blimey. well, after dragging my feet reading the last two (2) novels before these, i seem to have got through these ones fairly quick. perhaps it's a reaffirmed love of reading what has caught hold of me, or simply a bit more free time on an evening, look you see.
keeping to a set way of doing things isn't always a bad approach. indeed it is so that virtually every employer, or "big business" out there, appoints someone or other what feels they know best, or have to make a mark, and so f*** about with stuff for no reason. so, let's stick with an image of the books, a brief overview and then some more details. details which might be considered to contain spoilers.
commencing left (yours, probably) and The White Knight off of Scott Mariani was a surprisingly good, well above average Ben Hope adventure. as in really, really good. then there is The Satsuma Complex, being as it is the debut fiction work of the most beloved Bob Mortimer. not bad as such, but still, not one which i would herald as a great.
right then, on to a bit more on each. although, to be fair (or in fairness) all you need to know of either is probably right there. but, should you wish to read on, please note that a *** SPOILER WARNING *** is in place, just in case.
provenance of this one? so long ago i forget, but going on the entire lack of stickers i will take it as a given from Tesco. for some reason they make these Scott Mariani novels a tie in with a newspaper, so it probably cost £3 plus the price of an edition of whichever newspaper it was. for those what like to keep track, the next one, which i may well read in a few months, was bought mostly with some vouchers off of them.
and the plot? quite possibly one of the more if not absurd then outlandish ones in this series, yet it improbably works. an old friend of Ben Hope, who happens to be a multi billionaire and is a member of a secret, possibly (potentially) sinister gang of billionaires, by some miracle survives a well orchestrated attack. the one family member what Hope previously saved calls him in, and he is given unlimited resources to hunt down those responsible.
it really really does test the limits of what is plausible, this one. even, yes, in the realms of sheer fun, thrills and adventure in which this book exists. but, in a welcome change, here Mariani isn't just ticking off requisite formula boxes. it's enthralling and engaging, with note perfect pacing. huh, i would like to think that is the kind of quote which might appear on a book as a review, if i had more than a dozen or so people reading this to give such any value.
one issue here is, of course, that the book is part of a series. i have little or no doubt that i would likely enjoy books by (and i think i have the names right) Harlan Coben (sp) and Lee Child, but i just don't know if i have the time or budget to do them all. with this one, The White Knight, you would likely have needed to read a few of the others (at least) for it to all make sense. yet as i have read them all i am not sure. Mariani does throw in some background details as he goes, mind.
from where did i procure my copy? actually pretty sure it was in a London (innit) chapter of Tesco. no stickers or anything, likely it was their "book of the week" for £4.50, although going on who the author is i may have paid their full whack £5.50 for it.
plot? oh boy. a sequence, or series, of unusual events which affect ostensible protagonist Gary, a solicitor in that there London (innit) over the course of a few weeks. well, also affecting his neighbour and her dog, his coffee seller of choice and a few others. murder is indeed kind of involved too, along with the police and a few other interested parties.
yes, the somewhat peculiar (and not out of character for author) title does make sense (kind of) as you read, but no, i am certainly not going to give that information away here.
essentially, and to be brutally honest, The Satsuma Complex feels like the residue of characters created for a sitcom that felt too flimsy for a six part series so got lumped into a flimsy, breezy, whimsical novel. that feels somewhat harsh, but yet here we are. once in a while the natural comic genius of Bob seeps through in the pages. sadly, or alas, not really as frequently as you may have expected. it is very far away from being the worst "celebrity novel" what i have read, but some distance from being the best, too. one rather suspects this may well be as much as the end of Bob Mortimer's fictional career as it is a start, but there's enough to suggest him doing another one wouldn't be entirely bad.
right then, that would be that for these books. actually, overall, i did enjoy them, it's just that the Bob Mortimer one wasn't the huge level of laughs i had anticipated. worth a go, though.
let's see if i can sustain this pace of reading. very much doubt it, but who knows, i may all of a sudden end up in a scenario where i am sat for (many) hours with nothing much of anything to do but read.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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