Castle Freeman - Children Of The Valley

 

Rating: 5/5

Review: A joy

This third book in the Lucian Wing series is as good as its predecessors, which is high praise. It can easily be read as a stand-alone book, but I’d recommend reading All That I Have and Old Number Five first in order fully to appreciate the characters – and also because they’re terrific.

This time, Lucian is made aware of a couple of young runaways in his area who are being sought by some very serious people who work for the girl’s mega-rich father. As ever, Lucian goes about his “sheriffing” in a dogged, pragmatic and honourable way as some quite heavy (and some rather comic) events unfold. It’s a good, gripping tale in which things happen quite slowly but in a very involving way.

As always, it is Lucian’s narrative voice which makes this special. There are some echoes of Cormac McCarthy in the solid, laconic style which paints such a vivid picture of the country and the characters in it – although it is also very funny in places. This is just one of Lucian’s meditative gems to give a flavour:

“In my line of work, you can’t usually make a bad thing good, or even mucch better than it was; but sometimes you can make a bad thing go be bad someplace else for a while. If you can get that, I say, take it.”

(I would say, by the way, that there are a couple of major personal issues which arose in the last book which are simply not referred to here: Deputy Olivia Gilfeather isn’t even referred to, and nor is the somewhat vital matter of Lucian’s immediate ancestry. I found that a pity, but it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the book at all.)

I have loved all of these books and am delighted to have discovered them. They are all a joy to read and I can recommend Children Of The Valley very warmly.

Castle Freeman - Old Number Five

 

Rating: 5/5

Review:

Another gem in a great series

I loved Old Number Five, the second in Castle Freeman’s Lucian Wing series. It is beautifully written, gripping and quite a shocker in its way.

Lucian is sheriff of a small backwoods area of Vermont. He does his job by knowing everyone and generally nudging things back into place. This time an incomer bent on making a political career for himself begins to make life difficult for Lucian as a series of unexplained serious injuries befall some local troublemakers – something which seems to go back years. Meanwhile, Lucian himself is reduced to living at the office as his wife carries on at home with someone else and his mother begins to show signs of dementia.

The true joy of these books is Lucian’s narrative voice. Laconic and subtly wise in many ways, he paints a quietly vivid picture of the local area, its characters and its events. A couple of examples which I enjoyed are, speaking of a new female deputy he has hired:

“Deputy Olivia Gilfeather was a serious piece of business; rangy, red-haired and six feet high, more than an inch taller than me.”

And this little rumination after admitting that something has to be done:

“Now, I don’t care what it is, my idea is and always has been, if something has to be done, don’t do it. Nine times out of ten, it didn’t have to be done, at all, and you’re better off.”

If you like those, you’ll like the book – although be warned that this is no cosy plot and things eventually take quite a shocking but wholly plausible turn. In short, I thought this was terrific and I’ve gone straight on to the next (and last) book in the series. Very warmly recommended.

Lauren Oyler - Fake Accounts

 

Rating: 2/5

Review:

Lacking in focus and penetration

 

 I’m afraid I’d had enough of Fake Accounts after about a third of the book and gave up.

The set-up sounded intriguing: a young woman finds that her partner has secretly been posting to conspiracy theory blogs, which seems entirely alien to who she believes him to be. This leads into an investigation and analysis of how people’s on-line lives and real lives interact, the role of truth and lies in our lives today and so on. This is at the core of much of modern existence and should have been intriguing. In fact what I got was an extremely wordy internal monologue, largely consisting of an unfiltered stream-of-consciousness as the narrator spends hours on-line, falls for her partner, Donald Trump is elected, she eats and buys stuff she probably shouldn’t...and so on. Frankly, after I’d waded through the best part of 100 pages of this (it felt like far more) with no sign of the promised analysis, I lost the will to carry on.

Lauren Oyler writes well, but it’s all so diverse and diffuse that I found very little focus in the narrative. There is the odd pithy remark, like “some people on Twitter seemed to believe every problem could be solved with publicity,” which is neat but hardly a penetrating or original analysis. The publicity blurb tells us that, “Narrated in a voice as seductive as it is subtly subversive, Fake Accounts is a wry, provocative and very funny debut novel about identity and authenticity in the age of the internet.” I’m afraid I found the voice neither seductive nor subtly subversive and the claim that it’s very funny is funnier than anything in the book itself, which I found flat and tedious.

I’m sorry to be so critical, but I thought this was well-written but an unfocussed mess. I can’t recommend it.

(My thanks to Fourth Estate for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Carl Hiaasen - Stormy Weather

 

Rating: 4/5

 

Review:

Classic Hiaasen 

 

Stormy Weather is another enjoyable Skink episode from Carl Hiaasen. It has all his hallmarks of amusing plotting, enjoyable characters, scumbags getting their come-uppance and some biting commentary on the shady dealing in Florida and celebration of the wonders of the place.

This time, the scumbaggery is to do with the exploitation of hurricane victims by corrupt politicians and inspectors who allow unsafe building practices which result in the wholesale destruction of homes, and by various scammers and cowboys who profit from those desperate for shelter after a storm. The plot...well, it’s complicated. Suffice it to say that various dodgy characters behave badly, a couple of people behave well and both Jim Tile and Skink are on hand to dispense some measure of appropriate and restorative justice. It is, in short, classic Hiaasen and therefore thoroughly readable and enjoyable.

Alan Bradley - The Weed That Strings The Hangman's Bag

 

Rating: 4/5

 

Review:

Very enjoyable 

 

I enjoyed The Weed That Strings The Hangman’s Bag very much. It’s a good mystery, told in the delightful voice of 11-year-old Flavia de Luce.

This time, a visiting puppet theatre turns out not to be quite as innocent as it likes to appear and a curious death begins to unearth secrets of the past. Set in 1950, Alan Bradley gets the tone and vocabulary very well (with the very occasional anachronism, like the vicar visiting “shut-ins”) and Flavia’s narrative voice makes the whole thing a hugely enjoyable. She is thoroughly engaging, occasionally very funny and just a pleasure to read. The story carried me along very nicely, as did some excellent characters and I’m already looking forward to the next in the series. Warmly recommended.

Mel Giedroyc - The Best Things

 

Rating: 3/5

 

Review:

Disappointing 

I really like Mel Giedroyc. I find her very funny and extremely engaging, and behind that slightly daffy persona there’s an extremely intelligent mind, so I was hoping for something very good here. I’m afraid I was disappointed.

The Best Things relies on a very well-worn trope: a very wealthy woman finds herself rather bored and without purpose. She has little relationship with her husband or children who are all cocooned in their own comfortable worlds...until they lose everything and have to survive together and begin to learn Valuable Life Lessons.

It’s fine for what it is; Mel writes well, it’s decently structured and readable. The trouble is, it all seemed such old hat – to the point of being trite in places. The characters are well drawn but oh-so-familiar and I really couldn’t work up much enthusiasm for any of it.

The Best Things isn’t actively bad by any means; I may not be the target audience and others may enjoy this more than I did, but I can’t really recommend this. Sorry, Mel.

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

Castle Freeman - All That I Have

 

Rating: 5/5

 

Review:

A Joy 

I loved All That I Have. It’s involving, shrewd, witty and above all has the most wonderful narrative voice in Sheriff Lucian Wing.

Wing is Sheriff in a rural part of Vermont; he knows the people he polices and has a thoughtful, flexible approach to “sheriffing,” as opposed to that of his deputy; as another character puts it “All he does is run around arresting people. That’s not what anybody wants.” Wing’s contemplative, laconic style is tested when a local tearaway becomes involved with some very serious Russian gangsters; the plot moves quite gently and plausibly, interesting things happen without resorting to overblown action or violent sequences and it kept me interested throughout. The real joy of the book, though, is Wing’s voice and his take on things. These couple of examples give a flavour:

“Fact is, Wingate’s barely making it. After all, he’s eighty-three or -four. I go visit him every so often, but Clemmie don’t come. Wingate don’t want her. He don’t want Clemmie to see him broken down the way he is, it looks like. If you’re Wingate, you don’t show weakness, or anyway you don’t show it to women, or anyway you don’t show it to women of an age to be your daughter. Wingate’s old school.”

or

“Addison’s what you could call a pillar of the community, though he’s the kind of pillar where the side facing out gets a little more paint than the side facing in.”

and this typical little comment on his own role:

“I sat there and thought things over – didn’t get far with it, though. I decided I didn’t yet have quite enough to think about to make thinking worthwhile.”

If you like those, you’ll like the book. Don’t expect a high-octane mystery full of Twists; for me this was far more involving with its quiet, thoroughly engaging view of the complexities of ordinary lives – and it made me laugh out loud several times. Castle Freeman is a wonderful discovery for me and I have immediately bought the next two in the series. I can recommend this very warmly indeed.

Matt Haig - The Midnight Library

 

Rating: 3/5

 

Review:

Not one of Matt Haig's best

I’m afraid I didn’t get on quite as well with The Midnight Library as almost everyone else seems to have done. I like Matt Haig’s work very much and thought that How To Stop Time in particular was quite brilliant. This one left me with some reservations.

The premise is well described in the publishers’ blurb – Nora Seed is deeply fed up with her life and full of regrets and self-blame for all the opportunities she didn’t take. The Midnight Library offers her the chance to experience some of the lives she might have had if she had made different decisions. It’s full of Matt Haig’s usual humanity, insight and compassion, Nora is a believable, flawed and rather likeable character and the message of the book is a fine, life-affirming one. However, I found the tone somewhat preachy and a little clunky at times, and the episodic nature of the story left me rather unengaged. At its best it reminded me a little of The Phantom Tollbooth (which I loved) and at its worst it reminded me a bit of Sophie’s World (which I really, really didn’t). I found it perfectly readable (of course I did – it’s Matt Haig) but by the end I felt a bit as though I’d read a slightly sententious self-help book rather than a moving novel.

I’m sorry to be slightly critical of an author whom I admire and of a book which is so widely loved, but I didn’t think this was one of Matt Haig’s best. Plenty of people have loved this, but I much prefer How To Stop Time. Only a qualified recommendation from me.

Kristen Lepionka - Once You Go This Far

 

Rating: 4/5

 

Review:

Another enjoyable instalment 

I’m enjoying the Roxanne Weary series. Kristen Lepionka writes well and Roxanne herself is an engaging, flawed character with an interesting, believable personal life which doesn’t intrude unnecessarily into the story.

This time, Roxanne is almost witness to the death of a woman who apparently fell while hiking in the woods, and is hired to investigate how it happened. This leads her into a complex case involving a mysteriously missing woman and her children, the politics of women’s health and a sinister fundamentalist religious group. It’s well done and gripping, with Roxanne’s narrative voice a very engaging companion. The sense of place is, as always, very strong, Roxanne’s relationship with Tom develops in interesting and plausible ways and I found myself very involved for much of the book’s length.

The book does have a couple of weaknesses: Lepionka is very keen on the big set-piece climax in which Roxanne has to try to save the day, which in this case didn’t really convince me and had a somewhat contrived feel. Also, there are a lot of characters who only appear occasionally but importantly which meant I wasn’t always sure who was who at critical moments. Nonetheless, I found it a very enjoyable read; I can recommend it and I’m looking forward to the next in the series.

Christopher Fowler - Ten Second Staircase

 

 Rating: 5/5

Review:

Another fine instalment from Fowler

I enjoyed Ten-Second Staircase very much. Like all of Christopher Fowler’s books it is amusing, gripping, thoughtful and full of fascinating historical details.

This time the scene is set with an impossible murder in an art gallery in which an artist is drowned in her own installation with no apparent means of entry or escape for the murderer. More crimes follow, while the Peculiar Crimes Unit itself is under threat from enemies in the Home Office...in other words, pretty much business as usual for the team. It’s a good, involving story, but as always, the real joy of these books is in Arthur’s arcane and eccentric probings into the dusty corners of London’s history and the strange but wonderful people he consults and associates with.

Pretty much all that need be said here is that this is Christopher Fowler on excellent form. Warmly recommended.

Chris Brookmyre - The Cut

 

Rating: 3/5

 

Review: 

Not one of Brookmyre's best 

Hmm. I like Chris Brookmyre’s later Jack Parlabane books very much, but don’t get on at all with the Ambrose Parry books. The Cut lies somewhere in between – quite a decent if overblown plot but with some significant flaws. (There are some mild spoilers for the early chapters in what follows, but no more than is given away in the publishers’ blurb.)

The story revolves around two characters: Jerry, a young student who is interested in horror movies including the “video nasties” of the 80s, and Millicent who was a brilliant make-up effects artist who worked on them. Millicent, now in her 70s has recently finished a long sentence for a murder during a film shoot of which she has no recollection, when Jerry comes to share the house in which she lives. Between them, they begin to suspect that Millie was framed and a twisty plot emerges in which sordid goings-on emerge, involving government ministers, rich media tycoons, mafia gangsters and so on – plus the inevitable Lost Tape.

It’s quite well done - Brookmyre is a good storyteller (although I found the cutting between timeframes and the slow, slightly confusing emerging real story slightly irritating) and it’s well written so I did want to know what happened. However, there is a lot of trading of movie references which began to smack of authorial showing off, Millicent’s remarkable character transformation (along with quite a lot of the psychology) didn’t really ring true to me, there is some pretty clunky modern-day “realisation” about the exploitation of young women back in the 80s, there are quite a few outrageous coincidences and so on. All this detracted from my enjoyment and made it more like one of the run-of-the-mill thrillers which appear by the ton each year.

Overall, I’d say that it’s not bad, but it’s not great; it’s a decent brain-off read, especially if you’re a big movie fan.

(My thanks to Little, Brown for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Ryan Gattis - The System

 

Rating: 2/5

Review:

Not for me

I’ve had two good goes at The System now, but I’m afraid I can’t get on with it and have bailed out.

I’m not sure quite why I’m struggling with it; I liked All Involved and this is in a similar style with closely related content and its examination of the US justice machine is important and timely. This time, though, I found the multiple points of view too fragmented to form a coherent narrative and some of the characters, like the bigoted, self-regarding, manipulative parole officer, rather overblown and verging on caricature.

Others have enjoyed this and I can see that it has merit, but it just didn’t engage me in the end and I won’t be going back to it.

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

Shalom Auslander - Mother For Dinner

 

Rating:4/5

 

Review: 

Witty, penetrating and grotesque

Mother For Dinner is an excoriating satire on the contemporary obsession with identity. It has a good deal of Shalom Auslander’s customary brilliance and wit, but has its flaws, too.

As in the brilliant Hope: A Tragedy, Auslander uses an outrageous premise to illustrate what he sees as the dangers of relying for one’s identity on a sense of both current and historic oppression and injustice. Here, he creates a Cannibal-American community living covertly in the USA having come from the Old Country (no-one remembers precisely where) several generations ago. A myth about their establishment in the USA is created, embellished and nurtured – by no-one more so than Mudd, monstrous matriarch of a Can-Am family and a parody of every over-zealous orthodoxy, who “loved her people, so much so that, as a matter of pride, she despised all others.” Seventh is one of her sons who has broken free but is drawn back as the family gathers for Mudd’s death – after which, by tradition, they are expected to eat her.

It’s a clever, grotesque device which enables Auslander to throw Orthodoxy dependent on ancient stories and tradition (of all kinds) into sharp and unforgiving focus. This passage is a good example: “...nobody remembers exactly what Remembrance Day was established to remember. Something happened— of that there can be no question— and whatever it was, it was bad. It was tragic. It was the most tragic thing that ever happened, otherwise why would they remember it, even if they didn’t? All that is known for certain is that somewhere (no one can remember where), on some particular day (no one can remember which), something terrible happened to their blessed ancestors (no one can remember what), and it is important that they never forget it, whatever it was and whenever it happened, and that they curse the names of those who perpetrated whatever it was that was perpetrated, whoever they were, and whatever they did.”

He also takes well-aimed swipes at some publishing trends exploiting ideas of identity and other targets. The message, that identity is important but becomes damaging if it is insular and wholly inward- and backward-looking, is very important and he can be very, very funny about it. However, toward the end the grotesquerie got just a bit much for me and rather obscured what Auslander was trying to say.

Mother For Dinner is often brilliant and hilarious and makes good, important points. You do need to be prepared for some pretty gross scenes, but I’d say it’s well worth it. Perhaps not the absolute gem that Hope: A Tragedy is, but still very recommendable.

Carl Hiaasen - Native Tongue

 

Rating: 4/5

 

Review:

Enjoyable but not brilliant 

Native Tongue is an enjoyable read, but perhaps not the best of the Carl Hiaasen books I have read.

The underlying theme is familiar: a slightly unwitting protagonist becomes involved in trying to prevent the destruction of more of Florida’s natural land and wildlife by a selection of sleazy developers, charlatans, corrupt politicians, violent enforcers and so on. This time the main threat is from a sort of seedy, dishonest sub-Disneyland theme park and the plot plays out rather as you’d expect, but with some very amusing moments – not least from a gun-totin’ older woman for whom the word “feisty” is wholly inadequate.

Hiaasen’s books are always good value. This may not be one of the wittiest or most engrossing, but it’s very enjoyable and I can recommend it.

Alan Bradley - The Sweetness At The Bottom Of The Pie

 

Rating:  4/5

 

Review:

Entertaining stuff 

 

I enjoyed The Sweetness At The Bottom Of The Pie. It took a while to get going, but I found it well written, entertaining and enjoyable.

Set in England in 1950 and narrated by 11-year-pld Flavia de Luce, this is a sort of Golden Age mystery with some wit and quirkiness thrown in. Flavia herself is precocious, chemistry-obsessed and rather mischievous, and I liked her voice very much. Alan Bradley, despite being Canadian, catches the background and language of the period very well, with just one or two insignificant lapses, like “bangs” to mean a fringe – definitely NOT in 1950s England! Flavia is an engaging character and, once it really starts to move, the plot is interesting and reasonably plausible, as a sinister visitor turns up dead in the cucumber patch, Flavia’s father is accused of murder and as she investigates, some historical philatelic skulduggery emerges.

Don’t look for gritty realism here, but it’s a very entertaining read, with some rather interesting snippets of arcane information thrown in. I’ll be reading more of this series and I can recommend this one.

Mick Herron - Slough House

 

Rating: 5/5

 

Review:

Another cracker from Mick Herron 

 

Probably all that really need be said about Slough House is that it’s well up to the standard of the rest of this brilliant series. It is difficult to elaborate more without any spoilers, but…

Slough House has everything one expects from Mick Herron: a complex but comprehensible plot involving the usual political chicanery involving Diana Taverner and Peter Judd (who, disclaimers about resemblance to real people living or dead notwithstanding, is a brilliant parody of the current Prime Minister). There is genuine threat from foreign agents, too, with some very exciting passages and sometimes wholly unexpected developments. The occupants of Slough House are their customary brilliant character studies with Roddy Ho’s wonderful self-delusion and Shirley Dander’s impatient, drug-fuelled rage especially prominent this time – and, of course, Jackson Lamb is on magnificently sharp, repellent form.

In short, this is another cracker from Mick Herron. It’s gripping, involving, very funny in places and has a very shrewd take on contemporary events. Very warmly recommended indeed. (And how long until the next one…?)

(My thanks to John Murray for an ARC vis NetGalley.)

Andrew O'Hagan - Mayflies

 

Rating: 5/5

 

Review:

Outstandingly good  

I thought Mayflies was outstandingly good. It is involving, exceptionally well written, touching, amusing and profound.

It’s a book of two halves. The first, set in 1986, is the story of a group of teenagers from Southern Scotland and their friendship, as they first plan and then actually go to a weekend of gigs in Manchester, the centre of the pop musical world at the time. Narrated by Jimmy, it is primarily concerned with his friendship with Tully which is brilliantly evoked, but also with the way in which a group of young men bond and interact. Although my teenage musical heyday was a little before this, I found the sense of its excitement and the relationships within the group incredibly well painted and extremely evocative. I loved the way Andrew O’Hagan writes about it; it is readable, engrossing and has some wonderfully evocative passages – including the final sentence of this part of the narrative where they go for an illicit swim after an inspiring weekend: “The water was cold, but it soon warms up when the boys are made of sunshine.”

Thirty years later, we have the story of the dying of one of the characters. Again, it is superbly done; O’Hagan catches many of the poignancies which anyone who has been close to a dying loved one will recognise, but never strays into sentimentality. The dilemmas and difficulties of loyalty are there, too, as are both the comfort and sadness of long friendship coming to an end. It’s a masterpiece of perception, honesty and the acceptance of the almost impossible choices facing both the dying and those who are close to them. Again, O’Hagan catches so much in some brilliant passages and sentences – and the section where there is a reunion of friends is quite exceptional, I think, including things like one of the original group who has drifted away onto a different path: “No one could accuse him of living in the past. He wiped the past off his new shoes and called it success.”

I don’t often rave quite so unreservedly over a book, but this is one of the best things I have read for a long time. Very, very warmly recommended.

(My thanks for Faber and Faber for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Janes O'Brien - How Not To Be Wrong

 

Rating: 5/5

 

Review:

Readable, courageous and important 

 

I thought How Not To Be Wrong was excellent. I don’t listen to James O’Brien but I enjoyed his previous book, How To Be Right very much and tried this on the strength of it. It’s a very different book, but just as good and just as important.

The message of the book is summed up in its penultimate sentence: “I have finally learned that admitting to being wrong is infinitely more important than using skills and tricks and weapons and tools to look ‘right’, and that there is no point in having a mind if you can’t change it.” It’s an important message; what that sentence doesn’t convey, though, is what a remarkably honest and courageous book this is. O’Brien talks openly about some of the times he has been, in his words, “horribly wrong” either about an idea or about the way in which he has treated someone. It makes quite painful reading sometimes; it must have been very difficult to write and I think he deserves great credit for what he has done.

He has a lot to say about the way in which early experiences at school in particular gave him a mindset of always expecting attack and how he built a set of verbal tools to fend off attacks and to “win,” rather than to really listen to and empathise with what people with different life experiences may be saying to him. It took a major family crisis for him to realise that these tools did not make him a good father or husband in these circumstances and, again to his credit, he sought counselling even though he was mightily sceptical and cynical about the whole process. His description of how this affected him and the subsequent re-evaluation of much of how he behaves toward people is readable, fascinating and moving in places. Much of what he says applies to an awful lot of us (especially men, I would suggest) and is a salutary read.

I can recommend How Not To Be Wrong as an engrossing, thoughtful and thoroughly illuminating read. One of my best books of the year so far.

(My thanks to Random House, WH Allen for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Julietta Henderson - The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman

 

Rating: 4/5

Review:

Surprisingly good 

I enjoyed The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman. It’s not perfect but it avoids most of the pitfalls which could have spoiled it and I found it readable, amusing and touching.

Let’s face it, it could have been dreadful: a twelve-year-old boy with psoriasis dreams of doing a comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe with his best friend (who is the funny one) but the best friend dies suddenly. His single mum and her very elderly friend decide to help him do a Fringe show anyway, and try to find out who his father is, to boot. It could be sloppy, sentimental, manipulative drivel and I’m not even sure why I tried it, to be honest – but I’m glad I did because it’s nothing of the kind.

Part of what makes it so good is the narrative voices of both Norman and his mum, Sadie. Both are convincing, insightful in their own ways and amusing, too. Norman’s slightly naive but thoughtful and often funny take on things (like the grief of losing your best and only friend) is both powerful and very engaging, as is Sadie’s angst-ridden parental outlook. Julietta Henderson manages to avoid sentimentality to a great extent (I was especially impressed with the way she dealt with the book’s climax of The Show itself) and shows us two people dealing with real difficulties and growing, while avoiding the trite, hammered-home Life Lessons which so often pollute books like this. The search for Norman’s dad is well done, I think, although the ending does get pretty ridiculous and perhaps just spills over into schmaltz a little – but I could forgive that because much of the book is so good.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this. It’s a very good, enjoyable read with some genuine content and I can recommend it.

(My thanks to Bantam Press for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Adrian McKinty - The Chain

 

Rating: 3/5

Review:

Disappointing

I’m afraid I was disappointed with The Chain. Adrian McKinty is an excellent writer and his Sean Duffy series has been a must-read for me. However, this is just another manufactured thriller; its premise is original and it’s well written but I didn’t do much for me, I’m afraid.

The premise and plot are well described elsewhere; The Chain requires people to pay a ransom and then kidnap another child in order to get their own kidnapped child back. I never managed to suspend disbelief quite enough to buy into this implausible scenario, nor did I find the emotional distress of Rachel, the chief protagonist whose daughter has been kidnapped, particularly convincing. Also, she is undergoing cancer treatment and another main character is trying to come off heroin...but why? Neither condition adds anything whatsoever to the plot or characterisation and seemed to me just random add-ons, presumably for added tension or depth or something. It seemed to me to be a rather cheap ploy and just irritated me in the end. I did keep reading because McKinty’s storytelling was good enough to keep me going – just – but I did skim a bit, I spotted the inevitable Twist a mile off and found the overblown climax just a bit ridiculous.

Adrian McKinty is better than this. The things which make the Duffy series so good – the excellent background and understanding of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, plausible plots and penetrating characterisation – were missing here and to me it was just another pretty bog-standard, American-set thriller of the type that appears by the truckload these days. It’s readable but I can only give it a very qualified recommendation.

P.G. Wodehouse - Psmith In The City

 

Rating: 4/5

 

Review:

Amusing early Wodehouse 

This is a very amusing and readable piece of Wodehouse nonsense, but it’s perhaps not The Master at the absolute peak of his form. First published in 1910, this outing for Psmith is quite an early Wodehouse, with the languid, lucid and engaging Psmith with his friend Mike Jackson both sent to work in a City bank.

There are some typical Wodehousian scrapes (although no romantic entanglements) and, naturally, some wonderfully witty writing; his use of language is already exceptional, but he hasn’t yet reached the heights of genius which led Hilaire Belloc to describe him as “the greatest living writer of English” It’s readable and has a good number of smiles in it, but it didn’t make me laugh out loud the way that some later Blandings or Jeeves and Wooster books do.

These caveats aside, you can’t go wrong with Wodehouse and this is a charming, amusing period piece which I can recommend to anyone.

Carl Hiaasen - Double Whammy

 

Rating: 4/5

 

Review:

Enjoyable as ever 

 

I enjoyed Double Whammy a lot. I went back to the beginning of Carl Hiaasen’s Skink series after reading a couple of later books; I certainly wasn’t disappointed, but I think Hiaasen improved from here as he really hit his stride.

As well as explaining Skink’s origins, the story has many of Hiaasen’s trademarks: bad guys destroying Florida’s precious natural habitat and wildlife for sleazy gain, political corruption, people with obsessions (in this case bass fishing) and decent people threatened but taking sweet revenge on the scumbags. He is excellent at saying serious things in a witty way and it’s all done with his usual humour and excellent storytelling, so it’s both gripping and very amusing in places. It could perhaps have done with a little tightening up here and there and the wit isn’t quite as dry and biting as in some later books, but it’s great fun nonetheless. Hiaasen is an excellent writer and I was, as always, carried along very enjoyably.

This isn’t absolutely top-notch Hiaasen, but it’s still way ahead of most others in the genre. Warmly recommended.

Derek B. Miller - Norwegian By Night

 

Rating: 5/5

Review:

Excellent

I thought Norwegian By Night was excellent. It is gripping, well written and thoughful.

It is the story of Sheldon Horowitz, an ex-marine in his 80s who has moved to Norway to live with his granddaughter and her husband. Through a series of unusual but believable events he ends up on the run from police and Kosovan gangsters while sheltering a young boy with whom he has no language in common.

It’s an odd set-up, but it works very well. It’s a very well told story, with some very good characters – notably Sigrid, the senior police officer directing the investigation, and Sheldon himself. Sheldon may or may not have some level of dementia, so we are not sure whether the history he gives himself as an active sniper in Korea is true or not (although the truth becomes plainer later on). Meanwhile, we get his blunt, sometimes irascible thoughts about all sorts of things and throuh this the book has important things to say about aging, loss, love, masculinity and other things.

I thought it was terrific. I was gripped by the story and sometimes amused and sometimes very moved by Sheldon and his musings and actions. The whole thing will stay with me for a long time and I can recommend it very warmly.

 

Cara Hunter - The Whole Truth

 

Rating: 4/5

Review:

Good, but not one of Cara Hunter's best

 

 The Whole Truth is a good book from Cara Hunter, but I don’t think it’s one of her best.

The story revolves around a student’s complaint of sexual harassment against a tutor. It’s not a typical story by any means and is rather well done for much of its length, with some interesting discussion of issues of consent, but to say more would be too much of a spoiler. As Fawley and his team investigate, a murder is committed which introduces a second, far less believable plot thread which dominates the second half of the book. I was a little disappointed in this, in that it smacks of a slightly desperate search for a Twist to Ratchet Up The Tension; Hunter is better than that and I think this demeans her slightly.

Structurally, too, it’s not as well done as some others in the series. Hunter is still excellent on both police procedure (they do actually follow procedure!) and on press and social media responses to a story, and her characterisation is very good – especially of the regular members of Fawley’s team. However, there is more of a fragmented feel to this one, some slightly odd addressing of the reader directly and a great rush of revelation at the end which felt a bit forced.

All that said, it remains a good, involving read and a cut above a lot of stuff in this genre. Not a classic but I have rounded 3.5 stars up to 4 and I’ll certainly be continuing with the series.

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

Carl Hiaasen - Skinny Dip

 

Rating: 5/5

 

Review:

Hugely enjoyable 

This is another terrific read from Carl Hiaasen. I have discovered him rather late in life and I’m having enormous fun catching up on what I’ve missed.

Here we have a slightly convoluted tale of attempted murder, wanton pollution of the Everglades, corruption and, principally, of a nasty scumbag getting his prolonged come-uppance. It’s great; Hiaasen writes very well and extremely wittily, he creates terrific characters, including the very engaging Mick Stranahan and tells a very involving story with some important observations on people and their behaviour. He knows Florida intimately, including its political shenaningans and some of its more extraordinary inhabitants, and the sense of place is very well done.

In short, this is a hugely enjoyable read. Very warmly recommended.

 

Derek B. Miller - Radio LIfe

 

Rating: 3/5

 

Review:

Not bad, not great 

 

Hmmm. Post-apocalyptic SF isn’t my normal genre but I loved both Norwegian By Night and American By Day so I gave Radio Life a go. It’s not bad by any means, but it didn’t really do much for me.

Set at least a century in the future, the world has been all but destroyed and access to buried old knowledge and technology is valued by The Commonwealth but very difficult because of a Sickness still lurking in the Gone World, and because of others who want to destroy all old knowledge before it destroys the world again. Serious conflict looms...

It’s a decent set-up and Miller writes very well, of course, but I somehow never quite engaged with either the world he creates nor the characters he fills it with. It just felt a little laboured, somehow, and I was always looking in at what Miller was doing rather than being caught up in his world. This may just be me, and I think that fans of the enre may well enjoy Radio Life very much. For me, though, it’s not in the same league as, say, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road or Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban. Only a qualified recommendation from me, I’m afraid.

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

Christopher Fowler - The Water Room

 

Rating: 5/5

Review: A gem

The Water Room is the second in the Bryant & May series and it is a gem. I read a couple of later ones and decided to start at the beginning; the series is giving me great pleasure and this s the best I have read so far.

The plot is, as usual, slightly bonkers but in a very believable way, somehow. Arthur and John are asked by two different friends to look into two apparently unrelated matters. Things become very convoluted as the Peculiar Crimes Unit swings into its unique sort of action and a very good story gradually unrolls. It is full of Fowler’s usual fascinating, arcane detail about the history and hidden parts of London, this time especially about London’s lost and underground rivers, its labyrinthine subterranean waterways and how they are managed. There is a great cast of characters, many very amusing and all extremely well painted.

Fowler’s wit, style and obvious passion for his subject makes this great reading and I enjoyed it enormously. Very warmly recommended.

Lawrence Block - The Burglar In The Closet

 

Rating: 4/5

 

Review:

Another enjoyable outing for Bernie 

 

I’m enjoying these Bernie Rhodenbarr books. This is the second and establishes a bit of a pattern: Bernie, a professional gentleman burglar in New York, takes on a job and as a result finds himself wanted for a murder he didn’t commit. He then has to solve the crime to prove himself innocent, usually assisted by his female companion of the moment.

It’s very nicely done. Don’t look for hard-boiled realism, but the plot is well structured and the story very well told in Bernie’s wry, observant voice. Lawrence Block is a very good writer and the narrative carried me along nicely. His characters and sense of New York are very good, all of which makes this an enjoyable, diverting read. Recommended.

Andy Hamilton - Longhand

 

Rating: 5/5

Review: Excellent stuff

 

I thought Longhand was excellent. Andy Hamilton has been writing top-class comedy on radio and TV for a very long time; this is well up to standard.

The book is in the form of a (long) letter from a man to his partner of 20 years explaining why he must suddenly leave. It is difficult to give an outline of the plot without significant spoilers, so I won’t. However, it’s readable, very engrossing, has plenty of very amusing bits which are laugh-out-loud funny in places and has Hamilton’s familiar underpinning of lightly-worn learning and wisdom. Here he takes some of the Greek myths and subjects them to the scrutiny of a modern consciousness, finding a great deal of comedy in their sillinesses and contradictions, but also, as he does so brilliantly in Old Harry’s Game, finding the genuine, sometimes profound human revelations in them.

It’s excellently done and I was completely hooked. The story moves at a good pace and Hamilton’s characters and settings are wholly believable. I loved the little insights that crop up regularly, like this about the big moments in our lives “Weird, isn’t it, how often the climaxes end up feeling anti-climactic. The big scenes never seem quite real.”

The format of actual handwriting works very well, I think. Hamilton always writes his scripts in longhand and has a lovely, readable italic hand. (There is also another clever reason for the title which is lightly revealed early on.) I found the whole book a real pleasure; it’s an excellent piece of work from one of our very best comic writers and I can recommend it very warmly.

Paul Morley - A Sound Mind

 

Rating: 2/5

 

Review:

Very hard going 

I’m afraid I struggled with A Sound Mind. Paul Morley says some interesting things and makes some valid points, but oh dear – he does go on. And on. And on.

The subtitle of the book gives a clear idea of the content. It’s the story of how Morley began to develop an interest in and then a love for classical music, having been a rock critic for decades. There are some interesting observations, especially as I (like many others, I suspect) have made a similar move toward classical music as I have aged. He is very acute, too, on things like the universal, instant accessibility of huge amounts of music and how it means that we probably value it less than when an album was a significant investment of pocket money. But…

All of this is almost submerged in a deluge of self-referential verbiage. Quite early on, Morley actually talks about rock critics’ “compulsion to use too many words,” but apparently without any self-awareness, because it certainly applies here. He makes the error of assuming that all his readers are as fascinated as he is by every nuance of the development of his emotional and intellectual response to classical music. I’m afraid that this reader wasn’t and this, along with some clumsy and almost incomprehensible semi-metaphorical ramblings about plane journeys and the like made the whole thing very hard going for me. (And if I read one more sentence with endless lists of “from Haydn to Bowie, from Webern to [insert name of obscure band]….” I will not be responsible for my actions. OK, Paul, we get it – you’ve listened to a lot of music.)

At well over 600 pages, I suspect that this would have been a much better book if it had been half the length. There are quite a lot of interesting and penetrating observations here, but finding them is a real effort. I think the book is summed up for me in this little quote: “...the prog-rock concept album, with its own bloated, self-involved aesthetic that needed urgent, almost therapeutic puncturing by punk rock”. He is, as so often, absolutely right, but can’t seem to see that his own book is just as bloated and self-involved and needs urgent, almost therapeutic puncturing by a good, strong editor. I can’t really recommend it.

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

John Banville - Snow

 

Rating: 3/5

 

Review:

Ho-hum 

 

I found Snow rather mediocre, I’m afraid. It’s not actively bad, but it does plod, it’s not as clever as it thinks it is and there’s not much Banville brilliance in evidence.

The set-up is like a vintage Agatha Christie. Set in December 1957, a Detective Inspector is sent from Dublin to investigate the murder of a priest in a large country house. It is peopled by stock Christie characters - which Banville points out several times - it contains some arch references to Murder On the Orient Express and so on. Banville “subverts” the genre with some explicit sex scenes, but otherwise it pretty much plods through a Country House Mystery plot. It’s all terribly knowing and postmodern, but for me it did not make a good read and became pretty irritating. Even the intimate characterisation and evocative scene-setting which I have found so involving in books like Ancient Light aren’t really there; just little sparks every so often.

The plot and motivation are very well-worn, with pointers toward priestly malfeasance very early on. I think that by now we know that priests and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Ireland last century did some dreadful things which were covered up; as a core plot it really needs more than Banville gives it here to be other than a rehash of what we’ve read many times by now.

The book does have its moments; a scene between the Inspector and the Archbishop is very well done, for example, but even the structure is very clumsy in places, with an out-of-place monologue from a different point of view toward the end and an unconvincing epilogue.

Snow isn’t terrible by any means, but it was a bit of a slog and didn’t do much for me. I suspect that I may have reached the end of the road with John Banville; I haven’t genuinely enjoyed a book of his for some time and I can’t really recommend this one.

(My thanks to Faber & Faber for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Carl Hiaasen - Skin Tight

 

Rating: 5/5

 

Review:

Hugely enjoyable 

 

This is great fun. I have come very late to Carl Hiaason but I am thoroughly enjoying catching up on his books.

In Skin Tight, Mick Stranahan is an ex-Private Investigator living a quiet, isolated existence on a stilt house out in a Florida bay when events at a cosmetic surgery clinic mean that a case he once investigated might threaten the clinic’s owner. As a result, Mick’s own life and those of others are at risk and a convoluted and somewhat bonkers plot ensues – and it’s terrific fun.

Hiaason writes very well, he is genuinely witty (and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny) and has a high old time taking swipes at the worst of Florida: corruption, vain and vacuous rich residents and visitors, slimy lawyers, dodgy plastic surgeons, ludicrous TV hosts and so on. There’s a great cast of characters and Mick himself is a fine, calm and competent protagonist. The whole thing is a pleasure which I can recommend very warmly – and I’ll be reading more Hiaasen very soon.

Ian Rankin - A Song For The Dark Times

 

Rating: 5/5

 

Review:

Another very good Rebus instalment 

Ian Rankin has definitely still got it. After reading a couple of rather disappointing new books from long-established authors I approached this with a little trepidation, but I enjoyed it very much.

Rebus is ageing with the rest of us and is now suffering from COPD. He is, therefore having to make changes to his way of life, including giving up smoking and cutting down on the booze. He is retired, of course, but he is still his old, dogged, determined, contrary and sometimes bloody-minded self. When his daughter Samantha’s partner goes missing in the far north of Scotland, Rebus goes there immediately, pursuing enquiries in spite of repeated warnings from local police to stay out of it and leave it to them. Meanwhile, DIs Siobhan Clarke and Malcolm Fox are investigating a murder in Edinburgh, which may have some connection to Rebus’s case.

It’s very well done. Rankin remains a brilliant storyteller and I was hooked throughout. It’s not as dark as some Rankin classics, but Big Ger Cafferty is still a malign presence and the Clarke/Fox stories are developing very well in their own right. There is some interesting stuff about POW camps in Scotland during the war as the history of that time becomes very relevant to Rebus’s enquiries, but Rankin never overdoes it. He has clearly done a lot of research, but doesn’t overburden us with it, so it forms a very believable background without bogging down the story. (Some other authors may wish to take note of the skill of a light touch here.) Rankin’s characterisation and dialogue are, as always, excellent, the sense of place is very well done and I found this a really good read.

There are perhaps one or two coincidences too many and it may not be absolute classic Rankin, but I enjoyed it so much that I’ve rounded 4.5-stars up to 5. Warmly recommended.

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

 

 

Nick Hornby - Just Like You

 

Rating: 3/5

 

Review:

Readable but disposable

I’m afraid I didn’t think all that much of Just Like You. It’s perfectly readable but it all felt like very familiar terrain and didn’t add up to much in the end.

The story, set in 2016, is of Lucy, the white, 42-year-old Head of English at a tough North London comprehensive school and Joseph, a young black man, 20 years her junior who works in her local butcher at the weekend. They form a relationship and Nick Hornby explores the issues which arise. The trouble is, he doesn’t explore them very deeply or convincingly. It all meanders along amiably enough, but the background of Lucy’s privileged, wealthy North London acquaintances, awkwardness around race (and some out-and-out racism) and the Brexit referendum all seemed very stale. This is particularly true of the Brexit stuff, which has been extensively explored by a lot of writers and for me Hornby adds nothing new. Even the age-gap, class and interracial issues in Lucy and Joseph’s relationship seemed somehow rather trivially dealt with, so it felt more like a Richard Curtis romcom than much of an emotional or political exploration.

I also have to add a personal hobby horse. A head of department in a large tough school who has no work to do at home and limitless energy and time both in the evenings and at weekends? I’m prepared to suspend disbelief to a pretty large extent when reading, but there really are limits. Every such teacher is almost always either working, trying to cope with domestic demands or asleep. I will restrain myself from ranting further.

For me, Just Like You is readable but disposable and a long way from the insightful brilliance of classics like Fever Pitch or High Fidelity. I van only give it a very qualified recommendation.

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

Carl Hiaasen - Squeeze Me

 

Rating: 5/5

Review:

Terrific Stuff

I thought Squeeze Me was great fun.

Set in Florida, the plot involves the lives of the very rich and of the President being disrupted by the appearance of some huge Burmese pythons, a species which has established itself in Florida largely through abandoned pets as they became to big to handle. Angie Armstrong is a wildlife removal specialist who becomes involved and then enraged by the cover-up and attempt to frame an innocent man for political gain. A convoluted, amusing and rather gripping story ensues.

I thought it was terrific. Angie is an extremely engaging protagonist and Hiaasen writes very well about both his characters and the Florida setting. It has genuine wit and some laugh-out-loud moments and the scathing satire both of Donald Trump (whom he is careful never to name) and of the rich, privileged world in which he moves is extremely well done.

This is the first Carl Hiaasen book I have read but I’ll certainly be reading more. It’s a very entertaining read and I can recommend it very warmly.

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

Tana French - The Searcher

 

Rating: 5/5

Review: very good indeed

I enjoyed The Searcher very much. It perhaps doesn’t have quite the depth of some of Tana French’s finest books, but it’s still very good indeed.

It is the story of Cal, a retired, divorced, disillusioned Chicago cop who buys a derelict house near a small village in the West of Ireland to have some peace of mind. He begins to form a relationship with Trey, a local 13-year-old whose brother has disappeared; Cal reluctantly agrees to look into it and complexities and dark undercurrents begin to emerge.

Like all of Tana French’s books, this is a novel of place and character, driven by a suspenseful crime story. The story itself here is slow and measured in pace – which I liked very much. It fits in well with the pace of life of the community and the careful, steady work which Cal outs in on his house and which he begins to teach to Trey. I see some reviewers found this tedious, but I liked it very much, along with the excellent depiction of the life and characters of a small rural community. The characterisation and dialogue are, as always, brilliant. French also has important things to say about masculinity, fatherhood, moral behaviour and other things. There was enough tension to keep me hooked and the whole thing was a pleasure for me.

This may not be one of Tana French’s very best but it’s still extremely good and I can recommend it very warmly.

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

 

Louise Penny - All The Devils Are Here

 

Rating: 2/5

 

Review:

A disappointment 

I’m surprised and very sorry to say that I didn’t like All The Devils Are Here. I am still in the fairly early stages of making my way gradually (and with great enjoyment) through this series but was very happy to read this latest one out of order. I was very disappointed.

Part of the problem is that Gamache is not in Quebec and Three Pines but in Paris, and taking him and Reine-Marie out of where they really belong doesn’t work well for me. I understand Louise Penny’s profound personal reasons for doing this, but I’m afraid it doesn’t make for a good read for me. I also found that the persistent, almost hagiographic admiration of Armand by almost everyone he has ever known became very cloying.

What I found hardest to take, though, was the style. Penny makes incessant use of not writing in full sentences with clauses, but making those clauses sentences themselves.

Or sometimes even a paragraph.

It became almost unreadable for me. In the first chapter, for example, we get dozens of examples like:

“But this time was different. This time Stephen had added something. Something Armand had never heard from him before.

A specificity.”

And this, just a few pages later:

“Son. Stephen had never called him that. Not once in fifty years. Garçon, yes. Boy. It was said with great affection. But it wasn’t the same. As son.”

Seriously? “But it wasn’t the same. As son.”? Come on – Louise Penny is much, much better than that; she’s a really fine writer and cheap, irritating tricks like that demean her. I found myself wincing regularly and skimming from quite early on.

So, a serious disappointment for me. I can’t bring myself to give a Louise Penny book one star, but I really didn’t like it and I hope she returns to form with her next.

(My thanks to Little, Brown for an ARC via NetGalley.)