Book Review: Desert Places

Reviewed By: Jon Jordan - Crime Spree Magazine - RAM

Desert Places     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Blake Crouch
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Hard Boiled
2004, St. Martins Minotaur 272 pages / $ 23.95

Blake Crouch’s first book, Desert Places grabbed me from the first page. More thriller than mystery, this book moves like it has a rocket strapped to it.

Andrew Thomas is a writer of crime novels, novels with serial killers. As a result he gets a lot of crank mail sent to him. So when he receives one with the day’s mail it doesn’t strike him that anything odd is happening. Until he reads the letter and starts to think about what is written in it. Reading this letter unleashes a series of events that soon take over his whole life and his perception of the world he lives in. He does things he never thought he would.

And then things start to get twisted.

This book is dark and a bit deranged, and I loved every minute of it. Reading it is like driving in the rain at 90 MPH with your eyes closed, sheer adrenaline. Write this name down, Blake Crouch is here to stay.

Jon Jordan - Crime Spree Magazine - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Jon Jordan - Crime Spree Magazine - RAM