Brief reviews, June 23

Peter Mergendahl, Jane Dickinson, Mark Graham & Jennifer Miller, Special to the News

Published June 23, 2006 at midnight

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THRILLERS

Eye of Vengeance

By Jonathon King (Dutton, $24.95).

Grade: A

There's something squeamishly irresistible about the art, skill and horrific practice of the sniper. The idea that there's an individual out there looking just at you from a half-mile away and attempting to put a small chunk of lead into your brain-pan is about as unnerving as it gets. That's why there have been so many stories written featuring snipers as protagonists and villains.

Eye of Vengeance rates with the best in the field for high-wire suspense, but that isn't all that makes this a great summer read. King knows how to lead thoughtful readers through a story while respecting their intelligence. Intelligent suspense! It's a rare but growing sub-genre in fiction.

In King's story, Nick Mullins used to be a great crime reporter always looking for an angle on the latest news involving violence in Ft. Lauderdale. That was until his wife and twin daughters were in a deadly crash that Nick responded to. His wife and one of the twins were killed. Nick is now back on the job and trying to balance his need for the streets with his promise to himself to be there for his surviving daughter. It's a promise that's going to be tested when a sniper begins dispatching villains in an extreme form of vigilantism.

The sniper has a real skill set working for him. Everything is planned out to the second. He also knows how the police will react to the deaths, which gives him an edge that drives the local detectives crazy. He also seems to take the written word of Nick Mullins to heart in his assessment of who should die and why. It turns out to be a real test of Mullins' abilities as a father, reporter and human being, to see his way through this story of a lifetime.

As fast as a bullet and as accurate as an atomic clock, Eye of Vengeance will keep you awake, entertained, engrossed and in general stuck like glue to its story. Enjoy.

Peter Mergendahl

MYSTERY

The Detection Collection

Edited by Simon Brett (St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95).

Grade: B

There's a select club in the mystery world, with membership limited to the great names of British crime writing. Founded by Golden Age greats like Dorothy Sayers and G.K. Chesterton (its first president), the Detection Club now counts luminaries such as P.D. James and H.R.F. Keating among its ranks as it celebrates its 75th year of murder most foul.

According to an afterword in this anthology of short stories by present-day members, it's principally a dining club with traditions that each era reshapes to its own image. The originators required that members had published two detective novels "of admitted merit." They also had a few rules that modern-day writers would do well to heed: those who were chosen had to forego the use in their stories of "Divine Revelation, Feminine Intuition, Mumbo Jumbo, Jiggery Pokery" to solve crimes, while agreeing to use only in moderation "Conspiracies, Death-Rays, Ghosts. . . Trap-Doors. . . Super Criminals and Lunatics."

The Detection Collection is the latest work written by members of the club; the first was The Floating Admiral, a novel with chapters written by Sayers, Chesterton, Agatha Christie and other lesser known greats. That title remains a classic of its type, sometimes copied but never matched.

The Detection Collection is a more sedate affair, 11 stories that have a similar tang despite their various authors. A couple of the stories are decidedly weak: Keating's "The Toothbrush" and Clare Francis' "The Holiday," which really isn't a mystery at all. Some are fine - Colin Dexter's "Between the Lines" and "The Woman from Marlow" by Margaret Yorke.

Even with its disappointments, The Detection Collection is worth a look. After all, how often do you get a chance to help British mystery writers enjoy an occasional night out by undertaking a little light reading for a hot summer night?

Jane Dickinson

UNREAL WORLDS

Novel Ideas: Science Fiction

Edited by Brian M.Thomsen (DAW, $7.50).

Grade: A

Many of the greatest science fiction novels and series got their starts as short stories, novelettes or novellas. Because of their popularity, critical acclaim, requests from editors and fans, the gut feelings of the authors or a combination of these, the short pieces were expanded to create some of the best known tales of the fantastic.

In Novel Ideas, Brian Thomsen presents seven of these original works along with new introductions by the authors in a fascinating, interesting and entertaining anthology.

Among its contents:

• Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game," a story first printed in Analog in 1977 that has spawned eight books in what may be the most popular series ever. It was the genesis for the novel of the same name, which readers in the Modern Library poll voted the 59th best novel of the 20th century.

• "Fire Watch," which won both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novelettes for Greeley's Connie Willis and signaled an onslaught of similar awards for her future works. It was the inspiration for a series of time-travel works that included Doomsday Book, which won the same awards for best novel 10 years later.

• John Varley's "Air Raid," about time travelers who save the doomed passengers of a crashing jet plane and transport them to a dying future. The story eventually became the novel and motion picture, Millennium.

• David Brin's "The Postman," which was eventually expanded into a novel and became a much-maligned film starring Kevin Costner. It looks at a desolate future following a nuclear holocaust.

The collection also includes Greg Bear's "Blood Music"; Anne McCaffrey's "Lady in the Tower"; and Nancy Kress's "Beggars in Spain."

This is the first time these seven short works have been collected in one place and the first reprint of some in many years.

Mark Graham

CHILDREN

Pig Little

By Mike Thaler; illustrated by Paige Miglio (Henry Holt and Company; $16.95, ages 3-6).

Grade: A-

Don't let the title mislead you. This isn't the pig version of Chicken Little; in fact, the only thing happening to Pig Little's sky is fluffy clouds morphing into animals.

This unexpected gem by Mike Thaler, author of the best-selling Black Lagoon series, is about a piglet who makes his own fun wherever he goes. Right from the start, readers will be drawn to this resourceful fellow, as he pretends to steer the family car with his window knob on a tedious drive to the seashore.

Parents will especially love Pig Little's unflappable optimism, as when he works through the frustration of ice cream melting off his cone. "He licked it fast, / but the sun / licked it too, / so Pig Little / decided / that they / would just / share it."

Thaler, writing prose in a poetic structure that forces the reader to slow down, perhaps in deference to young listeners, captures a child's enchantingly simple view of the world.

To Pig Little, waves are dear and obliging friends. "And whenever / he asked, / one was always happy / to splash / his feet." Clouds are a story in motion: ". . .a floating clown / petted / a cloud lion / as it opened / its mouth wide / in a silent / roar."

The book is filled with the moments scrapbooks are made of: Crawling into bed, Pig Little begins counting stars, but since he only can count to six, he decides to count moons instead. Later, he imagines his bed covers are a "blue-blanket" sea, and raises one knee to make giant waves, then lowers it to calm the sea.

Thaler's prose is well- matched with the watercolor illustrations of Paige Miglio. Frothy waves lap lazily on the beach as Pig Little tunnels snout-first into the sand. Young listeners may wish they could reach into the book and give this little guy a good squeeze.

Jennifer Miller

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