Wednesday, August 17 2011
‘Ghost Story’: Harry Dresden Is a Detective, a Magician, a Ghost
In life and death, in any examination of the past, there is regret; for loss, for suffering, for pain and failure. Here, Harry Dresden comes to terms with why he is who and what he is.
Monday, July 4 2011
‘Unknown’ Will Probably Remain That Way
Missed opportunities lurk around every corner of this messy production.
Tuesday, November 16 2010
‘Winter’s Bone’: Where Crime and Loss are the Only Family
A tough 17-year-old dropout searches for her missing father in the poverty- and meth-scared hills of the Missouri Ozarks.
Tuesday, July 27 2010
‘Girl by the Lake’: An Excellent Premise for a Classic Detective Story
Andrea Molaioli displays the confidence of a veteran filmmaker and lets the story play out without resorting to overly clever techniques.
Monday, July 19 2010
‘Jass’ Gives You the Feel for Early American History
Take a tour of Storyville where Jazz began and murder prevails, bringing in the likes of David Fulmer's hero who is as good at solving crime as he's crippled by his love of an irresistible whore.
Monday, June 7 2010
In ‘Molly Fox’s Birthday’ There is Nary a Scrap of Lazy Writing to be Seen
Earnest conversations, long passages of description, thoughtful interludes contemplating this or that relationship quirk -- a complex portrait, subtle to the point of tedium.
Monday, May 24 2010
‘The Affinity Bridge’ Is an Enormously Fun Steampunk Novel
George Mann's book is a smattering of Sherlock Holmes, Neuromancer, and H.G. Wells all rolled into one enormously fun Steampunk novel.
Monday, March 29 2010
The Dead Hand: A Crime in Calcutta by Paul Theroux
Writing a novel about writer’s block is a bit like cleaning a revolver when you’re not entirely incapable of suicide. Paul Theroux’s new book, a clumsy attempt at the mystery novel, goes off in his own hand.
