Mystery/Thriller Book Reviews

The Final Solution by Michael Chabon
4th Estate, November, 2004
Hardcover, 131 pages
ISBN: 006076340X
Ordering information:
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The Final Solution
by Michael Chabon

In 1944 England, most of the country's young men are at war. In a small village lives "the old man," an 89 year-old retired detective who keeps bees and matches in all respects the descriptions of the legendary Sherlock Holmes (who as we all know retired to Sussex to concentrate on his beekeeping). When a visitor to the village turns up dead, the local authorities call in the old man to assist with the puzzling crime. The detective is fascinated by a mysterious nine year-old German refugee named Lucas. Lucas is is mute and has a pet parrot which speaks German. Mostly, the parrot just spews out a bewildering array of numbers. Could it be a code? Could national security be involved somehow? Holmes has his work cut out for him.

This delightfully odd story was originally published as a novella in The Paris Review. Chabon, who won the Pulitzer Prize for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, plays coy with the identity of the detective; he never comes out and says the detective is, indeed, Sherlock Holmes. This cerebral mystery and character portrait, with haunting description of London during the Blitz and life in a small English village, merely whets the appetite for a new full-length novel from the talented Mr. Chabon.

--Claire E. White

State of Fear by Michael Crichton
HarperCollins, December, 2004
Hardcover, 603 pages
ISBN: 0066214130
Ordering information:
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State of Fear
by Michael Crichton

Michael Crichton has squandered some of his science thriller capital with his latest novel, State of Fear. Yes, he earned some capital. But why spend it so foolishly on a message that stands counter to scientific fact itself? Intertwined within the thriller is the message that we don't have enough evidence to conclude that global warming is a serious threat. Yet even a quick Google search turns up scores of credentialed scientists and organizations, such as NASA, the Pentagon, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who disagree with Crichton's statements. While it is perturbing that Crichton has given some fodder to the Dittoheads and the anti-global warming activists, there are still some exciting moments to be found in the novel. Certainly there is enough action, espionage and cutting-edge technology to keep Crichton fans interested. But Michael Crichton, the amazing, groundbreaking author of SF thrillers -- who even has dinosaurs named after him -- is capable of so much more.

--Greg Knollenberg

Mystery/Thriller Book Reviews

The Final Solution by Michael Chabon

State of Fear by Michael Crichton