Review

Quick Review: DEEP CUTS by Holly Brickley (Borough Press/Crown)

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The story of a complex, complicated, and oft-fraught relationship

Look, the song whispered to me, that day in my living room. Life can be so big.

It’s a Friday night in a campus bar in Berkeley, fall of 2000, and Percy Marks is pontificating about music again. Hall and Oates is on the jukebox, and Percy — who has no talent for music, just lots of opinions about it — can’t stop herself from overanalyzing the song, indulging what she knows to be her most annoying habit. But something is different tonight. The guy beside her at the bar, fellow student Joe Morrow, is a songwriter. And he could listen to Percy talk all night.

Joe asks Percy for feedback on one of his songs — and the results kick off a partnership that will span years, ignite new passions in them both, and crush their egos again and again. Is their collaboration worth its cost? Or is it holding Percy back from finding her own voice?

Moving from Brooklyn bars to San Francisco dance floors, Deep Cuts examines the nature of talent, obsession, belonging, and above all, our need to be heard.

Holly Brickley’s Deep Cuts got a lot of pre-publication buzz, with early readers name-dropping novels like Daisy Jones and the Six as a comparator (mainly because this is also connected to music, and with a complicated central relationship). As it turns out, the buzz was justified: this is a very good novel, and I quickly found myself invested in Percy and Joe’s fates. Continue reading →

Quick Review: VERMINSLAYER by David Guymer (Black Library)

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Gotrek Gurnisson once again faces off against one of his oldest foes…

Greywater Fastness – an industrial canker in the heart of Ghyran. Foundries and metalworks pump soot and fire endlessly into the skies of the Realm of Life. Dusty streets hide peril at every turn, and attacks by the Dreadwood Sylvaneth hamper the city’s relentless encroachment.

Gotrek Gurnisson barges into Greywater Fastness seeking answers as to why his Fyreslayer rune is mysteriously waning. But finding them in the stronghold’s clogged and blackened arteries may prove far more difficult than first thought, and with skaven warlocks building something deep underground – something that will cement their place in skavendom forever – Gotrek begins to wonder if he might instead find that which has eluded him these past ages – his doom.

In Verminslayer, David Guymer returns to writing Gotrek Gurnisson. Still wandering the Mortal Realms, the slayer is newly companion-less, and finds himself in an industrial city threatened by the evil machinations of the always-bizarre, incomprehensibly-competent Skaven. I enjoyed this. Continue reading →

Quick Review: ANT by Chris Hine (Harper)

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An early biography of a rising star of the NBA

The first in-depth look at the Minnesota Timberwolves rising star, from his backstory to his mindset, and the relationships that fueled his drive to greatness.

From his jaw-dropping dunks to his charismatic personality, Anthony Edwards draws comparisons to the greatest shooting guards of all time like Kobe and Jordan. A portrait in the education of a budding NBA superstar, Ant chronicles Edward’s meteoric rise. The number-one pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, a two-time All-Star, Edwards has, in just a few seasons, become a household name and the face of the Minnesota Timberwolves. And he’s only twenty-three years old.

With locker room access, original interviews, and fresh reporting by Chris Hine, the Minnesota Star Tribune’s beat writer covering the Wolves, Ant delves into Edwards’ early life in Atlanta, the challenges and family tragedy he overcame, and the relentless determination that has propelled him to stardom.

Anthony Edwards, the charismatic and personable star of the Minnesota Timberwolves, made a splash in last year’s NBA playoffs, making the jump to potential-future-face-of-the-league. This year, the ‘Wolves are blazing a path through the Western Conference playoffs once again, and will appear in the conference finals against OKC. This all makes Chris Hine’s book rather timely. It’s a well-written and engaging biography of the rising superstar; but perhaps too soon? Continue reading →

Very Quick Review: MAKING HISTORY by K. J. Parker (TorDotCom)

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How to manipulate history and (maybe) get away with it

A group of scholars must do the impossible for a ruthless king. The cost of refusal, of course, is death.

History isn’t truth, it’s propaganda.

Seeking war with his neighbor, the tyrannical ruler of Aelia convenes several of his kingdom’s professors for a chat. First citizen Gyges only just invaded Aelia a few years back and, naturally, his public image can’t take the hit of another unjustified assault.

His totally sane solution? Simple, really. These scholars must construct a fake ancient city from scratch to verify Gyges’s apocryphal claims.

Now these academics must put their heads together to make history. Because if they don’t, they’ll lose their heads altogether.

In a country ruled by a usurper king, history can be a powerful tool for cementing authority and power. To do a decent job of manipulating the past, it’s important to turn to the people who know the most about it: historians. In Parker’s latest, excellent novella, a group of historians are (quietly) threatened by their new king into creating a new history that supports his authority and mandate. Continue reading →

Quick Review: IT’S ONLY DROWNING by David Litt (Gallery Books)

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An engaging, thoughtful memoir about trying new things and attempting to find common ground

After moving from Washington, DC, to the Jersey Shore, a former speechwriter for President Obama starts surfing at the age of thirty-five — the rough equivalent of beginning guitar lessons on your deathbed — and must turn for help to the only other surfer he knows: a tattooed, truck-driving, Joe Rogan superfan who happens to be his brother-in-law.

David Litt, the Yale-educated writer with a sensible fear of sharks, and Matt, the daredevil electrician with two motorcycles and a passion for death metal, had always coexisted from a comfortable distance as brothers-in-law. Yet in 2021, as David wallowed in existential dread while America’s crises piled up, he couldn’t help but notice that Matt was thriving. When he wasn’t making money rewiring New Jersey beach homes, Matt was riding waves at his favorite spots in the state.

Quietly, David started taking surfing lessons. For a few months, he suffered through wipeouts on waves the height of daffodils. But to his surprise, he soon became obsessed. And once he got a sense of the ways that fully committing to surfing could change him both in the water and on land, he set his sights on an unlikely goal: riding a big wave at Hawaii’s famously dangerous North Shore. To get there, he’d need Matt’s help.

At a moment when the fault lines of class, education, and culture threaten to tear our country apart, It’s Only Drowning is a blueprint for becoming braver at a time when it takes courage just to read the news, a love letter to surfing in the vein of William Finnegan’s Barbarian Days, and a poignant buddy comedy in the tradition of Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods.

This is David Litt’s third book, and it offers much of what I’ve come to expect from the author: solid and informed political and social commentary, coupled with self-deprecating personal insights. I very much enjoyed this. Continue reading →

Quick Review: LETHAL PREY by John Sandford (G. P. Putnam’s Sons)

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Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers join forces to track down a ruthless killer who will do whatever it takes to keep the past buried…

Doris Grandfelt, an employee at an accounting firm, was brutally stabbed to death… but nobody knew exactly where the crime took place. Her body was found the next night, dumped among a dense thicket of trees along the edge of an urban park, eight miles east of St. Paul, Minnesota. Despite her twin sister Lara Grandfelt’s persistent calls to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the killer was never found.

Twenty years later, Lara has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Confronted with the possibility of her own death, she’s determined to find Doris’s killer once and for all. Finally taking matters into her own hands, she dumps the entire investigative file on every true crime site in the world and offers a $5 million reward for information leading to the killer’s arrest. Dozens of true crime bloggers show up looking for both new evidence and “clicks,” and Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers are called in to review anything that might be a new lead.

When one of the bloggers locates the murder weapon, Lucas and Virgil begin to uncover vital details about the killer’s identity. But what they don’t know is the killer lurks in plain sight, and with the true crime bloggers blasting every clue online, the killer can keep one step ahead. As the nation maneuvers the detectives closer to the truth, Lucas and Virgil will find that digging up Doris’s harrowing past might just get them buried instead.

In this, the 35th novel in Sandford’s superb Prey series, the author’s two main protagonists team up again to investigate a 20-year-old murder. It’s another fast-paced and engaging mystery, showcasing everything that has made Sandford’s series so compelling for so long. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. Continue reading →

Quick Review: LAWLESS by Leah Litman (Atria/One Signal)

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An excellent guide to how the Supreme Court runs on conservative grievance, fringe theories, and bad vibes

Something is deeply rotten at the Supreme Court. How did we get here and what can we do about it? Crooked Media podcast host Leah Litman shines a light on the unabashed lawlessness embraced by conservative Supreme Court justices and shows us how to fight back.

With the gravitas of Joan Biskupic and the irreverence of Elie Mystal, Leah Litman brings her signature wit to the question of what’s gone wrong at One First Street. In Lawless, she argues that the Supreme Court is no longer practicing law; it’s running on vibes. By “vibes,” Litman means legal-ish claims that repackage the politics of conservative grievance and dress them up in robes. Major decisions adopt the language and posture of the law, while in fact displaying a commitment to protecting a single minority: the religious conservatives and Republican officials whose views are no longer shared by a majority of the country.

Dahlia Lithwick’s Lady Justice meets Rebecca Traister’s Good and Mad as Litman employs pop culture references and the latest decisions to deliver a funny, zeitgeisty, pulls-no-punches cri de coeur undergirded by impeccable scholarship. She gives us the tools we need to understand the law, the dynamics of courts, and the stakes of this current moment — even as she makes us chuckle on every page and emerge empowered to fight for a better future.

I’ve been a long-time fan of Strict Scrutiny, the podcast that Leah Litman co-hosts with Kate Shaw and Melissa Murray, so when Lawless was announced, it immediately went on my must-read list. I was lucky enough to get an advance DRC, and I dove right in. It’s a highly engaging and informative book, and one of the first must-reads of the year. Continue reading →

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 →

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 →