I reviewed this thriller for CFL, and enjoyed it immensely. If you like fast-paced suspense, then this is a book you should pick up.
But don’t just take my word for it. Go read the review, then take my word for it.
Posts tagged not noir
Internal Security by David Darracott is my latest review over at Crime Fiction Lover. If you happen to be jonesing for a left-leaning Ayn Rand, then Internal Security is the book for you. Lest readers think I’m being prejudicial or partisan, let me hasten to add that this is no more problematic than a (or the original) right-leaning Ayn Rand. Preachy novels are not my bag, but it’s a serviceable thriller nonetheless.
But don’t just take my word for it. Go read the review, then take my word for it.
Updating James Bond to the 1980s was probably a novel idea at the time. But now it doesn’t make so much sense. Like the more recent Carte Blanche, No Deals, Mr. Bond is a decent thriller. Jeffrey Deaver’s Bond will probably be much more dated in 25 years than Gardner’s Bond works are today. Still, I can’t bring myself to approve of updating the literary (hardboiled, Tory pulp hero) Bond to the “present day”—whenever that happens to be.
The semester is over, and I’m decompressing with Harry Harrison’s anarchically humorous sci-fi. Fans of pulp literature may recognize Harrison as the ghostwriter of Vendetta for the Saint, the first which series originator Leslie Charteris did not write himself.
But here Harrison in on his own terms, with his own hero. This is certainly not hardboiled, not by a long shot. But it’s solidly entertaining pulp. Harrison has a breezy, quick-witted style that makes Slippery Jim (a.k.a. The Stainless Steel Rat, a.k.a. James Bolivar DiGriz) a quickly endearing hero.
As promised, my review of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl is now posted over at Crime Fiction Lover. Gone Girl has certainly been a runaway success—but is it any good? Check out my review and find out why I think it’s a pretty darn good thriller. If any of you have read it, I am (as always) curious to hear your reactions.
But don’t just take my word for it. Go read the review, then take my word for it.
Han Solo, P.I.?
A clever mash-up of Star Wars and Magnum, P.I. I would watch it!
Recently I reviewed John Gurney’s Let the Devil Sleep for Crime Fiction Lover. It’s an intricately-plotted thriller if you like that sort of pageturner.
But don’t just take my word for it. Go read the review, then take my word for it.
My most recent review for Crime Fiction Lover was R.D. Ronald’s The Zombie Room. I thought it was kind of a mixed bag, but crying to be made into an action film.
But don’t just take my word for it. Go read the review, then take my word for it.
RIP Andy Griffith, 1926-2012
I grew up laughing at the antics in Mayberry, but Andy Griffith was probably at his best in this almost-film-noir directed by Elia Kazan. Engaging, sinister and brilliantly prescient, A Face in the Crowd shows that Andy Griffith’s range as an actor was never really utilized on TV.
In 1957, a demagogic entertainer was considered remarkable. Today, Lonesome Rhodes would have his own cable news show.
Stephen King made headlines a month ago when Hard Case Crime announced that they would be publishing his novel Joyland in June 2013. Joyland is an eagerly anticipated release, but it is not King’s first novel for Hard Case Crime. In 2005, the hardboiled imprint published King’s The Colorado Kid, a short mystery that is by turns charming and puzzling…
In anticipation of Stephen King’s Joyland, I revisit his 2005 Hard Case Crime release, The Colorado Kid. I don’t expect Joyland will be much like The Colorado Kid, but the latter is an intriguing little story that deserves to be evaluated on its own (idiosyncratic) merits.
But don’t just take my word for it. Go read the review, then take my word for it.
