NIGHT OF THE MANNEQUINS, by Stephen Graham Jones

Oh my goodness! What did I just read? Certainly not what this novella promised (pretended?) to be, i.e. a horror story about murderous mannequins: most of the blurbs I read online spoke of “a teen prank going wrong and leading to mayhem”, but things turned out to be very different. The title itself is misleading since, for starters, there is just one mannequin involved, and then that solitary…

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THESE BURNING STARS (The Kindom Trilogy #1), by Bethany Jacobs

Book blurbs that compare any given story to other published works can often lead a potential reader astray: that’s what happened to me when the ARC for These Burning Stars became available, because it was often compared to Ann Leckie’s Radch saga, and since unfortunately those works never seemed to meet my tastes, I decided not to request Ms. Jacobs’ book. Luckily for me, however, some of my…

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CALAMITY (Uncharted Hearts #1), by Constance Fay

I have often said I am not a fan of romance as an ingredient of my reading choices, but in the case of Calamity I choose to make an exception: for starters, this book received a very positive review from Tammy at Books, Bones and Buffy, and experience taught me that I can always count on her recommendations, and then in her review she used the magic words “Firefly vibes”, which never fail to…

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THE FIFTH WITNESS (The Lincoln Lawyer #4), by Michael Connelly

Times are difficult for defense attorney Mickey Haller: the economy is on a downward slope and even criminals seem less inclined to spend money for an attorney, so Mickey is forced to turn toward the less prestigious but still lucrative field of foreclosure disputes. It might not be as glamorous, but exchanging quality for quantity helps in keeping up with the bills – that is, until something…

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MISTER LULLABY, by J.H. Markert

If the author and/or the publisher wanted to stress this novel’s “Stephen King vibes” by choosing a cover where a child in a yellow raincoat faces a dark opening into the unknown, reminiscent of the inciting incident in King’s IT, they managed to do so quite well. Mister Lullaby does indeed possess many of the qualities of King’s older narrative, while being at the same time its own story with an…

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THE DROP (Harry Bosch #15), by Michael Connelly

With long-standing series, no matter their genre, there is always the danger of incurring in a repetitive formula, one that might offer the comfort of a pleasant read, granted, but also one that could ultimately lead to boredom: this is not the case – so far – with Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series: this author has the gift of making his stories feel always fresh and engaging, and his main…

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HOLLY, by Stephen King

Holly Gibney, the obsessive-compulsive, shy and reclusive character we first met in Stephen King’s Finders Keepers trilogy has come a long way since those early days, and now she is the protagonist of a novel focused solely on her: she has inherited the investigative agency Finders Keepers from Bill Hodges, who befriended her and started her on her journey of self-reliance, she is moderately…

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RED RIVER SEVEN, by A.J. Ryan

Amnesia has been used often, with varying degrees of success, to heighten the drama of a narrative background, but the way it was used in Red River Seven did not feel like a tired trope, on the contrary it enhanced the claustrophobic weight of the unknown hanging over the characters and their fate. The story starts with a bang – not a proverbial one, but rather the noise of an actual gunshot…

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AN EDUCATION IN MALICE, by S.T. Gibson

I received this novel from Orbit Books through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to both of them for this opportunity. After the mild disappointment suffered from S.T. Gibson’s other new novel, Evocation, I had high hopes that An Education in Malice would fare as well for me as the author’s debut novel, A Dowry of Blood, and that the return to the theme of vampirism would…

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BOYS IN THE VALLEY, by Philip Fracassi

Philip Fracassi was a new-to-me author in the horror genre, but after reading his Boys in the Valley I intend to keep him on my radar, because I found this story’s blend of supernatural horror and introspection into the human soul quite engaging. The novel starts with a tragedy, a terrifying murder/suicide which turns young Peter into an orphan: in the next chapter we meet him a few years later,…

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EVOCATION (The Summoner's Circle #1), by S.T. Gibson

I received this novel from Angry Robot Books through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review: my thanks to both of them for this opportunity. When last year I read S.T. Gibson A Dowry of Blood I was swept away by its unusual story and equally unusual narrative style, so that when Evocation was announced I was more than eager to sample this author’s new work. David is the latest in a long…

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YOU LET ME IN, by Camilla Bruce

My third foray into Camilla Bruce’s works proved to be quite different from the previous  experiences, which were novels based on historical figures of serial killers on which the author had construed a partly imagined story.  You Let Me In is quite different instead, being based on totally fictional characters, and in particular that of Cassie Tipp, a successful novelist with an obscure past:…

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LONE WOMEN, by Victor LaValle

We meet Adelaide Henry as she’s getting ready to leave her parents’ farm, but we quickly understand that there is something ominous in her departure, because she’s pouring gasoline all over the house, and she looks on the lifeless forms of her parents before setting it all ablaze.  As a story start, it’s indeed one of the most intriguing I ever encountered, particularly when the detail of a heavy…

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SWORDHEART, by T. Kingfisher

Having by now read a few books by T. Kingfisher, I have come to the conclusion that this author would never disappoint me, no matter which of her novels I pick up.  Swordheart is set in the same background as my previous read, Paladin’s Grace, so that I found some familiar details and even a familiar “face” from that book, and what’s more, a passage in this book led me to learn about a duology –…

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THE GLASS BOX, by Michael J. Straczynski

I received this novel from Blackstone Publishing through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review: my thanks to both of them for this opportunity. I am delighted to start my reviews for 2024 with the work of someone whose creative skills I have long admired: I have often mentioned Babylon 5 as my favorite SF series, one I have watched and re-watched many times, always finding something new and…

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MY BOOKISH STATS FOR 2023

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THE REVERSAL (The Lincoln Lawyer #3), by Michael Connelly

Of the three novels I’ve read so far in this series this is my favorite, and considering that stories and characterizations have become increasingly better from book 1 to here, I’m certain that this trend is not going to cease any time soon. The story for The Reversal focuses on the re-opening of the trial against Jason Jessup, who twenty-four years previously was convicted of the kidnapping and…

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