The Merger, [by] Sterling Quinlan. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1958. 331p.

The merger of two Chicago television stations creates the major conflict in this novel of big business and finance. With a reputation for fair dealing, the president of the newly formed company assumes a hands-off policy, attempting to let the factions from each station work out differences on their own. The results are disasterous. Deceit, conflict, double-dealings, and intrigue on the parts of the employees involved lead to the eventual resolution of the problem but not without seriously affecting the careers of two executives and the health of two others. A television executive himself, Quinlan presents an accurate and credible account of the world of television as it existed in the 1950s and 1960s. Any inadequacy in writing style can be easily overlooked in deference to the fast-paced plot.

Book Review Digest, 1959, p. 822.

Our Street, by Gladys Reynolds. New York Washington [and] Hollywood: Vantage Press, [1972.] 159p.

Miss Reynolds combines fiction and fact in this small collection of fifteen short stories and five essays. All items, no matter what their nature, are characterized by homespun philosophy, liberally sprinkled with sentiment. The setting of the stories is Kane, Illinois.

CONTENTS: Our Street.--Still Sits the Schoolhouse on Our Street.--Gentle Granny.--Life Is Real.--Prologue.--Our Street.--Our Street.--All Is Vanity.--Out of Egypt.--Our Neighbors.--Dear Teacher Passes By.--The Rout.--The Man in the Gray Gown.--The Man from the Road.--"And It Shall Return--".--Cake on the Waters.--Children of the Light.--Our Street Has Style.--On Our Street Only.--Our Street.--Come Together.--The Tax Problem of the Middle Stratum As Milled on Our Street in 1960.

Aren't You Even Gonna Kiss Me Good-by? by William Richert. New York: David McKay Company, Inc., [1966.] 247p.

Eighteen-year-old Jimmy Reardon gives his steady girl the price of an abortion out of his college fund, with every intention of replacing the money as soon as he is able. When his father learns of the misappropriation, he allows Jimmy only one day--twenty-four hours--to make restitution. Inspired to replace the money (though sorely tempted to use it to follow Lisa to Hawaii) he sets out on what he thinks will be an easy task. He is refused a loan by his best friend; he pawns records and a record player to his ten-year-old sister for $28.00; he earns $32.00 from his part-time job. But that still leaves him $60.00 short. When his boss refuses him an advance on his wages, he turns in desperation to what he does best. His best friend's girl, a total stranger in a car, his Saturday afternoon regular, a friend of his mother--each in turn is offered the opportunity of contributing to the fund, in payment for services rendered, of course. Sex is the all-pervading force in this novel--so pervading in fact, that it may become tiresome. But in spite of his oversexed hero, the author displays a quick wit, a compelling style, and a ready talent for character creation. The setting is an affluent Chicago suburb.

Book Review Digest, 1966, p. 1007.

An Affair of Doctors, by Frances Rickett. New York: Arbor House, [1975.] 316p.

Tension runs high as Chicago's Midwestern University Medical College anticipates a one-year experimental affiliation with suburban Claremont Community Hospital. The success of the affiliation is important to Perry Whittier, who, after winning the appointment as head of medicine, moves back to Claremont where he and his wife and Moss Stevenson, his good friend and hematology associate, grew up together. Of course, there is a bit of resentment among some of the local physicians, but there are other factors, some of them unknown to Whittier, that jeopardize his success. His wife is having an affair with Stevenson, the man Whittier chooses to be chief resident; the Whittier's baby-sitter, daughter of the head of surgery, is secretly living with one of the medical students; and a leading internist has a very special private office set up for female patients whose sexual needs aren't being met otherwise. Add to this a father-in-law involved in drugs and a contaminated shipment of the Pill and the result is a lively story in a modern medical setting. An Affair of Doctors is a novel of hospital scandals with a series of complications, skillfully stitched together.

Best Sellers, 10/1975, p. 198. Kirkus, 6/15/1975, p. 679. Library Journal, 8/1975, p. 1444. Publishers Weekly, 7/7/1975, p. 79.

Rites of Passage, [by] Jean Rikhoff. New York: The Viking Press, [1966.] 309p.

This third volume of a trilogy, which includes Dear Ones All and Voyage In, Voyage Out, continues the chronicle of the Timble family of Springfield, Illinois. The plot of this novel of modern love and family life is glaringly reminiscent of the daily soap operas that may be seen occupying the television screen on any given day. Unlucky in love (jilted, as her father aptly phrases it), Eileen is undergoing treatment in the state mental hospital. Lois, her cousin, is making a new life for herself and her daughter after her divorce. Carolyn, the poor cousin who married well, is bored with her marriage of reason, and longs for love . . . and so it goes! Still, as a commentary on modern life, Rites of Passage is credible and accurate on most counts and in comparison with other titles representing central and southern Illinois, it ranks rather high.

Book Review Digest, 1966, p. 1012.

The Divorce of Marcia Moore, [by] Edith Roberts. Garden City, N[ew] Y[ork:] Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1948. 249p.

Marcia Moore has filed for divorce, not because she wants it, but because her husband does. In spite of her love for him, her heartbreak and her concern for the future of herself and her child, stubborn pride compels her to follow through with the action. During readjustment to single life, Marcia experiences the social stigma as well as the hurt pride, frustration, and self-condemnation that accompanies divorce. But through it all she has one staunch ally on whose encouragement and support she learns to rely more than she thought she ever could. The Divorce of Marcia Moore is a moving social commentary which will touch all women--and Edith Roberts believes them to be legion--who have suffered the trauma of the divorce court. The setting is Chicago, but this drama could as easily have been played in any city, large or small, where man and woman coexist.

Book Review Digest, 1948, p. 701.

The Power, by Frank M. Robinson. Philadelphia [and] New York: J. B. Lippincott Company, [1956.] 219p.

A Navy research team investigating the limits of human endurance becomes aware that one among them possesses superhuman intelligence. Then several murders are committed, and Tanner, the most likely suspect, is sought by the police, but always manages to elude them. Who would believe that a power has erased all recollection of him from the minds of former associates, and that this same power almost succeeds in making him commit suicide? A mind-boggling combination of science fiction and suspense, The Power is a fascinating novel with a well-defined Chicago setting.

Book Review Digest, 1956, p. 789.

Exile in the Air, A Novel by Rose Robinson. New York: Crown Publishers Inc., [1969.] 159p.

Rose Robinson's novel is a revealing story of a black girl Jeannie, and her response to a world she feels has discarded her. Upset after her expulsion from a large Chicago university for her non-violent participation in a campus takeover, she finds herself living with her boyfriend not really because she wants to but because she has no money and no other place to go. When this arrangement doesn't work out she flees to her half-sister in Iowa, only to find her presence there unacceptable. In desperation, she attempts to hitchhike to California. After miles of mostly unpleasant encounters, she is rescued from a near-rape by a white Hoosier, who through his manly concern for her, restores her faith in humanity. An occasional well-turned phrase brings a freshness to this sentimental but enjoyable story. The first part of the novel provides an inside view of student unrest in the turbulent sixties.

Book Review Digest, 1969, p. 1115-6.

The Pursuit of Happiness, by Thomas Rogers. [New York:] The New American Library, [1968.] 237p.

William and Jane, University of Chicago seniors in the turbulent 1960s, are enjoying their love affair and their casual life style much to the consternation of both wealthy families. They consider the pros and cons of marriage--William is for it; Jane is unsure--and the pros and cons of getting involved in reshaping the world--Jane is for it; William is unsure. Then a crisis occurs and a series of unfortunate events puts William into prison. The young couple's reactions and the reactions of others around them to this situation pave the way for a well-told narrative. Vivid characters, sensitive dialogue, and light comic touches further contribute to this warm and entertaining novel.

Book Review Digest, 1968, p. 1142.

The Restless Corpse, by Alan Pruitt, [pseud.] Chicago [and] New York: Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, [1947.] 247p.

Searching for his boss' runaway daughter, Chicago newspaper reporter Don Carson discovers the girl in company with an incriminatingly dead body. Efforts to protect her result in more deaths and some precarious situations.

Book Review Digest, 1947, p. 768.

Solomon's Palace, by Sam Ross. New York: Delacorte Press, [1973.] 344p.

Joey Solomon, a small-time hood from Chicago's Jewish ghetto, dreams of hitting the big-time in league with such underworld greats as Al Capone. With $250,000 and the backing of the east coast bosses, he moves in on the Los Angeles syndicate, elbows his way into prominence, and secures for himself the control of gambling and vice along the entire stretch of the west coast. But Joey's dream becomes an obsession which culminates in the building of the fabulous Solomon's Palace on the Las Vegas strip, and the ultimate ruin of Joey and his machine. Written in much the same vein as Mario Puzo's, The Godfather, Solomon's Palace is less a family chronicle and more a character study than that nationwide best seller of 1969, yet, the influence of the earlier book seems unmistakably apparent, diminishing somewhat the impact of this moving but less powerful novel.

Best Sellers, 4/15/1973, p. 42. Kirkus, 12/1/1972, p. 1377. Library Journal, 4/15/1973, p. 1309.

Letting Go, [by] Philip Roth. New York: Random House, [1962.] 630p.

Philip Roth's second novel delves deeply into the workings of the Jewish mind laying it bare for all to see. Set in Chicago, with interludes in Iowa, New York City, and points between, Letting Go is the story of Gabe Wallach, a professor of English at the University of Chicago, whose life seems of little consequence except as it influences the lives of others. Assuming as his own the troubles of friends, father, chairman of his department, even a pregnant waitress whom he hardly knows, Gabe vacillates between feelings of sympathy and guilt on the one hand and the instinct of self-preservation on the other as he is drawn deeper and deeper into involvement. Roth's novel is perceptive, thorough, and probing. And though it sags somewhat in the middle, it is of a quality that few contemporary writers have been able to achieve.

Book Review Digest, 1962, p. 1037.

Hand Me a Crime, [by] Charlotte Murray Russell. Garden City, New York: Published for The Crime Club by Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1949. 221p.

Jane Amanda Edwards, Rockport, Illinois' favorite snoop, does her duty by a neighbor in need and becomes involved with thieves, murderers, and ghosts for her efforts.

Book Review Digest, 1949, p. 796.