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Sunshine and shadows
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson Memory is such a complicated thing. It’s always fascinating to compare memories with a sibling or other person with whom you shared a long-ago experience. Sometimes details will be radically different; sometimes one person may have no recollection at all of something that made a vivid, lasting impression on another.…
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Generals and their battles
When Paul O’Connor went traveling during his recent break from professorial duties in Chapel Hill, he took some serious reading matter along for company. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor WASHINGTON’S REVOLUTION. By Robert Middlekauff. Knopf Doubleday. 384 pages, hardcover. $30. THE LAST BATTLE. By Cornelius Ryan. Simon & Schuster. 576 pages. $18.99, paperback. Available also…
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The persecuted saving the persecuted
Readers of his review over the years know that Bob Moyer loves detective stories, mysteries and thrillers with fictional crimes perpetrated by fictional bad guys and gals. He’s also, however, intrigued by very real human stories of good versus evil, particularly those that took place during the Holocaust. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer VILLAGE OF…
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Danger is in the eye of the beholder
Paula Hawkins’ debut thriller is getting a lot of attention, and for good reason. Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN. By Paula Hawkins. Read by Clare Corbett, Louise Brealey and India Fisher. Penguin Audio. 9 CDs. $40. Also available in hardcover from Riverhead Books. When the blurb on the box calls…
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Plenty of reasons to read
One danger in a long-running detective series is that the stories might get stale. Bob Moyer finds that the Alex Delaware series may be predictable in some ways, but it’s still worth reading. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer MOTIVE. By Jonathan Kellerman. Ballantine Books. 336 pages. $28. Motive, indeed. After following the adventures of this…
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Appearances and disappearances
Take an ambitious, needy girl, throw in a few naive young men, add a plot for an improbable heist plus adventures on two continents, and you’ve got an impressive first novel. Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson UNBECOMING. By Rebecca Scherm. Read by Catherine Taber. Penguin Audio. 13 ½ hours; 11 CDs. $45. Also available in…
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Love, marriage and so much more
Bob Moyer takes a look at a novel that’s small in size but big in scope. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer DEPT. OF SPECULATION. By Jenny Offill. Alfred A. Knopf. 177 pages. $22.95. This concise, evocative novel (readable in one sitting) takes the reader on a roller coaster ride through that treacherous theme park known…
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When they were young
Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury bohemians are a well-known part of our literary heritage. Even those of us who haven’t really studied them have heard a lot about them. But Virginia, her sister Vanessa and their friends and family come alive in a new way in this highly entertaining and intelligent novel. The audio version…
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Where the fire always burns
Happy New Year, at last! Bob Moyer is back from wherever he’s been when he wasn’t writing book reviews. That’s always cause for rejoicing. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THE BURNING ROOM. By Michael Connelly. Little Brown and Company. 388 pages. $28. Harry Bosch has been an L.A. cop so long it’s easy to forget…
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A step back in time
For 16 novels, Charles Todd has brought us the detective adventures of Ian Rutledge, who returned to police work at Scotland Yard while battling the lingering effects of his time as a British officer in World War I. Now, the mother-son writing team that is Todd brings us a prequel: The newest novel steps back…