Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

I finished


The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading


The Getaway by Jim Thompson

A Ticket to the Boneyard by Lawrence Block

Over the weekend I finished, My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones, an excellent slasher movie-inspired coming-of-age-novel. Gory in spots, but also funny. Short review here: /review/show...

Chainsaw is the first of a trilogy, so I'm now on to the second book, Don't Fear the Reaper.

I started reading


Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter

I finished our April group read


Clockers by Richard Price
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

3/5 stars
Coming out May 14, 2024
Please read my review linked below:

/review/show...

I finished another excellent noir crime novel by one of my favorite authors


The Getaway by Jim Thompson
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading


The Lion by Nelson DeMille

Currently reading Nobody Lives Forever by John Gardner.

200 pages into The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson. Read "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" 10 years ago or so, thought it was okay but could have been a lot better, so I've decided to read the 2 sequels out of curiosity. Liking "Played With Fire" A LOT more because way more things are going on, it focuses more on Liz Salander who is a more interesting character than the reporter guy, also involves more different countries with contrasting cultures (from Grenada to Russia) and a larger cast of more colourful characters.

4/5 stars

A serial killer is ridding the Florida streets of abusers.

Please read my review linked below:

/review/show...

Currently reading A Taint in the Blood by Dana Stabenow

4/5 stars

A look into the possibility that they got the wrong man for the crimes.

Please read my review linked below:

/review/show...

I finished this month's group read:


Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

I finished the fifth book in the John Corey series, a disappointing follow-up to The Lion's Game


The Lion by Nelson DeMille
Rating: 2 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading the third book in a hard-boiled detective series written by a noted Fantasy author


The Man Who Tried to Get Away by Stephen R. Donaldson originally published under the pseudonym Reed Stephens

I'm having a good time with the third Harry McCoy book set in Glasgow in 1973: Bobby March Will Live Forever. Alan Parks throws a lot of curveballs at the reader, setting up some unrelated cases falling on the desk of his morally ambiguous detective only to work at merging all of them into a grand conspiracy.

I may have to check that out. I'll be going to Glasgow in a few months and want to get a feel for the city. I'm currently reading Slip of the Knife by Denise Mina.

Tom wrote: "I may have to check that out. I'll be going to Glasgow in a few months and want to get a feel for the city. I'm currently reading Slip of the Knife by Denise Mina."

For what it's worth, The Cutting Room by Louise Welsh is also set in Glasgow. Can't recall what year, though.

I finished this short novel about bitter disappointment and the American Dream


The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

I finished the overrated thriller (now a streaming series!)


Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Rating: 3 stars
Review: /review/show...

Also, I finished the disappointing third installment in the Mick Axebrewder and Ginny Fistoulari hard-boiled Private Eye series


The Man Who Tried to Get Away by Stephen R. Donaldson
Rating: 2 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading the first book in the Marseilles Trilogy


Total Chaos by Jean-Claude Izzo

I finished Stephen King's first short-story collection


Night Shift by Stephen King
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started another short story collection, this one with a book cover that looks like it was assembled by a three year-old with blunt-nosed scissors and a crusty bottle of Elmer's Glue


The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson

I finished up The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau for another reading group. Interesting character study for sure.

/review/show...

RJ- Slayer of Trolls, I’m seeing this on the app, so there might be more to your message that doesn’t show. Was it Night Shift, and what did you think of it?

3/5 stars
A dense FBI procedural that delves into twins.

Please read my review linked below:

/review/show...

Lawrence wrote: "RJ- Slayer of Trolls, I’m seeing this on the app, so there might be more to your message that doesn’t show. Was it Night Shift, and what did you think of it?"

Yes, it was Night Shift. I really enjoyed it. I hadn't read anything by King but a few years ago I started reading his work from oldest to newest (next up: The Stand). I was surprised by how much I liked some of the stories in the book. The novel Salem's Lot I thought was just OK but the two stories in the collection set before and after the events of the novel were two of my favorites. Thumbs up from me.

I read Night Shift when it came out. My brother would get every King book as it was published so I was able to get in on them after he read them. I reread Night Shift and stories such as The Mangler and what was it, Rats(?) we’re chilling. There were a few others too. Agreed…top notch.

I read Maximum Bob by Elmore Leonard earlier this summer since I missed his distinctive blend of convoluted unpredictable plotting that's nonetheless easy to understand as well as his excellent balance of humour and suspense. Really liked it, a bit sillier in tone than Leonard's other novels I've read, will probably write a review for it. It's clear that Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie borrowed SO MANY of Leonard's tricks.

Simon, funny you should mention Tarantino & Guy Ritchie together. I've always thought of Ritchie as the British Tarantino. If you're a Ritchie fan, I can highly recommend his Netflix series The Gentlemen.

I'm a fan of Leonard's writing too. He nails the dialog and characterizations, as do Tarantino and Ritchie. Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing is a good read.

I still think Leonard nailed the balance between humour on one hand, serious drama and suspense on the other, better than either Tarantino or Ritchie did in most of their films even in Leonard's more overtly humourous novels. (like "Maximum Bob")

It's probably no coincidence that the one of Tarantino's films that is based on a Leonard novel, "Jackie Brown", is by far the most serious and least inside-jokey in tone.

I’ve been wanting to get into Leonard’s canon. Haven’t read any of his stuff but familiar with his titles. Which book would you guys recommend for a novice? Thanks.

I started with "Out of Sight", probably helped that I hadn't seen the film yet when I read it however. Then I read "Pronto" and its sequel "Riding the Rap".

Right now I have started reading the omnibus version of Alejandro Jodorowsky and Zoran Janjetov's "Before the Incal" which is the prequel series to "The Incal", a comic book following a private detective in a surrealistic cyberpunk future who gets involved in lots of intrigue involving a ton of rivalling political revolutionary movements, religious sects and galactic empires fighting over holy relics. The prequel in part tells how the protagonist ends up embarking on such a career in the first place.

Philip wrote: "I’ve been wanting to get into Leonard’s canon. Haven’t read any of his stuff but familiar with his titles. Which book would you guys recommend for a novice? Thanks."

I first read Get Shorty and I really enjoyed it. The film version is terrific too. The most recent of his I read was Swag and I really liked that one too. Later this year I'll be reading Swag's "sequel," Stick.

I finished the first in the "Mediterranean Noir" Marseilles Trilogy


Total Chaos by Jean-Claude Izzo
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading the Cold War classic


The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré

Also, I finished the Horror/Suspense classic


The Other by Thomas Tryon
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading a Science-Fiction novel that I understand was adapted as a film


Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle

Simon wrote: "Right now I have started reading the omnibus version of Alejandro Jodorowsky and Zoran Janjetov's "Before the Incal" which is the prequel series to "The Incal", a comic book following a private det..."

I finished the original series for Incal recently and was considering other comics set in the same universe. Would you say the storytelling and the artwork of the prequel are comparable to the original?

Haven't finished the omnibus so I can't yet judge the storytelling. I will say that regarding John DiFool's youth there are some interesting callbacks to Jodorowsky's 1989 film "Santa Sangre", like him being raised by a persecuted new religious movement preaching to society's outcasts after the death of his parents. Regarding the art I would say it's better than the recoloured omnibus version of the Incal, but not on par with the original versions with their bright psychedelic colours. (which are a key part of its appeal for me, hence why I don't understand Moebius deciding to recolour it for the omnibus)

I’m reading the ARC Blood Like Mine by Stuart Neville and really enjoying it.

I'm also 180 pages into The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson, because I've been wanting to read the entire trilogy for a while. I'm actually finding the 2nd and 3rd books more interesting than "Dragon Tattoo", which I can gather is an unpopular opinion, simply because they focus more on Liz Salander than Mikael Blomkvist and I find her a much more interesting character. I also like that they go all in on exploring Sweden's history during the Cold War.

I'm making my way through Miami Purity, a pulp fiction romp. Racy is an understatement. There is as much sex in this book as there are poor life choices. This has been a recommended book by Justin and Kurt at the Point Blank podcast.

Sounds like an interesting novel, and one that could be a sorta-sequel to Elmore Leonard's "Maximum Bob" as one of the things that set the plot into motion is an exotic dancer in Miami making a decision that she probably shouldn't have done.

5/5 stars

Silvia Moreno-Garcia has crafted another gem of a book.

Please read my review linked below:

/review/show...

I've noticed she is an author people either love or hate with no middle ground

Halfways through Jodorowsky and Janjetov's "Before the Incal" omnibus.

Now that we see the start of John Difool's career as a private investigator, I like that this allows Jodorowsky to do way more classic noir detective stuff when we got to see JDF so in the original "Incal" comics and sometimes do a better job at it. Complete with femmes fatales that turn out to be not what they seem, rivalling upper class families and factions within the Pit City's surveillance state manipulating and double-crossing each other, as well as the overall feel being different than the original "Incal" because it's the internal politics of the Pit City not the fate of the universe they're fighting over. The storytelling and worldbuilding alike here go into "depth" rather than "width".

More than anything else, it feels like a larger scale version of Moebius' "The Long Tomorrow" - fewer space opera elements and more focus on the future noir. I am also more and more impressed by Zoran Janjetov's artwork, he gets so much depth out of the panels often showing off many different imaginary future architectural+fashion+design styles hinting at a vast variety of fictional cultures with each their distinctive sensibility, and different life styles across the various social classes of the future society depicted, as well as his command of colour contrasts in picture compositions.

Something else I found interesting is that JDF goes through several different mentor figures that each require him to adjust to a new life path and worldview. I'm reminded of the different master gunfighters in Jodorowsky's film "El Topo", each with their own skillset and philosophy that the protagonist has to defeat, this element of the narrative might have been inspired by the Kabbalah's path of initiation with each master corresponding to a Sephirah on the Tree of Life. (that is a new emanation of the divine matching to a specific faculty of the human mind)

As you can guess, I am definitely tickled pink and curious about finishing it and afterwards the "Final Incal" series that Jodorowsky wrote as a sequel to the Incal, illustrated by a 3rd artist whose name I can't remember.

Hi, RJ - we have completely different opinions on this one! I do agree that it takes a patient reader. Here's my review:

/review/edit...

Maybe I'm impatient, as there is never enough time! There are many novels where patience is rewarded, but for me, The Other is not one of them.

Done with "Before the Incal". I find it very interesting that the entire conflict in which John Difool, along with the rebellious daughter of an important upper class family on his planet, involves himself in turns out to have been all for naught and both have to start all over afterwards. Where it turns out that their real fate is the storyline seen in the original "Incal" over the spiritual fate of the entire universe NOT anything confined to their own planet. Near the end, we see JDF being set up for his role in that by Animah and Tanatah. (who represent the light and dark divine feminine respectively)

As usual it's worth reading just for all the weird crazy worldbuilding ideas that Jodorowsky dreams up, he can throw in more interesting concepts in one panel or brief subplot than most authors have in their entire careers.

I've started a Southern Noir thriller that promises some supernatural elements later on. It's called 'The Listener' and it's written by one of my favorite authors, Robert McCammon.
The opening chapters introduce a confidence trickster [hearse chaser] and a femme fatale in 1934 Georgia, preparing for a major heist/crime in New Orleans later on. It looks like I will have an interesting and scary weekend ahead.

Girard wrote: "Hi, RJ - we have completely different opinions on this one! I do agree that it takes a patient reader...."

Different opinions are great and always welcome. I couldn't access your review though - I think you might want to check that link.

I finished my re-read of the Cold War espionage classic


The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré
Rating: 4 stars
Review: /review/show...

and I started reading Dan Brown's second novel


Deception Point by Dan Brown

This book was exactly what I needed to read; a short crime thriller that really packs a punch. It's gritty, fast-paced and pulls off an intense and suspenseful plot with style. It was so easy to binge-read!

Despite it being a shorter read, it has everything you could want; characters you love and love to hate, a complex romance, gun fights, car chases, gore, death, you name it. The author’s writing style had me gripped, with descriptions that effortlessly transport you into any scene. A thrilling, intense and engrossing read.