An uncertain cross between Edward Norton's The Narrator in 'Fight Club' and a more cynical Donnie Darko, Elliot seems desperately lost in his search for cracking the establishment's encrypted code.

O'Dowd maintains a passionate tone, almost febrile in some passages, throughout this extensive and methodical biography of an underrated performer whose career was truncated by her terrible death at only 39.

The impression Chris Kyle gives in his book, of being a gun-obsessed, resilient, judgmental war professional, is quite different from his filmic counterpart.

"My characters are all Scott Fitzgerald. Even the feminine characters," the complex author reckoned.

Ernest Hemingway referred to Fitzgerald as "the great tragedy of talent in our bloody generation."

The seminal addiction study in American literature and "the Uncle Tom’s Cabin of alcoholism" turns 70.

Franchot Tone's long-lost 1957 film of Chekhov's great drama helps reveal deep parallels between the actor/director and the Russian playwright.

Mysterious, suave and mentally keen, Franchot Tone managed to create conflicted heroes and charming villains empathizing with their inevitable flaws, unafraid of the benighted human condition.

Highly recommended, not only for the fans of the noir genre,but also for those admirers of German expressionism and inspired literary adaptations.

A look at two similarly themed sports novels set in the high school milieu.