Doubleday Review by Walter Cummins The seven stories in Monsters and Dogs were written over a long period, their composition interrupted by Haddon’s triple heart bypass. That time span may…
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The Peepshow: The Murders At Rillington Place by Kate Summerscale
Penguin Review by Walter Cummins The Peepshow, Kate Summerscale’s latest true crime book, goes beyond the gruesome details of serial butchery, with corpses stashed under floors, behind walls, and stuffed…
Hot Air by Marcy Dermansky
Knopf Review by George Yatchisin In Marcy Dermansky’s engrossing novel of (mis)manners Hot Air, third person limited isn’t just a narrative technique, it’s a view of the world where solipsism…
Swerve by Laurie Blauner
Rain Mountain Review by Walter Cummins A swerve is not a deliberate choice but rather the result of a last-second panic, an instantaneous response to a sense of threat, twisting…
Twist by Colum McCann
Random House Review by Walter Cummins Although Colum McCann doesn’t refer to the 1948-49 Shannon-Weaver theory of communication, my remembering it helped me understand his novel Twist, in which the…
Heartwood by Amity Gaige
Simon & Schuster Review by Walter Cummins Valerie Gillis closes the message to her mother that begins the novel Heartwood with this crucial memory: “But for a while, in your…
What Art Does: An Unfinished Theory by Brian Eno and Bette A.
Faber and Faber Review by George Yatchisin At a mere 4.5 by 6.5 inches, only 122 pages long, with a cover that’s bright white and soothing flamingo pink, Brian Eno…
The Problem You Have by Robert Garner McBrearty
University of New Mexico Press Review by Jack Smith Robert Garner McBrearty’s The Problem You Have is a stunning collection of literary realism, often edgy realism, sometimes bordering on farce,…
Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld
Random House Review by Walter Cummins Variations of similar human tensions unite the twelve stories in this collection. In each, at least one character stands out as mastering one or…