Cast of Shadows takes a small handful of issues, cloning and stem cell research chief among them, and crafts a tale that

that launches from a simple premise and becomes a multifaceted discussion that

is at times moral, scientific and religious. The premise and its exploration

prove to be an effective evaluation of these difficult issues without any real

political or religious bias.



The story is told over 20+ years, during which…

Continue

The terse, clipped prose moves the story along at a fast pace. The first part of Ice follows three characters through their lives as they are awakened

and after the awakening has taken place. They are plucked from all walks of

life and economic backgrounds. Not only do we get to witness first hand the at

times brutal awakenings but we also get a nice cross section of Russian life.

The second part of the novel threats us to a lengthy first person account of

how…

Continue

When Paper Trails was published a couple of months ago I decided that I was going to

re-read Paris Trout. It had been a long time since I read it; in

fact it had been a long time since I read any Dexter. He's such a low key

guy, damn near invisible in fact, that I have a tendency to forget about him

sometimes.…

Continue

From Mystery Book Spot

Con Ed is a little on the thin side but ultimately it is a quick fun read. The characters are there to serve the story and their
relationships and interactions with each other don't give you much to
hang your hat on. But a book about con men pulling a job is almost
always about the con.

Read More

From Fantasy Book Spot



MY biggest complaint about Deadstock is that I just couldn’t shake the feeling that Thomas was talking down to me as a reader. I don’t need an

author to hold my hand all the time. In this book there are multiple

instances where Thomas uses the same exact group of words and sentences

to describe people, places and events. This isn’t done as a haunting

refrain or as a link between what would… Continue

From Mystery Book Spot

Once, in a conversation about the movies of John Woo, I told someone that the trick was to not count the bullets. I think that the same
advice applies to Tim Maleeny's novel, Stealing the Dragon.

Read More

From Mystery Book Spot

In the introductory passage to the reprint of the David Goodis novella Professional Man it is said that Goodis was the "poet of the

losers." I'd like to quote a line from a story, included here, written

by another modern poet, Ken Bruen as an apt description for all the

stories contained in issue #1 of Murdaland.

Continue

From Mystery Book Spot



Gran is capable of condensed moments of characterization. Those nutshell moments contain a wealth of information. She presents for you some dots

in a picture and then leaves it to you connect them. If she held your

hand and led you to the conclusion this would be lesser fiction but

instead she wants you to actually engage the book. Because you

participate in the process of characterization the… Continue