JUDAS GOAT by Greg Gifune

I really need to stop waiting so long between Gifune books! His work scratches a horror itch for me that most writers fail to hit. The books dive to emotional depths that others never dare to, while still providing the terror and thrills. 

This novella feels like an eerie dream from the very first paragraph and it never once lets up on the atmosphere, especially as our main character Lenny gets to the small town where his ex-girlfriend has died and mysteriously left him her house. As he struggles to understand what happened to Sheena, we the reader discover a tragic story of love squandered and two people filled with pain and regret. I almost always leave a Gifune book satisfied and impressed and this is another great one. 

GRADE: A-

FIND HIM by Jake Hinkson

While not the hard-hitting gut-punch noirs that I’ve come to enjoy from the author (like The Posthumous Man, No Tomorrow, or his recent Dry County) this new Hinkson novel is still a solid thriller in the vein of The Big Ugly, and it also might be his most accessible book with arguably his most likable characters. 

The strength here is in how enjoyable it is to follow our protagonist Lily Stevens, a devout and pregnant "one-ness" Pentecostal teenager who bravely steps outside of her sheltered life to go full amateur dick and  track down her missing baby daddy. Even if you can’t relate to her background and religion, it’s hard not to get swept up by her determination and zeal. Allan is also another great character, a kind man with a  fondness for Reba McEntire, and a sense of morality that he can’t shake, no matter how much it might get him in trouble. These two together make for satisfying companions in this read and it's another great entry into Jake Hinkson’s bibliography! 

GRADE: B+

MORE BETTER DEALS by Joe R. Lansdale

Joe Lansdale is one of our best authors and a total genre chameleon. He jumps from genre to genre with no warning and succeeding better than most, whether it’s horror, buddy comedies, westerns, or coming-of-age dramas. And even though he’s a chameleon, he still stands out in each lane because he has a voice all his own. 

Now, he’s back again with a straight noir worthy of the Gold Medal or Black Lizard label. It follows a used car salesman and passing mixed-race, Korean War veteran named Ed Edwards who wants the White American Dream for himself: the dream of owning a business, having a white woman on his arm, and making enough money to send his sister to school. And to get that, he’ll do anything, whether it’s sleep with another man’s bored wife, or plot a murder or three!

This one was extremely enjoyable, and it's Lansdale doing what he does best, plotting a well-paced backwoods noir with enough violence, sex, and betrayal to make Gil Brewer or Charles Williams smile, and doing it with the knack for humor, dialogue, and dramatic irony that we’ve come to love from the author!

GRADE: B+

EVERYBODY KNOWS by Jordan Harper

Give them horror or give them heartstrings. Nothing else sticks.

Jordan Harper is one of the best crime writers today and in his latest novel, he’s tackling the underbelly of the City of Angels. 

Jordan Harper’s Los Angeles is a place of secrets, black bag PR, sponcons, money and celebrity in excess; a world filled with “noise to hide the whispers” and corruption so widespread that it’s a wonder anything ever gets done. You can feel the love/hate relationship with the city here, with a condemnation of the town so scathing that it could only come from when you love a place. 

His two main characters, Mae Pruett and Chris Tamburro, are two people haunted by what they have done for the PR beast and desperate to somehow make things right and regain whatever decency they have left. 

It’s a powerful novel, which is not a surprise given how great Harper’s writing here. It reads like something James Ellroy would write if he stepped into 2022. Harper’s writing even evolves into something akin to the Ellroy, with muscular and punchy prose that hits hard and fast. Harper does an amazing job with character here, navigating the emotion maturely and riding that line of sentimentality perfectly. 

It’s still early in Harper’s career so it’s exciting to imagine what he has in store next. 

“It’s like I’m in this backward purgatory. Like maybe if I commit enough sins, I’ll be able to get free.”

GRADE: A-

THE KING OF SHADOWS by Robert McCammon

Maybe it was bound to happen at some point. Maybe it was too much to hold out hope that McCammon could maintain the high quality that I’ve come to expect from the wonderful Matthew Corbett series, even with it being eight books deep at this point. Well here it is, this book marks the dip in quality. 

I’m not sure why this book was even written. It blows my mind that the author thought that it would be a good idea to have a random side quest for the entirety of the penultimate book in a 9 book series, when the momentum should actually be rising to a climax. But, it’s exactly what happens here, grinding the overall story to a halt while Matthew and his unlikely band of colleagues find themselves stuck on a mysterious Mediterranean island isolated from society. It’s all the small issues I had with The River of Souls but times 100 here. 

But like with River of Souls, I could forgive it if said side story was interesting on its own. But it’s the opposite. It feels lazy and pedestrian and not even remotely interesting, with a strange, half-baked cop out of an answer as to what was happening on the island. It also had side quests within the side quests, as we spend like 200 pages flashing back to the origins characters we don’t really give a shit about. 

So essentially, the book reads like the rejected drafts of about 4 supplemental novellas that take place in the Matthew Corbett universe that were cobbled together in an unsatisfying collection and labeled the 8th book in the main series. A total disappointment. 

GRADE: D 

A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS by George R. R. Martin

If you're a Song of Ice and Fire or Game of Thrones fan like myself, then you know what I mean when I say that there really is such a thing as "Westeros-Withdrawal". Westeros-Withdrawal is a serious condition, affecting those of us who were sucked into the World of Ice and Fire, and during the long wait for anything new from the mythology, there's a feeling of malaise and loss that can't really be filled by anything else. Doses of Star Wars lore is enough to provide a little respite, but not enough. I had been trying to hold off on reading this, in an attempt to stretch out my access to new material as much as possible, but my enjoyment of the absolutely fantastic new House of the Dragon show blew all that effort to smithereens. 

Set around 80 years after the events in House of the Dragon, and nearly a century before the events in Game of Thrones, this book is a collection of the trilogy of great novellas focused on the travels of Ser Duncan the Tall, a low-born hedge knight dedicated to maintaining his honor, and his squire, a little bald boy named Egg. Anyone with a deep knowledge of Westerosi history knows that these two characters end up making a big name for themselves in the history of the Seven Kingdoms. And during these tales, we dive deeper into the events that shaped who they turned out to be and illustrates how they unknowingly had a hand in shaping history as we know it. 

The stories here are as good as anything in the main Game of Thrones series, but this time there's a real focus on the street-level happenings, as opposed to the highborn drama in the main series. And that's pretty refreshing. It's a love letter to the small folk and to knighthood, but also serves as a great buddy tale, showing the growing kinship between this simple knight and his special squire. 

GRADE: A-

EXTANT by Michael McBride

I made a two-week trip to Egypt early this year and explored up and down the Nile, growing more and more fascinated with Egyptology and the rich history. And I'm usually pretty engaged with Michael McBride's work, which reads like less wordy Michael Crichton books. I also was looking for something quick and easy to read while I'm in the middle of a big job, so when I discovered this novella, it ticked all the boxes. But, like eating a bag of chips in the middle of the desert, it was a bit of a waste and left me wanting something more satisfying.

An expedition team in the Siwa Oasis searches for the final resting place of the army of Cambyses II that vanished thousands of years ago. When they discover mysterious underground ruins, they also discover that they're being stalked by deadly creatures that have survived millennia. 

I was left pretty dry with this one. It felt like the most generic parts of every creature-feature I've read all thrown into 90 pages. It's nowhere near as entertaining or scary as books like Sunblind or Snowblind. There's nothing actively bad about this book, it's simply just not that memorable and terribly bland. That's it. There's not much else to say.

GRADE: C-

UPGRADE by Blake Crouch

It’s exciting starting another Blake Crouch novel, akin to heading to the theater for the latest summer blockbuster, anticipating the spectacle and excitement. This new novel is set in the near future where genetic engineering has reached a dangerous height and genetic study and practice in general has been deemed illegal. And after a raid gone sour, Genetic Protection agent Logan Ramsay starts to notice that he’s changing…

While the concept is fun and much of the material here is pretty thought-provoking, I couldn’t help but feel that this one fell a bit flat for me. It was thrilling to read how Logan's ability kept evolving and I was constantly pausing to Google genetic science shit and do more research. But I’m used to his novels hitting hard in the emotional feels just as equally as the cerebral ones, and the attempts here at sentiment just didn’t work for me and felt tacked on. The book is still fascinating in concept and has the excitement that I’ve come to expect. In general though, it felt a little “paint-by-numbers.” In other words: “Crouch-lite.”

GRADE: B-

BANG UP by Jeff Strand

I’ve never once thought to myself, “Self, one thing you’re missing from your life is an erotic fiction novel from Jeff Strand.” That thought has never crossed my mind. 

But I can say now, with full confidence, that yes, I did very much need to read erotica by Jeff Strand. 

"Did you bring condoms?"

"Uh, no. Not to a planned murder. That's a whole different level of deviance."

At this point, Strand is a genre unto himself, but there’s no denying that this book is erotic fiction through-and-through (with all of its hot and heavy doses of sex), just with a bit of a twist. 

A jealous husband named Ralph decides to approach a hot stud named Kent at a diner and hire him to have bad sex with his wife Julie so she can be dissuaded from cheating. Kent has the hots for Julie and Julie really wants to get laid, so obviously things don’t go as planned. No one has ever said anything about these characters being smart.

Ralph could handle his wife shouting the wrong name during sex, but not the wrong two names.

What follows is quite possibly one of the funniest books I’ve read, causing numerous moments of out-loud laughter as I marveled at the terrible decisions the characters made and the hilarious dialogue exchanges that Strand conjured up. One of the things that makes Strand’s work so irresistible and fun to read is the feeling that he’s having the time of his life writing this filth. 

GRADE: B+

CITY ON FIRE by Don Winslow

*Book 1 of the City Trilogy*

At this point, it’s safe to predict that any novel by Don Winslow will be one I enjoy! 

This is the start of a new epic crime trilogy by the author and I’m here for it. Inspired by Homer’s classic: The Iliad, Winslow spins a tale of a 1980’s gang war between Irish and Italian families in Providence, Rhode Island and the damage it causes. The book focuses on Danny Ryan, surrogate son of the Murphy family, who’s sense of honor and loyalty keeps him fighting for the Murphy’s even if it’s not in his best interest. The book never hides its influence, featuring a modern Helen of Troy, whose body would launch a thousand beat-downs, a Paris that’s just as useless as one would expect, a Hector that must fight the war his brother started, and even an interesting twist on Achilles. 

As usual with books by Winslow, it’s immensely readable, accessible, and engaging, with compelling writing and clear, relatable characters. But it does fall short of being amazing as it feels like it’s missing something. It feels more like an earlier draft than some of his better novels and is nowhere near as powerful, affecting, or as timely as The Power of the Dog or The Force. If a lesser author’s name was on the book, it would be a very good standout, but it comes off as Winslow-lite, as I’ve now come to expect him to always bring his A+ game. But, it is in no way a bad book. I just hold him to a higher standard now. But I still really enjoyed it and it’s worth a read, especially as the start of a new trilogy. 

GRADE: B+