Black Caesar (1973)
4.3
Rate It
Movie Watch
Growing up on the tough streets of Harlem, Tommy Gibbs (Fred Williamson) has his life made even...
The Black Midnight (True Crime #7)
9.0
Rate It
Book
Two Series of Murders Seem Mysteriously Connected Step into True Colors -- a series of Historical...
True Crime History Historical Fiction Serial Killings England 1884
American History X (1998)
8.7
Rate It
Movie Watch
In Venice, Los Angeles, a reformed neo-Nazi skinhead, who serves three years in prison for voluntary...
The American Friend (1977)
8.0
Rate It
Movie
Career criminal Tom Ripley, who deals in forged artworks, pressures a terminally ill picture framer...
Der amerikanische Freund Neo-noir Ripley's Game Patricia Highsmith
The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960)
9.0
Rate It
Movie
In 1960s Germany, criminal mastermind Dr. Mabuse uses hypnotized victims and the surveillance...
American Gangster (2007)
7.4
Rate It
Movie Watch
Academy Award® winners Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe team with Director Ridley Scott...
Christine Allard (22 KP) rated My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark in Podcasts
Jan 26, 2018
True Detective
8.3
Rate It
TV Show
True Detective is an American anthology crime drama television series created and written by Nic...
Booksnthreads (19 KP) rated Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood in Books
Jun 14, 2018
Trevor Noah's Born a Crime provides incredible insight into apartheid in South Africa as well as it's lasting effect, even after it "ended." I was already a bit of a fan of Noah's humor and political commentary, and his memoir is not a disappointment. He tackles big issues with a sense of humor that does not in any way minimize those issues.
Mayhawke (97 KP) rated Elevator Pitch in Books
Jun 28, 2019
Over a decade ago I stopped reading crime fiction from the U.S. because I found what seemed to be a an unpleasant dwelling on the suffering of victims; a voyeurism which I found uncomfortable, and highly unpleasant. It was as though American crime writers were incapable of exploring the darkness of humanity, or giving clarity to events without relishing the pain and terror that must have been experienced by those on the receiving end of them.
Of course this was never true of all U.S. crime fiction, but I couldn't be asked to keep searching for the other kind. It was easier to just stay away from it all.
So, this is the first American crime novel I have read in nearly fifteen years.
What a joy it was. Barclay sets out a gripping thriller, an excellently plotted story which will educate you just a bit more than is comfortable on the ease of hacking lift controls in the technical age, whilst carefully leading you up and down the garden path a couple of times. The reading style is comfortable, the exposition is well paced. Eventually you arrive at a satisfying, and prompt conclusion. Barclay avoids the temptation to draw out the end like a cheerleader pulling gum, something that only works in Golden Era crime, and I always feel is out of place in otherwise fast-paced books of a more recent age.
Against this the characters have a slightly superficial feel, as though they have only been given the complexity they need for the book, and the denouement was not a huge surprise, though it was batted back and forth between two potential subjects nicely. But these really are minor complaints I really enjoyed this book and I will definitely be going back and reading some more of Linwood's books on the basis of this one.