I’d enjoyed elements of several of her books (Swimming Home, Hot Milk and especially The Man Who Saw Everything). I thought her stories quirky, her diI’d enjoyed elements of several of her books (Swimming Home, Hot Milk and especially The Man Who Saw Everything). I thought her stories quirky, her dialogue taught and interesting, but I found her characters sometimes hard to like, and a couple of her stories I found a little soulless. So I thought it would be interesting to delve into the life of this author a little to discover what experiences might have helped shape this person. But this is no ordinary autobiography: to start with it’s really very short - the first part of a trilogy of memoirs - and secondly its structure is really that of an extended essay, in fact a response to Orwell’s Why I Write.
Unfortunately, I haven’t read the Orwell piece, so I’m not able to comment on this aspect. But it’s clear that the early pages are a response to something, with opinions and erudite quotes sprinkled amongst a brief account of a trip to Majorca. This trip occurred within the past ten years (her references to her writing confirms this) and it seems that the island provides a retreat she returns to when she needs to escape, to reflect and to refresh herself. In truth, it’s an island I’ve visited many times and always with some of the same outcomes in mind!
The remainder of the books touches on her early life in South Africa, a time in which her ANC supporting father was one day arrested and taken away – she wouldn’t see him again for four years. Then there’s a section when, as a teenager living in a North London suburb, she reflects on her time as a rebellious would be writer living ‘in exile’. These anecdotes paint vivid pictures of both time and place and show something of what her early life must have comprised.
I’m not quite sure how to rate this one. There’s enough here to pull me back for part two, but I had felt my mind wondering through the first section, in particular. It’s a taster menu when I was up for a full three courses with all the trimmings. I got a sense of things and enjoyed much of what was there, but without finding it fully satisfying. However, I’m in a generous mood, so I’ll go with three and half stars rounded up to four.
My thanks to Penguin for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
As this tale begins, we meet a man, a writer, who is en route to an engagement in Berlin. We learn that he’s travelling cheaply, but having already caAs this tale begins, we meet a man, a writer, who is en route to an engagement in Berlin. We learn that he’s travelling cheaply, but having already caught a redeye from the West Coast to JFK, New York he’s now learned that his onward flight has been delayed. But then he spots a man he thinks he recognises from his time at UCLA, some twenty years ago. The man, Jeff Cook, notices him too and soon they’re enjoying free beer and snacks, courtesy of Cook’s First Class privilege. At this point I was looking forward to learning more about the writer (unnamed throughout), his onward journey and his time in the German capital. But the focus of story now switched as Cook began to tell of a pivotal event earlier in his life, something he’s never talked of to another living soul.
As Cook talked the writer took on the role of confessor, his responses sympathetic and occasionally prompting. Not that Cook needed much prompting, he’s on a roll and seems determined to provide an unexpurgated version. The start point, and the key to all that follows, is his intervention one morning when spots a man in severe difficulty off Santa Monica beach. Without further thought, he launches himself into the water and swims out to the man. Having rescued him from certain drowning others arrive on the scene and eventually he’s left alone, with no knowledge of the identity of the man he saved. Initially this doesn’t bother him, he’s done a good deed and that’s all that matters. But after stewing in his own juices for a while his curiosity gets the better of him – he needs to know more.
The flight delay becomes protracted (they’re both booked on the same flight, albeit at different ends of the aeroplane) and as the two men talk on more of Cook’s story is revealed. What follows is a tale of scheming, betrayal and fateful events. The interaction between the pair is really well handled, in fact the writing is first rate throughout. He’s a clever guy, the author, and I was constantly looking up words I didn’t recognise and references I didn’t understand the meaning of. The pacing is excellent too and as I got close to the end I was waiting for the final punch – it came late and it was pretty good, that’s all I’ll say.
A really clever and engaging tale from an obviously talented writer. I’ll definitely be looking out more of his work. My thanks to Atlantic Books for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
In Venice, the first wave of the pandemic is beginning to wane, with lockdowns and curfews at last being wound down. For months the city has seen a siIn Venice, the first wave of the pandemic is beginning to wane, with lockdowns and curfews at last being wound down. For months the city has seen a significant downfall in the number of crimes the police have been called upon to investigate, so when an ex-neighbour of Commissario Guido Brunetti calls on him to request a favour he is inclined to offer his assistance. It’s a small matter and she’s certainly not reporting something that would normally involve the police, it’s just that she’s worried that her son-in-law may be experiencing some troubles and would Guido mind digging around a bit and hopefully set her mind at rest. Such is the way with this series that it seems natural he’d help.
Brunetti enlists some of his colleagues in his quest for information – yes, four officers of varying ranks (plus a secretary, the wily Elettra Zorzi) form a brain trust to crack this particular challenge. As information stacks up, a picture slowly starts to emerge, but is there a crime here? In truth, it hardly matters. The puzzle will be solved, of that we are sure, but the pleasure here is principally in the journey to its resolution. Along the way, I particularly enjoyed the chemistry between Brunetti – a born and bred Venetian – and his fellow Commissario, Claudia Griffoni, a Neapolitan by birth. Griffoni has played an increasing part in these tales of late, and I think she offers an interesting counterbalance to the Venetian’s rather staid approach. They get on well, respecting each other’s skills, but they are very different people, and I believe the perceptible tension between them adds something to the mix.
I’ve been following Brunetti for over twenty years (this is book number 31) and whenever I sit down with the latest episode I feel that I’m reacquainting myself with a group of old friends: Guido, his wife Paola and their children and also Brunetti’s colleagues at the Questura. The crime itself – if you can actually identify one – is often inconsequential to my enjoyment of these books, what I most enjoy is the verbal jousting that takes place between the various players and the frequent tangential musings on art, food, literature and history, or simply on the overt bureaucracy that is an inescapable component of life in this country. If this makes the books sound somewhat muddled or confused, then I can only assure you that they don’t read this way.
The author’s stories do, though, paint a warts and all picture of the city of Venice, showing us the underbelly of a place replete with high culture and wealth. Often, the spotlight is on a specific crime that’s been committed, but on other occasions, its focus can feel somewhat nebulous. And at times it’s clear to see how the issue(s) being addressed might easily be transferrable to another place and another time, but at other times it feels that the problem really is specific to this place and its unique environment. I’ve only visited Venice once, but those few days made a huge impression on me. For now, my re-visits are through Donna Leon’s annual slice of thought provoking fiction: her brilliantly observed characters; her highly tuned eye spotting things most casual observers would walk straight past; her intelligent insight into problems both modern and timeless.
It’s another classy episode from one of my very favourite writers. I’m always sad to reach the conclusion to one of these books as it means I’ll have to wait a further twelve months for the next one. Maybe I’ll have to go back to the start and read through the series afresh – I need to find a way of bridging that gap.
My thanks to Grove Atlantic for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review....more
I’ve a love hate-relationship with mysteries. It’s taken me a while to work it out but I think it’s that I really appreciate the structure, procedure,I’ve a love hate-relationship with mysteries. It’s taken me a while to work it out but I think it’s that I really appreciate the structure, procedure, the logical thinking that comes with good crime fiction but I really dislike the way in which psychological thrillers, in particular, attempt to manipulate readers, to deliberately send them down blind alleys. Does that make me a control freak? Maybe. Either way, I found plenty to enjoy but also a good deal to object to in this particular tale.
The story tells of how a number of teenage girls went missing from a small Louisiana town and how a man had been arrested and imprisoned for the abduction and murder of these girls. We meet a psychologist, Chloe Davis, some twenty years on who we learn is the daughter of the man convicted of these heinous crimes. Chloe is still struggling with the impact these events have had on her life and that of her mother and brother. And then another teenage girl goes missing. This is about all I want to say on the plot – I really don’t want to give anything away.
The elements that drew me in were firstly the setting (I’m fascinated by anything set in Louisiana, being a long term devotee of James Lee Burke’s brilliant Dave Robicheaux series) and also the fact that the author lays down a powerful narrative that, despite some reservations, really pushed me to see it through to the very end. The mood throughout is well preserved too, with the twitchy Chloe providing a decent vehicle through whose eyes to track events as they unfold.
My issue with this one is mainly that I could sense the author’s manipulation pretty much from the start: a range of actions, reactions and conversations jarred and some events just felt too contrived or even totally implausible. Moreover, there were sections where the drama seemed to have been amplified artificially, with long rambling paragraphs describing Chloe’s overheated reactions. But most of all – and totally out of character for me – I worked this one out very early. The result was that I could see through quite a bit (though not all) of what followed.
I really don’t wish to condemn this book as there were stretches where I doubted my own foresight and I really had become committed seeing this one through by the time I’d reached the half way point. The blurb accompanying this book mentions that a television series has already been optioned by a famous actress, and I can totally understand this - the tale strikes me as one ripe for this treatment.
My thanks to HarperCollins UK for providing a copy of this book, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review....more
Towards the end of the swinging sixties, London housewife Phyllis Fischer doesn’t realise she’s unhappy with her lot until the young son of a family fTowards the end of the swinging sixties, London housewife Phyllis Fischer doesn’t realise she’s unhappy with her lot until the young son of a family friend comes around for dinner one night. Phyllis loves entertaining and but Nicky is something of an awkward guest, arriving late and seeming to have little to say other than becoming embroiled in a rather political discussion with her steady but dull husband, Robert. But then, as they are searching for a lost item in an adjoining garden, Nicky unexpectedly kisses her. Suddenly her outlook on life changes and soon she’s so enraptured by this rude, self-possessed young man that she’s left home and moved into his filthy flat, leaving Robert and her two children, Hugh and Collette, behind without so much as a word.
The writing here is excellent, brilliantly capturing what I believe to be both the mood and the feel of the 1960s. For the first half of the book, I was completely transported to this time, and this place as the various characters attempted to adjust to this sudden upheaval in their lives. But why would an attractive, middle-class housewife be so taken by this intelligent but scruffy and somewhat inattentive young man? In part it’s clearly the sex, but beyond that, somehow the whole change of scene just seems to light something up within her.
In the second half of the book sixteen year old Collette, it takes the spotlight. Unattractive and unpopular with her classmates, she decides the moment is right for her to commence her own journey – to somebody more interesting, increasingly brave, and sometimes rash in her choices. But this switch in focus also heralds a change in the mood of the whole piece, as we are increasingly asked to consider a number of moral choices to be made by the leading characters. The change adds something to the story, but it also takes something away, as Phyllis and Nicky rather fade into the background, and for me, a good deal of the story’s overall momentum is lost.
I really enjoyed the enviable way the author is able to put words on the page, and yet here she’s introduced us to a cast of characters who are almost universally unlovable. And the story is, I think, a mixed bag of things that, in the end, just doesn't quite tie together. I’m sure this one will divide opinion and I’ve already seen a number of reviews from readers who absolutely loved it, but I’m struggling to build up too much enthusiasm for a book that, to be honest, I was glad to finish. It’s a three star rating for me.
My thanks to Random House UK Vintage for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
I’m not a train buff but I have travelled a good deal in the UK using this mode of transport. My dad worked for British Rail as a coach builder (a carI’m not a train buff but I have travelled a good deal in the UK using this mode of transport. My dad worked for British Rail as a coach builder (a carpenter who worked on the carriages) and he was allowed a small number of free tickets each year for use by himself and his family. Usually this made possible an annual excursion to London, and this meant that journey's end was Paddington Station, the station serving travellers from the South West. On exiting the train the sight of Brunel's triple-span iron and glass roof was (and still is) just awe inspiring. Latterly, my journeys to this station have been largely work related but the sense of arriving somewhere ‘significant’, of alighting at a station fitting the nation’s capital hasn’t diminished.
Until I read this book I didn’t know that London has more main line stations (13) than any other city in the world. All of these were built in the Victorian period: the first six months before her reign commenced and the last two years before she died. Seven of them opened between 1860 – 75. The grandeur of this period is fully reflected in some of the architecture, most notably the flamboyant neo-Gothic exterior of St Pancras (which is, in fact, the former Midland Grand Hotel). I drove past this station once and recall being somewhat gobsmacked at the sight of it, but had no idea it what the building actually represented.
The history provided here is comprehensive and the range of photographs equally so. I’ve never visited the majority of these stations but there are certainly a few I’ve now made plans to seek out. This is a wonderful book for railway enthusiasts or in fact anyone interested in the history of the city’s rail infrastructure. My sincere thanks to Quarto Publishing Group – White Lion for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
Bernie Dixon, an ambitious but somewhat impulsive young man, had plans to become a professional boxer and dreamed of achieving great success in his chBernie Dixon, an ambitious but somewhat impulsive young man, had plans to become a professional boxer and dreamed of achieving great success in his chosen career. In the meantime his quick fists had gotten him into trouble and that meant he’d already spent some time behind bars when he met fifteen year old Stella Mae. It wasn’t long before the pair were a couple and soon after that they skipped town as the law came looking for Bernie for beating-up a town clerk over a minor disagreement. The year was 1938 and the place was Topeka, Kansas.
Based on a real-life story, the pair then set off an a Bonny and Clyde style caper as they robbed a couple of banks in South Dakota, took hostages when the need arose and generally gave the law a run around. They narrowly evaded capture on a number of occasions as they stole cars and chased around back roads to evade the chasing cops. In truth, the robberies were fairly small-scale affairs and nobody was hurt in the course of their ‘adventure’. And in fact it seems that Bernie, in particular, had been most polite and accommodating to those caught up in their deeds. But the FBI cast the pair’s actions as a dangerous rampage and the whole thing caused something of a media frenzy. Suddenly they were being listed as the FBI’s ‘Most Wanted’.
The audio version I listened to was brilliantly read by Canadian actor Patrick Garrow. It’s an atmospheric, bitter-sweet tale of love and loss in Depression-era America and I really enjoyed it. My thanks to ECW Press Audio for supplying a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
The publication of Yanagihara’s follow-up to her uncompromising but magnificent tome A Little Life was always going to be a significant event. So impThe publication of Yanagihara’s follow-up to her uncompromising but magnificent tome A Little Life was always going to be a significant event. So impactful was her last novel on me that I consider it one of the finest books I’ve ever read. So, could her new book deliver a similar sized punch?
It’s another monster, at over seven hundred pages, and is broken up into three main sections (well, in reality four as book 2 is really two stories set in the same timeframe). Book 1 takes place in the very late 19th Century and the other sections are each set a century further on in time. I kept looking for linkages between the stories but in truth these seem tenuous: a house in Greenwich Village features in all of them and many of the character names are repeated in each tale, but as we travel through time it seems that this is about as far it goes. We seem destined to move on to a new world with its own distinct history as we progress through this book.
In the first section we are introduced to a rich businessman and his grandson, to whom it is hoped his business empire will in time pass. It’s clear that same sex marriage is commonplace (though discrimination between races does exist) and indeed throughout this whole book most of the characters are married and gay. The grandfather is attempting to broker an arranged marriage for his grandson but in the meantime the younger man begins an affair with a poor music teacher.
The second section follows the fate of a young paralegal working for a large law firm in New York. The Aids pandemic is in full flow and a group of friends are saying goodbye to a member of their group who is dying of ‘boring old’ cancer. And in a separate strand we meet the ailing father of the paralegal who is a descendent of the Hawaiian royal family.
Section three is by far the largest, taking up half of the whole novel. In a dystopian New York, overrun by an ongoing series of ever worsening pandemics, we follow the fate of a number of characters as they battle to survive in what has become a harsh totalitarian state. Anyone familiar with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs will identify with the differing factors motivating the various protagonists, though it seems that all are ultimately headed for the bottom tier.
Where the author truly shines is in her descriptions of the full range of emotions felt by her cast. Their struggles are beautifully captured as each of her lead characters faces up to their respective demons. It can feel grim at times, but such is the power of her writing - her flawlessly constructed sentences, her acute ability to observe just the right details - that I found myself completely absorbed by this book for hours at a time. And on top of this she proves up to the task of weaving these elements into a powerful series of narratives. The only section I found wanting is that featuring the Hawaiian royal descendent, which I confess I had to force myself to battle through – to me this fairly short section just felt disconnected from the rest.
Yanagihara interestingly stands history on its head: we start with a progressive view of sexuality and partnerships and end with a repressive stance on the same. I was also struck by the way that each of her lead characters feels that they don’t quite fit in, that they don’t belong in this place they inhabit. Inadequacy, lack of confidence and loneliness is a package that is much repeated. There is much here to reflect on, snippets that stopped me and made me think. I observed this in her last book too, where I absorbed messages about how we can all wring a little more value out of our interactions with others by soaking up and reflecting on what we see and experience. Her writing prompts me to reflect on my own life and of those close to me.
Though I failed to connect the dots sufficiently to spot any identifiable flow through the whole book, in the main I did enjoy each element as a stand-alone piece. But what conclusions did I draw, particularly given the book’s title? I’ll need to reflect on this further but as a first stab a couple of things stand out for me:
1. As a comment on America – if the author desires it to be such – it seems to suggest a view that the country is in danger of failing to create the utopia the country’s founders set out to achieve, and that a that a mixture of political and social irresponsibility is to blame.
2. For each of us Paradise inevitably looks quite different - we all have our own needs, wants and ambitions – so it follows that our paths will look very different too. But can we each (can any of us) summon the confidence and the desire, and also have the luck, to give us a decent opportunity to reach that place?
This book is a puzzle, one I don’t claim to have in any way resolved. But I think most readers will feel the same after working their way through its many pages. I believe this is a great piece of writing, but maybe it’s a little too long and a just little too perplexing. I look forward to reading the thoughts and theories put forward by others – maybe it’ll help me reach a higher level of understanding, but then again perhaps this is one of those books it’s just going to be impossible to pin down.
My thanks to Pan Macmillan, Picador for supplying a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for a honest review....more
Inti Flyn is a biologist leading a team who are attempting to reintroduce grey wolves into the Scottish Highlands. The loss of a top level carnivore -Inti Flyn is a biologist leading a team who are attempting to reintroduce grey wolves into the Scottish Highlands. The loss of a top level carnivore - the species was long ago hunted to extinction in the area - has led to a steep increase in the number of deer and the resultant overgrazing has brought about a reduction in tree cover, thereby hastening climate change and causing a loss of biodiversity. But the project is not universally supported by local farmers who fear for the impact on their sheep and cattle, many of which roam freely. It’s a tricky issue to manage, particularly when diplomacy doesn’t rank highly in Inti’s skill set.
The struggles of Inti and her team are, though, just one element in this novel. We learn that Inti is accompanied by her twin sister on this trip. Aggie had followed Inti from Australia to Alaska, and the pair had fled the latter in circumstances we’re only learning about in a series of flashbacks. But it’s clear that there was an abusive relationship in the mix. The sisters are very close – perhaps too close – and their communications are often completed using sign language, some of which they invented themselves as children. Inti suffers from a condition called mirror touch synesthesia, which causes her to actually feel sensations felt by others. Not only does this impact her when she’s interacting with humans, but also when witnessing the trials of her wolves - it has a profound effect on her.
And then, shortly after the wolves have been released, a farmer meets a violent death – could the wolves possibly be to blame? As the author has already demonstrated in her novel Migrations, she is adept at drawing complex characters and engaging them in intricate plots. She is also able to cleverly balance the mystery narrative that runs through both stories with an ongoing discourse on the relationship (and conflict) between humanity and nature. Both books prompted me to undertake research and learn more about the specific issues highlighted, and I look upon this as an added benefit I derived from them.
This story unfolds slowly, and I found myself engaged in the plight of the unwelcome wolves as much as that of the sisters. As the background to Inti and Aggies upbringing, with incompatible parents, slowly unfolded, it was with a sense of dread that I approached the end of this tale. Would the locals become reconciled to the need for the long-term benefits the introduction of the wolves might bring, and what about the killing of the farmer, who or what is responsible for this deed? Also, could Inti and Aggie find a way of living without the need for each other’s constant company? In all honesty, I simply couldn’t see a way in which this could end well.
Truth to tell, this is a book I didn’t enjoy quite as much as Migrations. There were slightly too many ingredients here when compared to its less cluttered predecessor, and the story of the wolves didn’t quite grab me in the way that the Arctic Terns had. But there was a good deal about this book that I did like, particularly the way in which the background story slowly unwound as the present day action played out, the result being that a key element of the mystery was lurking out of sight throughout.
My thanks to Random House UK, Vintage, for supplying a copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
In a small outback town in north-western New South Wales, Australia, a body is found. A man has died inside an opal mine, discovered by a group of ratIn a small outback town in north-western New South Wales, Australia, a body is found. A man has died inside an opal mine, discovered by a group of ratters who were planning to steal opals from his mine. It’s a shocking sight as the man’s body has been displayed in a way that strongly suggests he’d gone out the hard way. A detective from Sydney, Ivan Lucic, is sent out to investigate and on site he’s met by Nell Buchanan an eager young officer from a nearby town who is to assist him.
The town of Finnigans Gap (loosely based on the real life town of Lightening Ridge) is a nest of eager and obsessive fortune seekers, a group of religious fanatics and, occasionally, a couple of mining billionaires with sketchy pasts and a loathing for each other. Information is hard to come by and at least one of the local cops is downright hostile towards Ivan and especially Nell. Add to this the fact that Lucic quickly learns that he’s become part of an internal investigation which threatens his future in the police force and you have a truly combustible mix.
Hammer creates the atmosphere of the place brilliantly: the scorching heat, the sheer remoteness of this unforgiving town, it’s tough and sometimes recalcitrant inhabitants. And he brings alive the jeopardy of opal mining in such a way that I became totally fascinated by this lonely and surprisingly basic operation. Lucic and Nell are well developed characters and I enjoyed how their working relationship is grown – a sometimes bumpy road, this. So the bones of a good story are certainly here, the only element that gives me pause is that the deeper I got into it the more strands seemed to appear. Is it possible to deliver a coherent tale from so many tangled threads?
Some will no doubt disagree with me on this point but in my view the sheer number of linked elements inevitably leads to a complex and slightly cluttered finish. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an enjoyable mystery with an interesting location and a great cast. It’s just that once the lid is lifted it’s clear that there was just too much going on in this small town. Well, a bit too much for me to swallow in one hit anyway.
I’d still be happy to award this book 4 stars as I did enjoy my time with it. I also liked the fact that Hammer created a link with his Martin Scarsden books through his use of a couple of characters who regular readers will have come across before. I’ll definitely be back for more from this author: his settings, his characters and in fact the who vibe of his stories offer something distinctly different to crime fiction set in the UK, America or just about anywhere else.
My thanks to Headline for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
Laguna Beach, in Southern California, is an enticing place. I spent a few days there at the end of a long road trip a few years back and was enchantedLaguna Beach, in Southern California, is an enticing place. I spent a few days there at the end of a long road trip a few years back and was enchanted by its laid back atmosphere and it’s beautiful beaches and coastline. But what I didn’t know is that in the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s this small coastal city was the epicentre of America’s drug trafficking surge. A group calling themselves The Brotherhood of Eternal Love based themselves here, their headquarters being a shop on the Coast Highway called Mystic Arts World. The self-declared ‘prophet’ of psychedelic drugs at that time was a psychologist and writer called Timothy Leary and he was famously arrested for possession of marijuana at Laguna in 1968.
Jefferson T. Parker, a long-time resident of the city, uses the above as the background to his story and incorporates much of this history into his tale. It’s told from the perspective of Matt, a sixteen year old boy who lives with his drug taking mother and elder sister, Jazz, in a cheap and draughty rented house. Matt’s dad is long gone, he ran off with another woman some six years ago and now keeps in touch only through occasional phone calls. Matt’s brother is a soldier – a tunnel rat - fighting in Vietnam, he’s due to return soon but the letters Matt receives tell of his brother’s concern that his luck might run out before that date arrives. And then one night Jazz fails to return home.
There had been a row between Jazz and her mother and it’s possible that she has just hunkered down somewhere and will return within the next day or so. But this doesn’t happen and as days pass Matt becomes increasingly worried about the fate of his sister - this being exacerbated by the body of another girl of similar age being discovered on the beach one morning. So this story is about Matt’s quest to find his sister, but it’s also about his own development – both physically and emotionally – growing up amongst the turbulent events associated with this time and this place.
Matt is central to everything here, when he’s not looking for his sister he’s fishing to provide food for himself and his family or he’s completing an energy sapping paper round, delivering to houses in the seaside resort and the surrounding hills. His wages supplement his mother’s scant income as a waitress in a local restaurant and his occasional task of delivering of books and other paraphernalia for the folk at Mystical Arts World provide a small amount of additional cash. Even so, his mother's drug habit ensures that there's barely enough money to pay the rent and food is in short supply It’s all clearly a struggle and I quickly found myself rooting for Matt and those close to him.
This is a book I found hard to put down. Though the action is somewhat drawn out and the plot perhaps a little fanciful, the vibe it gives off really drew me in. It’s a heart-warming and sometimes gripping tale of love and endeavour. Parker paints brilliant pictures of the Laguna of the 1960’s and provides a good cast of characters to flesh out the story. Moreover, he made me care about the fate of Matt and his family. It’s a book I was disappointed to finish, something that's happened far too seldomly of late and which causes me set aside any minor misgivings I might have had along the way. It's four and a half stars for me, rounded up to five.
My thanks to McMillan-Tor/Forge for supplying a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
Early on, Ryder muses that most people have heard of the band Motley Crew because of their much covered hell-raising but probably couldn’t name a singEarly on, Ryder muses that most people have heard of the band Motley Crew because of their much covered hell-raising but probably couldn’t name a single record they’d made. Well, that’s precisely how I feel about the Happy Mondays. Ryder and his mate Bez – the one who prances about on stage but adds nothing of any substance to the music – are well known for their regular television appearances (Celebrity Gogglebox, Celebrity Mastermind and Celebrity Big Brother to name but a few), but I’m a total stranger to their musical output – and they’ve been going for around forty years! In truth, I’m sure I’ve heard some of it, but I just can’t call a single song to mind.
I’d thought that this would be simply a series of anecdotes but actually it’s a (semi) serious attempt to provide some guidance to anyone starting out on the long and treacherous road to rock stardom. And in addition there are plenty of anecdotes here too, as well as a decent history of the band and their various travails as well as reflections on Ryder’s time with his other ensemble, Black Grape. Mixed in with this are a few pearls of wisdom such as: do your own thing and make sure you practice. Okay, there’s a bit more than that but you get my drift. It’s actually good fun, with the audio version I listened to being narrated by the author himself. He states early on that he’s long suffered from ADHD and I think this comes across a little in his rapid and somewhat ranting delivery.
This book will definitely appeal to fans of the band – I’ve now tracked down a few of the Monday’s tracks and I confess that I’m not about to join that particular club – and to anyone thinking about starting up a band. Seriously, there actually are some fairly basic, but nonetheless precious, pointers here.
My thanks to W. F. Howes Ltd for providing a copy of this audiobook vis NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
On the face of it Caroline and her husband Alec have it all: good careers, money in the bank, a nice house in Kent and a teenage daughter, Jessica, whOn the face of it Caroline and her husband Alec have it all: good careers, money in the bank, a nice house in Kent and a teenage daughter, Jessica, who is bright and inquisitive. But under the surface things are more complicated, Alec is finding his sexual gratification elsewhere and Caroline is worried about Jessica’s plans to visit a friend in Somerset in the midst of a sustained period of terrorist attacks impacting the South of England. Caroline is unhappy at the prospect of her daughters trip, but her objections are overridden by Alec. And worse is to come - the latest terrorist atrocity is about to impact this family, and with tragic consequences.
Told from a multi-person perspective and with the timeline jumping back and forth, this story unveils its mysteries in a series of face slapping surprises spread throughout its pages. It’s intriguingly plotted, the characterisations are strong and it’s very well-paced – to the extent that whenever I put it down I was desperately planning when I’d next be able to grab it up again. So does this make it the perfect mystery/thriller? Well, not quite. The price paid for the regular injections of ‘wow’ moments is that an equal number of leaps of faith are required in order to accept that yet another layer of strife can be added to this particular scenario.
Caroline’s search for truth – and sometimes, it seems, for her own sanity – takes her on a quest during which she gets nothing but bad luck, where information that’s just a finger swipe away somehow evades her and just about anything else that could go wrong does. So, is this web a litle too tangled, can anyone suffer from this number of misunderstandings and accrue this much bad luck in such a short space of time? For me it does all stray a little too far into the realms of the fantastic, and yet these are the very ingredients that make it all so compulsively readable. Another nail-biting tale from the author of The Dinner Guest.
My thanks to HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter who provided a copy of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review....more
I’d only previously read one book in this series – the first – and it was alright: though I didn’t love it there were elements that caused me to promiI’d only previously read one book in this series – the first – and it was alright: though I didn’t love it there were elements that caused me to promise myself I’d come back for another delve into the life and cases of lawyer Dismas Hardy. It’s taken me to book nineteen in the series to keep that promise and guess what, Dismas hardly makes an appearance in this one. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge in the thirty two years since book one was penned and there’s quite a few references to past events in the early pages, something I find slightly irritating as someone who repeatedly randomly dips into crime fiction series. But get past this and the story settles down into a caper largely featuring the law firm’s regular private investigator Abe Glitsky.
Wes Farrell, the former San Francisco District Attorney who now works with Hardy, is having second thoughts about being a defence attorney. This heralds quite a bit of debate about the Innocence Project which looks to revisit past cases and exonerate wrongly convicted criminals. Wes is not a fan of IP, believing that most convicts did something that should have had them sent down even if they didn’t commit the crime for which they were imprisoned. And when he picks up the case of a man charged with murdering the convicted killer of his daughter, now released as a result of an IP appeal, he is predisposed to be sceptical regarding his claims of innocence. But then events take a sinister turn and Web hires Abe to come in and do some digging around.
The characters are all well drawn, the dialogue is snappy and smart and the story rattles along at a good pace. Soon it becomes clear that’s there’s a lot more to what’s gone on than was initially evident and Abe gets drawn deeper and deeper into what proves to be a confusing but intriguing case. So this is not really a legal thriller, more a fairly standard murder mystery - but actually a pretty good one. I really liked Abe, he’s dogged and though he is generally good natured he’s also got that bit of edge necessary to kick something out of the weeds when the need arises. This is a case that sends him in various directions and I was never quite sure how it would eventually play out.
I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to re-visit this series – I think it just fell off my radar – but I’m really glad I found my way back. I’ll now definitely be working back through the earlier books as there was plenty here to entice me. My thanks to Atria (Simon & Schuster) for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review....more
Gavin Barwell is a British politician who was appointed Chief of Staff to then Prime Minister Theresa May shortly after losing his seat as Member of PGavin Barwell is a British politician who was appointed Chief of Staff to then Prime Minister Theresa May shortly after losing his seat as Member of Parliament for Croydon Central, in 2017. Before losing his seat he’d held the role of Minister of State for Housing and Planning. In this book he focuses on his time working for May and primarily on her attempts to agree a Brexit deal with the European Union that she then hoped to get accepted by the British Parliament.
I was aware of Barwell although in his role as CoS he was very much a background figure during May’s reign – political advisers being banned from giving interviews by their Code of Conduct. Here he initially provides quite a bit of detail about how the parliamentary machine works - somewhat interesting but bone dry – before launching into accounts of the major issues his boss had to address during her time as PM. At the top of the list was her desire (need) to ‘deliver’ Brexit. Secondary issues, but nonetheless major challenges in their own right, were: Grenfell, MeToo and Windrush and Northern Ireland.
Barnwell, who narrates the audio version I listened to himself, comes across as driven, highly intelligent and loyal. He also had a few good stories to tell, some light-hearted in-fill before the serious business to come. His accounts of how the secondary issues were addressed felt a bit too procedural for my personal taste, with lots of political language and bullet pointed actions. I found the content, though, very interesting and, at times, highly illuminating. But the real meat in the pie is his lengthy description of the Brexit negotiations and the wrangling with fellow politicians (in his own party as much as the opposition) and with officials from the EU.
Although anyone who owned a television or a phone through that period couldn’t help but find much of the detail familiar, it was the hidden haggling and arguing that I found particularly fascinating. This element certainly put a new slant on some of the key moments in that period and showed up just how self-serving so many politicians are – Boris, in particular, comes across very badly in this regard (no real surprise there). Another feeling I had reinforced is that of how manipulative politicians can be – again, not a surprise but it didn’t feel good to be reminded of the fact. There were also lies, deceit and backstabbing aplenty – and that was just amongst May's own team!
Some of the closing thoughts in the book relate to what might have happened with regard to Brexit if a few things had gone slightly differently. This is sobering stuff and demonstrated to me how small acts can have such significant consequences. Overall I found this to be an interesting account of a key period of political history for the UK. Unedifying as it sometimes is it’s how politics works, how big decisions are reached and how key impacts on all of us come about.
My thanks to W.F. Howes Ltd and NetGalley for providing a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review....more
An aging private detective taking on his final case, a young porn star desperate to know what’s happened to her missing ex-boyfriend, a pair of drug aAn aging private detective taking on his final case, a young porn star desperate to know what’s happened to her missing ex-boyfriend, a pair of drug addicts seeking an escape from their grim existence and an ambitious hairdresser who spots an opportunity to make some serious money. Their stories are told in rotational sections but we won’t know how they are to come together – as surely they must – until quite late on in this tale.
The broad story – I won’t go into spoiler detail – is that Los Angeles PI Mickey O’Rourke is hired to find Jeffery Strokes a porn star who has seemingly vanished without warning. We then step back twelve months to follow the activities of Richie and Alabama, who are undertaking ever more desperate acts to feed their drug habit. And a further year before that we meet up with Jemeka, a hairdresser, who with her boyfriend is to experience a violent meeting with a drug dealer. The action primarily takes place in and around the sex film studios of the San Fernando Valley and on the mean streets of Compton. Each strand is interesting in and of itself, with a good mixture of humour, suspense and sometimes real sadness.
As with all stories of this type, the major appeal for me is in meeting interesting characters who are believable and who I can and invest in. Here, I believed in every one of them and moreover I ultimately cared about the fate of each of them. Surprisingly, this is true even for those who undertook some pretty unsavoury and often violent acts - the author has pulled off a neat trick in this respect. The dialogue is smart and the action is brilliantly brought to life but the cleverest bit is how the various strands overlay in a way the maintained my interest and yet held back how they were to become ultimately interrelated. When it eventually came together it all made sense and led to an exciting finale in which I wasn’t sure who to root for the most.
I’d previously read and enjoyed Elliott’s first book Nobody Move, but this one is a clear step up and, for me, marks him out as a writer I’ll most definitely follow going forward.
My thanks to Into the Void and NetGalley for supplying a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review....more
Lucas Pereyra is a writer who isn’t really writing anymore and has allowed both his relationship with his wife and their joint financial health to witLucas Pereyra is a writer who isn’t really writing anymore and has allowed both his relationship with his wife and their joint financial health to wither. We discover that he’d met a woman during one of his periodic absences from home but that their mutual attraction had been interrupted by time and circumstance. They’d had just a few hours together before they were parted, their liaison frustratingly unconsummated. But now a meeting is scheduled, and a bigger plan is in also place, one that will, perhaps, allow him to write again – to fulfil his obligations and move forward.
Lucas lives in Buenos Aires, and his idea is to travel across the River Plate to Montevideo. There, he will collect a reasonably modest amount of cash he’s earned from foreign sales of his writing and smuggle it back to Argentina, thus avoiding a punitive tax deduction. Whilst in the Uruguayan capital he’ll meet with his the object of his fantasies, a resident of the city. It’s a plan that feels dodgy and potentially doomed from the start.
The story is told as a sometimes ranting monologue, punctuated by moments of dialogue between the various players. Pereyra alternatively moans about his lot, worries about the fact that his wife might be having an affair and frets about whether this woman that he’s only met fleetingly will share his desire to hop into bed on this day. It’s entertaining, insightful, and totally engrossing.
The story is short – novella length – and focused on a period of less than twenty-four hours. And yet, a lot is packed into this space. It’s well written, brilliantly observed, and I found myself both rooting for and frustrated by this man. There were moments when I could absolutely put myself inside his head, totally in sync with what he was thinking and feeling. Then, there were times when I worried about the man’s sanity and his ability to see the world through clear eyes.
The whole thing is wrapped up nicely at the end, not neat and tidy but in a way that makes sense. It’s a tale that is both satisfying and thought-provoking. Catch it if you can.
My thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review....more
It’s in the title, we know this will be a mystery concerning identity. But the identity of whom?
The sReview first published on mysteryandsuspense.com
It’s in the title, we know this will be a mystery concerning identity. But the identity of whom?
The story starts with a statement from the police department of a Vermont town concerning a manuscript they’ve recently received in the post. We’re given scant detail but warned that some of the content is disturbing. What follows is the story contained in the document. It takes us back to the mid-nineteen-eighties and introduces us to Wayland Maynard, a boy who at the age of eight witnessed the suicide of his father. At age sixteen he started to have doubts concerning what he actually saw that day and we are now to hear his full account of what transpired.
Wayland lived with his often absent mother and his wayward younger sister. The small group of support characters we meet include his best friend Clay, his sister’s scumbag boyfriend and Juliette, a girl that Wayland fancies from afar but is afraid to approach. Wayland and Clay do what teenagers do, which includes snooping around and catching glimpses of events that titillate and disturb in equal measure. But Wayland’s real focus is in delving back into the events of that fateful day, armed with a piece of evidence he removed from the scene and has kept to himself ever since.
Having been furnished with the background we are now treated to a fairly detailed account of events which occur over a short period of time. Wayland, Juliette (who he is now at least engaging with) and Clay are all involved, though there seems to be little discernible structure to their efforts. By now the author is adopting a tone which is part gothic horror, with his recurrent use of grandiose and hyperbolic language, but tempered with intermittent sections which have a softer coming-of-age feel. It’s an interesting mix of moods we’re being we’re being teased to adopt. The story is well paced throughout but as pieces of the jigsaw start to fall into place it’s suddenly full speed toward a final reckoning. A big finish seems likely – and that’s exactly what we get.
There are some jaw dropping moments in this story, scenes that are truly shocking and at least one which is likely to prompt a double take from readers. But is it possible that there are just too many surprise revelations to fully process and accept? Perhaps, for some, but I think most readers will simply roll with the punches and soak it all up. At its heart it’s an old story, but it’s told in a way that feels fresh. It worked for me and managed to hold me in its grip throughout.
My thanks to Blackstone Publishing for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
For me a short story lives or dies on its plot, which either catches me or the story simply passes me by. On the other hand I enjoy novels the most whFor me a short story lives or dies on its plot, which either catches me or the story simply passes me by. On the other hand I enjoy novels the most when strong character development meets great dialogue – a good plot helps, but I can live without it. So where does a novella sit? Well, I think it needs an element of both, and that’s tricky one to pull off.
Set in Virginia, it starts with a community of black people being evicted from their homes by a violent group of white supremacists. They are chased out of town and forced to gather together in the former home of Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence. Will they be safe here? They’re not sure but it increasingly looks like they’re going to have to defend their position against an overwhelming opposing force. The state has some history with race divide and the Unite the Right rally, which took place in Charlottesville in 2017, might have provided some stimulus for this tale.
The action here takes place in the near future, a time in which storms have created enough chaos for social breakdown to occur (global warming is hinted at as the cause). And it’s all energy at the outset as we are introduced a significant number of characters. We see the story unfold through the eyes of Da’Naisha a young university student who is a descendent of Jefferson’s (through his relationship with a biracial woman slave called Sally Hemings). But after the drama of opening scene the pace slows significantly until, belatedly, there’s a rapid build-up to a crescendo finish.
So what to make of this one? The history is interesting and it pushed me to undertake some background research in order to flesh out which elements here are factual – the answer being quite a few. But my major grumble is that there were just too many people who I met only infrequently in these pages. Consequently, I found it hard to empathise with the plight of most of them. Well, that’s not quite true, I did collectively but not individually and for me that's not quite enough.
This story definitely has its merits and I learned a lot through reading it, but as a piece of entertainment (selfishly my principal goal in reading this one) it didn’t quite knit together for me. After a hectic beginning it's slow to develop and though I was eventually moved by what took place it took a long time for me to reach this level of engagement. Da’Naisha is the character who is designed to draw the reader in and this did work, but dialogue is strangely absent for much of the story and when it is present it consists mainly of one-liners and the odd casual comment. Therefore, I can only award this one three stars, though I predict I might be an outlier in rating this one so modestly.
Note: I read a copy of this novella alone, though it will be issued as apart of a collection of the author's stories under the same title.
My thanks to Random House UK, Vintage and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review....more
This is the third book in the series featuring female homicide detective Eve Ronin. We’ve previously learned that Eve earned her promotion to detectivThis is the third book in the series featuring female homicide detective Eve Ronin. We’ve previously learned that Eve earned her promotion to detective through an act, caught on video, that the ambitious but beleaguered Los Angeles County Sheriff publicly utilised to create some positive press at time the department was beset by scandal. This made her unpopular amongst the rank and file and this antipathy was later further fuelled by her exposure of a destructive secret clan within the ranks. So we reach this point with the young detective looking over her shoulder wondering who has her back and who might be willing to stab her in the self-same place.
Each episode has thus far taken place in the space of a few months and so the wounds of the past – both physical and mental – are still fresh ones. Eve’s partner, a seasoned veteran who is most definitely on her side, is due to retire shortly and this is both a blessing and a curse: on the upside he’s keen to pass on as much of his accumulated wisdom as time will allow but the offset is that at the first sniff of anything vaguely dangerous he’s quick to beat a hasty retreat, leaving his inexperienced partner to face the music. The action takes place in and around the Californian city of Calabasas, an enclave for the rich and famous, close to their costal playground of Malibu.
This time we follow Eve as she investigates two cases: a series of robberies carried out in gated communities populated by wealthy homeowners and a strange event involving a still born baby. The set-up will be familiar to readers of Michael Connelly’s Bosch series, in that its lead character is a pushy, devoted (some might say obsessional) cop who has regular clashes with authority. The fact that it’s set close to Bosch territory further accentuates the similarities. And I don't view this as necessarily a bad thing as Ronin is an interesting character in and of herself and each of the cases here are intriguing in their own right.
As it happens, I did work out the answer to one of the key mysteries early on but truthfully this didn’t diminish my enjoyment. For me crime fiction is always about the people, their interactions and the dialogue first and foremost, everything else is a secondary consideration. And I do believe that therein lies the strength of this series. I really hope that Goldberg will be able to keep it going for some time, but my doubts about how long the core concept of a rookie detective (who seems to shoot often and takes too few prisoners) and her eve of retirement partner can be sustained does cause me to ponder whether this can be achieved. Either way this book and its forerunners are worth catching – not quite Bosch, but close enough.
My thanks to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review....more
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