Book #56 Absolute Proof

Absolute Proof by Peter James
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Proof is the enemy of faith

For a moment I thought I had stumbled into the pages of a book by Simon Toyne or even Dan Brown. Does God exist? What of the God Particle and the Big Bang Theory? And if two particles collided at the beginning of time and created the universe - who put them there in the first place?

Ross Hunter finds himself faced with this dilemma. Hunter is a successful freelance journalist; he is contacted by Dr Harry F. Cook, a former RAF officer and a retired history of art professor at Birmingham University: ”I know this is going to sound strange but I’ve recently been given absolute proof of God’s existence - and I’ve been advised there is a writer, a respected journalist called Ross Hunter, who could help me to get taken seriously”. Could such proof really exist? Hunter is sceptical but intrigued. To be able to publish such a momentous story could be the making of him and his expectant wife, Imogen.

Who else might want to lay their hands on such ‘evidence’? The Vatican? The Anglican church? High-profile militant atheists? Big pharma organisations? Or perhaps a forty-six-year old evangelist preacher, Pastor Wesley Wencelas, who has amassed huge wealth from the gullible? Throw them all into the mix and you have a thriller of ‘divine’ proportions! Hunter will put himself in serious harms way to seek the proof, our Lord’s DNA… The Archbishop of Canterbury tells him: ”This is on a different scale to anything you’ve delved into before. You are tackling the most fundamental question for humankind. And there are a lot of people in the world who would use religious belief to legitimise violence….”.

And how on earth could Michael Henry Delaney, an ageing American close magician, be involved?

Peter James has tackled a very difficult subject. The idea for the book was first given to him in 1989. Read how he copes with the most fundamental question for humankind.

And a quite stunning ending!!

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Book #55 When The Music's Over

When the Music's Over by Peter Robinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am a fan of DCI Banks on TV - presently watching re-runs on ITV3. Strangely though, I have only read one previous book by Peter Robinson. I've jumped in at No. 23 here. Alan Banks has been promoted to Detective Superintendent but still retains his active status. Annie Cabbot is now a DI. Familiar characters. Banks has to investigate allegations of rape back in the 60s; Linda Palmer was attacked aged just 14 by celebrity entertainer Danny Caxton, now in his 80s. A case that is as old as they come and has all the hallmarks of similar events with Jimmy Saville and Rolf Harris.

Meanwhile Cabbot is brought in to investigate the vicious beating and murder of a 15-year-old girl found in a remote countryside lane.

The investigations are slow and frustrating. Two young girls, two unspeakable crimes in a labyrinthine plot. The dialogue is spot on. This is how conversation is so realistic, unspectacular language in Robinson's hands. This is top notch police procedure that spans 482 pages - perhaps a tad too long.

Nevertheless a very satisfying read.

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Book #54 The Body on the Shore

The Body On The Shore by Nick Louth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A successful architect, Peter Young, is assassinated - shot with two bullets through his office window. A body is found on a remote Lincolnshire shore. Two Albanian children, adopted by a wealthy couple, Sophie and Dag Lund, suddenly disappear. Abducted? Are these seemingly unrelated events connected in any way? DCI Craig Gillard was the on-call detective in Surrey when Young was killed. How was Young shot through his 2nd storey office window? From a high vantage point?

Strange symbols are found at the various locations. Geoff Meadows, a former detective chief superintendent at the National Crime Agency is one of the few experts on Albanian crime outside academia. He recognises the symbol as the triple-headed eagle of the Dragusha clan, a notorious Albanian mafia family.

The police investigation will find connections that take Gillard to Albania and become embroiled in the blood feud between the Dragusha and Kreshniki crime families. Assisted by Sergeant Tokaj:

'This is the empire of blood,' Tokaj said, spreading his hands. 'Built on violence, extended through marriage, cemented by corruption and bulwarked by fear.'

Why is Gillard in Albania? Why has he put himself in harm's way? No more spoilers. Read it and find out. The Body on the Shore is different - full of menace and dark moments and a totally unexpected twist that is breathtaking in its audacity.


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Book #53 My Life: It's a Long Story

My Life: It's a Long Story by Willie Nelson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"Roll me up and smoke me when I die" Yes, I've got the t-shirt!

I have loved Willie Nelson's music for longer than I can remember and in his 8th decade his voice has mellowed but still resonates with me (might be something to do with all the cannabis he has smoked though!). Willie Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor and activist. He was inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993, when he was sixty years of age.

My Life: It's a Long Story is the definitive autobiography of Willie Nelson. "Songs come easy to me. I've written hundreds of them. I see them as little stories that fall out of our lives and imaginations. If I have to struggle to write a song, I stop before I start. I figure if it don't flow easy, it's not meant to be"

Nelson is no saint. Married four times with numerous children this is a story of restlessness and the purity of the moment and living right. From his childhood in Abbott, Texas to the Pacific Northwest, from Nashville to Hawaii and all the way back again. This is a story of true love, wild times, best friends and bar-rooms, with a musical soundtrack ripping right through it. His music can make me laugh and make me cry. His book leaves no stone unturned, a story told as clear as a Texas sky.

I loved it and I want to visit Abbott, Texas before someone rolls me up....



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Book #52 The Katharina Code

The Katharina Code: The Cold Case Quartet, Book 1 by Jørn Lier Horst
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Like the adagio of a symphony, The Katharina Code is beautifully written. A slow movement that spans twenty-five years as chief inspector William Wisting revisits the file on missing Katharina Haugen, every year on the anniversary of her disappearance. Wisting and Katharina's husband Martin have become well acquainted over the years, but searches of Martin's house have led them no closer to an answer. Steinar Vassvik lived immediately opposite; he was the closest the police had come to a suspect in the case - the last person to have seen Katharina.

The case becomes more involved when Adrian Stiller arrives from the National Criminal Investigation Service based in Oslo. He is working on another case: the Nadia Krogh kidnapping that occurred in the late eighties. One of the most notorious cases in Norwegian crime history. Both events occurred in close proximity.

And there we have two plots that intertwine as police and suspects circle each other. As Wisting comes to realise that the answer had been hidden in plain sight for so many years...

Comparisons with Wallander are inevitable (although he was Swedish). Jørn Lier Horst is certainly the equal of Henning Mankell, writing in perfect prose, the perfect slow-burning thriller.

My thanks to Michael Joseph and NetGalley for my ARC of The Katharina Code.

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Book #51 You Let Me In

You Let Me In by Lucy Clarke
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So I thought - 400 odd pages, read 100 pages a day and finish in four days. Yeah, right! Be prepared for You Let Me In to grip you from the get go. I could not put this down - well, had to to get some sleep - finished in two sittings - breathless! Wow! An author, Lucy Clarke, writing about an author, Elle Fielding. An internationally recognised and highly successful author based on the publication of her first book. Fame, wealth and enough income to buy a cliff-top property in Cornwall and rebuild a stunning home with beautiful sea views. Sounds good, huh? And Elle is busy writing her second book - oh dear - insomnia, writer's block and a publication deadline to meet. And if she doesn't her world will come collapsing down...

"Have a sense of how your story will end - but allow yourself to step into your character's shoes and be surprised." Author Elle Fielding.

Sounds good. But Elle needs to bolster her income to cover her mortgage and is persuaded to rent her house through Airbnb for a fortnight whilst she attends a book function in France. That sent an early shiver down my spine. Heard too many tales of woe about such rentals. Now, when Elle returns, watch out for the suspense to start. It will creep under your skin. Menace abounds in spades. Who the hell has been in Elle's house? Small events build to something sinister. Does her sister Fiona know anything about these events? After all it was her who welcomed the Airbnb renters. Didn't she?

I cannot say much more about the plot without spoiling too much. But I must say this. You Let Me In has one of the most unexpected twists I have ever read. But wait, a final and further outrageous twist that left me completely blindsided!

Lucy Clarke has written an absolute cracker, one of my best reads this year and highly recommended.

My thanks to HarperCollins publishers, NetGalley and Lucy Clarke for my ARC.

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Book #50 Sentenced to Life

Sentenced to Life by Clive James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Near to death, but thankful for life". This is how Clive James described himself in March 2015 in a BBC radio interview. An atheist suffering with terminal leukemia. Sentenced To Life is a collection of poems he wrote during the period 2011-2014, published in 2015 by Picador. Complex, lyrical poems - stark and unsentimental. Anticipating death he writes with a laconic style.

In Cabin Baggage he talks about his niece coming from Australia to stay with him:
"...But she'll be gone before the peaches come.
On days of burning sun, the air is tinged
With salt and eucalyptus. 'Why am I
Leaving all this behind? I feel a fool'.
But I can tell from how she writes things down
The distance will assist her memories
To take full form. She travels to stay still.
I wish I'd been that smart before I left.
Instead, I have to dig deep for a trace
Of how the beach was red hot underfoot,
The green gold of the Christmas beetle's wing."

James writes with insight and emotional power 'the work of a lifetime, at least so far'.


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