LATER by Stephen King

 4.5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads 

How I discovered this book: Amazon browse

In a Nutshell:

I love some Stephen King (The Stand, Misery, Thinner, IT before the bit at the end with the daft spider), but am not a massive fan, finding some of them unnecessarily long with too many daft spiders, etc, but that fabulous cover made me look twice.

Jamie Conklin can see dead people.  As he explains, not like in the Bruce Willis film; he sees them just after they die, for a short period of time until they fade away.  During this time he can talk to them - and once dead, they never lie.

Jamie lives in New York with his mother Tia, a literary agent.  He was a young child when he first discovered he could see the dead; terrified of this at first, he learns to live with it.  The story takes a darker turn when others want to exploit his gift for their own ends.

Of course Mr King is a master storyteller and this had me pretty much glued to the page all the way through; it's gripping, funny, sinister and relatable, all at once, and coasts along nicely, always with the hint that something much, much worse is going to happen.  I enjoyed the whole New York vibe, though I was disappointed by the ending - it just sort of stops.  Like King couldn't think of a really good way to end it, so he wrote the last big action scary bit then wrapped it up.  There's a bit of a twist at the end, but it doesn't have that much bearing on the story.  It's a good length for a quick, couple of days read - about 230 pages - and a book I looked forward to getting back to each time.  If it'd had a worthy ending, I'd have given it 5*.

NEW YORK 1609 by Harald Johnson #RBRT @AuthorHarald

5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book: it was submitted to Rosie's Book Review Team, of which I am a member, but I didn't choose it at first; I did so after reading this review on the blog of Sean, another team member.

In a Nutshell: A fictionalised history of the invasion of the land that became New York, and the city's founding.

A terrific novel, telling of the 'discovery' of Manhattan Island by Henry Hudson, and the beginning of the callous and careless ruination of the Native American way of life.  

The main character is the part-white Dancing Fish, who believes he is gifted with insight into the ways of the 'visitors' from the east.  The story starts in 1609 and moves, through four parts, through to the 1640s, as gradually the Manahate and other tribes are pushed out of their land; the book tells, also, of how they begin to take on the ways of the white man, and become less self-sufficient, something that saddens Dancing Fish.

This is a long book, but at no time did it feel over-written or padded out.  It seems like a foreshadowing of many years to come, as the greed and cunning of the 'civilised' treads into the ground and destroys a culture that had existed, successfully, for hundreds of years; indeed, it makes one question the meaning of the word 'civilised'.  Only once or twice did we see the Europeans' respect for the natives' affinity with the land, in Henry Hudson, in Boucher, an early explorer who was left behind by his party, and Marie, his daughter.

In the latter part of the story, the settlers' treatment of the natives is unbelievably brutal, sickening and heartbreaking, made worse because you know that all this and more really happened. But the ending is not without hope; Johnson's characters have a wisdom far beyond most of their enemies.

Johnson finishes with notes, in brief, about what happened afterwards, and explains which parts of his story have their grounding in fact.  Highly recommended.

DIDN'T GET FRAZZLED by David Z Hirsch

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!

FAMOUS by Blake Crouch

4 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE

How I discovered this book:  The first book I read and reviewed by this author was Abandon, after reading a review for it on Between The Lines book blog.  I have since read and reviewed Run and Snowbound.  I happened to notice this one as a suggestion on my Kindle app, when I'd just finished my last book, and couldn't resist letting it queue-jump the to-read list ;)

This is a long novella length story (or perhaps a short novel, I didn't count the words!), and a fair bit different from others I've read by this author.  Although there are moderately horrific elements, it's essentially a darkly humorous contemporary tale, about a man called Lancelot Blue Dunquist who happens to be the exact double of famous Hollywood star James Jansen.  All his life he has had a plan, and one day circumstances conspire to make him put it into action.

I love the way Blake Crouch writes, and this story is great fun.  As with Run and Snowbound, though, I felt myself having to do the belief suspension thing just a little bit too often.  Lance's character is fairly fluid, changing to fit the plot; he's a 38 year old who has lived with his small town parents in South Carolina all his life, happens to be incredibly handsome, and moderately self-confident and intelligent, but has only ever slept with one girl, 18 years before, and has no social life.  At times he seems entertainingly naive, which is reasonable considering his lack of life experience, yet at other times displays a sharp insight that seems unlikely to have evolved, given his story-so-far.

I won't be giving out too much in the way of spoilers if I say that he pretends to be James Jansen, but where it became a bit too ludicrous even for belief-suspended-me was when people that Jansen knew well were taken in by the charade.  The end is great, a terrific twist in the tale, but, again, impossible - however much you look like someone, you can't fake medical records!  On the other hand, it's a smoothly written, never-a-dull-moment, entertaining romp, so maybe all these things don't matter too much; I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it.  Just :)

HERE WE STAND 1: Infected by Frank Tayell (Surviving the Evacuation Series)

4.5 out of 5 stars

Zombie Apocalypse, US

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE

When your immediate reaction on finishing part one in a series is to download part 2 and start reading straight away, you've got to give the book at least 4.5 stars, haven't you?  Shame it's not out yet!

I've read most of Frank Tayell's version of this story set in England, and in this sub-series we meet again the character of Sholto, alias Tom Clemens (alias various other names), with whom Bill Wright from England made contact in Book 1 of Surviving the Evacuation.

Tom's life is in tatters following the partial uncovering of a conspiracy against - well, the whole world, really, and he's a wanted man.  Then the virus is unleashed, and all around is mayhem.  He escapes New York with a woman called Helena, and together they flee north, avoiding zombies and various people who want to kill them as they go.  They're not as expert at dealing with their new situation as I would have expected; don't these people watch The Walking Dead??!  But they're learning....

I wasn't sure about the book at first, as it seemed a little rushed and in need of tidying up, but it gets better and better as it goes along, and by the last third I was completely engrossed and eagerly await more.  Highly recommended, if you like well-written zombie apocalypse series that have more behind them than just some unexplained virus, and are not too heavy on the goo and gore.

Reviews for other books in the Surviving the Evacuation series HERE 

THE BAD GIRL by L Donsky-Levine

4.5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE

Reviewed by me as part of Rosie Amber's Review Team 

I liked this book a lot.  It's witty, sharp, unusual, touching and so well written.  Set in downtown New York in the 1970s, this is a fairly long novella about Riley, a lonely girl working in the sex trade with no company except her beloved cats, and Fitz, a one-armed Vietnam vet. 

I read in the author's bio that she's a native New Yorker, and her knowledge of and love for the city is so apparent in this story.  It's what I think of as warts-and-all New York, the impression I had of it when I was growing up—more 1970s cop show than Carrie Bradshaw and Mr Big! 

The story is mostly told from Riley's point of view, but there are some lovely and clever sections through the eyes of cat Samson, the last one of which made me cry.  It's not like anything else I've read for some time, and unlike some novellas that seem as though they're a novel squashed into something too short, this is exactly the right length.  There's an element of dark comedy to it, too.  I loved Riley, Fitz, Samson and old Bennie Sadowski who befriends Riley in her hour of need.  You will, too :)

It's great - Ms L-D is a terrific writer and I'd like to read more by her.  Definitely recommended.

LETTING GO by Kimberly Wenzler

4 out of 5 stars

Family drama

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE

Reviewed by me as part of Rosie Amber's Review Team  

I was confused as to how to review this book as it's difficult not to give the whole theme of the story away, so I'm going to tiptoe through it.  Suffice to say that there's a great surprise very early on that made me think, "oh, clever!", and I imagine it will have the same effect on you!

Set in Long Island, New York, Letting Go shows wife and mother Lucy observing how the the shocking event of 2007 (I'm not telling you!) affects husband Max, son Sam, best friend Hope, and even the troubled babysitter, Benjamin, whose story runs concurrently.  It's a great idea, and Kimberly Wenzler has made a good job of it.

The novel is very well presented and nicely written, the characterisation very good, particularly Max, I thought.  He's a writer whose creativity is facing a brick wall; his emotions zigzag through many highs and lows.  I thought he was so realistically written.

The people in this story live a conventional, middle class life, with conventional attitudes, a little too much so for me; Lucy describes her 'picket fence' existence.  She's quite a 'girly' sort of woman (who went down in my estimation when she described the brilliant 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy as 'incredibly dreary'!), but you couldn't not like her.

The only problem I had with this novel was that it was a bit short on plot; not much happens.  It's emotionally driven, an exploration of family relationships, to a large extent.  That's not to say there isn't a proper plot, there is, and it has several strands, but domestic detail, incidental conversation and Lucy's observations/impressions form a large part of it; elements of conflict are touched on only lightly, and I kept thinking there was going to be something to get my teeth into only to find that the drama I hoped for didn't happen.  However, it's well put together and is a book you can put down and pick up again without having to remember the kind of intricate detail that has me searching back over previous pages.  There was one relationship I saw brewing very early on (and I was glad I was right, I wanted it to happen!), and a mystery is solved at the end in an unpredictable and very convincing way.

One very positive aspect of this story is that the subject could have been oozing with schmaltz, but it's not.  I don't do tearjerkers at all, and wondered if this might become overly so, but it didn't, it's the sort of book that makes you feel a little bit sad and smile a little bit, but doesn't slap it on with a trowel.  

I think this will be greatly enjoyed by people who like a slow-paced, emotionally orientated study of family relationships, with plenty to ponder over.  It's certainly an original idea, and is very well executed.  

WHAT HAPPENS TO MEN WHEN THEY MOVE TO MANHATTAN by Jill Knapp

3.5 out of 5 stars

Chick Lit

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE

Reviewed by me as part of Rosie Amber's Book Review Team 

When I started to read this novel I realised that I am probably at least twice the age of its target audience, but, hey, some of all this stuff still seems like yesterday, so I'll do my best! 

It's a book about which I kept changing my mind as I was reading.  I thought it needed a bit of tightening up generally.  It's nicely written, witty in places and easily readable; Jill Knapp's got the right sort of voice for a book about young women in Manhattan.  Some of it I liked very much and there were some good observations about relationships to which I reckon a lot of women, young and old, could relate.  There's an excellent confrontation with a two-timing douchebag at 68%, too!  My main problem with it, though, was that it's a bit light on plot.

Basically, graduate student Amalia is having a rough time with men/working out what she wants in life, and her friends aren't faring much better.  That's kind of it.   I found some of the story a bit hard to get my head round; Amalia's long term relationship with Nicholas has levelled off to the extent that she has the emotional headspace to fall in love with Michael, yet she is heartbroken when she and Nicholas part company, a situation for which there is not sufficient explanation for a novel that's solely about romantic relationships, not to mention the fact that Nicholas metamorphoses into a completely different character later on in the book.  I thought her 'is it/isn't it' relationship with Michael was very real indeed, but there wasn't enough actual drama in it to make the situation very compelling to read about.  Not enough happened.  Also, I kept getting mixed up between her friends, particularly Christina and Cassandra; one less of them might have been a good idea.

I liked the bits about her brother and the observations about New Yorkers, and think this book would be enjoyed by plenty of young women who like very current sort of chick lit/light romance.  It's set up for the sequel by there not being much end resolution, but that's okay; it works.  It's worth getting if you are a fan of this genre; if I was 22 I'd probably have given it 4 stars!