Terry Pratchett - Going Postal

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Still brilliant

This was one of my favourite Pratchetts when I first read it and re-reading now just confirms how brilliant it is.  It's a great story, it's full of remarkable character insight presented with great humour and compassion and it is amazingly clear-sighted about finance and industrial rapacity.  And it is, of course, very funny.

In short, it's Terry Pratchett at his absolute best – and not much more need be said, I think.  Very warmly recommended.

Christopher Fowler - Hall Of Mirrors

Rating: 4/5

Review:
An entertaining read

I enjoyed Hall Of Mirrors.  It is the first Bryant and May book I have read; it works fine as a stand-alone novel, but I suspect that there are quite a few running gags and references which I'd have picked up better if I had read some of the previous ones.

It is 1969 and, following a major debacle while in pursuit of a suspect, Arthur and John are sent to a crumbling stately home in Kent to guard a threatened witness in a forthcoming high-profile trial.  A good deal of chaos ensues, including a number of deaths, and an Agatha Christie-like mystery develops. 

It's a very well written tale and Christopher Fowler has a lot of fun both recreating and sometimes tweaking the nose of the Golden Age country-house mysteries.  There is some genuine humour and the period is very well evoked, while the story itself is actually a pretty decent puzzle with two engaging protagonists and an enjoyable cast of characters.

If I have a gripe, it is that at 400 pages the book is too long and did begin to drag on a bit, but it's an enjoyable, entertaining read with some good social history underpinning it.  Recommended.

(My thanks to Doubleday for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Colin Watson - Hopjoy Was Here

Rating: 4/5

Review: 
Another enjoyable instalment

I am coming to love this series and Hopjoy Was Here, the third, is another good one.  This time Purbright and his team investigate a possible acid-bath murder, as agents of National Security hover because one of their own may be the victim.  It's a well told, quite twisty tale, but as always it is Colin Watson's writing which is the really enjoyable thing.

Watson has a dry, sardonic take on things, illustrated by this lovely little example as Purbright calls to interview a neighbour of the house which is the crime scene: "Mrs Alice Sayers celebrated the installation of a police inspector in her drawing-room by serving a jug of hot milk and water delicately tinctured with coffee essence..."  The book is full of such amusing and penetrating little nuggets of characterisation, including a very enjoyable satire of self-important spies, while the plot moves on at a fairly leisurely pace - which is just fine by me.

My sole reservation is that women are treated with almost universal contempt, and there are some observations about their sexuality among other things which border on the offensive.  Even allowing for the prevailing attitudes of the period, I did find this uncomfortable.  However, there is so much else to enjoy here that I can still warmly recommend the book.

(My thanks to Farrago for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Kevin Powers - A Shout In The Ruins

Rating: 3/5

Review:
Disappointing

Like so many others, I thought Kevin Powers's The Yellow Birds was quite exceptionally good.  Sadly, A Shout In The Ruins isn't nearly of the same quality.  There is a lot of Powers's lyrical and sometimes very beautiful writing, but as a novel I found it very disappointing.

The story cuts between time periods (seemingly almost compulsory for new novels at the moment) around the Civil War and the early 50s, both in Virginia.  The stories are…well…confusing, to be honest.  There are illustrations of the cruelty of the slave era and depictions of the characters who both suffered and imposed that suffering, and there is also a pretty good evocation of its legacy in the era of segregation.  Both of these still have relevance today and it should form a powerful indictment of racism in modern society, but for me it was too mannered in structure, too disjointed and too full of disparate characters to have the necessary coherence.  I also felt that after books like The Underground Railroad, Days Without End and The Sellout (to name just a few) it was treading well-worn ground without adding much.

I'm sorry to be critical of an author I respect greatly, but that's the truth of it.  It was well written and it certainly wasn't terrible, but it just didn't engage me and I didn't think I'd gained much from reading it.  Only a very qualified recommendation from me, I'm afraid.

(My thanks to Sceptre for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Tony Parsons - Die Last

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Gripping and intelligent

This is a gripping and intelligent police thriller from Tony Parsons.  It's the fourth in the Max Wolfe series, but I read it without having read the previous three and enjoyed it very much.

This time, DC Max Wolfe investigates people trafficking after twelve women are found dead in the back of a lorry.  It's a well-researched and passionately angry story which it moves at a very brisk pace and kept me gripped throughout.  Parsons writes very well; I found Max's narrative voice very convincing, the characters and background well painted and the story itself largely believable.  There are some fairly significant implausibilities at times, one or two unlikely coincidences, but in a work of fiction like this I didn't find them too off-putting.

This is a very good, exciting read which makes important points while largely avoiding preaching or speechifying.  I enjoyed it and can recommend it warmly.

(My thanks to Cornerstone for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Cathi Unsworth - That Old Black Magic

Rating: 2/5

Review:
Very disappointing

Cathi Unsworth is a very good writer whose previous work I have liked very much, but I'm sorry to say that That Old Black Magic was a severe disappointment.

Set in 1942, the plot is about Nazi spies who use spiritualist and other occult circles for their nefarious ends.  There is an engaging protagonist in Spooner, a policeman turned undercover agent who sets out to unravel the mystery, but apart from that I found very little to keep me reading here.  The pace is funereally slow, the plot is convoluted and rather confusing and - although I'm astonished to be saying this of a Cathy Unsworth novel – it's not all that well written.  For one thing, there is masses and masses of clunky exposition; Unsworth has plainly researched her subject and period very thoroughly, but the picture she paints is to me rather crude and clichéd.  There are some pretty predictable developments among the seemingly endless stream of just telling us things – including stuff like every single component of one very minor character's Sunday roast, for example.

I'm sorry to say that I got so fed up that, after persevering well beyond the point where I was the remotest bit interested, I gave up – which was a considerable relief.  I hope Cathi Unsworth returns to form in the future, but this one most definitely wasn't for me.

(My thanks to Serpent's tail for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Gavin Lyall - Spy's Honour

Rating: 3/5

Review:
Rather unsatisfying

This is the start of Gavin Lyall's Ranklin series which sees Ranklin at the very birth of the British Secret Service in 1912 as the First World War looms.  It's well written and the political background is very well researched and painted, but I found it rather unsatisfying overall.

The book is a series of slightly disjointed episodes in Ranklin's career as it begins and he becomes a more experienced agent.  There is a bit of a Bulldog Drummond feel to it – no doubt deliberate – which doesn't quite work for me.  Although Ranklin is a far more thoughtful character than the gung-ho literary heroes of the time, there isn't a lot of subtlety (or plausibility at times) about the plots, so it had a slightly cartoonish feel to me much of the time. 

Spy's Honour is readable enough because Lyall was a good writer and I'm glad to have had the opportunity to try it, but I won't be bothering with any more in the series.

(My thanks to Ipso Books for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Margaret Atwood - The Penelopiad

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Thoughtful and readable

I thought The Penelopiad was very good.  I approached it with some trepidation, but it was readable, insightful and very funny in places.

This is the myth of Odysseus's wife, narrated by her shade in Hades in the present day.  As you'd expect, it has Margaret Atwood's wry, intelligent feminist take on the story.  Penelope has rather an ironic, world-weary voice which does become very funny in places.  I could almost imagine her doing a stand-up routine about this, and it makes the book very readable, while making some very serious points.  Atwood is very good at highlighting the role and mythologizing of the perfect wife for the male fantasy it is, but this is also concerned with class.  She is very concerned with the fate of the twelve serving maids who were hanged on Odysseus's return for consorting with Penelope's suitors.  They were "just" low-born or slave women who didn't really count for anything and they are neatly brought to life as the Chorus who periodically comment on the story in the manner of Greek tragedy.  It's a clever device which makes the points about male hypocrisy and the story's disdain for ordinary lives very well.

I found the actual verse of the Chorus a bit mixed; some was very good, some less successful, but overall this is a readable and thoughtful book which I can recommend.

(My thanks to Canongate for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Michael Innes - Appleby's End

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Odd but enjoyable

This instalment of the Appleby series is from 1945, and it has all of Innes's typical hallmarks; the dry wit, the literary allusions and the intricate puzzle are all there.  However, it also has a sort of bizarre Gothic feel about it, with odd names, very odd characters and so on.  I found this quite amusing, and a welcome change from the academic settings its predecessor, The Weight Of The Evidence.

I find I have to space my Innes books out quite widely these days or they become just a bit arch and knowing, but as an occasional fun read they remain very enjoyable and I can recommend Appleby's End to anyone who likes a witty and well written crime novel.

(My thanks to Ipso books for an ARC via NetGalley.)

P.G. Wodehouse - Carry On, Jeeves

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Simply brilliant

This is the book of short stories in which Jeeves first shimmers into Bertie's life and sees him involved in all sorts of rummy business both at home and in the USA.  It is, needless to say, brilliant.

Wodehouse was a genius.  It's a very over-used word, but it's justified in his case.  His plots are always funny, but it is his brilliant, hilarious prose in Bertie's narrative voice which I really love.  He was a truly great writer of English who used his greatness to brilliant comic effect.  This, for example: "Corky's uncle, you see…was always urging him to chuck Art and go into the jute business and work his way up.  And what Corky said was that, while he didn't know what they did at the bottom of a jute business, instinct told him that it was something too beastly for words."  Or Jeeves's, "…it was her intention to start you almost immediately upon Nietzsche.  You would not enjoy Nietzsche, sir.  He is fundamentally unsound."

This is an unmitigated delight.  It is very, very funny, awe-inspiringly well written and very warmly recommended.

Terry Pratchett - The Fifth Elephant

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A Pratchett gem

This is another gem from Pratchett, and one of my favourites.  This time Sam Vimes is sent to Uberwald as an ambassador.  It's a typically beautifully paced and constructed story, which gathers speed and tension while still making some extremely telling points about important social issues, plus an amusing but actually very incisive picture of what can happen when someone completely out of their depth is promoted to a position of power, as Fred Colon is left in charge of the watch. 

It is also very funny, of course.  One of my favourite bits is a brief vignette which mercilessly (and accurately) takes the mickey out of Chekhov, but it's all hugely entertaining, very gripping and leaves you with the sense of having been shown some important things to think about, too.  In short, it's classic Pratchett, and very warmly recommended.