The Perfect Stranger (Simon & Schuster) offers up a perfectly delicious framework for a novel. How well do you know your best friend? It’s not as odd a question or as obvious an answer as it may seem. We discover… Continue Reading
Whether they consciously realize it or not, all the works of great novelists are testament to Sigmund Freud’s model of the mind. Hacks have it easy – apply some sparkly phrases to formula, stir, bake and sell. There’s nothing wrong… Continue Reading
It wasn’t until I finished reading The Parcel (Knopf Canada) and then, having rolled a cigarette to recover from this harrowing yet strangely heroic journey through Bombay’s prostitution district of Kamathipura, that I realized I had reviewed Anosh Irani’s work… Continue Reading
You’ve Never Read Anything Like Dark Matter. There. I said it. The new novel by Blake Crouch, is a terrifying, enthralling, lightning-fast, brilliant book. You have no idea how much I want to write about it. I want to tell… Continue Reading
Just into the second half of 2016 and we come across what will be one of the major books — and certainly the most significant debut — of 2016. Author Yaa Gyasi was born in Ghana and raised in Alabama.… Continue Reading
Six Junes ago, I read Justin Cronin’s post-apocalyptic thriller, The Passage, and I was blown away. During my read I was amazed by the sheer volume of events and ideas he could write about, as well as how well he… Continue Reading
(Editor’s note: This review comes from Steven Nester, host of Poets of the Tabloid Murder, a weekly Internet radio show heard on the Public Radio Exchange [PRX]. Nester is also a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Rap… Continue Reading
It is possible that Rudolfo Anaya is one of the most important Mexican-American authors writing today. His debut novel, 1972’s Bless Me, Ultima is to this day included on many middle school, high school and university reading lists across America.… Continue Reading
There is the feel and spirit of epic family saga in Diamond Head (Harper Perennial), Cecily Wong’s debut novel, yet the book is not a doorstop. Wong’s style is spare and lean and she manages to impart a feeling of… Continue Reading
The recent success of several novels based on the lives of some of history’s remarkable women has seen a rash of girl power-type novels go to press, bringing us glimpses into the possible lives of a bunch of women we… Continue Reading