August reviews

August was a pretty good month of reading.  Three five star books and two 4.5 star reads.  Sweet Money by Ernesto Mallo and Winterland by Alan Glynn are both very enjoyable novels, one set in a country emerging from dark period (Argentina), the other in a country teetering on the edge of collapse (Ireland); both are riddled with politics and corruption.  My book of the month though is Absolute Zero Cool by Declan Burke - a surrealist, satirical, screwball noir.  It takes the crime genre, turns it inside out and spins it round until its dizzy.

Winterland by Alan Glynn *****
Down Among the Dead Men by Michelle Williams **.5
City of Bohane by Kevin Barry **.5
The Big Mango by Jake Needham***.5
Absolute Zero Cool by Declan Burke *****
Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott ****.5
Sweet Money by Ernesto Mallo *****
The Whispers of Nemesis by Anne Zouroudi ***
The Dramatist by Ken Bruen ****.5