Best-selling author Mary Higgins Clark, the Queen of Suspense, uses a popular literary genre, the novel of mystery and suspense, to explore contemporary social issues and the reality of evil in the lives of ordinary people. This first critical study of her work reveals the serious intent of a popular writer of popular fiction. It examines common themes--the consequences of crime on innocent victims, how crime forces its victims to confront their deepest psychological fears and the terror of the past--and explores Clark's treatment of current social issues from capital punishment to child...

Until now, Michael Crichton's many readers have had nowhere to turn for more information on one of America's most popular novelists. This companion features clear analyses of Crichton's life and literary influences, as well as chapters on each of his 13 novels to date. It will help Crichton's readers to learn more about how significant events in his life affected the development of his fiction and literary style and how the heritage of popular fiction, including mystery, gothic, adventure, and science fiction, influenced his writing. This study provides close textual analysis of each of...

Ken Follett had the purest of motives when he began writing fiction: he did it for the money. But after DEGREESIEye of the Needle DEGREESR catapulted him to success and secured his reputation as a master of the spy thriller, he both built on that success with other spy thrillers and experimented equally successfully with other genres such as the family saga and the historical romance. This is the first full-length study of his work and it includes individual examinations of each of his major novels, from "Eye of the Needle" (1978) to "A Place Called Freedom" (1995), as well as his early...

Edgar Award-winning writer Tony Hillerman has earned a reputation as a Grand Master of the popular mystery. This is the first full-length examination of his work. One of the most successful contemporary American writers, Hillerman has made his stories of Native American detectives instrumental in understanding modern American life. Through the creation of his Navajo detective characters, Hillerman has given new vigor to the popular genre of mystery fiction with his treatment of the problems of order and identity in modern society. This study examines each of his 13 novels in turn and...

One of the most prolific and popular contemporary novelists, Stephen King has a devoted following of captivated readers. This is the first critical work on King to examine his most recent novels, Dolores Claiborne, Insomnia, and Rose Madder, and to analyze the many threads of his fiction in a way that is accessible to young adults and general readers. It is designed to help the reader understand the carefully organized narrative structure of his novels, the relation of his fiction to the horror and science fiction genres and to each other, character development, and...

This study examines James Herriot's five major books as carefully crafted volumes of autobiography based on the building block of the short story. In each of these works Herriot explores the fundamental choice of values underlying a happy and successful life. In his vision the bonds of affection and mutual dependence between all creatures, human and animal, form an enduring theme that lies at the heart of the choices he makes in his personal and professional life. This study will help the reader to understand the relationship between Herriot's stories and each book as a whole and to...

Howard Fast, one of the most prolific American writers of the 20th century, has enjoyed wide popularity for his writing and suffered from great notoriety for his politics, but has never been given full credit for his contribution to the essential tales of American culture, the American Revolution, and immigrant acculturation. Although his novels have sold close to eighty million copies, this is the first book-length critical study of his work. In addition to an overview of his fiction, it offers close, critical readings of his historical novels of the American Revolution, "Citizen Tom...

Until now, popular novelist James Clavell has not been recognized for his literary achievements and his contributions to cross-cultural understanding. This critical study seeks to rectify that omission. It shows how Clavell's depiction of cross-cultural encounters of Westerners with the East paves the way for modern multicultural studies. His novels about culture clash help Western readers see with Eastern eyes by taking them into the minds and culture of the Chinese, Japanese, and Iranians. The study provides close textual analysis of each of his novels in turn and shows how Clavell...

Although best known for "The Thorn Birds," her blockbuster family saga set in her native Australia, Colleen McCullough is a versatile novelist who has written in a variety of genres. This is the first full-length examination of her work. It highlights her versatility and her refusal to be confined to any one genre or type of writing, even though that refusal has lost her part of the wide readership she gained with DEGREESIThe Thorn Birds DEGREESR. DeMarr discusses, analyzes, and evaluates each of McCullough's eight novels in turn, relates it to the genre to which it belongs, and compares...

Tom Clancy is the superstar of techno-thriller writers, not only in sales but in the loyalty of his fans, among whom presidents and vice presidents are numbered. To read a Clancy novel is to begin to know the writer himself and his alter ego, Jack Ryan. This, the first book-length critical study of his work, examines both the work and the man who is reflected in it: his knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes. In Clancy's eight novels, discussed and analyzed in separate chapters, we see both the emerging hero and the changing author.

Garson provides close examination of each of...