Link This |
Email this |
Blog This |
Comments (3)
Thrills at bedtime
April 18, 2007
Reading before bed---i.e., before dousing the light---is a pastime, I'm pretty sure, that all book lovers share. And, though I have no statistical data to back this up, I also would bet that a lot of us don't get through more than 10 pages without nodding off and/or re-reading that 10th page three or four times. Imagine my surprise and pleasure a couple of nights ago when I started an advance copy of a terrific new thriller, Heartsick, a September debut from St. Martin's by a writer named Chelsea Cain. (Full disclosure: I am not getting any sort of kickback from that esteemed publisher for the following kudos.)
Now what sort of literary masochist starts a book when he's already reading three or four others (The Double Bind; Here When You Need Me; Oh the Hell of It All; the new Armistead Maupin)? First off, I'd bet we all do it (see "no statistical data," above); secondly, I'm a sucker for thrillers; and thirdly, who could resist the publisher's wildly inventive, um, packaging--a clear plastic CSI-like "evidence bag." So I cracked open the galley (no type on a stark white cover with a faint bloody handprint, what's not to like?) and was grabbed by the dedication: "For Marc Mohan, who loved me even after he read this book." Whooee, what's in these 300+ pages?!
For starters: plenty of style and imagination, with a nicely understated wiseass sense of humor. (Speaking of which, don't miss the great retort at the start of Chapter 7... 'nuff said.) The leading players: our anti-hero, Archie Sheridan, a cop who's been on a one-year medical leave after he talked a captured female serial killer out of killing him; paired with Susan Ward, a 20-something quasi-punk reporter with pink hair who's assigned the story of Archie's return to the force to hunt down a new serial killer… Anyway, so I read through chaper 10, turning pages like mad, until I thought, nah, gotta get some zzzs. Turned out the light, thought about the book, turned light back on, read 11 more chapters---definitely a personal best). OK, so I was only on page 128, but totally hooked. Especially since I by then had met the beauteous Gretchen Lowell, who... let's just say you wouldn't want her at your next party. And speaking of which (Segues R Us), there was a party for the author last Thursday night, where author Chelsea Cain and I got pinned. (More disclosure: the ultra-personable Ms. Cain was giving out ultra-sparkly, faux-diamond pins in the shape of hearts. (Get it, Heartsick?) Oh, and P.S. After a couple more sleep-deprived nights, I finished the book.
Wow.
So, what's kept you up lately... in the world of books?
Posted by Dick Donahue on April 18, 2007 | Comments (3)
