The Contortionist’s Handbook by Craig Clevenger

After nearly a decade of talking about books, we finally dig in to a discussion of one of our all-time favorites, The Contortionist's Handbook by Craig Clevenger. While technically it is a review, I think we all know this is going to come out pretty well for Craig. We only hope that we did the story justice, and that we inspire people to check it out, because as we say in the episode, it's a pretty perfect book.

After the book talk, we spend some time catching up on the things that we've been watching.

Next episode is another blast from the past, as we talk about The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte.

The People’s Act of Love by James Meek

We're back with a Patreon pick! Here's Jesse's Patreon pick for the year, The People's Act of Love by James Meek! It's a bleak tale of life and love in Siberia during the Russian Civil War. Cannibals? Yep. Soldiers? Yep. Sex? Kinda. Castrated zealots? Totally. Enjoy the review! 

At the end of the episode, we share some important updates about our Patreon account. If you're a supporter, be sure to listen on. Thanks for all your support!

All The Beautiful Sinners by Stephen Graham Jones

The Little Sleep by Paul Tremblay

We're back with a review of the re-release of Paul Tremblay's 2009 release The Little Sleep! We always love to read Paul's work, and it was nice taking a trip in the way-back machine to check out some of his early work. After the review, we chat about some exciting upcoming reads, and the dangers of ebook ARCs.

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

We're back with our first book review of 2021, and to kick off the year, we decided to try something different, and do a throwback review of sorts. Inspired a bit by Livius having recently watched some James Bond movies, we decided to see how the original Ian Fleming books read, starting with Casino Royale. Will we choose to read more? Tune in to see what we thought of a British spy novel from the 1950s which inspired arguably the biggest spy franchise of the 20th century.

2020 in review

We're back after taking a week away due to a certain crisis playing out in the nation's capitol. We know that 2020 was challenging for us all, and not many people are eager to reflect on it. What we try to do in this episode is touch on the positive points of the podcast for 2020, from interviews to great books, new traditions to new living spaces. So join us for about an hour of talking about the silver linings of 2020, if that's the sort of thing you're in to. Also, look for our quick top five books of 2020 video on our YouTube channel!

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Office Holiday Party 2020

It's our annual Office Holiday Party! This year, we discuss two modern classic holiday films - Gremlins, and Scrooged! Join Liv, Robb, Misty, and Jesse in a fun movie discussion, a weird quiz, and some general holiday banter. 

And of course, Happy Holidays to everyone who has supported us over the years! You are all wonderful and we're eternally grateful!

Les Edgerton Interview

Here's a little bonus episode for everyone! We managed to get Les Edgerton back on the podcast to talk about his new book Hard Times, and naturally we wander off into a variety of other topics, like his teaching, and planning the perfect crime. Enjoy!

If you're interested in more Edgerton, check out the blog we mention in this interview!

524 - Lamb by Christopher Moore

It's the holidays. We could all use some humor in our lives. It was in that spirt that we decided to review the classic Christopher Moore book Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. Join us for a chat about one of our favorite books, and if you haven't read it, we think maybe it could become one of your favorite books as well. Check back in a few days for our interview episode with Les Edgerton!

523 - Hard Times by Les Edgerton

We're back with a new Les Edgerton book! Join us on a journey into the life of an impoverished woman who is trying to keep her family alive in dire circumstances, and the crazy people and situations that threaten them. Hopefully next week we'll have Les back on the podcast to talk about it.

522 - Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

More books! We're determined to hit our reading goal for the year, so we're not letting off the gas just because it's the holidays, so here's another book. This author made our radar because Livius had recently audiobooked a couple of the author's other books, and wanted to get one on the podcast. Without giving too much away, I'll say that this was the biggest gap in ratings between Liv & Robb probably all year.

521 - Ink by Jonathan Maberry

It's the triumphant return of Livius to his hosting duties! After a very relaxing vacation, Liv is back to talk about the latest Jonathan Maberry book, Ink! Check out our thoughts, and support us on Patreon if you're interested in hearing our spoiler talk about Ink!

520 - Mark Olshaker Interview

Misty Bennett joins Robb again, and this time it's for an excellent hour of discussion with Mark Olshaker. I gotta be honest, we were excited about this one from the moment the pitch landed in our inbox. Mark was an engaging and entertaining guest, and we know you're going to love listening to what he has to say. 

His latest book, The Killer's Shadow, releases 11/17, and we really enjoyed it, so get those pre-orders pre-ordered!

519 - The Killer’s Shadow by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker

Guess what kiddos? We managed to sneak in a book review without Livius! Robb's been itching to even the odds ever since Livius did a couple book reviews without him over the years, and the opportunity finally presented itself in the form of a non-fiction, true crime book, The Killer's Shadow! Long-time holiday cohost Misty Bennett steps in to take over the point to Robb's counterpoint, and absolutely knocks it out of the park. So please enjoy this hour-plus discussion of The Killer's Shadow, and keep your eyes peeled for an interview with Mark Olshaker coming very soon!

518 - Spookedtacular 2020

517 - This Is Horror crossover discussion of They’re Watching

516 - Radicals by Nik Korpon

It's our first audiobook review ever! Join us for a discussion of the latest by Nik Korpon, Radicals! It's a punk rock infused cyber crime adventure from one of our favorite crime writers! We also discuss the experience of audiobooks, and how it impacts preparing for reviews. Also, we explore the podcast Robb is moonlighting on.

515 - The Loop by Jeremy Robert Johnson

Here it is, the last of our highly anticipated reviews of the year! Jeremy Robert Johnson has been rocking our literary world for years now, and especially when he dominated 2017. So we were looking forward to this book for sure. So here's our thoughts on The Loop, and we did a great spoiler talk about it as well on our Patreon, so if you're read the book or don't mind us spoiling the hell out of it, check that out too, here on Patreon at the $2/month or more level.

514 -Standalone by Paul Michael Anderson

September continues to bring book reviews, and here is our latest! Standalone by Paul Michael Anderson is the latest effort from Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing, and it brings us a sci-fi and script-flipping twist on your classic slasher story. It's a fun romp, a complicated concept, and a good time.

513 - Labyrinth of the Dolls by Craig Wallwork

We're back with a review of Craig Wallwork's Labyrinth of the Dolls, the second in his Tom Nolan detective book series. Not gonna be shy about it, we both really enjoyed it. Check out what we had to say, and support us on Patreon to hear our spoiler talk once you've read the book yourself. Or if you just love having the plots of books spoiled. It's okay, we don't kink shame.

512 - Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

We're back after a week off while Robb moved into his new place. This episode, we're bringing you a review of Piranesi, the second book by acclaimed author Sussanna Clarke. We really enjoyed the book, so check out what we liked about it. Also, support us on Patreon and you can hear our spoiler discussion of the book as well, where we talk about the ending of the book, the interesting take on reality and the things that were being withheld from our protagonist. It was a spoiler talk that caused both of us to alter our overall ratings of the book to higher scores than we originally gave it!

511 - Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

We're back with a review. Silvia Moreno-Garcia is at the tip of everyone's tongue lately because of her latest book Mexican Gothic, which everyone is raging about. We had a hearty conversation about the book, and went really into depth in spoiler talk as well. Be sure to support us on our Patreon at the $2/month level to get access to our Spoiler Talk about this book, as well as all other spoiler talks we've done! 

510 - Stephen Graham Jones interview

July was an amazing month for books, and because of that, we've been lucky to land a bunch of great interviews. After six or so long years, we finally got back together with Stephen to talk about The Only Good Indians, and other stuff as well. Spoiler: fans of Justified and Hannibal will probably enjoy when we go off on tangents. For our supporters on Patreon, we also have about 20ish more minutes of interview, talking about spoilers of The Only Good Indians, Night of the Mannequins, and oddly, Paul Tremblay's Survivor Song. Sign up to support us on our Patreon at any level for access to extra spoiler interviews from this conversation, as well as our recent talks with Zoje Stage and Josh Malerman!

509 - Josh Malerman interview