A classic noir novel by the author of Rosemary’s Baby and The Stepford WivesA handsome young sociopathic decides to set himself up by romancing and marrying a young woman with a rich father; unfortunately, this plan depends on him not getting her pregnant until after they’re safely married. When he gets her pregnant before she’s even told her ( Read more... )

My zero-to-fling with great prejudice occurred on PAGE ONE of Murder at the ABA by Isaac Asimov, temptingly blurbed "sudden death at the publishing world's glittering annual convention." How could that premise, written by a publishing veteran like Asimov, be anything other than delightful ( Read more... )

The important thing is to carry the sun with you, inside of you at every moment, against the darkness. For there will be a great and terrifying darkness.

- The Maze in the Heart of the Castle. (Epigraph to The Tightrope Walker ( Read more... )

I recently got to meet Layla (Sholio), which was just as awesome as I’d imagined. While we were on a long drive, we somehow managed to figure out that we’d loved the same book as kids, which was some kind of miracle as I couldn’t remember the title or most identifying details, she had gotten it with a missing first chapter, and it has editions with ( Read more... )

Lucy Culpepper, an orphan pianist with a heart condition and crossed incisors that make her look like a squirrel, was raised by her asshole uncle who squanders her inheritance. All she wants is to study piano from a dying pianist in England, but she can't afford to go... until said asshole uncle sends her on a wild goose chase to see if her ninety- ( Read more... )

In six months, Earth will be destroyed by a giant asteroid and everyone will die. Society is slowly disintegrating, with many services gone and lots of people bailing from their jobs or committing suicide. But some people are still hanging on... and one new detective is tackling his first murder case. But if everyone is going to be dead in six ( Read more... )

Koontz tends to write books with absolutely killer hooks and intros, but is much more uneven about middles and conclusions that live up to them. I am still annoyed that The Bad Place, which has the wonderful premise of a contemporary man who travels to an unknown planet or land in his sleep, sometimes bringing back riches and sometimes terrors, ( Read more... )

I have been re-reading Agatha Christie mysteries. In some cases, the last time I read them was thirty years ago (I was very fond of them as a child) and so I might as well have been reading them for the first time. Or maybe I am reading some for the first time. Who knows ( Read more... )

Slavery shaped Benjamin January’s life; he and his sister Olympe were born slaves, before his mother was purchased as a mistress. It’s been a prominent part of the background of previous books. But it takes center stage here, when the man Ben least wants to meet again- Fourchet, his cruel previous owner- offers to hire him to go undercover as a ( Read more... )

Benjamin January # 3! This one was way less grim than Fever Season. I realize that's easy to say, so I will give it an independent grimness rating ( Read more... )