|
The Singing Sands by Josephine Tey. Vintage Greenback British Crime 6/10 |
|
|
By bookworm on
2/29/2008 9:02 AM
|
|
|
|
Josephine Tey’s novel The Singing Sands [First published 1952] is a strange uneven book. It starts off so very well with a mystery you can get your teeth into that draws the reader in, and then the main character her Inspector Grant trails around Scotland to unravel the mystery (none of which has any link to Scotland at all). From this point on the book takes a nosedive. The plot is lost, the characters bizarre, the narrative increasingly complicated and the ending is a literary device guaranteed to annoy the reader.
|
 |
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Country of the Blind by Christopher Brookmyre. Tartan noir 10/10 |
|
|
By bookworm on
2/26/2008 3:27 PM
|
|
|
|
If you’ve never read Christopher Brookmyre, you’ve missed a treat – this book – Country of the Blind [ISBN 0 7515 3185 5] is perhaps not as outrageous as some of his earlier ones, but still the satire is strong and clever, and the plot is as brilliantly convoluted. He does a political satire better than most and the narrative is skilful and just draws you along. The characters appear firstly as caricatures but then it becomes clear how well drawn they are – and how they grab the reader. Good ending too.
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
The Soft Talkers by Margaret Millar. Vintage Greenback American Crime Fiction 10/10 |
|
|
By bookworm on
2/25/2008 3:52 PM
|
|
|
|
This vintage novel [First published 1957] is an example of a brilliantly conceived and written crime fiction novel both by the standards of its time and also compared with modern writing. The plot is very good indeed, and must have been copied since, many times. It is, however, the structure of the narrative that makes it so special – several preliminary scenes set the context and the characters- and then the story unfolds getting nearer and nearer to the truth. The various clues dropped along the way keep the reader engaged and active, but even so, the ending is still a surprise.
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Are you afraid of the Dark by Sidney Sheldon. Bond-type Adventure 6/10 |
|
|
By bookworm on
2/23/2008 1:38 PM
|
|
|
|
I have called this a Bond-type adventure, though there is no Bond equivalent in Are you Afraid of the Dark by Sidney Sheldon [ISBN 978 0 00 779633 5]. It is reminiscent of such adventure stories in that there is a plot involving unknown international major powers and all kinds of nasty work-at-the-crossroads for folk that get in their way. Characterisations are broad brush and a tad dated whilst the narrative itself is so chopped about it can either intrigue or annoy the reader (it did both for me in equal measure).
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Turning Angel by Greg Iles. American thriller 8/10 |
|
|
By bookworm on
2/22/2008 3:35 PM
|
|
|
|
You can’t say that Greg Iles’s novel Turning Angel [ISBN 0 340 83371 8] is anything but well-written, he’s a first-rate story teller and is not frightened of exploring new avenues in content – nowadays, this always means, of course, more daring, more gruesome, more salacious. This book also has a many layered plot – just when you think you know who did it, another suspect is produced. However, it’s a big book and the suspense strung out quite a long way – the story has just too many red herrings for my attention span, and without some judicious skipping I might never have reached the final denouement – after all, you have to care who did it and if the author makes you wait to long, you lose interest.
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
The Life and Times of The Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson. Autobiography 10/10 |
|
|
By bookworm on
2/17/2008 9:55 AM
|
|
|
|
Bill Bryson’s latest autobiographical book The Life and times of The Thunderbolt Kid [ISBN 978 0 552 77254 9] tells a deceptively simple narrative of his early life growing up in Des Moines, Idaho during the 1950s. It is amusing and often quite hilarious, but so very perceptive, and tells us so much about the American psyche of hubris and consumerism, and indeed, much more.
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
The Riverman by Alex Gray. Scottish noir crime fiction 9/10 |
|
|
By bookworm on
2/14/2008 11:07 AM
|
|
|
|
Alex Gray’s The Riverman [ISBN 978 0 7515 3873 1] is another fine Scottish noir crime novel – set in Glasgow like Denise Mina, but not quite as noir or gritty as her novels, but very atmospheric and focussed. The plot is very good, though I did find the undoubtedly well-written narrative a little slow to start (hence the picky 9/10) and it took me quite a time to find a rhythm.. However, persistence was well rewarded and I thought it was excellent, interesting read
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
The daughter of time by Josephine Tey. Vintage Greenback Vintage historical whodunit 6/10 |
|
|
By bookworm on
2/13/2008 2:09 PM
|
|
|
|
Josephine Tey’s The daughter of time [First published 1951] is historical fiction written up as a story within a story – which makes a mechanism for padding and creating a level of suspense that would disappear if the story were written without the frills. It deals with whether Richard III did actually kill the Princes in the Tower or not, and the scholarship that went into looking into this is exemplary and makes it a useful read for those who like such analysis.
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
The Acupuncture Murders by Dwight Steward. Vintage Greenback American crime fiction 4/10 |
|
|
By bookworm on
2/12/2008 1:44 PM
|
|
|
|
I’m sure that this book – Dwight Sterward’s The Acupuncture Murders [First published 1973] was ahead of its time when published – it was possibly breaking new ground for the time. A deaf main character and sleuth give many challenges for narrative and clues – given the difficulties of hearing and sound coming into everything – there’s not much dialogue with a deaf character though this author manages this very well. Unfortunately its just too clever for its own good. All the action and clues become so complicated that the reader has a difficult time to a) keep up and b) stay awake
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Angels Passing by Graham Hurley. British Police procedural 9/10 |
|
|
By bookworm on
2/11/2008 2:03 PM
|
|
|
|
Graham Hurley’s crime fiction novel Angels Passing [ISBN 978 1 4072 0694 3] is the first of his books I’ve read, but appears to be the third of a series with this detective – Joe Faraday. The plot (or rather two plots) is put together well, and the narrative, consisting of two separate crime investigations intertwined in a masterful fashion always moves well, without the clunkiness many split narratives have. However, because the author has rather artificially got a member of Faraday’s family involved in the crime story (I hate that – it smacks of running out of ideas) I have deducted the point.
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|