What’s your writing process? First I come up with a really compelling question, like "what would happen if our intelligence services tried to penetrate a terror cell by going undercover and providing funding to the group in order to get deeper inside?" That questioned formed the novel, The Fourteenth Protocol. After that I create a rough outline so I know where I want the story to go. But then it gets fun. As I write toward the outline, I allow myself complete freedom to let my imagination run rampant. Sometimes that causes my original plan for the story to change dramatically. So, I'm a "plotter," in the sense that I like to have a plan, but I'm a "pantser" as well because I allow myself … [Read more...]

Okay, the plot for The Darkest Minds is KIND of insane. The story follows our protagonist Ruby as she suffers in a terrifying “Rehabilitation Camp” that she’s been sent to because of her “powers.” Ruby got her powers after a disease killed 98% of American children and the other 2 surviving percent, were mutated into having psychic abilities. Ruby escapes the camp and for most of the book is on the run with new friends, searching for East River, a rumored place for PSI kids to go to. The plot was really really interesting, my only issue is that it was a tad dragged out and the ending was a bit confusing. I didn’t understand the whole Red Army thing with Clancy or why PSFs were sent to East … [Read more...]

Max has fought, she has lead, she has loved... but is she ready to finally carry out her destiny? The finale is here- and it's definitely like nothing you've ever read. As the Apocalypse grows nearer and nearer, the flock grow closer together. All their lives they have prepared for this, and step by step they have grown stronger. But is this threat too big for even the flock to handle? Will Max choose her perfect other half, Dylan, or her best flock member, Fang? And when the end finally comes, will they truly be able to save the world?...read more … [Read more...]

In her tenth novel, Margaret Atwood again demonstrates that she has mastered the art of creating dense, complex fictions from carefully layered narratives, making use of an array of literary devices - flashbacks, multiple time schemes, ambiguous, indeterminate plots - and that she can hook her readers by virtue of her exceptional story-telling skills. The Blind Assassin is not a book that can easily be put to one side, in spite of its length and the fact that its twists and turns occasionally try the patience; yet it falls short of making the emotional impact that its suggestive and slippery plot at times promises. Initially, the omens are good, with the introduction of a familiar Atwood … [Read more...]

In Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler wrote about the disintegration of American culture and the tribulations of Lauren Oya Olamina, a young girl who had lost her family and was forced to make her own way in a California which was very nearly post-apocalyptic. Along the way, Lauren began formulating a religious philosophy known as “Earthseed” with the principle tenet that “God is Change.” Parable of the Talents is a sequel to Parable of the Sower and begins with Lauren and her husband, Taylor Franklin Bankole as the leaders of a small cohesive community, Acorn, amongst the chaos raging in Northern California. Although being a follower of Earthseed isn’t required of the citizens of Acorn, … [Read more...]

Powerball winners are dying and their winnings are missing. A decorated former Marine officer is tired and broken until given another shot at life: a loving girlfriend, a lottery commissioner’s job, and a seductive female governor as his new boss. Within his first week as a commissioner, Brent Layne discovers he’s trapped in a corruption pit with everyone around him either lying or dying...read more … [Read more...]

Fluffy eared dogs, anyone? … [Read more...]

By Maureen Corrigan Special to The Washington Post BORDERLINE By Nevada Barr To quote Tennyson (and, by all means, let's grab the waning opportunities to do so), "Nature, red in tooth and claw" is always the Great Adversary in Nevada Barr's mysteries. Sure, the psycho killers and eco-criminals who prowl the forest primeval give Barr's heroine, park ranger Anna Pigeon, plenty of trouble; however, human evildoers are but puny irritants when compared with the fury of Mother Nature. Forest fires, volcanic eruptions and, in this latest novel, flash floods threaten to wipe the earth's crust clean, without a care for the mortals -- Anna always among them...read more … [Read more...]

The astonishing Mr. Lawrence Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence London: Martin Secker. Pp. 508. 9s. net. The principal defect of this book is that it is difficult to read. It is full of absurdities; but Mr. Lawrence, although he may occasionally repel by egotism, has at least the courage which leads him to risk absurdity for the sake of what he holds to be the truth. The difficulty is another matter. It arises from the static quality of the book, the lack of momentum. It arises also from the intrinsic similarity of all the characters. All are torturers and self-torturers, absorbed in the foulnesses of hatred and disgust. It takes one, therefore, a considerable time to disentangle them. … [Read more...]

Bossypants, by Tina Fey … [Read more...]

I was a little afraid to re-read this book, because the first time through was so absolutely stunning, it was as if it was written for me. As my first review did not do justice to its wonderful combination of mystery, introspection, and setting, I’m setting out to rectify it. Claire DeWitt is a detective, willing to use all means necessary–including hallucinogenic dreams, the I Ching and fingerprint analysis–to solve her cases. She knows ultimately she will be solving the case for herself, because sometimes the client doesn’t want it solved: “The client already knows the solution to his mystery. But he doesn’t want to know. He doesn’t hire a detective to solve his mystery. He hires a … [Read more...]

Count yourself lucky if you've never met (let alone parented!) teenagers like cheerleaders Addy Hanlon and Beth Cassidy; Megan Abbott, the author of the disturbing novel Dare Me, clearly has seen such creatures up close. How else would she be so familiar with their bored mean-girl patois—"I remember, sort of, being friends with her," Addy says about a rival on the squad. "Holding her hair back while she gagged herself peashoot thin." Competitive, insecure, and way less sophisticated than they'd like the world to think, the two girls find their long, complex relationship suddenly challenged when a charismatic new coach arrives at school and draws them into her world... read more … [Read more...]

Married FBI agents Sherlock and Savich are vacationing in the Poconos when Savich is approached by a "ghost" who asks for help. When he realizes what is going on, he doesn't believe it at first. Then the same night, him and his wife are called back to Washington to help solve the murder of a Supreme Court judge. Enlisted to help is a DC cop Ben Raven who is stuck with journalist Callie Markham to keep her from spreading the story to the press. As time goes on and this murder attacks again, taking out almost all of the late judge's clerks. In the meantime, Savich investigates what happened to the ghost woman who approached him for help and finding out what happened to the son 6-year-old … [Read more...]