Category: Genres

Rush of Blood

steven Leave a comment

In Rush of Blood by Mark Billingham three British couples meet on holiday in Florida and are witnesses to the disappearance of a child from the resort. Rush of Blood is told thorough the back stories of the three couples and their interactions once they have returned home as the investigation unfolds on both sides of the Atlantic. Gradually you realise that one of the 6 was responsible for abducting the child.

Rush of Blood is challenging because all of the characters are unpleasant and yet at the same time you are aware that much of this is misdirection. I read this with a sense of fascination watching a train crash in slow motion and at the same time eager for it to be over. Mark Billingham is usually much better than this, if you have enjoyed his Tom Thorne series you may be disappointed by this stand alone novel

2.5/5

Kingdom of Twilight

steven Leave a comment

Kingdom of Twilight by Steven Uhly is a massive novel that starts with the assassination of a young SS officer in Poland and traces the consequences for the various participants over the next 4 decades, ranging from Poland to Germany to Israel.

When I started this I thought that it was unbearably grim and looking down at the corner of my Kindle I saw that I had over 10 hours of reading ahead of me. I almost gave up, I’m so glad that I didn’t. Instead I dug in and read the whole thing in 2 or 3 big sessions over a weekend, it is mesmerising.

I thought I knew a fair bit about the challenges that holocaust survivors faced after the war but Kingdom of Twilight opened my eyes to how much the survivors suffered again in their efforts to find resettlement and new lives outside of Germany. Uhly is a German author and this is not a Nazi bashing novel, it is a story of how far people will go to to survive, the challenges of facing the past and the extent to which those in power will elevate pragmatism and politics over humanity. In the end it is a wonderfully uplifting book which I could not have predicted when I started.

I know my European Jewish background makes me slightly biased but I thought this was a fantastic read, thought provoking, tense and mysterious.

This is a must read and the first time in ages that I have wanted to give a novel 5/5!

Spook Street

steven Leave a comment

Spook Street is the fourth in the Slough House (or Slow Horses) series by Mick Herron. Slough House is the dumping ground for Secret Service employees who have seriously failed on the job but cannot be sacked, the bunch of misfits and discontents are plagued with mind numbing tasks and tormented by their boss Jackson Lamb in an endeavour to get them to take early retirement. You never get to find out what Lamb did to get sent to Slow House but he clearly carries some punch with the top level of the Service that keeps him in his job and protects his staff.

The novel starts with an ageing retired spy who is suffering from the onset of dementia, an attempt on his life that brings into question how the Service would deal with a spy who became a potential risk, a suicide bomber in a shopping centre and the murder of one of the Slow Horses. Spook Street combines a very contemporary plot with lots of allusions to current politics and security concerns with a cover up within the Service of a misjudged and out of control operation that dates back nearly 30 years and inevitably lots of ‘office’ politics.

If you want to give the Slough House series a try I encourage you to start at the beginning with Slow Horses followed by Dead Lions and Real Tigers, then read Spook Street

Mick Herron is writing some of the best modern spy thrillers in the UK. Gripping, clever, unsettling, highly believable and drily humorous. I can’t recommend him enough.

4.5/5

Bloods Echo

steven 2 Comments

Bloods Echo by Isabel Maldonado is a pacy page turner – I read it in one sitting, could not put it down!

Veranda Cruz is a narcotics detective in the Phoenix PD engaged in a highly personal war with a Mexican drug cartel who threaten her and her family. There is some good misdirection, a side order of romance and a great climax to this first novel plus a slight opening in the ending to pave the way for a follow on novel.

This is good easy reading and would make a great movie, worth trying out.

3.5/5

 

That’s Me in the Middle

steven Leave a comment

That’s me in the Middle by Donald Jack is the second in the series of novels about Bartholemew Bandy a Canadian World War 1 pilot. Jack served in the second war and subsequently wrote the Bandy series between 1962 and 2002.

Bandy is a somewhat chaotic upper class character who seems to get buffeted by events as he stumbles through the Great War. ‘That’s me in the Middle’ feels like classic farce with the scenes tenuously threaded together until the end when it almost makes sense. It is light, humorous and very reminiscent of Jeeves and Wooster but in parallel there are chilling observations on the horror and human waste of the war.

I wasn’t enjoying reading “That’s me in the Middle”, I am not a fan of a genre that eulogises the lifestyle of the old British aristocracy or the mad cap escapades of its heroes (although I love modern farce such as the novels of Jonas Jonasson) but by the time I got to the end of it I had changed my mind, it’s not great but it isn’t terrible. If you want something light about war (yes I know what a contradiction in terms that is) this might be worth a read.

3.5/5

Blue Light Yokohama

steven Leave a comment

Blue Light Yokohama by Nicholas Obregon is a stunning debut novel set in a very dark Tokyo.

Inspector Iwata, new to Tokyo, is assigned to a brutal  murder that has already caused the suicide of the previous investigating officer. Corruption, cults, flashbacks and more twists and turns than the Corniche, this is a cracking novel that builds to a great climax.

I can’t wait for Obregon’s next book

4.5/5 (nothing’s perfect)

Spaceman of Bohemia

steven Leave a comment

I’m not sure about Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar. It’s quirky, amusing but somehow unsatisfying.

This tale of the first Czech astronaut, his abortive mission, the breakdown of his marriage and his friendship with an alien spider just didn’t do it for me. Literary and sort of humorous, but ultimately pointless. I like my scifi with a bit more mystery and perhaps some tension or drama.

Others may rave about this but I would give it a miss

2.5/5

Ragdoll

steven Leave a comment

I wasn’t sure about Ragdoll by Daniel Cole at the beginning, it felt like it was a screenplay rather than a novel. It turned into a cracking page turner and well worth reading.

Ragdoll is a tense and disturbing novel – a dismembered body, a serial killer, confusing and compelling. Loads of twists and turns right to the end. Excellent debut.

If you like PJ Treacy or Michael Billingham, this is one to try

4/5

Darktown

steven Leave a comment

Darktown by Thomas Mullen is set in Atlanta in 1948. Atlanta has just appointed its first black police officers to patrol the black ghettos within the city. The murder of a young black woman looks like being ignored and covered up by the all white detectives until two black officers start asking questions.

I loved this, it is charged with racial tension, historic detail and a plot that you don’t want to put down. It’s well written builds to a superb climax and I can’t recommend it enough. If you like hard boiled crime, read this. I’m looking forward to reading more by Mullen

4.5/5 (because nothing is perfect)

Here I Am

steven Leave a comment

I wanted to read Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer because I’d read reviews of his previous work but never got round to reading him. This combines jewish angst, family breakdown and sexual awakening – sort of Howard Jacobson meets Philip Roth. If that sounds promising to you give it a try.

I can’t describe Here I Am because, unusually for me, I didn’t finish it. I was groaning and moaning my way through it and when I got about a quarter of the way through I realised that I couldn’t care less what happened this was just spoiling my holiday.

1/5 (only gets the 1 because it might have improved if I had the will to finish it)