Eric Penz - Eric's Book Club

				The love of writing books begins with the love for reading them.

Introducing the launch of Eric's Book Club. Like most writers, I was first a reader. It was my love of a well-told story that inspired me to tell my own tales of adventure, far-off lands of mystery, and larger-than-life characters. Regardless of where my writing career may take me, though, I will always be first and foremost a reader. And now I invite you to read along with me as a fellow reader and carnassier of the craft.

I hope you enjoyed our last book, The Loch. If you wanted to post your review, but thought you missed the deadline, you are still welcome to submit. Now, on to our current Eric's Book Club selection. We're going to switch gears a bit. Think legal thriller, the kind Grisham used to write. The Jury Master by Robert Dugoni is a debut novel by a debut author, though it reads like one written by a sage craftsman at the peak of his craft. I don’t usually read legal thrillers, but this one is different. It's actually good. So feel free to join me. Pick up a copy, savor the story, and then submit your own review. Reviews will be accepted up until the deadline listed below. At such time I will select a few of the best reviews and post them along with my own for the world to read until the next book has been reviewed.

To recommend a book for the my next book club selection, send recommendations to mail@ericpenz.com, listing Eric's Book Club in the subject line. I look forward to your reviews and companionship as a fellow reader.

Current Book Club Selection

The Jury Master
by Robert Dugoni

Robert Dugoni's debut novel carries on the tradition of Scott Turow and Stephen L. Carter as it introduces one of the boldest and most entertaining voices writing legal thrillers today. Attorney David Sloane is beginning to suspect that his professional success stems not from extraordinary legal skills, but a rare gift that allows him to influence, and even control a jury's decisions. Teaming up with a former CIA agent turned recluse and a West Virginia police detective, Sloane will try to solve a murder purposely cast as a suicide. If he can stay alive, he just might expose a 30-year conspiracy that could extend as far as the Oval Office and topple a presidency.

Deadline for review submissions for current book club selection is September 1st, 2007

Submit your review here:

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Eric's review of The Loch by Steve Alten

Templar knights in shining armor battling fire-breathing dragons is merely a fairy tale, just as the Loch Ness monster is nothing but a legend—right? Well in Steve Alten’s thriller, The Loch, the two are one and the same. And Alten supports his tale with enough research, logic, and good old fashioned storyteller’s slight of hand that the reader comes away doubting if there isn’t some grain of truth to the whole thing.

Zachary Wallace escaped his abusive father and the Loch as a boy and fled to America. He’s been carrying with him both physical and emotional scars that haunt him and even seem to act as a curse upon his life, driving him back to the Loch to fulfill his destiny. Fate even led him to become a world-renowned marine biologist honored for being the first to come face to face with the fabled giant squid of maritime legend.

So when his father is brought to trial for a murder on the shores of the Loch and claims Nessie is the true killer, Zachary is drawn into the fray to prove the monster’s existence and free his abusive father from the death penalty. To succeed, Zachary must discover the truth of not only the Nessie legend but of the mysterious Black Knights, secret sect of the Templars.

Living up to the standard set by his work with the Meg series, Alten brings to life a monster of credible terror and compels the reader to believe monsters of the deep still inhabit the world’s seas, and maybe even freshwater lakes such as Loch Ness. What’s more compelling is how Alten uses the legend of Nessie to justify and argue the validity of fire-breathing dragons and the storied battles between them and knights in shining armor.

Alten makes an interesting choice to tell the story in the first person via Zachary. The general rule of thumb is to only use first person when the technique itself is an integral element of the story. An argument could be made that that is the case here. Even so, I’d have preferred third person. Zachary was also too self-defeating for my taste, making it difficult to care about his success or failure. That all aside, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride and feel as if I’ve been to the Loch in person. Any warm blooded thriller reader will as well.

Enjoy the hunt.

Your reviews of The Loch by Steve Alten

Watch this space for your reviews to be posted after October 15th, 2006.

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Eric's Reviews

The Loch

Your Reviews

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