Freebourne By Salman Shaheen

 

Rating 4⭐s

You can buy Freebourne...here

You can find out about the author here

• The Blurb...

After learning of his wife's affair with his best friend and business partner, divorced and unemployed MindTech entrepreneur Dr Harry Coulson arrives in the idyllic English town of Freebourne, looking to start a new life. But any hopes of quietly picking up the pieces of his broken world are shattered when he steps off the train to discover the body of a young woman lying in the snow. It's almost as if she'd been left there for him to find. Harry does everything he can to help. But as a stranger arriving on the night Freebourne witnesses its first murder in over a century, he not only becomes a suspect in the woman's killing but finds himself caught in a deadly game between science, faith, and free will - in a secret far darker and more terrifying than anything he could have imagined.

• Our Review...

I found this to be a very interesting book in many ways. I try not to read the blurb or reviews of books that I review until after I have reviewed them. I like to come to the story without preconceived ideas.

So for me this tale started as a murder mystery. Initially I thought the writing too fast paced for my taste. e.g. (Slight spolier here...) in the story within  about a month there the had been several murders and our protagonist had set up and funded a company staffed by people he had only just met and found love. All this when our protagonist had only just arrived in his new environs! With the fast pace there comes a lack of opportunity to develop depth of characters. So far so OK but nothing to set my reading world alight. At this stage had it carried on it was probably going to a solid 3 star read for me. Ok but probably wouldn't remember any part of it in a few years time.

However as we progress and begin hitting the twists the reasons behind the fast forward love affair and the spree deaths not to mention the quickfire tech empire building become apparent. This book is a shape-shifter what starts as murder mystery evolves into a mash up of black mirror and House of Cards and Frankenstein. It is here that the narrative kicks on. I sat up in my chair my interest piqued and began reading more voraciously. 

I feel the author has two (at least) strengths. His plotting is very clever. Seasoned readers are experienced in spotting the tropes that lead to the twist, so much so that part of fun of reading is spotting the twist. If reading is like going on Safari then spotting the twist is akin to the thrill of shooting the Lion at the end! (NB we do not condone big game hunting obvs.) I did see one twist but not the subsequent emerging one so well played sir, well played.

The other element of his writing is political commentary. The author is politician so no doubt operates in a world of cunning, subterfuge and dare I say manipulation. He writes about these and his fears for the future in a heartfelt and striking way. As can be seen in selected quotes. Orwell is obviously an influence. He has a good turn of phrase. "Tourists in the misery of others" is a wonderful way of describing internet trolls and paparazzi.

In the end I enjoyed this book, it gradually morphed into a thought provoking cautionary tale that we as a society will do well to take on board.

• Selected Quotes...

in politics those who wield the knife, no matter how well they buried it and where, rarely get to wear the crown.

It would be all over the metaverse soon. Fear and outrage traded for clicks, views, shares, likes, influence, vanity. A young woman was dead and all these people cared about was collecting experiences. Tourists in the misery of others.

those of us who have the privilege of building the future also have the duty to preserve our past.

The whole system is geared towards producing compliance. Replicating a set of values held by a tiny elite because having a bigger stick is so passé. We know the state has a monopoly of violence, and it will deploy it against its own citizens if it needs to, but it rarely does. Why? Well, we’re recorded over 300 times a day simply going about our daily lives. The whole world is one giant panopticon now. That we know we are constantly watched unconsciously changes our behaviour. That’s another form of violence, against our minds, but it’s far from the most insidious. The mass media, almost exclusively owned by the same sliver of society who rule us, tell us what to think, what is acceptable, permissible, within established parameters;

Seventy years ago, most of the world’s countries were dictatorships. Today, hardly any survive. Because they don’t need to. That’s real hegemony. The biggest lie people are told in the free world is that they are really free.”

power relies on controlling and corrupting the institutions of society, not destroying them.

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

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Here Be Dragons by Sharon Penman

 

Rating 3.5⭐s

You Can Buy Here Be Dragons...Here

About The Author...Here

• The Blurb...

Thirteenth-century Wales is a divided country, ever at the mercy of England's ruthless, power-hungry King John. Llewelyn, Prince of North Wales, secures an uneasy truce by marrying the English king's beloved illegitimate daughter, Joanna, who slowly grows to love her charismatic and courageous husband.

But as John's attentions turn again and again to subduing Wales – and Llewelyn – Joanna must decide where her love and loyalties truly lie.

Beginning the medieval trilogy that includes Falls the Shadow and The Reckoning, Here Be Dragons brings thirteenth-century England, France, and Wales to tangled, tempestuous life.

• Our Review...

As a proud Welshman I have always been a little perturbed by my lack of historical knowledge of my people. When I was a child we were taught history from England's viewpoint, Longshanks and all. I did a little research and now the GCSE curriculum focus in Wales is on Wales, eg The Lord Rhys, Owain Glyndwr  and it's place in European and world history e.g. Wales in The Civil War. This awareness of OUR history is nice to see and long may it continue. I have recently seen in the UK Black History Month in addition to South Asian Heritage month on sky. While these are worthy promotions I despair that in Great Britain we do not have a Celtic Heritage/History month concentrated through BBC/ITV/Sky. The media of Tv, films and indeed books have a huge part to play in keeping a nations heritage alive. Before the flawed but exciting epic Braveheart I guarantee not may people outside of Scotland had heard of William Wallace. 

I enjoy historical fiction so I decided to go for two birds one stone approach. Fun and educational.. Here Be Dragons is the fictionalised Biopic (Biobook?) of Llewellyn the Great, one of Wales favourite sons. Here again the story of Wales is heavily influenced by England. The focus of the book is actually Llewellyn's wife Joanna. The illegitimate daughter of KIng John (yes the bad guy from Robin Hood!) Both Llewellyn and Joanna are coerced into a political marriage which by all accounts went very well...until it didn't (no spoilers but the marriage encounters a big bump in the road!)

I found the book really hit the spot in feeding my quest for historical learning. I could really place myself in the room with Llewellyn and Joanna and developed a far better understanding of the timeline than I would if i had just read a straightforward dry non-fiction. When I read an historical fiction novel it ceases to be history, I am transported to that time and place and the history spontaneously evolves into something more akin to current affairs.

The author does have a nice way with words and  smooth style. The focus of the tale, I felt, was more from Joanna's point of view, so affairs at court took precedence over affairs on the battlefield. While I realise most readers are female, I being a Welshman would have liked more emphasis on Llewellyn. A little more Bernard Cornwall a little less Gregory for me would have been my sweet spot. Again this is purely subjective. I suppose there is a subtle difference between male and female historical fiction. You pays your money and takes your choice. This slight caveat aside I did enjoy this book and I will no doubt at some point delve into the author's Biobook of the greatest Welsh hero Owain Glyndwr. 

• Selected Quotes...

They say a Welshman’s word is worth spit in the wind. And they are right, lad. An oath given to an enemy is made to be broken; we understand that. We use what weapons we have available to us, and when we fight, we fight on our terms, not theirs.

I do not mean to offend you, but the Welsh have been given little reason to love the English.” Joanna had never thought of herself as English; in fact, to one of Norman-French descent, that qualified as an insult. She did not quibble at Adda’s inaccuracy, however, realizing that to the Welsh, the distinction drawn between Norman and Saxon was irrelevant.

it would be a drawn-out, bloody, and brutal war. Wars with the Welsh always are. They disappear into inaccessible mountain retreats, phantom foes we cannot find. But they have no trouble finding us, my liege; they excel at ambush, at surprise attack and counterattack upon the morrow. There is no glory in wars against the Welsh, only blood-spattered rocks and shallow graves, and once you win, you find precious little for the plundering.

A scar signifies past pain, a wound that did not heal as it ought. But it testifies, too, to survival, breila

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Devolution by Max Brooks

 

Rating 3.5⭐s

You can buy Devolution...Here

You can find out more about the author Max Brooks...Here

• The Blurb...

As the ash and chaos from Mount Rainier's eruption swirled and finally settled, the story of the Greenloop massacre has passed unnoticed, unexamined . . . until now.

But the journals of resident Kate Holland, recovered from the town's bloody wreckage, capture a tale too harrowing - and too earth-shattering in its implications - to be forgotten.

Kate's is a tale of unexpected strength and resilience, of humanity's defiance in the face of a terrible predator's gaze, and inevitably, of savagery and death.

Yet it is also far more than that.

Because if what Kate Holland saw in those days is real, then we must accept the impossible. We must accept that the creature known as Bigfoot walks among us - and that it is a beast of terrible strength and ferocity.

Part survival narrative, part bloody horror tale, part scientific journey into the boundaries between truth and fiction, this is a Bigfoot story as only Max Brooks could chronicle it - and like none you've ever read before.

• Our Review...

To our readers in the UK this novel is not about the domestic politics of the Celtic countries of the UK (thank goodness!) It is about the opposite of evolution i.e. the notion that species can revert to supposedly more primitive forms over time. 

Our story is told in epistolary fashion in the form of a recovered journal and notes from interviews. This is a clever framework for this novel as it adds a touch of realism to what is in essence a myth. The method is akin to "filming the Blair Witch Project on a shaky hand held cam." It adds a ring of authenticity.

The scene is set early on. The backdrop is a small, very middle class, eco-friendly community of Greenloop in the wilds of the North-Western USA.  The dynamic within the group is very structured. The smiley, rich, engaging people at the top and the not so rich, not so smiley, not so engaging lower down the totem pole of life. 

However, double disaster strikes. A volcanic eruption cuts off our community with no hope of rescue over the winter and said eruption triggers a migration of starving Bigfoots, or should that be Bigfeet, straight into our cotton wool enclosed bunch of softees. 

This part reminded me of the first half of Jaws where power resided with mayor and his politically focused actions but when the shit hits the fan, the most powerful person in the town is the crazy mad bastard fisherman. Human hierarchies are irrelevant when faced with death on a large scale. When that happens we need warriors not wordsmiths.

 

The changing dynamics within the human group under duress were the hook for this book. At times it didn't really matter what the external threat was. As for the external threat., the author is renowned for his work in the zombie genre and has even lectured to the USA military  on unthinkable threats. Could this book have been better if a more credible threat eg wolves, bears been the looming enemy. Possibly, possibly not. So does Kate (our journal author) survive the Bigfeet feeding frenzy? I will say the outcome for Kate is unusual...

This is a fascinating cautionary tale about nature and how we have cocooned ourselves from it. We have lulled ourselves into a false sense of superiority and security. The author suggests that not being content with placing a barrier between us and nature, we have taken the ultimate step and actually forgotten that nature is dangerous and terrifying. 

• Selected Quotes...

You can’t ask people to give up personal, tangible comforts for some ethereal ideal. That’s why communism failed. That’s why all those primitive, hippie, “back to the land” communes failed. Selfless suffering feels good for short crusades, but as a way of life, it’s unsustainable.

It’s great to live free of the other sheep until you hear the wolves howl.

Siri, what can I eat here?” I don’t know what made me feel worse, that I suddenly didn’t have the world’s knowledge in my pocket or that up until that moment, I’d always assumed I was entitled to it.

Injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you. That’s why most weapons of war are designed to injure instead of kill. Wounded are more of a drain than the dead.

Like a tree in the forest, America doesn’t hear foreign suffering.”

They all want to live “in harmony with nature” before some of them realize, too late, that nature is anything but harmonious.

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

Jaws by Peter Benchley

Alien by Alan Dean Foster

Day Of The Triffids by John Wyndham

• About the Author...

As a best-selling author, Max Brooks is credited with helping propel zombie-lore from niche sub-culture fascination to mainstream pop-culture obsession. While Brooks has published three massively successful zombie-themed books—The Zombie Survival Guide, World War Z, and The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks (all of which are now considered the definitive tomes for the genre)—Brooks’ ultimate goal was to challenge old ways of thinking and encourage mental agility and flexibility for problem solvers and leaders.  Brooks’ unique, unconventional thinking depicted in his books has even inspired the U.S. military to examine how they may respond to potential crises in the future.  World War Z was read and discussed by the sitting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Brooks has been invited to speak at a variety of military engagements—from the Naval War College, to the FEMA hurricane drill at San Antonio, to the nuclear "Vibrant Response" wargame. Adapting to adversity has been the enduring theme in all of Brook’s works. From the true story “The Harlem Hellfighters” which chronicles the heroic African American unit in the trenches of World War 1, to the fiction “Minecraft: The Island” the first official novelization of the 100,000,000+ videogame franchise, Brooks continues to explore what drives us to succeed in a hostile world. His new comic book, “Germ Warfare: A Graphic History” tells the long, painful story of humanities’ battle with microbes, and how those microbes have been used to battle each other. Today, Brooks balances his work as a novelist and speaker with his dual fellowships at the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and the Modern War Institute at West Point. As an analyst and columnist, Brooks has written about national security subjects such as automation, weapons procurement, and cyber-warfare just to name a few. Together with his colleagues from the MWI, Brooks has co-edited two books on teaching military science through science fiction: “Strategy Strikes Back: How Star Wars Explains Modern Military Conflict” and “Winning Westeros: How Game of Thrones Explains Modern Military Conflict”.

The Defence by Steve Cavanagh

 

Rating 3.5⭐s

You can buy The Defence...here

You can find out more about the author...here

• The Blurb...

Eddie Flynn used to be a con artist. Then he became a lawyer. Turned out the two weren't that different.

It's been over a year since Eddie vowed never to set foot in a courtroom again. But now he doesn't have a choice. Olek Volchek, the infamous head of the Russian mafia in New York, has strapped a bomb to Eddie's back and kidnapped his ten-year-old daughter, Amy. Eddie only has forty-eight hours to defend Volchek in an impossible murder trial - and win - if he wants to save his daughter.

Under the scrutiny of the media and the FBI, Eddie must use his razor-sharp wit and every con-artist trick in the book to defend his 'client' and ensure Amy's safety. With the timer on his back ticking away, can Eddie convince the jury of the impossible?

• Our Review...

This novel was the first in what has gone on to become a long and very successful series of books. They all feature the con man turned lawyer Eddie Flynn. I have read a few of the later novels and thoroughly enjoyed them. Reading this novel felt a little like looking back on some old photos and seeing a picture of a gangly, still developing youth from your past who you now know has developed into a strapping, happy, confident man. You can see all the potential in the photo and you can rest safe in the knowledge that that callow did in fact bloom. 

I am quite a lover of courtroom drama, the ultimate battleground of good v evil,  and ex lawyer Mr Cavanagh does not ever fail to deliver an intriguing, twisty battle throughout this book. In addition to the good v bad he adds double jeopardy in the form of consequences (death for Eddie, his daughter and everyone else in the courtroom) and a limited time frame. Like diffusing a bombing as its counting down. You can really feel the pressure that Eddie is under, the author never lets you take a safe breath.

Eddie uses his con man skills honed on the mean streets of New York and makes good use of his high powered contacts on both sides of the law to turn the tables on the pesky Russian gangsters. 

Its a little bit cheesy in places, and over the top. As if you take a thought experiment to its extremes but its good OTT enjoyment.  Would I recommend this book to a courtroom drama lover? Yes but go for the long haul. Read the whole series, which just gets better and better with every book as Eddies builds his ensemble of heroes. 

This, for me felt like being a batman fan then reading his origin story. Do yourself a favour, do it right first time.

• Selected Quotes

"What they all understood was that if they told me they were guilty but that they wanted to fight the case anyway, I could no longer represent them. That was the game."

"Justice is blind, but it can still smell fear."

“Hustling an insurance company was like playing poker with Satan—his house, his rules.”

“You don’t need a bomb to win this case. You’ve already got one—I’m the bomb.”

• About The Author

Steve Cavanagh is an Irish author from Belfast and at the age eighteen he studied law by mistake. He is now the international award-winning author of the Eddie Flynn novels. His debut novel, The Defense, was nominated for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for Thriller of the Year, and The Plea won the Prix Polar Award for Best International Novel. Steve is still a practicing lawyer (someday he’ll get the hang of it) and co-host ofthe chart-topping podcast Two Crime Writers And A Microphone. He has been involved in several high-profile civil rights cases, his Eddie Flynn novels have been published in over twenty countries, he’s married with two young children, and in his spare time he is mostly asleep.

Banquet of Beggars by Chris Lloyd

 

Our Rating 5⭐s

You can buy Banquet of Beggars...Here

You can find out about the author...Here

• The Blurb...

In Paris 1940, survival means sacrifice. Like most in the city, Detective Eddie Giral has already lost so much under Occupation: the people he once loved, the job he once believed in.

And his latest investigation into the murder of a black-marketeer has made it clearer than ever: Eddie is no longer just catching criminals. He's working for them. Because when a German trader is the next to die, the authorities decide it's innocent civilians who will pay the price - unless Eddie can find the killer in time.

As hunger grows, tensions rise and a fierce rebellion brews, Eddie will tread a dark path between doing whatever it takes to live with the enemy... and also with himself.

• Our Review...

This is the third in Chris Lloyd's "Occupation series" following The Unwanted Dead and Paris Requiem. Reviews for these two novels can also be found on this blog. All feature the anti hero Eddie who I have previously labelled "a tough, vulnerable, relentless, thug of an honest cop." And yes he is still all those things and yes he is still played by a French Bob Hoskins in my head. 

I am running out of superlatives for this series. I religiously follow only 2 series of books and the Occupation series is the only I have given 5 stars for every review.

Again its a murder mystery set in occupied Paris in 1940/41, but this time the investigation follows the murder of a local black marketeer who has been profiting at the misery of the starving citizens of Paris. Later another murder is committed linked to the Black Market. There are numerous plot twists and turns before Eddie can work out who the killers are. If the whodunnit plot were to be lifted from this novel and placed in a modern setting then it would still be a very good if not excellent mystery but the absolute beauty (and genius) of this book and the others is the setting.

Eddie is a good cop with a good heart but he is a bad man. . His situation is finely balanced like an elephant on a see saw. The crooks hate him because he is a cop, the citizens hate him because they think he is a collaborator, The Wehrmacht hate him because he may be resistance and the Gestapo hate him because well just because he's not a Nazi. The old joke springs to mind... It's not paranoia, if they really are out to get you, and the situation he finds himself in is akin to a paranoid's fever dream.

I feel I must give special mention to the first chapter mini spoiler alert coming. but not really a big one as its only about the first chapter. Act 1 Scene 1 Eddie wakes up in a sweaty underground room, parched and exhausted. He licks moisture of the walls.... Immediately the reader thinks prison cell. As the scene unfolds french people are encamped with him, the reader switches to thinking air raid shelter. Eventually it becomes clear the reason why he is there is something very different. The author cunningly guides us through this mini mystery tour with just descriptions of thoughts and feelings till you get a feeling of waking up somewhere where you cant remember from the night before. It's a very carefully thought out false trail, he intentionally gives us mental breadcrumbs to follow to lead us into the  assumptions of "Oh he is in a prison cell." quickly followed by "Oh he is in an air raid shelter." The author knows what he is doing in planting the thoughts in our minds. False trails., obfuscation and frustration, he sets the tone right at the start of the book Wonderful example of an opening chapter.

Again the authors research is amazing. Actual dates, timings, events, processes, of occupied Paris, these are the things that he is good at. These are our black and white lines and the colour is added through Eddie and his emotions and thoughts through out his adventures. It is every bit a spellbinding mixture as Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, it's just that the era and country are different.

 The feeling of oppression and never ending stress living under the constant pressure of an institutionally psychopathic regime makes for a teeth clenching, heart pounding read. I have mentioned before how Eddie is like a 1920s LA noir detective but thrust into an alien backdrop of occupied Paris. The narrative also reminds of Orwell's authoritarian hell-scape of 1894. The terror of saying the wrong thing, of thinking the wrong thing, of being the wrong colour or just being in the wrong place. How could you conduct an honest murder investigation in this world. An Eddie type would be your only hope.

Of course occupied 1940s Paris, or Orwell's 1984 aren't the only fascist games in town. Trump's USA is coming to the boil and it is terrifying. I'm off to buy some guinea pigs ready for the incoming world collapse and subsequent right wing terror.  Oh guinea pigs? You'll have to read Banquet for Beggars. I promise you will never look at a guinea-pig in the same way again.

Another great book in a great series.

• Selected Quotes...

"If they cut the meat allowance any further, I might even become fashionable."

"Butter was the new cocaine."

"you know my boys Eddie. They wouldn't hurt a fly." "I know they wouldn't." She backed away to close the door. They'd be too fucking stupid stupid to hit it."

"This is not how we do things Judge." "This is how we do things now. This is an opportunity for France. A chance to sweep away the old." "You mean things like justice and law?" "Wasters and hopeless people. The ones who offer nothing and take everything." "I've got a few names for you."

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

The Gathering Storm by Alan Jones. (our review..here)

• About The Author...

Chris was born in an ambulance racing through a town he’s only returned to once, which probably explains a lot.

Straight after graduating in Spanish and French, he hopped on a bus from Cardiff to Catalonia where he stayed for the next twenty-odd years, first in the small and beautiful city of Girona, then in the big and beautiful city of Barcelona. He’s also lived in Bilbao, pre-empting the Guggenheim by a good few years, and in Madrid, where his love of Barcelona football club deepened. During this time, he worked as a teacher, in educational publishing, as a travel writer and as a translator. He still spends part of his day translating lofty and noble academic and arts texts.

Besides this, he also lived in Grenoble for six months, where he studied the French Resistance movement, a far deeper and more complex subject than history often teaches us and one that has fascinated him for years.

He now lives in his native Wales, where he writes crime novels and translates stuff.

The result of his lifelong interest in World War 2 and resistance and collaboration in Occupied France, The Unwanted Dead (Orion) is Chris’s first novel set in Paris, featuring Detective Eddie Giral. The series will see Eddie negotiate his way through the Occupation, trying to find a path between resistance and collaboration, all the time becoming whoever he must be to survive the ordeal descended on his home.

He also writes the Elisenda Domenech series (Canelo) set in Girona, featuring a police officer in the devolved Catalan police force. The head of an experimental Serious Crime Unit, she fights the worst of human excesses in the most beautiful of settings.

When he’s not writing or trying to keep up with his reading pile, Chris loves travelling, languages, red wine, Wales and Barça at football, Wales at rugby, cryptic crosswords, art, rock music and losing himself in European cities.

He’s especially proud to be a member of the Welsh crime writing collective Crime Cymru, the Crime Writers’ Association and the Society of Authors.

Death By Intent By Jacqueline Harret

Rating 4⭐s

You can buy Death By Intent...here

You can find out more about Jacqueline Harret...here

• The Blurb...

A woman’s decomposing body. The Church of ‘Forgotten Souls’. A dubious priest.

Di Mandy Wilde has a new case on her hands.

Was the death natural? Can she solve the mystery under the critical gaze of her ex-fiancé, DCI Lucas Manning?

And who hated Barbara Vixen enough to kill her?

• Our Review...

Death by Intent is book 4 in the D.I. Mandy Wilde series and yes I have read all 4! and in order! 

First up what a brilliant cover! Very memorable. 

We open with the putrefying corpse of an old lady. Another of those terrible cases you hear of, where an elderly person, all alone in the world with no friends or family dies on their own of natural causes and lays for weeks until by chance they are discovered. Or was it natural causes and what was this old lady like. We automatically think of old ladies are gentle, caring and benign. But who was this woman in her life.

This is the challenge for Mandy and her team. Josh, Olivia and Helen. each with their own skill-set and personality. However this time Mandy is hampered by the appointment of a DCI to follow and scrutinise her every move following her maverick ways on previous investigations. Mandy needs to up her game and this time stay the right side of the line. There is one major obstacle to this in that the watchdog DCI is her former fiance. In addition Mandy has issues at home. Mandy looks after her teenage niece Tabitha, and now Tabitha's mother and Mandy's errant, black sheep of a twin sister is back on the scene. It cant get any more powder keggy can it? Oh yes it can and its all going to kick off! 

I'm trying not to give spoilers, suffice to say numerous suspects are investigated and false paths explored and red herrings swallowed whole. One of the characters, Father Michael, a long haired, tattooed con man who had turned to God and seen the light and became a preacher in particular resonated. He reminded me of Russell Brand. 

I must say I'm very impressed by the work ethic of the South Wales Police force in the Mandy Wilde universe. No stone, no matter how minute is left un-turned, no trivial piece of information left un-scrutinised. I know its fiction and in the real world cases like these would be basically binned. Which brings me to the essence of the Mandy Wilde novels.

In the Mandy Wilde novels the writing conveys throughout a sense of reverence for justice, and not just black and white legal justice. They revere the full rainbow spectrum of all encompassing social justice. When we get to a denouement in a Mandy Wilde novel we don't just get to find the perpetrator and the reason why they did it but more than that again we get the heritage of that person, the difficult decisions in terrible circumstances, that eventually led to that fateful decision to commit a crime. Situations that could have been vastly different if only someone or society as a whole cared. Often in Mandy's world, and i should think in real life too, the perpetrator is actually the biggest victim. If we all lived in a world with the pervading feel of the justice in  Mandy Wilde novels the world would be a much better, more caring place. 

I must say it took me a while to get into the groove of a Mandy Wilde novel. I was used to more dramatic novels, with big explosions, car chases and gruesome murders but as I read more I found myself settling into and enjoying Mandy's world. If you drew a Venn diagram with Columbo, and Cathy Come Home, then Mandy Wilde is the sweet spot in the middle. On first impression a Mandy Wilde novel is like a placid pond but once you go under the surface you see the fight for life in society in all it's glory and all it's heartache. 

Looking forward to Mandy 5

• Selected Quotes...

Barbara Vixen was dead long before the fireworks announcing the New Year exploded across the Cardiff sky. It was the second of January

You can’t charge someone for not caring enough. It’s not like a neglected child.

Damn. A boa constrictor couldn’t feel more controlling than Lucas hanging closer to her than spandex.

You try to poach my best detective, make him think you’re the best thing since bloody chocolate massage cream,

Hi, I’m Michael. I’ve done some bad things in my life, and I’ve been punished for them. Men punished me but God saved me. He made me see the error of my ways. Through the love of God and his son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, I have seen there is a different path. A path where I can do some good in the world and help others

 

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Crimson Snow by Jason Vowles 

The Couple at No9 by Claire Douglas

• About The Author...

Jacqueline Harrett was born and brought up in a small village in Northern Ireland. After living in various places in South Wales she settled in Cardiff with her husband of many years, Lola the mad cat and Speedy, an ancient and territorial tortoise. Her two grown-up children – critical reader and technical advisor – live nearby.

As an only child she was a voracious reader and loved stories. Her father was a wonderful storyteller, encouraging her to tell her own stories and developing her love of oral stories. This was the inspiration behind her mini-book, Tell Me Another… Speaking and Listening Through Storytelling and her PhD on the effects of oral stories on young children’s language and imagination.

Jacqui has always been a writer but it wasn’t until 1997 that she started publishing her work with articles in English in Wales and then in the TES. A book for teachers, Exciting Writing, won the UKLA author award. As a former teacher and academic, she published and gave presentations on the value of story for children’s development.

After retiring from academia, Jacqui concentrated on more creative writing, attending classes and developing the craft. She had stories published in anthologies (Honno, MTP) and flash fiction online, and hidden in the depths of her computer are many other stories, a novel, novella and books for children. Like reading, writing is an obsession.

With her friend and colleague, Janet Laugharne, she has written a novel, What Lies Between Them, to be published in February 2022 under the pseudonym J. L. Harland.

Jacqui’s debut, The Nesting Place, was started in lockdown and the culmination of several different elements. It started with Katherine Stansfield’s excellent Crime Writing courses at Cardiff University, pre-pandemic. Then, during lockdown, a further course with Writing Magazine’s James McCreet, when the ideas began to take shape and the feedback from James helped with the process of producing the novel.

The Secret Hours by Mick Herron

 

Rating 5⭐s

398 pages

You can buy The Secret Hours...Here

You can find out more about the author...Here

• The Blurb...

Trying to investigate the Secret Service is like trying to get rid of the stink of dead badger. Hard.
For two years the government's Monochrome inquiry has produced nothing more than a series of dead ends.
The Service has kept what happened in the newly reunified Berlin under wraps for decades, and intends for it to stay that way.
But then the OTIS file turns up.
What classified secrets does it hold? And what damage will it create?
All Max Janácek knows is that someone is chasing him through the pitch-dark country lanes and they want him gone.

WE ALL HAVE JOBS TO DO IN THE DAYLIGHT. IT'S WHAT YOU DO IN THE SECRET HOURS THAT REVEALS WHO YOU REALLY ARE.

• Our Review...

Regular visitors to our little site will know Mick Herron is just about our favourite author. Once again he delivers an absolute peach. There are numerous finer points to hit while writing a novel. Plot, character, pacing, delivering the twist, descriptive writing, emotive writing. Some authors are very good at hitting one of these sweet spots and the result is a good book. Although it's very subjective Mick Herron seems to hit them all, in parallel throughout the story, and through every novel. The result is just joyous, effortless reading.

This novel is described as a lean-to novel ie it can be read as a standalone but you get so much more out of it if you are at least familiar with some of the characters from the excellent Slow Horses series. 

The plot is dual timeline. in the present a Government committee is tasked with finding wrong doing by the secret services.  The aim being to find some dirt and so to usher privatisation of certain aspects of national security. However Regents Park (MI5 HQ) isn't playing ball and are not offering up security files. However one file mysteriously falls into their lap. The Otis file from 1990s Berlin and this is where we split into our second timeline. We are introduced to an ensemble of characters, some new, some are clearly referenced in the Slow Horses series. While some of the Slow Horses characters can be spotted immediately, despite having different "working" names, some however emerge gradually.. Who released the file to the inquiry? what was the plan? why is an elderly man in the Devon countryside being hunted?

We come for the plot but stay for the characters. Its difficult to talk about the characters without giving away their alter egos but they are all wonderfully defined. All very real but very vibrant, they stop just at the very spot where they could over develop into caricature. From the 1994 plot the reader can see their origins, how 1994 affects how they developed, think and act in the 2020s. How they became trapped into their personalities. All becomes clear at the final denouement, who the bad guys are, how MI5 work around the restraints of potential privatisation, why Jackson Lamb trusts no-one and why he is un-sackable.

Whenever I read Mick Herron's descriptive prose it sets me in mind of Dickens when he describes the carriage journey over the moors in a tale of two cities. You can feel the not just the environment but also the mood of a venue or situation.

All in all a wonderful addition to a wonderful cannon. One of my biggest regrets in reading is that I didn't read the Slow Horses novels in order (not that it adversely affects my enjoyment of them). Take a tip from me read them in order, and start soon. I honestly think he is better at Spy novels than Fleming, LeCarre, Deighton et al

• Selected Quotes..

So sitting tight and calling the cavalry wasn’t an option, and wouldn’t necessarily have been a sensible move anyway. Sometimes, it was the cavalry you had to watch out for.

its garden wall, as tall as Max himself, was an ancient thing of overgrown rocks, held together by crumbling mortar and ambitious moss.

Always decide who’s to blame before anything goes wrong. It makes the subsequent investigation much simpler.

Unheard objections were like unacknowledged offspring: if no one knows about them, could they really be said to exist?

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

Harry's Game by Gerald Seymour

The Constant Gardener by John LeCarre

House of Cards by Michael Dobbs

• About The Author...

Raised in Newcastle upon Tyne, Herron studied English Literature at Oxford, where he continues to live. After some years writing poetry, he turned to fiction, and – despite a daily commute into London, where he worked as a sub editor – found time to write about 350 words a day. His first novel, Down Cemetery Road, was published in 2003. This was the start of Herron’s Zoë Boehm series, set in Oxford and featuring detective Zoë Boehm and civilian Sarah Tucker. The other books in the series are The Last Voice You Hear, Why We Die, and Smoke and Whispers, set in his native Newcastle. During the same period he wrote a number of short stories, many of which appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.

 

In 2008, inspired by world events, Mick began writing the Slough House series, featuring MI5 agents who have been exiled from the mainstream for various offences. The first novel, Slow Horses, was published in 2010. Some years later, it was hailed by the Daily Telegraph as one of “the twenty greatest spy novels of all time”.

 The Slough House thrillers have won the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award, two CWA Daggers, been published in twenty-five languages. He is also the author of the Zoë Boehm series, soon to be adapted into a major TV series starring Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson. Mick is also the author of the highly acclaimed standalone novels Nobody Walks and The Secret Hours.

For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

Rating 3.5 ⭐s

You can buy For Whom The Bell Tolls....here

• The Blurb...

Immerse yourself in the poignant and powerful world of war with Ernest Hemingway's timeless novel, "For Whom the Bell Tolls." Set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War, this gripping narrative delves into themes of love, sacrifice, and the stark realities of conflict.

As the story unfolds, follow Robert Jordan, an American dynamiter, who is tasked with blowing up a bridge to aid the Republican cause. What drives a man to risk everything for a cause greater than himself? Hemingway's masterful prose invites you to explore the complexities of loyalty, honor, and the bonds forged in the crucible of war.

But here’s the question that lingers: In a world marked by chaos and uncertainty, what does it truly mean to be human? As Robert grapples with his mission, he encounters a cast of unforgettable characters, each struggling with their own demons, hopes, and dreams. The haunting realities of war blur the lines between good and evil, challenging perceptions and provoking deep introspection.

Experience Hemingway's exquisite writing style as he paints a vivid picture of love amid the horrors of battle. The evocative imagery and rich character development create a reading experience that resonates long after the last page is turned.

• Our Review...

For Whom The Bell Tolls (FWTBT) follows Robert Jordan an American demolition expert over several intense days in the Spanish Civil War. Jordan is fighting on the side of the Republicans and is tasked with blowing up a bridge behind enemy lines before a forthcoming offensive. However he needs the help of the local Guerilla fighters led by the experienced, surly Pablo, his robust and capable woman Pilar, Maria a young women suffering PTSD from being sexually abused by the fascists. and a cast of other fighters. Encouraged by Pilar, Jordan and Maria fall madly in love during the intense prep for the demolition of the bridge. All the while Pablo is becoming more withdrawn, knowing full well the Fascists retribution will destroy his small happy band who had been enjoying the war in a sleepy little backwater.

I chose to read this book because I had seen two very prophetic Hemingway quotes about "listening" and "darkest moments" (I will put them at the end of the review after about the author) I thought that both both were accurate and insightful facets of what it is to be human. The style clear and concise. 

While I enjoyed the book, I felt the signature conciseness and clarity was lost with the archaic use of thee and thou in the dialogue. It drew the reader out of the story..

The characters of Pablo and Pilar are very interesting. Pablo is an instinctive, ruthless tactician and killer who has lost his hunger for the fight and now just wants to survive and enjoy his freedom and beloved horses. He battles within himself to decide whether his longing for life in obscurity is enough to tip the balance to betray Jordan and his former republican idealism. While Pilar is the experienced, bullish woman of the world. Lover of a semi famous bull fighter back in the day. She still believes in what they are fighting for even though she has seen atrocities committed by both sides. She acts as a mother figure and matchmaker for the troubled young girl Maria. She tries to help Pablo keep the faith in what they used to believe but she knows she is fighting a losing battle. In addition she acts as facilitator to ensure Jordan's mission is successful. She is the hero of the narrative just as much as Jordan. 

The section where Pilar describes surrounding her home village courthouse and dragging the fascists out one by one to be murdered in various ways and thrown from the cliff to be very harrowing. These fascists once being her friends and neighbours. It put me in mind of a war between say Brexiteers and Remainers in UK. It would be horrific. Civil War is in reality the least civil war. It may be my imagination but this felt as if this part of the story had the ring of truth about it. Hemingway was a journalist and was in Spain at the time. Who knows what tales he picked up with his ear to the ground.. 

The narrative deals with all the big juicy stuff of life...Love, honour, duty, death, politics, corruption, right and wrong. All the stuff I look for in a novel. I think I will read more Hemingway. Probably his short stories. 

As an aside I read The Secret Hours by Mick Heron in parallel with FWTBT. While FWTBT is very "American" eg the handsome American faces overwhelming odds and gets the girl. I suppose what you would call an All American hero. 

The Secret Hours is all cynicism, sarcasm and sniping from the side, which adds flavour. I know I'm comparing different genres from different times. But at the time it struck as good example of the difference in UK v USA writing.

• Selected Quotes...

So if you love this girl as much as you say you do, you had better love her very hard and make up in intensity what the relation will lack in duration and in continuity.

Your nationality and your politics did not show when you were dead.

How could the ‘Inglés’ say that the shooting of a man is like the shooting of an animal? In all hunting I have had an elation and no feeling of wrong. But to shoot a man gives a feeling as though one had struck one’s own brother when you are grown men.

Dying is only bad when it takes a long time and hurts so much that it humiliates you.

• If You Liked This Then You May Like.

Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

Rope Burns by FX Toole

• About The Author....

Ernest Hemingway was born in 1899. His father was a doctor and he was the second of six children. Their home was at Oak Park, a Chicago suburb.

In 1917, Hemingway joined the Kansas City Star as a cub reporter. The following year, he volunteered as an ambulance driver on the Italian front, where he was badly wounded but decorated for his services. He returned to America in 1919, and married in 1921. In 1922, he reported on the Greco-Turkish war before resigning from journalism to devote himself to fiction. He settled in Paris where he renewed his earlier friendships with such fellow-American expatriates as Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein. Their encouragement and criticism were to play a valuable part in the formation of his style.

Hemingway's first two published works were Three Stories and Ten Poems and In Our Time but it was the satirical novel, The Torrents of Spring, that established his name more widely. His international reputation was firmly secured by his next three books; Fiesta, Men Without Women and A Farewell to Arms.

He was passionately involved with bullfighting, big-game hunting and deep-sea fishing and his writing reflected this. He visited Spain during the Civil War and described his experiences in the bestseller, For Whom the Bell Tolls.

His direct and deceptively simple style of writing spawned generations of imitators but no equals. Recognition of his position in contemporary literature came in 1954 when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, following the publication of The Old Man and the Sea. He died in 1961.

Hemmingway Quotes....

When people talk listen completely. Don’t be thinking what you’re going to say. Most people never listen. Nor do they observe. You should be able to go into a room and when you come out know everything that you saw there and not only that. If that room gave you any feeling you should know exactly what it was that gave you that feeling.

In our darkest moments, we don’t need solutions or advice. What we yearn for is simply human connection—a quiet presence, a gentle touch. These small gestures are the anchors that hold us steady when life feels like too much.
Please don’t try to fix me. Don’t take on my pain or push away my shadows. Just sit beside me as I work through my own inner storms. Be the steady hand I can reach for as I find my way.
My pain is mine to carry, my battles mine to face. But your presence reminds me I’m not alone in this vast, sometimes frightening world. It’s a quiet reminder that I am worthy of love, even when I feel broken.
So, in those dark hours when I lose my way, will you just be here? Not as a rescuer, but as a companion. Hold my hand until the dawn arrives, helping me remember my strength.
Your silent support is the most precious gift you can give. It’s a love that helps me remember who I am, even when I forget.”