of all the curious reasons why complete (as opposed to partial) strangers visit this site it would, look you see, be just great if some of them did so on a recurring dream of a reason to see my latest ramblings on books that i have read. in this respect i have been slack in allowing for that dream to be reached. sorry, i have been busy with this and that.
these are, as point of fact, two novels which i read to completion across the last month of 2018 and the first month of 2019. yet here we are in the second month of the latter year quoted. hey ho, oh well, better late than either never, or if you prefer more words to say the same thing, not at all.
a usual quick look and a spoiler free sort of overview thing? why, certainly.
in starting where i did, Don't Let Go is the third novel by Michel Bussi what i have read, and for all i know there are just the three what he has done. except i just did a google and found another that i had not heard of from 3 or so years ago. anyway, yes, it's another really good "crime / detective / thriller" novel. The Rebel's Revenge is the latest Ben Hope adventure from Scott Mariani. sure, much of it is ridiculous, but not as ridiculous as some previous exploits, and after a rather pedestrian start it kept me entertained sure enough.
right, then, as ever a luxuriant *** SPOILER WARNING *** is in place for the rest of this post, but i will do my best not to give too much away. to that end, whereas i doubt i could ever really do much to spoil one of those Ben Hope adventures, for to do so would be like saying "you don't know how a James Bond film will end", if you have any interest in reading Don't Let Go rather skip that part of this post and just get the book.
which leads to the provenance question that so many of you seem to think is of importance. yes, as you can see from the price sticker, this was bought in those hedonistic glory days when Tesco did 2 for £7 on books. that has gone now, of course, and they charge £8 for 2. still reasonable, bit also please note Asda still does 2 for £7, what a shame the nearest branch of which is quite far away from me.
plot? it's set on the island of Reunion, which sounds like a swanky place for tourists, less so for residents. one tourist, a beautiful lady, goes missing from her hotel room. when evidence starts to indicate that she's not so much missing as dead, and further indicates that it was her husband what done it, one gets the idea that this story, and the novel entire, is not going to be completed in six or seven chapters so much as it is six or seven pages. however, with somewhere just north or south of 400 pages to the novel, it is clear that there is much more going on than as first seems....
a superb read, really. with it all seeming to be straightforward, i found myself reading wondering what it is that was going to come along then. it is a fine skill this Bussi has, to lead a reader down a road of surprisingly fresh set of twists and turns in a murder / "whodunnit" / detective tale, leading to a destination of a satisfactory ending that does not rely on any cheap tricks or absurd, contrived conclusion points.
let me leave it there, then, in truth. if you are interested and did not heed the spoiler warning then i shall speak no more specifically of it all. but, yes, i have no hesitation in saying it is well worth a read.
provenance of my copy? it was a considerate and lovely gift in celebration of Christmas off of the family. but, for those of you looking as to where to get it, one would imagine that it can be obtained from the usual outlets and retailers.
the plot? Ben Hope has taken a brief break from twatting bad people so as to go on holiday. he has elected to go to one of them "deep south" places in the USA, so that he may enjoy some sort of jazz fusion gig by an artist who swears that it shall be his final ever such concert. a really rather unfortunate sequence of events happen, and wouldn't you know Ben ends up on the run from the coppers, and needs to resolve a secret revenge mission which has origins dating back to a betrayal which occurred during the American Civil War.
how wonderful to see Scott Mariani give his protagonist of choice a break from battling clichéd Russians, clichéd Arabians, clichéd Nazis and clichéd etcs so as he may battle clichéd redneck, "south of the border now boy" hillbilly (crude reference to Oedipus removed)s for a change. yes, its all creeks and illicit moonshine set ups and intricately poor tattoos, all the sort of things that us in the UK look at on in the USA with a sense of awe and wonder.
it all starts off fairly pedestrian, to be honest. not necessarily badly as such, but somewhat more slower than one expects. once the basics of the story kick in and it all kicks off, however, we, the readers, are on the frankly comfortable ground we have come to both want and expect from these novels. a somewhat low key central plot - it's not some lunatic wanting to cut the planet in half with a laser, for instance - and a (mostly) not too preposterous set of contrived twists serve to make this a rather reasonably enjoyable reading experience.
yes, indeed, regular readers, two proper books, as in paperbacks. from what i recall the last two or three set of reviews have featured the evils of one of them "ereaders". that was purely for convenience since my verk saw me travel a bit. with such travels behind me for the moment, that device is now safely tucked away again, then, only for use in emergencies.
and so, well, then, that is all of that for this post. once again, no idea if any of these posts are of any practical use to anyone, but happy days if it turns out that yes they are. whatever else you go ahead and read, thanks from me as ever for taking the time to read this.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment