In NOS4A2, Joe Hill takes his remarkable eye for detail and applies it to a wide and expansive universe full of rich, memorable characters. The general throughline is Victoria McQueen and the discovery of inscapes. As a child, Victoria (or Brat, as her father calls her) finds out that if she rides her bike fast enough, she can make a demolished bridge appear that leads her to whatever she looking for. A fight with her parents leads her straight into trouble: a serial child abductor […]
Vampires on the Mississippi
If you
Badkittyuno’s Review #7: Fear Nothing by Dean Koontz
“Never leave a friend behind. Friends are all we have to get us through this life–and they are the only things from this world that we could hope to see in the next.” I love this book. I really do. I’m not certain why, really. Dean Koontz is a schmaltzy writer. He overuses analogies and some of them are rather bizarre. Many of his books have similar details — bad ass chicks, unlikely heroes, a golden retriever or two. They start to blur together after […]
Badkittyuno’s Review #6: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
“Rule number one: Always stick around for one more drink. That’s when things happen. That’s when you find out everything you want to know.” Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is probably the best of the (six) books I’ve read so far this year. I’m hardly surprised, since I loved The City of Falling Angels by Berendt as well. He has a great writing style that makes his stories easy to read, and hard to remember that they’re not fiction. The events of Midnight in […]
Prayers for the Last Page
Karen Nichols appears to have the picture perfect life, but she comes to Patrick Kenzie, PI, when she starts having problems with an aggressive stalker. (Quick side note: someone who reviewed this book on Goodreads kept referring to Karen’s “stocker” problem, which made it sound like someone was forcibly stocking her pantry). Patrick takes care of the stalker and goes on about his life. Six months later, Karen kills herself. Patrick takes it personally, assuming that he could have done something more to help her. […]
Holding a mirror to the South’s racist past
I don’t remember being tremendously impressed with Grisham’s more recent novels, but have always enjoyed his writing ability and his willingness to take on painful subjects, and so was excited to hear that he had done a sort of follow-up to A Time to Kill, one of his best. And while it did not disappoint, I have to admit that it lacked the high-octane appeal of earlier novels like The Pelican Brief and The Firm. But who says an author has to offer thrills and chills […]