Z/Web

Author: Iris Johansen

I have no idea what the title means. The book’s about a female research scientist in Oklahoma who’s developed a process that a world famous needs to perfect his new “RU2” drug that cures cancer. But powerful drug companies don’t want RU2 to hit the market, so they hire an assassin to kill the scientist. When his lab is blown up he’s presumed dead, and then the assassin goes after the woman and her son. So the top scientist — who’s not dead — shows up at the woman’s place and helps her and her son escape into hiding, where they can perfect the drug. It’s all rather forced and far-fetched, with Johansen really stretching for material. But she does paint interesting characters, though they’re ones we’ve seen before from her. A decent read, if you just enjoy it for recreation and don’t try to use logic or common sense regarding the plot. Not as profound as her better work.

Director: Clint Eastwood

Intense film about perception, violence, love, friendship, and fate. The plot’s simple: a group of childhood friends are now older, married, and have lives, but still live in the same New Jersey neighborhood. One’s life has been forever scarred by an incident of child abuse. Another fell into crime but managed to get out of it… or did he? The other became a cop. The three are brought back together when the daughter of the former thief is found murdered, and the sex victim is the prime suspect. As tensions and suspicions mount, we’re not sure who wears the white hat and who wears the black hat. This ambiguousness is at the heart of the film as it forces the viewer to think about the nature of violence, justice, and fate. The ending is disturbing and left agonizingly unresolved, exactly like violence in real life (which isn’t neatly wrapped up like cinema violence). Excellent film, but slow-paced, and unlike the awesome