Maslin Watch: Joshua Jackson, Call Your Agent

It just so happens that Maslin picks a book I've had my eye on, which I suppose means I'd best move it to the top of my stack: The Rule of Four. Because, hell, I'm a sucker for thrillers built around arcane manuscripts like the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili--a book I've been mildly fascinated by ever since I read about it in an art magazine when I was 18. (See this transcript of a radio interview with another Hypnerotomachia fan for more info.)

Anyway, this novel sounds sorta like Foucault's Pendulum starring the hip kids of the now generation, "a balancing act between riddle-solving and thriller mechanics, to the point at which dead bodies and detectives wind up at Princeton." I am so there. Oh, you want to hear about the review? It was pretty good; Maslin's on a bit of a roll this week.