Book News
Author turning to comic books.
Janet Evanovich, the best-selling author behind the series of books about the New Jersey-based bounty hunter Stephanie Plum, is entering the world of comic books. She, along with her daughter, Alex, will be working on a graphic novel for Dark Horse Comics, based on the author’s “Metro Girl” and “Motor Mouth” books about a race-car driver named Sam Hooker and a NASCAR mechanic named Alexandra Barnaby.
“We’re comic book fans; we’re huge NASCAR fans,” Evanovich said in a telephone interview. “It allows me to feed my NASCAR addiction and comic book addiction all at the same time.” The book is expected to come out next year.
Another writer who made the jump from novels to comics, Brad Meltzer, will move into nonfiction with “Heroes for My Son,” a collection of stories about the Wright Brothers, puppeteer Jim Henson and others.
The book, to be published by HarperStudi, is scheduled for release in June 2010, in time for Father’s Day.
artsbeat.nytimes.com
FirstLines
Gone Tomorrow, by Lee Child
Suicide bombers are easy to spot. They give out all kinds of telltale signs. Mostly because they are nervous. By definition they’re all first-timers.
Israeli counterintelligence wrote the definitive playbook. They told us what to look for. They used pragmatic observation and psychological insight and came up with a list of behavioral indicators. I learned the list from an Israeli army captain 20 years ago. He swore by it. Therefore, I swore by it too, because at the time I was on three weeks’ detached duty mostly about a yard from his shoulder, in Israel itself, in Jerusalem, on the West Bank, in Lebanon, sometimes in Syria, sometimes in Jordan, on buses, in stores, on crowded sidewalks. I kept my eyes moving and my mind running free down the bullet points.
Twenty years later I still know the list. And my eyes still move. Pure habit. From another bunch of guys I learned another mantra: Look, don’t see, listen, don’t hear. The more you engage, the longer you survive.
The list is 12 points long if you’re looking at a male suspect. Eleven, if you’re looking at a woman. The difference is a fresh shave. Male bombers take off their beards. It helps them blend in. Makes them less suspicious. The result is paler skin on the lower half of the face. No recent exposure to the sun.
But I wasn’t interested in shaves.
I was working on the 11-point list.
I was looking at a woman.
Children’s books
best sellers
1. Fancy Nancy: Explorer Extraordinaire, by Jane O’Connor, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser
2. Listen to the Wind, by Greg Mortenson and Susan L. Roth, illustrated by Roth
3. Gallop!, by Rufus Butler Seder
4. Llama Llama Misses Mama, by Anna Dewdney
5. Swing!, by Rufus Butler Seder
6. The House in the Night, by Susan Marie Swanson, illustrated by Beth Krommes
7. The Curious Garden, by Peter Brown
8. Duck! Rabbit!, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld
9. Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy, by David Soman and Judy Davis, illustrated by Soman
10. Cat, by Matthew Van Fleet, photographs by Brian Stanton
Publishers Weekly
