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
The first biography of the 3x NBA MVP
I’m woefully behind on Jonathan Coe‘s novels, but his latest has really caught my eye (and will probably shoot right to the top of my TBR pile). The Proof of My Innocence is a “political critique wrapped up in a murder mystery”, all told with Coe’s signature wit. The novel is out already in the UK (published by 
As Britain finds itself under the leadership of a new Prime Minister whose tenure will only last for seven weeks, Chris pursues his story to a conference being held deep in the Cotswolds, where events take a sinister turn and a murder enquiry is soon in progress. But will the solution to the mystery lie in contemporary politics, or in a literary enigma that is almost forty years old?
The next novel from Taylor Jenkins Reid was announced a little while ago. Atmosphere is “an epic new novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s space shuttle program and the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits.” Long-time readers of CR will know how much I’ve enjoyed Reid’s previous novels — 
Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilots Hank Redmond and John Griffin, who are kind and easy-going even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warm-hearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.
I’m a relative newcomer to Jess Walter‘s work, and thus-far I’ve only read his short fiction — all of which has been superb, and I can’t recommend 
Next summer, 
A little while ago, we shared an excerpt from the first new Conan the Barbarian novel published by Titan Books — 
An amusing, odd comics collection
Tomorrow, Lake Union is due to publish the latest novel by Emily Beeker: When We Chased the Light. A new novel set in Golden Age Hollywood, here’s the synopsis:
