THE PREPOSTEROUS BOLLOX OF THE SITUATION
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She has such an interestingly beautiful face
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Rose Leslie by Rebecca Miller for Bust
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Carice van Houten by Janey van Ierland
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Drew Barrymore
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Léa Seydoux
“A social experiment is conducted in a park. Three people try to steal a bike out in the open. First, a white teenager. Then, a black one. Finally, a young blond tries her luck. Does anyone try to stop them?”
What Would You Do? Bike Theft (White Guy, Black Guy, Pretty Girl) (by VladCantSleep)
The Interrogation by Thomas H. Cook
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The ’50s setting is wonderfully evoked, as are the characters - both the detectives and the incidental cast - and the story slowly comes together over the course of one night, before a couple of sharp twists and an ending that you think is going to dissipate pull together in a satisfyingly unexpected final page. If The Interrogation had been written in the years in which it is set, Hitchcock would have made this into one of his best films; it has the sharp and suspenseful clockwork of Hitchcock’s best work, and a slowly ratcheting suspense that keeps you reading. My first Thomas H Cook book, but certainly not my last.
View all my reviews
“Norfolk police said a 28-year-old man was left with cuts to his face, nose and lip, as well as two black eyes, after being confronted by the fictional factory workers as he left a kebab shop in the city centre…”
“A woman in western Sweden who was arrested after police found skeletons in her apartment has now been charged for using the bones as sex toys, a hobby she claimed was motivated by an interest in history.
“A 37-year-old woman, who was arrested in September, was formally charged on Tuesday at the Gothenburg District Court for the crime of “violating the peace of the dead” (brott mot griftesfriden).”
“Authorities in Canada are searching for 29-year-old Luka Rocco Magnotta, an adult film actor who appears on various websites featuring hardcore gay male porn. Magnotta is beleived to be the man responsible for killing a friend, videotaping and then publishing online video of the man’s dismemberment, then mailing body parts to various addresses in Ottawa, including the ruling Conservative party’s headquarters.
“A human torso recently discovered in Montreal, and a human hand and foot mailed from Montreal to Ottawa, are all presumed to be connected to the killing.”
“The operator directed the officer, who was on foot patrol, as he followed the “suspect” on camera last month, telling his colleague on the ground that he was “hot on his heels”.
“The officer spent around 20 minutes giving chase before a sergeant came into the CCTV control room, recognised the “suspect” and laughed hysterically at the mistake.”
“Writers make great hay with these pieces of evidence. That’s why they like to use semi-automatic guns in crimes. Without them, solving the crime would be more difficult…”
What sets these texts apart, however, from standard crime fiction is that neither adheres to traditional investigative frameworks and are even almost totally devoid of investigative narrative, because they ‘stay within the mind of the killer’ in such a way that makes them ‘effectively disturbing’. To an extent, there is really no moral voice that balances out the serial killer’s viewpoint or mind in either American Psycho or The Killer Inside Me. At least, especially not in the same way that Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot might, because narrative is totally subjective for Patrick and Lou and restricted to the subjective and ‘disordered imagination.’
Kill Now, Pay Later
Paperback book cover, 1960. Illustration: Robert McGinnisSource: UK Vintage
(via warrenellis)
Richard Fahey’s cover for Megan Abbott’s 2005 ’50s noir novel Die A Little.
I’m reading this at the moment and it is excellent.
A lactating U.S. woman was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after she sprayed sheriff’s deputies with breast milk as they tried to remove her from a vehicle, police said on Monday.
Sheriff Walter L. Davis III said, “This is a prime example of how alcohol can make individuals do things they would not normally do.”
