On the Amazon page for The Delphi Agenda, Rob Swigart’s novel is described as “An action-packed unraveling of the secrets of ancient history mixed in with a chilling conspiracy that brings to mind Dan Brown’s bestseller INFERNO.” To my mind this is somewhat true, but I would mention important differences. One, compared to The Delphi […]
I like the fact that Michael Connelly named his literarily famous LAPD detective after the painter Hieronymus Bosch. Wikipedia states that the 15th-century Bosch is seen today as “a hugely individualistic painter with deep insight into humanity’s desires and deepest fears.” It only takes reading a few of Connolly’s Bosch novels to see that his […]
Does emotion play a role in your reading selections? Do you find yourself drawn to certain books or writers with intellect or emotion, especially when reading fiction? I make choices, mostly, with my intellect: I find the theme or plot or setting intriguing (I think that’s intellectual!) but at a certain point the emotions kick […]
For Your Listening Pleasure Yes, something a little different this week. Instead of my usual Saturday Review, I’m posting a two-part radio production of “Alice in Wonderland.” It’s from a radio show I recently discovered called the Columbia Workshop. The time is the late 1930s. Radio is the only media, although television is under development […]
My wife and I were having lunch with one of her friends who was asking me about why I chose to name the lead character in my novel trilogy Nathaniel Hawthorne Flowers. Once I’d dodged that bullet, I asked her if she knew that Nathaniel Hawthorne’s home was six miles from where we sat lunching. […]
This week, following my dour review of Lee Child’s latest “thriller,” I continue in the genre with two novels by home-run hitter Lisa Gardner. The first is her brand-new Never Tell, and the other is Alone from 2005. Lisa is in top form in her latest novel but that said, one of the great things […]
I’ve just finished listening to Lee Child’s new Jack Reacher novel, Past Tense, and am quite disappointed. I’ve been a Reacher fan since Child began writing these stories and never disappointed – until now. This one is as dull as a box of rocks. The highest praise I can proffer is that Scott Brick has […]