The Twelve, book review. (Justin Cronin)

So, The Twelve, Justin Cronin's sequel to his amazing The Passage (see blog post 30/11/17)

We're back at the beginning with this book, back at year zero, where we find a number of characters making their way in the world, a world that is falling apart.

There's Grey: ex caretaker of The Twelve, who, in 97 A.V (after virus) becomes Guilder's source of blood, food for his army of red eyes (oppressive guards that control the population of the city at the centre of this book) and there's Lila, Wolgast's ex-wife (Agent Wolgast, FBI, who took Amy to the mountains in The Passage) who is able to control the virals (vampire like creatures that have decimated the world’s population) and bend them to her will.

There's Guilder, who ran things in year zero and runs things again 97 years later, and has a plan, a plan that involves The Twelve and how, when they come, they will unite under him, start a new world order.

We don't lose touch with Sara, Hollis, Michael, Alicia, Greer, Peter and of course the girl from nowhere, Amy, either (all characters from the first book) and Alicia and Amy's stories develop a lot here, but will they switch sides as they both become less human? Will they see their old friends as food?

This book isn't as good as its prequel but then, The Passage did receive a five star review, which is a tough act to follow, so it's by no means a bad book, in fact it’s quite the opposite, it’s a great book, just not exceptional.

It has pace, it has intrigue, it has the supernatural and the damned right scary, as Peter and Alicia decent into the cave home of one of The Twelve, as virals spring for hard boxes (places for humans to hide if they get caught out in the open after dark) and decimate the populace in the field. We have the calm of Danny driving his school bus around a deserted town before driving hundreds and hundreds of miles further than originally planned, the serenity of Lila's deluded mind as she continues to shop for paint in a DIY store whilst the rest of the world is dying, and we have the ending, the huge big punch of an ending, and as usual, I won't spoil things here but as Amy becomes something new, something altogether different, Lila comes to her senses (only a hundred year too late) and Guilder gets what's coming to him, it is well worth the five hundred or so pages it takes to get there.

Four big fat juicy stars then for The Twelve and now, on to The City of Mirrors, the final instalment.

Revival, book review (Stephen King)

Not up to his normal standard this one but intriguing all the same. 

King does what he does best at the beginning of this book, he hooks you in with great characters and dangles the carrot of what might be. (I read the first sixty pages in one sitting)

He accomplishes this twofold. Firstly the book is narrated by the main character, (Jamie Morton) who hints at thing that haven't happened but inevitably will and secondly, the chapter names are a list of what they contain, therefore giving the reader a hint as to where things are going.

Take chapter three as an example: 'The Accident. My Mother's Story. The Terrible Sermon. Goodbye.'

The terrible sermon is mentioned earlier in the book so we know it is coming, but when it does, it still hits hard because the writing is so good. 

The story moves through the decades and we witness the characters growing up and getting older. My favourite part is when Jamie is a teenager (Not surprising since I write mainly about teens in my young adult books), how he joins a band - something which I suspect has an autobiographical element to it - and how he finds first love. Then, there's drugs, drink, women, and always, where ever he goes, just around the corner, is the minister who conducted the terrible sermon, Charles Jacobs.

The lighting storm is interesting and sets the scene for the latter part of the book. There is loss and recovery, family tensions and more, which all adds depth to the book, but ultimately, the ending isn't the best. 

The mysterious 'other world' that Charles Jacobs is looking for, felt a bit hashed, as if the author only had ninety-five percent of a story and had to quickly make up the remaining five. 

The journey getting there however was good and well worth a week or so of one’s time. 

One of Mr Kings smaller, more manageable books this one, reminding me of the Hard Case file book he wrote a few years back, 'Joyland', which does end up with a small cameo appearance here.

A solid 3 stars for this one then; not a masterpiece, but a pleasant read all the same.

Inferno, book review. (Dan Brown)

If you've ever read one of Dan Brown's other Robert Langdon novels, The Da-Vinci Code, for example, which most of the world has, then you'll sort of know what to expect with this one.

The thing is they seem to be getting more and more elaborate, and clutching at more and more straws, yet draw a similar conclusion. 

Take Angels and Demons as an example. Mad man steals a lethal vial of anti-matter, which if the church don't pray hard enough and finish conclave, elect their new pope, the said madman, the whole of the Vatican along with the whole Catholic religion, will be destroyed.

The Da-Vinci Code: mad man decides to put an end to the holy grain, (which happens to be a human, not a chalice) by killing all those who might be descended from Christ (this has been going on for centuries apparently), but if Langdon can solve the unsolvable cryptext, which first he has to find, and then elicit the help of a Grail lover, who happens to have loads and loads of cash, all might end well. 

So, Inferno! Inferno is about a mad man, who has untold wealth, (ring any bells yet) who intends to change the world for ever, because he believes that humans will go extinct within the next one hundred years. Good plan, well, forget about the plan for a second, we're in Italy, Florence to be precise, where we get to experience the beauty of that ancient city, as our main character gets repeatedly shot at, escapes, shot at again, bundled on a plane, taken to Turkey, where more mysterious stuff happens, so all can end well, again.

Don't get me wrong, if you like fast paced action, you'll like this book. If you like expertly researched books, which make you feel like you're actually there, then again, you'll like this book. My problem is that all this running around by the same character is getting a bit long in the tooth now. 

So Inferno gets a well-deserved three stars; and I hope, I wish, that Dan Brown moves on from Robert Langdon now, and his next book is just as well researched, just as fast paced, but more believable. 

Inspiration for the day goes to all the men and women who are manning the phones, driving the ambulances and stick or sowing us back together this Christmas. I salute you.

The Almost Moon, book review. (Alice Sebold)

Having purchased Alice Sebold's 'The Lovely Bones' for a work colleague and it receiving high praise, I decided to purchase 'The Almost Moon' when it cropped up in my local charity shop. 

The book is set over a single, twenty four hour period, and starts with Helen Knightly tending her mother. The tension between them is tangible and within a few chapters, Helen Knightly is a murderer. 

Sebold handles what is a very personal crime, with great skill. During the book, Helen seems to go from slightly deranged, she has sex with her best friends son (he's an adult), to being childlike, she confides in her ex husband that she's killed her mother, and everything in between, like going to work, which happens to be life modelling.

This is a short book, and an odd one too. The subject of matricide is one that I hadn't come across before, but an interesting one all the same; and as you read further, a history of agoraphobia and other mental illness's in the family are revealed. So, reasons for Helen's instability become apparent, and the author could easily have tried to justify the murder this way, but she doesn't, she just uses the past to explaining why Helen might have murdered her mother. 

So, a good little book then. Three and a half stars, but not four, so I'll settle on three.

Now all I have to do is borrow 'The Lovely Bones', which I saw on film but haven't read yet.

Desperation, book review. King returns to his roots.

This is what Stephen King was, or maybe is, known for; horror!

The characters are fantastic, all with their own back story to add depth, and when you start falling for one, or routing for another, he snatches them away from you with little regard.

The ancient evil that is wrecking lives and killing Desperation, is humanised and managed with great skill, and then, there's God.

Just like the ancient evil, God is expressed through a human, an eleven year old boy, David; who, in spite of the adult egos, his father and mother, a raving cop, he becomes the main character of sorts.

The story follows an ever decreasing band of survivors around a small, deserted and isolated town, as they try desperately to find a place to hide, a way to escape and some sort of redemption.
The sense of loneliness increases with every life lost and the fear ramps up with every horrific demise. 

Not five stars because 'IT' is better, but a solid four stars and one of the quickest 700+ page books I've read.

My love for this author, knows no end. (I just wish he hadn't written Pet Cemetery)

An Officer and a Spy, book review. Robert Harris.

  

If I wanted to sum up this book in one word it would be, riveting.

Paris in the late 1800's, spying, espionage, a huge miscarriage of justice and Robert Harris. What more could one ask for?

To think that it's all true too, makes it even harder to believe, but it happened and Harris has woven it into a most excellent book. I knew nothing about this historic event until a friend told me he had pre-order a copy, so within days of its release I had mine, and what a story.

I'm sure it's all out there on the internet if you want to know what went on, but don't bother browsing the web, just read Robert Harris' excellent, masterful epic.

Harris has taken an extreme miscarriage of justice and woven a tense, action thriller, that forces you to just keep on reading. Never, have six hundred pages turned so quickly. 

I have recommended this to several members of my family and I recommend it to anyone who reads this review. If you like historical novels, from any era, I'm convinced you will like this.

Five big fat well deserved stars.

From page to screen. (and how they get it soooooo right, but only sometimes)

Take a book, a good book, maybe your favourite book, turn into a film and what do you get?

Well, it can be a bit of a lottery. 

Some books transfer to film (or television) well, some do not. 

Ever read Jaws?

I haven't and I never will because I love the film so much. I've even got the t-shirt; yes really I do have a t-shirt, and I only think reading the book would spoil my childhood and adult memories, of Steven Spielberg's masterpiece. 

Other fantastic films made from books include all the Harry Potter's, The sixth film did disappoint me at the end after Dumbledore was killed and the battle between the Order of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters in the book, wasn't depicted on screen, but that aside, I love them with a vengeance. 
The Lord of the Rings? 
Fabulous throughout, outstanding depiction of a literary masterpiece.

War of the Worlds. (The Tom Cruise film, not the naff 1950's one) I had my doubts when I heard it was going to be set in the modern day; for those who don't know, the book was written and set in the later part of the Victorian era, but what a great film, Speilberg again. 
I thought The Perks of being a Wallflower, was an excellent film, great acting and interesting storyline but when I looked at a sample of the book and saw that it was written as a diary, I backed off. 
I liked both the book and the film version of Robert Harris' Enigma, and I'm looking forward to seeing the film adaptation of Tom Rob Smiths excellent Child 44, but some films I just don't want to watch. A Clockwork Orange for example, mad book, must be a crazy film, but not for me and Stephen King films, with the exception of The Shinning, why can't they make a decent Stephen King film?

So the moral to this post is tread with care and watch what you wish for. They might make a great film from your favourite book, but they might make a pile of crap. 

Inspiration for the day goes to Professor Stephen Hawking for discovering some stuff that will hopefully make the world a better place! 

Never let me go, book review. (Kazuo Ishiguro)

Very thought provoking.
This book is so much more than just a love story.
It is about the vulnerability of children, about how we treat our fellow man (or woman), and with the thousands or refugees fleeing the wars in the middle east at the moment, is quite poignant. Like our fellow man, escaping persecution and death, there is a constant undertone of negative inevitability in this book, it's as if it doesn't matter what happens to the characters, their fate is sealed.
The book is not long, almost a weekend read, but due to it's atmospheric eloquence, strong characters and a convincing sense of foreboding, it will stay with you for longer.
Hailsham school is a places I will never forget, and for many different reasons, mainly because I now know what went on their, before they closed it down!
As you may know, the book was made into a film, which was shot beautifully, with convincing performances from all the lead actors; and it was in fact the film that led me to the book in the first place, and I was not disappointed.
A solid four stars then, (four and a half if I could) and inspiration enough for me to acquire 'The Remains of the Day, by the same author.

The Snow Child, book review. (Eowyn Ivey)

This one came about simply because I saw it everywhere.
I'd see it on peoples shelves on coffee tables, I'd see it in shop windows, on Goodreads, I'd see it in my local charity shop, and as you might know by now, when the charity shop has a book, I find it hard to resist. 
So, not recommended in any way, I went into this book with my eyes wide open. 
I read the end before the beginning, which sounds weird but it’s a good idea because you get a sense of the history behind the story and the author’s influences, which sets things up nicely. (I'd recommend you start there.) 
The story itself was intriguing. A couple who can't have children relocating to the isolation that is Alaska, to avoid the questions, the looks, the pressures.  
So, having settled in, our two main characters start to make a go of it, but there's always that nagging doubt, that unspoken word, that the move was wrong, that they should go back home, give it all up. That is until a child appears, a young girl hidden in the snow. 
I liked the main characters, and the sense of isolation that only a good book can portray. I liked the mystical aspect too, which reminded me a little about how I write. Was this magic, Gods will, or just dumb luck? I liked the cold, the chill, the ever present danger of being lost, or worse, attacked by wild animals in the vast northern tundra of Alaska. Reading this book in the summer did nothing to warm me.
So, why only three stars? Well I suppose the book just wasn't me. The writing was good, the characters fine, the story was somewhat quirky, which isn’t always a bad thing, and I did enjoy it, but I didn't bond with it.
I guess, some you do, some you don't.

Hearts of Darkness, book review. Harry Lytle III (Paul Lawrence)

I love Harry Lytle. (He even has his own website with a Goodreads link)

Set in the dark devious, depressing destitute and deprived depths of seventeenth century London, this, the third chronicle of Harry Lytle, finds our unlikely and unwilling protagonist, fighting against his most deadly of enemies to date, the black death; bubonic plague.

In order to avoid a long and agonising death on some rather barbaric medieval torture device, Harry and his best pal are tasked (forced) to travel to Essex and once there, to gain entry to one of the most plague infested towns in the country, all to detain a wanted criminal who might be innocent.

There is a familiarity between the characters and some mention of what went before, but this volume can still be read as a standalone novel, and won't disappoint.

So, under treat of death our two key characters pursuit their quarry with foolhardy poise, having little clue about what lies around the corner.

They fight, they lose, they are captured they escape, they are surround by death, they find a dead cow!

There is much to like about Paul Lawrence's books and ever since the first one (The Sweet Smell of Decay) crossed my path back in 2010, I've been a fan. 

So a good, well deserved four stars. When can we expect the next one?

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King.

Well, well well. 

According to the author, people have been asking him about what happen to Daniel 'Doc' Torrance after that fateful night at the Overlook hotel, (that was the climax of one of his best books, The Shinning, in case you didn't know), for a while now.

And now we know. Or do we?

I have a sneaky suspicion that Daniel Torrance and his new companion, Abra, will appear in a few more of his books before to long, particularly Abra, and I can't wait.

What a great character. We first meet her when she's a baby and as the book moves on and Dan Torrance's sobriety lengthens, Abra's strength grows, and then they finally meet. 

The baddies are a little less convincing in what they are, (a sort of vampiric sect living of the essence of dead kids with the shinning) but there character development is just as good as the others, insomuch as you hate the ones your supposed to hate and sympathise little as they meet their individual demise. 

I love this book, but having gone off of the supernatural element a bit recently, I didn't think is was as good as 11.23.63, which was simply sublime, so I'm going to give Doctor Sleep a four and a half star rating. 

One of his best. 

The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse. A fantastic, moody and thoroughly entertaining read.

Labyrinth.

Worldwide best seller, the first of the trilogy that takes the reader from the twelfth century right through to the modern day, a TV mini-series and a tough act to follow, right? 

Well don't worry, because Kate Mosse has written another blinder. 

Set in the same southern French region as Labyrinth (I was lucky enough to holiday in Perpignan for a couple of years recently) The Winter Ghosts, charts the journey of a lost-sole as he meanders through life, looking for closure on his brother’s death in the Great War. 

Ten years have passed since he heard the news that his brother was gone and all is not well. We get flashbacks of our main character's mental state over those intervening years, and the book draws on the atmosphere of that sorrow and regret, expertly. I would read this book in my car at lunchtime, or in bed at night and feel the cold fear emanating from the pages, excellent work from Mosse. 

I won't put any spoilers in as I want to encourage you all to read this most excellent book and it's only short, so it won't take you long, but so worth it. 

I have Kate Mosse's Sepulchre and Citadel to dive into now, so I'll do just that and report back in due course with the results.

Inspiration for the day goes to all those who still fight for the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion. (If you know or read Kate Mosse's work then you will know the connection, if you don't then grab one of her books and read, read, read. You won't be disappointed.)

A fantastic 'Catastrophe'. Max Hastings does it again.

Well, Max Hastings' latest book Catastrophe, makes for horrific reading.

He takes the reader through the years that lead up to the 'Great War' as it was called at the time, and how just a few people in power, made the decisions that would end the lives of millions. 

The book looks at both the eastern front as well as the western conflict, it charts the inadequacies of the leading generals and how their incompetence lead to such devastation over the first few months of the conflict. On one day alone, 27,000 French men died, 27,000! This tally doesn't include the injured or the German, British, Russian, Austrian, Hungarian or any of the other nations that were fighting that day, just the French. 

The book finishes at the end of 1914, so if as a reader you want to know what happened throughout the war, you will need further reading, but if like me, you just want to find out how it all went so disastrously wrong, this is up to Max Hastings' normal high standard, and you won't be disappointed. 

A solid four stars.
Inspiration for the day goes to all those thousands of men and women who helped the wounded, lonely and bereaved during and after this dreadful catastrophe. 

Does size matter?

I've read a silly amount of books this year and I'm not finished yet. I reckon, that by the end of 2014 I will have read about twenty five books, ranging in genres from horror and romance, through crime, classic and war. I've read fiction and non fiction, new authors and tried a tested ones, stand alone books and series, but does size matter?
Justin Cronin's 'The Passage' is sublime as is Marcus Zusak's 'The Book Thief' and both are long, compared to 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' which is fabulous, and 'Fahrenheit 451' which is both strange and compelling in equal measure, especially with Sam Weber's accompanied artwork in the Folio edition, and both these books are under two hundred pages. 

This year aside, I've read Stephen King's 'The Stand', which, at just over fourteen hundred pages, is the longest book I have ever read. 
'It' and 'The Lord of the Rings' both top a thousand pages and on the opposite end of the scale, H.G.Wells' 'War of the Worlds, and Richard Matherson's, 'I am Legend' which are up there in my top ten all time favourites, only support a few hundred pages between them. 
So I suppose I've answered my own question then.
Size does matter.
It matter in as much as a book can be short, long or anywhere in between, but as long as it is the right length to tell the story, it's going to be just fine. 
Inspiration for the day goes to all those editors out there who manipulate the books we read so they are, just the right length. 

Robert Harris, give him a prize. (Author spotlight part II)

Fatherland.
Epic!
Archangel, fantastic.
Enigma, intriguing. 
Robert Harris comes in for a little criticism next. 
Pompeii, the first of the ancient Rome trilogy was a great read and quite different from his first few books, but the last in the series, Lustrum, was a bit boring, lacking the punch and originality of the others.
'The Ghost' was made into a rather interesting film and came with a clever twist at the end and 'The Fear Factor' was pacey and religiously researched. Now I've got 'An Officer and a Spy' in the to read pile, so I can't pass judgement on his latest yet, but what a diverse mix of genre's and subject matters, from fictional outcomes of WWII and spying in 1940's England, through Stalin's Russian, to Rome in the height of its power, Robert Harris has written historical fiction like no other author I've read and I can't wait for what comes next.
I really need to get on with my own writing and follow in this eminent authors booksteps.
Inspiration for the day goes to all those lovely people who worked tirelessly to keep the country running when the big storms hit.

Ian McEwan redeems himself with Sweet Tooth.

Ian McEwan has been on my radar for a while now. Friends have recommended him, and films have been made from his books, so I took the plunge late last year when I found an immaculate unread copy of Solar in the charity shop. 

It was short, but then most of his books are, and his characters where intriguing, but I found the story slow and to be honest a bit boring. 

I like a bit of escapism when I read, whether that means trolls and wizards or fast moving action, I don't really mind, but there needs to be something that grabs me. I love good realistic characters but I like it when they have more to aim for than just normality, and that isn't to say I don't like gritty realism, I do, I just need something with a little more umph.

When a copy of Sweet Tooth came my way, I was sceptical, but the blurb pulled me in and what a breath of fresh air. 

I raced through the book in a week and it was full of great characters, intrigue and a nice little twist to top it all off. 

Thoroughly recommended this one. A solid four stars and Ian McEwan is back on the radar again. (I have 'Saturday' waiting in the pile).

Inspiration for the day goes to all the short novels out there. It doesn't need to be a brick to be good.