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Predator by Patricia Cornwell
This is an architypal Scarpetta novel, so there’s really no need for me to go in to details of the characters and the plot, is there? They’re really all the same, but that doesn’t make them any less readable. I was struck by two things as I read Predator. Firstly, it got into its stride astonishingly quickly. By about page three all the main characters and most of the main plot strands had been set out. It really zipped along. That was good, but the second thing I noticed was the circular nature of the dialogue. No, ‘circular’ isn’t quite right. It’s more that the forces of good, who are all conflicted with each other in one way or another, kept almost reaching some conclusion or finding out a glaring fact, only for their conversation to dance off into irrelevancy or tail off altogether. All right, this can happen. But I noticed it happening a lot, so it spoiled the story for me. I thought the ending crammed in rather a lot within the space of a few pages, so the book seemed to end rather abruptly. Or maybe that was just me, reading the concluding pages in the air en route from Stansted to Prestwick. Do I recommend Predator? On balance, yes. I confess to liking the Scarpetta novels, even allowing for their formulaic content. So sue me.
The woods by Harlan Coben
I gather than Harlan Coben is quite a big name in the world of legal thriller writing, but he isn’t somebody I had come up against before. The Woods has a satisfyingly complex plot, although some parts of it are blindingly obvious - I’m thinking in particular about how some young lads are finally nailed in a rape case, who grassed on one of the key female players who is trying to conceal her identity, and the actual identity of the body in the woods. But the book is well written, and throws up enough unexpected twists to keep you guessing. There’s a love story thrown in, and that works pretty well too. I don’t have any other Harlan Coben books, but I’ll be keeping on eye open for them. I can recommend The Woods as a solid read.
The haunting of James Hastings by Christopher Ransom
This book started off well enough: quite well written, with enough hints and eerie moments to make you wonder if something genuinely spooky is going on. Up until about half way through I enjoyed the understated way in which events unfolded, with just enough of a ghostly spin to make the reader uncertain of whether something supernatural is happening, or whether there are more prosaic explanations to the various events. But then I thought the book lost its way when it tried to develop the prosaic, real explanations (which were pretty far-fetched) but at the same time retain at least two major supernatural elements. On top of that, the end of the book descends Saw-like into captive horror and none of that really worked for me. So, although this author gets good write-ups and this specific book appears to get good ratings... I don’t recommend it. Sorry. Somebody should let Christopher Ransom know that sometimes, less is more.
You’re next by Gregg Horiwitz
Once I got over the first dozen or so pages, I rather enjoyed this thriller. It rattles along at a terrific rate, you know just enough about the main characters to care what’s going to happen to them, and in any case, there’s a strong element of mystery which means you don’t have any idea why the things that are happening to a reasonably normal family are happening. Add to the mix a pair of baddies who could have escaped from a Neil Gaiman or China Meiville novel, and you have the makings of something which rushes helter skelter towards a climax. My main gripe is that the baddies don’t come to quite a gruesome enough end, or at any rate, the description of it wasn’t sufficiently drawn out. If you want a fast-paced read with solid characters and a predictably happy ending, you can’t go far wrong with You’re Next. I was pleasantly surprised by the whole thing.
Trespass by Rose Tremain
I confess I had never heard of Rose Tremain before, even though (I now know) she was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for another of her books. I was in Waterstones and grabbed a 3 for 2 offer as I wanted something new to read on the train... and I’m glad I did. What can I say? She writes beautifully, even though what she is writing about in Trespass plumbs the depths of human depravity. She gets inside the innermost emotions of all her characters, most of them elderly, regretting past events and dreading the future, and I dare anyone to read this story and not empathise with some of the very human, selfish thoughts that her characters are constantly thinking. The subject matter doesn’t make for easy reading, but the way in which it is written and put together does. I’m not surprised she was nominated for the Booker. I thoroughly recommend this book.
Restoration by Rose Tremain
OK, I admit it. After reading Trespass I felt I had to try reading the novel Rose Tremain wrote that was shortlisted for the Booker prize. And I’m glad I did. Restoration is set in London at the time of the Great Fire and Plague and features an unlikely hero in a self-centred, naïve, but not exactly stupid man who finds favour with the King, loses it, and eventually finds it again. He goes from living in a grand mansion with servants and flunkeys, to helping out at a madhouse in Norfolk, and back again. It’s funny, rude, powerful in its descriptions of the London of that age. In some ways its style reminds me of Neal Stephenson. I think this is one of the best books I’ve read recently, and I heartily recommend it.
The snowman by Jo Nesbo
I don’t quite know whose this book is - it crept into the house over Christmas somehow - but anyway I grabbed it to read on the train up to Glasgow. It’s a fairly gruesome story of a serial killer being (eventually) tracked down by Nesbo’s policeman Harry Hole, and as such it’s fairly formulaic. On a couple of occasions the investigation is about to be wound up because they’ve ‘caught’ the killer... but of course we all know they haven’t done so yet. And so Harry has another revelation and hey-ho, it’s off serial-killer hunting we go again. I didn’t like the first few pages. They read as if somebody has said ‘Jo, you’ve got to have some sex, something frightening, and something about children being threatened in the first few pages, and after that do what you want’. Formulaic isn’t the word. But after that, when Harry Hole is introduced and the plot starts moving, the book is more fun to read. Harry is also a formula on legs: ‘ brilliant cop, drink problem, lost his wife because always immersed in his work etc etc ‘ but he’s sufficiently well described for this not to matter. The book bombs along with plenty of little twists and horrible incidents. I wouldn’t say it was the best detective/thriller I’ve ever read, but neither was it the worst. Would I recommend it? Hmm. If you’re a fan of this genre, then yes, you’ll probably enjoy it. If you’re not a fan and therefore need something out of the ordinary to tempt you to read this sort of book, then no, I’d wait for something better to come along.
Heartstone by C.J.Sansom
This is another big book in the series about lawyer Matthew Shardlake detectiving his way around in the 1500s. As usual, it’s stuffed with interesting historical snippets, not least the fact that the story culminates on the Mary Rose on 19th July 1545. If you don’t know what that means, look it up. I’d better say up front that I enjoyed the book. The characters feel real, and the lifestyle and environment described by Sansom feel real. Further, the book draws together two mysteries, and I confess I didn’t know what was going on with either of them, which is relatively unusual because as a long time reader of detective stories, I can usually figure out what is happening. So it was good. But... There’s always a But, isn’t there? Three things about the book slightly spoiled it for me. One is that all the characters speak perfect English, regardless of whether they’re the Queen, a lawyer, or a commoner from a tiny village. I realise it would be impossible (and undesirable) to try to render speech as it was spoken in those days, but surely some effort could be taken to ensure that characters speak with different voices? Two, Shardlake rides to a particular village two or three times, and to Portsmouth two or three times. He’s constantly going somewhere and then coming back again, and that started to get a bit tiresome. I also noticed that whenever he arrived in these places, he more or less immediately found exactly who or what he was looking for. Convenient. And thirdly, and especially at the start of the book, quite a bit of conversation was clear info-dumping. Again, I realise that some of this is necessary, to get us up to speed with certain aspects of the sixteenth century. But couldn’t it have been done a little less obviously? Maybe I’m being niggardly. As I say, I enjoyed the book, as I’ve enjoyed all the Shardlake novels I’ve read so far. Despite my three caveats, I recommend it.
The redbreast by Jo Nesbo
Having just read The Snowman by Jo Nesbo, and having (it seems) very little imagination, I decided to try another Nesbo book. This one is quite complex, so don’t read it if you’re prone to getting headaches. The plot ranges from the second world war to the present day (well, the turn of the century, anyway) and mainly features a cast of Norwegian soldiers who were at the Russian front during the war, and were scattered about in 1999 and thereabouts. One of them is bonkers and wants to carry out an assassination - and Harry Hole (Jo Nesbo’s detective) gets wind of it and starts to track him down. Cue puzzlement, tension, and killings. I found it difficult to get into the book. Then I quite enjoyed it when Harry got into his stride. Then I stopped enjoying it again towards the end, when some of the revelations seemed slightly askew. I think there are some holes (ho ho, no pun intended) in the plot, there’s at least one place where I think information between the characters should have been passed more quickly, and there’s at least one major loose end. So, if you see a copy of this book just lying around without an owner, I wouldn’t dissuade you from reading it, but I wouldn’t recommend buying a brand new copy.
The hand that first held mine by Maggie O’Farrell
This is one of the best books I can remember reading recently. Its writing style is smooth as silk and the events that unfold are so clearly described that it is easy to see them in your mind’s eye. The characters are wonderfully depicted; you would have to made of stone not to empathise with them, and be drawn in to their various relationships. It’s not absolutely perfect. I think O’Farrell overdoes the ‘she was not to know she was going to die early’ line. Once is enough, but she reminds us on several occasions. I have slight reservations about the structure of the story, in that half way through I found myself thinking ‘I really hope such-and-such isn’t what’s happening here’, and of course it was; but when it all happened it worked well so perhaps my initial worries were groundless. I thoroughly recommend this book. I shall probably go out and find some other books by this author now.
Knights of dark renown by David Gemmell
What can I say? I have read all of David Gemmell’s books several times, and I expect I will read them all again. They never fail to entertain me. Nobody’s absolutely good. Nobody’s absolutely bad. In Knights of Dark Renown, the original nine good knights get turned into nightmarish vampire creatures in a distant land, and when they return back to Earth (or wherever it is Gemmell sets his stories), they have to be faced down by a ragtail bunch of thieves, murderers and cowards. Cue stirring deeds and sacrifice from the new self-appointed nine Knights and, not to be outdone, the chief bad Knight has one last heroic gesture left in him too. Great stuff; splendid action; curt, rugged dialogue with never a word wasted. Everything a Gemmell fan has come to expect in his many heroic fantasy books. Never read a David Gemmell book? Get on with you. I recommend Knights of Dark Renown and just about anything else he’s written into the bargain.
Changes by Jim Butcher
I like these Jim Butcher books, with the wizard Harry Dresden taking on all-comers. There’s lots of imaginative magic and supernatural characters; lots of quirky one-liners. And Changes is not different from any of the others in the series. So despite the fact that I thought it had a couple of flaws, I enjoyed it. The biggest problem I have with the book is what I dub the incremental soap problem. You know the scenario: a television soap goes on for years and its writers have to think up more and more exciting plots to keep the viewers glued to the screens. And as a result the plots get more and more unbelievable, because so much is crammed into the half hour that - well, it just seems unreal. But having achieved it one week, the writers have to go one better next week... and so it goes. I feel that Changes suffers from this build-up problem. There have been a number of Dresden novels (I’m not sure if I’ve read them all), and Butcher clearly thinks that he has to go ‘one better’ each time one appears. With the result that Changes, in my opinion, tries to do too much. I was much happier with the smaller, neater, more personal plotlines. These big, epic adventures don’t feel so real to me. And another thing. Dresden is fighting for the life of his daughter, practically from page one. It’s a desperately difficult and potentially tragic situation. And yet the one-liners still come, the jokes and the wry comments. I know, it’s a hard circle to square, because without them the novel wouldn’t *be* a Harry Dresden novel. I don’t know the answer. But I’m not the author, I haven’t got to know the answer - I only have to be a reader asking awkward questions. And one more thing. Especially in the first, oh, quarter of the book, the characters use so many ellipses in their speech that I found myself wanting to take a frequency distribution of how many times they appeared on a page. If you’ve got a copy, go take a look. If you don’t end up being as irritated by them as I was, then I’m a Dutch Uncle (whatever that means). All that said, I still enjoyed Changes. There was a twist at the end which I didn’t expect (and didn’t like), and then another one at the very very end which leaves open the way to an obvious sequel. I’ll watch out for it with interest.
Drood by Dan Simmons
This is a gigantic book, supposedly written by Wlkie Collins about his great friend Charles Dickens. Except that, lost in pints of laudenum, doses of opium and eventually morphine, he comes to believe that both he and Dickens have been taken over by an evil creature called Drood, and he believes that he has to kill Dickens. That is the bare bones. The plot is wonderfully complex and tightly knitted. The characters are beautifully drawn, especially that of the narrator Collins. There is humour, horror, invocation of life in England in the mid 1800s. It is a wonderful book. If you buy one book during 2011, make sure it is this one.
The devil’s star by Jo Nesbo
Part of a 3 for 2 from Waterstone’s, I thought I’d try this Jo Nesbo book because I thought the previous ones I’d read were - not brilliant, but not bad. The Devil’s Star has its moments, and it certainly builds to a nice climax, but I thought it let itself down in several respects. First, the plot was pretty obvious. Second, the were a couple of police procedural points which defied belief - well, mine anyway. Third, the protagonist policeman of these books, Harry Hole, is so far gone in alcoholism that he would a) be long since out of a job and b) wouldn’t be able to function as well as he does in this book. In fact the whole police setup seems a bit of a shambles, and it’s a wonder they manage to solve anything, much less these serial killings. So I’d say "could do better". I don’t think I’d recommend forking out for this book, but if you want a thriller and see it lying round somewhere, by all means pick it up.
The man who went up in smoke by Sjowell & Wahloo
According to the blurb, Sjowall and Wahloo, with their policeman progagonist Martin Beck, created the mold for this type of "police procedural" in the 1980s, and most similar books (for example those of Jo Nesbo) written in the future have used their story-telling methods ever since. This means (the blurb continues) that some of the methods used in The Man Who Went Up In Smoke might seem old-fashioned now - but they weren’t then. They were trail-blazing when the book was written. All probably true. I liked the style of the book, laconic and laced with dry humour. The plot, by today’s standards, is a little thin. Certainly I solved what was going on about half way through. But curiously, this didn’t detract from the reading experience. Overall, I liked it. Apparently there are another dozen or so of these books (this one is the second); I might very well put the remainder on my upcoming birthday list.