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Your Emotions Will Soar With T.J. Newman’s Worst Case Scenario
I should have known I’d cry. When I listened to T.J. Newman’s first book, FALLING, last year, the story evoked an emotional response. The same thing happened when I devoured her second, DROWNING, but this second time, it was doubled. Now, with WORST CASE SCENARIO, she has tripled the emotional impact that a story can bring. And I’m so happy for it. Pitch-Perfect Elevator Pitches A former flight attendant, Newman’s first two thrillers take place on planes. The elevator pitches are short enough that you could speak them even if you’re going up a single floor. FALLING: A pilot is given a choice: crash the plane or we kill your…
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The #1 Lawyer Features a Flawed Hero, And That’s What Makes It Great
Sometimes, you need a lawyer. And sometimes, you want to read about one. Fresh off my first political thriller in many a year (as reviewed last week), I wanted to dive into a legal thriller. Probably stemmed from my enjoyment of the Apple TV version of Scott Turrow’s “Presumed Innocent” but the book I selected was part of the original group of books at a local grocery store. And, yeah, it’s another James Patterson book. The #1 Lawyer by James Patterson and Nancy Allen was published earlier this year so it’s still in hardback. It’s also in audio which is how I consumed this story. Kevin Stillwell does a great…
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In James Patterson’s Blow Back, You’ll Believe a President Can Go Off the Rails
Can you really go wrong reading a novel with the name of James Patterson on the cover? For the second novel in my research into Grocery Store books, I selected a thriller by Patterson and Brendan DuBois, Blow Back. Say what you want about Patterson’s output, but the man knows a good story when he sees it, and he and his team can write remarkably good loglines. For this one, it’s: An American President goes Insane. It’s been quite awhile since I last read a political/military thriller, but what I got was what I expected: multiple POVs, multiple threads, all leading to a grand finale. This book delivered on all…
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Grocery Store Books and My First Stuart Woods Novel
We’re all book nerds here, right? Do you know where all bookstores in your town are located? Do you frequent independent bookstores where the folks see you and greet you by name? When you travel, do you plan on visiting bookstores in other towns? Do you sign up for newsletters from your favorite authors? Do you know publication dates of books by your favorite authors and clear your reading schedule so you’ll be able to start reading the day that book is released? Do you max out your allowable checkouts at your local library? Do you have more books in your house than you’ll ever be able to read in…
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Another Visit to Patterson, New Jersey, with Andy Carpenter, Lawyer and Dog Lover
What is it with storms, power outages, and Andy Carpenter? Beryl: The Rest of the Story I wrote last week’s post during my Friday lunch hour and went home to a house without electricity. Last Saturday, I returned to Lowe’s to buy two more 5-gallon gas cans (daily gas runs were getting old) and had half a mind to buy a second generator. An older worker at Lowe’s said I didn’t need to because my 6,500-watt generator was more than enough to run all the fans, window AC, and the fridge. The wife and I cleaned the fridge and plugged it in. Within the hour, the thing was making ice.…
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Dispatches from Houston in the Aftermath of Hurricane Beryl
Who would have thought an approaching hurricane would have been the easy part? Hurricanes are scary things. Their approach can knife fear down your spine, give your stomach that funny feeling you get when you ride a roller coaster, and cause you to lose sleep. I experienced all those things last weekend as Beryl—which had already devastated Jamaica—opted to head north to Houston. The Hurricane Itself The wife and I plus our two dogs and a cat went to bed on Sunday night expecting Beryl to arrive in the wee small hours of the morning. Storms are always scarier at night. We had spent the day prepping the house, staging…
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Jaws the Book vs. Jaws the Movie: Which is Better?
I finally did something I’ve been wanting to do for many summers: read Peter Benchley’s Jaws. The original hardcover came out in February 1974 and the movie the following summer. I’ll admit that it took me quite a long time to see the movie. I can’t remember the first time I saw it, but it might’ve been on one of the network broadcasts. It wasn’t until the 1990s that I finally saw the whole thing. But what about the book? I remember my mom reading the paperback in the late 70s. This is one with the movie poster as its cover so you can imagine how much my pre-teen self…
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“Hit Man” is Counter Movie Programming for Summer 2024
Well, that wasn’t what I expected. But maybe I should have. “Hit Man” debuted on Netflix last Friday after spending a few days in the theater. Glen Powell stars as Gasy Johnson, a college professor who moonlights as a hit man for the cops. No, he’s not really a hit man. He just take a meeting, gets the perps on tape asking for a murder-for-hire, and then the cops swoop in. The movie was inspired by a Texas Monthly article by Skip Hollandsworth dating back twenty-four years. Gary isn’t just some ordinary joe meeting people in bars or restaurants. He’s a psychology professor who digs deep into his marks, figuring…
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Always Strive for Your Dreams
Every year during the first week of June, my mind drifts back to the first week of June 1944. The week leading up to D-Day. Even now, eighty years later, the magnitude of the courage of the men who stormed those beaches never fails to take my breath away. There have been many books written and documentaries compiled, oral histories recorded and movies filmed. One in particular is Saving Private Ryan which features a grueling opening segment. As horrific as those opening minutes are, you know it’s all just make-believe and that it’s only a taste of what really went down that morning. Every year, I look at the photos…
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Start Your Summer Reading Season With Tom Straw and Matt Goldman
I walked into Murder by the Book on Wednesday knowing one author. I left knowing two. I’ve enjoyed Tom Straw’s writing before I knew who Tom Straw was. Back in the fall of 2009, the second season of “Castle” premiered on our TV screens, but HEAT WAVE, the first book “written by” Richard Castle, showed up on bookshelves. What was this meta magic? Nearly every fall after 2009, when a new Castle season started there was a Castle book. What made the books great was this: unlike the TV show characters Castle and Beckett, their counterparts, Jameson Rook and Nikki Heat, actually got together. It was the mirror universe of…