4th - 5th January and then 10th - 11th December
Started this and gave up in despair. Then finished everything else I had and had no choice. Have you ever read a book and wanted to shake the main character? The bloody stupid woman in this is doing my head in. Basically she is blissfully happily married to the most wonderful man in the world (oh yea cos he exists) with 2 grown up'ish sons and the most velly velly adorable - the baby speak is hers, I kid you not - 4 year old daughter. Her sister Lisa has cancer, her friend Jem is a lesbian painter and decorator and her cook who specialises in macrobiotic and vegan cookery is Turkish. Or is she Bulgarian. Its makes a difference. Sick of her yet? You will be. Husband is a lawyer who is about to prosecute a Bulgarian drug baron (see I told you it mattered) but is being threatened by email that unless he reveals the identity and location of the key witness his 4 yr old will be kidnapped and sliced up. The emailer reveals that they have inside knowledge of the family so it is assumed that the emailer is a "she" and so everyone from the lady that runs the nursery to the macrobiotic cook comes under suspicion - although conveniently her with the foreign accent and shifty glance is overlooked as being Turkish, therefore beyond corruption?, for a good 3/4's of the book. I can't believe that she is the one. No one could write a book that bleeding obvious and get it published so she must be some kind of red herring. In last nights installment lead character - can you belive I am reading this and can't remember her name - slips into the red silk lingerie that hubby bought her on their last romantic weekend in Paris and then drapes herself over his lap whilst he is working in an attempt to weaken his resistance with her bountious delights so that she can coax the name and location of the witness out of him, email it to the blackmailer and thus solve all her problems. Frankly if any normal woman draped herself in her skimpies on hubbys lap when he was working she'd get dumped on the floor on her little silk clad arse. I hope. Not this twit he's all over he like a rash and then she is freaked out when he tells her that he has insisted that the witness is moved and that he has not been told the new location. Well, what did she expect there's still about 50 pages of this crap to go. So tonight I will slog through some more and at some point it will end. Believe me I will be totally amazed if there is anything in this heap of drivel between now and there that raises even a tiny flicker of interest. But once you've started you have to finish don't you? Amazon link here btw - just in case you are tempted!! (Ok its official, whatever I feel the people who review books at Amazon feel the polar opposite - this one was loved. Go figure!) Oh for the love of god. I finished it and let me tell you there was the most stunning twist right at the very end. It was in my wrist, travelled down from my shoulder and assisted me in hurling this heap of tosh at the wall. To be fair at one point I did actually find myself thinking that this had gotten interesting, the pace had picked up and I was in page turning mode. It lasted 3 pages. I wont spoil the ending, Julie Corbin has already done that.
5th Jan - 10th Jan
I have read a fair few of what CRH has written - full Amazon lis here - and this was no exception, eventually. The story is written by Vida the heart recipient and Richard the husband of the donor, his wife Lorrie who was killed in a car crash. On receiving the heart and meeting Richard Vida feels she is in love with him and starts having memories that can't be hers, but are in fact Lorries. If you haven't just tutted and clicked to another blog then you will probably enjoy this. It's not designed to be challenging or deep but it is thought provoking. Would you accept a donor organ if you thought doing so might give you some of the traits of the donor, or if not doing so in spite of this would mean you would die? The Amazon reviewers and I agree on this one, nothing earth shattering but a nice read. Would recommend Love in the Present Tense as my all time absolute must read of hers btw.
17th - 20th December.
I read Dark House and The Caller and really enjoyed them so when I spotted this in the library I nabbed it. I read it back in December and as its now January and a lot of alcohol has been consummed since reading my memories are sketchy about plot etc so I'll just check the Amazon page for it. Ok, well flying in the face of everyone that has reviewed this on Amazon I enjoyed it. Clearly I do tend to disengage my brain when I am reading and just let the words wash over me as I didn't find any of the plot annoying, thin, badly drawn or any of the plethora of insults thrown at it by the reviewers over there. Maybe I am just easily pleased! Basically FBI investigator is called in to investigate the murder of a fellow FBI investigator, in the mountains, in the snow. She has some sex, some laughs and drinks coffee - doesn't seem to go a bundle on food but perhaps the need to look good for the sex prevents her from eating? Whatever, I enjoyed it for what thats worth!
12th December - 17th December
And now for something completely different. None of the books I had on order from the library were in so I was forced to actually go to the library and peruse the shelves, Rastrick library is a bit little so that can sometimes be a fruitless exercise but this time I did quite well. In case you are interested I am a firm believe that in the case of books the old adage "you can never judge a book by its cover" is completely wrong. I have only ever picked up books that I liked the cover of and it works pretty well for me. This time was no exception. Quick precis; 1980's Sandy and Rich are environmental campaigners and very in love. Twenty five years later they are seperated, middle aged and their only connection is their daughter Sophie. Rich decides that a good way of gettng to know Sophie is to take her on a six day hike in Tasmania (crap dad award or what, what about 6 days laying by a pool in Dubai for godsake?). The book is narrated by Rich, Sandy and Sophie and I have quite enjoyed it. The whole mid-life rut thing is a bit cliched and am not sure why I feel the need to read about it when I am living it! To be honest thinking about it more carefully to write this review has made me realise that really all three main characters are very stereotypical, Sandy with her feckless hippy lifestyle and aromatherapy oils, Rich failed photo-journalist with a penchant for young women and a pony tail (big neon sign saying "sad loser" on his head) and Sophie anorexic goth, product of a broken home - see where I am going with this, the characters are exactly the type of characters you would pick as metaphors for people of their age and gender having some kind of a crisis, hope this is making sense?! Whilst its not my usual nerve tingling thriller type read I am desperate to get to the end to find out how everyone's story turns out which is pretty much the point of a book isn't it? Amazon link here just in case you want to read a well written articulate review. Just checked - there aren't any phew!
11th December - 10pm 11th December!
Sit down, strap in and prepare to ride. Absolutely love Jack Kerley's books a really good mix of strong characters, smart dialogue, nerve jaggling thrills and cracking story lines. The fact that I read this cover to cover in one day indicates just what a page turner it is and demonstrates why I rarely by books! Crack detective, Carson Ryder, goes on holiday, gets called to the seen of a grisly murder, as you do, and all hell breaks loose with him right in the middle of it. Some really gut clenching tension in places, a little light luvin' and some bloody scary badies, all round winner! Might be worth reading Blood Brothers first, just so you understand Carson's relationship with his brother, or you could read this and then have your questions answered by reading that after, whatever way round I suspect you wont be happy to you have read everything by Kerley so far (Amazon list here) and are waiting for his next publication, just like I am! New idea link to the Amazon page so if you like the sound of the book and want to purchase you don't have to trawl round to find it. Amazon, you can pop the cheque in the post any time you like! Katie you will love this one x
November 24th - Skip the first 30 pages and come in at the start of chapter 2 or risk wondering why in god's name you had ever raved about Mil Millington. It was almost as if he had taken a leaf out of Jeffery Kellermans approach to writing and was working on being paid by the word. There were freaking hundreds of them and none of them was witty or entertaining. Started once and gave up in despair. Then because I just couldn't accept that I wasn't going to love a Mil Millington book I opened it randomly and had another go. Pretty light on lol moments to be fair and the plot requires the usual suspension of belief. Bloke in pub with mates and girlfriend, gets rat arsed, wakes up in bed with mystery woman. He thinks its the next day turns out it's 20 years later, mystery woman is his long suffering wife and he is missing 20 years. Gives rise to some chuckle inducing moments but not a patch on the bloody brilliant Love and other near death experiences reviewed with much hyperbole below!
November 16th - 
Am dipping in and out of this one. I read Panic and Fear and really enjoyed them and was hoping this would be another of the sort of books that hauls you in over the course of the first two pages and doesn't let you free til you finish. Sadly not quite as grabbing as the other two I haven't really engaged with it as much. Luke Dantry was raised by his stepfather after his own father was killed by an extremist and his mother died in a car accident with stepfather survived. Luke works for his step father monitoring the actions of extremists on the internet until he is kidnapped at gun point by one of them. The story follows Lukes journey to try and find his kidnapper, having escaped - clearly! - and to work out whether his step father is actually to be trusted or not. I expect I will finish this, it just wont be soon.
