Andrew Robinson - Einstein On the Run

 

Rating: 4/5

 

Review:

Readable, but not quite what it claims to be 

I quite enjoyed Einstein On The Run, but it wasn’t really what I expected. It does shed interesting light on a little-known aspect of Einstein’s escape from the Nazis, but this forms a relatively minor part of the book, which makes the subtitle a little misleading.

The story of Einstein’s stay in Britain and the analysis of why he chose to go to the USA are very good aspect of the book. I have read quite a lot about Einstein but I didn’t know anything about any of this. Andrew Robinson has done a great deal of research and presents it well, so these parts of the book were very rewarding. However, there is an awful lot of other material in the book, a good deal of which is much more familiar. The book opens with a fairly lengthy outline of Einstein’s early life and work, for example, which is quite well done, but not really what I wanted to read the book for. The same can be said of quite a lot of the rest of the book which, while readable enough, didn’t add much to what I’d already read about several times before in other biographies and analyses of Einstein’s work. (Abaham Pais’s biography, Subtle Is The Lord sprang to mind rather often.)

I think a recommendation depends on what you’re looking for. If you want a decent, brief account of Einstein’s life and beliefs with an emphasis on hie time in Britain and how it affected him, this should do you well. For a book devoted to that time and its consequences, I found this just slightly disappointing.

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

Alan Parks - The April Dead

 

Rating: 4/5

 

Review:

The best so far

I have enjoyed this series and I think The April Dead is the best so far.

It is April 1974 and Harry McCoy is investigating some bombings in Glasgow which seem to be the work of an amateur. He is also approached by an American who is concerned about his son, based with the US Navy at Holy Loch, who has disappeared. A connection seems to appear and some very dark secrets begin to be revealed involving secret militias, rogue elements of the British Army in Northern Ireland and elsewhere and, of course, McCoy’s childhood friend and now leading crime boss, Stevie Cooper.

It’s all very well done. It is extremely disturbing in places, but helped by the fact that it is now April and isn’t cold, wet and dark all the time, so it’s not quite so unremittingly gloomy. I even laughed once at the dialogue. Alan Parks develops an excellent sense of time and place as always and the plot is very well paced so I was involved and carried along very nicely. The character development of McCoy, Cooper, Wattie and others is well done, too. There are some unlikely coincidences and other implausibilities, but they’re not too outrageous and it was easy to forgive them for the sake of the story. I was a little unhappy with the climax and the brief coda, both of which stretched credibility a bit too far for me and seemed to be setting things up for future books in a way that looks more like a sensational novel than any sort of period realism. I’ll definitely read the next one, though.

So, not quite a five-star read for me, but not far off it. Be aware that this is not for the faint of heart in places, but I can recommend it (and the earlier books) warmly.

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

Derek and Pauline Tremain - How To Solve A Murder

 

Rating: 3/5

 

Review:

Quite interesting but flawed 

In the end, I was a little disappointed in How To Solve A Murder. It does give quite a good insight into the day-to-day reality of a Forensic Medicine department, but overall I found it rather unsatisfying.

The book is written by Derek and Pauline Tremain, a married couple who have worked in forensic medicine all their careers; Derek firat as a technician and then Scientific Officer of increasing seniority and Pauline as a secretary and administrator (a surprisingly hands-on role). Between them, they have a wealth of experience and insight into what really goes on and the significance of it both to the justice system and to individuals affected by crimes. All this is very welcome, but the book did have some significant flaws.

Probably most importantly, there isn’t really quite enough solid science and detection in it. Derek refers several times to Prof. Keith Simpson and his book Forty Years Of Murder, which I read many years ago with great interest; I was hoping for something along similar lines, but I’m afraid I didn’t find this nearly so interesting. There are some very good passages, like Derek’s excellent explanation of the use of diatoms in cases of drowning, or Pauline’s account of some of the visits to crime scenes, but it all felt too diluted with personal anecdote, stories about larks in the lab and so on. While these do give a sense of how people dealt with the grisly things they had to work with, many of the stories aren’t as amusing as the authors think. For example, Pauline’s wardrobe malfunction or Derek’s disposal of a pig’s carcass may have seemed hilarious to those involved, but they aren’t nearly so funny to the rest of us and don’t merit the number of pages devoted to them.

I also found the style a bit stilted and it is often difficult to know whether the narrator is Derek or Pauline as the voice shifts suddenly and without any signal, all of which interfered with my enjoyment. It is also worth saying that there isn’t much here about how murders are actually solved. Overall, it’s not bad, but I can only give this a qualified recommendation.

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

Terry Pratchett - Thief Of Time

 

Rating: 5/5

 

Review:

A Pratchett gem

Thief Of Time is a true Terry Pratchett gem. It is very witty (of course), a beautifully paced, gripping story and also has some shrewd and thoughtful things to say about the nature of time and about what it is to be human.

The plot...is hard to summarise briefly and I don’t think I’ll even try. It is about the flow and control of time, how time affects us and, more subtly, about the sheer wonderfulness of being human. It is extremely funny, taking subversive potshots at Eastern Mysticism, the Book Of Revelation (Death getting the Four Horsemen back together as though they were an old rock band is just brilliant) and plenty else besides. Susan Death features largely, which is always a bonus, and it’s just the classic Pratchett mix of humour, excitement and wise, sometimes profound observations about very important matters.

I won’t go on. Thief Of Time is a pleasure from start to finish and very warmly recommended.

Raymond Chandler - The High Window

 

Rating: 4/5

 

Review:

Not his best, but very good 

I last read The High Window about 30 years ago. It’s not quite as good as I remembered and not Chandler at the absolute peak of his form, but it’s still far better than most of the rest in this genre.

Marlowe is hired by an unpleasant but wealthy widow to recover a rare stolen coin without publicity or scandal. He discovers a complex but comprehensible plot involving blackmail, murder and some very dark dealings, which unfolds in a very satisfactory way. The chief pleasure, of course, is Chandler’s writing; his acute observation which illustrates his characters so well, the laconic voice, the mastery of simile and so on. Especially memorable for me is Eddie Prue, the crime boss’s enforcer with the frozen eye and unnatural height, who is “as thin as an honest alibi.” He is chillingly menacing and a masterclass in how to create a powerful presence with quiet, almost understated but brilliant prose. As always, his minor characters are excellently painted, especially Lieutenant Jesse Breeze.

There are some slightly jarring notes; the casual sexism and racism of the time is jarring now but reflects the then prevailing attitudes, there is a bit of pretty dated-sounding psychoanalysis and the whole thing isn’t quite as involving as some of his absolute classics (like The Lady In The Lake, for example). Nonetheless, I’m very glad to have read this again and may have to re-read some others again soon.

Jon Sopel - Unpresidented

 

Rating:5/5

 

Review:

Excellent 

 

I thought Unpresidented was excellent – and far more interesting and involving than I expected. It is in the form of extracts from Jon Sopel’s journal of the 2020 Presidential Election, starting about 18 months out and ending as Biden and Harris make their victory speeches. It is vivid, insightful and – for me – increasingly gripping as the extraordinary events of 2020 unfold.

Sopel writes very well. I have always found his reporting for the BBC interesting and penetrating and the book has the same qualities, but magnified rather because he is less restrained by the requirements of impartiality. He manages to be objective (although rabid Trump-worshippers probably wouldn’t agree), but is able to point out more forcibly (and often wryly and wittily) some of the absurdities and outrageous behaviour of the Trump administration. He is also able to give a lot more inside information from off-the-record conversations which make the picture all the richer (and often, all the more horrifying). Most people, like me, will remember much of what is described in the book, but having it brought so vividly to life and so shrewdly dissected made this very fresh for me and I ended up wanting to read more to see what happened next.

I found the impact of all this very powerful. A very potent picture emerges of Trump’s behaviour as a man who is interested only in himself, in being adulated by supporters and in being seen as a “winner.” Sopel points out, for example, that a news conferences when over a thousand Americans are dying every day from Covid-19, Trump never addresses this but is interested only in speaking about how mean the media are to him. The context of the pandemic makes the lies and utter lack of principle deeply shocking and the picture of the USA so bitterly divided – especially over race – is stark. Sopel also makes clear that Trump is a formidable figure who is extremely powerful, vindictive, intolerant of any dissent or of anyone who takes his limelight, and possessed of phenomenal energy. The last four years seem much more clearly focussed in my mind after reading this book.

I read and am writing this in the period between the storming of the Capitol building by Trump supporters and the inauguration of Joe Biden. It is a time of extreme tension and we will see what happens next. In the meantime, I found this picture of how the USA arrived at this point to be excellently painted and wholly gripping. I very rarely read political books, but I can recommend this on very warmly indeed.

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

Eva Dolan - One Half Truth

 

Rating: 3/5

Review:

Not great

 

One Half Truth was a decent police procedural, but nothing that great. It’s well written but I didn’t find the characters all that convincing or engaging, it is needlessly slow in places and has a couple of very well-worn tropes.

A young man is shot dead by a roadside in Peterborough, where this is not common by any means. The investigation leads to stories of corporate greed and malfeasance as it focuses around a group of men who have lost their jobs and most of their sense of self-worth through rapacious asset-stripping which makes those responsible very rich. The trail is obscure, has blind alleys and can be confusing and frustrating, much like a real investigation. However it is possible to convey those things without making the story itself slow, confusing and frustrating, which I found this to be some of the time.

The book has its merits, its heart is certainly in the right place and it’s by no means bad, but as a gripping crime story it lacked something for me. People whose opinions I respect have praised Eva Dolan’s books, but on this evidence I won’t be rushing to read any more, I’m afraid.

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

William McIlvanney - The Papers of Tiny Veitch

 

 Rating: 5/5

Review:

Exceptionally Good

The Papers Of Tony Veitch is the second in William McIlvanney’s Laidlaw Trilogy. It is recognised as being the origin of Tartan Noir and is a masterclass in how to write detective fiction. It is gripping, thoughtful, almost poetically descriptive at times and paints an extraordinarily vivid and penetrating picture of its setting and characters.

The plot revolves around some of Glasgow’s “hard men,” serious gangsters who have an uneasy alliance when one of their own is stabbed. A complex story develops in which DI Laidlaw becomes almost crusadingly involved when a vagrant he knew is also killed and no-one seems to care much. The contrast between Laidlaw’s sense of decency and humanity and the cynicism of many of those around him is very effective and I found the story very involving. What really sets this above the crowd, though, is McIlvanney’s writing and his brilliant insights into the workings of his city and its people, and his very shrewd observations on all sorts of things. I picked out these few examples at random:

Of a barman who keeps respectfully quiet: “It wasn’t that he knew his place so much as he knew where it wasn’t, which was in hospital.”

“...that clique of mutually supportive opinion s that so often pass for culture.”

Of a new development: “...a warm and vivid slum expensively transformed into a cold and featureless one.”

The book is full of this sort of thing, and I loved it. Many of today’s giants of the genre, including Denise Mina, Ian Rankin and Val McDermid, have praised McIlvanney’s work and it is easy to see why. I think this book (and the trilogy) is exceptionally good and recommend it very warmly.

Claire Fuller - Unsettled Ground

 

Rating: 3/5

 

Review:

A bit of a slog 

I have enjoyed Claire Fuller’s work, especially Our Endless Numbered Days, which I thought was excellent. Unsettled Ground didn’t quite do it for me, I’m afraid.

Fuller paints her usual penetrating and humane portraits of her main characters, in this case a pair of twins living on the margins of rural society whose world is shaken when their mother dies. It is in many ways a very fine portrait of hardship, resilience, loss and grief and also a very good picture of what life is like for those who are well out of society’s mainstream. Although this was very well done (of course it is – Fuller is brilliant at it) as a whole I found the book rather a slog to get through. It’s quite bleak and oppressive much of the time and I could have done with a little more leaven of engaging events, or even a bit of humour.

I suspect that that the problem may be at least partly to do with me, in that a somewhat oppressive story based around two people having a tough time isn’t really what I need as we start our third, prolonged, lockdown. Others got on much better with it and there’s no doubt that Claire Fuller is a fine writer so don’t be put off by me, but I can only give this a qualified recommendation.

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

Isabel Rogers - Continental Riff

 

Rating: 2/5

Review:

Rather dull

I’m afraid I simply got bored with Continental Riff and gave up about two-thirds of the way through. It’s amiable enough, but there really wasn’t enough to maintain my interest and I decided that life was too short.

This time, the Stockwell Park Orchestra is on tour in Europe. Er...and that’s about it. The best bits of these books come when Isabel Rogers writes in detail about the music being played; these are quite excellent, I think, and really bring the pieces (and the books) to life. Sadly, there’s only a little bit of this and the rest of it is pretty mundane. There’s a lot of detail about how a touring orchestra is organised and managed which is quite interesting for a while, but Isabel Rogers is very inclined also to give us a lot of very tedious detail about who has what for breakfast, plus a number of pages of what adds up to a list of attractions in Amsterdam, Cologne...etc, padded with mild banter from the players. Any “eventful” occurrences rely on a very crudely drawn xenophobic, malodorous, aggressive and generally repellent temporary orchestra member. It’s all thoroughly unsubtle, the comedy didn’t work for me and I just got tired of it in the end.

I’m sorry to be critical, but I think I’ve reached the end of the road with this series. The parts I enjoy and which have kept me reading are so thinly dispersed that I’m no longer finding it worth the effort. I say this reluctantly, because Rogers writes pretty well and the book has an air of charm which we could all do with at the moment, but I can’t really recommend it.

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