The Privileges by Jonathan Dee
Dee updates the classic American tale of the self made zillionaire by eliminating his usual fall from grace and focusing instead on the downside of a privileged upbringing for his offspring.
Power couple Cynthia and Adam Morey navigate the economic realities of contemporary Manhattan so well that they can support a privileged lifestyle for themselves and their offspring. The children, Jonas and April, are cut off from meaningful encounters with others by their parents’ wealth and obsession with discarding their own pasts, and so go on naive quests for authenticity and responsiveness. The book is open ended, so we are not entirely sure of the children’s fate. In the end, it’s left to the reader to suss out the author’s intention.
Dee has written literary fiction innovative enough to be the runner-up for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize but accessible enough to spark lively discussions in neighborhood book clubs. The book is short, written in simple language, and touches on subjects of current interest: the social responsibility of the ultra rich, the wisdom of permissive child rearing, and the effects of fractured family ties, among others. Principals and secondary characters comment perceptively on the action, generating questions for debate. Whatever the reader’s positions are on current social conditions, he will find a topic dear to his heart to discuss.
For Read-alikes, try Eleanor Lipman’s My Latest Grievance for its family focus, brevity, and dialog, Ha Jin’s A Free Life for a contemporary test of the American Dream from the opposite end of the economic spectrum, Jonathan Lethem’s Chronic City for a wide ranging portrait of contemporary Manhattan reminiscent of Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities, and Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections and Freedom for the pitfalls of modern family life among the American middle class.
Jackie Malone, North Bellmore Public Library
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Jennifer Egan portrays the interlacing lives of men and women whose lives converge and collide all through the book. Bennie Salazar, a punk rocker in his teenage years, is facing middle age as a divorced and disheartened record producer. His cool, competent assistant, Sasha, keeps everything under control—except for her unconquerable compulsion to steal. Those are the main characters in Egan’s latest novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad, which is full of characters from the San Francisco music scene. If you like unique, unforgettable individuals, this is the book for you.
Read-alikes
Ten Thousand Saints by Eleanor Henderson (1st time novelist)
The Children’s Book by S. Byatt
White Noise by Don DeLillo
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things Jon McGregor
Tales of the City series by Armistead Maupin
When I Stop Talking You’ll Know I’m Dead by Jerry Weintraub – memoir of the self-made, Brooklyn-born, Bronx-raised impresario, Hollywood producer, legendary deal maker, and friend of politicians and stars.
Kathleen Carter, Retired, Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Jeffrey Eugenides won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for this lively, sometimes humorous and often endearing story Calliope Stephanides, a second generation Greek American growing up in Detroit. Due to a genetic anomaly, Calliope (now called Cal) was born a hermaphrodite; raised as a girl but now lives as a man.
The story begins with her grandparents in the small Asia Minor village of Smyrna in 1922 and continues with their emigration to Detroit and raising a family. Actual events like Prohibition, WWII and the Detroit race riots are intertwined with Calliope and her family’s struggle for normalcy and a piece of the American dream. We then follow Calliope through her awkward teenage years with conflicting emotions and physical developments that concern both her and her parents, prompting a visit to a specialist. When a peek into her medical file reveals shocking news, Cal decides to embark on a journey of self discovery, leaving her family behind. Only upon his return home does he discover a family secret that ties everything together.
Although a bit wordy sometimes, Middlesex is a thoroughly engrossing read; try the audiobook for a spirited narration by Kristoffer Tabori.
Read-alikes:
Annabel by Kathleen Winters (gender identity fiction)
The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff (gender identity fiction)
Crossing California by Adam Lancer (multi-generational families influenced by world events)
Cathi Nashak, Deer Park Library
The Sportswriter by Richard Ford
The Sportswriter is the first volume in the Frank Bascombe trilogy, continued by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Independence Day and The Lay of the Land.
The Sportswriter is basically a story about a man alienated from life and family, although you might not know it from his words and actions. Frank Bascombe is a sportswriter who tries to write heartwarming stories about sports and athletes in an attempt to basically avoid dealing with real life problems and issues. Bascombe has an almost childlike, hero-worship view of athletes. He is a man who claims not to be searching for anything, but really seems to want stability and a family back in his life.
Frank is divorced from his wife and two surviving children. His oldest son died from Reye’s syndrome. He resides in the New Jersey suburb of Haddam with his African boarder. His ex-wife, referred to only as X, seems to have adjusted to divorce better than him. Frank spends his time having an affair with Vicki, an attractive nurse, and attending meetings of the Divorced Men’s Club.
Two events conspire to shake Frank’s optimistic view of life up a bit. Frank and Vicki first go to Detroit to interview a disabled football player, who seems to shake Frank’s rosy view of athletes. Then, Walter, a new member of the Divorced Men’s Club confides in Frank a dark secret.
The Sportswriter is primarily an examination of attitudes toward life, dealing with issues such as love and marriage, divorce and death.
Read-alike authors could include such names as Russell Banks, Walker Percy, Richard Russo, Anne Tyler, John Updike, and Richard Yates.
Bruce Silverstein, Patchogue-Medford Library
Tinkers by Paul Harding
George Washington Crosby’s deathbed thoughts, and his unusual family history, form the center of this imaginative debut novel (Pulitzer Prize 2010). Crosby was a form of tinker, a clock repairman, but his father Howard, whose story is also told in a parallel narrative, was a true tinker, a peddler who wandered about eastern Maine with his mule and wagon. Howard abandoned his family when George was twelve, an event that shaped the sons life and personality in countless ways. Harding uses diary entries, excerpts from clock repair manuals, and stream-of-consciousness reflections to tell these stories. His lyrical, nearly poetic, language has been much praised, as is the novels craftsmanship.
Harding, a former drummer for the rock band Cold Water Flat, received an MFA from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. “Tinkers,” loosely based on the life of his own grandfather, began as a story he submitted for admission. The author is now a teacher of creative writing, working on several other books, also about the Crosby family. The success of “Tinkers” is a true Cinderella tale: countless rejection letters preceded publication by a small literary press, the Pulitzer and a Guggenheim Foundation grant.
“Olive Kitteridge” and “The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet”, novels that also focus upon reminiscing in old age, would be read-alikes. The classic Faulkner “As I Lay Dying “ has a similar feeling of intertwining voices exploring a life. “Birds without Wings” and “Cutting for Stone” present father-son relationships as well. “Bird Sisters” and “Gilead”, too, would appeal to those who enjoy “Tinkers”: life is a wonderfully mysterious creation as framed in all these novels!
Suzanne McGuire, Commack Public Library
The Surrendered by Chang-Rae Lee
The Surrendered is about the lives of people who have been damaged by war, by “shocking acts of violence and love.” Lee gives us dense visual details. Not for the faint-hearted; the characters’ misfortunes are relentless.
To read The Surrendered is an exhausting journey, both emotionally and physically. As the novel opens, June appears as a starved and motherless 11-year old, fleeing from the Korean War at a time when "the whole country is orphaned." Having already lost three siblings, June has to leave her little brother bleeding to death on a railway track in order to survive. She is close to death herself when she is taken in by an orphanage. There she meets Hector Brennan, a former GI who has been in a state of shock since witnessing the hideous torture of a Korean soldier, and Sylvie, a missionary's wife who helps to run the children's home - and whose own parents suffered violent ends at the hands of Japanese soldiers in occupied Manchuria in 1934.
It is Lee’s aim to examine how war has damaged the lives of his characters, marking them dysfunctional in varying degrees. Sylvie turns to drugs, Hector to drink, and June loses herself in dogged work.
At the end of the book, June is dying of stomach cancer, an ironic twist to the starving girl at the beginning of the story. It is beautifully written, with fine character development. The author displays an intimate knowledge of his characters’ inner lives and an understanding of the echoing fallout of war – the interplay of fate and free will.
Read-alikes:
The Lotus Eaters, T. Soli
The Cellist of Sarajevo, S. Galloway
Atonement, I. McEwan
Grace O’Connor, West Islip Public Library
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Road is the depiction of an apocalyptic world and the struggle of a father and son to endure the devastation. A landscape of ashen remains, a lack of shelter and food, and a relentless effort to continue traveling down a road that bears nothing but peril and destruction is explicitly described by McCarthy in stark yet, at times, exquisitely poetic terms. There is no “plot” to this novel—it is the portrayal of a desperate journey and a brutal tale of survival. The format the narrative is written in reflects the fruitlessness of the characters’ efforts—many sentences are just fragments; the book is a single, long narrative devoid of the use of chapter, and punctuation is often disregarded—this novel is written in a style so severe that it both creates and embodies the harsh mood of the story itself.
This novel is not a light read. It is not a book for the faint-of-heart. It is not a book for everyone. The subject matter is frightening and full of the stuff that occupies nightmares. McCarthy provides vivid descriptions of carnage, cannibalism, and a barren landscape where life as we know it has ceased to exist. It is a portrait of the unthinkable, yet a depiction of what we know, in our most fearful moments, to be very possible. Even given the chilling scenario, there is a tenderness that is conveyed throughout the story in the relationship between the father and son. The lengths that a parent will go to in order to protect a child are evident throughout the course of one horrific situation after another.
An easy read in its simplistic writing style, yet a difficult read in the subject matter tackled, The Road makes an excellent book discussion selection. Its provocative themes and situations lend themselves to lively dialogue, if not vigorous debate. Thematic read-alikes would include The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye, and the classic novel On the Beach by Nevil Shute.
Deborah Formosa, Northport-East Northport Public Library
After This by Alice McDermott
Spanning from just after World War II through four decades, the reader is immersed in the lives of the Keane family. A chance meeting inside a cafe in New York City is where Mary and John's story begins. Both Irish and Catholic they marry and have two sons and two daughters. The family resides in an unnamed, middle class suburb on Long Island. The reader follows the family through their lives against the social and political backgrounds of the different decades. Family, relationships and the possibilities in life are the heart of this book.
Structurally the book is divided into two sections. The first focused on the family as a whole. The second focused on each individual family member and read more like a series of short stories. Some characters are more developed than others, while foreshadowing, repetition and symbolism are heavily used. Overall, After Alice is mostly a character piece that doesn't have a true plot. McDermott's eloquent and beautifully written prose help to make this an engaging read.
Readers who enjoy literary fiction and family sagas would enjoy After This.
Read-alikes
The Condition Jennifer Haigh
Run Ann Patchett
Compass Rose John Casey
Donna Brown, Northport East Northport Public Library
Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener
Michener served in the Pacific during World War II in aviation maintenance and was inspired by the breathtaking beauty of the Pacific Islands as well as the isolation of the distant place. To the Twenty First Century reader these tales seem extremely politically incorrect with nicknames such as “Japs” and “yellow bastards” casually bandied about. But rather it is a snapshot of an exotic distant arena during wartime. The GIs are depicted with warts and all and the reader finds all of them unforgettable.
We suffer Lieutenant Cable’s intoxication with Liat an island girl and even empathize with Liat’s mother, Bloody Mary, and her ambition for her daughter to marry an American soldier. We applaud Dr. Benoway, the base psychiatrist with his unconventional therapy techniques, such as including his wife in some of the therapy sessions. We suffer with Nellie Forbush who falls in love with a handsome French landowner, Emile de Becque, and agrees to marry him until she is introduced to his black children. The children are a product of a past union with a Polynesian woman and poor Nellie, Arkansas born, is stunned by this revelation. She must deal with the mores and crippling prejudice with which she has been raised and dismiss them if she hopes to marry Emile. Michener also deals with timeless concerns as the importance of letters from home to a lonely GI suffering palpable homesickness; prejudice at it basest, French officials governing the islands actually made it illegal for the natives to sell grass skirts because the trade was too lucrative and would give the natives financial independence from their European governors. When “South Pacific” was presented as a Broadway musical it was heralded as ground-breaking in its revolutionary content but “Tales” had reproached these destructive attitudes years before. “Tales” was a worthy recipient of the first Pulitzer Prize in 1948 for literature.
Peg McCarthy, Smithtown Public Library, Retired
A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar
This Pulitzer Prize finalist for biography is based on the life of mathematician John Nash. The book follows the life of Nash from his first entrance into academia, through the onset of his schizophrenic break and his arrival on the other side of said break. This volume not only takes us through the life of Nash but through the period in which he lived; characterizing the world of academia during the middle 20th century as an exclusive and often times anti-Semitic atmosphere. The book also describes the emergence of the new Ivory League, institutions such as MIT and NYU, which won their prestige in part by accepting Harvard and Princeton’s bias cast-offs.
Nasar writes a beautiful biography that any non-fiction reader would enjoy, especially so if they have a mathematic background, however, such background is not required.
In addition to being a Pulitzer finalist, this book was also a 1998 New York Times Notable Book and the Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography.
Sylvia Nasar is a professor of business at Columbia University and is a trained economist who has worked for many top news organizations including The New York Times, Fortune and US News.
Read-alikes:
Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius by Sylvia Nasar
A Fractured Mind: My Life with Multiple Personality Disorder by Rober B. Oxnam
The Man Who Loved Only Numbers by Paul Hoffman
The Soloist by Steve Lopez
Pamela Wells, Lindenhurst Public Library
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
In a contemporary retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear, it is 1979 and Ginny’s father, Larry Cook has just decided to retire, leaving the farm to Ginny and middle daughter Rose. Youngest daughter Caroline is booted out of the deal when she wants time to think about it.
What follows, is the family’s downfall. Larry becomes a mean drunk, bored without the farm; Ginny’s and Rose’s marriages begin to disintegrate; and the revelation of Larry’s sexual abuse of his two eldest daughters helps to set off the train wreck of their lives.
Read-alikes:
A Mother and Two Daughters by Gail Godwin
The Murderer's Daughters by Randy Meyers
Friday's Daughter by Patricia Sprinkle
Sister by Ansay A. Manette
Lori Ludlow, Babylon Public Library
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Olive Kitteridge is a large, brassy woman who shows up throughout this series of short stories whether as a main character, a secondary character or as a mention through someone else’s eyes as they’ve crossed paths with her. As the stories move from one to the next, we get a picture of Olive first as a young mother, then as a middle-aged woman and finally as a senior in her seventies trying to reconnect with her son and deal with an ailing husband.
These short stories move quickly and capture moments in small town Maine with characters that are both likeable and easy to relate to. Although Olive can come off as a tyrant at times, the reader develops an attachment to her and her not so subtle nuances. This book can be picked up at leisure reading one or multiple stories in a sitting without feeling like you’re going to lose your place. Lovers of short stories and human nature shoul find this book quite enjoyable.
Read-alikes:
Belong to me, Marisa de los Santos
Blackbird House, Alice Hoffman
Maine, Courtney J. Sullivan
Azuree Agnello, West Babylon Public Library
True Crime
Unholy Business: a true tale of faith, greed & forgery in the Holy Land by Nina Burleigh. In 2002, an ancient limestone box that was said to be the ossuary that held the bones of Jesus’ brother, James was touted as the first material evidence of the existence of Jesus Christ. In Unholy Business, Nina Burleigh tells the full story behind one of the greatest hoaxes of all times. Israeli authorities called it the “fraud of the century.”
Set in Israel with its 30,000 digs crammed with biblical-era artifacts and full of colorful characters, the book reveals biblical forgery, fakery, and archaeological adventure – a bizarre tale of big money and headline grabbing discoveries.
Read-alikes:
Mirage: Napoleon’s Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt, Nina Burleigh
Newton and the Counterfeiter, Thomas Levenson
Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling, Ross King
Grace O'Connor, West Islip Public Library
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett
The theft of books, or “bibliomania,” is even more widespread than art theft. Author Allison Hoover Bartlett stumbles into the world of rare books when she’s asked to return a valuable, and rather long-overdue, book to the library. Intrigued by the botanical tome, Bartlett begins research that puts her in contact with libraries, book collectors, and rare book dealers. She learns what motivates people to go to extreme, even criminal lengths, to obtain those books.
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much provides an engaging read for book lovers and mystery readers alike. Written in a first person narrative and easy-to-read style, the story meticulously follows the pursuit of an elusive book thief. What Bartlett finds in terms of motivation is not only surprising, but also raises questions about morality, societal pressure, complicity, and philosophy. The book spends time exploring the mindset of a book collector, and the book lover obsessively driven by his passion to a life of crime. Both men are motivated by their passion, and both justify their pursuits. The Man Who . . . will appeal to a reader that enjoys solid character development; a reader that is interested in the history of rare books; or a reader that is in the mood for a good true crime story. Anecdotal and suspenseful, The Man Who . . . delves into the psychology of why people love books (and you’ll be surprised at how many reasons there are), and the criminal measures that they will go to in order to own them.
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much will pique your interest in the whole culture of books and book lovers. If you’d like to read further about this subject, try reading A Gentle Madness by Nicholas Basbanes; Among the Gently Mad also by Basbanes; or A Pound of Paper by John Baxter.
Deborah Formosa, Northport-East Northport Public Library
The Whistleblower by Kathryn Bolkovac with Cari Lynn
Sex Trafficking, Military Contractors, and One Woman’s Fight for Justice
This is the true life story of a Lincoln, Nebraska police officer turned International Human Rights Investigator. Looking for a change, Bolkovac, enticed by the high Dynocorp salaries, made the decision to apply for a job oversees. She soon discovered Dynocorp was inundated with unqualified candidates and that landing a job would be easy. Bolkovac traveled to Bosnia and began a journey that would soon lead her to discover a cover up of massive proportions.
Bolkovac discovers her employer, Dynocorp, is covering up the involvement of its own employees and contractors in the Bosnian sex trade industry. Their involvement ranges from the taking bribes to look the other way to the actually purchasing and resale of the young women. When Bolkovac discovers the wrong doing and reports it she was fired under false pretenses.
Bolkovac is a very courageous woman and there is no doubt she helped many foreign women who were victims of sex trafficking. However, this book is so structurally flawed, that it renders the text boring and practically unreadable. The tale is told in a strictly linear fashion that reads like a police deposition and lacks any kind of story-like quality. There is a lot of extraneous information inserted into the text that adds nothing to the story, while the most interesting side story, Bolkovac’s relationship with Jan, is totally glazed over (but I imagine it was very romantic). Perhaps the movie being made of this tale will be better.
Read-alikes (or alternatives to try)
The Natashas: inside the new global sex trade by Victor Malarek
Sex trafficking: inside the business of modern slavery by Siddharth Kara
The Franklin scandal: a story of powerbrokers, child abuse and betrayal by Nick Bryant
Pamela Wells, Lindenhurst Public Library
Columbine by Dave Cullen
Dave Cullen’s Columbine allows the reader an insider’s look at the horrific tragedy at Columbine High School. The reader is walked through the months, weeks, days and minutes leading up the infamous event. Details from thousands of interviews, police and FBI documents, the journals of the perpetrators, police evidence and Cullen’s own prior reporting are included. The author focuses on clarifying two major misconceptions that surround the event. The first being that the killings took place in revenge for the bullying of the boys, and the second being that it was intended to be a school shooting. He consistently debunks these myths throughout the book with cold, hard evidence. The boys had many friends and no more than the typical issues at school and although both boys were heavily armed, the real destruction was supposed to be caused by bombs.
Cullen thoroughly investigates the lives of Eric and Dylan before the event, showing how their family and friends missed the warning signals of the troubled youth. The killer’s beliefs and psychopathic tendencies are thoroughly examined, as well as their upbringing. The book also focuses on the victims in the aftermath of the incident. This allows the reader to see the whole picture, rather than the reports in the media over the years that focused on the event and the killers. Cullen takes a long, hard look at all the facts, while maintaining sensitivity to all involved.
Overall, an in-depth expose of what happened at Columbine and an explanation of why the killers, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, did what they did. The tone is somber and the reader is sometimes confused as the author alternates between the event and the aftermath. Columbine may not appeal to everyone, the reading is dense and the content can be difficult, sometimes violent. It is a thoughtful, well researched, compelling and emotional read. It dispels many myths that have been portrayed in the media over the years. Some reviewers compared Columbine to In Cold Blood and Helter Skelter, and I would say I have to agree.
Read-Alikes:
Under the Bridge Rebecca Godfrey
No Easy Answers Brooks Brown
Devil’s Knot Mara Leveritt
Judgment Ridge Dick Lehr
Donna Brown, Northport-East Northport Public Library
The Savage City by T. J. English
The Savage City is a story of New York City at war with itself. Through the inter-connected stories of three men -- a corrupt New York City cop, a Black Panther radical, and an innocent man wrongly accused of a shocking crime -- author T.J. English tells the story of how New York City descended into a virtual civil war during the decade from 1963 to 1973.
During this decade a basically corrupt and racist police force was finally confronted by a fed-up black underclass that refused to submit to any more mistreatment and brutality. The wrongful arrest and railroaded conviction of young, black George Whitmore for the “Career Girl Murders” in 1963 was just one of the precipitating factors thrown into this swirling maelstrom that at times led to a literal revolution in the streets.
This book is a searing story of a city teetering on the edge. The Savage City’s narrative rings true, because English relied on primary sources, including official transcripts of court cases and interviews with the main subjects of the book to tell his story. The Savage City is a book well worth reading for true crime fans and those who want to learn about a crucial decade in the history of New York City.
The only complaint is that the author’s prose occasionally seems to revert to “noir” speak, wherein he tries to sound like a Mike Hammer wannabe. This is often quite jarring to the reader.
Thomas Joseph “T.J” English is an award-winning freelance journalist and crime reporter. For a number of years he also drove a taxicab. He is the author of numerous bestselling true crime books, including The Westies and Havana Nocturne. He has also written a number of scripts for such television shows as NYPD Blue and Homicide.
Read-alikes would include several other true crime exposes of police corruption such as Serpico by Peter Maas, Buddy Boys by Mike McAlary, and NYPD Confidential by Leonard Levitt. You can also recommend to readers of police fiction by authors such as William Caunitz, Dan Mahoney, Joseph Wambaugh, and Ed Dee.
Bruce Silverstein, Patchogue-Medford Library
Tiger, Tiger: a Memoir by Margaux Fragoso
Margaux Fragoso’s account of the fifteen years she spent as the victim of a serial child abuser and pedophile may well be the most difficult book you will ever encounter! Written to aid in her own therapy, and as a caution so that others will more readily recognize abusers in action, the story is almost too much to bear. Fragoso’s candor, her unrelenting examination of motive and behavior, both of others and herself, as well as her forceful writing style all combine to make this a gripping, profoundly troubling read.
Fragoso was 7 years old when her 51 year old abuser began to spin his web. An only child, her mother was mentally ill, not infrequently hospitalized, and her father withdrew via work and an active bar social life. The abuser was a master manipulator, providing all a lonely child could desire: a home to visit, with animals and gardens, creative play, and most importantly, flattering, one-on-one attention. He taught her to regard themselves as a couple in love, and their relationship did not end until he took his own life.
Read-alikes would include The Source of All Things: A Memoir by Tracy Ross, abused by her step-father. Kathryn Harrison’s The Kiss recounts an incestuous relationship. Katie.com: My Story, is Katherine Tarbox’s description of a sexual predator met through the Internet. David Pelzer’s writings, including A Child Called It, give a shocking picture of childhood abuse, and the brave spirit child victims need to survive.
Suzanne McGuire, Commack Public Library
December 8, 1980: The Day John Lennon Died by Keith Elliot Greenberg
This day in the life of John Lennon was unfortunately his last. It was a busy day for John and Yoko – they were giving interviews, doing a photo shoot with neighbor Annie Leibovitz and recording in a studio. On their return to The Dakota, John was gunned down by a crazy fan, Mark David Chapman. Greenberg gives the reader background information on John, the Beatles and Chapman but the focus is December 8 and the events leading up to that day. A poignant book on John’s death, this should be recommended to avid Beatle fans and New Yorkers. A visit to Strawberry Fields in Central Park should follow.
Karen Jaffe, Comsewogue Public Library
To Have or to Harm by Linden Gross
To Have or to Harm reveals the fear stalking victims can feel, the book shows how these obsessions can begin, and how they can escalate into more deadly encounters. A final chapter offers ideas on how to protect oneself against stalkers.
The pace of the book is slow and drawn out. At times there are too many repetitive mentioning of the most known or celebrated cases. The style of the book can work as a supplement to more updated information than standing on its own. I found the style to be very dry and not compelling except for some cases. The author admitted that they did not follow up on some cases presented which was a point of contention when you had been brought into the drama and then left to wonder what had been the resulting outcome had been.
The book appeared to derive most of the material for viewpoint of expressing dissatisfaction at the lack of assistance from the police departments and the judiciary system. The author tried to propose various solutions and suggestions to establish better protective proponents. However, the resulting conclusion was that one needs to be aware of the potential risks one faces when dealing with a potential or established stalker. Each individual can react in a multitude of diverse actions that leaves the reader frustrated by the lack of definitive solutions that can alter the final outcome of any actions.
The last chapter was the most informative pertaining to dealing with a potential stalker. However, most of the advice came from security expert Gavin De Becker and therefore I would recommend reading his book.
I recommend this book only as a supplement, after reading the books by Robert L. Snow and Gavin De Becker, in the interest of historical background information.
Read-alikes
The Gift of Fear: survival signals that protect us from violence* by Gavin De Becker
Courting disaster: intimate stalking, culture, and criminal justice by Jennifer Dunn
Surviving Stalking by Michele Pathe
How to stop a stalker by Mike Proctor
Stopping a Stalker : A cop’s guide to making the system work for you* by Robert L. Snow
(*Personally recommended)
Anne Jones, East Hampton Public Library
In With the Devil: The Fallen Hero, the Serial Killer and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption by James Keene with Hillel Levin
Jim Keene was a high school football hero, good looking and personable. He did not continue with college football because he had become a wealthy drug dealer. He and Big Jim, his dad, were very close although it appears his father was unaware of the source of his income. Jim had bankrolled some of his father’s failed endeavors with his ill-gotten gains. In 1997, this son of a policeman, was convicted as a drug dealer. He was sentenced to 10-years-to-life. After serving a few months, he was given the option of a quick release if he could get a suspected serial killer, Larry Hall, to confess his crimes. Jim’s drug dealing made millions and this prosecutor who had pursued him for ten years trying to shut down his drug operation had, in the process, gained a grudging respect for Jim’s courage and wiliness. Beaumont, the prosecutor, suspected that there were many more bodies still unaccounted for. In alternating chapters, we follow Jim in prison and Larry Hall in prison and before prison. This method was a bit distracting as the reader is often switched to the other interview in the midst of crucial happenings. In jail, Jim meets high-ranking members of the mafia and other assorted characters in his attempt to get close to Larry Hall. Life is no picnic and the pitfalls are many. Unbelievable errors were made in the tracking of the killer through many states and many murders. No real clearing house for information about unsolved homicides or missing persons exists. It is limited to the information voluntarily submitted by local police departments. My interest came primarily from our local serial murders. It would seem that the consensus believes that serial killers are white males in the same age range . Time will tell.
Other than the above mentioned chapter changes, I did enjoy the book.
James Keene was born and raised in Illinois. He now lives in Kankakee, Chicago and Los Angeles producing, writing and consulting for other film and book projects. Sean Penn and Brad Pitt have indicated an interest in a movie.
Read-alikes could include Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood and No Angel by Jay Dobyns.
Marie T. Horney, Cold Spring Harbor Library
Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City by Nelson Johnson
Johnson's work of nonfiction served as the inspiration for HBO's 2010 series of the same name. All the big names are in this story: Al Capone, Arnold Rothstein, Lucy Luciano and Nucky Johnson. This well-researched and highly enjoyable look at the beginnings of Atlantic city reads like a novel. The reader is given a peek at how things get done in city development amd how to give the customer what he wants, even if it is illegal.
Read-alikes:
Atlantic City: One hundred twenty-five years of ocean madness
by Vicki G. Levi and Lee Eisenberg
Boardwalk of Dreams: Atlantic City and the Fate of Urban America by Bryant Simon
Chance of a Lifetime: Nucky Johnson, Skinny D'Amato and how Atlantic City became the Naughty Queen of resorts by Grace Anselmo D'Amato
The Northside: African Americans and the Creation of Atlantic City by Nelson Johnson.
Kathleen Carter, Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library
A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger
As a young boy Sebastian heard about day laborer, Al DeMarco that the Jungers hired to work on building a studio for them who later claimed to be the Boston Strangler. This family lore led Junger to investigate a murder of an elderly neighbor, Bessie Goldberg, which happened while Al was in their employ but whose murder was blamed on another part time worker, Roy Smith, who happened to clean the Goldbergs house the day Bessie was brutally raped and murdered. Junger investigates the trial and ultimate conviction of Roy Smith, a black man, and leads the reader on an intriguing and sometimes frustrating journey of Smith’s guilt or innocence. At first the reader thinks this book will show that Smith is innocent and was wrongly convicted by an all white male jury but then Junger presents evidence that makes one wonder if Smith could have actually been the murderer. Al DeMarco never confesses to Bessie’s murder and does claim “credit” for 13 other murders while incarcerated. The story is an enlightening treatise on the legend of the Boston Strangler but also on the investigation of Bessie Goldberg’s death.
Other than the above mentioned chapter changes, I did enjoy the book. James Keene was born and raised in Illinois. He now lives in Kankakee, Chicago and Los Angeles producing, writing and consulting for other film and book projects. Sean Penn and Brad Pitt have indicated an interest in a movie.
Read-alikes could include Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood and No Angel by Jay Dobyns.
Peggy McCarthy, Retired
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Erik Larson, author of Isaac’s Storm and Thunderstruck, weaves the richly detailed account of the 1893 Columbian Exposition with the grisly tale of one of America’s first serial killers.
The brilliant and charismatic architect, Daniel H. Burnham, had a vision of a World’s Fair with all the latest innovations, technology and wonders for all to see. With a lot of convincing to do and time running out, he employs the best architects and designers he can find to make the 400th anniversary celebration of Columbus’s arrival the most spectacular event ever seen. Burnham and these men transform Chicago’s muddy Jackson Park into the “White City,” powered by Westinghouse and filled with pioneering feats of engineering (the first Ferris Wheel), consumer goods (Cracker Jacks and Shredded Wheat) and entertainers (Buffalo Bill and “Little Egypt”). The six month-long fair drew over twenty million visitors.
Meanwhile, another intelligent and captivating man, Dr. H.H. Holmes (born Herman Webster Mudgett), also selects Chicago’s Lake Michigan area for his business ventures. In the Englewood section just west of the Exposition, Dr. Holmes establishes his “castle,” complete with a restaurant and drugstore on the first floor and dozens of small, airless rooms on the second floor. What the fairgoers and the city don’t know is that Dr. Holmes has a dark side; his charm swindles money out of both men and women, then he kills them in a variety of gruesome ways. Although Holmes flees after the fair, he is finally tracked down and convicted of nine murders (though he confessed to more) and executed in 1896.
Larson’s exhaustive research and detail can be daunting, but he is also a master at making his works read like fiction. Stick with it and maybe complement it with the DVDs – “H.H. Holmes: America’s First Serial Killer” and “Make No Little Plans: Daniel Burnham and the American City.”
Read-alikes
In addition to other Larson titles, try:
The Professor and the Madman: a Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
Cathi Nashak, Deer Park Public Library
Dead Reckoning by Caitlin Rother
In 2004, Tom and Jackie Hawks were murdered aboard their yacht, the Well Deserved in southern California. Alive, they were bound together and tied to an anchor which was thrown overboard. In 2009, husband and wife, Skylar and Jennifer Deleon were convicted of the murders. Skylar was sentenced to death and Jennifer is serving two life sentences with no chance of parole.
Dead Reckoning is the play-by-play plotline of how this tragic event came to be. The Hawks’ were not randomly selected and killed for kicks. Their murders were solely about money. They had done nothing wrong; had not harmed the Deleons in any way. In fact, they had never met the Deleon’s until they decided to sell their boat.
Skylar’s plan began when he saw an ad for the Hawks’ boat. If they had a $400,000 yacht, they were probably loaded. He decided that during a test run of the yacht, he would physically force the Hawks to sign all their property and bank accounts over to him, then kill them.
Beginning in the middle of the story, the author lets us in on Skylar’s execution plan, then the book jumps back and forth detailing Skylar Deleon’s life from his childhood to the murders. We learn of his father’s abuse, the neglect by his mother and step-mother, his short TV career, his shorter stint in the Marines, where he received an “other than honorable discharge” when he went on an Unauthorized Leave after 15 days, his parole for burglary, and of his predilection for wearing make up and wanting to be a female.
Jennifer Henderson, Deleon’s wife, does not get the detailed treatment that Skylar does. She comes from a Christian family. She’s a cosmetologist. There is no evidence of untoward behavior on her part at school, with friends, or family.
A thoroughly researched and documented case that took the author 5 years to write, Dead Reckoning gives the reader all the information that TV shows Dateline, 48 Hours, and 20/20 couldn’t.
About the Author:
Caitlin Rother is a Pulitzer Prize nominee for her work at the San Diego Union-Times. She spent 19 years as an investigative reporter for daily newspapers and now teaches writing at the University of California, San Diego, where she lives.
Read-alikes:
Fatal Vision by Joe McGinniss
Anything by Ann Rule
Vanished at Sea: the true story of a child TV actor and a double murder, by Tina Dirmann (written in 2008, two years before Rother’s book)
Poisoned Love, Twisted Triangle, & Body Parts by Caitlin Rother
Lori Ludlow, Babylon Public Library
Bringing Adam Home: The Abduction That Changed America
by Les Sandiford with Joe Matthews
Bringing Adam Home is the account of what happened after Adam Walsh was kidnapped and how the Hollywood, Florida Police Department completely mishandled the case.
Beginning with Adam’s abduction from Sears, this book starts with how the police were first informed and how they handled the case. Told from Detective Joe Matthew’s point of view, this frustrating tale is one misstep after another as the lead detective focuses on people who had nothing to do with the kidnapping and refuses to listen to Matthews’ ideas on how to help. After being sent back to his precinct, Matthews kept in touch with the Walsh’s and tried to help where he could. Eventually he became friends with the family and assisted with cases on America’s Most Wanted, the show John Walsh began to help other families get closure. Finally, after 25 years of frustration and unanswered questions, the Walsh family came to the decision to ask Matthews to give it one more try. After two years of following the evidence, Matthews was finally able to give the Walsh family the closure they were due.
A frustrating tale of police failure, Bringing Adam Home is a dry read that only becomes truly engrossing in the last 100 pages when Matthews is finally able to review the entire case file and fill in the gaps. Although Adam’s body was never found, his parents believe that Matthews proved that the man who confessed to the crime truly did it and have accepted the outcome. Good for conspiracy theorists, true crime buffs and those who remember the Adam Walsh kidnapping, Bringing Adam Home is a tale of one family doing more than they should have needed to do in order to bring their son’s murderer to justice and in doing so, changed the way a nation deals with missing and exploited children.
Read-alikes:
The Ghosts of Hopewell: Setting the Record Straight in the Lindbergh Kidnapping, Jim Fisher
Lost and Found (Jaycee Dugard) John Glatt
In Plain Sight: The Startling Truth Behind the Elizabeth Smart Investigation, Tom Smart
JonBenét: Inside the Ramsey Murder Investigation, Steve Thomas
Azurée Agnello, West Babylon Public Library
Den of Thieves by James B. Stewart
Wall Street Journal alumnus Stewart covers the biggest insider trading scandal of the 80’s and the downfall of the perpetrators in a true crime story which reads like a novel. First, Stewart introduces the web of colorful characters who made a mockery of securities regulations by trading confidential information for personal gain. Then, he tells the thriller-paced tale of the government’s successful prosecution of the thieves. In the process, he satisfies the reader’s curiosity about a much-misunderstood crime.
Read-alikes include the author’s Tangled Webs, Connie Bruck’s The Predator’s Ball, and Kurt Eichenwald’s Serpent on the Rock. The movie The Social Network has similar appeal.
Jackie Malone, North Bellmore Public Library
International Political Fiction
The Faithful Spy by John Berenson
The political fiction genre has a new and unique CIA operative, John Wells, who not only infiltrates Al Qaeda for almost a decade but becomes a devout Muslim during his years in Pakistan. He returns to New York under the orders of a high ranking mysterious Al Qaeda military leader who doesn’t quite trust Wells and keeps John unenlightened regarding his “mission ” until the time is right.
While John was in Pakistan he never communicated with his superiors for fear of blowing his cover and undermining all the trust he earned among his Al Qaeda brothers. Thus when Wells finally reports to the CIA the top brass don’t trust him either. Welles must convince the CIA he has not “gone over” and yet must remain a convincing Al Qaeda warrior.
The Faithful Spy is a nail biting thriller with a diabolically brilliant antagonist who is more than a match for our brave and solitary hero. It is John Berenson’s first novel, for which he won the Edgar Award in 2006. Berenson is a reporter for the New York Times and has covered topics from the occupation of Iraq to the flooding of New Orleans. His fluency in the Middle East is apparent in his storytelling. The thoroughness of this narrative makes it plausible and chilling in its probability.
Read-alikes:
Any of Nelson DeMille’s John Corey stories
Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels
Peg McCarthy, Librarian
Executive Intent by Dale Brown
The book begins with a too long multiple page description of various missiles and their capabilities.
We are then introduced to several members of the space station in orbit and ground crew responsible for the protection of naval ships at sea. Although one does not get a feeling for the characters.
The book starts with tensions at sea between American and Chinese fighter pilots before it segues into how the United States has designed and launched one of the most powerful weapons in history called “Thor’s Hammer” that can strike anywhere in the world in seconds. In order to protect themselves from this design other countries such as China and Russia attempt to gain control of the world’s seas.
Meanwhile, terrorists decide to hijack Pakistani missiles and use them against Indian cities. The President of the United States, Joseph Gardner, decides to retaliate by firing Thor’s Hammer which results in a a large number of casualties. This incites Pakistan to provide China with access to their Middle Eastern ports.
Another plot involves Somali pirates attacking a Chinese ship and the Chinese retaliation of attacking Somalia and setting up missile bases that can target American ships at sea.
An additional plot emerges as both Chinese and Russian spacecraft surround the American space-station threatening the U.S. Navy with missiles unless the Americans are willing to negotiate territories and boundaries.
The intricate descriptions of the missiles were cumbersome at the beginning and proved unhelpful in understanding the differences in strategic warfare if one was unfamiliar with basic weaponry. I found little interest in this book and was unable to care about the characters. The multiple plots were excessive and became confusing at times when the plot design appeared to change from current to futuristic setting.
I would recommend this book only to individuals who already have read prior books by Dale Brown or have a definite interest in technology/military adventure.
Read-alikes:
Baldacci, David Deliver Us from Evil
Bova, Ben Able One
Brown, Dale Strike Force
Clancy, Tom Battle Ready
Rollins, David Hard Rain
Anne Jones, East Hampton Library
Boomsday by Christopher Buckley
It’s the end of the world as we know it! At least is seems to be with Boomsday arriving. Boomsday is the day when all baby boomers start to retire. With the economy and social security in crisis,America America
Similar books by this author- Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, No Way to Treat a First Lady,Florence of Arabia , and The White House Mess
Lissetty Thomas, Brentwood Public Library
Sammy's House by Kristin Gore
Samantha Joyce, also known as Sammy, is a health care advisor and aide to Ohio Senator Robert Gary. Despite her character quirks, her friends and her age, she does her job quite well. This is a fun look at the young side of life in the capital. The political wheeling and dealing share time with the dating and bar scene. Although the book is quite funny at times, it does offer a sobering look at the workings of Congress. Fans of Jennifer Weiner, Lauren Weisberger, Emma McLaughlin and Candace Bushnell will enjoy.
Karen Jaffe, Comsewogue Public Library
Last Snow by Eric Lustbader
ATF agent Jack McClure is the special advisor to President Edward Carson, so when the President asks him to investigate the mysterious death of a senator on a diplomatic mission, Jack is off to the Ukraine . He becomes involved with the beautiful Annika, a Russian counterintelligence agent, and with dangerous and unscrupulous apparatchiks and oligarchs. In a previous adventure, (First Daughter, 2008) McClure had saved the life of Carson’s daughter, Alli, and she insists on accompanying him, adding more confusion and complexity to the mission. The story is fast-paced, colorful, and violent.
Lustbader was hired by the Robert Ludlum estate to continue the Bourne books, so readers of that series will likely enjoy” Last Snow”. Other read-alikes include authors Tom Clancy, Philip Margolin, and David Baldacci.
Suzanne McGuire, Commack Public Library
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Winner of the Man Booker prize for contemporary British fiction in 2009, historian, novelist and author Hilary Mantel delves into the reign of Henry VIII particularly his long stand-off with the church. The point of view is that of Thomas Cromwell, who directed England’s civil and religious affairs in those tumultuous years. Cromwell has been called the architect of the English Reformation inasmuch as he showed Henry he could get his marriage annulled by breaking with the Catholic Church and leading an independent Church of England.
Best read as a novel, not history. Reviewers noted its capacious structure, the brilliance of its language, the wry, off-beat, elegiac tone of its narration and its sheer inventiveness. Some of these things are true and some are lies . . . but they are all good stories.
At times an ambitious read, but a rewarding one as well.
Read-alikes:
The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver
The Glass Room, Simon Mawer
The Little Stranger, Sarah Waters
Brooklyn, Colm Toibin
The Children’s Book, A. S. Byatt
Grace O'Connor, West Islip Public Library
American Savior by Roland Merullo
American Savior is the story of a presidential campaign. A campaign in which Jesus Christ, having become dismayed at the state of spirituality in America and convinced that his own teachings have been distorted, decides to run for President of the United States. He first re-appears in a small city in western Massachusetts performing various miracles. He recruits a ragtag group of campaign workers, primarily the religiously-conflicted family of television reporter Russ Thomas, to manage his campaign. While Jesus’ campaign first encounters many doubters, he soon comes to be the front runner and is well on his way to becoming the next president. Especially interesting are the non-conventional ways in which Jesus addresses the hot-button issues of our day, issues which many on both sides of the political class are convinced they know how he would think.
The book seems to ask the question of how America, a “Christian nation” would recognize and treat the return of its savior. The author seems to want to ask if those who profess to believe in him truly understand his actual message. Of course many others might say that the author is presenting his own conception of how Jesus should be viewed.
Read-Alikes might include campaign novels such as Primary Colors by Anonymous, Sleeping Dogs by Ed Gorman, and Dog Days by Ana Marie Cox. Also recommend to readers who have enjoyed books such as The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip Dick, and More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon.
Bruce Silverstein, Patchogue-Medford
Skull Mantra by Eliot Pattison
Shan Tan Yun, a Han Chinese sent to the Tibetan gulag for reeducation, undertakes the investigation of a political murder in hopes of saving his fellow prisoners, Tibetan monks, from blame. A tribute to human resilience featuring interesting leads, colorful secondary characters, clever dialog, and lyrical descriptions of a haunting landscape , Skull Mantra is also a fascinating read for anyone interested in the recent history of Tibet.
Read-alikes include Tony Hillerman’s A Thief of Time, Nicholas Shakespeare’s The Dancer Upstairs, and John Burdett’s The Godfather of Kathmandu.
Jackie Malone, North Bellmore Public Library
The Bell Ringers by Harry Porter
By any measure, this political thriller would appeal to someone who enjoys a suspenseful read with numerous twists and turns, a multitude of fully-developed characters, and a strong dose of mystery. But the range of appeal can be broadened to anyone who may have a concern about the societal trends developing in response to recent global events. The Bell Ringers is completely fictional in its portrayal of a dystopian-like society of the future, but it is hard to refrain from drawing comparisons and inferences to present-day reality. Greedy corporations, a corrupt government, or over-reaching technology can easily be a headline in today’s news, and that’s what makes it easy to relate to the believable plot of The Bell Ringers.
While living in exile in Colombia, a former advisor to England’s Prime Minister is murdered in the bombing of a street side cafe. Colleagues and friends gather for his funeral in England and shortly thereafter a former lover learns that she is the sole beneficiary of his estate. Kate Lockhart is perplexed by the designation, as she and David Eyam had been estranged for years. While settling his affairs, Lockhart not only witnesses the murder of several of Eyam’s associates, but she also stumbles upon overwhelming evidence that Eyam was engaged in underground activity with a group called “The Bell Ringers.” Whether it could be attributed it to a complacent society or a serious concern over terrorist threats, a true breach of the country’s water supply or a manufactured peril, the surveillance of Britain’s population had been allowed to develop into an oppressive operation known as DEEP TRUTH—a sinister totalitarian conspiracy that threatens the democratic process—and Eyam, for one, was no longer able to subscribe to his leader’s mission. That is when his troubles began.
Many reviewers have compared The Bell Ringers to Orwell’s classic novel 1984. The works are similar in that both portray a society gone awry; both depict the evils of a totalitarian government demanding total devotion from its citizens. The frightening difference between the two novels, as pointed out by a Washington Post reviewer, is that Orwell’s novel was written as a futuristic prediction of what “could happen;” Porter’s novel is a depiction of what he perceives as “already starting to happen.” Read the Afterword provided by Porter if The Bell Ringers does not alarm you enough.
Enjoy the conspiratorial and suspenseful aspects of The Bell Ringers? Readalikes include The Ghost by Robert Harris, Acrobat by Lira Gonzalo, and Overton Window by Glenn Beck.
Deborah Formosa, Northport-East Northport Public Library
First Daughter by Eric Van Lustbader
In this political thriller, the soon-to-be President’s daughter, Alli is kidnapped and everyone wants to keep it quiet. Luckily, Alli used to be friends with the daughter of an ATF agent named Jack McClure making him the perfect choice to find the First Daughter since the Secret Service and out-going President have their own hidden agenda. As Jack uses his investigative skills to locate the First Daughter, an undercurrent of devout government members, including the current President, are hunting down those who think church and state should be separate entities and trampling civil rights in the name of God.
First Daughter is a jumbled mess of past, present and future sometimes bordering on the absurd (the ghost of Jack’s daughter Emma begins appearing to him, Jack’s dyslexia allows his to see things in colors and shapes making him able to solve things that no one else can). All of the characters are in constant conflict with each other, with religious fundamentalists and with anyone else who doesn’t toe the company line. Jack’s past comes into play as he searches for Alli, including his obsession in trying to discover what was behind the death of Emma, and characters that seem trustworthy turn out to be just as flawed as everyone else. Fast-paced with short chapters, this would be a good read for anyone looking for more action than plot. Although the underlying theme of church and state makes for an interesting debate, it’s handled poorly making the reader more frustrated than anything else.
Read-alikes:
Tom Clancy
Vince Flynn
Robert Ludlum
Daniel Silva
Azuree Agnello, West Babylon Public Library
Eighteen Acres by Nicolle Wallace
In Eighteen Acres, the reader follows a year in the lives of three powerful, career-minded women; Charlotte, the United States’ 45th president; Melanie, her chief-of-staff; and Dale, a White House correspondent who is also sleeping with the president’s husband.
Charlotte and Melanie are in each others’ lives 24/7 and have become close friends. They journey to Afghanistan to visit the troops and spend weekends at Camp David. Dale has been steadily moving up the career ladder at her network and is hoping to land the gig on the president’s campaign trail. The president knows about her husband’s affair with Dale, but feels it’s the result of her neglect and doesn’t begrudge him.
When Charlotte and her vice president go to Afghanistan, with only a select few of the press, they come under attack. The press helicopter crashes and Dale is hospitalized. Naturally, the affair becomes national and international headlines.
Each chapter of the book follows one of the three women. The questions that arise after the crash concern whether Melanie will continue working after 15 years in the White House, whether Charlotte will try for another four years in the White House, even after the scandal, and whether Dale can resume her career and hold onto Peter (the First Man).
This political fiction is more women’s fiction with a political setting. It is a quick read with lots going on. The White House and DC are hubs of activity where no one is spared. No one has much of a life outside their careers and, as women, that is something they all battle with.
The female characters are well drawn; however, the male characters hardly have a presence.
Written by a woman, for women, including references to Marc Jacobs bags and a $2,000 Dior purse, this book is just this side of “chick lit”, making it an enjoyable, easy read.
Read-alikes:
• Protect and Defend, by Richard North Patterson
• Eleanor vs. Ike, by Robin Gerber
• Sunday Brunch Diaries, by Norma Jarrett
• Girls of Riyadh, by Rajaa Alsanea
Lori Ludlow, Babylon Public Library
Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd Century America by Robert Charles Wilson
A portrait of an imagined 22nd America, Julian Comstock reflects the political and social turmoil in today’s world. The most poignant political themes in the novel are the separation of Church and State, religious freedom, the US‘s dependency on oil and the increasing monetary gap between the middle and the upper classes. Additional themes include America’s consumer driven society tainted by the desire for excess and the dangers of viral mutation from antibiotics.
This novel takes place after the age of oil, in feudal caste society. The presidency is no longer determined by election but is inherited or appointed. The whole of North America is the new USA and the USA is still at war with European’s, who are labeled “the Dutch,” over Canada’s northern territories. After the end of oil, an indentured class is created, these citizen’s sell the only thing they own, their own bodies in order to survive.
Julian Comstock, a member of privileged class, sets off to find America and himself. Julian is accompanied by two companions, Sam and Adam, who are of the working or indentured classes. The three involuntarily get drafted into the army and are sent off to fight the Dutch. The three eventually return as hero’s to New York, now the US’s capital. Soon the group is threatened by there political ties to the president and Julian is faced with overwhelming opposition from the powerful Church/Feudal run government.
As well as a political novel, Julian Comstock is a coming of age story. I would recommend this book to both adults and older teens, especially lovers of Science Fiction.
Read-alikes
Paul Park
Alison Sinclair
Eric Nylund
Pat Murphy
Pamela L. Wells, Lindenhurst Public Library
The political fiction genre has a new and unique CIA operative, John Wells, who not only infiltrates Al Qaeda for almost a decade but becomes a devout Muslim during his years in Pakistan. He returns to New York under the orders of a high ranking mysterious Al Qaeda military leader who doesn’t quite trust Wells and keeps John unenlightened regarding his “mission ” until the time is right.
While John was in Pakistan he never communicated with his superiors for fear of blowing his cover and undermining all the trust he earned among his Al Qaeda brothers. Thus when Wells finally reports to the CIA the top brass don’t trust him either. Welles must convince the CIA he has not “gone over” and yet must remain a convincing Al Qaeda warrior.
The Faithful Spy is a nail biting thriller with a diabolically brilliant antagonist who is more than a match for our brave and solitary hero. It is John Berenson’s first novel, for which he won the Edgar Award in 2006. Berenson is a reporter for the New York Times and has covered topics from the occupation of Iraq to the flooding of New Orleans. His fluency in the Middle East is apparent in his storytelling. The thoroughness of this narrative makes it plausible and chilling in its probability.
Read-alikes:
Any of Nelson DeMille’s John Corey stories
Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels
Peg McCarthy, Librarian
Executive Intent by Dale Brown
The book begins with a too long multiple page description of various missiles and their capabilities.
We are then introduced to several members of the space station in orbit and ground crew responsible for the protection of naval ships at sea. Although one does not get a feeling for the characters.
The book starts with tensions at sea between American and Chinese fighter pilots before it segues into how the United States has designed and launched one of the most powerful weapons in history called “Thor’s Hammer” that can strike anywhere in the world in seconds. In order to protect themselves from this design other countries such as China and Russia attempt to gain control of the world’s seas.
Meanwhile, terrorists decide to hijack Pakistani missiles and use them against Indian cities. The President of the United States, Joseph Gardner, decides to retaliate by firing Thor’s Hammer which results in a a large number of casualties. This incites Pakistan to provide China with access to their Middle Eastern ports.
Another plot involves Somali pirates attacking a Chinese ship and the Chinese retaliation of attacking Somalia and setting up missile bases that can target American ships at sea.
An additional plot emerges as both Chinese and Russian spacecraft surround the American space-station threatening the U.S. Navy with missiles unless the Americans are willing to negotiate territories and boundaries.
The intricate descriptions of the missiles were cumbersome at the beginning and proved unhelpful in understanding the differences in strategic warfare if one was unfamiliar with basic weaponry. I found little interest in this book and was unable to care about the characters. The multiple plots were excessive and became confusing at times when the plot design appeared to change from current to futuristic setting.
I would recommend this book only to individuals who already have read prior books by Dale Brown or have a definite interest in technology/military adventure.
Read-alikes:
Baldacci, David Deliver Us from Evil
Bova, Ben Able One
Brown, Dale Strike Force
Clancy, Tom Battle Ready
Rollins, David Hard Rain
Anne Jones, East Hampton Library
Boomsday by Christopher Buckley
It’s the end of the world as we know it! At least is seems to be with Boomsday arriving. Boomsday is the day when all baby boomers start to retire. With the economy and social security in crisis,
Similar books by this author- Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, No Way to Treat a First Lady,
Lissetty Thomas, Brentwood Public Library
Sammy's House by Kristin Gore
Samantha Joyce, also known as Sammy, is a health care advisor and aide to Ohio Senator Robert Gary. Despite her character quirks, her friends and her age, she does her job quite well. This is a fun look at the young side of life in the capital. The political wheeling and dealing share time with the dating and bar scene. Although the book is quite funny at times, it does offer a sobering look at the workings of Congress. Fans of Jennifer Weiner, Lauren Weisberger, Emma McLaughlin and Candace Bushnell will enjoy.
Karen Jaffe, Comsewogue Public Library
Last Snow by Eric Lustbader
ATF agent Jack McClure is the special advisor to President Edward Carson, so when the President asks him to investigate the mysterious death of a senator on a diplomatic mission, Jack is off to the Ukraine . He becomes involved with the beautiful Annika, a Russian counterintelligence agent, and with dangerous and unscrupulous apparatchiks and oligarchs. In a previous adventure, (First Daughter, 2008) McClure had saved the life of Carson’s daughter, Alli, and she insists on accompanying him, adding more confusion and complexity to the mission. The story is fast-paced, colorful, and violent.
Lustbader was hired by the Robert Ludlum estate to continue the Bourne books, so readers of that series will likely enjoy” Last Snow”. Other read-alikes include authors Tom Clancy, Philip Margolin, and David Baldacci.
Suzanne McGuire, Commack Public Library
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Winner of the Man Booker prize for contemporary British fiction in 2009, historian, novelist and author Hilary Mantel delves into the reign of Henry VIII particularly his long stand-off with the church. The point of view is that of Thomas Cromwell, who directed England’s civil and religious affairs in those tumultuous years. Cromwell has been called the architect of the English Reformation inasmuch as he showed Henry he could get his marriage annulled by breaking with the Catholic Church and leading an independent Church of England.
Best read as a novel, not history. Reviewers noted its capacious structure, the brilliance of its language, the wry, off-beat, elegiac tone of its narration and its sheer inventiveness. Some of these things are true and some are lies . . . but they are all good stories.
At times an ambitious read, but a rewarding one as well.
Read-alikes:
The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver
The Glass Room, Simon Mawer
The Little Stranger, Sarah Waters
Brooklyn, Colm Toibin
The Children’s Book, A. S. Byatt
Grace O'Connor, West Islip Public Library
American Savior by Roland Merullo
American Savior is the story of a presidential campaign. A campaign in which Jesus Christ, having become dismayed at the state of spirituality in America and convinced that his own teachings have been distorted, decides to run for President of the United States. He first re-appears in a small city in western Massachusetts performing various miracles. He recruits a ragtag group of campaign workers, primarily the religiously-conflicted family of television reporter Russ Thomas, to manage his campaign. While Jesus’ campaign first encounters many doubters, he soon comes to be the front runner and is well on his way to becoming the next president. Especially interesting are the non-conventional ways in which Jesus addresses the hot-button issues of our day, issues which many on both sides of the political class are convinced they know how he would think.
The book seems to ask the question of how America, a “Christian nation” would recognize and treat the return of its savior. The author seems to want to ask if those who profess to believe in him truly understand his actual message. Of course many others might say that the author is presenting his own conception of how Jesus should be viewed.
Read-Alikes might include campaign novels such as Primary Colors by Anonymous, Sleeping Dogs by Ed Gorman, and Dog Days by Ana Marie Cox. Also recommend to readers who have enjoyed books such as The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip Dick, and More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon.
Bruce Silverstein, Patchogue-Medford
Skull Mantra by Eliot Pattison
Shan Tan Yun, a Han Chinese sent to the Tibetan gulag for reeducation, undertakes the investigation of a political murder in hopes of saving his fellow prisoners, Tibetan monks, from blame. A tribute to human resilience featuring interesting leads, colorful secondary characters, clever dialog, and lyrical descriptions of a haunting landscape , Skull Mantra is also a fascinating read for anyone interested in the recent history of Tibet.
Read-alikes include Tony Hillerman’s A Thief of Time, Nicholas Shakespeare’s The Dancer Upstairs, and John Burdett’s The Godfather of Kathmandu.
Jackie Malone, North Bellmore Public Library
The Bell Ringers by Harry Porter
By any measure, this political thriller would appeal to someone who enjoys a suspenseful read with numerous twists and turns, a multitude of fully-developed characters, and a strong dose of mystery. But the range of appeal can be broadened to anyone who may have a concern about the societal trends developing in response to recent global events. The Bell Ringers is completely fictional in its portrayal of a dystopian-like society of the future, but it is hard to refrain from drawing comparisons and inferences to present-day reality. Greedy corporations, a corrupt government, or over-reaching technology can easily be a headline in today’s news, and that’s what makes it easy to relate to the believable plot of The Bell Ringers.
While living in exile in Colombia, a former advisor to England’s Prime Minister is murdered in the bombing of a street side cafe. Colleagues and friends gather for his funeral in England and shortly thereafter a former lover learns that she is the sole beneficiary of his estate. Kate Lockhart is perplexed by the designation, as she and David Eyam had been estranged for years. While settling his affairs, Lockhart not only witnesses the murder of several of Eyam’s associates, but she also stumbles upon overwhelming evidence that Eyam was engaged in underground activity with a group called “The Bell Ringers.” Whether it could be attributed it to a complacent society or a serious concern over terrorist threats, a true breach of the country’s water supply or a manufactured peril, the surveillance of Britain’s population had been allowed to develop into an oppressive operation known as DEEP TRUTH—a sinister totalitarian conspiracy that threatens the democratic process—and Eyam, for one, was no longer able to subscribe to his leader’s mission. That is when his troubles began.
Many reviewers have compared The Bell Ringers to Orwell’s classic novel 1984. The works are similar in that both portray a society gone awry; both depict the evils of a totalitarian government demanding total devotion from its citizens. The frightening difference between the two novels, as pointed out by a Washington Post reviewer, is that Orwell’s novel was written as a futuristic prediction of what “could happen;” Porter’s novel is a depiction of what he perceives as “already starting to happen.” Read the Afterword provided by Porter if The Bell Ringers does not alarm you enough.
Enjoy the conspiratorial and suspenseful aspects of The Bell Ringers? Readalikes include The Ghost by Robert Harris, Acrobat by Lira Gonzalo, and Overton Window by Glenn Beck.
Deborah Formosa, Northport-East Northport Public Library
First Daughter by Eric Van Lustbader
In this political thriller, the soon-to-be President’s daughter, Alli is kidnapped and everyone wants to keep it quiet. Luckily, Alli used to be friends with the daughter of an ATF agent named Jack McClure making him the perfect choice to find the First Daughter since the Secret Service and out-going President have their own hidden agenda. As Jack uses his investigative skills to locate the First Daughter, an undercurrent of devout government members, including the current President, are hunting down those who think church and state should be separate entities and trampling civil rights in the name of God.
First Daughter is a jumbled mess of past, present and future sometimes bordering on the absurd (the ghost of Jack’s daughter Emma begins appearing to him, Jack’s dyslexia allows his to see things in colors and shapes making him able to solve things that no one else can). All of the characters are in constant conflict with each other, with religious fundamentalists and with anyone else who doesn’t toe the company line. Jack’s past comes into play as he searches for Alli, including his obsession in trying to discover what was behind the death of Emma, and characters that seem trustworthy turn out to be just as flawed as everyone else. Fast-paced with short chapters, this would be a good read for anyone looking for more action than plot. Although the underlying theme of church and state makes for an interesting debate, it’s handled poorly making the reader more frustrated than anything else.
Read-alikes:
Tom Clancy
Vince Flynn
Robert Ludlum
Daniel Silva
Azuree Agnello, West Babylon Public Library
Eighteen Acres by Nicolle Wallace
In Eighteen Acres, the reader follows a year in the lives of three powerful, career-minded women; Charlotte, the United States’ 45th president; Melanie, her chief-of-staff; and Dale, a White House correspondent who is also sleeping with the president’s husband.
Charlotte and Melanie are in each others’ lives 24/7 and have become close friends. They journey to Afghanistan to visit the troops and spend weekends at Camp David. Dale has been steadily moving up the career ladder at her network and is hoping to land the gig on the president’s campaign trail. The president knows about her husband’s affair with Dale, but feels it’s the result of her neglect and doesn’t begrudge him.
When Charlotte and her vice president go to Afghanistan, with only a select few of the press, they come under attack. The press helicopter crashes and Dale is hospitalized. Naturally, the affair becomes national and international headlines.
Each chapter of the book follows one of the three women. The questions that arise after the crash concern whether Melanie will continue working after 15 years in the White House, whether Charlotte will try for another four years in the White House, even after the scandal, and whether Dale can resume her career and hold onto Peter (the First Man).
This political fiction is more women’s fiction with a political setting. It is a quick read with lots going on. The White House and DC are hubs of activity where no one is spared. No one has much of a life outside their careers and, as women, that is something they all battle with.
The female characters are well drawn; however, the male characters hardly have a presence.
Written by a woman, for women, including references to Marc Jacobs bags and a $2,000 Dior purse, this book is just this side of “chick lit”, making it an enjoyable, easy read.
Read-alikes:
• Protect and Defend, by Richard North Patterson
• Eleanor vs. Ike, by Robin Gerber
• Sunday Brunch Diaries, by Norma Jarrett
• Girls of Riyadh, by Rajaa Alsanea
Lori Ludlow, Babylon Public Library
Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd Century America by Robert Charles Wilson
A portrait of an imagined 22nd America, Julian Comstock reflects the political and social turmoil in today’s world. The most poignant political themes in the novel are the separation of Church and State, religious freedom, the US‘s dependency on oil and the increasing monetary gap between the middle and the upper classes. Additional themes include America’s consumer driven society tainted by the desire for excess and the dangers of viral mutation from antibiotics.
This novel takes place after the age of oil, in feudal caste society. The presidency is no longer determined by election but is inherited or appointed. The whole of North America is the new USA and the USA is still at war with European’s, who are labeled “the Dutch,” over Canada’s northern territories. After the end of oil, an indentured class is created, these citizen’s sell the only thing they own, their own bodies in order to survive.
Julian Comstock, a member of privileged class, sets off to find America and himself. Julian is accompanied by two companions, Sam and Adam, who are of the working or indentured classes. The three involuntarily get drafted into the army and are sent off to fight the Dutch. The three eventually return as hero’s to New York, now the US’s capital. Soon the group is threatened by there political ties to the president and Julian is faced with overwhelming opposition from the powerful Church/Feudal run government.
As well as a political novel, Julian Comstock is a coming of age story. I would recommend this book to both adults and older teens, especially lovers of Science Fiction.
Read-alikes
Paul Park
Alison Sinclair
Eric Nylund
Pat Murphy
Pamela L. Wells, Lindenhurst Public Library
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