I was craving some Stephen King, but couldn’t decide which of his novels to tackle next, so instead, I figured I fill that need with some short stories, and fug into his first published collection, which gathered a variety of different tales under the title of Night Shift. I remember seeing the paperback cover as…
Category: The Book Shelf
Heat 2 (2022) – Michael Mann & Meg Gardiner
Iconic Holywood writer/director Michael Mann pairs up with acclaimed novelist Meg Gardiner to revisit and expand on the world of cop Vincent Hanna, thieves Neil McCauley and Chris Shiherlis and the pursuit of their goals before and after the events portrayed in the 1995 film. Coiled like a spring, this crime thriller ratchets up the…
Midnight: A Walking Shadows Novel (2021) – Brenden Carlson
Dundurn Press delivers more pulp retro-future noir with Brenden Carlson’s second novel in his Walking Shadows series, Midnight. Following up on Night Call, the narrative picks up a short time after, as we join Elias Roche, detective, hit-man. A man who walks a very narrow line of justice, balancing his work with the 5th Precinct…
Night Call: A Walking Shadows Novel (2020) – Brenden Carlson
Brenden Carlson’s Night Call, available from Dundurn Press is set in the past, an alternate 1933, and yet in describing it, I lean towards the phrase retro-future noir. We are introduced to the cynical hard-boiled detective, Elias Roche, who is haunted by an incident in his past and walks a fine line between the law…
The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy (2022) – Megan Bannen
I’ll be honest, The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy, available now from Orbit Books hit me like a sucker punch. I didn’t know what I expected from this whimsical, playful tale, but what I did not expect was a genre mash-up that at its heart (or Hart) riffed on the classic tale told in Shop…
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003) – Mark Haddon
This book has been sitting on my ‘to be read’ pile for a while, but it felt like now was the time to dig into it, and I was delighted to do so. Haddon introduces us to fifteen-year-old Christopher. He is autistic, has his likes and dislikes, and is brilliant at math and problem-solving. He…
The Monsters We Defy (2022) – Leslye Penelope
Orbit Books conjures a magical and engaging tale with Leslye Penelope’s The Monsters We Defy. While arguably a supernatural heist story, that descriptor merely scratches the surface of the tale as we are introduced to an array of characters, united by Clara Johnson in the vibrant setting of 1920s Washington, D.C. Clara was born with…
Eversion (2022) – Alastair Reynolds
Alastair Reynolds takes the reader on an epic journey across time. Tinging his new tale, Eversion, with hints of Verne, Lovecraftian cosmic horror, O’Brien, and 50s sci-fi Reynolds introduces us to Silas Coade, ship’s doctor, We slide through time, across a variety of vehicles, sailing ships, airships, and spacecraft, but it is always the same…
The Saturday Night Ghost Club (2018) – Craig Davidson
A too-short novel that handles the delicacy of memory, nostalgia, growing up in the 80s, and ghost stories. Craig Davidson’s poignant and engaging The Saturday Night Ghost Club is an emotional and compelling read. Jake, the story’s narrator relates to the reader a coming-of-age summer as he, his new best friend, the friend’s sister, and…
The Facts of Death (1998) – Raymond Benson
James Bond is back. Building off his previous short story, Blast From the Past, the novel, Zero Minus Ten, and his adaptation of Tomorrow Never Dies, author Raymond Benson thrusts 007 into another globetrotting adventure that takes him from London to Texas, and Cyprus in an attempt to stop a viral outbreak and a growing…
The Mind Reels 