THE DEVIL ALL THE TIME (Donald Ray Pollock) - October 28/20

 This one got off to a slow start but I eventually found it to be quite the page turner. Pollock does an effective job of establishing the myriad of characters and I found that I was pretty heavily invested in all the stories and subplots. ***1/2 out of ****

ARE SNAKES NECESSARY (Brian De Palma and Susan Lehman) - October 5/20

 This ultimately does feel like a new De Palma movie, although it does take a while to get going, as De Palma and Lehman introduce a whole mess of characters. The various plots converge at the end in what could only be described as a series of extreme coincidences, but I was entertained. (And I enjoyed the various De Palma touches, especially a slow-motion sequence in the climax!) *** out of ****