Recent Books — High-Rise, Travelers, Song Machine, The Whites, Electric Barracuda

  • High-Rise by J. G. Ballard. ebThe community in a modern high-rise starts to fall apart in “Lord of the Flies” fashion…actually “Lord of the Flies” seems pretty tame after this.
  • The Travelers by Chris Pavone. A travel writer is coopted and stumbles into a job as a spy, and slowly learns that nothing is as it seems in his life. Fun.
  • The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory by John Seabrook. No surprise here, pop music is largely a manufactured product.
  • The Whites by Richard Price. Couldn’t finish. Supposedly a gritty police drama but kind of dull.
  • Electric Barracuda by Tim Dorsey. I generally don’t like farce, but there is something endearing about this character — a wise-cracking serial killer with a heart of gold.