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A line to kill by Anthony Horowitz
AH is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. A Line To Kill is the latest in a series of books describing how AH himself and unpleasant fictional detective Daniel Hawthorne get involved (and eventually solve) an equally fictional murder mystery. Sound a bit like a writer’s conceit? It is, but he handles it very well and I manage to forget that aspect of the plotting most of the time. This is a series worth reading, and A Line To Kill doesn’t let us down.
Architect series by Adrian Tchaikovsky
At the moment I have read two of this series: Shards of Earth and Eyes of the Void. SOE won a lot of awards and was a jolly good read. One of the best hard SF novels I’ve read in a while. But EOTV is even better, I think.The characters are brilliant. The world-building - especially the visualisation of other species and their different cultures or civilisations - is also brilliant. The invention of ‘subspace’ through which gigantic light-year leaps can be made works well... and it works well for another reason which I won’t spoil by mentioning here. The plot is just convoluted enough without going over the top. And the action sequences...Need I say more? I think there must be a third book planned. I will ask on Twitter to find out and maybe update this post later. But in any case, I strongly recommend these two Architect novels.
The couple at the table by Sophie Hannah
The blurb reads: Six couples. One honeymoon resort. An impossible murder .Sums it up nicely. I found it a bit difficult to get into this one, because of the way the sections are split across several characters, but once I got the hang of it it was a rollercoaster read. The plot is suitably twisty, and you could be excused for thinking that any one of the characters could have dunnit. But for me it was the characters themselves that stole the show. I only guessed part of the plot, and dithered for so long over suspecting someone that by the time I was about to make my mind up, I’d finished. Sophie’s books are always a good read. This is no exception and I recommend it wholeheartedly.
Queen of clouds by Neil Williamson
Neil is the main organiser of the Glasgow SF Writing Circle, and probably the most interesting thing about this book is that as I was reading it I completely forgot who wrote it. I read it just as I would any book I’d picked up from a bookshop or library. Queen of Clouds is a brilliant example of world-building. It’s stuffed with good ideas and neat consequences: quite often something happens and you think, ‘Oh yes, of course. Why didn’t I think of that?’ It was unclear until the very end how everything was going to turn out; there were surprises even in the last few pages. The characters are well drawn and I liked the fact that they didn’t keep on having misunderstandings to stretch out the plot. Or fail to tell each other about something. You know the sort of thing... A fails to tell B something important, which furthers the plot for a while, but the readers is just thinking, oh why didn’t A just say what they knew? There was none of that. I enjoyed the book immensely and I shall tell Neil so. Well worth a read if you like fantasy/sf with a slightly unusual take.
The scoop by Kia Thomas
Not a genre I read very often, but I enjoyed The Scoop. This is one of those stories where you know, from page 1, exactly what is going to happen. The two main characters are going to get together, after various ups and downs en route. Nothing wring with that style. Happens all the time, with westerns for example, where on page 1 the baddie kills/steals/kidnaps someone or something, on page 2 the goodie rides into town, and you know that on approx page 200 there's going to be a shootout which the goodie will win despite being a pacifist at heart. The fun is in reading how the characters get to wherever they are going, and The Scoop supplies plenty of such fun, and is chock full of witty asides, good humour and steamy sex. No more spoilers from me, but if you want an enjoyable, fun read to help you through this too-hot weather, you can't go far wrong with Kia's book.
Empire in black and gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Adrian Tchaikovsky is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. This book is fair and square in the fantasy genre, but in a world built (I think) in far-off apocalyptic times where humans are... No, that’s too much of a spoiler. Suffice it to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have only one complaint. That is, it seems to be the first in a series of 10 books. How am I going to find the shelf space for all of those?
True grit by Charles Portis
Of course, I have seen both film versions of True Grit (and I thought, unusually, the remake was better than the original) but, embarrassingly, I didn’t realise that the original was a book. I found out when reading about something else altogether, and put the book down on my birthday list. It duly arrived. This may be the first time I have read a book after seeing its film version (twice), and it was rather odd to find myself thinking, Oh, the book follows the film quite closely. Which of course is bonkers. The book stands alone, and does it very well. I really enjoyed the story, the dry humour, the casual violence than characters seem to take for granted, the continual facing off to prove who is the toughest. Read it. The introduction to the book says that this is one novel that will stay with you forever and you will want to read more than once. I agree. One of the most enjoyable reads I can remember from recent years.
The mandroid murders by Robin Duncan
I’d better be careful what I say here, as Robin is a member, like me, of the Glasgow SF Writing Circle. Mandroid Murders has been published by a publisher in the US, and it’s quite good fun to read. Essentially the world-building includes lots of androids in the future, and an experiment to populate them with human intelligence goes wrong when one of the guys takes control of his android and goes on a murder spree. There are several subplots involving the two protagonists, Moth (a feisty teenager) and Quirk (a jaded private eye), and the story springs to life when the two of them make sarky comments to each other. For my money, the world-building is good, the characters are good, but the plot suffers a little in that not a great deal of actual ‘detecting’ goes on, despite the protagonists’ evident desire to do some. But all in all, it’s a good read that bounces along, and I wouldn’t dissuade anyone from buying it, particularly if they wanted to support a Glaswegian writer.
Fall or, dodge in hell by Neal Stephenson
Stephenson is one of those authors whose books I get sight unseen. He has the irritating gift of writing so well that any writers reading his books wonder why they bother writing themselves. FODIH (and the comma, incidentally, is correctly placed) is no exception. It charts the course of humans finally discovering how to upload their consciousnesses into digital media, and the gradual consequences of that. A large number of powerful presences fill the pages, and an equally large number of far-out but believable notions of what the future brings. It’s not for the faint-hearted at nearly 900 pages, but I enjoyed it. I always enjoy Stephenson’s books, curse him.
The Thursday murder club by Richard Osman
I’ve been reading detective stories since I was knee high to a grasshopper, starting off with Holmes and Poirot. The Thursday Murder Club is not in the same class, but it does have a dry humour pervading it which those classics do not. Whether people who don’t appreciate or understand dry British humour will get that is another matter. I thought the characters in the book are well drawn, perhaps almost caricatures in some instances. And I thought the plot was... okay, but perhaps there was just too much going on, too many red herrings to discover. Maybe a little less would be more. But overall, I enjoyed the book and certainly wouldn’t try to dissuade anyone from reading it.
The echo man by Sam Holland
This is a book I saw advertised and lauded on Twitter and since it’s published by Harper Collins, I thought, ‘How bad could this be? Well, it isn’t bad, but it isn’t great either. Overall, it’s quite a good read, but three things spoiled it for me. Some spoilers ahead so jump to last paragraph if you decide you want to give the book a try anyway. First, one of the female characters recovers from an attack and immediately realises that a serial killer is on the loose and, not only that, realises what pattern is driving him. The police, of course, hadn’t noticed either of these things. It felt totally unrealistic. Second, the big reveal of who the serial killer is, is also unrealistic. That person could not possibly have done all he was supposed to and kept at his professional job as well. Third, the point above is partially explained by the final rites of the book, when it appears the killer isn’t really the killer at all, but someone completely dominated by another person, who really did the killings. The domination seemed unrealistic, and the person chosen by the author to be the actual killer also seemed unrealistic. So, in my opinion, this is a flawed novel. Harper and Collins or not, I can’t really recommend that you add The Echo Man to your Christmas list.
The gutter prayer by Gareth Hanrahan
It’s not often you come upon a fantasy book that reinvents the creatures inhabiting it. But that’s exactly what The Gutter Prayer does, and does very successfully. From the Tallowmen to the giant Elder Ghouls, we are treated to a panoply of creatures, and two types of gods into the bargain. The characters, both human and non-human, are very well drawn. The descriptions of the ancient city in which all the action takes place are convincing. The action and the overall plot are satisfying, too. I did find a handful of typos, which you can see by clicking on the errata tab of my professional editorial site if you’ve a mind too. But that’s minor stuff. I heartily recommend The Gutter Prayer and I’m looking forward to its sequel.
Sins of empire by Brian McClellan
‘Just plain awesome,’ says Brandon Sanderson n the front cover, and I’m inclined to agree. Sins of Empire> is stuffed with action and memorable characters, and builds a world where Privileged Sorcerers face off against powder mages, with (heh) explosive results. I think there’s a sequel coming, and if there is, I shall be keen to read it. I did find a handful of typos, which you can see by clicking on the errata tab of my professional editorial site if you’ve a mind too. But overall, I thoroughly recommend Sins of Empire.
Blood of the mantis by Adrian Tchaikovsky
This is the third of the Shadows of the Apt series. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two, so Blood of the Mantis went on my Christmas list. Did I enjoy it? Yes, I certainly did. The characters and the plot roll happily along. There aren’t twists, exactly - it’s not that sort of book - but there’s an awful lot happening and as a reader you don’t have much of an idea where a particular plot thread is going to end up. Until you get there and you think, whoa, what a good idea. The bad news is that there’s... um...ten books in the series. I may have to visit my bank manager.
No plan B by Lee and Andrew Child
This is the latest Reacher novel, and I was in two minds as to whether to get it, as I thought the last couple, for which Lee Child moved away from being the sole author, were not as good as those that came before. Still, I accidentally went into Waterstones and bought it, so I thought I’d better read it. This is a good one. Plenty of Reacher-type action; a large muscle-bound goon to try to face him down; a suitably complicated plot. I enjoyed it. One of the sub-plots I thought was rather unnecessary... but no spoilers here, so I won’t say which one. But apart from that... ... thumbs up.