On April 19, 1973 Soylent Green premiered in the United States. This science fiction film became a cult classic, and foresaw the devastating effects of global warming decades before the phrase "climate change" came into popular use. It takes place in the year 2022. The movie is also a murder mystery. The main character, Robert Thorn (played by Charlton Heston), is a police officer investigating the killing of a powerful man in an overcrowded New York City plagued by scorching temperatures and a lack of fresh food. Most people without wealth are condemned to eat government issued wafers m ..read more

 It's only fair that the movie King Kong, which ended with a gigantic ape climbing the Empire State Building, debuted in...of all places...New York City. The film had been inspired by the imagination of Merian C. Cooper, who learned about the hunt for the Komodo dragon and saw one of the first specimens brought back alive from Indonesia. This lead to the creation of a film in which a giant gorilla battles dinosaurs on a tropical island, is captured, and brought to New York City. The beast escapes, and wrecks havoc among the local population before being killed.  It was a winning plo ..read more

62 years ago today, MGM's Village of the Damned made it's movie debut in the United States. Based on the science fiction novel The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham, it starred famed English actor George Sanders and Barbara Shelley. The screenplay was written by Sterling Silliphant, Wolf Rilla (who also directed), and Ronald Killoch. It was originally planned for production in the United States but the studio caved in to objections from The Catholic League of Decency, which objected to the horror film's depiction of virgin conceptions which lead to the birth of demonic children.  As a resul ..read more

 J.D. Rhoades has written six books in the Jack Keller series, and this is the latest one. It's also the first one I've read, and now I want to read them all. Keller's come to North Carolina to try to reconnect with his son, and possible rekindle a romance. The story hints at some grave harm that Jack did to his boy, some act of violence that saved him, but also scarred him.  In the novels first chapter Jack defends some new immigrants at the local school, refugees from the Iraq war. Soon he's hired as their bodyguard by the father, an ex-police officer who fled the country and was g ..read more

 It's the birthday of Jim Thompson, born 116 years ago today in Oklahoma. Raised in the hard scrabble oil fields of Texas and abandoned by his father for a time, Thompson struggled from a young age to help support his family. There was no odd job he wouldn't take. His stint as a bellboy introduced him to the seedier side of life as he used his skills to procure women, drugs, and bootleg alcohol for the hotel's clients.  Along the way he turned to writing for the pulp publishers who flourished after World War II. It was during this time that he produced some of the most vicious chara ..read more

 What would you do to prove your father's innocence? How far you you go to clear the name of the man who raised you after accusations of embezzlement destroy both of your lives and lead to your dad's suicide? Would you lie to your boss? Steal from your employer? Betray the woman you love? All three? Sean Dwyer is about to find out. It's been several years since his life was turned upside down by a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into his father's financial firm. For those of you not in the know, the SEC is Wall Street's version of Darth Vader, feared by every stock broke ..read more

Writer David Bell invites us to witness every father's worst fears with this nail chewing thriller. Two years after his wife dies in an accident, Bill Price and his teen daughter, Summer, are battling to maintain their fractured lives. But when Summer and her closest friend go out, what begins as a normal weekend turns into a nightmare. Both girls disappear and Bill will stop at nothing to find out what happened. Along the way, he'll learn secrets that will make him doubt his ability as a parent, and force him confront what kind of husband he was to his wife.  Desperate to assist in the ..read more

    Dr. Cadence Lawrence's successful career as a young surgeon takes a wrong turn when she sees Dirk Lyons, an old high school acquaintance in a fellow doctor's office. Her shock and anguish become clear once the reader learns that Dirk was once accused of murdering Cadence's best friend....by Cadence herself. Within days, she's being stalked by him and now fears she may be his next target. Without hard evidence, the police are helpless to protect her, so she flees into the North Woods. In her haste, her car becomes stuck on a side road during a major snowstorm. She faces ..read more

  This thriller tackles some of the usual suspects…fast paced action, a dedicated protagonist, and the threat of widespread destruction and death. It adds another underused theme by its emphasis on eco-terrorism. When the daughter of a wealthy capitalist is kidnapped, the ransom demand includes turning over an old growth forest to a conservation group, which will save it from clear-cutting by ruthless loggers…or so we are told. Remy Brandt, the victim, has a history of making false claims, which complicates the case. It seems the police and the FBI have a hard time believing she’s actua ..read more

When a story opens with a dismembered human hand, the reader and the protagonist both know that trouble lies ahead. There's something else that lies in wait for the reader...a great story with a narrator who has a wry, understated sense of humor and a strong desire to seek justice for the death of a close friend. Double Wide, by Leo W. Banks, is a simple story well told. The narrator, Prospero Stark, is a former major league star pitcher fallen on hard times. He runs a trailer park populated by a collection of characters you'd expect to find in a David Goodis novel, with one important differe ..read more