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It’s about the procedure
Is the seasonal stress starting to get to you? Find a cozy warm spot and get caught up in a good novel about something entirely different. Bob Moyer has a suggestion for you. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THE NIGHT FIRE. By Michael Connelly. Little, Brown. 405 pages. $29. … down these mean streets a man must go…
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A story to savor
Bob Moyer reviews a book he says takes a familiar story and makes it new, a story that’s a pleasure to read. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THIS TENDER LAND. By William Kent Krueger. Atria. 460 pages. $27. You’ve met this bunch of kids before–a ragtag group suffering abuse, in this case the only three…
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She’s back…
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson OLIVE, AGAIN. by Elizabeth Strout. Random House Audio. Read by Kimberly Farr. 12 1/2 hours; 10 CDs. $45. Also available in print from Random House. Anyone who met Olive Kitteridge in Elizabeth’s Strout’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2008 book of interrelated stories by that name, will remember that blunt, sometimes abrasive retired…
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Our boys, our nation
Here’s the latest from our roaming correspondent, Bob Moyer, ever an eclectic and thoughtful reader. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer NICKEL BOYS. By Colson Whitehead. Doubleday. 213 pages. $24.95 Colson Whitehead is an important writer. He’s a good, sometimes great writer, yes, but above all — he’s an important writer. He homes in on material…
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Virgil Flowers takes on academia
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson BLOODY GENIUS. By John Sandford. Penguin Audio. 11 hours; 9 CDs. Read by Eric Conger. $40. Also available in print from G.P. Putnam’s Sons. First, Margaret Trane, the police officer who is handling the case, doesn’t really want his help and is annoyed that the governor has yielded to pressure…
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Gamache amid the storms
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson A BETTER MAN. By Louise Penny. Minotaur Books. 437 pages. $28.99. Some critics are calling this, the 15th in Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series, one of her best. Others are pointing out what they consider minor weaknesses and saying maybe A Better Man isn’t quite up to Penny’s highest standards. My take? There…
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Young men, and love and war
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson CHANCES ARE… By Richard Russo. 11 ½ hours. 9 CDs. Read by Fred Sanders. $40. Also available in print from Knopf. 301 pages, $26.95. Some books are considered “women’s fiction,” a label that does not in itself indicate inferior quality. Many, in fact, are very good. Lee Smith’s “The Last…
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‘A friend to anarchy’
BIG SKY. By Kate Atkinson. Little Brown. 386 pages. $28. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer Most mystery novelists move their minor characters around the chessboard of their story like pawns, always highlighting the kings and queens of their plots. Not Kate Atkinson. She delves deep into the lives of what seem minor characters far from…