REVIEW: THE ORPHAN CHOIR by Sophie Hannah

This may be the creepiest thing Hannah has written yet.  The author so deliciously gaslights her protagonist that the reader can’t help but be taken in as well.  The reader knows to be careful but it’s impossible not to slowly lose touch with sanity as the story goes on. The premise is unpretentious: Louise and…

REVIEW: THE OTHER WOMAN’S HOUSE by Sophie Hannah

In the last couple of years I’ve become a fan of Sophie Hannah’s writing.  She writes fast-paced, gritty police procedurals with dark psychological undertones.  In some ways, she reminds me of a British Kathy Reichs.  This installment of Zailer and Waterhouse’s casebook takes them to Cambridge. The book’s main heroine, Connie, is suffering from a…

REVIEW: THE BELLWETHER REVIVALS by Benjamin Wood

The Bellwether Revivals is part Evelyn Waugh, part Patricia Highsmith, and part… something else.  Twilight Zone, perhaps.  The protagonist, Oscar Lowe, is a townie with few prospects in the storied university town of Cambridge.  While wandering past the King’s College chapel, he is entranced by the organ music he hears.  He sits in on the…