BrianLindenmuth's Blog (36)

Hard Man by Allan Guthrie

Hard Man is a simple story of a man who misses his mom, loves his dog and finds Jesus.



Over the course of 8 blood soaked chapters that all take their names from movies, Hard Man unfolds with a savage intensity. The movie titles used will cleverly act as epigraphs for the

chapters.





Hard Man is divided pretty clearly into two parts. It’s during the first part that we will…
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Added by BrianLindenmuth on June 12, 2007 at 5:07am — No Comments

Lost Dog by Bill Cameron - review

"In the opening moments of the book we find Peter existing in a state of stasis. He doesn't have a job and he's trying to gain a measure of control over his kleptomania. In fact we meet Peter while he's in the middle of coming up

with excuses. Excuses not to go jogging, not to look for a job, not to go into

the house. He's renting his house…
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Added by BrianLindenmuth on June 9, 2007 at 3:00am — No Comments

Priest by Ken Bruen - review

"In the beginning of Priest we find Jack Taylor in an asylum. The story picks up as he is starting to come out of his medicated stupor. As he eases into some semblance of his old

life he tries to keep from confronting the tragedy that ended The Dramatist and

deal with its fallout. For the first time he finds himself completely sober,…
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Added by BrianLindenmuth on June 8, 2007 at 3:00am — No Comments

Baby Shark's Beaumont Blues by Robert Fate - Review

"While not breaking any barriers of originality its fast pace, action packed sequences and ultimately likeable characters come together to form a well told and enjoyable tale. When young Kristin Van Dijk and

her irascible good ol' boy partner Otis take on the case of a missing heiress to

an oil fortune little do they know that the lies, double crosses and bodies are

going to…
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Added by BrianLindenmuth on June 7, 2007 at 2:30am — No Comments

Duane Swierczynski Interview

I recently finished my
interview with Duane Swierczynski. It can be found here.

Added by BrianLindenmuth on June 6, 2007 at 2:30am — No Comments

Win a copy of Hard Man by Allan Guthrie

The new Mystery Book Spot contest has been announced. We are giving away a copy of Hard Man by Allan Guthrie.


For more information click here.

Added by BrianLindenmuth on June 5, 2007 at 2:53am — No Comments

What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman - review

What the Dead Know will by the end of the year be recognized as one of the top novels of the year.



In many ways What the Dead Know is a tour-de-force of story telling whose only serviceable comparison is the tapestry of bullshit, truth & wonder that Verbal Kint weaves in the movie The Usual Suspects. To

extend the comparison just one step further if the central question of the…

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Added by BrianLindenmuth on May 12, 2007 at 3:42am — No Comments

Blood of Paradise by David Corbett - review

With an assured hand David Corbett has been quietly crafting some of the best novels of the last 5 years.




Corbett is better then anyone else at…
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Added by BrianLindenmuth on May 3, 2007 at 2:41am — No Comments

Cast of Shadows by Kevin Guilfoile - review

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…

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Added by BrianLindenmuth on April 16, 2007 at 7:46am — No Comments

Ice by Vladimir Sorokin - review

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…

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Added by BrianLindenmuth on April 16, 2007 at 7:45am — No Comments

Re-reads & A Case of Weird Synchronicity

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.…



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Added by BrianLindenmuth on April 10, 2007 at 6:00am — No Comments

Con Ed by Matthew Klein - review

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.

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Added by BrianLindenmuth on April 9, 2007 at 4:42am — No Comments

Deadstock by Jeffrey Thomas - review

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

Added by BrianLindenmuth on April 9, 2007 at 4:40am — No Comments

Stealing the Dragon by Tim Maleeny - review

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.

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Added by BrianLindenmuth on April 9, 2007 at 4:38am — No Comments

Murdaland Issue #1 - review

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.



"Serious as sin, the darkest…
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Added by BrianLindenmuth on April 9, 2007 at 4:36am — No Comments

Dope by Sara Gran - review

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

Added by BrianLindenmuth on April 9, 2007 at 4:32am — No Comments

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