I badly need to catch up with writing reviews, but don’t really have the inclination to write long and individual reviews for books that were mostly ‘meh’. I sometimes pick up thrillers when I need a break from fantasy, and this review covers several that I’ve read since the early summer, in order that I read them. In some cases I have to cast my mind back rather a long way–and some definitely made an impression more than others. Most of these I read pretty […]
There is a cat in this book whose name is Donut.
Scalzi’s books are always such good palette cleansers. Head On was fast and fun (and a little bit infuriating). This is the second book in the Lock In series, which started with 2014’s Lock In. You don’t need to have read the first book if this one tickles your fancy, but you should, because it’s great. The premise here is that in the near future, a disease called Haden’s Syndrome (after the first lady of the US, it’s most famous victim) makes it so that […]
I reject your heroine and substitute my own, part II: the ginger mollusc
I really like Karin Slaughter. I’m not generally a thriller reader, but I make an exception for her books. Every year, I eagerly await her next novel, whether it’s a standalone or a new instalment of her series. She has a nice turn of phrase and her work, especially the earlier stuff, has traces of southern gothic running through it. She’s no Faulkner but hell, if I wanted Faulkner I’d read Faulkner. I read Slaughter because it’s fun. Gory, gruesome, over-the-top fun. Cop Town was […]
The view from the train ain’t always the same.
I’m not quite sure The Girl on the Train deserves all the hype it’s being given, but it’s a fast-paced psychological thriller/mystery, and I think it succeeds handily in being exactly what the author wanted it to be. I didn’t NEED to read it, and you don’t either, but I’m glad that I did. As is always the case with these sorts of books, the less said about the book the better, but I do want to take a second to talk about some things: […]