BOOK REVIEWS
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Justice by A.W. Morisseau
March 31st, 2026
A.W. Morisseau’s Justice is a gritty police procedural that pulls readers into the tangled world of inner-city crime, law enforcement, and the blurry line between justice and revenge. Drawing on experiences that appear closely tied to real-life policing, Morisseau tells a story that is both authentic and unsettling. While the novel is a work of fiction, Morisseau adds, “most of the episodes in the book take their inspiration from true events, many of which I witnessed firsthand.”
The novel opens with a stark and compelling premise. The narrator explains that economic hardship pushed him into law enforcement after the 2008 financial crash, placing him in St. Louis’s toughest neighborhoods despite growing up in the suburbs. This introduction immediately establishes the tone of the book, with Morisseau looking to portray “the unflinching reality of inner-city crime and policing.”
Message in a Bullet: A Raymond Mackey Mystery by Owen Thomas
March 15th, 2026
Message in a Bullet – A Raymond Mackey Mystery is a gritty, noir-inspired detective novel that combines classic hardboiled storytelling with psychological tension and a modern conspiracy plot. Set in the fictional Midwestern city of Chandler, Illinois (a nod to legendary noir writer Raymond Chandler?), the novel follows former police detective Ray Mackey as he navigates a web of corruption, betrayal, and violence that threatens to swallow him whole.
At the center of the story is Mackey himself, a broken figure who embodies many of the classic traits of noir detectives while also bringing something more fragile and introspective to the genre. Once a cop, Mackey was forced off the police force for being “dirty,” and after being diagnosed with Depersonalization-Derealization Disorder, a psychological condition that causes him to sometimes experience the world, and even himself, as strangely unreal.
Becoming Mama by Kay Laurel
March 1st, 2026
Kay Laurel’s Becoming Mama: A Memoir of Strength, Softness, and the Making of a Mother is, at its core, a meditation on what it actually costs to become a mother, not just physically, but emotionally, relationally, and generationally. It is beautifully written, often lyrical, and deeply sincere. From the opening pages, Laurel takes apart the myth that motherhood comes “neatly packaged or perfectly timed.” Instead, she insists that it unfolds out of order, shaped by timing, fear, hope, and honesty.
The introduction sets the tone: motherhood is overwhelming and gentle at the same time. It’s also a bone-deep exhaustion paired with a single look that rearranges your understanding of love. Laurel is clear that there is no single path into motherhood. Some stories are smooth; others are marked by loss, diagnosis, or difficult choices. But, she insists, all are worthy of compassion.
Hunter’s Hidden Camera by Anthony Auswat
Feb 18th, 2026
Good storytelling is good storytelling, regardless of the genre. And Hunter’s Hidden Camera proves that point with nerve, humor, and momentum. Anthony Auswat delivers a novel that’s a coming-of-age story, a thriller, a dark comedy, and a meditation on shame and secrecy. It’s awkward in the right places, suspenseful when it needs to be, and genuinely funny, without ever forgetting the emotional cost carried by its narrator.
The novel is told through the voice of Hunter, an anxious, closeted 18-year-old living in the shadow of his older brother Nash. From the opening chapters, Auswat establishes a risky intimacy with the reader. Hunter’s internal monologue is raw, self-aware, and often brutal in its honesty, especially when it comes to desire, fear, and self-loathing. These early scenes are deliberately uncomfortable, but they’re also crucial: they ground the story in character before the plot accelerates into chaos.
The Authentic Young Lover: Learning to Love in a Broken Culture by Chris Hakim
Feb 1st, 2026
For a book that’s roughly 100 pages, The Authentic Young Lover carries surprising weight. While I read it over a span of three days in order to write this review, it’s not a book meant to be consumed once and shelved. As Hakim himself notes, this book is “really a digest of a much more complex work,” (The Authentic Lover), and it shows. The ideas need time. Some chapters should be reread, some exercises need to be repeated, and some truths may only hit you after you’ve lived a little more. This is the kind of book that belongs on a bedside table, as a companion you return to in moments of confusion, heartbreak, or growth.
Coal Dust on Purple Asters: A Trilogy of Short Fiction by Jeffrey L. Carrier
Jan 20th, 2026
Jeffrey L. Carrier opens this trilogy of short fiction with a disarming declaration: “The tales in this volume may be fiction, but there is truth behind every word.” It’s not a hollow promise. Across three tightly woven stories, Rain on Chinquapin Holler, A Sprig of Purple Asters, and Red Snow in the Kentucky Woods, Carrier delivers a haunting portrait of Appalachian life shaped by hardship, loyalty, moral ambiguity, and the endurance of families who rarely get a clean escape. Though each story stands on its own, recurring characters and shared history bind them into something larger: a small-town mythology rooted in loss and survival.
CAPTIVATED BY DOMINIK by Sarah Westill
Jan 15th, 2026
Sarah Westill’s Captivated by Dominik is a fun blend of political intrigue, adventure, and slow-burn romance, focusing on the complex relationship between Sienna, Master Guardianess Vesari of the First Intelligence Office, and Dominik, Master Guardian Scythian. From the very first chapter, Sienna is forced into an unusual marriage of convenience: she must spend a year with Dominik, a man she barely knows, while juggling the pressures of her secretive, high-stakes role. The tension between them, both professional and personal, forms the heart of the story, as Sienna navigates her responsibilities and her own uncertainty about intimacy, while Dominik’s calm and confidence continuously challenge her guarded nature.