Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

DO NOT READ THE BOOK JACKET! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

The Witch Elm by Tana French

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If you are in the least bit interested in this story- as an avid reader of Tana French or a curious newcomer- then heed the warning and DO NOT be tempted by the book jacket! The inciting action is described- in detail- right on the open flap of the cover, but you will spend a good 250 pages wandering around in wait. It will ruin one of the many surprises, and lend an unnecessary element of additional suspense to something that is already full of […]

In the Darkness of the Grave

The Witch Elm by Tana French

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My library has a program where you can borrow popular ebooks with absurdly long waitlists immediately, but you can only keep them 7 days. Luckily, The Witch Elm is the kind of mystery I absolutely tear through because I can’t handle the suspense. Toby Hennessey is the sort of guy who isn’t good at any one thing in particular, but who seems to always coast by and can talk his way out of any situation. After a night out drinking with friends, he’s awakened when […]

What do I read next, hivemind? (I Love This)

The Trespasser by Tana French

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I’m so in love with Tana French’s murder squad series that I temporarily convinced myself that I liked mysteries (keep a lookout for my Not In My Wheelhouse pick, which is almost certainly going to be one of two remaindered books I bought because I wanted more Tana French and have run out of her writing to read). I don’t know that I do, I just really like good writing, and French is amazing. So yeah, my “I Love This” isn’t the genre or the […]

Small Misunderstandings and Major Desillusions

Broken Harbour by Tana French

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Primarily, reviews are about preference: did I like this book? Was it good? Usually, the two converge; what is or what isn’t good is, after all, in the eye of the beholder. Occasionally, though, these two interlinked questions separate themselves. So what do you do when a book is very good, but you’re not sure you liked it? Experienced detective Michael “Scorcher” Kennedy is called to investigate an unusually grisly crime scene: at a half-finished housing development – abandoned during the financial crisis – a […]

Psycho Killer, Qu’est-ce que c’est?

In the Woods by Tana French

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Detective novels are a difficult concept to grasp, at some level. Why do we purposely seek out the sort of thing – violence, grisly murders, sex crimes, blood and viscera – we would do anything to avoid in real life? Then there are the tropes of the genre itself that work both for and against it, from the hyperconfident, competent yet over-empathic medical examiner to the tortured detective from a broken home and, more tellingly, the killer’s psychopathy. The majority of all murders are crimes […]

Our House, in the Middle of our Heath

The Likeness by Tana French

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I used to share a house with nine other people. They were cool people, all nine of them, but it was still far from perfect. I lacked a sense of privacy, even with my own room. I prefer going about things on my own. I can only imagine what it must have been like to spend every night in forceful merriment. In that sense, I tip my hat in the direction of the main character of The Likeness. Detective Cassandra “Cassie” Maddox receives a phone […]



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