Silent Night – A Spenser Holiday
Novel – Robert B. Parker with Helen Brann (Putnam Publishing)
At the time
of his unexpected passing 2010, author Robert B. Parker was hard at work on
writing his first Christmas themed book in the form of a Spenser holiday novel,
Silent Night.
It’s
December in Boston
Parker’s
long time literary agent, Helen Brann was well equipped after working side by
side with the author for 32 years to pick up the reins and finish the tale.
Like many holiday themed novels, the story line is light and makes for easy
reading; if you’re looking for deep thinking, you’ll have to look elsewhere.
This one is all about fun and adventure Spenser style.
White Fire – Douglas Preston and Lincoln
I’ve been
writing for over 30 years and I have always been intrigued by what the dynamic
is between writing teams. One of the most successful duos in fiction writing, Douglas
Preston and Lincoln Child is out with another Pendergast story, White Fire.
Eccentric,
intriguing, and intelligent; Pendergast could be one of the most entertaining,
quirky characters in fiction. As controlled and meticulous as Pendergast is,
the wildcard that is Corrie Swanson seems to be the perfect fictional foil.
Their interactions often serve to ratchet up the tension of the story.
Add to this
winning mix a legendary tale featuring Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde,
a historical serial killer and a current psychotic killer and the story is
bound to take some interesting twists and turns before reaching it’s exciting
conclusion.
King and Maxwell – David Baldacci (Grand
Central Publishing)
From the
time he took the literary world by storm with his debut novel Absolute Power, author David Baldacci
has become one of the most reliably entertaining writers out there. He has
literally created a shelf chock full of memorable characters over a span of
great book series.
The list
includes; John Puller, Will Robie, The Camel Club and of course King and
Maxwell. The last duo, is the name sake of Baldacci’s latest book, King and Maxwell. Former Secret Service
agents turned private investigators, Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are thrust
into an investigation involving a teenager who’s Dad was killed in Afghanistan
In receipt
of a carefully crafted, coded email, sent after his father supposedly died,
Tyler Wingo turns to King and Maxwell for a helping hand and from there the
story is off to the races.
Adding to
the storyline is the built in tension, often between the lines, between King
and Maxwell. The whole male, female partner tension thing certainly isn’t new,
but Baldacci does a masterful job of balancing it in the mix without
overwhelming the story.
Identical – Scott Turow (Grand
Central Publishing)
Long before
Kindle became the e-reader of choice for millions, it was better known for
being the county that was home to attorney/bestselling author Scott Turow’s
collection of colorful denizens of an equally colorful community.
With Identical Turow once again posits an
intriguing concept and develops a story that will most likely keeping you guessing
right to the end. I pride myself on more often than not being able to figure
out where the story will wind up, but this one left me scratching my head.
While Turow
has often displayed the ability to weave intricate, character laden plot lines,
at times in Identical the reader may
be left flapping their arms to keep their head above the character waterline.
While he tries mightily to pull all of the loose strings together, Turow may
have bitten off more than the average reader can chew.
With a bit
of patience, this one is still worth the read, it may just take a bit of extra
focus to keep things straight.
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