hardcover | 673 pages | ISBN:0-446-52065-9
Year Published:2000 – Warner | Tidewater Price: $29.95

For those who love the espionage thrillers of John Le Carre and Ken Follett, Nelson DeMille is an author to know. While the spy genre has declined as a result of the end of the Cold War, DeMille has found that by looking to today’s headlines of Middle Eastern terrorists targeting the United States, there are ample plot concepts for his novels.
The Lion’s Game is a tour-de-force. The writing is fast-paced yet humourous, with a biting wit. The novel opens with the elite Anti-Terrorist Task Force waiting at JFK airport for the arrival of a Libyan terrorist defector known as “The Lion”. It soon becomes apparent that something is very wrong with Flight 175, and this is simply the opening gambit in a very deadly game. The Lion has arrived in the U.S. on a holy Jihad, and will not give up until all his targets are dead.
John Corey, a former NYPD cop now on the Anti-Terrorist Task Force, must use all his experience to try to stop the Lion. Not knowing who the targets are, or why they were chosen, keeps the authorities a step behind.
Saying any more might give away too much, so I’ll just say that this is a nail-biter not to be missed!

hardcover | 341 pages | ISBN:0-679-45445-4
Year Published:1999 – Knopf | Tidewater Price: $35.95

Sick Puppy is not a book to be taken seriously. It is the story of a wealthy, iconoclastic eco-terrorist – Twilly Spree. Spree, having witnessed a wanton act of littering by Florida lobbyist Palmer Stoat, decides to exact revenge on Stoat for his disregard of the environment. Spree engages in an ever-escalating series of punishments of Stoat that begin with burying his car in a mountain of fresh garbage and end with the involvement of an aged somnambulent rhinoceros. Along the way, we encounter wife-stealing, dog-napping, extortion, a prostitute who saves her favours for Republicans, an island full of squashed toads, a millionaire with a fetish for Barbie dolls, a hit man whose hobby is recording 911 calls and a former state governor who lives off the land in the Everglades. With the righteous outrage of an Edward Abbey and an appreciation of the absurd of a Tom Sharpe, Hiaasen melds all these disparate elements into a funny, thoroughly enjoyable tale. A great weekend read.

Hardcover | 308 pages | ISBN:0771053517
Year Published:1999 – McClelland & Stewart | Tidewater Price:$32.99

Rarely does a first novel generate the attention and buzz that Shadow-Box is garnering. With foreign rights sold to five countries, this novel is destined to be one of this fallís most sought after titles in both North America and the U.K. Based on real-life characters, Logue’s fictional retelling of a fascinating and tragic love story from the early 20th century is breathtaking in its scope. Spanning three continents and two world wars, with a cast of well -known historical figures, Logue brings together the world of boxing and art. The story revolves around three people: the English poet Mina Loy; American Black Heavyweight Champion Jack Johnson; and art critic and semi-professional boxer Arthur Cravan, who was also Oscar Wilde’s nephew. Told through letters between Loy and Johnson, their lives are revealed from the heady early days of their friendship through the tumultous and tragic days after the mysterious disappearance of Arthur Cravan. Each searching for the answer, the letters reveal their lives with an intimacy that envelops the reader. With passion and vigour, Logue’s writing will sweep you up and transform you to this by-gone era. From the salons of Paris in the early 1900′s, to the Manhattan literati scene, to the beaches of Mexico, and to a boxing fight in Australia, Shadow-Box is a remarkable novel from an important new literary talent.

Hardcover | 380 pages | ISBN:1552780473
Year Published:1999 – McArthur & Co. | Tidewater Price: $29.95

Vikram Seth is best known for his recent novel about contemporary middle class Indian society entitled A Suitable Boy. In Equal Music he leaves India behind and writes, instead, about the trials and tribulations of the members of a British string quartet. The main character, Michael, is reunited with Julia, his first love, who is now, unfortunately, not only married but also appears to be going deaf. His relationship with the other members of the quartet is threatened by his obsession with Julia and his attempts to hide her disability. Michael is also facing the prospect of losing the use of his beloved violin, which he needs in order to earn his living and which he canít afford to replace. The novel follows Michael as he matures in the face of these challenges. Although it is a much shorter novel than A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth covers a lot of ground in this story. He deals with issues of conflicting fidelities, different types of love and the tragedy of a musician gradually losing the ability to hear. Readers with a musical background will appreciate the passages concerning the technicalities of making music. Those of us who are not musicians will enjoy an interesting story, well told.

Hardcover | 304 pages | ISBN:0151002290
Year Published:1999 – Harcourt Brace | Tidewater Price: $36.00

David Guterson’s first book, Snow Falling on Cedars, was a haunting mystery and love story concerning a fishing community on the Puget Sound and its struggle with racism against the Japanese residents during WW2. His second book, East of the Mountains, also deals with the American West Coast, albeit this time the apple-growing region of Washington State. It is the tale of a retired heart surgeon, recently diagnosed with incurable colon cancer, who sets off on one last hike with his dogs, during which he plans to have a fatal hunting “accident” which will spare the feelings of his family and release him from the pain and indignity of a prolonged death. Or so he thinks. Life conspires against him in the form of a car accident, which complicates his plan for a quick death. He embarks, instead, on a complicated trip back to the landscape of his childhood during which he matures in his understanding of life, even as his own life is slipping through his fingers. David Guterson has, once again, written a very moving novel with poetic descriptions of the countryside, sympathetic characters, and a quietly told story, which nevertheless leaves the reader with lots to think about.

Hardcover | 345 pages | ISBN:123 4536345454
Year Published:1999 | Tidewater Price: $19.99

Michael Crichton is one of today’s most prolific and well-known authors. To date he has published a dozen fiction novels, many of which have become bestsellers, as well as four non-fiction titles. His newest novel, Timeline, again demonstrates his ability to write science fiction with a human sensibility.

Timeline takes place in today’s world, poised on the threshold of the twenty-first century. Technology is growing at an almost unimaginable rate. Information moves instantly between various points. Mega-computers are incredibly small. It is a world of astonishing advances, where the science of quantum physics leads to quantum teleportationn-essentially time travel. This is the world of Timeline.

Into this world, Crichton takes a group of historians studying the ruins of a castle in fourteenth-century feudal France and transports them back in time. Funded by a powerful technology company with a hidden agenda, the archeologists are propelled back to the fourteenth century to see first hand the area of their excavations. Betrayed by greed and cowardice, they find themselves trapped in a hostile world. Their struggle to survive and return to their own time is spellbinding.

From the complexities of modern science to the realities of life in the medieval past, Crichton has developed a fast-paced narrative of danger and suspense. As he did with Jurassic Park, Crichton has married science, technology and humanity in a fascinating story.