Sean Gibson's Blog - Posts Tagged "mystery"
Missing the Mystery: Loving Libraries, and Why I Have a Beef with the Internet
I recently walked into a library for the first time in quite a while (he confesses, shame-facedly). What I saw surprised me—I didn’t see people perusing the stacks or sitting in comfy bean bag chairs with a book balanced on their laps; I saw were people staring at computer screens and happily double-clicking their way through terabyte after terabyte of data.
It made me feel strange, like I’d walked into an ice cream shop and saw people eating kale.
Millennials, I’m about to blow your minds. Once upon a time, the interwebs did not exist. To learn stuff, you needed to go to a library. When you were in a library, you were surrounded by more information than you could possibly access anywhere else…except for a bigger library. Sure, there were computers, but the computers didn’t house the data—they were just fancy indexes that told you how to find the book that held the information you were looking for. It was highly inefficient, but spectacular.
I should note that this is not intended to be an anti-technology screed, or a crotchety “Back in my day…” piece. The Internet is fantastic (are we still proper-nouning “Internet”?). I mean, Goodreads, right? I love the giant tubes that provide whatever information we need, no matter how pointless or obscure, whenever we want it without us having to get up or even get dressed. The unwashed masses having access to so much information is, by and large, an exceedingly good thing. Nice work, Al Gore.
But, I do miss going to a library in the pre-Internet days. Now, I realize that not all kids were as laudably hip and awesome as I was, but hop in the Wayback Machine with me, if you will, and let’s pop back to 1989. Bush the Senior is president, Van Halen is riding high with Sammy Hagar (OU812, anyone?), and a little movie called Ghostbusters II hit the big screen. Even at the tender age of 5, I’d loved the original Ghostbusters (though I can neither confirm nor deny that I buried my face against my mother in terror when the library ghost made her true face known), and as a 10-year-old, I was fully ready for the Boys in Gray to come back and slug it out with more pesky poltergeists. What, I hear you asking, has this got to do with libraries? Hush. I’m getting there.
After seeing Ghostbusters II, I became obsessed with becoming a Ghostbuster myself. I knew that Messrs. Spengler, Stantz, Venkman, and Zeddemore held PhDs, so I knew that I needed to hit the books. That, of course, meant spending hours in the library, because where else could you possibly find more books?
Every weekend, I pestered my mom to take me to the local public library, where I spent hours poring over every book I could find on supernatural phenomenon, psychic powers, ghosts, and anything else I could think of that might one day prepare me to be a Ghostbuster (I also began plotting how to get my PhD in parapsychology, just like my heroes…yes, there was a time when such a discipline existed at respected universities). Now, my local library was by no means massive, and it wasn’t particularly grand or gothic, but it did have some dark corners. For obvious reasons (namely, that only weirdos wanted to look at them), the types of books I sought out were, of course, buried in those corners, and it wasn’t hard to convince myself that some spectral presence hovered over my shoulder, afraid that I might learn the secrets to busting it (and, thus, feeling good, if Ray Parker, Jr., is to be believed). Wandering up and down those aisles, running my fingertips across the spines of those books, drinking in the scent of their pages…it was intoxicating (that sounded waaaayyy more sensual than intended…I promise that I only used books in a gentlemanly manner). It felt like I, and I alone, had gained access to some arcane archives, a repository of knowledge where, with persistent scholarship and dogged determination, I might unlock the mysteries of the universe.
Libraries did retain their aura of mystery in the nascent days of the Internet, back when it was just used to generate a bunch of listservs and to look at porn (Wait, what? There’s still porn on the internet? And it’s even better than it was in 1999? WHY DIDN’T ANYONE TELL ME?!). During my junior year of college, I spent a semester in Scotland at the University of Aberdeen. A school founded in 1495? You’re gosh darn right it had a fantastic old library. I’m a huge fan of Dracula, and I recall stumbling across a copy of Bram Stoker’s Dracula’s Guest and Other Weird Stories. I could have checked it out and brought it back to my room, of course, but I chose to read it in the emptiest corner of the library I could find on a dark (albeit not stormy, sadly) night, and damned if it wasn’t one of the creepiest experiences I’ve ever had (and I mean that in the most delightful way possible).
Look, I realize that the Internet has irrevocably changed the world, and largely for the better. But, the experience of being in a library isn’t one of those ways, and I felt like I needed to memorialize what it was like to hang out around books when they were the only way to get info, if only for the sake of future generations.
And, of course, I’m doing so by using the Internet.
Sigh.
Oh well…we’ve still got porn, right?
It made me feel strange, like I’d walked into an ice cream shop and saw people eating kale.
Millennials, I’m about to blow your minds. Once upon a time, the interwebs did not exist. To learn stuff, you needed to go to a library. When you were in a library, you were surrounded by more information than you could possibly access anywhere else…except for a bigger library. Sure, there were computers, but the computers didn’t house the data—they were just fancy indexes that told you how to find the book that held the information you were looking for. It was highly inefficient, but spectacular.
I should note that this is not intended to be an anti-technology screed, or a crotchety “Back in my day…” piece. The Internet is fantastic (are we still proper-nouning “Internet”?). I mean, Goodreads, right? I love the giant tubes that provide whatever information we need, no matter how pointless or obscure, whenever we want it without us having to get up or even get dressed. The unwashed masses having access to so much information is, by and large, an exceedingly good thing. Nice work, Al Gore.
But, I do miss going to a library in the pre-Internet days. Now, I realize that not all kids were as laudably hip and awesome as I was, but hop in the Wayback Machine with me, if you will, and let’s pop back to 1989. Bush the Senior is president, Van Halen is riding high with Sammy Hagar (OU812, anyone?), and a little movie called Ghostbusters II hit the big screen. Even at the tender age of 5, I’d loved the original Ghostbusters (though I can neither confirm nor deny that I buried my face against my mother in terror when the library ghost made her true face known), and as a 10-year-old, I was fully ready for the Boys in Gray to come back and slug it out with more pesky poltergeists. What, I hear you asking, has this got to do with libraries? Hush. I’m getting there.
After seeing Ghostbusters II, I became obsessed with becoming a Ghostbuster myself. I knew that Messrs. Spengler, Stantz, Venkman, and Zeddemore held PhDs, so I knew that I needed to hit the books. That, of course, meant spending hours in the library, because where else could you possibly find more books?
Every weekend, I pestered my mom to take me to the local public library, where I spent hours poring over every book I could find on supernatural phenomenon, psychic powers, ghosts, and anything else I could think of that might one day prepare me to be a Ghostbuster (I also began plotting how to get my PhD in parapsychology, just like my heroes…yes, there was a time when such a discipline existed at respected universities). Now, my local library was by no means massive, and it wasn’t particularly grand or gothic, but it did have some dark corners. For obvious reasons (namely, that only weirdos wanted to look at them), the types of books I sought out were, of course, buried in those corners, and it wasn’t hard to convince myself that some spectral presence hovered over my shoulder, afraid that I might learn the secrets to busting it (and, thus, feeling good, if Ray Parker, Jr., is to be believed). Wandering up and down those aisles, running my fingertips across the spines of those books, drinking in the scent of their pages…it was intoxicating (that sounded waaaayyy more sensual than intended…I promise that I only used books in a gentlemanly manner). It felt like I, and I alone, had gained access to some arcane archives, a repository of knowledge where, with persistent scholarship and dogged determination, I might unlock the mysteries of the universe.
Libraries did retain their aura of mystery in the nascent days of the Internet, back when it was just used to generate a bunch of listservs and to look at porn (Wait, what? There’s still porn on the internet? And it’s even better than it was in 1999? WHY DIDN’T ANYONE TELL ME?!). During my junior year of college, I spent a semester in Scotland at the University of Aberdeen. A school founded in 1495? You’re gosh darn right it had a fantastic old library. I’m a huge fan of Dracula, and I recall stumbling across a copy of Bram Stoker’s Dracula’s Guest and Other Weird Stories. I could have checked it out and brought it back to my room, of course, but I chose to read it in the emptiest corner of the library I could find on a dark (albeit not stormy, sadly) night, and damned if it wasn’t one of the creepiest experiences I’ve ever had (and I mean that in the most delightful way possible).
Look, I realize that the Internet has irrevocably changed the world, and largely for the better. But, the experience of being in a library isn’t one of those ways, and I felt like I needed to memorialize what it was like to hang out around books when they were the only way to get info, if only for the sake of future generations.
And, of course, I’m doing so by using the Internet.
Sigh.
Oh well…we’ve still got porn, right?
Celebrate Mystery/Thriller week with a FREE copy of The Camelot Shadow (is there a catch…?)
I made some crazy promises about giving out free copies of The Camelot Shadow to celebrate Mystery & Thriller week on Goodreads and, since I’m a man of my word—at least 17% of the time, anyway—I intend to follow through.
Even better? Not only am I going to make it so that EVERYONE IS A WINNER, I’m not even going to make you read through all of my rambling, turgid prose below before telling you how to get your copy (though you’re more than welcome to continue reading my rambling, turgid prose, which is essentially what you’re committing to doing if you’re reading The Camelot Shadow anyway).
So, what do you need to do? Two simple things: 1) Add The Camelot Shadow to your “to read” list on GR so all your friends can see what good taste you have in handsomely-nosed independent authors; and 2) in the comments section below, list your favorite mystery or thriller (if you’re feeling effusive, please feel free to tell us why). (Also, I wouldn’t be upset if you shared this link with your GR friends.)
The only catch: you’ve got to do it by midnight (Eastern) on Friday, May 5 (what better way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo than with a bunch of sexagenarian mystery solvers, right?). (Or, heck, by the end of the day on May 6...I'm a benevolent soul.)
Once you’ve commented, I’ll send you a private message asking which format you’d like the book in (Mobi/ePub/PDF) and what email to send it to. It’s that easy, folks!
Now, if you’re only here for my goodies, you can stop reading (and, let’s face it, who DOESN’T want my goodies?).
Now then…you there—in the back. I see you waving your hand frantically. What is it?
“But, Mr. Handsomely-Nosed Independent Author—is The Camelot Shadow REALLY a mystery/thriller? I mean, come on—it’s set in Victorian times, when they didn’t even have cell phones or Snapchat or Dippin’ Dots ice cream, and there’s magical stuff going on, and it’s got King Arthur references that don’t have anything to do with the Guy Ritchie movie (I mean, what’s that all about?), and the pacing is kind of slow out of the gate. Also, your nose isn’t all that handsome.”
Well, I’m glad you asked that, Mr. Bludgeoned Repeatedly and Enthusiastically With the Ugly Stick. The Camelot Shadow is something of a cross-genre hodgepodge, mainly because that’s exactly the kind of thing that I like to read. While I dig fast-paced, straight up thrillers on occasion (more on that below), I’m an even bigger fan of a slow burn mystery that builds up as characters are simultaneously built up and clues revealed, where an unexpected twist throws you off track and, before you can recover, you get twisted right back around, and where the characters can’t rely on high-tech gizmos to help save the day (not that there’s anything wrong with stories where that happens; I just love the dramatic tension of characters not instantly being able to communicate with each other across distances or find an answer to an unsolvable mystery in less than two seconds by Googling it). Throw in elements of history, fantasy, bromance/buddy movies, and a Victorian setting and you’ll literally see me drool. (Not that seeing me drool is a particularly unusual occurrence, incidentally, as all of my stained shirts will attest.)
So, sure—The Camelot Shadow isn’t a mystery/thriller in the same way that a Janet Evanovich or Nelson DeMille book is a mystery/thriller, but it’s got enough of such elements for me to use this week as an excuse to give you free books, so be quiet. If you dig mixing all of those genre elements together, you might like the book (and, if you don’t, I promise I won’t be mad if you have to publicly trash it in your review—reading is subjective, and we can still be friends). And, I have no idea what that Guy Ritchie/King Arthur nonsense is all about.
As for MY favorite mystery or thriller? First off, I think those are two different things—a book can certainly have elements of both, but a story can also just be a straight mystery (that’s not so thrilling, and I don’t mean that pejoratively), or a straight thriller (where the reader knows what’s going on but the characters don’t, and it’s a pulse-poundingly, rip-roaringly paced yarn). Putting that aside, though, and with nods to more contemporary writers like Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (the Pendergast books never fail to entertain), Dan Brown (The Camelot Shadow borrows from the formula that Brown popularized so adeptly in his Robert Langdon books), and John Saul (that man writes some creepy thrillers), as well as masters of the genre like Agatha Christie and Edgar Allen Poe (arguably the inventor of the genre), I have to go with a tale featuring a certain deerstalker-wearing detective: The Hound of the Baskervilles. The combination of Holmes and Watson (the best detective duo ever, for my money), a haunting setting, the intimation of supernatural chicanery afoot, and some of Doyle’s most effective pacing makes for an unforgettable reading experience.
Now then—let’s hear from you…
Even better? Not only am I going to make it so that EVERYONE IS A WINNER, I’m not even going to make you read through all of my rambling, turgid prose below before telling you how to get your copy (though you’re more than welcome to continue reading my rambling, turgid prose, which is essentially what you’re committing to doing if you’re reading The Camelot Shadow anyway).
So, what do you need to do? Two simple things: 1) Add The Camelot Shadow to your “to read” list on GR so all your friends can see what good taste you have in handsomely-nosed independent authors; and 2) in the comments section below, list your favorite mystery or thriller (if you’re feeling effusive, please feel free to tell us why). (Also, I wouldn’t be upset if you shared this link with your GR friends.)
The only catch: you’ve got to do it by midnight (Eastern) on Friday, May 5 (what better way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo than with a bunch of sexagenarian mystery solvers, right?). (Or, heck, by the end of the day on May 6...I'm a benevolent soul.)
Once you’ve commented, I’ll send you a private message asking which format you’d like the book in (Mobi/ePub/PDF) and what email to send it to. It’s that easy, folks!
Now, if you’re only here for my goodies, you can stop reading (and, let’s face it, who DOESN’T want my goodies?).
Now then…you there—in the back. I see you waving your hand frantically. What is it?
“But, Mr. Handsomely-Nosed Independent Author—is The Camelot Shadow REALLY a mystery/thriller? I mean, come on—it’s set in Victorian times, when they didn’t even have cell phones or Snapchat or Dippin’ Dots ice cream, and there’s magical stuff going on, and it’s got King Arthur references that don’t have anything to do with the Guy Ritchie movie (I mean, what’s that all about?), and the pacing is kind of slow out of the gate. Also, your nose isn’t all that handsome.”
Well, I’m glad you asked that, Mr. Bludgeoned Repeatedly and Enthusiastically With the Ugly Stick. The Camelot Shadow is something of a cross-genre hodgepodge, mainly because that’s exactly the kind of thing that I like to read. While I dig fast-paced, straight up thrillers on occasion (more on that below), I’m an even bigger fan of a slow burn mystery that builds up as characters are simultaneously built up and clues revealed, where an unexpected twist throws you off track and, before you can recover, you get twisted right back around, and where the characters can’t rely on high-tech gizmos to help save the day (not that there’s anything wrong with stories where that happens; I just love the dramatic tension of characters not instantly being able to communicate with each other across distances or find an answer to an unsolvable mystery in less than two seconds by Googling it). Throw in elements of history, fantasy, bromance/buddy movies, and a Victorian setting and you’ll literally see me drool. (Not that seeing me drool is a particularly unusual occurrence, incidentally, as all of my stained shirts will attest.)
So, sure—The Camelot Shadow isn’t a mystery/thriller in the same way that a Janet Evanovich or Nelson DeMille book is a mystery/thriller, but it’s got enough of such elements for me to use this week as an excuse to give you free books, so be quiet. If you dig mixing all of those genre elements together, you might like the book (and, if you don’t, I promise I won’t be mad if you have to publicly trash it in your review—reading is subjective, and we can still be friends). And, I have no idea what that Guy Ritchie/King Arthur nonsense is all about.
As for MY favorite mystery or thriller? First off, I think those are two different things—a book can certainly have elements of both, but a story can also just be a straight mystery (that’s not so thrilling, and I don’t mean that pejoratively), or a straight thriller (where the reader knows what’s going on but the characters don’t, and it’s a pulse-poundingly, rip-roaringly paced yarn). Putting that aside, though, and with nods to more contemporary writers like Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (the Pendergast books never fail to entertain), Dan Brown (The Camelot Shadow borrows from the formula that Brown popularized so adeptly in his Robert Langdon books), and John Saul (that man writes some creepy thrillers), as well as masters of the genre like Agatha Christie and Edgar Allen Poe (arguably the inventor of the genre), I have to go with a tale featuring a certain deerstalker-wearing detective: The Hound of the Baskervilles. The combination of Holmes and Watson (the best detective duo ever, for my money), a haunting setting, the intimation of supernatural chicanery afoot, and some of Doyle’s most effective pacing makes for an unforgettable reading experience.
Now then—let’s hear from you…
Celebrate Mystery/Thriller week with a FREE copy of The Camelot Shadow (is there a catch…?)
There's something to be said for original ideas. There's also something to be said for copycatting unoriginal ideas that work just dandy.
Last year, to celebrate mystery/thriller week on GR, we did a giveaway of The Camelot Shadow that was so wildly successful, virtual bookshelves everywhere started groaning under the weight of the tomes given away. So, let's run it back and do it again for the millions of adoring would-be fans who have added the book to their TBR since then. (I'm even liberally copying my own text from last year's post.)
The best part about this giveaway is that EVERYONE IS A WINNER, I’m not even going to make you read through all of my rambling, turgid prose below before telling you how to get your copy (though you’re more than welcome to continue reading my rambling, turgid prose, which is essentially what you’re committing to doing if you’re reading The Camelot Shadow anyway).
So, what do you need to do? Two simple things:
1) Add The Camelot Shadow to your “to read” list on GR so all your friends can see what good taste you have in handsomely-nosed independent authors; and
2) in the comments section below, list your favorite mystery or thriller (if you’re feeling effusive, please feel free to tell us why). (Also, I wouldn’t be upset if you shared this link with your GR friends.)
The only catch: you’ve got to do it by midnight (Eastern) on Sunday, April 8.
Once you’ve commented, I’ll send you a private message asking which format you’d like the book in (Mobi/ePub/PDF) and what email to send it to. It’s that easy, folks!
Now, if you’re only here for my goodies, you can stop reading (and, let’s face it, who DOESN’T want my goodies?).
Now then…you there—in the back. I see you waving your hand frantically. What is it?
“But, Mr. Handsomely-Nosed Independent Author—is The Camelot Shadow REALLY a mystery/thriller? I mean, come on—it’s set in Victorian times, when they didn’t even have cell phones or Snapchat or Dippin’ Dots ice cream, and there’s magical stuff going on, and it’s got King Arthur references that don’t have anything to do with the Guy Ritchie movie (I mean, what’s that all about?), and the pacing is kind of slow out of the gate. Also, your nose isn’t all that handsome.”
Well, I’m glad you asked that, Mr. Bludgeoned Repeatedly and Enthusiastically With the Ugly Stick. The Camelot Shadow is something of a cross-genre hodgepodge, mainly because that’s exactly the kind of thing that I like to read. While I dig fast-paced, straight up thrillers on occasion (more on that below), I’m an even bigger fan of a slow burn mystery that builds up as characters are simultaneously built up and clues revealed, where an unexpected twist throws you off track and, before you can recover, you get twisted right back around, and where the characters can’t rely on high-tech gizmos to help save the day (not that there’s anything wrong with stories where that happens; I just love the dramatic tension of characters not instantly being able to communicate with each other across distances or find an answer to an unsolvable mystery in less than two seconds by Googling it). Throw in elements of history, fantasy, bromance/buddy movies, and a Victorian setting and you’ll literally see me drool. (Not that seeing me drool is a particularly unusual occurrence, incidentally, as all of my stained shirts will attest.)
So, sure—The Camelot Shadow isn’t a mystery/thriller in the same way that a Janet Evanovich or Nelson DeMille book is a mystery/thriller, but it’s got enough of such elements for me to use this week as an excuse to give you free books, so be quiet. If you dig mixing all of those genre elements together, you might like the book (and, if you don’t, I promise I won’t be mad if you have to publicly trash it in your review—reading is subjective, and we can still be friends). And, I have no idea what that Guy Ritchie/King Arthur nonsense was all about. Let's pretende it never happened.
As for MY favorite mystery or thriller? First off, I think those are two different things—a book can certainly have elements of both, but a story can also just be a straight mystery (that’s not so thrilling, and I don’t mean that pejoratively), or a straight thriller (where the reader knows what’s going on but the characters don’t, and it’s a pulse-poundingly, rip-roaringly paced yarn). Putting that aside, though, and with nods to more contemporary writers like Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (the Pendergast books never fail to entertain), Dan Brown (The Camelot Shadow borrows from the formula that Brown has popularized so adeptly in his Robert Langdon books), and John Saul (that man writes some creepy thrillers), as well as masters of the genre like Agatha Christie and Edgar Allen Poe (arguably the inventor of the genre), I have to go with a tale featuring a certain deerstalker-wearing detective: The Hound of the Baskervilles. The combination of Holmes and Watson (the best detective duo ever, for my money), a haunting setting, the intimation of supernatural chicanery afoot, and some of Doyle’s most effective pacing makes for an unforgettable reading experience.
Now then—let’s hear from you…
Last year, to celebrate mystery/thriller week on GR, we did a giveaway of The Camelot Shadow that was so wildly successful, virtual bookshelves everywhere started groaning under the weight of the tomes given away. So, let's run it back and do it again for the millions of adoring would-be fans who have added the book to their TBR since then. (I'm even liberally copying my own text from last year's post.)
The best part about this giveaway is that EVERYONE IS A WINNER, I’m not even going to make you read through all of my rambling, turgid prose below before telling you how to get your copy (though you’re more than welcome to continue reading my rambling, turgid prose, which is essentially what you’re committing to doing if you’re reading The Camelot Shadow anyway).
So, what do you need to do? Two simple things:
1) Add The Camelot Shadow to your “to read” list on GR so all your friends can see what good taste you have in handsomely-nosed independent authors; and
2) in the comments section below, list your favorite mystery or thriller (if you’re feeling effusive, please feel free to tell us why). (Also, I wouldn’t be upset if you shared this link with your GR friends.)
The only catch: you’ve got to do it by midnight (Eastern) on Sunday, April 8.
Once you’ve commented, I’ll send you a private message asking which format you’d like the book in (Mobi/ePub/PDF) and what email to send it to. It’s that easy, folks!
Now, if you’re only here for my goodies, you can stop reading (and, let’s face it, who DOESN’T want my goodies?).
Now then…you there—in the back. I see you waving your hand frantically. What is it?
“But, Mr. Handsomely-Nosed Independent Author—is The Camelot Shadow REALLY a mystery/thriller? I mean, come on—it’s set in Victorian times, when they didn’t even have cell phones or Snapchat or Dippin’ Dots ice cream, and there’s magical stuff going on, and it’s got King Arthur references that don’t have anything to do with the Guy Ritchie movie (I mean, what’s that all about?), and the pacing is kind of slow out of the gate. Also, your nose isn’t all that handsome.”
Well, I’m glad you asked that, Mr. Bludgeoned Repeatedly and Enthusiastically With the Ugly Stick. The Camelot Shadow is something of a cross-genre hodgepodge, mainly because that’s exactly the kind of thing that I like to read. While I dig fast-paced, straight up thrillers on occasion (more on that below), I’m an even bigger fan of a slow burn mystery that builds up as characters are simultaneously built up and clues revealed, where an unexpected twist throws you off track and, before you can recover, you get twisted right back around, and where the characters can’t rely on high-tech gizmos to help save the day (not that there’s anything wrong with stories where that happens; I just love the dramatic tension of characters not instantly being able to communicate with each other across distances or find an answer to an unsolvable mystery in less than two seconds by Googling it). Throw in elements of history, fantasy, bromance/buddy movies, and a Victorian setting and you’ll literally see me drool. (Not that seeing me drool is a particularly unusual occurrence, incidentally, as all of my stained shirts will attest.)
So, sure—The Camelot Shadow isn’t a mystery/thriller in the same way that a Janet Evanovich or Nelson DeMille book is a mystery/thriller, but it’s got enough of such elements for me to use this week as an excuse to give you free books, so be quiet. If you dig mixing all of those genre elements together, you might like the book (and, if you don’t, I promise I won’t be mad if you have to publicly trash it in your review—reading is subjective, and we can still be friends). And, I have no idea what that Guy Ritchie/King Arthur nonsense was all about. Let's pretende it never happened.
As for MY favorite mystery or thriller? First off, I think those are two different things—a book can certainly have elements of both, but a story can also just be a straight mystery (that’s not so thrilling, and I don’t mean that pejoratively), or a straight thriller (where the reader knows what’s going on but the characters don’t, and it’s a pulse-poundingly, rip-roaringly paced yarn). Putting that aside, though, and with nods to more contemporary writers like Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (the Pendergast books never fail to entertain), Dan Brown (The Camelot Shadow borrows from the formula that Brown has popularized so adeptly in his Robert Langdon books), and John Saul (that man writes some creepy thrillers), as well as masters of the genre like Agatha Christie and Edgar Allen Poe (arguably the inventor of the genre), I have to go with a tale featuring a certain deerstalker-wearing detective: The Hound of the Baskervilles. The combination of Holmes and Watson (the best detective duo ever, for my money), a haunting setting, the intimation of supernatural chicanery afoot, and some of Doyle’s most effective pacing makes for an unforgettable reading experience.
Now then—let’s hear from you…
