Book Reviews
Nov 1, 2010. Books: The Enemy, Cross Country. On vacation, I read three books. Not a very impressive output, by my standards, and certainly fewer than I expected to read. But three it was. And here are two of them."The Enemy" is Lee Child's 2004 book about Jack...Oct 29, 2010. Dexter Season 4, and "Dexter by Design". Pam and I finished watching season 4 of "Dexter." The first season, with the Ice Truck Killer, was the best. But I'd rank season 4 as the second-best, thanks to the work of John Lithgow as the guest serial killer....
Oct 13, 2010. Books: Worst Fears Realized, LA Dead. During the past week I polished off two more Stuart Woods books, the 5th and 6th in the Stone Barrington series. In "Worst Fears Realized," some people close to Stone are getting killed. Evidence points to the attacks being engineered...
Oct 9, 2010. Book: The Hunger Games. I'd been catching some buzz about "The Hunger Games," with some people saying it would be the next big movie series, a successor to "Harry Potter" and "Twilight." In fact, "Hunger Games" is now in development as a movie.I found...
Oct 2, 2010. Books: "The Hunter," "Getaway Face" (Richard Stark). Donald Westlake wrote nearly 30 books under the name Richard Stark between 1963 and his death in 2009. Stark was Westlake's dark persona. Most of those books starred a hardcore professional thief named Parker. Westlake wrote 16 Parker books...
Sep 28, 2010. Book: "The Grifters," by Jim Thompson. "The Grifters" is a 1963 book by Jim Thompson (published by Vintage/Black Lizard in 1990). It focuses on smalltime con-artist Roy Dillon, along with his girlfriend Myra Langtry and mother, Lilly Dillon, who are also con artists. There are no...
Sep 25, 2010. Book: The Strain. "The Strain" is a 600-page collaboration between Chuck Hogan and film director Guillermo del Toro, published in 2009. It's the first in a trilogy. Since del Toro is a big movie director ("Pan's Labyrinth," "Hellboy"), I wonder if they envision...
Sep 19, 2010. Book: "War," by Sebastian Junger. I've been reading quite a few books about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Most have been very good, and they've all been quite different."War," by Sebastian Junger, is my favorite. Junger is best-known for his 1997 book "The Perfect Storm,"...
Sep 15, 2010. Books: Strega, Blue Belle, Blossom. I recently polished off three books in the "Burke" series by Andrew Vachss. I was so engulfed in the environment he creates--the underworld and more sordid aspects of New York City--that I wanted to keep reading more. Burke and his...
Sep 11, 2010. Book: "Passport to Peril," by Robert B. Parker. You may be surprised that Robert B. Parker wrote "Passport to Peril" in 1951. That's because we're not talking about the Parker of Spenser and Jesse Stone fame, but of Robert Bogardus Parker, who wrote three books before dying in...
Sep 5, 2010. Book: "Where Men Win Glory"--Pat Tillman Story. I waited a long time for Jon Krakauer's book about Pat Tillman, "Where Men Win Glory," to appear in paperback. My interest wasn't so much Tillman as it was Krakauer, a tremendous writer whose "Into Thin Air" is among the...
Aug 17, 2010. Book: "Dead Street," by Mickey Spillane. I just read my first Mickey Spillane novel, and it's not at all what I expected.My image of Spillane goes back to the 1970s, when I was a teenage kid and would see risque book covers by such authors as...
Aug 14, 2010. Book: "Lake of Darkness" (Ruth Rendell). It's easy to recognize Ruth Rendell's writing. The prose is elegant, and it's restrained, with strong emotions held in check. When violence occurs, it happens in an almost incidental way, without fanfare. The violence emerges from a well-defined character, and...
Aug 10, 2010. Book: "Flood," by Andrew Vachss. This is the first of the 18 "Burke" novels by Andrew Vachss. It was first published in 1980. Now, all 18 books are part of the Black Lizard imprint from Vintage Books. "Flood" is the name of a young woman...
Aug 2, 2010. Book: The Long Goodbye (Chandler). "The Long Goodbye" is among my favorite Raymond Chandler books. The 9-volume Philip Marlowe series begins in 1939 with "The Big Sleep," and ends with 1958's "Playback." I've been reading the books in order, which means I have only "Playback"...
Jul 31, 2010. Book: "Brimstone," by Robert Parker. "Brimstone" is Robert Parker's third Western involving Everett Hitch and Virgil Cole. The books are told first-person by Everett Hitch, a West Point graduate and former Army officer who happily plays sidekick to Virgil Cole, a renowned gunfighter. The duo,...
Jul 29, 2010. Book: Run For Your Life (James Patterson). "Run for Your Life" is the second installment in the Michael Bennett series, which James Patterson launched in 2007. Michael Ledwidge, one of the many writers under the James Patterson brand, wrote "Step on a Crack" in 2007, getting the...
Jul 28, 2010. Book: The Winter of Frankie Machine. "The Winter of Frankie Machine," by Don Winslow, is the best novel I've read this year. Better than "The Girl Who Played with Fire." The title character is Frank Machianno, a legendary mob hitman and enforcer on the West Coast....
Jul 5, 2010. Book: "The Long Walk," by Slavomir Rawicz. "The Long Walk" is the first-person story of Slavomir Rawicz, a Pole who is imprisoned in Siberia by the Russians, escapes, and treks thousands of miles through some of the harshest conditions on earth. It's an amazing story of survival....
Jun 15, 2010. Books: "Rough Weather," "Persuader". I just finished mystery/thrillers by two can't-miss authors: Robert Parker and Lee Child. I've read over 50 books by Robert Parker, and have just one vague memory of a book which seemed weak. "Rough Weather" was certainly not weak.The book...
Jun 2, 2010. Books: Shella, The Getaway Man, Hard Candy. Three books by Andrew Vachss in the Black Lizard imprint.
May 22, 2010. Books: Stuart Woods and Robert Crais. "Dirt," the 2nd book in Stuart Woods' Stone Barrington series; and "Chasing Darkness," the 12th in the Elvis Cole series from Robert Crais.
May 12, 2010. Books: MacDonald's "Galton Case" and "Black Money". Two Lew Archer detective mysteries by Ross MacDonald (Black Lizard imprint).
May 8, 2010. Book: The Girl Who Played with Fire. Stieg Larsson's second book in the Millenium Trilogy.
May 7, 2010. Book: "Eight Lives Down". The story of Englishman Chris Hunter, a bomb disposal expert in Iraq.
May 3, 2010. Books: Mongolia, France, and the Florida Keys. "The Shadow Walker" (Michael Walters), "Seeking Whom He May Devour" (Fred Vargas), and "Tropical Freeze" (James W. Hall).
May 1, 2010. Jesse Stone Books and Movies. Reviewing Robert Parker's "Stranger in Paradise," and five Jesse Stone movies.
Apr 24, 2010. Books: Two by Joe Lansdale. "Lost Echoes" and "Sunset and Sawdust."
Apr 19, 2010. Book: "The Pyramid," by Henning Mankell. Five stories which from 1969 to 1989, which tell about Kurt Wallander before the first book, "The Faceless Killers," actually occurs.
Apr 14, 2010. Book: "Joker One" (a Superb Iraq War Story). Donovan Campbell tells "A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood."
Apr 10, 2010. Book: "The Fifth Floor," by Michael Harvey. Michael Harvey's second mystery (after "The Chicago Way") starring private investigator Michael Kelly.
Apr 5, 2010. Book: "The War Within," by Bob Woodward. Woodward's fourth book about the inner workings of the Bush administration during wartime. Covers the "surge" period.
Mar 31, 2010. Book: Helmet for My Pillow. Robert Leckie's classic WW2 memoir.
Mar 27, 2010. Book: Tears in the Darkness. A 2009 history of the Bataan death march, from Pearl Harbor to the war trials.
Mar 26, 2010. Iraqi Eyes on the Example of the American Soldier. Further thoughts on Michael Yon's book "Moment of Truth in Iraq."
Mar 20, 2010. Book: Fiasco, the Early Years of the Iraq War. Reporter Thomas Ricks unveils the Iraq war from 2002-2005--the pre-war planning through to the darkest period, just before the surge.
Mar 17, 2010. Book: The Bottom Billion. A fascinating study of the poorest countries in the world, by Paul Collier.
Mar 14, 2010. A Values-Driven Counter-Insurgency. After taking command in 2007, General David Petraus wrote a letter on "Values" to all of his soldiers. "Our values and the laws governing warfare teach us to respect human dignity, maintain our integrity, and do what is right. Adherence...
Mar 13, 2010. Book: Moment of Truth in Iraq. Someone compared Michael Yon to Ernie Pyle, the World War 2 reporting legend, and that got me interested in reading Yon's book, "Moment of Truth in Iraq." Yon, a former Green Beret, has spent more time embedded with combat troops...
Feb 20, 2010. Books: North of Montana, Judas Horse. Two superb mysteries by April Smith in the Vintage/Black Lizard imprint. FBI agent Ana Grey is a wonderful protagonist.
Feb 12, 2010. Books: Mind's Eye, The Return. Two Chief Inspector Van Veeteren mysteries by Swedish writer Hakan Nesser.
Feb 6, 2010. Books: Four by John Sandford. Dark of the Moon and Heat Lighting (Virgil Flowers mysteries), Broken Prey and Phantom Prey (Lucas Davenport mysteries).
Jan 31, 2010. Books: Pop. 1280, The Transgressors. Two novels about low-lifes from the legendary Jim Thompson. Vintage/Black Lizard
Jan 23, 2010. Robert Parker, Creator of Spenser, Dead at 77. Thoughts on the death of one of my favorite writers.
Jan 1, 2010. Books: Three Mysteries with WW2 Connections. Three Black Lizard mysteries: "Self's Deception" (Bernhard Schlink), "Tokyo Year One" (David Peace), and "Kennedy's Brain" (Henning Mankell).
Dec 19, 2009. Books: Leather Maiden, Mucho Mojo. Books by Joe Lansdale, both from Vintage/Black Lizard.
Dec 15, 2009. Books: Dragon Tattoo, Bobby Z. Stieg Larsson's first Millenium novel, and Don Winslow's "The Death and Life of Bobby Z." both Vintage/Black Lizard.
Nov 26, 2009. Learning Why Atheists Reject Christianity. Two books by atheists
Nov 24, 2009. Books: Forsyth, Patterson, Sandford. "The Afghan," "Daniel X," and "Dead Watch."
Nov 14, 2009. Book: 10 Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe. Larry Osbourne takes a new look at 10 common Christian teachings.
Oct 28, 2009. 3 Books: Butcher's Boy, The Bottoms, Kennedy's Brain. Novels from Thomas Perry ("The Butcher's Boy"), Joe Lansdale ("The Bottoms"), and Henning Mankell ("Kennedy's Brain").
Oct 1, 2009. Books: Five Novels for Vacation. "Fresh Disasters" (Stuart Woods), "Black Widow" (Randy Wayne White), "LA Outlaws" (T. Jefferson Parker), "The Killing Floor" (Lee Child), and "Rough Justice" (Jack Higgins).
Sep 14, 2009. Books: Powder Burn, The Underground Man. Black Lizard mysteries from Carl Hiaasen and Ross MacDonald.
Sep 3, 2009. Book: The Things They Carried. Tim O'Brien's acclaimed novel of the Vietnam War.
Aug 29, 2009. Books: Two by Ruth Rendell. "No More Dying Then" and "Some Lie and Some Die." Inspector Wexford mysteries from Black Lizard.
Aug 22, 2009. Book: The Prometheus Deception. A big thriller from Robert Ludlum.
Aug 15, 2009. Book: "The Assassin," by Stephen Coonts. A somewhat disappointing thriller.
Aug 1, 2009. Books by Patterson: Double Cross, Sail. The latest Alex Cross mystery, and another thriller/mystery on the high seas.
Jul 28, 2009. Books: Before the Frost, Without Fail. A Kurt Wallander mystery from Henning Mankell, and a Jack Reacher thriller by Lee Child
Jul 20, 2009. Book: Less Clutter, Less Noise. A Christian book to help churches with issues of promotion, branding, communications, etc. By Kem Meyer.
Jul 12, 2009. Books: Two by Charles Willeford. "Miami Blues" and "Cockfighter," both from Vintage/Black Lizard.
Jun 30, 2009. Book: The Wheel Man. An offbeat thriller from Duane Swierczynski.
Jun 29, 2009. Book: Ludlum's "The Cassandra Compact". A Covert One thriller from Robert Ludlum.
Jun 27, 2009. Books by Daniel Silva: Mark of the Assassin, Confessor. Two thrillers, one in the Gabriel Allon series.
Jun 25, 2009. Book: The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts. NY Times reporter David Sanger takes a fascinating look at the world which Barack Obama is inheriting.
Jun 12, 2009. Books: Man Who Smiled, The James Deans. A Kurt Wallander mystery from Henning Mankell, and a very interesting mystery from a writer I hadn't heard of before, Reed Farrel Coleman.
Jun 8, 2009. Book: Robert Parker's "Resolution". Robert Parker's second western staring Everett Hitch and Virgil Cole.
May 24, 2009. Books: Invisible Prey, Body Copy. Mysteries from John Sanford and Michael Craven.
May 19, 2009. Book: The Forever War. NY Times reporter Dexter Filkins tells first-hand stories from the Afghan and Iraq wars. A highly-regarded piece of war reporting.
May 16, 2009. Book: Unfashionable. Tullian Tchividjian argues, "Christians make a difference in the world by being different from this world; they don't make a difference by being the same."
May 15, 2009. Remembering War Reporting from Vietnam. Thoughts on Vietnam War books I read a long time ago.
May 14, 2009. Book: The Monkey and the Fish. Pastor David Gibbons gives a thought-provoking book to get Christians thinking outside of their boxes.
May 9, 2009. Book: Running Blind. Another Jack Reacher thriller from Lee Child.
May 2, 2009. Books: Two by Gregory MacDonald. "The Buck Passes Flynn" and "Flynn's In"
Apr 24, 2009. Book: Blackout. A WW2 mystery by John Lawton set in war-torn England.
Apr 22, 2009. Book: The Dark Side. Jane Mayer, ace reporter for the New Yorker, delivers the definitive book on America's descent into torture.
Apr 9, 2009. Book: Pick-up. A Black Lizard mystery by Charles Willeford.
Apr 3, 2009. Books: Three by Robert Parker. One book from each of Parker's three Massachusetts series: "Night Passage" (Jesse Stone series), "Spare Change" (Sunny Randall), and "Now and Then" (Spenser).
Mar 22, 2009. Book: Finally Finished "The Audacity of Hope". Barack Obama's excellent book on politics, current events, and policy.
Mar 19, 2009. Still More from "Jesus for President". Additional thoughts from Shane Claiborne's "Jesus for President"
Mar 17, 2009. More from "Jesus for President". More thoughts from Shane Claiborne's "Jesus for President"
Mar 16, 2009. Book: Jesus for President. A radical book for Christians, from Shane Claiborne.
Mar 12, 2009. Book: The Fine Line. Kary Oberbrunner's okay book subtitled "Re-envisioning the Gap Between Christ and Culture."
Mar 11, 2009. Books: Roseanna, The Locked Room. Two mysteries in the Martin Beck series from Swedish writers Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall.
Mar 9, 2009. Book: "This Beautiful Mess". Thoughts on chapter 11, "We Must Go Through Hardships," of Rick McFinley's book.
Mar 7, 2009. Book: This Beautiful Mess. Rick McKinley writes about what it means to suffer for Christ.
Feb 23, 2009. Book: The Audacity of Hope. Barack Obama's book on politics, current events, and policy.
Feb 21, 2009. Book: Contrarian's Guide to Spiritual Growth. Larry Osborne takes some beliefs Christians have always held as true, and sheds a whole different light on them.
Jan 14, 2009. Some Recent Good Reads. "One Step Behind" and "Firewall" (Henning Mankell), "Walking Back the Cat" (Robert Littell), "The Faithful Spy" (Alex Berenson), and "Tripwire" (Lee Child).
Jan 11, 2009. Book: Crazy Love. Francis Chan's superb book which calls for very serious discipleship.
Jan 3, 2009. Book: The Little Sister. A Philip Marlowe mystery from Raymond Chandler (Vintage/Black Lizard).
Dec 19, 2008. Three James Patterson Books. Three books written under the James Patterson brand, but not by him: "Step on a Crack," "Judge and Jury," and "Lifeguard."
Sep 29, 2008. Four Vacation Mystery Novels. Four mysteries: "Die Trying" (Lee Child), "The Fifth Woman" (Henning Mankell), "Cross" (James Patterson), and "Jar City" (Arnaldur Indridason).
Sep 1, 2008. Two Books for Labor Day. "A Coffin for Dimitrios," by Eric Ambler, and "The Talented Mr. Ripley," by Patricia Highsmith
Sep 1, 2008. Book: Appaloosa. Robert Parker's first western in the Everett Hitch/Virgil Flowers series.
Aug 24, 2008. China. Gleanings about China from Fareed Zakaria's superb book "The Post-American World"
Aug 11, 2008. Book: Death of a Hawker. A Soho Crime novel by Janwillem van de Wetering.
Aug 6, 2008. Books: from Lisa Lee, James Crumbley, Robert Parker. "The Last Kiss," "School Days," and "The Flower Net."
Aug 2, 2008. Three Novels. "Under the Skin" (James Carlos Blake), "Severance Package" (Duane Swierczynski), and "Flinch" (Robert Ferrigno).
Jul 13, 2008. Book: Faith and Politics (John Danforth). Senator John Danforth speaks out on the polarizing tactics being used in today's Congress.
Jun 8, 2008. Book: Dark Places. An amazing mystery/thriller from Jon Evans.
Jun 7, 2008. A Gumshoe in War-torn Sarajevo. Dan Fesperman's Life in the Dark, a Black Lizard imprint about Vlado Petric, a police detective in Sarajevo during the Bosnia-Serb war of the 1990s.
May 28, 2008. Wearing the T-Shirt. Early thoughts on "I Became a Christian and All I got was this Lousy T-shirt," by Vince Antonucci
May 15, 2008. Kurt Wallander and Jack Reacher. "Sidetracked," by Henning Mankell, and "Echo Burning," by Lee Child.
May 8, 2008. Obscure Lessons from a Bird That Couldn't Wait. Thoughts while reading "Confessions of a Pastor," by Craig Groeschel
May 3, 2008. Recent Fiction Reads. "Million Dollar Baby" by Robert Parker, and "Grifter's Game," by Lawrence Block
Feb 22, 2008. Leaping to Conclusions about Swedish Detective Novels. Thoughts about Swedish detective mysteries from Henning Mankell and Per Wahloo/Maj Sjorrel.
Feb 13, 2008. Spade, Marlowe, Archer, and Spencer. Three old Black Lizard mysteries: "The Way Some People Die" (Macdonald), "Trouble is My Business" (Raymond Chandler), and "The Maltese Falcon" (Dashiell Hammett).
Dec 11, 2007. Books: The Getaway / 361. Mysteries from Jim Thompson and Donald Westlake.
Jun 25, 2007. Three Parkers and One Chandler. Three from Robert Parker: "Sea Change," "Blue Screen," and "Bad Business." And Raymond Chandler's "Lady in the Lake."
Apr 3, 2007. Three Novels from the Bad Guy's Perspective. Three roman noir mysteries from Black Lizard: "The Killer Inside Me" (Jim Thompson), "Double Indemnity" (James Cain), and "Stranger on a Train" (Patricia Highsmith).
Mar 31, 2007. Ordinary Men Doing the Unspeakable. An extraordinary nonfiction book about a German reserve police battalion which is thrust into the extermination of Jews in Poland.
Mar 15, 2007. Some Good Celebrity Attention on Refugees. Angelina Jolie's wonderful "Notes from My Travels," shedding light on the plight of refugees in many different countries.
Jan 24, 2007. Escapism with a Goal. Musings on how I read books.
Oct 13, 2006. Don't Mess with Reading Traditions. Thoughts on the larger-and-thinner format of mass-market paperbacks.
Oct 2, 2006. Book: In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. Mark Batterson's take-off on an obscure Old Testament story.
Sep 29, 2006. Ann Kiemel, Wherefore Hast Thou Been?. Remembering a Christian author who had a big impact on me.
Sep 8, 2006. Book: Adventures in Missing the Point. Tony Campolo and Brian McLaren alternate in tackling contemporary topics: Doubt, Sin, Women in Ministry, Homosexuality, the Environment, Evangelism, and more.
Aug 15, 2006. Book: God in the Alley. A moving book set among prostitute and other down-and-outers in Toronto. By a minister called to work in that difficult setting.
Jul 12, 2006. Book: Beats of No Nation". By a former child soldier in a war-torn African country.
Jul 8, 2006. Recycling the Same Stuff. Thoughts from one chapter of Rob Bell's "Velvet Elvis."
Jun 3, 2006. George Barna Invents a Revolution. A critique of George Barna's "Revolution," which dumps on the church.
May 26, 2006. Okay, I Forced Myself to Finish "The DaVinci Code". Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code"
May 19, 2006. Thoughts on DaVinci, Halfway Through. Dan Brown's bestselling "The DaVinci Code."
Apr 17, 2006. Solving a Death in Venice. Donna Leon's "Death at La Fenice"
About This Page
About Me