Another bang on target crime novel from Sharon Bolton here - cleverly twisted plot with some great characters, emotional themes and once more is a genAnother bang on target crime novel from Sharon Bolton here - cleverly twisted plot with some great characters, emotional themes and once more is a genuine page turner. Also Nuns. Loved the Nuns.
This authors plot weaving, game changing, impressively engaging prose is second to none in the crime field really, doesn't really matter what you expect to get, you'll end up sent all round the houses and back again. I loved this - clever and totally riveting.
EXCELLENT. Full review will come in April nearer publication. Highly Recommended. ...more
Oh look its that time of year where I’m reading the next novel in the Charlie Parker series from John Connolly, ending up emotionally traumatised (andOh look its that time of year where I’m reading the next novel in the Charlie Parker series from John Connolly, ending up emotionally traumatised (and boy was THAT true this time) then wondering what the heck else I can say that I haven’t already said that can get across the pure brilliance of this series.
It really is a difficult one because you end up going around in circles and coming back on yourself then thinking well surely if I haven’t sold it by now its just never going to happen. But we’ll give it a go and I’ll even try and stay relatively sensible about the whole thing. Relatively.
This instalment finds Charlie on the hook again to FBI Agent Ross (a man I still haven’t made up my mind about) who sends him off on the trail of a missing private detective. This man, Jaycob , has been messing with things he can’t possibly understand so things are going to get fraught. Well lets face it if Charlie found him in the next town then went home for tea it wouldn’t be NEARLY SO TRAUMATIC. And breathe..
I can’t tell you anything else without then having to kill you, but suffice to say the indomitable Mr Connolly takes us on another emotional rollercoaster read, where the ongoing mythology deepens and just wraps you up in that enigmatic something that I have no words for, the current shenanigans are dark and so beautifully terrifying, the storytelling genius just gets me every single time. And THIS time particularly some things happen that had me needing to lie down. I’m still not over it.
I don’t know another writer around today that has such a gorgeous, descriptively haunting and brilliantly incisive prose, the scene setting is sublime, the entire time you are just enveloped into this whole other world that feels as real as any you leave behind whilst in it. Emotionally charged readers will understand what I mean when I say life is blurred around the edges slightly when coming out of it and it takes a while to settle down. It is just CLEVER. From the first book to this book and probably on into further books, the quality never falters, every one feels fresh, you genuinely never know where they might take you next. The best crime series out there currently? In this readers opinion definitely. Head and shoulders above the best of the rest.
Angel and Louis never cease to be funny yet inevitably flawed, Charlie himself is still facing down the problem of a daughter who may be scarier than he is, more revelations about the underneath of it all are drip fed out to us and overall this was a purely dazzling reading experience which once again left me desperate for more. But I’ll have to wait. I don’t like waiting. It makes me crazy. It’s worth it though. Every single time.
Fans of Charlie Parker do not fear. This is everything you were hoping for and more.
A note – A Game of Ghosts is book 15 and whilst I’m fairly sure that it might be more helpful to be able to say you could read it as a standalone, I’m afraid I’m often to be found screeching at people NO PUT THAT DOWN YOU MUST READ IN ORDER. There is of course no must about it, each book is a brilliant read and you’ll pick up some of the layers, but genuinely, if you don’t follow the arc’s I feel you will lose a lot of the soul of it. And it has a HELL of a lot of soul. So if you’ve not read these yet, you make your bets and you take your chances but I can almost guarantee book one will hook you and we won’t see you for a year while you burn through the rest (Every Dead Thing is where to start by the way)
I loved Eyes Like Mine – I’m not sure whether it was Nora who was spot on brilliant as an engaging and divisive main protagonist, or the themes withinI loved Eyes Like Mine – I’m not sure whether it was Nora who was spot on brilliant as an engaging and divisive main protagonist, or the themes within (as an adopted child myself I related on many levels here) or the really quite brilliant storytelling but overall this one was a huge hit with me.
Nora’s past trauma defines a lot of who she is – and she is not always someone you can love – but this novel is a journey for her that is utterly riveting and totally addictive. The author plays with many themes here, each one spreading threads throughout the telling, her characters are all authentically immersive and really well drawn, I fell into Nora’s world (and that of Whisper) very easily and barely looked up until I was done.
The mystery elements are well imagined but for me were secondary to getting to know Nora, watching her cope, or not, with everything that was thrown at her. Sheena Kamal has an excellent atmospheric writing vibe that both descriptively and decisively puts you right on the spot. The whole thing had a haunted, edgy feel to it that just really appealed to me as a reader.
I’m not sure if this will be a series but I hope so because I’d like to know what happens in the aftermath of the events of “Eyes like Mine” and carry on this journey with Nora and the rest.
Intelligent, thought provoking and beautifully written, Eyes Like Mine comes highly recommended from me....more
I just want it to be known that Jane Casey is now forgiven for making me wait over a year for this (how did I COPE) because it was worth the wait (andI just want it to be known that Jane Casey is now forgiven for making me wait over a year for this (how did I COPE) because it was worth the wait (and then some) it turns out that delayed gratification really is a thing. Just to be clear I’d rather really that she wrote a book a week but we can’t have everything in life. Never mind.
ANYWAY Let The Dead Speak then – another outing for Maeve and Derwent (swoon) and of course all the rest, much as I adore the main pair the group dynamic over the course of the novels has ingrained itself on my brain, in fact this time it was Chris Pettifer who made me snort a giggle with a throwaway comment that happened to mirror exactly what I was thinking in that moment. But I digress…
In this instalment a young girl arrives home unexpectedly to find her house covered in blood and her mother gone. A murder enquiry is launched even with the lack of a body. Derwent is back from holiday, meanwhile Maeve is fretting her new power and responsibility whilst dealing with a incomer who doesn’t seem terribly useful. The neighbours are all a bit barmy, everyone is hiding something, so you know. Best get untangling that mess then which is exactly what our guys set out to do. Things are going to be somewhat fraught. WELL it wouldn’t be any fun if they solved it CSI style in an hour would it?
Look what I love about this particular series is the intensely absorbing writing with it’s ironically humerous undertones and the characters that do almost literally live off the page. I honestly have to remember sometimes that they are all fictional, not just those we see every time but anyone caught up in the current investigation. Jane Casey has a character writing superpower, nobody does it better. And I do mean nobody.
Added to that the plotting is so gorgeously realistic and tightly drawn that you never disbelieve any of it. TWISTED too, I do love a good twisty tale and this one had that in spades, especially with reference to some of the personal relationships and goings on. The emotional trauma is in there too, fair warning given, every time I go into a new Kerrigan novel I say SHE WON’T GET ME AGAIN but every time. Bam. Dammit!
I’m not going to say this is the best one yet because I always say that and whilst it may even be true, that is not the point. The point is that this series is consistently of the highest quality and improving ever more with age – Let The Dead Speak is simply one more pearl in an oyster bed chock full of them, it stole my Saturday (I love a good book thief) and I was happily immersed for the entire journey. Never one for backing off from the thought provoking occasionally controversial central themes, always moving her series characters forward and enveloping the reader more into their world, for me Jane Casey is the cream of the crop of UK crime writers. I look forward to each new novel with the fervour of a true believer and I have never once been let down. Not even for a moment, not even with a word.
On a personal note my love for Derwent STILL knows no bounds. Also a new respect developed for Una Burt during this read. I kind of like her. Mainly because I think Maeve really does too. YES I KNOW they are not real…
Sharp, clever, nuanced writing with a truly addictive flair and a deeply delicious dark heart.
**4.5 stars** Everything But the Truth is a bang on target domestic noir, a page turner of the highest order and, thank the book Gods, manages to avoid**4.5 stars** Everything But the Truth is a bang on target domestic noir, a page turner of the highest order and, thank the book Gods, manages to avoid all the dull as ditch water standard cliches of the genre whilst playing brilliantly into all the reasons why we readers love this stuff.
Jack and Rachel have not been together that long, but for Rachel it has been one of those “this is right” life moments – so an early in the relationship pregnancy does not seem as daunting as it might have done. Preparing to settle down to domestic bliss, one night Rachel catches a glimpse of an email, one that suggests there may be horrific hidden secrets in Jack’s past.
Now here’s what I loved – we all have secrets and that is true – Gillian McAllister uses that to great affect, Jack may be hiding something but so is Rachel and the yin yang of how much honesty is actually required for a successful relationship was at the heart of this for me. Rachel becomes obsessed, perhaps even going slightly mad in her quest for the truth but her own truth lies hidden in the mire also. Everything But the Truth is a beautifully drawn character study, a love story with a twisted path and an occasionally haunting glimpse into human psyche.
There is real depth to the plotting, exploring all the layers underneath that one thing we are waiting to find out, this is not a novel that sets out to shock with THAT moment (the one that, lets face it, most of us see coming a mile off these days) but more a slow unwinding of the personalities involved until they face themselves head on. It is that gentle yet utterly gripping unravelling that will keep you reading this long into the night. Cleverly done, genuinely compelling.
Out of all the 2017 books I’ve read so far, with a fair few sitting on my shelf still, I think He Said She Said by Erin Kelly probably has had the bigOut of all the 2017 books I’ve read so far, with a fair few sitting on my shelf still, I think He Said She Said by Erin Kelly probably has had the biggest emotional impact. Not in a loud and sudden way that disappears almost immediately (although there is a moment in this book where that happens too) but in the way my mind has quietly wandered back to contemplate the nuances, to think about consequences and to wonder at life.
He Said She Said is beautifully atmospheric, the backdrop of eclipse chasers giving it a clever and intriguing setting that moves with the plot, but the main hook here comes with the utterly fascinating characters we meet within the pages. There is no other writer writing today (in my opinion) who draws so brilliantly on the vagaries of human nature to bring us authentic, incredibly present and vivid fictional folk to travel the reading road with. Here as with all her previous novels she has created something once read never forgotten.
Relationships are tangled, lives are changed, far reaching consequences set in motion by a few words spoken on impulse during an untenable situation, one time when Laura witnesses a seemingly violent act. Such a small thing, a tiny exaggeration perhaps but that one moment will haunt the rest of her life. Erin Kelly weaves a devilishly clever, highly unpredictable yet always solidly realistic story, slowly bringing us to the truth of what happened under the cover of darkness and often breaking your heart whilst doing so. This is not so much an unravelling of a mystery as it is an unravelling of the people caught up in it, layer upon layer peeling from the surface until you can see the true faces of those involved.
The Poison Tree is still in my top ten books of all time, The Burning Air will always and forever be the novel that with a short couple of sentences sent me tumbling out of my comfort zone and into the abyss – but He Said She Said I believe is Erin Kelly’s finest novel to date by quite some margin. Intuitive, intricate, a woven tapestry of literary delight I loved this. Beautiful and horrifying in equal measure, speaking to difficult complex subjects, you may think you know but you don’t know. Just wait…
So Highly Recommended that I fear falling. Don’t miss it....more
Look I was a huge fan of All the Missing Girls, a story told backwards, so I was slightly concerned that Megan Miranda could not pull offI LOVED this.
Look I was a huge fan of All the Missing Girls, a story told backwards, so I was slightly concerned that Megan Miranda could not pull off that level of intelligent psychological thriller for a second time. But she did. The Perfect Stranger is the perfect mix of tension and intrigue, beautifully done, unpredictable and with another terrifically well drawn main protagonist.
Leah Stevens has moved away from Boston, leaving a scandal behind her and embracing a new career in teaching, living with her friend Emmy and building a new life. Then Emmy disappears. And it is like she never existed in the first place....
There is a certain beauty to a twisted personality especially when it is created by someone who uses the written word as a true art form and for me Megan Miranda is one of those writers. Simplicity with huge depth is hard to pull off, especially when you need to keep the reader intrigued and on board with where you are taking them. I was pulled along through Leah's experiences, I questioned her motivations, here is the very definition of an unreliable narrator done in a way that works on many levels. The twists and turns when they come are beautifully placed and true to the heart of the book, no gimmick here and so the pay off is perfect.
Descriptively you can live the setting, it is tense and atmospheric, this place that Leah finds herself in and the plotting is taut and realistic with a strong emotional edge. A proper page turner with a lilting darkness to the feel of it, clever and fascinating storytelling.
Overall I'm a huge fan. Of this one, of the one that came before it. Megan Miranda goes firmly onto my "must read" list. No brainer.
All because of Flora. Sometimes a character just speaks to you and Flora has an amazingly strong and indelible voice – the whole of I LOVED this book.
All because of Flora. Sometimes a character just speaks to you and Flora has an amazingly strong and indelible voice – the whole of this story is told from her point of view, although often necessarily repetitive each reboot she gives to herself has added nuance and emotion – Emily Barr moving the story forward with gentle yet incredibly addictive pace. This is one of those books I label beautiful – beautiful writing, beautiful characters and in the end a whole truck load of beautifully emotional shots through the heart.
Utterly compelling throughout as we follow Flora, learning about herself, those around her, then doing it all over again readjusting her senses, one of the strongest components of this particular story is within the relationships she forms with others. Her best friend, her parents, those she meets along the way, all seen by the reader through the filter of Flora’s memory. Her notes to herself form her next decision process, she is alive on the page and absolutely captured my heart.
The scene setting is also gorgeous – from Penzance to Svalbard the author paints a picture, again filtered through this girl, Flora, who is seeing it all for the first time all the time – it made me want to follow the journey she takes, to the land of the midnight sun. One day perhaps I will.
There is a mystery element layered into the story, the feeling that there is more to Flora’s situation than meets the eye, that perhaps not everyone is being honest with her – the whole novel is a journey of discovery not only for Flora but for the other characters we learn about along the way and for the reader. It made me cry. Proper real cathartic tears.Flora’s life rules may be ones to live by.
For me a truly wonderful novel. If this is how Emily Barr is going to write YA then I’m going to read every single one. But there will never be another Flora..
Highly Recommended. Be brave and watch out for Polar Bears…
The Australia trilogy by J P Smythe has been one of my favourite things this last little while, I read book one, avidly awaited book 2 and now here weThe Australia trilogy by J P Smythe has been one of my favourite things this last little while, I read book one, avidly awaited book 2 and now here we are at the end. Slight catch in the throat there I shall miss Chan and all the other beautifully drawn characters within this whole vividly imagined and wonderfully immersive world.
If you havent started yet then Way Down Dark is where you need to be, heading into Long Dark Dusk and finally ending up here, where the author finishes things off in passion inducing style. LOVED it. From first book to last.
Things I’ve muchly appreciated about the Australia trilogy: The character journeys, the shades of grey within what is right and wrong that JP Smythe weaves into the story, where the “bad guys” can surprise you and the “good guys” cross the line all the time. The world building is brilliant, emcompassing more than one idea, taking us from one setting to another over the course of the novels so that things stay fresh, exciting and always giving the feeling that there is more to discover.
And there is – Dark Made Dawn mixes things up again, chucks in some emotional trauma, gets the adrenalin going with some cleverly heart pumping action, never losing sight of the road that Chan is on as she tries to save those she cares about and carve out some kind of real life for herself. I’ve been rooting for her all the way, praying for that happy ending and well, as it happens….you’ll just have to read and find out for yourself…
Very difficult to review the last part of a trilogy when you don’t want to spoil things for those coming in so we’ll skip over all the plot nuances and just say that the entire thing is pure brilliance, beautifully written, never once dull, exploring many themes within the vagaries of human nature whilst still being pure escapism of the best kind. Leave this world behind for a while. Visit Chan’s world. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed…
Now I came to Fickle almost accidentally – the cover caught my eye during a random flyby on Netgalley and then the premise seemed intriguing. Still I Now I came to Fickle almost accidentally – the cover caught my eye during a random flyby on Netgalley and then the premise seemed intriguing. Still I nearly carried on past it but in the end impulse got me. Boy was that a stroke of luck because I LOVED this one. Cool, quirky, different and utterly compelling I engaged with every moment of it.
Clever novel. Clever. See Fickle is told via a blog. Well 2 blogs if you want to be exact but thats for you to discover. Basically you are reading a sequence of blog posts and the ensuing discussions. The main blog in question is a blog all about the wonder of Noir. One night our blogger tells the tale of her brush with death, the unfortunate unlucky coincidence of being present at a suicide. She reaches out to her small band of regulars and they all weigh in, showing concern and offering support. There it begins…
Things start to happen. Coincidences pile up. Every post that follows adds more layers to the tale but is our blogger an innocent bystander who has now been caught up in the vortex of things beyond her control or is she making the whole thing up to create her own style of noir or is she lying or WHAT THE HECK. And blimey as things unfold you will get more and more into it, you’ll wish to heck you could comment yourself, you’ll think you’ve got it then you won’t have it and its the twistiest tale I’ve read in ages. Also if you like Noir this whole thing is Noir tastic in both style and substance.
The writing is incredibly smart, it does read like a blog but also like episodic tv and each instalment leads you further down the rabbit hole. It won’t be for everyone I get that, but for me it was brilliantly executed, the nuances are nuanced to a high degree, in a lot of ways it is interpretative reading, you’ll take your own idea’s from it especially in relation to the ending.
Really really excellent in my opinion. Doing something a little different, pushing the boundaries somewhat within the crime and suspense genre, this is what I love about reading. Those little gems you discover randomly and fall for absolutely. This one I’m just going to say BOOM. Give me more from this author.
Gah! I hate love stories. Except this one. I loved this one.
I was hooked into the idea of reading this because its something slightly out of my comforGah! I hate love stories. Except this one. I loved this one.
I was hooked into the idea of reading this because its something slightly out of my comfort zone (the whole romance thing) and I like to try things I might normally pass by, but also had the whole lost in space running out of air vibe which seemed like it might be quite thrilling. Which it was. But mostly it was beautiful.
So Carys and Max they fall in love. Except in the world they live in you are not allowed to do that really. The world has changed. Things have happened and to counter that people live differently. I say no more on that, because that is part of what you will learn while you are up there in space with Carys and Max, desperately praying for their survival as you begin to understand what it is they have to survive for.
Hold Back the Stars gets under your skin. As the minutes tick away, as these two try everything to get back to safety, you will be completely immersed – when we were getting to the end, when those precious minutes were disappearing , I was barely breathing myself. And I didn’t even have Osric…
ANYWAY thats not the whole of this. Even if it was I would have been entirely engaged by it. Katie Khan has a gorgeous almost ethereal use of language that just gets you right in the gut even in those quieter moments. The flashbacks to life on earth, how Carys and Max came together, how they may well change the world yet again, those parts are entirely emotive and cleverly written.
Add to all that a fascinating and imaginative setting that asks those questions, makes you consider the world around you. Thought provoking stuff – instead of giving us a society that is broken Katie Khan gives you one that actually may be mostly mended. This is not the Hunger Games, here the problems almost seem gentle. But they are problems none the less. I came to the end wondering if there was actually anything like a perfect world. See? Thought provoking.
A love story like no other.
Yep.
Also I cried at the beautifully placed, intensely emotional, unforgettable ending.
Just send me all the chocolate in the world…....more
Historical Crime Fiction has to be bang on the money for me to love it as it is not my favourite genre to dive into, I like DNA and technology and allHistorical Crime Fiction has to be bang on the money for me to love it as it is not my favourite genre to dive into, I like DNA and technology and all that jazz- well what can I say. A Rising Man IS bang on the money in every single way you can possibly think of. And then probably a few more too.
From the very start I was hook line and sinkered into this one – beautifully portraying a place and time, brilliantly authentic and multi layered characters and a real page turner of a murder mystery, A Rising Man really hit the spot when it comes to my reading addiction. It has taken me ages to get to it and that’ll teach me. Although hopefully now it means I’m closer to the next in the series. Clouds. Silver linings. All that.
Full of rich detail and endlessly compelling, the writing here is sublime. The historical facts interwoven with the fictional story, hitting perfect pitch when it comes to pacing, I’m a little in awe of how easily and how completely I lived in this world during the reading of it. Oh I could probably bang on a bit about the plot detail and tell you stuff but really there is no need when all you have to do is pick this one up and live it for yourself.
I’d do it if I were you. I’m just saying. Some books feed into the reasons why we read. A Rising Man is one of those. Loved it.
HIGHLY recommended. With capital letters and everything....more
Lost in Nashville then, a bit of a departure for Neil White whose crime novels I have always loved, this time instead of freaking me out he made me crLost in Nashville then, a bit of a departure for Neil White whose crime novels I have always loved, this time instead of freaking me out he made me cry. CRY dammit.
Lost in Nashville is an emotional read but it is also an informative one in a very entertaining way. I had a very peripheral knowledge of the Johnny Cash story before going into this, afterwards I had a real sense of the man and his music, learning about it through the eyes of our two main characters here, James and Bruce, whilst they try and rebuild their broken relationship.
This is a road trip in more than one sense, an actual journey and a life journey through the lives of these two, a Father and Son who have fallen apart but for whom there is hope. A journey through the life of Johnny Cash and a literal road trip through the places that informed him. Descriptively speaking this is absolutely gorgeous, you’ll get the sense of time and place, you’ll live this one. I love it when I live through a book rather than just read it. Happens less than you might think.
Lost in Nashville is also strangely gripping – I say strangely because being used to this authors twisty crime plots I didn’t imagine that he could also grip emotionally for an entire narrative but that is what happened here. I was rooting for these two, whipping through those pages hoping they could reconcile their differences, all the while being fascinated by the actual journey they were on. At the end I was a bit of an emotional wreck.
I fell in love with this story. It is a story of life, of family, of the things that separate us and the things that bring us back together. A beautiful story, an intensely emotive one and a story that will stay with me.
Who would have thought it? I think the indomitable Mr White might want to consider writing a few more like this in those moments between. He’s got the magic touch....more
I don't even know where to start with this book so I'll give it some thought and come back to a full review another time.
This book broke me. Not entirI don't even know where to start with this book so I'll give it some thought and come back to a full review another time.
This book broke me. Not entirely sure what I'm feeling right now.
Practically speaking, although I'm highly recommending it, if you can't deal with the darkest of subjects, in the sense that you might genuinely not cope well, then I would not read this. Also this is not a thriller, although there is a mystery element.
It is beautifully written and will break your heart.
For me, Little Deaths was a marvel of a novel. Poignant, thought provoking, beautifully written and engaging, also randomly rage inducing – I went thrFor me, Little Deaths was a marvel of a novel. Poignant, thought provoking, beautifully written and engaging, also randomly rage inducing – I went through a spectrum of emotions reading Ruth’s story and at the end I was wrung out.
Also, warning: Will cause google mania as you look up the case that Emma Flint took her inspiration from. That is also extraordinarily fascinating. I have today purchased her recommended book on the subject.
Little Deaths starts with a tragedy – two missing children. I don’t think its really a spoiler to say there is not a happy ending for the tiny ones – what follows is a multi layered, insightful and scarily authentic dig around the court of public opinion, the influence of the press and the dogged determination of a police investigation headed up by an obsessed detective.
Set in Queens, New York in the Summer of 1965 Emma Flint brings that time, that place, to beautiful, occasionally awful, always vivid life. You will see and hear it, find focus in the community surrounding Ruth as she faces every mothers worst nightmare. Ripples going outwards, infecting and affecting so many lives, this novel shows you all the nuances, those places inbetween, it was gripping, utterly gripping from the very first page. That did not go away.
I think it should be noted that in this reviewers opinion if you are expecting a psychological thriller, a “whodunnit” then you won’t get that. Whilst there is resolution in a sense, whilst there is an element of “Did she Didn’t she” that is the peripheral of Little Deaths. Whilst still intriguing on that level the heart of it is in the characters, their influences, a snapshot of a time, a place, a judgement that one would hope we as a society would have left behind us now. We have not though as the cases glaring at us from todays headlines prove all the time.
I’m back to Little Deaths is a marvel of a novel. Literary crime with a dash of eloquence and a story rooted in the truths we don’t like to think about.
I was a HUGE fan of The Axemans Jazz so to say I was a little excited to read this would be putting it mildly.
And my word if Ray Celestin hasnt gone aI was a HUGE fan of The Axemans Jazz so to say I was a little excited to read this would be putting it mildly.
And my word if Ray Celestin hasnt gone and done it again. The mix of historical fact and fiction is utterly compelling (Louis Armstrong!) and I was so happy to be reading about Michael and Ida again, two characters I fell in love with in the first novel. The same evocative writing style, with perhaps an even more compelling plot made Dead Mans Blues a really top notch read.
The author weaves real life events into the narrative seamlessly making the fictional parts all the more authentic feeling – yes he takes some liberties with the actual timing but any fan of the era or of Mr Armstrong will see the progression and the inspirations here. That aside though, this tale of murder and mayhem is beautifully plotted and very compelling, the sense of the time is evoked in dramatic and gorgeous fashion throughout the telling.
Really really REALLY excellent.
Highly Recommended once more. And luckily for me there will BE more....more
I was a late arrival to the novels of Ian Rankin, it is probably only the last few years I've been reading them avidly, despite the longevity of the sI was a late arrival to the novels of Ian Rankin, it is probably only the last few years I've been reading them avidly, despite the longevity of the series, but hey I'm all caught up now and being late to the party is better than never arriving at all.
The thing with the Rebus series and the writing of Ian Rankin is that it is totally insidious in its creativity - you kind of get hooked without realising you ARE hooked until the next book comes along and you devour it with all the ferocity of a true believer. Well ok maybe thats just me...
Anyway astonishingly this is Rebus 21 and whilst he's not as young as he used to be he is just as tenacious and entirely adorable (ok maybe adorable is not QUITE the right word but its what I've got at the moment) I'm also rather fond and growing fonder of Malcolm Fox - so realistically this novel was always going to be one I was likely to enjoy.
And enjoy it I did - I see no need to go into huge depth on the story, thats what the reading of it is for, but suffice to say the authors trademark dark and devious plotting is out in full force, the characters live and breathe (I'm not sure how bad it is that I often end up feeling rather sympathetic towards the "bad" guys ) and Rebus despite having some fairly troubling personal distractions and not being officially anything, still goes after his man. Or woman. Or any poor soul doing their due diligence when trying to get away with murder.
Entirely brilliant writing, these will endure because they are kind of timeless even as they keep up with the times. Each one is a fully immersive experience and rather than lessening in impact or quality they just grow in both those things.
I'll be sorry when Rebus inevitably has to head for the hills, but the world Ian Rankin has created here, in setting, authenticity and background won't be going anywhere anytime soon, there are I'm sure a lot more stories to tell. And Rebus, the old dog, has quite a lot of life in him yet I'd say...
The Book of Mirrors is a very clever novel. I do like one of those. It is also UTTERLY addictive – picked this up earlier today meaning to make a starThe Book of Mirrors is a very clever novel. I do like one of those. It is also UTTERLY addictive – picked this up earlier today meaning to make a start on it and now here we are and I’m done. On the surface it is an old school murder mystery but like an onion every layer you peel away reveals another layer, perception is in the eye of the beholder and it is an immersive experience in that your own perceptions and realities will definitely inform what you read.
We start with a manuscript section sent to an agent. But is the story in it true? And what on earth actually did happen all those years ago considering the story is only half told? What follows is a multi viewpoint unravelling of an old crime, character driven in more ways than one, endlessly compelling and with a narrative you will start questioning all the way.
I particularly liked how the author plays with the theme of memory, of how our life experiences skew our viewpoint, that thing that makes eye witness accounts of the same incident so very varied. Whilst there is a police presence in The Book of Mirrors that is absolutely not its focus – I wouldnt like to call it a psychological thriller either, it is more about letting the characters speak and therefore reveal not only themselves but perhaps the truth behind a murder.
Really beautifully constructed to encompass nuance of plot and depth of character, The Book of Mirrors is one of those novels you know you are going to continue to think back on, to wonder about. It is a simple story in many ways, a story oft told within the human experience – what Mr Chirovici does though is highly effective, fascinating and potent storytelling. Hence I just lost my Saturday afternoon to it. Worth every minute.
Present Tense was glorious. Loved it. I'm a fan of legal drama/thrillers and there has been a distinct lack of good ones around lately. Then here is PPresent Tense was glorious. Loved it. I'm a fan of legal drama/thrillers and there has been a distinct lack of good ones around lately. Then here is Present Tense..
So Robbie Munro then. Going to be firmly on my list of favourite fictional characters for sure. He's funny, a little bit dark, a gorgeous amount of realistic and so readable I barely put this down. Add in some great plotting, a perfect mix of legal, mystery and family shenanigans and really whats not to love?
The setting is great, the background obviously authentic (unsurprising considering the authors background) I loved the vagaries of law and the ironic dual sense William McIntyre brings to proceedings. He also throws a terrifically intriguing mystery into the mix and manages to make the whole thing a whole load of fun. Which is not to say it doesnt have its serious side - it does. This is dark humour, ironic humour, the kind you need when dealing with the things lawyers deal with.
The crime elements aside I also got totally caught up in Robbie's life and interpersonal relationships. Grace his secretary (brilliant) his Dad (double brilliant) his brother (made me smile every time he appeared) and the rest (we'll talk about Joanna when I've stopped laughing at the last few paragraphs you might have to wait for that) it was all so so enticing. Fatherhood is also a narrative strand here and all parents everywhere will completely empathise with the whole Christmas present drama.
Overall utterly enthralling. Banging as I like to say. More soon please.
