It’s been four years since a Jake Hinkson novel appeared in the United States, but now the wait for a new book is finally over. His newest, Dry County, explores terrain familiar to Hinkson readers, rural Arkansas, while at the same time going places Hinkson hasn’t gone before. The story takes place in 2016, just…
Perhaps you know the sensation: that an inanimate object has somehow found you. That perfect-fitting, too soft-to-be-true t-shirt that was shoved on a sale rack with your favorite line from Star Wars or The Godfather or whatever you want emblazoned on the front. Or the gnome statue at a garage sale that looks remarkably like…
In The Malta Exchange by Steve Berry, the pope is dead. A conclave to select his replacement is about to begin. Cardinals are beginning to arrive at the Vatican, but one has fled Rome for Malta in search of a document that dates back to the fourth century and Constantine the Great. The election of…
We’ve finally gone (back) to hell! The last time was at the end of Season 1 where Lucifer discovers Mum has escaped. Now, more exciting, we get to see Lucifer brave hell in order to save Chloe. We get to see how Lucifer’s version of hell is different from classical interpretations. The very first foray…
Ah, the dream tease. Lucifer’s writers are clearly having fun teasing us with Lucifer’s and Chloe’s dream, but it also serves to kick off the underlying struggle of the entire episode—that of choice. Chloe is caught, wondering whether she should act on her feelings and what the results of that would look like. When wrestling…
The Lucifer hiatus has ended, and we can finally get back to our favorite devil. This episode is pretty low-key when it comes to the mythology, but we still have an opportunity to explore the episode’s theme of worthiness. Specifically, we’ll look at where humanity fits in with angels, demons, and the divine. For a…
Well, it’s nice to see Amenadiel swoop in and convince Mum not to detonate the bomb, thus saving Chloe. He did so by laying hard truths on her, which is the central theme of the entire episode. We’ve known all along that Lucifer doesn’t lie in this series, but this seems fundamentally at odds with…
Every Wednesday, we here at Criminal Element will put together a list of Staff Picks of the books that published the day before—sharing the ones that we are looking forward to reading the most! This week, we get a new Alex Cross thriller and the latest novel from one of Sweden's best writers! See what…
Last week, Lucifer dropped the bomb that Earth was his home all along—a revelation that Mum eagerly wanted to exploit—and this week, we see Lucifer struggling to hold onto that home in the face of eviction. However, while Lucifer may not see heaven as his home, he was still tossed out on his ear—although what…
The sword of Azrael returns this week, but angelic weaponry is nothing new to the Bible. In fact, the first appearance of such is at the end of the Garden of Eden story when God “placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life” (Gen 3:24…
