"The Intern's Handbook" by Shane Kuhn - Literary Lemonade?

The Intern's Handbook - Shane Kuhn

Ann Landers (or maybe it was Dear Abby – same difference) was fond of saying, “If life hands you lemons, make lemonade.” Shane Kuhn takes this advice to heart for The Intern’s Handbook. The particular lemon with which the screenwriter must deal for this, his first novel, is the lack of a plot – or more properly, the lack of a novel-length plot. The lemonade? Kuhn turns his extended short story into a comic farce by dressing it up as a combination employee handbook and memoir, which allows him to insert all the fun bits he’s thought up without needing to form a coherent narrative.

That lemonade thing? It works… kinda.

Rollins Rolls out his Series for Dog-Lovers: "Kill Switch"

Kill Switch - James Rollins (and Grant Blackwood)

Tucker Wayne left Afghanistan and the Army Rangers with mad skillz, a best friend and a wee touch of PTSD. Once the pair mustered out together, Tucker and his Belgian Malinois, Kane, became freelancers; although they were apparently on speed dial for Sigma Force. That’s how Tucker and Kane ended up with a “simple” job, helping a paranoid Russian scientist sneak out of his homeland. 

Of course, “simple jobs” never are… Tucker soon learned that the big-dome was being pursued by the most fearsome group in the Russian military, assisted by an elite mercenary team who somehow managed to immediately zero in on the ex-soldier and his trusty companion. And once he actually made contact with the eccentric gentlemen, his demands further complicated matters – “I cannot leave without my daughter!”


That’s how Tucker, Kane, and three Russian scientists found themselves sneaking across the country in planes, trains and submarines – all the while barely a step ahead of a ruthless enemy. But why? For LUCA – plant life that held the capability of being the scariest weapon or the greatest boon to mankind. And which it would be depended on who found it first; and whether or not there was a Kill Switch.

For Once it's not the Catholic Church: Steve Berry's Latest Potboiler Picks on the Mormons

The Lincoln Myth - Steve Berry

After three unsuccessful tries, struggling author Dan Brown cracked the NYT bestseller lists with The Da Vinci Code in 2003 – and by 2005 his previous novels had also gone viral, in the literary sense. Most critics of a literary bent considered tdVC to be little more than a potboiler, but there’s no denying that Brown managed to hit on the magical formula that sells books like hotcakes. And that’s why a bazillion other books have been written that attempt to follow the magic formula. 

The elements of Brown’s formula are: a mystical religious relic, a centuries-old conspiracy, a larger-than-life hero, a madman (preferably filthy rich), a beautiful woman, and skein of puzzles. 

Salt Lake Temple (credit: Entheta,
wikimedia commons)

So far, Steve Berry has written at least nine attempts to recapture Brown’s formula. He’s sold a lot of books in the process, but the sad truth is that while Brown’s efforts are at least pedestrian, Berry’s Cotton Malone series (The Alexandria Link, The Templar Legacy) can’t even reach that level. Neither can The Lincoln Myth, for that matter…

Cotton Malone may have retired, but his old boss still has the big guy on speed dial. That’s how he's gotten entangled in the web of intrigue involving a 160-year-old letter between Abraham Lincoln (that Lincoln, the 16th PoTUS) and Brigham Young (that Young, a prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints – the Mormons). Seems there’s a cabal of Mormon fundamentalists who want the letter, long hidden, and – more to the point – a secret addendum to the U. S. Constitution that will supposedly allow states to secede at will.