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The Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin. Superior crime fiction 10/10 |
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By bookworm on
1/31/2007 9:37 AM
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Ian Rankin’s The Naming of the Dead [0 7528 6858 6] is so good its like an exercise in superior writing. Again featuring his imperfect but inspirationally dogged DI Rebus, he displays a talent for plotting and compelling narrative I have not met in any other contemporary writer. Its why it had to be the hardback rather than waiting for the paperback…..
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Gridlinked by Neal Asher. Science Fiction 9/10 |
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By bookworm on
1/30/2007 11:26 AM
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Neal Asher’s Sci Fi novel, Gridlinked [ISBN 0 330 48433 8] is very nicely put together, the plot coherent and the imagined world structured and interesting (without too many cheats) – the narrative builds suspense throughout the book and the characterisations of the humans at least, pretty rounded for a sci fi book.
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The Affirmation by Christopher Priest. Science Fiction 6/10 |
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By bookworm on
1/28/2007 2:22 PM
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Christopher Priest’s Sci fi novel The Affirmation [ISBN 0 575 04283] is addictive without being a good read – the reader is drawn into finding out what is happening and after reading the book blurbs again realises that this is a view into the voices of madness, of an introduction to the other worlds of schizophrenia. So the book is interesting without being a particularly good read, if you can follow me.
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Woken Furies by Richard Morgan. Science Fiction 7/10 |
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By bookworm on
1/27/2007 10:43 AM
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Richard Morgan’s Woken Furies [ISBN 0 575 07325 X] is a big sci fi novel, and in this lies my problem with it. It is complex and dense with a convoluted story line, which means that every time you put it down and pick it up again, your eyes glaze for a while and you struggle to make sense like someone just wakened from cryostasis. I only managed to keep going by trekking over the past chapter until light dawned. Having said that this novel is sneakily good
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The Best Revenge by Stephen White. Crime thriller 9/10 |
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By bookworm on
1/26/2007 1:01 PM
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This story, The Best Revenge, is the second in the Stephen White Omnibus Edition [ISBN0 7515 3788 8] and is equally as good as the first. The plot sucks you in and keeps you guessing right up to the end, and the narrative is cleverly crafted to maximise suspense and keep the reader engaged. The characters are very well drawn: again, the psychiatrist hero is not the usual know all perfection and the cast are quite rounded for this kind of action thriller
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Warning Signs by Stephen White. Crime fiction 9/10 |
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By bookworm on
1/25/2007 6:25 PM
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Warning Signs by Stephen White is one of the two stories in my copy of a Stephen White Omnibus [ISBN 0 7515 3788 8] and is an excellent read. For a thriller the plot is of the first order and the narrative peels interesting clues and action throughout the book. Though the psychiatrist, the central character is a bit of a wimp, his hesitations, mistakes and self-analysis serve to focus and illuminate the plot and on-going action, and is the anchor to the story
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S is for Silence by Sue Grafton. Superior Crime fiction 10/10 |
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By bookworm on
1/24/2007 9:33 AM
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Ever since I found the alphabet series of Sue Grafton I have been a fan, and she gets better with each novel. S is for Silence [ISBN 0 330 43888 3] is very good indeed. You’d think that given this is a series with the same PI that she would begin to feel repetitive, thin and stale. Not so, the plot is tight and sharp, the narrative excellently flowing and suspenseful and the characters seem more real as each book comes. Sue Grafton comes in my top 10 of crime fiction writers
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By the Light of my Father’s Smile by Alice Walker. Literary Fiction 5/10 |
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By bookworm on
1/23/2007 2:40 PM
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Alice Walker’s By the Light of my Father’s Smile [CN 2633] is one of those literary fiction novels where the author is vaguely experimental in form, (I would unkindly call this “being too clever”) and this adventure into the novel (bad pun) detracting from some underlying interesting ideas about relationships. The jacket blurb is full of “celebration of …spirituality… crossing conventional borders …denied sexuality leading to loss of …original self”. The language is pseudo-north American language of therapy, hiding a novel whose major claim to interest is a heavy upfront titillation of women’s lovemaking.
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Split Second by Alex Cava. Crime thriller 6/10 |
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By bookworm on
1/22/2007 12:44 PM
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Alex Cava’s crime thriller Split Second [ISBN 0 7783 0105 2] is uncannily so like Patricia Cornwell that I could swear they are both using the same Plots-r-us ideas. The heroine is being followed about by a past protagonist (so very familiar). The plot is tired and as each book comes it stretches our belief more and more. The narrative is fast and pacy and, like with Cornwell, doesn’t allow any of the promising love interest to develop (only in these novels are their wonderful and perfect men willing to wait forever being understanding whilst the women says “I’m not ready yet”).
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The Shift by George Foy. Science Fiction 7/10. |
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By bookworm on
1/20/2007 2:26 PM
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I liked George Foy’s The Shift [ISBN 0 553 50611 0] a great deal, but it did tail off towards the end – its hard to control this when the plot leads into more and more bizarre avenues and the author can barely keep it stapled together with the preceding chapters. The idea of virtual reality is already here, but Foy extrapolates into a future where people can participate in their own individual soap. The narrative in pacy and the suspense builds well throughout the book – it only really comes a little unglued in the later stages
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