Dave's Fiction Warehouse

In which I bloviate about books, TV, movies, politics and other stuff.

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Here’s a pretty good summer read

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My brother is a far more voracious reader than I am, so a good part of my paperback collection consists of titles he’s passing along. That’s how I came by Sean Doolittle‘s fourth novel, “The Cleanup.” Mike gave it to me months ago, but I only recently got around to reading it. In terms of plot and and pace, it’s a big step up from “Rain Dogs,” […]

The supernatural in crime fiction

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In the James Lee Burke novel “Jolie Blon’s Bounce,” he introduces a character named Legion Guidry, a man who appears by the end of the book to be, if not the Devil himself, then at least pretty high up in Lucifer’s chain of command. Burke has flirted with the supernatural before, with the ghosts of “In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead” and the dead partner who […]

Norwegian writer impresses local man

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At the recommendation of my former colleague Peter (Detectives Beyond Borders), I just read Karin Fossum’s “He Who Fears the Wolf.” I recently decided I needed to broaden my reading list to include more female authors and more foreign ones. Fossum, with her stalwart fans and arsenal of glowing reviews, seemed like a good place to start. I had serious doubts during the first scene: a madman […]

Mike’s verdict: Rankin has done better

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My brother Mike, whose unstated mission in life is to read every mystery and thriller ever written, has this to say on Ian Rankin’s latest, “The Naming of the Dead.” “I have to admit I was just a little disappointed. It seemed somewhat disjointed. There were some great lines there, though, some real laugh-out-loud ones. It seems to be setting the stage for a battle royale between […]

The worst book I’ve read this year …

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… is “A Small Death in Lisbon” by Robert Wilson. Actually, it’s not the worst — that distinction goes to Harlen Coben’s dreadful “Promise Me” — I just liked the best-worst symmetry of this and the preceding post. Still, I didn’t much like this book. While I admire the author’s ambition and research, this is one of those yarns where meticulous geographic detail actually undermines the story. […]

The best book I’ve read this year …

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… is Martin Cruz Smith’s “Stalin’s Ghost.” The morose and laconic Arkady Renko returns for the sixth time since his debut in the brilliant “Gorky Park” of 1982. This time he’s back in Moscow, which has changed a great deal in 25 years. It’s a city where the excesses of capitalism and corruption have engendered an odd nostalgia for the days of Stalinist Russia — even as […]