WEEKEND MADNESS WRAP-UP.....SPECIAL "I DON'T THINK ABOUT YOU SUCKERS AT THE GAS PUMPS" EDITION......

 Breaking News.....the President announces a new perk for all Americans.....send your gas receipts to the White House and you'll receive a collectible post card with an artist's depiction of the the new Trump Ballroom and Trump Arch.....and you will only be charged $49.95 on your Visa, Mastercard or American Express.....

To BQ visitors:  Happiest of weekends....see you next week!
To Trumpanzees: Received your invitation to the first dance at the Ballroom yet? No? Keep checking the mail......or better still, take a deep breath and hold it until your invite arrives......

'GRAVE WAVES'.......TWO ODDBALL TWEENS TAKE ON A NEST OF EURO-THUGS.....IN SUNNY FLORIDA AT CHRISTMAS.....

 Grave Waves by Dorian Box (Publishes Friday 5/15/26) 

   

     BQ highly recommends you do NOT leave your favorite bookstore this weekend without treating yourself to this book....of which an advanced copy was graciously provided me by NetGalley and Friction books. Allow me to explain........

     I can't remember if I've ever used the word 'Delightful' to describe a book in all my reviews.....any book.

     But author Dorian Box knows the incredible recipe to conjure up a mystery/comedy/heart-tugging concoction that can only be described as a pure delight.......the reading equivalent of a triple scoop of your favorite ice cream.

     In this third entry in the 'Danny Teakwell' series, we're back in that almost always humid beach town of Hollywood Florida, home to a host of host of unforgettable quirky characters surrounding our guy Danny. He's well known as a surfer, expert surfboard maker and appointed guardian to the most impossibly odd and adorable tween orphan imaginable. Jessica Jewell...... a girl gifted, witty and knowledgeable in the mortuary arts, having been raised in a funeral home.

     And the feisty, old-soul, wise-beyond-her-years Jessica has at last found a best friend and kindred spirit. That could only be lanky goth-girl Gigi, who can spout Shakespearian verse and encyclopedic horror movie knowledge in between her never ending craving for snacks. Together, these girls can either make you laugh out loud, fear anxiously for their safety or make you want to reach out and hug them both......... sometimes all of those things all at once.

     It's almost Christmas as Jessica and Gigi come across a, lethal little collection of European malefactors scamming and murdering some of the town's most beloved elderly widows. These vile thugs aren't kidding around. To further their master plan, they've even turned Danny's comically stupid lawyer Fink into their very own patsy and Useful Idiot And when the tweens' Nancy Drew-ish investigations drag in Danny and his new budding love interest, everybody's in serious danger.......which still doesn't slow down Jessica and Gigi's priceless, hilarious observations, quips, horror movie references and quests for food and snacks.

     As you can already figure out from this review, I loved this book, and these characters to pieces and I could go on raving about it for another hour or more.......probably because it's a joy to read a book that serves up such heaping portions of dark humor, suspense, mystery and most of all, genuine heart. I for one will count the days until Danny, Jessica and Gigi stumble into their next precarious and uproarious adventure. . 

     5 stars (*****). You couldn't ask for a more fun refreshing addition to your 'Must Reads' of the year.

'DRACULA A.D. 1972'.......DRAC DRAINS THOSE GROOVY LONDON SWINGERS......

Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) 

       The celebrated, cherished Hammer Films were on the downslide by the time this one came out.....

     The gothic, beautifully crafted period stuff wasn't working for young audiences anymore, so no wonder this film seemed like such a novel idea....

      Have some young, mod, mini-skirted, disco-dancin', Carnaby Street dig up Drac.....and face the consequences.....

       We're not saying this isn't fun to watch. It is. Christopher Lee still makes the most imposing of bloodsuckers......Hammer even lets him spit out a few words of dialogue every so often......

         But given the amazing idea of having Drac pop up in what was then modern London, it could have been so much more......more bloody, more funny, more over-the-top.......

           Don't hold your breath waiting. Doesn't happen. Despite the modern setting, the plotting's by-the-numbers dreary. Sir Christopher glowers and sucks.....literally, we mean. 

         But bonuses await........Peter Cushing's back as the great-grandson of  Van Helsing and he knows all about great-dad's tried and true vampire fighting techniques. Cushing and Lee get to go at it one more time and that sequence at least qualifies as a comfort watch.

           Ah, we musn't forget the inclusion of the fabulously well constructed Caroline Munroe who g becomes Drac's first 20th century blood bank.  Bravo to Caroline's big death scene and how she  launched a thousand erections in teen boys everywhere......

         We'll also throw in a brief mention of  Christopher Neame as Drac's unctuous creepy minion who looks he got recently kicked out the "Clockwork Orange " gang for being even too snotty for Alex and the droogs. And give us a break on his name.....Johnny Alucard? Really?  Great death scene though, where he endures almost every form of decimation devised in the how-to-kill-a-vampire guidebook.....including a cold shower. 

         Merely okay, but boy oh boy did this have potential never realized. Disco Drac?  Why not? Drac runs into Lulu and the gang from "To Sir With Love"?  See what we mean......endless possibilities.

           After modernity didn't work, Hammer went the sex 'n boobs route to juice up the offerings, but horror was entering the beginning of new nastier age and left the studio in the dust....along with its naked starlets.....

          Hammer homeys won't want to miss it, but for everyone else......sorry, nothing special to see here....

             2 stars (**).

'THE ANNIVERSARY'.....TWO HURT SOULS, A YEARLY SERIAL KILLER.....AND TWISTS AND TURNS GALORE.....

The Anniversary by Alex Finlay (2026) 

     Now here's the kind of book that all mystery/suspense thriller readers hope and pray for. A book that grips you from page one, keeps you turning the pages furiously and makes you resent any mundane everyday tasks (like sleeping and eating) that force you to temporarily put the book down.

     From the start, we're invested in and intrigued by two high school opposites - most popular, most beautiful Jules and loner outcast wrong-side-of-the tracks Quinn. The night of May 1st changes the course of their lives for years to come. Jules becomes one of the rare survivors of the 'May Day Killer' now among the few young girls the serial killer decided, for whatever reasons, to let live. Quinn, jailed for assault in a fight he didn't start, is inducted into the Army. There he encounters nothing but combat violence and tragedy as well as having to return home to attend the funeral of his mother, a murder victim. Jules, now forever haunted by that horrific May 1st memory, leads a lucrative but not very fulfilling life as a well paid fashion model.

     Jules and Quinn's parallel lives finally begin to intersect when they've returned home, each bearing their own troubled memories. Jules' younger sister has gone missing, maybe the latest May 1st abductee. And Jules and some of her fellow 'May Day' killer survivors stay safely (they can only hope) under the FBI's surveillance and protection in case the 'Mayday' maniac returns to finish what he started.

    Quinn, now a dogged Private Investigator, pursues the abandoned cold case of a missing child as well the mysteries surrounding the death of his mother....for which a possibly innocent man currently stands convicted and jailed for the crime.  

     Author Alex Finlay surely knows his way around telling a story like this, and as a result, he'll put you in a "just-one-more-chapter' reading addiction until you reach those infinitely satisfying final pages. The startling twists more than accomplish their job of leaving you gaping in surprise while you're worrying like crazy over Jules 'and Quinn's ultimate fates.....and possible future.

     Easily one of this year's best thriller reads, and along with the 5 stars,(*****) I can't think of any higher recommendations .

'THE LAST MANDARIN'....AN ESTRANGED MOTHER AND DAUGHTER VS. A HIGH-TECH GLOBAL CABAL....

 The Last Mandarin by Louise Penny and Melissa Fung (2026)

     A global thriller that pits superpowers against each other as a third unknown entity threatens to end the world? Oh yes, please.....sign me up.

     And on top of all that.....a global thriller that takes an utterly bonkers, thrill-a-minute detour into Indiana Jones territory? Complete with a wondrous archeological cave-scape overloaded with deadly booby traps? Light that torch and count me in......

     Granted, all of the above elements thrown into the pot by authors Louise Penny and Melissa Fung don't blend together easily. But the pace never lags, the mother-daughter lead characters are fascinating in their generational and culture clashes, and that 'Art-of-War' backstabbing between the Chinese and American power brokers has that breathless Tom Clancy feel to it

     Either a rogue terrorist group or an actual superpower nation have come up with with technology to inflict sudden, worldwide catastrophes capable of killing millions within minutes. Blaming China, the U.S. President turns to internationally celebrated Chinese dissident Vivian Li, a Tiananmen survivor with deep roots in her original homeland. And Li's estranged, raised-in-America daughter Alice has come along for the ride, since the mysterious death of Alice's dear friend relates to the calamitous events now befalling the world.

     While the powers-that-be in Beijing and Washington (some of whom may not be what they appear) struggle to avert World War 3, Vivian and Alice are off and running to pierce the very heart of this unknown cabal of conspirators. Though these terrorists wield unlimited high tech, they didn't count on Alice, of all people, becoming a cross between Nancy Drew and Indy you-know-who.

     I found very little of this even remotely plausible, but that didn't stop me from happily wallowing in all the high stakes diplomacy and thrill ride moments packed into the book. And even amid the constant life-threatening derring-do, authors Penny and Fung take the time to expertly insert ancient and recent Chinese history into their story and into the fierce passions of their characters.

     For anyone (like me) who simply cannot resist a countdown-to-world's-end, day-the-hotline-got-hot nailbiter, here's your steeping cup of tea waiting for you..

       4 stars (****).

WEEKEND MADNESS WRAP-UP.........SPECIAL 'IRAN LOVE TAP' EDITION.......

 Parents discover the peril of letting a stranger suspected of pedophilia and other random violence talk to their kids in public  places.......as good an example of the charge 'Child Endangerment' as they've ever witnessed......

Moving on to even more madness......

Trump refers to strikes on Iran as a 'Love Tap'...Iran describes the strikes as 'unwanted heavy petting'....

In Supreme Court news, Justice Clarence Thomas reveals his favorite movie character of all time....Samuel L. Jackson's house slave Stephen from 'Django Unchained'.......("I just love that Stephen, I could watch him abuse black people forever and what a role model he's been for me in my decision making.....")

And the madness rages on......

And as always, let's never forget.....

Great weekend to BQ visitors.....

To Trumpanzee voters experiencing 'buyer's remorse:  Guess whom Trump and Republicans want to fork up a couple more billion for the Great Big Beautiful Ballroom?

Figure it out yet?  Hint:   it's YOU, dummies.  If you expect a personal invitation to the Ballroom's first big event, don't forget to take a deep breath and hold it until you get one......

'THE SEARCHERS' ......HAPPY 70TH ANNIVERSARY TO JOHN FORD'S ENDURING MASTERPIECE.....

 The Searchers (1956)

     70 years later, director John Ford's robust, heart rending epic still stands tall as a cinematic landmark......and an inspiration for an entire new generation of filmmakers who revered his work - Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, David Lean and who knows how many others. 

       Watching it again, after many previous viewings, we found ourselves still riveted by its imagery, characterizations and the grandiosity of its landscapes as a backdrop for the emotional power of its storytelling......it's uniquely American  mythmaking on a spectacular scale (and something sorely missing to today's movies, we might add.....)

      We're not about to rehash, re-analyze and review all the details of the film......so anyone reading this post who hasn't seen it, stop reading this immediately and find a way to see it. Like, right now. 

       While this fresh viewing still stays in our memory, we'll just cover the pivotal bits and pieces that stood out the most.....

        John Wayne and the rescued woman captives......One of the most brutal moments in the film. Ethan Edwards (Wayne), searching for his abducted-by-Comanches niece (Natalie Wood) visits a Cavalry post to see if she's among some women rescued. She's not.....and the surviving girls have been driven mad by the experience. The camera lingers on Wayne's face, filled with revulsion and barely contained rage....since by this time we know the unforgiving, hard hearted Ethan considers white women in the hands of Indians as the walking dead, lost causes to be put down like rabid dogs. 

        That cabin doorway......in the history of iconic film shots (Cary Grant chased by the cropduster, Charlton Heston riding his chariot, Orson Welles whispering 'rosebud'), there's that frontier doorway that serves as Ethan Edwards' path into the loving comforts of family and friends and then back out to the lonely outcast life into which he's exiled himself. As the door finally closes on him as he walks away into arid solitude, the final heartbreaking camera shot became forever a part of film history.

      Monument Valley.....the Arizona natural wonder upon which John Ford created and staged  his own universe in multiple films. Ford's only major problem in "The Searchers" - the stark beauty and power of the place (especially when photographed in sharp, wide screen VistaVision) painfully contrasted with outdoor scenes that Ford shot on obviously indoor Warner Brothers studio sets. 

       Hank Worden as frontier madman/jester Mose Harper.....comedy relief in a Ford film was always loud, boisterous and veering into slapstick. Worden's arrested development Mose (no doubt encouraged by Ford) took this approach to its very limit and it's hard to tell if Mose's genial lunacy is something laughable or deserving pity. By the end of the film, this frontier toddler with no impulse control finally emerges a hero......and awarded his own rocking chair happily-ever-after. 

         We could go on for hours more on this film (and so have many other film bloggers, pundits and critics.)  But we feel we've made our point. 

           "The Searchers", 70 years later, remains a 'must-see-before-you-die' for everyone and anyone who loves movies. 

              5 stars (*****).