North River is a warm-hearted and touching love story written about pre-WWII New York City, a doctor with a conscience, and a tough cookie – or should I say cannoli—named Rose. Dr. Jim Delaney is the son of a long-gone Tammany Hall big shot who came back from WWI emotionally scarred and physically unable to practice as the surgeon he longed to be. He returned to a bitter and angry wife named Molly and a little girl named Grace who didn’t remember him, and he […]
Wallender must find the targets of a vengeful woman before she does
This was my first foray into the world of Swedish detective Kurt Wallender, and while the main character shares the same alienated, depressed profile of so many of his counterparts in the Scandinavian police procedural literary genre, there is something else to Mankell’s protagonist that makes for a different and interesting reading experience. Wallender’s angst as he goes about his duties does not stem from some personality or mental disorder, but rather from the social and cultural decline he feels is swirling around him, day […]
Kvothe Grows Up in Kingkiller Chronicles, Volume 2
As compelling as his debut novel in the “Kingkiller Chronicles” trilogy, Rothfuss’s second tome nonetheless has a very different feel to it, almost like three distinct novels. It also has some weaknesses that were not evident in his first novel, but for all that, it is an engrossing read. This is the second day of our hero Kvothe’s retelling of his own story, and it presents him at the tender age of 16 leaving his beloved University and heading out into the real world where […]
The grit and flavor of a Lehane novel, set in Brooklyn
This book by a young Dennis Lehane protégé socked me in the gut. It is about a small tragedy in a depressed and ramshackle corner of Brooklyn, which has reverberations that reach deep into the ethnically mixed population of Red Hook and teaches them—and us, the reader– about loss, grief, redemption and hope. It is a sultry summer night, the bars and street corners are hopping, and teen friends Valerie and June are bored and antsy. They decide to go for a midnight float […]
Preston & Child’s Pendergast Series has Lost its Heart
Perhaps I’ve read too many of the Pendergast series by Preston & Child, but I found Blue Labyrinth to be, well, just plain cold. That is, it didn’t draw me in or make me root for the eccentric protagonist, or anyone else for that matter. My feeling is that if you’re going to write a series about an unusual person, you need to reveal more and more of the man’s character, backstory, flaws and strengths to hold a reader’s interest. Instead, we continue to get […]
Adult “Harry Potter”-style series is irresistible
This first novel in the Kingkiller Chronicles is a brilliant addition to the fantasy genre and already has a huge fan following. A sort of adult Harry Potter, our multi-named protagonist is everything you want in a hero: a warrior/musician who is strong, courageous, brilliant, respectful of women … and full of magic. And yet the novel begins with Kvothe as a broken man tending an inn in the middle of nowhere. How did he get that way? The rest of the novel is his […]
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