it doesn’t get any better than this. License to Kill is an absolute must-own book for all fans of McBain, for any fledgling writer who wants to see how it is done correctly by an expert, and for anyone who wants to watch the way an artist learns in the crucible of experimentation to perfect his craft.

And finally, as for readers unfamiliar with McBain (do such readers exist?), you would be well-advised to stop wasting time: grab a copy of Learning to Kill and find out what you’ve been missing!

The Challenge of Diversity

The Guerrilla Girls on Tour site, which I discovered by accident through another blogger's site, justifiably complains about the exclusive nature of some book awards and lists of "bests"; in this case, the one offered by Publishers' Weekly was deemed offensive because it excluded books by women and people of color.

I understand the complaint. And--in a sense--I guess I agree with those making the complaint.

Nevertheless, I wonder about the remedy. Must lists of "bests" and book awards be inclusive so that diverse populations are represented? If diversity is the goal, is there a formula that ought to be applied so that everyone is represented according to some ordained proportions? If diversity is achieved, then what happens to the premise that the list or the award represents the best?

Perhaps all of this says something about the futility, subjectivity, and difficulty of such lists and awards. If those who are excluded are offended, perhaps lists and awards ought to be abolished. Thus, no one's feelings are hurt, and that seems to be the goal of those who feel excluded. Comments?

Review - Hide and Seek With Angels

Hide-and-Seek with Angels: A Life of J. M. Barrie by Lisa Chaney

St. Martin’s Press, July 2006

ISBN 0-312-35779-6

Hardcover

Peter Pan has become one of the most familiar titles in the history of film and theater. Since the play’s premier on 27 December 1904, and since its reputation has been further enhanced by the numerous film versions, the world has been fascinated with young Peter, the boy who wouldn’t grow up, and his tiny companion Tinker Bell, perhaps the most famous fairy in literature. Most recently, in the benign but narrowly focused 2004 film Neverland, audiences saw Peter Pan’s creator (James Matthew Barrie as portrayed by Johnny Depp) as a “charming dreamer” who was blithely devoted to children.

J. M. Barrie, however, has not been very well known, less well understood, and too often ignored (and too frequently even vilified) by audiences and critics in the many years since his canonical creation. So what is the real story? Who was this singularly creative man—as cinematically portrayed in Neverland—who “himself wanted to be an immortal boy, [who] employed his personal experience[s] in [the cause of writing about] the danger of a life of fantasy”?

—Did you know, for example, that his brother’s death while ice-skating catapulted the young James into an imaginative and desperate relationship with his grief-stricken and suddenly neglectful mother; Barrie, in his “ambition to console” her, “later identified [that point in his life] as his start down the road to becoming an author”?

—Did you know that Barrie became one of England’s most popular and successful writers with dozens of novels and plays to his credit? So why is it that we know little or nothing about these other accomplishments?

—Did you also know that Barrie’s childless marriage to Mary Ansell ended in a acrimonious divorce in 1909 (because of Mary’s adulterous affair with another man, which may have been precipitated by Barrie’s apparent inability to satisfy—or his naïve indifference to—his wife’s unfulfilled sexual appetites and her desire to have children)?

—Did you that Barrie became the guardian of five young boys in 1910—upon the death of their mother, Sylvia Llewelyn Davies—and that Barrie, rather than being an effective foster-parent was instead, with disastrous consequences, more intent upon behaving as if he were the sixth boy in the new family group?

—Did you know that even with J. M. Barrie’s many friendships and in spite of his celebrity status, this profound thinker and extraordinarily prophetic writer was one of the most isolated figures in modern literary history?

—Did you know that Barrie has too often been suspected of paedophilia (by contemporaries and critics)? But did you also know that in his defense, Nico Davies, one of the Davies boys, the only one of the five who survived happily into adulthood, said of Barrie: “Of all the men I have ever known, Barrie was the wittiest, and the best company. He was also the least interested in sex. He was a darling man. He was an innocent; which is why he could write Peter Pan.” Nico also said: “I don’t believe that Uncle Jim ever experienced what one might call a stirring in the undergrowth for anyone—man, woman, or child.”

Here, in one marvelous volume, are the not so simple answers to the foregoing and many other questions surrounding one of English literature’s most enigmatic and beguiling personalities. In this clearly written and thoroughly researched biography, Lisa Chaney offers readers “a thought-provoking and candid new interpretation of J. M. Barrie, an all too often forgotten playwright and novelist.” She “re-evaluates the man whose work was shockingly modern in its uncompromising exploration of the seductiveness and dangers of escape and fantasy, and their inextricable connection to the passage of time.” Any student of literature—and anyone who has wistfully dreamed of flying away to Neverland with Peter and Tinker Bell to avoid all the unpleasantness of “growing up”—ought to find themselves a copy of Hide-and-Seek with Angels. Filled with surprises and abundant in its detail, this long overdue biography is something quite special.