Jeffery Deaver‘s Roadside Crosses looks at the loonier side of blogs and the faux-bravery that comes with sitting behind a keyboard. We have a killer who hunts down people saying bad things about him on a blog. Anyone who’s said anything negative about him is targeted at first, but the net soon widens to encompass [...]

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This is one of those compendia you pick up to get a feel for what’s happening in a certain genre of late. Though it’s sad that horror is not by itself and paired with fantasy almost always for marketing reasons, there are some gems in this book. I must admit that I’m not a huge [...]

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This sequel to Garth Ennis‘ War Stories – Volume 1 is just as good as the first. We see four more stories covering four more theatres of this colossal conflict. Luckily for us, Ennis is a man of words who can bring the past to life. J for Jenny examines the conscience of a British [...]

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Shmobots is a delightful little graphic novel that looks at the “inevitable” assimilation of robotic individuals into human society. This is no post-apocalyptic treatise, laden with doom and gloom, but rather an examination of the political struggle they’d face if they existed in the 80s-90s in America. So what the hell is a shmobot anyway? [...]

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We’re back with another Lincoln Rhyme novel by Jeffery Deaver, about a masterful killer who toys with the police in remarkable ways. Deaver is usually pretty good at imparting knowledge in his books via the killer, who’s usually a monomaniac and can talk for hours about his chosen obsession. This one’s no different and our [...]

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This one’s all about k-deletion. “Take Your Pic”, “What a Croc”, “Doc of the Bay” and “Pac Animal”. I’m surprised they haven’t run out of themes yet. New word: “Anapest”, for “Bit of a Limerick”.

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If ever a volume hearkened back to the good old days of one’s childhood, it is this one. The comics I read about World War II were great, mostly black and white, and definitely not this gory. Garth Ennis‘ War Stories is a superlative work of fiction that tells the tale of the men who [...]

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What do “Iron Fences”, “Punch Bowls”, “News Stories” and ” Volleyballs” have in common? Why, they can all be spiked, of course. Shortz seems to think that “Ice Tea” is an acceptable variant, but we know better. The rest was alright, with nary an obstacle to be seen.

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Britten is an Ecuadorean private eye, a recent emigre who walks around with Brülightly, a talking teabag who’s his constant companion. Once you get over this oddity, the book is an excellent whodunit. Britten is a lugubrious fellow with a hangdog expression. Each day is a struggle to get through the grey, murky fog of [...]

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Replace the orthogonal pronoun with that bastardized sound born of a million European linguae and consonant fluctuations and you get “Taking a Byte”, ” Never Say Dye”, “Turn Styles” and “Pack of Lyes”. Very droll, Mr. Shortz. New nugget of knowledge: “Huarache” is a type of sandal.

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