The Look by Lee Coates

 

270 pages

Rating... 3⭐

You can buy The Look...Here

You can find out more about Lee Coates...Here

• The Blurb...

Jim is a self-employed web developer living in Cardiff. Successful professionally, the future also looks rosy for his personal life, having recently proposed to his girlfriend, Ffion. However, when the couple decide to celebrate their engagement with his much-loved dad, Callum, Jim’s world is tilted on its axis.

Jim is convinced he spotted his dad staring at him – just for a split second – with a look of pure hatred. Did he imagine it? However, when a series of bizarre and catastrophic events strike Jim’s life in quick succession, he starts to wonder if the look he received from his father could mean something.

Eventually, Callum makes a confession that will lead to the total collapse of Jim’s life as he knows it…

• Our Review...

I read this novel as part of the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge. For more info click here. This weeks prompt was a novel whose blurb you hadn't read prior to reading. 

The Look is an intriguing and attention holding first novel by Lee Coates, which augers well for future projects. The story is a cross between The Wicker Man and The Omen but set in the very middle class and pretentious Cardiff Bay.  It leaves you with an itch you want to scratch.. Partly because of the ending and partly due to the structure. 

The first half of the book is Jim and Callum's back story. However the main driver for the plot isn't introduced until 70% of the way into the book.. This leaves little time then for the second and third acts. The narrative felt a little front end heavy. A few potential plot strands are laid down but not followed. e.g. the mysterious potential employers, the missing mother, even The Look of the title.  If they are false trails they should still be followed and answered in the climax of the book. As I was hungrily devouring the final chapters I distinctly recall thinking There's only a few pages left, he has got a lot of strands to pull together to get a satisfactory end. 

This is a dark horror/supernatural story that somehow doesn't feel too dark despite some really horrific scenes. I've been wracking my brains as to why it feels 99% but not quite 100%, because as I've said the scenes which are intended to be horrific are indeed very horrific (gonna cancel my opticians appointment! 😟). So not the scenes then. I sort of came gradually to the idea (and this is difficult to articulate for me.) that it feels to me (with the usual caveat, that my opinion is irrelevant) that the authors writing style is slightly out of sync with what he is trying to achieve. I wrote in my notes. " Authors style is light and bouncy, with a use of vocabulary that is varied. It is engaging and just on the right side of the entertaining/verbose border."(see first selected quote for an example.) When reading the narrative it felt sort of...perky. Unlike when I read Cormac McCarthy which makes me feel dread and despair. However I don't know if this perky/bouncy fits with theme of the book.. Like using a precision scalpel, when the job needs a lump hammer.

By the by, one thing that did make the hairs on the back of my old swede jump up. The neighbour in the book is called Steven Staite. Very unusual name. However it was also the name of my neighbour for the first 22years of my life! arrggghhh!!!

There is a lot to admire in this debut novel.

One point which I did think worked out well was that it was written in the !st person from Jim's point of view. Given the (possible) revealing ending, this was a well placed strategy. In addition the author does have a well developed turn of phrase and some of his descriptive lines are very juicy indeed, see selected quotes. With just a few well turned words he can make pictures in your mind.

All in all, I found the novel entertaining and an excellent first step on what will hopefully be a long writing career. It's a good start. He has all the ducks, in this first attempt, next one to line em all up, and knock em dead.

• Selected Quotes...

I can't imagine there was any grisly facet of the atrocities that wasn't overseen by an impromptu documentarian. Anyone with a ghoulish curiosity could easily find out what was happening at any point in the continuum and at most locations within the marquee.

The bruised and pendulous clouds above had descended further,

...the sky was a watercolour artist's paradise, pregnant with varicose-veined purples.

I struggled to comprehend how every single car on display had at least one occupant with their own life and innumerable worries. Some concerns would be major. Others less so. But each and every individual was expected to cope with the constant state of flux inflicted on them from an exponential number of outside influences. Billions of particles inexorably linked by gossamer thin threads. The world was such a complex place. Chaotic.

• If You Liked This Then You May Like...

Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin

The Omen by David Seltzer

Audrey Rose by Frank D Fellita

• About The Author..

After having two kids, Lee Coates had almost given up on ever fulfilling his dream of writing a novel, spare time being so precious. However, a light-bulb moment occurred during one of his sons’ extracurricular activities. These interminable minutes needn’t be dead time. Lee can be regularly found writing at the side of football pitches, swimming pools and tennis courts in his hometown of Cardiff.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Rating... 4⭐

You Can Buy "Never Let Me Go"...Here

• The Blurb...

Kazuo Ishiguro imagines the lives of a group of students growing up in a darkly skewed version of contemporary England. Narrated by Kathy, now thirty-one, Never Let Me Go dramatises her attempts to come to terms with her childhood at the seemingly idyllic Hailsham School and with the fate that has always awaited her and her closest friends in the wider world. A story of love, friendship and memory, Never Let Me Go is charged throughout with a sense of the fragility of life.

• Our Review...

I read this book as part of the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge. For more info click here. The prompt for this book was "Academic Thriller."

Well, it's mainly set in or related to a boarding school so thats the Academia part covered, but I don't really think I could call it a thriller, it's more of slow burn.

There is a gradual reveal of a twist throughout the book, which is only confirmed in the last third. So in an attempt not to give away too much to start with, the first part of this review will be spoiler free. However because the twist is the book I feel that I will have to mention it. Before this point of no return  occurs there will be a spoiler warning, at which juncture you can, if you feel the need, swerve the rest of the review. 

The book is written in the first person. It is through the eyes of 31 year old Kathy, who reminisces about her boarding school days with her two best friends Ruth and Tommy. Later after leaving the school she crosses paths with them again. It is set in the 1990s. However it slowly becomes apparent that this not your bog standard boarding school. Nobody has a last name, just an initial. No parents visit ever, and the only time the students leave is when they graduate. The students don't really know where the school is and are discouraged from entering the nearby woods. Creative arts are heavily promoted through out the school and a visiting dignitary often takes away the best examples of art and poetry. The students have a vague idea that something is a bit "squiffy" but it generally isn't talked about. The narrative focuses on the three main players. There is huge meaning behind every social inter-action, every conversation is heavily nuanced and has consequences. Much like teenagers the world over then. This slow moving, repressed, exchange is the author's strong suit. He really does it well.. 

SPOILER ALERT

It is gradually insinuated and hinted out through out the book, each chapter adding a little more evidence piece by piece, that Hailsham School was in fact a school for clones. These clones are to be brought to maturity and used to harvest organs for humans. They are like battery farmed chickens. Our protagonists don't know they are clones. They gradually come to suspect it but the surprising thing is they act as if they are resigned to death (or completing as they call it) to be used as spare parts. There is no terror or gnashing of teeth, no armed rebellion, no going on the run. They are stoical lemmings and this is the most disturbing part because in the real world that is us also, We just accept the journey to death without too many questions..

The narrative is very clever in that when we begin to read, the protagonists are normal kids, with the usual emotions, fears, hopes and loves. As the truth slowly dawns, it's too late for us to emotionally back out, we are invested. How can they not be human if they have emotions, fears,, hopes and most of all love. Are we the monsters for using their organs and killing them? Why don't they rebel or run? has a lust for life been genetically modified out of them or like the rest of us. Do they sort of just accept that's their road in life. I can see parallels in the real world here. I sometimes think if I were to be conscripted to fight a war, obviously not going to happen at my age but go with me here, would I have the courage to refuse or just blindly accept my fate to be used as cannon fodder.

The author is very cunning also in using the word students throughout the narrative. That is right up until two of our love triangle confront the now aged headmistress and the word clone is used once and once only., as if in final horrific confirmation of worst fears. It turns out Hailsham school was just a experiment in humane animal husbandry. Give them a nice childhood with a good education before we cut them open and retrieve the bits like a scrapped car.  Although why bother? Battery hen or free range they still end up on the same plate. Battery/free range, clones/students it's just semantics really isn't it? 

I have read a few books that have an all consuming air of outright despair for the human race (most notably Cormac McCarthy books) but NLMG has a creeping, insidious air of sadness in every sentence. So despite it's almost glacial pace, it is two things. heart breaking and thought provoking.

• Selected Quotes...

“We took away your art because we thought it would reveal your souls. Or to put it more finely, we did it to prove you had souls at all.”

All children have to be deceived if they are to grow up without trauma.”

“The problem, as I see it, is that you've been told and not told. You've been told, but none of you really understand, and I dare say, some people are quite happy to leave it that way.”

you realise that you really are different to them; that there are people out there, like Madame, who don't hate you or wish you any harm, but who nevertheless shudder at the very thought of you – of how you were brought into this world and why – and who dread the idea of your hand brushing against theirs.

• If You Liked This Then You May Like...

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood 

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang 

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa 

• About The Author...

KAZUO ISHIGURO was born in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1954 and moved to Britain at the age of five. His eight previous works of fiction have earned him many honors around the world, including the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Booker Prize. His work has been translated into over fifty languages, and The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go, both made into acclaimed films, have each sold more than 2 million copies. He was given a knighthood in 2018 for Services to Literature. He also holds the decorations of Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from France and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star from Japan.

God's Spy by Juan Gomez Jurado

 

Rating...4⭐

386 pages

You can buy "God's Spy"...here

You can find out more about Juan Gomez Jurado...here

• The Blurb...

In the days following the death of Pope John Paul II, 115 cardinals are called to the Vatican in order to take part in the conclave and elect the new Pope. With Rome under siege to foreign press and thousands of mourners, the last thing it needs is a serial killer on the loose...

Paola Dicanti is a profiler who works with the Italian police. She has been put in charge of profiling serial killers in a department of one - i.e. herself - but so far all her experience of serial killers is theoretical. This is until she is called to the church of Santa Maria in the Vatican state. A cardinal has been found murdered, his eyes destroyed, his hands cut off. It seems that this is not the first victim - another cardinal was found in similar circumstances but the authorities didn't want a scandal.

Recovering from a bitter affair with her boss, Paola begins to build her profile using information from the scene of the crime, from the autopsy, and from forensic evidence. She is helped in this by Anthony Fowler, a priest from the States. But it turns out that Fowler is no ordinary priest - he clearly has links to the CIA, and knows a lot about the serial killer than Dicanti could ever have guessed...

• Our Review...

I read this book as part of the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge. For more info on this click here. This weeks prompt was a book set in a land locked country. In this case The Vatican, the smallest country in the world.

This is an enjoyable, fast paced thriller. The author knows how to keep his reader interested and has a nice quirky touch with his similies and metaphors. (see selected quotes), this sits nicely alongside his feel for the dramatic. I mean a serial (or maybe spree?) killer let loose among a once in a lifetime papal conclave. That's a pretty dramatic setting isn't it. However, as we progress through the story it becomes clear that the time and place is of vital importance. 

I later learned that this author has a Netflix show called Red Queen. Again it has similar themes of a strong female lead tracking down a serial killer but this time set in Spain. I am now watching this and can also recommend this show,

The characters are well fleshed out and the relationships between the various agencies is intriguing. For example, there is priest who also works directly for the Vatican and the CIA. Now, there's two orgainistions that can both be viewed as moral and immoral simultaneously, and often their objectives are at odds with each other. 

Someone once told me that the struggle for power makes great books, as can be seen in a myriad of diverse stories e.g. The Godfather, Animal Farm, Dune, I Claudius et al. At it's heart this is of that ilk.. The interesting nugget that I drew from this novel is that agencies alter outcomes, but clever people can manipulate agencies. This is how sociopaths can remain anonoymous yet powerful within our society.

The identity of the killer is found out early on but the focus then turns to tracking him down and finding out what led him to become a twisted killer in the first place. 

Sometimes I read to enhance my depth of literaray knowledge. However, this is not one of those occasions. This is not a hefty tome of great import, but it was very entertaining. I'm sure we have all read books like this before, however this is well done and enjoyable. Not as dark as Thomas Harris but not too lightweight either. It was just in the sweet spot. 

• Selected Quotes...

The liquid swirled down her throat and for Paola, who almost never drank, it was like swallowing nails soaked in ammonia.

‘And it’s as worthless as a voting booth in Florida.

She’d learned to recognise the vacant look behind the predator’s eyes. These were men to whom killing came as naturally as eating a meal. There is only one thing in nature remotely similar to that look: the eyes of the white shark. They look without seeing. It is unique, and terrifying.

And here she was, at her desk, not exactly enjoying the dawn, but paying respect to her friend in her own fashion. In fact, from where she sat, the dawn was indeed beautiful: the sun sliding over the Roman hills at a leisurely pace, the rays of sunlight lingering on each building and cornice, saluting the art and beauty of the Eternal City. Each of the day’s shapes and colours made its appearance with such delicacy they seemed to be knocking at the door to ask permission to come in.

‘Maybe talking about it would help.’ ‘Take my word for it: it won’t. It’s never helped in the past. There are some problems that can’t be resolved by talking.’ ‘That’s a curious thing for a priest to say. Unbelievable for a psychologist.

if you stop asking me tricky questions, I can stop telling you plausible lies.’

• If You Liked This Then You May Like...

The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown.

Conclave by Robert Harris.

Incognito by Khaled Talib.

• About The Author...

Juan Gómez-Jurado (Madrid, 1977) is a journalist and author of several highly successful novels, translated into forty languages. The works about the universe of Antonia Scott ( The Patient , Cicatriz , Reina Roja , Loba Negra and Rey Blanco , all of them published in Ediciones B) have become the biggest sales phenomenon in Spanish thrillers and have established their author as one of the greatest exponents of the genre internationally. Amazon Prime is adapting the Red Queen series , in one of the most anticipated audiovisual projects internationally. In 2022 he once again conquered readers with Todo Arde.

He currently collaborates with various media and is co-creator of the podcasts Almighty and Here there are dragons .

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

This review is by guest reviewer...Rebecca Morgan 

Rating...5⭐

You can buy "In Memoriam"...Here

You can find out more about Alice Winn...Here

380 pages

• The Blurb...

In 1914, war feels far away to Henry Gaunt and Sidney Ellwood. They're too young to enlist, and anyway, Gaunt is fighting his own private battle - an all-consuming infatuation with the dreamy, poetic Ellwood - not having a clue that his best friend is in love with him, always has been.

When Gaunt's mother asks him to enlist in the British army to protect the family from anti-German attacks, he signs up immediately, relieved to escape his overwhelming feelings. But Ellwood and their classmates soon follow him into the horrors of the trenches. Though Ellwood and Gaunt find fleeting moments of solace in one another, their friends are dying in front of them, and at any moment they could be next.

• Our Review...

Written by Alice Winn as her “breakout” novel. Winner of the 2023 Waterstones debut fiction prize and 2023 Waterstones novel of the year. Both very well deserved IMO! Alice Winn has also done an evident amount of research into the time period and WW1 itself and started writing In Memoriam after reading school newspapers from this time. This book is written in a way that really pulls through a lot of emotions. I read it in a week (new baby slowing me down) as I couldn’t put it down. It covers topics such as homosexuality in a time that it was illegal to act on those feelings, set in a boarding school and a war too horrific to imagine. Thankfully, nothing that I can personally relate to. And yet… it was able to evoke genuine wide ranging emotion. One scene set at the battle of the Somme (that shouldn’t be a spoiler, it’s pretty well documented) made me genuinely stressed, feel anger, confusion and bewilderment. I’ve not connected to description like it before (I’m normally all for the conversational writing). Despite its deep and heavy topics, it also brings through comradery and a unique sense of understanding amongst peers both at the school and at the front. The bond between the boys/men prisoner of war camps and the change in men following their time at the front are also captured and conveyed with an almost ugly beauty. One of the novels strengths is the way Winn brings across emotions. There is a point where Ellwood is walking through town while on leave in England and is handed a white feather. The way it’s written and his decision to never walk in civvi clothes again is particularly well done. Also the scene with the Battle of the Somme (I know I mentioned it above but it’s unbelievably good writing) covered so many different emotions in that one moment. Her use of multiple characters perspective and the perspective of the opposition made the picture really full and left me with genuine feels of anticipation and impending dread. She was able to hold me in this space for, what felt like, an uncomfortably long time… needless to say, I took a break at the end of that chapter. The book is written primarily from the perspective of both the main characters, Sidney Ellwood and Henry Gaunt. Both of these characters are very contrasting and have different views of many things, including the war. Gaunt is partly German and Ellwood has a fantastical schoolboy view of glory. By doing this, Winn is not only able to cover several aspects and introduce more characters and relationships, but also able to draw parallels between expectations and reality. For example, the meaning taken in some of the letters from Gaunt to Ellwood from the front is missed until Ellwood is able to experience these things himself, “When Gaunt wrote that they were rotting, Ellwood had not understood - how could sand rot? But the bags weren’t filled with sand anymore…”. It also allows Winn to draw parallels between the impact the war has on such contrasting characters. One minor distraction form me was that throughout the book Ellwood draws on poetry and quotes this out loud, often based on situations that he is in. While this is very cleverly done and is a good way for him to articulate his feelings while remaining (somewhat) subtle, I myself found it difficult to connect at times. I have very limited prior experience

with poetry and therefore some of it could be lost on me but I did find some nks tenuous. Still think it’s very clever though!

• Selected Quote...

It was the Hell you’d feared in childhood, come to devour the children. It was treading over the corpses of your friends so that you might be killed yourself. It was the congealed evil of a century.

• If You Liked This Then You May Like...

Two Storm Wood by Philip Gray. Click here for our review

The Winter Soldier by Daniel Mason.

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks

• About The Author...

Alice Winn is the author of In Memoriam. She grew up in Paris and was educated in the UK. She has a degree in English literature from Oxford University. She lives in Brooklyn.

Guest Reviewer Rebecca Morgan

 Rebecca is currently working as an occupational therapist after studying at the University of West of England. Is a sucker for a romance or something that brings some magic to the real world.

A Pilgrimage Around Wales

 

Rating...4⭐

You can buy "A Pilgrimage Around Wales"...Here

157 pages

The Blurb...

In 2015 Anne Hayward spent three months as a pilgrim, travelling on foot to visit some of Wales' holiest sites. In this book she supplies some of the history of those ancient places of pilgrimage, reflects on the experience of being a pilgrim, and meditates upon discussions she had with those she met along her route.

Our Review...

I read this book as part of the 52 books in 52 days challenge... click here for details. This week's prompt was non-fiction recommended by a friend.

I have not read many non fiction apart from the odd biography so this was dragging me out of my comfy spot. So if I was to be in unfamiliar territory I decided to keep familiar themes. It's in Wales, check and has a bit of hiking, check.

So off I went. I wasn't quite prepared for such an engaging book. The author seems to me to be a throwback to the great days of the Empire. A slight, woman in her late 50s. An ex-teacher and Lay Preacher sets out huking around around to visit 4 religious sites. For 3 months! A combination of brave and a bit bonkers? 

What follows is a fascinating account of her adventures. Like a Wales based hobbit off on spiritual journey. It is not fully set chronologically but with three themes in mind.

!. Responses to the many questions and comments made to her along the way.

2. Factual snippets. Background and historical.

3. Reflections on various spiritual issues that cropped up.

Each chapter contains these three segments.

The chapter heading themselves are intriguing including "If I wasn't a Christian, i would pocketed your £90 and thrown your bag in the sea" 

While there was a very useful glossary-end note section, one thing I think was missing was a detailed itinerary and list of campsites she stayed at. Who knows one day, If I ever get to be as fearless as her I may get to walk a few miles in her footsteps

An interesting change of pace book for me. I got to learn a bit about Wales, about ancient historical sites and saints but most of all I got to read about the adventures of this remarkable woman.

Selected Quotes...

Being on foot and carrying a quite heavy pack for a small(ish) woman was both liberating and constraining. The more I walked, and now the more I research and write, it becomes increasingly obvious how little I saw  and how many places, in an ideal world, I could have visited.

What became increasingly clear during those three months was that my research prior to my walk had left me unprepared for the sheer joy of quietly discovering new places and the enourmous sense of achievement I felt each day.

...This was quite a weight for me as I'm not exactly Mrs Universe. However packing a bag like this does make you think about what you really need. This clearly has parallels with life as a whole.

If You Liked This Then You May Like...

The Only Way is West by Bradley Chermside

Britain's Pilgrim Places: by Nick Mayhew Smith & Guy Hayward

On This Holy Island: A Modern Pilgrimage Across Britain

by Oliver Smith 

About The Author...

Anne Hayward read History at Oxford University and went on to become a teacher. She is a Licensed Lay Minister in the Church in Wales In recent years, she has walked thousands of miles to places of pilgrimage in Wales, Ireland, Brittany, England and the Isle of Man, with each pilgrimage beginning and ending at her home in the Brecon Beacons. .

Bomber by Len Deighton

 

Rating...4.5⭐

487 pages

You can buy Bomber...Here

You can find out more about Len Deighton...Here

• The Blurb...

31 June, 1943. An RAF crew prepare for their next bombing raid on Germany. It is a night that many will never forget. Len Deighton's devastating novel is a gripping minute-by-minute account of what happens over the next twenty-four hours

. Told through the eyes of ordinary people in the air and on the ground - from a young pilot to the inhabitants of a small town in the Ruhr - Bomber is an unforgettable portrayal of individuals caught up in the wreckage of war.

• Our Review...

This review is part of my 52 books in 52 weeks challenge. Details can be found here. The prompt for this week's book was a novel that was longlisted for the booker prize. This was nominated in 1970.

It's not often you get to review a novel that was the inspiration for a Motorhead Album. 

So this was written a mere 25 years after the second world war by an RAF veteran. Considering it is 54 years old it stands up remarkably well. It should be up there with "All Quiet On The Western Front" as anti war book. Not because it preaches a pacifist message, because it does not. It just shows what happens an a bombing raid and lets you draw your own conclusions.

The date (31st June 1943) and the town (Altgarten) are fictitious. Everything else is remarkably real. The research for this novel is gargantuan but not jarringly intrusive on the narrative. 

Deighton gives us 24hrs in the life of a British bombing raid. It is all encompassing. Much like a Tarantino film, we have an array of subtlety interlinking sub-plots from the war weary pilot, the Prussian aristocrat fighter pilot, the aging German radar command officer, his housekeeper, the burgo-master, and fire chief and numerous other characters. Given the vast cast, the author does an excellent job of keeping them separate in our minds. Each has their own issues and hopes. The English class system is quite prevalent here. 

The scale is epic. Given the grand backdrop, the author also does an excellent job of immersing in the day to day lives of the protagonists. The first third of the book is setting out the outline and characters. the second two thirds deal with the raid. This is when the tension ramps up. 

The raid itself features hundreds of bombers. We follow one in particular, nicknamed Creaking Door. The chaos and horrific deaths that ensue both within the British bomber crews and German fighters and just bog standard random people on the ground is immensely moving. We become invested in the people from both sides. I read on in the hope that certain characters make it through the night. It was a bit like the film Titanic in that you know its a disaster, but you just hope your favourites make it out alive. 

All that technical knowledge and heroism, all just to murder each other. If only if could harnessed for a worthwhile cause. 

On a personal note, I was drawn to this novel because my wife's grandfather (now sadly passed) was a P.O.W. His last Prisoner of War Camp, much like Kurt Vonnegut, was at Dresden which was obliterated by the allies towards the latter stages of the war. 1299 bombers dropped almost 4000tons of bombs killing 37,000 people. (for comparison roughly the same population as Port Talbot) He didn't talk about the war, but one day not long before he passed away he told me about it. That was 34 years ago and I've never forgotten. 

Many think the heavy bombing campaign should have been classed as a war crime and reading this novel you can see why. 

• Selected Quotes...

 "there’s no difference between bankrupting a foreign factory in peacetime and bombing it in wartime. Capitalism is competition and the ultimate form of that is war.”

“He’s always wiping his mouth and fingers,” said Beer. “He makes me feel like I’m suffering from some sort of contagious disease.”
“You are,” said Kokke. “It’s called poverty.”

the English believe that only gentlemen can be leaders”

It’s as though the plane goes to bomb Germany of its own predatory volition, as though it takes us along just for the ride”

you don’t believe in this war”  said Cohen “Believe in it? . . . you make it sound like a rumour.” Lambert replied.

• If You Liked This You May Like...

Hornet Flight by Ken Follet

Goshawk Squadron by Derek Robinson

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut click to see our review here

• About The Author...

Len Deighton was born in Marylebone, London, in 1929. His father worked as a chauffeur and mechanic, while his mother was a part-time cook. After leaving school, Deighton took a job as a railway clerk before completing his National Service as a photographer for the Royal Air Force's Special Investigation Branch. Upon his discharge from the RAF, he attended St Martin's School of Art in London in 1949, and by 1952, he had secured a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, from which he graduated in 1955.

Deighton's career path led him to become an airline steward with BOAC. Prior to launching his writing career, he was an illustrator in New York and later, in 1960, an art director at a London advertising agency. He is recognized for designing the first British cover for Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" and later used his artistic talents to illustrate several of his military history books.

With the success of his early novels, Deighton took on the role of cookery writer for The Observer and created illustrated cookbooks. In September 1967, he penned an article for the Sunday Times Magazine about Operation Snowdrop—an SAS attack on Benghazi during World War II. The next year, David Stirling was awarded significant libel damages over the article.

Deighton also authored travel guides and served as the travel editor for Playboy before venturing into film production. He produced a film adaptation of his 1968 novel "Only When I Larf," and with photographer Brian Duffy, acquired the film rights to Joan Littlewood and Theatre Workshop's stage musical "Oh, What a Lovely War!" However, he chose to have his name removed from the film's credits, a decision he later regretted as "stupid and infantile." This marked his final foray into cinema.

In 1969, Deighton left England and briefly settled in Blackrock, County Louth, Ireland. He has seldom returned to England, save for personal visits and a handful of media appearances, the most recent being a 2006 interview that was part of a "Len Deighton Night" on BBC Four.

Q&A With K.J. Dando Author of Lies After Death

 

Recently I had the good fortune to review "Lies After Death" a blistering thriller set in Wales by exciting new talent K.J. Dando. You can find the full review...here

Always keen to spot up and coming Welsh authors we reached out to K..J. Dando for a chat. 

Your debut novel has an air or authenticity regarding tough guy Tom Crane. Can you tell us a little about your background. From school, I served in the British Army and actively engaged in operational duties in Iraq, Kosovo, and Bosnia. I then pursued a career in the health and fitness industry before falling into my current profession as a business manager for a large motor group. So now I work with numbers all day and words in my spare time!

Tell us about your book. My debut - Lies After Death - is about a man called Tom Crane who is plagued by the death of his wife after a tragic car accident five years ago. Crane, who now works as a fixer for wealthy and powerful clients, suddenly begins receiving mysterious letters and phone calls from someone claiming to know the truth about his wife's death. As Crane uncovers more and more secrets and lies, he finds himself being pulled into a dangerous game of cat and mouse. Can he trust the messages, or are they part of a larger conspiracy?

What was the hardest scene to write? They're all difficult in their own way, although I do find writing dialogue slightly more challenging than writing action. So, any scenes that have a lot of dialogue were probably the hardest to write.

How do you develop the characters in your book? I try to develop my characters through their interactions in the story. I think showing how a character reacts in certain situations as well as the things they say, help the reader to understand the character and their values.

Plot or character? Which deserves more attention? In my opinion — both — and probably in equal measures. I think the plot should be exciting and keep the reader guessing as to what's going to happen next. Equally, I think the reader needs to connect and relate with at least one of the main characters, so that they care about them and become invested in their story.

What is your writing process? I plot a skeleton of a story before I start to write, but leave plenty of space to flesh it out.

Is your novel part of a series? I'm hoping Lies After Death will be the first of a series for Tom Crane.

Do you have any plans to develop other books/characters/series? If so can you outline them for us?

I'm currently in the process of writing the follow-up to Lies After Death — watch this space. Hopefully, I'll have an announcement for you soon...

What authors/books influence your work? I'm a big fan of Lee Child and admire what he's achieved with his character, Jack Reacher. I also enjoy reading Clive Cussler's work — his books are always entertaining and full of adventure. As the two authors I've probably read the most, these are the two who have no doubt influenced my writing the most.

Has any book ever “changed” you?

Yes, Lies After Death. As someone with no literature qualifications or experience, getting signed and published gave me the confidence to think that maybe I can write. Maybe I can create stories to entertain people and give them some respite from 'real life'. If you could be a character in any fiction novel, who would it be? That's a tough one! I'd probably have to say Dirk Pitt from the Clive Cussler series. Purely down to the travel, experiences, and adventure. What is your favourite novel and which is your least favourite. I can’t! How do you narrow it down to one favourite? Also, in terms of least favourite —there's books I've started, but stopped within a couple of chapters, knowing it wasn’t for me. But I couldn't name them. I wouldn't want to disrespect the author's work. It wasn't for me, but I'm sure others would enjoy it.

Tell us something most people don’t know about you.

Once upon a time I trained as a tattoo artist. Almost all of the tattoos on my left forearm I did on myself.