Simon
A generous 4 stars. Utterly bonkers but great fun and I think I enjoyed this more than Girl On a Train. At the end of the day it is what it is, no better and no worse than the thousand of other thrillers out there, full of the usual twists turns and bits that “you didn't see coming”. There are stories within stories and, at times, it gets a little confusing AND the ending is... strange. Laura is a great character and should be played by Diane Morgan if this ever gets made into a tv series or film.
Exceptional. Set in Berlin just before the wall came down this is a wonderful coming of age story, spy thriller, love story, full of wonderful characters, some witty observations about life as a teenager in 1989 and some really touching moment. The last chapter is an absolute joy. Probably my favourite novel of the year so far.
Strange goings on in rural Herefordshire.
Scamvangelism V Paganism with some drugs, some fraud, a couple of murders and a truly truly bizarre exorcism. I love these books, I love the way the weird feels perfectly normal and there is a great supporting cast, especially deep thinker and all round good guy Gomer Perry (think No No No No No man from Vicar of Dibley with a bit of Ned from To The Manor Born). There are a few loose ends in this one and I wonder whether they will be picked up in the later books.
A Story Of Love, Madness & The American Revolution
3.5 rounded up.
I can't help but be disappointed. I loved The Asylum, but this was just not as good. The story itself is really quite interesting BUT getting from start to finish was often a torturous experience. The duel narrator did nothing to tickle my fancy. Humph.
Beautifully weird.
I really enjoyed this. I does probably suffer a little from style over substance, especially in the middle where it did lose me a little bit. There's a bit of “now and then” and the placing gets lost in this fluffy poetic prose. Simon is a brilliant protagonist, desperately trying make everything fit together, desperately trying to be heard. Ambiguous ending and I loved that, one of those that everyone will see differently.
If you love a bit of weird, a bit of folk lit, Iain Banks, The Wicker Man etc etc. You will definitely appreciate this.
Wonderful. Perfectly capturing the weirdness of the 70s,where the tv schedule was full of the paranormal and the apocalyptic, not just aimed at adults but kids too. Some excellent pop references, Dr Who, The Stone Tapes and those brilliant Ghost Stories For Christmas that the BBC did, the influences are plain to see.
One slight grumble. Part one is so good, meeting Tim and Abi as young teenagers, the observations and the whit almost perfect. The rest of it falls away, just a little, but it's still excellent.
So, if you love ghosts, books by Neil Spring, Adam Nevill and pretty much anything weird from the 1970s, this is probably a good book for you.
A superb, beautifully crafted g0thic chiller, dipped in an ancient evil that lurks deep in the heart of Northumberland. Simply Glorious.
A wonderful heartfelt story about a grieving father and his troubled son set against the backdrop of an all too real dystopian nightmare. So much love and wonder in this book, I even enjoyed the science bits. Devastating ending.
3.5
The 4th Merrily Watkins book. This one is about possession, not just of the soul but material possession. It's about having stuff but never having enough and wanting more and more.... Greed and how it consumes and makes people assume they are invincible. The story does feel a lot more complicated than it needed to be but it's written so well it all just sort of washes over you. Spooky, not as good as the previous two but still good.
As with the other Peter Straub books I've read, you have to work a little harder, concentrate a little more than you do with some other authors. Everything is backside up and left side down, one minute you are in the kitchen baking cookies with auntie Jean, next you have the history of the Sasquatch followed by skateboarding with Eminem and then some journal entries from mysterious uncle Tim. Overall this book was 95% satisfying but man I wanted the baddie to suffer and he didn't and where the hell did Mark end up?
If Chalk Man was a nod to IT and Taking Of Annie Thorn was a nod to Pet Cemetery, then this is pure CJ Tudor. What I really liked about this book was the fact that all the things you are trying to work out in your head are pretty much explained with 100 pages to go and then wham, there's more, and more. There are so many WTF moments and all of them work, non of them seem overly ridiculous, Can't wait for the next one.
Once more to the end of the world. This time, not a virus but an entity that lives on your fear making you, quite literally, die of fright. We never quite find out how the thing started but the indications are that it's all our fault. Good new is you can fend it off with pop music and babies. Story starts off really really well, a real sense of place (SE Australia) and feeling of isolation but once you get halfway though, the whole thing just peters out into just another dystopian road trip. Feels a bit Birdboxy, but not as good.
3.5 rounded up because we have chocolate!!!!!
This story is based around the hidden village similar to the one located in forests near Vierhouten, in the Netherlands, built to hide mainly Jewish families fleeing the Germans in WW2.
Always hard to review these books because the stories are always incredible and some of the situations truly harrowing, unfortunately sometimes the writing and structure let them down and that is the case with this one. Just a bit of a mess to be honest.
I
East Texas paranormal noir.
This is a story about being rubbish at being human. It also has ghosts in it, but are they there to help or are they there for some other reason? I really enjoyed this, something different, quite comic but also very sad.
In Europe this book is called Firecreacker, but in the US it's called Perfect Circle, after the REM song.
The cruelty of childhood, the confusion of adulthood and the joy of finding comfort in small acts of kindness. Hugely satisfying family drama spread over serval decades full of secrets and a couple of neat surprises.
The big book of astonishing coincidences.
Think The Archers meets the last series of The Colbys (the one where Fallon gets abducted by aliens). Its's a bit mad, it's a bit sad and it's quite funny, and yes, those astonishing sets of coincidences and yes.... Trees, murder, tigers, bridge and a beautiful mysterious singer called LaLa.
Thoroughly entertaining.
Artificial Intelligence, Mosquitoes, India, Syphilis and the quest for immortality. I don't know what the hell I just read but I really liked it. For fans of speculative fiction.
This is the incredible story of German author Thomas Mann. I kind of fell in love with Mann a little bit, someone who seemingly preferred to be on the outside looking in, didn't really enjoy social gatherings and would rather shut himself away in a room, reading or writhing. Lots to relate to there.
If there is one criticism, I don't think Toibin writes emotion very well. This story is full of love, desire, danger and laughter but non of that shines through. I find his writing really dull, just feels like there is something missing and If I wasn't so intrigued by Mann, I think I would have struggled a little bit.
PS I never new that about Mahler.
The fact that I finished must mean there is something in this. I think its very much a “state of mind book” and fact that I am mostly angry at the moment meant I found the two main characters really infuriating, There is humour in this book especially at the start but its dark and I found it quite depressing.
Bleak and brutal. I don't think I have ever read anything that is written so beautifully about a life that is so empty of love and happiness, where just being is all there is. Where little crumbs of comfort come from being used by someone or being given to someone.
I can't say I enjoyed this, it is not a comfortable read, but the prose is something else, the whole thing is really quite astonishing.
Radicalized paperboy terrorizes the Jewish population of LA. Alcoholic, jazz loving police officer and his soft-core porn star sidekick set out to stop him,
OR
An excellent police thriller about a man, driven over the edge by radical propaganda, who terrorizes the Jewish community in Los Angeles. It's the job of a seriously flawed police officer called Jack Gold (with the help of a young Eric Estrada