Book Reviews by Elizabeth A. White

Though I initially earmarked only my Top 5 Reads of 2011, I ultimately decided I really needed to expand that to ten selections given the ridiculous amount of stellar books I was fortunate to discover this year.

To narrow things down somewhat, I arbitrarily decided to select my Top 10 only from full-length novels and not include any anthologies or collections. And I’ll tell you what, even with the herd already thinned picking only ten was still excruciating.

So many authors gave me hours of reading pleasure this year through their amazing abilities, and I am grateful to each and every one of them. For writing what turned out to be my favorite reads of 2011, I am especially grateful to Andrez Bergen, Vincent Holland-Keen, Grant Jerkins, Lynn Kostoff, Bill Loehfelm, Matthew McBride, Steve Mosby, Josh Stallings, Urban Waite, and Benjamin Whitmer. Thank you.

Presented in reverse order by date of review, my Top 10 Reads of 2011.

When your girl-on-a-dark-street alarm goes off, you listen. Every damn time. – Maureen Coughlin

It’s only a few pages into author Bill Loehfelm’s newest book, The Devil She Knows, that Maureen Coughlin’s girl-on-a-dark-street alarm goes off, and it keeps ringing for 300+ pulse-pounding pages.

Twenty-nine year old Maureen is slogging her way through life working never-ending shifts as a waitress at The Narrows, a wannabe upscale bar located in a rough part of Staten Island. She knows if she doesn’t do something to make a major change in her life soon she’s gonna end up a “lifer” on the bar scene, a fate she’s desperate to avoid.

She soon has more to worry about than long hours and bad tips, however, when leaving the bar in the wee hours of the morning she inadvertently stumbles upon the bar manager, Dennis, giving oral sex to local hot-shot and candidate for Senate Frank Sebastian. Quickly understanding that what she’s seen puts her in an awkward position – and one Sebastian may find to be a threat – Maureen assures both men she has no intention of breathing a word of it to anyone.

And she wouldn’t have, until she learns the next day that Dennis has been found dead on the railroad tracks not too far from The Narrows. Though the police are inclined to chalk it up as either an accident or suicide, Maureen can’t help but wonder if something more sinister happened. When she returns home to find her apartment has been broken into Maureen becomes convinced Sebastian killed Dennis to keep him quiet, and that she’s next. (more…)

Today I welcome Dr. Bill to the blog to talk about blow jobs. Ok, Bill Loehfelm’s not really a doctor, he’s an author, but he will be talking about blow jobs. At least with regard to how a pivotal scene in his latest book, The Devil She Knows, has been blown (sorry, couldn’t resist) but nearly every review to date. In all seriousness, The Devil She Knows has been receiving rave reviews, including stars from both Publishers Weekly and Booklist. I’ll be posting my review tomorrow, but for now I’ll tun things over to Dr. Bill.

The reviews for The Devil She Knows have been the best of my career, which is, of course, a good thing. You always believe that your new work is your best, and it helps if the people reading it think the same way. The best of the best, from Booklist, was also my first review with the word fellate used in the opening line, or anywhere else in a review for that matter.

I’m learning to live with the fact that reviews, good or bad, can be spoilery. As a crime fiction author, I do my best to pack as much suspense and as many surprises into the book as possible without destroying the story’s credulity, and though I understand the challenges of reviewing (like making the point of what captured your interest) I still get a little tweaked when someone reveals a surprise I’ve carefully arranged and timed. And I emphasize a little, because gratitude for the time and effort always comes first – even when I get toasted.

Plus, reviews are one of the only ways to see if certain choices land with the intended impact; the audience never quite sees the work exactly the way the artist intended, and I find that fascinating and part of the fun.

In The Devil She Knows, a key early event gets mentioned in every review – one that I had planned as a surprise and a shock, though that’s a hope I have since abandoned. (Obviously, since I’m discussing it here) No one, it seems, can resist talking about a blow job. Especially when that blow job, or more specifically, witnessing it, is the critical act that sets the plot in motion. (If a politician gets head after hours in an empty bar and no one is there to see it, is it still a scandal? ‘Cause it is if someone does see it.) It’s been fun watching the euphemisms abound in the varying publications. (more…)