Strangers in Death, a new Eve Dallas Novel

I used to refer to J. D. Robb's future police procedurals as a guilty pleasure but I've decided there is no reason to feel guilty - I really enjoy them. This is the 28th in the In Death.. series. Astute mystery readers should be able to figure out the significance of the title before Robb has one of her characters reveal it. I have a longer write-up on Revish.

Nameless Night

G. M. Ford writes terrific thrillers. This one falls into the "man has amnesia pursued by government agents in conspiracy to cover something up" category. It is nicely executed without the conspiracy too out-there. I have a longer discussion over at Revish.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Most of my reading is crime, fantasy, and science fiction so you might be surprised to find A tree Grows in Brooklyn among my recent reads. This is a terrific book about growing up one to the ground-down poor in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in the early part of the 20th century. It is beautifully written. I wrote a bit more about it on Revish.

Charles Ardai's First Two Novels

I heard a podcast interview with Charles Ardai, the co-founder of Hard Case Crime, on Behind the Black Mask. I've mentioned this podcast before and again recommend it for the excellent interviews. I have discovered a lot of good writing there.

Ardai writes under the pen name Richard Aleas. Little Girl Lost and Songs of Innocence are his first and second novels, respectively. As is my habit with library books, you will find the reviews on Revish at the links above.

Both of these books feature John Blake who doesn't seem to be able to escape being involved with women in one of the sex trades. The books fall into the hardboiled genre and are dark but not tawdry. Essentially you have people in a lot of pain.

Both are excellent reads and I recommend them if this genre appeals to your tastes.

Oh, and for the English majors, it is no coincidence that the main character is named Blake and that the book titles refer to works by William Blake.

Evil Librarians Rule the World

Alcatraz Versus The Evil Librarians is a fun juvenile fiction story. What if everything you think you know about the world is wrong because librarians are controlling information for your own good? Since this is a library book you will find the Review here on Revish.

Jack Taylor's life doesn't get any better

I have a review of Cross, Ken Bruen's latest Jack Taylor story, up on Revish. you can read it here. My fan-boy adoration of Bruen's writing continues unabated. Cross picks up not long after the events in Priest. No breaks for Jack Taylor or anyone around him here.

Guidelines for Reviewing

I'm a casual reviewer, posting most of my reviews on Revish under the user name Max where I also keep track of the books I've read. Paper lists didn't work for me and I figured I might as well describe the books while I was at it.

I've often pondered the act of writing a review and how much detail to include about a book.

Kerrie at the blog Mysteries in Paradise considers this in the post How much to reveal in a review. I like the guidelines and have decided to adopt them for my own. Kerrie starts off by saying that the reviewer should only reveal what is in the first 50 pages. Later, she asks if it wouldn't be better to change that to a 20% rule to accommodate longer books that might take a bit to get started.

Kerrie's post helped clarify reviewing for me and I recommend you read the entire post.