Nick Cutter’s debut, The Troop, was one of those books about which I was truly ambivalent, literally thunking the book down after a haunting and visceral scene and snatching it up again because I simply had to know what was going to happen next. I recommended it widely to friends
It begins in fog. With Matthew Sweetland hearing voices "so indistinct he thought they might be imaginary". Doubleday Canada, 2014 This scene from the past alerts readers that they should be concerned with the line between the real and the invented, and even more to the point, with how
Emily Carroll’s Through the Woods (2014) Comprised of five long and two short works, these tales are peopled with losses and lonelinesses. Hues of red, black and white dominate the volume, with other colours used sparingly for contrast. Panel use is unpredictable, with images sometimes boxed but often sprawling and
Khaled Hosseini's And the Mountains Echoed and Maurice Mierau's Detachment: An Adoption Memoir are a perfect pair. Penguin Random House, 2014 And the Mountains Echoed begins with a story, told by a father to his son and his daughter. "Father never felt more present to Abdullah, more vibrant, revealed,
Mark Lavorato’s debut novel is aptly titled as the novel is equally divided between these two characters, a young woman who dances on stage and a young man who takes photographs on the streets. Through them, readers experience Montreal of the 1920s, from vaudeville to fascism, and women’s rights to
