The Dark Side by Anthony O’Neill is possibly the most fun bit of sci-fi I’ve read in ages. I laughed a lot, cringed a little, and found a whole new set of rules to live by – The Brass Code. The Brass Code is invoked by an evil, amnesiac android named Leonardo Black. Some of my favorites: Don’t take.… Read more
What if the apocalypse came and you didn’t even notice? What if you were camping in the Canadian wilderness or on walkabout in the Australian Outback and you didn’t know that the aliens had landed? What if you were up at your cabin by the lake and you couldn’t understand why no one was picking up their phones? In The Last… Read more
I love a good apocalypse and this might be my favorite! A pandemic, the infected wearing the plague on their skin in bands of black and gold. Fire! Instead of wasting away, riddled by disease, turning into a zombie, these victims go out in a glorious blaze of heat and flame, taking with them anything flammable that happens to be… Read more
I’m coming to this series a little late, I’m afraid. I read Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey and immediately thought of half a dozen people that I just knew would love it. Problem is, most of them have already read it! But if you aren’t familiar with this series, about a magician/hitman returned from Hell to seek vengeance on the folks who… Read more
I’ve been out of town and some new books showed up while I was gone! First up, Gianrico Carofiglio’s A Fine Line: When Judge Larocca is accused of corruption, Guido Guerrieri goes against his better instincts and takes the case. Helped by Annapaola Doria, a motorbike-riding bisexual private detective who keeps a baseball bat on hand for sticky situations, he discovers that… Read more
This was a great airport book – totally took my mind off delays, screaming kids, annoying airport tv, etc. Instead, while I was reading Baggage by S.G. Redling, I could spend my time yelling (just inside my head) at Anna, who really hates February: Over the years, terrible things keep happening to Anna Ray on February 17. First, there was the… Read more
The Undoing by Averil Dean begins with one drastic action and no explanation. Julian is alone and does something nearly unthinkable. The interesting thing, for the reader, is that it is entirely out of context – there is only the vaguest of hints about how we came to this point. Then we jump back a day, to see what brought… Read more
The Missing Piece by Kevin Egan is a different sort of courtroom drama. It revolves around the Salvus Treasure: a collection of silver pieces, bowls and plates and urns, dating back to ancient Rome. Together, the pieces are worth more than $70 million dollars, but their ownership is in dispute and the case will be tried in a Manhattan courtroom. Violence… Read more
Has anyone ever counted the books James Patterson has published? Holy cow! That is one prodigious imagination. And he is not only a prolific writer, he does good things for the cause – he gives away books, he promotes reading, he supports independent booksellers. All good things. I’ve enjoyed a number of his previous books, but The Murder House I did not love. My mother… Read more
As soon as I read the description of James Rollins’ The 6th Extinction, I was hooked… A military research station buried in the remote Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California broadcasts a frantic distress call that ends with a chilling order: “This is sierra, victor, whiskey. There’s been a breach. Fail-safe initiated. No matter the outcome: Kill us … kill us… Read more