A Spot of Bother, book review. (Mark Haddon)

Like Alice Sebold's, The Lovely Bones, this book has a stand out chapter, (chapter 60), in which our main character, George Hall - 57 and recently retired - decides to remove the lesion on the side of his body, with a pair of scissors. (Hence the cover art) When this fails, he decides to chisel it off instead, before succumbing to blood loss and passing out in his cellar.

The bloody trail he leaves and subsequent fright he causes his family on discovery, is both weirdly humorous and damned right shocking, but this chapter alone, underlines why the author is so revered.

Just to clarify, this book is not from the horror section.

Like Mark Haddon's other books, A Spot of Bother, is a story about normal people, going around doing normal things, but with a twist.

So, George Hall has retired, but life isn't all rosy. His wife is having an affair with his ex- business partner, his daughter is getting married, again, and to a man the family don't really approve of, his son, Jamie, is having commitment issues with his boyfriend, and George, well George is going steadily mad.

I like the way Haddon interjects life into seemingly inanimate material; creating depth and intrigue from the mundane. His writing reminds me of Ian McEwan, but with more humour.

There's a clever mix of human emotion here, from the families' pain and anguish, on discovering George's mutilation, through their love and anger - George finds out about the affair - to happiness and forgiveness, their coming together for the daughter's marriage, it's got the lot, and then some.

I liken this book to a good English movie! You know the sort, something with a few well-known actors in and a good solid story, but where nothing really happens. It would have Bill Nighy and Maggie Smith in it, Keeley Hawes would play the daughter, and you'd love their characters so much you'd watch it all the way to the end and then smile about it.

A good four star book this one; buy it, read it, share it.

Cell, book review. (Stephen King)

Big, bold, blood thirsty apocalyptic fantasy fiction, all rolled into one neat little package by the best in the business?

Well, almost.

Some Stephen King books have as much in common with the horror genre as Bridget Jones's Diary, but Cell certainly isn't one of them.

The book starts like a punch to the face, smack, and you're in; you're in the middle of Boston to be precise, and the world is going mad, losing its head; people are starting to go crazy, committing mass suicide, attacking each other with gut retching, blood thirsty ferocity. (The incident is later referred to as the Pulse).

A proper Horror then? You bet; don't read this if you’re squeamish.

Our main character, Clayton Riddell - he's just managed to sell some artwork and has a spring in his step when the shit hits the fan - links up with the somewhat bookish Tom McCourt and rather excellent Alice Maxwell, (who quickly became my favourite character), her mixture of vulnerability and teenage verve being reminiscent of Beverly Marsh from 'It'.

The story centres round Clayton and his small posse, escaping the ever apocalyptic Boston, to begin the journey that will result (we hope) in Clayton finding his son.

They hole up in Tom McCourt's house for a night before pressing on, they find a school headmaster and a single pupil, (Jordan), who they try to convince to join their quest, and commit mass murder on the way.

Bloody, thoughtful, slightly SCI-FI, horrific and touching in equal measure, this book is Stephen King doing what everybody thinks he is doing, in all of his books, but rarely does, (most of his books are nowhere near as bloodthirsty as this one) and coming up trumps. 

It did feel like something was missing thought, and I won't spoil it by telling you the end, but it stopped very abruptly, and unlike a lot of his books, there was very little backstory to most of the characters.

It wouldn't surprise me it there's an unabridged version of this book somewhere in the SK vault; one with a bit more of a beginning, more character development, (like what happened at Jordan's school) and maybe even, what happened after Clayton finds . . .

Almost spoilt it!

Three and a half stars then, but if you're a King fan, I'm sure you'll read it anyway.

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 Cuckoo's Calling, book review. (Robert Galbraith) J.K. Rowling.

I don't read much in the way of crime novels, but, like a million others I suspect, I was gifted this on

the strength of the author's previous books.

Good characters, good story, good setting, (Although a friend of mine tells me there are some accuracy errors here, but as a writer myself, I tell him 'poetic licence'.) and there's a good twist at the end.

So all good than! Here endeth the review!
Well, not quite.

If I could, I would have knocked half a star off of this and gone for three and a half. Why? Stupid names!

I know our influences come from a hundred, a thousand different places, my characters haven't always got standard or English names, I have a Dumonbreville in my latest book and a Mai-Ling in my first, but these are names I have come across, people I have met, and in the case of Dumonbreville, I use it very little in the book because I feel it might interrupt flow.

And that is my main issue, flow.

When I read I want the book to flow, I don't read fast, so it isn't a speed thing, but when the book is encumbered with names like Cormoran Strike and Lula Landry, things start slow down a bit. Throw in a Bryony, Tansy, Deeby, Cyprian and a Ciara and I start thinking about putting the book down.

I'm glad I didn't because the story was good, but next time I'll think twice before reading a Robert Galbraith novel. Maybe the next one could be about the Bristow family. They all had nice, normal names.

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?