Another Amanda Quick bodice ripper.  OK, no bodices were actually ripped in The River Knows, but it could have happened.Again with the corsets, petticoats, bustles, fans, and ridiculous undergarments.  But in this novel, our heroine agrees that it is all ridiculous and refuses to wear half of it.  The sheer bulk of fabric worn by most... Continue Reading →

Stephen King had an alter ego for awhile.  His name was Richard Bachman.  His view of the world was a little darker than King's.  The Long Walk is one of his novels.Just like King, Bachman realizes that a scary story does not have to be big.  It does not have to deal with the supernatural.  It... Continue Reading →

Ah, a boy and his dog.  I mean, horse.  The Pet by Charles L Grant is a lovely story about a boy who wants to be a vet.  He has posters of animals on his walls, stuffed animals and other fake creatures in his room.  His parents don't approve.  In the midst of his teenage angst... Continue Reading →

The Zombie Curse: A Doctor's 25-year Journey Into the Heart of the AIDS Epidemic in Haiti may be a slightly misnamed book, but that does not take away from the power of the story.  Arthur Fournier first stumbled across AIDS in Miami when it was still believed to be a disease of gay men.  Here's the... Continue Reading →

When Michael Calls by John Farris reads like a 70s made for TV movie.  Oh, wait, that's exactly what it is.  The premise of the novel centers around a woman who starts getting phone calls from her nephew (who's been dead for 15 years).  Then people start dying.  A "twist" near the end of the novel... Continue Reading →

Jayne Ann Krentz writes under her own name, as well as two pseudonyms.  Amanda Quick is the name she uses for her novels about women slightly out of place in "polite society."  These novels are typically filled with scandal, duels, mistaken identities, compromised honor, and a large number of petticoats.  Mischief is no different.In this story... Continue Reading →

Iris Johansen is someone I can always count on for a good time.  No One to Trust was no exception.  This is the story of a woman who is trying to escape her past.  Both physically and mentally.  Enter her hero, who is smart enough to realize she has to save herself for it to count. ... Continue Reading →

I know, I know, it's been awhile since my last post.  I've been reading, I swear.  Just veeerrry slooooowly.I had to force myself to crawl through E M Forster's Howards End.  I had a really hard time getting into this novel.  Part of the problem was that it was written in 1910 and set in England. ... Continue Reading →

I was on vacation for the last week and didn't read much (too busy blowing stuff up!).  But I did manage to get through the light reading I had taken with me.  Two Alone by Sandra Brown is one of her early novels, written under a pseudonym and re-released under her real name.  Again, I am absolutely... Continue Reading →

Thornton Wilder was both a playwright and a novelist.  The Bridge of San Luis Rey is a slim little novel with a pretty fascinating premise.  A bridge suddenly collapses, killing five people.  Why those five?  Why not a different set of people? Great question.  I can think of a million different ways to take that story.  Wilder... Continue Reading →