I didn't know what to expect when I found this at the local Wal-Mart, like a ruby in the pile of cow-flop that passes for the rest of what Wally World considers literature. I'd seen the movies and liked two of them, and I needed something to read, so I gave it a shot.

It's fantastic. Every little nuance and side story is right on the money-- people who barely get mentioned in the movies have whole story lines devoted to them, and all of them weave together in ways that make it seem more like a true-crime book than a novel. It's hard to believe that anybody would be good enough to make it up from nothing, have it this complex, and support its own weight.

This is one of the books I try to read every year or two, and it's always as good as it was the first time.