Reich's Latest is a Formulaic Hot Mess

Invasion of Privacy - Christopher Reich

Maybe it has something to do with the growing income gap between the one-percenters and the rest of the world, but when is the last time you read a fiction novel about a billionaire who wasn’t… well, evil? It’s been a while for me, and that’s a fact. On the other hand, I’ve read a lot of evil-billionaire plots over the years and almost (please not, I said “almost”!) feel sorry for the poor rich folks so maligned by authors. The latest of their number is a tech guru named Ian Prince, who’s been manhandled – literarily, not literally – by Christopher Reich in his latest, Invasion of Privacy.

Prince, by virtue of his vast fortune, is the villain – the heroine is Mary Grant, freshly widowed mother of two whose late husband was FBI agent Joe Grant. Joe’s dying voice mail message to Mary suggests that something went terribly wrong, but no one at the FBI office will listen to her – and then the message disappears. Determined to find out why the bureau seems to be covering up the circumstances of Joe’s death, the young widow enlists the aid of Tank Potter, an alcoholic journalist freshly fired from his job at a local newspaper.

Warshawski Takes One in the Ribs: Sara Paretsky's "Brushback"

Brushback - Sara Paretsky

As far as I know, no female detective in literature gets roughed up more often than V. I. Warshawski, and only Stephanie Plum is harder on cars. The indomitable Vic charges through concussions and multiple lacerations and contusions to complete the action in Brushback, but we could have told her it was a waste of her time…

What are the odds? Vic’s high-school boyfriend showed up on her doorstep to let her know that his mother was out of stir after a quarter of a century. Stella Guzzo had been sent up the river for killing her daughter Annie, and big brother Frank told Chicago’s gutsiest PI that mama was now claiming that she didn’t do it. Vic wasn’t interested, though, since the not-so-lovely Stella had often slandered the sainted Gabriella…

Social Media Gone Wild: The Affinities

The Affinities - Robert Charles Wilson

I've heard sociologists bemoan the phenomenon of the internet in general and of social media in specific. Many are concerned that society, rather than being enhanced by this alleged interconnection, is actually harmed as society devolves into self-identified fractions and factions. One need only consider the conservative and liberal “echo chambers” to know that many people now choose to – at least online – associate only with others who share their beliefs and values. As speculative fiction writers so often do, Robert Charles Wilson has decided to comment on such fractionation; the result is The Affinities.

Adam Fisk never fit particularly well with his kin. As soon as he was old enough, he left the somewhat well-to-do merchant family in upstate New York to pursue art. When his grandmother, the only supportive member of the Fisk family, passed away, he thought his fling was over. That was before he tested as a Tau…