A synagogue massacre. Mail bombs that don't quite blow. Massed migrants closing on the border. The Senate convulsed by high school sex claims against a Supreme Court nominee. As we spiral toward the midterm election from hell, a week from Tuesday, this begins to feel less like partisan politics than a descent into…

Heading to a book party for screenwriter-novelist Tom Epperson's latest, a South American journalistic thriller called Roberto To The Dark Tower Came, I got to wondering: Will there ever be another great Hollywood book? You know, the kind that makes you catch your breath, slap the beach chair, and gasp, "Did they…