Book Reviews by William D. Gagliani

This one bursts out of the gate like a buzz saw headed straight for your gut. As we will see, that is mostly a good thing. Most readers seem to love or hate it, with few to be found on the fence. I thought the book made good fodder for a discussion of style and approach, so this review is also an exploration of fiction writing technique, at least in the horror-thriller nexus.

Part of the Enigmatic Novellas series, this nicely designed chapbook contains two short stories by Bradshaw, who appears enrolled in and a wholehearted subscriber of the school of "quiet" horror, and that's not a bad thing. Quiet horror seems to be making a comeback, with all the 
ghost novels and ghost-related movies out in the last several years. While these tales aren't at all flashy, there's a comfortable English calmness about them, making them pleasant to read despite the dread they slowly build.

Here's a brief celebration of noir literature—a couple of classics by Richard Stark, who sometimes cops to the alias Donald Westlake*. Generally speaking, Westlake does the funnier stuff. Not that it's all funny, mind you, but at least darkly sardonic. Classic caper novels like the Dortmunder books The Hot Rock and Bank Shot, not to mention The Ax, The Hook, and so many others. When it's time to get tough, though, then it's Richard Stark all the way. Here we have two recent Stark releases,

Eye-catching covers help sell first novels, and there's no denying the attractive qualities of Michael Laimo's first novel effort after a couple fiction collections (The Dregs of Society and Demons, Freaks, and Other Abnormalities). The cover's lovely, upside-down woman's face superimposed over the Manhattan skyline was a two-row face-out at a B&N I just visited, proving that store personnel know a selling point when they see one.