Happy to be back on here on Dark Thrill. These past two weeks, I've been MIA, I got in too deep, preparing for my next novel Hollywood Daze to come out.
I enjoy my days much more, when I'm writing, and to ease into it, I thought I would do a little catch-up here. First, Dark Thrill, has become my own imprint, my press. I'm so stoked not only to publish Hollywood Daze and my other works but to help others get their thrillers out there. And second, guys, what have you all been reading, watching listening to?
I have totally forgone my duties on the Reading Challenge. Editing does that to you. Staring at the screen for hours, trying to get thousands of comma's just right, robs you of the will to pick up somebody else's book. But I also stopped reading after the disaster that was Jason Matthew's Red Sparrow.
Red Sparrow would have been my 'first book of a series' entrance for the Reading Challenge—having been bombarded with the ad of the movie on my Instagram, I caved. I am a sucker for everything involving Russian spies, from Mueller's investigation, to The Americans, to sneaky poisonings at British tea parties, so I thought Red Sparrow would perfect for me.
I was coming doing with the flu when I was reading it, it may have to do with the physical reaction, pure revulsion, I had to it. Only a few chapters in, I was already irritated. For you who missed the trailer, and publicity—almost impossible—Red Sparrow is the story of a Russian ballerina, Dominika Egorova, who after her career is derailed and her father dies, is pushed to become a spy, and is then send to 'whore school' to prepare to become the typical honey trap. Meanwhile, Nate Nash, a CIA internal-ops officer who knows the identity of a Russian double spy has to be turned or mined for information. It sounds great—well maybe not the whore part, but we have seen Carrie put out all the stops often enough, and Elizabeth Jennings sleep with all kinds of people to get the job done, to know it can be done in a thrilling and not cheesy way.
But this book, they should call it Shades of Grey Sparrow. The internal monologue of Domikia is so weird, she finds it strange that she gets aroused as that's something alien to a woman. It suggests such a strange outside view of how a girl would feel. Girls want sex, duh, I found it's mansplaining ways eighties, and I think Red Sparrow will appeal to older readers or the prude who like to sneak some soft porn now and then. My breaking point came during an excruciating juvenile lesbian scene. Maybe the writer a former CIA operative himself knows about spycraft, but he might try to step outside and soak some 2018 in.
Talking about spies, even without Quinn, I am enjoying Homeland this season. Boy, did they hit the nail with the Steve Bannon/Cambridge Analytica last season. Makes you think, if Homeland is six months ahead of an all of us, the current season spells big trouble—hinting at all Russian incited civil unrest.
Some other favorites besides Homeland: Riverdale—is hitting it out of the park with its frenzy of genre mashups— and Jessica Jones. I adore Jessica and Trish together.
A new show you should check out is Absentia on Prime. I never watched Castle, but I liked Stana Katic in this. She plays an FBI agent that after being kidnapped and disappearing for 5 years, comes back, with her man married to someone else, raising their son with this new woman. If that's not enough she becomes the prime suspect in a serial killer investigation. It is very Alias, and a lot better than Blindspot. It's well plotted, taut, and satisfying. Just a decent thriller.
Other shows I started and loved so far are Borderliners, a Norwegian procedural where a cop, on leave, visits his brother, only to be dragged along and far down by his sibling's bad decisions.
Another one is The Looming Tower, based on the book by Lawrence Wright on the history of Al Queada. It has two of my favorite actors, Jeff Daniels and Peter Sarsgaard. I only saw one ep, but so far so good.
I am still watching The Walking Dead even if I am detached from it. I am only invested in Gabriel and Dwight's storylines; I am rooting and enjoying them both. Not so strange, they are the only two characters now that have a clear story with motivation, obstacles, ambiguity, and tension. Rick is just acting out. Listen, when you have a machine-gun, a gun, a hatchet and flaming Lucille, and you shoot and hack at random, you make the epic fight till death looks more like two brothers letting off steam. Maybe Nick doesn't want to kill Negan, otherwise, he would have done it already. I'm out. But Dwight and Gabriel, are thrown in all kinds of situations and make due and that is still interesting. Well and Michonne forever. But for the rest, I'm waiting for next season hoping they can save this mess.
The Good Fight still seems like lots of fun.
Like everybody else, I've watched Annihilation and love this article explaining the tattoo. (After watching, Marlon said: "What Tattoo?' when I asked him why it appeared on multiple characters. What tattoo?!!!)
Anyway, I will be back to regular scheduling, and if you like you can check out my new novel coming out in June here, I've a fun giveaway coming up, and lots of Free goodies, so stay tuned. Follow Dark Thrill on Facebook, or shoot me a DM on Twitter or Insta here (I'm very happy to follow you back and chat about books, TV, whatever)
