SPOILER ALERT!
The Lion's Game - Nelson DeMille

One of the fastest reads I've gone through in ages. I'm a sucker for a taut killer hunt. This one reminded me of "The Poet" by Michael Connelly, though I enjoyed this story more - better ending, better characters. John Corey is a lovable protagonist, though I think we might want to strangle him if we had to spend a car ride with him longer than say...10 minutes. Maybe I'm just used to his wise cracks, but the writing seemed to wear less on my patience this time around. It's a thrilling plot, though one that brings up so many 9/11 memories that it might rub some readers the wrong way. This book was released in 2000, and I could have quoted two or three lines that were frighteningly prescient about terrorism on American soil. The passage that talks about the World Trade Center bombing - just spooky and sad. I was thinking about a movie version, but I honestly don't think that the visual impact of the air massacre could be outweighed by any concern later in the book. There would be images of dead children. In print, DeMille can just gloss over this initial mass murder as some sort of stunt, but the reality of this ghastly image would be too haunting. In other words, the movie would feel wrong. After watching United 93, one of the most horrifying and heartrending films I've ever watched, this would just be wrong. There are a few gigantic plot holes, just in terms of governmental response and believability (example: could you honestly forestall people knowing about the plane deaths for two days?), but overall, I'm inclined to forgive most in favor of what the book offers.