Mark Stevens's Blog, page 6

Michael Connelly, “Fair Warning”

Question: How many things does Michael Connelly do well? Answer: All of them. Premise, delivery, execution, dialogue, tension, plots and a grounded, heavy dose of plausibility. Connelly lets us in on the processing of cases. How his investigators think. He’s … Continue reading →

“Erasure,” Percival Everett

Someday, like a lot of things, we’ll figure this all out. No, it’s not the biggest issue out there. Yes, it’s a good thing the publishing business went through this substantive self-reflection. Went? No. It’s still going on. It’s still … Continue reading →

Viv Albertine, “Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys.”

Memoirists of all varieties, here’s one key to hold your reader’s interest—be vulnerable. Rip yourself open and let us see all your weaknesses. It’s what makes you human. It’s what keeps readers burning through the pages.  Viv Albertine writes fearlessly … Continue reading →

Don Winslow. “City in Ruins”

Meg Gardiner, “The Dark Corners of the Night”

Not one person who reads The Dark Corners of the Night will think, for a second, that Meg Gardiner failed to deliver on the title. Dark, check. Corners, check. And, yes, plenty of night. Caitlin Hendrix’s latest prey, in the … Continue reading →

Will Hermes, “Lou Reed: The King of New York”

I had just turned 10 years old when The Beatles popped up on Ed Sullivan and from that moment forward, I was tuned to the major rock and roll acts of the 1960’s. The Stones, The Kinks, The Who, The … Continue reading →

James Sallis, “Eye of the Cricket”

As a public service, here is a list of the writers, artists, and characters mentioned in Eye of the Cricket, the fourth entry in the Lew Griffin series by James Sallis: James Joyce, Jorge Luis Borges, Michelangelo, Hank Williams, Patsy … Continue reading →

Barry Lopez, “Horizon”

When I think about Horizon years from now, I will picture Barry Lopez bobbing in the frigid ocean waters underneath the ice shelf in Antarctica: “It was like swimming through the interior of a drowned cathedral, gliding above the aisles … Continue reading →

Ron Shelton, “The Church of Baseball – The Making of Bull Durham”

The movie “Bull Durham” is ranked No. 1 on the list of best baseball movies of all time by MLB.com and I completely concur. Writer Will Leitch (on MLB.com): “The conversations on the mound. The tricks for getting out of … Continue reading →

I.S. Berry, “The Peacock and the Sparrow”

A street “too nondescript and uninspired to warrant a name.” A frayed rattan ceiling fan buzzes “like a dying mosquito.” And a CIA station chief described this way: “Every day he wore buttoned white shirts and khakis and penny loafers, … Continue reading →