Interview With The Author: Michael Kardos by John Dwaine McKenna With many thanks, our interview this week is with Michael Kardos, the Pushcart Prize- winning author of Bluff, who holds degrees from Princeton, Ohio State, and the University of Missouri. He lives in Mississippi, where he teaches creative writing at Mississippi State. Somehow, he’s also found the time to write three other novels, a story collection and a text
Bluff by Michael Kardos Mysterious Press/Grove Atlantic, $26.00, 272 pages, ISBN 978-0-8021-2804-1 Bluff is a novel about the practice of sleight of hand, or magic, and magic is done by practicing the art of misdirection. The conjurer talks the audience into looking over there while at the exact same time doing something over here and presto . . . a deck of fifty-two cards thrown against the wall falls
False Flag by John Altman Blackstone Publishing, $26.99, 320 pages, ISBN 978-1-5047-9772-6 In the world of espionage, The business of spies is lies, which makes it impossible at times, to distinguish between friend and foe . . . because all covert operations are designed to advance the interests and objectives of the spying country. Put it another way and the axiom becomes: TRUST NO ONE. They all lie all
Mysterious Book Report No. 345 Rip Crew by John Dwaine Mckenna With all the rama-lamadingdonging that’s been going on over, under, through, around and about the southern border of our nation this MBR couldn’t be more timely. Rip Crew, (Mulholland Books/Little, Brown and Company, $27.00, 322 pages, ISBN 978-0-316-50553-6) by Sebastian Rotella, begins in Guatemala where protagonist Valentine Pescatore, an undercover agent for a private security firm, is looking
Mysterious Book Report No. 344 Blood Standard by John Dwaine McKenna The MBR has always had a soft spot for the antihero type: those individuals who’re capable of most anything, but who also possess the same purity of heart as a knight errant on a quest. They’re the kind of characters who struggle with the world, and themselves, in an idealistic representation of the human condition. Simply put: we
Flight of the Fox by Gray Basnight Down & Out Books, PB, $18.95, 381 pages, ISBN 978-1-946502-61-2 An electrifying, propulsive and timely thriller was just released that, by all rights, should shoot to the top of every bestseller list in the country. If ever an author stepped up to the plate, took a swing, hit it right on the sweet spot and out of the park . . .
Spirits of the Heart by Frances Brown writing as Claire Gem Erato Publishing, PB, $13.95, 312 pages, ISBN 978-0-9974326-4-0 As the by-line shows, this will be a different—and special—MBR. It’s not within our usual purview of crime and punishment, or murder and mayhem, nor even an exploration of the dark side of human nature. Instead, it’s a goose-pimple inducing paranormal ghost and romance story which takes place at an
Under Water by Casey Barrett Kensington Publishing Corp., $25.00, 309 pages, ISBN 978-1-4697-0968-4 The MBR is ever on the lookout for debut authors with arresting characters, compelling plots and above-average wordsmithing talent. When we find one, we do our best to alert all of you, so that together, we can read and enjoy the writer and character as they grow. Those types of people are hard to find, and
Hello, to all of you out there in the electronic haze, and Welcome, to our newest feature here at the Mysteriousbookreport.com . . . . Author Interviews. In this space we’ll be featuring the insights, thoughts, writing tips and news about forthcoming books from some of the authors whose works have been reviewed in the MBR. We’re excited to have Claire Gem—a lady with a whole lotta moxie, an
Don’t Skip Out On Me by Willy Vlautin Harper Perennial, $22.99, 269 pages, ISBN 978-0-06-268445-5 This weeks MBR defies genre. Although noirish in tone, it’s unclassifiable by nature because it includes elements of several different styles. It’s a tough guy story that could have been written by Hemingway or London, featuring a plot which might’ve come from Flannery O’Connor herself. It’s a coming-of-age tale that professes hope but appears