My Amazon reviews of some of the books I've read recently

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A Quiet Belief in Angels - R.J. Ellory

(A Richard and Judy Book Club read)

This is a beautifully written book about many things. Although death and child murder are the underlying themes of the book, it is so intelligently written that what you are really reading is predominantly a book about life, about the fragility and preciousness of life. About the ups and downs, the joys, the struggles and the feelings of futility that the hero Joseph goes through as he tries to make sense of his existence and come to terms with the limitations his existence imposes on him. It's all laid out in this book and it takes us along with it. It taps into our own fears and insecurities and in doing so it reminds us that even when nothing is going right, we are still survivors and incredibly lucky to be here. 

The narrative is in the first person, and every emotion is explored in the book and felt by the reader. The depiction of small town USA in the State of Georgia - (of which I have first hand knowledge) is brilliant. The devastation and fear felt by Joseph, his mother, his friends and the close knit community when they realise a serial child killer is amongst them is explored in remarkable detail and is palpable. You sense their fear, their anger, their heartache, their horror and loathing and in many ways their own destruction. You are with them. The book takes you there. 

RJ Ellory lays down a few clues throughout the book as to who the killer is, and even if you guess, or have suspicions early in the story, the journey through to the final confrontation is none the less well worth taking. 

A remarkable book by a remarkable author. Thoroughly recommended.

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The Ghost - Robert Harris

The first tongue in cheek part of this book happens before the story evens starts!

"This is a work of fiction......any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental"

Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.......

It was recommended to me by a friend and I was hoping for great things. Well, I have to say I found it not too bad a read, but a little far fetched. The basic premise was good. A retired Labour Prime Minster is writing his memoirs via a ghost writer, and that ghost writer just happens to wind up dead. And so another ghost writer is commissioned to finish the work.

Promising but full of 'cardboard cut out characters' who never really develop any substance. Throw in a couple of seemingly shady but useless characters, ie, housekeeper and gardener with equally shady and useless names and you have a plot that doesn't fully develop. But then it can't really develop as the ingredients are so weak.

What there is of a plot culminates in a final twist. This would have worked better had the characters been more believable, better explored and the plot better thought out.

But all in all I had to finish this book as I have to admit, it did keep my curiosity
aroused.

Would I recommend it? I don't think so. My indecision no doubt reflects the lack of strength in the plot.

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Daddy's Girl - Lisa Scottoline

I have never a book byLisa Scottoilne before and I picked up this one with reservations as to whether or not it would be to my liking.

By Chapter three I was hooked.

A diminutive law professor Nat Greco is invited by a law colleague and friend Angus Holt to lecture at a minimum security prison. She is sceptical but accepts the invitation and goes along.

Whilst they are there a "lockdown" occurs and from that moment on Nat's world goes from one nightmare scenario to another.

Fast paced, intriguing and peppered with just the right flavour of humour, this book will take you along for the ride. Well written and totally consistent throughout, it is a real page turner.

Thoroughly enjoyable. Recommended

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Cold Fire - Dean Koontz

I enjoyed this particular foray into fantasy by Dean Koontz. In fact I found it a little scary in parts....(not a lot scares me these days). The special 'powers' the central character - Jim -possessed where extreme to say the very least and you had to suspend disbelief - a lot of suspension of a lot of disbelief - if you were to let the story carry you along through it's chapters. I did and it did. 

However I would liked to have seen the concept of Jim's relationship with the priest who cared for him to have been explored in a little more depth, especially one apparently dramatic incident which was not really touched upon again. 

Also I never really felt comfortable with the character of Holly Thorne - a little too bossy and prickly for my liking and her amateur and lone crusade to discover 'the truth' was downright dangerous to say the least. 

....don't try this at home folks.... 

But all in all it was another rattling good read from Mr Koontz. Recommended 

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The Island - Victoria Hislop

(A Richard and Judy Book Club read)

For a while I struggled with this book, at first thinking the subject matter and the style of writing was not my forte. But I persevered with it and I'm glad I did. As it turned out I enjoyed it very much. 

I liked the description of family and interpersonal dynamics, set against a backdrop of the old, old disease of leprosy and a leper's colony on an island off Crete. 

How, at the beginning of the century, a families' deepest fears and perceived "shameful secrets" that create unforgiving divisions amongst it's members, can ultimately create the deep ties that bind together sons, daughters, mothers and fathers in later generations. 

It explores how different types of individuals cope with the discovery of such an "unpalatable" illness in their nearest and dearest. How the mind and behaviour of the weakest and most insecure members manifests in selfishness and disregard for the welfare of others. And how, stronger persons with more richness of spirit and compassion move undeterred through life. Taking whatever that life throws at them with dignity. Never feeling completely compromised or truly threatened by adversity. The realisation that love, kindness and a belief in oneself ultimately triumphs. 

Also explored is the way we perceived we should be living as opposed to how we actually are living. Would we be happier if all our wants and needs were to be granted? These are the themes that run through this book. Ms Hislop explores all these feelings in a mature and responsible way. 

It is true that medical thinking is shaped by fashion and historical precedents, and of course the advent of antibiotics radically changed how we view such diseases as leprosy. Never-the-less the book is a reminder of how attitudes and tolerances have significantly evolved over time. 

Yes I'm glad I took time out to finish it. Altogether a good, interesting read. Recommended.

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The Taking - Dean Koontz

Dean Koontz ranks as one of my all time favourite authors along with James Patterson, Stephen King, John Grisham, Sidney Sheldon and more recently the brilliant R.J. Ellory

However I had a luke-warm reaction to this book. It was not one of Mr Koontz's best by a long way. The simple philosophy underlying it was okay, but it was badly told. The tap root could have been explored or hinted at in a little more depth earlier on in the novel to make it more credible. Least that's what I felt.

The build up of tension which permeates almost the entire first half of the book is done in the true Dean Koontz style. "What is happening? What course of action should we take" etc,. After that it becomes like someone else has written it.

Graphic horror is piled on in the middle of the book, so over the top and so thick and fast that after a few pages it becomes meaningless, boring and predictable.

However, not to be too negative, I did feel that Mr Koontz pulled himself together - as it were - and he was back on form for the ending.

I like Dean Koontz when he is doing what he does best, giving the reader plenty of tension and atmospheric thrills with just a subtle addition of the supernatural which leaves you constantly wanting more. There is only a shadow of that masterful style of Koontz in this book. There is just too much to swallow too late.

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A Simple Act of Violence - R.J. Ellory

An absolute `"tour de force". An amazing feat of writing, beautifully constructed. The amount of research that must have taken place behind the scenes is mind boggling. 

What the author presents us with is a story of characters and coping strategies intertwined with a complicated crime novel. 

I felt for Detective Miller trying so desperately to solve not only the murder of Catherine Sheridan who apparently does not exist, but also at least three other women whose identities also do not exist. 

The more he delves into the their deaths, the more mysterious and complicated the whole scenario becomes. All his efforts seem to come to nothing; with dead ends, false leads, false names, fabricated situations.....Nothing is what it seems, and what we, the reader knows and the unfortunate Miller doesn't is that it never can be what it seems; a fact we learn through an additional expertly interwoven story/narrative from the main suspect himself. 

Miller's increasing frustrations are felt by the reader along with his increasing fatigue. His deepening fear. Fear of failure. Fear of success. Fear of the unknown. 

For we not only have a serial killer on the loose, but also a large scale corruption. 

Our seemingly hapless detective and his team of equal impotent Washington PD detectives are scratching only the tip of the iceberg; an iceberg so huge and dangerous that it not only threatens the life of all those who come into contact with it, but also has a profound implications for the whole US populace. Possibly beyond...Read it and you will see presidential elections with renewed cynicism. You will view assassinations and attempted assassination through different eyes. See the whole structure of federal government, intelligence and the US judicial system with increased trepidation. 

Fact and fiction is melded together so seamlessly that is become difficult to separate the two, to know where reality stops and fantasy takes over. 

Almost six hundred pages of suspense and deep emotion. It has been said in some reviews that the book would be better if it were shorter. Personally I can only think that editing would be an injustice. Much of the punch it packs would be gone. The life, the essence, the drama would be lost in fewer pages. The brutality and the obsession diminished. 

Yes, it's a "big" novel, but my feelings are that the size of the book corresponds to the enormous size and implications of it's subject matter. 

As said at the beginning. A tour de force. Thoroughly recommended.

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Nightfall - Stephen Leather

"You are going to hell, Jack Nightingale". 

Get yourselves a copy of this book and enjoy the ride. 

Bodies and nasty murders galore, along with a smattering of just the right amount of black humour make this book a very good and entertaining read. 

Jack Nightingale's life takes a sinister turn when he inherits a mansion and a library to die for! 

The underlying sense of evil builds slowly throughout the book and never lets up, as Jack desperately tries to find out what's happening to him. 

A real page turner, once you pick up this book you wont want to put it down. I recommend it.

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No Time For Goodbye - Linwood Barclay

(A Richard and Judy Book Club read)

I was really interested in reading this book, ever since it was featured on Richard and Judy's book club. And recently a friend recommended it to me, and so I bought it.

To my disappointment I thought the book was emotionless and not written all that well.

The premise of a 14year old girl waking up one morning to find her entire family has disappeared was intriguing, but I was disappointed even at the first page. The main character, Cynthia, was devoid of any substance. We are told that she is traumatised by these events, but we never really feel how she must have felt. Never feel the pain, the torment, the absolute devastation, the heartbreak, the denial, the anger and the guilt. 

And because these feelings are never really explored and woven into the fabric of the book, as a reader there is a tendency to feel cold and dispassionate towards her. Eventually I felt "who cares?"

The story then goes on to become just a little boring. The middle part would have benefited from being at least 50 pages shorter. However it was only the last third of the book that caught my attention, but for all the wrong reasons. The finale played out like a B-rated horror comedy. I had more than a few good laughs out of the sheer absurdity of it. 

I did make an effort to finish it, but it was not my favourite book by a long way.

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As you can probably tell my favourite authors - to date - are Dean Koontz and R.J. Ellory, the latter I'm happy to say is one of my Facebook friends


However I do love John Grisham, Stephen Leather, James patterson (and many more). I hope to be reviewing those soon.