KindlePrintReviews

Smoking Kills

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Written by Antoine Laurain, translated by Louise Rogers-Lalaurie — The title of this book is marketing genius, with a wink in the direction of every packet of cigarettes and pouch of tobacco in the EU. Although we all know the evil weed is a killer,…
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iBookKindlePrintReviews

The Man Who Died

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Written by Antti Tuomainen, translated by David Hackston — If you think you already know what to expect from an Antti Tuomainen crime novel, prepare to be surprised. We certainly thought we did, having reviewed him several times on our site. There’s his philosophical dystopia…
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Features

A classic revisited: Heed the Thunder

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Jim Thompson’s second novel Heed the Thunder is a sprawling, multi-generational epic following the descent of the Fargo clan at the turn of the 19th century. Although not a noir in the strictest sense, its ominous style and cruel but sympathetic characters show clear signs…
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iBookKindlePrintReviews

Little Tales of Misogyny

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Written by Patricia Highsmith — The title of Patricia Highsmith’s story collection, reissued this month by Virago, remains highly provocative even 40 years after it first appeared. As a reader, you wonder if these tales will highlight the cruelty of misogyny from a feminist perspective. Or…
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iBookKindlePrintReviews

Fiddle City by Dan Kavanagh

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When Julian Barnes’s pseudonymous PI novel Duffy was reissued earlier this year, the literary author found himself welcomed into the crime genre. Written under the name Dan Kavanagh, Duffy was a scandalously funny, violent and sordid debut from a writer who was clearly relishing a…
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Book Club

Necropolis

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If you are amused by cruel humour, then a word to the wise – don’t read this book on the bus or the train, as you will be reduced to fits of giggles. Main character Dyson Devereux is an acerbic and savage commentator on the…
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KindlePrintReviews

The First One You Expect by Adam Cesare

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There is plenty of crime fiction set in the glamorous world of Hollywood, about egomaniacal auteurs, shady producers and temperamental film stars. Elmore Leonard’s Get Shorty and Stuart M Kaminsky’s Toby Peters mystery series are good examples. Funnily enough, there is less written about the…
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