Author: Steven

I was blown away when I discovered Harlen Coben and I am still a big fan of his Myron Bolitar series but I have some reservations  about his one off’s and Don’t Let Go has not changed that view.

A cop who doesn’t play by the rules, a pair of unresolved teenage deaths, hints of conspiracy. coven keeps the pace up in this easily readable book but it just seems to unbelievable and by the end pointless. I wouldn’t bother, if you want to read Coben at his best go back to the beginning of the Myron Bolitar series and start there.

3/5

I am a sucker for Swedish noir so I settled in to read Stockholm Delete by Jens Lapidus with enthusiasm. Disappointment followed. It’s a legal/lawyer lead plot with a few twists and turns but it turns into more of an ordeal than a pleasure. Either the characters aren’t well enough developed or they just aren’t captivating.

This is the first part of a trilogy, I’ll pass on the next two parts.

2/5

I never really fell in love with Salman Rushdie, Midnights Children passed me by, The Satanic Verses I found underwhelming and I couldn’t understand the outrage or ovation that it received from different quarters. So I started Rushdie’s latest The Golden House with little expectation, which meant that I had a very pleasant surprise.

Nero Golden, a wealthy Indian, immigrates to New York from Mumbai with his 3 sons in curious circumstances. As the novel unfolds, the back story in Mumbai becomes clearer while the impending sense of disaster grows. The story switches between the challenges in adapting to New York life faced by Nero’s sons, the machinations around Nero himself and what happened in Mumbai. There are strong resonances with recent political events both in the US and India. The climax, while somewhat predictable, is compelling – this is a literary page turner.

If, like me, you haven’t read Rushdie for a while The Golden House is well worth giving a try – you might even want to go back to some of those old hits to give them a second read.

4/5

Dinner at the Centre of the Earth by Nathan Englander is intriguing, sensitive and difficult to put down.

The central character is an unnamed prisoner in a secret Israeli prison. Gradually Englander shares the story of an immigrant who spies for Mossad, betrays his country because of his dismay at some of it’s actions and becomes a non-person. It’s difficult to know who are the good guys in this shifting muddle of loyalties and it’s only as you near the end that you think you know what is going on.

It’s easy to groan at the thought of another novel about Israel and Palestine but don’t, this is a humorous and sad novel that is well worth reading whatever your views on the conflict.

4/5

The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz is a clever riff on the the Watson and Holmes meme. Horowitz, who has previously written House of Silk an authorised new Sherlock Holmes novel, puts himself in the Watson role alongside Hawthorne, an ex Scotland Yard homicide detective with a mysterious past.

Diana Cowper walks into an undertaker’s shop and makes plans for her own funeral, a few hours later she is found murdered. Horowitz finds himself becoming Hawthorne’s chronicler and publicist as Hawthorne sets out to solve the murder before Scotland Yard. His reluctant and tetchy relationship with Hawthorne provides a neat subplot. The path of their investigations is reminiscent of the Holmes stories until Horowitz strikes out on his own.

This is a good read, the plot device of Horowitz playing himself and peppering the story with some personal details works well. The ending is very Holmesian and leaves room for a follow on novel with the same characters.

3.5/5