Status Updates From Double Trouble

PURIFIED AND BLESSED!!!

Good is finite and certain, evil is infinite and uncertain.

Just 40 pages left of the novel called Soul/Mate, and then the book ends with a short story called 'An Unsolved Crime'. JCO does memorable serial killer fiction.

The second novel included in this collection has started as intriguingly as the first. We've switched from a female serial killer, to a male...but it seems that the victims will again mostly be male. All of this is very interesting - JCO's choices, when giving us not one but two novel-length serial murderer scenarios. And I always like her writing style.

Really impressed by the first novel included here, and the short story just after it was pretty good, too. Novel #2, Soul/Mate, will wait just a bit as I switch to Royal Flash - a helping of humour between two Joyce Carol Oates serial killer novels is a welcome thing.

Along the way, I have been reminded of other authors: Michel Faber, Sebastien Japrisot...but those vibes now giving way to Celia Fremlin and Dorothy B. Hughes vibes. It's a complex book, especially now that Sharon has landed somewhere.Doesn't look like the trouble has stopped, though...

I am loving the first novel on offer in this book, Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon. I’ve only read two novels by JCO before this - I loved A Bloodsmoor Romance, but that was Historical Romance, not Crime. By contrast, I was not a big fan of The Triumph of the Spider Monkey, and that was a Crime novel. Starr Bright is so much better, IMO. I’m glad I didn’t swear off her Crime novels; I figured I would like some.

I'm reading the first novel in this "2-Pack" - Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon - plus the bonus short story tucked in just after it, and then switching over to Royal Flash, before getting to the other half of this book. Starr Bright has an excellent start. I'm leery of any serial killer Crime novel where the serial killer is a woman - it's rare in reality; but a woman writer at the helm makes it interesting...