Jordan Tannahill - The Listeners

 

 

Rating: 4/5

 

Review:

Well done but somewhat unsatisfying 

The Listeners is very well written and explores some interesting areas and ideas, but I’m not sure what it added up to in the end.

It’s a good premise: a number of people can hear a permanent hum which is inaudible to most others. It is not clear what its source is and eventually some who can hear it get together to form a sort of support group. Jordan Tannahill then uses this to explore aspects of group dynamics without making glib statements or, indeed, drawing many conclusions at all about what he depicts. His use of Claire as an intelligent and articulate but possibly unreliable narrator works very well for this as we get her subjective experience of the hum and its effect on her, and of her experience in finding others, the group they form and the consequences for her family, career and life as a whole.

It’s well executed and there is a lot of very good depiction and discussion of things like whether the group may be a cult (and what that word may mean), conspiracy theories, how fear and anger may drive people both inside and outside the group, and so on. Tannahill offers no clear answers to anything, which is laudable because there probably are none, but as a result I wasn’t quite sure what the point of the book was. It certainly had some interesting things to say, but in the end I found the nebulousness of it left me grasping for much to take away.

I think I’m glad I read this and I may well continue to think about and digest the book for some time. Three stars would be churlish so I’ve rounded 3.5 up to four, but it’s a qualified recommendation.

(My thanks to 4^th Estate for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Simon Brett - An Untidy Death

 

Rating: 5/5

 

Review:

Very enjoyable and thoughtful

 

I thoroughly enjoyed An Untidy Death. You normally know pretty much what you’re going to get with Simon Brett; a witty, very readable cosy mystery with some amusing characters and a decent, plot which makes for a light, diverting read. This offered rather more.

It is the second in the Decluttering Mysteries series, whose central character is Ellen who is based in Chichester and works helping people declutter and overcome hoarding behaviour. In the course of this work she becomes involved in solving a suspicious death of a potential client. It’s an ingenious device and sounds like a typical Brett set-up, which in a way it is. However, he offers much more than usual in the way of psychological insight and compassionate understanding into the origins of hoarding behaviour and approaches to helping. In addition, Ellen’s personal circumstances include a depressive husband who eventually killed himself and a son who has inherited some of his father’s depression. This, too, is handled with both insight and understanding so that I found it a genuinely interesting, thoughtful facet of the book, rather than just the sort of standard, unconvincing bit of Complicated Personal Life which crops up too often in crime novels.

I see that some reviewers found this too miserable, but I certainly didn’t. For me it elevated a frothy bit of light fiction to a much more rewarding read without ever getting bogged down in gloom. Brett’s prose is excellent in that it carries you along completely naturally in Ellen’s narrative voice, he gives us some terrific, neatly painted portraits of minor characters and, on a personal note, I am delighted to find a character who says, “I always prefer the words ‘die’ and ‘death’ to any of the popular euphemisms. ‘Passed’ and ‘passed away’ are just attempts to sanitize the reality.” Amen to that.

I’m surprised to find myself giving a Simon Brett book five stars; they’re normally a solid four for me, but this deserves more. I can warmly recommend it, and I’ll be catching up on the first in the series very soon.

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

Mary Gauthier - Saved By A Song

 

Rating: 5/5

 

Review:

Readable, fascinating and moving 

I thought Saved By A Song was excellent. Songwriters don’t always make good book authors, but Mary Gauthier certainly does; this is thoughtful, perceptive, humane and very readable.

It probably helps to be a fan of Mary Gauthier’s work – which I am – but it’s certainly not essential. She takes a number of songs as chapter titles, most but not all of which are by her. In so doing she weaves autobiographical strands with the story of how each song came to be or how it affected her and the overall effect is stunning, I think – sometimes almost literally so. She has the rare combination of the wisdom and insight to know what is what, the honesty to confront it and call it by its right name and the courage to express it, however painful or difficult that may be. Mary’s songs have show that clearly and it shines through here, too.

She also talks about the process of songwriting, but this isn’t a manual of techniques by any means. It is more that she shows us how lyrics develop, how she (and others) see that a song sometimes doesn’t really work and the sometimes slow, painstaking and intuitive process of boiling it down to honest essentials. It’s not a recipe book for anyone looking to know how to craft a hit; it is a thoughtful guide to making songs true to their meaning and to their author, and how that can sometimes lead to something remarkable.

Mary’s accounts of her life, of her encounters with remarkable people and of the effects of songs and songwriting are sometimes profoundly moving and I found myself damp of eye several times during the book. I would urge anyone, fan or not, to give this a try. It is very well written, very readable and very rewarding. Very warmly recommended.

Laura Lippman - Sunburn

 

Rating: 5/5

 

Review:

An excellent noir thriller 

 

I thought Sunburn was excellent. Having been unimpressed with Dream Girl, I was encouraged to give Laura Lippman another try and I’m very glad I did.

It is hard to give an idea of the plot because Lippman structures it so well that almost anything would be a spoiler. It is a very cleverly constructed noir tale, reminiscent of James M. Cain (who is briefly and slyly referenced in the text). People’s true identities and motivations emerge, develop and change slowly as the story progresses; I was completely gripped and thought it a masterclass in storytelling. We are left guessing about many things for a long time, but never in an overt, cliffhanger way, just in the way that characters would be when they don’t know exactly what others have done or who they really are.

The characters themselves are very well drawn and completely convincing, as is the small-town atmosphere. There are unexpected developments but they all make complete sense. There are no clumsy Shocking Twists, which may disappoint some readers; personally I found it rewarding and rather psychologically profound in places.

I can recommend this very warmly and, after a bad start with Dream Girl, I will certainly be reading more Laura Lippman.

C.E. Lucas Phillips - Cockleshell Heroes

 

Rating: 4/5

 

Review:

Dated in the telling, but still an extraordinary story  

I first read Cockleshell Heroes in the mid-60s at the age of about 12 and loved it. The story has lasted very well, but the style of its telling has dated badly.

This is an extraordinary story of courage and sacrifice as a group of a dozen commandos trained for a raid on Bordeaux in 1942. They were launched from a submarine in small canoes off the coast and from there had to paddle through dangerous seas and for four days up-river in enemy territory to plant limpet mines on enemy ships. Then the plan was to make their way overland to Spain and thence back to Britain.

The story of the development of the idea and equipment, the training and the execution of the raid is fascinating and gripping, and one cannot help being in awe of the men who took part - many of whom did not survive. The reservations I have about this book are solely about the manner of its telling.

C.E. Lucas Phillips began to research and write this quite soon after the war and it was originally published in 1956. The language itself sometimes grates on a 21st-Century ear (“the Japs”, for example) but that is just how it was in Britain at least until the mid-60s. Similarly, I found the attitudes and assumptions about class and gender hard to take now, as was the often lazy stereotyping of other nationalities – but again, that’s just a reflection of prevailing attitudes of the time. The style is somewhat reminiscent of wartime propaganda and stirring Biggles-esque adventure books, so, for example, when they were actually on the mission Phillips writes “No longer were they in the nets; they were to face the bowing in the open field.” He isn’t shy of a hyperbolic phrase, either, and some of them now read rather like jokes from I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue; “On the hinge of fate the door of freedom was swinging more widely open” is just one instance. I think the tone of the book is typified toward the end of the book where Phillips is describing the Special Boat Squadron (the naval equivalent of the SAS) and says “No more attractive life is open to young men with a spirit of adventure.”

All that said, I still found this to be largely an enthralling read. It’s an amazing story which has been very well researched and I can still recommend it as a record of a remarkable wartime feat by some extraordinarily courageous and skilled men.

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

Richard Osman - The Man Who Died Twice

 

 

Rating: 5/5

Review:

Enormously enjoyable

I enjoyed The Man Who Died Twice enormously. I’m surprised to find myself giving five stars to a book by a celebrity, but it deserves it.

We meet the remaining members of the Thursday Murder Club again (with their pals from the police and the redoubtable Bogdan), and this time it is Elizabeth’s colourful past in Intelligence which provides a present-day mystery. It’s a convoluted but somehow plausible plot involving international money-laundering, stolen diamonds and some very unpleasant and violent characters.

It is, of course, a load of hooey really, but it’s hugely enjoyable hooey, populated by a group of well-drawn characters and told with wit, clever structuring and an engaging, even gripping, style. We still get Joyce’s delightful journal entries (some of which are laugh-out-loud funny), some truly gruesome moments, some very sweet romance and some genuinely thoughtful reflections on life.

The Thursday Murder Club did very well at least partly because Richard Osman is (rightly, in my view) a very well-loved celebrity, but it was a good book in its own right. I think this is even better; Osman is clearly a talented writer and a witty, humane man. I can recommend this very warmly and I’m looking forward to the next.

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

Carl Hiaasen - Sick Puppy

 

 Rating: 5/5

Review: Hugely enjoyable - again!

This is another hugely enjoyable Skink book. There’s probably not a lot more to be said, but for the record:

This time a zealous eco-warrior with a huge trust fund and anger management issues takes action against a serious litterbug he sees on the highway...and becomes involved in political chicanery, the wanton destruction of Florida’s flora, fauna and natural beauty, general scumbaggery from people who profit therefrom...etc. It’s a Carl Hiaasen novel – what do you expect? And, as usual, it’s funny, it’s very readable and carries its serious underlying messages lightly with satire, farce and some very satisfying come-uppances. The Captain is on excellent form and it’s just an all-round pleasure.

If you know Carl Hiaasen you won’t need any urging from me to read this. If not, do give him a try – he’s great. Warmly recommended.

Miles Jupp - History

Rating: 2/5

 

Review:

Not for me 

I like Miles Jupp’s work as a comedian very much, but I didn’t enjoy History nearly as much as I expected to. This is partly because it isn’t what I expected, but I think the book does have weaknesses, too.

Clive Hapgood is a history teacher in a minor public school. The book is really a character study of Clive, a decent, well-meaning but unhappy and rather hapless man on whom life’s difficulties keep piling. The plot is largely a series of his frustrations, embarrassments and humiliations as things in his professional and family life keep going wrong.

In some ways it’s decently done; Jupp writes well and has a penetrating eye for Clive’s lack of self-awareness, the petty annoyances of life, the sort of vacuous blether many of us have to put up with from managers with little experience of the job people actually do and the way in which a seemingly sound marriage can go wrong. The thing is, I don’t find awkwardness and embarrassment funny, so the book was actually rather a depressing read for me. By half way I was hoping for some sort of a change and possible beginning of redemption, but it’s more of the same almost throughout. For me, this was a flawed structure and I struggled and eventually skimmed my way through the second half.

I’m sorry to say this of an author whom I like very much as a comedian, but I can’t recommend History. It has its merits and others may enjoy it but I’m afraid I didn’t.

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

Neil Lancaster - Dead Man's Grave

 

 

 Rating: 2/5

Review:

Not for me

 

I’m afraid I’m badly out of step with most other reviewers here, but I really didn’t think Dead Man’s Grave was much good. I tried it because it came with strong endorsements from Ian Rankin and Jane Casey, both of whose work I admire very much, but this is nowhere near their league.

DS Max Craigie has just moved back to Scotland after time in the Met. Craigie is endowed with a range of abilities and qualities which are verging on the superhuman; intelligent, empathetic, a street-tough boxer, ex-army with an extraordinary array of skills as a result, with an ESP-like ability to sense when he is being watched, and so bursting with integrity it’s a wonder it doesn’t give him a nosebleed. He becomes embroiled in an investigation into Scotland’s toughest gangland family which reveals deep corruption within Police Scotland. He sets out to bring the whole lot down – as he tells us very regularly.

It started off reasonably well, but began to pall as implausibilities and clichés mounted up. I wouldn’t dream of including spoilers, so you will have to guess for yourself whether, for example, Max is Taken Off The Case or whether there is a Tense One-To-One Climax In A Deserted Location From Which He Only Narrowly Escapes. I just didn’t find any of it believable; not the characters, not the way in which things developed and not the over-convenient way in which Max Gets The Better Of His Opponents.

On top of this, the writing wasn’t very good. Neil Lancaster will insist on spelling things out for us which he’s already implied, and peppering this laboured prose with stale usage and cliché. Lots of people need to get their ducks in a row, for example, and characters eyes are often filled with hate while others keep being gripped by resolve or determination. He insists on telling us all these things rather than showing us. What is obviously a joke or banter is invariably followed by a description of someone chuckling or of a smile spreading across their face to make sure we’ve got the point – and ruining any lightness which may be intended. Dialogue is often pretty clunky, with people telling each other things they already know or talking in a way which doesn’t ring true. People spontaneously explain their motivations in painstaking detail, which no-one in real life ever does. Sententious speeches crop up pretty regularly, presumably because we need to be reminded what splendidly upright people the good guys are. (Did I mention that Max is gripped by a determination to bring all the bad guys down?) Even the title makes little sense as a thriller – I mean, graves are supposed to be for the dead, aren’t they?

I’m sorry to be so critical, but I really didn’t get on with Dead Man’s Grave. I struggled to the end, but I won’t be bothering with DS Craigie again.

(My thanks to HQ Digital for an ARC via NetGalley.)