bookbuzz

Why the Devil are they writing all these Jesus Books

Ok, maybe I tried to hard with this title but I couldn’t help myself.    Another of my many guilty pleasures is the novel that features the Vatican embroiled in international intrigue.  The seat of the catholic church has always provided fodder for suspense novels but THE DA VINCI CODE really took things over the top and a there has been a glut ever since.  With the movie version of ANGELS AND DEMONS soon to be released I thought I’d give Dan Brown’s novels a much unneeded plug.  THE DA VINCI CODE has become the standard.  I recall when I read it I thought this is one of the best books like this ever written.  Critics laughed it off as bad writing with pretty good storytelling but it went on to sell like 20 million copies in hardback.  I went back and read ANGELS AND DEMONS and it was entertaining.  I didn’t love the the ending which finished up just fine but Brown had to add an additional 50 pages and created one of the most ridiculous endings ever-oh well.  That book went on to sell a whole lot of copies in both hard and paperback after THE DA VINCI CODE blew up.

What expertise did I have to make such a claim?  Well my sister and I read a lot of these things.  I will admit when I finished Da Vinci I thought, “man, I could have done this.  It’s HOLY BLOOD, HOLY GRAIL, with a mystery embedded.”  I know the lawsuits ruled in Brown’s favor but anyone who’s read both books can tell that there’s not a whole lot of difference in Brown’s book and Baignet’s and Leigh’s book.

So for your enjoyment, here are a few books that might interest you if you like Vatican mysteries.  I’ll also add a few others that while not necessarily Vatican mysteries involve codices, relics and the occasional plot of global domination.  I was prompted by the book I just finished, THE SACRED  BLOOD by Michael Byrnes.  I read Byrne’s first book, THE SACRED BONES and found it very entertaining.  It had the Vatican involved in a plot to extract the bones of Jesus Christ from the Temple Mount, where they’d been buried for two-millennium.  What is different about this series is that there is a little Indiana Jones element to the tale.  The story is narrated in a skeptic’s voice but the mysteries in both novels involve relics that make the whole Jesus myth a reality.  SACRED BLOOD is a sequel and it follows Charlotte Hennessy, the geneticist, hired by the Vatican to examine the bones of Christ in the first book.  She’s diagnosed with cancer but uses her knowledge of genetics to take a genetic sampling of Jesus’ bones and manages to heal herself.  All of it is farfetched but a lot of fun to read.  The villain is a super villain rabbi whose family has been entrusted to look after The Ark of the Covenant, which makes an appearance here charring the hands of anyone who dares touch it.  It has what you want in an international thriller, exotic locations, assassins and asks many questions.

Basilica by William Montalbano is a really cool Vatican mystery.  It features a hardboiled ex-cop turned friar, living in Vatican City.  A body is found at the base of St. Peter’s Basilica and Paul Lorenzo is called upon by the pope to solve the mystery.  Montalbano ushers the reader into a Vatican on the verge of change.  The story is told post John Paul II and the scenario is realistic enough.  Great pacing a strong protagonist keep the tension line taught in Montalbano’s fast paced novel.  Everything  you want in a thriller.  I don’t know if this is still in print but you can find it.  You’ll love it on an airplane or vacation.

THE LIST OF 7 by Mark Frost is another in this tradition, though not a Vatican novel, it is loaded with esoteric and occult references and societies which have their basis in ancient biblical traditions.  A young Arthur Conan Doyle submits a manuscript that soon has him being chased by a bizarre list of characters.  Along the way he meets Jack Sparks, who becomes the template for his Holmes character of later stories.  Frost keeps the pace up and the setting makes this a fun read for anyone who likes a good thriller with esoteric cabals and ancient secrets.  Any reader of the Holmes’ pastiches, which abound, should love this novel.  Frost makes all the elements work well together.  He had a follow-up THE SIX MESSIAHS which wasn’t as strong but it’s available in paperback.

Alan Folsom, whose first novel, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, was published to much hoopla also contributes a book to my list.  His second novel DAY OF CONFESSION, centers on a priest gone amuck He thinks he’s descended from Alexander the Great and he wants to lead the church to ultimate supremacy and insure its place in the world’s future.  The critics weren’t too generous with this one but it provides enough thrills to make it worth the cover price.  I sometimes think the critics forget that these books have to be a bit far-fetched in their premise to succeed.

THE EIGHT is a novel I never fail to recommend.  It is not a Vatican novel but a historical novel with a broad scope.  Using chess as the metaphor the author Katherine Neville spins a non-stop thrill ride full of smart twists and turns.  Neville is a computer genius and this book very much mirrors GODEL, ESCHER, Bach, Douglass Hofstadter’s award winning book on art, music and mathematics.  She dilutes a lot of smart information into a fascinating read.  There is slight fantasy but overall it’s the historical scope that ties the novel together.   The plots cover hundreds of years and many countries from the Middle East, Europe and to America.  There are druids, alchemists and freemasons and Neville handles it all in the best possible way.  Smart and accessible you’ll find this at your local bookstore-it still sells a lot of copies every year.

Finally, I know, long post but there are too many good books, GOSPEL by Wilton Barnhardt.   This is a lot like THE EIGHT in that it goes back and forth in time.  The premise has a washed up ex-Jesuit academic , Patrick O’Hanrahan fighting for his academic life.  He’s been forced to follow through with his proposed thesis, a study of one of the omitted gospel s of the bible, the gospel according to Josephus.  Along with a grad student, Lucy Dantan, he goes on an international quest to uncover the truth behind this gospel, which is supposed to provide insight into the life of Jesus.  The book goes back in time to the creation of this gospel and that story parallels O’Hanrahan’s travels.  This is a smart novel and maybe closer to THE NAME OF THE ROSE than to THE EIGHT but it isn’t inaccessible.  It takes a while to get into the rhythm of the many things going on in this book but it is totally worth the effort.  Not sure if this is still in print but it definitely deserves to be read and relished.

Barnhardt is a fun writer and I’ll take this opportunity to plug his first novel EMMA WHO SAVED MY LIFE, which is all about the time in our lives, right out of college.  Those intense moments that lead one to adulthood and that help form us yet get buried as nostalgia as we plod into that “secure” future of staid family life and raising children.  How the bonds we thought would be eternal turn into awkward encumbrances when they collide with our later life.  Not a mystery at all but a nice slice of life. I’m sure it’ll resonate, especially with those of us lucky enough to have lived several stages of our lives-pre mid-life.  I’m always surprised by the number of people in publishing who’ve read this book and everyone mentions it as a favorite.

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Looking for Boston

Just getting in from a few days back East.  Debra, my partner, had a speaking gig at a neat little school, Assumption College, in Worcester, MA. and I tagged along.  We were given a wonderful reception by Professor Susan Scully-Hill and her lovely family.  Once done we headed to Boston to meet an old friend.

Where is the Boston I've come to love?  I cut my teeth on Robert Parker's Spenser novels, read William Dean Howells in college.  I loved Dennis Lehane's Pat and Angie series and they all, along with my penchant for history, created this wonderful city full of charm and character.  I first went to Boston 16 years ago and it's been one of my greatest disappointments.  I could never figure it out.  Always a fan of revolutionary history I wanted to visit every graveyard, statue and church I could fit into my trip.  I saw plenty, The Old North Church, Harvard, Quincy Market as well as many historical grave sites but I found it unbearably sterile for some reason.  Still, that's the power of literature, especially when the city is as much a character of the novel as the protagonists it portrays.

In spite of that when I read a Robert Parker novel I"m still transported to the fictional Boston and I'm able to put aside my reality.  So I'm pushing Robert Parker this week.  He's the king of action and dialogue.  He never fails to make me laugh and I still look forward to the next Spenser novel in spite of having been reading him for 26 years.   I first read the JUDAS GOAT, his first novel and he just got better from there.  Parker is pretty prolific and writes various series and has written a couple of westerns as well.  In fact we just watched Apaloosa, which Ed Harris adapted from a Robert Parker novel.  It was pretty good and is a nice look at what makes Robert Parker such an engaging writer.

Another Boston writer you might not be aware of but who's written like 11 novels is Jeremiah Healy.  The first of his books I read was, THE STAKED GOAT, followed by SO LIKE SLEEP.  Healy provides a solid charachter in John Francis Cuddy a Boston P I.  As I recall (it's been over 20 years) the Staked Goat began with Cuddy standing by his wife's grave.  He's having a conversation with her.  He's a caring man and often visits the grave site when he needs to think.  Nothing unbelievable or supernatural about any of this but it shows Cuddy's soft side, which not all tough guy detectives have below the surface.  Boston plays a big part in the books and he does a really good job keeping readers coming back for more.  Not sure why he never got bigger up but if you like the Spenser novels or read P I mysteries take time to check him out.  Most of his books seem to be in print.

My final Boston series is the Doc Adams series by Rick Boyer.  I don't know if any of these are in print but both my sister and I really loved the first few books.  The first of his books I read was entitled THE WHALES FOOTPRINT.  It was an advanced reading copy that Houghton Mifflin published in the late 80s when it seemed they wanted to break him out.  I wonder why he never blew-up?

Doc Adams is a dentist in Massachusetts and while it's not necessarily a "Boston novel," it very much has that feel.  These books are both cozy and violent, Boyer features lots of food, much like Spenser.  Adams loves to cook and drinks great wines.  He has this great life,  He Has a motorcycle and sauna at home.  His wife is perfect and understanding so there's a slight twist on the lone guy mystery.  He has a side kick that's capeable of any act of violence and that somehow provides a nice balance to the homey nature of the dentist.

After reading the WHALE'S FOOTPRINT, I went to the first book in the series THE DAISY DUCKS and had to read all I could find, MOSCOW METAL, is a great thriller with lots of twists and good violent action. Billingsgate Shoals won him an Edgar for best mystery novel of the year.  PENNY FERRY  delivers.  It's been a long time but I think that's the one that features Scacco and Vanzettii the  mystery.

Do yourself a favor and check him out, the guy won an Edgar so he's got the chops.  I haven't stumbled upon a Boyer novel in a long time but I've put myself in the mood.  I'm going to call my local independent bookstore and track down the later books.

I'm signing off now.  I"m afraid my trip to Bean Town ended me up in the hospital.  Had a sandwich at the Wolfgang Puck Grill at Logan, not sure if it was the sandwich or something viral but I spent a couple of days in the hosptial with what doctors called food poisoning.  Boston let me down again but the mythical Boston won't.  Thank God for her mystery writers.

Spy Stuff

A quick introduction I've been in the book business for over 25 years and read and have read a ton of mystery and suspense novels.  People who I'll mention often will probably be Debra Ginsberg, my girlfriend and gifted author.  Her most recent novel THE GRIFT   is available now and is due out in paperback late summer.  I bring it up for two reasons.  If you like noirish mysteries you'll love THE GRIFT.   I loved THE GRIFT and also I kind of have to mention my girl's book, right?  Deb is a big reader and while we don't often agree on books when we do you'll hear about it here.   Also my sister will probably pop in now and again.  We share the love of a good thriller or mystery and we're always swapping books back and forth.  She just brought me  Donna Leon's BLOOD FROM A STONE, which  I hadn't read.  Leon writes novels set in Venice with a great protagonist, Comissario Guido Brunetti.  We love Donna Leon.  I'll write about the Italian mysteries on another post.

I thought to begin my postings with spy books because suddenly, we're publishing spy books again.  I grew up in the midst of the cold war and have always loved a good cold war novel.  Since the end of the cold war a good spy novel has been hard to find.  It seems that Putin's Russia has given license to the spy novel and I'm so happy.  I often found myself, all through the 90s and most of the new millenium,  longing for a cold war novel with none to be had.

The first book of this sort I recall reading is THE HUMAN FACTOR by Graham Greene.  I was Introduced to the cold war novel and also to the genius of Graham Greene, who's written a number of such novels.  Greene is one of the greatest novelists ever.  The second was a Len Deighton novel THE PERFECT SPY.  Exotic dark European settings and a lone spy.  I loved that book and Deighton led me to Lecarre.   I tried the Ludlums but never loved them.  I found them plodding and slow though I love the Jason Bourne movies.  I will tip my hat to Daniel Silva who has essentially been writing spy novels but they've lacked that cold war feel and are more like international thrillers.  Not to take anything away from Silva.  I look forward to his next book and will read it immediately upon publication and then I'll pass it on to my sister.  I loved MOSCOW RULES and I noted he has a new novel coming in July, THE DEFECTOR-can't wait.

The biggest spy novel out there right now seems to be Olen Steinhauer's, THE TOURIST.  I was given a copy last September by Larry Yost who was the repersentative for Macmillan in Denver at the time.  Larry is an old school book guy with ton's of enthusiasm.  He could talk about books all day.  He always had a good word and a good book recomendation for you.  I've read Steinhauer's first two books and liked them well enough.  FYI, I really like the novels set in other countries.  They're always so culturally biased, I guess you'd say.  I really like peeking into other cultures and seeing them as they see themselves.  Steinhauer had been writing historical mysteries set in the early days of communist rule in some unnamed Eastern European country so this is a departure for him.  It opens up with a ton of action and keeps it up to the end.  As a lot of spy novels do, it goes from present to a recent past and has plenty of twists and turns. The protagonist Milo Weaver is on the back side of his career, his days in the field are over and he's in the office of an ultra-secret government agency.   The bottom line is who do you trust when you can't trust anyone as Milo, who has found peace and a family, is suddenly thrust into the middle of a case that has roots in something in his past.  Lots of fun and true to what a spy novel should be.

Last Year I saw that a first novel by Alex Berenson, THE FAITHFUL SPY, was on the bestseller list in paperback.  I hadn't heard of of it and in my quest of spy books I picked it up.  Man, what a blast this book was.  Berenson's book had everything that I want out of a thriller.  I really enjoyed it and of course passed it on to my sister, who also loved it.  I picked up his second novel, GHOST WAR and it was pretty good.  He's got a new book that went on sale in February, THE SILENT MAN, that I haven't picked up yet but I'm looking forward to checking it out. 

I'll leave you with a few short mentions.  I Just read a quintessential spy novel called RED TO BLACK.  It's written by a Brit who apparently dabbled in international espionage.  I assume for MI6.  I'm really excited about this novel but it won't be out til September so more on that later in the year.  It does have all the elements. 

 If you've never read Charles McCarry do yourself a favor.  I think Overlook Press has released his older titles like THE LAST SUPPER and TEARS OF AUTUMN.  I think McCarry actually worked for the CIA and his books have an air of authenticity.  His protagonist Paul Christopher is the key to all of his books.  They're spy books but very internal and you get a lot of Christopher and what goes on in his head. McCarry recently began to publish again and I haven't read his last two or three novels but the early works begining with the MIERNIK DOSSIER rank up there with LeCarre and I have to put him up there with Graham Greene as well.  These are literary novels as well as terrific spy books. 

 Lastly a plug for Ward Just.  If you like the feel of Graham Greene and McCarry give Ward Just a try.  THE AMERICAN AMBASSADOR AND THE TRANSLATOR have that stark political feel and while not spy novels, might appeal to you.  His ECHO HOUSE was a finalist for THE National Book Award so his novels are very literary.  I wouldn't start with ECHO HOUSE but it's definitely worth checking out but the pace is slow and the characters not the most likeable.  Hec it's Washington DC, what do you expect..  Just writes about Washington and it's inner circle like nobody else.

On another note.  Trying to put together a mellow, fun, light guitar mix.  I have Summer Song by Joe Satriani, Melissa and Blue Sky from the Allman Bros.,Close to Champaign by Los Straight Jackets, which has a cool latino beat, a little like Los Lonely boys meet Xavier Cugat, I'm adding them too, Los Lonely Boys not X, Staying with Me and Heaven, though I'm a little tired of that one.  I have Wilco's Impossible Germany (can't get enough Nels Cline) and I heard George Benson's Breezin the other day and might add that.  Can't seem to get enough of Mark Knopfler's album, Kill to Get Crimson, Scaffolder's Wife, Punish the Monkey and my latest favorite Fizzy and the.Still.  Debating adding Ottmar Liebert's Barcelona Nights. It's not that easy putting together a play list.  Not sure if you can comment on posts but if anyone has any suggestions...

more next time,

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Social Networking and the Independent Bookseller

I recently purchased a Sony Flip video camera and have become completely obsessed. It’s almost always in my hand, on standby mode, waiting to record the next big wonder. Short snippets seem to be all I am capable of at the moment, but regardless, it’s fun, entertaining and makes me that much more annoying to my coworkers. The accessibility, spontaneity and overall impression that live video offers makes it a perfect tool for getting the word out there about whatever it is that can most benefit YOU and your stores! Sneak peaks to author events, interviews, staff recommendations, promoting new products - Creating a BuZZZ within your community and hopefully building that community.

At the SCIBA office, the folks are a bit camera shy, but one day I’ll capture enough footage to produce something, perhaps not too relevant, but entertaining at the least…

In the meantime, here's a video preview of the "Social Networking and the Independent Bookseller" session held at the SCIBA Spring Meeting this past Sunday at the Westin Hotel in Pasadena. ABA's Len Vlahos and Patrick from Vroman's did a great job explaining the uses and benefits of social media. This video merely skims the depths of what they discussed. But, like I said, I am no expert on this video thing....yet....

*guinevere