Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Elementary, My Dear Douglas

Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abul-Jabbar and Amy Waterhouse

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This is the story of Mycroft Holmes, older brother to the famous Sherlock Holmes. If you are a fan of Sherlock at all you know Mycroft as the meddling older brother, the suit, the government lackey who is constantly pestering and annoying Sherlock by trying to get him to do things. How do you think Mycroft sees the situation? This book actually starts before that. Sherlock is still a teenager (possibly early 20s) and living at school and Mycroft is the young Secretary to the […]

Oooooh New York…

Twisted City by Jason Starr

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After several false starts, I was finally able to finish a Jason Starr novel. The results are about what I expected. Jim Thompson, whom Starr is no doubt cribbing from here, is one of my favorite writers. He writes psychological thrillers in which characters are forced into difficult circumstances that are largely beyond their control and all of their choices are bad. No one is better at identifying the dark heart of chaos beneath what we as humans pass for order. Starr is no Thompson […]

I Loved Laura, Except for . . .

Laura by Vera Caspary

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Another book from my personal challenge of reading the source material for favorite classic movies: Laura, by Vera Caspary. This book is a detective noir, as hard-boiled and cynical as any of the genre, but written by a woman. It was originally published, a la Dickens, as a serial, “Ring Twice for Laura,” in Colliers Magazine in 1942/43. The  classic film noir, starring Gene Tierney as Laura and Dana Andrews as a detective who finds himself falling in love with a dead woman as he […]

Ah Memories

The Lost Night by Andrea Baartz

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Giving this one a new-author-graded-curve 4 stars. Because while there are several things in The Lost Night that don’t work, I think Andrea Baartz is a talented writer and I’d like to see more of what she can come up with. Let’s focus on the positive first. As I said above, Baartz can write. It’s rare for a first-time novelist, especially one writing a low grade thriller, to have the hang of their style but she knows what she’s doing. It helps that she’s an accomplished journalist; […]

Not Enough Egypt for Me in This Preposterous Thriller

The Pharaoh Key by Preston & Child

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Whenever I feel the need for some literary comfort food my first instinct is to grab a mystery or crime thriller. I think it’s the combination of thrills with puzzle-solving that appeals to me. The title of this paperback. The Pharaoh Key, jumped out at me because it not only promised a mystery, but it combined another one of my interests, ancient Egypt. I have read some other books by this author team, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, featuring their investigator Agent Prendergast, so I […]

All in the Family

The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz

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There are books that try way too hard to charm me and often miss the mark. A Gentleman in Moscow comes to mind. I like to laugh and I like to be charmed but at a certain point, I need to feel like I’m interacting with real characters and not charm avatars. The Spellman Files walks a very fine line. It has no discernible plot and that usually leaves me frustrated. I read to read stories; stories hook me and keep me engaged. If the quality of writing can […]



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