The Long-Legged Fly - Book Review

I reviewed James Sallis' The Long-Legged Fly for Crime Fiction Lover way back in September, but totally forgot to update it on me ol' bloggy blog with it. Follow the link below for my full 'A Classic Revisited' review of this sparse but mesmerising debut from the guy who gave us Drive.

Read my full review of The Long-Legged Fly, over on Crime Fiction Lover.

Follow Me Book Review

Angela Clarke taps into our fears of modern technology and the danger's our online presence can have in the real world in this initially gripping but later quite limited debut. I liked this book, I didn't love it. Pairing a digital-savvy young writer with a tough detective this techno thriller updates the classic who-done-it mystery with a meta-modern serial killer that's made for Generation Y, but beyond it's social media premise it struggles to break free of the standard police procedural cliches.

Read the full review on Crime Fiction Lover.

Savage Lane Book Review

Jason Starr taps into the domestic thriller market with his own unique style in the blackly comic Savage Lane. Karen Daily is a happy divorcee. Mark Berman is not. He's trapped in a loveless marriage, living in the leafy NY suburb of Westchester and is one of Karen's close neighbours. But, like most of the residents of Savage Lane, Mark has something to hide.

Read my full review on Crime Fiction Lover. 

Interview with Jason Starr

I interviewed Jason Starr for Crime Fiction Lover, chatting about his new book Savage Lane, the current trend for domestic thrillers and TV's best box sets. You can read my 4-star review of the excellent Savage Lane here.

Jason Starr's Cold Caller - Book Review

I'm so fickin' happy to have discovered Jason Starr. Cold Caller was his first novel, published way back in '97. It's a blackly comic tale of white collar noir and a middle-class Manhattanite's quarter-life crisis that brings new meaning to the term 'dead end job.'

You can read the full review over on Crime Fiction Lover. And hold tight for my review of his new book Savage Lane, coming soon from the sexy proof copy that's sitting on my bedside table. I say 'bedside table' I mean 'upturned box'.

Crime Fiction: My 5 Favourite Books

When the cruel mistress of time permits I write book reviews and babble on about film noir for Crime Fiction Lover. The editor asked me to write about the five books that got me hooked on the genre, a bloody excellent question when I got to thinking about it. Find out which titles I chose over here. Little clue for you down there.

The Books of Tarantino

"When people ask me if I went to film school, I tell them, 'No, I went to films.'"

Quentin Tarantino has an encyclopaedic knowledge of film and pop-culture thanks to his days working at the Californian video rental store Video Archives. But his early work also drew significantly on the writing of crime authors Elmore Leonard and Jim Thompson.

Read the full feature on Crime Fiction Lover.

Heed the Thunder - Book Review

Jim Thompson's second novel is a sprawling, multi-generational epic following the descent of the Fargo clan at the turn of the 19th Century. Although not a noir in the strictest sense, its ominous style and cruel but sympathetic characters show clear signs of the pessimistic pulp fiction Thompson was later known for.

Read the full review on Crime Fiction Lover.