reviewerID stringlengths 10 21 | asin stringlengths 10 10 | reviewerName stringlengths 0 49 ⌀ | helpful list | reviewText stringlengths 0 32.8k | overall float64 1 5 | summary stringlengths 0 452 | unixReviewTime int64 861M 1.41B ⌀ | reviewTime stringlengths 9 11 |
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A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1612190898 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Having often seen each other through their apartment windows, Chihiro and Nakajima meet and become friends, bonding over their grief for their deceased mothers. The friendship evolves into something more, although the precise nature of their relationship is something Chihiro can't quite define, even after they are livi... | 4 | Love as mutual dependence | 1,326,585,600 | 01 15, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1612190901 | TChris | [
18,
18
] | Kurt Vonnegut's last interview was fairly short, not nearly long enough to fill a book. It is joined in this volume with five other interviews that span thirty years. Not surprisingly, this leads to some redundancy; Vonnegut liked to tell the same stories and interviewers tended to ask the same questions (who wouldn'... | 4 | Six interesting but redundant interviews | 1,326,672,000 | 01 16, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1612420133 | TChris | [
3,
3
] | Despite its acclaim as an early vision of America after a nuclear war, The Long Tomorrow doesn't have the same impact as the best examples of post-apocalyptic fiction. Leigh Brackett's 1955 novel nonetheless deserves its status as a science fiction "classic," albeit more for the message it delivers than for the qualit... | 4 | An early vision of America after a nuclear war | 1,345,075,200 | 08 16, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1613740921 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | Deadly Valentines takes its name from Chicago's St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929. Its bloody conclusion is described in the book's prologue. While Deadly Valentines tells the story of Vincent Gebardi, a/k/a "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn, a charming gangster who almost certainly planned and may have participated in that... | 4 | A killer and his moll | 1,334,707,200 | 04 18, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1613743416 | TChris | [
52,
54
] | Soviet science fiction tended to be dark and surreal and ironic, a response to the oppressive environment in which it was born. Roadside Picnic, written by the Strugastky brothers in 1971, is no exception.When aliens visited Earth, stopping briefly for (some speculate) a roadside picnic, they left their detritus behin... | 5 | A classic work of Soviet sf | 1,335,571,200 | 04 28, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1616201622 | TChris | [
9,
9
] | The literary device that binds the characters in All I Have in this World is a Buick Electra. The reader first encounters it at an assembly plant in 1983. A year later, the first black car salesman hired by a Cleveland dealership sells it to a math teacher. Subsequent owners include a doctor in Kansas whose son drives ... | 5 | Sharing and forgiveness, past and present | 1,395,619,200 | 03 24, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1616950218 | TChris | [
27,
30
] | The Thief is a Japanese version of noir, a dark psychological thriller that builds suspense rapidly as Nishimura, a pickpocket who often seems to be on the verge of a breakdown, becomes ensnared in the grip of a shadowy underworld figure in Tokyo. Nishimura's tension is palpable in the novel's early pages. He finds wal... | 4 | Fate shows no mercy | 1,332,201,600 | 03 20, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1616950498 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Ten years after leaving Italy, Ernst Vogler returns to the country where he spent five eventful days. To tell the story of those days, The Detour returns to 1938. Vogler is on the curatorial staff for the Sonderprojekt, acquiring art for the Reich, particularly art that is pleasing to the Führer. His mentor, Gerha... | 5 | A sobering view of a German's experience in Italy in 1938 | 1,329,350,400 | 02 16, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1616950684 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | Every thriller set in Africa must, it seems, include in its cast a tough-minded female doctor doing humanitarian work. In Viral, that role is played by Sandra Oku. She watches dozens of villagers die during the course of a morning, victims of a mysterious and fast-acting respiratory disease. As the disease spreads thro... | 4 | Another virus story: entertaining but predictable | 1,334,016,000 | 04 10, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1616950714 | TChris | [
4,
4
] | On vacation in Puerto Vallarta, Michelle has a few margaritas and takes a good-looking guy named Daniel to bed. Later that night, two men climb through her window and smack Daniel in the head with the butt of a pistol. When Michelle later tracks down Daniel, she discovers the head of a pig, covered in flies, on his c... | 4 | (3.5 stars) A painfully weak and (mostly) helpless central character weakens this thriller | 1,335,830,400 | 05 1, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1616950889 | TChris | [
6,
7
] | The best news about Zombie is that the only zombies in the story are metaphorical. Jesus is one (back from the dead). So is a pill-popping mom who is usually zoned out (the living dead). As befits its title, the story takes a horrific twist but it never quite becomes a horror novel. Zombie is too funny to be fright... | 4 | "Words make us into monsters of ourselves" | 1,338,854,400 | 06 5, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1616951125 | TChris | [
7,
9
] | Philip "Poke" Rafferty is an American travel writer who now resides in Bangkok with his Thai wife and adopted Thai daughter. Poke is leaving a paint store -- he plans to paint his home while his wife and daughter are out of town -- when he collides with a running man. A couple of gunshots later, the running man is de... | 4 | The fifth Poke Rafferty thriller | 1,342,483,200 | 07 17, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1616951257 | TChris | [
20,
21
] | It's difficult to pull off aGrandfather Paradoxstory, although many have tried. The paradox is often resolved by having the paradox-creating event give birth to a parallel universe, which strikes me as a copout. Kudos to Sean Ferrell for constructing an intricate time travel mystery thriller that puts a fresh spin on... | 4 | An offbeat take on the Grandfather Paradox | 1,360,022,400 | 02 5, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 161695129X | TChris | [
3,
3
] | Too Bright to Hear, Too Loud to See is an honest, searing examination of a man in pain, a man suffering from a mental illness that is beyond his understanding or control. The illness turns him into a raging a-hole, and because it is not a physical illness with easily identifiable symptoms, because he suffers from bipo... | 4 | An honest account of bipolar disorder | 1,356,652,800 | 12 28, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 161695146X | TChris | [
3,
3
] | Nine Months is a counterpoint to smiling Super Mommies and happy chatter about the miracle of childbirth. The story is disquieting but told with unvarnished honesty, in prose that is intense and immediate. It's also very funny.Sonia isn't made for the rituals of motherhood. Hanging out with the neighborhood mommies rem... | 4 | A counterpoint to Super Mommies | 1,345,507,200 | 08 21, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1616951567 | TChris | [
3,
3
] | Gendarmes pull the dead body of Monsieur Raymond Calais from a pond on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. The immediate murder suspect is an old man named Hégésippe Bray who threatened to kill Calais after Calais stole land that Bray had purchased from Calais' father. Anne Marie Laveaud, the investigatin... | 4 | A murder mystery in Guadeloupe | 1,365,033,600 | 04 4, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1616951761 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Perfect Hatred is the sixth in a series of police procedurals featuring Mario Silva, Chief Inspector for Brazil's Federal Police. He would like to be investigating an act of terrorism in So Paulo, where a baby carriage, pushed by a Muslim man disguised as a woman, explodes in front of the American consulate, killing do... | 4 | The sixth Mario Silva novel | 1,361,232,000 | 02 19, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1616951907 | TChris | [
3,
3
] | Creepy and atmospheric, Little Wolves mixes two kinds of horror -- awful reality and fear of the supernatural -- while building suspense with the steadiness of precision machinery. The emphasis, as it should be in a truly frightening novel, is on the horror that lurks in human behavior.Lone Mountain is a sleepy, mostl... | 4 | Forgiveness | 1,358,121,600 | 01 14, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1616952040 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Three men have been assassinated: a Belgian and a Norwegian who, having allied themselves with the Reich, came to Ireland as refugees, and a German who worked for the SS. A note left in a victim's pocket suggests that the killer will soon be coming for Otto Skorzeny, formerly of the SS (a character who is borrowed from... | 4 | Divided loyalties | 1,356,998,400 | 01 1, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1616952121 | TChris | [
4,
4
] | "It wasn't revenge. I simply wanted to set him on fire. Air, that was the word that came to mind. I felt as little emotion as air." Fumihiro wants to destroy evil, but does the killer of evil become the thing he kills? That question lies at the heart of Evil and the Mask, the second novel by Fuminori Nakamura (aft... | 4 | The death of emotion | 1,370,908,800 | 06 11, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1616952237 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Masaryk Station appeals to the intellect but not to the heart. David Downing's writing lacks passion and the story is only moderately suspenseful. The plot is nonetheless intriguing and the background is skillfully rendered.John Russell is an American journalist, but that's a cover for a rather complicated life. He's m... | 4 | Intelligent plot and interesting atmosphere, but lacks suspense | 1,373,587,200 | 07 12, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1616952253 | TChris | [
6,
6
] | Dead Lions has everything a good spy novel needs -- intrigue, strong characters, crafty tradecraft, byzantine plotting, sharp prose -- with the addition of a healthy dose of humor. The heroes (if you could call them that) are slow horses: Intelligence Service officers who aren't trusted with serious work, assigned to... | 5 | The second Slough House novel | 1,368,403,200 | 05 13, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 161695227X | TChris | [
3,
4
] | Nicolaus, an Athenian investigator featured in two earlier novels, is charged with babysitting his friend Timodemus, a fierce fighter in the pankration and Athens' best hope for a medal in the eightieth Olympiad of the Sacred Games -- assuming that he isn't disqualified for pre-event tussling with his strongest competi... | 4 | Criminal investigation as an Olympic event | 1,369,094,400 | 05 21, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1616952431 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | The Morels might be summarized as a book by Christopher Hacker about a writer named Arthur Morel who writes a book titled The Morels. Yet that summary, while accurate, does not do justice to Hacker's stimulating novel. The Morels is actually two absorbing novels merged into a successful whole. Alternating between philo... | 5 | An exploration of art and of Art | 1,367,712,000 | 05 5, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1616952741 | TChris | [
3,
3
] | Some crime novels are just fun. Crashed is one of those. It's also smart, absorbing, and fast-moving. Timothy Hallinan does everything a writer should do whose goal is to keep a reader entertained from the first sentence to the last.Crashed was originally self-published as an ebook, apparently because Hallinan's edi... | 5 | The first Bender novel | 1,353,024,000 | 11 16, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1616952776 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | According to a paper written by Junior Bender's thirteen-year-old daughter, dozens of Little Elvises were churned up in Philly in the wake of Elvis Presley. Notable for their looks rather than their ability to carry a tune, they each had their six weeks of fame, performed on American Bandstand, and disappeared into th... | 4 | The second Junion Bender novel | 1,359,676,800 | 02 1, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 161695311X | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Manalargena, the chief of an Aboriginal clan in Tasmania, knowing his clan must fight to survive, recruits Black Bill to join them. Bill declines on the ground that he follows the direction of a white man, John Batman. Bill fails to mention that Batman, intending to collect on a contract from the governor, has already ... | 5 | "A meanness even God won't forgive" | 1,396,915,200 | 04 8, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1617230057 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | Creation is brief and not overly academic, which is the way I like my science books. Part One provides an overview of current scientific thought about the origin of life. Part Two (to me, the more interesting part), subtitled "The Future of Life," discusses the creation of new, human-engineered life forms, a branch of ... | 4 | The creation of life, past and future | 1,374,969,600 | 07 28, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1620401207 | TChris | [
6,
6
] | A keen observer of life, Gail Godwin is both a student and a teacher of human nature. Her novels tend to be probing studies of characters who struggle with their disconnection from the world around them.At the age of ten (going on eleven), Helen Anstruther has already developed the most disagreeable characteristics of ... | 5 | A formative summer | 1,368,057,600 | 05 9, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 162040169X | TChris | [
45,
51
] | "Life is only worth living because we hope it will get better and we'll all get home safely." So says Kitty Finch, the central character in Swimming Home, a powerful, offbeat novel that explores the impact an intruding outsider has on the relationships of two couples who are sharing a vacation home in the Alps-Maritim... | 5 | The difficult task of getting home safely | 1,348,444,800 | 09 24, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1620405245 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | The Poets' Wives examines the lives of three women whose husbands have died. The husbands were poets, two of them real. Had the novel offered more meaningful insight into the literary husbands, or had it revealed something more meaningful about the wives, I would have been more taken with it. If there is an organizing ... | 3 | Frustrated wives ... but where's the poetry? | 1,398,211,200 | 04 23, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 162755100X | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Vanning is hiding out in Greenwich Village. He doesn't know Detective Fraser is watching him. Neither does he know that two men who robbed a bank in Seattle are in New York, but he knows those men are after him. They think he has the $300,000 that was stolen from the bank. Fraser thinks Vanning might be the third robbe... | 4 | Satisfying noir | 1,370,131,200 | 06 2, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1770410805 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Adam Marek's best stories explore the oddness of life, or perhaps the odd ways that people live their lives. Many of the stories might be characterized as science fiction or fantasy or horror or alternate reality, but in the end, they defy conventional categorization. The stories are sui generis.Some of the stories i... | 4 | Imaginative stories that defy categorization | 1,333,324,800 | 04 2, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1770411429 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | The stories in Adam Marek's debut collection,Instruction Manual for Swallowing, were absurdist sketches of life. Many of the stories in The Stone Thrower are, if not conventional, at least more grounded in reality. Some are about boys learning what it is to be a man. A boy learns about death and mercy by helping his... | 4 | Adam Marek's second story collection | 1,365,984,000 | 04 15, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 184668739X | TChris | [
3,
3
] | When Robert Syverten's defense lawyer tells the judge that Robert did Gloria Beatty a favor by killing her, you know things aren't going well for Robert. As he waits for sentence to be pronounced, he remembers the circumstances that brought him into the criminal justice system. Robert and Gloria met as unemployed Hol... | 5 | The futile dance of life | 1,342,224,000 | 07 14, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1846881315 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | The Pink Hotel is narrated by Lily Harris' daughter, whose name is never revealed. Lily's daughter never knew Lily, but she impulsively travels to Venice Beach from London to attend Lily's funeral. She arrives in time for the wake being held at the hotel Lily co-owned. In Lily's room, she watches a fistfight between Ri... | 5 | A woman searches for her mother's identity, and her own | 1,380,412,800 | 09 29, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1852424338 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye begins with an escape from a chain gang and ends with an escape of a different sort. Ralph Cotter's violent departure from the chain gang is orchestrated by a "dame" named Holiday. Freed from his chains, Cotter quickly pulls off a robbery but, thanks to an untrustworthy accomplice and a dishones... | 5 | A nearly forgotten treasure | 1,336,435,200 | 05 8, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1853753092 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | Despite his innocence, a man named Vincent Parry is convicted of murdering his wife. His fate is sealed by Madge Rapf, the woman who scorned him after he rejected her, who testifies that Parry's wife identified Parry as her killer with her dying breath. Parry escapes from San Quentin but only evades the police with the... | 4 | Psychology and noir | 1,354,838,400 | 12 7, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1860468357 | TChris | [
4,
4
] | Viktor lives with a depressed penguin named Misha. Viktor is also depressed despite recently acquiring a job writing obituaries for VIPs in anticipation of their deaths. He fills the obituaries with philosophical musings about life and loss. Since his subjects are still living, Misha's obituaries (like his short sto... | 5 | The loss of innocence | 1,311,552,000 | 07 25, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1876631473 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Although A White Arrest could be characterized as a police procedural, there is little police work and almost no detection on display. It might be better to think of A White Arrest as a crime novel. A White Arrest features plenty of crime, at least half of it committed by the police. Fundamentally, though, A White Arre... | 4 | The anti-police procedural | 1,355,356,800 | 12 13, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1882968077 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | All Judgment Fled (the title is taken from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar) is an entertaining first contact novel. An object following an unnatural path is detected in the vicinity of Mars. Two American ships, each with a crew of three, are sent to investigate. They find an alien ship. It doesn't respond to signals, d... | 4 | Humans vs. aliens; human vs. humans | 1,290,988,800 | 11 29, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1883285585 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | The Obedient Assassin is a fictional account of Leonid Trotsky's assassination in Mexico in 1940. Stalin (at least according to the novel) was concerned that Trotsky had divided revolutionary sympathies in Spain and that he might do the same in the coming war with Germany. John Davidson's novel follows the assassin, a ... | 3 | Of historical more than literary interest (3.5 stars) | 1,391,299,200 | 02 2, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1888451165 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Alicia is a bicycle prostitute in Havana. She dresses in shorts and wiggles her butt as she pumps her pedals. One pedal is rigged to fall off, allowing her to tumble in front of the foreign men she seeks as customers. When one helps her up, she persuades him to give her a ride home where her mother makes dinner. Th... | 4 | A fun novel about a bicycle prostitute | 1,286,928,000 | 10 13, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1888451327 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | Jack lives in a seedy part of LA, works at Donut Haven, is married to a hooker named Karen, and dreams of being a celebrity. It doesn't surprise him when Karen disappears after selling her kidney for $30,000. Expecting her to be on a prolonged bender, Jack goes looking for Karen and instead finds the police, in a park... | 4 | Noir on steroids | 1,284,422,400 | 09 14, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 189239118X | TChris | [
3,
3
] | I found Stable Strategies and Others after reading the story "Contact" in the anthologyProteus: Voices for the 80's. The story was so superior to the others in the collection that I decided to look for other works by Eileen Gunn. Stable Strategies and Others is what I found, and all that I found in book form. She do... | 5 | A first-rate collection | 1,293,408,000 | 12 27, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1908236035 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | "What is history but a crime story with humanity as its cast?" A character in The Coming asks that question while discussing predictions of the Apocalypse made by some of history's famous figures, but the question serves as a statement of the novel's primary theme. The Coming takes the guise of a detective novel, but i... | 5 | Perspectives on truth, books, children, and the Apocalypse | 1,387,238,400 | 12 17, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1908844132 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Katya's World is an action-driven science fiction novel. Engaging characters and a high fun factor compensate for its lack of depth.The Russalkans, out of touch with Earth for more than a century, live in caves they have carved into undersea mountains on the ocean world they have colonized. When the Terrans finally r... | 4 | Fun, action-driven sf | 1,352,764,800 | 11 13, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1926851110 | TChris | [
9,
10
] | Eutopia is divided into two parts: nurture and nature. The first section (nurture) sets up what appears to be a terrific horror story, one with dynamic characters, a strong sense of place, and a variety of interesting but disquieting conflicts. The second section veers a bit off track with plot developments that are... | 4 | A mixture of real and supernatural horror | 1,305,331,200 | 05 14, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1926851463 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | You might call the characters in Bearded Women Stories freaks, although it probably wouldn't be politically correct to do so. The narrator of my favorite story in the collection, "Bianca's Body," has the lower half of a second body (she's named it Bianca) growing out of her own torso. Although the narrator's husband ... | 5 | The commonality of existence | 1,319,932,800 | 10 30, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1926851552 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | After a surfing accident, Westlake Soul woke up with "the most powerful mind on the planet, but a body like a wet paper bag." According to his doctor, Wes is in a persistent vegetative state. Wes' parents take him home, resisting his doctor's suggestion that it might be better to let him die. Yet Wes is cognizant, a... | 5 | Life and death | 1,334,880,000 | 04 20, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1927469104 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Most of us have a hidden side, a part of our personality or past that we choose (sometimes unsuccessfully) to bury. Janus plays with that reality (sometimes unsuccessfully) by introducing characters with a hidden past, albeit not hidden by choice.Traveling through the Knot (which, though unexplained, is presumably som... | 3 | Hidden pasts on a mystery planet (3.5 stars) | 1,349,654,400 | 10 8, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1927469333 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | A woman finds trouble when she sneaks into a business in New York City that vexes residents by stealing their parking spaces, trimming space from their apartments, and messing up their utility bills. Girls who have been manufactured with genes taken from dogs are playful and have limited attention spans, but they can b... | 4 | Strange, imaginative stories | 1,362,268,800 | 03 3, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1930846215 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | A prolific writer in the last quarter of the twentieth century, Ian Watson pushed the boundaries of science fiction while bringing literary style to the genre. Mockymen, published in 2003, is his most recent novel not written with a collaborator (his first sf novel,The Embedding, was published in 1973). Mockeymen is ... | 4 | A horror story that morphs into a philosophical sf novel | 1,360,195,200 | 02 7, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 193152033X | TChris | [
8,
9
] | The Liminal People oozes atmosphere from the first tense scene, as Taggert, doing a drug deal for his boss, is double-crossed in an unfriendly environment. Fortunately, Taggert can take care of himself: he has the ability to read and alter bodies; he swims in the biorhythms of the people who surround him. He can ind... | 5 | People on the threshhold | 1,325,462,400 | 01 2, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1931520453 | TChris | [
4,
4
] | Nancy Kress puts the science in science fiction, but more importantly, she tells stories about people. Too many writers of hard sf believe that inventive ideas are enough to carry a story. Kress knows that there is a difference between a science essay dressed up as fiction and an actual story. Beyond her emphasis on... | 5 | Kress at her best | 1,336,348,800 | 05 7, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1932234241 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | If you can get past the cliché-peppered prose -- everything from "listen and listen good" to a character who "cased the joint" -- The Cage tells an appealing story about Japanese gangsters and cops that's fun to read. I don't know whether to blame the clichés on Kenzo Kitakata (maybe familiar phrases fro... | 4 | Listen and listen good: Japanese noir | 1,294,963,200 | 01 14, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1933354283 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Precious is 47 years old, content with her life in Runaway Bay and with her marriage to Theophilus. As a dutiful wife, however, she agrees to move to the country so that Theophilus can enjoy a view of the mountains. When Theophilus dies in a traffic accident, Precious must begin her life anew, and she doesn't want to... | 4 | A very funny novel | 1,295,827,200 | 01 24, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1933354712 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | The Show That Smells is a short novel (more novella length, if that) that casts its author, Derek McCormack, as a reporter for Vampire Vogue ("the bible of the fashionable fiend"). Vampire Vogue is published by Elsa Schiaparelli, an Italian fashion designer who (Wikipedia tells me) was Coco Chanel's most prominent riva... | 4 | A different kind of vampire story | 1,292,889,600 | 12 21, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1933372397 | TChris | [
3,
3
] | Steve Erickson's 2007 novel begins with 227 consecutively numbered chapters, followed by 226 chapters that are numbered like a countdown, from 226 to 0. Talk about a story arc! Apart from its unusual structure, Zeroville isn't quite like any other novel I've read. As one of the characters remarks near the novel's en... | 5 | Movies and dreams | 1,368,489,600 | 05 14, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1933397128 | TChris | [
5,
5
] | It isn't fair to judge a novel written in 1970 by 21st Century standards (as does one of the reviewers at this site). David Audley's reservations about pursuing a romantic relationship with a much younger woman--a somewhat sexually aggressive woman, at that--may seem quaint today, but his reaction makes sense in the c... | 4 | An engaging story | 1,282,348,800 | 08 21, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1934287032 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | Noriko Hashimoto's reservations about marrying Kazuhito and joining the Shito household -- complete with siblings, parents, grandparents, and his great-grandmother -- are quickly dispelled by the sunny, welcoming personalities the family members display. To an unnatural degree, the family members embrace Noriko, viewi... | 3 | An interesting story that fizzles in the end | 1,317,168,000 | 09 28, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1934848328 | TChris | [
14,
14
] | The Sea and the Silence tells a bleak story of lost hope, a story that is tragic but rich with emotion. The story is set in Ireland and much of it takes place during World War II, a time when (according to one of the characters) an independent Ireland was young "and time is all that is needed for it to come of age." ... | 4 | Begins quietly, ends dramatically | 1,303,430,400 | 04 22, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1934848387 | TChris | [
4,
4
] | On the strength of the only two Peter Cunningham novels I've read (this one andThe Sea and the Silence), I have become a fan. Cunningham has written some thrillers and there are elements of a sedate literary thriller in Consequences of the Heart, but it is also a love story, a war story, and a generational story of tw... | 5 | Unconventional lifelong friendships | 1,306,540,800 | 05 28, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1934848875 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | As I began reading The South Lawn Plot, I thought: Not another thriller involving hidden Vatican secrets! It is and it isn't. The plotting of the priesthood underlies the story but many other storylines are layered on top of it. The South Lawn Plot has elements of a spy novel, a mystery, a political drama, and an h... | 4 | A dizzying, well-written thriller with a weak ending | 1,299,456,000 | 03 7, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1935462601 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | Written in uncomplicated prose, A River So Long tells Veronica's story in brief passages, a series of vignettes that eventually form the essence of a life. The novel's unconventional form is its chief strength.Long before her unnamed husband let the septic system back up, flooding their house with sewage while he lay p... | 4 | All the wrong places | 1,339,718,400 | 06 15, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1935554085 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | Someone (or something) appears to be living in Transylvania's Castle of the Carpathians. It isn't CountDracula-- Bram Stoker's novel didn't make an appearance until 1897, while The Castle in Transylvania was first published in 1892. Like the family name "Dracul," however, vampire stories existed in Romania for centur... | 4 | Is the castle haunted? | 1,310,342,400 | 07 11, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 193555428X | TChris | [
11,
11
] | If it weren't so funny, Spurious would be insanely depressing. W. and the novel's narrator, Lars, both know that, lacking the genius of Kafka, they will amount to nothing. They have been destroyed by literature; it has made them "vague and full of pathos." They are equally unskilled as philosophers. They would like... | 5 | A novel of philosophy, frivolity, and comedic conversation | 1,322,956,800 | 12 4, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1935554433 | TChris | [
4,
4
] | There is more story in this short (176 page) novel than you'll find in most 400 page thrillers. That's because Jakob Arjouni doesn't waste words. Using language that is both efficient and precise, Arjouni manages to set evocative scenes, create convincing characters, and tell a story that is lively, meaningful, and e... | 4 | A different shade of noir | 1,310,601,600 | 07 14, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1935554468 | TChris | [
14,
14
] | Belgian-born Georges Simenon's The Train was first published in French in 1961. Marcel Feron lives in France, near the Belgian border, with his daughter and pregnant wife. On the morning of May 10, 1940, Marcel hears a radio broadcast announcing that Germany has invaded Holland and that tanks are crossing the Belgian... | 5 | Deceptively simple, powerful and provocative | 1,312,588,800 | 08 6, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1935554549 | TChris | [
5,
5
] | Wikipedia tells me that Jakob Arjouni is a German writer and that One Man, One Murder (originally published in 1991 as Ein Mann, ein Mord) is the third of four novels featuring the Frankfurt detective Kemal Kayankaya. I haven't read the first two but I don't think my lack of familiarity with the series hindered my enj... | 4 | German noir | 1,308,700,800 | 06 22, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1935554670 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | The prison camp is empty; only Ruslan and his master remain. Ruslan is confused. Has there been a mass escape? Where are the other guards? Why aren't the other dogs on patrol? Why are the gates wide open? When his master lets him off his leash, Ruslan senses that he no longer has a purpose, that his days are at a... | 5 | A dog's duty | 1,321,401,600 | 11 16, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1936460386 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | If you read military science fiction, you've read Debris Dreams many times before. A cadet rather improbably becomes a leader and war hero within a short time, all the while questioning her courage and ability. While Debris Dreams isn't a bad attempt at a science fiction novel, the writing occasionally comes across as ... | 3 | You've read this book before | 1,353,196,800 | 11 18, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 1936909340 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | Twin mysteries unfold in Distant Water, both involving missing daughters in Asia. The first story is sometimes told by Bryan Paton, an American lawyer who has just joined a Hong Kong firm that represents a prominent businessman, Li Dak-chung. As the novel opens, Dak-chung's daughter, Fiona Li, is entering China. Whe... | 4 | "Distant water is of no use if the fire is near at hand" | 1,332,633,600 | 03 25, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 4770030258 | TChris | [
3,
3
] | Takako Otomichi is a female cop in a man's Japan. When a murder victim dies in a fire started by an incendiary device hidden in his belt, Takako is among the detectives assigned to the case. She's partnered with a male detective sergeant who views her as an ornament. The investigation seems to be running out of stea... | 4 | A strong female character copes with crime and family | 1,297,728,000 | 02 15, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 4805308826 | TChris | [
4,
4
] | The Tuttle Classics edition of Rashomon contains six stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, with an introduction by Howard Hibbet. "In a Grove" recounts a woman's rape and her husband's death from the conflicting perspectives of the rapist, the woman, and the husband, each of whom provides a different account of how the husba... | 5 | Japanese tales teach universal lessons | 1,296,345,600 | 01 30, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B00005VKK5 | TChris | [
4,
4
] | John Turner has a health condition that will end his life. How will he spend his last days? Working? Spending time with his wife despite his troubled marriage? It's easy to empathize with Turner as he ponders his options while plugging along. Ultimately, in the limited time that remains before his death, Turner decides... | 5 | Clearing the way for death | 1,289,692,800 | 11 14, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B0015DVEZQ | TChris | [
0,
0
] | I had a small desk that fit nicely into the odd space where I wanted to put my desktop computer, but it wasn't a computer desk so I purchased a cheap plastic keyboard tray for it. Lesson one: don't buy a cheap plastic keyboard tray. The parts that slide into the track kept coming out and I periodically had to reattach ... | 2 | Even if it worked I wouldn't recommend it | 1,305,504,000 | 05 16, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B004GHNISE | TChris | [
0,
0
] | Mistworld is a rebel planet protected from the Empire by a psionic shield. There isn't much to protect since Mistworld is essentially a medieval village in which security guards carry pikes. Of course they do, they used to be gladiators. They fight with swords and shields because energy guns and force fields take time ... | 3 | Mundane fantasy dressed as science fiction | 1,393,545,600 | 02 28, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B004I8NO8K | TChris | [
41,
41
] | I have been shaving with a blade for years. My last experience with a shaver (I believe a Norelco) was more than twenty years ago. I was never satisfied with the closeness of the shave and it always left my face feeling irritated. Nonetheless, there are times when I would like the convenience of a rechargeable shave... | 4 | Delivers a close shave but not as close as a blade | 1,298,764,800 | 02 27, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B005651Q1Q | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Traitor is the powerful story of a man's life before and after he makes the fateful decision suggested by the book's title. It is also a fiercely honest character study told in spare prose that is often exquisite.Traitor begins with Sergeant David Monroe awakening on a hospital barge near Lemnos in 1915. He escaped dea... | 5 | "To remember is the way into purgatory and perhaps too, the way out" | 1,400,112,000 | 05 15, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B006IGVIQU | TChris | [
1,
1
] | This edition of Ryunosuke Akutagawa's Rashomon is identical in content to at least two other editions offered for the Kindle, including the selection of six stories and the introduction by Howard Hibbet. Shop around because the prices vary. At the moment, one of the other editions is a bit less expensive than this one ... | 5 | Japanese tales teach universal lessons | 1,387,756,800 | 12 23, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B007FEPP4K | TChris | [
2,
2
] | Murder in Mumbai is a police procedural -- or maybe a journalist procedural -- set in modern Mumbai. Two men burglarizing an apartment find a body in a trunk. Inexplicably, they decide to dispose of the body in a garbage dump rather than leaving it where they found it. The dead woman was the CEO of a corporation. Among... | 3 | A lackluster police/journalist procedural set in Mumbai | 1,342,483,200 | 07 17, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B007HBH9L8 | TChris | [
11,
13
] | The Savage Boy is set in the same post-apocalyptic future asThe Old Man and the Wasteland. We learn a bit more about the cause of the apocalypse than the first novel reveals, but that's secondary to the very personal stories that occupy the heart of these novels.Before he died from radiation poisoning, Staff Sergeant ... | 4 | A satisfying sequel to The Old Man and the Wasteland | 1,362,960,000 | 03 11, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B007HUD72Y | TChris | [
30,
31
] | "Divorce Horse" is a short story that Craig Johnson wrote as promo for his upcoming Walt Longmire novel,As the Crow Flies. Johnson describes it as "a connecting tissue between novels." Included with the story, and about the same length, is the first chapter of As the Crow Flies. This review addresses the story, not ... | 4 | For Walt Longmire fans, a low-key story about a missing horse | 1,334,534,400 | 04 16, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B007QYDGW2 | TChris | [
17,
17
] | Sam Capra's son is missing. You probably know that if you readAdrenaline, but if you didn't, don't worry: Sam tells you that his son is missing about ten times during the brief opening scene of this short story. With help from a woman named Mila who carries a telescoping baton in her boot ("her preferred weapon"), S... | 3 | A bridge you don't need to cross | 1,337,644,800 | 05 22, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B0082CLCQE | TChris | [
0,
0
] | A reconnaissance flight returns pictures of something in Algeria that might be an airplane. Quiller is sent to "take a closer look at the bloody thing." The mission requires him to shake off surveillance, dodge bullets, and parachute into the desert where vultures are waiting to have him for lunch. Quiller is the ultim... | 4 | The third Quiller novel | 1,388,275,200 | 12 29, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B0086KQ208 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | The first installment in Esquire's "Fiction for Men" series only partially fulfills its mission, described as publishing "the type of original short stories men love to read -- plot-driven, immediate, essential, and impossible to put down." I think men (and women) love to read good fiction, whether plot-driven or chara... | 4 | Two out of three ain't bad | 1,339,459,200 | 06 12, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B0087GZ94Q | TChris | [
1,
1
] | A member of SAVAK, Iran's secret police, is acquitted of the rape and murder of two women he had detained for questioning. Darius Bakhtiar, the prosecutor who lost the rigged trial, takes justice into his own hands. Although the intercession of a politically connected uncle prevents Darius from being executed, the ac... | 3 | Brides of blood | 1,340,928,000 | 06 29, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B0089EHWJQ | TChris | [
2,
2
] | Mike Hammer is aging and he knows it, but that doesn't stop him from vamping for the TV cameras when he comes across a mutilated body near the side of a highway. Of course, having found the gory mess (the only part still recognizable is a severed hand), Hammer makes it his mission to track down the killer -- in other ... | 4 | Mike Hammer, Media Star | 1,342,483,200 | 07 17, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B008C84HH4 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Consider, if you will, Lucretia Gardner. (I begin with these words because I was hearing Rod Serling's narrative voice while I read this novella.) Lucretia lives in Queens. She just turned twelve. She wants to spend time with her best (and only) friend, Sunny, a girl who is dying of cancer. Apartment 6D (according... | 4 | A fine balance of creepiness and honest emotion | 1,347,494,400 | 09 13, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B008DVVLYW | TChris | [
0,
0
] | The military believes that someone is leaking classified specifications for a new sniper rifle to a foreign arms manufacturer. The leaker is likely a Military Intelligence staff officer. Reacher's job is to identify the leaker by pretending to be a Special Forces sniper assigned to the task force that is pitching the... | 3 | For diehard Reacher fans only (2.5 stars) | 1,344,038,400 | 08 4, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B008H3QNSU | TChris | [
11,
12
] | Catherine Monsigny, a young lawyer, takes on the defense of Myriam Villetreix who is accused of poisoning Gaston, the man who apparently saved her from deportation by marrying her. Catherine sees the case as her springboard to fame, although she wonders how she will interest Parisian reporters in the murder of a farme... | 4 | Two murders form the core of a strong psychological thriller | 1,377,993,600 | 09 1, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B008O4M278 | TChris | [
3,
3
] | Software salesman Tom Meron describes himself as a dull guy with a dull job. He gets a call from an old friend, a successful attorney named Jack Calley. On the telephone, Meron hears Calley being murdered; with his dying breath, Calley gives the killer Meron's address. After discovering that his wife is missing from... | 3 | An improbable story that lacks pizzazz | 1,348,099,200 | 09 20, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B008YOAFZY | TChris | [
2,
2
] | The Alamut Ambush is the second in a series of spy novels that began withThe Labyrinth Makers. David Audley is the thread that connects each novel, but he is not always the central character. Audley plays an important part in The Alamut Ambush but most of the legwork is done by Hugh Roskill, RAF Squadron Leader turne... | 4 | The second David Audley novel | 1,350,777,600 | 10 21, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B00938UIK2 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Lars is a hit man, and with two exceptions, a successful one. One was a recent bloodbath in Vegas and the other is Mitchell "Mitch the Snitch" Kenney, who for seventeen years has been evading Lars, hiding in a witness protection program somewhere in the southwest. Lars has been practicing yoga and chasing down leads ... | 4 | A hit man considers retirement | 1,351,641,600 | 10 31, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B0095IGJ1W | TChris | [
0,
0
] | Death's Head Legion is the second installment of a three-part serial that began withBlack Sun Reich. If you don't read Black Sun Reich first, this installment will make no sense.The Great War opened a rift that exposed a dimension where magic reigns, or maybe it opened a doorway to Hell. As we learned in Black Sun Re... | 4 | Fun, part two | 1,357,084,800 | 01 2, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B0095II6CW | TChris | [
0,
0
] | It is difficult to review the first installment of a serialized novel. Sometimes the first third of a book is quite good while the novel as a whole is a bust. This installment gets the novel off to a promising start while leaving room for fear that the work as a whole might be a dud.Given the influence of theThule So... | 4 | Part one: a promising start | 1,356,566,400 | 12 27, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B0095IIU96 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Shadows Will Fall brings to a close the Nazi plan to use the Spear of Destiny to create an army of obedient zombies with the intelligence to follow orders. The formula for manufacturing zombies is glossed over with some mutterings about alchemy and radiation and mystical chants and the war opening a portal to another ... | 3 | Predictable end to a reasonably entertaining novel (3.5 stars) | 1,359,763,200 | 02 2, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B0096LJXQG | TChris | [
2,
2
] | Although it was first published in 1967, The Golden Trap doesn't feel dated (except that a suite in a New York hotel can no longer be had for $50). It is the fourth in a series of twenty-two novels that prolific author Judson Phillips, writing as Hugh Pentecost, set in the Beaumont, New York's finest luxury hotel. The ... | 4 | The fourth Beaumont Hotel procedural | 1,380,326,400 | 09 28, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | B009J2VDTM | TChris | [
0,
0
] | Wendolin Kramer frequently wears a Wondergirl costume (of sorts) and imagines herself as a superhero, a role for which she is not ideally suited. Nor is she a likely detective, although she advertises her services (using the name W. Kramer) and considers her bedroom to be her detective office. A potential client wants ... | 3 | A novel for fans of the absurd | 1,352,073,600 | 11 5, 2012 |
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