Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

About Jake

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I love reading! (Learn more about this Cannonballer: Jake's Quick Questions interview.)

Jake's Reviews:

Alaska Alas

City Under One Roof by Iris Yamashita

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When I looked up books similar to True Detective: Night Country, I couldn’t have known at the time that this would be what I was searching for. Alaska. Remote setting. Layered mystery. Suspicious locals. Detective with a troubled past. Check, check, check and check. This was one where I hurt myself trying to read and absorb as quickly as possible to get to the next page. Not surprising given that Iris Yamashita is a screenwriter. But having had mixed feelings in the past on screenwriters-turned-novelists, Yamashita […]

Not For The Children

The Legacy by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir

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Having written a ton on the problematic nature of villainous adoptees in crime fiction, I went into Yrsa Sigurðardóttir’s book with a healthy dose of skepticism that she could pull this off. I appreciate the authors work, having enjoyed The Last Ritual. I think she creates interesting characters and does a great job of bringing Iceland to life. But I kept hearing how twisty and shocking this was. And it involved three adoptees at the heart of the story. So my antennae was up. Did she […]

When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?

High John The Conqueror by Tariq Goddard

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I don’t know who I would recommend this book to at all but I know that person wouldn’t have otherwise been me. There’s a lot going on with this book: mystery, folk horror, urban wyrd (which is apparently an English subgenere), as well as running commentaries on police brutality and gentrification. I’m not sure it all works — and at times it is a bit wobbly — but I enjoyed reading it. There was something about Tariq Goddard’s storytelling that made me really connect with […]

Women In Power

The Great Mrs. Elias by Barbara Chase-Riboud

Domina: The Women Who Made Imperial Rome by Guy de la Bédoyère

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Over the week, I read two great accountings of women in power in very different contexts. It felt natural to include them both in one review. The Great Mrs. Elias **** I knew very little about Hannah Davis going into this, which helped as it read like a page-turner. Barbara Chase-Riboud does a great job in story form of presenting Hannah’s plight and the tough choices she had to make. The dialogue could’ve used some sprucing up, but otherwise, I really enjoyed this quality work of […]

Story ARC

Death Comes Too Late by Charles Ardai

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I received an advance reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.  I love Hard Case Crime novels. I do not always love short story collections. Short stories are fine for what they are: brief and occasionally visceral peaks into the window of whatever context they are examining. I prefer a long, drawn out tale to sink my teeth into, but I do appreciate those who can move an entertain with a limited scope. Given that the best noirs rely on sparseness, […]

New Old Beginnings

The Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Abercrombie

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Hmmm. I dunno about this one. I mean, it’s as well-written as anything else Abercrombie has done. It moves well, the plotting’s good. But as it is the finale of a second trilogy so closely tied to the first, it leads me to have to consider everything in bulk. The problem I have with the Age of Madness trilogy was realized about halfway through this one: I don’t care about most of these characters. Oreo and Savine are fun, I guess. Vick is somewhat interesting. […]



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