I haven’t reviewed any books here lately.  Not because I’ve stopped reading (heaven forbid!) but because I haven’t really read anything this year that’s shouted out RECOMMEND! RECOMMEND! RECOMMEND!  (Not that this LJ should only be about positive books reviews – it’s just I like to share the good shit around).

But it hasn’t all been bad.  I did read a draft of a book that should be coming out this year and was quite literally the most brilliant thing ever.  But more on that when things have been properly announced.

My Dope Book Dealer, Justin Ackroyd, introduced me to the dark, grim and alcohol fueled world of Jack Taylor, as told by Ken Bruen.  The first book in the series, The Gaurds, is really a meditation on alcohol abuse and violence in Ireland.  Bruen is very much the minamilst writer, with a matter of fact style that both short and punchy but also, in it’s strange intense way, very poetic.  I happen to love my crime dark and dirty and Ken Bruen really hits that spot.

Also on the crime front is Last Days by Brian Evenson.  I came across this book via Jeff Van DerMeer’s blog where Brian was doing a guest appearance.   It’s crime, but as Spock would say, not as you know it.  The main character, Kline, is an amputee – he lost his right hand on a case.  The case he literally gets dragged into involves a strange, religious cult of amputees.  The cult have called him in to solve a murder, but because he’s only had one appendage amuptated, he’s not considered credible or holy enough to question any of the witnesses.  The books really goes from bizarre to outright bonkers as Kline gets dragged further and further down the rat hole.  The writing is terse, but like The Guards, lyrical at times.  It’s also filled with some laugh out loud funny dialogue and some brutal moments of violence.  In other words, my sort of book.  (However, if you buy it, don’t read the intro by Peter Straub until after you’ve finished the book.  He gives away too many spoilers).

I terms of SF/F and Horror – well Jim Butcher’s Dresden series maintains its high, escapist quality.  I’ve just started reading Mike Carey’s Felix Castor series – the first book is a good read without being breathtakingly original.  Charlie Huston keeps hitting the ball out of the ground and beyond with his Joe Pitt series – you know the Private Eye vampire who lives in New York.  Huston merges the two genres together (vampire and crime) seamlessly.  Oh, and Tim Pratt’s Marla Mason series is most definitely worth picking up.

And that’s probably it.

I am reading something special right now but I’ll probably post about it once I’ve properly digested it.