Wulf's Book Reviews

The Ex-Wife by Tim Sullivan Read my Goodreads review The premise suits George Cross: a conviction seems settled, but one detail keeps him wondering whether a second death was missed. That gives this cold-case novella a neat hook, and the brisk opening wastes little time. Yet at twenty-eight pages, “The Ex-Wife” feels less like a compact mystery than a synopsis of a fuller one. Interviews and clues arrive before they can gather much weight, leaving little space for the investigation, Cross’s colleagues, or the victims to develop. The moral emphasis is harder to accept. The narrator’s insistence that » Everyone from the press to the prosecution was rightly appalled « sets the tone, and the story repeatedly underlines the injustice of the earlier failure. The concern is understandable, but the writing feels preachy: it announces its judgement instead of trusting the case to make it. There is a good Cross mystery here, but not enough story around it. I finished wanting more room, sharper ...

We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida My rating: 2 of 5 stars “ We'll Prescribe You a Cat ” by Syou Ishida is a peculiar attempt at blending magical realism and episodic storytelling, but one that ultimately veers off course. While on the surface it shares superficial similarities with “ The Travelling Cat Chronicles ”, the comparison hardly holds due to the stark differences in execution and tone. Unfortunately, “We’ll Prescribe You a Cat” leans heavily into clichés, offering overdoses of preachy content and saccharine lessons that come across as formulaic and forced. The novel presents a range of short vignettes, promising to deliver moments of heartfelt connection between humans and their feline counterparts. However, the episodic nature makes each chapter feel disconnected and shallow. Rather than a cohesive story, the book presents a series of almost obligatory moral lessons, which feel more esoteric than engaging. The subtlety I hoped for is utterly missin...