by Kristopher | Mar 29, 2018 | Review
Peter Swanson’s All the Beautiful Lies owes a fair bit of debt to Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolilta. Like the illicit “relationship” that forms the core of that classic novel, Swanson’s book deals with cross-generational obsession – except in the case of All the Beautiful...
by Kristopher | Mar 28, 2018 | Review
After proving that she can write both historical cozies (the Dandy Gilver series) and an assortment of stand-alone suspense novels of every ilk, Catriona McPherson is once again trying to prove that she can conquer anything she sets her mind to – at least as far as...
by Kristopher | Mar 27, 2018 | Review
When thinking of modern authors who have a strong grasp on the Gothic tone, the name Carol Goodman must rise to the top. In novel after novel, she manages to find creative ways to explore the dark psychological temperaments common to the Gothic subgenre while also...
by Kristopher | Mar 22, 2018 | Review
The unreliable narrator trend in crime fiction continues with many authors attempting to find new ways in which to explore this phenomenon. Alice Feeney decides to tackle the trope directly by having her character tell readers right from the start: “Sometimes I lie.”...
by Kristopher | Mar 15, 2018 | Review
Towards the end of Stephen Sondheim’s musical Into the Woods, the Witch sings the lines “Careful the things you say, children will listen.” This is advice that Asako Adachi, the mother at the center of Kanae Minato’s Edgar Award-nominated novel Penance, should have...
by Kristopher | Mar 13, 2018 | Review
The Hate U Give is Angie Thomas’ Edgar Award-nominated debut and it also happens to be one of the most important young adult novels of all time. Of course, this praise could be hyperbolic, but the significance of works that make tangible the social problems of the day...
