blimey, it feels like a while since i posted a couple of book reviews. i think, look you see, the last ones were back in May, unless i did some in June and have forgotten about them.
oh well, no matter. let us worry about where we are at, and here is very much that. yes, indeed, to state the obvious, i've read a couple of books - two, not three or five - and so it would be time for me to pass some comments about them here, for the benefit of those of you that would take such from them.
as ever, then, a quick look at what i read, followed by as spoiler-free an overview as i can give you people, prior to looking at them in a bit (not much) more detail.
starting where i did, and as pictured above, Die Last is more or less relatively the most recent DCI Max Wolfe "adventure" or if you will case, presented by Tony Parsons. it was much much better than the previous one i read, which i seem to recall as being somewhat flimsy. Into The Water by Paula Hawkins was a little bit difficult to get into for the first 20 - 30 pages, but once in did not want to leave - it's brilliant.
right. whereas i do try to be careful in not giving too much away, for those that are sensitive or concerned please find your most splendid *** SPOILER WARNING *** in place for the remainder of the post. to recap the above, though, just head off now and read either or both, if you were looking for someone's opinion on them.
as usual, links are placed for your convenience. they are most certainly not an affiliation or endorsement off of me, just making it as easy as i can for you to have a look at them on the global grocer's website. on that note, later we shall get to the controversial provenance of my copies.
plot? Max Wolfe is called in to investigate when a truck load of dead ladies is found in Chinatown (the London one). it soon transpires that it's a people smuggling operation gone badly wrong. Wolfe goes off to investigate, finding the path leads him to the "old school" ways of London crime bosses, with the path featuring detours to face the bickering and politics of those around him.
i have said this before, and here i am saying it again. i have a great deal of time for Tony Parsons, based mostly on the fact that he is knowledgeable, respectful and in awe of A Clockwork Orange. also, for all the gibberish and nonsense he can produce (whenever anyone famous dies he writes a sycophantic article declaring them to be the greatest and most important at what they did, ever. which, you would think, made 2016 tricky for him), he often speaks sense. like, for instance, the basics of "social media". simply put, he says never ever write anything online that you would be embarrassed about appearing on a huge billboard with your name on it. no matter what you may think of Parsons, if we all did this then the internet could go back to being a decent place again. no, of course it won't happen, but then again it never will if the idea isn't aired.
oh yes, the novel. really quite good. it has a "tabloid" slant to the narrative, but that's what Tony does for a living and besides, to be honest, the story probably benefits from it. as mentioned earlier, this one feels a good deal more substantial than the last Max Wolfe i read, which is good. the fleshing out, however, was often in the form of some soap opera style developments between characters. a dubious path to be on, but let us see what happens with the next one.
another thing i like of Parsons is his confidence. many might see it as arrogance or cockiness, but i decline to do so. for him there seems to be no point being a writer if you're not going to be bold and put yourself out there. he makes no secret whatsoever of protagonist Max Wolfe being his very own Walter Mitty like alter ego. one really suspects that these Max Wolfe books will become some sort of TV series as and when an actor who looks close enough to Tony Parsons can be found for the lead. and, of course, as and when the lawyers are confident that a certain Ms Julie Burchill will be OK with any presentation or representation of another character in the books, the journalist Scarlet Bush. what's that, Max Wolfe, Scarlet Bush - Parsons is indeed a master of naming his characters.
can you read this novel without having read any of the others? yes, i would think so. prior knowledge would be nice, but each of the books so far has been a welcome "in its own right" story. should you read this novel? well, it's a flowing read, keeping you going and involved, and never boring or dragging. so if you like detective mystery thriller things with the London constabulary, yes absolutely.
a word on the provenance of both books, then. i have disgraced myself. or everyone has a price. or perhaps everyone can be tempted by a deal. both of these books, to be sure, are off Tesco. they were purchased as part of their ongoing special; the one where a novel each week or so is priced at just £2 if you at the same time spunk up 50p on a copy of The Sun, a publication sold and marketed as a newspaper. sorry. but also, buying novels for 20% of the cover price, or 50% of what Tesco normally sells for, cannot be missed. i am sure The Sun are delighted with their false circulation boost, and there's always a handy recycle bin to be found for the guilty 50p spent.
plot? an unexplained death by a body of water notorious or infamous for such sees the estranged sister of the deceased return to a former home town. whilst there, she has to confront herself, her own understanding of her past and try to solve the mystery of exactly what happened. with plenty of factors affecting the ability to do that, the least of which not being her niece that she is now ostensibly the guardian of.
that's the best i can do for a description, and i am not entirely certain i have nailed it. once again, in fairness, i am trying to avoid spoilers, for those of you who don't want them yet for some reason insist on reading on. and i suppose yes it is nice that you do read on, for it makes it somewhat worthwhile for me to dedicate whatever spare time i get in the world to doing all of this writing stuff. but, it is not my writing stuff in focus, now, is it.
my view has not changed, The Girl On The Train remains one of the best novels i have ever read. whereas that was, say, 90% excellent and the last 10% "a bit" of a let down, here it's a tricky 10% to start off with and 90% sheer brilliance and thoroughly enjoyable reading. because of course one should always break literature down to numbers.
the tricky bit here is the disruptive, broken narrative. and you have about a dozen or so narrators. if this makes me a bit thick then so be it, but quite often in reading the book i had to flick back to the "list of characters" at the front of the book to remind me who was narrating and who they were narrating about. making this all the more of a challenge is that some characters get a third person narrator. quite complicated, but overall absolutely perfectly suits the tone and telling of the story.
from a traditional perspective, the "second" novel by a writer was always dismissed. either it was too similar to the first and considered lazy, or too different from the first and considered too radical a departure. somehow Paula Hawkins has managed to do precisely both of those things with this novel, and triumphed. undoubtedly i am very far indeed from being alone in really looking forward to the third.
and there you have it. two novels which i thoroughly enjoyed, and would have no hesitation whatsoever, or if you like at all, in recommending to others for reading pleasure. you cannot really as much more from a novel than that.
well, as ever, hopefully all of this has been of some use or interest to someone out there somewhere. many thanks for reading this, anyway!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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