Bruce DeSilva's Blog, page 4
July 24, 2020
A Tribute to the Great James Lee Burke
[image error]Fellow writers, including me and my wife, the poet Patricia Smith, congratulate the great James Lee Burke on the publication of his 40th book, A Private Cathedral. Patricia and I appear about 6:43 into the short video that kicks off with Stephen King.
To watch the video, please click here.
May 9, 2020
“The Architect” — Patricia Smith’s Stunning Tribute to Little Richard
[image error]Little Richard, who died yesterday at age 87, was approaching 60 when my wife Patricia Smith, one of our greatest living poets, wrote this tribute to him. Please give the stunning audio file a listen: https://soundcloud.com/user-975826890/recording48
April 16, 2020
April 12, 2020
Patricia Smith Performs: Prepare to Be Astounded
[image error]Just released recording of my brilliant wife Patricia Smith performing some of her poetry. If you haven’t heard her before, prepare to be astounded. To hear it, click here.
April 7, 2020
My Review of “Broken,” Don Winslow’s New Collection of Propulsive Novellas
[image error]Don Winslow, whose work includes a dozen of the finest crime novels written in the last 20 years, displays all of his strengths, including propulsive narration, compelling characters, and a tight, staccato writing style, in Broken, a collection of six remarkable novellas.
The length of his novels has been swelling in recent years, his latest, The Force, exceeding 700 pages; so these tales, each about 50 pages long, are a departure for him. They vary in tone, but each, in its own way, conveys the sense that the people and/or American institutions he portrays are broken.
One yarn, “The San Diego Zoo,” does it with a touch of humor, its first sentence, “No one knows how the chimp got the revolver,” making it virtually impossible not to read on. Another, “The Last Ride,” does it with a dose of righteous anger as a Trump supporter, horrified by the sight of a little girl in a cage, sets out to reunite her with her mother in defiance of his Border Patrol superiors.
For the full text of my review for the Associated Press, please click here.
March 3, 2020
“Eight Perfect Murders,” An Ingeniously Plotted Homage to Classic Mystery Stories–My Book Review
[image error]Several years ago, fictional Boston bookstore owner Malcolm Kershaw wrote a blog post listing the eight most perfect murders in crime fiction–among them: Agatha Christie’s The A.B.C. Murders, James M. Cain’s Double Indemnity and Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train.
Now, in Peter Swanson’s Eight Perfect Murders, an FBI agent thinks someone is using Kershaw’s list as a script. As he and the agent work together to see if it’s true, the connections appear real, but soon the reader begins to suspect that Kershaw is not all that he seems.
The result is a a suspenseful, well-written homage to classic mystery stories that offers both a bleak noir atmosphere and the charms of a puzzle mystery.
For the full text of my review for The Associated Press, please click here.
C.J. Box’s New Joe Pickett Novel, “Open Range” — My Book Review
[image error]In Open Season, the 20th novel in C.J. Box’s series featuring Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett, Joe comes to the rescue when his old pal Nate Romanowski is accused of a series of sniper shootings.
The result is a fast-paced, tightly written crime novel that includes, among other things, an arrogant but incompetent local sheriff, a fatal grizzly bear attack, a famous movie director, an illegal prescription drugs racket, planted evidence, a love triangle, a renegade falconer, a kidnapping, several more shootings and a jail break.
The main plot, along with several subplots, is filled with so many twists and red herrings that Box keeps readers guessing almost to the end.
For the full text of my review for The Associated Press, please click here.
February 29, 2020
My Review: P.I. Leonid McGill returns in `Trouble Is What I Do’
[image error]Many years ago, a Mississippi bluesman named Catfish Worry had an affair with the daughter of a wealthy white banker. Their dalliance produced a son who could pass for white.
That son is now a wealthy banker himself. He is also a vicious racist. When he learns that Worry plans to expose the family’s history, he hires a hit team to take the old man out. Worry counters with Leonard McGill, a private eye whose network of underworld acquaintances are a match for anyone Charles’ money can buy.
The threat of violence looms over every page of Walter Mosley’s Trouble is What I Do, but action fans may be disappointed that the gun-play occurs offstage. The charms of this short novel lie in Mosley’s memorable characters, his portrayal of the world McGill inhabits and the author’s uniquely lyrical writing style.
For the full text of my review for the Associated Press, please click here.
February 19, 2020
My Review of “Salt River,” the New Doc Ford Crime Novel by Randy Wayne White
[image error]Thirty years have zipped by since Randy Wayne White first introduced readers to Doc Ford and his pals in Sanibel Flats, and from time to time the mostly solid crime fiction series seems to falter. Salt River, the 26th Ford novel, is one of those times.
White’s prose is better than OK, of course, and Doc’s fans will be pleased that old friends, including the protagonist’s love interest, Hannah Smith, and his aging hippie pal, Tomlinson, are part of the action. But the book’s twin plots are far-fetched, even for a Doc Ford novel, and readers who aren’t already familiar with the relationships between the characters might feel a bit lost.
For the full text of my review for The Associated Press, please click here.
Audio of a Poem By, and an Interview With, Award-Winning Poet Patricia Smith
[image error]The Brooklyn Poets website features a poem by–AND a great interview with– Patricia Smith, one of the world’s most honored poets.
She is the author of eight books of poetry, including Incendiary Art, winner of the 2018 Kingsley Tufts Award, the 2017 LA Times Book Prize and the 2018 NAACP Image Award and a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize
The poem appears in both text and audio.
By the way, the greatest honor of MY life is that Patricia is my wife. You can find the poem and interview here.
