Review of The Good Neighbor: A Novel (Hardcover)

I've read all of William Kowalski's novels since he immediately became one of my favorite contemporary American authors with his stunning debut, "Eddie's Bastard".
"The Good Neighbor" is a surprisingly accomplished and mature work for an author of Kowalski's still young age and marks a departure point for him.While his earlier books seem written from overpowering talent and passion, "The Good Neighbor" is clearly the work of an author who has grown into conscious mastery of his craft.While his prose is as expressive and flows as effortlessly as ever, "The Good Neighbor's" plot is masterfully constructed, and every element of the story falls into place with the precision of a Swiss clockwork.The characters are alive and drawn with astounding psychological accuracy, particularly Francie, the unlikely hero of the novel.Kowalski is not preoccupied with the fleeting moments of pop-culture.Instead he is an author of substance, concerned with the humanity of his characters in which we all recognize ourselves.In the case of "the Good Neighbor" is Francie Hart's courageous and inspiring story of self-discovery that will leave no one untouched.



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Review of The Firm (Hardcover)

The Firm was published in 1991, and almost overnight John Grisham became a household name and a force to be reckoned with in the realm of fiction.There must be something in the water down in Oxford, Mississippi; while Grisham is certainly no Faulkner, he is a man who knows how to make a novel come alive and ensnare any reader who comes along.I really do not care for lawyer-type novels as a general rule, and the fact that Grisham makes such stories so gripping and fascinating has me quite in awe of his talents.Mitch McDeere (whom many may still envision as Tom Cruise, since he played in the role in the movie based on this novel) is a highly intelligent yet monetarily challenged law student finishing up his degree with high honors at Harvard.Holding serious offers from prestigious Chicago and Wall Street law firms for his services, he decides to go ahead and hear the pitch from a smaller law firm in Memphis.What he hears is an offer he cannot believe and cannot refuse.A starting salary significantly higher than he would make elsewhere, promises of large bonuses for passing the bar exam and succeeding on the job, an ascension to partner in as short a time as a decade, a new house with a miniscule mortgage rate, a brand new BMW, and other perks soon have Mitch and his wife Abby settling down in Memphis to enjoy a life of luxury (albeit with hard work on his part).The firm really seems to care about Mitch and his family, wanting happy marriages with several children, to a degree that has Abby a little suspicious.Mitch passes the bar exam, and life is great, despite the fact he is working eighty hours or more a week.Then an FBI agent comes to see him, dropping hints of nefarious dealings at the law firm, asking him for help.Thus begins a journey in which Mitch must first decide whether to risk the lives of himself and his wife to violate his legal oaths and sell out the Mafia-controlled law firm, or take his chances, make his millions, and hope the feds don t find enough evidence to eventually land him and all of his coworkers in prison.It is really an exciting story, as the McDeeres have to deal with and evade both the feds and the Mafia in their efforts to somehow bring down the firm without sacrificing their own lives.

I found the schemes Mitch employed on his behalf were quite inventive and plausible, but as the novel progressed in the later stages I found myself wondering how the Mafia could really be incompetent enough in their surveillance to keep losing track of Mitch at crucial times.I can understand the feds having a little trouble staying a step behind him, but you would think that the Mafia could have put an end to all of these games (and to Mitch) long before he got into a position to bring them down.Also, Abby s transition from a housewife who wishes her husband wasn t spending all of his time at work to a wily assistant to her scared and scheming husband is a little abrupt.I also had a hard time completely liking the protagonist after a certain indiscretion on his part early on.I m not complaining, though, because the tension of the novel ratchets up nicely in the final stages and kept me turning the pages with bated breath.I haven t read Grisham s more recent novels, so I can t say whether or not the quality of his writing has gone down over the years.What I can say, having read both A Time to Kill and The Firm, Grisham s first two novels, is that the man really and truly had it at the start of his career.The action never ebbs, the story never bogs down, and the reader finds himself hanging on for dear life and loving every minute of it as he/she follows the course of whatever events Grisham chooses to relate.



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Review of The Happy Pigs: A Novel (Hardcover)

Louise Barrat has been on the London police force for six years going from a street bobby to a member of the child protection unit.She has seen and heard all the misery an adult can do to a child and is dangerously close to suffering from total burnout.Her latest case is one of the worst cases she has ever witnessed.Ten-year-old Candy was raped and tortured and it is Louise's job to look after the child's best interests by steering her gently through the judicial system.

One day Louise is talking to two hookers, trying to find out if any underage prostitutes has come into the area.While conversing, a John comes over and Louisa walks away.The next thing she knows is the John has her in a back alley trying to force himself on her because she walked away from him.It's clear he doesn't know she's a police officer and since she has no proof to share with him, she flips him into the ally and walks away very upset.That incident although she doesn't know it yet, will change the rest of her life.

This first person narrative will grab the attention of the reader from the very first page because the protagonist is such a sympathetic and likable character.Lucy Harkness is able to use the written word to make the audience feel the pain and suffering police officers go through in pursuit of their job. THE HAPPY PIGS is a refreshing and unusual work that stimulates the readers' intellect as much as their feelings.

Harriet Klausner



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Review of Dark of the Moon (Hardcover)

Dark of the Moon is a new book by John Sandford, author of the great Lucas Davenport series. Sandford uses a co-author in this novel that features Virgil Flowers, a cop working with the Bureau of Criminal Aprehension where he is assigned the hardest cases. Flowers has been divorced a lot, is somewhat afraid of guns, and takes pride in wearing quirky t-shirts. The book opens as he is traveling south to investigate the murder of a harmless ederly couple when he drives upon a house being devoured by flames. The house was set on fire to cover up the murder of the ederly, feeble and hated Bill Judd. Virgil teams with Jim Stryker, an old buddy and the current sherriff, and they start investigating the crimes. A lot is going on in this novel. Stanford throws a lot at the reader.

Dark of the Moon reads just like a Lucas Davenport book. Incredible plotting, tons of characters in the small town, you get to know the town and the feeling that everyone DOES know everyone else. Virgil is a funny guy, all Sandford books have an underlying humor to them. You can tell Sandford is having fun when he writes.

Flowers hooks up with Stryker's sister Joan and has a good time with her, while at the same time wondering if Joan or Jim could be the killer. In fact, everyone Flowers encounters has a motive or a reason to be a killer. Sandford fans will love this book. It is fast pace and full of twists. Flowers' wit always keeps you entertained as well.

With a new Davenport book due in the spring, fans of the author won't have long to wait for another great book. Hopefully, Sandford can continue to write novels featuring Flowers as well.




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Review of Chango's Fire (Hardcover)

There is something simultaneously appealing and frustrating about Ernesto Quinonez's second novel, a marked improvement over his highly-flawed debut, Bodega Dreams, but in the end, still something of a disappointment. This time, the problem lies in his biting off more than he can chew with too many subplots rolling around what is essentially one man's coming-of-age story at its heart.

He's inexplicably combined the systematic burning of Spanish Harlem, insurance fraud, organized crime, gentrification, Santeria, pseudo-socialism, illegal citizenship papers, a shady government agent and a few other random nuggets into a muddle-headed plot that rests precariously, and unsuccessfully, on a straight-out-of-Hollywood interracial romance...and frankly, he's just not up to the task. When the cliches aren't jumping off the page at the reader, the heavy-handed didacticism is smacking them in the face.

His protagonist, Julio Santana, is a philosophizing arsonist yearning for the old days while trying to turn his life around after the proverbial "last job." Almost every other character is either an archetype or a stereotype, none ever fully coming to life beyond the "issue" Quinonez has chosen them to represent. After some hit-or-miss character and plot 'development' in the first two-thirds of the book, the hasty climax gets sloppy and, just like in Bodega Dreams, includes an out-of-left-field occurrence to wrap things up. The too-convenient epilogue only makes matters worse.

That said, Quinonez is no hack and with a less ambitious plot that focused more on the characters he obviously had a connection to, especially the engaging babalawo Papelito, he could have had something really special here. Personally, I could see a viable sequel springing from this effort, focusing only on Julio's journey to his Asiento, his strained relationship with his parents and a fleshed-out romance with Helen and the issues that arise from it. The first two things represent the strongest aspects of Chango's Fire, while the latter's potential got buried in melodrama.



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Review of In the Dark: A Novel (Hardcover)

While this standalone novel departs from the excellent Tom Thorne series written by Mark Billingham, apparently he couldn't resist including his favorite protagonist in a cameo role.In this story, however, we are introduced to a whole new set of characters including Helen, a very pregnant policewoman, days away from giving birth.

Helen's significant other also is on the job.He is killed while on an apparent drug gang initiation, during which a new member shoots at a car that has flashed its headlights at the one in which he is a passenger.As a result, the victim's auto swerves into a bus stop smashing into Helen's mate and killing him.Helen then begins to look into her partner's recent activities, and to wonder whether he was on the take.Despite her swollen belly, Helen undertakes an investigation of her own, leading to all kinds of ramifications.

The graphic descriptions of drug culture and the kids involved in the operations are matched only by the intricacy of the plotting.There is more than one twist when the story takes another turn.The novel is as well-written as anything the author has done, and highly recommended.




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Review of Midnight Come Again (Kate Shugak Mysteries) (Hardcover)

In the best Shugak tradition this one goes straight for the gut and then kicks you in the crotch.Unlike other Shugak books this one spends more time from Jim Chopin's point of view than Kate's, but it gives a betterfeel for the action that way.Like all mysteries there has to be somedifficulty in solving the crime and this time it's Kate and her grief. That is when it's not Chopin's emotional issues getting in the way.

Iknew after "Hunters Moon" that the next book would be a realemotional wringer and this book did not let me down in the least.Whilethe mystery here is easy to solve the reason I couldn't put down the bookuntil I finished it is that Kate is so real and so spell binding.

Ican't wait for the next one.I rate Dana Stabenow up there with DickFrancis and Kate Shugak with Travis McGee.



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Review of The Interpreter (Hardcover)

This is an satisfying, entertaining first novel and mystery which explores New York City's Korean American immigrant and merchant community and their 1.5 Generation children.Told in the third person, we meet Suzy Park, on the cusp of turning 30, an ivy-educated, unfinished daughter of immigrant, Korean greengrocers in the Bronx.Estranged from her family, Suzy has aimlessly tripped from one adulterous relationship and temporary job to another.It is a life of unscented impermanence, with dull colored cars and a forever incomplete cathedral.She shuns her fellow 1.5 Generation members who strive in school.Her latest job is as an interpreter for the city court system.As an interpreter, she cannot take sides in court cases, but she is a keen observer and picks up the nuances and subtleties of languages, tones, and expressions.As the story unfolds, the reader will hope that Suzy not only interprets and transfers these depositions, but learns to interpret her own life choices and place in America.Although her parents were killed in a robbery of their store nearly five years ago, she never discusses the tragedy, not even with her friends or prying roommate.But when one client hints at some knowledge of a prior murder of greengrocers, Suzy picks up the trail of the mystery.Like the layers of a greengrocer's onion, the story unfolds as clues are unpeeled in each chapter.Was the robbery a murder?Why did the family move so often?Along the way, the author mixes in Korean culture, Nabokov, the INS, Japanese cinema, news radio-WINS, botany, van Gogh, and King Lear to create an absorbing, expeditious mystery.



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Review of The Big Love: A Novel (Hardcover)

While the premise is great, a woman's boyfriend leaves a dinner party to get mustard and never returns, what really got me was the main character. She's a little weird, a little normal, and a lot appealing. Every page seemed to peel back another layer to her quirkiness and while sometimes I thought she was more than a little odd, and almost unlikeable, she still kept my attention. One of the best books I've read in a while.



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Review of The Rosary Girls: A Novel of Suspense (Hardcover)

In the Rosary Girls, Richard Montanari has created a masterpiece of suspense.Full of beautifully descriptive imagery, he brings the reader into modern Philadelphia for a harrowing and deeply disturbing tale of a ruthless serial killer who kidnaps, murders, and mutilates Catholic school girls and the detectives who try to catch him.
Montanari weaves his tale through the eyes of several different characters: the two main detectives on the case (Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano), a reporter covering the story, and the killer himself.Readers will find it interesting to see how the case takes a toll on the lives of the detectives both emotionally and physically.
I honestly could not put this book down.The short, but action-packed chapters add to the suspense, and the many dead-ends into which Montanari leads the reader will leave you as desperate to unmask the psychotic killer as the detectives.Catholic symbolism is everywhere, but Montanari explains everything so that readers of any faith can understand the events of the novel which take place during Holy Week (the week before Easter).
All in all, The Rosary Girls is a fast-paced, captivating thriller that will keep the reader on the edge of his seat until the EXTREMELY SURPRISING ending that no one could see coming.Don't miss this one!



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Review of St. Patrick's Day Murder (Lucy Stone Mysteries, No. 14) (Hardcover)

This installment in the Lucy Stone series is the best one yet. It is obvious the author did a lot of research on the Celts and Irish culture. Set around the St. Patrick's Day holiday, the author gives us that inside look into modern family life and issues that we all face daily.The book hold your interest while Lucy solves yet another murder. Lucy seems more together and polished in this book. She pays attention to detail and sees things the police do not see. This not only helps her solve the murder but helps her save a life. I am already looking forward to the next novel by Leslie Meier. Well done!



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Review of Drama City (Hardcover)

It's hard not to like a character who loves animals, even mean animals - the mad ones, the dirty, the underfed, the sick, vermin infested animals too, some trained to kill. Dogs, cats, parakeets, etc., they're Lorenzo Brown's thing. He's an officer for the Humane Society Law Enforcement team in Washington, D.C., and likes his job, a lot. Lorenzo figures if something is off with an animal, it's a human's fault, and is ready to paper offenders and serve search and/or arrest warrants if necessary. He saved his own dog, Jasmine, the night before her scheduled euthanization. She is the first pet he has every owned.

Brown is an ex-con, out on parole after 8 years in prison for a drug charge. He is determined to stay straight. Each morning, when he walks Jasmine, he passes the home of Nigel Johnson's mother. Occasionally, he will see Nigel there, along with a couple of young men wearing thick platinum chains. The troops lean against their rides - BMW coupes and sedans, a black Escalade, "tricked with spinners in the mix." The black GS430 with "dual pipes and aftermarket rims" belongs to Nigel, now a powerful drug kingpin, who is usually busy directing business, talking on his Nextel. Lorenzo and Nigel, both smart and ambitious as kids, had run the streets together, going back almost twenty-five years. Brown had done the righteous thing by his friend. He stayed silent when he was pressured to give Nigel up. Brown chose to serve his time instead. Now he has had enough of the life. His old friends don't quite get it, however.

Rachel Lopez also loves her work. She is Lorenzo's parole officer and one of the finest. She comes on tough initially and lays down the rules, but she wants all her people to make it. She has invested much of herself in their ultimate success. Rachel knows Lorenzo has committed crimes not included in his jacket. To have advanced in the game as far as he had, he probably did some violence, maybe even killed. She also knows that now, in the present, Lorenzo is not a bad man. But Ms. Lopez has problems of her own. Her own life is spinning out of control, and her late nights are taking their toll.

Officer Brown needs Officer Lopez' support right now. He needs all the help he can get. A stupid mistake concerning turf boundaries has triggered enmity between local gangs. A psychopathic youth is on the streets, looking for a way to escalate the problem; waiting for the slightest opportunity to kill. A war is about to go down and our man could very well be sucked into it.

I have long been a George Pelecanos fan. Over the years, I have read all his books, and to tell the truth, he has only written novels that I love, and others that I like a lot. This one is special though. I was deeply moved by the character of Lorenzo Brown, a really decent man trying to straighten out his life. The author lets us in on his thought processes. Mr. Brown is far from perfect. He carries within himself a strong streak of humanity though, which is his saving grace. Then there is Rachel Lopez, whom I also grew to care about. She is battling, against the odds, to keep her head above water. They both are having a real hard time in this world, yet always look to give someone else a hand up.

No one captures the mean streets of the neighborhood like Pelecanos. His gritty prose, street-smart dialogue, fast-paced narrative and wonderful character development are what make his books bestsellers - literate ones! Highly recommended!
JANA



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Review of An Affair of Honor (Hardcover)

Thepageturner's review (below) inspired me to get this book, and Marius's hypnotic writing kept me reading it, almost non-stop. This is a huge, panoramic novel of 1950's Tennessee, set in Bourbonville, also the setting for After the War, and involving later generations of some of the same families. Hope Kirby's killing of his wife and her lover start the spiralling action in this thoughtful, but exciting, novel and provide the forum for the author's extended study of the different ways we define justice and seek retribution.

Charles Alexander, a college student and newspaper reporter who accidentally witnesses the double murder, escapes being executed by Kirby only because he promises not to tell what he's seen.Charles, however, eventually becomes overwhelmed with guilt and confesses to the sheriff that he was a witness.While this action might seem on the surface to be clearly a correct action, it is not so simple in Bourbonville, where many believe the "code of the hills" is inviolate and Charles's breaking of his word of honor to be a serious betrayal.Even the clergy get in on the action, some advocating that he retract his statement, and Charles finds himself with few friends and even fewer supporters.

Plenty of drama, and even melodrama, keep the reader going, and the pages fly by, as we become totally caught up in the plot and in the lives of the characters, all of whom face demons of some sort.Marius is a master of keeping mysteries alive and making us understand and care for these characters, even those we dislike or consider misguided, because he makes us share their experiences, often through flashbacks. The complexities of religious faith, which we see as Charles and many other characters battle their doubts, are brought into sharp focus as we also share the traumas many characters have experienced during World War II, traumas still affecting both their earthly and spiritual lives.Marius takes on the big questions and provides a fascinating novel in which love and justice sometimes seem ineffable goals in a society which often honors tradition and shared community values far more than humanity and individual worth.Mary Whipple



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Review of Modern Ranch Living: A Novel (Hardcover)

Poirier's latest book returns to the Tuscon setting of his excellent previous novel, Goats, to meander through a long, hot summer in the lives of two somewhat strange neighbors in a suburban gated community. Kendra Lumm is a fitness-obsessed teenager, spending hours every day running, swimming, weightlifting, and eating right. Aside from her body, her main concerns are her genius/nerd older brother, her anger management therapy sessions, her strange (and hilarious) verbal syntax, and the mysterious disappearance of the boy down the street who kinda-sorta-not really used to be her boyfriend. Also down the street lives Merv Hunter, a 30 year old water park manager who shares his insomniac mother's home. He's the only one of his prep school friends who never went on to college, and although he's very good at his job and likes it, feels the stigma of never having left home and gone on to bigger and better things.

Over the course of the summer, both will meet new people, learn things about themselves, and ultimately grow and mature. There's not much of a plot, per se, rather the book drifts along like the summer, as the reader gets drawn into Kendra and Merv's routine. Hovering the background, and occasionally stepping forward, is the plotline revolving around the the missing boy. A renown huffer of magic markers, he'd last been seen hanging out with some seedy, BMX-riding tweakers (methamphetamine addicts) who also happen to hang out around Merv's water park. However, for the most part, the book just meanders through the summer. Kendra grudgingly goes to her therapy sessions, attends a summer class where she makes a good friend, ponders her brother's sexual orientation, and heaps scorn upon his loser girlfriend. Merv attends to the daily routine at the park (including helping out a rich wheelchair-bound patron who has a debilitating muscular disease), and worries about his mother. A trip up to Phoenix to hang out with his old high school buddies (now pudgy cubicle-bound ex-dot commers) leads to a woman entering his life, and the possibility of a new relationship.

There a great deal to enjoy here, from little details about Kendra (for example, like other fitness compulsives, her first evaluation of a person is based of muscle definition and tone), to the way the desert heat comes alive. Characters are constantly in and out of pools, flipping air-conditioning on, and always in search of something to drink. The supporting cast is universally vivid, from the water park's ex-jock security squad, to Kendra's ex-punk parents turned vintage toy seller and golf pro. Interestingly, virtually every adult in the book has some kind of character flaw or problem, and there's a distinctly satirical aspect to anyone who has lots of book learning (examples include a poetry professor, and Harvard Business School grad, and Kendra's therapist). It's all part of Poirier has a skeptical take on traditional authority figures as well as the utility of dominant mass cultural trends and mores. The book's humor is a little hard to convey properly, one hesitates to use the word "quirky", because that implies a shallowness that the book is far beyond. Yes, there are some over-the-top strange events in the book, and yes, the protagonists are a little strange--but mostly Poirier's people are very human, and the way they act and react to the world around them is very real. Another strong work from one of the most talented young writers around.



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Review of The Prisoner of Guantanamo (Hardcover)

Baltimore Sun Reporter Dan Fesperman is not only a terrific newsman but a first-rate novelist as well (The Small Boat of Great Sorrows, The Warlord's Son).His stories are as current as this morning's news and while sometimes troubling also thoroughly entertaining.

Our setting is the Guantanamo base or Gitmo,the military originated slang name for this outpost. Gitmo,, as the world knows, is where suspected terrorists are incarcerated and interrogated.Life here doesn't amount to much as the suicide rate makes clear."There had been five attempts inside the wire in the last two weeks, none successful and more than thirty since the prisoners first arrived."

Revere Falk is a former FBI agent now an interrogator at Gitmo.He qualified for this posting because of his fluency in Arabic, and his desire to keep some secrets in his past.For company he has found a career military woman who shares his assignment.

Routine changes when the body of an American soldier, a reservist who was assigned to Guantanamo, is found on a Cuban beach.It's not long into Falk'sinvestigation of this death before he realizes that what he had hoped to keep secret may be revealed.

There a lot of action, much political maneuvering, and a wrenching picture of what can happen during the war on terror to be found in The Prisoner of Guantanamo plus, in this case, a riveting reading delivered by actor David Colacci.

Highly recommended.

- Gail Cooke



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Review of Dangerous to Know (Hardcover)

First Sentence:It was a good day for a funeral.

DS Moira Baker took a tip from her ex-husband, acted on it and was embarrassed when it turned out to be nothing.Colin Granger, Moira's ex, is a classic underachiever, but he did love Moira.To correct the wrong he had done, he gave her a new lead.Charlie Radcliffe is the owner of gambling clubs and a big fish to the police in Hillford.Colin discovered Radcliffe kept two sets of books on his computers.

When Moira start to investigate, she is murdered and Colin realizes the trail of Moira's suspicion leads back to him.Colin has no one to whom he can turn except DI John Moore, Moira's new love and the man with whom Colin brawled at Moira's funeral.

Jane Adams is one of those many under-read, under-recognized authors I've been lucky enough to discover.Her books are usually more psychological suspense, but this was one very good police procedural.Adams creates a wonderful cast of characters.

The way she links the characters together is clever, but not contrived.They are very realistic and not over-the-top.I like the way the characters grow and change as the story progresses.

There is very good suspense that builds and kept me turning the pages.I particularly liked that when people get hurt; they hurt and don't just bounce back to continue.

The final ending is a big ambiguous but not damaging to the story at all.Overall, it was a very good, one-day read that I would recommend.




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Review of The Legacy of Fischer Black (Hardcover)

This book is an elucidation of the applied science of financial economics, as told through a dozen chapters contributed by many of the preeminent researchers in the field.While none of the material draws directly from Fischer Black's own work, the spirit of the research is what drove Lehmann to select these particular examples.Most of the twelve chapters in this volume derive from talks given at the 1996 Berkeley conference on finance in honor of Fischer Black.In addition to these historic presentations, Lehmann added his own comprehensive summary of the work of Fischer Black, from the Sharpe-Treynor CAPM applied to Black's relatively overlooked wheat economy model, to Black's zero-beta CAPM, to Black's empirical investigations and collaborations, to the Black-Scholes-Merton options pricing model, to his work on international asset pricing and asset allocation, as well as Black's rigorous treatment of business cycles and macroeconomics.Also fortuitously added is a contribution on "Crisis and Risk Management" by one of Black's most famous collaborators, Myron Scholes, who provides an excellent review of this critical subject from the unique perspective ofa Nobel Laureate with first-hand experience in managing the Long Term Capital Management liquidity crisis.Also added is a beautiful review of the contributions of Black, Merton and Scholes to economics by the 2003 Financial Engineer of the Year as voted by the IAFE, Darrell Duffie.

Stewart Myers, who in 1976 published Black's "Dividend Puzzle" paper, as well as Black's astounding reinterpretation of Jack Treynor's1962-1963 MIT presentations of CAPM, in his wonderful text "Modern Developments in Financial Management", reviews Black's many contributions to corporate finance, including real options and accounting issues.

Bob Litterman provides a treatment of risk budgeting as currently practiced at Goldman Sachs, many of the approaches having been pioneered when Black was a partner there.This chapter reminded me of my days as a young analyst in Goldman's Asset Management division, when the following story circulated amongst the troops: At one presentation on risk management to some brokers, someone in the audience asked Black, who was the presenter, "If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?" To which Black calmly reflected for a moment and then replied, "If you're so rich, why aren't you smart?"

Although there is no substantial difference between the models in Black-Litterman (1991) and Black's earlier collaboration with Jack Treynor in their 1973 paper, "How to Use Security Analysis to Improve Portfolio Selection",Lehmann's compilation treats theearlier paper for the first time in Steve Ross' excellent chapter on noisy rational expectations.This chapter provides a theoretical explanation for the existence of intermediation in capital markets, such as mutual funds, which accommodates an unstable equilibrium.

Mark Rubinstein and Jens Jackwerth's chapter on imputing risk-neutral probabilities from options prices, asset prices and the risk-free rate takes a general equilibrium approach much similar to the approach favored by Black.Scott Richard adds a negatively-correlated factor to the one-factor model of Black-Karasinski in order to better price term structure derivatives.Douglas Breeden examines the empirical negative convexity (why don't they simply refer to it as "concavity"?) in the mortgage market.Huang and Stoll examine the returns of liquidity providers on the NYSE and find thatliquidity providers such as specialists and dealers profit at the expense of public limit orders.

Brennan, Chordia and Subrahmanyam analyze 13 years of data, use individual securities in order to avoid the problems associated with forming artificial portfolios, and, using APT-style factors, find that after adjusting for risk, mean asset returns are significantly related to certain firm characteristics: size, analyst following, membership in the S&P 500 index, 12 month lagged returns, and the bid-ask spread (negative!).Lehmann provides a discussion of the Brennan et al paper in Chapter 8, discussing the problematic nature of their task, suggesting potential methodological improvements to their procedure and discussing the portfolio formation issue as well as the data-mining aspect of the specification searches.

While a title like "The Legacy of Fischer Black" might whet potential readers' appetites for a volume reprinting Black's own work, Lehmann has done a masterful job of both describing Black's own work and assembling a current group of research that is similar in spirit to the type of work in which Black was interested and engaged.This volume, paired perhaps with Perry Mehrling's "Fischer Black and the Revolutionary Idea of Finance" will provide the reader with a relatively comprehensive overview of the incredible work in economics performed by Fischer Black and his successors.





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Review of Rabbit Is Rich (Hardcover)

Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, John Updike's monumental "everyman" creation has reached middle age, and we find him ten years after the previous book comfortably ensconced in his mother-in-law's home, running Springer Motors for her and Janice, and actually in love with his wife at last.The Angstroms have achieved the American dream and are even the center of their own little clique at a country club established for the nouveau riche.

If you remember the Carter era, gas shortages, Cheryl Ladd replacing Farrah Fawcett in "Charlie's Angels" and Toyota's "Oh, what a feeling!" commercials, you will love this look back at America in 1979 and into the early 80's.

A fatter, richer Rabbit dabbles in gold and silver, plays golf, and wages war with his son Nelson, now a student at Kent State.When Nelson drops out of college and returns home, Rabbit says, "I like having Nelson in the house.It's great to have an enemy.Sharpens your senses."Nelson is the worst of Rabbit, scared and running, torn between two women, impregnating and marrying one while too young to handle the responsibility, and taking off.

Rabbit, though outwardly-satisfied and enjoying his affluent life, has never ceased mourning for what he cannot have. A young girl who enters his Toyota dealership reminds him so much of himself and Ruth, his lover from RABBIT, RUN, that he is convinced she is the daughter he never knew and is restless until he can confront Ruth about her.Janice, on the other hand, has matured into a suburban wife, playing tennis and lolling about the country club pool and in general convincing Rabbit to admit that the decade past has taught her more than it has taught him.

The secondary characters in this installment are brilliant.We see Charlie Stavros progressing into old age and running off to Florida with a young girl, but it is the Angstroms country club friends who provide the most decadent insight into the times as a group trip to the Caribbean becomes an adventure in wife-swapping and brings Rabbit nearer his dream of possessing the wife of his good buddy.

Rabbit himself neatly sums up his existence when he says "At my age if you carried all the misery you've seen on your back you'd never get up in the morning."But get up he does, to strut another day at Springer Motors, to chase one more woman, to fight one more battle with Nelson, and in the final page to possess his heart's desire----but I'll leave that up you, good reader, to discover on your own what that desire is.




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Review of To the Nines (A Stephanie Plum Novel) (Hardcover)

Stephanie Plum is one of my heroes. She has such a cute way about her; loves her job, doesn't really care how she looks most of the time, has a personality and looks that attract the men, and is not wonder woman!Janet Evanovich, author of "To the Nines" has created characters that have me laughing and chuckling to myself. They are so real that I can see them in my mind. I have an image of Lula, the big size ex-ho, turned bonds-woman; Ranger, the ex-Special Forces turned bond enforcement; grandma, the woman who likes wigs and is as crazy as Stephanie-wonder whom Stephanie takes after; and Morelli, the cop, Stephanie's lover.Janet Evanovich has such a wonderful imagination- I want to meet that woman.

Stephanie is in trouble again. She is working with Ranger to find Samuel Singh, a missing computer nerd who is out on bail. Vinnie, Stephanie's boss will lose money if Mr. Singh is not found. Stephanie does all the right things, she looks in all the right places, asks all the right questions, and of course, she is a marked woman. Trouble seems to find her, she is left flowers with a devious message, shot at with a dart, email messages of a dark nature left on her computer.This mystery takes her to Las Vegas and has one of the funniest scenes with Lula I have read.Lula may just be taking some of the best scenes from Stephanie- Stephanie should talk to the author about what is going on:-)
Stephanie's family seems to take front page in this mystery. Her sister Valerie, is pregnant, large as a house and eating as much as she can. He boyfriend wants to marry her, but she isn't quite ready, and Valerie's two children are all living with Stephanie's mom and dad.No one is happy about this, and the house is getting too small, especially since Grand mom lives there also.What a mess.

This novel is one of the better ones. Many readers of Janet Evanovich, complain that her books tend to follow the same format-well, they do, but each one is different and so enjoyable. Ms. Evanovich lives near my hometown- I have to meet this woman who has brought me so much enjoyment, A mystery novel that brings humor to the forefront- what more could one ask? prisrob






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Review of At End of Day (Higgins, George V.) (Hardcover)

The books of George V. Higgins are, I suspect, an acquired taste. They areconsidered by many readers to be too difficult because there is no straightforward narration and because so much of the books are made up of dialogue- or more often, long monologues. The plot emerges slowly from what thecharacters say. A reader who is in a hurry to be engaged in the story islikely to be disappointed. But for those who have grown to love Higgins'sear for vernacular and the peculiarities of ordinary speech, all of hisbooks are treasures that can be savored slowly for the richness of thelanguage alone.

At End of Day is the story of an unholy alliance betweentwo members of the Boston mob and a select group of FBI agents whosecareers have been made successful through information these mobsters haveprovided about their Mafia counterparts. The FBI, in turn, has protectedthese men from prosecution which has allowed them to even commit murderwith impunity (though this is "against the rules"). This tale isall the more interesting because it is based on a true story.

It is ashame that this is the last Higgins book we will have. He died as it wasgoing to press. On the positive side, he wrote so many books during hiscareer that fans of his style should have no trouble finding something tosatisfy that acquired taste.



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