Husband, father, dog adopter. Retired IT Engineer. Traveler. Learning French and Watercolour painting
This link opens in a pop-up window
Suspicious deaths are not usually the concern of PC Peter Grant or the Folly, even …
Another really solid addition to the Rivers of London series with a healthy pile of well written magical shootouts thrown into a tightly plotted police investigation thriller. I’m still loving the wry first person narration and all of his nerdy cultural references. All of the characters are great.
Hermann Kermit Warm is going to die. The enigmatic and powerful man known only as …
Hired killers, Charlie and Eli Sisters travel from Oregon City to San Francisco to murder Herman Warm. On the way, one of them starts to question their line of business. The first half of the book is a surreal, dream-like ramble through an Old West populated with bizarre and wonderful characters. The second half gets a bit more plot bound and moves from comedy to tragedy via a parade of grisly deaths. The whole thing is very readable, funny, sad and strangely beautiful. Definitely worth reading.
"The sky above the port was the colour of television, tuned to a dead channel." …
This one has everything. At it’s core it’s a really good noir thriller full of great characters, but built on top of that is a really good science fiction novel full amazing concepts, and a wonderful piece of art with psychedelically poetic descriptive prose. I will definitely need to read it again
Cosy cotswold village whodunnit with a funny heroine and plenty of other engaging characters. An easy read with a nice, quirky feel to it. I enjoyed it but not enough to actively look for others. Probably good books to read on journeys.
When two young girls go missing in rural Herefordshire, police constable and wizard-in-training Peter Grant …
An angry, invisible, carniverous, cart horse sized unicorn called princess Luna. What’s not to love?
Great fun. I think Aaronovitch is back on form with this one. It's full of wry humour and funny cultural references (I like the way that he drops them in and doesn't explain them). All of the new characters are great, but it's great to see so much of Beverly Brook again. As a bonus it’s set 25 miles from where I grew up.
A couple of gripes; it stalls slightly in the middle (but picks up again fast) and the ending felt tagged on (as if he couldn't think of a clever way to wrap things up) . I love Beverley’s character and the fact that she’s not to be messed with, but after such a clever and interesting book it was a shame that the ending was uninspired.
Whilst organising a mock murder hunt for the village fete hosted by Sir George and …
A nice and cosy, very English whodunnit. The murder takes place during a pretend murder hunt at a summer garden fete. The whole thing feels like Christie having fun with the genre she has created. I like the Ariadne Oliver crime author as it's clearly Christie laughing at herself. I like the knowing touches, for example where she draws attention to people "SPEAKING IN CAPITALS".
On the down side, I thought the characters were all stereotypes (maybe to be expected in this sort of book) and although I was able to predict a couple of twists the final solution would be too labyrinthine for any except Poirot to untangle.
Some of the 1950s attitudes are a little shocking (eg. The idea that the murder might be a sex crime is dismissed because the victim wasn't very attractive).
A mutilated body in Crawley. A killer on the loose. The prime suspect is one …
Still not as good as #1 and #2 but on a par with #3 and I'll keep reading.
The investigation dragged a bit so the resolution didn't seem very well tied to the opening. The new characters weren't as interesting as in previous books, though Varvara has great potential. The action was well handled and the ending twist was good.
In the sleepy English village of Midwich, a mysterious silver object appears and all the …
Surprisingly dull.
The central idea of a group of telepathic and psychopathic alien children being raised in a sleepy English village while they prepare to replace humanity is great fun, the thought of all those forced pregnancies is genuinely horrifying, and the downbeat end is effective, but...
The framing is really clumsy. The story is narrated by someone who is only loosely involved, has no agency and no real character of his own. His opening line tells you that he and his wife weren’t badly affected by what happens, there are several missing years while he’s off working in Canada during which time interesting things should have been happening, and lots of events are described to him after the fact by other people; all of which robs the whole thing of any tension or excitement.
The most interesting people to follow in this story would have been the women and …
Surprisingly dull.
The central idea of a group of telepathic and psychopathic alien children being raised in a sleepy English village while they prepare to replace humanity is great fun, the thought of all those forced pregnancies is genuinely horrifying, and the downbeat end is effective, but...
The framing is really clumsy. The story is narrated by someone who is only loosely involved, has no agency and no real character of his own. His opening line tells you that he and his wife weren’t badly affected by what happens, there are several missing years while he’s off working in Canada during which time interesting things should have been happening, and lots of events are described to him after the fact by other people; all of which robs the whole thing of any tension or excitement.
The most interesting people to follow in this story would have been the women and the children but instead of that we are subjected to page after page of old men sitting around talking a lot and doing nothing.
All very disappointing.
The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, …
This is the second Banks I’ve read and I thought they were both terrific. Unlike some epic, galaxy-spanning space operas, this was pacey, smoothly written with great characters and loads of action and adventure.
Peter Grant is learning magic fast. And it's just as well - he's already had …
Third in the series. Still good but I didn’t think it was quite at the level of volumes one and two. The writing is still smart, sharp and funny and full of London detail but this one lacked the jeopardy and the showdown with the big threatening villain that the others had. I did like the new characters and the chase through the underground and sewers was good.
Really well done. The characters are great. The writing is cool, sharp and funny. The action is well handled and the scene in the strip club of Dr Moreau is downright creepy!
What's happened to Leslie is brutal. Unfortunately I suspect any fix will come at a major cost :/
This is the second book in the series and I thought it was just as good as the first of one so I already have number three lined up.
Another dark, violent, hard boiled, private investigator hunts down vicious serial killer story in the Charlie Parker series. Still well written but maybe a little formulaic. I would like the supernatural element to be more up front. Maybe that comes later
Le Carre's second book and the only one that is a standard mystery set in …
A fun George Smiley story; a classic whodunnit, not a spy story. Great writing with great characters; skewering Great British snobbery at a second rate public school. There are a couple of really nice changes of direction towards the end. I thought the mechanics of the murder plot were stretched a little thin though.
When a world of peaceful aliens is conquered by bloodthirsty yumens, their existence is irrevocably …
I love Le Guin's writing but don't think this is up with her best. It's a very angry novella; raging against conolialism (obviously inspired by the Vietnam war). From the author's note at the beginning it sounds like it was written in a rush and that means the characters are one dimensional (especially the villain) and there isn't much structure to the story. The Athsean's dream culture is interesting though, and the final downbeat message is important.
Almost perfect. Fully of moral ambiguity and grubby detail. The story of a broken middle aged spy on his last mission; cynically used by both sides which confirms his weary, nihilistic view of the world. It doesn’t really make any difference who wins, but innocent people get trampled in the race. Le Carré is one of the best character writers I’ve ever come across.
