dark and grim

Scorpion by Christian Cantrell – Book Review

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Scorpion by Christian Cantrell – Book Cover

The pace of the cross-border killing spree is picking up fast. But the motive? Murky at best. The only clue comes in the form of cryptic four-digit number sequences tattooed on the victims’ bodies. CIA analyst Quinn Mitchell has never faced a tougher assignment. Scorpion, Christian Cantrell’s philosophical techno-thriller, offers a glimpse into the brutal future knocking at our door.

The Future Is Now

Just a stone’s throw away. And yes—it’s just as ugly as we imagined. Scorpion could be set five years from now. Or ten. Or the day after tomorrow. The staggering pace of technological advancement has already brought the achievements of the near future into view. And artificial intelligence—as we’re already experiencing—is changing everything, day by day.

Christian Cantrell—an engineer and software developer in civilian life—offers a vision that’s filled with both the familiar and the unknown. The tech and gadgets in Scorpion are so convincingly real, you’ll find yourself wondering whether you read about them here first—or in yesterday’s news.

In any case, they’re surrounded by the gentle warmth of familiarity—and thankfully, by credibility as well. That’s where many future-set thrillers stumble right out of the gate, either trying to say too much or trying to say it all at once.

But there’s one thing you definitely haven’t heard of: no one has ever received a message from the future. (Or at least, no one’s been willing to admit it—so far.)

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The Darkness Knows by Arnaldur Indridason – Book Review

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The Darkness Knows by Arnaldur Indridason – Book Cover

After wrapping up the internationally acclaimed Erlendur series, Arnaldur Indridason launched a new crime series starring a fresh protagonist. Enter Konrád, a retired detective who first appears in The Darkness Knows—just as determined and conscientious as his famously grumpy predecessor.

Wake up! There’s a case to solve!

Inspector Erlendur might just be one of the most unconventional leading men in the history of crime fiction. A miserably moody, monosyllabic, and pathologically aloof Icelandic cop, he’s such a crashing bore that readers of his cases might find themselves turning steadily grayer and more featureless with each page—possibly even slipping into a light coma…

Well, Konrád from The Darkness Knows is only about a gram more exciting than him. I don’t know if most Icelanders are like this, or just the ones in Arnaldur Indridason’s social circle, but honestly—if Inspector Konrád ever invited you over, within twenty minutes you’d find yourself thinking that even methodically slitting your own wrists might be a more engaging way to pass the time than trying to hold a conversation with him…

The Erlendur series has 11 volumes. Nine of them have been published in Hungarian. Strangely enough, I’ve read them all. And no, no one held a gun to my head.

The reason, of course, is that Indridason more than makes up for his utterly unbearable protagonist with the actual investigative process. Just like he does with his new lead character…

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Monstress, Volume 6: The Vow by Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda – Graphic Novel Review

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Monstress, Volume 6: The Vow by Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda - Graphic Novel Cover

Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda’s graphic novel series is a mind-blowing creation that takes place in a fantasy world like no other. A world that’s unbelievably complex, brutally unforgiving, and heartbreakingly beautiful all at once. Monstress: The Vow, the sixth volume in the series, continues the saga full of power struggles, hidden supernatural beings, betrayals, and horrors—where Maika Halfwolf, the protagonist, not only faces countless enemies, but can’t even trust her friends—or her own family. The only one she might be able to count on is the ancient, bloodthirsty entity lurking inside her.

Monstress Takes the Graphic Novel to a Whole New Level

The creators of Monstress, the Lennon and McCartney of the graphic novel world—Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda—have basically swept every major sci-fi and fantasy award with their joint masterpiece. And if they haven’t yet, they definitely will. Deservedly so.

The war between humans and Arcanics is being manipulated by otherworldly forces. Supernatural beings walk the earth, sometimes in their true forms, other times hiding behind masks—or in someone else’s skin—fighting each other for power. In this chaotic, utterly opaque, and constantly shifting web of alliances, Maika Halfwolf and her few remaining friends are just trying to stay alive.

All of this is delivered in panels that look like paintings.

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Blood Ties by Jo Nesbø – Book Review

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Blood Ties by Jo Nesbo – Book Cover

Roy Opgard may look like your average gas station attendant in the small Norwegian town of Os, but he’s a whole lot more than that. Much more. He’s a protector of the family, a business whiz, and, above all, a true fixer—the kind of guy who solves problems. And Os? It’s got no shortage of those. The Opgard brothers’ past (and present) is soaked in violence (see: The Kingdom). But for anyone who wants to become the king of a town like this, that’s hardly news. Except maybe the part where blood ties start to matter less and less… What follows is, naturally, a classic Jo Nesbø thriller — clever, twisty, and in this case, laced with an unusually heavy dose of melancholy.

It Was the Man at the Pump

Yep, the guy at the gas station. He did it all. Every single murder in Os… For the record, Roy Opgard is not a brutal, bloodthirsty monster. The fact that an alarming number of Os’s dearly departed met their end at his hands isn’t entirely his fault.

It took an abusive, tormenting father who targeted his own son. And a mother who looked the other way. Everything else followed from that. Oh, and of course, there was the charming, likable, but weak-willed brother, Carl, too.

The prequel to Blood Ties — The Kingdom — may be a thriller, and a solid one at that, but at its core, it’s also the life story of a lonely man longing for love. Its heavy, melancholic tone stands in sharp contrast to the looming sense of fate and the constant return of violence.

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The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith – Book Review

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The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith – Book Cover

Cormoran Strike and his partner, Robin Ellacott, are up against a ruthless religious cult. In The Running Grave, the seventh installment of the Cormoran Strike series, the private detective duo is on a mission to rescue a young man from the clutches of fanatics. But the stakes are higher than ever, especially for Robin, who’s thrust into more danger than she’s ever faced before.

The Running Grave is Bursting with Skeletons

Charismatic conman Jonathan Wace—aka “J Papa”—and his exceptionally diabolical wife, Mazu, hit the jackpot when they founded the Universal Humanitarian Church. Their brainwashed followers are completely devoted, eager to fulfill even the most twisted desires of their beloved leaders.

Once this pair sinks their claws into someone, they don’t let go until they’ve wrung them dry. Saving the well-meaning but easily influenced Will Edensor is no small task for Cormoran Strike and his small but dedicated team.

Robin’s Up for This Too!

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Written in Blood by Chris Carter – Book Review

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Written in Blood by Chris Carter – Book Cover

When we started this blog, I was somewhere around book four or five of Chris Carter’s Robert Hunter series. And honestly, I was getting tired of it—the formulaic structure and predictable elements were wearing thin. Then An Evil Mind came along, introducing a villain so unimaginably evil that it changed everything. It reinvigorated the series, giving new life to the detective duo who dive headfirst into the most horrific murders imaginable. But by the time we get to Written in Blood, that energy seems to be fading again.

Crime Series, Written in Blood

Robert Hunter and Carlos Garcia, the seasoned two-man team from LAPD’s Ultra Violent Crimes Unit, have an uncanny knack for running into California’s most deranged criminals. About 99% of them just so happen to be serial killers.

And these aren’t your run-of-the-mill, discreet murderers. No, these guys leave crime scenes so drenched in blood it’s practically dripping from the ceiling. And Chris Carter? He revels in the grotesque details, delivering long, painstakingly detailed descriptions of crime scenes.

That’s really the essence of Chris Carter’s books: sheer, almost unimaginable horror. The kind that makes readers shake their heads in disbelief, thinking, “Dear God, this is awful! I could never do something like this!”

But Written in Blood does something different. Those drawn-out, gore-filled descriptions? They’re almost entirely missing.

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Red Queen by Juan Gómez-Jurado – Book Review

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Red Queen by Juan Gómez-Jurado – Book Cover

Antonia Scott is the smartest person in the world. She’s a member of a special covert police unit designed to crack the most complex criminal cases. Her codename? Red Queen. But for the past three years, Antonia has been in a state of near-hibernation after an attack took away the one person she cared for most in the world…

The Red Queen Is Back in Action

With Red Queen, Juan Gómez-Jurado has broken through the nearly impenetrable barrier of international recognition after publishing numerous books in Spanish. Not an easy feat if you’re not writing in English. To pull it off, you need something truly extraordinary—something that grabs readers’ attention immediately.

And Antonia Scott is precisely that.

The superintelligent yet quirky and eccentric personality commands both your admiration and your sympathy, making her even easier to relate to. (Much like Lisbeth Salander, a.k.a. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.)

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You Like It Darker by Stephen King – Book Review

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You Like It Darker by Stephen King – Book Cover

When it comes to short story collections, it’s always best to kick things off with the strongest story. Naturally, Stephen King does exactly that. You Like It Darker opens with Two Talented Bastids, a tale that hooks you almost instantly with its air of mystery and that trademark King melancholy, the kind that lingers with you long after you’ve finished the story.

And the rest? Well, it’s the usual grab bag of everything we’ve come to expect from the prolific American master: monsters, monstrous humans, the unfathomable secrets of the universe, and, of course, those everyday American heroes who often don’t even realize they’re heroes.

Oh, and don’t forget the usual dose of darkness. Whether you like it or not.

Two Talented Bastids

What is talent? Stephen King poses the question—and then, predictably, doesn’t give a straight answer. Or at least, he leaves you wondering. There’s definitely something not quite right with the two rural buddies who suddenly start cranking out masterpieces in their forties. Could they have made a deal with the devil at a crossroads at midnight?

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Deadly Class, Volume 8: Never Go Back by Rick Remender – Comic Book Review

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Deadly Class, Volume 8: Never Go Back by Rick Remender - Comic Book

Deadly Class, a comic series with one of the most unbelievable storylines and some of the most downright unlikeable protagonists of all time, kicks off its eighth volume, Never Go Back, with an unusual opening: a lenghty drug trip.

Pls, Don’t Mess With Me, Mr. Remender!

If your protagonist is unreliable, unpredictable, unstable, a chronic backstabber, and endlessly whiny, a drug-induced hallucination is probably the last thing that will make them more relatable to your readers. Drug trips are like listening to someone describe their dreams in excruciating detail: nobody gives a damn except the dreamer. In fact, the more they share, the more irritating it becomes.

The entire first quarter of Never Go Back, which corresponds to issue 36, might as well be flushed down the toilet as a complete waste of ink.

Of course, if only a quarter of Never Go Back were just wasted space, you could count yourself lucky…

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No Mercy by Joanna Schaffhausen – Book Review

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No Mercy by Joanna Schaffhausen – Book Cover

Ellery Hathaway, a police officer, shot a ruthless criminal under controversial circumstances, which got her put on mandatory leave. Now, the protagonist of No Mercy is being required by her psychiatrist to join a group therapy program designed for victims of violent crimes. Ellery, who survived being abducted by a serial killer in her youth, still can’t seem to escape her past.

But once a cop, always a cop. Group therapy is an ideal place to stumble upon numerous unsolved or puzzling cases. A particularly brutal rapist? Smoldering tensions in an old arson case? Ellery dives into the investigation, sparing no one – least of all herself.

A Distinctive Detective

Joanna Schaffhausen begins No Mercy in a way that’s almost misleading. Recently, there’s been a trend of books featuring slightly sociopathic anti-heroines, who takes down her own family or colleagues in a lighthearted way, or gets mistaken for a dangerous assassin. Well, the opening line of No Mercy seems to channel this same genre.

But it only takes a few pages to realize you’re mistaken. Schaffhausen quickly builds a heavy atmosphere, and before you know it, you’re drawn in by Ellery Hathaway, a character who carries both physical and emotional scars – and your sympathy along with them.

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