Craig Nova

My fourth Nova. I wasn’t impressed by Trombone, but this, Incandescence, and The Book of Dreams are intricate, patient, surprising, poetic novels that massage out human truths the way fiction doesn’t seem interested in trying to these days. Nova is especially good at conveying atmosphere – I mean physical atmosphere, how the air feels, rain and sweat and scent – like most of my favourite writers, he’s very physical, tangible. It’s just a book about people, and not even especially show more complicated people, but it’s a pure delight to read show less

A rocky start to what sounds like a new series from an oldtimer. A new book hasn't been published since 2013, so it was exciting to read his latest novel. I have never read anything by this author, so I didn't have any expectations. I'm glad I did not have any. This way, I had nothing to be disappointed about with this book that tries too hard to be crime noir (for the sake of clarity -Noir fiction or roman noir). I happen to like my term better! LOL!

If you're as old as I am or happen to show more love crime movies from the 1940's, you may do as I did and imagine each character as an old-time actor or actress. It was disconcerting to think of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall or Katharine Hepburn in the rolls of Farrell and Rose Marie. I could plainly see Cary Grant as the evil yet sexy Terry Peregrine.

Now throw in some Russian hit-men/shake-down artists, and you have a heck of a mishmash going on.

While this book may not have been my cup of tea, this will be an enjoyable read for anyone into crime noir. However, I can't even see how this is going to turn into a series. At least not if the romance keeps playing out. But what do I know? I'm not the author, only the reader! show less

A look at the cover might suggest that this novel is "merely" a cop story, but while there are cops in it, it is much, much more than that. CRUISERS is the story of two men juxtaposed by time and place into a sort of destiny, despite the seeming randomness of their coming together. Russell Boyd is a New England cop; Frank Kohler is the survivor of a childhood horror who years later is trying to make sense of what happened and how it has transformed him. The two men have nothing to do with show more one another, yet they encounter each other more than once, as do the women in their lives. With a powerful and dramatic sense of inevitability, the threads of their individual lives are drawn together as though by fate, until new horrors erupt. The story of the two men is compelling in its narrative alone, but author Craig Nova is a poetic writer, and he is one of the best writers I've ever read for giving a sense of what internal monologue and thought might sound like if we could hear characters thinking. CRUISERS is thought-provoking and stylish without being baroque. It is a fine novel, a subtle and nuanced thriller that quietly transcends the stigma of that genre by being an absorbing artistic and literary work. show less

I found this on a used books bin and took a chance despite never having heard of the book or the author. I'm glad I did. Nova somehow manages to wring humor out of a story full of poverty, desperation, and despair. In the introduction William Boyd compares the writing to Jack Kerouac's, but I'd say it's closer to Henry Miller minus the self-indulgent meandering. Well worth reading.