Duane Swierczynski has quite an imagination. His books are unusual, and unpredictable. Such was the case with “The Blonde” (2007).

I previously read two of his other books, “The Wheelman” from 2006 and “Severance Package” from 2008.” “The Blonde” would be in the same league as “Severance Package,” both of them dealing an ordinary guy caught up in the machinations of a super-secret government agency which specializes in assassinations. But whereas “Severance Package” takes place in one building during a span of a couple hours, “The Blonde” ranges from Great Britain to Mexico.

The first line is, “I poisoned your drink.” It’s spoken in a Philadelphia airport bar by The Blonde to Jack Eisley, a journalist passing through. Here’s the deal: she has been injected with nanites (tiny robots) which course through her blood. She must stay within 10 feet of someone at all times. If she doesn’t, the nanites will know, and her head will explode. Slipping poison into Jack’s drink, with the promise that he’ll die in 9 hours unless she gives him the antidote, is her way of keeping someone close.

The nanites trace back to a diabolical scientist named The Operator, who is following her. There’s another US agency involved, and they’ve sent a benevolence killer named Kowalski after her. Then Jack gets infected with the nanites, too–they can be transmitted through saliva, and in a weak moment he kissed the Blonde. So now he has to stay within 10 feet of someone at all times, too.

The book takes us on a wild ride through nighttime Philadelphia. As with Swierczynski’s other books, the plot is unpredictable. You just don’t know where things are headed, though it’s obvious a showdown is in the works.

I was surprised when THE END came after 225 pages, and another 50 pages remained. Those 50 pages were filled with a novella called “The Redhead,” which was a sequel to “The Blonde.” Interesting. “The Redhead” was very good.

I’ve become a big fan of Duane Swierczynski. He has a few other books out there, and a new one coming out in March 2011. I need to track these books down.

This was a superb book. I loved it, beginning to end. Read it on my ColorNook.

I recently discovered, or rediscovered, juvenile fiction. “I Am Number Four” (2010) is a sci-fi piece set in contemporary America. The violent Mogadorians invaded and destroyed the world called Lorien, despite the people there who possessed superpowers. Fortunately, a spaceship containing nine children, plus their mentors (called Cepans), escaped. These children would all, in time, develop superpowers, which they could hopefully use to defeat the Mogadorians and reestablish Lorien.

These nine children and their adult Cepans (who lack superpowers) have been hiding on Planet Earth, living without contact with the other pairs, and awaiting the day when their superpowers develop. They already possess unusual speed and strength, but the superpowers will take everything to a whole ‘nother level.

Meanwhile, they are being hunted by the Mogadorians, who want to kill them before their powers emerge. The children are numbered from one to nine, and a Loric enchantment restricts the Mogadorians to killing them in order. The book begins with Three being killed. Then we switch to Florida, where 15-year-old John Smith experiences a third ring burning into his leg, telling him that Three is dead. He and his Cepan, Henri, immediately move to Paradise, Ohio, the latest of numerous moves in their efforts to stay ahead of the Mogadorians.

John enters high school, where he butts heads with football players and falls head over heals for Sarah. His superpowers–called Legacies–also begin appearing (it’s different for all of the kids). But inevitably, the Mogadorians are going to track them down. You know from the start that a confrontation will come. Also, we learn that the Mogadorians, having depleted their own world and now Lorien, have their sights on subduing earth.

The book cover says the author is “Pittacus Lore,” whom we are told “has been on earth for the last 12 years preparing for the war that will decide Earth’s fate.” Since the book is told first-person, my assumption is that “Number Four” and “Pittacus Lore” are the same person. But he’s supposed to be 10,000 years old, and says he’s been trying to unite the Nine. So I’m not totally clear on this.

Back in the real world, the book is a collaboration between James Frey, who came up with the idea for the series, and Jobie Hughes, a 30-year-old guy born in Washington State, raised in Ohio, and now living in New York.

This is the first book in what is being called the Lorien Legacies. A movie is coming out in February 2011, so they’re not wasting any time, since the book was printed in August 2010. I’m not excited about the movie, but I will anxiously await further books in this series. I want to see where it goes.

“The Fabulous Clipjoint” (1947), by Frederic Brown, is a coming-of-age story about Ed Hunter, whose father is murdered in a Chicago alley. Ed, age 18, is living with his stepmom and stepsister. He heads to Wisconsin to see his Uncle Ambrose, who works in a carnival. Ambrose immediately leaves with Ed, determined to find who killed Ed’s father and Ambrose’s brother.

The novel moves along at a nice pace. The interaction between Ed and Ambrose is interesting, as are the tactics Ambrose uses to track down the killer in Chicago’s underworld. You see wise old Ambrose, a very street-savvy sort, mentoring Ed and steering him toward manhood. Along the way, Ed learns much about the father he never truly knew–that he was not the weak, pathetic man he thought he was.

I found this book as a freebie epub somewhere on the internet and read it on my ColorNook. Frederic Brown won the 1947 Edgar Award for “Best First Mystery Novel” with this book, having already published hundreds of stories in pulp magazines.

This was a very good book, and since it was free, I consider it a great find. I understand that there are six more books featuring Ed and Ambrose.

I finished 2010 having read 80 books. That’s the best I’ve done in a couple decades. One of the perks of having surgery is the recovery time–lots of down time which is perfect for reading. I had three surgeries in 2010, and also spent a lot of time in hospitals while my Dad was having quadruple bypass surgery. In that way, I plowed through the books.

Most of them were fiction, and most of the fiction books were mysteries. Here are my ten favorites, in order.

1. The Winter of Frankie Machine (Don Winslow). A former mob hitman, who built a life apart from the mob, gets sucked back in when someone tries to kill him. Lots of little things going on, and every one of them is tied up by the end of the book. Just superb.
2. Pop. 1280 (Jim Thompson). Told first-person by a sociopathic town sheriff. If you like roman noir–and you’ve got to be slightly twisted to like it–you’ll love this book. Thompson’s “The Killer Inside Me” is probably better known, and may be a better book (also about a murderous policeman), but Pop. 1280 was endearingly quirky.
3. The Return of the Dancing Master (Henning Mankell). The first Mankell book I’ve read that wasn’t about detective Kurt Wallander.
4. The Galton Case (Ross MacDonald). Perhaps the best Ross MacDonald book that I’ve read thus far in the Lew Archer series.
5. The Girl Who Played with Fire (Stieg Larsson). Not as good as “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” but still REALLY good. Lisbeth Salander, one of the most interesting female characters in any book, was the focus this time.
6. Judas Horse (April Smith). I read two April Smith books back-to-back. Both were excellent. The main character is a female FBI agent.
7. Stranger in Paradise (Robert Parker). A Jesse Stone novel, probably my favorite so far.
8. The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins). This awakened me to the whole world of juvenile fiction, where I’m finding some good books. Two more books in this series yet to read. About a future totalitarian society in which teens are selected to compete in a televised death-match.
9. The Long Goodbye (Raymond Chandler). This was a darker, humorless, less likable Philip Marlowe than in Chandler’s previous books in the series. But the plot was extraordinary.
10. Sunset and Sawdust (Joe Lansdale). Set in East Texas in roughly the same era as “The Bottoms,” which is an even better book. This one involves a woman sheriff in the early 1900s.Lansdale’s depiction of race relations in that era and territory is what really keeps me glued.

On the nonfiction front, let me mention a few books I read.

1. Where Men Win Glory (Jon Krakauer). This is the story of Pat Tillman, told by a true literary craftsman. Fascinating book. Tillman did not have a good experience in the military.
2. Tears in the Darkness (Michael Norman). A new book on the Bataan death march, revolving around a soldier who survived it. The depiction of the days leading up to Japan’s invasion of the Philippines, and the ferocious fight the Americans put up, was especially interesting. Douglas MacArthur, who didn’t prepare for the inevitable warfare, comes across very poorly.
3. War (Sebastian Junger). A wonderful book about US soldiers constantly under fire in a remote area of Afghanistan along the Pakistan border. Junger, like Krakauer, is an amazing writer. This book really teaches you what goes on in war.
4. The Bottom Billion (Paul Collier). Somewhat of an academic book about the billion people in the world who live in the poorest countries. Focuses on the factors which keep those countries from developing. Very illuminating, and important.
5. Joker One (Donovan Campbell). Campbell was a platoon commander in Ramadhi, Iraq, I prefer books by reporters, but Campbell tells his story with such humanity. You see a leader with a servant heart. This book was a pleasant surprise.

Macy Halford, writing on the New Yorker website about the Kindle, said, “When I read a book all the way through to the end, I want the evidence stuffed and mounted on my bookshelf.”

I feel a lot the same way. I enjoy finishing a book, and then finding just the right spot for it on a bookshelf (we have five bookshelves in our living room, two in our bedroom, and one in the computer room). I’ve read four books on my Nook so far, but when I’m done, there’s no holy Placing of the Book ritual.

Halford continues, “My suspicion is that people who prefer e-readers use them primarily to read Harlan Coben, and are happy to be able to delete the physical evidence.”

True, to an extend. I’ll use the Nook for books that I would probably just return to a used bookstore, or to which I don’t care to designate precious shelf space. My Black Lizard, mysteries, for example–I’ll continue reading the dead-tree versions. And I’ll continue experiencing the post-epilogue-ish ceremonial Placing of the Book.