Cats, Mice, More
Ken Follett, 70, has had a phenomenal literary run. He has had more than 40 books published. 160 million copies have sold worldwide. Several of his novels have reached #1 on the NY Times Best Seller list. IMDb lists eleven titles under his name, adapted to the big and small screen. Born in Wales, his family moved to London when he was young. After college, he worked as a reporter, as so many authors have. He soon went to work for a publishing company and had several works published that did not make a large impact. 1978’s Eye of the Needle changed everything, vaulting his career into the stratosphere, garnering him the prestigious Edgar Award. A year later Triple was published. A copy came my way via a donation to the floating book shop. It was inspired by a newspaper item that suggested Israel hijacked a ship whose cargo was plutonium. In the narrative, when Mossad learns that Egypt is close to getting an A-Bomb, they dispatch its best agent to steal material that will allow the country to build its own nuclear device, which it hopes will act as a deterrent. Egyptian agents team with the KGB to try to stop the theft. A cat and mouse game ensues. All the moves seem plausible, grounded — until the two shootouts in the final chapters. They are more like what is seen in modern cinema. Of course, having never participated in such events, who am I to say how they actually go down? The prose and dialogue are solid, although there are a few puzzling instances to this Yank, which may be attributed to the difference between the English of the UK and the U.S.. The 307 pages of the hard cover edition glide by, as the storytelling is first rate. 600+ users at Amazon have rated Triple, forging to a consensus of 4.2 on a scale of five. I’ll go with 3.5. Surprisingly, it has not been made into a movie.
Here’s a snippet from an article at foxnews.com: “City employees in San Francisco are now forbidden to take work trips or do business with companies in 22 states that have restrictive abortion laws.” I wonder if the 22 put the same employee restrictions on visiting states with unlimited abortion.
Also from FN: Clemson CB Andrew Booth Jr. threw a punch at a Louisville player during the Tigers 45–10 win vs. the Cardinals on Saturday. He was ejected. As punishment, Coach Dabo Swinney made him ride the 438-mile trip back to campus via the equipment bus, while his teammates and the coaching staff flew home. Kudos, Coach.
Here’s the most amusing headline of the day, also from FN: “Dennis Quaid, 65, engaged to 26-year-old PhD student.” Now what would make the perfect wedding gift? It starts with a V.
Bad news for environmental paranoiacs, also from FN: “Unusual weather patterns in the upper atmosphere over Antarctica have caused a drastic reduction in ozone depletion, leaving the ozone with the smallest hole seen since its discovery in 1982, according to NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.”
The lack of parking at my usual nook sent the floating book shop to an alternate site. Things looked bleak for a while, then Bad New Billy showed and bailed me out as he has so many times through the years, this time despite a looming costly car repair bill. He bought ten CDs of Russian music for staff at Coney Island Hospital, where he recently spent some time. My thanks, and also to the woman who selected a book in Russian, and to the lovely young Chase employee who purchased Four Past Midnight by Stephen King, a massive short story compilation.
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