Reviewed by Phyllis Wilson Moore The title of Natalie Sypolt’s first short story collection, The Sound of Holding Your Breath: Stories, caught my attention. Just what is the sound of holding your breath? According to the young and newly married Marley, the protagonist in the title story, nothingness is the loudest sound in her home. […]
“The Stranger Inside,” by Laura Benedict
January 8, 2019 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Claire Hamner Matturro Let’s get the obvious out of the way: The Stranger Inside (Mulholland Books, 2019) is a big, grand, intelligent thriller by Laura Benedict that will have readers guessing and gasping as they avidly turn the pages. The phrase “the plot thickens” is an understatement with regards to The Stranger Inside. […]
January Read of the Month: “Where the Crawdads Sing,” by Delia Owens
January 3, 2019 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith With gorgeous imagery and breathtaking detail, Delia Owens perfectly captures the exquisite song of the North Carolina coastal marsh and all its creatures in her debut novel, Where the Crawdads Sing. Not since Pat Conroy’s Prince of Tides has there been a love song to the low country as poignant. And […]
“Depth of Winter,” by Craig Johnson
January 1, 2019 by 1 Comment
Reviewed by Phyllis Wilson Moore In Craig Johnson’s fourteenth novel, Depth of Winter (Viking, 2018), Sheriff Walt Longmire is far from Absaroka County, Wyoming. He is in Mexico on a desperate lone-wolf mission to rescue his only daughter from a vicious drug cartel. He has no authority. He has no passport. He is about to experience […]
“Dixie Luck,” by Andy Plattner
December 20, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Jessica Williams Dixie Luck, by Andy Plattner, is a seductive collection of drama-filled tales of risky gambling in the Deep South. The collection entices readers with knee-jerking turns, narcissistic characters and adventures in the hidden pockets of New Orleans, Biloxi, and other money-driven cities of the South. Most stories take readers down the […]