tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7386411894318469932024-02-07T17:25:43.715+00:00BadelyngeMichaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.comBlogger339125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-56528553526445604622016-03-05T13:53:00.001+00:002016-03-05T13:53:45.125+00:00The Trouble With Goats and Sheep<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Some folk say that we spend a lot of our adult lives trying to recapture
the moments in our childhood when we were truly happy, before all the
baggage and tangle of adult life took over. In a way that's what Joanna Cannon's
book is partly about. In 1976 Grace and Tilly are ten year olds and the
long summer of that famous heatwave will be that time. Not that far away
in Lancashire in the same summer I was also ten and remember it like
yesterday as Grace does. The two girls set out to solve the mystery of
the missing Mrs Creasy. Early in their investigation they decide that
consulting the ultimate witness will do the trick, so they resolve to
first find God. He's bound to know. The point of view of Grace is told
in a past tense first person style not unlike how Harper Lee's 'To Kill a
Mockingbird' told Scout's view of the adult world, with the innocent
perspective of the child armed with the vocabulary and the descriptive
powers of an adult. These scenes work very well and thoroughly charmed
me. She evoked the era by peppering the narrative with brand names
(mostly gone now), tv and loads of other cultural stuff synonymous with
the era and the place. Perhaps there was a little too much consumption
of the Angel Delight though at least I'll remember what my tea towel is
called. What lets the book down to a degree is the fairly dull third
person accounts of the adult's POV both in 1976 and the frequent
flashbacks of 1967. Unfortunately the story would hardly progress
without them so they are necessary goatishness . The bright whimsy of
the young duo make most of the adult character's existences all the
duller in contrast. The Trouble With Goats and Sheep is that the goats
just aren't as good as the sheep.<br />This review was of an Advanced Reading Copy provided by Harper Collins.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-22654199595124031282015-12-12T10:53:00.000+00:002015-12-12T10:53:20.275+00:00Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="readable reviewText"><span id="freeTextreview1462775014">Larson
delivers a detailed and well researched retelling of the last voyage
and sinking of the Lusitania. The ship, its crew and passengers are
brought to life again against the backdrop of a world at war. Also of
note are his recounts of life aboard the U-20. One star is deducted as
Larson obsesses over the state of mind of American President Woodrow
Wilson following the death of his wife and subsequent courting of her
successor. Wilson's relevance to the story could easily have been summed
up in a couple of paragraphs but instead Larson punctuates the book
with frequent chapters devoted to the man, including reams of private
correspondence and recitations of love letters etc. He declares, as if
there is some notable significance that they had 'a chicken salad for
their late supper.' And the pay off to all this, following the eventual
sinking of the Lusitania is that Wilson pens a snippy note to the
Germans. I realise that Larson is using Wilson as a sort of embodiment
of America but he really did take it too far.<br />The actual sinking of
the great ship and the recounting of those that were lost and those that
survived is well done and respectful of the tragedy.</span></span>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-25095552894087645912015-11-06T17:49:00.001+00:002015-11-06T17:49:30.022+00:00When Marnie Was There<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I really miss being able to pass little gems like this one onto my mum. She would have adored Anna and Marnie. Anna is a young orphan girl who by her own judgement is both friendless and unloved. Her foster parents send her to live with an elderly couple in Norfolk in a cottage by the sea. She roams the beach and the marshes all day long, becoming fascinated by a large property called Marsh House and the ethereal little girl spied having her hair brushed in an upstairs window. The prose evokes the wild and natural world around her, sometimes dreamlike and otherworldly. I've visited the area myself and the place does have a sort of otherness to it, though that could be the sheer flatness of the land in contrast to the rolling hills and moors of my Lancashire home. Is Marnie real? Is she a ghost? The mystery of Marnie tugs at your wonderings throughout though the book is much more than a quaint little mystery. It looks at friendship, loneliness, feelings of being forever on the outside and all the insecurities of childhood magnified by the emotional and psychological effects of orphanhood.<br />I'm glad I managed to read this before watching Studio Ghibli's animé adaptation that caused such a splash last year. <br />The original line illustrations by Peggy Fortnum are simple but perfectly in keeping with the book. My edition included an afterword by the author's daughter. Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-48552382724601378102015-10-03T13:42:00.000+01:002015-10-03T13:42:01.296+01:00The Invisible Man from Salem<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmAp366sf3XVIxOiicPKsuajeWDAcbjQGZvDKyizxHJYhJEoWAPJUgYPiTRRGKI3x2V6V1kswSONMGKn0Gb5U6zeuLn_jshfp9ZHKWJwrX9sW8MeJSjAsiJOAunr24G3BnkiRR-uYeNxs/s1600/25085873.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmAp366sf3XVIxOiicPKsuajeWDAcbjQGZvDKyizxHJYhJEoWAPJUgYPiTRRGKI3x2V6V1kswSONMGKn0Gb5U6zeuLn_jshfp9ZHKWJwrX9sW8MeJSjAsiJOAunr24G3BnkiRR-uYeNxs/s320/25085873.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>
It took me a while to get started on this one. The cover on my copy is
the one with the black marker zebra stripes scoring out the author and
the title on the out-sized cover. It's not a look that begs to be picked
up. Junker turns out to be a bit of a train wreck, suspended from the
force for a police op gone wrong and dragging a small mountain of
emotional baggage around with him. Nordic noir does throw up some really
miserable human beings and Junker seems to be a fine specimen of the
type. Wallander is almost cheery by comparison. A murder occurs close to
home, which Junker bluffs his way into an early look at. He finds an
item on the body that links with a friendship from his youth. While the
official investigation treads water Junker relives his past which reads,
in length, like a coming of age narrative. <br />Carlsson writes well and
his dialogue seems to survive the translation from the Swedish to
English without having that stilted edge that you sometimes get in
translated work. Themes touch on deal with dysfunctional families,
bullying, responsibility, guilt, spiral violence, friendship, social
invisibility and crime. Plenty to be going on with anyway. More Junker
novels are on the way.
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-84131827808581450102015-09-09T12:52:00.001+01:002015-09-09T12:52:21.024+01:00Ten Plus One<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The city is plagued with a sniper delivering a .308 slug to the heads of
a disparate bunch of victims. Carella and Meyer don't want to deal with
a sniper; a perp who can kill from the shadows with almost supernatural
precision and impunity. This one is a strongish entry to the series
that is only slightly let down by the wrap-up. McBain creates some
wonderfully vivid support characters populating the list of possible
targets/suspects, not least the gag writer so mentally scarred by a
wartime service as a sniper he can never laugh at a joke even though
he's a master at constructing them. Although the psychology of being a
sniper is glanced at I felt the true heart of the story belonged to how
lives can be so indelibly ruined by events that happen during the
wildness of youth. There are also two interrogations, one by a
neighbouring precinct and another by Carella and Meyer that stand out,
both for being brutal, one on a physical level and the other one a
psychological one. The disregard the bulls have for a reformed criminal
is both sad and shocking but also in keeping with the era and the job.
Carella and Meyer's interrogation is purely psychological but no less
brutal considering they employ every double teaming trick in the book to
try to crack a clearly mentally damaged suspect. Although there is a
clear distinction between good cops and bad cops in the story it's a bit
of a shock to see Carella and Meyer come up with a gut evaluation that
is completely at odds with my own but I guess that's mainly because I'm
not on the job.<br />There's a couple of amusing scenes with Bert Kling
and one of the victim's relatives. Is that going somewhere? Who can
tell? That's part of the fun of the 87th.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-75834393709226001632015-07-02T13:49:00.001+01:002015-07-08T07:42:03.104+01:00All You Need is Kill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span id="freeText8299001000156000419">Keiji Kiriya is a young recruit in the United Defence Force. He's cannon fodder in a war against a merciless alien race of invaders. Over-matched and lacking combat experience he takes fatal damage and dies. And then he wakes two days earlier with full memory of his death. </span><br />
Hiroshi Sakurazaka's military sci-fi novel is translated from Japanese here. And it translates pretty well. I don't know if its big screen transformation (Edge of Tomorrow with Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt) is as smooth because I haven't seen the movie yet but I'll definitely take a look now.<br />
I had a fun time reading this one. You'd think a sci-f story about a soldier endlessly reliving a couple of days that ends in a big battle would get boring after a few spin-cycles. These sorts of stories with a groundhog day angle can be tricky. Hiroshi Sakurazaka keeps things fresh though, never forcing us to relive things in a repetitive way but skilfully follows our hero's attempts to break free of his situation. Although you'd expect the narrative to be chock full of bomb's and bullets the battle is sketched over with more focus on <span id="freeText8299001000156000419">Keiji's personal development and his relationship with the only other looper </span><span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer357064226"><span id="freeText10605054569218147312">Rita Vrataski, the Full Metal Bitch being the order of the day. It's a shame that Keiji and Rita are the only fully developed characters in the book though. </span></span><br />
<br />Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-29364479036969644232015-06-19T08:54:00.002+01:002015-06-19T12:46:47.147+01:00The Monogram Murders<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm still a bit scarred from reading Anthony Horowitz's authorised but
horrifically inept treatment of Sherlock Holmes in House of Silk. Would
a similar exercise be any better with Sophie Hannah resurrecting
Poirot? My mum adored Sophie Hannah so I was optimistic. I noticed a
real rash of one star reviews that were pretty merciless in their hatred
of this book. But I was still in Sophie's corner. It seemed they were
unhappy that Christie's famous economy of writing was not something
Sophie embraced. But Sophie can write it her way - it doesn't have to be
a full on pastiche. You can evoke a character without the need to ape
another writer's style. And the first scene/chapter when Poirot
originally meets Jenny in the coffee shop is fine. It's amusing,
intriguing and Poirot lives again. And then Scotland Yard in the shape
of Catchpool turns up and it all goes to hell. Well to be fair it isn't
Catchpool who heralds literary Armageddon it's the murder itself. The
rest of the book is Poirot and the sceptical Scotland Yard man endlessly
assembling their thoughts about the crime. It's incredibly over
written. Hannah creates such a vast forest of deduction and explanation
that getting lost and confused amongst the foliage is inevitable. She
doesn't give any of the characters beyond Poirot any life so we
inevitably don't really care who dies, why they die or whodunnit.I wonder whether a better fit would have been Sophie Hannah writing Holmes and Horowitz writing Poirot.<br />
I
listened to the audio for this one. Julian Rhind-Tutt is a big asset to
the production and I love his David Suchet Poirot impersonation.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-41749462205975039842015-06-15T08:34:00.004+01:002015-06-15T19:23:57.354+01:00Code Three<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Rick Raphael only wrote a handful of stories, mainly in the 60s. His speciality was writing about ordinary people doing a professional job coping with futuristic problems. In one of his other stories 'The Thirst Quenchers' his heroes are hydrologists working to conserve water for an overpopulated country. Code Three speculates what kind of job traffic cops will have to do to keep the super speed highways of the future safe. The story takes a ride with a three person team on a routine three week patrol aboard their state of the art cruiser. With vehicles routinely travelling at speeds four or five times the speeds of today the story goes into detail on how they deal with the consequences of accidents and law breaking. There's no world shattering crisis, just everyday problems on the highways dealt with by highly trained professional... oh and throw in a bit of almost romance that might or might not set off your cheese detectors dependant on your mood. A Hugo nomination had the bad fortune of having to compete with one of Poul Anderson's seven winners 'No Truce with Kings'. Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-44020388372350589922015-05-20T18:39:00.000+01:002015-05-20T18:43:01.072+01:00Girl on a Train<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I listened to the audiobook for this one. The narrative follows the inner voices of three women, Rachel (alcoholic with a life in ruins), Megan (soon to be missing presumed dead) and Anna (proud owner of Rachel's ex-spouse). Each one gets a different narrator which really helps keep them separate in your mind and they do a great job immersing themselves in the roles. India Fisher doesn't really have a lot to do as Anna and sounds a little more disconnected than the other two. The male characters are understandably two dimensional in comparison to
the female trio as they are realised entirely by the women's view of
them rather than their own inner perspective.<br />
The murder mystery that binds the three women is always secondary to the psychological themes; how people make presumptive judgements on other people's lives which are usually quite wrong and how we lie and construct masking personae to fool ourselves as much as others. A bit like the title of the book really. 'The Woman on the Train,' just doesn't sound as cool does it. But if there's a moral in here somewhere, 'never judge a book by its cover,' is as good as any.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-59816077444590881142015-05-14T12:41:00.000+01:002015-05-14T12:41:51.697+01:00Bindlestiff<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The tenth Nameless book starts out with our hero in a fair bit of financial difficulty himself. With no licence he has no income.His office is gone and worst of all he's had to fall back on his only way of making enough cash to feed himself, namely selling off some of his precious pulp collection starting with some of his less loved editions. But things are about to change. Ex-cop best friend <span id="freeTextContainer11345965309524091585">Eberhardt has had a hand in getting Nameless' licence restored but not without asking for something in return. He wants to go into partnership. But Nameless is a lone-wolf.</span><br />
<span id="freeTextContainer11345965309524091585">His first case back involves tracking down a hobo (bindestiff) rider of the tracks. The trail leads to a town called Oroville in Butte County. It helps the book to be set in a real location, the local colour and history add a bit flavour to a fairly lifeless plot. The location moves on to the wine soaked Sonoma County, which Nameless cites as his ideal retirement location, though to my mind I doubt he'll ever have funds enough to finance such an end even if he was the retiring kind.</span><br />
<span id="freeTextContainer11345965309524091585">Not the strongest title in the series. Pronzini's plotting suffers from having to be played out by a small group of fairly two dimensional supporting characters. </span>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-24671768131866203232015-05-04T09:09:00.001+01:002015-05-04T09:09:54.248+01:00The Case of the Gypsy Good-bye<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Warning - this book contains a scene with cat-flinging.<br />
Cat peril aside this was a pretty good sign off for the series. The six book series comes to an end. Although Enola will never push Flavia off her cosy perch there was plenty to enjoy following the young seeker of the lost. The books are short, cosy, amusing and lightly educational for young readers. Springer doesn't shy from disturbing the cosiness with darker edges from time to time and neither does she let Sherlock upstage Enola at any stage. Fans of Holmes would probably be sceptical about how easily he's outmanoeuvred or bested by his younger sister but I think it helps give the books an identity other than just another Sherlock Holmes pastiche. You could say that Enola is telling the story her way as maybe Flavia de Luce would have done but if you have read the series you'd know that Enola just isn't wired up that way. <br />
All good things come to an end, Springer is on record saying that the series is definitely done, so so long and thanks for all the fun.. Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-58879446668936268862015-04-24T08:36:00.001+01:002015-04-24T08:40:14.395+01:00Woman in the Dark<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Claustrophobic ex-convict Brazil is on parole for a man slaughter
sentence and is hoping never to go back behind bars again. All he has to
do is stay out of trouble in his quiet cabin in the woods. Then a
beautiful woman with a broken shoe stumbles through his door.<br />
This was one of the last shorter stories that Hammett published before he
walked away from crime writing. It's not his greatest bit of writing but
still well worth a look. To be honest I much prefer the 1934 film
version with Ralph Bellamy and Fay Wray in the lead roles.<br />
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It's pretty faithful to Hammett's story though it does smooth off the rough edges, notably Hammett's insistence on having characters with accents and lisps all fully annotated. The romantic element is more developed and there's also a bit of humour along the way mainly from Roscoe Ates. And you get to see Fay Wray's ankles.. so no contest really.<br />
An introduction by Robert B.Parker comments on Hammett's style and suggests the reasons for the story's level of romance.<br />
<br />Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-3532338179133337462015-04-14T14:41:00.000+01:002015-04-14T20:08:09.925+01:00The World Inside<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Oh I bet this one has been a firecracker at many a book club meeting.The World Inside began life as a short story (chapter one) in 1970. But it proved to be such a fertile idea that a year later five more stories were added to expand and more fully explore the world inside Urban Monad 116. Each story is from the point of view of a different character though they all interlink with each other to give a wider view of life in Silverberg's vertical monoliths; a narrative microcosm I suppose. The Urbmons are huge sky-scraping towers housing over 800,000 people. Society is rigorously regulated and procreation is celebrated and venerated. People are controlled by limitless sex, fear of being fed down the garbage chute, sex, religion, indoctrination, drugs and sex. Over population is another issue that has been visited often by Science Fiction writers; Harry Harrison's "Make Room! Make Room!" (the basis for the movie "Soylent Green") springs readily to mind as does tv episodes like Star Trek's "Mark of Gideon". Silverberg chooses to delve deep into the psychological effects of
living with high population density and the social mores and laws; the
inside of people's heads being another "World inside". Although it's not
always an easy or pleasant reading experience there is much here to
think about. Most of the main characters highlight the flaws and cracks
of the society by getting as close to their psychological make up as it
is possible to get. Though in terms of insight into the state of humanity with its propensity with enslaving itself with desire and triviality, comparisons to Orwell's 1984 or especially with Huxley's Brave New World is apposite and probably where the concept of "slavery of absolute freedom" comes from. Comparisons with today's society with its Twitter, unlimited porn, on demand tv....etc are frighteningly easy. The range of ideas is pretty rich. I was particularly fascinated by how comparative ethics was taken to extremes of separation via first a human visitor from Venus and later a 24th century historian examining the 20th century through its films and literature. And here I sit passing judgement on literature from a previous century that speculates on a century yet to come.</blockquote>
</div>
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-33339693698280180652015-03-31T12:51:00.003+01:002015-03-31T12:51:25.652+01:00Like Love<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The book begins with suicide. Carella tries to prevent one and Cotton Hawes gets an apparent love pact suicide that just doesn't ring true. This one isn't one of the stronger titles in the series. McBain opens up with his now familiar turning of the seasons line - this time Spring gets characterised as a rather lively lady. It's a line he's used before. McBain doesn't really explore the theme of suicide either. He doesn't seem interested. Finding the absence of suicide is all that matters and Mcbain is mostly interested in the crime just like his detectives. Hawes has been absent from the series for a few titles which made me think he'd been written out but I think the real explanation might be due to McBain going through a period of publishing some of his previously abandoned or delayed material. It's a side effect of being such a prolific writer. <br />McBain through Carella rather pooh-poohs the importance of first discovering motive to solve a crime. I don't know whether he believed that or whether it was just the frustration with the difficulties of maintaining mystery in a story when clear motives are detectable.<br />Mayer and Parker lend a hand when needed as does Bert Kling. Kling has not moved on from the loss of his girl. He's being eaten up by the tragic event. Hawes has settled down more and seems happy with his long time relationship. Gone are the days of him falling in love every thirty pages.<br />Although the mystery isn't the best it does show the precinct at work due to the investigation stalling so early resulting in other business getting priority.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-67914330573279079662015-03-29T17:43:00.000+01:002015-03-29T18:22:12.123+01:00The Case of the Hail Mary Celeste.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Jack Wenlock is a Railway Gosling. Imprinted at birth with the image of a railway locomotive as their mothers a young group of detectives are nurtured during the era of the great wars. Years later with all his Gosling compatriots either missing, mad, dead or, worst of all, in possession of a blotted copybook Jack is all that is left of the experimental group. He's counting out the days that remain of his entire world; the Great Western Railway, which is soon to be privatised. His last case begins as a young woman with a Veronica Lake hairstyle walks into his office. <br />
Malcolm Pryce distils a sometimes dream-like surreal England from a multitude of influences spanning the gamut of popular culture and the mythical golden haze of nostalgia. It's awash with imagery, language and attitude drawn from the Boys Own magazines, Pathe film reels, radio adventure serials like Dick Barton, a wash of films often with railway settings; Brief Encounter, The Lady Vanishes, King Kong and adaptations of Agatha Christie like the 4.50 from Paddington.<br />
Jack Wenlock is an engaging mix of almost child-like naivety and steely resolve. He looks at the world through that Boys Own filter of fair play, Englishness and manliness, good chaps giving bounders a bloody nose, venerating his beloved railway the GWR with such love and devotion that getting him talking about it in public risks a 'When Harry Met Sally' moment of embarrassing decibels. Oh and he carries a lump of Formica in his jacket pocket - oh the wonders of modern technology.<br />
Chapters are preceded by extracts from Vol. 7 of the Railway Goslings Annual 1931 featuring Railway Gosling Cadbury Holt in search of the missing nuns plus the answers to reader's questions.<br />
Pryce writes well, delighting in the language and the skewed view of the world presented by Jack in an era full of propaganda and exaggerated recollection. The book is fun, funny, sad, poignant, nostalgic and romantic. Noir with knobs on.<br />
<br />Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-17594230392778030502015-03-20T11:29:00.001+00:002015-03-20T11:43:05.978+00:00Starman's Quest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Robert Silverberg and I have had a fairly scatological association for
the best part of four decades. My childhood in the 70s and early 80s was
full of little encounters when I'd bump into him in small shops with
the odd revolving book rack or amongst the slim volumes brought home
from jumble sales. Some of the slim volumes would get read or filed for a
rainy day (the rainy day being anything from six weeks to thirty plus
years down the line). His output in the latter half of the 80s received
more organised attention from me as his name became a library sci-fi
staple. <br />Starman's Quest was written in the 1950s when he was
nineteen during his junior year at Columbia. It was his second book and
as he admits in his preface he's written better since. The imagination
is all there but plotting and story progression certainly have their
fair share of problems. The Starman's Quest is the unlikely ambition of a
young spacer (a Starman) to solve the drawbacks of interstellar space
travel at near the speed of light. Time dilation and relativity are hard
science that's fuelled the imaginations of speculative sci-fi writers
like Silverberg for most of the last century. Shoving the problems with
the plot mechanics aside Silverberg's actual narrative is quite fun and
thoughtful. The dismay of our young protagonist being separated from
his twin by first space and later age is very well done as is his deep
culture shock when he jumps ship and tries to find his brother on the
harsh consumerism driven overcrowded Earth. A talking sentient rat
accompanies him but Silverberg doesn't really need an extra voice in the
narrative so ends up almost completely forgetting he's there. Flawed
but enjoyable and far beyond what a nineteen year old should be able to
accomplish - just like our young Starman.
Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-3729015651251560482015-02-12T07:46:00.000+00:002015-02-12T07:50:59.351+00:00Pronto<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmbp4qOHDnA079vPBkY8xOFS4Zd28fAmXqKkzfB7sVQhNIpqfJzCBdP1lCaRoMOwel-EhljtNTTjMQwxIh_1_zuCvEboPV3A09B0i9i5FNKbf8CEb8RWFC4tZO6rknBe5eJ2S8dNt7al4/s1600/7000028.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmbp4qOHDnA079vPBkY8xOFS4Zd28fAmXqKkzfB7sVQhNIpqfJzCBdP1lCaRoMOwel-EhljtNTTjMQwxIh_1_zuCvEboPV3A09B0i9i5FNKbf8CEb8RWFC4tZO6rknBe5eJ2S8dNt7al4/s1600/7000028.jpg" height="320" width="207" /></a>With the first five seasons of 'Justified' currently available on demand
to Sky subscribers I was tempted into watching this show from the
start. I soon got hooked and became curious about the original books
featuring sharp shooting US Marshall Raylan Givens by Elmore Leonard.
Being a beast with a very methodical nature I grabbed me a copy of book 1
and got started, 'Pronto' isn't really a book about Raylan though. He
starts out as a supporting character in what turns out to be a character
piece. The main player of the piece is a Miami Beach bookie called
Harry Arno who becomes a pawn in an attempt by the police to bring
charges to bear on a local mob boss. Arno soon has a price on his head
and decides to escape to Italy and a little place he'd long planned to
retire to. The story is a simple one no mistake. There's a lot
rumination over nostalgia and the difference between folks perceived
self and reality and man does Harry have a thing for Ezra Pound. The author writes some great dialogue. Raylan makes
the book though.</div>
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He's a slightly different character than his screen
version with a slightly different back story but essentially they occupy
the same space both being sharp shooters, masters of the
psychological edge that all gunmen need to stay in the game and of course there's the hat. His role as a US Marshall also makes a refreshing change from all the detectives mooching about detecting things. His job normally involves guarding folk. dealing with fugitives and escorting prisoners. <span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer270799037"><span id="freeTextContainer18186493010010628893">Timothy Olyphant really makes the character his own in the tv series, exuding quirky old school charm that hides just how lethal he is. Some scenes and dialogue made it onto the screen in the first episode and a less globe trotting version of Harry's story can be found in episode 4 "Long in the Tooth" which includes the back roads confrontation between Raylan and two mob gunmen.</span></span><br />
<span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer270799037"><span id="freeTextContainer18186493010010628893">Usually my idea of a box set binge is one episode a week because I like to savour the good stuff but I actually watched two episodes last week. I know... the shame.</span></span><br />
<span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer270799037"><span id="freeTextContainer18186493010010628893">Anyhow I'll be getting all the books and the short stories but I think I'll pass on the hat.</span></span>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-11575169881497046662015-02-02T09:11:00.001+00:002015-02-02T09:15:42.967+00:00Ghosts and Vampires<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Oh I so wish this had been the audio collection I'd chosen for my Christmas listening this year. instead of the woeful "Dark Holidays."<br />
"Classic Tales of Ghosts and Vampires," is a quality collection that gets off to a cracking start with <span id="freeText7343510114572951539"> "The Upper Berth," by F. Marion Crawford. It's not the first time I've tried to cross the pond in cabin 105 but it remains a creepy voyage nonetheless.</span><br />
<span id="freeText7343510114572951539">Guy de Maupassant's "Was it a Dream," isn't quite a horror story, being more another of Maupassant's journeys into the darker corners of the human psyche. There is some pretty creepy graveside imagery though.</span><br />
<span id="freeText1717189179921147564">It's over thirty years since I first took the hard drop in </span><span id="freeText11935896193001602736"><span id="freeText11935896193001602736">Ambrose Bierce's American Civil War chiller </span>"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." I recognise it straight away. Sometimes a story just stays with you.... forever.</span><span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name"> </span></span><br />
<span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name">Mary E. Wilkins Freeman delivers both chills and real sadness with her excellent tragic tale "The lost Ghost."</span></span><br />
<span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name">E. Nesbit's stories have kept her name alive for more than a century, with children's favourites like "Five Children and It," and "The Railway Children," still delighting kids today as they did then. "Man-Size in Marble," is perhaps suitably ponderous in delivering its stony dénouement considering the nature of the spooks on offer.</span></span><br />
<span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name">Amelia B. Edwards "The Phantom Coach," is exactly what you'd expect. It's not the strongest story but still pretty creepy. </span></span><br />
<span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name">Ambrose Bierce is back with a second offering of chills. "The Moonlit Road," recounts a ghostly encounter from three perspectives. Not one for sleepy heads but once all the accounts are assembled this tale delivers from both sides of the veil. </span></span><br />
<span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name">"The Signalman," was born out of Dickens' own dice with death when he survived the Staplehurst rail crash. One of the best. </span></span><br />
<span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name">E. Nesbit gets another chance to provide some scares in her carefully staged "The Shadow." Very chilling. She demonstrates how leaving things unexplained adds to the impact of the story and its power to unsettle and disturb.</span></span><br />
<span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name">The third </span></span><span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name">Ambrose Bierce story "The Damned Thing," is another great piece of writing but in my estimation is closer to Science Fiction than a ghost story unless you equate 'ghost' with something that can't be seen by human eyes.</span></span><br />
<span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name">Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Body Snatcher," draws heavily from the Burke and Hare murders. It's a good story but as a ghost story it takes too long to admit to itself that it is one. The supernatural ending seems tacked on. A Victorian example of marketing perhaps? </span></span><br />
<span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name">We finish off with Lovecraft's "The Statement of Randolph Carter," which should serve as a horrific warning to seekers of occult forbidden knowledge. Recurring character Carter appears here for the first time.</span></span><br />
<span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name">In amongst that lot were sprinkled four vampire stories, the pick of which is Stoker's "Dracula's Guest," a prequel, false start, whatever... to his most famous work. </span></span><br />
<span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name">Great choice of stories and the voice talent for the narration is very good. I'm booking Vol. 2 for next Christmas.</span></span>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-9176679888082124582015-01-14T08:20:00.001+00:002015-01-14T08:20:31.147+00:00The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The penultimate book in the series tones it down a bit, cutting back on the swinging from the roof fittings and other Errol Flynn style shenanigans. Instead Enola relies on her usual considerable talent for disguise, sketch making, cryptology and of course her endless supply of pluck.<br />
In her hunt to recover her kidnapped landlady she is forced to consult Florence Nightingale, which, teachers take note, means the Crimean War is a part of the story. This series is fun for kids and if the spark of interest in history is fanned then so much the better. Barring casting Florence as a spy the author respects the historical accuracy of the historical figure.<br />
One of the better additions to the series.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-33153983359318143792015-01-03T08:20:00.003+00:002015-01-03T08:20:50.861+00:00Christmas with Longmire<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgndOfGjqp8i3o-RJxeotncbA7vNl8yLUGGXDdohSczNsHNhsUJ24i6Y9JhSeoEAIh8l3fWtVKQ75s7w0mqoPKSkfMsFxg8bTnXtSftcOGxG4wXyhBuspvJh6o9ISXt_qQ0uIjlh-xiDvc/s1600/16198347.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgndOfGjqp8i3o-RJxeotncbA7vNl8yLUGGXDdohSczNsHNhsUJ24i6Y9JhSeoEAIh8l3fWtVKQ75s7w0mqoPKSkfMsFxg8bTnXtSftcOGxG4wXyhBuspvJh6o9ISXt_qQ0uIjlh-xiDvc/s1600/16198347.jpg" height="320" width="245" /></a></div>
This collection contains four short stories that drop in on Walt during or leading up to the Christmas holidays. Don't expect cosy scenes of fireside cheer though. The first story kicks off with Walt being mistaken for both a tramp and Jesus. It's set not long after his wife's death and he's caught up in grief and depression. He's at work in his dressing gown, smells something bad and there are foreign objects in his beard. But he still has his dry wit and the hint that things can get better. The other stories are further along in Walt's timeline. The stories here use that peculiar quality of Christmas that focuses and gathers memories of family in our minds. For some of a certain age it can be a difficult time of the year. What we have lost comes to the fore of our minds. But these short Longmire stories aren't ultimately sad. There is hope, dignity, warmth and humour to soften the poignancy. Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-31202008493969461862015-01-02T09:05:00.000+00:002015-01-02T09:27:25.635+00:00Dark Holidays<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sadly this ghostly anthology opens with R.H.Benson's The Traveller, standing like Charon demanding payment before the journey begins, as it does in so many such collections. Benson's prophetic works such as 'Lord of the World' may have secured his place in literary regard, but his ghost story only succeeds in being a right bore.<br />
<span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer69145949"><span id="freeTextContainer17437372254045271173">"The Water Ghost of Harrowby Hall" by John Kendrick Bangs is not in the least bit scary. As amusing as your mood allows (in my case - not very). If overly prim and chatty is your kind of ghost then you might crack a smile but Bangs is no Oscar Wilde.</span></span><br />
<span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer69145949"><span id="freeTextContainer17437372254045271173">Poe's </span></span><span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer69145949"><span id="freeTextContainer17437372254045271173">"The Oval Portrait" is a short but powerful piece exploring what the love of art over life might cost. The spark that was fanned into Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray can be found here. There is little sign of a ghost though.</span></span><br />
<span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer69145949"><span id="freeTextContainer17437372254045271173">Mark Twain delivers the required spook though in his simply titled "A Ghost Story" along with a few chills and chuckles. </span></span><br />
<span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer69145949"><span id="freeTextContainer17437372254045271173"> "The Wolf" by </span></span><span id="freeTextContainer8468645234629353352">Guy de Maupassant is not a ghost story, neither is it a werewolf story. It's a spare little tale about obsession end insanity. It's included here for one reason: It gets another short story master's name onto the book cover. </span><br />
<span id="freeTextContainer381795183824372204">Washington Irving's "German Student" at least manages to squeeze a ghostly encounter into the brief eight pages but has more to say about the morals of men than supernatural chills.</span><br />
<span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer69145949"><span id="freeText129479065069885889">"The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs is a true horror classic, much adapted, imitated or referenced. Be careful what you wish for the saying goes. I wish for a ghost story with genuine chills and of a length enough to engage me. So far this is the first to hit the marks in this collection.</span></span><br />
<span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer69145949"><span id="freeText129479065069885889">Next up is William Hope Hodgson's 48 page "From the Tideless Sea". Nearly two hours of the narrator's bass rumble with giant sea creatures prowling the vast Sargasso and no damn ghosts. By about the hour mark I'm firmly rooting for the giant Octopuses. 'For pete/s sake eat him already.'</span></span><br />
<span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer69145949"><span id="freeText129479065069885889">Beyond their place in superstition and mythology the cats from Edgar Allan Poe's "The Back Cat" have no certain supernatural role to play. A masterful horror story nonetheless with insanity and alcoholism being the true haunters of the mind. Perfectly constructed and paced it's a dark tale of terror that is hard to beat.</span></span><br />
<span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer69145949"><span id="freeText129479065069885889">If linguistics were an Olympic sport then I'm sure </span></span><span id="freeText6019563333092224976">"Madam Crowl's Ghost" by J.S. Le Fanu would be a good test. It's an atmospheric tale but read out loud it's a challenge. Le Fanu is merciless with his transcription of regional dialect. One perhaps better read than listened to. </span><br />
<span id="freeText13191529224295705456">"<a href="http://finxy.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/canterville-ghost.html">The Canterville Ghost</a>" by Oscar Wilde doesn't really need another recommendation from me. Love it.</span><br />
<span id="freeText13191529224295705456">With the inclusion of </span><span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer69145949"><span id="freeText6316563023527241369">"Doctor Heidegger's Experiment" by Nathaniel Hawthorne I do begin to despair. It's most definitely not a ghost story. It's not even a horror story. The only possible reason for its inclusion is to place another literary name on the cover. </span></span><br />
<span id="freeText3574631016199080851">"The Old Nurse's Story" by Elizabeth Gaskell is a superbly written ghostly story which is a step above. Much imitated. </span><br />
<span id="freeText3574631016199080851">Two stories from Dickens begin with "The Black Veil," Though it is a fine piece of writing it has no ghost and isn't even a horror story though it has a dark moodiness and its theme has a macabre impact. "The Signalman," is as good a ghost story as you will hear.. </span><br />
<span id="freeText3574631016199080851">The last story is </span><span id="freeText15798335145831365640">Arthur Conan Doyle's </span><span id="freeText15798335145831365640">"Selecting a Ghost" which is very funny and the narrator does a good job of delivering the text in a suitably humorous manner. </span><br />
<span id="freeText15798335145831365640">This proved to be as poorly assembled an anthology as I've come across. Many of the stories are either too long, too short or in the case of at least six of the tales have no ghost at all. Most of the stories that do hit the mark are ones that have been over exposed in anthologies already. Maybe I'm being a bit picky but I feel a bit like Mr Doyle's man at the conclusion of "Selecting a ghost."</span>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-11891768496051226452014-12-04T10:28:00.001+00:002014-12-04T21:11:00.548+00:00Booktaker<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggclw063xNKrHkJwsZmBchodYzLq9XVxSYfNT6N5DUXuZYAYHOcXSDahlS7LtCcRi9BtC6Pn-D2Kp_9CVNF7UygxCN8ly_B-LJKubRRxkFtRZEjypt45BEmuV1sJYT2Mm8UC77Nwi4FX4/s1600/13326199.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggclw063xNKrHkJwsZmBchodYzLq9XVxSYfNT6N5DUXuZYAYHOcXSDahlS7LtCcRi9BtC6Pn-D2Kp_9CVNF7UygxCN8ly_B-LJKubRRxkFtRZEjypt45BEmuV1sJYT2Mm8UC77Nwi4FX4/s1600/13326199.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
Very pleasing freebie audio download featuring Bill Pronzini's Nameless detective. It runs for about 90 minutes and is ably narrated by Nick Sullivan who really nails Nameless's personality. Being a short story the character introduces himself more thoroughly than he does in his full length appearances. I'm sure many people discover great series by a chance encounters with stories like this. He compares himself to actor Richard Boone, which was probably a more useful comparison when this story first saw print in the early 80s. He admits to being a bit of a slob. 'To hell with health clubs and to hell with my belly.' he says... or words to that effect.<br />
For fans of the series the continuity places Booktaker a short time after Hoodwink. Nameless is in the happy period of his relationship with Kerry Wade, some time before Scattershot blew all the happiness to the wind. The story revolves around some mystery thefts at a store dealing in rare books. Nameless is hired by the baffled owner to discover the thief. It's just great to be in the company of one of my favourite private eyes doing everything that he loves best; solving puzzling crimes, reading his beloved pulp mags, eating, drinking cold beer and snuggling with Kerry in front of a roaring fire.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-92016789325105708332014-11-23T09:32:00.000+00:002014-11-23T09:35:43.537+00:00Dragonfire<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After the events of Scattershot, Nameless and his best bud <span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer852933279"><span class="elementOne" id="freeTextContainer9516293541955191295">Lieutenant Eberhardt are soaking their misery in beer. Eberhardt is stewing in bitterness following having his wife walk out on him and Nameless has lost both P.I license and girlfriend Kerry Wade. Misery loves company they say and both men feel they're perched on the lowest step that life can offer. But when the doorbell heralds a hail of bullets they find out the hard way that there's always a lower step.</span></span><br />
<span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer852933279"><span class="elementOne" id="freeTextContainer9516293541955191295">Nameless wakes up in hospital with a serious mad on, vowing to track down the oriental shooter and take him down... take him right down to Chinatown. </span></span><br />
<span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer852933279"><span class="elementOne" id="freeTextContainer9516293541955191295">It's great to be back in the company of our Nameless investigator,, though he's not really completely the man we've followed for eight books or so. He wants payback. But he's no Charles Bronson. Pronzini doesn't really commit to working the theme of the destructive nature of blindly seeking vengeance. The more interesting aspects of the story are his convalescent relationship with Kerry and how he reacts to the discovery that Eberhardt has secrets. </span></span>Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-2167422868928404452014-10-25T12:52:00.000+01:002014-10-25T12:53:49.762+01:00The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Enola Holmes Mystery The Fourth. And considering how much time the book devotes to our dear hoyden's desires to find a friend, soul-mate or mother, there is plenty of time for a right load of swashbuckling and derring-do. She doesn't quite swing from the chandeliers but only because there wasn't one to her convenience. She really should be sliding down those bannisters on the cover - no really. Beyond the bannister surfing and the rope swinging this one really benefits from a proper generous slice of the page count going to her more favoured brother. In the comic books this sort of instalment would be called a 'Team-Up'. But first,before they can take on the villains of the piece, in true comic-book tradition they must FIGHT!!!! There is certainly a good sizzle to the narrative when the two are on the same page; Enola confused by conflicting instincts and emotions and Sherlock just being himself . With such short books it also helps that this one picks up on a previous book (the second) including already established characters like Lady Cecily with whom Enola yearns to one day go sketching with. Fun one.Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-738641189431846993.post-8869378654708774602014-10-18T13:34:00.000+01:002014-10-18T13:36:18.972+01:00Lady, Lady, I Did It!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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McBain delivers a scorcher for the series, emphatically leaving the last book's city fable indulgences behind. This one is 87th Precinct to the core; short, hard hitting and full of character.<br />
A multiple shooting at a book store has every cop in the precinct searching for the killer as one of the fallen belongs to one of their own. Carella and Meyer lead the investigation as they delve into the backgrounds of all of the victims looking for a lead. Kling, Wilis and Brown aid with the leg work.<br />
Written at the start of the 1960s, long before any State legalised abortion, McBain drags the thorny subject into the light as various closets are emptied of their skeletons.<br />
Loss and grief are explored thoughtfully too, stripped of any histrionics, deepening the characters by shared familiar emotions.<br />
The little linguistic puzzle set by one of the victim's deathbed words kept me busy for a good five seconds. But you can't really blame Carella and co for being distracted. Michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12895984707372466998noreply@blogger.com0