Reviews
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...
Walleye Junction – The BOLO Books Review
Karin Salvalaggio’s third book, Walleye Junction, has recently been released. This continues the series of novels featuring Detective Macy Greeley and like the others books she has written, Walleye Junction presents some of the best plotting and characterization the...
St Ernan’s Blues – The BOLO Books Review
Regardless of how much reading one does, there never seems to a shortage of new authors to discover – writers like Paul Charles, who recently released St Ernan’s Blues, the third book in his series featuring Inspector Starrett. St Ernan’s Blues is reminiscent of...
Tastes Like Fear – The BOLO Books Review (UK Edition)
With just three novels currently available, Sarah Hilary has quickly risen to “must buy” status for many crime fiction aficionados. Her Marnie Rome series of books are guaranteed to feature hot-button topics, relevant themes, quality writing, and some of the most...
Blood Defense – The BOLO Books Review
2016 has been quite a year for Marcia Clark. The FX network aired their series, American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson and finally the public was able witness the behind-the-scenes tribulation that plagued the participants of this legendary court case. Once...
Nightblind –
The BOLO Books Review (UK Edition)
Statistically, the occurrences of violent crime in Iceland are miniscule, but with Nightblind Ragnar Jónasson shows readers that the gap between a low crime rate and a low rate of reported crime is a chasm rather than a crack. When his English-language debut Snowblind...
Wilde Lake –
The BOLO Books Review
When I interviewed Laura Lippman last year, she had this to say about her next book: “I’m writing a crazy-ambitious stand-alone, a crime novel that asks readers to rethink an American classic.” With or without that in mind, astute readers will certainly see the echoes...
The Body in the Birches – The BOLO Books Review
Readers would be hard-pressed to find crime fiction more genteel than that written by Katherine Hall Page. Even though she is writing about murder, secrets, and other nefarious activity, Page does so with a restrained pen – making her a favorite of those who enjoy...