The nitty-gritty: Police procedural meets vampires in this exciting horror thriller, another winner from C.J. Tudor. C.J. Tudor never disappoints, and her latest is a great combination of murder mystery, thriller and thoughtful examination of racial prejudice, all set in a remote town in Alaska during one of the darkest times of winter. In Tudor’s […]
The nitty-gritty: Readers looking for the perfect fantasy/mystery will love Robert Jackson Bennett’s immersive world building and lively characters. “Perhaps it is a wise thing, to prepare for death every day, just as the Empire prepares for death every wet season.” I always love it when the first book in a new series works, and […]
The nitty-gritty: Constance Sayers’ latest is a beautifully written, complex story about movies, curses, monsters and fame. “You would be wise to not run around asking about the film. It prefers to live in the shadows.” Like Constance Sayers’ other books, The Star and the Strange Moon is a complex, character-driven story that moves back […]
The nitty-gritty: A haunted museum is the setting for Luke Dumas’ latest, a solid mystery story with supernatural elements. If you’re a dinosaur fan, and I mean if you love scientific facts about dinosaurs, you’ll probably enjoy The Paleontologist a lot. I thought I liked dinosaurs, but I have to admit parts of this book […]
The nitty-gritty: A perplexing mystery and a second chance romance set the stage for this engaging science fiction series starter. This was such a lovely, gentle story with unique world building, and I really enjoyed it. If the description “cozy mystery set in space with a queer love story” gets your attention, then you will […]
The nitty-gritty: Clever, outrageous, emotional, shocking and just plain entertaining, Daisy Darker is this summer’s must read thriller. “I think most murder mysteries are overrated,” Nana says. “There are much cleverer ways to end a person than killing them.” Alice Feeney has just rocketed to the top of my favorite authors list, and I’m so […]
The nitty-gritty: Dark and magical, You Let Me In surprised me in every way possible and is one of the best books I’ve read this year. Faeries are no fit company for the living; touching them taints you like a disease. I grew like a pale fruit in the shadows, small and bitter, never getting […]
The nitty-gritty: Tidhar’s latest is a challenging but ultimately satisfying read that deals with histories, both real and imagined. Reading a Lavie Tidhar book is like being in a fever dream. Events, characters, places and impressions swirl around you, creating a sense of unease, or confusion, or sadness. Tidhar pieces the parts of his stories […]
The nitty-gritty: An unexpectedly entertaining and emotional story, whose prison drama and tough characters outshine the paranormal story-line. The Girl with All the Gifts was a top ten read for me a couple of years ago, and so it was with great anticipation that I started M.R. Carey’s follow-up, Fellside. And while it didn’t completely blow […]