Geoffrey M. Gluckman's Blog, page 9

#Review of An American Spy

Another stellar #spy #thriller from Olen Steinhauer. The twists, turns, and intrigue continue in the third installment of the author’s Tourist trilogy. Milo Weaver, the reluctant spy extraordinaire of the first two stories, is thrust back into the world of espionage when his friend and former boss goes missing (after using one of Milo’s blown cover names). The stakes ramp up when a Chinese intelligence operative threatens Weaver’s wife and daughter, unless he does their bidding.

Overall, a sat...

#Review of The Nearest Exit

Olen Steinhauer’s second installment in the Tourist #spy #thriller trilogy, The Nearest Exit, surpasses the first (The Tourist). It is a masterfully written work. Milo Weaver, the moody and recalcitrant CIA spy for the Department of Tourism, continues the story from The Tourist. He must reluctantly re-enter the world of Tourism for the CIA to hunt down a mole within the U.S. government, who is feeding vital intel to the Chinese. This story is both a page-turner and profound.

Steinhauer’s writi...

#Review of The #Secret Life of #Houdini

The authors, William Kalush and Larry Sloman, offer a compelling and fascinating tale of the famous magician and escape artist, Harry Houdini. Whether HH was ever a spy for British and American intelligence organizations is best left to each reader. The authors claim Houdini to be America’s first superhero. Perhaps. He certainly became America’s first super self-promoter, which served him well throughout his life and beyond. Overall, a great biography, though I take issue with the often perip...

#Review of Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

#Fiction fans, life is too short to waste time reading poorly written #books. Labyrinth by Kate Mosse is one such example. In this case, the quality of the storytelling is clearly wanting, as is any skillful plot development and proper pacing. Mosse’s strength appears to be description, which alone does not make for good storytelling. Even this skill fails her with numerous instances of contradictory descriptions of the same scene. For example, one character describes bright sunlight as blind...

#Review of Farewell, My Lovely

#Readers of #mystery, in Raymond Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely, Philip Marlowe embarks on a convoluted investigation into the seedy environs and people of Los Angeles, as well as the dark backgrounds of members of elite society. For me, this story didn’t enchant like The Big Sleep. At times, the dialogue was so filled with the slant of the 1930′s and 40′s that I didn’t understand what the characters were saying. A good lesson about the use of slang. Nevertheless, Marlowe is an enjoyable hard...

#Review of The Hound of the Baskervilles

#Readers of #mystery, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of that famous detective, sets Holmes and Watson to tackle a case with supernatural implications–a hound from hell that haunts the house of the Baskervilles. This novella offers all the usual tricks and tactics of the wily detective and his faithful sidekick. It moves along with great pace and suspense with numerous plot twists. A true pleasure. (Biographical note: Doyle had a deep interest in supernatural phenomena, which he pursued throu...

#Review of Doctor Zhivago

#Readers, prepare yourself for a sweeping #romance and a political, cultural, and social epic in Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago. Primarily, the story follows the lives of Yurii Andreievich (Dr. Zhivago) and Larisa Feodorovna (Lara) through the turmoil of Revolutionary Russian. At times the narrative is lyrical, even poetic, and at other times it is extremely tedious. The latter parts come when the author introduces very minor characters as a means to present the backdrop for the social, pol...

#Review of The Inferno by #DanBrown

#Readers, the famous author offers a sumptuous story like a cup of fresh Italian espresso. In The Inferno, Professor Langdon returns to the familiar formula of solving clues based on symbols and famous artwork, mostly relating to Dante and his epic The Divine Comedy. Except there is a twist–Langdon has no memory of the last 48 hours, nor does he know why deadly government assassins are trying to ply their trade with his life, nor does he know whom to trust.

For me, I feel Brown’s best tales of...

#Review of The Cobra Event by Richard Preston

#Readers of #thrillers, Richard Preston’s The Cobra Event, his first novel, could have been a slam-bang thriller if he had not intermingled excessive factual exposition into the story, or at least done it better. While these”factual histories” were pertinent to aspects of the plot, each one had the effect of destroying proper pacing, a key thriller element.

Nevertheless, this book should be a must-read for everyone because of the real-world information it imparts concerning biological weapons....

#Review of The Legend of Broken

#Readers, please know the delay on this #review of Caleb Carr’s The Legend of Broken was a byproduct of holiday travel and sharing with friends and family, not a reflection on the story quality. In fact, Carr, a military historian, has created a rich and magnificently crafter tale that centers around Broken, a seventh century Germanic empire, in which devotion is given and enforced to a golden God-King, Kafra. Carr’s ability to weave a masterful story is well-known from his previous novels, e...