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Tokyo Express by Seichō Matsumoto
Tokyo Express presents its readers with an intriguing set-up that is somewhat let-down by the story giving away too much too soon. The premise made me think that this would be a whodunnit with some noir undertones, but it soon became apparent that the mystery driving the narrative was more of the whydunnit variety. There…
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The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The Secret History lives rent free in my head. It is a masterpiece. A thing of rare beauty. A tour de force. A literary triumph. “One likes to think there’s something in it, that old platitude amor vincit omnia. But if I’ve learned one thing in my short sad life, it is that that particular…
1980s, 1st pov, 20th century, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, academia, addiction, Adult, ALIENATION, AMERICAN AUTHOR, anxiety, beautiful prose, beauty, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, California, campus, class, cliques, Contemporary, CRIME, dark, dark academia, DEATH, donna tartt, ennui, existentialism, female authors, friendships, gay side characters, GUILT, HISTORICAL FICTION, identity, incest, introspective, it’s about the *yearning*, lgbtq+ side, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Longing, MEMORY, modern classics, morality, MURDER, My reviews, MYSTERY, obsession, philosophical, PRIVILEGE, psychological, Psychological thriller, published in 1992, queer undercurrents, re-reads, read in 2016, read in 2021, reading, rich people, SUSPENSE, terrific prose, the secret history, THRILLER, toxic relationships, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, unrequited love, Vermont, whydunnit, WINTER -
These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever
Heavenly Creatures by way of Patricia Highsmith, plus a sprinkle of Like Minds, and with the kind of teenage morbidity one could find in Hangsaman or Stoker. Adroit and gripping, These Violent Delights is a superlative debut novel. Being the self-proclaimed connoisseur of academia fiction that I am, I was drawn by the comparisons to…
1970s, 3rd pov, 5 STARS, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, academia, Adult, ALIENATION, ambiguous protagonist, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, ANGST, anxiety, anxiety-inducing reads, bad love, class, dark, dark academia, drama, family, first love, gay, HISTORICAL FICTION, identity, Jewish, lgbtq+, LGBTQ+ Author, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, m/m, mental health, Micah Nemerever, morality, MYSTERY, obsession, Pennsylvania, philosophical, psychological, Psychological thriller, published in 2020, queer, re-reads, read in 2020, read in 2022, rich people, SUSPENSE, terrific prose, These Violent Delights, THRILLER, toxic relationships, tragedy, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, whydunnit -
The House of Stairs by Barbara Vine
“There is no time in our lives when we are so conspicuously without mercy as in adolescence.” I don’t think I would ever picked up this ‘obscure’ and forgotten novel if it hadn’t been for the ‘crime fiction’ module I took during my second year of uni. Thanks to that module, which was in every…
1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1st pov, ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE, Adult, adulthood, ALIENATION, ART/CREATIVITY, atmospheric, bad love, Barbara Vine, beautiful prose, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, books about books, books about writers, British author, class, CRIME, domestic thriller, england, f/f, favourite authors, female authors, first love, friendships, GOTHIC, GUILT, heartbreak/breakups, HISTORICAL FICTION, House As Character, identity, illness, introspective, it’s about the *yearning*, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, LONDON, loneliness, Longing, manor/big house, MEMORY, modern gothic, MURDER, murder mystery, MYSTERY, obsession, psychological, Psychological thriller, psychopaths, published in 1988, queer, re-reads, read in 2018, read in 2020, read in 2022, rich people, sapphic, SEXUALITY, strong sense of place, SUSPENSE, the female malaise, The House of Stairs, toxic relationships, unrequited love, whydunnit -
The Dry by Jane Harper
Harper delivers an absorbing yet somewhat ‘run-of-the-mill’ thriller. The story is one that has been done time and again: our main character returns to the small town where they are from (having left after certain traumatic events) and is forced to confront his past ghosts as well as his new ones.Now, despite these stereotypical elements, Harper reworks…
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If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
“Actors are by nature volatile–alchemic creatures composed of incendiary elements, emotion and ego and envy. Heat them up stir them together, and sometimes you get gold. Sometimes disaster.” An enjoyable debut novel that delivers plenty of Shakespearean ‘nuggets’.To label this story a mystery is a mistake. It isn’t. It is quite obvious what has happened,…
1990s, 20th century, 3.75 stars, academia, actors, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, books about books, campus, cliques, Contemporary, CRIME, dark, dark academia, drama, female authors, friendships, IF WE WERE VILLAINS, Illinois, it’s about the *yearning*, jealousy, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, literary references, Longing, M. L. RIO, m/m, MURDER, murder mystery, MYSTERY, obsession, psychological, queer, read in 2017, ROMANCE, shakespeare, SUSPENSE, theatre, toxic relationships, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, unreliable narrators, whydunnit
luce [is reading] 