Interview

Norah Vincent's first novel is dark, dark, dark. Nick Walsh is in his mid-30's and he's depressed. He's writing down his thoughts. There are so many things that are troubling him. He carries around all this anger. So he drinks a lot. And he tries to kill the psychic pain that enfolds him.

But it is never that easy to bury your feelings. As Nick comes to grips with the reality of his past and of his current situation we begin to feel a slight bit of compassion and sympathy for him.

Alafair Burke's latest novel "Never Tell" opens as the police are investigating the suicide of a young woman. Her body was found in the luxurious Manhattan apartment where she lived. Her parents lived elsewhere while she stayed in the city to attend an exclusive prep school. This seems to be a somewhat peculiar arrangement.

The first time I interviewed James Lee Burke he came out to WYSO during his book tour for "Cimarron Rose." That was back in 1998. Burke stopped touring a number of years ago. Fortunately for his fans he still does the occasional interview and he is as prolific as ever.

James Lee Burke has been my guest in the Book Nook more often than any other author. I caught up with him recently to talk about  his new Dave Robicheaux novel "Creole Belle." I called him on the telephone at his place in Montana.

Tana French just published her fourth novel in a mystery series that features the Dublin Murder Squad. The book immediately entered the New York Times top ten list for fiction. I taped a phone interview with French while she was in New York recently on  book tour. Here's my mini-review of the book that ran in the Dayton Daily News and the Springfield News-Sun:
 

Last year I reviewed Donald Ray Pollock's debut novel for the Washington Independent Review of Books. Here's an excerpt from what I wrote: