so, some more reading, look you see. having read a further two novels, or if you want this to sound all posh and that "tomes", it has come to the time where i reflect on them, on the off chance that someone, anyone is particularly interested in my thoughts.
in sticking with a belief that continuity is a strength, the standard here would be to display an image of the books which were, or have been, read. this would then be followed by some spoiler free observations, with that it turn followed by further, if not quite deeper, comments on each.
let me not disrupt belief, continuity or strength, then.
the really splendid thing to say here is that Let Me Lie by Clare Mackintosh is truly brilliant. a wonderfully constructed mystery / thriller type of thing, and indeed the best advice i can give right now is to rather stop reading this, find a copy of the book and just read it. somewhat less splendid, but not awful, would be Ghost by James Swallow. this is the third in a series of books featuring a protagonist inexplicably called Marc Dane, and overall there are just too many tired flaws to see me go out of my way to praise anything good in it.
whereas i shall do my best to limit such, please note that a fabulous *** SPOILER WARNING *** is now in full effect for the remainder of this post. but, honestly, all you probably need to know is in the paragraph before this one. assuming my deft formatting is in place.
in respect of the all important provenance of my copy, as is becoming the standard that would be Tesco. whereas their "2 for £7" deal of splendid on books has long since changed to a less than splendid "2 for £8", they still have novels randomly priced at £2, £3 and sometimes £3.50. i am quietly confident that it was the latter, or if you like 50p south of £4, that i invested.
plot? a young new mother is coming to terms with both being a mother and the fact that her parents have died within the last year, separately but apparently by suicide. certain events and happenings start to make her believe that the deaths of her parents were maybe not quite so open and shut straightforward affairs as the police had initially concluded......
i am really reluctant and hesitant to say much more. other than the price, what attracted me to this novel was that i had read one by the author before. whereas for the life of me i cannot remember what it was - possibly I See You - there is an inescapable sense that i had that it was very good. this is just sheer brilliance. all twists and turns and red herrings and such time up very well for a consistently excellent read, with that consistency going all the way through to a highly satisfactory conclusion.
there does not feel like much more i can say without risking spoilers. also, i would perhaps just repeat myself (again), saying how excellent it is. let me rather leave it with the highest recommendation i can give you all, then. just read it.
yes, provenance. again this was Tesco, and i am almost sure it was their centralist £3 book of the week. but if it was £3.50 i dare say i would have paid, as i can remember getting all excited, recalling that the first of this series, Nomad, was really good. and that the second, whatever it was called (also one word title) was not bad.
of plot? Marc Dane and his merry band of well funded, not at all shy of killing people for the greater good organization called Rubicon are at it again. in this instance they are accidentally drawn into a massive, global plot to cause chaos, indeed "hold the world to ransom", via means of.....computer hacking and taking advantage of how we have made everything reliant on computers and something called an "internet". if it's on the internet, to be sure, then it can quite easily be hacked and controlled by someone else, no matter what it is or what "security" is in place.
yes, i hear the yawn. it seems that the go-to "bad guy" for many, many plots these days is "computer hackers" and the great evils of relying on internet connected computers for anything. even people what have been President of that there America place find it a most attractive plot device. who knew that Die Hard 4.0 (or Live Free Or Die Hard if American) would be the greatest source of inspiration for 21st century writers? in the case of Ghost, they also pretty much borrow the fine resolution to the problem posed in that film, which was when John McClane memorably sorted it all out by twatting a helicopter one with a car.
Ghost is supposed to be a pacy thriller, but at times it feels far too long and drawn out. this is because it is, really. there are Dickensian length chapters here, which just leaves you bored and distracted. i am surprised the editor or publisher did tell Mr Swallow to go back and chop it all up into much more agreeable chapter lengths. the much loved mother of a dear friend of mine once summed it up perfectly, she said that the perfect length for a chapter is "one that lasts exactly as long as you need to sit on the loo".
i persevered with the novel, for i can never bring myself to ditch one, but i am not convinced the resolution or payoff was worth that which i had invested. the overriding arc of the "series" of books, the supposedly righteous Rubicon Groups vs the presumed evil shady institution called Combine, really is going nowhere fast. there are hints that this will all be dragged out further, but in truth i am not sure that i am particularly interested. but watch me get all excited and make the purchase as and when the fourth volume is published.
anyway, that is about that. one really, really, really good book, one that i felt obliged to read and i bet that i end up reading the next one too. make of this what you will.
many thanks for reading, and as ever hopefully something here has been of some use to someone somewhere!
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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