Synopsis:
A rollicking southern Gothic feast.
Review:
With inventive prose and eccentric characters, Purple Jesus has a lot going for it. For me, I never really connected with the characters, though I did admire what Ron Cooper has accomplished. I would like to see this book, published by a small, independent publisher, find an audience, so please check it out if you like Flannery O’Connor, Walker Percy, or John Kennedy Toole. You’ll find a lot to enjoy in this rich book.
Synopsis:
Master thief and con artist Locke Lamora is back with his steadfast sidekick Jean Tannen, both set to pull off the scheme of a lifetime when they are coerced into becoming–pirates?
Review:
Red Seas Under Red Skies is the follow up to Scott Lynch’s debut The Lies of Locke Lamora, a smash hit which placed a Sopranos-esque crime drama within a fresh, imaginatively realized fantasy world. The sequel throws swashbuckling in the mix, and the overall result of this melange is one of the most entertaining reads I’ve had all year. (Not including On Chesil Beach, natch.) Continue reading
Synopsis:
Aimless Tom Ripley has been dispatched to Italy to bring feckless playboy Dickie Greenleaf home, but when Dickie rejects Tom’s friendship, Tom chooses a darker course.
Review:
I have read and enjoyed several books by Highsmith, but stayed away from the Ripley books because in the crime and mystery genres, I tend not to like the recurring character, like Ruth Rendell’s Inspector Wexford, to give another example from an author I admire, and when I heard about Ripley, I assumed the same. I learned I was wrong by seeing Anthony Minghella’s excellent film version of The Talented Mr. Ripley, and then I worried that the book would surpass the movie or vice versa and I just didn’t want to have to put myself in the position of having to choose between them. Continue reading
Synopsis:
A con man, an obsessive-compulsive, and a closeted Member of Parliament become locked together by circumstance and lies. Continue reading
