Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Review of I Know Everything and What Have You Done, by Matthew Farrell



I’m reviewing both books at the same time. I read I Know Everything first and was blown away. I had to order What Have You Done immediately and dug in eagerly. It might have blown me away, if it had been the first one I read by the author. That’s because they’re only slight variations on the same story.

I Know Everything is a combination psychological thriller and police procedural. So is What Have You Done. Both books have central figures who earlier in life were subjected to heinous emotional and physical abuse. Both begin with the murder of a woman of importance to the central figure. Both end with a reveal that leaves law enforcement not looking good. In the interim there are good guys and bad guys, lots of tension, plenty of skullduggery and mystery. The writing is good, the characters are largely believable, the police procedures are genuine and the information about psychological stress and techniques of gaslighting is accurate.. I had the ending figured out around the 80-85% mark in Everything. Unfortunately, I had the ending to Done wrapped up before the 50% point in the book. It would have been sooner except that I was reluctant to conclude that such a fine author had simply told the same story twice.

Monday, September 23, 2019

Reinventing Myself Again

mark@marktreble.com


I’ve decided to reinvent myself yet again. I’ve found a genre and plan to stick with it: 1960s/1970s nostalgia. The comedy The Trip to Helen Gawne deals with men and women who grew up in that era. I’m completing Did You Ever See Allegro?, the story of a 1969-70 garage band.  It will have its own web page, high-quality graphics, and be the centerpiece for going forward.