STEVE CARROLL WRITES

The following column originally appeared in Justin Marriott's PAPERBACK FANATIC #50 (sadly the final edition of this fine publication), which was published in August of 2025. You can buy a copy of it  HERE . That article has been slightly expanded upon for this blog. The Horror!   The Horror! I   grew up in a household with a mother who regularly read true crime murder magazines. She got stacks of them from her own mother and I was absolutely terrified of them as an elementary-age child. Maybe that   macabre sense of normalcy in middle   American suburban life is what led Mom to be a very early adopter of reading   horror novels. That became much easier in the 70s as horror found a willing   playground in mainstream publishing that further blossomed in the 80s. As Mom   would read what seemed a particularly good scary book, she invariably allowed   me to follow suit. In retrospect, I’m   not sure that was wise parenting, but I   am ...

The following column originally appeared in Justin Marriott's PAPERBACK FANATIC #50 (sadly the final edition of this fine publication), which was published in August of 2025. You can buy a copy of it  HERE . That article has been slightly expanded upon for this blog. Anyone   who knows me or has been following my columns here in Paperback Fanatic knows   that I have a real soft spot for spy thrillers. While I can certainly appreciate the cerebral rewards of   reading some John le  Carré or Graham Greene, my tastes   have always drifted toward the more visceral and action-oriented end of the   fiction spectrum. Cold war in the shadows is fine (and well   represented by my   top pick), but give me a megalomaniac bent on world domination if possible with   a little sci-fi thrown into the mix and I’m in like Flint (pun intended). With   all that said, here is your manly man’s guide to my personal favorite picks for   top 10 best s...