The Embiggened O # 2,049: Our Spinal Tap Moment

Sandra Ruttan at Spinetingler Magazine was kind enough to review our humble offering THE BIG O, and once we winkled out all the quibbles, ho-hums and snorts of disbelief that to our mind rather ruined the overall effect, we were left with the following, to wit:

“Burke shows remarkable skill at weaving a complex story from multiple points of view and pulling the strands together in an engaging fashion, and he clearly has the genius required to pull off a large-scale story … The emphasis is not on technical accuracy in terms of police procedure or organized crime. Capers are wild stories with a humorous edge, and THE BIG O delivers in spades, so plan for a healthy chunk of time, kick back with a few margaritas and indulge in Burke’s dark comedy – this is an author with a lot of promise, well worth taking note of, and I’m looking forward to his next book.”

Incidentally, eagle-eyed readers will have noted that Declan Burke is lined up to contribute to Sandra Ruttan’s new website At Central Booking, which yet again raises the spectre of bias, log-rolling and generalised back-scratchery. For more on this topic, jump here and here.

Book ’Er, Danno

Femme fatale Sandra Ruttan’s (right) spanking new website, At Central Booking – ‘For Those Committed to a Life of Crime’ – goes live sometime around now, with the results of the inaugural Spinetingler Awards going up on the board at some point today, if we’re not very much mistaken, which we very frequently are. A sprawling, epic offering, At Central Booking features a host of devilishly clever ways of winkling information out of writers, including Lie Detector, Video Surveillance, Snitch, Death Row, Repeat Offenders and Parole Board. Among the contributors are Sandra herself, Russel D. McLean, John McFetridge and the Grand Vizier of Crime Always Pays, Declan Burke, but don’t let that put you off because the site is already featuring pieces about / from writers such as Simon Kernick (hurrah!), Tess Gerritsen (woo-whoo!!), Anne Frasier (hot diggety-damn!!!) and Ray Banks (erm, boo). Do yourself a favour and scoot yourself on over to At Central Booking (or ACB, as we in the trade like to call it), and leave, y’know, disparaging comments about Ray Banks, Canadians and that veritable prince of no-mark wastreling, Declan Burke. Trust us, you’ll feel a whole lot better about yourself once you get it off your chest …