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Book Nook: Joe Ide and Ian Woollen

"Righteous" by Joe Ide

Joe Ide returned to the program to talk about his second book in a series that features a fearless sleuth named I.Q. In his first book, the eponymous "I.Q.," we learned the back story of this young man who investigates crimes in a hardscrabble neighborhood in Los Angeles. He had been devoted to his older brother and after his brother was killed in a traffic accident that tragedy left the younger brother devastated and alone.

Fortunately I.Q. has one fellow, a former drug dealer named Dodson, who serves as his reluctant sidekick. In the first book the two of them were actually operating a criminal enterprise together and now I.Q. is trying to make amends for his previous bad behavior.  He's also determined to find out more about his brother's death, was it really an accident? Or, was his brother murdered? That's just one of the sinuous story lines in "Righteous."

The author was a relatively unknown writer the first time he appeared on the program. This is no longer the case. Joe Ide is starting to garner some well deserved recognition for his fiction. After you read the first two books in this series I think you'll probably be like me, eager for more.

"Muir Woods or Bust" by Ian Woollen

Gil Moss is a psychologist in Indiana. He lives with his son Chum, a young man who is immersed in the world of on-line gaming and rarely leaves his room. Gil is having some issues. He's burned out. He's tired of providing counseling services for his clients and he keeps imagining that his dead wife is paying him visits and speaking to him. Then there's the 19th century environmentalist John Muir who once lived in Indiana. Gil seems to be channeling Muir.

One day Gil has an appointment with a client named Doyle Wentworth. Doyle is a former reality TV star who has been banished to a retirement home. He's not taking it well. As this novel progresses Doyle kidnaps Gil and the two of them end up on a madcap journey to the west coast. Doyle is holding Gil hostage. Their trip is frequently bizarre. At one point they hop on a freight train and ride it like hoboes.

Ian Woollen has written a tale that is provocative, hallucinogenic, ecological, and rather entertaining.

The Book Nook on WYSO is made possible by five local library systems in southwest Ohio:  the Greene County Public Library,  Washington-Centerville Public Library,  Clark County Public LibraryDayton Metro Library, and Wright Memorial Public Library.

Vick Mickunas introduced the Book Nook author interview program for WYSO in 1994. Over the years he has produced more than 1500 interviews with writers, musicians, poets, politicians, and celebrities. Listen to the Book Nook with Vick Mickunas for intimate conversations about books with the writers who create them. Vick Mickunas reviews books for the Dayton Daily News and the Springfield News Sun.