Tag: Reviews
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Between Tradecraft and Thrills: Johnny Wylde
It is accepted wisdom in the thriller community that highly-trained characters must display excellent tradecraft to thrill the reader. Yet this isn’t always so. In my first post in this series, I explored the Orphan X series, in which the protagonist’s poor tradecraft sets up superior scenes; in my previous post, I showed how taking…
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Between Tradecraft and Thrills: Orphan X
New York Times bestseller Gregg Hurwitz blew into the writing scene with his debut Minutes to Burn. With his Timothy Rackley series, Hurwitz hit his stride, solidifying his position as a top-shelf thriller author. In his latest series, Orphan X, he has reached new heights, producing a magnificent blend of pulse-pounding action, complex characterisation, powerful imagery,…
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Series Review: Writing Violence by Marc MacYoung
Marc ‘Animal’ MacYoung watches rom-coms because Hollywood gets action scenes wrong. Having worked as a court-recognized expert witness, correctional institute director, bodyguard, bouncer, cooler and event security, he has decades of first-hand experience with violence and criminals. His street name came from a high-risk lifestyle filled with life-or-death encounters on the mean streets of Los…
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Appendix N Review: The Dying Earth by Jack Vance
In the far-flung future, the Sun has reached the end of its lifespan. Under an alien sky, strange animals and plants thrive across the world, ruined cities stand in mute testimony to all-conquering Time, squalor and luxury exist side by side in decaying and decadent civilisations, and science and technology have blurred into a unified…
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The Nihilism of The Punisher MAX
The Punisher presents Marvel with a dilemma. A Vietnam veteran who lost his family during a Mafia hit, Frank Castle transformed himself into the vigilante Punisher to wage a one-man war on crime. His defining traits are his ruthless and lethality. Unlike other superheroes, he is perfectly willing to kill everyone who enters his sights.…
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Deadpool 2 Movie Review
In a world filled with increasingly bland superhero reboots and cross-overs and re-reboots, Deadpool promises fun. With its combination of R-rated humor, gratuitous violence, adult situations and a nigh-unkillable character who breaks the fourth wall at every opportunity, Deadpool is a profane yet light-hearted take on the superhero genre. Deadpool 2 offers more of the same. Which is both its strongest…