Author: Ricardo

I read books. Sometimes I even write about them. It's a thing.

WE WON’T ALL SURVIVE by Kate Alice Marshall

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This review first appeared in Booklist on May 1, 2025.

Mercy Gray has always been resilient. It’s how she managed to save lives—including her younger sister’s—during a mass shooting. It’s how she went on to recover from the bullet that nearly killed her. And it’s exactly why she’s been invited to compete in a high-stakes reality show spearheaded by a tech-bro billionaire with an obsessive survival-of-the-fittest mentality. Mercy is initially skeptical, but the promise of a substantial cash prize in the face of considerable medical debt pushes her forward. When she and the other contestants arrive at the off-grid location, they find the set eerily empty. Then the automated gates trap them inside, forcing them to play an increasingly dangerous game—one that will lead to the kind of bloodshed Mercy hoped to never witness again. Marshall delivers an intense, pulse-pounding thriller that tactfully explores themes like trauma and toxic masculinity while never letting go of the throttle. Full of twists, turns, and catharsis, Marshall’s latest is comparable to her 2018 offering, I Am Still Alive, and The Woods Are Always Watching (2021), by Stephanie Perkins.

MARCH 2025

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Hello. This was March.

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. The Great Sloan Re-Reading Spree continues! Second time reading this book, I think. Still love it, of course, but it’s probably my least favorite of his novels. Mostly because his hyper-idealized portrayal of Google always felt a little bit naive to me, even back when I first read it. And of course it can’t help but feel even more naive now, given the state of things. But that’s the progress of time for you. Sloan’s enthusiasm for technology and its infinite potential will never not be infectious, though, and his deep and abiding appreciation for traditional craftsmanship will always be aspirational.

Ajax Penumbra 1969 by Robin Sloan. Had read this one before, back when I first picked up Penumbra, but I confess that I have no real recollection of it, so this very much felt like reading it anew. I quite liked it, unsurprisingly enough. I think I enjoyed it more than the original novel, even? It had more of a swashbuckling adventure vibe that I was just really into. Also: lots of great names! Sloan is great at great names.

“Harriet Amber in the Conan Arcade” by Robin Sloan. Fairly sure no one can write chill, vibey, feel-good stories quite like Sloan. Or maybe they do, and I just don’t like ‘em as much. A sweet, droll little tale about life and how it’s never too late to change everything about it all..

“Author’s Note” by Robin Sloan. Another one of Sloan’s writing-with-large-language-models experiments—this one written with Wordcraft, Google’s AI-powered “writing assistant.” It’s successful in the sense that you can’t tell which words were written by Sloan and which ones were suggested by Wordcraft, I suppose, but fails by lacking Sloan’s usual stylistic flair and just by being an unsatisfying story overall.

I’m still deeply unconvinced by AI’s potential role in art (and even less so after Meta’s most recent fiasco), but Sloan is one of the few writers I know who is actively engaging with it—both technically and philosophically—in a way that feels prudent and circumspect. The complete opposite of what every single one of these callous, capitalistic conglomerates are currently doing, essentially.

Sloan is pretty good at this whole thinking about the internet thing, so I think his is a voice worth listening to.

“The Conspiracy Museum” by Robin Sloan. Again: Sloan is one of the most interesting and insightful writers/thinkers of the Internet Age. Had read this one before, but it apparently never registered that this was part of his burgeoning ““The Rock is President” universe because I cackled when I finally clocked it. 

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming. Another re-read because why the hell not? A great book dripping with atmosphere and stellar writing. Fleming penned some veritable bangers here.

Mathis opened the door and stopped on the threshold.

“Surround yourself with human beings, my dear James. They are easier to fight for than principles.”

He laughed. “But don’t let me down and become human yourself. We would lose such a wonderful machine.”

I first read this one back in 2023, before I had any real appreciation for these stories and the film franchise that followed, and so my notes for it were amusingly bare bones. Apparently I thought the first half was mostly fluff? Hilarious considering my current enthusiasm for this series. Ah, the naivete of youth. 

Could this be the beginning of another Great 007 Readthrough? I doubt it! I may pick some of my favorite stories back up, though. Or maybe I’ll continue with the continuation novels? Who knows! I don’t! I just follow my capricious whims!

“Octopussy” by Ian Fleming. Another of my favorite Bond stories—even though the man himself isn’t around for most of the thing. Really just a fascinating character study—both of the story’s protagonist, and of the author himself. This story was clearly written while Fleming was on the decline, health-wise, and his deep melancholy—that inescapable acedia—is positively palpable. It’s borderline autobiographical: It even takes place in Goldeneye.  

The Seventh by Richard Stark. Man, when Westlake was firing on all cylinders, he was unstoppable. I’ve enjoyed pretty much every Parker novel I’ve read, but I tend to really love the ones that have Parker teaming up with a large cast of characters. Despite his silent, stoic demeanor, he bounces off other people surprisingly well—particularly when they are lively little lowlives. Westlake knows this, so he doesn’t miss an opportunity to imbue pretty much every single supporting player with as much verve and flair as possible. This novel is chock-full of brilliantly particular and peculiar personalities, and it’s a pleasure to watch them all go—before they’re all suddenly and shockingly offed, of course.

The heist is a lot of fun, but—as is often the case with these novels—it’s the aftermath where the really interesting stuff happens. One of my favorites so far.

Tomorrow Never Dies by Raymond Benson. A surprisingly solid novelization of my favorite film from the Brosnan era. Really enjoyed Benson’s pulpy writing, even though it tended to get unnecessarily technical at times, letting the story get lost in the jargon of it all. Bond continuation writers tend to struggle when emulating Fleming’s flair for specificity, I’ve found. It wasn’t just naming the precise model of this gun or that particular class of ship that made Fleming’s writing engaging and appealing—it’s what those names and terms evoked. In Fleming’s case, it was almost always a sense of opulence and sophistication. Benson’s approach, more often than not, had all the dry, clinical air of a product launch—a far cry from the lavish, luxurious vibes we’ve come to expect from 007 stories.

Still, much like the film it’s based on, this was a hell of a lot of fun. I particularly liked the extra scenes and added details Benson included to help ground some of the film’s more outlandish aspects. And I appreciated his valiant attempt at weaving a coherent continuity between Fleming’s original Bond, the cinematic version, and his own take—even when it didn’t always make perfect sense.

And that was March. Bye.

BOOKS BOUGHT LOOK I AM GENUINELY TRYING BUT PANGOBOOKS IS PROBABLY THE BEST WORST THING THAT COULD HAVE EVER HAPPENED TO ME OKAY:

  • Coolest American Stories 2025 edited by Mark Wish, Elizabeth Coffey
  • The Collectors by Lorien Lawrence
  • The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2024 edited by S.A. Cosby
  • Carte Blanche by Jeffery Deaver
  • Die Another Day by Raymond Benson
  • Octopussy and the Living Daylights by Ian Fleming
  • Forever and a Death by Donald E. Westlake
  • James Bond: Choice of Weapons by Raymond Benson
  • James Bond: The Union Trilogy by Raymond Benson
  • This Beautiful, Ridiculous City by Kay Sohini

THE SUMMER I ATE THE RICH by Maika Moulite, Maritza Moulite

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This review first appeared in Booklist on April 1, 2025.

Brielle Petitfour is hungry—for success, naturally. She’s been working hard to turn her passion for cooking into a distinguished, profitable venture, hoping to finally give her ailing, selfless mother the life she rightfully deserves. For power, too: working at a restaurant catering to the uber-rich, she’s been around it long enough to know how many doors it could open for her and her struggling family. And, of course, being part zombie, she’s hungry for flesh, but she’s far too ambitious to let that particular urge dictate her life. All these cravings come together one fateful summer when Brielle finds herself thrust into la haute société, the world she’s only ever glimpsed from the outside. Inside the belly of the beast, she finds something incredibly sinister and resolves to take it down, one lurid dish at a time. Infused with Haitian folklore, The Summer I Ate the Rich is a visceral exploration of class and race that will leave you craving justice. Serve alongside Jamison Shea’s I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me (2023).

RAVENOUS THINGS by Derrick Chow

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This review first appeared in Booklist on March 4, 2025.

Reggie Wong is angry. Ever since his dad’s death, life has gotten difficult. His mother, consumed by sadness and despair, has withdrawn from the world to the point of being unable to leave their apartment. At school, he’s lonely and deals with bullying over his nerdy interests. So Reggie bottles up his emotions, and sometimes he lashes out. Tired of feeling somber and sullen, he resolves to change. That’s when the mysterious man with the flute shows up, promising to fulfill Reggie’s deepest desire. What follows is a strange underground journey into darkness, where Reggie—along with newfound friends Chantal and Gareth—must face not only morbid mechanical doppelgangers, bloodthirsty brainwashed adults, and magically mutated rats, but also their own ravenous sorrow. This delightfully twisted reimagining of “The Pied Piper” manages to be a thoughtful and poignant exploration of grief while never losing its sense of warped wonder and adventure. Full of fun and surprisingly nightmarish set pieces, this will appeal to fans of Katherine Arden’s Small Spaces Quartet and J. A. White’s Nightbooks (2018).

THE AFTERDARK by E. Latimer

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This review first appeared in Booklist on March 4, 2025.

After her identical twin sister, Ada, dies in a lurid accident, Evie Laurent is swiftly sent to Northcroft, an elite boarding school, and away from prying eyes. Located on a remote island, the mysterious school is plagued by increasingly disturbing phenomena, all apparently connected to Hemlock Woods—the vast old-growth forest that surrounds it. Amid these strange occurrences, Evie meets Holland Morgan, a young TV star, and the two feel an instant connection. But their burgeoning romance is beset by challenges wrought by painful pasts; dangerously jealous friends; Northcroft’s sinister, cultlike secret society; and, of course, the eldritch forest itself, which seems to have a mind and will of its own and is intent on drawing the two young women deeper into its impenetrable darkness. This slow-burning thriller successfully combines contrasting genres such as romance and body horror to deliver a dark, distorted love story with enough shocking revelations to induce whiplash. Ideal for fans of Kate Alice Marshall’s YA horror, such as These Fleeting Shadows (2022) and, in particular, The Narrow (2023).

MURDER LAND by Carlyn Greenwald

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This review first appeared in Booklist on March 1, 2025.

Best friends Billie and Grace love a good theme-park conspiracy—so much so that they both land jobs at Californialand, a park brimming with harrowing history and sinister secrets. When Billie is assigned to Murder Land, the park’s latest addition inspired by California’s most infamous crimes, their excitement is paramount. Then one of their coworkers ends up dead—on a ride that Billie was supposed to be operating. Things quickly go from “apparent accident” to “apparent murder,” and Billie, fearing blame, takes it upon herself to find the culprits. But she is soon overwhelmed as Murder Land lives up to its name, and the bodies begin to pile up around her. Greenwald’s debut thriller, like a roller coaster in her titular park, delivers nonstop twists and turns as we barrel through a decades-spanning mystery. While the whodunit aspect feels somewhat convoluted, the story being told through the eyes of amusement park enthusiasts and urban explorers lends a fresh perspective on a tale as old as crime. Pair with Kiersten White’s Hide (2022) for maximum theme-park thrills.

DEADSTREAM by Mar Romasco-Moore

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This review first appeared in Booklist on March 1, 2025.

After the traumatic death of her best friend, Teresa finds herself living in an increasingly small and suffocating world—reduced to the size of her bedroom, though she fears it might shrink even further. Her only reprieve from these dark thoughts—and her sole connection to the outside world—comes from the streaming community she’s recently joined. This safe space is suddenly shattered when a shadowy force begins to haunt people’s live streams, inexplicably leaving its victims in an eerie, unresponsive state. When a famous streamer dies shortly after one of these incidents, and the entity starts targeting Teresa and her small group of online friends, she becomes determined to stop it—even if it means facing her fears and leaving the confines of her self-imposed isolation. Romasco-Moore perfectly captures the irreverent and intentionally inscrutable spirit of today’s internet, telling a thoroughly terrifying and viscerally modern ghost story that explores themes of grief, identity, belonging, and the double-edged nature of social media. A companion to other online-savvy thrillers like Tatiana Schlote-Bonne’s Such Lovely Skin (2024) and Adam Cesare’s Influencer (2024).

FEBRUARY 2025

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Hi. This was February. What can I tell you.

Frank Sinatra Has a Cold by Gay Talese, Phil Stern. I’ve read Talese’s renowned profile a handful of times before, but this book’s lavish, elegant production proved hard to resist. The inclusion of high-resolution reproductions of many of the notes taken by Talese while researching the story, presented alongside Stern’s striking snapshots, makes this not just an invaluable volume but a visually stunning one as well.

Sourdough by Robin Sloan. A re-read. A favorite, for sure. It just has such a cozy, feel-good vibe. I’ve always admired Sloan’s sheer willingness to follow his already far-out ideas down the weirdest, most fascinating rabbit holes. Mostly, though, I love how loyal Sloan is to his quirky, sentient fungi creation. That this book is a direct predecessor to Moonbound is absolutely wild, considering how vastly different they are as stories. But it also makes perfect sense. Good stuff.

The Suitcase Clone by Robin Sloan. Reading this right after finishing Sourdough was the right move, as I caught connections and references that went completely over my head the first time I picked this up. A really fun, lively caper. In the same way its parent novel makes me want to be a bread bro, this makes me want to be a wine guy.

“In the Stacks (Maisie’s Tune)” by Robin Sloan. I first read this a couple of years ago during my lunch break at work, whereupon it reduced me to tears. Since I am apparently re-reading the entirety of Sloan’s oeuvre, I decided to give it another read (also at work, though not during my lunch break) (don’t tell on me). Again: I was reduced to tears. Possibly the most heart-warming, life-affirming story I’ve ever read. Possibly my favorite short story of the past decade.

“The Vanishing Man” / “On Enemy Ground” / “Shaken, Not Stirred” by Alma Katsu. When I finished the first short story in this terse trilogy, I was ready to condescendingly commend Katsu for her obvious love and enthusiasm for James Bond and spy fiction in general. Then I read her biography and learned that she actually worked in the intelligence community for more than thirty years. Assuming is how you make an ass out of yourself, etc. Anyway, this is a great set of short series, with a protagonist who serves as a perfect counterpoint for Bond—a spy who’s got the looks and the killer instinct, but lacks the sophistication and finesse. What Bond would be if here simply just a blunt instrument (that happened to be wielded by the Soviets). The third entry was probably my favorite, if mostly because of all the little nods to Fleming and 007, particularly with having Jamaica as the setting for the climax. Good show. 

“Elyse Flayme and the Final Flood” by Robin Sloan. Another of my favorite things about Sloan’s writing is how he uses it not only to expound and expand on his ideas, but to discover them, as well. In the contrivances of this plot, you can clearly see the seeds that would develop into other stories of his: Moonbound, most notably, but also Annabel Scheme and the Adventure of the New Golden Gate—all entirely different yarns, but thematically linked. It’s the kind of writing I wish I could do.

“Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore” by Robin Sloan. The Sloan spree continues. I must have read this one ages ago, but I have no real memory of it. Reading it made me realize just how little I recall from the actual novel, too, so it’s a good thing a paperback copy is on its way here. The short story itself was just fine—early Sloan, of course, but his distinct style was already very much on display.

“The Hildebrand Rarity” by Ian Fleming. Very fitting that I happened to have been reading this most excellent of Bond short stories when the not-so-excellent film news dropped. Still one of my favorite Bond tales—basically a showcase for Fleming’s exceptional use of location and atmosphere. Just some really solid storytelling. 

I also read two other books to be discussed at a later date.

Books Bought:

  • The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz
  • Book Lovers by Emily Henry
  • Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell
  • From Ted to Tom: The Illustrated Envelopes of Edward Gorey by Edward Gorey, edited by Tom Fitzharris
  • Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
  • Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
  • The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023 edited by R.F. Kuang
  • Busy Doing Nothing by Rekka Bellum, Devine Lu Linvega
  • The Tatami Galaxy by Tomihiko Morimi, translated by Emily Balistrieri

Until next time.

HOW TO SURVIVE A SLASHER by Justine Pucella Winans

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This review first appeared in Booklist on February 1, 2025.

Welcome to Slasherville, Ohio. The small town of Satterville earned its sinister nickname by being the site of gruesome murders committed by two individuals wearing cheap plastic wolf masks—events that became infamous after a series of sensational novels about the killings gained immense popularity. The bloody legacy of the Wolf Man attacks weighs heavily on CJ, who witnessed their father’s murder during the last spree and who, years later, mysteriously receives the manuscript for a new Slasherville novel. When someone starts killing again, seemingly using the unpublished book as a guide, CJ knows they must unmask this new Wolf Man and confront their trauma once and for all. Aspiring to give a generation their own Scream, Winans (Bianca Torre Is Afraid of Everything, 2023) delivers a thoroughly modern thriller that’s both a sharp slasher and a clever commentary on the genre. This contributes to the growing trend of horror stories, like Kalynn Bayron’s You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight (2023), told from the perspective of queer protagonists, offering new, refreshing takes on an otherwise widely explored genre.

JANUARY 2025

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Hello. This was January, when I promptly got sick right after my ordeal of a house move and remained ill for the entire duration of the month. At the time of this writing, my body is just now starting to get rid of all the crud. Fun times. Not the most auspicious of beginnings to a new year, needless to say, but it’s not the hand you’re dealt it’s how you play your cards or however the saying goes I don’t care I am just so over being sick.

Maladies notwithstanding, I still managed to get some decent reading in, because that is what I do.

“Proposal for a book to be adapted into a movie starring Dwayne The Rock Johnson” by Robin Sloan. Mentioned this in my previous wrap-up, so of course I had to read it again. An engaging and entertaining piece of short fiction—albeit a little naive in retrospect, given all we’ve learned (mostly against our will) about The Rock lately. I fully believe Johnson could still become president one day, and I am finding that notion less and less amusing.

The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings by Philip Zaleski, Carol Zaleski. Started this one way back in August. Despite my many highlights and annotations (inevitable, given the rhetorical finesse of its subjects), I don’t think I have any substantial takeaways from this book. The Zaleskis are religious scholars, and they approach the material from a Christian perspective, which makes for some interesting interpretations—as well as some questionable conjectures. Given their evangelical predisposition, it also means that their focus fell primarily on Lewis and Tolkien, with the other Inklings—Owen Barfield and Charles Williams—getting the proverbial short shrift. (Although to be fair, this is a tome of a book, so even their “cursory” treatment still turned out to be reasonably comprehensive—the Zaleski’s are academics above all else, and their exhaustive research is evident). In the end, though, this was more of a theological biography of a couple of members of a literary circle than it was a thorough scholarly exploration of said circle, which I would have found far more preferable.

“On the Pleasures of Taking Up One’s Pen” by Hilaire Belloc. Specifically, Malcolm Guite’s wonderful reading of the short essay, which really brought it to life for me. First time coming across this passionate ode to a writing instrument, and I found it quite lovely. 

One of the things I wanted to do in the new year was pick my physical journal back up, and of course that translates to me looking up pieces that romanticize—pretty much fetishize—the act of writing itself. Happy to say that I’ve kept up with the journaling habit thus far, and it’s doing wonders for my mental health. Much needed during this, the dumbest of dystopias. 

The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien by John Hendrix. An undoubtedly beautiful book. Hendrix’s illustrations are simply stunning: from his highly imaginative compositions to his spectacular use of color. As a piece of biography, though, it’s unfortunately a little lacking. It is too brief where elaboration is needed and overly detailed where succinctness would suffice. Also, a lot of the prose just falls flat, lacking any sort of flair. I understand that this volume is ostensibly meant for children, but when your subjects are two titans of the English language one can’t be faulted for expecting a bit more panache. Still, Hendrix’s love for the two legendary scribes shines through, and that, along with the spectacular artwork, makes this a worthwhile read.

Curiously, like The Fellowship, this also takes a Christian approach to its subject matter. As a certified heathen, this wasn’t at all planned, but I thought it was an interesting coincidence. 

Process: The Writing Life of Great Authors by Sarah Stodola. Loved reading this. Very similar to Mason Currey’s Daily Rituals, which I read and enjoyed a couple years back, but this felt far more focused and engaging. A spectacularly researched collection of highly engrossing and enlightening essays. Stodola’s writing is wonderful, and so vivid that even the entries featuring long-dead authors feel like actual interviews she was conducting. It’s great. Lots of standout pieces, but the one focusing on Joan Didion is probably my favorite.

I’ve also been reading Nick Hornby’s Stuff I’ve Been Reading columns for The Believer. I like that he always makes note of the book he’s bought during that particular reading season. I want to adopt this practice. For accountability, mostly: I use a Kindle, for which I buy entirely too many ebooks. For obvious reasons, I am increasingly loath to give Amazon more of my money, so I definitely want to work on curtailing that particular habit. There are practical reasons, too, of course: I have literally thousands of unread books on my Paperwhite, and I don’t really need to keep adding to that digital pile. 

That’s the ideal, anyway. We’ll see how things actually pan out.

Still bought a ridiculous amount of books in January:

  • The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
  • Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman
  • This Appearing House by Ally Malinenko
  • Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas 
  • Adventures of a Cat-Whiskered Girl by Daniel Pinkwater 
  • The Yggysey by Daniel Pinkwater
  • The Neddiad by Daniel Pinkwater
  • Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie
  • Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie
  • Taken at the Flood by Agatha Christie
  • The Labors of Hercules by Agatha Christie
  • What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
  • Dungeon Academy: No Humans Allowed! by Madeleine Roux
  • The Fiction Writer by Jillian Cantor
  • The Book That No One Wanted to Read by Richard Ayoade
  • Glamorous Notions by Megan Chance
  • The Race to the Future by Kassia St. Clair
  • The Unstrung Harp by Edward Gorey
  • Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life by Dani Shapiro 
  • Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion

Like I said: an ideal.