With The Hunter, Donald Westlake (under the prolific penname of Richard Stark) introduces his iconic Parker character and establishes the bleakest possible world of hardboiled crime. Parker is a master thief, utterly ruthless and amoral, who operates with animalistic cunning and violence. When one of his partners rips him off and leaves him for dead, he returns to New York City to methodically exact revenge. Westlake's conception of a protagonist completely without a conscience was riveting enough to sustain over twenty novels, and The Hunter remains just as fresh as it was in 1962. While the narrative is firmly grounded in the world of classic crime fiction, "Stark" writes with a leanness and precision of language that feels genuinely timeless.
In this fraught and psychologically complex novel, Norwegian author Vigdis Hjorth explores the rippling effect of trauma through the years and one woman's battle to be believed in the face of immense hostility. Hjorth's narrator, Bergljot, has been estranged from her family since confronting them about the abuse she endured as a child. A disagreement about a newly drawn family will draws her unwillingly back into conflict with them, but gives her a new opportunity to assert the truth. The novel's nonlinear, impressionistic style is consistently immersive, allowing you to feel every wound and pyrrhic victory Bergljot experiences. Hjorth's uncanny ability to reveal a new psychological wrinkle with every passing page makes reading Will and Testament a unique, emotional journey.
Both a natural evolution for the world of the X-Men and unlike anything done previously with the characters, this collection is an excellent introduction to Jonathan Hickman’s burgeoning “Dawn of X” universe. With House of X and Powers of X, he takes Marvel’s mutants further from the realm of superhero stories and deeper into the world of speculative fiction in an engrossing narrative that spans three timelines and dozens of characters. This is one of the boldest and most ambitious mainstream comics in years, packed with clever world building, humor, pathos, and the promise of so much more. And it’s the rare case of a comic being perfect for both longtime fans and new readers.
