I’m getting really bad and doing these in time. I’m already two books into September and I still haven’t done my report for August. Here we go. I’m going to be more brief than usual because I suspect I don’t get these done on time because it feels like work.
Marcus Sakey, A Better World. **** A continuation of the Brilliance trilogy I started in July. Good stuff.
David Deal, The Buffeteer’s Guide: Mastering the Art of All-You-Can-Eat Dining. ***** My friend David wrote this hilariously helpful book about gluttony.
Marcus Sakey, Written In Fire. **** The final installment of the Brilliance trilogy.
Matt Hayward, What Do Monsters Fear. **** Psychological horror at its finest. It’s hard to believe this is Hayward’s debut novel. It’s a real page-turner and I was hooked from the first chapter. This is a book about addiction and rehabilitation, hopelessness and retribution. This is a book about the power of evil and the strength of the weak to overcome it. I’d skip this book if you prefer psychological horror without a supernatural bent.
An aside – one thing I really appreciate about authors like Stephen King and Philip K. Dick is they make mundane characters and situations interesting. Matt Hayward does this pretty well and I look forward to seeing him develop this talent in the future.
Adam Mitzner, Dead Certain. *** This is a good detective book but I had difficulty relating to the characters. A high-profile murder that affects a privileged family and the special treatment they get from the media and the legal community. That last sentence wasn’t a good one; sorry.