Peter Robinson Archives > recordedbookreview.com

There should be and will be a measure of a good writer, which is the number of words it takes for the reader to be INSIDE the story. Up, up and away. Peter Robinson: 10. Kristin Hannah/Hannah Kristin: 25. Ernest Hemingway: 4.

19 Years of Reviews

What starts off as a sweetly original, Jobs-like desire-mined story about a woman's relationship with the net: before and after marriage, turns into a stupid, GOOFY-Lucy-type plot about a wife and mother who tries to hide her need to be free from her straight laced and slightly idiotic husband. TooHacker Mom by Austin Rachlis

Sun Mar 07, 2004 Forty years ago, this would have been a Sandra Dee movie. Rock Hudson would have played the smart, rich, charming, befuddled and gorgeous groom; a french actress would have played the loopy, eternally foreign mother, and Chevalier would have played Teddy: irresponsible, felonious, a sexual misadventurer. AndManeater by Gigi Levangie Granger read by Uma Thurman

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)

Schumpeter once wrote that the Stock market is a poor substitute for the holy grail. In other words, capitalism is more or less incapable of producing belief in itself. And yet, there are people who do believe in it. Ziad Abdelnour is one of them. ForMeet the Giants: An Interview with Ziad Abdelnour

Discretion is the name of a D.C. Escort Service, so exclusive that it doesn't advertise on Back Page or Eros. The most expensive and popular "provider" at Discretion is "Sasha" who is rated "9s" and '10s' in the Appearance and Performance categories on Trick Adviser-- an on line Ratings serviceDiscretion by Allison Leotta read by Tavia Gilbert

Warped, lusty, utterly female voice of this slut-goddess kicks you in the groin, cuffs you to the radiator, and feeds you sex and ham sandwiches. "You belong to me, D-o-l-l" she says to Steve Carella. And you do. Or want to. As does Steve Carella, detective and good guy ofDOLL by Ed McBain (Pouty D, drag the O, tongue heavy on the L.)

Two women, one girl. One steals identities, one leaves identities behind her. Zosie de l'Alba is the bad witch with red lollipop shoes, who befriends the good witch, draws the entire neighborhood into her chocolate shop, and seduces an adolescent girl. The Girl With No Shadow by Joanne Harris

What starts up as an Insider's Guide to storage in L.A. develops into a diary by Holden Caulfield's bitch-sister, grown up into another alienated and out of joint L.A. wife. Judith was a thoroughly unpleasant daughter with a borderline personality disorder of a father who grew tomatoes in NebraskaTo Be Sung Underwater by Tom McNeal narrated by Susan Boyce

Wry, infinitely bored, softhearted ex-cop holes up in the Upper Peninsula, runs his snow plow up and down the block, and hangs out in a Scottish pub, drinking Canadian beer. Then trouble comes knocking at his door.... "You spend your whole life up here sitting in The Hunting Wind by Steve Hamilton read by Nick Sullivan

The spunky wife of a floor licking, scum sucking, receptionist-nailing hack accountant discovers her husband's infidelity and writes up the dastardly deed in his monthly newsletter which she emails to kith and kin and customers. She accumulates notoriety ("SCORNED LOCAL WIFE SUED FOR SCATHING E-MAIL") , attractsAnd One Last Thing by Molly Harper read by Amanda Ronconi

All About Eve, Manhattan style. A generous but unwitting socialite wife is betrayed by a younger version of herself. Exiled from high society, kicked off the boards of the most desirable charities, she obsesses about the woman who took her place. Fat, friendless, and poor, she plots the woman's Social Crimes by Jane Stanton Hitchcock read by Barbara Rosenblat

Who in God's name could murder a woman who puts doilies on the bottom of guest-room wastepaper baskets? In this decade of the Mother, of Mommihood, of stretchy, skin tight maternity dresses, of preternaturally calm Nannies, Long Time No See is perhaps the precursor of a series of mysteriesLong Time No See:: Re-hearing Susan Isaacs read by Cristine Mcmurdo-Wallis

I am reading, no hearing, a beautiful book where a photograph is described: This is us when we are happy is not the message that Alice Roosevelt's wedding delivers...and unlike Alice Roosevelt who continued to be an unrepentant thorn in her father's side even after Teddy's death, allThe Shadow Catcher by Marianne Wiggins read by Bernadette Dunne (!)

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

Chris Faulkener has a new job and a new friend, and comes home to a beautiful mechanic named Carla, who is his wife. He doesn't believe in violence, but he works for a conflict investment firm, which studies, tracks and finances the small wars of the world.Market Forces by Richard K. Morgan read by Simon Vance

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The Measure