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(originally posted on December 13, 2007)
A joyful, thrilling, wondrous book of splendid drawings, irrepressible children and the birth of the French cinema. There are so many ways and reasons to praise this book but ultimately, it all comes down to Selznick's imagination, whether in prose or in pictures.
(originally posted on December 13, 2007)
I feel like the last person to read this debut crime novel that's garnered praise and head-scratching all over the crime fiction world, but now I have, and my verdict rests in the former camp. French takes a familiar trope - three children go into the woods and only one comes out - and concocts a story that never quite goes in the direction you expect. It could stand to be cut by 100 pages, yes, but it's clear to me she has plenty of talent to burn and refine in subsequent novels.
(originally posted on December 13, 2007)
I love pleasant surprises, and DuBois' new thriller certainly qualifies. Imagine a bombed-out America under UN peacekeeping control (!) by incoming Canadians (!!) such as former journalist Samuel Simpson, who feels a greater sense of duty and adventure in his new role. He also gets into a heap of trouble that's equal parts low-key and genuinely suspenseful, with many strands left delightfully unresolved. TWILIGHT sneaks up on you, but when you're done, you too may realize just how well it works.
(originally posted on December 13, 2007)
Oh, the voice - it grabs you right away with its burnt-out cynicism masking honest to goodness sincerity, its acidic take on a not-so-amicable divorce and a minefield of murder, reality shows and the quest for celebrity above all else. Bryan not only knows of what he writes but writes in such a way that you're going to know nearly as much as he does. I'll be watching his voice develop along even more off-kilter lines.
(originally published on December 13, 2007)
The murder of a man on a beach seems so straightforward. After all, young mother Cora freely admits to the crime, which she committed in front of witness, after an inexplicable decision to kill someone else instead of herself. But as German bestseller Hammesfahr demonstrates with the exact precision of a neurosurgeon, what seems obvious is anything but, with layer after layer of horrific past events and festering feelings waiting to be revealed. THE SINNER is unnerving and weird and guaranteed to stick with you weeks later.
