"" Writer's Wanderings: Books For The Road - Try Fear

Monday, April 25, 2011

Books For The Road - Try Fear



The Queen Mary 2 has the most fabulous library I’ve ever seen at sea—every kind of book imaginable from cooking to history to biography to fiction to travel and in several languages. When I read the last of the e-books I had downloaded for this trip and found that the internet was working too slowly to shop for more online, I headed for the library for an old fashioned hardbound book to read.

There on the shelf I found a familiar name, James Scott Bell. I’ve met the author at several writers conferences but couldn’t recall having ever read one of his novels. I have read one of his books on writing fiction and attended several of his workshops. Try Fear, sounded like a good read so I pulled it off the shelf and checked it out. I was right.

Ty Buchanan, a rather free-wheeling defense lawyer, takes on what seems like a simple DUI case but one thing leads to another and he finds himself in the middle of a murder trial defending the DUI’s brother, Eric Richess, for the murder of the original defendant, Carl Richess.

Buchanan’s quirky character is a bit Jack Webbish. Remember Jack Webb? “Just the facts, ma’am.” Buchanan’s quick and often punned dialog is a little difficult to get used to at first but as you begin to know the character, it fits. What doesn’t seem to fit with Buchanan’s character is his love interest, a nun, Sister Mary. But once you get to know Sister Mary, Buchanan’s investigator for the case, you realize what a good fit it could be for a skeptical lawyer who isn’t sure about his belief in God things. Leave it to Bell to pair these two and place them in Los Angeles. Now that’s a good fit.

All in all, it is a fun read and builds suspense albeit a little slowly. Unfortunately I finished it before our cruise was 2/3 over. Back to the library for another book—the old fashioned way.

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