Graham Simsion & Anne Buist - Two Steps Forward

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Good in parts

I enjoyed some of Two Steps Forward, but I had some pretty serious reservations.

This is an older-person's love story, set on the Camino, the pilgrims' way to Santiago de Compostella.  It read to me a little like Bill Bryson's A Walk In The Woods with a somewhat cloying Richard Curtis film script imposed on it.  Two middle-aged characters with recently ended marriages coincidentally begin the 2000km walk at the same time and for very different reasons.  She is a Californian, he is a buttoned-up English engineer; the first time they meet there is hostility, and as things progress…you get the idea.  And as they walk they both learn Important Life Lessons.

It's better than I make it sound; the writing is good, I found both the central characters pretty believable and reasonably interesting, and for the first half of the book I was quite enjoyably involved in an OK-I'll-go-along-with-this sort of way.  I found the second half an increasing struggle as the plot relied on more and more unlikely coincidences, implausible misunderstandings and sudden interruptions at critical moments which prevented people saying something important.  One or two of these are inevitable in a book like this, but it really did get absurd.  I did find the final section of the walk quite touching (it would be a spoiler to say why), but overall the Important Life Lessons which every single character learns seemed rather pat and trite in the end.

Like everyone else, I thought The Rosie Project was brilliant and tried Two Steps Forward on the strength of it; this isn't in the same league, I'm afraid.  I've rounded 3.5 stars up to 4 (just) because I did enjoy aspects of this, but I can only give it a qualified recommendation.

(My thanks to Two Roads for an ARC via NetGalley.)

The Secret Barrister

Rating: 5/5

Review:
An excellent, timely book

This is excellent.  It's very readable and often witty in style, but its message is stark and worrying: we have a serious problem in the criminal justice system which is getting worse.

Written by an (understandably) anonymous barrister, The Secret Barrister is an account from the inside of the realities of the English and Welsh legal system.  It is interesting and very clear about how we came to have the current system, its undoubted strengths, its true aims and the terrible mess which so often prevents those aims of fairness to all being achieved.  The author puts his case with genuine passion, but also with humanity and clear-sighted, lucid argument.  Some of the problems are structural (I was astonished to learn the detail of how Magistrates are selected and "trained", for example) but a great deal of it is because the system is being appallingly overloaded while being starved of the resources to do the job by a state "arrogant in the assumption that those hardest hit are those for whom public sympathy will never register on opinion polls."

It's easy to read in that the prose and style are excellent, but the content is a very tough read indeed.  We all need to be aware of the issues, though, because the very fairness of our society depends on a decent, fair criminal justice system which the author currently characterises (fairly, as far as I can see) as in the main, "getting numbers through the door and out again as inexpensively and swiftly as possible.  It's roulette framed as justice…" 

I was surprised and impressed by how fascinating and involving I found The Secret Barrister, and I can recommend it very warmly.

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

Michael Farris Smith - The Fighter

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Excellent

This is an excellent, powerful and affecting book.  As in the outstanding Desperation Road, Michael Farris Smith is in the Mississippi Delta examining lives of both desperation and hope.

The central protagonist is Jack Boucher, and ageing cage fighter suffering the effects of multiple injuries and concussions and dependent on painkillers and alcohol simply to survive the day.  He returns to his old home town where his loved foster-mother is dying and where debt and brutal circumstance threaten to force him to fight once more. 

It doesn't sound very alluring on the surface, but Farris Smith creates a powerful, gripping atmosphere of the struggle for redemption among the threat and violence, and also a convincing, moving portrait of the history of both brutality and humanity which brought Jack to this point.  He writes wonderfully, in an almost poetic style at times which both conveys the humanity and pity in Jack's life and also looks unflinchingly at the cruelty and violence.  Just as a small example, I liked this fragment: "…the only thing he knew was that he had once been a boy and then he had become a hitchhiker in his own life."

This isn't a light read, but it's utterly absorbing and shows a rare humanity and insight.  Very warmly recommended.

(My thanks to No Exit Press for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Terry Pratchett - Hogfather

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Good, but not one of his best

Hogfather is good, but I don't think it's one of Pratchett's best.  It is his take on Christmas and the nature of belief, as the Hogfather (the Discworld equivalent of Father Christmas) mysteriously disappears and Death takes his place dispensing good cheer and delivering presents.  Sinister events unfold as we slowly learn what is going on and Susan Sto Helit (in fine form, as always) takes a hand.

There is plenty of fun here with the Wizards, anthropomorphic personifications, Death as always not quite Getting It and so on, and also Pratchett's typically thoughtful insights into the nature and importance of belief, but for me it doesn't quite have the gripping narrative drive and laugh-out-loud moments of his very best.  That means that it's still very good, just not quite as brilliant as some.  Still recommended, but if you're looking for somewhere to start I'd recommend Mort, Going Postal or Feet of Clay, for example, before Hogfather.

Colin Watson - Lonelyheart 4122

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A real pleasure

I absolutely loved Lonelyheart 4122.  It is the fourth of Watson's Flaxborough mysteries and for me is the best so far.

The redoubtable Inspector Purbright is concerned about the apparent disappearance of two local women, both of whom have used a local lonely hearts agency.  As investigations continue we also meet Miss Lucy Teatime, a wonderful character of uncertain past and infinite resource who arrives in Flaxborough and also registers with the agency. 

What follows is a small masterpiece of witty, inventive storytelling.  Watson writes superbly and it feels as though he's hit his stride by this stage; his style is still dryly funny and very acute in its observations and characterisation but slightly more fluid and relaxed than in the first three books, so that I was carried along without effort and with huge enjoyment.  At about 150 pages, the book is also gratifyingly concise and feels like a perfectly crafted little gem.

If you haven't discovered Colin Watson yet, do try him.  He's been a truly joyous discovery for me and I can wholeheartedly recommend Lonelyheart 4122.

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

Lucy Mangan - Bookworm

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A delight

I found Bookworm a delight.  It's a book about the joy of childhood reading, probably more so that about the books themselves, and I think Lucy Mangan captures the experience of being a bookish child beautifully.

I'm about 20 years older than Mangan, but I know a lot of the books she talks about and I think she talks about them and their effect with real love, humaity and understanding - including that thing about books you were supposed to like but didn't. I always felt as though I had some dreadful flaw because I didn't much like Babar or Swallows & Amazons, for example, so it's lovely to have an ally.

There's some very shrewd (and very readable) analysis as well as capturing the experience so well.  For example, there's a great section on the appeal of Enid Blyton and of the problematic side of her books.  You don’t have to agree with what Mangan says (although I largely do) to appreciate the clarity and insight of the points she makes.  She is very good at remembering the child's point of view as well as having a balanced, humane adult perspective and a sensible notion of children's ability to survive and gain from what some adults may think they need to be protected against. 

And, by the way, she's very funny.

Obviously, there are overlaps between my childhood reading and Mangan's, just as there are many books she read that I didn't and vice versa, and most readers will find the same.  I still found that I enjoyed much of what she writes about the books I don't know, although I did indulge in a bit of judicious skimming here and there.  She writes with such engaging enthusiasm and wit that it's all a pleasure to read – and anyway, someone who loves The Phantom Tollbooth as much as I do is plainly sound to the core.

In short, if you loved reading as a child, I think you'll love Bookworm as I did.  Very warmly recommended.

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

Robert Crais - The Monkey's Raincoat

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Very enjoyable

I enjoyed The Monkey's Raincoat very much.  It is the first Robert Crais that I have read, but it definitely won't be the last.

Written and set in 1987, The Monkey's Raincoat introduces us to Elvis Cole, an LA private detective and his partner, the near-silent and entirely deadly Joe Pike.  Narrated in the first person by Cole, he takes a job to find a missing husband and his nine-year-old son, which becomes embroiled in drugs, Hollywood sleaze and organised crime.  It's just about plausible (other than the huge body count without any noticeable consequences) and it's an entertaining, well written story.  Cole is an engaging narrator with a penchant for a wisecrack (he even quotes Raymond Chandler at one point, so we can see where he's coming from) and the plot is well-paced and constructed with an exciting (and very violent) climax.

Highbrow Literature, this ain't, but it's a very well written, readable book which kept me hooked and left me wanting to read more in the series.  What more could you want?