Monday's Reviews Today: The Truth About Pigeons & A Shrink Into Crime

-- Publishers Weekly, 8/11/2006

Sneak peeks of next week's reviews: In Andrew Blechman's Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World’s Most Revered and Reviled Bird, the author examines the titular fowl—and exposes celebrities and groups that both love and hate the bird—to enjoyable results. And in former TV writer Robert Ward's fine new noir, Four Kinds of Rain, a psychiatrist finds that crime can be as tough as head shrinking.

Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World’s Most Revered and Reviled Bird
Andrew D. Blechman. Grove, $23 (256p) ISBN 0-8021-1834-8

Many people consider the ubiquitous rock dove, better known as the pigeon, a "rat with wings." But as Blechman demonstrates in his enjoyable and informative book, this much maligned bird has served humans well for thousands of years, carrying messages informing the ancient Egyptians about flood levels along the Nile, bearing news of Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo and saving thousands of soldiers’ lives during the two world wars. Today pigeons are found everywhere, from the queen of England’s luxurious racing pigeon lofts to the garbage-strewn streets of every large city. Pigeons—gregarious, easily domesticated and capable of flying for hours at speeds of more than 100 mph—are interesting in their own right, but Blechman writes not so much about the birds themselves as about the people who either love or hate them. These include members of a Brooklyn, N.Y., homing pigeon club who dedicate themselves to raising and racing pigeons; Queen Elizabeth’s royal pigeon handler; breeders who spend years perfecting champion birds for show; gun enthusiasts who participate in brutal live pigeon shoots. Many of these people are eccentric, and while Blechman’s book won’t convert pigeon haters to pigeon lovers, it does make for entertaining reading. (Nov.)

H Four Kinds of Rain
Robert Ward. St. Martin’s Minotaur, $22.95 (288p) ISBN 978-0-312-35780-1

Robert Wells, the hapless psychiatrist hero of Ward’s superior noir novel, has spent many thousands of hours helping people at his free clinic in Baltimore. While treating art dealer Emile Bardan, who’s suffering from paranoid delusions, Wells learns that Bardan owns a priceless Sumerian mask representing Utu, the "god of justice and vengeance." The no-longer-altruistic Dr. Wells starts to scheme to steal the mask and sell it to his patient’s worst enemy and rival, Colin Edwards. But things don’t go quite as expected, and the twists come fast and furious as Wells discovers that crime, like psychiatry, has its own peculiar bylaws. At once admirable and devious, Wells unsettles as much as he compels our sympathy. Ward (Red Baker, winner of the PEN West prize for Best Novel of 1985) has been a writer and producer on such TV shows as Hill Street Blues and Miami Vice. Regional author tour. (Oct.)

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