Category: Popular fiction

  • East side, west side, all around the town

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson BROOKLYN ON FIRE. By Lawrence H. Levy. Read by Cassandra Campbell. Books on Tape. 10 hours; 9 CDs. Mary Handley was the first woman to work as a detective with the Brooklyn Police Department. Her success there gained her quite a bit of fame, or maybe notoriety. She’s not giving…

  • The swans and their darling

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE SWANS OF FIFTH AVENUE. By Melanie Benjamin. Delacorte Press. 341 pages. $28. Think of Truman Capote not as he was in his later years: dissipated, bloated, outrageous, abusing drugs and alcohol, given to public breakdowns, unable to complete a novel. Think of him instead as slight, blond and young,…

  • A fresh perspective: Nerd fiction

    Reviewed by Jessica Coates WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE .By Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. Harper Perennial. 401 pages. $19.99 Welcome to Night Vale is probably the most highly anticipated piece of 2015 nerd fiction you’ve never heard of. It debuted at No. 4 on The New York Times bestseller list, just below J.K. Rowling’s Career…

  • A fresh perspective: Bold gambit

    Here’s another of our interesting and well-done reviews by students in the opinion-writing class at the University of North Carolina’s School of Media and Journalism. Reviewed by Nick Niedzwiadek DISCLAIMER. By Renée Knight. Harper. 336 pages. $25.99.  Starting a story by introducing a book-within-a-book — and having it be central to the plot— is a…

  • A fresh perspective: Not just formula

    Reviewed by Brianna Crane SEE ME. By Nicholas Sparks.  Grand Central. PAGES? $27.00  An unlikely couple looks out across the Atlantic, letting their thoughts drift gently with the tide; all is well.  As the waves begin crashing, however, the couple is consumed by a wave of fear.  The early plot of See Me is similar…

  • A fresh perspective: Grisham’s lawyer pushes the limits

    Here’s another review by a student in the opinion writing class at UNC Chapel Hill’s School of Media and Journalism. Reviewed by John Thomas ROGUE LAWYER.  By John Grisham. Doubleday. 344 pages. $28.95, hardcover. John Grisham’s latest legal thriller, Rogue Lawyer, follows the story of defense lawyer Sebastian Rudd, a self-described “lone gunman” who loves…

  • Behind the lines

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson MADELEINE’S WAR. By Peter Watson. Nan A. Talese Doubleday. 366 pages. $26.95. World War II is grinding toward an end in Europe, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less dangerous to be a spy in occupied France. If anything, the Nazis, knowing an Allied invasion is imminent, have grown more…

  • A delicious tale

    Crime fiction, the lovely French countryside, a sense of history AND lavish meals – there’s a lot to like in the Bruno books, and Bob Moyer relishes the opportunity to review another book in the series. THE CHILDREN RETURN. By Martin Walker. Knopf. 320 pages. $24.95 ‘To Protect and To Serve.” Police forces around the…

  • Afloat with love and literature

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE LITTLE PARIS BOOK SHOP. By Nina George. Read by Steve West and Emma Bering, with Cassandra Campbell. Random House Audio. 11 hours; 9 CDs. $46. Also available in print from Crown. Monsieur Perdu runs a floating bookshop, on a barge moored in the Seine in Paris. But he’s more…

  • When the planes fell

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson I knew about Judy Blume, of course. She wrote all those children’s books. When my sons were early readers, they enjoyed the Fudge books, among others. Their childhood friends, the boys and especially the girls, read lots of Blume’s books. I did not know, however, that she’s also written books…