Category: Books

Not Much on Futuristic SciFi

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I’ve never read anything by Jeff Somers. I rarely read scifi. Especially futuristic scifi. Yet, I think that I might really enjoy The Electric Church by Jeff Somers. It’s described in THIS REVIEW as “BLADE RUNNER meets THE DIRTY DOZEN, with a dash of Sergio Leone” — so I ask, who wouldn’t like that mix?

I decided to READ THE FIRST CHAPTER FOR FREE. The I decided to read JEFF SOMERS’ BLOG. I’m still interested in reading The Electric Church so my next Amazon order will probably include it… even though I’m not much on futuristic scifi.

Secret Dead Men

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Nothing is as it seems in Duane Swierczynski’s first novel Secret Dead Men. Del Farmer appears to be an FBI agent investigating a mob hit. In reality Farmer is a dead reporter trying to discover the reason behind his own murder. Yeah, you read that correctly. Farmer is a dead guy. Well…

…he isn’t just a dead guy.

See, Farmer has the ability to collect souls of the recently departed. In his quest to discover the secrets behind his own murder, Farmer has collected the souls of about a dozen others…

… and they live in his brain hotel.

See, the brain hotel is a mental construct, that appears like a typical hotel and allows the recently departed to have a semblance of life. People in the brain hotel go on about living [although it’s just their memories for the most part] but they can also interact with each other. Sometimes, if their skills are better suited to getting him out of whatever jam he’s in, Farmer even uses them to pilot the body that he currently inhabits…

…and if you’re still with me, then my guess is you’ll enjoy the novel.

I loved Swierczynski’s The Wheelman and The Blonde. And although Secret Dead Men falls a bit short of being as good, we should remember that Secret Dead Men was Swierczynski’s first novel. It’s definitely worth a look.

The Blonde

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I loved Duane Swierczynski’s The Wheelman which opened in the middle of a bank robbery gone wrong and was a fast paced, violent, at times humorous and always unpredictable story. So I couldn’t wait to read Swierczynski’s next novel The Blonde. I’m happy to say that I was hooked from the opening sentence [one of the best in recent memory]:

“I poisoned your drink.”

From there we are taken on a wild ride as Jack Eisley attempts to learn why he was poisoned by a beautiful blonde named Kelly White and why she is infected and on the run from a covert government agency’s hitman. The Blonde is fast paced, lean and will keep you on the edge of your seat as the pages fly by. Duane Swierczynski has another winner that left me excited to start on Secret Dead Men!
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Update: Duane Swierczynski just posted up the paperback cover to The Blonde which will be available October 30th!

Anyone Going to Stumptown?

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Greg Rucka, one of my favorite novelists, has announced that he’ll be writing a new detective series called Stumptown that takes place in the same world as his novels!Although Rucka has been writing award-winning [Whiteout — soon to be a major motion picture] and fan favorite comics [Queen & Country, Gotham Central, etc] for some time, it is his five Atticus Kodiac novels [Finder, Keeper, Smoker, Shooting at Midnight, and Critical Space] that put him on my “must buy” list.

Rucka has a new Atticus Kodiac novel, Patriot Acts, coming out next month.  It’s already on my pre-order list!

No Country for Old Men

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JoBlo.com scored an advance look at the poster for “No Country for Old Men” which is based on Cormac McCarthy’s novel of the same name [which I have sitting in my to be read pile].Llewelyn Moss is out hunting when he comes across a pickup truck surrounded by dead men. In the truck he finds a stash of heroin and two million dollars in cash. Moss takes the money and “sets off a chain reaction of catastrophic violence” that results in more murders and Moss on the run.

The screenplay is by Joel Coen [who also directed] and Ethan Coen. “No Country for Old Men” stars Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and Woody Harrelson. You can see the movie when it opens on November 21, 2007.

Trouble is Their Business

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Variety has announced that Frank Miller is set to adapt Raymond Chandler’s “Trouble Is My Business” for the big screen with Clive Owen taking on the starring role of Phillip Marlowe. The hope is that this will kick off a series of films with Owen returning in each as the classic PI.Miller and Owen worked together on “Sin City” and so their re-teaming seems a natural. Owen was quoted as saying: “Frank Miller knows more about noir than anyone I have ever met, and clearly the writing of Raymond Chandler has been an enormous influence on his life and his work. Miller adapting Chandler seemed like a perfect match.” I couldn’t agree more.

Zombie Survival Guide

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Most ZONErs have a love for the zombie genre. We dig all things Romero. We can’t wait for each new issue of The Walking Dead. We knew about Zack Snyder [he directed the Dawn of the Dead re-make] way before 300. If you fall into this category [emphasis on gory], then you may want to check out The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead by Max Brooks.

I say you may want to check it out because, unlike his highly recommended World War Z, the Zombie Survival Guide is just that… a survival guide. Where World War Z focused on well written stories of survival in a world of zombies, the Survival Guide is what it claims to be… a manual. There’s no doubt that it’s a cool idea. Brooks should be commended for creating a fun handbook for zombie fanatics. The guide is a well thought out and entertaining… manual.

I think that fans of the genre are going to really enjoy the ZSG, but I don’t want to mislead anyone into thinking that it’s a prequel to Brook’s highly rated World War Z or even a novel about zombies. It’s survival guide… a manual.

The Zombie Survival Guide rates a C+.

Animal Factory Quinella

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Ron Decker was on top of the world. Barely old enough to be considered an adult, yet he had it all — money, cars, a woman, and a thriving drug business. Thriving that it until he was busted. Suddenly it was all gone. What didn’t go to his lawyers was taken by his girl and soon enough she was gone too.

Decker ends up in San Quentin where he’s got a shot at getting out in two years if he can stay out of trouble. Trouble is, he’s young and not built for prison. Now he’s surrounded by hardened cons who can’t be trusted. A race war is brewing and Decker realizes that he’s in way over his head. When a powerful older con offers his friendship, Decker isn’t sure how to react. One wrong move and his two year stint will become a death sentence.

Animal Factory was written by real-life ex-con Eddie Bunker who not only wrote several critically acclaimed books [No Beast So Fierce and Education of a Felon, to name two], but also had a career as an actor.[probably best known for his role as Mr. Blue in Reservoir Dogs].

Interestingly enough, the book was also made into a movie starring Edward Furlong, Willem Dafoe, Danny Trejo, Mickey Rourke and Eddie Bunker and directed by Steve Buscemi.

Animal Factory the book rates a B
Animal Factory the movie rates a C+

Pike Takes the Lead

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Robert Crais is one of my favorite authors. I’ve read [and enjoyed] all of his novels… and I’m proud to say that I’ve been with his sigature characters Elvis Cole and Joe Pike since their first appearance in The Monkey’s Raincoat. In each previous novel, Cole was always center stage with Pike coming in to back-up his partner. Pike was the tough, no-nonsense hardened gunman. We knew little about him other than he had a strict code of honor, he was loyal and he never backed up.

With The Watchman, Crais turns the tables and gives Joe Pike center stage when he agrees to protect a young heiress who has become the target of a hit squad. Seems she was in the wrong place at the wrong time and now the US Government wants her as a witness and a terrorist wants her dead. Pike is more than up to the task of protecting her [especially with Elvis Cole backing him]. The book is fast paced and just as good as the previous novels featuring Cole and Pike. I just wonder if long time readers are going to like the way Crais has filled in some of the blanks about Pike’s life. As for me, I can’t wait for their next “case” — no matter who is at center stage.

Hundred-Dollar Baby

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Robert B. Parker’s Hundred-Dollar Baby is his 34th Spenser novel. A new one comes out every year, and when you’ve been reading them for as long as I have, each new novel is like a visit from an old friend. That’s both good and bad. It’s good because the characters have a long history and are well-defined. It’s bad because after so many years the reader can anticipate how the story will unfold. With a long-running series like the Spenser novels, the journey becomes more important than the final destination. Well… normally that’s the case.

Hundred-Dollar Baby breaks that mold. Sure, the story begins like most Spenser novels when he accepts case for a young woman [who first appeared in two earlier books, Ceremony (1982) and Taming a Sea Horse (1986)]. The story moves along in a very predictable fashion until about 3/4 of the way through when it takes on an unexpected twist. Hundred-Dollar Baby concludes with one of the most memorable endings of any Spenser novel.

If you’ve never read Robert B. Parker’s Spenser, then I’d suggest that you start with The Goldwolf Manuscript [the first in the series]. If you used to read the Spenser novels, but drifted away, then Hundred-Dollar Baby would be a good place to rekindle your friendship.

Huston Continues His Streak

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Charlie Huston just keeps hitting homeruns.

No, he’s not a baseball player. Huston’s a writer. And a very good one. I told you about how much I enjoyed Huston’s writing HERE. Now he’s back with his second Joe Pitt novel called No Dominion. It’s even better than Already Dead [and you know how much I liked it]!
So who is Joe Pitt? Let’s let Huston tell you in his own words:
Joe is a kind of a detective. Kind of. In the same way he’s kind of alive. Duck around the issue as long as you want, sooner or later it’s gonna bite you. See, Joe’s a vampire. Yeah, a blood sucker. But not in the usual way, least not in the way you’re thinking from the books and the movies. Joe’s got a sickness, same sickness a lot of other poor slobs got. And all of them are creeping around Manhattan, trying to stay out of the public eye, out of the sun. Got themselves organized into Clans, each one laying claim to some turf. Wanna stay alive, gotta be with a Clan. Except Joe. He doesn’t hold with that way of life. That way is no life at all as far as he’s concerned. Ha, life, that’s funny. Sort of.
At any rate, after you check out Joe Pitt, you might want to try Huston’s Hank Thompson trilogy. [You should start with Caught Stealing, then Six Bad Things, and finish with A Dangerous Man.] They’re as good as the Joe Pitt books. And it doesn’t get much better than that!

King Loves Huston

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One of the cool things about running the ZONE is getting to be one of the first to tell you about cool movies, comics, tv shows, artists and authors.

I’ve been talking up Charlie Huston since his first novel, Caught Stealing. I selected him as my favorite author of 2006 HERE. Guess who else is a Charlie Huston fan. Stephen King!
Stephen King said this about Charlie Huston in a recent interview: “When you came in we were talking about Charlie Huston, this guy who has written a trilogy. One’s called Caught Stealing and one’s called Six Bad Things and the last one, which I’m reading now, is called The Dangerous Man. I feel the same way…” …you don’t want the series to end.

Just another example of ZONErs being ahead of the pack!