The Chemist, book review. (Stephenie Meyer)

Oh boy!

I read Twilight a few years ago, way after everyone else did, and it was really rather good, good enough to get me through the series at least, (books three and four were like wading through treacle). Then, I read, The Host, and after the first hundred pages or so, I got really bored - which is how I felt whilst reading, the Chemist.

Alex (the main character), used to work for a secret government organisation, where she was their top torturer, their 'Chemist', but when they tried to bump her off, she had to go undercover, deep, deep, deep undercover.

A few years later and her former boss offers her a job, which she believes is a trap, but when she learns that millions of people might die if a certain school teacher, Daniel, isn't intercepted, and if necessary, tortured for information, she reluctantly accepts.

So far, so good. Fast paced and believable, but then it all starts going rapidly downhill.

After Alex has brutalised Daniel with her excruciating cocktail of barbiturates, his brother (who is supposed to be dead), attempts a rescue, which fails, so Alex has them both at her mercy and the truth is revealed. There is no plot to kill millions, Daniel is innocent; he also happens to be an identical twin! So, is it the brother, Kevin, the government wants, Alex, or both?

If it wasn't for Daniel inexplicably falling in love with his torturer, about five pages after she's tried to kill him, we might have found out a little sooner, but as it stands, we have to spend the next two hundred and fifty pages, (half of the book), holed up in a remote ranch, talking about dogs, food, and how much Daniel loves the woman he's only know for a few days!!!

It's just really weird!

Their relationship is the sort of thing you'd expect in a YA/teen novel - vampires or not - but here it's just silly, and to top it all, the dialogue between them is pathetic. It never once felt like they were having a realistic conversation, it was like watching a low budget movie with a naff script.

The good bits: The action is fast paced, and when it comes, it moves the story along nicely. Val, (Kevin's high end prostitute friend), turns out to be the most believable character in this whole charade, (even though she seems to be richer that Bill Gates), but in the end, the bad outweighs the good.

I know that millions of copies of this book will have been sold already, and maybe others will like it more than me, but, after, The Host, the last two books in the Twilight series and this, I think I'll leave Stephenie Meyer's books in the bookshop from now on.

Unimpressed. Two stars.

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.

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.