Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

A Copycat Serial Killer in a 90s Midwestern Noir

Scream City by Hannah Morrissey

by Leave a Comment

I’ve been a fan of author Hannah Morrissey since the debut of Hello, Transcriber, the first book in her Black Harbor series. She uses the term “Midwestern Noir” to describe her books – kind of like Scandi noir in tone, but set in rusting cities of the American midwest. While Morrissey’s Black Harbor books are cold and grimy, the organic warmth of characters trying to maintain their humanity always comes through. The humanity is what keeps me coming back – some human connection in a […]

My most surprising 5-star read of the year (also Cannonball, finally)

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

by 13 Comments

Monthly Keyword 26: Bright Reading the Rainbow: Yellow CBR18 Bingo: Versus (The brave, tenacious and determined women vs the spineless and depraved serial killer Official plot synopsis: Tallahassee, 1978. Sorority president Pamela Schumacher wakes to a shocking scene of implausible violence and death, and is drawn into a mystifying crime that grips the nation for decades . . . In Seattle, Tina Cannon connects her best friend’s disappearance to the Tallahassee tragedy, and is convinced that a single man is responsible. Determined to find justice, […]

Live, laugh, shed blood

Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees by Patrick Horvath and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

by Leave a Comment

I don’t know about you, but the cover of Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees is a bit misleading. Then, after you realize it is not just a cute story of a person planting trees, it becomes down right disturbing!  I now know that the creator, Patrick Horvath is a very odd person (and I might not go onto other things they create) and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou had their hands full doing their part of things. Things are just warped. And I am not the only […]

“He was a nobody. One of those shy kids who turned into social invalids when that first blast of adolescence hit, meekly accepted their fate, and became invisible.”

My Friend Dahmer: A Graphic Novel by Derk Backderf

by 2 Comments

On a whim I grabbed this graphic novel back in spooky season, aka October aka why yes I am behind on reviews but committed to finishing out reviwing all the books I read in 2024 before the year is up. BUCKLE UP FOR LOADS OF REVIEWS, COMING AT YA. But I digress onto this review! Sometimes I feel like an outlier as a 40ish woman who does not have an affinity for true crime podcasts. In my 20s and 30s I had a long relationship […]

Do You Guys Ever Think About Death?

A Long Line of Dead Men by Lawrence Block

by Leave a Comment

I usually don’t take a long post for my Scudder re-reads as most are summarized compared to what I originally wrote about them. But I wanted some extra space to explore this one. I’ve noticed that post-Eight Million Ways to Die, Lawrence Block’s Scudder plots have become weaker. That’s fine with me; Block’s not bad at plotting but it’s not his strong suit and I’ve come to see these more as hang out novels than Christie-type whodunnits. So I wasn’t looking forward to this one […]

“You made a severed finger into a feckin’ snow globe.” “It was almost Christmas,” she says with a shrug. “It felt … festive.”

Leather & Lark by Brynne Weaver

by Leave a Comment

3.5 stars CBR16 Bingo: Bananas   Lark Montague and Lachlan Kane have an unfortunate first meeting, when Lark during Halloween has had an “accident” and needs a car and a body fished out of a lake. Lachlan is the man forced by his employer to come help her do this. Lachlan is in scuba gear, Lark is heavily made up in a Halloween costume. Lachlan chooses to force Lark into the car of his trunk to transport her unseen away from the incident site, not […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo