I love crime comics—so much so that I hope to one day create an imprint dedicated to all things crime. I write crime fiction novels, too (my newest, Blue Religion, hits the shelves October 12), and screenplays, and just signed a deal to pen a new crime comic series. When I’m not writing, I look…
The parents at the center of my novel The Neighbor’s Secret—otherwise law-abiding citizens—justify some very bad behavior in the name of protecting their children. Over-bearing, neglectful, competitive: there are endless ways family members, even well-intentioned ones, can burden each other with toxic cultures and inherited traumas. This is excellent news for crime readers, if not for…
It’s fair to say we’ve both read or watched the best thrillers during the last thirty years. In our opinion, obviously! And there’s one thing we always agree on: what scares us the most is serial killer with clear motives and a detailed plan. A relentless murderer who won’t stop until they’ve realized their grand…
In December 1957 and January 1958, nineteen-year-old Charlie Starkweather embarked on a killing spree through Nebraska and Wyoming. Most of the murders took place in just over a week, an eight-day rampage of shootings and stabbings that confounded authorities and terrorized the general public. With his even younger girlfriend in tow, Charlie killed eleven people,…
“Reading,” said the writer and aphorist Mason Cooley, “gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.” The world might be starting to open up after the pandemic, but with lots of us staying home this summer what better way to get those travel vibes than a good book? Before I…
One of my favorite elements of storytelling is momentum. Reading a well-written thriller is a bit like standing in a river current—whether it’s a violent tug or a steady pull, the narrative is always moving inexorably forward and taking you along with it. With escalating stakes, white-knuckle action, or a dazzling concept explored to its…
In the old days before streaming video, the only place you could reliably see a Chinese martial arts movie was on your local TV station’s Saturday afternoon broadcast of Kung Fu Theater, or some similarly named program. Chances are it would a double feature—Shaolin Executioners followed by Dirty Ho, perhaps—featuring guys in bad wigs and…
What is noir? It’s legendarily hard to define but you know it when you see it: Dark streets slick with rain. Seedy hotel rooms lit by a reddish neon glare. A wisp of smoke curling up from a cigarette in a shadowy corner. Desperate men and women with obscure motives and shifting loyalties. In Asia,…
Portland–and Oregon in general–has had its share of crime: We’re the home of D. B. Cooper, the I-5 serial killer, Diane Downs, Tonya Harding, and Westley Allen Dodd. The Green River Killer and Ted Bundy committed some of their crimes here, and a cult in eastern Oregon once tried to poison a river that fed…
When the pandemic started, my suggested movie stream was filled with films about deadly viruses. Contagion. World War Z. Children of Men. Knowing that I enjoy thrillers, the algorithm behind my entertainment choices apparently decided to select several from the genre steeped in my current circumstances. I couldn’t watch any of them. For me, stories…
