This is the 3rd Harry Hole novel and in this instalment in the very successful series of bestsellers, the level of complexity we have grown to expect from Jo Nesbo begins to show itself. The story combines elements of both a whodunnit and a who-will-do-it by delivering a very well integrated combination of stories from the second world war and Norway during the visit of US President Clinton (although he’s never actually named in the novel).
This is the second in a series of novels about the enigmatic figure that is Solomon Creed and, in my opinion, this outing is far superior to the previous novel. Good conscience insists that I confess that any novel set in France has already gained some points from me because of my love for the country, but putting that aside this story is much more relatable for me and less like a pitch for a Netflix/HBO TV series. Something the first novel in this series seemed to descend into at times.
I’d read previous books by this author and knew I was in for a decent novel that would be entertaining enough to hold my attention (during a busy time of the year for me) and provide good value for the time I’d invest. I was pleasantly surprised to find Solomon Creed an engaging character with a good balance of personality and mystery, a combination that appeals to me when looking for crime fiction.
It’s summertime so my head turns to YA fiction to get away from the pressure of “grown up” books – that’s an insult to some of the YA fiction that outstrips the so-called mainstream novels by a country mile and especially when it comes to addressing social issues and generating a useful conversation, but in my case it simply means I’m too old to emotionally empathise with the romantic dilemmas and so I get to focus on the story.
To be fair to Authority, book two in the Area X trilogy, I haven’t read book one Annihilation. I saw the Netflix movie and despite some very mixed reviews I really enjoyed the disjointed nature of the story and the amazing special effect images. Given the fact there’s unlikely to be a sequel to the movie I decided to check out the novels.
Apart from the fact that a Stephen King novel is almost always an entertaining read, what attracted me to this novel was the notion of a father/son collaboration. I hadn’t read any of Owen King’s other work, comedy not being one of my areas of interest, and it appealed to me to see what his influence on the story might be. I also thought the focus on absent women and the possibility of looking at what men might do if this ever came to pass (okay I know it’s not likely, but maybe it would be a scaled up version of what it would be like if all the women in one’s family left for some or various reasons).
The best way for me to describe this novel would be to call it The Silmarillion in Space. It’s almost as epic and mythical as Tolkien’s major work behind The Lord of The Rings and at times just as much hard work to read. In fairness it is described as ‘hard science fiction’ and while I am a sci-fi fan I’m not a tech head and so the laboured, for me, passages giving intricate details of the hardware and space survival techniques left me cold.
I’ll admit I’m a Holmes fan and enjoy the character in (almost) all of his manifestations. That’s what caught my eye when I came across Lois H. Gresh’s novel, along with the sub-title The Adventure of the Deadly Dimensions. Sadly the book didn’t live up to my expectations, but that may not entirely be the author’s fault.
The emergence of the new TV phenomenon that is American Gods seduced me into watching the first episode online. I read the novel some years ago and was engrossed not just by the weirdly literate style, plot and characters, but also by the concept of old gods and new gods meeting up in the new world.
Every now and then a book comes along that you very badly want to talk about but you also very badly want not to spoil for others. This is one of those books. Let’s just say it puts a new spin on a very current horror genre by telling the story from not only the point of view of the characters that usually would be the antagonists but from the perspective of a group of children.
Let’s get this out of the way, we have a young woman with a problem who goes to live in a strange town and meets up with a socially stunted young professional with a past. She also hooks up with a ‘bad boy’ who isn’t really a bad boy and part of her troubles include an ex-fiancee with a definite personality flaw. No, I haven’t begun to review City of The Lost again, but you’d be forgiven for getting confused.
Stephen King said this was his first hard-boiled detective book and indeed it is. The plot makes it a page turner and the characters are as real as any King characters have ever been, and that’s about as life-like as they get. His retired detective (to be played on TV by Irish actor Brendan Gleeson), complete with middle-aged health problems, is sufficiently weather-worn and cantankerous to take his place in the detectives’ hall of fame with any of the greats.
I’ve developed the habit over the years of balancing my fiction addiction with reading some thought balancing non-fiction. That’s not to say I don’t learn a lot about the “real world” and life from good fiction, but sometimes my inner-nerd needs feeding. On this occasion the meal was less of a mental snack and more of a full-on feast.
I’ve been reading Dean Koontz novels on and off for decades, so when I saw he was rebooting the Frankenstein story I was intrigued, to say the least. The concept of updating old stories to a modern setting isn’t a new one and it certainly is in vogue as far as TV is concerned – Grimm,
I like Joe Hill’s work and reviewed his debut novel too and this book is no exception to that emerging rule, but I’d have to question when the blurb compares the “epic scope” of The Fireman with The Passage. Thankfully though it also got it wrong when it drew a line between Hill’s novel and The Road – The Fireman is much more accessible and a lot less pretentious.
Secret societies, conspiracies, kidnapping and trolls, yes trolls, sure what else would you need to create a seriously literate supernatural thriller? Throw into the mix the varied and mythical landscape of Sweden and characters that are both immediately everyday and extraordinary, and you get a novel that makes you want to read at double speed just to see what happens next.
In this the fourth Charlie Parker outing, John Connolly takes a definite step nearer to the supernatural. The move from Maine to the deep south adds another flavour to the tale and allows Connolly’s lyrical style to flourish. He makes good use of the combination of standard crime thriller and supernatural horror story to maintain his own brand of thriller.
I have to confess it was the amazing cover that attracted me to this book in the first place. It deserves to be framed and put on a wall so that every time you pass it by you can pause and see something new that appeals to your eye. Happily the novel, The Trees, actually lives up to the cover and in many ways is equally appealing on a visual level. The descriptives passages immerse you in the forest setting without distracting in any way from the story itself.
The third instalment in the Charlie Parker detective series introduces us to Elias Pudd and his secret weapon of eight-legged assassins. A long-time arachnophobe I squirmed my way through the passages where Pudd does his dirty work. Enough to keep me awake and begging for more.
The second in the Charlie Parker series is every bit as chilling and thrilling as the debut novel. Connolly, rather cheekily some might think, manages to move his hero to Maine and then turn the dial up on the supernatural elements of the tale. Cheeky because the master of horror, Stephen King, based his tales of the unexpected in Maine also. The risk paid off though and this novel holds its own in comparison to anything King has produced.
This is Joe Hill’s debut novel and as such it justifies all of the nice things said about it by other authors. The writing is articulate without falling into the trap of being pretentious and it spares the reader from the over descriptive prose that ghost stories often subject us to.
Kelley Armstrong is best known for her supernatural thrillers but on this occasion she ventures into the world of detective fiction giving us a new hero in Detective Casey Duncan. I’ve reviewed other novels by Kelley Armstrong and the vast majority of them I really like and for a very good reason. She delivers on plot, keeping you interested in the “what happens next” element of the story, but most of all she creates characters that you connect to and care about.
Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker is as robust a detective fiction character as any of the greats – including Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade and Harry Bosch – with a complexity that satisfies the reader and avoids any of the cliches. Parker is a sympathetic bad boy with a reason for revenge and an unapologetic approach to how he achieves it. Former cop turned less than stunningly successful private eye, he takes on the real world villains while searching for the focus of his vengeful anger.
Neil Gaiman introduces us to his collection of Norse Myths by pointing out his introduction to this rich mine of fantastical stories was through Marvel’s Thor™ as a child. I had an immediate resonance with the book because I too became aware and subsequently engrossed in Norse mythology in exactly the same way. Despite the limited source material available to him he manages to make the strange adventures of Odin, Thor and Loki fresh and modern.
As with all book series some novels are better than others, but without a doubt, the Bryant & May series of detective novels deserve their place amongst the best of the genre. If you like well written British crime novels with a cast of quirky characters and tonnes of twists and turns then this series is most definitely for you.
The Otherworld series of novels really placed New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong on the map and deservedly so since every one of the 13 novels maintained a standard of writing that made the characters and plot accessible without stooping to formulaic repetition. I admit I was hooked early on and eagerly awaited the publication of each instalment in the series.
There’s a short list of modern Irish novels I would describe as being privileged to have read – Amongst Women by John McGahern and The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor for example. The Green Road by Anne Enright is the newest entrant on that very short list. Anne Enright has been appointed the first Irish Laureate for Literature and this novel alone will demonstrate exactly why that role is so well deserved.
I think it’s only fair to admit I’m a big fan of John Connolly’s Charlie Parker novels and I opened this book with high expectations of a standard of writing that elevates a modern novel towards real literature; I wasn’t disappointed. The language and descriptive prose are of Connolly’s usual high quality, but it at no time overpowers the story or the flow of the narrative. In fact the subject matter lends itself well to the considered turn of phrase that characterises this author’s work.
Okay so I’ve wracked my brain to come up with a list of books for the Big Book Challenge (see my earlier post for details). Given the fact I have two years to complete the challenge I’m sure some of these will fall by the wayside, but a good start is […]
I’ve been one of King’s ‘constant readers’ ever since I came across a second-hand copy of his first short fiction collection Night Shift in the 70s. As with most writers with a canon of work as vast as his (and there aren’t that many), he has sagged a bit from time-to-time but in my opinion his short fiction collections never let you down.
I’ve never been someone who rose to the bait of a challenge but when paparali.com challenged me to read (and review) 20 books over the next 24 months I couldn’t refuse. Having worked most of my adult life in adult education and principally adult literacy, I feel this is a […]
