Need For reads

--> Fiction Mutilation, migration, spycraft Amie Cut For Life By Lucinda E. Clark 312 pp. Umhlanga Press Reviewed by: David E. Hoekenga, M. D. Whenever I talk about going back to Africa with excitement in my voice, I invariably run into well-meaning people who claim they can experience it just as well watching a show or two on TV. Well, they can’t. I’ve never been able to convey the amazing smells of the continent that are like no other. If olfactory memories are more persistent than any other, then Amie Fish traveling under the name Felicity Mansell as a British spy tries hard. After, unwisely, spending time with her parents in Jo’berg even though her elaborate cover is that she was killed previously in an explosion in Zimbabwe. Her elaborate fake funeral is a waste because her mother is a blabbermouth. Then she wanders around Botswana and Zimbabwe where an attractive white woman sticks out like a sore thumb. Clark captures the flavor of African towns beautifully. Atari was ju...

--> Fiction Bad marriage, bad company A PERFECT SHOT By Robin Yocum 315 pp. Seventh Street Books Reviewed by Eric Petersen Robin Yocum is back with his third novel set in the same Rust Belt universe as his previous novels, which are also reviewed on this site. The story begins in the early 1990s, with a prologue introducing us to one of the main characters, who has mysteriously vanished. It’s the haunting, operatic tale of two men who are polar opposites, yet share the same deeply held desire – the desire for respect. The desire to be somebody in a dead end town of nobodies that’s on the decline – though it was never much to begin with. Nicholas “Duke” Ducheski is the hometown hero of Mingo Junction, Ohio, a distinction he earned over twenty years earlier in 1971 as a star high school basketball player. In the last ten seconds of the game, Duke made the perfect shot, winning the state championship for his team and his town, and earning himself the nickname “the Duke of Mingo Ju...

Fiction Painful secrets IDYLL HANDS A Thomas Lynch Novel By Stephanie Gayle 304 pp. Seventh Street Books Stephanie Gayle is back with the third entry (the previous entries are also reviewed on this site) in her Thomas Lynch mystery series set in late 1990s New England and featuring a compelling hero cop protagonist with a refreshing twist. After serving for 15 years as NYPD detective, Thomas Lynch left the mean streets of New York City to become the police chief of the quaint, quiet, affluent, and aptly named New England town of Idyll, Connecticut. Unlike most cops, Lynch has a secret – one that could derail his career in law enforcement. Thomas Lynch is a gay man working in a profession that’s traditionally homophobic – fiercely homophobic. The town’s none too bright and intolerant mayor already made it clear to him that he was only hired because of his impeccable record with the NYPD. So, afraid of being fired for the slightest reason, (and living and working in a conse...

NONFICTION Not the movie ADRIFT A True Story of Tragedy on the Icy Atlantic and the One Who Lived to Tell about It By Brian Murphy and Toula Vlanou 162 pp. Da Capo Reviewed by Marty Carlock It’s not surprising that a book about the sole survivor of a shipwreck in the North Atlantic in 1856 and a film about a contemporary woman trying to sail boat singlehandedly should bear the same title. But what else can you call stories of determined survival on the sea? The hero of Brian Murphy’s Adrift – the book – is a New Bedford seaman named Thomas W. Nye. He shipped on the packet John Rutledge , out of New York bound for Liverpool, in the winter of 1855. The trip east, with the prevailing winds at its stern, was easy. But returning to the west – this is a sailing ship, hard to tack upwind – with the threat of winter ice, was a disaster. Murphy spends some time chronicling the history of the moment. The habit of leaving port at will, whenever the weather permitted and the craft h...