Conflicted, flawed lawyers. Trials about twisted crimes. Ninth-hour evidence discoveries. Few things in American culture create as much tension as our legal system, which is why courtrooms, law offices, and even the Supreme Court can make perfect backdrops for thrillers. The masters of the legal thriller—a genre that routinely tops the bestsellers lists—have been doing […]
Almost since the FBI was founded during the Teddy Roosevelt presidency in 1908, novelists and filmmakers alike have been cooking up fictional episodes of the legendary G-men. Some of these classic tales are tributes, and many more are conspiracy theories. More often than not in books about the FBI, the feds are positioned as the […]
The Bottom Line: A great beach read from the world’s #1 bestselling writer. If you’ve never read James Patterson but don’t want to commit to a full series, his latest release The First Lady may be the perfect choice for your summer reading queue. Secret service agent Sally Grissom is uneasy when she’s summoned to […]
The Bottom Line: Easily the best James Patterson novel in years. Highly recommended. On a recent Stephen Colbert show appearance, Stephen King mused that James Patterson spends approximately 12 hours working on each book. True, Patterson has become notoriously prolific in recent years as more than 100 books a year are churned out in his […]
The Bottom Line: For hardcore James Patterson fans only. Never Never won’t be the worst crime novel you’ll ever read, but in terms of execution, it may be the worst yet from the James Patterson book factory (for those not in the know, a team of writers are responsible for churning out “James Patterson” books – in […]
The Bottom Line: A rock solid crime thriller from one of the best in the business. Say what you will about the fact that James Patterson has published as many as 15 books in a year, and that more than 20 co-authors in fact do much of the writing. Patterson is a business, man, and business is […]
A few weeks ago I posted a blog questioning the business wisdom of Vince Flynn’s association with Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Lielly (whoops – I mean O’Reilly). And while I realize that many of you disagreed with my assertion that Rush Limbaugh is too divisive of a figure for a mass market success like Vince […]
