Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Escapist Fun

The Expats by Chris Pavone

by Leave a Comment

The Story: Kate Moore’s husband is offered a cushy job in Luxembourg, so they pack up their life in Washington, DC, and go. What no one in her life knows is that Kate–who up until the move seemed to be a pencil pusher at firm in Washington DC, and in Luxembourg is a stay-at-home mom–wasn’t just any pencil pusher but was in fact in the CIA. And soon enough, weird things start happening in Luxembourg that ping her CIA-dar. Another American couple moves to town, […]

Ian Flemming Goes Cozy and Slightly Comedic

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

by Leave a Comment

I don’t know how John Scalzi would feel about his work being labeled “cozy” but that’s basically what Starter Villain is, a cozy adventure riffing in Scalzi fashion this time on the James Bond spy thriller. If you’ve read any of Scalzi’s more recent work, especially The Kaiju Preservation Society, Starter Villain will be kind of familiar. Take a down on his luck smarter than he might initially appear regular person, a former journalist now substitute teacher named Charlie, and throw him into an improbably […]

Coming soon to a screen near you

Damascus Station by David McCloskey

by 3 Comments

Bingo: Politics, Passport: Syria This is a book that’s begging to be made into a movie, or maybe a prestige mini series.  It ticks all the boxes.   Author David McCloskey, is a former CIA agent, so will have some great anecdotes for the promotional tour. Main character Sam Joseph would be a great role for someone trying to break into the action hero gig before the old guys hog all the lead roles forever using CGI to stay young.  There are also strong female characters […]

If James Bond Was Into Go Instead of Baccarat…

Shibumi by Trevanian

by Leave a Comment

Trevanian’s Shibumi is an international-man-of-mystery-spy-thriller. I think it’s also a sendup of the genre, capitalism, Orientalism, etc. But in a fun way. Like a Shaun of the Dead way. Here’s the back cover blurb form the 1983 printing of the 1979 book: Shibumi: The Code of the Perfect Assassin The Secret of the Perfect Lover If you think that sounds cool then you are in. If you think it sounds dumb, don’t bother. The protagonist of the book is the mysterious and suave and condescending […]

More Than a Female James Bond

The Night of Morningstar by Peter O'Donnell

by 4 Comments

This is a recreational reread for me. I love the pulp novels of Peter O’Donnell and his exciting secret agent, Modesty Blaise, and reread the 13 novels every couple years. Modesty, in this novel, works with her equally competent partner, Willie Garvin, to combat a worldwide organization attempting to take over the world. In the other books, her beginnings as the head of a European crime syndicate is mentioned, but in this story, we watch her early retirement as she and Willie have decided crime […]

Smash Cut! Flashback!

Transcription by Kate Atkinson

by 4 Comments

In Transcription by Kate Atkinson, Juliet Armstrong finds herself swept along the currents of World War II to become “someone’s girl,” making tea and transcribing the audio recordings of homegrown Nazi sympathizers. Having found my way to Kate Atkinson’s writing by way of Life After Life, I’ve now read most of her published work. She is one of the most versatile writers I’ve ever read but with Transcription, she seems to have fallen prey to that thing that happens when a tv show or movie is […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo