criminolly's reviews
2419 reviews

The Gathering by C.J. Tudor

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

The concept of ‘The Gathering’ is an interesting one. Vampires are real, but a protected minority who live in settlements separate from humans, surviving on animal blood and often subject to discrimination.
Set a mystery novel against this backdrop and you have a fun ride. The lore is well handled and the mystery unfolds at just the right pace. The Alaskan setting works perfectly and the cast of characters (especially heroine Barbara) are convincing and engaging. 

Murder by Death by Neil Simon, H.R.F. Keating

2.0

I haven’t seen the movie this is based on (one of those high concept, star studded 70s comedies) and suspect if I had I might have enjoyed this more. The premise is fun - a reclusive millionaire who hates detectives invites a bunch of them to his mansion to solve a murder - and there were some individually funny lines, but it largely failed to entertain me. I suspect it worked better on screen, with the various stars hamming it up, but as a book it was probably always doomed to failure. 

L.A. Noire: The Collected Stories by Lawrence Block, Andrew Vachss, Jonathan Santlofer, Joe R. Lansdale, Francine Prose, Joyce Carol Oates, Megan Abbott, Duane Swierczynski

dark mysterious

4.0

An unexpected gem. This is a collection of short stories inspired by the video game LA Noire. These are punchy, pulpy, crime shorts from some great writers, including Lawrence Block, Andrew Vachss and Joe R Lansdale. For me the highlights were Joyce Carol Oates’ excellent tale of a friendship between Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Short (the victim of the Black Dahlia murder) and Francine Prose’s wonderful story of an acting class that teaches movie actors who to be convincing murderers. 

Apartment 16 by Adam L.G. Nevill

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

‘Apartment 16’ is a chillingly effective horror novel about weird goings on centring on a London apartment building. Apryl, a young American woman has come to London to sort out the affairs of her great aunt, a resident of the building who has died. Meanwhile, Seth is a young man with a troubled past who works as a security guard there. The interweaving narrative sees the two investigate the increasingly strange events at the block and delve into its dark history.
Like all the Adam Nevill books I’ve read, there’s a deep creepiness here. He is particularly good at describing the unusual, giving you just enough to get your mind working overtime to fill in the details. 
The book is maybe a tad longer than it needed to be, but that’s a small criticism of an otherwise excellent horror story. It’s tense, compelling and darkly enjoyable. 

The Witnesses Are Gone by Joel Lane, Conrad Williams

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a hard book to review. It’s beautifully written, thoughtful and very creepy. Narratively, it’s deceptively sprawling for such a short work, covering the ground of a much larger book. It goes everywhere and nowhere, which might be a problem if the other elements of the books weren’t so well done. 
The story is simple and very similar to Theodore Roszak’s much longer ‘Flicker’. The lead character watches an obscure, unsettling film and then spends the rest of the book trying to find out more about its director. ‘All the Witnesses Are Gone’ is much more unsettling. There’s something in Lane’s writing that really gets under your skin and I suspect it’s a book that will linger with me longer than I’d like it to. 

Rumpole of the Bailey by John Mortimer

funny

3.0

This was my first taste of Rumpole in written form, although I definitely watched at least a few episodes of the TV adaptation back in the 80s. He’s the narrator of these stories, a London barrister reflecting back in his career and some of the legal cases he was involved in. There’s a great deal of humour here and a wry dissection of British life and justice. Add to that some very memorable and well drawn characters and you have an enjoyable collection that was fun to spend time with. 

Doctor Who: Wild Blue Yonder by Mark Morris

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

A very enjoyable novelisation of an above average Doctor Who episode. This one has the Doctor and Donna on an abandoned spaceship at the edge of the universe. There’s a solid central mystery, a race against time element and some very creepy monsters. Mark Morris does a good job of adapting the story - he captures the Who vibe and characters perfectly and the narrative has real tension. One scene in particular improved upon the episode in my opinion, taking something that was at least in part played for laughs on screen and making it much creepier. 

Blood Standard by Laird Barron

4.0

My first Laird Barron, but it won’t be my last. This was a dark thriller with the kind of determined, unstoppable, but broken hero I love. Isaiah Coleridge is an enforcer for the mob in Alaska who falls out of favour and ends up semi-exiled to rural New York State. There he gets involved in the search for a missing local girl. 
It’s a classic mystery set up and Coleridge is a great lead, as capable with his fists as he is with his brain. There’s a wildness to him that always feels only just contained and he takes just as much brutality as he dishes out. 
The book’s depiction of America is similar. A wild place where violence (either natural or man made) is never far away. 
It’s a great read, gripping, action packed, dark and at times very funny. There’s a richness and thoughtfulness to the prose which you don’t always get in books like this and it makes for a memorable read. 
The plot is what keeps you reading but it’s that constant undertone of wildness and brutality that really leaves an impression. Think Jack Reacher by way of Cormac McCarthy. 

Beware the Wolfman by Francine Pascal, Kate William

4.0

The final book in the ‘Horror in London’ trilogy is an absolute barnstormer. Family intrigue, murder, revenge, romance. It has it all! There’s also a defly handled dual investigation which really ramps up the tension in the second half. Yes, the denouement is obvious, but getting there is a huge amount of fun. 

A Date with a Werewolf by Francine Pascal, Kate William

3.0

Book two in the Horror in London trilogy definitely feels like a middle book. The plot progression slows down quite a lot, with the twins investigating the central murders but not really making much progress until near the end. We also get the advancing of Jessica’s romantic storyline and a lot of boy related angst for Elizabeth. A lot of the narrative grunt work goes into wrapping up (quite satisfyingly it must be said) the sub plots that were introduced in book one for the supporting characters. Hopefully this clears the deck for a more horror/mystery focussed finale. 
Also worth noting is the way the author goes out of her way to correct errors in the first book in this one (“cookies, or no sorry I mean biscuits of course lol”). It’s weird but kind of amusing.