Category: Book Reviews

By Tom Perrotta Tom Perrotta’s The Leftovers opens with a startling premise: a sudden, unexplained event causes a portion of the world’s population to vanish, leaving everyone else behind to grapple with the fallout. Set in a small suburban community, the novel follows multiple characters as they struggle to make sense of loss, grief, and…

By Richard Russo Richard Russo’s Nobody’s Fool is a richly observed, character-driven novel set in a worn-down New England town that feels completely lived in. The story centers on Sully, a stubborn, aging construction worker navigating strained family relationships, small-town grudges, and the realization that time is catching up with him—whether he’s ready or not.…

By Jonathan Evison Mike Muñoz knows what he wants, but he has absolutely no idea how to get it. He wants to understand money, but he doesn’t know how to make it or care about being rich. He wants to understand society, but he doesn’t care about rising up or fitting in. And he wants…

By Stephen King The Dead Zone is a sharp reminder of how strong Stephen King’s early work really was. I had missed this one somewhere along the way, and was happy to finally check it off my TBR. The premise is classic King—grounded, unsettling, and quietly emotional—but what really stood out to me was the…

By Maria Vale When Molly Molloy crawled under the tires and Death laid next to her and cupped her cheek, my heart stopped. I saw it coming, sort of. But not like that. And certainly not halfway through the book. So all of my assumptions about what the second half of the book would be…

By Beth Hope Healing Notes, a debut novel by Beth Hope, grabbed me from the very start, and I devoured the nearly 400 pages over a long weekend, which is rare for me. I was immediately taken by Liam and Zoe and just had to know … will they or won’t they? Zoe and Liam…

By Emersyn Park How much destruction can one person cause? If that person is a narcissist with deviant sexual tendencies who believes everything on earth is created for their own pleasure, then the answer is unlimited destruction. That is the story of Seeds of His Evil, Emersyn Park’s third installment in the “Normal Scandal Series.”…

by Lucy Adkins, Becky Breed Have you ever had something come into your life at exactly the right moment? When a change was desperately needed, there was that email, or that phone call, or that random book in the mail. That was The Fire Inside: A Companion for the Creative Life by Lucy Adkins and…

By Sean Doolittle I absolutely adore Sean’s books. They move at a frenetic pace, keep you on the edge of your seat at all times, and leave you guessing how it’s going to end up until the very last page. The Cleanup fits nicely in that mold. It grabbed me with the first page, and…

By Jason Pargin What the hell did I just read? If you told me Jason Pargin wrote John Dies at the End during a 72-hour writing binge of acid dropped on top of a bag of mushrooms chased down by the worm from the bottom of a tequila bottle, it wouldn’t surprise me in the…