At some point in my young reading life, I think when I was in junior high, I read quite a few Agatha Christie mysteries. I still fondly remember the plots of Murder on the Orient Express and The Mirror Crack’d, but I’m pretty sure I never read And Then There Were None, considered Christie’s masterpiece. Unlike most of Christie’s novels, this mystery does not feature a detective like Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple sleuthing a path to the final revelation of the murderer’s identity. Instead, […]
What’s in a name?
Pen names are funny things aren’t they? It’s pretty impossible for the real author behind them to stay hidden for long. Either the books become so successful that the lack of personal appearances becomes telling, or someone in the know leaks the story just because they can. Sometimes, authors have pen names so they can publish books outside their own genre with impunity (Barbara Vine and Richard Bachman spring to mind here) and it’s no secret who the real author behind it is. It is […]
It’s all about Manchee
Anyone who read my reviews regularly last year will be aware that I have developed something of a book crush on Patrick Ness. He’s a brilliant author and, as some have said of Rainbow Rowell, an author I wish had been around when I actually was a Young Adult, as it would have made my teenage years that much more bearable. He is also bloody good value for money on Twitter, so if you don’t already, you should totally follow him. His live tweeting of […]
Sovereign. Deadly. (So nearly) Perfect.
Marisha Pessl arrived in a blaze of glory seven or eight years ago. Her debut novel, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, was a critically lauded runaway bestseller. I read it and loved every page of it. Then, she did a Donna Tartt and vanished for aeons. I was about to give up on another novel being published when last year along came her follow up, Night Film. Unlike Tartt, the follow up wasn’t as critically reviled as The Little Friend, but it didn’t attract the universal acclaim its predecessor had. But […]
Well-Hung Angels and the Anxious Investment Bankers Who Love Them
“Vampires, succubi, demon kings, and other bad boys of the supernatural realm get a lot of press, but where’s the love for our winged protectors from on high?” …Right here, as it turns out. Please note: In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that I found this to be one of the more inconsistently edited works I’ve read. However, if you’re a fan of the Angels Among Us genre, or urban fantasy more generally, you’ll want to at least give it a […]
A wonderfully bizarre and amusing thriller touching on everything from designer drugs to global mining companies, pirate radio stations, laundrette raves and even fox droppings.
Ned Beauman’s first two novels Boxer, Beetle and The Teleportation Accident were wonderfully wordy and esoteric highlights on the literary calendar. Strange, extremely well written and historically mind-bending, they were the sort of novels you’d find being passed around from friend to friend with an assertive plea to “read this weird book.” The Teleportation Accident cemented the love of critics and booksellers as it was longlisted for the 2012 Man Booker prize, and now he’s back and hopefully poised to make an impact on a wider audience with Glow. It’s a little […]
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