Ghosts – Henrik Ibsen, 1881 ★★

Something Rotten in Norway

A sensation when it first hit the stage, Ibsen’s Ghosts is hard to enjoy now. You can appreciate how the play pushed boundaries in the 19^th century, giving voice to forbidden ideas; today it feels melodramatic and forced – a four-hankie weeper about a tortured artist and his ever-faithful mother stuck together in the repressive backwaters of western Norway.

The Broken Ear – Hergé, 1935-37 [Revised 1943] ★★★½

Thrills and Giggles in South America

Street fights. Car crashes. Terrorism. Violent government overthrows. Murder by gas. Murder by drowning. Death by bomb. Devils escorting doomed souls into hell.

Is this a children’s comic book, or a Mickey Spillane novel?

The Ninth Juror – Giraud Chester, 1970 ★★★

Secrets of a Jury Room

If you have seen 12 Angry Men, you may remember the line: “No jury can declare a man guilty unless it’s sure.” But how practical an approach is that, really? How sure is sure?

Going by that play/movie, “sure” is well-nigh impossible if you can’t be sure a witness isn’t lying for attention or a defense lawyer is up to snuff. If we all followed that pious Henry Fonda formula, prisons would be full of bankers and not much else. The real world offers better examples of justice in action, like this long-forgotten book by a TV executive.

The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas, 1844 ★★★½

A Potboiler for the Ages

The test of a great storyteller lies not in the story, but the telling. Few storytellers stand the test of time like Alexandre Dumas in his breakout novel The Three Musketeers.

Is it a great story? I don’t think so. The narrative ambles about, plays up many tropes of the historical-adventure genre, takes several protracted detours, and doesn’t quite climax after 600 pages as much as run out of steam. But what a ride!

The Diamond Smugglers – Ian Fleming, 1957 ★½

A Bond Story that Never Was

You know their names, no introductions necessary: Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Goldfinger. Dr. No. Rosa Klebb. Classic villains brought to you by the same man who created their common foil, James Bond 007: Ian Fleming.

But none got the build-up of a villain from another Fleming book: Monsieur Diamant, a. k. a. Mr. Diamond.

The City – Dean Koontz, 2014 ★½

Trying to Like Dean Koontz

Reading The City makes me wonder what makes for pop-fiction success. Is it writing something that truly engages, provokes, inspires? Or is it delivering product to a well-conditioned audience? After a pulsating start, The City settles into a tired-feeling, slow-moving tale that delivers morals and thrills with the loping subtlety of a ball-peen hammer.