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Honeymoon from Hell... "Murder Road" Book REVIEW

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When you hear the word “honeymoon”, chances are, you picture a happy couple walking into a posh hotel suite (complete with artfully-folded towel swans surrounded by a heart made of rose petals, laid out on the bed). Holding hands as they stroll along a sandy beach, pausing for long kisses as the sun sets in glorious technicolor behind them. Clinking glasses of bubbly together while lounging in a hot tub, all heart-eyes between them.  [Basically, what every wedding and travel brochure catering to the newly-hitched advertises in beautifully-printed, vivid colors.] So, there’s a honeymoon in Simone St. James’ latest novel, too… but darlin’, this ain’t remotely that kind of honeymoon. In fact, you might say that the after-ceremony vacay in Murder Road would more aptly be called a “ bloodymoon ”…  _______________   It’s 1995, and Eddie and April—the brand-spanking-new Mr. and Mrs. Carter—are cruising along a deserted Michigan road (bizarrely named Atticus Line) late at night, en rou

Desperation, Loneliness, and Murder (science fiction book REVIEW of Earthrise)

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Generalizations to be made about humankind abound... but for right now, let’s go with something on the lines of,   “after humans have completely effed up one place, it’s a sure thing they’ll soon seek out the next place to take over (and immediately set about effing it up in similar fashion)” .   I mean, it’s pretty much one of our signature moves.     It isn’t much of a stretch, then, to envision a not-that-far-off future in which we’ve plundered all of Earth’s once-bountiful resources, along with overpopulating our planet to the point of having to seek out new digs to inhabit...  namely, the Moon .   But what comes after  that ... once the Moon—with its considerably smaller size and limited resources—has likewise been pillaged and overrun by greedy bipedal interlopers?   The next, most-obvious (meaning,  least-inhospitable of all remotely-viable options ) candidate, of course. The Red Planet. Mars.   The thing is, we humans are never content with  just  brutal pioneering. No, we come

What Price Friendship..? (The Things We Do to Our Friends suspense Book Review)

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Keep your enemies close, and your friends, well— keep an even closer eye on them...   The damage we do—or at least, that we  can  do—to each other, is horribly immense in its scope and variety.     We’ve become inured to it, frankly, because we see it EVERYWHERE. Trolls going off on some one or some thing , online. Hate speech. Political upheavals.   But we also see it closer to home. Family members, intentionally hurting or neglecting those they should hold precious. Lovers, seemingly forgetting all of the reasons they came together, in the first place.     And close friends, taking perverse delight in using and wounding those whose darkest secrets they carry and were sworn to protect.   Heather Darwent gives us a look at all of these in her compelling psychological suspense debut,  The Things We Do to Our Friends .   Often people choose universities where they’ll feel right at home… either because the school is,  literally , close to their home, or because many friends go there.   

The City--and the World--Say a Tearful Goodbye to an L.A. Native... our Beloved P-22

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Tonight I had a good, long, ugly cry.   Not over anything sort of ordinary—not the loss of a loved one, some new personal heartache, or painful memories rearing their ugly heads—but over the passing of someone I never got to meet or see… but who nonetheless left indelible prints upon my heart.   [photo credit: Steve Winter, National Geographic] Make that  pawprints … for the dearly-departed in this instance is the L.A. celeb known ‘round the world as P-22. On the off-chance that you’ve somehow never heard of him, dear reader, P-22 was the shockingly long-lived, oft-seen (in public, even!) mountain lion, who called Los Angeles County his home for a decade.    Or, perhaps I should say,  ruled   L.A. County .   P-22 was still a relative youngster when I came onto the scene, some eight-and-a-half years ago, now, … but I was enchanted, immediately ( of course ) by tales— and pictorial evidence of sightings!— of this majestic male cougar. He was living proof of what could be possible, despit

A Different Spin on "Phantom"... (classic movie REVIEW)

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Musicals and I have a complicated relationship. I mean, the whole notion of randomly busting-out-into-song-(and-dance!)-in-the-middle-of-anything-(or-nothing) is— let’s face it —kinda odd.   And don’t even get me started on the songs, themselves. (No, really…  don’t get me started . I could go on for a painfully-long time about how much I dislike everything about, say,  The Sound of Music .)   But, put a  rock  musical in front of me, and you’ve got my attention.     Over the years, I’ve seen my share of those.  Grease .  Hair.   The Wall.   Jesus Christ Superstar.   Rock of Ages .  Tommy .  We Will Rock You .  Hairspray .  Moulin Rouge .  The Rocky Horror Picture Show  (which I’ll never really “get” the  cult obsession over, but whatever).   All of which brings me to right now. 2022. When I’ve been asked— challenged, even! —by someone close to me, to watch and review a previously-unheard-of (by me) classic, from 1974…  Phantom of the Paradise .    So, alrighty then. Challenge accepted

Nordic Noir Goes True Crime on Netflix... (The Lørenskog Disappearance REVIEW)

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Does anything have the power to capture the attention quite so much as a true, unsolved crime?  Especially when it involves a missing person… someone whom no one would ever expect to vanish into thin air, one day ?  The sudden absence of such a person is the object of  The Lørenskog Disappearance , on Netflix . __________ A true-to-life case, The Lørenskog Disappearance tells the story of Anne-Elisabeth Hagen—the septuagenarian wife of a Norwegian billionaire, and mother to their middle-aged children—who disappeared on the last day of October, 2018. She was reported missing by her husband Tom, who told police he'd returned home from work, after failing to reach her by phone, only to find an empty house… with signs of a struggle (some blood, a lone shoe, etc.) the only real indication that something untoward must have happened. Eventually, a ransom demand (of sorts) was made: X-amount of money to be transferred online via Bitcoin, after which Anne-Elisabeth might be returned.

What Goes on in those Furry Feline Brains? Netflix takes us "Inside the Mind of a Cat", to find out... (REVIEW)

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There are lots of self-proclaimed “dog people” out there (like everyone walking their very own Rover, Benji, or Miss Precious between, say, 6 and 7pm), who are allowed to do all sorts of things with their BFF (best furry friend). There are dog parks, sure, and they can go to PetSmart together… but they can also go into a surprising number of other shops, restaurants, and businesses, with Lola the Labradoodle or Sam the Shih Tzu, in tow.   The thing is, that only accounts for about half of the “pet pawrent” population… which begs the question, what about everyone else … namely, the “cat people”? There’s still something of a societal disconnect— I mean, where’s the canine equivalent to “crazy cat lady”, hmm? —about sharing your life with one (or more… no judgement! ) fluffy feline(s), unlike there is with dogs.  As a proud “catmom” (hmph), I’ve heard it all.  They’re so aloof and anti-social! [Baloney. They just have no incentive to interact with you, especially not if you have