Author: Civilian Reader

Excerpt: THE DEAD HAMLETS by Peter Darbyshire (Poplar Press)

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DarbyshireP-BoC2-DeadHamletsOn January 13th, we shared an excerpt from the first novel in Peter Darbyshire‘s Book of Cross series, The Mona Lisa Sacrifice. Today, we have an excerpt from the follow-up book: The Dead Hamlets. (In a few days, we’ll post an excerpt from the third novel, The Apocalypse Ark.) The three novels are out now, published by Poplar Press. Here’s the synopsis:

The Witches never failed to extract a price somehow.

When Cross stumbles drunkenly into a darkened Berlin theatre that is staging Hamlet, he does not expect to see Morgana le Fay on stage as Queen Gertrude or witness a real murder. But a deadly ghost is haunting the faerie queen’s plays and Morgana expects Cross to solve the mystery or risk his daughter, Amelia, becoming the next victim. With the fate of Amelia in the balance Cross tries to unravel a mystery that takes him to libraries outside of time, into battles alongside an undead Christopher Marlowe and to bargaining with the real Witches of Macbeth. But is the play the thing, or is there something far older haunting Shakespeare’s famous work?

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New Books (December 2024-January 2025)

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There was another flurry of new books over the holiday period (review copies, purchases, and Christmas presents), so I actually have enough books already for two of these posts… I’ll publish the second one in a week or so.

Did you get any good books over the holidays? Anything in particular on your radar for 2025? Feel free to share in the comments.

Featuring: Harlan Coben, Jonathan Coe, Kevin Evers, Teresa Frohock, Rachel Howell Hall, Artis Henderson, David Litt, Tim MacMahon, Laura McCluskey, Amy Shearn, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Odd Arne Westad & Chen Jian

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Quick Review: FOG AND FURY by Rachel Howzell Hall (Thomas & Mercer)

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HallRH-H1-FogAndFuryUSHCIntroducing Sonny Rush, former LAPD now small-town P.I.

She’s a new PI in a beautiful seaside town. It’s dirtier than it looks — and more dangerous too — in a twisting novel of suspense…

After ten years on the force, LAPD cop Sonny Rush relocates with her elderly mother to peaceful Haven, California, to join her godfather’s burgeoning PI business. What crimes could possibly happen in a town nicknamed “Mayberry by the Sea”? Sonny’s first case: find Figgy, a missing goldendoodle last seen sporting a Versace collar. At least scouting out a dognapper gives Sonny a chance to get to know her new neighbors.

Forty-eight hours in town and Figgy’s disappearance entangles Sonny in an unwelcome reunion with her ex, one of Haven’s wealthiest citizens. And when the body of a teenage boy is found along a popular hiking trail, Sonny is drawn into a web of strange beyond anything she ever saw in LA.

Then comes a local’s warning: question everything. Haven hides secrets that could destroy its idyllic facade. Or destroy Sonny first.

This is the first novel in a new mystery series from Rachel Howzell Hall, and it’s a great introduction to both the protagonist and the idyllic-on-the-surface town of Haven. As will surprise no one, there’s plenty of ugliness brewing below the surface of this town… This is a solid start to a new series. I enjoyed it. Continue reading →

Excerpt: MONA LISA SACRIFICE by Peter Darbyshire (Poplar Press)

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DarbyshireP-BoC1-MonaLisaSacrificeToday, we have an excerpt from The Mona Lisa Sacrifice by Peter Derbyshire, the first book in the Book of Cross series. The book is out now, published by Poplar Press. Here’s the synopsis:

“Even angels have to make a living these days.”

Cross is a man who has lived thousands of years, though he’d prefer not to have, and who is now hunting angels in a Barcelona filled with tourists, phone cameras and deep mystery.

When an angel promises to deliver Judas, a forgotten god of a forgotten people, to Cross for revenge if he can find the real Mona Lisa, a cascading set of mysteries involving a sisterhood of gorgons, Alice from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Morgana le Fay and renegade angels is set in motion. Everything hangs in the balance. Even the fate of the world.

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Quick Review: THE WONDER BOY by Tim MacMahon (Grand Central Publishing)

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ESPN’s Tim MacMahon chronicles the career of the Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Doncic and examines the pressure of building an NBA team around a prodigy.

In 2018, the Dallas Mavericks landed the most hyped European teen prospect in basketball history—Luka Doncic, who has proven to be a generational NBA talent with a flair for sensational playmaking. But that’s only half the story. With The Wonder Boy, MacMahon takes us beyond the highlights to the madness that ensues as the Mavericks try to avoid blowing their golden opportunity.

From the internal power struggles in owner Mark Cuban’s front office during the early years of Doncic’s career, to the new regime’s effort to earn Doncic’s loyalty and put the ruthless competitor in position to win, readers will learn never-before-reported details about the saga’s biggest moments, including:

    • the blockbuster deal for Kristaps Porzingis that blew up in the Mavs’ faces
    • the divorces with coach Rick Carlisle and GM Donnie Nelson
    • Jalen Brunson’s exit after a run to the Western Conference finals
    • the new pairing with the mercurial Kyrie Irving
    • the improbable journey to the 2024 Finals

As the clock ticks on the Mavs’ quest to win it all with their irreplaceable young star, The Wonder Boy pulls back the curtain on a dilemma every NBA team would love to have.

Anyone who has watched the Mavericks play since they acquired Luka Dončić in 2018 will recognize the player’s electric talent. Blistering stat-lines define most of his NBA career so far. He is not, however, otherwise particularly well-known. Like many non-American stars, he remains quite private and not the most forthcoming when it comes to the media/press. In The Wonder Boy, Tim MacMahon attempts to explain this young phenom, and how he fits into the modern NBA. Continue reading →

Quick Review: THE LIGHTNING BOTTLES by Marissa Stapley (Simon & Schuster)

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A mystery and a love-letter to the 90s music scene

A story of rock ‘n’ roll and star-crossed love — about grunge-era musician Jane Pyre’s journey to find out what really happened to her husband and partner in music, who abruptly disappeared years earlier.

He was the troubled face of rock ‘n’ roll… until he suddenly disappeared without a trace.

Jane Pyre was once half of the famous rock ‘n’ roll duo, the Lightning Bottles. Years later, she’s perhaps the most hated — and least understood — woman in music. She was never as popular with fans as her bandmate (and soulmate), Elijah Hart — even if Jane was the one who wrote the songs that catapulted the Lightning Bottles to instant, dizzying fame, first in the Seattle grunge scene, then around the world.

But ever since Elijah disappeared five years earlier and the band’s meteoric rise to fame came crashing down, the public hatred of Jane has taken on new levels, and all she wants to do is retreat. What she doesn’t anticipate is the bombshell that awaits her at her new home in the German countryside: the sullen teenaged girl next door — a Lightning Bottles superfan — who claims to have proof that not only is Elijah still alive, he’s also been leaving secret messages for Jane. And they need to find them right away.

A cross-continent road trip about two misunderstood outsiders brought together by their shared love of music, The Lightning Bottles is both a love letter to the 90s and a searing portrait of the cost of fame.

As a music fan who grew up during the 1990s, it was almost inevitable that I would be drawn to Marissa Stapley’s latest novel. Packed with nods to that era’s music history and mythology, The Lightning Bottles is an engaging tale of music, love, ambition, and fame; as well as what happens after an artist disappears (from the scene and, in this case, literally). I really enjoyed this. Continue reading →

Excerpt & Guest Post: MISERERE by Teresa Frohock

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Miserere was my debut novel in 2011, and as such, it had some problems. The prose was too purple, the descriptions too long, and the villains were a bit over the top. Thirteen years and four novels later, I’ve learned a lot about writing fiction, and I’ve grown, not just as an author, but as a person.

Once I reacquired my rights to Miserere, I reread it with more experienced eyes, and rather than just reissue the old book, I used the opportunity to make the story stronger. When Stefan graciously offered me space on his blog to host an excerpt, I thought long and hard about which scenes might have changed the most.

Frankly, each chapter has changed dramatically from the original. I’ve cleaned up the tautology and sharpened the character interactions, especially between Lucian and Catarina. More than ever, they feel like a brother and sister diametrically opposed to one another.

In the end, I chose to begin this excerpt at the beginning for people who have never read Miserere and to reacquaint former readers with the new edition. The first chapter is rather long, so I’ve found a good stopping point and left you there for now.

The story begins in the Sabbatical year 5873. Welcome, my darklings, to Woerld: Continue reading →

New Books (December)

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Another new books post, arriving pretty soon after the previous one — usually it takes a little while to acquire 12 new books, but I guess a few publishers are having an end-of-year push to get 2025 titles out to reviewers (not complaining!).

Featuring: Samantha M. Bailey, Emily M. Bender & Alex Hanna, Jon Cowan, Kate Elliott, Lee Goldberg, Jess Kidd, Felipe Torres Medina, Tochi Onyebuchi, Joe Pan, Robert Rotenberg, Debbie Urbanski, A.J. West Continue reading →

Re-view: MISERERE by Teresa Frohock (JABberwocky)

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A superb, mystic fantasy debut

Everything has a price, and those who deal with the devil pay dearly in this enthralling dark fantasy about redemption, sacrifice, and a Hell-bound battle between good and evil.

Exiled exorcist Lucian Negru made a choice that has haunted him for years. He abandoned his lover, Rachael, to Hell to save the damned soul of his sister, Catarina. But Catarina doesn’t want to be saved. Now a prisoner in his reviled sister’s home, Lucian is being used as a tool to help fulfill Catarina’s wicked dreams: unleash the demons of the underworld to wage a war above.

Lucian’s first step in thwarting Catarina’s plan is to make amends with the past. Escaping captivity, he is determined to find Rachael even if it means entering the gates of Hell itself. Only then does he cross paths with a young girl fleeing from her own terrors. With the frightened foundling in tow, Lucian embarks on a journey to right a terrible wrong, to protect the innocent, and to rescue the woman he loves.

But no one escapes Catarina’s wrath. She’s just as driven in her pursuit: to track down her brother wherever it leads. And when she finds him, and she will, she vows to turn his heart to glass, grind it to powder, and crush the souls of everyone he loves.

I read Teresa Frohock’s excellent debut novel, Miserere, back in 2011, and I’ve been a fan of the author’s work ever since. In January 2025, JABberwocky are going to released a revised edition of the novel, so I thought this would be a good time to re-post my original review — with only some typos fixed. (I loved it then, so I imagine the new version will be even better.) Since the original publisher (Nightshade) is no more, this book has become very difficult to track down, so I’m very glad it’s getting another lease of life, and that new readers will have a chance to read it. Continue reading →

Quick Review: WHY SO SERIOUS? by Mike Singer (Harper)

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The first biography of the 3x NBA MVP

A revealing, intimate biography of basketball savant and enigmatic NBA superstar Nikola Jokić, filled with news-breaking interviews and deep reporting from Mike Singer, the Nuggets’ former beat writer for the Denver Post.

Why So Serious? takes readers on Nikola Jokić’s long, strange, and incredibly unlikely journey to becoming the heartbeat of the champion Denver Nuggets and the best basketball player on the planet. As he traces Jokić’s transformation from his humble beginnings in Sombor, Serbia, sports journalist Mike Singer captures the witty irreverence, unparalleled competitiveness, and slight mischievousness of the MVP fondly known as “The Joker.”

Behind his veiled public persona, who really is Nikola Jokić? Filled with exclusive, sure-to-be-headline-making interviews, including unique insights from Jokić himself, Why So Serious? delves deep into the soul of the mysterious center and reveals how the big man developed his relentless work ethic, exceptional court vision, and magical playing style that has redefined dominance in the NBA.

Like many NBA fans, Nikola Jokić’s rise to dominance has been fascinating to watch. Famously (and amusingly) drafted 41st during a Taco Bell commercial, he has risen from curiosity to champion in a relatively short time. He is also incredibly private, which means much of his story is not widely known. So, when I got the chance to read and review Mike Singer’s Why So Serious?, I jumped at the chance. While the synopsis oversells it a bit, this is nevertheless the biography Jokić fans have been waiting for. Continue reading →