Well, it's beginning to get colder, the day's are growing shorter, and the leaves are going out in a blaze of glory. This is October Country (I couldn't resist. I stole that from Ray Bradbury.) It's time to start hunkering down under the covers with a good book. Here's a few you might like.
Series
Darkest Fear - Harlan Coben - ($7.99/$.50, copyright 2000, 319 pages, Paperback)
This is one of Coben's Myron Bolitar novels. Myron is a sports agent who used to play pro basketball until he had his knee injured. He also used to be a lot of other things. In this one, he's approached by a former lover. She needs his help because her son needs a bone marrow transplant and the donor has disappeared and - 0h, yes - Myron is the father. There's an old, bitter rivalry involved, Myron's cast of colorful friends are still here including Win - the roommate and sociopath - Esmeralda, and Big Cindi, and there's plenty of Myron's trademark sarcasm. Coben mixes this with the story of a serial killer, a rich family, and the FBI. At times funny, at times suspenseful, and at times emotional. I enjoyed it.
Alex Cross, Run - James Patterson ( $10.00/$.50, copyright 2013, 378 pages, paperback)
I've mentioned Patterson's books in the past - how he's got all these different series' where he has co-writers - but he writes the Alex Cross series himself. In this one, Alex is faced with a pair or serial killers and a stalker who has a personal agenda against him - a stalker who actually frames him for assault. What I like about the Alex Cross books is that Patterson brings Cross's personal life - specifically his family - into every book and this one is particularly effective because it involves a sub-plot that revolves around a recently added foster child. I enjoyed it.
Off The Shelf
Last month, I added a new category - Top Ten - that led me to re-read some books that have stayed with me. The book I mentioned then was one that I pulled off of one of my bookshelves. Right behind it, I found this one which I really wanted to revisit. Hence, the start of another new category.
King Rat - James Clavell ($1.95/$1.95, copyright 1962, 352 pages, Paperback)
This book is set in the Changi Prison Camp on the island of Singapore during 1945. It's the first novel that Clavell had published and there's an auto-biographical aspect to it since he was actually imprisoned there. The prisoners are a mix of British (or British colonists) and Americans. Conditions are terrible and people do what they can to survive. Although some of the characters are stereotypes, the story revolves around several fully fleshed-out people: the King, an American Corporal and Wheeler-dealer who's living well; Flight Lieutenant Philip Marlowe, a young man who the King takes under his wing; and the Provost Marshal Robin Grey, the King's nemesis. This is Clavell's shortest book but, in my opinion, his most powerful. There are a lot of things going on here but, in the end, it is a story of humanity stripped to it's basic elements. I enjoyed it.
Don't forget the Halloween falls on a Friday this year so I think it's a law that you can celebrate for the whole weekend. Whatever you do, stay safe and ....
Keep reading.
