Book Reviews by Elizabeth A. White

I could almost stop with that quote and nothing more and you’d have a pretty good feel for author Josh Bazell’s latest book, Wild Thing: crazy shit. Of course, I mean that in the best way possible.

Though technically a sequel in that it features the same lead character as Bazell’s debut, Beat the Reaper, Wild Thing is so amazingly different in tone and style that it’s a sequel in name only. For starters, the lead character doesn’t even go by the same name he did in the previous book.

When we last saw Pietro Brnwa, a former mob hit man now in Federal witness protection, he was going by the name Peter Brown and working as a physician at a low-rent hospital in Manhattan. His cover was blown during the course of Beat the Reaper with spectacularly disastrous results, and Wild Thing finds Pietro/Peter now working on a cruise ship under the name Dr. Lionel Azimuth.

Not for long, however, as he’s approached by a reclusive billionaire (referred to throughout the book as “Rec Bill”) who’s obsessed with an urban legend which has a Loch Ness type creature living in White Lake deep in the woods of Minnesota. Rec Bill wants Pietro to accompany paleontologist Dr. Violet Hurst on an expedition to prove/disprove the creature’s existence, with Peitro serving as bodyguard and observer.

Pietro and Hurst aren’t the only ones on the expedition, however, as they are joined by a small group of people hand-picked – and steeply charged – by the expedition’s guide to join in the hunt. From true believers to international drug dealers to an “Oh no he didn’t!” cameo by a very well-known politician, the group Pietro and Hurst find themselves in the company of is as colorful as a box of crayons that’s been thrown in a blender. There’s no guarantee they’ll find the White Lake Monster, but as Pietro said, shit most definitely gets crazy. (more…)

Even if you think you don’t like poetry – I admit I don’t read a ton of it myself – if you’re a fan of crime fiction you really should be visiting The 5-2 on a regular basis. In addition to seeing many familiar names amongst the contributors, you’ll also be treated to the discovery of new talent you may not yet have had the pleasure of reading. Either way, you won’t come away empty-handed or disappointed.

And if you need a little push to get you going, just check out the stops on the 30 Days of The 5-2 Blog Tour, a tour during which different bloggers are taking turns spotlighting a poem of their choice every day in the month of April. I’ve chosen to feature the phenomenal “Nothing to See Here” by C.J. Edwards. (more…)

Summoned from his beloved “Body Farm” in Tennessee to Avignon, France by his protégé Miranda Lovelady under false pretenses, Dr. Bill Brockton soon forgets his anger at being mislead when Miranda reveals the real reason she needed her mentor.

While working on an excavation in the Palace of the Popes Miranda and her dig partner uncovered a stone ossuary filled with bones. Interesting, but not worthy enough in and of itself to warrant tricking the world-renowned forensic anthropologist into flying four thousand miles.

No, what turned the find from interesting into potentially world changing was the inscription on the ossuary… the one which indicates the bones contained within it are those of Jesus of Nazareth. Being scientists, Brockton and Miranda are initially skeptical. Being good scientists, however, they are willing to put in the research and let the forensic results speak for themselves.

When testing dates the bones at two thousand years and a link between them and the impression on the Shroud of Turin is discovered, Brockton and Miranda realize they could be sitting on one of the biggest archeological discoveries in history. They aren’t the only ones who realize it, however, and soon the two scientists find themselves in the crosshairs of rivals, the Vatican, and a very determined religious zealot, all of whom will stop at nothing to possess the bones. (more…)

There’s a reason author Lawrence Block has received countless awards for his writing and been recognized as a Grand Master of his craft – the man is damn good at what he does.

And what he does is write books that are a marvel of plotting and pacing, nearly always infused with a wickedly sly sense of humor, and which often strike a cord that resonates so strongly the characters and outcome echo in your mind long after you’ve finished reading.

Getting Off was such book for me, one I actually had to take a little step away from before I could gather my thoughts and write (what I hope is) a proper review.

Writing as Jill Emerson, a pseudonym under which Block penned seven erotic pulp fiction novels in the 60s and 70s, Getting Off is the story of young Kit Tolliver. At least that’s one of her names. She tends to change them quite frequently as she moves from town to town finding, seducing, fleecing, and killing a string of lovers.

While reflecting on her black widow tendencies after one of her kills, Kit realizes there are actually five men whom she’s slept with without killing; five who were lucky enough to pass through her life before she dedicated herself to a series of ultimate one-night stands. Bothered by the idea those men are still alive, Kit decides to track each of them down for one last fling. (more…)

In the world of the über rich it’s all about image. Wearing the right clothes, driving the right car, dining at the right restaurants, being seen at the right hot spots and vacation locales. The fabulously wealthy know they are constantly being watched; that’s the point. See and be seen, the more conspicuously the better.

If only they knew he was watching them. Studying them. Photographing them. Obsessing over them. Mr. Glamour knows what matters to the jet set, understands their slavish dedication to brands and image. He understands because he wants it as well. And what better way to obtain what he wants and hurt those he despises than by taking it from them? He will build himself up by tearing them down and taking everything from them… including their lives.

When the bodies of London’s jet set being turning up murdered and mutilated, Detective Chief Inspector Flare and his partner Inspector Steele find themselves investigating what evolves into an increasingly horrific string of murders. And though it seems obvious the killings are linked, Flare and Steele are met with a wall of silence from those closest to the victims, the very people who may be next on the killer’s list.

Now Flare and Steele must deconstruct the pathology of a diseased mind in order to stop the gruesome killings. What they don’t realize is that doing so will also require them to look deep into the darkest corners of their own minds, and what they find there may be even more disturbing than what’s in the mind of the killer. (more…)

When a top secret scientific project seeking to discover the key to immortality goes horribly wrong a pandemic is unleashed which decimates the world’s population. Those who survived banded into small, scattered pockets of civilization.

One such group, a walled commune known as Sanctuary, has managed to restore some semblance of order to their lives, but not without a cost. The community is only able to sustain a finite number of people, so once a baby reaches an age that suggests the child will in fact survive a ’space’ in the commune must be made for the new member… by expelling an adult.

Exactly who gets expelled is determined by a lottery wherein a name is chosen at random from all eligible members. Sanctuary’s ruling Brethren have been able to get the populace to willingly go along with the lottery by convincing them that the member who is expelled will join the Gods and become immortal.

When Anna Charles’s young daughter, Lucy, is ‘chosen’ in the lottery as retaliation against Anna because of an affair she was having, things start to unravel. Already suspicious of the Brethren’s teachings because of her Mother-in-Law’s cryptic preachings about the one, true God, Anna decides to take Lucy and her son and flee Sanctuary. Pursued by her husband and the manipulative member of the Brethren who fixed the lottery, Anna soon discovers how terrifyingly right her Mother-in-Law was; those who walk beyond the walls of Sanctuary are indeed immortal, but they are far from being Gods. (more…)

Nine-year-old Jess Hall is caught between two worlds, those of childhood wonder and adult responsibility. Growing up in a small, rural town in the foothills of western North Carolina he and his older brother, Christopher, play in the streams and woods, getting up to the sort of mischief you’d expect of typical young country boys.

Except Christopher isn’t typical. He’s autistic, and his total lack of verbal communication has led to him being given the nickname Stump. Despite Jess being the younger brother, he’s fiercely protective of Stump and feels it’s his responsibility to make sure Stump’s path through life is as smooth as possible.

When things go horribly wrong during an attempted “healing” of Stump by Pastor Carson Chambiliss at the local evangelical church, life changes irrevocably for both boys and nothing about their small town will ever be the same again.

The events of Wiley Cash’s spectacular debut novel, A Land More Kind Than Home, are relayed through the perspectives of three different narrators, Jess being one of them. Weaving back and forth in time, Cash also adds the world–weary voices of longtime Sheriff Clem Barefield and town/church elder Adelaide Lyle to help flesh out his Southern Gothic tale of religion gone wrong and the destructive power of secrets. (more…)

Manhattan prosecutor Matt DeMarco is going to need every ounce of his toughness and every one of his friends to get through the nightmare he finds himself plunged into in Gods and Fathers, the latest thriller from author James LePore.

The failure of his marriage sixteen years ago bothers Matt, but what really kills him is the wedge that was driven between him and his now twenty-two-year-old son, Michael, when Matt’s ex-wife married an extremely wealthy Syrian businessman who showered Michael with anything his heart desired.

Reduced to seeing Michael on the odd weekend here and there, Matt finds his son to be both a stranger and a disappointment. But when Michael is arrested for the rape and murder of his girlfriend, Matt’s fatherly instincts kick into high gear. His son may be a disagreeable, spoiled punk, but he’s no rapist or murderer. Matt’s sure of it, and will stop at nothing to prove it.

When people close to the case, both investigators and witnesses, start getting killed Matt realizes there are forces at work that go far beyond his son’s arrest, forces that are as determined to remain in the shadows as Matt is to drag them into the light. Now Matt’s racing to uncover the truth and exonerate his son while trying to stay one step ahead – and out of the crosshairs – of an alphabet soup of government agencies including the NYPD, FBI, CIA, UN, and SMI (Syrian Military Intelligence). (more…)

Mulholland Books is looking for English and writing students to contribute writing to Triggers Down, a social writing project that will be a testament to writers building off of other writers’ work to create bigger and better stories. The goal is to create a 100-paragraph crime story.

Here’s how it works: Mulholland Books will assign interested students specific passages, each student will write a section that branches off of the one before it (except for the first paragraph, of course), and that process will continue until students have composed a cohesive narrative.

You can learn more, including how to participate, at Mulholland’s website.