|
The Tunnel Rats by Stephen Leather. Thriller 9/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/31/2006 10:28 AM
|
|
|
|
Stephen Leather’s The Tunnel Rats [ISBN 0 340 92216 8] is one of the Jack Higgins/Frederick Forsyth genre of thriller writing that I usually avoid like the plague – and yet The Tunnel Rats was a really great, absorbing Bank Holiday read. The plot is just ingenious, intriguingly unravelled bit by bit as the narrative tension mounts – the suspense in truly exciting, and when you think you know what is happening, the ante is racked up again.
|
 |
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Where or When by Anita Shreve. Romantic/Literary Fiction 6/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/30/2006 9:39 AM
|
|
|
|
Anita Shreve’s novel Where or When [ISBN 0 316 906409] is based on a Romeo and Juliet theme, but where Romeo and Juliet part, grow up and then meet again. The story is simple, and the work is in the characterisation and narrative, which is quite powerful – however, though the book works through some universally significant themes to do with the issue breaking a marriage with children for new loves, what is going to happen is never really in doubt to the reader, and is pretty downbeat (which some people love, though I try to avoid).
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
The Death Card by Walter Satterthwaite. Murder mystery 6/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/28/2006 1:58 PM
|
|
|
|
Walter Satterthwaite’s The Death Card [ISBN 0 00 232497 0] is a light murder mystery with “laconic wit” set nicely in Santa Fe – so the context is interesting even when the book labours. The plot is quite slight but the narrative is quickly moving and when the detective’s endless questioning of the suspects gets tedious there is another happening to throw more spanners into the plot and give him even more work to
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
The Light of Day by Graham Swift. Booker prize winner 6/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/27/2006 10:56 AM
|
|
|
|
Graham Swift’s The Light of Day [ISBN 0 141 01201 3] has the OTT cover crits of a Booker Prize winner “powerful and gripping exploration of ……..integrity and self discovery” “sensational and romantic” “the poetry and the tragedy lurking in ordinary life” etc etc so I was very disappointed in it. The story covers a day in the life of George who is in love with Sarah, and is kept apart from her due to a major crises that happened a year ago.
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
The Perfect Husband by Lisa Gardner. Crime fiction 8/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/26/2006 10:27 AM
|
|
|
|
I’m ambivalent about Lisa Gardner’s The Perfect Husband [ISBN 0 75281 430 3] – it has an excellent plot, and the narrative is fast and scary and I must admit I was gripped from beginning to end. However, this is from the stable of the Tami Hoag school of writing, that is gratuitous scenes of high octane titillation between flawed little women who need protection plus large mute strong men with problems - style (funnily enough there is a quote from Tami Hoag on the book cover).
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Malice Aforethought by Francis Iles. Vintage English crime fiction 6/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/25/2006 3:17 PM
|
|
|
|
Francis Iles crime fiction novel Malice Aforethought [ISBN0 75286 478 5] was first published in 1931 and is a book of its time. With the genteel middle class context of Agatha Christie, but without the detective, Malice Aforethought is a nicely woven murder story, where the reader knows the murderer and who he wants to murder from the first page, and then the narrative details the background motivation, characters (and how it was that there weren’t more murders of folks like these appallingly patronising parasites I really don’t know ) and building bricks of acti
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly. Crime fiction 6/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/24/2006 2:32 PM
|
|
|
|
Michael Connelly’s courtroom fiction drama The Lincoln Lawyer is cleverly put together: an excellent twisty plot, pretty good characterisation and very expertly contexted in the criminal defence courtroom system of the USA. The narrative has some excellent devices for keeping the reader interested and the writing is literate and fluent. However
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
The Devil’s Feather by Minette Walters. Crime thriller 10/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/23/2006 1:48 PM
|
|
|
|
Minette Walters thriller The Devil’s Feather [ISBN 0 330 43648 1] is the best book of hers I have read. The plot is many-layered: overtly simple but deeply considered with psychological turns and twists; the characters complex and well drawn, and the various contexts believable and engaging. But the narrative is key: brilliantly chilling and exciting, breath-holdingly charged with tension.
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Harvest by Tess Gerritson. Medical Thriller 6/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/22/2006 11:25 AM
|
|
|
|
Harvest [ISBN 0 553 81772 –8] was Tess Gerritson’s first thriller and is in the same vein as her others – based on hospitals and medical practice gone wrong – and written with great assurance and expertise given her background. The plot is pretty open – its one where the reader pretty well can work out what is happening near the outset – and then follows the unfolding of the plot to see how and when the baddies are going to get their comeuppance – and indeed – who exactly the baddies are.
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Sea Change by Robert Goddard. Historical mystery fiction 8/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/21/2006 12:23 PM
|
|
|
|
Robert Goddard’s Sea Change [ISBN 0 552 14602 1] is somewhat of a departure for him. The book is set in London just at the time of the financial scandal of the South Sea Bubble – the collapse of a company supporting a fraudulent major funding scheme bought into by the rich and important. The plot takes this context and a range of real historical characters and weaves and enthralling story around the various attempts to hush up the scandal, bring “culprits” to justice and avoid threat to the crown
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
The Rattle Rat by Jan Willem van de Wetering. Vintage Eurocrime 7/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/20/2006 3:12 PM
|
|
|
|
Jan Willem Van de Wetering’s The Rattle Rat [ISBN 0 345 32872 8] is one of the series of books featuring the Amsterdam Murder Squad policemen, de Gier, Grijpstra and the Commisaris – delightful, quirky detective stories, of which this one is one of the quirkiest. The plot is based around the context of the regional differences between Frieslanders and the rest of the Netherlands
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
The Drowning Man by Michael Robotham. Crime Fiction 9/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/19/2006 2:22 PM
|
|
|
|
The Drowning Man by Michael Robotham [ISBN 0 7515 3478 1] is an excellent read, and grips the reader from the outset. The plot is cleverly set up at the outset and even though the mechanics of denouement and elucidation seem a little contrived, the narrative is so well written, with such believable characterisations and events that the reader is just swept along to the next thrilling action.
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. Literary Fiction. Richard & Judy Best Read of the Year. 6/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/18/2006 12:18 PM
|
|
|
|
David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas [ISBN 0 340 82278 3] was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize AND chosen for Best Read of the Year by Richard & Judy, though I do doubt whether they both read it cover to cover. The novel consists of a series of narratives from different time frames and situations, the stories are quite fascinating and interesting in their own right, but inconclusive. The narratives do not build on each other, but rather refer in a fragmentary or elided way at each other
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Map of Bones by James Rollins. Grail-type search thriller 8/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/16/2006 2:39 PM
|
|
|
|
James Rollins’ Map of Bones [ISBN 7528 8121 3] is as much an Armageddon-type thriller, and its not about searching for a Grail, but it has so much in common with recent religious-based novels that are, that I automatically categorised it as such. It is reminiscent of so many other beat the baddies religious search books, that I was surprised to find it such a well-written and researched read.
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
We need to talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver Orange Prize for Fiction winner 2005 10/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/15/2006 12:10 PM
|
|
|
|
I don’t give Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk about Kevin [ISBN 1 85242 467 2] top marks because I enjoyed it. It is harrowing, traumatising for parents, soul-strippingly analytical about whose is the blame for the misdemeanours of our children. How much fault is with the parent and their upbringing and how much the innate evil of the child is the heart of the book
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
We need to talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver Orange Prize for Fiction winner 2005 10/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/15/2006 12:10 PM
|
|
|
|
I don’t give Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk about Kevin [ISBN 1 85242 467 2] top marks because I enjoyed it. It is harrowing, traumatising for parents, soul-strippingly analytical about whose is the blame for the misdemeanours of our children. How much fault is with the parent and their upbringing and how much the innate evil of the child is the heart of the book
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Reg Gadney, Mother, Son & Holy Ghost. Thriller 5/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/14/2006 1:12 PM
|
|
|
|
Mother, Son and Holy Ghost by Reg Gadney [ISBN 0 571 19528 8] is a religious sect world conspiracy novel and certainly gets an A for boys own adventure stuff, but not much for sophistication of plot and ideas. One jacket blurb says that books of this kind need to be believable and this one is obviously thought to be so by the particular critic. I have to disagree
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Michele Roberts In the Red Kitchen Literary Fiction/Mystery 6/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/13/2006 2:38 PM
|
|
|
|
Michele Roberts In the Red Kitchen [ISBN 0 7493 9115 4] is a winner of the WH Smith Literary Award. I do wonder why literary fiction winners feel they have to write such patchwork narrative – perhaps its because you can’t win a prize without a pretentious chopped up narrative (or possible not a recognisable narrative at all for the purists) – just a good story is no longer any good, it seems. In the Red Kitchen combines four stories of women that not only tell their own story, but in a strange contrived way also tried to knit them together in some common themes and aspects of their lives
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Henning Mankell – The Return of the Dancing Master. Crime fiction 10/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/11/2006 1:27 PM
|
|
|
|
The Return of the Dancing Master is a crime fiction novel by Henning Mankell [ISBN 0 099 45546 3] again, translated from the Swedish, and is a masterpiece of suspense. The plot is exceptionally well conceived, events illuminating the plot are dribbled cleverly almost page by page, and even a second narrative of the killer hides many surprises that are revealed only sparingly
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Shena McKay – The Orchard on Fire. Literary fiction/Booker shortlist 9/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/6/2006 12:38 PM
|
|
|
|
The Orchard on Fire by Shena MacKay is a deceptively slight account of a girl’s childhood in the 1950s. It is fiction but reads like biography, and is touching and eloquent, written in the child’s voice, but with aware undertones that the child has of the adult world and its sleaziness and unpleasant and often violent impinging onto childhood experience
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
The Villa of Mysteries by David Hewson Crime fiction 8/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/5/2006 11:06 AM
|
|
|
|
David Hewson’s the Villa of Mysteries [ISBN0 330 49365 5] is (I think) the second in his series of crime fiction novels set in Rome and featuring Falcone, Peroni and Costa, the policemen from the Questura. The Italian context is richly enjoyable and his descriptions of Rome realistic and immediate, and this is an excellent setting for a fairly astonishing but nonetheless gripping plot......
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
The Death Collectors by Jack Kerley. Crime fiction 5/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/4/2006 10:42 AM
|
|
|
|
Jack Kerley’s crime fiction book The Death Collectors [ISBN 0 00 720120 6] starts with loads of promise – the plot seems to be interesting and challenging, the narrative, as usual with Jack Kerley, easily readable and flowing, but the book begins to sag in the middle and you wonder where it is going
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
The Death Collectors by Jack Kerley. Crime fiction 5/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/3/2006 8:21 AM
|
|
|
|
Jack Kerley’s crime fiction book The Death Collectors [ISBN 0 00 720120 6] starts with loads of promise – the plot seems to be interesting and challenging, the narrative, as usual with Jack Kerley, easily readable and flowing, but the book begins to sag in the middle and you wonder where it is going – it never really gets back on any credible track.
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Forget me not by Mandasue Heller. Crime fiction 7/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/2/2006 12:26 PM
|
|
|
|
Mandasue Heller’s crime fiction book Forget me not [ISBN 0 340 92320 2] is a pretty creepy story about a psychopathic serial killer. The overall context and dialogue is authentic and the book nicely plotted with a page-turning narrative
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Dennis Wheatley – The Eunuch of Stamboul. Vintage Mystery Adventure fiction 7/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
8/1/2006 5:23 PM
|
|
|
|
I have never read this vintage novel “The Eunuch of Stamboul” by Dennis Wheatley before, and I found it absolutely fascinating and of its time. It’s a spy story set in Constantinople (Istanbul) in the 30’s. There is much interesting background of the history of Turkey and the impact of Mustapha Kemal (he called himself Kemal Ata Turk) who secularised the Islamic Turkey.
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Alex Kava – At the Stroke of Madness. Crime thriller 7/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
7/30/2006 9:10 AM
|
|
|
|
At the Stroke of Madness by Alex Kava [ISBN 077832055 3] is a tightly plotted and well written tension-holding book, somewhat gruesome in the mould of forensic-detail psychological thrillers. The book begins with two strands of the story – a woman meeting a man late at night in scary circumstances – and disappearing
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Hard Landing by Lynne Heitman. Crime fiction 7/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
7/29/2006 2:37 PM
|
|
|
|
Lynne Heitman’s Hard Landing [ISBN0708809529] is a very good read. Not only is the plot excellent with some subtle twists, but also the context (an airline at Boston’s Logan Airport) is quite fascinating (if horrifying – thinking such things are happening behind the scenes at an airport is scary). The narrative grips the reader and hooks one into the plot, and the characterisations are very well drawn through the narrative without scads of descriptive prose
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Due Diligence by Grant Sutherland. Crime fiction 8/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
7/28/2006 3:02 PM
|
|
|
|
Grant Sutherland’s Due Diligence [ISBN 0 7472 5693 4] is a gripping and engrossing story. The plot is clever and sustains interest throughout the book –overtly, the main subject – financial shenanigans at high level in a bank – is not riveting, but, this author really makes it a page-turner.
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
|
Bleedout by Joan Brady. Crime thriller 8/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
7/25/2006 2:57 PM
|
|
|
|
Bleedout by Joan Brady [ISBN 0 7432 6841 5] is a nicely written, fast paced thriller, with an excellent plot, that keeps you guessing right up to the end. There are two narratives – a historical past record and a current happenings – and though this device can be bitty, it is planned very well for information to be dripped into the plot at the right time.
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
The Traveller by John Twelve Hawks. Sci Fi thriller 4/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
7/23/2006 2:32 PM
|
|
|
|
The Traveller by John Twelve Hawks [ISBN 0552 15269 2] is not a bad read – in fact is compelling, paranoiac and scary for most of the book –another reader might like the ending more than I did. It’s an updated view from Orwell’s Big Brother in 1984, with other worlds stuff welded on
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Vodka by Boris Starling. Crime Thriller 9/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
7/22/2006 1:48 PM
|
|
|
|
Boris Starling’s Vodka [ISBN 0 00 717227 3] is a crime thriller set in Moscow in 1991 just at the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the departure of Gorbachov. The contextual feel is reminiscent of Gorky Park, though the several-string plot is particularly cleverly woven around the political manoeuvrings in the new power vacuums,
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova . Literary thriller 7/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
7/20/2006 1:12 PM
|
|
|
|
Elizabeth Kostova’s literary thriller The Historian [ISBN0 7515 3728 4] is a long and quite intense book about the pursuit of vampires, with a exceptionally well detailed historical background about vampires and medieval Europe (whether this is real or imagined I don’t know) and context of the history and splendours of the Ottoman Empire and has an ingenious plot.
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Hard Rain by Janwillem Van de Wetering. Vintage Eurocrime 9/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
7/18/2006 10:54 AM
|
|
|
|
Janwillem Van de Wetering’s Hard Rain [ISBN 0 345 33964 9] is yet another example of his brilliant mystery crime fiction that features the wonderful Sergeant de Gier and Detective-Adjutant Grijpstra of the Amsterdam murder Squad. The quirky characterisation of both the police and criminals together with seriously clever plots AS WELL AS authentic interesting and often exotic settings make these books a delight to read as examples of the peak of crime fiction writing.
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Devil’s Corner by Lisa Scottoline. Crime fiction 5/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
7/17/2006 11:07 AM
|
|
|
|
Lisa Scottoline’s Devil’s Corner [ISBN-13: 978 0 06 074289 8] is yet another book from this prolific crime fiction write, though I found this book quite tedious. One of the crits says it has “plenty of twists and turns” and this is the core of the weakness, there are SO MANY plot twists and turns the book becomes beyond complex for bedtime pleasure reading and more an exercise for a memory marvel.
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Rough Cider by Peter Lovesey. Crime fiction 6/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
7/15/2006 10:19 AM
|
|
|
|
Peter Lovesey’s book Rough Cider [No ISBN in the edition I’m reading) is a nicely plotted, pacy, read it all at once kind of crime book you wish there were more of, though this is quite elderly now. The narrative has a great deal of contextual and authentic detail about the war period
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Blood of Angels by Michael Marshall. Crime fiction 8/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
7/14/2006 10:07 AM
|
|
|
|
Michael Marshall’s crime thriller Blood of Angels [ISBN 0 00 716397 5] is, for those who remember it, a sequel to his excellent The Straw Men. The plot is tight and suspenseful, the various narratives just zoom along with a taut pace, and its hard to keep up to the action and its implications, and the characterisations are authentic and suitably menacing. It is really a top-class thriller.
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
|
Carol Shields – Collected Stories. Literary Fiction 10/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
7/11/2006 3:04 PM
|
|
|
|
This volume of Collected Stories by Carol Shields [ISBN 0 00 719206 1] is a wonderful cornucopia of delights. I cannot say I endorsed the hype over her Pulitzer Prize winning The Stone Diaries or even the Orange Prize Winner’s Larry’s Party, which I found a little self absorbed and precious, but these stories are dazzling –
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
|
|
The Killing Hour by Lisa Gardner. Crime Thriller 6/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
7/7/2006 12:43 PM
|
|
|
|
Lisa Gardner’s The Killing Hour [ISBN 0 75285 226 4] is a substantial (in length) serial murder crime thriller with all the suspense and plot complications that come with the genre. Typically there are two narratives (the chasers and the victims/killer) and good characterisations that add particular interest.
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
The Lucifer Code by Michael Cordy. Techno/Sci Fi Thriller 5/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
7/6/2006 11:31 AM
|
|
|
|
Whether you enjoy Michael Cordy’s The Lucifer Code [ISBN 0-552-15447-4} or not will depend on how much you like the all-action boys own adventure stuff linked to a sci-fi doomsday scenario. The plot, on the surface, appears interesting and indeed the books starts very well, the narrative moves along well and the first few chapters are gripping and even addictive
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
|
|
David Hewson – The Lizard’s Bite. Crime Fiction 10/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
7/2/2006 2:01 PM
|
|
|
|
The Lizard’s Bite by David Hewson [ISBN 1-4050-5017-9] is just excellent. Not only has this may favourite setting in Italy, but the whole book is beautifully structured and the narrative addictive – its reminiscent of the old Ed MacBain cops and robbers style
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
The Ivy Chronicles – Karen Quinn. Chick Lit 7/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
6/30/2006 2:02 PM
|
|
|
|
Karen Quinn’s The Ivy Chronicles [ISBN 0 74343 9216 1] is a slickly written, amusing chick lit novel, which seems to be based on the author’s own experiences. It has a pretty straightforward plot – rich indulgent high powered NY couple with two children lose jobs, split up and hit bottom
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Jodi Piccoult – Vanishing Acts - Literary Fiction 7/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
6/29/2006 2:41 PM
|
|
|
|
Vanishing Acts, a novel by the prolific Jodi Piccoult [ISBN 0 340 83549 4] has a overtly simple but also clearly tortuous plot and a gripping and emotionally powerful narrative full of moral dilemmas that draw you in – at least in the first chapters
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|
Henry Porter’s Empire State. Spy thriller 9/10 |
|
Books
|
By bookworm on
6/28/2006 1:37 PM
|
|
|
|
Empire State by Henry Porter [ISBN 0 75285 892 0] is a compulsive read. I’m not a fan of spy stories (or at least I haven’t been in the past) but a friend recommended this, so I found out how very readable it was
|
|
|
|
|
More...
|
|
|