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
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.
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The Watcher by Charles Maclean
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Despite the wildly enthusiastic reviews, this was a book I found myself with no great urge to continue with, only reading it because it was the book I was currently reading, not through any great interest. Individual segments of it are compelling, though they fail to add up to anything. The question as to the narrator’s sanity became secondary to the feeling that nothing was going to be resolved satisfactorily by the end, which is the case, and connections introduced as twists seemed painfully obvious from very early on. I was intrigued as to how I could get to be a middle-aged horror fan without being aware of the so-called “number one horror novel of all time.” - turns out it’s nothing of the sort.
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“TEASER TRAILER. As those who have been following The Canyons know, we are to a large degree crowd sourced. Fortunately Dan Shulman-Means volunteered to come out of retirement and put together this teaser. It’s been a while a while since Dan has worked and it’s great to see him in top form!
This teaser was made to resemble thrillers from the 1970’s. Two more teasers made to resemble 1950’s melodrama and 1930’s comedy will be delivered soon.”
THE CANYONS - TEASER TRAILER (by pophenom)
The Winter Of Frankie Machine by Don Winslow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Nothing particularly new or original here, just a very good mob thriller full of carefully detailed characters and well-observed moments ranging over many decades, all described in beautifully crafted prose. The plot is intricate and far-ranging, and the anti-hero is well balanced and sympathetic. It started slowly but I could barely put it down until I’d finished.
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The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
A book of interesting - if naively drawn - characters (though the character of Biba is explicitly written in a “Please cast Kiera Knightley in the film” fashion that is obtrusive), and an interesting plot that engages. Sadly, the prologue and a few clunky bits of foreshadowing give away all the twists at the end of the book to anyone paying the least attention (the theory of Chekhov’s gun has a lot to answer for, especially when writers blithely rattle on about the gun on the mantelpiece and then expect the reader to be surprised when someone gets shot with it). A bit of a muddle, really.
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“Here are the storyboards created for one of the most finely crafted sequences in “Vertigo.” Masterful images in their own right, they showcase the brilliance of the sequence’s framing and the supreme quality that comes from an artist understanding the camera’s ability to paint in broad and graphic strokes.”
“So for the first time in public, anywhere, after 18 years in the “One that got away” files, I present to you the 32-page comic adaptation of Kalifornia by Duncan Fegredo & Chuck Dixon…”
