Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind: Weekend Update, Labor Day Edition

Picks of the Week

Harry Dolan: Bad Things Happen
BAD THINGS HAPPEN is a nifty debut, cleverly told and unfurled from the very first line: "The shovel has to meet certain requirements" on through meeting "the man who calls himself David Loogan." There are reasons for concealment, just as there are reasons the editor of a mystery magazine bearing little resemblance to EQMM or AHMM might bring him into the fold, thus catalyzing a series of murderous events. The twists come quickly and the dialogue is sharp and if it falls apart slightly at the end, no matter - I want to read much more from Dolan from now on.
Ian MacKenzie: City of Strangers: A Novel
MacKenzie's debut novel reminded me a lot of Paul Auster's NEW YORK TRILOGY, whether it was intended or not, in terms of his choice of words, the thrust of the narrative and the existential nature of the main character (whose first name, incidentally, is Paul) caught up in a snowballing sequence of strange and violent events in and around New York City. MacKenzie straddles the line between thriller and internal examination of a man's failings, and his ability to do so establishes him as a young writer of serious talent and future.
Megan Abbott: Bury Me Deep
In a word: amazing. In more words: Megan Abbott, who has never delivered anything less than an excellent novel, exceeds expectations and takes a very bold and very necessary step forward both in the quality of the prose, the development of her characters and especially in portraying how obsession seeps into the very soul of people, transforming them into their worst nightmares all too easily. Just read this book. And then tell many others to do so as well.
Ninni Holmqvist: The Unit
Understandably, echoes of THE HANDMAID'S TALE are hard to ignore in this dystopic examination of a society where fertility is so high a priority that older, single, marginal women are shut away in secret locales to live out the rest of their lives in seemingly perfect harmony - at least, until the "donations" begin. But Holmqvist's marvelous book doesn't browbeat her thesis into the reader and smartly expands her ideas to look at the plight of all marginalized folk, women and men alike, and how the promise of comforts can be the most horrifying of all. Prepare to be disturbed, but prepare further to think about the ramifications.
Paula Froelich: Mercury in Retrograde
This is possibly the most perfect novel for today's economically challenged times. Why? Because it has plenty of glitz and glamor and blind items, as befitting a narrative by the deputy editor of Page Six, but Froelich isn't arch or snarky or acid-tongued in the slightest. Her trio of protagonists land in all manner of embarrassing situations but they aren't played for mean-spirited laughs. The New York here is something of a fantasy-land, but not so far off the mark that it's completely unbelievable. Most of all it's clear Froelich remains sincere and optimistic about her chosen city, and has retained her sense of fun. So no need to check your brain at the door, but sometimes it just needs to chill out and relax.

And like everyone else, fingers crossed Gustav's damage to the Gulf Coast is minimal and survivable.

NYTBR: Joyce Carol Oates on Curtis Sittenfeld's supposedly controversial AMERICAN WIFE; Liesl Schillinger has her say on Rose Tremain's Orange Prize winner; and Michael Scammell on why censorship was good for Solzhenitsyn's writing.

WaPo Book World: The books section serves up a preview of fall offerings; Thomas Meaney explores Ross Raisin's literary linguistics; Ron Charles has an entertaining time with Hannah Tinti's debut; and Richard Stevenson rounds up recent crime fiction by Asa Larsson, Faye Kellerman and Joe R. Landsdale.

LA TImes: Susan Salter Reynolds gets Anglophilic with Sarah Lyall; Steve Erickson plumbs the depths of memoirs by Obama and McCain; and Carolyn Kellogg has her say on John Berger's Booker longlisted new novel.

G&M: Stephen Henighan and Nigel Beale engage in a literary symposium; T.F. Rigelhof raves about Rawi Hage's new novel COCKROACH; and Dava Sobel looks at the two systems that made the world go 'round.

Guardian Review: M John Harrison views PD James' new one as a mixed bag; Iain Sinclair goes on the trail of Roland Camberton; Sophie Harrison meets up with Aleksandr Hemon; and Mark Sarvas's HARRY, REVISED gets its brief due on the other side of the pond.

Observer: I so have to read this compendium on CARRY ON, 50 years on; the 50 greatest arts videos on YouTube; and Peter Guttridge reviews the latest in crime by James Lee Burke, Kate Atkinson and Barbara Vine.

The Times: Marcel Berlins on the new PD James; Joan Smith is bowled over by Kate Atkinson's latest novel of crime; Zoe Heller is profiled as her new novel THE BELIEVERS is about to be released; Dick Francis talks up his latest thriller (co-written with son Felix); and Ian Kelly gleans some wisdom from that LOVE LETTERS TO GREAT MEN mashup.

The Scotsman: Chitra Ramswamy jumps on the Ruth Rendell profile bandwagon; Pauline McLynn lists her favorite things; and Hamish Whyte rounds up the latest in crime by Mark Billingham, Karin Slaughter and Paulus Hochgatterer.

The Telegraph: Caroline Moore has her say on the new Barbara Vine; Jake Kerridge also reviews the Vine along with crime fiction by PD James, Kate Atkinson and Irvine Welsh; Susanna Yager reviews an early Manuel Vasquez Montalban and a new Val McDermid; 40 years of the Booker Prize and its friction; and whoa, Roald Dahl was more like James Bond? Who knew?

The Rest:

Oline Cogdill leans towards the positive about Ian Vasquez's Belize-set debut crime novel IN THE HEAT.

Dick Adler raves about local emerging stars Marcus Sakey and Michael Harvey in the Chicago Tribune.

Plenty of thriller-related material in the Sun-Times: reviews of new books by Keir Graff, Joe Lansdale and Michael Harvey and a profile of Kathy Reichs.

Declan Burke previews BOOKS 2008 by focusing on the boom in Irish crime writing.

Robert Hughes talks with Louis Bayard for the WSJ about THE BLACK TOWER and finds out what the historical thriller writer is up to next. Also in the Journal is a profile of Qiu Xiaolong, a crime writer well-placed to comment on China's contemporary goings-on.

Rocky Mountain News books editor Patti Thorn has a chat with Margaret Coel.

Leonardo Padura discusses his Mario Conde novels with the Dallas Morning News.

The Baltimore Sun's Victoria Brownworth is treated to LEGALLY DEAD, the first in Edna Buchanan's new series.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer's James Sweeney enjoys reading Richard Montanari's BADLANDS.

The Kansas City Star's Leslie McGill favors new crime novels by Zoe Ferraris and Stieg Larsson (so another early review stateside for THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO.)

Ian Rankin implores boys to read more comics.

Christopher Brookmyre and Ed Byrne reveal to the Independent how they met and became pals. The paper's Boyd Tonkin also profiles PD James.

Regis Behe makes the distinction between Nick Harkaway, author of THE GONE-AWAY WORLD and son of John Le Carre.

Australia's top crime writer Tara Moss continues to be scrutinized more for her love life than her books.

And finally, just say no.

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Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind

Crime fiction, and more.

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September 01, 2008

Weekend Update, Labor Day Edition

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