4 out of 5 stars
On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE
How I discovered this book: It was a submission to Rosie Amber's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.
This is a spy story set in England and Germany during Hitler's rise to power and the first year of the Second World War. John King, a history lecturer, is invited to become an undercover agent, and, despite the realisation of how dangerous and lonely his life will become, he agrees.
What I liked about this book
- The author clearly knows his subject inside out and, I would imagine, has a great interest in it, as opposed to just having done the research required to produce this novel; you can tell the difference. I feel that A P Martin has an innate understanding of the era itself, and the people who lived within it.
- The section before the war, when agent King witnesses the 'gathering storm' of Nazi Germany, is excellent, and SS man Joachim Brandt's witnessing of Dunkirk, from the point of view of a German spy, is outstanding. I loved these two parts.
- I thought the plot was well thought out, generally, and it kept me interested throughout.
- The understated communication between King and his controller, Pym, was most believeable. The characterisation of Pym and Brandt was particularly good, as was that of misguided informant Abigail Stevenson; Brandt's duplicitous relationship with her was executed very well, as was Brandt's developing character, as he grows from patriot to confirmed Nazi. There's a key scene were he slaughters some POWs, which triggers him off; it's so well done.
- The build up to the war, with the growing danger in Germany, the differing attitudes to Hitler, and the many theories about his intentions, was fascinating, and gave such insight into how that time must have been for different people across both countries.
What I was not so sure about
- I found some elements early in the book less than convincing; at the beginning, King is with his friends in Germany in 1933, and everyone speaks in perfectly formed sentences, giving just the right amount of information to the reader; the conversation didn't seem real.
- I wasn't convinced by the romance with Greta; I found their Christmas together in 1938 not a last idyllic, romantic few days before the war, but a mildly interesting account of activities. Greta never came across to me as a living, flesh and blood woman. However, it was no worse than the depiction of women by some well-known writers of this genre, Jeffrey Archer to name but one.
- I would urge Mr Martin to seek out a proofreader who knows how to punctuate ~ there are scores of missing or incorrectly placed commas, and the curious placing of quotations marks around proper nouns (eg, 'Lords Cricket Ground'). I didn't find any spelling mistakes or typos, though.
- The ending. The book just stopped. The main conflict of the plot is resolved, and satisfactorily, but it seemed almost as though the author had forgotten that minor story threads needed resolution, too. I turned the page expecting another chapter, or at least an epilogue, but that was that.
This book has much to commend it, hence the four stars; the parts I liked, I liked very much indeed, but I feel it needs a bit of 'sorting out' by a really good editor, perhaps a trimming down and removing of mundane detail, to make it the first class novel it deserves to be. I think lovers of 'old school' sort of spy stories will love it.
4 out of 5 stars
On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads: HERE
How I discovered this book: I'd read The Beaufort Bride (liked it) and The Beaufort Woman (loved it), so I thought I'd try another by Ms Arnopp. The subject of this book is Katherine (Katheryn) Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII, a woman who has always interested me.
I loved how this book was structured, ie, the whole story told from four different first person points of view. It starts off during the Pilgrimage of Grace, the uprisings in the north following Henry's reformation of the English church, and this part is told from the point of view of Margaret, Katherine's stepdaughter from her second marriage. Showing events at court and in the country from this young girl's point of view was an artful way of giving the backdrop to Katherine's life before she married the King, and I very much liked Ms Arnopp's invention about Margaret being infatuated with well-known rake Francis Bryan.
Next, Katherine's own section. I liked it, but thought it a little rushed through; I had no sense of years passing, and occasionally I felt I was having facts about her life related to me, rather than being told a story. One minute Katherine would be hoping she could reconcile Henry's family, and in the next paragraph it would be done, and the Anne Askew affair/the threat of Katherine's own arrest was over and done with in a few pages. But I did still like it, which is a nod to Ms Arnopp's ability to keep the reader turning the pages - and I'm the first one to moan if a book is too long-winded! Henry VIII was portrayed so well, and it got much better towards the end, with Katherine's desperation at being ousted as soon as people like Edward Seymour realised Henry was dying.
And then we come to the other well-known rake, Thomas Seymour. This part was excellent. I like that Ms Arnopp did not tell the story of Seymour and Katherine as star-crossed lovers; her insight into the chancer that he probably was is a terrific piece of writing. I've read before about the sexually orientated rough and tumbles between him and the young Elizabeth Ist and found the scenario most peculiar, as Katherine was not only aware of but actually witnessed them (and even joined in) on occasion, but in this book I had the feeling that she would put up with anything just to keep Thomas's love, rather than being naive about what was really going on.
The story is ended with a short part from Elizabeth's point of view, as we learn about the aftermath of Katherine's time as queen and subsequent errors of judgement, though, indeed, some would say that she at last found some true happiness. I liked the viewpoint that Katherine had an influence on how Elizabeth conducted herself in later years, too; she probably did.
I am sure I will be back for another book by this author in the not too distant future.
4 out of 5 stars
On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE
How I discovered this book: It was a submission to Rosie Amber's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.
This is the debut novel from Jennie Ensor, and it's one of which she should be proud. Set in mid-noughties London, it's a fairly standard spurned-lover-as-stalker plot, but with a lot more to it. Middle class marketing exec Georgie only ever wanted to be friends with Julian, but when she starts a relationship with Russian immigrant Nikolai, she discovers that she never really knew Julian at all. Alongside this storyline is the dark shadow of terrorism relating to the London bombings of the time - and Georgie's growing fears that Nikolai might be involved.
I admit to being slightly underwhelmed by the beginning; both dialogue and narrative are rather bland, with opportunities for more 'colour' missed, and, when Georgie succumbs to sex with Julian after a drunken evening, I never got the impression that she was drunk; I actually forgot she was meant to be. Happily, the pace and intrigue stepped up very quickly, and I began to really enjoy it. I thought Julian was revolting from the outset, and I didn't begin to warm to Georgie until later on; Nikolai, on the other hand, was lovely. The characterisation was very good all the way through. I cared what happened to the two main characters, which is all important.
The novel is extremely well structured, planned and edited. I particularly liked that the backstory about both Georgie and Nikolai appeared in dribs and drabs, all the way through, which kept my interest. There aren't many surprises, but certainly enough suspense to call this book a thriller, albeit quite a low-key one. But it's a love story, more than anything, I think. It's intelligently written, with much background about the war in Chechnya and Nikolai's experiences, which were shockingly fascinating and made the book so much more than just a stalker story.
I was glad that Georgie was not portrayed as a victim, though I found it unrealistic that she didn't guess, immediately, that Julian was behind threats to Nikolai, too (this isn't a spoiler, it's fairly obvious!). The only other bit that niggled me was minor - Georgie displays a shock-horror attitude when her lover suggests they go camping together, and is, apparently, ignorant of all such practices. Yet she's supposed to be a keen, fairly long distance hiker...
The ending was pleasing, though the odd surprise or revelation wouldn't have gone amiss; the last few chapters were little more than a wrapping up. I'd say that Ms Ensor is a talented writer, for sure, and I enjoyed this book. I felt that it could have done with a little bit more spark, but it's very well written, and a fine debut.
3.5 out of 5 stars
On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE
How I discovered this book: It was a submission to Rosie Amber's Book Review Team, of which I am a member.
The debut novel from this author, who uses a pen name, Didn't Get Frazzled is about a few years in the life of Seth, a graduate medical student in New York. The novel intersperses darkly humorous scenes during Seth's training, with the ongoing drama of his personal life. It's intelligently written, well put together, amusing in parts, and I thought the dialogue and the characterisation good (Seth's girlfriend, April, is particularly so; dreary as hell, and takes herself far, far too seriously). The contrast between hospital and personal life is well balanced, each giving more weight to the other. The banter in the practical classes is believable, and it's clear that the author knows exactly what he's talking about, all the way through it - nothing like writing what you know!
So why only 3.5 stars? The reason that I haven't given it the 4 that most of the book merits is that I almost abandoned it three times. I nearly decided it was a 'no' during the first chapter, which I assumed to be written from experiences of the author's own. You know when someone tells you about something funny that happened to them, and it sort of trails off with them saying, "Oh well, I suppose you had to be there."? That's what this felt like; a bunch of 'in' jokes. I could see how funny it should have been but it just ... wasn't. Another time was during the description of an intimate examination of an obese woman. It wasn't daringly warts-and-all, it was just disgusting. I actually closed my Kindle and opened my laptop to write my decline-to-review email, but then I thought, no, I've already spent a few hours reading this.
I found the parts about Seth's personal life the most interesting to read, very well done, but I wonder if the in-hospital sections might contain too much medical info, etc, for your average reader; I did find myself glazing over by about half way through. And it is, at times, really quite revolting. But other bits are very good. I'm in two minds about it; I would imagine that if you're a medical student, you will LOVE it!
5 out of 5 stars
On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE
How I discovered this book: I've read and reviewed a few of this author's books, and had just read the prequel, Desert Places - had to know what happened next!
Desert Places was jolly good, but this is even better. Obviously I can't say anything about the plot because it's a sequel, and it would give away what happens in Book One, so I'll give the reasons why I liked it:
There's no exposition-type recapping of the previous book, and the situation of the main character, writer Andrew Thomas, seven years on from the end of the last book, is all that you would hope for him. He's in Yukon, and I loved the description of the lonely cabin where he lives (okay, okay, I wanted to live there too....). When the psychopathic Luther Kite beckons, though, he can't help responding....
The pace is terrific. It alternates between characters, and from first to third person, and each change is just right, building the suspense perfectly - I'd swear that on occasion I got that adrenalin flutter of excitement as I moved from one section to another!
The new characters brought in are terrific - there's young Christian detective, Violet, plus Andrew's 'biggest fan', Horace Boone... and the parents of the evil killer.
It's realistic - although all books of this type (serial killer thrillers in which your average guy takes on ultimate evil) can get a little far-fetched, all of this is well within the bounds of feasibility. It's not predictable, either. Just when you think it's going to be okay, it gets bad again. And Crouch shows no fear about killing off people you badly, badly want to stay alive.....
A fab example of its type. Really looking forward to the next one, Break You. The reviews for that aren't so good... we'll see. Incidentally, like all Blake Crouch books, this one finishes by about 80%, followed by excerpts from other books and bits and bobs generally telling you how awesome Blake Crouch is. I don't mind this, if the book's been really good, but some people feel ripped off by anything that doesn't end at 99%, so I thought I'd better mention it.
