Perfidy by James Ellroy

September 5, 2014 “Perfidia” by James Ellroy Reviewed by Mark LindquistSpecial to the Seattle Times James Ellroy can be ornery. “I hate hipsters, I hate liberals, I hate rock ’n’ rollers, I hate the counterculture, I hate movie people,” he said in an interview promoting his new novel, “Perfidia.” He Read more…

This One is Mine by Maria Semple

January 16, 2009 “This One is Mine” by Maria Semple Reviewed by Mark LindquistSpecial to the Seattle Times Maria Semple has lived in Los Angeles and written for television shows, including “Arrested Development,” “Mad About You” and “Ellen.” According to publicity materials, she recently “escaped” L.A. and now lives with Read more…

Pharmakon by Dirk Wittenborn

August 15, 2008 “Pharmakon” by Dirk Wittenborn Reviewed by Mark LindquistSpecial to the Seattle Times Dirk Wittenborn is the literary equivalent of the Velvet Underground, the 1960s band that didn’t sell many records but was famous in certain circles because almost every kid who bought a Velvet Underground record started Read more…

Crow Fair by Thomas McGuane

March 29, 2015 “Crow Fair and Other Stories” by Thomas McGuane Reviewed by Mark LindquistSpecial to The Seattle Times By outliving Raymond Carver, Thomas McGuane became one of our best living American short-story writers. Now, Captain Berserko, as McGuane was known in the 1970s, just has to outlive Richard Ford Read more…

Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk

May 23, 2008 “Snuff” by Chuck Palahniuk Reviewed by Mark LindquistSpecial to The Seattle Times. Cassie Wright is about a porn superstar in the twilight of her career who decides to go out with a bang, so to speak, by setting a world record for serial fornication on film. “Six Read more…

Force Majeure by Bruce Wagner

Sunday, August 18, 1991 Force Majeure by Bruce Wagner (Random House: $23; 474 pp.) Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Los Angeles Times Book Review Mark Lindquist is the author of “Sad Movies” and “Carnival Desires.” Thousands of people are coming to Los Angeles in a new gold rush. Legends abound: Seven-Eleven clerk sells Read more…

Rich Kids by Robert Westbrook

Sunday, July 19, 1992 “Rich Kids” by Robert Westbrooke Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Los Angeles Times Book Review You will probably not be shocked to learn that the children of rich movie-industry parents are likely to grow up spoiled, unhappy and mentally unhealthy. Robert Westbrook brings personal experience to the Read more…

Fan Mail by Ronald Munson

Monday, September 27, 1993 “Fan Mail” by Ronald Munson; Dutton $21, 309 pages Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Los Angeles Times Joan Carpenter is an anchorwoman. Her stated ambition is to be rich and famous. The Watcher is a fan. “Fan Mail” is a creepy book about their symbiotic connection. When Read more…

Family Values by Lawrence David

 Entertainment & the Arts, Sunday, November 14, 1993 ”Family Values” by Lawrence David By Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times Eighteen years of family life are, for the most part, convincingly and engagingly drawn in Lawrence David’s first novel. The multiple points of view are handled skillfully, and much Read more…

Pool by Ajay Sahgal

Sunday, February 13, 1994 “Pool” by Ajay Sahgal Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Los Angeles Times Book Review, Front Page “Pool” is one of the most authentic Los Angeles novels you are likely to read and the beauty of it is that not a single moment is set in L.A. Emery Read more…

Baby Cat-Face by Barry Gifford

October 15, 1995 “Baby Cat Face” by Barry Gifford Reviewed by Mark Lindquist New York Times Book Review Barry Gifford has been chronicling the decline of Western civilization for 25 years: as America goes, so goes Mr. Gifford. Not surprisingly, his books have become increasingly twisted and senseless, their plots Read more…

Blade Runner 2 by KW Jeter

Sunday, March 10, 1996 “Blade Runner 2” by KW Jeter Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Los Angeles Times Book Review Seattle writer and lawyer Mark Lindquist has lived in and written about Los Angeles. He is the author of “Sad Movies” and “Carnival Desires.”  Los Angeles, 2021. The atmosphere is scoured Read more…

Love is a Racket by John Ridley

October 11, 1998 “Love is a Racket” by John Ridley Reviewed by Mark Lindquist New York Times Book Review John Ridley’s crime-noir first novel, ”Stray Dogs,” was made into the Oliver Stone movie ”U-Turn.” This may explain why Ridley’s second novel, “Love is a Racket” (Knopf, $24), blends elements of Read more…

Model Behavior by Jay McInerney

Arts & Entertainment: Sunday, December 6, 1998 “Model Behavior” by Jay McInerney Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times In the late ’70s and early ’80s we called it “punk” when an artist said never mind the critics or, for that matter, the general public. “Bright Lights, Big Read more…

The Gates of Eden by Ethan Coen

December 20, 1998 “The Gates of Eden” by Ethan Coen Reviewed by Mark LindquistNew York Times Book Review Ethan Coen and his brother, Joel, have made some of the more interesting movies of the last two decades: ”Blood Simple,” ”Raising Arizona,” ”Barton Fink” and ”Fargo.” Ethan Coen writes and Joel Read more…

Chump Change by David Eddie

July 7, 1999 “Chump Change” by David Eddie Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times “I am a failure,” begins David Eddie’s narrator, David Henry. Though it is risky to assume a first novel is autobiographical just because first novels often are, it’s a safe bet here. Eddie Read more…

Burning Girl by Ben Neihart

April 10, 1999 “Burning Girl” by Ben Neihart Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Special To The Seattle Times Ben Neihart’s first novel, “Hey Joe,” a racy coming-of-age story, was fresh, hip and well-received. “Burning Girl,” his follow-up, focuses on Drew Burke, a 20-year-old scholarship student who becomes involved in the secret Read more…

Music for Torching by A.M. Homes

Entertainment News: Thursday, May 20, 1999 “Music for Torching” by A.M. Homes Reviewed by Mark LindquistSpecial to The Seattle Times A.M. Homes’ fifth book is daring, original, smart and artful, yet does not quite work as a novel. Paul and Elaine, the lead couple, were first featured in Homes’ short Read more…

Wormwood by David Levien

July 4, 1999 Wormwood” by David Levien Reviewed by Mark LindquistSpecial to The Seattle Times This first novel was apparently written in the early to mid-nineties, but not published. Levien went on to co-write the screenplay for “Rounders,” a Miramax Pictures release starring Matt Damon, which was a hit. Now Read more…

Soft Maniacs by Maggie Estep

Entertainment News: Sunday, November 21, 1999 “Soft Maniacs” by Maggie Estep  Reviewed by Mark LindquistSpecial to The Seattle Times If you like your fiction dark, demented and highly sexed, this book is for you. You may even remember author Magge Estep as the videogenic gamin on MTV’s “Poetry Unplugged,” circa Read more…

Lo’s Diary by Pia Pera

Sunday, January 2, 2000 “Lo’s Diary” by Pia Pera Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times The legal issues raised by the retelling of Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita” from the pubescent child’s point of view are, unfortunately, more interesting than this first novel by Italian journalist and short-story writer Read more…

Miss Wyoming by Douglas Coupland

Entertainment News: Sunday, January 16, 2002 Miss Wyoming by Douglas Coupland Reviewed by Mark LindquistSpecial to The Seattle Times Douglas Coupland’s first novel, “Generation X: Tales of an Accelerated Culture,” was published in 1991. “Miss Wyoming” is his eighth book in nine years. Coupland also works as a designer and Read more…

War Boy by Kief Hillsbery

Arts & Entertainment: Sunday, June 25, 2000 “War Boy” by Kief Hillsbery  Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times This energetic and ambitious first novel is narrated by Radboy, a 14-year-old deaf skateboard punk. “Storytellers lie,” he warns us right away, then proceeds to tell as much truth Read more…

Love Hexagon by William Sutcliffe

Arts & Entertainment: Sunday, October 1, 2000 “Love Hexagon” by William Sutcliffe Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times A United Kingdom best seller, this satirical sex farce has a clear target audience: twentysomething Londoners. Comparisons to Evelyn Waugh are inevitable, at least the Waugh of the “Bright Read more…

Ready, Okay! by Adam Cadre

Arts & Entertainment: Sunday, October 15, 2000 “Ready, Okay!” by Adam Cadre  Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times Someone had to do this. Ever since the Columbine High tragedy, I have been waiting for an author brave enough or shameless enough to write an adolescent novel that Read more…

The Painted House by John Grisham

Entertainment & the Arts: Sunday, February 04, 2001 Grisham’s strong, literary ‘House’ By Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times You will probably not be surprised to hear that John Grisham, author of 11 best-selling legal thrillers, has written another page-turner. You may be surprised to hear that his latest Read more…

Glue by Irvine Welsh

Arts & Entertainment: Sunday, June 10, 2001 “Glue” by Irvine Welsh Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times Irvine Welsh is best known to the mainstream as the man who wrote the novel that the movie “Trainspotting” was based on. In the “rave” culture, he is revered as Read more…

How to Be Good by Nick Hornby

July 28, 2001 “How to Be Good,” by Nick Hornby  Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Special to the Hartford Courant Fans of Nick Hornby’s first novel, the decidedly hip and male “High Fidelity,” initially may be perplexed as to why Hornby is now writing about humdrum grown-ups from a female point Read more…

American Falls by Barry Gifford

Entertainment & the Arts: Sunday, June 30, 2002 “American Falls” by Barry Gifford Reviewed by Mark LindquistSpecial to The Seattle Times The author of 40 published books — fiction, nonfiction, poetry, literary biographies and miscellaneous mischief — Barry Gifford is a lesson in perseverance. He is 55 years old. His Read more…

Ash Wednesday by Ethan Hawke

August 2, 2002 “Ash Wednesday” by Ethan Hawke Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Special to the Seattle Times If Ethan Hawke were not already a famous actor, his second novel, “Ash Wednesday” (Knopf, $22.95), might make him a well-known novelist in the much smaller way novelists are known. He’s written the Read more…

Lullaby by Chuck Palahnuik

Entertainment & the Arts, Sunday, October 6, 2002 “Lullaby” by Chuck Palahniuk Reviewed by Mark LindquistSpecial to The Seattle Times Ranting against consumerism and all the noise of the material world may seem passe, but what doesn’t these days?  Chuck Palahniuk’s novels are here to say that alienation and despair Read more…

Porno by Irvine Welsh

Entertainment & the Arts, October 17, 2002 “Porno” by Irvine Welsh Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times Irvine Welsh’s first novel, “Trainspotting,” was an international best seller and a cult-classic movie. His witty twisted take on the youth culture of Edinburgh was daring and original. Sales have Read more…

11 Karens by Peter Lefcourt

Entertainment & the Arts: Sunday, February 16, 2003 “11 Karens” by Peter Lefcourt Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times While the memoir emerges as the favored form of our time, Peter Lefcourt has chosen to tell his life story the old-fashioned way. He calls it a novel. Read more…

Trading Up by Candace Bushnell

Entertainment & the Arts: Friday, July 25, 2003   Bushnell takes another stab at skewering New York’s social circles By Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times As the line between high art and low art becomes increasingly blurred, into the picture steps Candace Bushnell, author of “Sex and the Read more…

Diary by Chuck Palahniuk

Entertainment & the Arts: Sunday, August 31, 2003 “Diary” by Chuck Palahniuk Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times Chuck Palahniuk just keeps popping out the books. This is his seventh in as many years. His prose style, rather than sharpening, is becoming increasingly jagged and addled, which Read more…

The Wave by Caren Gussoff

Entertainment & the Arts: Friday, August 01, 2003   ‘The Wave’ captures Seattle’s years on the cutting edge By Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times In the 1970s and 1980s, many young people with an adventurous or alternative bent left Seattle for New York and Los Angeles. In the Read more…

Still Holding by Bruce Wagner

Entertainment & the Arts: Sunday, December 28, 2003 “Still Holding” by Bruce Wagner Reviewed by Mark LindquistSpecial to The Seattle Times How much hypocrisy, insanity, neediness, dysfunction and delusion can an author stuff into a novel of just under 300 pages? If the author is Bruce Wagner and the subject Read more…

Little Children by Tom Perotta

Entertainment & the Arts: Sunday, March 28, 2004 “Little Children” by Tom Perotta Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times Tom Perrotta has carved out an impressive career writing about adolescents in “Bad Haircut: Stories of the Seventies,” “The Wishbones,” “Election” and “Joe College.” Though not all of Read more…

Haunted

Entertainment & the Arts: Sunday, May 15, 2005 “Haunted” by Chuck Palahniuk Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times Chuck Palahniuk, like the unnamed narrator of his best-selling novel “Fight Club,” appears to be going around the bend. In “Haunted,” he has splintered his personality into 23 hapless Read more…

Veronica by Mary Gaitskill

Entertainment & the Arts: Friday, October 21, 2005 “Veronica”: The soulful memoir of a fallen model By Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times In the past, memoirists borrowed form from novelists. Now novelists are borrowing from memoirists. Intensely personal narratives find an eager audience in our confessional times, especially Read more…

JPod by Douglas Coupland

Entertainment & the Arts: Friday, June 09, 2006 “JPod” by Douglas Coupland By Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times “I think people in the year 2020 are going to be nostalgic for the sensation of cluelessness.” “I’ve come to the conclusion that documents are thirty-four percent more boring when Read more…

Kockroach by Tyler Knox

Entertainment & the Arts: Friday, January 05, 2007 “Kockroach” by Tyler Knox Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times The premise here sounds like a high-concept Hollywood pitch: “It’s Damon Runyon meets Kafka, except instead of a man becoming an insect, a cockroach becomes … a man, a Read more…

Ten Days in the Hills by Jane Smiley

Entertainment & Arts: Friday, February 16, 2007 “Ten Days in the Hills” by Jane Smiley Reviewed by Mark Lindquist Special to The Seattle Times Hollywood has bedeviled novelists since its inception. Jane Smiley, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, is yet another example. Smiley’s strengths are many, she is smart, insightful, observant, Read more…