The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Just the other day, I was out falconing with my good friend and vassal, the 4th Baron of Smyth-Bullard, when he happened to mention my blog.  "You know, Your Grace," said he, "I've been following your electronic journal, and I quite enjoy it.  But I do have a question."  At this point I casually removed my hand from the hilt of my sword, to encourage further candor, and gestured for him to continue.  "Well, it is only that you never seem to dislike any of the books you review - and I for one love to see a bad author savaged in print by a master of vicious sarcasm such as Your Grace." 

"Capital point, Bobo," I replied (for such was his nickname at the Old School), "I shall see to it forthwith!"  And so, without further ado (and a special dedication to my chum Bobo), enjoy the following review of Dan Brown's latest insipid potboiler, The Lost Symbol... 

A Dark Matter by Peter Straub

Peter Straub has been one of my favorite authors for a very long time.  I like the horror genre, within certain limits, but Straub goes beyond mere horror, into the rarely achieved realm of mortal dread, which is so much more effective than a good scare. 

Beyond that, he's a damned good writer in the best literary sense, with a real sense of poetry that manages to convey impressions of the eternal and the sacred, instead of just plot and character.  As such, his novels sometimes be very difficult to review, because their true value is so ethereal.