Last week we released four new Kindle Singles, including this devoted nonfiction addict's favorite one yet. Since we first launched Kindle Singles in January, I've read most of these less-than-booklength works of short fiction, essay, opinion, and reporting with gusto aplenty, but the past week's spate of new arrivals made my bus commute seem a lot shorter than usual. In order of appearance, here they are (including reviews from a couple of my fellow Kindle editors)...
Lost in Kandahar by Alex Berenson
Afghanistan, February, 2011--Spy novelist and former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson arrives to embed with the 101st Airborne Division, as American forces find their mission of liberating small towns and villages from the Taliban threat increasingly difficult. At Kandahar Air Field, he spends three days, wandering its enormity, meeting collegial soldiers, browsing through shops selling goods emblazoned with the "Enduring Freedom" logo. "At KAF the war feels like nothing so much as a giant and profitable machine," Berenson writes, "paid for by the Chinese and greased with just enough American, British, and Canadian blood to keep it running." But don't mistake this author for glib. The suite of stories he goes on to tell--of combat, of corruption, of "hearts and minds"--depicts a lost war, feeding on itself in a land with a history of swallowing invaders whole. But it's the immediacy of Berenson's writing that insists, right now, that "it is worth asking what all this blood and treasure is buying." --Jason Kirk
Murdered by Paul Alexander
Sherri Rae Rasmussen, a 29-year-old newlywed, was murdered in her Los Angeles condo. Homicide detectives advanced a theory that the murder was a botched burglary, but that theory was wildly incongruous with the crime-scene evidence, which pointed to an execution-style murder. When a new detective reinvestigates the murder more than 20 years later, alarming details come to light, forcing police to take the utmost precautions when arresting the killer. This Kindle Single, which reads like a thriller/police procedural neatly wrapped in tight journalistic prose, pieces together the case's facts and deliberate deceptions. Clean, suspenseful writing about cover-ups, jealously, and police politics make this a riveting true story. --Paul Diamond
The Saint by Oliver Broudy
New Yorkers occasionally suffer from a unique and unlikely loneliness, despite the frenzy of cultural activity that surrounds them. Call it "center-of-the-world ennui." Attempting to combat his own bout of the Gotham blues, author Oliver Broudy is looking for an escape when a routine journalism gig lands him the project of his life: namely, one James Otis, idea man, collector of Gandhi-related memorabilia, and wealthy devotee of the great Mahatma. So begins a truly great adventure that drags Broudy halfway around the world and through a whiplashing gauntlet of emotional crests and troughs, forcing him to play friend, protector, fixer, PR agent, and a host of other duties on Otis's behalf. Luckily for readers, Broudy maintains an intelligent open-mindedness--if not throughout, at least in the recall--in the face of lies, danger, and significant self-discovery. (He also assembles as rich a working definition of sainthood as any I've comes across outside of canonical hagiography.) The Saint succeeds on all levels: as profile, as travelogue, as a tale of true adventure. Highly, highly recommended. --Jason Kirk
Air Guitar by Griffin Dunne
"Air Guitar" is just one of four charming and comically irreverent vignettes from actor, film director, and writer Griffin Dunne. A self-consciously name-droppy account of his doomed romance with Julie Christie, this Single's namesake and its accompanying slice-of-life essays mainly recount Dunne's pre-An American Werewolf in London days, when Dunne changed jobs as often as you or I change socks. In fact, "Radio City" clues everyone in on a rather ingenious, if morbid, way to find your next gig. You'll also learn what not to buy when trying to impress your older girlfriend, a cautionary tale amusing to many, save Betsey Johnson. Dunne is at his best, though, in "Kennedy Letters," in which a child's need to be noticed eventually leads to a poignant presidential encounter… but not the one he expected. --Erin Kodicek
And not to tip our hand too much, but the coming week promises another shout-from-the-rooftops round of new arrivals. Bookmark the Kindle Singles Store and check back regularly.
--Jason Kirk
