My friends, I have smart friends. So it's not often--and by "not often" I mean "maybe once a year" that I run into anyone who might be smarter than any of my friends. This year, that man is author Josh Bazell. If you've kept up with my podcast (and really, why wouldn't you), you heard me name-check Bazell and his debut novel Beat the Reaper in my history lesson re the German dye manufacturer and Jew asphyxiater IG Farben. Bazell is a Columbia-trained medical doctor and Brooklyn-trained serial vulgarian. More than that, however, he's also the best new author I've read all year. In fact, he's my new read-on-sight authorial addiction, following closely on the heels of Junot Diaz and Jennifer Egan.
Imagine if Michael Crichton used his considerable medical knowledge to a.) come back to life, and b.) impregnate Robert Crais. The result would be Josh Bazell and a placenta liberally laced with cocaine. If you don't like four-letter words, not to mention five-letter, seven-letter, and twelve-letter, words, you will not dig Bazell. Might I instead recommend a heartwarming novel called Green Eggs and Ham?
As fast as I blazed through Beat the Reaper, I may have come in under time on Bazell's follow-up, Wild Thing. It's a murder mystery set around a Minnesota lake where an ancient leviathan may or may not reside and ingest random swimmers. Oh, and Sarah Palin shows up. The Sarah Palin. And then some!
For an example of Bazell's fiery smartness, consider this exchange from page 196:
"'So maybe it's like that thing Sherlock Holmes says, where when you eliminate all other options, the one that's left has to be the truth, even if it seems like it can't be.'
'Violet, I'm sorry, but that's the dumbest thing Sherlock Holmes ever said. How can you ever know you've eliminated all other options?'"
Burn, Conan Doyle! Also, and apropos of little, there's a vicious five-page takedown of creationism about halfway through.
How nerdy is Bazell? His 338-page novel Wild Thing is followed by 45 pages of references. I love this guy! Crichton fans, Beat the Reaper should be your next ebook purchase. You are welcome.