Scan barcode
criminolly's reviews
2382 reviews
The Strange by Nathan Ballingrud
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
'The Strange' is a wonderful, page turning sci fi adventure, that blends western tropes, horror and a coming of age narrative into a very satisfying whole. It's set in Mars in the 1930s, humans are mining the planet. Teenage heroine and narrator Annabelle helps her father run the town diner and gets pulled into a quest across the planet when robbers attack their business.
Annabelle is pure Mattie Ross (the heroine of Charles Portis' excellent western 'True Grit'), but no worse for that. She's smart, determined, funny and a joy to read. The events of the book and the background to the occupation of Mars are ridiculous in just the right way. It's pure pulpy entertainment, with monsters, robots and peril.
A very enjoyable read from an author I'll definitely be revisiting.
Annabelle is pure Mattie Ross (the heroine of Charles Portis' excellent western 'True Grit'), but no worse for that. She's smart, determined, funny and a joy to read. The events of the book and the background to the occupation of Mars are ridiculous in just the right way. It's pure pulpy entertainment, with monsters, robots and peril.
A very enjoyable read from an author I'll definitely be revisiting.
Captains Outrageous by Joe R. Lansdale
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Joe R Lansdale's 6th book in the 'Hap and Leonard' series doesn't quite measure up to the best of them, but it's still a fun ride. In this adventure, Hap saves the daughter of a millionaire from a brutal attack, gets a big payout as a result and takes his buddy Leonard on a Mexican cruise. Needless to say, things go badly wrong.
The appeal of these books is the banter between the two leads and trying to figure out how they'll get out of the scrapes they get into. This one delivers on those fronts, but the plot felt a little bit too convoluted to me.
The appeal of these books is the banter between the two leads and trying to figure out how they'll get out of the scrapes they get into. This one delivers on those fronts, but the plot felt a little bit too convoluted to me.
May the Wolf Die by Elizabeth Heider
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
'May the Wolf Die' is an extremely accomplished debut thriller, which combines a great setting, a kickass heroine and a breakneck pace.
Set in Naples, it follows Nikki Serafino, who acts as a liaison between the Neopolitan police and the US Navy. It's a neat setup, which allows the plot to cover both local crime/law enforcement and more geopolitical tensions.
Nikki is an engaging central character, easy to root for an as physical and driven as a good detective should be. The book has a great sense of place too, rich descriptions mean the city and its communities really pop on the page, but they ever get in the way of the story.
It's the plot and pacing that are the real star though, There is a relentlessness to events that make the book almost unberably tense and gripping. I don't think a chapter goes by without something dramatic or momentous happening. There is just so much going on in the book, the main investigation, secondary ones and multiple sub-plots involving the cental characters and their families. There's enough content here for a 600 page book, so the fact it clocks in at a relatively svelte 350 pages is impressive. What's also laudable is that it never feels overwhelming. Despite the multiple characters and narratives, I never felt like I didn't have a clear grasp of what was going on.
This might be the crime debut of the year, I can't wait to see what Heider does next.
Set in Naples, it follows Nikki Serafino, who acts as a liaison between the Neopolitan police and the US Navy. It's a neat setup, which allows the plot to cover both local crime/law enforcement and more geopolitical tensions.
Nikki is an engaging central character, easy to root for an as physical and driven as a good detective should be. The book has a great sense of place too, rich descriptions mean the city and its communities really pop on the page, but they ever get in the way of the story.
It's the plot and pacing that are the real star though, There is a relentlessness to events that make the book almost unberably tense and gripping. I don't think a chapter goes by without something dramatic or momentous happening. There is just so much going on in the book, the main investigation, secondary ones and multiple sub-plots involving the cental characters and their families. There's enough content here for a 600 page book, so the fact it clocks in at a relatively svelte 350 pages is impressive. What's also laudable is that it never feels overwhelming. Despite the multiple characters and narratives, I never felt like I didn't have a clear grasp of what was going on.
This might be the crime debut of the year, I can't wait to see what Heider does next.
The Gathering by C.J. Tudor
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
The concept of ‘The Gathering’ is an interesting one. Vampires are real, but a protected minority who live in settlements separate from humans, surviving on animal blood and often subject to discrimination.
Set a mystery novel against this backdrop and you have a fun ride. The lore is well handled and the mystery unfolds at just the right pace. The Alaskan setting works perfectly and the cast of characters (especially heroine Barbara) are convincing and engaging.
Set a mystery novel against this backdrop and you have a fun ride. The lore is well handled and the mystery unfolds at just the right pace. The Alaskan setting works perfectly and the cast of characters (especially heroine Barbara) are convincing and engaging.
Murder by Death by Neil Simon, H.R.F. Keating
2.0
I haven’t seen the movie this is based on (one of those high concept, star studded 70s comedies) and suspect if I had I might have enjoyed this more. The premise is fun - a reclusive millionaire who hates detectives invites a bunch of them to his mansion to solve a murder - and there were some individually funny lines, but it largely failed to entertain me. I suspect it worked better on screen, with the various stars hamming it up, but as a book it was probably always doomed to failure.
L.A. Noire: The Collected Stories by Lawrence Block, Andrew Vachss, Jonathan Santlofer, Joe R. Lansdale, Francine Prose, Joyce Carol Oates, Megan Abbott, Duane Swierczynski
dark
mysterious
4.0
An unexpected gem. This is a collection of short stories inspired by the video game LA Noire. These are punchy, pulpy, crime shorts from some great writers, including Lawrence Block, Andrew Vachss and Joe R Lansdale. For me the highlights were Joyce Carol Oates’ excellent tale of a friendship between Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Short (the victim of the Black Dahlia murder) and Francine Prose’s wonderful story of an acting class that teaches movie actors who to be convincing murderers.
Apartment 16 by Adam L.G. Nevill
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
‘Apartment 16’ is a chillingly effective horror novel about weird goings on centring on a London apartment building. Apryl, a young American woman has come to London to sort out the affairs of her great aunt, a resident of the building who has died. Meanwhile, Seth is a young man with a troubled past who works as a security guard there. The interweaving narrative sees the two investigate the increasingly strange events at the block and delve into its dark history.
Like all the Adam Nevill books I’ve read, there’s a deep creepiness here. He is particularly good at describing the unusual, giving you just enough to get your mind working overtime to fill in the details.
The book is maybe a tad longer than it needed to be, but that’s a small criticism of an otherwise excellent horror story. It’s tense, compelling and darkly enjoyable.
Like all the Adam Nevill books I’ve read, there’s a deep creepiness here. He is particularly good at describing the unusual, giving you just enough to get your mind working overtime to fill in the details.
The book is maybe a tad longer than it needed to be, but that’s a small criticism of an otherwise excellent horror story. It’s tense, compelling and darkly enjoyable.
The Witnesses Are Gone by Joel Lane, Conrad Williams
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is a hard book to review. It’s beautifully written, thoughtful and very creepy. Narratively, it’s deceptively sprawling for such a short work, covering the ground of a much larger book. It goes everywhere and nowhere, which might be a problem if the other elements of the books weren’t so well done.
The story is simple and very similar to Theodore Roszak’s much longer ‘Flicker’. The lead character watches an obscure, unsettling film and then spends the rest of the book trying to find out more about its director. ‘All the Witnesses Are Gone’ is much more unsettling. There’s something in Lane’s writing that really gets under your skin and I suspect it’s a book that will linger with me longer than I’d like it to.
The story is simple and very similar to Theodore Roszak’s much longer ‘Flicker’. The lead character watches an obscure, unsettling film and then spends the rest of the book trying to find out more about its director. ‘All the Witnesses Are Gone’ is much more unsettling. There’s something in Lane’s writing that really gets under your skin and I suspect it’s a book that will linger with me longer than I’d like it to.
Rumpole of the Bailey by John Mortimer
funny
3.0
This was my first taste of Rumpole in written form, although I definitely watched at least a few episodes of the TV adaptation back in the 80s. He’s the narrator of these stories, a London barrister reflecting back in his career and some of the legal cases he was involved in. There’s a great deal of humour here and a wry dissection of British life and justice. Add to that some very memorable and well drawn characters and you have an enjoyable collection that was fun to spend time with.
Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder by Mark Morris
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
A very enjoyable novelisation of an above average Doctor Who episode. This one has the Doctor and Donna on an abandoned spaceship at the edge of the universe. There’s a solid central mystery, a race against time element and some very creepy monsters. Mark Morris does a good job of adapting the story - he captures the Who vibe and characters perfectly and the narrative has real tension. One scene in particular improved upon the episode in my opinion, taking something that was at least in part played for laughs on screen and making it much creepier.