Voilà à quoi ressemble Killarney à l’aube de ce siècle nouveau. Il y a des bagels. Et c’est le genre d’endroit dans lequel elles viennent prendre un café : un bistrot élégant, bien éclairé, minimaliste, avec des tableaux de bon goût sur les murs, des décorations végétales spectrales en forme de bâtons sur les tables et … Continue reading Review of “Killarney Blues” in Le Soir
Review of DEATH IN THE FACE: “The Last Man Standing”
Review by Marvin Minkler: @MarvinMinklerModernFirstEditions "Quite alone, yet somehow quite happy, Hector drove on through the sweet-smelling autumn rain, back to his home and family." This one true sentence, from the ending of the newly finished novel, Death in the Face, by Craig McDonald, an Edgar and Anthony Awards Finalist, brought to a close my … Continue reading Review of DEATH IN THE FACE: “The Last Man Standing”
A new review of Craig McDonald’s “The Running Kind”
The Running Kind reviewed by Marvin Minkler of Modern First Editions No happy ending ever started in a bar. After the tumultuous events that took place on the world's stage during World War II, and after, in the last Hector Lassiter novel I read, and my ninth, Roll The Credits, expectations were a bit lower … Continue reading A new review of Craig McDonald’s “The Running Kind”
An unmissable book at an unbeatable price
Bring New York on holidays with you with this August promotion of Richard Kalich's Central Park West Trilogy : it's only £0.99 on Amazon UK until the end of the month! *** – So we are going to do this like a courtroom drama, or an interrogation? – Yes. We are. We are indeed. – Why? – Because most … Continue reading An unmissable book at an unbeatable price
If you haven’t read Richard Kalich yet, this should convince you to start
An American Master ***** Richard Kalich is an American novelist who creates brilliant and accomplished works of fiction that deal with themes of cruelty and obsession . Although Kalich’s work is informed by the earlier works of the European avant garde, his exploration of the current era is as American and up-to-date as the latest … Continue reading If you haven’t read Richard Kalich yet, this should convince you to start
Review of Richard Kalich’s Penthouse F
Colin O’Sullivan about PENTHOUSE-F by Richard Kalich
– So we are going to do this like a courtroom drama, or an interrogation?
– Yes. We are. We are indeed.
– Why?
– Because most of the book is done in that style.
– I see. Was the book impressive?
– Yes, very impressive. Mr. Kalich is a great writer.
– And he appears in the book too?
– Yes, if it really is him, if you know what I mean…you can call the book postmodern, or that he uses meta-narratives or…
– That all sounds a bit confusing.
– In theory yes, but it’s a very entertaining book. Says a lot about writing. And the creative process. It’s playful, but not flippant. We’re dealing with a serious artist here.
– Oh, really?
– “He’s an idiot. So disconnected . . . conflicted . . . torn apart.”
– What?
– Just joking. That’s actually a quote from the book. He often sidesteps you like that. Reminds you of…
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Colin O’Sullivan’s review of THE NIHILESTHETE by Richard Kalich
Review of The Nihilesthete, by Richard Kalich (Betimes Books)
When social-worker Haberman finds a limbless wheelchair-bound man observing a street artist, it’s as if all his birthdays have come at once. He can now set about the task that he may always have been destined for, to take this unfortunate victim under his monstrous wing and systematically abuse him (mentally and spiritually) until he is somehow sated.
Why does he do this? What unfortunate events in his past have compelled him to carry out such atrocities? Wrong question. It’s like asking how Winnie got buried in sand in Beckett’s “Happy Days”: the fact is that she just happens to be buried in sand; the fact is that Haberman just happens to be this way, like Simenon’s Frank Friedermaier in Dirty Snow perhaps, bad to the bone. Those looking for easy armchair-psychology rationalizations have come to the wrong anti-hero.
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A review of “The Great Pretender”, book 4 in the “wildly ambitious series about Hector Lassiter”
http://blog.vincekeenan.com/2014/12/books-recent-reading-roundup.html The Great Pretender, by Craig McDonald. I’ve been a fan of McDonald’s sprawling, wildly ambitious series about Hector Lassiter, the two-fisted novelist who trucks with twentieth century luminaries, from the outset. Pretender finds Hector in pursuit of the Spear of Destiny, last seen in Hellboy and Constantine, and tangling with Nazis, witches and, most contentious of all, Orson Welles. McDonald … Continue reading A review of “The Great Pretender”, book 4 in the “wildly ambitious series about Hector Lassiter”
Publisher’s Weekly praises Craig McDonald’s new novel FOREVER’S JUST PRETEND!
Publishers Weekly on FOREVER'S JUST PRETEND: "Entertaining...a must read for series fans and a solid introduction for new readers." http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-9926552-9-7
Electronic Book Review about Charlie P (CENTRAL PARK WEST TRILOGY)
About Charlie P, one of the novels in CENTRAL PARK WEST TRILOGY by Richard Kalich: "There is little that resembles a plot, nor is there the kinds of tensions elicited by the more 'conventional' novel. Yet there is still a world, consistent in its inconsistency, and in that world a life, however unlived. In effect, Charlie … Continue reading Electronic Book Review about Charlie P (CENTRAL PARK WEST TRILOGY)
“Hogan’s adept storytelling makes us ponder our spiritual essence.”
About THE LAST ISLAND in a Greek American newspaper The Greek Star: http://www.thegreekstar.com/index.php/art-literature/item/2455-book-review-the-last-island Novel Explores Themes of Redemption, Escape, Love, Our Flawed Nature Playwright David Hogan offers an intriguing novel, “The Last Island,” based on a fictional Greek island in the Sporades. The Bostonian who lived in Athens for many years and has spent much … Continue reading “Hogan’s adept storytelling makes us ponder our spiritual essence.”
How to fail (at) fiction and influence everybody: review of one of the novels from Central Park West Trilogy
"This is a book that will throw you back into an energetic relationship with the process of reading fiction". --Christopher Leise about Richard Kalich Read more: http://www.electronicbookreview.com/thread/fictionspresent/moist
Review of PENTHOUSE F (CENTRAL PARK WEST TRILOGY)
About one of the novels in CENTRAL PARK WEST TRILOGY: "An important book that dismantles the reader, leaving you in fragmented bits and pieces like the barbed clips that make up the novel’s structure." Read more: http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/watcher-manipulator/
The Rap Sheet competition: Forever’s Just Pretend
"While no overt historical personages haunt the pages of Forever’s Just Pretend, the crimes that drive the plot are based on a real cycle of murders and arsons that rocked 1920s America. Now, here’s a challenge to all you Lassiter series readers: the first three people who can correctly identify the inspiration for the “Key … Continue reading The Rap Sheet competition: Forever’s Just Pretend
“Sharp”, “hilarious”, “observant”, “entertaining”: SILK, of course!
"The writing is sharp and humorous. Mallon is a very observant author and her heroine Kat negotiates her way through a world it's clear her creator knows a lot about. In particular the passages in Italy made me feel as if I were there myself, without having to get on the plane to go there." … Continue reading “Sharp”, “hilarious”, “observant”, “entertaining”: SILK, of course!
The Last Island: “an unforgettable experience”…
A new review of David Hogan's beautiful novel:" The Last Island delivers smoothly an unforgettable experience you won't get anywhere else." Full review here: http://thereaderandthechef.blogspot.ie/2014/08/book-review-last-island-by-david-hogan.html?m=1
Raven Crime Reads about Kevin Stevens’ novel REACH THE SHINING RIVER
"Not only a solid murder mystery, but equally a colourful and thought-provoking study of a moment in time. With the rhythm and cadence of the prose, echoing the blues soundtrack that underscored the whole book, Stevens easily achieved that balance between crime fiction and literary fiction due to his exceptional characterisation and engaging prose." Full … Continue reading Raven Crime Reads about Kevin Stevens’ novel REACH THE SHINING RIVER
Book Review: Killarney Blues by Colin O’Sullivan
Thoughtful and beautiful review of KILLARNEY BLUES
Crime writer Sheila Bugler about Sam Hawken’s novel LA FRONTERA
La Frontera is a heart-breaking novel of corruption, broken dreams and the indominatable power of the human spirit. Set in the harsh, desert landscape of the borderland between Texas and Mexico, the novel is, at its heart, an exploration of the socio-economic conditions that force millions of people to enter the US illegally in search … Continue reading Crime writer Sheila Bugler about Sam Hawken’s novel LA FRONTERA
La Frontera Review – Raven Crime Reads
Following in the tradition of his first two novels, The Dead Women of Juarez and Tequilla Sunset, Hawken brings another glorious and affecting Mexico influenced novel with La Frontera. Cleverly intertwining three distinct and separate stories, Hawken manages to encompass the essential ills of South American and Mexican life, showing the desperation of those keen to … Continue reading La Frontera Review – Raven Crime Reads
