Recommendations

A Horse Walks into a Bar

Steven Leave a comment

A Horse Walks into a Bar by David Grossman is an uncomfortable read to say the least.

Dovaleh (David) is an ageing stand up comic performing in a poorly attended bar in Netanyah in Israel. Instead of telling the jokes that the audience had expected they are exposed to the detail of his personal tragedy and some formative events from his childhood years. Several of the audience members turn out to be old friends who had been invited to this performance at whom the personal pain is partly directed.

This is one of several books by Israeli authors focussed on the the early life stories of the children of Holocaust survivors who arrived in Israel before 1948. The parents were scarred by the events they experienced and then had to adapt to making a new life in a new country, the children struggled to balance integration in the evolving Israeli society with their loyalty to their parents. Dovaleh is one of these kids.

This is a profoundly disturbing read, I felt like a voyeur who was compelled to watch someone’s melt down and unable to turn away. I can’t say that I enjoyed it but I didn’t want to put it down until I had finished it. The end was a little flat but perhaps after the emotional rollercoaster ride that was a relief rather than a disappointment.

A Horse Walks into a Bar won the Man Booker Prize for 2017

4/5

Birdcage Walk

Steven Leave a comment

There is a dark tension about Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore. This historical thriller/mystery is set in the radical community of Bristol at the end of the 18th century.

Lizzie Fawkes’ mother Julia is an iconic pamphleteer in the radical politics of the time, Lizzie moved from town to town with her mother and stepfather until they settled in Bristol where she met her husband John Diner Tredevant, a builder and developer. As the story unfolds, Lizzie’s husband and mother pull her in different directions while uncertainty gnaws at the reader.

The period and setting are fascinating, the dark tension is pervasive from early on and builds to a good climax but overall there was something contrived and unsatisfying about Birdcage Walk

3.5/5

Crimson Lake

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Crimson Lake by Candice Fox is set in a small town outside of Cairns in Northern Australia.

Ted Conkaffey is an ex police officer accused of abducting and assaulting a teenage girl, the prosecution was abandoned but he is never cleared of the crime that he denies. He moves to Crimson Lake in an attempt to restart his life. Amanda Pharrell runs a private investigations agency in Crimson Lake after her release from a 10 year sentence for the brutal murder of her friend. this unlikely pair of private detectives are trying to solve the mystery of a missing author while at the same time their personal back stories are unwinding.

This is a tense mystery thriller, right to the end you are uncertain of the guilt of the detectives or the fate of the author. Crimson Lake bowls along at a good pace, I liked the characters and the treatment of the alleged child abductor by the local vigilantes is thought provoking.

Well worth a read, there is a second novel planned with these characters which I will look out for.

4/5

Butterfly on the Storm

Steven Leave a comment

Butterfly on the Storm is the first in the Heartland Trilogy by Dutch author Walter Lucius.

A young boy is found outside Amsterdam, the victim of a hit and run incident, he mutters a couple of words to journalist Farah Hafez who recognises a fellow Afghani refugee which starts a fast paced political crime thriller that spans the Afghan revolution, the Russian invasion, attitudes to refugees, people smuggling and child abuse at the higher levels of society. This is a cracker of a novel, inevitably it will be compared to Larrson’s Millennium Trilogy (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo etc) but I found it more grounded and less dependent on techno miracles. I’m looking forward to reading the next in the series.

4/5

The Gin Palace Trilogy

Steven Leave a comment

The Gin Palace Trilogy by Daniel Judson is set in Southampton, Long Island. The hero ‘Mac’ MacManus is a working class detective in a small town who ‘helps people out’ and gets into some pretty tough situations as a consequence, particularly with the corrupt chief of the local police. Through the series his back story unfolds along with that of his deceased parents, the chief, his friend Augie and the dark figure of Frank Gannon.

These are fast paced, dark and gritty novels, there is a lot of violence and perhaps a few too many unlikely escapes but even so worth a read.

3.5/5

Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions

Steven Leave a comment

I picked up Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions by Mario Giordano because of the intriguing title, which stirred thoughts of some of the Scandi humour of the last couple of years. Auntie Poldi is a middle aged German widow who has chosen to while away her latter years in a small Sicilian village with her nephew (hence the ‘Auntie’) and sisters-in-law except that she can’t just soak up the local colour and alcohol. She finds herself drawn into solving the disappearance of her handyman, Valentino which involves a close encounter with boss of the local Mafia and an enchantment with the investigating detective.

This is a charming humorous novel with some good characters and and a lovely Sicilian flavour, it isn’t heavy crime but it has sufficient twists to keep you interested. Definitely worth a read and I’m looking forward to the next Poldi novel in 2018

3.5/5

The Last Paradise

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The Last Paradise by Anthony Garrido starts out in depression New York in 1931. Jack Beilis desperately seeking work to feed himself and his father is forced (or tricked) into joining the workers seeking to make a new life for themselves and their families in Russia.

Stalin’s Russia is not the workers’ paradise that Jack and his fellow Americans were longing for – hunger, cold, exploitation and  political intrigue. At first Jack seems to be prospering at the expense of many of his compatriots but is his success just an illusion? There seems to be no way back to the US.

The Last Paradise moves at a good pace and had enough twists to keep me interested. The historical detail made me want to  read more about the period

3.5/5

Police at the station and they don’t look friendly

steven Leave a comment

Police at the station and they don’t look friendly is the 6th in a series by Adrian McKinty. How could you resist a novel with a title like that? This was an Amazon “daily offer” which grabbed my attention (but why oh why if you want to get me hooked do you send me the 6th in the series rather than the 1st?).

Sean Duffy, the principal character, is a catholic detective in the Royal Ulster Constabulary based in a staunchly protestant area during The Troubles. A drug dealer is found murdered by crossbow, soon after a similar attack. Is there a serial killer on the loose? Are one of the paramilitary groups responsible? It appears that someone wants to prevent Duffy from getting to the truth but inevitably he is determined to get his man even if they try to murder him as well (wouldn’t be much of a crime novel otherwise).

This is brilliant. It’s dark, gritty, full of twists, turns and surprises and has a nice touch of humour running through it, while providing a very convincing impression of the challenges facing the police in Northern Ireland in the 80’s. McKinty seems to be a real gem and I am looking forward to reading more of his work.

4.5/5 (because almost nothing is perfect)

Blood Forest

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Blood Forest is an intense and gory debut from Geraint Jones. Set in AD 9, Blood Forest follows a Roman legionnaire through the campaign to subdue the Germanic tribes of northern Europe. The hero, Felix, has forgotten (or hidden) his true name and origins providing a layer of mystery to the character.

This is heavy on action and gore but the plot is limited and the characters are underdeveloped (possibly because so many die off). The ending was disappointing with little of the plot resolved and leaving the surviving characters ‘up in the air’, everything is teed up for a follow on.

If you want an idea of what it was like to fight in the Roman army 2000 years ago then you might well enjoy this (I am not sure how historically accurate it is), I didn’t really care and just wanted it to finish as soon as possible – sort of the equivalent of watching a movie with your hands over your eyes and peeping through the cracks. I’ll pass on the next one.

2/5

Prussian Blue

steven Leave a comment

I first discovered Philip Kerr on a visit to Partners & Crime bookstore in New York in 2007 (now closed unfortunately). A chat with one of the staff seeking some recommendations for new crime writers introduced me to Philip Kerr, I have been a fan of his Bernie Gunther series ever since. Gunther is a tough murder detective struggling to maintain his integrity, pursue criminals and steer through the political maze of Nazi Germany. Gunther is a great character that you return to in each novel with enthusiasm, Kerr also has a good eye for historical detail and the realities of surviving and/or flourishing under the Nazi regime.

Prussian Blue is the 12th in the series, each book stands alone and their is next to no dependency on having read it’s predecessors so you could jump in with Prussian Blue or start at the beginning with March Violets. Prussian Blue starts in 1956 with Gunther working in a hotel on the French Riviera trying to lead a quiet life, he becomes entwined in an operation ordered by Erich Mielke the head of the Stasi and things go downhill from there. The plot flits between 1956 and a case that Gunther had in 1939 just before the start of the war. It’s tense, atmospheric and at times quite humorous, well worth reading.

4/5