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A Compelling Book That Will Make You Assess Your Life: The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave
Know how, as soon as you finish watching The Sixth Sense, you watch the movie again, knowing the truth, and it all lines up? That’s how the prologue is in The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave. Hat tip to The University of Texas at Austin, Apple TV, and Houston’s Blue Willow Bookshop for introducing me to the work of Laura Dave. How do those things connect? Well, my wife watched the adaptation of Dave’s The Last Thing He Told Me on Apple TV and some of those episodes took place in Austin, Texas, and, specifically, the University of Texas football stadium. I stopped, watched those episodes, and then…
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The Batman Sequel 35 Years in the Making: Batman Resurrection
Who knew that one of the best sequels of the year would be a novel to a thirty-five-year-old movie? Batman is my favorite hero. I consider the day the first Tim Burton film with Michael Keaton as Batman/Bruce Wayne debuted—23 June 1989–to be the real Batman Day. No matter what kind of Batman movie has been made in the years since, the ‘89 Batman was special. So when I heard John Jackson Miller was writing a direct sequel to that film, I was thrilled. And boy did Miller deliver. A Direct Sequel Batman: Resurrection starts in Gotham City right as the Joker is flooding downtown with Smilex gas. That would…
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New Book Preview: Have Yourself a Merry Christmas Murder
It may be a week shy of Halloween, but Christmas is just around the corner. And so is my new book. It’s called Have Yourself a Merry Christmas Murder and it will be available next month. But today, I’d like to share a little background to the story and Chapter 1. Hallmark Christmas Movies I love the Hallmark movies even though nearly every one of them is predictable. You know the structure. City Girl returns home to her small town. We meet her family, including the quirky BFF from high school who never left town. There’s the ex-boyfriend/Cute New Guy who now works as a [Small Town Job] and volunteers…
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Meeting Harlan Coban’s Myron Bolitar For The First Time
Where has this book been all my life? On the bookshelf of your local store, just waiting to be read. We’ve Only Just Met After All This Time Harlan Coben has been writing professionally since 1990 but he really became famous for the Myron Bolitar series, starting in 1995. I’ve known about Coben for a long time. Multiple best-sellers every time he publishes a book. Multiple adaptations of his stories on TV. And, recently, the professor of a BBC Maestro online class that helps writers craft thrillers. I’m always game to learn—especially from an acknowledged veteran of the genre—so I bought the class. While listening to Coben talk in the…
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Tom Straw Channels Anthony Bourdain In His Delightful New Book
Every now and then, you hear a concept for a book and it instantly hooks you. This is one of those books. What if an Anthony Bourdain-type celebrity chef who hosts a TV travel show is also a CIA spy? Hooked? Well, I was. You see, I really enjoyed Bourdain’s writings, his TV shows, and his way of seeing the world. His shows were appointment television. His books—always get the audio because he reads them—were bought on day one. So it should come as no surprise that when Tom Straw’s new book was announced, I got it on day one. Prepare the Narrator Sebastian Pike is the Bourdain stand-in in…
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T.J. Newman at Murder by the Book
Fresh off the publication of her third thriller, Worst Case Scenario, author T.J. Newman landed at Houston’s Murder by the Book on Thursday evening for her first visit to the independent bookstore. Local journalists, Natalie J. Harms, interviewed the former flight attendant and what emerged was a lively discussion of the book, her processes, and the winding road she took to becoming a published author. The Key is the Research It’s the question every author fields: where did you get the idea for [Current Book]. Newman told the story of how she researched her first thriller, Falling. She asked pilots about their biggest fears. One commented that it was a…
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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…