Award-winning journalist and talk show host Anne Holliday interviews some of the most popular authors of the day, including Mary Higgins Clark, Joseph Finder, C.J. Box, Jeffery Deaver, Delia Ephron, Liane Moriarty, Linda Fairstein, Lisa Gardner, Steve Berry, David Baldacci, Gregory Maguire, and many more.
With that said, how rare is it to read two books in less than a week that don't end until the very last sentence? (I know that sounds weird, but book nerds know what I mean.)
Linda Fairstein's "Killer Look" and Camilla Way's "Watching Edie" couldn't be more different, the stories held my attention during the entire length of each book. You can go to the previous two blog posts to read my review of the books. You can also go to http://wesb.com/on-demand to hear my interviews with both writers.
Watching Edie by Camilla Way
Killer Look by Linda FairsteinLara Naughton could have given up, shut herself off from the rest of the world when she was kidnapped and raped. She did not. What she did do is extraordinary. You can hear part of her story here: WESB.com.
I'm not only excited to read it, I'm excited to talk to her about it. I'll let you know when she'll be on LiveLine, and I'll also keep you updated on her book signing events throughout the region.
After Alice by Gregory Maguire
For more information you can go to Sacred America.net or Stephen Dinan.com
And, you can also listen to my chat with him here: http://wesb.com/on-demand. Click on the July 5 LiveLine.
I know this doesn't make up for missing her, and it certainly can't get your copy of her book signed for you, but maybe it'll ease the pain a little bit. Last fall, shortly after "The Secret Chord" was released, she was one of my special guests on LiveLine.
If you missed that, too, I can help you. Follow the link for my interview with Geraldine Brooks:
http://wesb.com/geraldine-brooks-the-secret-chord/
Chautauqua Institution photo
Among the people sharing their stories are Sue Monk Kidd, Ayelet Waldman, Nick Flynn and James McBride.
Honest, compelling and funny, the book really does give the reader an insight into the writer’s mind. They answer questions like “how true is true?” and how much they should write about other people.
Waldman, for example, writes, “If you’re not uncomfortable and scared while you’re writing, you’re not writing close enough to the bone.”
If you don’t like reading memoirs, this book might lead you to making a trip to that genre.
“Why We Write About Ourselves” is edited by veteran editor Meredith Maran, who is currently working on another memoir of her own.
You can listen to my talk with Meredith Maran here: WESB.com/on-demand. Click on LiveLine for 01-27-16.
Tommy D, a petty thief Gus had arrested a few times, wanted Gus to find out who brutally murdered his son. He says he wants Gus to help him because the working Suffolk County police officers are ignoring the case, and Gus is the only honest cop he knows. Gus flies off the handle because he thinks the real reason Tommy D came to him is that Gus’s son is dead, too, and his grief would compel him to help. When he goes to Tommy D’s home to apologize, Gus gets caught up in the deadly shoot out.
It’s after that he decides he should try to figure out who killed TJ, Tommy’s son. He finds it strange that, not only are the police ignoring the case, they’re warning him to stay away from it.
Of course that’s a red flag. As he digs deeper, and gets closer to the truth, he also puts himself in more danger.
And all of this is going on while Gus is dealing with the unexpected death of his son from a never-diagnosed medical condition, the break-up of his marriage, his daughter’s acting out over her brother’s death, and the possibility that he may want to start a relationship with a new woman.
The book also has some secondary characters that are central to the story: Slava, Gus’s hilarious sidekick; Father Bill, the former priest who still dispenses advice, spiritual and other; and Smudgie, who is hard to describe, other than to say he’s a kind of likable oddball.
I spoke with Mr. Coleman this morning and he told me Slava, Father Bill and Smudgie will all be back in the next installment of the series. Hooray!
If this gives you any idea how much I loved this book: It's 368 pages and I read it in one sitting. You can hear my interview with Reed Farrel Coleman here: WESB.com/on-demand and scroll to "LiveLine 01-26-16 Bestselling Author Reed Farrel Coleman on Where It Hurts."
I ask because his debut novel, “The Drifter,” has all the thrills and chills, heartache and laughs, as well as suspense that you’d want in a thriller. Plus, it has a reptilian bad guy, a Marine veteran good guy, and a dog with his own mind. Hard to beat that.
The plot centers around Peter Ash, a retired Marine lieutenant living in the wilderness – by choice – who finds out his best friend killed himself. He knows Jimmy’s wife needs help so he heads to Milwaukee to offer that help. As he’s fixing her porch he finds a suitcase with $400,000 and some plastic explosives in it. And the dog guarding it.
As he tries to find out where the money came from he gets a feeling Jimmy didn’t kill himself after all. Trying to prove it, mixes him up in a plot that – if carried out – could cause more destruction and devastation than the Oklahoma City bombing. And on Veterans Day, no less.
One of the most interesting parts of the book is that it shows the many ways Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can manifest itself. (In Peter’s case, it actually helps him near the end of the book.) It also points out – not in a blatant or preachy way – that we, as a country, need to treat our veterans better.
Back to the book: It’s written in five parts. I have some advice for you. Before you start the fifth part, make yourself a cup of tea or pour yourself a glass of wine and settle in because you won’t be able to put the book down until the end.
Welcome to the world of thrillers, Nicholas Petrie. I hope you stick around for a long time.
You can hear my interview with Nicholas Petrie here: WESB.com. Scroll to LiveLine for 01-25-16.
Besides bringing back characters from the last book, she introduces us to new residents of the area, and to Mallory who comes back because of a, lets's just say, family matter. While she's dealing with that, she must also contend with a teenage daughter (she's a single mom) and Kevin, the man whose heart she broke many years ago.
To hear Coble talk about the book you can go to . Scroll down to "LiveLine" for January 7, 2016.
Vianne hopes to be as normal as possible while raising her daughter and waiting for her husband to return from the war. That hope is dashed when a Nazi soldier moves into her home.
Isabelle wants to do something -- anything -- to contribute to the war effort. She offers to drive an ambulance, roll bandages ... anything. She ends up being one of the bravest people -- man or woman -- in Occupied France and contributing to the effort in ways she's couldn't have imagined when it started.
Even Vianne ends up doing things she never imagined -- heroic, brave, necessary.
When I interviewed Kristin Hannah she said she wanted to not only show that women played an important part in the war, but to make readers feel what they felt.
She succeeded.
You can hear my interview with Kristin Hannah at WESB.com/on-demand.
Sound like delicious fun?
Williams makes you root for Tiny as she comes into her own and realizes she may not want to be part of the Hardcastle dream after all. The chapters go back and forth from 1964 (pre-marriage) to "present day" 1966, when Tiny's husband Frank is running for Congress.
We were briefly introduced to Tiny in last summer's "The Secret Life of Violent Grant," which center on Tiny's sister Vivian. But you don't have to read that to follow this one (although I highly recommend TSLVG because it's so good).
I'm hoping Williams keeps the Schuyler Sisters alive with at least one more book. But, if we're lucky, she'll give us several more
You can hear my interview with Beatriz Williams here.
At one point she meets a 9-year-old homeless boy and becomes somewhat of a surrogate mother to him.
The rest of the story deals with how Emily decides to get on with her life, and I don't want to give any of that away.
I should also add that this book is so compelling that I read it in one day.
You can listen to my talk with Chris Bohjalian here.
Or are they the bad guys?
You'll have a fun time trying to figure out the good guys from the bad guys in this latest installment of the Jack Ryan Jr. series. Even Jack isn't sure if he should trust one of his oldest and dearest friends.
One of the most interesting parts of the book deals with how social media plays an important role in political uprisings.
Simply fascinating.
You can hear my chat with Grant Blackwood here.
Let's just say it involves lots of money that appears mysteriously; a son who learns more than he thought he ever would about his father, who can't speak to him; and some extra-thuggy bad guys.
"The Fixer" is a page-turner if there ever was one.
You can listen to my interview with Joseph Finder here.
It's a fascinating look at 10 haunted places -- some very close to our home here in Bradford, Pennsylvania!
You can get a preview of some of the creepy, spooky stuff in the book -- as well as some other interesting information -- by listening to my chat with Eric Olsen. Go to WESB.com/listen, click on the "Local Programs" tab and then scroll down to #115.
