Book Reviews

Book reviews from the best and the brightest.

Hey Oswald, Take the Car Keys

March 1, 2023• Book Reviews, Editor's Picks, Essays, Trending

The Editor's Blog...

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A Preview of Saira Viola’s New Hollywood Novel, “Smoke Show”

February 2, 2022• Book Reviews, Featured

By Todd Robins / Think of what’s compelling about literary noir.  It depends on the writer’s approach.  Patricia Highsmith...

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Chris Offutt’s Vengeful Gods of Justice in the Ginseng Hunting Grounds

June 13, 2021• Book Reviews

By Thomas Pluck / The older I get, the more I appreciate the short novel. Not every story needs to be an Ellroy epic, but not every story...

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Pelayo’s “Children of Chicago” Offers a Character-Driven Detective Story with a Horror Slant

April 18, 2021• Book Reviews, Editor's Picks

By J.B. Stevens / “Chicago is an October sort of city, even in spring.” — Nelson Algren Chicago is a town on the edge of the...

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Wit and Grit: Lauren Hough’s Essay Collection, “Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing,” Reads Like Crime Fiction

March 28, 2021• Book Reviews

By Thomas Pluck / The night my car burst into flames, I’d agreed to babysit for my supervisor, Sergeant Peters, because it meant spending...

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Always the Dead: Stephen J. Golds’ Semi-Historical, Dark, Noir Novella

January 4, 2021• Book Reviews

By J.B. Stevens / Many novels are crafted hoping to capture a huge audience. These books are written with promotion in mind, a clear...

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Notes on Nick Kolakowski’s Jake Halligan Novels

November 13, 2020• Book Reviews, Editor's Picks

By Elgin Tolliver / Who doesn’t want a sister like Jack Halligan’s sister Frankie in Nick Kolakowski’s novels about...

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It’s Not All Rumpy-Pumpy in Ventura: Thomas Pluck on the Latest from Scott Phillips

November 12, 2020• Book Reviews, Essays

By Thomas Pluck / Scott Phillips knows how to write a real son of a bitch. If Shakespeare hadn’t given us Iago, I bet Scott would have...

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Splashing the Pot: First-Person Narrators, Charisma & Why My Stash Might Not Be Your Stash

September 6, 2020• Book Reviews, Essays, Featured

By Elgin Tolliver / I don’t need to check with Nate Silver before I make the following prediction: forty-nine percent of Americans...

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Two Savvy Bets: A Moody New Detective and a Boozehound Cop

October 30, 2019• Book Reviews

The line on dark horse crime novels....

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