The Weatherman by Stephen Thayer read by George Guidall

Incongruous, unlovable, post-Vietnam:

a weatherman and a reporter make the Minnesota TV newsroom hummm. Dixie

Quinn locks into the weather and doesn’t let go. Rick Beanblossom, burn-victim,

works behind the scenes, behind his mask. Their curious, uneven characterizations

are ambushed midway by a grim, hopeless plot.

Quotes: “Y’all take care now” (The weatherman’s last words)

10 Years of Reviews

There are inside words and outside words. Sometimes outside words - like Inspector Wexford's "They don't have handbags anymore," - sound like inside words because they form a running commentary on something like the world. Sometimes, like Hannah Goldsmith's, they escape, aciduously, censoriously. Throughout theJohn Lee reads Ruth Rendell:End in Tears.

When a lawyer and a cop reconstruct the life of a pretty, jolly slut they recover hundreds of small, dishonourable wrongs, shameful and unpretty. Sandra Nichols loved to fuck, and she liked men, and she married them. And then she left them, and started again. Her children are a sad disarraySandra Nichols Found Dead by George Higgins::George Guidall

Hitachi's beautifully directed High Definition video series called True Stories features a segment on "Coal's Comeback". A bunch of old em·phy·se·mic grandpas are fishing, muttering into the wind, when the voice of Bruce No of Hitachi America announces that Supercritical Technology is the new generation of Coal, the cleanSister Mine by Tawni O'Dell read by Renee Raudman

Interesting detective novel about an ex-Mexican ex-sheriff and his deputy-historian. A little bloody but lots of clean writing, and a sharpening style. Good lines. Cartwright was spry and walked fast… he led me around a lush Palo Verdi tree. It reminded me of the way trenches had been constructed on the Western FrontThe Night Detectives by Jon Talton read by Jim Meskimen (A David Mapstone Mystery)

Let's just say that murders happened in the middle of other things: a cop, a lawyer, a fire investigator get up, they fight with their wives, they eat. Sometimes they think. The law is something they think about. How it came to be what it is, where it came from,ORIGIN & CAUSE by Shelly Reuben

The voice is everything. Instead of the typical pomposity of a haughty OBE accent, spouting that mixture of bad faith, betrayal, and malice so characteristic of the displaced British upper class, we have a whisper, a tempered, middle brow tone telling a tale about a slightly fat slightly alcoholic NottinghamROUGH TREATMENT by JOHN HARVEY::JOHN WILKINSON

After much too much silly shitty giggly girly fiction, this clever, sharp, unpredictable novel about a small town female Sheriff who meets a man at a Quantico training course is a delight. The dialogue between the coupling law enforcement agents is witty, original, delicious; the supporting characters are curiousMaking It Right by Catherine Bybee read by Cristina Panfilio

Lisa Gardner is a genius at thesis statements. My favorite is: "a family is a system" (Hide). Or maybe: "A computer is a portal, you know, an entry point into your home." (The Neighbor) This book's thesis statement is: "Pain has a flavor." And like all good thesis statements, it tellsLisa Gardner, Touch & Go

Utterly charming tale of British advertising executive fed up with the petty hysteria of bosses, clients and ex-wives. He quits. He drives to the south of France, meets a beautiful real estate agent, and opens a hotel. But things are not so simple...Hotel Pastis by Peter Mayle read by John Franklyn-Robbins

There is something annoying, something unsettling, something demoralizing about a story in which all the women are either murder victims, embittered but useless mothers, faithful, ineffectual wives, or sexually charged students with dancers' bodies. Annoying, too, is witnessing an entire small town turn against an innocent man and his brainyThe Bone House by Brian Freeman read by Joe Barrett

"It was no longer about the money, it was that innocent people had died." This insincere, formulaic, unremarkable thought is thought yet again by Hilary the victim in the 68th Chapter of this disappointing 'thriller'. Another poor and pretty mother, another psychopath, another Asperbergers child. Who cares?Everything to Lose by Andrew Gross read by Tavia Gilbert

Sit down at the kitchen table, have a cup of tea, and listen to the gossip, the rumours, the superstitions, the confabulations and conjurations of the people living in the village near Saint Anne's well, in the magic woods of Whitethorn, where everybody tells stories. For example,Maeve Binchy Whitethorn Woods read by Jenny Sterlin

An insider's view of the pentagon: Three of the four military services have their headquarters within these walls... The underlying idea is that proximity will force the services to work together in neighborly harmony. And it would seem to make sense because after allMan in the Middle by Brian Haig read by L.J. Ganser

Four narrators read back to back the recollections of five 'Angry Housewives' in Minnesota. Each voice adds to the prism of personalities which reflects how different five women sound from one another, even when they are reading the same books. Unlike the women in Mary McCarthy's The Group, which was perhapsAngry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik Performed by Ruth Ann Phimister, Christine Mcmurdo Wallis, Christina Moore, Kate Forbes and James Jenner

Short, spoiled and operatic is the 14 year old Persian Jewess who charms Gabe, the poor little rich foundling now living with Peter and Rena Decker. Gabe is a little lovable, a little weird, and very horny. But he is also a musical prodigy, with the lean blonde wits ofGun Games by Faye Kellerman read by Mitchell Greenberg

Share this:

Related