Sunday Smatterings Regaled

Links have piled up over the course of the week, and finally I can round them up in something of an orderly fashion:

THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE by Stieg Larsson debuted this week at #1 on the NYT bestseller list. M.A. Orthofer rounds up reviews of the book from all over the world (including one of his own) while also looking into title choices and genre issues. I found Alan Cheuse’s review puzzling, too, but only because I think he doesn’t read a lot of quality crime fiction published lately to make a proper comparison.

Oline Cogdill raves about Gregg Hurwitz’s terrific thriller TRUST NO ONE in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and in the paper’s blog Off the Page adds her take on Sophie Littlefield’s debut A BAD DAY FOR SORRY. 

Tom Nolan has his say on Linwood Barclay’s slam-bang new rollercoaster ride FEAR THE WORST in the Wall Street Journal.

In the Seattle Times, Adam Woog recommends summer crime fiction by Stieg Larsson, Karin Fossum, Robert Ferrigno, Megan Abbott and Harold Schechter.

The G&M’s Margaret Cannon rounds up recent crime fiction by James Lee Burke, Dan Fesperman, Linwood Barclay, Henry Porter, Marc Strange and Daniel Levin.

John O’Connell extols the virtues of Adrian McKinty’s FIFTY GRAND in the Guardian.

The Telegraph’s Jake Kerridge is caught up in the pulsating rhythmic prose of David Peace’s OCCUPIED CITY.

Leslie Doran at the Denver Post loves BELOW ZERO, the newest Joe Pickett novel by C.J. Box, while Robin Vidimos examines Linwood Barclay’s latest thriller.

Grant Blackwood and Jenny Siler talk to NPR’s Lynn Neary about why they ventured into the world of ghostwriting. 

George Dawes Green chats with the Times of London about his excellent new thriller RAVENS,his storytelling salon The Moth, and why he has an 8-hours off, 17-hours on schedule for the rest of his days.

The Detroit News talks with Megan Abbott, whom they deem the “Duchess of Dark Novels.”

Robert Ferrigno chats with the Seattle Times’ Mary Ann Gwinn about his trilogy of futuristic American thrillers, the last of which is HEART OF THE ASSASSIN.

Stephen White reveals to USA TODAY that he’s been suffering from multiple sclerosis for many years.

Art Taylor reviews crime fiction by Cara Black and Andrea Camilleri published earlier this year in the Washington Post. Earlier in the week, Patrick Anderson deemed Harry Dolan’s BAD THINGS HAPPEN as the “best first novel I’ve read this year.”

Somehow I forgot to link to Tobias Jones’ excellent essay on Ross Macdonald from last week; well, it’s more that I wanted to say more about it, but couldn’t find a way to write a longer piece, at least not yet.

Ruth Dudley Edwards explains her side of the John Banville/Harrogate/genre/whatever flap in the Irish Independent, and hey, why am I having flashbacks to when people got pissed off at P.D. James, or Edmund Wilson, or…?

David Ulin looks at how technology and anxiety have affected his ability to read in an essay for the LA Times.

Also in the LAT, Ed Park devotes his newest Astral Weeks column to the strange and fantastical trip that is BIG MACHINE by Victor LaValle.

Sean Hemingway talks to the National Post about why he helped refashion grandfather Ernest’s final book, the memoir A MOVEABLE FEAST, for republication.

Jonathan Tropper tells the Boston Herald why a phone call recently rocked his world, just as he was about to get touring for his new novel THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU.

How John Hughes turned Mark Athitakis against Dave Eggers.

Finally, Stephen Hunter: not a fan of flip-flops. Not by a longshot.