BREAD UPON THE WATERS by Irwin Shaw

 This is one of my ancient paperbacks that I finished on We 6/2/93. There was no comment on how I felt about the novel, but this time I really enjoyed it.

A few of the ideas are more than a little outdated, but the story was engaging. The treatment of heart attacks was positively mediveal. "Rest, naps, and absolutely No Stress". 

Basically, it's the story of a family that is befriended by a very rich man- Mr Russell Hazen. 

Father- Allen Strand

Wife- Leslie- misunderstood artist

Caroline- beautiful daughter/ Eleanor- competent, married to newspaper editor/ Jimmy- young music producer 

From Kirkus Reviews:

"The basic story is as familiar as TV's The Millionaire, as old as fairy tales about granted wishes: what happens to a reasonably happy, just-getting-by family when a chance encounter opens the doors to all sorts of experience and opportunity? The family is that of Manhattan public-school teacher Allen Strand, 50, who couldn't afford to be a historian and can't afford a vacation but otherwise is fairly content--with lovely wife Leslie (a piano teacher), tart daughter Eleanor (an ambitious businesswoman), guitar-playing son Jimmy. . . and tennis-playing Caroline, who one evening saves rich, powerful Wall St. lawyer Russell Hazen from muggers and brings the injured brahmin home for bandages and dinner. From that night on, lonely Hazen (estranged from his wife and daughters, guilty over the O.D. death of his homosexual son) gratefully adopts the Strands: he gives them concert tickets, invites them to his Long Island seaside manse, arranges for Caroline to get a scholarship to an Arizona college, introduces Jimmy to a music-biz titan, helps Eleanor's boyfriend to realize his dream of running a small-town newspaper. But soon--after Allen has a serious heart-attack while swimming at Hazen's--the benevolence turns sour: a recuperation trip to France is ruined by a nightmarish visit from the abusive Mrs. Hazen; Eleanor suddenly marries, moves to Georgia, and quickly faces real danger; Caroline (now with a beautifying, Hazensponsored nose job) becomes a freshman homewrecker; Jimmy turns into a ruthless showbiz clichÉ; Leslie starts spending time away from Allen in France, developing her artistic talent. ""The family was finished."" And, in the book's weakest subplot, Hazen (himself now falling apart) gets Allen a low-key private school job in Connecticut, also arranging a scholarship there for Allen's Puerto Rican protÉgÉ--an unconvincing genius-in-the-raw type who reads Gibbon but won't give up his violence. Throughout, then, the point is clear: ""opportunity is a two-edged weapon,"" fragmenting a family, bringing secrets to the surface (Allen learns that his family has always protected him from the truth), testing moral character. Unfortunately, however, to make that point, Shaw has filled this novel--his most serious book in years--with inconsistent characterizations and soap-operatic turns. And Strand, who ends up back where he started (but alone), is a fuzzy, if vaguely appealing, protagonist. Still, Shaw remains a genial, seductive storyteller, especially adept with money matters and comfy milieus." 

I enjoyed the book, but it really seemed to be stuck in the 70's and maybe that was the biggest part of it's appeal. 

UNNATURAL HISTORY by Jonathan Kellerman

 Finished Tu 10/14/25

This was a paperback that Janny loaned to me and it features 'Alex Delaware'.

I almost quit this one, but I kept going because it had one interesting idea. A photographer was using the homeless in LA ffor portraits. The first shot would be how they looked now, and the second picture was what they would look like if they were 'the person of their dreams'. Instead of homeless, they could be a doctor, explorer, astronaut, or president. 

Also, there is a subplot about a billionaire who is marrying woman, having one kid, and then divorcing. He would then go on to marry another woman and repeat the process. The reason for this behavior was never addressed. I guess he was 'just like that'.

A silly novel.... 

THE DEVIL'S PUNCHBOWL by Greg Iles

Finished Tu 10/7/25

This is a very large paperback that Janny loaned to me and I really liked it. I just read 'THIRD DEGREE' by Iles and I liked this novel even more.

Set in Natchez, Mississippi and concerns a riverboat gambling operation that is laundering money and is also providing dog fighting and prostitution and this is highly illegal. The crime bosses are part of the Irish IRA and they are bankrolled by a Chinese billionaire.

There are lots of scenes that involve bloody dog fighting. I didn't know that it's even a felony to 'watch' one of these shows. 

From Bookbrowse.com:

 "As a prosecuting attorney in Houston, Penn Cage sent hardened killers to death row. But it is as mayor of his hometown -- Natchez, Mississippi -- that Penn will face his most dangerous threat. Urged by old friends to try to restore this fading jewel of the Old South, Penn has ridden into office on a tide of support for change. But in its quest for new jobs and fresh money, Natchez, like other Mississippi towns, has turned to casino gambling, and now five fantastical steamboats float on the river beside the old slave market at Natchez like props from Gone With the Wind.

But one boat isn't like the others.

Rumor has it that the Magnolia Queen has found a way to pull the big players from Las Vegas to its Mississippi backwater. And with them -- on sleek private jets that slip in and out of town like whispers in the night -- come pro football players, rap stars, and international gamblers, all sharing an unquenchable taste for one thing: blood sport -- and the dark vices that go with it. When a childhood friend of Penn's who brings him evidence of these crimes is brutally murdered, the full weight of Penn's failure to protect his city hits home. So begins his quest to find the men responsible. But it's a hunt he begins alone, for the local authorities have been corrupted by the money and power of his hidden enemy. With his family's lives at stake, Penn realizes his only allies in his one-man war are those bound to him by blood or honor.

Together they must defeat a sophisticated killer who has an almost preternatural ability to anticipate -- and counter -- their every move. Ultimately, victory will depend on a bold stroke that will leave one of Penn's allies dead -- and Natchez changed forever.

After appearing in two of Iles's most popular novels, Penn Cage makes his triumphant return as a brilliant, honorable, and courageous hero. Rich with Southern atmosphere and marked by one jaw-dropping plot turn after another, The Devil's Punchbowl confirms that Greg Iles is America's master of suspense." ken