June 5, 2006
No matter how much you love your job, it's possible to get a little burned out if you do too much of one thing or another, or you don't manage to take some time away from work. I've been feeling a little bit like that about being a book reviewer. The stack of novels I want to read just for fun, but which aren't appropriate for reviewing keeps getting longer. At the same time, I've got a stack of books for reviewing that is growing out of control. Luckily, there are a fair number of them that I would have read anyway, just for fun.

I headed out this morning with the dog and noted a big brown mailing package leaning against the front door. It looked like a book, and I was right. It was from Bantam.

I pulled it and it was the next novel by Paul Levine ("Kill All The Lawyers") scheduled for September 2006.

Now, here's a little interesting factoid that falls clearly into the trivia category. I started reviewing nonfiction--genetics-related books, which I hate doing, but it gave me some bona fides. I wrote an article about the books of Tom Kakonis for the now-defunct The Armchair Detective ("Gleeps, Shadows, Frogs & Eggs") and mentioned to Kate Stine, the editor, that I was interested in reviewing mysteries for them. She put me in touch with the book review editor at TAD, and a short time later I received three books to review.

The first novel I reviewed was "Fool Me Twice" by Paul Levine. It was from his Jake Lassiter series, and it was wonderful. I thought, "Man, this is a license to steal." Unfortunately, not all books I review punch my buttons the way Paul's did. I went out and read all his other books. I later wrote another article for TAD about his books ("A Miami Way of Death"). Then Paul went to Hollywood to write for TV and didn't put out any novels for 7 years or so.

Then his stint for JAG and other shows ended and he got a new series rolling featuring a pair of Miami lawyers and I don't remember specifically how I got hold of it, but I did, and interviewed him for a review & profile. That book was "Solomon versus Lord" and the second was "The Deep Blue Alibi" and I can recommend them highly, highly, highly. Paul makes me jealous, because he's a very funny writer, a terrific writer, whose plots are complicated and entertaining. He's one of those writers who (and this is not necessarily a good thing) I read and think, "Man, I want to write a book like this. I should..." High praise, folks.

So when I pulled out the Advanced Reading Copy (ARC) of his next book this morning, I thought: "Hey, it's still a little bit like Christmas."

Best,
Mark Terry