The Ax
1997
Warner Books Paperback
  Chivers Press Hardcover

Character Burke Devore demonstrates a unique approach to finding a job in a tight market after being laid off.

The topic of this book is very apt to the time of its birth when many people found themselves "downsized" in an economy famous for layoffs as a means towards corporate profitability. The author carefully exposes his character's plan layer by layer. You can find other reviews which tell more about the book, but you will be doing yourself a favor if you just allow the author to reveal the details to you in his own way. This has to be one of the most original and well-crafted books I've read in a long time and, considering how many good ones I've seen, this is a huge compliment. It's early in the year, and already I've got this nominated for the top ten.

For more info about the author:

Bibliography showing books by series and books written under other names: www.myunicorn.com

Article and interview www.austinbiz.net

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Whitehead, Colson

The Intuitionist
1999
Hardcover, Anchor Books
(Paperback, Granta Books)

Spare. Minimalist. Efficient. These are a few of the words I could use to describe the prose in this book. The main character, Lila Mae Watson, does not like to talk much. Whether she does or doesn't naturally tend towards being chatty, she's not given much opportunity in her work as one of her department's first black elevator inspectors. Further, her status as an Intuitionist rather than an Empiricist, the less politically popular of the two methods used by the inspectors to determine the safety of elevators, places her in a position where not many want to talk to her. That is, however, they don't want to talk to her until an elevator she had just inspected fails, ruining her record as the inspector with the highest accuracy rate. Lila Mae then tries to avoid talking to them while she seeks to discover what went wrong.

I see the elevator in this story being used as a symbol of advancement for minorities, for the equal opportunity of all to reach for the sky. Another thing the author may be trying to say, although this is just my interpretation, is that perhaps the struggle for equality has spent long enough on the same floor and should try now to go up another.

Whatever you read into it, this is a thought provoking mystery with a surprising and strangely satisfying conclusion.

You can read an interview with the author at Salon Magazine.

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• The Deal, Legal thriller.

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Willocks, Tim

Bloodstained Kings
1997

The American South seems possessed by its own brand of morality. Author Willocks gves us characters who further refine the branding process into personalities both delightful and troubling in this psychological thriller.

A mysterious cop indelibly, yet secretly, alters the lives of the book's characters and then stands by, like some sort of god, waiting for his death to call all to accounts. His dying wishes are delivered into the hands of two people unknown to each other: a clinically depressed psychiatrist and a wealthy and powerful woman with dreadful secrets. The two are thrown together on a treasure hunt of sorts which turns up people, places, and events, some consciously forgotten in each character's quest for inner peace. The actual object of the quest, a couple of suitcases of evidence implicating political figures, seems coincidental. The stakes are high--lives are at risk since only deaths of key participants can mask history so that the victor can rewrite it.

It was a treat to read another book by this author, whose "Green River Rising" was one of the best books I've ever read. According to the book cover, Willocks has many irons in the fire, and no mention was made of any future books; I do, however, hope that he's got another one in him!

Reviewed 10/30/99.

• Green River Rising
  Great tale of prison uprising. Also recommended by my mom.

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• Implant

California Fire & Life
1999
Hardcover, Knopf
(Paperback, Century)

The title is also the name of the insurance company which employs Jack Wade as an arson investigator in its Large Claims division. When a high-dollar claim comes in for loss of life and personal property, and Wade finds evidence pointing to the policy holder as a murderer and arsonist, a number of people, including his own employers, seek to put a stop to the investigation. Jack wants to know why and continues his work despite warnings that he could lose his job.

The staccato narrative style gives the story a sense of urgency, and the story's progress forgives the frequent use of sentence fragments which some may find irritating. The author provides intelligible descriptions of the guidelines of the investigation, a fascinating and not not overly technical view of the crime of arson, and an interesting look at the inside of the business of insurance. The convoluted plot is well resolved.

I really enjoyed this book. If you like a fast-paced mystery, give it a try!

The Heart of a Thirsty Woman
2000
U.S. & U.K. Editions: Washington Square Press Paperback

I think you'll like meeting the characters in this book. From Josie, the main character, to her dad, Brewster, who doesn't know where one of his best friends lives, to the twins named "Venus Lily" and "Lily Venus" with a dark secret which has them keeping people guessing which one is which, to a dog named "Butter", the reason why a driver punches Clarence in the jaw, and a strange doctor who keeps hinting that he knows something about Josie's sister--plus many others--you'll be treated to lots of laughs and insights as Josie travels along the road towards knowing herself.

Set in the mid to late seventies, the book starts out with Josie in the small town where she did most of her growing up--Pick, Kentucky. She has vague longings for a place in Arizona, the site of a beautiful sunset in her memory of leaving it. She also thinks her older sister, Cheyenne, who disappeared at the age of 15, may have gone back there. In addition, she thinks that there she might meet Don Juan, the mystic told of in the stories she cherishes from Carlos Castaneda. (Her other favorite author is Shakespeare, and she has memorized large chunks of his work!)

Feeling somewhat restless with the life she has been dealt in Pick--married to Clarence the TV repairman, with no children--she shakes things up a bit and leaves herself in the position to follow her dreams since she feels she has nothing to lose.

This was a wonderful book. The author pulls you in with her characterization of Josie, and expands from there. I was up late a couple nights unable to put it down!

Added 6-8-00...

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• The Basement (1995)

• The Run
  Original cast of characters, one of the Stuart Woods hallmarks, populates this timely story of a presidential election. A great read.
• Worst Fears Realized
  Another wonderful page-turner from Woods: Stone Barrington reappears in this novel in which a killer previously imprisoned for killing his wife threatens people close to Stone and the family of his ex-partner, Dino Bachetti. Stone & Dino witness the murder of one victim, a neighbor, and think they recognize the killer. Fearful for the safety of his friends as the bodies pile up, Stone has to decide whether to accept the help of the members of a family with Mafia bloodlines, including a woman who won't take no for an answer in terms of Stone's affections.
• Choke (1995)
  By no means an angel, tennis pro Chuck Chandler arrives in Key West to find someone is trying to paint him as the devil in this "who-did-what-to-whom", and "who-is-whom-anyway" mystery.
• Santa Fe Rules
  Movie producer Wolf Willett solves his own murder and makes the acquaintance of his murdered wife's family; he also finds out what happened during a couple of "blackouts."
• Swimming to Catalina
• Imperfect Strangers
• Heat
• Dirt
• Dead Eyes
• L.A. Times
• New York Dead
• Grass Roots
• Palindrome
• White Cargo
• Under the Lake
• Deep Lie
• Run Before the Wind
• Chiefs

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