John Dortmunder is no stranger to setbacks, hijinks, unexpected delays and bewildering circumstances. After several novels in his series, readers know exactly what they will be getting when they pick up one of his adventures. Oh, the details remain fluid and the characters—both the antagonists and the occasional new ally—are likely to offer some unexpected […]
Read more "Considering Westlake: Bad News"Synopsis: A group of Mexican street children find themselves in possession of a phone and pistol from Caco (Ianis Guerrero), one of the ranking members of a cartel responsible for many missing persons in their barrio and therefore hunted. El Shine (Juan Ramon Lopez) is the leader of the group, a burned kid who seethes […]
Read more "Movie Mondays: Tigers Are Not Afraid"A young man stands perched atop a building and watching the people of his town coming and going on the street below. It is from here that he meets a mysterious fellow almost as ugly as he is. Howie was disfigured by a childhood encounter with evil—a crazed father who cottoned to the notion if […]
Read more "Birds of a Feather: Dean Koontz’s Darkness Under the Sun"Donald E. Westlake’s pseudonym Richard Stark knows how to kick off his novels with incredible first lines and openings. The novel Firebreak is no slouch in that area: When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man. His knees pressed down on the interloper’s back, his hands were clasped round his forehead. […]
Read more "Considering Westlake: Firebreak"Synopsis: Some horror stories transcend their campfire origins to become urban legends. You might know some of them . . . The slit mouthed girl, Hanako of the Toilet, Red Coat, the boy under the bed. Not familiar with those? Well, they are Japanese specials. At least two of which appeared in the delightful anime […]
Read more "Movie Mondays: Sadako Vs. Kayako"Before making the move to Amazon Original Stories for those Nameless series novellas as well as his upcoming novel deal, Dean Koontz joined up with the company for a novella length adventure featuring a guy named Joe. The star of Ricochet Joe is a sweet fellow, a sort of Odd Thomas character who does not […]
Read more "The Making of a Paladin: Dean Koontz’s Ricochet Joe"By the time 2000 rolled around, Donald E. Westlake had been chronicling master heister Parker’s adventures for almost four decades. Sure, the Richard Stark pen name had taken a bit of a hiatus for about two of those decades, but there are only so many times you can write a criminal doing crimes, right? Even […]
Read more "Considering Westlake: Flashfire"Synopsis: The story opens with happy parents and quickly moves into tragedy and horror. Officer Ritter (Joaquin Cosio) and his wife Marina (Aurora Gil) welcome their new son into the world; unfortunately, Ritter is called away from the hospital before a blank-eyed nurse enters the neonate area and begins butchering children. Five years later, a […]
Read more "Movie Mondays: Belzebuth"Although I have not yet read Dean Koontz’s Jane Hawk series, I know them to be thrillers following the adventures of an FBI agent embroiled in paranoia-inducing double crosses and investigations. Cover copy tells me that much. Between the second and third volumes of that particular series, the author released a novella about one of […]
Read more "Dual Purposes: Dean Koontz’s The Bone Farm"After the return of Westlake’s cooler crime fiction pseudonym Richard Stark with two Parker novels in almost two decades, Westlake was not quite ready to get back to the lighter fare that had made his reputation in the latter half of his career. Instead, he returned to the satiric, psychological horrors of The Ax for […]
Read more "Considering Westlake: The Hook"
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