Upcoming: RULES OF PREY TV Adaptation

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Deadline recently announced that Amazon MGM Studios have greenly an adaption of the first novel in John Sandford‘s Lucas Davenport/Prey series: Rules of Prey. The show will star Jensen Ackles (Supernatural, The Boys, etc.) in the lead role. The eight-episode first season will stream on MGM+. (Not sure if that’s available in Canada, but hopefully it’ll be available on Prime at least…)

Here’s how Nellie Andreeva describes the show’s premise, in the Deadline piece:

“Created by Bruce Terris (DTF St. Louis), who serves as showrunner and executive producer, Rules of Prey follows Lucas Davenport (Ackles), formerly a detective in the Minneapolis Police Department, drawn out of seclusion back into law enforcement to investigate a series of confounding murders designed to send a message specifically to him. When an ingenious serial killer begins murdering Minneapolis citizens, Davenport, a brilliant polymath and unconventional investigator, takes the case, sparking an intense psychological duel with an equally intelligent adversary. As Davenport deciphers the killer’s twisted moral code and personal vendetta, he must match wits with a predator operating by his own rules of justice, risking everything to stop a killer who sees their conflict as the ultimate game.”

The novel, first published in 1989, is available in North America via G.P. Putnam’s Sons. Based on that description above, there is a slight deviation from the novel, in which Davenport was very much “still” a lieutenant in the Minneapolis PD. Here’s the novel’s official synopsis:

The killer was mad but brilliant.

He left notes with every woman he killed. Rules of murder: Never have a motive. Never follow a discernible pattern. Never carry a weapon after it has been used… So many rules to his sick, violent games of death.

But Lucas Davenport, the cop who’s out to get him, isn’t playing by the rules.

With any luck, the adaptation will follow a similar approach to Prime’s Bosch, Cross, and Reacher shows; each of which has taken a highly-popular, well-established crime series, brought earlier stories up-to-date, and breathed fresh life into them, while retaining what made the books stand out and so popular. Continue reading →

Excerpt: LONDON GOTHIC by Edward Seaward (DarkWinter)

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A few days ago, DarkWinter Press published London Gothic by Ed Seaward. It is a haunting, ‘Southern Ontario gothic’ tale set in 1970s/80s London, Ontario. To celebrate the release, we have a short excerpt to share with our readers. Here’s the synopsis:

In 1975, John Caine and his nineteen-year-old son Ricky bury a woman near a clump of trees in an open field on the rural outskirts of London, Ontario. In 1984, seventeen-year-old Bethany Caine is haunted by the disappearance of her mother nine years previous. Her father and brother insist Thelma Caine abandoned them one night, evidenced by her brief goodbye note. Having already escaped the house dominated by her brutish father to live with her lover, university student Angela, Bethany presses much older brother Ricky to reveal what actually happened to their mother.

Structured along alternating timelines, with chapters exploring the Caine family in the 1970s interspersed with chapters set around the Victoria Day long weekend in 1984, London Gothic unfolds a story of violence and incest as those who truly love and support Bethany attempt to uncover the mystery of Thelma Caine’s disappearance.

And now, here’s the excerpt…

Continue reading →

Excerpt: THE AUNT by Courtney Psak (Hodder & Stoughton)

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The Aunt, the latest novel from Courtney Psak, is out today in the UK. A twisty tale of sibling rivalry, it is published by Hodder & Stoughton. To mark the release, the publisher has provided CR with an excerpt to share with our readers. First, here’s the synopsis:

Standing outside of my sister’s mansion, with its prime ocean views and floor to ceiling windows, I look at my baby niece and realize just how little I knew about Lexi’s new life. And how easy it was for her to keep secrets from me…

The day that Amy gets the call, her whole world falls apart. Her younger sister Lexi has been killed in a tragic boating accident, along with her husband. Despite being estranged for the last ten years, Amy never stopped loving Lexi, and the news crushes her.

But Amy is shocked when she discovers she is set to inherit Lexi’s beautiful mansion on Palm Beach, all her fortune… and her newborn daughter.

Amy is stunned — how did she not know her own sister had a baby? And when the police reveal that they are treating the accident as suspicious, Amy starts to question everything.

Did she ever really know her sister? What secrets has Lexi been hiding? Can Amy protect her baby niece, or will the truth cost her everything?

And now, on with the excerpt…!

Continue reading →

Excerpt: THE COMEDIAN’S BOOK OF THE DEAD by Gary Barwin (Book*hug Press)

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Tomorrow, Book*hug Press are due to publish The Comedian’s Book of the Dead by Gary Barwin. An imaginative “underworld quest”, it’s the latest amusing page-turner from the acclaimed Canadian storyteller. To mark the occasion, the publisher has provided an excerpt to share with our readers. First, here’s the synopsis:

Death is a comedian and devoted family man, but everything falls apart when the Fates choose him to guide departed souls to the Beneath. Having to perform this new role erodes his humanity and causes him to do some perhaps unforgivable things, and when his only son dies by suicide, Death realizes he’s likely the one to blame.

Attempting the impossible, Death goes into the Beneath to beg the Fates to allow him to bring back his son. Naturally, things are not what they seem, and Death is forced to reevaluate everything he knows― everything except the deep love he has for his child. Blending Barwin’s celebrated wit with deeply moving scenes of empathy and compassion, The Comedian’s Book of the Dead is a heartbreaking and humorous journey into the joy and pain of parenthood, and a thoughtful exploration of choice and agency, sacrifice and love.

Continue reading →

Quick Review: WHEN WE WERE YOUNG AND FEARLESS by Jonathan Abrams (Harper)

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A look back at one of the most exciting NBA teams of recent years…

A deep dive into the lives and careers of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden, using their entangled paths as a lens to view the myriad facets of the player empowerment era.

It’s one of the greatest “what ifs” in sports – what if the Thunder had kept Durant, Westbrook, and Harden, three of the league’s young, exciting stars and future MVPs, together? Their departure from Oklahoma City begins two decades of repercussions for basketball and the formation of the modern NBA.

When We Were Young and Fearless is The Social Network for basketball. As he touches on universal themes of loyalty, money, power, friendship, class and lost innocence, Abrams ponders the central irony of athletic greatness: how much is an individual willing to sacrifice to win in a team sport?

“If they had stayed together, definitely would have won a championship.” It is a truth universally known that mentioning the KD-Westbrook-Harden era of the Thunder on social media will generate at least one response along these lines. It’s hard to disagree, given the team’s record and just how much of a force they were. In When We Were Young and Fearless, Jonathan Abrams gives readers a well-paced, well-written account of those all-too-brief years, before bringing the story up-to-date. I really enjoyed this. Continue reading →

Excerpt: HOUSE HAUNTERS by K. C. Jones (Tor Nightmare)

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Today, we have an excerpt from House Haunters, the latest horror novel by K. C. Jones! Due to be published by Tor Nightfire, on October 6th, it is “a fast-paced thrill ride perfect for fans of How to Sell a Haunted House and Play Nice, in which a skeptical reality TV show producer and a misanthropic ghosthunter must team up to survive a shoot from hell.” The novel has already racked up a considerably amount of pre-publication praise and buzz, and now CR readers have a chance to give the read a try before it’s released! First, here’s the synopsis:

Grace Wonderly needs a hit show, or her career is dead.
But saving her job might just kill her.

With her studio relying on AI to greenlight new projects, finding the next breakout series is Grace’s only shot to save her job. And her sanity.

Her solution may be Frank Pendleton: a brilliant but abrasive — and admittedly handsome — ghost hunter who claims he can’t feel fear, making him uniquely attuned to the paranormal.

Frank is either a fraud or the real deal. Skeptical, but hoping for TV gold, Grace assembles a crew to shoot a proof of concept.

But when the production descends into a nightmare, Grace is forced to face the impossible: ghosts are real, and though cold and distant, Frank may be their only chance of getting out alive.

(Even before reading a single page, but after seeing that cover: I really hope the corgi lives…)

Continue reading →

Upcoming: METAL MYTHOLOGY by Andy Boot (Mirror Books)

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I stumbled across Metal Mythology, the upcoming book by Andy Boot, by accident — in fact, I can’t remember where I heard of it first. The cover was the first thing to grab my attention (fantastic image), but the synopsis cemented it as a must-read:

Metal Mythology is a deliciously-dark deep dive into the Heavy Metal music genre and the history of the folklore which inspired its music.

The book begins with the story of Heavy Metal’s early years in the 1970s, explaining how it became popular with bands from working class British backgrounds like Birmingham’s Black Sabbath (with late Ozzy Osbourne) and East End lads Iron Maiden. Today’s fanbase — so-called “Metalheads” — will account for 13% of all arena and stadium audiences this year.

It then delves into the rich — and often very British — folk legends which inspired some of heavy metal’s biggest tunes, and reveals the likely story behind them. It’s a dizzying mix from the werewolves, shapeshifters, fairies and vampires of pagan ballads, to the witch hunters and torture devices documented in historical records and the twisted characters by horror writers like Edgar Allan Poe, HP Lovecraft and Mary Shelley.

Former Kerrang writer and prolific novelist Andy Boot looks at how this folklore was passed down and mutated as Britain changed from pagan to Christian and went from the dark ages through Enlightenment and past the Industrial Revolution. It’s a mix of social history, fantasy, folklore, gothic horror, and Heavy Metal music which will appeal to several unique (and very engaged) audiences, each in a different way.

While there’s been no end of books of heavy metal, mythology or British history, there’s yet to be one of all three. And that is the magic behind this title.

I have been a rock and metal fan for as long as I can remember. The first album I ever bought was Use Your Illusion I by Guns n’ Roses, and there are few of the heavier genres from which I don’t have a favourite album. (Black Metal and grindcore might be the only ones that don’t work for me.) As is my wont, whenever I like something, I also love to read about it. In the youthful days of yore, I subscribed to at least five rock/metal magazines, poring over each new issue as soon as it arrived, keeping a list of new bands and albums I wanted to check out. (Boot used to write for Kerrang, so it’s likely that I’ve read a fair amount of his journalism.) Reading the magazines, I was also taking note of the “lore” of the genres — not just the grand tales of madness, mayhem, debauchery, and more that have come to define the genre(s), but also the stories behind the music.

If you’ve been following CR for a while, you’ve maybe read some of the interviews I’ve posted with authors, or some of their guest posts. If you have, you’ll have noticed that “influences & inspirations” are a bit part of what I’m interested in. So, you can probably see why Boot’s new book is of such interest to me. I’m really looking forward to reading this.

Andy Boot’s Metal Mythology is due to be published by Mirror Books in the UK, on October 8th — it is available for pre-order now. [At the time of writing, I couldn’t find any information about a North American publisher.]

Follow the Author: Goodreads

Quick Review: ICARUS 17 by Charles Cumming (Hemlock Press/Mysterious Press)

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Lachlan Kite’s latest mission is a little closer to home…

Lachlan Kite should have left fieldwork behind by now.

As director of covert intelligence agency Box 88, he’s at the apex of his espionage career. But when Martha Raine – a woman he hasn’t seen in twenty years – begs for his help, Kite finds himself back in the game, racing to avert disaster.

Kite must find Martha’s son, Max, who vanished in Athens with his girlfriend, Yasmine. But the couple aren’t just missing, they’re running for their lives. Two rival agencies are hunting them, both with orders to kill on sight.

Max and Yasmine are carrying a dizzying secret, one which could pull apart the foundations of the Middle East for a generation. If Kite fails to save them, the costs – both personal and professional – will be catastrophic.

In this, the fourth novel in Charles Cumming’s excellent Box 88 series, Lachlan Kite sets out on the hunt for a couple who have gone missing in Greece. While previous books have connected contemporary missions to Kite’s past actions as a spy, in this book, the stakes are far more personal. As expected, this is another gripping, very well-written novel that hooked me from the start. Continue reading →

Upcoming: RIVALS TURNED IDOLS by Julian Kimble (Simon & Schuster)

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I’ve said it before, and no doubt I’ll say it again: I am very pleased that there appears to be a real, broad appetite for books about the NBA recently. There have been plenty of new books published about active players, but there have also been just as many that examine retired players, or particular periods of the League’s history.

As a life-long basketball player (of dubious skill), but also someone who only really was able to start watching NBA games about 14 years ago (thanks to relocating to Canada), I am particularly interested in reading books that help me fill in the historical gaps. Which brings us to Rivals Turned Idols by Julian Kimble, which examines the 1996 draft class and their incredible impact on the game and League as a whole. It will be released next Spring, and I can’t wait. Here’s the synopsis:

The must-read story of the 1996 NBA Draft class — Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, Steve Nash — that turned the NBA into a global force and changed culture forever.

In Rivals Turned Idols, a legendary class of players — Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, Ray Allen, and Stephon Marbury — emerged not just as stars, but as architects of the modern game and the global phenomenon it would become.

This is the story of how athletes became brands, how style and music merged with sport, and how the NBA expanded from American arenas to a worldwide stage. From Philadelphia playgrounds to Los Angeles spotlights to sold-out gyms in Beijing, the ripple effects of this class are still shaping the game and the culture around it today.

Electric, deeply reported, and rich with cultural insight, Rivals Turned Idols is the story of the draft that turned a league into a global force, and rivals into icons.

Kobe, AI, Nash? Yeah, this is a must-read.

Julian Kimble’s Rivals Turned Idols: How The NBA ’96 Draft Class Changed the Game is due to be published by Simon & Schuster in North America, on April 27th, 2027.

Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads