My new favorite book. I am a fan of crime fiction, but I’ll admit the genre can be a bit stale at times. Someone I know, not a fan, described it as too “rat-a-tat-tat” for his taste. Fair enough, I guess. Much of the time the formula is part of the fun. Readers of crime fiction don’t necessarily want to be challenged with experimentation or … Continue reading Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka
The detective in Syndrome E is a paranoid schizophrenic. While solving cases he is constantly accompanied by his hallucinations of his deceased six-year-old daughter. She is not giving him hints to help solve the case but acting like a six-year-old: crying out for attention; becoming sick at the sight of bloody crime scenes; complaining that she wants her father to play with her, feed her … Continue reading Syndrome E by Franck Thilliez – translated from the French by Mark Poliotti
Last summer I joined Camp TOB 2022, my first time with the Tournament of Books summer reading game. I’ve enjoyed reading along and voting in the Tournament of Books for the last couple of years, and I’ve even found a few “new favorite books” as a result. So, I thought I’d give the summer reading game a go. I did find a “new favorite book,” … Continue reading Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle
I bought this book because of the cover. Not the cover pictured here on the left but a different cover. I get regular posts about retro-science fiction/fantasy book covers on Instagram. A while ago, there was one featuring a cover for William Hope Hodgson’s novella, The House on the Borderland. The cover featured a bunch of nude human figures all reaching for a glowing sphere … Continue reading The House on the Borderland by Willaim Hope Hodgson
I saw it. I bought it. I read it. It was okay. Continue reading My Darkest Prayer by S.A. Cosby
The greatest American crime novelist you’ve never heard of is Dorothy Hughes. Unless, of course, you’ve already heard of her. Ms. Hughes wrote some 14 crime novels in the 1950’s and 60’s, then retired from the scene to become a leading critic of the genre. She’s something of a writer’s writer, long admired by those working in crime fiction but not widely known. You may … Continue reading The Expendable Man by Dorothy Hughes
This book is an entertainment. It’s the kind of book I used to buy in the airport bookshop, something that I could read before the plane landed in New York and leave in the seat pocket afterwards. It really shouldn’t be judged by the standards used for other types of books. It is entertaining? Does it provide the promised thrills. Yes. For about 300 pages. … Continue reading How long is too long? 480 Pages. That’s how long.
This is now my favorite volume of the many, many Akashic Noir series. It’s a high quality collection without a dud in the bunch. A few things struck me. Three that I’ll talk about here. First, I was surprised to find so little crime in Mississippi Noir, edited by Tom Franklin. Does an actual crime have to take place for a story to be considered … Continue reading Mississippi Noir is for Lovers
The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle is a good time. If I say that it’s just a good read, does that do it a disservice? Do you think I mean to say that it’s not really a great book with something to say? Is calling a book simply a good read marking it down a bit in your estimation? In mine? I don’t mean … Continue reading The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle
Is it insulting to turn a real person into a character in a book? The nature of historical fiction and the inherent trustworthiness of it is foregrounded in HHhH by Laurent Binet. Mr. Binet wants to tell the story of two men, Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík, who carried out an assassination attempt on the life of Reinhard Heydrich, second in command of the Nazi SS … Continue reading HHhH by Laurent Binet
I was looking for space opera. If you don’t know what space opera is, it’s Star Wars. Lots of space ships. Battles between them. A clear-cut hero. A clear-cut villain. Maybe some alien supporting characters. Maybe a little romance. Something fun. Lightless by C.A. Higgins partially delivers the goods as far as space opera goes. There are space ships. There is some romance. There are battles. … Continue reading Lightless by C.A. Higgins
Have you ever known the ending from page one and still been unable to put the book down? Since Italian novelists Valerio Massimo Manfredi’s novel The Ides of March is about the last few days of Julius Ceasar’s life, we all know how the book is going to end, at least we all know how Julius Ceasar is going to end. The challenge for the … Continue reading The Ides of March by Valerio Massimo Manfredi
May Contain Spoilers 