crime

Pop, six, squish, uh-uh, Cicero, Lipschitz

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

January 6, 2019 by pluiedenovembre 5 Comments

I had been looking forward to this novel since I read the first reviews several months ago and it did not disappoint. What a fantastic debut! The novel opens with Korede getting a phone call from her sister. Her boyfriend is dead, and she needs help cleaning up. And it’s not the first time Korede has gotten this kind of call from her younger sister Ayoola. This novel is fun, dark and a very quick and enjoyable read. It’s the story of an older sister who is maybe a little bitter but who nevertheless would do anything to protect her […]

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My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

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1/6/2019 | pluiedenovembre's CBR11 Review No:2 |

A new chapter for a brilliant piece of crime journalism

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara

November 30, 2018 by KimMiE" Leave a Comment

CBR 10 Bingo: So Shiny! Bingo #3! On April 24, 2018, Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested and charged with eight counts of first-degree murder by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department. Santa Barbara County would soon follow with four additional murder charges. The man widely known as the Golden State Killer, thought to be responsible for at least 13 murders and over 50 rapes spanning the 1970s and 80s, had finally been caught. No doubt the families of the victims felt some degree of comfort and relief at the arrest. Additionally, the friends and families of late journalist Michelle McNamara celebrated […]

11/30/2018 KimMiE"'s CBR10 Review No:29 |

Bad blood carries. Bad blood comes out.

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

October 7, 2018 by dAvid Leave a Comment

CBR10Bingo: The Book Was Better? This was another square I struggled to fill, until a flash of inspiration hit me. I remembered that I had bought Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden on a whim several months ago but never actually watched it, giving me the perfect excuse to buy and read Fingersmith by Sarah Waters and then finally watch the film. Done and done. Sue was born in a cramped house of thieves and orphaned when her mother was hanged for murder. Mrs. Sucksby has raised her as her own and tried to keep her out of harm’s way, but now […]

10/7/2018 dAvid's CBR10 Review No:56 |

Hardboiled On the Go

Nobody Move by Denis Johnson

September 19, 2018 by Jake 1 Comment

It’s going to be difficult to draw out 250 words on this book. Not because it was bad. I rather enjoyed it. But because it’s really not much more than a fun, slim hardboiled tale. But I’m game to try. Denis Johnson is considered by many to be one of the best writers of the last few decades. I myself have never read him so I can’t comment on that. I’ve been meaning to get to Tree of Smoke for several years now. This one might encourage me to do so. The average American crime fiction fan, one who reads Michael Connelly […]

9/19/2018 Jake's CBR10 Review No:23 |

Truly one of my white whales. #CBRBingo

The Alienist (Dr. Laszlo Kriezler, #1) by Caleb Carr

August 10, 2018 by narfna 4 Comments

Project: Catch Up On Review Backlog, review #6 out of 11 The Alienist has been on my TBR practically since I joined Goodreads ten years ago. I no longer remember whose review or what list prompted me to add this book. (But thank you, whoever you were! I really liked it!) I had this book on my TBR so long that it almost didn’t make it through several TBR purges. I distinctly remember being on the verge of deleting it at least twice, and then re-reading the blurb or something else made me change my mind, and I kept it. […]

8/10/2018 narfna's CBR10 Review No:95 |

Texas noir. #CBRBingo

Bluebird, Bluebird (Highway 59, #1) by Attica Locke

August 2, 2018 by narfna Leave a Comment

Project: Catch Up On Review Backlog commences. No promises on the quality of my next ten or so reviews. I just want to get them done. (This will probably unfortunately result in subpar reviews for books that deserve much better.) Let’s start with a book I finished over a month ago, Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke. First things first, this book was incredibly well done. It’s a crime book set in Texas, featuring a black Texas Ranger as its protagonist. I knew that going in. I also knew that the author had previously said that her books were “too black […]

8/2/2018 narfna's CBR10 Review No:88 |

The first half of this book is excellent, the second half a little less so.

The Outsider by Stephen King

July 9, 2018 by narfna 2 Comments

So I did the audio on this one, and I definitely think that affected my reading, for the better. Will Patton is a good narrator (he’s the same one who narrated the Bill Hodges trilogy). Sometimes books are significantly affected by a good or bad audiobook narrator, so I just wanted to say up front that I think that is going on here for me, and I think you should know that going in. I probably would have been less forgiving without the audio. Some slight spoilers below, but if you’ve read the blurb, you’ll probably be fine. This book was […]

7/9/2018 narfna's CBR10 Review No:79 |

Killer Queen

Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men by Harold Schechter

June 21, 2018 by sistercoyote Leave a Comment

I honest to the heavens thought I’d reviewed this one. The short version is: True crime fans/Murderinos will probably enjoy this one. I’m not sure anyone else will; the subject matter is pretty grim and the person in question warped like HH Holmes. Lizzie Borden may have killed her father and stepmother with an axe, but Belle Gunness killed a hell of a lot more, including her own children.

6/21/2018 sistercoyote's CBR10 Review No:7 |

janet snakehole on I don’t want to review this book.Loved this review. I like Rob Delaney's twitter, which does not necessarily mean I would enjoy a full book by him. I found this out...
janet snakehole on White Feminism: A NovelGood review! As a white feminist lady I was intrigued by this book but skeptical of its relevance. Your review confirmed pretty much what I...
Scootsa1000 on Just Because It’s Brief Doesn’t Mean It Isn’t PainfulA+ use of Jack Tripper.
Scootsa1000 on You, Sir, Are No Colin FirthI read this ages ago, maybe for CBR3. Hands down, the worst Austen-related book I’ve ever come across. Everyone was awful and the sex scenes...
emmalita on This is where we learn it’s not a good idea to throw your GF into a bottomless pitEmotional satisfaction and political outcomes rarely seem to go hand in hand. I guess I’ll stick to voting and protesting.