West on 66 -- James H. Cobb

When I saw the title of this novel on James Reasoner's blog, I knew I'd read it. It was inevitable, for reasons that will become clear tomorrow.

Thanks to James, I don't need to review the book. You can just read what he has to say, most of which I agree with. I do have a couple of things to add, though.

One is that while I agree with James that the book has all the ingredients of a Gold Medal novel and that it's a a very nice modern analogue to one of those books, it's just too long. Maybe there could have been one less car chase, though I have to admit that all the car chases are good ones.

Another thing is, what's that '56 Buick doing on the cover? There are two cars that play major roles in the book, but they're a '57 Chevy and a Chrysler 300. Not a Buick in sight. The '57 Chevy, by the way, is very well done and becomes almost a character in its own right.

All in all, a lot of fun, and I'm glad James pointed it out.