A Cold Day In Paradise by Steve Hamilton By Steve Rudd

Steve Hamilton's incredibly exciting writing vibrantly blasts out of much the same gun-toting gauntlet as Joe R Lansdale's writing, despite the fact that both these American action-thriller novelists couldn't really live farther apart from the other. Lansdale lives and sets his stories amidst the hot hot heat of Texas. Hamilton, meanwhile, sets his stories in the cold and snowy state of Michigan (where he was born and raised), on the border with Canada: I looked out at the water. The rain had stopped. There were high clouds moving fast across the sky. The wind stung my face. It felt like all the heat had gone out of the world. It felt like I would never be warm again.

Like Lansdale, Hamilton is fond of creating a few great characters and using the same characters over-and-over in the majority of his novels. This is his first novel (which won the Edgar and Shamus Awards for best first novel), in which a grand introduction is made to ex-cop turned private investigator Alex McKnight. If you read subsequent novels of his such as Winter of The Wolf Moon and Blood Is The Sky you will find yourself becoming very well acquainted with this guy indeed. A Cold Day In Paradise is essentially a crime thriller, pivoting on a puzzling murder, that's packed with untold amounts of seething tension and incredibly atmospheric and graphic action scenes. I never knew that blood was so red. It is more red than a kiss and even more powerful. If you like bare-knuckle and thoroughly thrilling novels, Hamilton's writing has to be consulted. He takes you to the edge every time, and novels rarely come as enthralling as his.. ISBN 0-75284-480-6 (first published in Great Britain in 2000 by ORION)

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	Loneliness doesn't consist of not having friends. Loneliness has nothing to do with that! It's being unable to express your deepest feelings and most private thoughts. This novel is one of my favourite pieces of fiction, with the author Lambert's fresh writing style zestfully spurting in Read more...

Reviews, Books - Cold In July by Joe R. Lansdale, By Steve Rudd
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Reviews, Theatre - Up 'n' Under at Hull Truck Theatre with Cast Interview 23/07/2004 By Andy Dykes
	John Godber's play 'Up 'n' Under' has enjoyed widespread success for twenty years. So it's obvious that the story, although I have to admit I don't really know it, does not need to be reviewed. So I realise that if this report is going to be of any worth at all, tonight I need to review the performance. Read more...

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	The definition of grace is the ability to accept change. I needed to start calculating my masculinity not by the amount of pussy I could grab, or how many girls I could bang, but by how true I could be with one girl. How infrequently I could lie. How often I could show up when I was needed. Read more...

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	First off, this is not an objective review, having never been to a performance by this motley crew before I had expected a bunch of pretensions twenty something spouting angst, instead I got a pirate, an extremely pleasant surprise, second only to finding an entire packet of fags at three in the Read more...

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	So, it's twenty years ago that John Godber showcased this, his first play for Spring Street Theatre, for which he won the Laurence Olivier Comedy of the Year Award. There has been a lot of water under the bridge since then, as we were reminded in the post-show talkback with director and cast. Both Hull Truck Read more...

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