The Man In The Seventh Row by Brian Pendreigh

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

You can buy "The Man in the Seventh Row"...here

Overview...

 Roy Batty grew up in Edinburgh, the son of a butcher. Roy became a film fanatic and saw many classic films of the 60s and 70s. Still a film buff as an adult, when he goes to the cinema he repeatedly finds himself watching himself playing the familiar characters on the big screen from his seat in the Seventh Row. His soul is slowly dissolving into the ethereal melting pot of cinema. Why? we flashback over Roy's life to see what led him here. Is it real? or is it a mental breakdown, or a dream? Roy meets a kindred spirit, a fellow film fan. Can she save Roy from being swallowed up? In addition to the main story, there are 3 additional short stories that are connected, albeit tenuously and tangentially, to the main story.

My Review..

This is a strange book in many ways. Often when doing a review I know exactly how many stars to give. In this I was torn between 3 and 5. Which is odd in itself, why the gap? why not 3 or 4 or 4 and 5? and it took me a while to work out why. 

It does not follow any set formula for a type of book. Large parts of the narrative are given to describing Roy's favourite movies. Most people spend their lives in reality with the occasional trip to distraction in the cinema. Roy seems to live his life in cinema with the occasional trip to distraction in reality I found that the plot  wasn't really important. The plot seems hazy and blurred. In most books the narrative is a device to move the plot along, yet in this book it feels, to me, as if the plot is an excuse to talk about the narrative. Which if you are as skilled as the author is (both in writing and his chosen subject) is no bad thing.This view may be down to me and my often idiosyncratic tendencies  and obviously others may will have a different take but personally I am not a huge fan of magical realism. I often prefer things to be like me, big and simple.

On the other hand the nuts and bolts of the writing are bang on for me. When I review a book, I underline interesting or unusual phrases possibly to use as a quote. My pen was working overtime in this book. In particular I found one large paragraph (too big to quote) about the hopes and dreams of the people who drift to LA in an attempt to find stardom quite moving.

The early part of the story reads like an autobiography. This was my favourite part of the book. Roy recounted his childhood including trips to the Cinema in Edinburgh and while on holiday in North Berwick. It was here sat in silence with his dad, enjoying a shared experience, that they bonded.  This and the films resonated with me. Substitute the Gwent Valleys and Porthcawl and he could have been describing me. 

We Welsh are known for introspection and melancholia and it struck me that the author writes like a Welshman. He writes "hiraeth" exceptionally well. Hiraeth does not really translate in English. In English it means home sickness but it is so much more. It is home sickness on steroids. It is a deep longing and pull in your soul to a place, time and people that may no longer be there, if they existed at all. It is the irresistible  pull back to the land of your fathers. Reading this part of the novel was like sticking a thumb in a week old bruise. The pain felt so sweet. 

This is not a book that you gallop through towards the crashing end. Luckily enough I am of an age and enough of a film fan to have seen all the movies Roy talks about, which I would imagine is a great help in reading this book. Barry Norman or Mark Kermode would love it. This book is like a conversation with an old friend in front of an open fire with a glass of whiskey talking about old films. It is a book that you wallow in and let the hiraeth seep in through your pores.

The 3 short stories at the end of the book are interesting but add little to the main narrative. Though the second story "hommage" does have a very clever spin.

So 3 or 5 stars. What the hell. I cant decide. We'll split the difference. It's a 4

Selected Quotes

"Cinema is a place where illusion and make believe are real."

"His father was never really the sort of man who would have ever been so presumptuous as take a starring part. He only really had a supporting role in life."

"He thought he had seen him up there on the screen, but it was difficult to be sure because his eyes had filled with tears. They ran down his face and he wiped them away. In the cinema, in the confessional darkness, no one can see you cry."

"but he had seen enough films from Oliver Twist to Lady and the Tramp to know that just because someone is dirty it did not necessarily mean they were dirt."

About the author...

Brian Pendreigh is an award-winning writer and journalist, whose regular outlets have included The Guardian (1999-2007), The Times and The Scotsman. He has written several film books and most recently was editor of The Times on Cinema (2018). He was twice Britain’s Film Journalist of the Year and his work has been picked by the Scottish Examination Board for English interpretation questions. He is a keen long-distance runner and pub quizzer (with wins on Mastermind, Eggheads, 15 to 1 and Only Connect). He lives in Portobello, Edinburgh. His lounge overlooks the Pentland Hills and his bedroom looks out to the sea and romance.

The Gathering of the Seven Stars by Andrew James Graham

⭐⭐⭐⭐

You can buy "The gathering of the seven stars"......Here

The blurb...

 A multi million pound Football betting scam appears to be a front for something much more sinister when a brutally tortured body is discovered. Twelve years earlier Europe's Chinese Communities reported a large increase in crime and disorder and now it's happening all over again. DS Oscar Smiles, returning from compassionate leave, must deal with the ghosts from his past and put aside his personal worries as a notorious underworld figure battles with a Triad gang to control the dragon Gate area of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

My Review..

Somethings rotten in Newcastle. A body is found having suffered numerous cuts. He is soon linked to Newcastle Football Club and illegal Chinese gambling. Enter the unlikely duo of DS Oscar Smiles, clean freak with OCD. His parents have recently passed away and he is a little lost. A sensitive, touchy feely type, but with a very logical mind and his boss. DI McGovern, his boss, is slovenly, fat, slightly racist and misogynist Glaswegian, divorced 1970s throwback. In no time they are on the trail but the bodies begin to rack up as they bump up against each other in pursuit of the killer. 

There are several suspects including a local Chinese man done good and bully boy loan shark intent on moving up in the underworld.

This is a cracking provincial city, police procedural. The author clearly loves his city including the more dodgy parts. The book is definitely  a work of fiction because at one point it says that Newcastle went top of the league! ha ha lol.

The characters and tone are spot on for me. Tough, slightly seedy backdrops. (A particular favourite scene was the kaleidoscope of chaos at a Social Security Office.) The author is a Housing Officer and one can only speculate as to some of the scenes over the years that he has snuck into this book. The mixture of realism, dark humour and  caricature are an intoxicating mixture.

The book gathers pace as the bodies rack up, new characters are introduced and back stories are filled in. 

I can envisage McGovern and Smiles developing into a long running series. Cant wait for book 2!

Selected quotes...

"There's a lot going on. McGovern chimed in, in his usual thoughtless manner, Yes son, far too many turds for one toilet."

"There was such a thing as having to much to say. Which could be translated as boring the fucking pants off someone. Sometimes he needn't wonder how Oscar was still single."

"His few strands of grey combed over his skull in memory of his hair."

"He is the best XangQi player this side of the Great Wall and I mean the Chinese one not Hadrian's one down the road"

About the author....

Andrew James Graham was born and brought up in the town of Wallsend, North Tyneside.
The Gathering of the Seven Stars is his debut crime thriller.
The working class son of a former shipyard worker he has used his many years experience working as a Housing support officer in some of the most socially and economically deprived areas of Tyneside for inspiration in his writing.He is unfortunately a supporter of Newcastle United Football Club.

Backstories by Simon van der Velde

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

30% of all profits from the sale of Backstories is shared between Stop Hate UK, The North East Autism Society and Friends of the Earth.

To buy Backstories please click the link....Backstories by Simon Van der Velde

Outline...

Dreamers, singers, heroes and killers, they can dazzle with their beauty, their talent or their unmitigated evil, yet inside themselves they are as frail and desperate as the rest of us. But can you see them? Can you unravel the truth?

These are people you know, but not as you know them.

Peel back the mask and see

My Review...

14 short stories of heroes or villains at a crucial time in their lives but with a difference, you do not know the identity of the protagonists and it's down to you to recognise them.

Engaging and intriguing this book is off the beaten track and offers something a little extra to the norm.

It is like a mash up of "through the keyhole" "Quantum Leap" and "Guess Who" board game. Not a whodunnit but more of a who is it?

I can see this type of short story being a very useful tool in the teaching of English or History. You really feel as if you "walk a mile in their shoes" Of course the only downside would be if the reader is not familiar with the person at the heart of the story.

I enjoyed some of the tales more than others. I found I was especially drawn to the killers! Also some of the stories are in the first person and some are in the third person. I found the first person tales to be more immersive. For me the more macabre seemed to be more memorable ones.

14 stories is a lot and personally I think I would have preferred 5 or 6 stories but with more deeper, darker slightly longer narratives. All in the first person. However I'm sure others would disagree.

That not withstanding I found this book to very interesting and engaging. Well researched and cleverly done. Well worth reading and challenging yourself to guess who?

Selected quotes...

"Okay they're not beautiful, they're pretty ugly really, and totally past it, but they've got something real between them. Maybe, I wonder, is that what love is?"

"The officer's hand closes across her mouth reducing her screams to muffled cries that only bring the girls running faster. They burst into the atrium flushed from their morning ride, sweat damp on their faces"

"She can't help it, even though she knows it makes people crazy, makes them leave her, like her father left, like her mother left,"

About the author..

Simon Van der Velde has worked variously as a barman, laborer, teacher, caterer and lawyer, as well as traveling throughout Europe and South America collecting characters for his award-winning stories. Since completing a creative writing M.A. (with distinction) in 2010, Simon’s work has won and been shortlisted for numerous awards including; The Yeovil Literary Prize, (twice), The Wasafiri New Writing Prize, The Luke Bitmead Bursary, The Frome Prize, and The Harry Bowling Prize – establishing him as one of the UK’s foremost short-story writers.

Simon now lives in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, with his wife, labradoodle and two tyrannical children.

Red Zone by Luke Murphy

Outline...

A cheerleader is found murdered at Los Angeles USC football stadium. Calvin Watters ex USC star player, ex mob enforcer and current Private Investigator is hired to find the culprit and not embarrass the USC. He combines family and work by taking his girlfriend to meet his LA cop brother and family.

During the investigation he locks horns with LAPD investigating officer Charlene Taylor. Charlene is driven and trying to live up to the legacy of her murdered cop dad, even inheriting his old partner.

Eventually they work together, Taylor using Watters inside knowledge to progress the investigation. However Watters is not universally welcomed at his old stomping ground. 

My review...

 The investigation takes place in the totally alien (to me) worlds of US college life with fraternities, sororities, cheerleading scholarships and college football. Where crowds of 70k+ often watch inter university US football games. Yes the USA does seem a bit bonkers but college football is big business and the stakes are high. 

The two main protagonists have well filled in back stories with lots of mileage already on their clocks. They both have an aggressive attitude to investigating and interviewing suspects. My unconscious brain, as it does sometimes, cast one of the characters. In this case Calvin Watters was the Rock!

There are numerous minor characters that help to flesh out the story and a few red herrings for us to chase.

Was it a sorority initiation gone wrong, obsessed stalker, love triangle, jealous teammate cheerleader. All possibilities are investigated.

The author has brought his two main characters together from his two previous series so it is a a cross over book. I tried to think of a similar situation (dogged female police investigative officer and handsome private investigator) from a UK perspective and the best I could come up with was Vera and Eddie Shoestring 😳 which quite frankly would be hilarious! And nowhere near as glam and sexy as LA.

I found this to be an enjoyable, and solid police procedural. In an unusual setting.

Selected quotes...

"They called her “Double D” around the LAPD, and it wasn’t just because of her initials. Dana had told Charlene that they had been high school graduation gifts from her parents."

"Watters had a strong relationship to USC, and any college alumni felt a strong bond to their school, and anyone who attended, especially the football family. The bond was tightly wound, unbreakable, and Charlene wondered how the former running back would handle investigating one of his ‘brothers’."

“This is 2020. Social media is everything for a lot of people, especially college students. They live and breathe through how many friends and followers they can attract. That’s why people count the ‘likes’ on their posts,and go back ten times to check it. They wonder if they did something wrong if their count isn’t high, and they’re traumatized if they’re ‘unfriended’ or ‘unfollowed’.”

"There was never an ‘off’ moment for a detective— no punch- out clock, or time to sit back and enjoy the ride. It was constant, case after case, always on call and on the go. Charlene had cop blood running through her."

About the author...

Luke Murphy is the International bestselling author of two series. The Calvin Watters Mysteries: Dead Man’s Hand (2012) and Wild Card (2017). The Charlene Taylor Mysteries: Kiss & Tell (2015) and Rock-A-Bye Baby (2019).

Murphy played six years of professional hockey before retiring in 2006.

His sports column, “Overtime” (Pontiac Equity), was nominated for the 2007 Best Sports Page in Quebec and won the award in 2009. He has also worked as a radio journalist (CHIPFM 101.7).

Murphy lives in Shawville, QC with his wife and three daughters. He is a teacher who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing, and a Bachelor of Education (Magna Cum Laude).