About Book Marks
Recent Reviews
William Boyd
Pan The New York Times Book Review \"Boyd leads us onward, from Southwold to Warsaw, coursing out the clues like a seasoned storyteller. But though the breadcrumbs may be artfully strewn, the meatloaf of a man at the center of this farcical repast is decidedly half-baked ... The stakes escalate to the level of global crisis. Bit players are cruelly killed. Boyd conveys these plot points in expository dialogue, insulating the narrative from any real sense of danger ... By this point, one suspects that the author is in on the joke. Gabriel is a moron coated in Teflon, and his invincibility can be read as a satire of the Cold War era, when entitled men meddled with impunity in the fates of nations. Like Sherman McCoy in The Bonfire of the Vanities, Gabe is the embodiment of a sick society: an antihero whom readers may love to hate ... As Gabriel’s quaint misadventures conclude, he remains adrift in his own ego, horny as a bonobo, and primed by Boyd to star in a sequel. I do see a certain nostalgic appeal. This book recalls a simpler time for men like Gabriel Dax. As the world changes, many will prefer to look backward.\
Walter Mosley
Rave The New York Times Book Review Provocative ... Skitters across the spectrum between orthodox and radical like a polygraph needle wired to a nervy accomplice ... Freedoms betrayed, classes divided, races at war — such heady themes lace the length of Mosley’s 46th novel. Fans of his Easy Rawlins and Leonid McGill series will not be disappointed, for we remain in the realm of deliciously gritty noir ... The byzantine plot, the suave private eye, all the uncanny similes; it’s a cocktail that skilled authors will serve as long as bartenders are still pouring Negronis ... As for Every Man a King, it’s a sterling example of a genre that it scarcely transcends.
Rasheed Newson
Rave New York Times Book Review Extraordinary ... Trey’s also a lively narrator, and he folds these adages neatly into his adventures. The footnotes distract from the story at times, but never derail it, because the story is consistently engrossing ... It shines a vivid light onto underappreciated aspects of our history. However, the book’s greatest charm lies in the sensitivity and subtlety of its narrative ... Trey never loses his sense of humor, and one can’t help rooting for him as he matures with each chapter ... This book could be taught in schools.
P.J. Vernon
Rave The New York Times Book Review I often thought about our sex rules as I read P. J. Vernon’s second novel, Bath Haus, a smart, steamy thriller laced with heady questions about control and shame. As the pages flew by, my mind drifted from the tribulations of its protagonist, Oliver Park, to the cultures in which such stories ferment.
S. A. Cosby
Rave The New York Times Book Review ... a gritty, thrilling reminder that small-town America has an underbelly, too ... Cosby immediately displays a talent for well-tuned action, raising our heart rates and filling our nostrils with odors of gun smoke and burned rubber. But the real draw here is his evocative depiction of rural Virginia and its denizens. Cosby’s voice is distinctive, and he plays a sharp-tongued Virgil as we descend into the Hades of bucolic poverty ... Gross! Sad! And kind of fun ... The milieu is fresh; the setup, more familiar ... Cosby delivers heavy doses of imaginative action and highway high jinks in lieu of any real mystery. But this grim tale finds its saving grace in its refusal to worship its hero.