There's nothing wrong with this suspense novel that a hundred fewer pages couldn't fix. The tale, the 10th from the usually reliable George, opens ominously enough as two corpses are discovered within a spooky circle of prehistoric stones on the desolate moors of Derbyshire. And the plot quickly thickens when Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley, who has ties to the family of one victim, is sent from New Scotland Yard.
But from there things begin to go awry. Most of the minor characters are annoyingly one-note—like a chirpy little girl whom many readers will want to dispatch themselves. And the complex subplots George spins as she delves into the victims' sordid secrets have the effect of killing time—not increasing the suspense. Worst of all, there's scant payoff awaiting fans who soldier through the 596 pages of often bramble-thick prose. Let's just say that the ending will come as a surprise, but only because of its sheer gratuitousness. (Bantam, $25.95)
Bottom Line: Mystery misfire
by Jane Wexler and Lauren Cowen
Book of the week
They're by your side whether you're having a spat with your husband or a should-I-or-shouldn't-I debate with yourself over that pricey pair of calfskin mules. Big problems or little, it's your girlfriends who keep you sane-while you solve them. Each of the 30 profiles in this radiantly written and photographed celebration of friendship—by the authors of 1997's Daughters & Mothers—is unique, from a fierce pair of Georgia firefighters to actress Jennifer Lopez and childhood pal Arlene Rodriguez.
There's a lot more to Girlfriends than giggles and gossip. We come face-to-face with bosom buddies like designer Cynthia Rowley, who, while losing her husband to cancer, turns to writer (and hoops partner) Ilene Rosenzweig for late-night doses of unwavering support. Another pair vow to master sign language together after one loses her hearing. And actress Katie Holmes learns that girlfriend power conquers distance: Holmes, who shoots Dawson's Creek in North Carolina, and childhood chum Meghann Birie, who lives in Ohio, are there for each other no matter what crisis looms. "I'm in Nine West," Holmes confides to her pal via cell phone, "and I'm looking at the boots, you know the ones..." (Running Press, $27.50)
Bottom Line: Thelma and Louise have nothing on these pals
Mark McGwire's 70th Home Run Ball and the Marketing of the American Dream
by Daniel Paisner
Sept. 27 marked the one-year anniversary of Mark McGwire's record-shattering 70th home run. For those fans seeking to relive the power and the glory of that unforgettable moment at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, it's probably best to look someplace other than The Ball. One will not find in its pages the story of how the Cardinals' McGwire and the Chicago Cubs' Sammy Sosa engaged in the most riveting home-run race since Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris: Sammy and Mac are but bit players in this chronicle. Written in a workmanlike, at times plodding, style by freelance writer and novelist Daniel Paisner, The Ball is really the story of the 70th home-run ball itself, its manufacture in Costa Rica and exactly how it wound up in the lucky hands of Philip Ozersky, the 27-year-old research scientist in St. Louis who later sold it at auction for $3 million. Still, there are some darkly amusing moments along the way: One entrepreneur offered Ozersky $1.5 million to shred the 70th home-run ball into a million pieces and put each shred into its own Bamm Beano (a beanbag-like doll) retailing for $19.95. Then there was John Grass, the fan who caught home run No. 63 and tried to negotiate with McGwire for tickets and baseball merchandise. Until then, some fans had graciously returned home-run balls to the slugger. The St. Louis press dubbed Grass the "holdout," and for weeks vilified him as perhaps the greatest threat to the American way of life since Carlos the Jackal. (He ended up selling the ball for $50,000.)
Bottom Line: Like reading about salary negotiations rather than the game itself
Recollections of a Well-Known Name Dropper
by Dominick Dunne
Hooray for famous people! And huzzahs to Dominick Dunne, that rumpled Rumpelstiltskin, for spinning his old photo albums into a book deal. The snapshots Dunne accumulated as a Hollywood producer and novelist—Natalie Wood checking her makeup in the blade of a knife; Williams College undergraduate and proto-Broadway genius Stephen Sondheim lounging among his beloved board games—are a lot of fun, but the text won't do much for Dunne's literary reputation. In fact, if you didn't know better, you wouldn't believe that this star-struck chitchat ("You could always count on Loretta Young to look exactly the way a great star should look") was the work of a professional writer, although you gotta love a guy who still uses "tight" to mean "drunk." He even works the glamor thing when recalling his many low points, specifying that he used Turnbull & Asser ties to find a vein while shooting cocaine. Dunne is the opposite of a paparazzo; he's a celebrazzo, sunnily singing the praises of Elizabeth Taylor, Gina Lollobrigida, Ryan O'Neal and other folk who haven't been terribly busy since the Nixon Administration. Younger readers (attention, Dawson's Creek viewers: The elliptically worded notes on page 86 are called telegrams) will be baffled by references to the likes of Tuesday Weld (a '60s fixture who liked to dance with Truman Capote, an approximately 60-inch fixture) and bandleader Eddie Duchin, who was, we are informed twice, "the first celebrity I ever spoke to." (Crown, $27.50)
Bottom Line: Well-Dunne fluff
>THE ALIBI Sandra Brown Murder, deceit and passion percolate in this thriller set in picturesque Charleston, S.C. (Warner, $25.95)
DAILY CORNBREAD Stephanie Stokes Oliver Aiming at African-American readers, the author offers 365 simple recipes for happiness. (Doubleday, $21.95)
FOR COMMON THINGS Jedediah Purdy A 24-year-old brainiac from a West Virginia hollow argues that a society of smart alecks (Seinfeld et al) has sullied our values. (Knopf, $20)
- Contributors:
- Pam Lambert,
- Jennifer Wulff,
- Jack Friedman,
- Kyle Smith.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
