The Ricochet Reviewer: Books, Movies, and Comics

by Robert Silverberg Political prisoners are sentenced to exile in a Paleozoic  gulag hundreds of millions of years in the past, before the appearance of the first land-dwelling lifeforms.   The story alternates between the exiles in the past, aging and battling mental illness brought on by their isolation, and the activities that resulted in their sentences.   The primary character, Jim Barrett, struggles to maintain his deteriorating community while investigating the puzzle of a new prisoner who is unlike any of the others.   The end is a bit unsatisfying--merely a conversation that wraps up the various plot points. "Hawksbill Station" (Spanish) "Prisoners of Time" (Swedish) "Anvil of Time" (Russian) "Exiles for Eternity" (German) "The Cambrian Deportees" (French)

Director/Writer: Hirokazu Kore-eda Stars: Arata Iura, Erika Oda, Susumu Terajima, Takashi Naito, Kyoko Kagawa, Kei Tani, Taketoshi Naito The recently deceased are transported to a way station  en route to the afterlife, at which they are required to select a single memory in which they will exist for eternity.   This is a terrific, thought-provoking concept that is very well executed.  Director Hirokazu Kore-eda downplays the metaphysical angle by placing his characters in a very pragmatic, down-to-earth environment--an old building, harried case workers on a tight schedule, and a noticeable and commendable lack of ethereal visual or sound effects.   We are treated to many interesting interviews with clients who are trying to select a memory.   Some of these interviews are genuine and unscripted, conducted with non-actors.  The most touching moments come as we get to know the case workers better and learn about their inner lives and the reasons that th...

by David Weber In her first command, Honor Harrington is sent to  patrol a quiet post on a dead end assignment, where she must overcome low morale among her crew and an invasion from a neighboring star system.  This book suffers from way too much exposition.   If you don't mind wallowing in the details of David Weber’s well thought out universe, then you won't have any trouble getting into this story, but I was frequently bored.   David Weber On the other hand, once Weber has laid enough of a foundation, things really start moving and all that accumulated detail really pays off in the climactic space battle.   "At a Losing Proposition" (German) Let me just end with a plug for Scott Geir’s under appreciated four-volume Genellan series.   "Basilisk Mission" (French) He does a much better job of integrating action and exposition while providing a compelling portrait of military camaraderie. "Basilisk Station" (Polish) "At Basilisk Station" (...

by Harry Patterson (AKA Jack Higgins) Nick Miller, a detective working the graveyard shift, looks into the matter of a newly released ex-con with a fearsome reputation who may be out to settle some old scores, only to learn over the course of an eventful night that both honor and sin often exist where they are least expected.  I grew up seeing Jack Higgins books on my dad's bookshelf but I never read any.   I gather that this book was written before his golden period in the 70s when Patterson began turning out bestsellers under the Higgins pseudonym.   Harry Patterson This is an efficient thriller with a strong plot that manages to illuminate a lot of character through action.   Unfortunately, the main character remains something of a cypher, though an intriguing one—a bit of a dandy, pretty well off but dedicated to police work, with a real streak of brutality.   My favorite character was the American expatriate drug addict who makes ends meet by playing piano;...

by Arthur Conan Doyle An expedition explores a remote plateau in the Amazon  jungle where dinosaurs and primitive apemen survive in a prehistoric ecosystem.   Arthur Conan Doyle created another memorable character in Professor Challenger, a pugnacious, iconoclastic scientist whose volcanic temper and passionate attachment to his theories makes him very different from Doyle’s most famous character, Sherlock Holmes.   Arthur Conan Doyle Doyle also shows himself to be as adept at writing lost-world adventure stories as tales of scientific detection.   This story presents lots of thrills and some effective humor along the way. "The Lost World" (Finnish) "Lost Country" (Georgian) "Lost World" (Russian) "The Adventures of Professor Challenger" (Romanian) "The Missing World" (Danish) "The Forgotten World" (German) "The Lost World" (French) "The Vanished World" (Serbian) "The Lost World" (Slovenian) ...