Book #18 The Girl From Venice

The Girl from Venice by Martin Cruz Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ever since reading Gorky Park so many years ago I have been a fan of Martin Cruz Smith. So many thrillers; so much enjoyment. Smith is a master of his craft with a supreme gift for characterisation. The Girl From Venice rather took me by surprise. That same element of suspense but wrapped up in a love story set in Venice as World War II reaches a cataclysmic end for Italy. This is a powerful story encompassing the final days of the Wehrmacht SS, the Blackshirt fascists, the partisans - all jostling for position in the face of the final advance made by American military forces through northern Italy. The war is waning but Venice is still occupied.

Cenzo is a fisherman; whilst out on his boat Fatima he comes across a young woman's body floating in Venice lagoon. She is still alive. Giulia is a beautiful Jewish girl on the run from the Nazis. What will Cenzo do? Hand her over or try and protect her from certain execution from the dregs of the Wehrmacht SS who haunt the lagoon in their gunboats, hell bent on continuing their extermination of Jews. Cenzo's spontaneous act of kindness leads him and Giulia into a world of partisans, random executions, the mad Mussolini and broken promises, not the least from his own brother, Giorgio.

For me, this is a literary masterpiece; full of suspense against the backdrop of the final days of the war, set in the beauty and mystery of occupied Venice and the dark nature of the lagoon. Pitch perfect prose and great characterisation. An authentic story, full of atmosphere and persons I felt genuinely concerned about.

I loved it.



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Book #17 Dear Amy

Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Recent publications are peppered with psychological thrillers, a favourite genre of mine. I spotted Dear Amy in Waterstones; it sounded good and had many positive reviews and so I bought a copy of this debut thriller by Helen Callaghan. For the most part I am not difficult to please but for some reason Dear Amy did not resonate with me. It is well written and Callaghan has clearly done her homework concerning psychosis, PTSD, fugues, etc. much of which forms the background to the plot.

The key protagonist is Margot Lewis, agony aunt of the 'Dear Amy' advice column in the local Cambridge press. She becomes dismayed when receiving a letter purporting to be from Bethan Avery, who went missing as a young girl some twenty years ago. The letter must be a hoax? Further letters arrive, which happen to follow the disappearance of another teenager, Katie Browne. Lewis is convinced that the girls' disappearances are connected. Unlike the police she becomes consumed with finding the sender.

Sounds good, doesn't it? Well, yes and no for me. Whilst the plot is full of twists and turns there were many occasions when I just became irritated with Margot and the dreamscapes she experiences, which do provide clues to her real identity, although at times I found myself muttering "do get on with it" and, indeed, the last 50 pages or so do rack up the tension.

Thinking of other psychological thrillers I have read recently Dear Amy gets 3.5 stars from me.



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Book #16 Faversham Through Time

Faversham Through Time by Robert Turcan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My wife and I spent an enjoyable mid-week break last week at The Sun Inn, Faversham, a town in Kent just four miles from my birthplace. Faversham Through Time is a delightful social history of this charming, medieval town. King Stephen and his wife Matilda put Faversham on the map with the construction of a massive abbey, a building larger than Rochester Cathedral and for a brief time the town was the capital of England. The abbey suffered the same fate as so many during the period of the dissolution of monasteries.

Faversham is recognised as having been the cradle of the gunpowder industry. Explosives from the town's factories were used at Trafalgar and Waterloo. Today, Faversham is famed for its brewery industry. Britain's oldest brewery, Shepherd Neame, has its headquarters here and hops are still farmed locally.

Faversham retains its old-world pace of life and communal strength. Looking at photographs in the book with comparisons taken around 100 years ago with present day, it is evident that little has changed over the last century or so. I like that. Faversham is a beautiful place and this book is an exemplary record of the town and the persons who helped to make it what it is.

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Book #15 The Birdwatcher

The Birdwatcher by William Shaw
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This really is a page turner! Started yesterday, finished today. A book has to be exceptional for me to read so quickly. Seriously, I could not put it down. It is a stand alone although I understand this will be the first in a new series by William Shaw featuring DS Alexandra Cupidi. The title alone had me hooked. I too am a birdwatcher and I know the area well where this thriller is located.

The main protagonist, Sergeant William South, has never investigated murder - and for good reason. Sgt South himself is a murderer. (Not a spoiler - you learn this on page 1). He is a passionate birdwatcher and lives on the shingle wilderness of Dunge, where the nuclear power station is located. He has few relationships but when his only friend is found brutally beaten to death the plot really moves into overdrive. Just what is the secret that has haunted South all his adult life? And how will he fare with the new DS Cupidi, recently attached to Kent police from the Met?

The past is superbly intertwined with present day as more and more is revealed about William South in earlier years. The plot is relentless, the characters are totally believable and the whole is a brilliantly constructed thriller set in this atmospheric area of England.

Utterly compelling, I loved it. One of the best thrillers I have read and I highly recommend it without reservation.

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Book #14 Night Trains: The Rise and Fall of the Sleeper

Night Trains: The Rise and Fall of the Sleeper by Andrew Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am a helpless train buff with a passion for steam locomotives. Andrew Martin has written several books about railways and in Night Trains his passion for the golden age of European sleeper trains shines through. I share his enthusiasm; my last journey on a night train was on The Caledonian Sleeper from London Euston to Inverness in Scotland. Most of the famous night trains have fallen on hard times and the services are disappearing. Whose heart would not skip a beat at the possibility of travelling on Le Train Bleu or The Orient Express ? In trying to recreate these journeys Martin encounters intriguing characters and some of his anecdotes are highly amusing.

In one way or another the author manages to replicate routes followed by: The Blue Train, The Nordland Railway, Paris-Venice, The Orient Express, The Sud Express and The Berlin Night Express as he traverses the continent during 'interesting times'.

For him - and me for that matter - trains can still be the most civilised way to travel. He has an indomitable spirit when it comes to recreating these journeys as he faces many logistical problems. These add to the enjoyment of this fascinating read.

If you are a train buff, like me, you will - I am sure - thoroughly enjoy this book.

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Book #13 The Killing of the Tinkers

The Killing Of The Tinkers by Ken Bruen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I guess Jack Taylor is akin to marmite. You either love him or dislike him. Well, I love marmite, so there it is. Ken Bruen's clipped, staccato writing style pervades a brooding Irish landscape - windswept, rain-lashed Galway where Taylor has returned with a cocaine habit and little else after a year spent in London, apart from befriending Keegan, a DS in the Met, who is not averse to straying into criminal activity if the end justifies the means. Just as well for Jack when Keegan turns up unannounced in Galway. You would want Keegan on your side. Particularly when Jack is approached by Sleeper, a recognised king amongst tinkers. He wants Jack to find out who has been ruthlessly killing young travellers and dumping their bodies in the city centre....

This is raw, gutsy stuff. Jack hasn't changed his habits since being thrown out of the Irish Gardai. He drinks to excess almost daily and continues with his cocaine habit, albeit to a lesser degree. Laura helps to steer him away from a path of self destruction, for a while... And yet, beneath that hardened exterior beats a good heart. If he has a 'wedge' he will share it with the needy. Cross Jack at your peril.

This is the 2nd in the Jack Taylor series and I loved it as much as The Guards.

Sláinte !

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Book #12 The Guards

The Guards by Ken Bruen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The first of the Jack Taylor series by Ken Bruen, first published in 2001. Wonderful, dark Irish noir. Lyrical, funny and deeply moving. A blend of Chandler, Macdonald and Spillane with a deft, staccato rhythm that is unforgettable. Jack Taylor, dismissed from the Irish guardai for punching a senior officer (who deserved it by the way), becomes an alcoholic private eye (what else is he going to do?), ignores requests to return Item 8234 - a regulation garda all-weather coat ("Would I return it? Would I fuck") - stumbles in and out of and gets barred from most Galway bars and takes on a case to gather evidence that a teenage girl who committed suicide - didn't (or did she?) For me, this is a mesmerising work of crime fiction, so different to anything I have read before. Excuse me Ken but I feckin' loved it!

And a brief note to reviewers who have called Bruen's writing pretentious. Pretentious?! Re-read your own reviews. Isn't imitation the sincerest form of flattery? The Guards is original, hilarious and above all, it's Irish. Get it? I did....

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Book #11 Evil Games

Evil Games by Angela Marsons
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's five stars from me. The second in the D.I. Kim Stone series and another action-packed thriller from Angela Marsons. It is a while since I read Silent Scream so a catch-up was overdue. I had almost forgotten just how good that first book was and Evil Games is even better. There are a number of published series featuring female detectives - Helen Grace and Marnie Rome spring to mind. Kim Stone is up there with the best. There is a deep-rooted tragedy in Kim's past that she continues to struggle with and it makes her vulnerable to the influence of a truly evil sociopath. The story takes us into some dark places and some harrowing scenes as Kim and her bagman, Bryant investigate a brutal murder of a known rapist. As events unwind and the body count rises, Kim's intuition leads her down a path fraught with danger as she struggles to uncover the actions of an intelligent adversary - a cold, heartless individual who will try to manipulate Kim, using her past as a weapon.

It's another fast-paced, helter-skelter ride with excellent plotting and great characterisation.

I loved it.

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Book #10 The Light Between Oceans

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The light between oceans; I was trapped between two heartbreaking decisions. This is a powerful story and one that will cause you to shed tears. Isobel and Tom - two genuine people. One, a decorated First World War hero haunted by his own survival and the woman he marries, Isobel, a woman who knows what she wants. Tom is now a lighthouse keeper on Janus Island, remotely situated 100 miles from the Western Australia coast. The newly married couple live there, alone. When a boat washes up on the island shore it holds a dead man and a crying baby. Isobel has suffered miscarriages and yearns for a child. The decision they make to keep the baby as their own has such monumental and devastating impact on events that follow it will have you searching your own conscience as to what should be the ultimate conclusion to a story that will haunt me for some time. I am not embarrassed to admit I shed tears, particularly towards the end. Why? I cannot say without spoiling the story, which seems so real. Two people who follow their hearts to breaking point. A narrative that is so compelling and heartbreaking, in some ways as dark as a Greek tragedy, emotional, memorable and so moving.

Read it.

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Book #9 The Girl Before

The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am really at a loss to understand how any reviewer can give The Girl Before just two stars. There have been comments about the book being compared with Gone Girl and others; I have seen none of this. Indeed, I had not seen or heard about it until I picked up a copy in a local bookstore and bought it. When my favourite author says: "I devoured it" and Lee Child said: "Dazzling - a pitch-perfect psychological thriller" - that was good enough for me. And like Peter James - I devoured it. The Girl Before is perfectly crafted, so well written, almost claustrophobic in the location of One Folgate Street, a unique, ultra-minimalist house designed by an enigmatic architect - with a tenancy agreement that is so comprehensive with a long list of exacting rules that most would be applicants are put off. But not Emma (then) and Jane (now). Jane - who wonders who lived here previously and where is she now? Has something terrible happened here - happened to the girl before? Emma's past and Jane's present become more and more entwined in this fast paced portrayal of psychological obsession.

An excellent, tense, page-turner. I love it.

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