About Book Marks
Recent Reviews
Kel Kade
Positive Bookreporter ... various clashes of will allow Kade to interject necessary humor and levity into what is otherwise a rather dark concept. This interplay makes it a joy to read about how her peculiar characters fare in truly unpredictable situations ... the story takes a number of surprising twists and turns, ending on an infuriatingly, tantalizingly good cliffhanger. I am ready for the next book in this bizarre gem of a series, and excited to say that I have absolutely no idea where it will go from here. I can’t wait to find out.
Kel Kade
Positive Bookreporter These various clashes of will allow Kade to interject necessary humor and levity into what is otherwise a rather dark concept. This interplay makes it a joy to read about how her peculiar characters fare in truly unpredictable situations ... Kade creates a captivating dual narrative between the terrestrial and celestial worlds through her use of the character of Myropa ... Due to their machinations, the story takes a number of surprising twists and turns, ending on an infuriatingly, tantalizingly good cliffhanger. I am ready for the next book in this bizarre gem of a series, and excited to say that I have absolutely no idea where it will go from here. I can’t wait to find out.
Maureen Callahan
Mixed Bookreporter ... a terrifying book, certainly the creepiest I’ve read in a long time. For anyone with even a passing interest in true crime, Maureen Callahan’s chilling account of little-known serial killer Israel Keyes is a must-read. I was glued to the pages, staying up way past my bedtime out of fear, anxiety and sheer anticipation. I needed to find out what horrible thing would happen next, and Keyes was all too ready to deliver ... Though the writing is neither lyrical nor enlightening, it hooks with its simple honesty, which had me frantically turning the pages ... just as gripping as any fictional thriller, but its veracity makes it even more disturbing ... This narrative strategy does the trick for most of the book, but as I neared the end, it began to feel more and more like filler for a story that unavoidably contains gaping holes ... While American Predator is descriptive and informative, there’s really a dearth of facts and evidence available for this case ... Given such little information to go off of, she paints a decent enough picture, but ultimately it feels bare-bones. This failing can’t be entirely the fault of the writer, who clearly has done her research. However, a deeper dive into the political intrigue and corruption swirling around Keyes would have strengthened the book ... not further investigating or at least clarifying the hair-raising implications it brings to the table feels not just unsatisfactory but lazy ... Still, I was captivated by the book and would recommend it to any true-crime aficionado who needs yet another reason to stay afraid of the dark.
Casey Cep
Positive BookReporter ... delightfully twisty and gives time to both fact and rumor, treating any viable piece of information with the respect it deserves ... a fascinating, if frustrating, read ... It’s enough of a page-turner to whet any true-crime fan’s appetite, but ultimately unsatisfying in that neither the killer nor the author’s story comes to any conclusive ending. It’s hardly fair to place the blame for this squarely on Cep ... Despite raising more questions than it answers, this is truly an entertaining and educational book. Cep’s writing is visual and engaging, effortlessly transplanting her reader to any setting she evokes ... Occasionally, she gets a little caught up in admiration for her own sentences...but this propensity for grandiloquence rarely distracts from the story at large ... due to the difficulty of pulling together such an ambitious project, the reader is left wanting more ... I found myself spending a lot of time flipping back to earlier sections in attempts to recall important names and events that I had forgotten due to the book’s rigid, yet somehow disjointed, pacing ... Regardless, I really enjoyed the book and came away from it feeling like I learned something. In the days since I finished it, it has stayed with me, a testament to the resonance of the story Cep has told.