Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
Yesterday we were talking about Anthony Neil Smith’s new book The Butcher’s Prayer. Today we have a link to The Col’s Library for a fun and informative interview with ANS. It’s worth a read even if you’re not already a fan. Check out QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH ANTHONY NEIL SMITH. I’ll be here when you get back. ; )
Anthony Neil Smith has a new book out! The Butcher’s Prayer sounds like something that fans of crime noir (Me! Me!) are going to love…
Called to a crime scene when a terrified woman raises the alarm on a horrifying murder, Detective Hosea Elgin finds the victim’s body has been dismembered with professional precision.
Very quickly, two small-time drug dealers are identified as the probable assailants and a manhunt is launched to bring them into custody.
With the two suspects on the run, the consequences of their actions continue to spiral out of control and it becomes clear that while one of them is focused on survival, the other wants only revenge.
As the net begins to tighten on the fugitives, Detective Elgin finds that the case begins to move very close to home and what began as just another murder investigation is developing into something much more personal.
The decisions he makes and the actions he takes may well solve the case and bring the criminals to justice, but in the process he might just tear his family and his church to pieces.
With The Butcher’s Prayer, Anthony Neil Smith shows once again he’s a writer at the very top of his game. This immersive piece of Southern Gothic Noir certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted but with the skill and nuance we’ve come to expect from Smith he dazzles with writing that is precise, measured and never gratuitous.
The Butcher’s Prayer is getting great advance praise and to ANS’ regular readers, that shouldn’t be a surprise…
“The Butcher’s Prayer is wine-dark noir, with a hammering and bloody heart. This is Smith at his bleak and soulful best.” — Laura Benedict, Edgar-nominated author of The Stranger Inside
“Anthony Neil Smith is a massive talent. One of the very best crime writers I’ve ever read.” — Allan Guthrie, author of Kiss Her Goodbye and Hard Man.
“Visceral, propulsive writing that cuts like a razor. Think Elmore Leonard with an injection of Southern Gothic. Heady stuff.” — Dan Fesperman, author of Safe Houses.
“Crime-fiction veteran Anthony Neil Smith wields a smooth yet serrated style that’s carved him two decades worth of fierce material, now being re-discovered by a younger upstart audience of modern noir enthusiasts. He possesses such an acute, vivid feel of time and place in his subjects, his stories immediately burrow into my memory and remain long, withstanding the static storms of our contemporary attention-deficits. It’s challenging stuff, yet wholly accessible; with spiking dark humor that confirms sure you still have a pulse.” — Gabriel Hart, author of Fallout From Our Asphalt Hell
I put my order in today. If The Butcher’s Prayer sounds like something you’d like, you should too!
I like the poster and the trailer for Blonde. Purple. I’m a sucker for crime movies as long as they look good. Blonde. Purple makes the cut.
A nameless out of his depth inexperienced criminal is stuck in a bank, after a heist went wrong. How will he get out? His accomplice has been shot outside by the trigger happy police. Now with a 16 year old hostage called Maddison inside the bank, he has one move left: if his accomplice dies, he’ll kill the girl. We follow his journey to escape, whilst learning how he got into the situation in the first place. A journey that will force him to face truths about himself that he has been avoiding all his life. Available November 30.
Directed by Marcus Flemmings
Kyle Hotz shares his take on Frank Miller’s Marv from Sin City. What I wouldn’t give to see Hotz do a Sin City tale! If you’d like to see more of Kyle Hotz’s art, you can at his Instagram.
One of my favorite comic book characters is Marv from Frank Miller’s Sin City yarns. Miller didn’t create the art above. That’s Simon Bisley’s riff on our buddy Marv and I like it. Hope you do as well.
Here’s my review of The Many Saints of Newark.
I like the poster and cast for Dangerous but the trailer has left me with mixed feelings.
Ex-con and reformed sociopath Dylan Forrester (Scott Eastwood) is trying to quietly serve out his parole — with the help of a steady supply of antidepressants and his eccentric psychiatrist (Mel Gibson). But when his brother dies under mysterious circumstances, Dylan breaks parole and, with a dogged FBI agent (Famke Janssen) on his trail, goes to uncover the truth. A band of heavily armed mercenaries wants something Dylan’s brother was hiding, and Dylan will need all his guile and tactical skills to survive in this action-packed thriller costarring Kevin Durand and Tyrese Gibson.
The second trailer for Red Notice is here and I like it! I didn’t care for the first trailer. Now I want to see the movie. I’m going to have to re-watch the first again to see what’s changed. Maybe it was just me.
An Interpol-issued Red Notice is a global alert to hunt and capture the world’s most wanted. But when a daring heist brings together the FBI’s top profiler (Johnson) and two rival criminals (Gadot, Reynolds), there’s no telling what will happen.
Watch Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, and Gal Gadot in RED NOTICE, on Netflix November 12:
Michael Bay is back and it looks like he has a winner! After seeing the trailer for Ambulance sign me up for a ride!
Over one day across the streets of L.A., three lives will change forever.
In this breakneck thriller from director-producer Michael Bay, decorated veteran Will Sharp (Emmy winner Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Candyman, The Matrix Resurrections), desperate for money to cover his wife’s medical bills, asks for help from the one person he knows he shouldn’t—his adoptive brother Danny (Oscar® nominee Jake Gyllenhaal, Zodiac, Spider-Man: Far From Home). A charismatic career criminal, Danny instead offers him a score: the biggest bank heist in Los Angeles history: $32 million. With his wife’s survival on the line, Will can’t say no.
But when their getaway goes spectacularly wrong, the desperate brothers hijack an ambulance with a wounded cop clinging to life and ace EMT Cam Thompson (Eiza González, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Baby Driver) onboard. In a high-speed pursuit that never stops, Will and Danny must evade a massive, city-wide law enforcement response, keep their hostages alive, and somehow try not to kill each other, all while executing the most insane escape L.A. has ever seen.
Ambulance is produced by Michael Bay, p.g.a., Bradley J. Fischer, p.g.a. (Zodiac, Shutter Island) for New Republic Pictures, James Vanderbilt (Zodiac, 2022’s Scream) and William Sherak (Ready or Not, 2022’s Scream) for Project X, and Oscar® nominee Ian Bryce (Transformers franchise, Saving Private Ryan).
The screenplay is by Chris Fedak (Prodigal Son, Chuck), based on the original story and screenplay for the 2005 Danish thriller Ambulancen by Laurits Munch-Petersen and Lars Andreas Pedersen.
One of my favorite authors, S.A. Cosby, is interviewed by Eli Cranor at Crime Reads. The interview titled, SHOP TALK: S.A. COSBY IS LATE TO THIS INTERVIEW AND IT’S BECAUSE OF SOME DEAD BODIES. Oh and before you go, S.A. was really delayed to the interview because he was dealing with dead bodies.
The next Reckless book, from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips will be titled The Ghost in You. That’s the cover above and here’s the synopsis…
Bestselling crime noir masters Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips bring us yet another original graphic novel starring troublemaker-for-hire Ethan Reckless.
Except this time it’s the winter of 1989 and Ethan is out of town, so Anna must tackle this job on her own. When a movie scream queen asks her to prove the mansion she’s renovating isn’t haunted, Anna will stumble into the decades-long mystery of one of Hollywood’s most-infamous murder houses… a place with many dark secrets, some of which might just kill her.
Another hit from the award-winning creators of RECKLESS, PULP, MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN JUNKIES, CRIMINAL, and KILL OR BE KILLED — and a must-have for all Brubaker and Phillips fans!
I’m a fan of everything from Brubaker and Phillips and can’t wait to get my mitts on The Ghost in You.
I like the poster and trailer for Ragdoll. This one looks like a winner.
RAGDOLL Official Trailer
PLOT: Upcoming internationally co-produced thriller series based upon the novel of the same name by Daniel Cole. The series follows the murder of six people who have been dismembered and sewn into the shape of a grotesque body, “The Ragdoll”. As detectives begin to investigate, the killer begins to taunt them.
CAST: Lucy Hale, Ali Cook, Lee Byford
The poster for Red Stone is pretty generic, but the trailer has me sold. Deal me in.
In Red Stone, a dangerous hitman is tasked with hunting down a teenager who witnessed the murder of his older brother at the hands of a ruthless Southern crime lord. The hired gun must track down the boy before either the rival henchmen or the F.B.I. find him first. As the hours tick down, the hitman begins to question his deadly ways and must choose which side he belongs to. Starring Neal McDonough and Michael Cudlitz, the movie will release on December 3.
In Cold Blood was the book that made Truman Capote famous. Upon publication it quickly rose to best-seller status and is still one of the all-time best-selling true crime books. A year after the book was released an award-winning movie adaptation premiered which only added to Capote’s stardom.
I’ve seen the film In Cold Blood. It’s an excellent movie which gets better with each new viewing. I’ve had the In Cold Blood novel sitting on one of my many to-be-read book shelves for years. After reading April Snellings’ 7 Chilling Facts About Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood posted at Mental Floss, I’ve decided to finally read Capote’s book. Before you click over to Snellings’ piece, here are my three favorite facts from her piece and my thoughts on each.
HARPER LEE WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN RESEARCHING IN COLD BLOOD. (That’s right, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird traveled with Truman Capote to Holcomb, Kansas and assisted Capote in getting access to people with for background info for the book! Harper Lee was Capote’s assistant! – Craig)
A FIGHT OVER THE FILM RIGHTS TO IN COLD BLOOD GOT TRUMAN CAPOTE’S AGENT ARRESTED FOR ASSAULT. (Capote’s agent was Irving “Swifty” Lazar! Lazar also represented Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Cary Grant, Ernest Hemmingway, Cher and Richard Nixon to name just a few. When Otto Preminger learned that Lazar had sold the rights to someone else, they got into a heated argument. Preminger ended up with a busted head and a trip to the hospital. Lazar ended up with charges for felony assault! Read Snellings’ account for full details! – Craig)
THE MEN RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MURDERS DETAILED IN IN COLD BLOOD ARE SUSPECTED OF KILLING A FLORIDA FAMILY AFTER THEY FLED KANSAS. (I had never heard this fact before. Sounds like there could be another book in the making! – Craig)
