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Athena College is playing host to the Southern Academic Libraries Association convention and Charlie Harris’s old grad school classmate Gavin Fong is giving the keynote address. Charlie doesn’t have fond memories of Gavin, and an encounter opening night proves that Gavin is still as arrogant as ever. But when Gavin collapses and dies in the middle of his speech, Charlie is surprised. Yes, Gavin was a jerk, but who hated him enough to kill him?

As always, this is a strong mystery, with conflict and tension set up from the very first chapter. We have several strong motives and suspects before Gavin dies, and we get some nice twists before the logical solution. The suspects are all believable, and the returning characters continue to be strong. Charlie’s cat Diesel charms like always as well.

NOTE: I received a copy of this book.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2017/02/book-review-twelve-angry-librarians-by.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
Knives Out (2019)
Knives Out (2019)
2019 | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Me and my mum had to kill a bit of time recently and decided to go to cinema, the strangest cinema I have been to, like an old fashioned flea pit. We had a choice of three movies: frozen 2, last christmas, or knives out. We chose knives out, not knowing what to expect.
We both thoroughly enjoyed this movie, it has an amazing ensemble cast, the only thing throwing us off being Daniel Craig's Southern American accent.
I enjoyed the fact each character has it's own quirks and back story, and I found humour in each of the characters.
It also kept me guessing right to the end, where usually I can tell who's done it within the first five minutes.
It's not a genre I have really watched before, but I can't wait for it to come onto DVD, we managed to spend our spare time watching a really enjoyable film, which to me was time well spent.
  
Badlands (1973)
Badlands (1973)
1973 | Crime, Drama
Impressive debut from the legend himself, Terrence Malick
Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek look so young! Probably because they are!

Impressive directorial debut and the start of great things to come. Some of his visual style are already present including impressive landscape shots or cut scenes featuring animals and nature.

The story is based on the American serial killer Charles Starkweather who befriends a naive young girl, invades her life and brings her along on a mass killing road trip across the southern United States. The victims include almost everyone they meet. The authorities are mobilized and pursue the duo as tensions escalate.

Sheen and Spacek are perfectly cast as the young couple which modern audiences would equate to Natural Born Killers; however, this film is not over the top like NBK. I really enjoyed their reluctant relationship and the mounting peril with the inevitable confrontation with the law.

Highly recommended.