BOOKLOVES

An intelligent psychological thriller on vigilante justice told from the opposing perspectives of two powerful protagonists Leon Dermot’s Dissolution Protocol is a character-driven thriller whose propulsive drive comes from two diametrically opposed protagonists—Dr. Caroline Aldridge, an intellectually disciplined psychiatrist, and Detective Maria Radik, her compellingly messy foil. Dissolution Protocol could be called a cat-and-mouse thriller, […]

A historic feat on an extrasolar planet soon turns chaotic in this conspiracy-fueled sci-fi page-turner. Randy Brown’s First Step is the much-awaited sequel to his earlier work, First, which begins with a SpaceFirst astronaut, Eve, about to become the first human to step on Primis, an extrasolar planet.  Remembering Neil Armstrong, of course she is […]

A playful collection of short poems combining deep thought with intense sensory richness Starting from the back of the volume, like we would do perusing at the bookstore, we read in the author’s note of Yes, I’m going to write myself well that Edgar Ballantyne likes poetry “because it’s the shape that thoughts come in […]

Six months ago, during the live finale of Season 4, contestant Alicia Angelos was found dead inside a prop coffin on set. The suspect list was short, the evidence was thin, and one person in particular took the blame in the court of public opinion: her younger sister Sierra. Now Season 5 is underway, and […]

A propulsive cyberpunk thriller that imagines a corporate-owned Alaska teetering on the brink of global war, asking whether the people who start fires can survive the conflagration In Dillenback’s debut novel, MIR.EXE, Alaska has seceded from the United States, and a superconducting alloy called PermaFlux has made it the richest nation on Earth—all of it […]

A tense, character-driven mystery in the Puerto Vallarta expat community Puerto Vallarta is popular with American tourists and expatriates, which keeps its US consulate busy. For Consul Amanda Pennyworth, it’s practically bureaucratic bliss, but it also poses a dilemma. “She had become so comfortable here. And that, of course, was exactly what the State Department, […]

There is a moment early in Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell where the protagonist, freshly abandoned by her soon-to-be ex-husband, goes to a concert alone. Not as a dramatic gesture. Not as a healing ritual. She just wanted to see the band. That specificity, the low-stakes, lived-in particularity of it, sets the tone for everything […]