Quick Book Reviews Blog

The horror genre is one that definitely sees its fair share of innovation attempts, with every author dreaming of being able to instill in the reader the kind of cold and gripping fear very few writers are capable of producing. Clive Barker is today known as perhaps one of the most acclaimed icons in horror literature, walking right alongside giants such as Stephen King himself.

We often look up at geniuses with utmost admiration and place them on all kinds of pedestals, dreaming of an alternate life where we are also powerfully-gifted in one way or another... and not without reason. It goes without saying that geniuses of all kinds are strong driving factors in technological, economic, social and spiritual progress, constantly pushing the boundaries and achieving what was thought impossible.

Sitting on death row may very well be one of the most unnerving experiences available to the human being... especially when it can take years upon years, if not even decades to finally make the execution happen. The experience is all the more excruciating when the one facing the gallows could very well be innocent... something that has happened more than once. In The Last Mile , David Baldacci confronts with a similar scenario, one soaked in uncertainty.

The life of Court Gentry was nothing short of perfect and exciting, at least when looking at his career. He was the best agent the CIA had, and was damn proud of it, being able to accomplish the types of missions nobody even knew existed. However, the fateful day came when a mission was to be his last; a mysterious and sudden betrayal left him disgraced, with the agency putting a “kill on sight” order on him. This led to the birth of a ruthless and feared international assassin, known only as the “Gray Man”.

The personalities which colour our beings are things constantly subject to change and even complete metamorphosis, depending on the facts and philosophies we learn as well as the events we experience. In many cases, people remove themselves further and further from what they would refer to as their true natures, becoming products of their experiences rather than their own being. In A Man Called Ove , Fredrik Backman introduces us to just such a gentleman, the titular Ove, a 59-year-old widower whose bitterness marks his orderly days.

Nomadic lifestyles are far less prevalent today than in the past, something that is increasingly true the further back we look. However, there are those who, even with all of the advantages modern technology and society brings, prefer to stay on the move, travelling from one place to the next, and basically living life on their own terms. In some places of the world these people are referred to as “Romani”, others describe them as “gypsies”, and in John Sandford's Gathering Prey , they are called “the travellers”, and play a central part in a madman's killing spree.

Not so long ago the world had the great misfortune of losing a recognized and gifted writer in Kent Haruf, a man whose novels have turned countless heads and mended innumerable hearts. Though it seemed that his career would come to an end, he reached out from beyond the grave one last time to bring us his final novel, Our Souls at Night . The story is set in the same town Haruf has used in his previous works, that of Holt, Colorado; a small town on the High Plains where everybody knows everything about everyone else.

The hardships of life come in countless forms, and the remedies prescribed for them are even more numerous, ranging from plants and oils to meditative exercises to aromatherapy and so on and so forth. However, when it comes to problems of the heart (metaphorically-speaking) or the mind, there are few things in this world that can equal the healing potential of literature.

There are many ways to go about imagining the post-apocalyptic scenario, and most people tend to see it as a relatively desolate wasteland. However, there are authors out there who envision the fall of man to be something more gradual, eventually spiralling out of control into increasingly vile decadence, giving rise to violence, hatred, social class divisions, diseases, and ultimately, extermination. Paolo Bacigalupi takes us to such a universe in his acclaimed novel The Windup Girl .