Review: Tripwire by Lee Child

Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels provoke wildly divergent reactions amongst lovers of crime fiction and related genres. While plenty do, a lot of folks just plain don’t like these books, even though superficially they should be right up their alley.

I’ve seen two main complaints. Let’s start with the first one, which is that […]

News for week ending 2012-04-28

Lawrence Block lays down some wisdom about the publishing biz: http://t.co/phymZmTM # I'm in San Antonio for a conference so will be incommunicado for at least a week. Don't know if Nick will be around or not. We'll be back! # Cashiers du Cinemart #11 magazine free for Kindle thru 5/1. Contains an article […]

News for week ending 2012-04-21

Dave Zeltserman's novel Fast Lane is free for Kindle for now. I haven't read this one, but I've liked his other stuff: http://t.co/C1CjqnPn # John Nolte at Big Hollywood reviews the movie version of The Outfit: http://t.co/iLuLOQl2 #

The VWOP Yahoo! group & newbie question

We’ve had a lot of comments here lately.

With exceptions (ahem!) this is a good thing. While we’ve always had a fairly regular supply, it was usually just a handful on any given post.

But this bounty isn’t without its difficulties. I can’t read, much less moderate, them all at the moment. Also, the long […]

An interview with spy novelist Jeremy Duns, and more beautiful British book jackets

As Trent’s already mentioned—and nice scores there, sir—I won’t be blogging for a short while due to moving house—although I might, if you’re (un)lucky, find time to post something next week; we’ll have to see how we get on with the move. But before I vanish, I just wanted to draw your […]

Some scores, and hiatus

What do you do when money’s tight, but all of a sudden that saved search for a rare and precious object comes through five years after you set it?

You bloody well make the purchase, that’s what. Electricity, water, and cable will all be around later, but that Holy Grail may not be. OK, […]

News for week ending 2012-04-14

At the Scene of the Crime–Die Hard with a Vengeance (a review of The Outfit): http://t.co/ZyvC9Jy7 # David N at We Can Rebuild Him contemplates what contemporary actors might make a good Parker: http://t.co/m5JstmAM # Lawrence Block's classic 1st Matt Scudder novel Sins of the Fathers only 99¢ for Kindle http://t.co/Yv7CXZ4d My review: http://t.co/CjTFKnTo […]

News for week ending 2012-04-07

In honor of their 14th birthday (congrats!), Thrilling Detective presents The 14 Greatest Detective Novels of All Time: http://t.co/hTUQhBNG #

Review: Killy, by Donald E. Westlake (1963)

(NB: A version of this post also appears on Existential Ennui.)

Slight change of plan here: I had intended to post a Westlake Score this week, but I’ve decided to hold off on that for the moment—partly because on a whim I actually started reading the Westlake Score in question, and so I might […]