Crime Reads - Suspense, Thrillers, Crime, Gun!
CrimeReads is a culture website for people who believe suspense is the essence of storytelling, questions are as important as answers, and nothing beats the thrill of a good book. It's a single, trusted source where readers can find the best from the world of crime, mystery, and thrillers. No joke,
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In Underexposed!: The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made (Abrams) Joshua Hull and Posterspy chart the history of films that were almost, but not quite made. Here, they looks at David Fincher’s planned follow-up to Zodiac. ___________________________________ FADE IN A torso is discovered during an innocent game of tag, setting in motion a cat-and-mouse game between Eliot Ness and the Torso Killer in 1930s Cleveland. This is the plot of Brian Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyko’s six-issue comic book series, Torso, which was originally published by Image Comics in 1998. In 2006, while busy working on the thriller Zodiac, David Fincher signed on to direct an adaptation of Torso…
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This month’s international crime fiction roundup brings you plenty of corruption, coverups, and conspiracies. Sleuths in Iceland, Quebec, and Taiwan go all the way to the top for answers, a housebreaker in Egypt leverages state secrets to make his way to the center of society, a Parisian illusionist finds himself the target of his rich clients, and an unhappy bride is stalked by an admirer who knows far too much about her life in China. Perhaps you’ll even be able to take these books on a long-delayed vacation! Sergio Schmucler, The Guardian of Amsterdam Street Translated by Jessica Mendez Sayer (House of Anansi Press) In Mexico City, Galo has confined himself to Am…
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This piece was supposed to be about fiction. Given that my own novel, Impostor Syndrome, is about a Russian spy working as an executive at one of the world’s largest technology companies, it made sense to gather some of my favorite works of fiction on crime in Silicon Valley. I soon realized however, that most of my selections were actually non-fiction. Unlike say, investment banking (The Bonfire of the Vanities) or academia (On Beauty, Lucky Jim, and many more), it seems tech is one of the lesser examined areas in fiction. Maybe it’s because the personalities, and crimes, are often already outsized; the truth in many cases is already plenty outrageous. Some of my favor…
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Philip Agee remains unique in the annals of US intelligence in that he went from being the consummate intelligence insider—nobody is more entrenched than a Central Intelligence Agency case officer in the field—to being a thoroughgoing outsider, and did so by choice. Agee has continued to be, with the exception of Aldrich Ames, the United States’ most hated erstwhile spy. Within the CIA, his “was taken as one of the most harmful, worst betrayals that we [have] suffered, and the hostility to him was greater than it was towards almost anybody else,” notes Glenn Carle, himself a CIA whistleblower with respect to “enhanced interrogation.” While Agee did assert the natural righ…
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It all came to a head in the most surprising way. One morning, Miguel heard the key in the lock and assumed that Natalia had forgotten something, since she’d only said goodbye five minutes earlier. But his daughter was not who appeared in the door with a triumphant smile. Miguel’s stomach turned on seeing Gustavo, his ex-son-in-law. “What are you doing here?” he asked, not even attempting to hide his hostility. He hated Gustavo as intensely as he’d once loved him, years ago. Gustavo smiled in phony cordiality. “A hug would be nice, Miguel. It’s been a long time.” Miguel had trouble finding his words, had to chew them up and let them out like mush. “You are no longer…
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Before Nobel Laureate John Steinbeck became an essential part of the Western literary canon, he was an unpublished writer with three rejected novels to his name. (Relatable!) Apparently, one of these novels was a mystery called Murder at Full Moon, which featured (get ready for it) werewolves. Twenty-something Steinbeck wrote the novel under the pseudonym Peter Pym. The 233-page manuscript—currently stored in the Harry Ransom Center archives, where it has languished since it was rejected by publishers in 1930—centers on a small California coastal town whose residents are trying to make sense of a recent wave of grisly murders that happened during the full moon. Officials…
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“fools gamble With things they don’t own, even though the first thing they’ll lose is their life.”—Abbas Mahalawi The gardener had left the gate ajar as planned. We entered one after the other like house cats familiar with their home. Then we sped through the garden like ghosts. Ernesti pulled some large socks out of his bag and signaled for us to slip them over our shoes to silence our footsteps. Eduardo, the Italian butler, assured us that he had drugged the large guard dogs, as well as Cicurel and his wife. He had slipped a barbiturate into the dinner he had served them and had seen them eat it. They’d be sleeping like the dead now and wouldn’t awake before noon, he s…
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Another week, another batch of books for your TBR pile. Happy reading, folks. * Kathy Wang, Impostor Syndrome (Custom House) “Like John le Carré filtered through Tom Wolfe, Impostor Syndrome encapsulates our Facebook anxieties perfectly.” The Millions David Gordon, Against the Law (Mysterious Press) “This one has everything, from a car chase that makes what Steve McQueen does with that Mustang in Bullitt seem like a Sunday drive, to a showdown in a Russian bathhouse that is part Marx Brothers and part Kill Bill. For anyone with a taste for blood-spattered comic capers featuring characters who vault off the page, Against the Law is an exquisite fever dream in…
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What’s the difference between Breaking Bad and Ozark? Both are stories about husbands and fathers who fall into criminal enterprises while trying to provide for their families. Both shows have a strong sense of place and local culture. And both explore the entire moral spectrum between elemental survival and boundless greed. (Also, both require a moderately strong stomach since they occasionally dip their toes into Quentin Tarantino levels of violence.) But there is one important way in which Breaking Bad and Ozark are fundamentally different: the extent to which each show exposes process—not just what the characters do, but how they do it. Breaking Bad teaches us the in…
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I’ve always liked stories where people go to Hell. Because I like Hell. Because that’s where the angels are. Angels come from Hell. All angels are fallen angels. Angels know how to fall and rise at the same time. Every Russian literary work is a crime novel and it’s about this, more or less. Hell or angels. Same thing. Anglo-Saxon culture is consumed with morality. Latin culture with mortality. But Slavs, we are melancholic fireflies in your summertime. We know we are bad, bad, bad. And how to be good, good, good. But we don’t want to play that game. We are damned and transcendental. We are a cracked basin hit by a shard of sunlight. See: Tarkovsky. Remix with some Jewis…
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We’ve covered Montreal and Toronto before in Crime and the City, so time to head west. All the way west to ‘Terminal City’—Vancouver, British Columbia, the third largest city in Canada and perhaps its most diverse and multi-cultural today. But Canada’s ‘City of Glass’ is also the country’s most expensive city to live in and now feels mighty familiar due to the number of TV shows up there in (surely room for one more nickname!) “Hollywood North”. There’s some crime and vice too…. A good place to start is always the great series of city-based crime collections from Akashic Noir. Vancouver Noir (2018), edited by Sam Wiebe, starts from the premise that the invariably rain-so…
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There’s something alluring about safecrackers. The image of a black-clothed figure sneaking stealthily into a dark bank or mansion, turning the dial until the safe opens to reveal its treasures, is exciting and glamorous, despite its inherent illegality. There is a mystique, a level of advanced skill and polished competence to this particular crime that isn’t part of the common criminal’s repertoire. Perhaps that is what has long intrigued us about safecrackers. They abound in fiction, dating back at least to the early twentieth century, but there are also historical counterparts whose exploits are every bit as entertaining as those in the books and movies. Here’s a brief…
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“Lost” was a sensation when it aired on ABC for six seasons, from 2004 to 2010. Millions tuned in every week and talked afterward, in online forums and at the fabled workplace water cooler, about the show’s many mysteries. But you know all that. Like millions of other viewers, I found the series riveting television. I loved the characters and situations and twists. The polar bear. The hatch. The slowly-unfolding story of the Dharma Initiative. And I was never more horrified at a TV plot point than when “the Others” kidnapped young Walt. The intense reaction the series inspired in me and others backfired, though, when “Lost” ended with a disappointing final season and a…
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To come clean right out of the gate I had never intended to write about The On Klub days as I had no interest in writing a memoir, but when I finally did (at crime author Denise Hamilton’s behest), the only way I could imagine doing so was by way of a noir story: a memNoir, if you will. For me, the music business of those times, with its array of larger-than-life rogues, hustlers, and mob connected operators, lends itself perfectly to the genre. I’m so grateful to Denise as I had the best time writing Top Rankin’. This approach allowed me to write with the intent of giving the reader an authentic, fun experience of 1980, lived in the moment, feeling the power of music i…
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Shop Talk: Megan Abbott Drinks Two Diet Cokes, Makes Weird Choices, and Keeps on Writing
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Nobody does sports-themed crime better than Megan Abbott. Three of her last six novels (You Will Know Me, Dare Me, and The Turnout, coming out on August 3rd, 2021) have all centered on athletics in some shape or form. As a former coach and player, I can’t help but be a Megan Abbott fan. She nails these particular subcultures with an eye for the gray areas, the blurry spot between the stereotypical cheerleader and what lies behind her ice-blue eyes. Megan is also a prolific author who splits time between writing novels and scripts. Considering her production level, I always assumed Megan’s writing process was akin to that of an Olympic gymnast. Come to find out, I wasn’…
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In honor of Asian-American and Pacific Islander heritage month, we’re highlighting the incredible array of crime books and thrillers by Asian-American authors publishing in 2021, so you can keep reading these stories all year long. JANUARY-APRIL Malinda Lo, Last Night at the Telegraph Club (Dutton) “Malinda Lo turns her masterful talent toward an under-covered period of San Francisco history. Last Night at the Telegraph Club is by turns gut-wrenching, utterly compelling, and deeply tender. I loved Lily fiercely, and you will too.” —Rebecca Kim Wells, author of Shatter the Sky Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Committed (Grove Press) “With smoke-and-mirrors panache, The Com…
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Where do we begin as novelists? We set out to chronicle the story of a life—not just any life but a meaningful one, a person who matters to us. I don’t know about you, but every time I start a new novel it’s as if I’ve never written one before. I don’t have a clue how to do it. There I sit at my computer, staring at that blameless white rectangle, waiting. It can take a long time. Days, months, even years—a time of personal exile let’s call it, where you wander, somewhat aimlessly, in sweatpants and your favorite t-shirt, across the wasteland of your mind, agitated, confused, ashamed, with your pesky accomplice, Doubt, as your only guide. If only you had a good idea. I me…
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By the late 1970s Spain had become the most popular foreign destination for UK holidaymakers and, increasingly, the residency of choice for expatriates looking to tan their bodies and knock back cheap booze. Discount flights, guaranteed sun and locals with a warm welcome (and a willingness to speak English) combined with an increasing UK subculture of traditional pubs, Sunday roast dinner, fish and chips and warm ale made Spain a magnet for Brits—and especially the Costa del Sol. The region became to many in the UK what the Caribbean became to some in the US—a bolthole that was close enough to endure the flight but far enough away to add that exotic magic fairy dust to a …
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Prologue: Welcome 1. If Tom hadn’t left his sweater in his locker, if he hadn’t gone back to get it, and if he hadn’t passed the main office on the way, the whole dark night might’ve been avoided. “Hold up a minute, Tommy. Got one more run for you.” Dammit. Tom had a fun night planned ahead. A great one. Pizza, beer, old movies, feet on the table, and the open prairie of the living room to himself. “Where to, Jerry?” Before his boss even said the city name, Tom knew he’d scratch his evening plans. He never said no to Jerry. “Goblin.” Goblin? “Jeez, Jerry. Goblin’s what . . . an hour away? I haven’t been to Goblin in something close to . . . thirty years.” To Gob…
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This roundtable was inspired by You Love Me, Caroline Kepnes’s majestic continuation of the adventures of everyone’s favorite psychopath-slash-hopeless-romantic, Joe Goldberg. I’ve written about Kepnes before, and I knew she would love this. Caroline is so smart and funny I decided to do a roundtable with her and some other writers who give good psychopath. I assembled my people—Caroline Kepnes (You Love Me), Naben Ruthnum (Find You in the Dark), Edwin Hill (Watch Her), Caroline Louise Walker (Man of the Year), and Joanna Schaffhausen (Every Waking Hour). ___________________________________ Chat-for-Psychopaths “It’s really something to see that phrase and thi…
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I write a sporadic column for this website entitled “The Unlikely Stars of Noir” in which I register that an actor not normally considered to be a denizen of crime cinema has actually made a career out of appearing in such films. It might seem that the purpose of this column is to present information that everybody already knows in a way that they might not have thought about before, but what it really is an excuse for me to revisit the canons of my favorite, talented character actors: highlighting the range of the performers I admire the most, who, chances are, appeared in their fair share of movies about murder and other crimes. Much to my regret, I have lapsed in submi…
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Publishers, booksellers, and many readers like to know the genre of a novel. Where will it sit on the bookstore shelf? How to categorize it online? Which types of readers will it appeal to? Sometimes it’s easy to slot a book into a category or genre: romance, crime, or indeed, mystery. But there are lots of novels which are too slippery for that. They have plenty of suspense and often a good dose of secrets and the unexplained to propel the story forward, even though their premise is not built around a central mystery which follows a trail to a satisfying conclusion. My novels have often been categorized as mysteries and although I’m okay with that, I don’t write them w…
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Back in high school, my best friend and I wanted to be Writers, the W definitely capitalized. We didn’t spend a lot of time writing, though. (It was hard.) Instead, we spent a lot of time talking about what we would do when we became writers. One of the questions that haunted our teenage souls was, What if we have nothing original to say? Hasn’t everything already been said? What if we’re… derivative? Oh, those poor kids. Both of us kept writing and making art (my friend, Marc Ruvolo, started a record label and became one of the founders of Chicago punk). Eventually we realized uniqueness, in the strictest sense, is impossible. All art is in conversation with what’s come…
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NOW To be straight, I never thought they were going to find you. I gave that up a long time ago. In all honesty I kind of wish they hadn’t ’cause Dad and I were getting along just fine without you. It took him long enough to get over you in the first place. Now you’ve gone and reopened the wound, made him mourn for Mom all over again as if she’s only just died. The truth is, Dad was never much of a dad to me until he got over missing you. But now you’re back and, in his eyes, you’re all that matters. That’s not to say I didn’t think about you. I thought about you a lot when you were gone, though all I ever knew was the absence of you. I knew I was supposed to have a b…
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“In your message you indicated that there is something important you would like to discuss with me. So here I am.” I had received an email from Huby a few days earlier, asking me to meet him in Paris on a life and death matter. Huby had never exhibited any melodramatic tendencies in the past, so I was both worried and intrigued. “Indeed,” Huby said with a solemn look, “more than just important. A man’s life hangs in the balance. But first, let’s enjoy a delicious dinner. This place has the best fish in town, and I’ve ordered us both the loup de mer. I hope you don’t mind.” “Not at all, thanks,” I replied, surprised that this life and death matter could wait until …
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