Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

I Ain’t No Senator’s Son

Ah, Treachery! by Ross Thomas

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I know I say this in every Ross Thomas review but man, could we use this guy right now. Take for instance this one Ah, Treachery! which was the last book he completed while he was alive. Thomas is able to do a running commentary on Iran Contra, the boot-shaking fear the military industrial complex had at the Clinton election, and the foibles of American governance all in one nice, neatly-written crime tale with low rent heroes and patriotic villains. And he’s able to do it all […]

Union Men

The Porkchoppers by Ross Thomas

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Anytime I read a Ross Thomas novel, I lament that he or someone like him is not around to capture these times. True, we live in an era of Peak Cynicism thanks to Trump and his gang. But it’s not like the late-60s/early-70s era which this novel takes place was some sort of political paradise either. I’ve been itching to read a Ross Thomas novel since Briarpatch came on air and decided to finally knock this one out as it’s been on my TBR list for a […]

The Place That God Forgot

The Fourth Durango by Ross Thomas

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Read as part of CBR11 Bingo: summer read. I wasted too much of my life not reading Ross Thomas novels. I’ve been going through them the last two years and he’s become one of my all-time favorite writers. The “Elmore Leonard of politics” label is quite apt and The Fourth Durango, a tale packed with great characters and a fun premise, is one of the reasons why. The book itself is part mystery, part thinking person’s “thriller” and part excuse to get a bunch of people in […]

Red Harvest

The Fools In Town Are On Our Side by Ross Thomas

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Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest is perhaps my favorite crime novel of all-time. It inspired one of my favorite movies of all time: Miller’s Crossing. It also inspired the Akira Kurosawa classic Yojimbo, which I have not seen, though I want to. Point being: I obviously have a thing for the specific genre where a political actor is caught in a corrupt city and plays both sides against each other for their own benefit. I don’t know Ross Thomas’ inspirations for Fools in Town but I’d be stunned if Red Harvest wasn’t one […]

The Ratf#%^ers

The Seersucker Whipsaw by Ross Thomas

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Ratf#%^&ing has been in the news a lot the last couple of years because of the Trump/Russia scandal. Outside influence affecting democratic elections is a time honored tradition, and few are more familiar with it than the United States, which has been practicing it for decades. It’s practically the CIA’s métier at this point. It’s a violent, imperialistic practice ripe for skewing. Enter Ross Thomas. This is one of his earlier novels and apparently it’s influenced by his real life adventures in the African political […]

We Need Ross Thomas For These Times

Out on the Rim by Ross Thomas

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Headline really says it all but I suppose I need to explain why. I watched Vice today and it had to be one of the most bleak, cynical movies I’ve ever seen. It was excellent. And it reminded me of why I need Ross Thomas novels in my life, anytime really but especially now…to ward off the creeping nihilism that comes from American politics. Thomas is a cynic too but he doesn’t let that get in the way of entertainment. His books are fun and none perhaps […]



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