I got this from the library because I’m a fan, I read and absolutely loved Boyle’s previous two books, where the author absolutely mastered the art of both short and long form in fiction. Now back to long form, this novel lightly echoes Talk To Me in the way it takes on people’s relationship with the natural world around them, but it’s an entirely different beast.
Blue Skies may be an upbeat song, but it’s a terribly depressing novel…or it would be with a less skilled writer. 
This is basically a story of an unfolding climate apocalypse told through three alternating perspectives, following one family of well-meaning idiots. Well, some are more idiotic and/or more well-meaning than others, but there you have it.
The narrative tone falls somewhere between satire and dark comedy with heavy dashes of drama. And it works nicely, especially considering that some of the narrators (yeah, Cat) are flat-out horrid.  Cooper is somewhat more tolerable all things considered. And Ottilie, their mother, is doing the best she can, going to some stupendous length to change her ways, albeit too late in the game. It stands to mention that this is a family profoundly steeped in white privilege, which very much informs their attitude toward life and everything in it, one ridiculous idea at a time.
The book is uniquely American in its cheerfully/insanely obstinate denial/perseverance attitude. California is on fire and Florida is under water, the entire species are dying out, and people still carry on with social media and having babies.   
In other words, these are not the protagonists you’re going to sympathize with, but irrespective of that, you still might have difficulty putting this book down. Boyle is just that good of a writer.
And the frightening thing is the end of the world likely will roll in just like that, and people will be acting just the same. Books can be prescient this way. 
Without planning too, I read this book during the days of unbreathable air courtesy of Canadian wildfires, so it was a very harrowing eerily on-the-money experience. 
Books like warnings change nothing because no one listens. The same stubborn selfish stupidity that causes the situations in the first place. But that depressing thought aside, Blue Skies is still a fun read. Recommended. 

​Ronald Malfi is one of my favorite horror writers. His work is literary and offers consistent quality throughout, from one fine-crafted nightmare to the next. I’ve read most of his work and thus have read some of the novellas in this collection of mostly reprints, but long enough ago so that it didn’t matter. Which is to say I still enjoyed After the Fade­—the tale of a break-up during an apocalypse and Skullbelly—something scary roams the woods and the rest of the novellas which I’ve not read before, including the brand-new closing one.
Atmospheric, well-written, engaging…there’s so much to like here. To be fair, I wasn’t as blown away by this collection as I was by Malfi’s recent Ghostwritten. This is an author who I find improves over time, aging like fine blood-colored wine or something. Some of his earlier works were nowhere near as strong as his current output.  But he is an author well-worth reading, committed to quality, which is most admirable, especially in the genre that can so easily sellout for cheap thrills.
Overall, a solid collection of tales about things that lurk in the darkness. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

​Okay, so it’s official. I’m not just of fan of this creative team, I love their work. Every so often in graphic novels a writer and an artist form a perfect storytelling duo. And this is one of those.
The Fade Out is Noir through and through, in tone, in style, in attitude. All but lingo.
The characters smoke like chimneys are they stumble through the moral grey areas. All the areas in this book are morally grey. Some darker still. That’s Noir for you. It’s all in the shadows.
And movie business in the post WWII Los Angeles is as shadowy as it gets.
This is a story of a struggling screenwriter who wakes up next to a dear starlet Can’t wait to see what’s next.
 
Book Two of the murky mystery in Tinseltown where motivations are as obscure as one’s true faces. Is a replacement blonde good enough for the movie that lost its star and a screenwriter who might be losing his plot? There’s so much going on onscreen and behind the scenes in this murder mystery. Plus, it’s gorgeous, absolutely stunning to look at. Sleepy or not, moving on to Book Three to see how it all plays out.
 
Well worth staying up past bedtime to find out how this mystery resolves. What an exceptional trilogy. You don’t have to be a Noir fan going in—Brubaker will make one out of you.
And as much as I love cinema and cinema-related tales, this was just a win-win all around.
Not just the mystery itself, but the drama behind it, the terrific characters, and pitch perfect tone of the entire production.
And absolutely stunning. The book looks and reads like art. Or, appropriately enough, like a very well done, very stylish movie.
Awesome reading experience. A terrific trilogy. Recommended.