Ray Bradbury was known for his science fiction work, but he wrote some fine horror stories too. Here are five of his best:
"The Jar" - In a seedy country carnival sideshow, something hideous is floating in a big glass jar. From the classic horror collection "The October Country."
"Zero Hour" and "The Veldt" - Two tales that portray the secret malevolent schemes of apparently innocent children. Both are found in the famous collection "The Illustrated Man."
"The Witch Door" - An unsettling tale of persecution in two different time periods. From the collection "Quicker Than the Eye."
"The October Game" - Grotesque story of a resentful husband and father and a Halloween game called "The Witch Is Dead." The whiplash ending is both ambiguous and horrifying. A Bradbury masterpiece. From the collection "Long After Midnight."
Thanks, Ray, for all the great reading you created!
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Friday, May 25, 2012
HEADHUNTERS a Nightmare Crime Ride
"Headhunters" by Norwegian writer Jo Nesbo is a departure from that author's outstanding crime novel series featuring Inspector Harry Hole as he hunts serial killers in "The Snowman" and "The Leopard."
In "Headhunters" Roger Brown runs an executive headhunter search firm that seeks high quality candidates for top corporate job openings. On the side, Brown is also a slick art thief, stealing valuable paintings from private owners.
But when Brown steals a rare, lost Reubens work from the wrong owner, he ends up on a nightmarish ride of horrific events. The sequence of plot twists is truly diabolical, including a scene in which Brown is forced to hide himself in the most nauseating place imaginable, described in all-too-graphic detail not for the squeamish.
"Headhunters" begins with deceptive calmness, then wrenches suddenly into a hideously gripping crime thriller. It's an offbeat, can't-miss treat for Jo Nesbo fans.
BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees
In "Headhunters" Roger Brown runs an executive headhunter search firm that seeks high quality candidates for top corporate job openings. On the side, Brown is also a slick art thief, stealing valuable paintings from private owners.
But when Brown steals a rare, lost Reubens work from the wrong owner, he ends up on a nightmarish ride of horrific events. The sequence of plot twists is truly diabolical, including a scene in which Brown is forced to hide himself in the most nauseating place imaginable, described in all-too-graphic detail not for the squeamish.
"Headhunters" begins with deceptive calmness, then wrenches suddenly into a hideously gripping crime thriller. It's an offbeat, can't-miss treat for Jo Nesbo fans.
BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees
Saturday, April 28, 2012
DEFENDING JACOB a Troubling Legal Mystery
Defending Jacob by William Landay is both an engrossing legal mystery and a troubled picture of a family cracking apart under the stress of a murder indictment against one of its members.
Andy Barber is an Assistant D.A. who is taken off a sensational murder case when his own teenage son, Jacob, becomes a prime suspect. One of Jacob's classmates is murdered in a local park. Evidence uncovered leads to Jacob's arrest and trial for the killing. Jacob insists he is innocent.
Andy Barber and his wife, Laurie, support their son even as the family become despised outcasts in their own community. But as the Barbers endure the trial testimony, they are forced toward a stark choice: either Jacob is entirely innocent, or their son is a deceptive, emotionless sociopath.
Defending Jacob is a compelling, disturbing read with a hideous twist at the end. Rich in character, the novel is a moral mystery with no comfortable answer.
BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees
Andy Barber is an Assistant D.A. who is taken off a sensational murder case when his own teenage son, Jacob, becomes a prime suspect. One of Jacob's classmates is murdered in a local park. Evidence uncovered leads to Jacob's arrest and trial for the killing. Jacob insists he is innocent.
Andy Barber and his wife, Laurie, support their son even as the family become despised outcasts in their own community. But as the Barbers endure the trial testimony, they are forced toward a stark choice: either Jacob is entirely innocent, or their son is a deceptive, emotionless sociopath.
Defending Jacob is a compelling, disturbing read with a hideous twist at the end. Rich in character, the novel is a moral mystery with no comfortable answer.
BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees
Sunday, April 15, 2012
THE EXPATS An Intriguing Tangle of Deception
The new mystery The Expats by Chris Pavone is an intriguing and surprising tangle of a married couple's lies and deceptions in their jobs and with each other.
Kate Moore is a retired CIA agent whose husband, Dexter, never knew about the sometimes violent kind of work that she did. Dexter himself is a high-tech bank security consultant, or at least that's what Kate thinks he is. The couple has recently relocated to Luxembourg for Dexter's work, and joined the American expatriate community there.
But while Kate hides her own secrets, she begins to suspect that Dexter may be hiding things of his own. When a new couple, the Macleans, arrive and seem to be keeping Kate and Dexter under surveillance, alarm bells go off in Kate's head. Could the Macleans be there after her, or is it her husband?
The plot is full of unexpected twists as each layer of lies is peeled away one by one. The Expats is an inventive mystery set within the borders of a marriage and played out against an international backdrop.
BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees
Kate Moore is a retired CIA agent whose husband, Dexter, never knew about the sometimes violent kind of work that she did. Dexter himself is a high-tech bank security consultant, or at least that's what Kate thinks he is. The couple has recently relocated to Luxembourg for Dexter's work, and joined the American expatriate community there.
But while Kate hides her own secrets, she begins to suspect that Dexter may be hiding things of his own. When a new couple, the Macleans, arrive and seem to be keeping Kate and Dexter under surveillance, alarm bells go off in Kate's head. Could the Macleans be there after her, or is it her husband?
The plot is full of unexpected twists as each layer of lies is peeled away one by one. The Expats is an inventive mystery set within the borders of a marriage and played out against an international backdrop.
BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees
Saturday, March 24, 2012
New Thriller THE FEAR INDEX a Timely Warning
The new Robert Harris thriller The Fear Index is a timely warning about what can happen in nervous world financial markets when a hyper-powerful computer trading program gets too smart and decides to go rogue.
Dr. Alex Hoffman, a mathematics genius, creates the VIXAL algorithm to execute large scale, instantaneous financial trades for a hedge fund. But when VIXAL begins to operate autonomously outside of human controls, the result is potential market chaos.
At the same time, Hoffman himself comes under attack in a series of anonymous actions that threaten to destroy his entire life.
This stylish, literate thriller is a cautionary warning about the potential for a sudden financial market collapse and the threat of unchecked artificial intelligence advances. What happens when the technology outgrows its human creators?
For those new to British writer Robert Harris, his previous work includes the chilling political suspense novel that was the basis for the film "The Ghostwriter." He is also the author of the excellent suspense novels "Enigma," "Fatherland," and "Archangel."
BEACH RATING: 3 and 1/2 Palm Trees
Dr. Alex Hoffman, a mathematics genius, creates the VIXAL algorithm to execute large scale, instantaneous financial trades for a hedge fund. But when VIXAL begins to operate autonomously outside of human controls, the result is potential market chaos.
At the same time, Hoffman himself comes under attack in a series of anonymous actions that threaten to destroy his entire life.
This stylish, literate thriller is a cautionary warning about the potential for a sudden financial market collapse and the threat of unchecked artificial intelligence advances. What happens when the technology outgrows its human creators?
For those new to British writer Robert Harris, his previous work includes the chilling political suspense novel that was the basis for the film "The Ghostwriter." He is also the author of the excellent suspense novels "Enigma," "Fatherland," and "Archangel."
BEACH RATING: 3 and 1/2 Palm Trees
Saturday, March 3, 2012
RAYLAN One of Elmore Leonard's Best
The new Elmore Leonard crime novel, Raylan, features fast-draw U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens going up against canny, treacherous offenders in Kentucky coal country. His foes include callous body organ thieves, coal company hired thugs, and a murderous bank robber.
It's Leonard's best book in years, reminiscent of his Nineties hot streak of Get Shorty, Maximum Bob, Rum Punch, and Pronto. The later novel was Raylan's first appearance as a character.
Leonard brought back Raylan in Riding the Rap and a short story, Fire in the Hole. The character is also the basis of the hit FX Cable series Justified.
The new novel is a set of linked episodes full of sharply written, dead-on dialogue and a collection of oddball country criminal types. In the past, Leonard applied his trademark dialogue ear to streetwise slang in Detroit and Miami. It works just fine here with hill country folksiness.
Raylan is an entertaining, can't-miss read for Elmore Leonard fans.
BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees
It's Leonard's best book in years, reminiscent of his Nineties hot streak of Get Shorty, Maximum Bob, Rum Punch, and Pronto. The later novel was Raylan's first appearance as a character.
Leonard brought back Raylan in Riding the Rap and a short story, Fire in the Hole. The character is also the basis of the hit FX Cable series Justified.
The new novel is a set of linked episodes full of sharply written, dead-on dialogue and a collection of oddball country criminal types. In the past, Leonard applied his trademark dialogue ear to streetwise slang in Detroit and Miami. It works just fine here with hill country folksiness.
Raylan is an entertaining, can't-miss read for Elmore Leonard fans.
BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
This Year's Must-Read Mystery: THE LEOPARD
The Leopard by Jo Nesbo is the must-read mystery novel of the year so far.
Set in Oslo, Norway, the novel continues the chilling series that features Oslo police inspector Harry Hole. This new entry follows on the heels of The Snowman, an outstanding thriller that was one of the best mystery novels of last year.
The Leopard is a gripping, psychologically complex, and nearly epic hunt for a serial killer who uses a fiendish device called the Leopold Apple on his victims. In his obsessive pursuit of the killer, Harry Hole continues to battle his own personal demons of alcoholism and drug use.
Jo Nesbo's novels are rich in character and twisted, large canvass plots. Nesbo takes over as heir to the title of best Nordic mystery novelist from the late Stieg Larsson and his great Dragon Tattoo series.
For those new to Nesbo's work, The Snowman is highly recommended as a starting place. Then get your hands on The Leopard.
BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees
Set in Oslo, Norway, the novel continues the chilling series that features Oslo police inspector Harry Hole. This new entry follows on the heels of The Snowman, an outstanding thriller that was one of the best mystery novels of last year.
The Leopard is a gripping, psychologically complex, and nearly epic hunt for a serial killer who uses a fiendish device called the Leopold Apple on his victims. In his obsessive pursuit of the killer, Harry Hole continues to battle his own personal demons of alcoholism and drug use.
Jo Nesbo's novels are rich in character and twisted, large canvass plots. Nesbo takes over as heir to the title of best Nordic mystery novelist from the late Stieg Larsson and his great Dragon Tattoo series.
For those new to Nesbo's work, The Snowman is highly recommended as a starting place. Then get your hands on The Leopard.
BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees
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