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Story Collection
Lee Child's mystery fans are called "Reachers Creatures" because the main character of his novels is Jack Reacher, uncannily given voice on audio by narrator Dick Hill. Child tells us he went to law school in Birmingham, England, but instead worked on shows like Brideshead Revisited and Prime Suspect instead. His latest novel is Worth Dying For and upcoming The Affair.
Q: How are American readers different from British, and why do the British prefer cozy mysteries like Agatha Christie?
A: Well, Americans read, period. The sad and expected truth about Britain is that it's not a nation of readers. I saw a poll that proved fully 50% of British people don't read even one book a year. But Americans do read, and they buy books and audiobooks, and they're adventurous enough to try new authors. Therefore every genre is much more lively. Brits who do read are somewhat influenced by the size and density of the country, which seems to suit the more closed-in, small-cast, psychological stories that were typified by Christie.
Fiction
Janet Evanovich's latest is EXPLOSIVE EIGHTEEN, while David Baldacci explores a West Virginian mining town in the offbeat suspense ZERO DAY, narrated by Ron McLarty. And Scott Brick reads Clive Cussler's DEVIL'S GATE.
John Bedford Lloyd narrates Crichton's last and unfinished story, written by Richard "The Hot Zone" Preston in a similar tone and style. Set in Hawaii, the novel explores nanotechnology, with murderous tiny robots and bugs terrorizing the principals. Beware, arachnophobes!ohn Bedford Lloyd narrates Crichton's last and unfinished story, written by Richard "The Hot Zone" Preston in a similar tone and style. Set in Hawaii, the novel explores nanotechnology, with murderous tiny robots and bugs terrorizing the principals. Beware, arachnophobes!
In the futuristic adventure novel READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline, our near future is a dystopian world from which everyone wants to escape. Clues to these cyberspace alternatives exist today, but in Cline's imagined "Oasis" a myriad of very realistic but computer-generated planets exist which millions of players plug into, since we've lost hope in the real world. And in keeping with our obsession for game shows, the main character is on a treasure hunt for an inheritance left by an eccentric billionaire, and he must fight other players through various levels or gates, winning points by playing video games popular in the 80s, (which was the billionaire's obsession). Wil Wheaton narrates this cross genre adventure, which is a fable at heart. He tells Wade Watts' story as part confession, part travelogue, part social commentary. In the end, after an exhaustive quest for keys to the imagined kingdom (something our culture also relentlessly seeks online and on TV these days), the novel suggests that happiness can only be found by returning to reality, not believing in something for nothing. (A non-fiction companion to this novel might be "Reality Is Broken" by Jane McGonigal.)
If wacky characters and funny wordplay matter more to you than plot, you might enjoy CALLAHAN'S LEGACY, read with quirky yet straightforward gusto by its author, Spider Robinson, a man who is a favorite at science fiction conventions, and also a possible successor to Douglas Adams (of "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" fame). Mike Callahan's Crosstime Saloon is again open for business, and a motley crew of intergalactic guests are soon to witness several monstrosities that pose a risk for all of humanity. Sound familiar? Since the book abounds in puns, one might call it as much a "pun fest" as an Adams send-up. Written in 1996, it has been recently narrated by the Canadian Hugo and Nebula award-winning author of the "Callahan's Place" series. Not much makes sense here, though, so don't expect any deep truths or rational behavior!
For the book that started it all, a breakthrough novel by a true visionary, try NEUROMANCER by William Gibson, a science fiction masterpiece and winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick awards. In some ways it had an effect on how the internet was developed, as Gibson coined the word "cyberspace," and it described "the matrix" in detail. With a plot involving a hacker hired to steal a code allowing an artificial intelligence to merge with its twin identity, the book is light years beyond the cyberpunk genre that it created. Now, with a movie version in pre-production, a new recording on audio of this iconic 1984 novel is read by the always-listenable Robertson Dean.
Jussi Adler-Olsen is a Danish mystery novelist who has won the Glass Key award, and is being compared to the late Stieg Larsson with THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES--the first of a "Department Q" series, essentially introducing a detective who's been "kicked upstairs," ironically to the basement to work (alone) on cold cases. Luckily for one forgotten victim in dire need of fate to reopen her "lost cause," Carl begins to process the missing politician's records, and comes up with an electrifying twist in historic oversight. Eric Davies narrates with his usual aplomb in rendering with precise understatement an engaging narrative that fluctuates between dark and light, between cleverly personal character development and a sublimely evocative sense of personality and setting.
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