Monthly Archives: February 2011

Cuckoo by Julia Crouch – Book Review

Posted on February 27, 2011
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Cuckoo by Julia Crouch is a seriously deep book, full of class, intrigue and a complexity that was so unexpected it was a delight to read – despite an overwhelming darkness that oozed from within. Published by Headline on March 3rd the book had me from the get go. On reading the accompanying blurb (below) and dust jacket I did wonder if the book was aimed at the female market (especially with the pink suitcase adorning the cover), but it soon became evident that the book is well suited to any adult audience interested in psychological dramas/thrillers – male or female, equally suited, you’ll find it hard to resist its compelling narrative. Now available in Paperback & Kindle Format.

“Polly is Rose’s oldest friend. So when she calls with the news that her husband has died, Rose doesn’t think twice about inviting her to stay. She’d do anything for Polly; it’s always been that way.

Polly has never been one to conform – it’s one of the qualities Rose most admires in her – and from the moment she and her two small boys arrive on Rose’s doorstep, it’s obvious she is not the typical grieving widow. But the longer Polly stays, the more Rose wonders how well she really knows her. She can’t help wondering, too, whether her presence has anything to do with Rose’s growing sense that she’s losing her hold on her own family and home.

 

As Rose’s meticulously constructed world is picked apart at the seams, one thing becomes clear: once Polly’s in, it’s very hard to get her out again.”

I’m not sure if Julia was in a dark place when she wrote this book – I prefer to think that, like any good method actor, she has the unquestionable ability to …

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Savage Run by C.J. Box – Book Review

Posted on February 24, 2011
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Every once in a while I like to settle down and read a book with a variety of tunes playing in the background – nothing too substantial I hasten to add – I am told men can’t multi task and doing two things at once is impossible! With that in mind I cranked up itunes with only one artist in mind for this book – Colt Ford. His amazing album “Chicken & Biscuits” delivered a cornucopia of tunes blending the genres of rap and country – one track stood out for me – “We like to hunt”.

I’ve always been a cowboy at heart. Who wouldn’t want to live on a small holding in Wyoming, deep in the heart of cowboy country, sitting on a porch at the end of a long day and shooting the breeze with distant neighbours?! Sounds idyllic! The sounds of Tracy Lawrence’s “If the world had a front porch” now emanating from itunes!

C.J Box is a new author for me – I confess, although well known in the US for his Joe Pickett series, that he passed me by (like a solitary tumbleweed blowing down a deserted street in the West) when the titles were first released in America – this has now been rectified!

“Laconic Joe Pickett returns to his slightly offbeat duties in Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains in C. J. Box’s Savage Run. Joe is called to the scene when an exploding cow kills a famous eco-terrorist, Stewie Woods, and his bride of three days, who were peacefully spiking trees. A visit to the cow’s pugnacious owner leaves Joe defensive, angry, and curious: Why doesn’t the rancher ask any questions about the bizarre accident that happened on his land?

Then Joe’s wife, Marybeth, begins receiving phone …

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Trinity Six by Charles Cumming – Book Review

Posted on February 22, 2011
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The film “The Third Man”, the Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (or KGB as it’s widely known in the West) and Katarina Witt all have something in common – although the latter is a tenuous link at best, they are all mentioned in Charles Cumming’s “Trinity Six” – a tale of spies, political skullduggery, cold war secrets and a Russian expert hell-bent on discovering an intriguing truth that has remained a secret for decades.

Way back in the late 80’s I was visiting a friend of mine in California – a US Marine (Ooh-rah)– and I remember calling him a few days before the flight and mentioned I was after a book that had been banned in the UK called “Spycatcher” by Peter Wright – ex MI5 assistant director and operative – who had sold his soul and secrets to make a fast buck. Having secured a copy in the US I remember gorging on the secrets and Wright’s public outing of Sir Roger Hollis who he claimed was a double agent – although this was later disproved. (I still have a copy in my study gathering dust!)

“Spycatcher” was my first introduction to a world of conspiracy and chicanery igniting an interest in all matters espionage in me that has lasted ever since – I can’t get enough of tales of “The Cambridge Five”, undercover operatives in the war, double agents and the ramifications of their actions. Harper Collins recently released “Trinity Six” where Charles Cumming runs with the assumption that not only were there five spies in Cambridge, all discovered by Arnold Deutsch, but adds another for luck – the supposition that there was another double agent allows Cumming to run riot and deliver a breathtaking story that you will never want …

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Afrika Reich by Guy Saville – Book Review

Posted on February 18, 2011
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I’ve always had a fascination for history, an interest my father instilled in me as a kid growing up, at a time when the only history taught in my school was that of the Norman’s and Saxons – I was more of a Great War and Second World War reader – I had no time for the Saxons and my exam results clearly showed that! I would have bitten someone’s hand off to read a book on the Anzacs or the history of The Battle of the Somme – alas we were stuck with Norman Conquest of 1066!

When Hodder & Stoughton sent me a copy of Guy Seville’s debut novel “Afrika Reich” I was immediately struck by a cover design that was so tactile with its velvet like touch it begged to be read! Utilising a dark granite black for its primary colour, the front cover has two vibrant and distinctive red “SS” letters atop of a palm tree and skull.

Set in 1952 in an alternative universe, Hitler has proven too strong for Britain, the European Jews have been deported to Madagascar and a reluctant peace agreement between Germany and Britain has been signed. Despite Japan’s attack on the United States in December 1941, Congress voted to remain neutral in Europe and Asia due to the weakened economy at home. The events all add up to paint a picture of German superiority and dominance.

“1952. It is more than a decade since the Dunkirk fiasco marked the end of Britain’s war and an uneasy peace with Hitler.

In Africa, the swastika flies from the Sahara to the Indian Ocean. Gleaming autobahns bisect the jungle and jet fighters patrol the skies. Britain and the Nazis have divided the continent but now the demonic plans of …

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An interview with Andy McNab SAS & Author

Posted on February 16, 2011
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Joining me for a chat today is author extraordinaire and former SAS operative Andy McNab. He came to public prominence in 1993 with his groundbreaking account of the failed eight man British Army SAS patrol in Iraq during the first Gulf War in 1991. He talks about Iraq, being tortured and the enjoyment of a cup of tea:-

Welcome Andy:

Abandoned in what I believe was a Harrods carrier bag on the steps of Guy’s Hospital you were adopted at five years old – do you feel this shaped your life and how tough was it growing up in London knowing you weren’t wanted by your real mother?

I don’t really think about it. I was lucky with my adoptive parents and any mistakes I made were mine and not theirs.

Have you ever considered looking for your biological parents? – I’d guess it’s a case of finding that healthy balance of not wishing to upset your adoptive parents.

No

Given that you had a tough time in school and your dalliance with petty crime, what led you to enlisting in the British Army?

I was in the borstal system at the age of 16 and the army was a way out of it. They were looking for boy recruits and we all thought we’d join up and be helicopter pilots. On the basis that we could barely tie our shoelaces that wasn’t going to happen, so i ended up in the infantry, joining an infantry junior leaders battalion. Short haircuts and lots of being shouted at!

Three years after joining the Royal Green Jackets you were in Northern Ireland, how tough was that tour and did it have an effect on your life and career? I understand you killed your first man at nineteen while on patrol in Armagh?…

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A Pocketful of Holes and Dreams by Jeff Pearce – Book Review

Posted on February 15, 2011
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When I was first offered the chance to read Jeff Pearce’s “A Pocketful of Holes and Dreams” I was initially intrigued to see how readable a story it would be. I knew nothing of Jeff’s story, perhaps that’s due to my geographical location or perhaps just a quirk of fate I didn’t spot it in the written press or television news. Nonetheless I sat down and began to read what turned out to be a riveting true story about a lad who had nothing, but through sheer determination and relentless hard work worked his way out of the slums of Liverpool….

The first thing that struck me, within 20 pages or so, was how similar it felt to “The Kid” by Kevin Lewis – incidentally another Penguin publication I reviewed back in 2010. The book flows well and is set at an incredibly rapid pace and I never once longed for the book to hurry up and finish. I sat down with a cuppa in hand and was so immersed in Jeff’s story I hadn’t noticed the tea had gone cold and a full cup remained! It’s a truly engrossing story that will have you captivated from start to finish.

“Jeff (or James) Pearce grew up in a post-war Liverpool slum. His father lived the life of an affluent gentleman whilst his mother was forced to steal bread to feed her starving children. Life was tough and from the moment Jeff could walk he learned to go door to door, begging rags from the rich, which he sold down the markets. Leaving school at the age of fourteen, he embarked on an extraordinary journey, and found himself, before the age of thirty, a millionaire.

Then, after a cruel twist of fate left him penniless, he, his wife and children were forced out of …

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Edge by Jeffery Deaver – Book Review

Posted on February 13, 2011
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Although a well-established star of the literary world with his Lincoln Rhyme and Kathryn Dance series, Jeffery Deaver is about to take that notoriety and multiply it tenfold with the publication of “Carte Blanche” at the back end of May – the new James Bond novel – set in part in Dubai. Fans of the infamous British spy will no doubt be salivating at the promise of another adventure taking in a variety of exotic locations around the globe – oh and the Bentley is back!

Having never had the opportunity to read a Jeffery Deaver novel, and with Bond in mind, I was keen to take a look at his writing style and see for myself why the Fleming estate asked him to write the novel.

When Washington D.C. police detective Ryan Kessler is targeted by Henry Loving, he and his family are immediately put under government protection. Loving is a ruthless “lifter”, hired to extract information from his victims, and he will use whatever means necessary including kidnapping, torturing or killing their family.

Assigned to the Kesslers is protection officer Corte: uncompromising, relentlessly devoted to protecting those in his care and a brilliant game strategist. He also knows just how brutal the lifter can be – six years earlier, Loving killed someone close to him. As tension increases between the family, the situation escalates into a deadly contest between protector and lifter as each tries to outwit the other. And as the lifter closes in on his prey, Corte must decide whether to protect his charges, or expose them to a killer in the name of personal revenge . . .

A standalone novel “Edge” often reminded me of John Gilstrap’s Jonathan Grave character (No Mercy) who, working covertly as a freelance …

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You Are Next by Katia Lief – Book Review

Posted on February 10, 2011
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Dominos have always held a special place in my heart – the game that is not the pizza! I remember as a kid, constantly playing the game with my lovely gran in front of a burning log fire that warmed the small cottage effortlessly. We had no central heating in those days – didn’t really need it – the fire was more than a match for cold winter evenings. We played relentlessly – neither willing to admit defeat!

I also remember sticking a piece of freshly cut bread on a fire fork and sitting impatiently, introducing the bread to the heat, tempting it to toast so I could feed my hunger – those were the days! Katia Lief has taken those magical memories from me in the space of two days with her new novel “You Are Next”! Comparing my childhood memories and a serial killer with a penchant for Dominos rather takes away the gloss of toasties, packets of monster munch and freshly made cuppas!

To be fair I knew, or at the very least an inkling, what I was letting myself into so I really have no excuse! “You Are Next” is a psychological thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat as you anticipate the killer’s next move.

“Detective Karin Schaeffer was a happily married mother in New Jersey when her life was shattered by a serial killer who murdered her husband and daughter. Martin Price is known to the police as JPP for Just Plain Psycho because of the brutality of his attacks. To the press and the public he is known as The Domino Killer because he systematically murders whole families one by one, after leaving a trail of dominoes as clues. Now JPP has escaped prison…and with the help of her …

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A chat with Linwood Barclay

Posted on February 8, 2011
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I caught up with Linwood Barclay last week for a quick chat and I’m delighted to say he took the time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions:-

Linwood Barclay is married with two children and lives near Toronto. He is the author of three acclaimed Zack Walker mysteries, a former columnist for the Toronto Star, and is the author of the Richard & Judy 2008 Summer Read winner and number one bestseller, NO TIME FOR GOODBYE

Linwood, given that many of my readers are aspiring writers I was wondering when you first realized you wanted to be a writer and did you always have that “one” thriller in your head?

Around Grade 3 I started wanting to write stories. But I’ve never had that “one” thriller in my head.

When I reviewed “Never Look Away” back in October last year (7th in my top 15 of 2010 titles) I remember telling you then how much I enjoyed the novel – how long did it take you to write Never Look Away?

First draft, about eight weeks. Add another month or more for revisions.

What books/authors have most influenced you most and why?

Single biggest influence was probably Ross Macdonald, who wrote the Lew Archer novels. The Chill is a classic. I read everything of his in my late teens and early twenties, and was privileged to know him.

What would you say was the hardest part of writing “Never Look Away” and was it harder to write your first standalone thriller “No Time For Goodbye”?

I couldn’t say what the hardest part of Never Look Away was to write without giving something away. But No Time for Goodbye just went up onto the screen as fast as I could type  it, and …

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The calling of the grave by Simon Beckett – Book Review

Posted on February 7, 2011
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Simon Beckett’s latest novel “The calling of the grave”, the fourth in the Dr David Hunter series, evokes memories of Belinda Bauer’s award winning Blacklands. Both books are set in Devon; Blacklands in Exmoor and Beckett’s “The calling of the grave” in Dartmoor – both have vivid scenes of the encapsulating and unpredictable weather patterns, debilitating mist and fog making safety a real concern (and yet a benefit of the criminal mastermind) – without the added pressure of a serial killer on the run!

Eight years ago the grisly discovery of a body in an isolated region of Dartmoor National Park led police to believe the female body was a victim of the psychotic rapist Jerome Monk. Despite their best efforts and the belief that two further bodies attributed to Monk were close by, the search team, that included Cambridge Don Leonard Wainwright and Forensic anthropologist David Hunter, failed to locate the missing teenagers and with Monk safely behind bars the trail went cold.

“Nothing Stays Hidden Forever…”

Fast forward to the present and a lot of water has passed under the bridge, relationships have gone by the wayside and the one big piece of news monopolising the airwaves – Jerome Monk has escaped from prison and is on the run. It appears that Monk is targeting anyone connected with the original operation on the moor eight years earlier. Hunter is tempted to return to Dartmoor following a plea for help from a female officer. His return to the desolate region ignites a chain of events that will leave many reeling.

“The calling of the grave” is available at Amazon & Book Depository

The narrative is sharp and fluid and with an atmospheric backdrop of the moors utilised, Beckett does a grand job …

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Random by Craig Robertson – Book Review

Posted on February 5, 2011
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“Random” by Craig Robertson, a debut novelist from Scotland, isn’t your average crime thriller – a violence riddled journey told from the eyes of a serial killer; some will find it disturbing, some will find it thrilling but I for one found it just right – I couldn’t put the book down finishing this beguiling thriller in one day.

A fast paced story that really leaves nothing to the imagination – the violence is breath-taking and inspired at the same time. However Robertson never oversteps the mark of decency (well not according to this reviewer) with his creation – the self-proclaimed “The Cutter”.

Told in its entirety in the first person, we, as readers, follow “The Cutter” as he embarks on a random killing spree in and around Glasgow – a city of two halves where citizens in one rarely overstep the invisible boundary marked by Glasgow’s underbelly.

Glasgow is being terrorised by a serial killer the media have nicknamed The Cutter. The murders have left the police baffled. There seems to be neither rhyme nor reason behind the killings; no kind of pattern or motive; an entirely different method of murder each time, and nothing that connects the victims except for the fact that the little fingers of their right hands have been severed.

If DS Rachel Narey could only work out the key to the seemingly random murders, how and why the killer selects his victims, she would be well on her way to catching him. But as the police, the press and a threatening figure from Glasgow’s underworld begin to close in on The Cutter, his carefully-laid plans threaten to unravel – with horrifying consequences.

Available in Paperback and Hardback from The Book Depository and Amazon

The narrative is sharp and crisp and magnificently taut. …

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Blood and Ashes by Matt Hilton – Book Review

Posted on February 4, 2011
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There are three things you can depend on in life – Death, Taxes and increasing petrol prices! Following Matt Hilton’s fifth Joe Hunter instalment (Blood and Ashes) you can most certainly add a fourth! Hunter is back and someone will pay – you can take that to the bank!

When we first meet Joe Hunter in Blood and Ashes, our hero is coming to terms with his near fatal injuries sustained at the end of his exploits with Luke Rickard in “Cut and Run”. Shot and stabbed in his right leg he still, despite three months of intensive therapy, walks with a limp and together with a hand recovering from micro surgery, Hunter is a bruised man.

This is a very different Hunter. Insecure and fallible he questions himself throughout – is he doing the right thing, can he justify the deaths and will he hold himself accountable following its dénouement? With so much running through his mind, concentration doesn’t come easy for Joe and he has to remind himself of a mantra a training officer once told him:

“Stay in the Red Zone, Hunter, or you may as well give up now. Anything else and you’re a dead man. Got it?”

Driving along a deserted road near Bedford Well, Brook Reynolds is frantic with worry. Her concerns are justified when a Black SUV hurriedly approaches, overtakes her and disappears around the bend. She takes a breath, relaxes only to round the bend and find the unknown driver has blocked her path. The car accident doesn’t kill her – the stranger does.

Don Griffiths, a doting father and grandfather disagrees with police reports – convinced his daughter was killed, disagreeing with a police investigation that the car wreck was an accident he calls in Joe Hunter …

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The Fallen Angel by David Hewson – Book Review

Posted on February 1, 2011
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When I began reviewing books in August last year, one of my main goals was to challenge myself and explore titles I wouldn’t normally read – on the whole I think I’ve done quite well but I need to do better as an old and inspirational teacher once said to me! – Think outside the box lad!

With that in mind I received an ARC of David Hewson’s “The Fallen Angel” from Pan Macmillan a few weeks ago and although a crime thriller and well within my comfort zone – it was my first Italian mystery and one I was sure would offer the challenge I was seeking!

Set in its entirety in the ghettos of Rome, “The Fallen Angel” is marvellous blend of historical and fictional narrative – one Hewson carries off remarkably well I may add – as we follow Detective Nic Costa and his colleagues in their quest to solve another crime.

I must confess before I began reading Hewson’s book I had very little interest in Italian history – sure most of us have studied Roman history at one point or other in school or university – but I honestly wouldn’t have gone out of my way to pick up a book that for the greater part spent time revisiting 16th century history in Rome.

However, once I began reading, and bear in mind this is my introduction to David Hewson’s work, I was mesmerized by the Italian beauty contained within. Hewson’s captivating prose and his obvious passion for all things Italian is clear for all to see – it ignited an interest I really didn’t expect; the author’s passion is certainly infectious.

The first half of the book explores the fascinating history surrounding the events that lead to the tenuously legal …

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