Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

There Goes The Block

St. Marks Is Dead: The Many Lives of America's Hippest Street by Ada Calhoun

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I had already known I was going to like Ada Calhoun’s tapestry of St. Marks stories and lore by the time I got halfway through it. But it’s what she said when inserting herself that took it to another level for me. Calhoun was raised on the block through childhood and when talking about how chaotic and troublesome things were off St Marks in the 70s and 80s, she mentioned the resentment of some locals…including herself. That despite the great arts and music scene and […]

Scudder Re-Read #1: The Sins of the Fathers

The Sins of the Fathers by Lawrence Block

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For the next fourteen or so months (save February and March), I’m going to do a Matthew Scudder re-read. I love these books and I’ve been aching to revisit them. If I’m fortunate to live for a few years, I may do this with favored series. It’s good to revisit them, not as much too see what you missed the first time but to gain a deeper perspective of what drew you to them in the first place. The Sins of the Fathers is not the […]

Sigh…Vampires

No Dominion by Charlie Huston

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On Goodreads, there is a reviewer named Kemper (an alias). He has since retired, which is a shame because I love his reviews. He enjoys a lot of the same crime fiction I do. Anyway, Kemper had this tic I once found annoying in that he would write reviews by doing faux interviews with the authors of the books he read. He usually did this when he read something that wasn’t so good. I preferred reading his regular reviews. However, as I’ve written so many […]

November 2023 Leftovers

Catch and Release by Lawrence Block

We Do This 'til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice by Mariame Kaba

The League: How Five Rivals Created the NFL and Launched an Empire by John Eisenberg

Ghosts of West Baltimore by David Simmons

Mob Star: The Story of John Gotti by Gene Mustain and Jerry Capeci

Hit Me by Lawrence Block

Donnie Brasco by Joseph D. Pistone

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Happy Thanksgiving to all who observe! Catch and Release *** Been angling to read more LB lately so I figured I’d knock out this short story collection for my monthly HCC read. Sadly, the results were predictable: a repetition of serial killers, hit men and un-sexy sex. I just can’t sink my teeth into books featuring short stories and this one was no exception. I enjoyed visiting Matt and Mick at Grogan’s again and the last story was fun but beyond that? Who lotta eh and […]

Institutionalized

Boodroot by Bill Loehfelm

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For the life of me, I will never understand why Bill Loehfelm isn’t a bigger name in crime fiction. I first came across his Staten Island trilogy by accident, having seen The Devil She Knows on some random list or another. There aren’t many crime novels set on the Island so I figured I’d try it. It was one of my favorite reads of the year. I didn’t know at the time that it was his third Staten Island-set book featuring characters that were loosely connected a […]

Horror Month 2023: #6

The Darkness of Others by Cate Holahan

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Took a break from this season of horror reading to get to a thriller I’ve been meaning to check off the ol’ TBR. Mixed feelings on it. It was one of those roller coaster books. No it did not thrill me like a roller coaster. But the shape of my enjoyment went from flat to a high curve and back to flat again. Cate Holahan develops an intricate mystery here, even if large parts of it are predictable. And she imbues it with some quality […]



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