(reviewed by JD Jung) 1979 San Francisco – A serial killer, referred to as “Night Candy”, has the city on edge. They are killing prostitutes and there are no leads. SFPD Inspector Owens has been working on the case , but when he himself is arrested for murdering his wife, justice does not prevail.…
(Reviewed by Christopher J. Lynch) #CommissionsEarned As someone who mostly reviews fiction, it’s not often that I have the pleasure of reading and reviewing a book about a topic that’s being widely reported and debated upon currently. The topic is AI, or Artificial Intelligence. I’ll admit that although I came from a technical background, I…
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “…the same stories and the same bodies blended in my head, lost all definition and all form, became a dark and shapeless mass of giant bodies, that growled, shouted, demanded, cried, pleaded. Were they inventing a new country, a new nation, unknown wars, hidden genocides? Our unnamed protagonist who immigrated to…
(Reviewed by JD Jung) , #CommissionsEarned Rudy Harrington, a sixty-year-old widower, is trying to find the meaning of life…his life. Is there any purpose left? To try and answer this question, he takes up the study of philosophy. Since his wife, Helen, died seven years ago and his three daughters have moved out on their…
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “Freedom of movement is what I want more than anything---particularly after eighteen months of restrictions.” Cafes just started to reopen after the release of the Covid-19 vaccines, and José, the waiter at Le Tom’s Café is restless. Thirty-one-year-old Cloe Fournier is sure that José thinks she is a parasite, as she…
(Reviewed by J.D. Jung) #CommissionsEarned After reading one of my favorite books, The Italian Lover, I just wanted to grab anything related to it and its characters. Author Robert Hellenga wrote a book about the protagonist’s lover, classics professor Alan "Woody" Woodhull, in a previous novel published in 1999, The Fall of a Sparrow. Woody’s…
#CommissionsEarned Last month, I reintroduced you to The Italian Lover, a sensual work of literary fiction. After reading that wonderful book, I just had to grab Robert Hellenga’s earlier novel, The Sixteen Pleasures. This book recounts the beginning of Margo’s adventure in Italy, whereas The Italian Lover picks up the story 25 years later. Margo…
(Reviewed by JD Jung) Margo Harrington, an American expatriate living in Italy, is excited to hear that her memoir, The Sixteen Pleasures, will be made into a feature film. The book details her experiences when she first came to Florence. While working in a convent, restoring irreplaceable books damaged in the flood of 1966, she…
(Reviewed by JD Jung) #CommissionsEarned How do I begin a review of a novel that kept me captive from page one and didn’t release me until the very end? I didn’t want to break for work, family, friends, or anything. How can I do this book justice? Dear readers, I will try. Eric (Keyvan) fled…
