Because time isn’t always kind: economic reviews in a world full of waste!
Nope, Mel Odom’s NCIS: PAID IN BLOOD is not based upon Mark Harmon’s hit CBS series, though it may as well be. I don’t mean that as a knock against this military thriller, either. As its BOOK ONE subtitle has it, this NCIS is meant to be a series as well, and it reads like episodic television: quick chapters that alternate between gunplay, forensic investigations and pesky personal matters interfering with the good guys’ dedication to the job. NCIS – the Navy’s law enforcement unit – has its hands full when one of their own is killed while on assignment; sniffing their noses leads officer Will Coburn and crew to jaunts to Syria and Korea away from their N.C. home base, all the while dealing with affairs of the heart and family. Don’t get too attached to the characters; Odom plays for keeps.
In 1972, with the U.S. and the USSR still bitter enemies, a lot was at stake when American Bobby Fischer took on Russian champion Boris Spassky in Iceland for the world chess title. BOBBY FISCHER GOES TO WAR: HOW A LONE AMERICAN STAR DEFEATED THE SOVIET CHESS MACHINE, David Edmonds and John Eidinow’s account of that event, is an intriguing book, even though we already know the outcome. In fact, much of the drama lies not in the chess games, but the outlandish behavior beforehand, mostly on the part of the infantile Fischer. Though both men acted like babies, Fischer in particular was a paradox — a chess genius with zero social graces. To his many tantrums, add Spassky’s claims that his poor performance was due to mind-control devices and poisoned orange juice, and you’ve got a history lesson that goes down with ease. The post-match political fallout summary is a bit much, but everything before it is fairly compelling.
As suspenseful as any fictional mystery, Tom Standage’s THE TURK: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE FAMOUS EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY CHESS-PLAYING MACHINE tells the true-life story of the enigmatic automaton that shocked the world with its inexplicable chess-playing abilities. Exactly how could something made with gears think and reason? You may think you know the answer, but it’s far more complex than first thought – and I was in such anticipation, I read the whole book in one sitting. The automaton’s incredible story includes a cast of historical figures from Napoleon to Edgar Allan Poe, and has a hand in the creation of the telephone and the detective story, among others. This is the kind of history you wish they would teach in school – never boring, totally fascinating.
In one of two new Marvel Comics collections making the lord of the vampires their bitch, X-MEN: APOCALYPSE VS. DRACULA pits the shape-shifting villain Apocalypse against a bitter old foe, namely Vlad the Impaler, dating back to the 15th century. Now in 19th-century London, the two go head-to-head with a little help from their friends (but, despite the title – for branding only – don’t expect any cameos from Wolverine or the like). This is a horror story, filled with action and gore; a recent four-issue series done very well, written with dark humor by Frank Tieri, but Clayton Henry’s characters sometimes are drawn with heads too small for their puffed-chest bodies.
And the other is DR. STRANGE VS. DRACULA: THE MONTESI FORMULA. If you’ve read ESSENTIAL TOMB OF DRACULA: VOL. 2, you’ve already read two of the seven issues that comprise this collection. But any TOMB is good TOMB, being ’70s Marvel goodness. The rest of the book comes from STRANGE’s early ’80s run as vampire detective Hannibal King recruits him to look into someone’s disappearance, which may or may not involve Dracula. Guess which one. The Scarlet Witch and Blade throw their hats into the ring as well. STRANGE has a tendency to be wordy and his anything-goes universe yields no real threat, but it’s still a kick to see these two go at it. –Rod Lott
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