My head was in a very bad place after reading this book. That’s not to say that it wasn’t a great book, but plot is so serpentine and gritty it makes the 1997 film version look like a Pixar short (opening sequence of Up notwithstanding). James Ellroy’s vision of 1950s Los Angeles is dark, mean and merciless. There are no “good guys.” There are only hard, jaded men whose demons push them to pursue some form of justice and none of them come away […]
“I looked at the gun and the gun looked at me.”
To kick off my CBR 9 reviews, a few opening remarks: This is my third year participating in CBR. I love it and the community around it. I’m glad to help raise money for ACS to fight cancer, and I strongly encourage everyone to visit this site and click through to Amazon from the links. My ratings system is pretty simple. Five stars means I love the book and give copies to people to evangelize how good it is. Three stars means I liked it […]
“A thousand times more crimes have been committed in the name of love than in the name of hate.”
Sidney Sheldon is an author who I was always aware of, but never really thought to read. Philistine that I am, I can thank the good ol’ TV for turning me on to this book: It was mentioned in HBO’s The Night Of as one of the most popular books among Rikers inmates, “for obvious reasons.” Being familiar neither with this book nor jail, my curiosity was piqued. The book alternates between two narrative viewpoints. The first is Noelle Page, the most beautiful girl in […]
“What did it matter where you lay once you were dead? You were sleeping the big sleep.”
The biggest mistake I made when reading this 1939 hardboiled detective classic was that I checked it out from the library. There were so many clever or insightful passages that I wanted to underline but I couldn’t. Since I am a good citizen, I didn’t mark up the library book. Still, I had so much fun reading this one. Even though it’s over seventy-five years old, the book pops with intriguing characters, real danger, and straight razor dialogue. While I don’t have my favorite quotes and […]
1940s Hollywood Noir for $6
That night began just like every other night. I sat in my car. My car sat in an empty parking lot. The black grit some barista had the nerve to call coffee kept me warm enough. Headlights flashed through my passenger-side windows. I perked up and turned down the radio as a Jeep pulled into the parking lot and cruised over in my general direction. He was late, as usual. If he’s always late, and I show up early, am I the one with the problem? […]
Death and Mayhem (Or, This Book Title Does Not Rhyme)
Read Harder wanted me to read a book by an author from Southeast Asia. A little google sleuthing turned up the book Singapore Noir edited by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, a native of Singapore, who in her introduction to the collection lays out the Singapore the world is familiar with as well as the Singapore explored in this work. What better way to complete the task than to read a collection of stories by authors hailing from, or simply familiar with, the area in question? And […]