Forsyth in a Different Vein
Why
didn’t Frederick Forsyth become the biggest name in thriller writing? This
short-story collection, published toward the end of a great run of commercial
and critical success, posits the idea that while forging an approach to his genre others like Ludlum and Clancy would pursue more diligently (if with
less talent) what Fred really wanted was to be O. Henry.
The Making of a Swamp Thing
Sometimes
without trying, I pick up a book with present-day relevance. What better way to
delve into that mysterious monstrosity of the moment, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, than with this old biography of its legendary founder?
Waif Takes on the Big Bad City
A
cruel disposition can be a positive quality when writing a novel. Case in
point: Oliver Twist.
Charles
Dickens’ torture test for his titular boy hero saves his book from mawkish
excess and, along with its brilliant depiction of a harsh urban landscape, imparts
readability and drive, not to mention a steady undertow of savage black humor. The
result, marred at times by bathos and coincidence, is a bracing change-up from
the author whose prior, first novel was the whimsical, often-pastoral The Pickwick Papers.
Forsyth in a Different Vein
