Kenneth T

Lola is good.
First: She is a terrific character. Second: This is a gritty, unidealized novel of life in a dangerous, vulgar world. She is no more Lisbeth Salander than South Central L.A. is Stockholm. Forget that hype, but be prepared, be ready for the package that is Lola. She is a hell of a woman.
If this is Ms. Love's first novel, I can't wait to see what she does when she "matures."

Tom layne was on the top of his game, a terrific journalist, a top drawer name on network tv and a great crew. Then a misjudgment leads to death, rape and a slow descent to hell. His own. For ten years he suppresses his guilt with booze, women, and sub-par work. When he finally returns to the Balkans he is there for the story of his career. He is assuaging his guilt. He is going to return to the top. What he gets is an education in life. This book isn't pedantic or posturing. It is instead a love story, a war story, and he finally comes to grips with real life, not just the chapters playing out in his head.

To the world Jerry is a famous novelist, telling stories of awful crimes. He is, in fact, a convicted killer under suspicion of yet another murder, living in nursing faculty for the criminally insane. He is also suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, losing memory and contact with reality.
This is a thumbnail sketch of "Trust No One," a novel by Paul Cleave. It is a stylishly written, clever story which I downgraded to average only because I am a physician and I know the premise of the story is wrong. Patients with Alzheimer's do not become psychotic killers. They suffer confusion, disorientation and profound memory loss but become in general withdrawn, not aggressive. The description of Jerry is accurate; the perception of Jerry is not.