This book was reviewed for the Manhattan Book Review What do you get if you toss hard-boiled detective fiction, and lore of the Great Old Ones into a blender? The answer is Cassandra Khaw’s Lovecraftian noir Hammers on Bone. When John Persons is approached by a kid who wants to hire him to kill […]
Tag: novel
Book Review: Gilded Cage by Vic James
This book was reviewed for the San Francisco and Seattle Book Reviews & Netgalley Vic James has woven a vision of a dystopic alter-earth where certain people, known as Equals or the Skilled, have magical abilities. In some countries, the Equals rule to the exclusion of others. Great Britain is one such country. […]
Book Review: Confessions of Young Nero by Margaret George
George’s Confessions of Young Nero humanises an oft demonised ghost from distant ages past, he who ‘fiddled’ whilst Rome burned. We follow Nero’s musings about his childhood, and see how known and suspected events likely shaped the real Nero’s life. This is the first of a pair of books, unusual for George, who specialises in […]
Book Review: Himself by Jess Kidd
**This book was reviewed for Port Jericho via Netgalley Kidd’s Himself tells the tale of Mahoney, an orphan come from Dublin to the provincial village of Mulderrig in search of his past and the truth of his mother’s apparent abandonment of him. Mulderrig is a quiet town, harbouring hidden secrets, secrets ready to burst forth […]
Book Review: Lockwood & Co: The Creeping Shadow by Jonathan Stroud
This book was reviewed for the Manhattan Book Review I am sad to admit that Lockwood and Co: The Creeping Shadow was my first foray into Stroud’s Lockwood books. I absolutely adore his Bartimaeus series. Stroud has a true gift for weaving tales of gritty magic, and stringent societies, complete with strong females, and […]
Book Review: The Far Shore by Paul T Scheuring
This book was reviewed for the San Francisco Book Review **Warning: graphic description of war situations, including torture. With The Far Shore, Scheuring has woven a tale that traverses time itself. It is the slow stitching together of a person’s life, quilted from memories of the distant past, giving shape, form, substance to […]
Book Review: Hungry Ghosts by Stephen Blackmoore
This book was reviewed via Netgalley Hungry Ghosts is third in S Blackmoore’s Eric Carter series. Our opening finds Eric cutting a swath through Mexico, looking for Tabitha, erstwhile ally & sometimes foe. A zigzag of connect the dots puts him back in Mexico City, in the heart of Santa Muerte worship. From […]
Book Review: Prospect for Murder by Jean Burrows-Johnson
This book was reviewed for San Francisco Book Review Burrows-Johnson’s cozy mystery Prospect for Murder is set in the Hawai’ian Islands, proving that even Paradise has its dark side. We begin with the odd occurrence of our protagonist having a psychic vision. Both she and her brother have unique gifts, different yet complementary. Sadly, […]
Book Review: Camouflage: List and Found by Mariyam Hasnain
I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review *Warning- novella has some explicit/graphic sexual scenes bordering into erotica. The book’s description did not prepare me for that. Camouflage: Lost and Found, by Mariyam Hasnain, is a quick little psychological thriller filled with romance and deception. Mark Statler […]
Book Review: Plague Charmer by Karen Maitland
This book was reviewed via Netgalley Maitland’s The Plague Charmer is a historical fiction set in 1361 England, during the second wave of the Black Death. Porlock Weir, and its governing seat of Porlock Manor sit along the Exmoor coast. After a fierce storm lashes the coast, a woman is pulled from the […]