Noir | Raging Biblio-holism

Fifty Feet of Trouble

October 24, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Nick Moss, last human PI in Los Angeles, goes from having no cases to several in the blink of an eye. But what could two missing girls, a missing familiar, and a mysterious vampiric paramour have in common? Knowing this town, more than Nick can handle – and with a fifty foot woman and a Kong involved, boy is that ever the case. The Review: Sometimes, a simple concept is all you need to make something downright brilliant. […]

Categories: Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Noir • Tags: A Visit to October Country, Advance Review, Book, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Candlemark and Gleam, Fiction, Fifty Feet of Trouble, Horror, Justin Robinson, Mystery, Nick Moss, Night War, Noir, review, Reviews

Near Enemy (Spademan #2)

March 25, 2016 by Drew

The Short Version: Spademan has returned to his usual work (killer for hire) after the events of Shovel Ready – but when his next target wakes up out of the limn to say that somebody killed somebody for real on the inside, he stays his box cutter and begins to investigate. But this plot is bigger than he ever could’ve foreseen and the reality that society is clinging to, both in the real world and the limn, might be far less […]

Categories: Fiction, Noir • Tags: Adam Sternbergh, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Dystopia, Fiction, Mystery, Near Enemy, New York City, Noir, Post-Apocalyptic, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, Spademan, Terrorism, Thriller

Shovel Ready (Spademan #1)

March 4, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: After a dirty bomb decimates Times Square, New York City empties out in one way or another. Those who can afford it slip into the limn, a perfect virtual reality, while those who can’t either leave the city for good or become shells of their former selves. Spademan is one of the last: a former garbage man and husband, now hardened hit man. But when he stops short of killing a pregnant girl, he finds himself going up […]

Categories: Fiction, Noir, Sci-Fi • Tags: Action, Adam Sternbergh, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Dystopia, Fiction, New York, New York City, Noir, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Shovel Ready, Spademan

Inherent Vice

January 16, 2015 by Drew

The Short Version: When Doc Sportello’s ex-flame shows up asking him to look into her missing new beau, he probably shouldn’t take the case. But he does and ends up mixed up with all kinds of ne’er-do-wells and maybe-do-wells, all seen through a cloud of drugs as the ’70s begin… The Review: What to think of Thomas Pynchon writing a relatively straightforward novel? It’s hard to conceive, in some ways, isn’t it? Not that this is exactly straightforward – the cloud […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature, Mystery, Noir • Tags: Book Review, Book Reviews, BookClub, Books, California, Fiction, Inherent Vice, Literature, Mystery, Noir, Pot, Reviews, Thomas Pynchon

Kill My Mother

August 4, 2014 by Drew

The Short Version: In the spirit of classic noir, Jules Feiffer delivers a story about dames, detectives, drinking, and death. Following several strong-minded women whose lives begin to intersect in 1933, Kill My Mother is a rainy mystery like they don’t make anymore. The Review: I know Jules Feiffer, of course, from his illustrations for The Phantom Tollbooth – but had no idea that the man is also a renowned political cartoonist, illustrator, and artist. So a graphic novel, meant to evoke his youthful […]

Categories: Fiction, Noir • Tags: Advance Review, BEA14, Book Reviews, Books, Fiction, Graphic Novel, Jules Feiffer, Kill My Mother, Noir, Reviews

City of Devils

September 16, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: Nick Moss is the only human PI left in Los Angeles. Something happened after World War II – another war, the Night War – and turned a huge chunk of the population into monsters. Classic monsters. And when a shapeshifting actress hires Moss to find her missing mummy husband, he finds himself running the risk of becoming one himself. The Review: There’s a very interesting analogy I mentally drew about two-thirds of the way through this novel […]

Categories: Fiction, Horror, Noir • Tags: Advance Review, Candlemark and Gleam, City of Devils, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Horror, Justin Robinson, Mystery, Noir

The Big Reap (The Collector, Book Three)

June 23, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: Sam Thornton, Collector extraordinaire, seems to be having trouble sticking to a low profile. After being picked up by a particularly nasty former-human, now-creature, he’s tasked with hunting down the remaining eight of them: the Brethren, they’re called – responsible for such hits as the Flood. Like, THAT one. But as Sam’s monster hunt draws down, it becomes clear that he maybe doesn’t know all the facts… The Review: The cover of this third installment in Chris […]

Categories: Fiction • Tags: Advance Review, Angry Robot Books, Chris F. Holm, Fantasy, Fiction, Literature, Monsters, Noir, Religion, Sam Thornton, The Big Reap, The Collector, Urban Fantasy

“When Did You See Her Last?” (All the Wrong Questions #2)

June 6, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: In the town of Stain’d-by-the-Sea, a young Lemony Snicket and his chaperone are trying to find a missing girl. She may’ve just run off to the circus – OR she may’ve been kidnapped to help the diabolic Hangfire with his nefarious experiments, a phrase here that means “attempts to create invisible ink”, among other dark deeds. Meanwhile, Snicket is trying to: keep tabs on his sister, understand the Bombinating Beast statue and its owner Ellington Feint, and learn […]

Categories: Fiction • Tags: "When Did You See Her Last?", All The Wrong Questions, BEA13, Children's Lit, Daniel Handler, Fiction, Field Notes Brand, Lemony Snicket, Little Brown, Mystery, Noir, Young Adult

The Dewey Decimal System (Dewey Decimal #1)

March 14, 2013 by Drew

The Short Version: Sometime after the Valentine’s Occurence(s), New York City is a comparative wasteland – less than a tenth of the population remaining, most of the bridges destroyed, an apocalyptic air about the town. A war vet with a few mental issues (PTSD, OCD, memory loss) who goes by the name of Dewey Decimal has taken up residence in the Schwartzman Building and does some odd jobs as detective/tough for the City in the meantime. But when the DA sends […]

Categories: Fiction, Noir • Tags: Dewey Decimal, Dystopian, Fiction, Nathan Larson, New York City, Noir, The Dewey Decimal System

Raging Biblio-holism

The overwhelming urge to collect, consume, and consider books

Tag: Noir