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Traveling the dangerous territory of family history
Paul O’Connor, a veteran newspaper journalist, finds the account Burkhard Bilger tells of his Nazi grandfather of great interest – and also finds much to like in Bilger’s dogged search for the truth. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor FATHERLAND: A Memoir of War, Conscience and Family Secrets. By Burkhard Bilger. Random House. 279 pages. $28.99,…
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“Plotless” – but telling – memories
Bob Moyer reviews a book that, both author and reviewer make clear, is not an autobiography. And yet… Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer STILL PICTURES: On Photography and Memory. By Janet Malcom. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 155 pages. $26. Janet Malcolm wrote many New Yorker articles as well as many books about interesting subjects—Gertrude Stein, Chekov,…
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A taste of Hell, with a side of wry humor
Do you like crime/action/mystery novels but want something a little different? Let Bob Moyer tell you about the second book in a growing series about a Felonious Monk. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer BLOODY MARTINI. By William Kotzwinkle. Blackstone Publishing. 315 pages. $26.99. Tommy Martini grew up in Coalville, Pennsylvania, where he starred on his…
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Good guys few and far between
Bob Moyer takes a look at a novel with Reed Parrel Coleman’s latest hero – or is it antihero? Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer SLEEPLESS CITY. By Reed Farrel Coleman. Blackstone Publishing. 321 pages. $26.99. No one wears a white hat in the Sleepless City known as New York. Not even Nick Ryan, the latest…
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Come along for an exciting ride in Mexico
Tom Dillon, retired newspaperman, may not exactly be a “young adult,” but that doesn’t keep him from appreciating this novel aimed at that category. ACROSS THE FACE OF THE STORM. By Jerome R. Adams. Guernica Editions. 186 pages, $17.95 paperback. Reviewed by Tom Dillon You may know something about the American Revolution, but chances are…
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A mystery within a mystery
Bob Moyer takes a look at a novel set in New Orleans and full of fire, murder, mystery, repentant nuns – and (no surprise) heat and humidity. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer SCORCHED GRACE. A Sister Holiday Mystery. By Margot Douaihy. Gillian Flynn Books 320 pages. $27.95. Before Sister Holiday joined the tiny New Orleans…