Lloyd Sachs –

‘Darling Rose Gold’ review: Stephanie Wrobel’s debut is an edgy page-turner

April 7, 2020 at 12:06 p.m.

To the ever-expanding list of popular entertainments featuring Munchausen syndrome by proxy (including "Sharp Objects" and "The Act"), we can now add "Darling Rose Gold." A slyly crafted first novel...

‘The Lucky One’ review: Lori Rader-Day’s latest thriller transcends its clever premise

February 24, 2020 at 1:18 p.m.

For some mystery writers, coming up with a clever premise is half the battle — or more. Irish novelist Adrian McKinty's tricky kidnaping scheme in "The Chain" scored him breakthrough...

Jack Fredrickson offers another smart mystery in ‘The Black Cage’

February 11, 2020 at 2:00 a.m.

Milo Rigg, the crime reporter in Jack Fredrickson's smart, new mystery, "The Black Cage," is the obvious choice to cover the murder of two young missing sisters whose naked, frozen...

‘Purgatory Bay’: Bryan Gruley’s back with more grim tales of Michiana

January 28, 2020 at 2:00 a.m.

Michiana may be a popular summer destination for many Chicagoans, but in the fictional world of Chicago writer Bryan Gruley, it's not the best place to go to for fun...

Following the trail in Acker’s Gap: Julia Keller pens another strong suspense novel

August 20, 2019 at 2:41 a.m.

Pain and loss, guilt and regret, run like dark tributaries through Acker's Gap, the West Virginia setting of Julia Keller's gripping mysteries. Everyone in this fictional town, it seems, has...

Writing is strong in Peter Orner’s magical new story collection, ‘Maggie Brown & Others’

August 15, 2019 at 8:00 a.m.

Walt Kaplan, the down-on-his-luck furniture salesman in the novella that concludes Peter Orner's magical new story collection, "Maggie Brown & Others," thinks he has a great concept for a subjective...

Layne Fargo scripts a nail-biter set in Chicago theater

June 30, 2019 at 9:25 p.m.

Most of the characters in "Temper," Chicago writer Layne Fargo's biting theater novel, are named — like the author herself, perhaps — after local streets. Kira Rascher is a driven,...

In 'The Border,' the latest in the 'Power of the Dog' series, Don Winslow seems to argue that drug cartels may pose as much of a threat to American democracy as Russian meddling.

‘The Border’: Don Winslow continues his timely, if brutal, ‘Power of the Dog’ series

May 9, 2019 at 6:57 p.m.

With its account of Mexican drug cartels, the American opioid crisis they feed, and an incoming U.S. president promising he's going to build “a great, great wall down there,” Don...

Is Peter Ash as compelling as Jack Reacher? ‘Tear It Down’ by Nick Petrie reviewed, plus more crime fiction

May 9, 2019 at 6:56 p.m.

"Tear It Down” by Nick Petrie, Putnam, 384 pages, $26 Peter Ash, Milwaukee novelist Nick Petrie's wide-roaming, problem-solving war veteran, has been compared to Lee Child's Jack Reacher so frequently...

Rebus is back: New Ian Rankin, plus latest from Bryan Gruley and Michael Harvey, reviewed

May 9, 2019 at 6:55 p.m.

"In a House of Lies" by Ian Rankin, Little, Brown, 384 pages, $27 Nothing can keep Rebus — retired Detective Inspector John Rebus, for those deprived readers who haven't followed...

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