Reviews
Orphan X – The BOLO Books Review
A top-secret government program rescues orphans from the streets, covertly trains them to become instruments in service to their goal, until one subject breaks from the organization in rebellion and spends his life running from those who feel they own him while trying...
The Passenger – The BOLO Books Review
Lisa Lutz has been writing consistently high quality work for a number of years now. She has written across different styles and tones – all with equal aplomb. Similar to Alison Gaylin and Gregg Hurwitz, her 2016 release seems poised to break her out to a wider...
Hidden Bodies – The BOLO Books Review
You, the debut novel from Caroline Kepnes was a bit of a slow burn success. Critics and loyal crime fiction devotes like myself latched on early, but it wasn’t until the paperback was released that the buzz really started to build. With that momentum in place, the...
What Remains of Me –
The BOLO Books Review
High in the California hills and deep in the shadow of the legendary Hollywood sign, exists a glamorous world few are provided access to. Alison Gaylin’s What Remains of Me pulls back the curtain on the movers and shakers of the movie industry, thereby revealing them...
Where It Hurts –
The BOLO Books Review
On any list of under-appreciated crime fiction authors, the name Reed Farrel Coleman is sure to appear. A critical favorite with a very loyal fan base, Coleman has yet to become as popular and name-recognizable as his talent warrants. With the release of Where It...
The Poison Artist – The BOLO Books Review
Typically, when a reader picks up a book, they follow the journey set out for them by the author of that novel. Even when the structure of a novel is complex and labyrinthine, there is a feeling that the author is in control. With his new novel, The Poison Artist,...
The Narrow Bed – The BOLO Books Review (UK Edition)
The latest Culver Valley novel by Sophie Hannah will be released in the United Kingdom in February. Like the others in the series, The Narrow Bed continues the stories of Simon Waterhouse, Charlie Zailer, and their extended team of detectives, as well as featuring a...
The Ex –
The BOLO Books Review
How far would you go to help an ex? What about if you felt like you had previously ruined that person’s life? That is the quandary facing criminal defense attorney Olivia Randall in Alafair Burke’s juggernaut of a novel, The Ex. Jack Harris has had a rough life. His...
Secrets & Lies – A BOLO Books Television Review
Secrets & Lies is an Australian television series starring Martin Henderson. It was recently remade for American television with Ryan Phillippe and received decent enough ratings to warrant a season two later this year. I will admit that I have not seen the...
Every Seven Years – A BOLO Books Short Story Review
Otto Penzler’s Mysterious Press has been releasing Bibliomysteries for a number of years now. These are short stories written by some of the leading names in crime fiction. Each of the stories focuses the central mystery around the concept of books – every one of them...
The Darkest Secret – The BOLO Books Review (UK edition)
With just two crime fiction novel releases under her belt, Alex Marwood has positioned herself as one of the leading tastemakers of the genre. This week, her third psychological suspense novel, The Darkest Secret, was released in the United Kingdom and it will further...
I Let You Go – The BOLO Books Review (UK Edition)
Clare Mackintosh’s I Let You Go is a difficult book to review. There are revelations within the plot so integral to the success of the novel that revealing them would spoil the reader’s enjoyment. With that in mind, this review intentionally contains very few plot...
After the Crash – The BOLO Books Review
Once in a while, you stumble upon a book with a premise so intriguing, so clever, you instantly know that if the author can pull this off, it is going to be a great book. After the Crash by Michel Bussi is just such a novel. On December 23, 1980, a plane crashes into...
Woman with a Blue Pencil – The BOLO Books Review
Gordon McAlpine’s Woman with a Blue Pencil certainly gets points for taking risks. It is rare that a book comes along in which the structure feels so completely original and inventive while also seeming like the only natural way to tell the tale at hand. Woman with a...
A Banquet of Consequences – The BOLO Books Review
Elizabeth George has been releasing books in the Thomas Lynley mystery series since 1988's A Great Deliverance. The newest book in the series, A Banquet of Consequences, is the nineteenth. Fans who have felt that the last few novels have not been as strong as the...
The Secret Life of Anna Blanc – The BOLO Books Review
One of the more popular sub-genres of crime fiction has always been the historical. Whether you are talking about legends like Barbara Peters and Lindsey Davis or more recent practitioners of the category such as Rhys Bowen and Susan Elia MacNeal, readers love to...
Bryant & May and the Secret Santa – A BOLO Books Short Story Review
Similar to Helen Smith’s short story from last year – called "Real Elves"– "Bryant & May and the Secret Santa" tells a holiday story set in the uniquely British local of a department store Santa’s Wonderland. "Bryant & May and the Secret Santa" is written by...
A Line of Blood –
The BOLO Books Review
Fans of crime fiction know that sometimes the criminal element of the story is the least interesting part of the reading experience. That is certainly the case with A Line of Blood by Ben McPherson. In this novel, the death at the center of the story is simply the...
The Searcher – The BOLO Books Review
With The Searcher, Simon Toyne has launched a new series perfect for thriller fans expecting more than just car chases, gunfights, and clichéd motivations in their tomes of choice. Solomon Creed feels like a character that is at once both familiar to readers and yet...
The Grownup –
A BOLO Books Short Story Review
Gillian Flynn’s short story “What Do You Do?” first appeared in the George R.R. Martin-edited collection, Rogues. Capitalizing on her current popularity, Crown has repackaged the story as a slim stand-alone volume, now called The Grownup. Whatever you call it and...