My Review (5 stars out of 5) Following her success in a long-running TV show, young actress Mai Rose is in rehearsal on a new stage play, but when the opportunity to star in a major fantasy movie comes up it seems the role is made for her. Trouble is, Mai will be in competition…
Category: dialogue
‘Before the Fall’ by Orna Ross
My Review (5 stars out of 5) In 1995, pregnant Jo Devereux is still living in Ireland. Caught between her relationship with former lover Rory and the desire to return home to San Francisco, Jo battles with the past and its possible impact on her future, as she unravels her family’s possible involvement in the…
‘How Late it Was, How Late’ by James Kelman
My Review (5 stars out of 5) After a two-day drinking binge, Sammy appears to have forgotten where he’s been or who he’s seen and getting picked up and given a good hiding by the police doesn’t help. To make matters worse, Sammy finds he has gone blind. Released from the lockup, he makes his…
‘Laidlaw’ by William McIlvanney
My Review (5 stars out of 5) The murder of a young woman in Kelvingrove Park brings rebel detective Jack Laidlaw onto the streets of Glasgow. Laidlaw’s unconventional approach unsettles his new sidekick but the pair gradually being to track the killer down. Trouble is, the cops aren’t the only ones looking for justice… This…
‘Ring’ by Koji Suzuki
My Review (3 stars out of 5) Journalist Asakawa writes for his newspaper’s weekly magazine and is keen to seek out great news stories. Hearing about a series of weird deaths, he realises they may be linked. Discovering the deaths occurred after the four teenagers spent a night in the same log cabin, he books…
‘Forgive Me’ by Kateri Stanley
My Review (4 stars out of 5) Amid lots of twists and turns this book reads like a mix of horror, fantasy and paranormal, with the narrative going off in different directions every five minutes. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – but for me it made the plot a little hard to follow…
‘The Chinese Keyhole’ by Richard Himmel
My Review (4 stars out of 5) Following the murder of his pal, Tom, lawyer Johnny Maguire decides to check out a Chinatown strip joint. With not much to go on, he ingratiates himself with one of the club’s ‘stars’ in the hope she might let slip information about the place being used as a…
‘Double Indemnity’ by James M Cain
***** Insurance agent Walter Huff gets into deep water when he meets beautiful temptress Phyllis Nirdlinger. Cooking up a plot to kill the woman’s husband, Huff looks forward to getting the money and the girl. Unfortunately, the plan to pull off the perfect murder falls foul of Huff’s boss, Barton Keyes, who knows more about…
‘The Big Nowhere’ by James Ellroy
The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy ***** Los Angeles, 1950. Communist witch hunts and a spate of violent killings throw three men into a complex and dangerous web of lies, deceit and murder. (Audiobook/paperback) This is Ellroy’s second novel in the LA Quartet series. Though there are a few nods to the first book, The…
‘Back Side of a Blue Moon’ by Caleb Pirtle
***** In the East Texas town of Ashland, the Great Depression means times are hard. With money and jobs scarce, anyone with any sense is leaving town. For red-head Eudora Durant, something needs to change and when her violent and whoring husband disappears, townsfolk soon begin making assumptions. But then a stranger comes to town…
Colin Garrow 