Peepland by Christa Faust, Gary Phillips and Andrea Camerini - A Graphic Novel Review

Goodness me, that was a gritty story.

New York in the 1980s was not a pretty place, it's a wonder how much it has changed in a single generation.  Say what you will about gentrification but I do not believe anybody wants to return to the NYC of those days.

Corrupt wealth, corrupt cops, corrupt bosses in a dirty, uncaring city and you've got a backdrop for a dirty, dangerous story.

The art was amazing, I wanted to wash my hands everytime I picked up the book.  (That's a compliment, really.)

But it was the story, oh my, what a scary world Faust and Phillips created.  In the underbelly of Times Square, a murder is caught on tape (yup VHS baby) and the evidence is hidden in a peep show booth.

Once the tape is found a whole raft of villains work extremely hard to cover up what it reveals.


This was a terrific read.  And the ending - cold, man, cold.

Highly recommended.

PS - Faust and Phillips - Doesn't that sound like a terrific detective agency?

Christa Faust - http://christafaust.com/

Gary Phillips - https://gdphillips.com/

Andrea Camerini - http://www.andreacamerini.com/

Normandy Gold story by Megan Abbott & Alison Gaylin art by Steve Scott & Rodney Ramos - A Graphic Novel Review

Once again Hard Case Crime and Titan Comics have published a story that is gritty, violent, scary and just uncomfortable enough to keep the reader engaged.

Normandy is a county sheriff who is a witness, well ear-witness, who hears her troubled sister murdered while on the phone.

Set in the dirty 70's the look and feel of the book drew inspiration from such movies as Taxi Driver and All the Presidents Men.  The murder is largely ignored since Normandy's sister was a prostitute.  So she takes up the investigation.

But in this story she is no cop, she is out for revenge and to hurt as many people as she can along the way.

I liked the story but as I said, it was disturbing too.  The lengths Normandy went to learn the truth made me question her sanity.  But then that edginess kept me reading too.

In the end, I needed to take a walk to get some fresh air and then to take a shower, just to remove the effect the story had on me.

The style of the artwork is a perfect rendering of those times and just like those movies, I did not come away feeling good about humanity.

The ending was satisfying but I came away from it questioning my own sense of justice as much as Normandy Gold's

Read this carefully and do not let children near it.

Megan Abbott's website - https://www.meganabbott.com/

Alison Gaylin's website - https://www.alisongaylin.com/