Eight Millon Books to Read

The Furious Way by Aaron Philip Clark My rating: 5 of 5 stars "Respect is something that you haven't had much of in your life"                 "Not this shit again. Look, I had a fucked-up life. Okay? Get over it. I have."                 "You haven't! You got used to getting treated like shit. But with these dogs, either they respect you or they don't. But you've got to earn that kind of respect. I need to see that you've earned theirs'. You need to see it. Now get down."   I bought this one when it came out and just never got round to reading it at the time. Lo, I decided to check out the rating and reviews on Goodreads and was stunned to find only 1 rating, which immediately sent it to the top of the reading pile. This is the first Clark book I have read with his others sitting on devices awaiting my eyes, but I have heard him speak on Writer Types and the bastard title and was really drawn to him and his work.   In The Furiou...

Dear Laura was a book that I kept seeing everywhere - on Twitter, in recommendations, on Goodreads and I thought I should dive in. It was something that paid off immensely as I discovered a stone cold classic novella that I'll recommend until the end of my days. I recently read the follow-up White Pines , which is something altogether different, for me and from Dear Laura . Amor also has a story in the collection, Lockdown , which I reviewed a couple of days ago. Lockdown, edited by Nick Kolakowski & Steve Weddle White Pines by Gemma Amor My rating: 4 of 5 stars Gemma Amor takes us to the Highlands for a Celtic folk horror fantasy mystery tale that is weird, scary and full of the unexpected. Megs' husband returns one night to let her know their marriage is over and Megs flees to the Highland home she has been bequeathed by her late Grandma. Megs quickly discovers there is something afoot with the house and those who live nearby and it all seems to have something t...

Lockdown: Stories of Crime, Terror, and Hope During a Pandemic by Nick Kolakowski My rating: 4 of 5 stars She thought about how all the books and movies had gotten it all wrong. The world didn't end in riots and wars in an endless dystopian wasteland. It didn't end with a whimper like that poet who liked cats said either. It ended in increments. It slowed and slowed like the heart of a wounded animal until it just stopped and began to rot. S.A. Cosby - The Loyalty of Hungry Dogs This collection has been put together quickly to support independent bookshops across North America and the quality remains astounding given how quickly it has been brought together. For good reason, Covid-19, isn't the top headlining news now, but this anthology is as relatable as anything you can read this year. The collection starts with stories in the early days and weeks of lockdown before branching out with authors delivering a variety of scenarios for the future of the world and what the l...

Heathenish by Kelby Losack My rating: 4 of 5 stars You quickly get the idea that this is a personal book to the author as his obscured visage takes up the front cover. This one falls between, his kindred spirit, J. David Osborne's Black Gum and Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting. Our unnamed narrator has "done too much, much too young" and finds himself divorced with three kids at the age of 20. Having moved back home, he starts to sample the life he seems to have missed out on with no substance safe from being swallowed, snorted or at times, injected as he pushes himself further to oblivion. This is an autobiographical novel, but it frees itself from judgements and any type of woe-is-me writing instead focussing on the narrator and the life he builds for himself beyond his wife and children. There are shady deals, weird conversations, freestyle rapping, and a collection of outsiders and fellow drugged out wastrels, but it is a book that runs the gamut of emotions. It...

Mystic River by Dennis Lehane My rating: 5 of 5 stars 2020 re-read: I had never considered how much we grow as readers over time, but re-reading this has taught me that I definitely have. A part of it is not comparing this to the film version this time around and a part of it is that there were so many passages that made me swear or blaspheme as is my habit when I read a great passage. I likely did it more during this one than any I've read for a long time. There's a beautiful cynicism to this book that I think comes with age too and being the same age as the adult characters in this book let me soak in the prose even more. I don't think I need to spell out the plot as there can't be many who haven't either read or seen the film version. The characters are amazingly etched and this is a dream novel in that it manages the task of being an immense character novel while having a compelling mystery at its heart. This is probably going to lead to more Lehane re-reads ...

Scott Adlerberg is an author who I first read a couple of years ago and on finishing Spiders and Flies I felt I should share my reviews of all his works as he is definitely one of the most unique writers in the indie crime sphere. I've labelled him as part of the crime world, but his books go much further than that tag and it is really difficult to do his books justice in review as you don't want to impart with the wilder happenings in his books, but as well as crime, there is magical realism, historical fiction in terms of genre and a dreamy, lyrical quality to the writing. Without further ado, here are my reviews, starting with Spiders and Flies, my most recent read and going through my past Adlerberg reads. Spiders and Flies by Scott Adlerberg My rating: 5 of 5 stars 4.5 stars I've compared Adlerberg with Paul Auster before and the prologue here sent me to that place again as we get a dream-like sequence about the crime that Raven has committed sending him into hid...

Rock -N- Noirror: Horror and Noir from the Seedy Side of Rock -N- Roll by Hector Duarte Jr. My rating: 5 of 5 stars Ever been to a gig where the opener just steals the show? Wolfgang Porterhouse does so here with his punk rock From Dusk til Dawn style tale that contains visuals you need to read to believe. What follows isn't half bad either with Bodie Myers bringing a bewitched guitar riff and S.W. Lauden and Eric Beetner giving us band mates that are in way over their heads as disputes quickly turn deadly. Lauden gives us a flashier previously published at Out of the Gutter and Beetner presents "The Farewell Tour", where a dispute over drug money leads to the band's status rapidly ascending. "Blues Jam" by Todd Morr brings us a Demon looking to trade you for musical immortality, but can you pay the price of admission. A story that definitely earns the "noir-ror" badge. Hector Duarte Jr. "headlines" with "Gone Viral", a presc...