Dope by Sara Gran
Dope is such a solid crime novel that it makes me want to immediately clear my TBR pile and read Sara Gran’s entire catalogue. The problem with that is I’ve tried to read Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead so many times and have never been able to get into it. I just can’t connect with the inner monologue of the titular character. Which sucks because it’s doubtless that Sara Gran is a talented writer. I picked this one up when I saw it on a […]
China Trade by SJ Rozan
In a context-free vacuum, China Trade is a fine, entertaining mystery. I liked the characters, especially the lead and her partner (though the “Will they or won’t they?” aspect was annoying), the plot is fine, the Chinatown setting done well. It’s a good start to a series that would potentially lead to more. But… It’s really tough to get over the idea of a white person (SJ Rozan) writing a first-person perspective novel from the POV of a Chinese woman. Now don’t get me wrong: I think […]
Nelly Takes New York: A Little Girl’s Adventures in the Big Apple by Allison Pataki
There are a lot of literally pieces to the story Nelly Takes New York: A Little Girl’s Adventures in the Big Apple that I am not sure about or sure that I liked. These are things like Nelly wandering around modern New York City at about age eight or nine with only a cheeky beagle dog as a companion. And none of the adults think this odd. Now, I get that the vendor on the same street as Nelly would be someone she could speak […]
The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum
The Poisoner’s Handbook is one of those rare non-fiction books that reads more like fiction. The basic narrative follows the head medical examiner of New York City and his chief toxicologist as they essentially help invent forensic science during Prohibition. Each chapter focuses on the problems, mostly murders, that revolve around a particular chemical compound including chloroform, wood alcohol, arsenic, radium, carbon monoxide, and thallium. There’s a lot of chemistry involved but it’s explained in a way that someone who hasn’t taken the subject since […]
Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
I don’t know what it’s like to have Tourette’s Syndrome, nor do I know the specifics of how it manifests in human behavior. As far as I know, neither does Jonathan Lethem. There is a troubling history of able bodied people using illnesses and non-ableness to become magical healers and special problem solvers. So maybe this book is complete trash because Jonathan Lethem gets those aspects wrong. But from an ignorant perspective, I liked this one. And I liked it not because he had Tourette’s […]
As an avid book reader who appreciates a good series to dive into, it’s fun when you discover a writer whose voice you really enjoy. Though there are many issues with Walking the Perfect Square, I liked this one a lot. Reed Farrel Coleman has a great sense of time. His version of 70s New York City feels real and lived in. His main character, Moe Prager, is an interesting one. An Jewish ex-cop moonlighting here as a private eye for a high profile mystery case, […]
