Mystery/Thriller Book Reviews
Page One of SixThe Burglar in the Library by Lawrence Block
Signet, June 1998.Paperback, 368 pages.
ISBN: 0451407830.
Ordering information:
Amazon.com.
Expert burglar and sometime bookseller Bernie
Rhodenbarr is crushed when his current squeeze
is forced to break their date for a cozy New England
weekend getaway -- unfortunately, she is marrying
someone else that weekend. Bravely carrying on,
Bernie decides to go anyway and talks his good friend Carolyn
into going with him. After all, the library of the charming inn
is rumored to have
a rare, inscribed first edition of The Big Sleep by Raymond
Chandler in residence,
just ripe for the taking. When Bernie and Carolyn arrive
they are met with one surprise after another. The inn and its
residents could have come straight from an Agatha Christie
novel -- the jolly soldier, the spinsters, the garrulous downstairs
maid et al. Then Bernie's ex-girlfriend and her new husband
show up, dead bodies start turning up and the guests are
all trapped by a snowstorm. It's up to Bernie to
solve the murders, find the missing book -- and make it
home alive.
Lawrence Block just keeps getting better and better, and The Burglar in the Library is convincing proof of that fact. This is a charming and erudite romp where the classic conventions of an English murder mystery are turned upside down with panache. Bernie is a droll fellow whose narrative style is quite appealing. A wonderful escape for anyone who enjoys a bit of irreverence with their Golden Age mysteries.
Day of the Dove by Rainer Rey
Ballantine, May 1998.Paperback, 368 pages.
ISBN: 0449002152.
Ordering information:
Amazon.com.
Thane Adams is just days from wrapping up a
months-long assignment in Africa filming frogs,
when he and his native guide, Kuintala, come across
a village in which everyone lays dead in mysterious
circumstances. After filming the scene, Adams and
Kuintala go to a local mining
camp to report the deaths to authorities of a medical relief
organization. While at the camp,
Adams flies over two other similar villages to film the disasters.
When a Geiger Counter picks up
radiation from Adams, Kuintala, and their equipment,
the group realizes that the villagers were exposed
to intense radiation, not Ebola or some other horrible virus.
Adams' curiosity in the mystery is piqued by a garrulous
member of the medical relief organization's staff. When he
returns to New York, Adams realizes he's in far deeper
than he ever suspected when thugs posing as CIA agents
try to detain him at Kennedy Airport. When Adams finds
his agent murdered and meets a woman being chased by the
same goons, he realizes that he's caught in a web of conspiracy
much larger than he thought. Adams and the lady, Dannielle
Wilkes, piece together a plot by a union of hardcore communists
of the former Soviet Union and militant Muslims to destroy the
United States by using small easily concealed nuclear bombs
which radiate intense energy to kill people but leave buildings
intact. Before the plot can be carried out, Thane and Dannielle must
attempt to penetrate the ring of conspirators and bring
in the FBI.
Rainer Ray's story, just released in paperback, is a fast-paced thriller in the vein of Tom Clancy's books. Like Clancy's character Jack Ryan, the ruggedly handsome Adams is thrust into the role of international superhero, utilizing previously unrealized physical force and guile to prevent evildoers from destroying the United States and the world. Exotic locales, a rogue's gallery of antagonists, and a budding romance with a beautiful woman provide all that's necessary for a gripping adventure. This book will make the airplane ride seem very brief whether you travel frequently or far.
--Doug Jacobson
Return to the July 1998 issue of The IWJ.
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