My Life as a Villainess is a collection of essays written by crime novelist, Laura Lippman. Over the past number of years, I’ve grown to enjoy essay collections. I admire people who can let others into their personal lives. It takes a great deal of courage to be so open about yourself, especially when you’ve…
After the events of In The Woods, former undercover officer Cassie Maddox is finally getting back to some sense of normality following her transfer to the domestic violence department. All that changes when the body of a woman turns up in an Irish countryside. Cassie’s former boss, Frank MacKey, calls Cassie in to have…
Spider-Man: Life Story is an attempt on the part of Chip Zdarsky to present a true beginning-to-end story of the web-slinger as the character ages in real time from the 1960s onward. I thought this was a great idea. Comic book characters are essentially immortal (unless you’re killing them off to sell books) and timeless,…
Cascade is a collection of six short stories from author Craig Davidson. Craig Davidson’s 2014 novel, Cataract City, is not only my favorite novel of his, but one of my favorites in general. When I saw that Craig was going to release a short story collection set in the world of Cataract City (Niagara Falls,…
You get a phone call that your child has been kidnapped. In order to get your child back, you must pay a ransom and kidnap a child yourself. The parents of the child in your possession must also pay a ransom and kidnap another child. Once that is done, both you and your child will…
When Caitlin Doughty was a young girl a chance encounter with death kicked off a life-long obsession with mortality. Her book, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, is her journey into the funeral industry while also exploring what happens to all of us when we kick the bucket. Like many people, death is not an event…
While on a self-imposed sabbatical from detective work, Izzy Spellman is approached by a man with a simple job offer – he wants to know if his wife is having an affair. Although Izzy agrees to take the job, it becomes the least of her worries. As always, there is something fishy going on with…
In 1993, Stephen King released Nightmares & Dreamscapes, his third short story collection (fifth if you count his two novella collections “Different Seasons” and “Four Past Midnight”). In all honesty, as a collection, I thought this was pretty bad. When you look at the quality of Night Shift and Skeleton Crew, it’s hard to believe…
Every Read Thing 