Reader’s Diary

Frederick Forsyth

In one word: disappointing. It’s hard to believe that Forsyth, author of “Day of the Jackal” and pioneer of the thriller genre, has sunk so low. “The Afghan” reads like the notes for a novel, the author tells rather than shows, the main character doesn’t actually do anything and the conclusion is an anti-climax. In addition, it’s full of technical errors and the parts set in US give no indication that Forsyth and his editors know anything about this country.

Vince Flynn

I’ve had good things to say about Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp books in that past, but this one, sadly, was a disappointment. The plot lacks even minimal plausibility: Flynn should consider retiring Rapp and starting a new series that makes better use of his considerable thriller-writing talents.

Richard Pike Bissell

In this novel, set a few years afters “A Stretch on the River“, the narrator is a mate on a towboat heading upriver from St. Louis in a flood. The journey provides a narrative framework, but the book is really about life on the Mississippi and about losing and finding home.

A retired riverman, reviewing the book on Amazon, described it better, or at least with more credibility, than I could:

“..brought back so many memories of how it really was and still is when it comes to working out there. His characters were so ‘real’ that I seemed to ‘remember’ literally each one of them sometime during my own experiences. I know he’s “been there and done that” when I’m reading his stuff.”