All tagged thriller

No Road Home – John Fram

“No Road Home” is a good read, but it’s not groundbreaking. Fans of religious-themed horror and dastardly families (think “Ready or Not”) will appreciate this more than most. Readers picking this up hoping for a queer-focused story, like “The Bright Lands,” may be let down. Shortcomings aside, I’d still give Fram another shot. 

Yellowface – R. F. Kuang

Expectation: A timely and highly literary story about plagiarism and diversity set against the backdrop of the publishing industry.

Reality: A dark, shocking and highly engrossing novel that dismantles so many hot button issues in less than 400-pages. Unfortunately the last third lost steam.

The Shards – Bret Easton Ellis

Expectation: A based on true events murder mystery set in the privileged world of 1980s Los Angeles teens.

Reality: A hedonistic cat and mouse story that will have you second guessing everything the narrator (a fictionalized version of the author) has told you.

Night Shift – Stephen King

Reading this collection was a damn delight and a nostalgic serotonin boost that transported me back to high school when I devoured my first classic King novels in mass market paperbacks.  As my mini-reviews show, this was a mostly solid top-to-bottom collection that got better as the stories progressed. It showcased King at the top of his game - observant, reflective, emotional and downright scary.


Godspeed – Nickolas Butler

Expectation: A race around the clock thriller that taps into shared anxieties about control and opportunity from different experiences on the class spectrum.

Reality: Often ridiculous but frequently entertaining, the good outweighed the bad thanks to strong character development.