Review of The Wrong Side of Brightness (Paperback)

A fast-paced, well plotted, and hip treatment of a believable contemporary moral dilemma and how it is resolved.



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Review of JUNK (Paperback)

While I usually try to avoid self-published books, I accepted the opportunity to read Michael Goodwin's "Junk." We all know that print on demand publishing potentially hides a host of horrors. Occasionally you do find a gem in the rough, but more often a trip through the pages of one of these books reveals shoddy editing, mismatched typeface, and just plain bad writing. If you can't get a book published through traditional channels, is the book really worth putting out in the public sphere? Hundreds of would be authors answer that question with an enthusiastic yes. Heck, I would probably do it too just to see my name on the cover of a glossy, professional looking tome. Besides, who knows what could happen if your book garners enough attention. You just might end up with a real publishing deal. From what I read in "Junk," Goodwin isn't ready for the big leagues just yet. He is, however, batting solid numbers in the minors. One or two more good games and he may get a wink and a nod from the higher ups soon.

Goodwin's book focuses on Martin Stallworth, a young black bond salesman with a good education, a job on Wall Street, and a salary in the six figures. As the story opens, Goodwin introduces us to a typical day at the firm of Worman Skeller & Company. He also wins points for dropping a reference to the song "I Don't Like Mondays" from the Boomtown Rats on the first page. Anyway, the protagonist feels the pressures of his job as soon as he walks through the door on a Monday morning. We meet several of Stallworth's co-workers, almost all of them hard charging personalities in desperate need of a straight jacket and a three-month stay at the funny farm. We also learn that Martin and his cronies need to sell a half billion dollars of Lodestar satellite bonds or they'll all be out of a job. Stallworth scores a coup when he unloads twenty five million in Lodestar to a decidedly unfriendly chap in New Jersey not known as a big spender. The book then follows Martin's co-workers as they lie, cheat, and steal in an effort to get anyone they know to buy the bonds. These early chapters essentially develop the characters and describe the setting of the story.

The book veers off on a tangent when one of Stallworth's fellow salesmen, Hap, decides to approach the Chinese consulate in the hopes that they will buy some bonds. Is this an unintelligent thing to do? You bet, but Hap's desperate to sell anything so he can keep his job. Besides, his immediate boss just got the axe in a scene illustrating how humiliating a firing at the company can be. Hap gamely gives the hard sell to the Chinese government and is delighted when the officials there put him in touch with a high roller named Jo Hu. Hu offers to buy the outstanding number of bonds, roughly three hundred million dollars worth, which turns Hap into the hero at Worman Skeller & Company. As often happens when something to good to be true occurs, Hap finds himself in hot water when Hu threatens to back out of the deal. Why? You'll have to read the book to find out, but it is safe to say that the unfolding tragedies soon ensnare Martin Stallworth, who must reconnect with his alienated brother to come up with a plan to save his life. The book concludes with a series of situations so far from how the story starts that it's amazing to think it all happened in a mere 180 pages.

While I liked certain segments of "Junk," I found many of the situations difficult to swallow. What's good is worth mentioning. The characters, for instance, are largely likeable in a strange sort of way. Even the head honcho at Worman Skeller, a scoundrel named Moore, is fun to follow because he reminded me of the guy Alec Baldwin played in "Glengarry Glen Ross." Martin Stallworth is an intriguing character as well, and Goodwin adequately expresses the dual personality of his protagonist as he struggles to reconcile his feelings about being the only black man at his firm with his love for literature and his brother's links to gang life. Martin, in the midst of serious troubles, soon learns that his skills as a big shot salesman do translate into fulfilling other goals and desires.

What doesn't work as well is worth mentioning, too. Despite the extensive character development of the early chapters, important figures remain elusive. Mihra, for example, is a Pakistani woman who catches Martin's eye early in the story. She plays an important part later on but receives only superficial attention. Moreover, the story veers too wildly into strange worlds. I kept thinking as I read the book that Goodwin should have fleshed the story out a bit more. While I was amazed at how far the story went in the short number of pages, I thought the book would have been better with a few more chapters. Finally, "Junk" really, really needed a good proofreading. Errors abound on nearly every page of the story. I'm not comfortable criticizing someone for this problem since I am a lazy editor myself, but you need to either do it yourself or find someone to do it for you if you're going to publish a book. Lots of mistakes tend to distract a reader, drawing his or her attention away from the story by disrupting the flow of the narrative. Despite these issues, I'm still happy to have read the book. "Junk" is an unusual story that entertains, amuses, and makes you think all at the same time.

Product Description
Martin Stallworth is a black man trying to make it on Wall Street. As a junk bond salesman with the investment bank Whorman Skeller & Co., he has a chance to prove his worth when the firm plans to launch a major high yield bond deal for a satellite communications company called Lodestar. Because Lodestar has important connections to the US Department of Defense, Martin and the other junk bond salespersons know their jobs are on the line if they donÂ't sell the deal. Their desperation to do so leads to an act of espionage and murder. Martin somehow finds himself as the accused perpetrator of both. Both the cops and a gang of Chinese thugs under the command of a rogue hedge fund trader are hot on his trail.

Junk combines a satirical send-up of a typical investment bank with elements of a fast-paced thriller. While the narrative action is riveting, GoodwinÂ's characterizations and descriptive writing attain the level of serious literary fiction.

About the Author
Michael Goodwin has worked for several years on Wall Steet in the high yield ?junk? bond business. He presently resides in Connecticut with his wife and three children. Junk is his second novel.

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Review of Run (Paperback)

Douglas Winter updates and deconstructs - nearly vivisects - the chiaroscuro of the classic noir style.The protagonist is gunrunner along Interstate 95.When a big shipment to a NYC gang goes haywire, anadrenaline surge propels the book - through the unraveling of scheme afterscheme - to the necropolis of its cataclysmic conclusion.For goodmeasure, a baroque quantity of minutia concerning firearms is pepperedthroughout.Suspenseful, stark, and startling, 'Run' includes the keyhallmarks of the noir genre: taut, rapid-fire prose and an overarchingexistential nihilism.Like Highsmith's 'The Talented Mr. Ripley,' Goodis's'Down There,' and Thompson's 'The Grifters,' Winter's neo-noir deserves tobe put on screen, but get a copy of the book first - copies aredisappearing faster than a pack of smokes at an AA meeting.



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Review of The Gold Coast (Paperback)

This was my introduction to Nelson DeMille and I am thrilled to have discovered him. THE GOLD COAST is a fast-paced, thrilling, and highly irreverent read set in a fabled and affluent section of Long Island. Life will never be the same for attorney John Sutter and his beautiful wife Susan after the most famous Mafia don of New York purchases the estate next door.

John seems to have it all---a good profession, a quirky and sensual wife, an enviable estate---but he is facing the doldrums of a mid-life crisis and needs excitement in his life. Enter Frank Bellarosa, a man Sutter describes as "an unindicted and unconvicted felon as well as a citizen and a taxpayer. He is what federal prosecutors mean when they tell parolees not to consort with known criminals."

A chance meeting at the local nursery leads to friendship, to favors, to Sutter representing Bellarosa when he is charged for murder, and even to perjuring himself to save the Don.

I haven't read as compelling a book about the Mafia since THE GODFATHER nor such a poignant tale of longing since THE GREAT GATSBY, both novels to which this has been compared.

But it is DeMille's writing in the first person voice of John Sutter, his wickedly funny lines, his clever repartee, his upper class snobbery, his ability to capture the heart and soul of the Mafia don that lifts this book to greatness.

DeMille's relentless foreshadowing of doom builds tension with each chapter until the reader is totally caught up in the life of John Sutter, his wife Susan, and the next door neighbor who both enhances and destroys their lives. I'm sure these characters will stay with me a long time and I will often remember John Sutter saying "Mamma Mia! It shouldn't happen to a High Episcopalian."




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