HOV lanes are another example of good intentions gone wrong.

Dr. Engstrand discusses the issue of prescription drugs – addiction, abuse and some of the dangerous side effects.

Faithful Place: A Novel available on Amazon.

Don’t define yourself by your age, don’t be afraid to reach for your goals and don’t be afraid of change!

Lorenzo Carcaterra’s latest novel is Midnight Angels, an action-adventure tale involving amoral art thieves and the pursuit of an undiscovered Michelangelo. It is the initial work in a series featuring Kate Prescott, a young female protagonist who may become the Indiana Jones of the art world. Carcaterra shares his passion for the city of Florence and all things Italian in this fast paced thriller.

Our chat with Carcaterra goes far beyond Midnight Angels. In addition to being a novelist, he was a longtime producer-writer for the recently cancelled Law and Order, television’s second longest running series. He talks extensively about the late Jerry Orbach, whose Lenny Briscoe is one of television’s iconic characters. We also discuss the future of television and printed books in our new tech age.

A product of New York’s Hell’s Kitchen, Carcaterra has done it all: a journalist, writer, producer and novelist. He brings a unique perspective to the media world of the twenty first century. We invite you to spend some time with this modern Renaissance man.

Midnight Angels: A Novel – available on Amazon.

Our conversation with author Barry Eisler has little to do with fiction. His bona fides are impressive: ex covert ops for the CIA, martial arts expert, technology attorney. He is a passionate blogger and fierce opponent of the torture policies of the current and previous administration.

You’ll find “Inside Out” to be a fast paced thriller, but more impressively, a thinly veiled expose of what torture does not only to our enemies but the affect it has on those tasked with extracting information. Barry makes no secret that his novels are the left’s answer to “24″ and other works of fiction that subtly influence the way Americans view “enhanced interrogation techniques”.

It’s hard to read this book and not come out of the experience thinking long and hard about the path our nation has taken since 9/11. One of Eisler’s strengths as a novelist is his ability to make his antagonists nuanced to the point where a reasonable person may sympathize with their actions. Indeed, one may have a hard time distinguishing who to root for in this densely layered plot.

Whatever your political beliefs, you’ll find “Inside Out” a terrific read, and I’m sure you’ll gain additional insight into the issues he writes about while enjoying the following interview.

Inside Out: A Novel – available on Amazon.

Broken: A Novel – available on Amazon.

The Burning Wire: A Lincoln Rhyme Novel – available on Amazon.

Deaver returns to Lincoln Rhyme and Amanda Sachs in his latest effort, set in New York City. Like his other novels, this one has multiple plot lines with twists and cliffhangers in almost every chapter. You’ll be flipping pages backwards, trying to pick up the subtle hints Deaver leaves to foreshadow the wild rides his books traverse. In the end, his hero is faced with a crossroads that will affect the future of this series. He also incorporates another of his continuing characters into this one, hinting at future alliances.

In our conversation, we’ll also get some news about a new James Bond series, and what Deaver has in store next. He also dispels some of the fears you may feel about electricity while reading The Burning Wire and talks about how he feels no compunction about terrorists using the author’s imagination to further their real world plots. Always a great read, Jeffrey Deaver is also a terrific conversationalist, as you’ll soon discover.

The Lion – available on Amazon.

The Lion is the long awaited sequel to Nelson DeMille’s 2000 thriller The Lion’s Game, featuring wisecracking former NYC cop  turned terrorist hunter John Corey and Asad Khalil, the Libyan killer bent on revenge against Corey and the United States government, which sanctioned the bombing raid that wiped out his family. Khalil also has a quid pro quo with Al Qaeda that will wreak even more havoc.

If you’ve enjoyed DeMille’s previous work, this one will not disappoint. The author explores his principals from their own unique worldviews, so that while you can’t excuse Khalil’s bloody wrath, you can understand and even sympathize to an extent . As with many of our other chats, we not only talk about this book, but the political atmosphere under which it was created. He answers why he has revived this villain after such a long respite.

Ironically, the very thing that makes DeMille’s style so entertaining, the trash talking dialogue, occasionally injects a slightly discordant note. Terrorists and their prey indulge in alpha male badinage before critical battles,  a la the NFL and NBA. Since DeMille is a VietNam vet and has many contacts in the intelligence world, perhaps he has a keener ear than most on how these men stay sane in the face of the constant danger they are subjected to. Check out this accomplished novelist discussing his latest work.

Frankenstein: Lost Souls: A Novel – available on Amazon.