Picks of the Week

SUICIDE SQUEEZE, by Victor Gischler

(originally posted on March 17, 2005)

Who'd have thought a baseball card would inspire such a high body count? But when it's a 1954 Joe DiMaggio card, well, anything's possible, especially when you add in an incredibly idiotic insurance scam, some kitsch-obsessed Yakuza, and Conner Samson, a guy who used to get everything he wanted but is now stuck repossessing boats, losing out on the affections of the nympho woman of his dreams, and oh yeah -- trying not to get killed. It's fast and fun, though I do wish there'd been a slightly better ending...

SIDESWIPE, by Charles Willeford

(originally posted on March 17, 2005)

I can't believe there's only one more Hoke Moseley book to go before I'm done with this series (well, there's GRIMHAVEN, but that's a whole other story) There's a plot, and it's nasty, but Willeford could write about the sun setting in Florida and I'd eat it up. Yet another weird and wonderful entry from a sadly missed writer.

A CONFIDENTIAL SOURCE, by Jan Brogan

(originally posted on March 17, 2005)

Hallie Ahern's stuck in Rhode Island working the local beat when she witnesses a murder in her local convenience store. Soon she's mixed up with talk radio hosts, gambling shenanigans and a cute attorney general's office lawyer who's maddeningly evasive about, well, everything. Brogan's second novel pretty much does what a mystery ought to -- in short, entertain. If you like Denise Hamilton or early Jan Burke, this will fit the bill very nicely.

A GOOD DAY TO DIE, by Simon Kernick

(originally published on March 8, 2005)

I don't know how he does it but Kernick manages to write about sociopathic protagonists and not only make them appealing, but make me laugh in the face of some pretty appalling violence. Dennis Milne (the antihero of THE BUSINESS OF DYING) returns to settle old scores, avenge the murder of an old colleague and get himself in heaps of trouble. Great stuff. Look for it in June.

SNOW IS SILENT, by Benjamin Prado

(originally posted on March 8, 2005)

I freely admit that what first grabbed me about this book was the cover -- it's gorgeous, it's moody and it's full of secrets. Just like this effort by Spanish poet and writer Prado, which takes a DOUBLE INDEMNITY-like setup and adds even more weird twists to it. Very noir, very screwy, and to my mind, it doesn't lose a thing in translation. To be released in May.

THE OXFORD MURDERS, by Guillermo Martinez

(originally posted on March 8, 2005)

Why did I enjoy this book so immensely? Probably because I'm a secret sucker for merging science and crime, and this lighthearted tale of an Argentinian mathematics grad student at Oxford who unwittingly gets himself involved in solving a peculiar set of murders is exactly that. The prose is witty and lively and the denouement offers up some serious surprises.

THE BLACK ANGEL, by John Connolly

(originally posted on March 8, 2005)

The Amazon UK reviewer says that this book "should be insane and ludicrous but is instead chilling," and I know exactly why: Connolly's so in command of the story, his writing style and the sense of doom and evil that infects Charlie Parker's life in increasingly dramatic ways, that one can't help but get caught up and marvel at how everything fits together. THE BLACK ANGEL does everything a good crime novel should: it makes you turn the pages, empathize with the characters, and think of it long after you've finished with it. UK pub date in late April, US in June.

THE TROJAN DOG, by Dorothy Johnston

(originally posted on March 3, 2005)

I knew I was into this book when it was only at the end that I realized that not a single dead body popped up -- but this tale of a single mother newly installed in a government job who is embroiled in a downhill spiral involving computer hacking, embezzling and shady non-profit organizations is suspenseful and well-told. Especially poignant are scenes involving the protagonist and her young son, and the struggles she has to raise him in Canberra while her husband is on the other side of the world. This book could be easily overlooked (yay St. Martin's) but don't make that mistake.

CHEAPSKATES, by Charlie Stella

(originally posted on February 23, 2005)

Stella is really one of the best dialogue writers going right now, making exchanges do everything and anything he wants -- move the plot, convey conflict, add character color and give each person an individual voice. The rest of the book's pretty damn good as well, detailing how a seemingly easy setup -- two guys get out of jail and want 50 grand back from one's ex-wife -- goes horribly awry. The decent folk have their gray areas and the sleazes are all too human and Stella oversees them all like a master puppeteer.

PURPLE HIBISCUS, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

(originally posted on February 23, 2005)

What an absolutely sublime first novel. It's literary, it's readable, heartbreaking and wonderfully evocative of a culture very different and yet strangely similar to what North Americans know. Adichie demonstrates the bitter truth of what happens when a man known for his good deeds and altruism with others bestows fear, religious fanaticism and anger upon his loved ones. Really, it's quite brilliant.