Reviews
Red Right Hand – The BOLO Books Review
Chris Holm was faced with a task both enviable and daunting in equal measures. Writing a follow-up to a critically-acclaimed series debut such as The Killing Kind was never going to be easy. Think of it as similar to the pressure on the creators of one of those...
Darktown – The BOLO Books Review
Thomas Mullen’s Darktown is an important book. Inspired by – and dedicated to – the legacy left by the first eight African-American officers hired by the Atlanta police department, the novel does much to explain the problems of institutionalized racism inherent in law...
The Fixes – The BOLO Books Review
When Owen Laukkanen ventured into the young adult writing world under the pen name of Owen Matthews, he created a new, unique style that is all his own. Just as with the Anthony-Award nominated How to Win at High School, Owen’s new YA novel, The Fixes, employs the...
Black Wood – The BOLO Books Review
Navigating the balance between familiar and fresh can be tricky business, but with her debut crime fiction title, Black Wood, SJI Holliday makes it look easy. Black Wood is one of those novels that employs the use of unreliable memory as a device to heighten the...
Under the Harrow – The BOLO Books Review
Flynn Berry’s Under the Harrow is a crime fiction debut that packs quite a punch. This slim volume is so densely packed with descriptive language and beautiful imagery that readers will struggle with wanting to read faster to know what happens and slowing down to...
The Silence of the Sea – The BOLO Books Review
Since her debut novel, Last Rituals, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir has been one of the most popular Icelandic authors of crime fiction. In 2015, The Silence of the Sea was awarded the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year. The Silence of the Sea is the...
The American Girl – The BOLO Books Review
After writing a Frankenstein-inspired novel, some short fiction, and many poems, Kate Horsley is now making her crime fiction debut with The American Girl. It is the story of an outsider thrust into a tangled web without the benefit of memory and a story of the woman...
Blue Moon –
The BOLO Books Review
With Blue Moon, Wendy Corsi Staub returns readers to Mundy’s Landing for Book Two of her addictive trilogy. Fans who have already read Blood Red know what to expect, but the good news is that Blue Moon reads just as well as a stand-alone as it does as part of this...
You Will Know Me – The BOLO Books Review
For several books now, Megan Abbott has focused her attention on the inner workings of the minds of teenage girls and the influence society imparts on them. That is certainly still a part of her latest book, You Will Know Me, but in this new novel she takes it one...
Among the Wicked – The BOLO Books Review
Readers can always count on one of Linda Castillo’s Amish-based mystery novels to transport them. Among the Wicked is the eighth full-length novel featuring Kate Burkholder and once again Castillo entertains and educates. Among the Wicked finds Kate having to make a...
Revolver – The BOLO Books Review
One city – Philadelphia; One family – the Walczaks; One history – Ours. In the simplest of terms, this is a description of Duane Swierczynski’s Revolver. By documenting three generations of one family, Swierczynski manages to speak universally about the struggle to be...
All is Not Forgotten –
The BOLO Books Review
Wendy Walker confidently strolls into the crime fiction arena with All is Not Forgotten, a novel that features authentic characters, clever misdirection, timely discussions, and just enough rebellion with which to seduce the reader. All is Not Forgotten is set in a...
Underground Airlines – The BOLO Books Review
The elevator pitch for Ben H. Winters’ new novel, Underground Airlines, makes it seem like an audacious undertaking fraught with potential risk and ripe for controversy, but the end product shows great restraint with respect for our not-always commendable past and...
Forgive Me –
The BOLO Books Review
Daniel Palmer belongs to the cache of crime fiction writers – like Harlan Coben and Linwood Barclay – who excel at crafting tales about regular people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. With writing that is sharp and incisive, Daniel Palmer is once again...
I’m Thinking of Ending Things – The BOLO Books Review
Original and organic is tough to pull off. Too often, an author will lose control of a story in the effort to make it seem different and unique, but when it does work, it can be a beautiful thing. Case in point: I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid. Within this...
Blood Money Murder – The BOLO Books Review
From the Booking Desk: In light of the events in Orlando this weekend, it has been a difficult few days with more struggles still on the horizon. As I attempt to keep the conflicting emotions of depression and anger at bay, I have surrounded myself with the things I...
Die of Shame – The BOLO Books Review
What happens in Group stays in Group. This tenet of group therapy has allowed it to be a successful method of treatment for decades. However, now in the hands of Mark Billingham, it also becomes an impediment to a murder investigation. Die of Shame, the recently...
Ink and Bone –
The BOLO Books Review
Distilled to the most basic level, tattoos are outward representations of internal emotions. Even people who get body art simply for the coolness factor end up getting an image that has some personal meaning to themselves. Finley Montgomery from Lisa Unger’s new novel...
The Second Girl – The BOLO Books Review
Much has been made of the recent influx of crime fiction titles featuring the word girl, and rightfully so, given that in the majority of cases, the “girl” in question is in her mid- to late-thirties or beyond. David Swinson is no trend chaser, nor does the titular...
Trail of Echoes –
The BOLO Books Review
With the release of Trail of Echoes, her third Lou Norton mystery, Rachel Howzell Hall has solidified her ranking as one of the strongest new voices in crime fiction today. Each new book in the series has seen her already well-rounded characters exposing more...