books

hello there


and so my commitment, or pledge, look you see, towards giving those interested a bit of a rundown on any if not all books i read continues, to be sure. having finished off reading another two, now then is the time to set aside all other matters on this, my side of the screen, and compose my thoughts. fluently and coherently, if i can, but i am not sure.

usually this all starts, if you will, with a look at what books i have read, followed by something of a spoiler-free overview. this is done before we proceed to a review or comment proper; in either case there is always the potential for plot sensitive spoilers. let me get on with such, then.

moving on in the direction indicated if not specified, then, a spoiler free overview. Exile off of James Swallow is the follow up to Nomad, which i read and enjoyed last February. this one was OK. speaking of last February, i have been reliably informed off of the internet that Eyes Like Mine by Sheena Kamal (also published in some corners of the world as The Lost Ones) was first published in February 2017. i, however, only bought and read it in this year, 2018, and thus i can state that it is likely to be declared as one of, if not the, best of the books i read this year.

whilst i shall take all the care i can, in particular with the second or if you like latter book mentioned, please do bear in mind that a *** SPOILER WARNING *** is in place from here on out. also, the usual links to titles are for your convenience and ease; they are not an endorsement or affiliation on my side. no, i seldom shop there myself, but plenty do, going on all that money they have.

starting all of this off with the book i started reading of the two necessitates commencing reviews proper with Exile by James Swallow. and so i shall.

provenance of my copy? it was one of those variations Tesco does with its pricing. for a week or so they had this as £3 flat to buy, rather than their standard £3.85 on its own or as part of a 2 for £7 deal. so, to this end, i was there when it was £3 so i was able to buy it for £3.

what of the plot? after the exploits of Nomad, protagonist Mark Dane is not quite where one expected to find him. that caught me by surprise. instead of being part of some fancy, well funded well meaning but ultimately vigilante in nature group, he has a kind of quasi, dull meant to be a desk job with some form of UN "task force" thing.

somewhat predictably, though, Dane stumbles on a sequence of events which threatens the stability of world security, if such was ever stable. his findings are at odds with what his bosses want him to be doing, and so he is forced to turn to (what i think was called) the Solomon Group what rescued him in the first novel, so that he may prevent a major international incident involving nuclear things from happening.

this was ok, this was. unless i do not remember Nomad as well as i suspected i did, the style, pacing and nature of this one was not what i expected. went off in a slightly different direction, so it did. for some reason this left me partially disappointed, but i enjoyed the novel all the same.

much of this is, as you may expect, jolly old action and adventure. there are many explosions, some stabbings, a great deal of shooting and even a bit of kicking people in the head. not bad, true, but one really does sometimes long for the nuances and sophistication of Cold War era "spy" novels. perhaps if the world powers could make the Cold War come back we could have them sort of books again.

otherwise, there are instances of familiarity here. the "big bad", of sorts, ostensibly a Somalian pirate, bears an uncanny resemblance to the "big bad" out of two recent Scott Mariani novels (reviewed here somewhere), Star Of Africa and Devil's Kingdom. also, one of the several endings to the novel features something of a homage to the boss video for Two Tribes by Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

a bit of a break for you, then, with a couple of other books. the big massive one in the background is indeed called The Story Of The Jews. this hefty tome was an unexpected yet exceptionally welcome gift from the man they call Magic, my occasional co-pilot and generally always top bloke. no, so far as i am aware neither i nor Magic are of the Jewish faith, although i am reliably informed that Magic considers himself to be "an advocate of progressive, modern Judaism". when he puts his mind to something, invariably it gets done. 

the other, slightly less hefty volume is I Love Harry, which is the "ultimate" book about Harry out of One Direction, although i suspect the band is no longer a going concern. it is filled with all sorts of facts, trivia and quizzes for fans of Harry. i purchased this for 50p off of some sort of sale WH Smith was having. the main motivation was that the similar volumes for the other four or five members of One Direction were going for 10p each. from this i can only conclude that i have the book for the best one of the whole lot of them what was in the band One Direction, or are still in the band if they happen to be on the go these days. 

moving on, then, and the book that i spoke the most highly of at the start, which is the debut novel of someone called Sheena Kamal. a most impressive debut, too. for me, where i am in the world, this novel is published as Eyes Like Mine. take caution, however, for in other places it appears as The Lost Ones.  no, i have no idea at all why.

the provenance of my copy? Tesco. another variation of their "book of the week" business saw me able to procure or if you like secure it for a mere £2. this was undoubtedly money very well spent.

plot? here i shall more or less give you my interpretation of the blurb off the back of the book, as i am reluctant to give spoilers. in short, a lady - our protagonist and someone who narrates most of the book - gets an early morning phone call. it is from a distressed chap who is a stranger to the lady (called Nora). the voice on the phone tells Nora that a girl has gone missing. also, as it happens, that the girl who has gone missing is in fact Nora's daughter, who she has never ever met......

it's not a perfect novel - for a relatively linear story it tends to get remarkably disjointed with the narrative - but my word it was an impressive read. a thoroughly engaging one that keeps you turning the pages. also, be warned, a rather dark, murky and often depressing tale. who knew that Canada, which has a reputation for being dull and stale and seems to promote itself as being dull and stale, could be so dangerous and interesting.

a great deal of the novel is unsettling and disturbing. well, i found it to be, and perhaps i am just quite sensitive or something. if you are of an inclination and disposition to handle such, in particular barbaric violence against the ladies of the world, then you would be rewarded by what you read here.

so, anyway, with that, then, there's another two books done. actually four, i suppose, now that i remember the brief pause i inserted.

as ever, hopefully this was of use or of interest to someone somewhere!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!