tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75313733416846441612024-03-21T06:18:18.644-07:00Adventures in Crime Fiction Land TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.comBlogger432125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-30442747134586191182022-03-10T13:27:00.001-08:002022-03-10T13:27:14.875-08:00Deep Cover by Shay Doyle with Scott Hasketh<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXsaTDpQHQjEuFMHWbsV17XyvyrxYFsT-Tg0dcpxkHtSgQvf7Yb-nHrhwImBuADgDwqCjHm-gFgaQqAUqdW6r95cLvp_mPKNWqNAaIJlbyYKu5ZSsy9Fu93RYrsgQAk1djGfRAWiXkGVlrA4t64nSbk28l31G6rbnvpi5i6ldwt-opFSrDYgzlGFUP=s392" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="255" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhXsaTDpQHQjEuFMHWbsV17XyvyrxYFsT-Tg0dcpxkHtSgQvf7Yb-nHrhwImBuADgDwqCjHm-gFgaQqAUqdW6r95cLvp_mPKNWqNAaIJlbyYKu5ZSsy9Fu93RYrsgQAk1djGfRAWiXkGVlrA4t64nSbk28l31G6rbnvpi5i6ldwt-opFSrDYgzlGFUP=w416-h640" width="416" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Shay Doyle (not his real name) grew up on a rough housing estate in Manchester. He came from a family which was on the wrong side of the tracks - they weren’t criminals per se, but they weren’t strictly law-abiding either, and there was lots of fighting with other residents of the estate. His father was what might be called one of the estate’s “hard men”. He also physically abused Shay’s mother.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">It was in part to escape his father that Shay joined the army. Here he was unruly, but dedicated, and quite the risk taker. He left the army and someone suggested he join the police. This he struggled with (most of his family and friends hated the police) but eventually did. Again, in the police, he was a risk taker and was never afraid to go toe to toe with criminals. This got the attention of the organised crime squad, who quickly recruited him (within just two or three years of joining the police, which is quite an achievement).</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">It was then suggested to Shay that he apply for Undercover Officer training, which he did. He got on the course and passed with flying colours. Soon, he became a Level 1 undercover operative. Level 2 operatives do buys of crack or heroin to build intelligence on street dealers, but level ones do long-term infiltrations. I’ve read a couple of biographies of Level 1 officers before, and most are only on assignment for a couple of months, and in between they’re in detective squads - such as CID. Shay appears to have been undercover for long periods of time and sent from one level 1 deployment to another, which makes him unique.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">As someone so utilised, he was used against some major criminals, though most of his assignments seem to have been against wider criminal fraternities. So, for example, he worked undercover in the Moss Side in Manchester, building a picture of the criminal landscape there, and again later in Cambridge. What he never seems to have done is been deployed against a major criminal or crime family, such as the Adams crime family in London, or the Noonan crime family in Manchester. So, he never seems to have been deployed to infiltrate such an OCG and “bring them down”. This isn’t a criticism of Shay, or even the police. As a layperson, I don’t know. Perhaps that’s not how it’s done, or such an operation would be too risky. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">That said, some of his work (albeit not his undercover work so much, but his intermittent work in the organised crime unit) led him to take on Dale Cregan and the OCG he was part of, after Cregan murdered two police officers, and then later, to pursue Paul Massey’s killers.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Throughout the book, Shay Doyle talks of being a bit of a maverick who was not afraid to take on criminals. And he complains that his bosses often thought he was out of control. I’m in two minds what to make of that. As it’s his biography, it’s easy to take his side and assume his bosses didn’t - as Shay complains - understand what it took to be a successful Level 1 undercover operative. But equally, one could ask whether he did stray over the line occasionally. I have to stress. I’m not suggesting he did. I’m not making any accusation against the author. And certainly the police command seems to have had enough confidence in him to keep using him. But equally, as with any biography, this is a one sided account. Unfortunately, due to the operations he writes about being secret, we’re never likely to have a more neutral account written by a journalist (such as Michael Gillard’s book, Legacy, which looked at a Met police officer’s battle with a London based OCG), so all we have is Shay Doyle’s account, and obviously he tells things how he sees them.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This is a very good and very revealing account of undercover policing in the UK. I’m sure it’s been vetted by the police prior to publication and there are operational details he can’t divulge, and it will have inevitable limitations because of that, but it’s well worth a read. </span></div></div><p><br /> </p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-54757038627427259142022-03-10T12:39:00.006-08:002022-03-10T12:39:58.520-08:00A Taste for Poison by Neil Bradbury<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgWzghK07-5tSx6s6ZmxeaPrmKnPvXtmVr6WnPx-cZdWuegcOmaq2JoS7lS9ABjOTJ6_bbMI_d-11fizlZ1E6VEOa6cD976H7WUvdI92liNm6JmkIMlKmkWtKN3JF-6-33sEmwau4Mtpjt6x-rNZlcqyQi66npe_Au7cnqfpzeT8amiGSUUpCL2GLNb=s383" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="255" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgWzghK07-5tSx6s6ZmxeaPrmKnPvXtmVr6WnPx-cZdWuegcOmaq2JoS7lS9ABjOTJ6_bbMI_d-11fizlZ1E6VEOa6cD976H7WUvdI92liNm6JmkIMlKmkWtKN3JF-6-33sEmwau4Mtpjt6x-rNZlcqyQi66npe_Au7cnqfpzeT8amiGSUUpCL2GLNb=w426-h640" width="426" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">A great book for the crime writer this, and as a crime thriller writer I was keen to read it. Each chapter is dedicated to a different poison, how it was discovered (if relevant, some have been around since “the dawn of time” to use a cliché), their legitimate uses, etc. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Then, through the use of a nefarious case study - someone murdered with the said poison, and how the murder was discovered and solved - the author shows how the compound works on the body, biochemically speaking.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This isn’t a science book, it’s easily comprehendible to the lay reader like myself, and is very readable and fascinating. Personally, I was reading this for research for my writing, but I’m sure many people would find this fascinating and it’s a great read.</span></div></div><p><br /></p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-36003921100250211752022-03-10T12:25:00.008-08:002022-03-10T12:26:34.187-08:00The Hungry and the Fat by Timur Vermes<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhUrRJtVtQdDyAZN20ym-R4Yyx04M1eSeC1f1OTvlxW7v4eJubhF-7EgA8Mdm5d7TAv_35iX0iutAUqu9McDSk-62He-1yqcBu6QQs28PEPVQt29rfwIXfBwArz0WDqiVGoCvKG21oB2NjN_jqd0AA10EwUymVFhlO3NoGkST5_bDQvRkbZvJVZCRqh=s392" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="255" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhUrRJtVtQdDyAZN20ym-R4Yyx04M1eSeC1f1OTvlxW7v4eJubhF-7EgA8Mdm5d7TAv_35iX0iutAUqu9McDSk-62He-1yqcBu6QQs28PEPVQt29rfwIXfBwArz0WDqiVGoCvKG21oB2NjN_jqd0AA10EwUymVFhlO3NoGkST5_bDQvRkbZvJVZCRqh=w416-h640" width="416" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">By the author of Look Who’s Back, a satirical novel about Hitler travelling through time to present day Germany, and how modern German society responds to him (which is well worth a read, by the way) comes this title. Again, it’s a satirical novel, and again, Like Look Who’s Back, it’s long. The Hungry and the Fat comes in at nearly 600 pages!</span></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This is a book about a reality TV star/presenter, Nadeche Hackenbusch, who goes to film her show, Nadeche Hackenbusch: An Angel in Adversity, in a refugee camp in sub-Saharan Africa. Her show previously has shown the plight of refugees living in hostels, but now they’re taking it to the next level. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And soon her show is a hit. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Nadeche herself is naïve and seems to care only about shallow things (handbags and make up, etc) but the TV executives underestimate her (as does everyone) and when she falls for the refugee who is the show’s fixer, Lionel, trouble is in store. Because one thing leads to another, and she and Lionel decide to walk to Germany to seek asylum. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">With 150’000 other refugees in tow.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The author paints a scenario where all the countries this human convoy passes through let them pass, because they don’t want to be stuck with them. At first the German government and the rest of the world don’t take them seriously, but as they get closer and closer, the panic sets in.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This is a great novel and despite its length, I was gripped all the way through. The plot is weirdly plausible, despite being far-fetched, and always topical (because when isn’t the world gripped by a refugee crisis), and I write this review while Russia wages war on Ukraine and refugees flee that war zone.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">While Ukrainian refugees are welcome (so far) many refugees are treated with hostility, whatever the suffering they've been through, and the author shows how those in Germany who want to be humanitarian are pitted against those who want to slam shut the gates of Fortress Europe. And all the while, the refugees are stuck in the middle.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">A fantastic read, as was Look Who’s back, I look forward to Vermes’ next novel.</span></p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-26929727481783828092022-03-10T12:14:00.000-08:002022-03-10T12:14:03.944-08:00Murder: The Biography by Kate Morgan<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiBDGqkpneFhVLBHI137KLEgHbnA5bYCkgaik0eiFxmV4sSHUuTIVWD4yBOVo9t__j-Y3nHS2o4bmUUPXZGniZ2r6rmHnSI6sn29vzcKUUF6JQlI2t85xxU6H8MvJvSDN0HKMwN6xvPOqPmRdQb3n514KCjfXsQWlsXEd31gajGpoyg1ggZB3RsMlD2=s390" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="255" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiBDGqkpneFhVLBHI137KLEgHbnA5bYCkgaik0eiFxmV4sSHUuTIVWD4yBOVo9t__j-Y3nHS2o4bmUUPXZGniZ2r6rmHnSI6sn29vzcKUUF6JQlI2t85xxU6H8MvJvSDN0HKMwN6xvPOqPmRdQb3n514KCjfXsQWlsXEd31gajGpoyg1ggZB3RsMlD2=w261-h400" width="261" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">A “biography” of murder and manslaughter in the UK told through legislation. This is really a biography of the law of homicide, rather than of homicide itself.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This was a fascinating read and gave a good insight into things like insanity defences, etc, through various test cases. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">That said, other reviewers have complained it wasn’t what they expected, because they thought it was going to be a “biography”/ history of murder itself, rather than the legislation (clearly they didn't read the blurb). I didn’t make that mistake, but I still felt this was lacking somewhat. For example, one issue I’m very interested in is Joint Enterprise and while this book covered that, it didn’t really do the topic justice (excuse the pun).</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Also, I didn’t find the book particularly illuminating on more recent history, such as the abolition of double jeopardy (which was covered, but not in enough detail).</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This title was much more interesting on historical cases, such as the grisly case that looked at cannibalism amongst sailors and the law of the sea.</span></div></div><p><br /> </p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-27485297175419747752021-11-22T08:37:00.001-08:002021-11-22T08:37:07.051-08:00Use Your Psychic Powers to Have It All by Uri Geller<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxwa63ifSxn3pWpDs-jWvzjRh1KrSEtHOdgiRM1WcZqAJTwN_wqICazVMT53nL2IBXv29rTKZh9EVph-cQgz0ouATO4TPg9o6pbgsaSNYqL08NRRLymVoSX4lK1WFYaMVLl23i7zfVL5o/s408/cover230204-medium.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="255" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxwa63ifSxn3pWpDs-jWvzjRh1KrSEtHOdgiRM1WcZqAJTwN_wqICazVMT53nL2IBXv29rTKZh9EVph-cQgz0ouATO4TPg9o6pbgsaSNYqL08NRRLymVoSX4lK1WFYaMVLl23i7zfVL5o/w400-h640/cover230204-medium.png" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Self-improvement titles are not my usual read and Uri Geller is someone who divides opinion. Some think he’s a true psychic, some not. So I picked this up on a whim, not exactly sure what I was going to get.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I actually found this title quite inspirational. You don’t have to believe in the author’s claimed psychic powers to benefit from this title, a lot of the content involved visualisation techniques and positive thinking methods which are helpful and effective.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This is a short book, but an engaging one, and Geller has a good writing style which kept me turning the pages.</span></div></div><p><br /></p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-22627073187162066642021-11-22T08:16:00.003-08:002021-11-22T08:16:13.816-08:00The Inheritance by Gabriel Bergmoser<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRAVYaa011-oqLTgOu8y7tC839cBvIStwUAQJyMy3T6QANhC75TGmfRXAqd5jcoEtumf3Qbw1_JstpadPL201TD2xja1gR-ptdDYI64Zu4fV7LQq4bVqMAalXgMWAzhyu4DqqeY612YgI/s391/cover232838-medium.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="255" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRAVYaa011-oqLTgOu8y7tC839cBvIStwUAQJyMy3T6QANhC75TGmfRXAqd5jcoEtumf3Qbw1_JstpadPL201TD2xja1gR-ptdDYI64Zu4fV7LQq4bVqMAalXgMWAzhyu4DqqeY612YgI/w418-h640/cover232838-medium.png" width="418" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">A sequel to the author’s brilliant first novel in the series, The Hunted, The Inheritance picks up a little after the first novel ended, with Maggie trying to live a quiet life while still searching for her mother. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">She’s got a job in a bar and when her manager is attacked by a patron who’s clearly extorting money, she follows the man and blows up the warehouse he’s in. She’s always been a little impulsive and has an urge for natural justice, after all. The man is linked to a drug cartel though, and it’s no surprise that he ends up following her to Melbourne, where she’s following a lead as to where her missing mother might have gone to.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">In Melbourne she falls in with an ex-cop friend of her father’s who she’s unsure she can trust and the two soon become cross paths with a biker gang called the Scorpions. Between them and the gangster following her, this is a recipe for violence galore.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The Inheritance isn’t as good as The Hunted in my opinion, but it’s still an excellent read. I would love Maggie to return in a third instalment and hope that she will.</span></div><div><br /></div></div><p><br /></p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-88783487941360588922021-11-22T08:08:00.005-08:002021-11-22T08:15:02.916-08:00The Witch Bottle by Tom Fletcher<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCzsliN5SZPLlP8CKuHDQ5PN-TZNPbaNCtcQEBjO6InQd-fVcUWR3wMlW0AfC_u3U0Qqfl5Sz4n0VBAmSPwgyptLmAPQXrao2Hr1YJaenpSElvy0dxUtWK8hpvdU7wVhpRS1Bcaj813sQ/s391/cover236320-medium.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="255" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCzsliN5SZPLlP8CKuHDQ5PN-TZNPbaNCtcQEBjO6InQd-fVcUWR3wMlW0AfC_u3U0Qqfl5Sz4n0VBAmSPwgyptLmAPQXrao2Hr1YJaenpSElvy0dxUtWK8hpvdU7wVhpRS1Bcaj813sQ/w418-h640/cover236320-medium.png" width="418" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Daniel is a milkman who’s split up from his partner and young child. He lives and works in a remote rural area and does his rounds and has little in the way of any social life. The village and surrounding areas are full of eccentric characters and his work colleagues aren’t all particularly collegiate or nice. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">It’s when people begin to have nightmares that the real troubles begins. And the Fallen Stock drivers (Fallen Stock being the people who collect dead animals up from farms) keep running people off the road. When Daniel meets Kathryn, a witch who makes witch bottles which stop the nightmares, and gets Daniel to distribute them to those afflicted, he soon begins to attract thew wrong attention.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This is a sinister and chilling novel which is expertly written and well worth a read. Highly recommended. </span></div></div><p><br /></p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-72512049685487310662021-11-22T08:04:00.000-08:002021-11-22T08:04:23.273-08:00The Watchers by A.M. Shine<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTrbqONkbrhp2puuTtR7ouqizDNrWJEKvtVwclncdoRaPf0rPoDbOiBin7mBZ7kWRKGg7gVRSJ1_ZYOlkEEXkZ-WdxgEWBPdOv6pNaPeMkDXUUT5aLr0qTUxOFIqi99nfJCZlkukOjqAc/s398/cover234969-medium.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="398" data-original-width="255" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTrbqONkbrhp2puuTtR7ouqizDNrWJEKvtVwclncdoRaPf0rPoDbOiBin7mBZ7kWRKGg7gVRSJ1_ZYOlkEEXkZ-WdxgEWBPdOv6pNaPeMkDXUUT5aLr0qTUxOFIqi99nfJCZlkukOjqAc/w410-h640/cover234969-medium.png" width="410" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">A novel set in Ireland, the protagonist Mina is an aspiring artist who's struggling for money, and accepts a job from a friend in the pub to deliver a parrot to a buyer. She drives into a remote part of Galway where her car mysteriously breaks down on the outskirts of a wood. She walks along the road which leads through the woods and this is the worst mistake she could make. Because at nightfall, with screams chasing her, she’s beckoned into a building by an older woman who then slams the door shut Inside, she finds her rescuer, Madeline, and two others, Daniel and Ciara. But now the real nightmare begins, because watching them through the window are monsters, who will kill them if they leave.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The Watchers is a fantastic horror novel, which delves into ancient Irish myths. I’ve been reading a lot of horror recently, and this is one of the best I’ve come across this year. Hugely enjoyable and well worth a read.</span></div></div><p><br /></p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-89152408338314298852021-11-22T07:25:00.003-08:002021-11-22T07:25:17.256-08:00Vine Street by Dominic Nolan<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEino6KcuUo1IY2uB9hzWKMz4a-b8fMOSAIqFnLPNqbq5dYV-d2JSnWFPpoJKr7xlXuSloYHVgARXU5ipEPCY6GM6fRyxvnLhW3vOUa-epwmp5V7Lv1S62MzSYQLiPswXLkCZsTwv2T3MdQ/s391/cover230516-medium.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="255" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEino6KcuUo1IY2uB9hzWKMz4a-b8fMOSAIqFnLPNqbq5dYV-d2JSnWFPpoJKr7xlXuSloYHVgARXU5ipEPCY6GM6fRyxvnLhW3vOUa-epwmp5V7Lv1S62MzSYQLiPswXLkCZsTwv2T3MdQ/w418-h640/cover230516-medium.png" width="418" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I’m a fan of Dominic Nolan’s first two novels, contemporary crime thrillers, Past Life and After Dark. Vine Street is a departure from Nolan’s previous books because it is a historical crime thriller, set in London in the 1930s. I’ve always loved London’s Soho and used to enjoy night outs there in the 1990s, and its reputation and history is rich and storied.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Vine Street is set in a world of organised crime set around prostitution, prostitutes, and corrupt police. With the war on the horizon in the first half of the novel, and then the war itself and postwar, there are also fascists in the guise of the Blackshirts and spies. And in the centre of it all, is a serial killer, whose murder spree crosses decades and whose killings aren’t recognised as such except by DS Leon Geats, a member of the porn squad, DS Mark Cassar of the flying squad, and WPC Willamina 'Billie' Massey.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This is a sprawling book, 600+ pages, and is an incredibly impressive feat. It’s a great story and the characters are well drawn and interesting. The serial murders are gruesome, the victim’s fates horrific to contemplate. The story is compelling and I highly recommend this novel.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></div></div><p><br /></p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-77316080139973867422021-10-08T07:48:00.001-07:002021-10-08T07:48:34.792-07:00Bad Apples by Will Dean<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpoE8o8-lNtBmV4EpJgr6kVm35FnxeK5Yd7ZMbD8FddtHsyhAtAZ14I192K_zUz7-uCDk_ZmOHB7NbnU48Mt6pClWLNKzKxFVrMrh_vbDtnPdP9cWadIrsOl4Jb1oyxJYirTQP-fxrSP0/s346/51v5NlrhJwL._SY346_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="225" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpoE8o8-lNtBmV4EpJgr6kVm35FnxeK5Yd7ZMbD8FddtHsyhAtAZ14I192K_zUz7-uCDk_ZmOHB7NbnU48Mt6pClWLNKzKxFVrMrh_vbDtnPdP9cWadIrsOl4Jb1oyxJYirTQP-fxrSP0/w416-h640/51v5NlrhJwL._SY346_.jpg" width="416" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The 4th in the Tuva Moodyson series, and Tuva is back in Gavrick, but her beat now extends to a town up the road, the hill town of Visberg. In fact, the story opens with Tuva visiting the town and after hearing a cry for help in the woods, discovering a headless corpse.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Will Dean’s strength is in his conjuring of eccentric characters. In the previous three novels he’s filled Gavrik and the surrounding woods with such people, and now he populates Visberg with more. And his best creation of all returns in this novel: the wood carving sisters, complete with their gruesome trolls.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Visberg is a town of secrets, not least its sinister festival of Pan Night, where the townsfolk all get together to engage in cult-like behaviours. And then there’s the no-questions asked storage facility. Indeed, while the plot of the novel is compelling, it’s this characterisation and environment which places Dean’s books a cut above the rest. There’s plenty here for future novels too, and I imagine Visberg will return to fill the pages of a good few Tuva Moodyson books yet.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">4 out of 5 stars </span></div></div><p><br /></p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-82218238904911528012021-09-18T06:12:00.000-07:002021-09-18T06:12:06.671-07:00Bloody Foreigners by Neil Humphreys<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWUILkYJs1Tta3CeCAu4pPE5r9DKXbjPT1SvM2JMpP9z63Zet-q3YazK3QNXH5sinZNScFcsJfRs00O0OTAJZFfXGeG-Ekir6udrAR2_ThybL2vPEdfivj6xKDKO4RjKP5Zvo3mtcwbFw/s385/cover227216-medium-2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="255" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWUILkYJs1Tta3CeCAu4pPE5r9DKXbjPT1SvM2JMpP9z63Zet-q3YazK3QNXH5sinZNScFcsJfRs00O0OTAJZFfXGeG-Ekir6udrAR2_ThybL2vPEdfivj6xKDKO4RjKP5Zvo3mtcwbFw/w424-h640/cover227216-medium-2.png" width="424" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Inspector Stanley Low is a Singaporean Detective in London to give a lecture at the London School of Economics. When a Singaporean man is stabbed to death, he’s asked to consult. Graffiti for the xenophobic group Make England Great Again was daubed above the body, which complicates things. Low is something of a loose canon, and so he needs to be kept in check by DI Ramilla Mistry, who also so happens to be his ex-lover.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Bloody Foreigners is apparently part of a series, though most of the books don’t appear to have been published in the UK, at least not be a publisher who markets them properly. I had seen the author’s work before but not read any of his novels, so this was my first introduction to his writing. Despite being part of a series, the book can be read as a standalone, as I did.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This is an enjoyable read, it has clear social commentary on the state and decline of the UK, without layering it on too thick. It’s one-part police procedural, one-part action thriller. There are parts of the narrative which stretch credulity a little, but nothing too extreme to spoil the enjoyment of the narrative. Low is an enjoyable misanthropic character, who despite his obvious flaws, is committed to justice and doing the right thing. the other characters are also well drawn out and I particularly liked the villains of the piece, especially a character who has more than a passing resemblance to Nigel farage.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This is a really enjoyable read and I’d recommend it.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">4 out of 5 stars </span></div></div><p><br /></p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-50404691691661170142021-08-02T08:14:00.002-07:002021-08-02T08:14:22.414-07:00The Dying Squad by Adam Simcox<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeuDc97D4V22DwD6d4J4kRy8wb_a_VjOSsvGd8WUcvUUFub3P6_qKjT4CTXnUcp223xuy8XjOmLp1T13BWzM2F5Tlhi5jZSHU6fzoPIsjUqu4FUhT7q1mDycDoE8kg9zc2JTUfWIRIbys/s391/cover220108-medium.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="255" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeuDc97D4V22DwD6d4J4kRy8wb_a_VjOSsvGd8WUcvUUFub3P6_qKjT4CTXnUcp223xuy8XjOmLp1T13BWzM2F5Tlhi5jZSHU6fzoPIsjUqu4FUhT7q1mDycDoE8kg9zc2JTUfWIRIbys/w418-h640/cover220108-medium.png" width="418" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Detective Inspector Joe Lazarus stands in a ditch outside a deserted Lincolnshire farmhouse. It’s being used by a gang of countylines drug dealers to store drugs. It's a gang he’s been working hard to bring down and he’s conducting a solo surveillance of the house. But then a teenage girl walks up to his hideout and asks what he’s doing. She seems to know about the operation and so he assumes she’s undercover police or an informant. She accompanies him into the house and there he finds a couple of dead drug dealers and his own dead body. Because Lazarus has himself been murdered and is now a spirit.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">So start’s his quest to solve his own murder. The girl, Daisy May, takes him to a bleak purgatory and The Duchess, the woman in charge of this halfway house of the afterlife, tells him if he wants to move on from there and to a better place (or perhaps worse) he needs to return to earth and find out who killed him and why. But there are complications. The air on earth is toxic and rots his memories, and if he doesn’t solve the crime quickly, he will lose his mind completely and be condemned to walk the earth, a mindless ghost.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The Dying Squad is the author’s debut and is a supernatural crime thriller. The book has two strands running through it - Joe’s attempt to solve his murder, which is the crime thriller bit, and the supernatural strand which brings in heaven and hell, and a sinister beast, the Xylophone Man, who snatches souls to carry down to eternal damnation. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This is a well-plotted novel, and the characters are compelling. Daisy May in particular is an interesting character. It also has a surprising twist, and I thought I knew who was behind Joe’s murder until near the end when the surprise was sprung. The narrative resolved itself well and is left open for a sequel, though it equally could remain as a self-contained story if the author wanted to write something else.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">An impressive debut by a novelist to watch. </span></div></div><p><br /></p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-89286357579691502312021-07-28T04:47:00.006-07:002021-07-28T04:48:25.948-07:00The Rule by David Jackson<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8jwZ1GEl_A_uosFg1zt8dMA5z0TtRbMlqmpGVWQVxem6DZsTOGniqwOwpBN-qzyb2QP65EuzEUoJtgy4B4ggM8S78NYCxrBMDs6m8Zf7QvaWv5P1bSevk6Dvlp6rsWwXpbY-QE0CGktI/s392/cover222589-medium.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="255" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8jwZ1GEl_A_uosFg1zt8dMA5z0TtRbMlqmpGVWQVxem6DZsTOGniqwOwpBN-qzyb2QP65EuzEUoJtgy4B4ggM8S78NYCxrBMDs6m8Zf7QvaWv5P1bSevk6Dvlp6rsWwXpbY-QE0CGktI/w416-h640/cover222589-medium.png" width="416" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">When we first meet Daniel we think he’s a child. He acts like a child and speaks like a child and his inner monologue is that of a child. But we soon learn he is in fact about to turn 23 and is looking forward to his birthday. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">But Daniel also has a rule which his parents insist he must follow, and The Rule is not to touch anyone. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">We soon discover why: Daniel is uncannily strong and can cause harm without meaning to. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Daniel lives with his mum and dad in a block of flats and one day they encounter a man in the lift, a drug dealer, and things go awry.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I won’t divulge spoilers but needless to say, Daniel’s strength now leads the family into great peril. Because the drug dealer’s associates want to know what has happened to him, as do the police, and it isn’t long before they’re all closing in</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The Rule is the second novel by David Jackson that I’ve read, after his excellent novel The Resident. This isn’t a sequel, but it’s similar in that it takes a surprising premise and runs with it. Like The Resident, The Rule is well worth a read.</span></div></div><p><br /></p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-66664603311209866052021-07-28T04:44:00.000-07:002021-07-28T04:44:13.107-07:00The Colours of Death by Patricia Marques<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN_VaGpDzrJqYGTo2Rd1h2j5LLX-_J_Sd7WU0dgVaqp9pUExdQIscNN5YgImBVy-fFJOaCs3oetXM5MSPwUBL3fkHZ4IHPOLcuXYU1dPTdPMPzHxQJwzpWxVAU95XJskJ1c9tSETn_GP4/s392/cover213609-medium-2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="255" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN_VaGpDzrJqYGTo2Rd1h2j5LLX-_J_Sd7WU0dgVaqp9pUExdQIscNN5YgImBVy-fFJOaCs3oetXM5MSPwUBL3fkHZ4IHPOLcuXYU1dPTdPMPzHxQJwzpWxVAU95XJskJ1c9tSETn_GP4/w416-h640/cover213609-medium-2.png" width="416" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This is an intriguing novel set in an alternate universe Lisbon where a small percentage of the population have psychic powers and are treated with mistrust by the rest. When a man inside a train carriage is lifted by invisible forces and slammed against the carriage walls until he’s dead, psychically gifted Inspector Isabel Reis is put on the case. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This is a good and original sci-fi which touches on various issues, not least the prejudice minorities face. The gifted community are treated with suspicion by most, and hatred by more than a few, especially after an event in the past where a powerfully gifted girl caused a disaster. In this way their treatment is reminiscent of how Muslims are treated today: a tiny minority commit atrocities and yet the majority suffer intolerance because of it. The victim is linked to the head of a powerful anti-gifted party and this too has strong similarities to the anti-immigrant nationalist parties we have today. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">There’s a slight oddity to the narrative in that we never learn the wider context - how the gifted came into existence (it’s a relatively new phenomenon) and whether they exist anywhere else in the world. Indeed, the wider world outside of Portugal is never mentioned. That said, this doesn’t spoil the story at all, it just leaves the reader with some unanswered questions.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">A great read this, and presumably there’ll be a sequel. If so there’s plenty of space for the author to flesh out the world she’s created.</span></div></div><p><br /> </p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-49281080973493808602021-07-28T02:07:00.003-07:002021-07-28T02:07:36.713-07:00The Basel Killings by Hansjörg Schneider<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDrbYxoBghZu0c1_cPgtop17ziBPOXIoh1iGxOj513wY3RiIqBDozWWtCY4v7DXRzLlQ5T5foZPYkNvWZkBXO8k5hudLKgTnD7jo3eUNcXh8fnh73sg2Fg6sxWY8uVHkxPYG_P4IW-Nl4/s1280/Basel+Killings+Cover.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="834" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDrbYxoBghZu0c1_cPgtop17ziBPOXIoh1iGxOj513wY3RiIqBDozWWtCY4v7DXRzLlQ5T5foZPYkNvWZkBXO8k5hudLKgTnD7jo3eUNcXh8fnh73sg2Fg6sxWY8uVHkxPYG_P4IW-Nl4/w416-h640/Basel+Killings+Cover.jpeg" width="416" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">It’s the end of October, though it could be December, as it’s unseasonably cold and wet. The setting is Basel, a city in northwestern Switzerland. It’s late at night and Inspector Humkeler is walking home, a little worse for wear, when he spots someone he knows, old man Hardy. He stops, hoping to beg a cigarette from the old man. But Hardy is dead, his throat slit ear to ear. The police and media assume it is the work of Albanian drug traffickers, but Inspector Humkeler remembers an earlier case, that of Barbara Amsler, who was murdered in a similar fashion. He investigates and visits Basel’s seedier side - the red-light district and underworld - and soon finds a conspiracy which leads to the political and industrial elite.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This is the first novel in a new series and it’s the first book by the author that I’ve read. It’s a solid noir, reminiscent of the Private Investigator novels of old, in that Inspector Humkeler is very much doing his own thing. He’s part of the police, but because the force he belongs to is pursuing the Albanian drug trafficker angle with which he disagrees, he’s conducting his own investigation.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Switzerland is a rich, industrial nation, but it has its darker side. Well known for laundering dodgy money through the its banking system, but the country also has its fair share of illegal migrants and the people who prey on them, prostitution and drug trafficking. In a past life I worked as a journalist for Channel 4. I worked on a documentary filming in Switzerland which touched on some of these issues. The author does a good job of portraying this scene, the desperation of those who fall victim, and the unsavoury characters who ply their trade.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The Basel Killings is an excellent book and a strong start to a series.</span></div></div><p><br /></p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-68308431833493143112021-06-25T03:29:00.002-07:002021-06-25T03:29:56.958-07:00Passenger List by J.S. Dryden<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1jNTdn6iQ4aVangqwqJzcB0CpaJooY9FRVOLhMzR7-5ZtRaAJJC-y0h_qPvpScWObMs0_4ZmPUVjteRWzb8NkYy6hhVgySh5FyfW6kr7VtT0O5ZywAi_zF_ASJI6C583bB-AXwJB4r90/s393/cover219934-medium.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="393" data-original-width="255" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1jNTdn6iQ4aVangqwqJzcB0CpaJooY9FRVOLhMzR7-5ZtRaAJJC-y0h_qPvpScWObMs0_4ZmPUVjteRWzb8NkYy6hhVgySh5FyfW6kr7VtT0O5ZywAi_zF_ASJI6C583bB-AXwJB4r90/w416-h640/cover219934-medium.png" width="416" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">When Kaitlin Li’s twin brother, Conor, disappears after Atlantic Airlines Flight 702 vanishes while flying across the Atlantic, with all passengers and crew presumed dead, she becomes obsessed with solving the mystery. She sets up a Facebook page for tips and is soon investigating. Inevitably this leads to a whole heap of conspiracies and various people who might be kooks, spies, or various shades of baduns.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The tragic, and downright weird, tale of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared without a trace over the Pacific in 2014, clearly inspired Passenger List. MH370 has inspired many conspiracy theories and these are clearly also an inspiration for Passenger List. In real life I have no time for conspiracy theories, but in fiction I love a conspiracy thriller. For example, personally I suspect Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole assassin of JFK, but I love a JFK conspiracy novel or film and Oliver Stone’s movie might be hokum but was great fun.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">That said, as I read Passenger List I wondered whether this was going to be just a rehash of MH370 conspiracies, all pushed along by cardboard cutout genre fiction tropes and two-dimensional characters. This is a novel inspired by a podcast (a drama podcast, obviously. Not a true crime one). It feels cardboard cutout and there is little depth to the characters. That said, the plot moves along at pace and when the final denouement occurs it is believable, even for someone like me who doubts conspiracy theories in real life. The author doesn’t go with the most outlandish theory, but ends with something much more realistic, knowing as we do how governments have a tendency to cover their backs. </span></div></div><p><br /></p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-57997574522078699942021-06-25T03:21:00.002-07:002021-06-25T03:21:42.915-07:00Anthrax Island by D.L. Marshall<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqtz7SSZt8I2E7rsqnvIPb8YfPIrBRHKFQFjx0xfukegXOVaWZjsKLn17coFS5A5MkjPXom6U9lFG1L-cZmSddNq9N7-yF5aSqVUTnspIq4acyRMtAElcjYjfksDS1C0GIUiXHj-JwuoE/s391/cover214958-medium.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="255" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqtz7SSZt8I2E7rsqnvIPb8YfPIrBRHKFQFjx0xfukegXOVaWZjsKLn17coFS5A5MkjPXom6U9lFG1L-cZmSddNq9N7-yF5aSqVUTnspIq4acyRMtAElcjYjfksDS1C0GIUiXHj-JwuoE/w418-h640/cover214958-medium.png" width="418" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The island of Gruinard, off the coast of Scotland, is the setting for this novel. It’s an actual island which was poisoned with anthrax during the second world by a British Government experiment on germ warfare. Unfortunately anthrax spores are hardy and the island remained polluted for decades until a hugely expensive clean up operation. But what if the government failed in their endeavours and anthrax has returned? Such is the scenario painted by debut novelist D.L. Marshall.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">A technician has died from a virulent strain of the disease. Attached to the new scientific mission to clean up the island, his death is a mystery and the intelligence services despatch freelance operative John Tyler (under the guise as the technician’s replacement) to investigate what has happened. It quickly transpires that the technician’s death might well be foul play and so John has a captive cast of suspects (for obvious reasons access to the island is strictly controlled). </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">What follows is one part locked room mystery, one part spy thriller. It’s an interesting set up and John Tyler is a well-drawn protagonist. The suspects are well-drawn too, and the novel is adeptly plotted. Did I guess who the killer/killers were? Well, no, I must confess that I didn't. But they were credible and their motives believable when the reveal came, and the narrative led to a satisfying denouement.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Tyler himself is clearly set to return in a sequel and it will be interesting to see his back story. He’s an action hero in the mould of many in the espionage/action genre, though Marshall tells us he’s never been in the military. That was a little confusing as we gather he knows his way around weapons, etc. But I’m sure Marshall will explain this as the series continues and I’m not somebody who needs everything to be spelt out on page one of book one.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This was a great read, and Marshall is a great talent. Bring on book two in the series.</span></div></div><p><br /></p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-73508173080548153492021-06-25T02:49:00.004-07:002021-06-25T02:49:51.474-07:00I Know What I Saw by Imran Mahmoud<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Zy2pq4jNa3AdkrqkL5qEEtHvp910O5e1WhFa56l3sSktlgLVROop2pQ6JE9A5dZXNaFCR_YEq_F5e1flEn7hImDsPP5Fx-TcTBO5FX0rhWsudI_hVUoZO-pOLmh9SB3ptX0QWLf3mSw/s389/cover213950-medium.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="389" data-original-width="255" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Zy2pq4jNa3AdkrqkL5qEEtHvp910O5e1WhFa56l3sSktlgLVROop2pQ6JE9A5dZXNaFCR_YEq_F5e1flEn7hImDsPP5Fx-TcTBO5FX0rhWsudI_hVUoZO-pOLmh9SB3ptX0QWLf3mSw/w420-h640/cover213950-medium.png" width="420" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Xander Shute is a once wealthy banker now living on the streets. After a fight with another homeless person in a London park, Xander sees an open door and shelters inside someone’s flat. Only they return when he’s there and he witnesses the woman of the house being murdered. Filled with shame at his cowardice in not stopping the assault, Xander becomes obsessed with finding out who her attacker was and bringing him to justice.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This is the author’s second book and a worthy follow on from his excellent debut, You Don’t Know Me. It’s not a sequel and does not follow on from his earlier title (although I would encourage people to read both books, as they’re both excellent). </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">While the two titles have something in common in that they’re both told in first person from the protagonist’s point of view, and the reader has to decide how much of their account to believe, Xander Shute is a much more unreliable protagonist than the young man on trial who was the centre of the plot of the author’s debut. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Xander had quite an eccentric childhood, fiercely bright but encouraged by his father to compete with his much more gifted younger brother, a contest he always lost. This led to years of resentment on Xanders' part, although his brother was always kind to him. But then tragedy struck and Xander went off the rails and now his memory is flawed. Throughout the narrative he discovers things about his past which cast his memory of the murder in a new light. This keeps the reader guessing until the end.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I Know What I Saw is a brilliant read and I finished it in just a couple of sittings. Xander is a sympathetic character, and the plot is compelling. This is a great read.</span></div></div><p><br /></p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-2073172009211080822021-06-17T11:40:00.000-07:002021-06-17T11:40:19.227-07:00True Crime Story by Joseph Knox<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmD1I4V4cfr-YiJHL3ODuyyvhTp11XxQb8BKJexcIYx0ie-Tto9dJR4M2X1psjojlIfQKrx-CaqFNL46TQMnwcBxIJHGSLQvvMGRDJg37R0yOoFQjhQ26qah1gT2XUnPHqD2X60aaHLbs/s500/51Ejo7w19iS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="352" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmD1I4V4cfr-YiJHL3ODuyyvhTp11XxQb8BKJexcIYx0ie-Tto9dJR4M2X1psjojlIfQKrx-CaqFNL46TQMnwcBxIJHGSLQvvMGRDJg37R0yOoFQjhQ26qah1gT2XUnPHqD2X60aaHLbs/w450-h640/51Ejo7w19iS.jpg" width="450" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Zoe and Kim Nolan are identical twins who have recently enrolled at Manchester University. They’re housed together in a flat in a hall of residence, and the narrative revolves around them and their flatmates, and some other students they befriend. Most important is Zoe’s boyfriend, Andrew Flowers, her course mate, Fintan Murphy, a flatmate of the twins, Liu Wai, and one of Andrew’s housemates, Jai Mahmoud. Other friends and flatmates appear in the narrative but are less central. Soon after the term begins, just three months into their time at university, Zoe Nolan goes missing and is never heard from again.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">True Crime Story is written as a true crime book (hence the title) and includes emails between the author, Evelyn Mitchell, and a character called Joseph Knox (yes, THE Joseph Knox), who in an act which kind of breaks the fourth wall, appears in the narrative of his own novel. There are even references to Knox’s brilliant Sirens trilogy. Evelyn is obsessed with the case and interviews all the surviving participants - Andrew Flowers, Fintan Murphy, Liu Wai, and Jai Mahmoud, and Zoe and Kim’s parents, as well as the police liaison officer and some other people who become involved in the case.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The case became a media sensation, with Andrew Flowers, Kim Nolan and Jai Mahmoud in particular, coming under suspicion. Evelyn pulls on these threads, and on others, and soon exposes the dark underbelly of this story. For example, the twins' dad is quickly exposed as a repellent piece of work, as are others.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This is an innovative crime thriller that will keep readers guessing until the end and is not like many books on the market. It’s well worth a read.</span></div><div><br /></div></div><p><br /></p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-65596088341064041192021-05-17T05:25:00.002-07:002021-05-17T05:25:58.293-07:00Geiger by Gustaf Skördeman<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAZ1lTUTiBy2CtAs_1fFm12sKl02kN1rIFQN31FVAax8DxkIdY9-2rd7xrG6lEOr_OXW9-64VU6LPMmBRyLEs3mEKqKk1F_CjAsechHUT1UM2YiV84R2V387C8wgxkObeqBfRYlxpeoQA/s381/cover214024-medium.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="381" data-original-width="255" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAZ1lTUTiBy2CtAs_1fFm12sKl02kN1rIFQN31FVAax8DxkIdY9-2rd7xrG6lEOr_OXW9-64VU6LPMmBRyLEs3mEKqKk1F_CjAsechHUT1UM2YiV84R2V387C8wgxkObeqBfRYlxpeoQA/w428-h640/cover214024-medium.png" width="428" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">A landline rings, just as Agneta Broman, the wife of Stellan Broman, a post-war Swedish TV celebrity who the Swedish viewing public saw as an “uncle” to the nation, is waving her grandchildren goodbye. She answers the phone only to hear one word: “Geiger”. She immediately digs out a gun she’d kept hidden for years, shoots her husband dead, and disappears.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">So starts this absolutely brilliant Swedish crime/espionage thriller.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Sara Novak is a vice cop who grew up a friend of the Broman’s daughters, Lotta and Malin. She was always the poor friend, her mother the Broman’s housekeeper, and as the narrative continues we learn the Broman daughters bullied her somewhat. She’s drawn into the investigation and it soon becomes an obsession. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The police only know that Stellan is dead, and Agneta is missing, and are unaware that she was the one who murdered her husband. But as the bodies pile up and things point to a motive linked to the cold war and the conflict between the Communist East and that Capitalist West, it isn’t long before a nest of international intrigue is discovered.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The publishers billed Geiger as the most gripping debut since I Am Pilgrim, and I have to say I thought the analogy was apt. This is an ambitious thriller, encompassing big themes, not least, the Cold War and its legacy, establishment sex rings and cover-ups. Sara is an interesting protagonist, while Agneta makes for a brilliant antagonist, reminiscent of the anonymous English assassin in Frederick Forsyth’s The Day of the Jackal. In both novels the police and protagonist are unaware of the identity of who they are after until near the end, and this is a device which works as well in Geiger as it did in Forsyth’s classic.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">At the time of writing this review, Geiger is my book of 2021. There’s still a good few months to go, so other titles might well surpass it, though I suspect even if this were to happen Geiger would remain a close contender. Either way, this is a brilliant novel and highly recommended. </span></p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-41057603949873187652021-05-17T05:03:00.031-07:002021-05-17T05:11:22.680-07:00Bullet Train by Kotaro Isaka<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9qV8bJiKB4PN1i16iXj8SgzQET6fqRSD3EtlpgIQf5oFcSf-PrsoS8w4jgtIp15DnixEA91FlE-UMM0SmtyLLCQJl3yGgx4exeFDTMC8Tkw2zH1JduQaN15RBO0RxadTUy1MZzPRQ-Ts/s383/cover205224-medium.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="255" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9qV8bJiKB4PN1i16iXj8SgzQET6fqRSD3EtlpgIQf5oFcSf-PrsoS8w4jgtIp15DnixEA91FlE-UMM0SmtyLLCQJl3yGgx4exeFDTMC8Tkw2zH1JduQaN15RBO0RxadTUy1MZzPRQ-Ts/w426-h640/cover205224-medium.png" width="426" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Korean movie-makers have a long history of producing wacky, violent thrillers - Oldboy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance being the most obvious examples; their horror movies, too, are renowned, such as the zombies-on-a-train fest which is Train to Busan. But in narrative fiction, too, Korean writers often produce works which are similar; The Plotters by Un-Su Kim, is a notable example. Japanese cinema and narrative fiction has its own tradition of such off-beat mayhem, albeit not as well known as Korea’s. But Kotaro Isaka’s barmy novel, Bullet Train, which is being made into a movie, might well bring the country out of its neighbour’s shadow.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The description on the dust jacket reads: “Satoshi looks like an innocent schoolboy but he is really a viciously cunning psychopath. Kimura's young son is in a coma thanks to him, and Kimura has tracked him onto the bullet train heading from Tokyo to Morioka to exact his revenge. But Kimura soon discovers that they are not the only dangerous passengers onboard. Nanao, the self-proclaimed 'unluckiest assassin in the world', and the deadly partnership of Tangerine and Lemon are also travelling to Morioka. A suitcase full of money leads others to show their hands. Why are they all on the same train, and who will get off alive at the last station?”</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">But this gives only a taste of the mayhem that is to follow. Bullet Train builds the tension slowly but surely from the first page. It isn’t non-stop action, and neither are the gangsters and assassins mentioned on the dust jacket the only ones on the train, or the only ones to feature in the narrative; soon it feels like every passenger and member of the crew is out to kill someone else. That said, the characters mentioned are the main protagonists, and the author takes the time to flesh them out. My favourites are Tangerine and Lemon, a duo who bicker amongst themselves like an old married couple. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">But it’s Satoshi who steals the show. Frankly, I haven’t read a more chilling character since Hannibal Lecter in Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs. In this schoolboy, the author constructs a true psychopath, far worse than many of the schlock versions in your average slasher movie, and I imagine far more realistic too.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Bullet Train is a brilliant novel and is wonderfully cinematic. It reads like a story set for the big screen, so I wasn't surprised to learn an adaptation was in the works. I’ll definitely keep an eye out for anything else written by this author.</span></div></div><p><br /></p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-62193425428411589312021-05-14T05:08:00.004-07:002021-05-14T05:11:29.284-07:00Seat 7a by Sebastian Fitzek<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg47Iwe6iavyINhzqlExm99QXqq1cgXsUEn_2zHNa2jDaYdMLdYuf78_1u0R78aaejH-btuuHJHbrneLiKCyoAa0wK3F1FlFylJog39OGoto2t8rL_bn1l12eCD_gk-zG_Sw5HN6epBm0U/s2048/Fitzek_SEAT+7A_HB.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1313" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg47Iwe6iavyINhzqlExm99QXqq1cgXsUEn_2zHNa2jDaYdMLdYuf78_1u0R78aaejH-btuuHJHbrneLiKCyoAa0wK3F1FlFylJog39OGoto2t8rL_bn1l12eCD_gk-zG_Sw5HN6epBm0U/w410-h640/Fitzek_SEAT+7A_HB.jpg" width="410" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Mats Krüger is a German psychiatrist living in Argentina. Despite treating phobias and other psychological conditions in his professional life, he ironically suffers from aerophobia, an irrational fear of flying. Mats is estranged from his daughter, Nele, after running out on his wife on her death bed and having an affair. Nele is heavily pregnant and Mats is intent on flying back to Germany to be with her at the birth, with the hope of patching things up. But when she books a taxi to take her to hospital for a caesarean, Nele is kidnapped and taken to a derelict dairy. There her kidnapper ties her up and points a live video camera at her. He rants about the cruelty of the dairy industry and what misery cows have to live through. <span style="text-align: left;">Meanwhile, a mystery caller contacts Mats on board the now airborne flight and orders him to psychologically destroy an old patient of his, who works as a flight attendant on the plane. The caller wants the woman to become psychotic and homicidal and cause the plane to crash, killing all onboard. The caller tells Mats that if he fails to do this, the kidnapper will torture Nele and the baby and kill them.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Thus we have the setup for another madcap psychological thriller by the German author Sebastian Fitzek. Fitzek has made a name for himself with preposterous plots and over-the-top stories. Seat 7a is no different and takes as its inspiration several disasters which have afflicted aviation over recent years. Most notably the German Wings disaster of 2015, which is mentioned during the narrative, in which a disturbed pilot crashed a jet into a mountainside killing all on board. Equally pertinent might be Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which though as yet unfound, many believe the pilot or co-pilot to have purposefully crashed into the sea (though I think Seat 7A was published before the MH370 disaster). But regardless, these disasters and others like them have led the European Union and others to debate what they can do to stop them, including mandatory blood testing and psychological screening. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">As with one of Fitzek’s previous titles, Passenger 23, the plot of which took place on a cruise liner, Fitzek has clearly researched air travel extensively. For example, he references the safest places to be on a plane during a crash, and those where you’re guaranteed to die. I haven’t checked these facts out for myself, but I checked out some of his research for Passenger 23 and it all proved correct, and so I wouldn’t be surprised if he was accurate here, too. It all helps him to spin a fiendish web of intrigue.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Factual detail aside, Fitzek’s books are always extremely far-fetched and require a suspension of disbelief. But to be fair to him, that’s all part of the fun. He’s the antithesis of a certain type of police procedural writer, who strenuously strives for believability. Instead, Fitzek offers a rollercoaster ride of plot twists and non-stop tension, and if you accept that and run with it, his books are a very enjoyable read. </span></p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-54603142353874853832021-04-26T03:01:00.000-07:002021-04-26T03:01:00.471-07:00Facets of Death by Michael Stanley<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-04wJ54C4C5P_0UYa8wOJSIRns6ZsdUwdf1E5TZtYJ4gKFCIx-zNggkKSV7Df37fsdjq_kCmnhNWks3kjRnNRFvH0y7CjKmJGcH0Ww4zZ_k-bJmxi6OhQ7qWKU15ACvD2T4nPsqi2jW0/s2048/Facets+of+Death+cover+VIS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1329" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-04wJ54C4C5P_0UYa8wOJSIRns6ZsdUwdf1E5TZtYJ4gKFCIx-zNggkKSV7Df37fsdjq_kCmnhNWks3kjRnNRFvH0y7CjKmJGcH0Ww4zZ_k-bJmxi6OhQ7qWKU15ACvD2T4nPsqi2jW0/w416-h640/Facets+of+Death+cover+VIS.jpg" width="416" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The Detective Kubu novels by Michael Stanley are an established series and Facets of Death is a prequel, jumping back in time to when Kubu first joined the force as a fresh-faced, fast-tracked detective, straight out of university. As with fast-tracked graduate recruits in police forces everywhere (for example, I’ve heard this is the case in UK police forces, too), Kubu attracts the envy and suspicion of those not on the speedy-promotion route. So he has much to prove and soon gets the chance to do so. When a local diamond mine is robbed of a huge haul of gems, his opportunity to slay his doubters presents itself.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">For a good few years so-called Nordic-noir was the big thing in crime fiction. Crime novels set to a backdrop of chilly Scandinavia are still going strong, but for readers such as myself who never really got onboard with the whole Scandi-thing, and who prefer other locales, the steady rise in crime fiction set elsewhere - Australia and South Africa to name just two - has been welcome. The Kubo novels are set in Botswana and I love how Michael Stanley uses the land, wildlife, culture and traditions to bring these stories alive.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Facets of Death is no exception and we have witch doctors, curses, black magic and voodoo aplenty. This is a rich vein which Stanley has tapped in previous Kubu novels (or should that be later novels, seeing as this is a prequel) and it always adds an intriguing dimension to the plot. It’s no exception here, as it adds a unique blend to what is in effect a heist story. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">This is a great addition to the Detective Kubu canon and while it can be read as a standalone, by being a Kubu origin story, it also casts the rest of the series in a new light. I’ve always been a fan of prequels and origin stories and have never understood why some people don’t like them, and I really enjoyed fleshing out the character of Detective Kubu in greater depth.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div></div><p><br /></p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-7133862846378627362021-04-25T07:43:00.011-07:002021-04-25T07:47:07.434-07:00Vanished by James Delargy<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW5zK9yI1ZD2cyv9C8YvSLNz1CzMPke0zrsNy_eqSzR7EB5P4EiqYcearz9UhP1XkQyZh8x8Nteo-5Sv9Gvepid_EuFvNAGTuK4G89KihtnpQ_xTTSc295C3GXu2Nkg_9XBMhIajicQt8/s2048/Vanished+Cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1332" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW5zK9yI1ZD2cyv9C8YvSLNz1CzMPke0zrsNy_eqSzR7EB5P4EiqYcearz9UhP1XkQyZh8x8Nteo-5Sv9Gvepid_EuFvNAGTuK4G89KihtnpQ_xTTSc295C3GXu2Nkg_9XBMhIajicQt8/w416-h640/Vanished+Cover.jpg" width="416" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Set in the outback of Australia, a young family who have run from their troubles, have now vanished. Lorcan Kane, an analyst employed by a data company which is owned by two brothers with a shady past, has stolen some valuable data from them; Naiyana, Lorcan’s wife, is an activist who has almost bankrupted a major foodstuffs conglomerate, and upset some powerful people in the process; their six-year old son, Dylan, is an innocent along for the ride through no fault of his own. They ran to the abandoned mining town of Kalyee, where they tried to renovate an old wreck of a house. But they soon discovered an illegal mining operation, and with the past chasing them, something happened and they've disappeared. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Detective Emmaline Taylor is put in charge of finding out what happened to them and it isn’t long before she discovers that it’s something bad. Whether it’s the miners, someone from Lorcan’s past, or someone from Naiyana’s, it’s apparent that the family’s hopes of reinventing themselves in the middle of nowhere has gone seriously awry.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Vanished is told from various character’s perspectives in the past (the period of the Kane family’s stay in Kalyee) and from Detective Taylor’s perspective in the present day (after the family has been reported missing). The narrative pieces together all that has happened, reveals how the family’s dreams soured, and what has happened to them. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I don’t want to divulge spoilers, so will say no more, but this is a deftly plotted novel which keeps you guessing until the last page. It’s well worth a read.</span></div><div><br /></div></div><p><br /></p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7531373341684644161.post-29225478174335594692021-04-19T08:19:00.001-07:002021-04-19T08:19:22.345-07:00The Source by Sarah Sultoon<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxvNyH-F8mkVJPAZy1wf55jwgVLPjV9yggR24LZikucnks3WvD4IgnYD5nJUsCBIhPCBTE0cXhOoCis01tKhSBPvDVpDvgNuiAUmh-TBC5XFhd0y_ybYUSkfAoisHKAuJu4PfOvE001JQ/s2048/The+Source+Proof+cover+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1334" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxvNyH-F8mkVJPAZy1wf55jwgVLPjV9yggR24LZikucnks3WvD4IgnYD5nJUsCBIhPCBTE0cXhOoCis01tKhSBPvDVpDvgNuiAUmh-TBC5XFhd0y_ybYUSkfAoisHKAuJu4PfOvE001JQ/w416-h640/The+Source+Proof+cover+%25282%2529.jpg" width="416" /></a></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Marie is a TV journalist working on the production side (editorial, behind the camera, rather than a presenter or reporter) and employed by a major television news channel. She and her team are investigating a sex trafficking ring and have undercover footage of the traffickers selling a young woman. But just as they are about to broadcast the story, the Metropolitan police announce a breakthrough in Operation Andromeda, an investigation into historical sexual abuse in the army. Andromeda has been an enormous scandal, because although the police secured some convictions, many of the suspects escaped prosecution. Now they claim they have further leads which merit reopening the inquiry, and this overshadows and thus scuppers the sex trafficking investigation that Marie and her team have spent months working on.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Meanwhile, in alternate chapters set in the past at the time the abuse was occurring, we meet Carly, the daughter of an alcoholic and neglectful army widow. As far as Carly is concerned, the only good thing in her life is her baby sister Kayleigh. Carly’s older brother, Jason, is a soldier and he provides the family with food and essentials. But soon he helps groom Carly and her friend Rach for the sexual abuse occurring in the barracks.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The Source is told through two timelines - that of Carly experiencing the abuse and that of Marie, who first is investigating the sex trafficking ring, but when that’s superseded by Operation Andromeda, works on the news channel's investigation of that. From the outset it’s clear Marie knows more about the historical sexual abuse within the military than she lets on, and it isn’t long before both stories, that of Marie and that of Carly, converge.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">The Source is a very well-written novel. When I first picked it up I assumed it was going to be a more straightforward thriller set in a newsroom, and as a former TV journalist myself, I had mixed feelings about that. Sometimes such stories seem to me to be a little navel-gazing. But the author, Sarah Sultoon, resisted this, and while the story is ostensibly about a journalist, in fact it’s about much more than that. Instead, the topical issues of historical sexual abuse, how society treats victims of such abuse, and the institutional coverups which often occur in such situations, take centre stage. While the issues touched on are sensitive, this isn’t a gratuitous book, but rather a gripping story that will keep the reader turning the page.</span></p>TheReaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16013841340448769149noreply@blogger.com1