Number 4 - On This, The Day of the Pig - Josh Malerman

This is a book about a telepathic killer pig. This should therefore be totally ridiculous, sleazy, ultra violent trash.  Good for a laugh but nothing more.

However, this is written by Josh Malerman (of Bird Box fame). That means the last thing this is is trashy, or just good for a laugh.  Against all expectations for a storyline as insane and frankly ridiculous, this is a genuinely scary book.  Think Animal Farm crossed with Carrie on a high dose of bad acid and you're on the right lines.

Pearl (that's him there on the cover with the gammy eye - lovely isn't he) is one of the most  frightening creations I've read about in several years. The book achieves an atmosphere that eradicates nearly all thought about how ridiculous this all is and it becomes an exercise in barely controlled insanity.

I had no idea while I was reading this where the story was going, who was going to survive, or how many pieces they would be in at the end of it all.  The characters are mostly likeable and we want to see them survive, which makes it more distressing when we have no idea if they'll still be breathing when we turn the next page. 

The numerous set pieces are mostly brilliantly done. The pace is relentless. From the event depicted on the front cover which occurs in chapter 2 (and chapter 1 has less than a dozen words...), there's no let up. More and more characters are drawn to the farm where Pearl holds sway over his small kingdom.

The prose is fluid and efficient.  Whilst the story is occasionally very violent, there's no extraneous gore for the sake of it.  Josh Malerman knows how far to push things, and when to end a chapter to best effect so you have no choice but to keep reading. He seems to be improving with every book.

Unbury Carol was my favourite read of last year and this is an early contender for the crown this year. It's not a completely perfect book, there are a couple of minor issues but they're so plot specific I can't say what they are for risk of spoilers. Certainly my favourite book so far. Easy 9/10.

It's available currently only through Cemetery dance and is limited to 1000 copies.

Hopefully it will get a mass market release at some point.

Note, I wrote this review because I wanted to.

Now excuse me, I need to sing for Pearl.

Good night.

Number 3 - A Gentleman in Moscow - Amor Towles

Number 3

There are some subjects that instantly turn me off a book - the hard times suffered by the idle rich being one of the chief amongst them.  A meandering storyline which goes almost nowhere is another turnoff.

Taking that into consideration, this book really should have been firmly in my personal hate it category.  The protagonist is an idle rich gentleman who finds himself under house arrest in a luxury hotel in post revolution Russia.  He spends the vast majority of the book (and 40 years of his life ) there. He bemoans the fact that he now only has a small room to live in (bigger than my living room and kitchen combined from the description) but finds a way to extend his living quarters into the next tiny room, which he uses as his study.

The plot is negligible.  It follows his relationships with staff members and a few notable guests. The story could theoretically have been told in 300 less pages.

However, I wouldn't want it to be.  The thing that makes this book work is the prose.  Count Rostov is eminently likeable and charming and even I could sympathise with him. It is an extremele witty book. Although rarely laugh out loud funny, it is a pleasure to read.  There are a number of bon mots and nice insights into life in general.

The changes happening in Russia over the course of the novel are examined in the microcosm of the hotel environment - and they are quite fascinating. The struggles faced by the kitchen staff through shortages, the changing nationalities of the guests as foreign visitors are dicouraged/banned and later welcomed, the changing uses of the ball rooms into boshevik debating spaces etc.  There are occasional glimpses to life outside the hotel for the common man and the sheer hypocracy of the ruling classes is displayed clearly.

It's probably coincidence that one of the most important hotel rooms in the story is room 317 and no similarity to the Shining is to be drawn from that, despite that room being haunted by Count Rostov's memories.

Overall this was a very enjoyable read. I really didn't expect to enjoy it anywhere near as much as I did. I kept wondering if any of it was based on fact but my google searches point to it being entirely fictional.

Recommended. 

Number 2 - The Lying Game - Ruth Ware

This was my first time reading a Ruth Ware book. She seems to be building a reputation for herself recently and hitting the bestsellers charts with every new release.

On the strength of this i can see why.  This was a very easy read with an engaging narrator and flicked nicely between two timelines.  The present day was told in present tense and the flashbacks to 17 years ago in the past tense, nicely delineating the two narratives.

I was expecting it to be a bit more twisty-turny and was vaguely disappointed that it wasn't.  However the information was nicely drip fed to us bit by bit. I'm not sure the revelations were as shocking as  they could have been, and the identity of the bad guys/girls was rather too telegraphed.

The four central characters were well fleshed out and  the relationships between them were believable. The first person narrative meant there were some aspects to their personalites that remained hidden. What drove Thea? Why was she as messed up as she was?  This was a mystery throughout and one I thought might get some resolution but didn't.  I also wish Ambrose had featured a bit more in the flashbacks, since his character was so pivotal, he didn't seem quite fleshed out enough.

Having said that, I did really enjoy this - an easy 6 or 7 out of 10.  It's no classic of literature, but it's not pretending to be.  What it does, it does well. I will be checking out some of her other books.

Number 1 - Charlie the Choo-Choo - Beryl Evans

Books read in 2019

A cheat read to start the new year off. - (I read this last week before starting on my next book which I will post about tomorrow when I finish it - can you all bear the suspense?)

This is a sort of a children's book but sort of not.  The real author's name is not Beryl Evans.  It is on the front cover though.

This book features as a plot point in the Dark Tower series by Stephen King.  Some clever sod out there in marketing land said, lets put this out as a real book so completists like him over there (pointing at me) will go out and buy it.

So they did and I did.  And I'm glad I did it.

The artwork is mildly disturbing to say the least.  We now know the answer to where did the fat controller's stash of methamphetamine go to from the look on Charlie's face.

The story is a traditional anthropomorphic train type of affair. If you've read the Dark Tower, you've read it and know it's not entirely as it seems.

Best and worst of 2018

Best and worst from last year

As it's the start of the year, rather than a full list of the books I read last year, here are the edited highlights (and a couple of lowlights).  In the order I read them, rather than order of preference...

The Squeeze - Leslie Glaister

Leslie Glaister is a real talent.  This book had sequences so tense my fingers left gouges in the cover.  A story about an unfortunate girl smuggled into the country by a gang of sex traffickers and an ordinary man whose life becomes infinitely more complicated after he meets her.

I am Behind You - John Ajvide Lindqvist

One of his more recent books and part one of a thematic trilogy.  THis was a surreal and really quite brilliant novel. Entirely unpredictable, fast paced and weird as hell.  A group of caravanners wake up to find themselves alone in a vast unending wasteland.

 Unbury Carol - Josh Malerman

Probably my favorite book of the year. A dark fairy tale for adults, a weird western, a quest to save a stricken woman from a dastardly murder plot - this is epic storytelling.  Since Bird box, Josh Malerman has improved with every book (and I loved Bird Box when i read it - must remember to watch the film).

Never anyone but you - Rupert Thomson

A biography of two artists who ran an underground propoganda campaign against the nazis on occupied Jersey in the second world war.  The story spans the lovers' journey from their first meeting as teenagers, through a thoroughly decadent stay in 20s Paris to their retreat to Jersey.  Thomson is an exquisite writer and this book is up there with his absolute best.

A Perfectly Good Man - Patrick Gale

My first Patrick Gale novel and I must read more.  In a non-linear narrative he tells the story of the suicide of a young man, the impact this has on the local parish priest and the small town they live in. Emotional without being sentimental, and with a hugely creepy "villain" lurking in the background.

Black Swan Green - David Mitchell

Yes, I know this puts six in my top 5 but I couldn't leave this brilliant coming of age story out of the list.


Those were my top five-ish for the year.  Honourable mentions to Daniel Handler's All the Dirty Parts and John Probert's Dr Valentine trilogy which were fantastically fun reads.

Biggest disappointments of the year.

I'd heard such good things about this, but, though I thought there were some good sections and the writing was generally pretty tight, the story was very cliched and I saw the big reveal about 200 pages early. Style over substance unfortunately



Worst books of the year

The first of these featured a long meandering narrative that went precisely nowhere.  The others - although I like trashy horror, these took it to new depths.

This was the best book cover of the year - I found it in the charity section at the front of a local tesco.  Sadly the story isn't that good.  Lot's of missed opportunity with the characters they had. It should have been the written equivalent of any number of 70s disaster movies, but it didn't do anything particularly interesting with the cast once the train was buried and they were all trapped together.  It doesn't count as biggest disappointment, because I had no high hopes for it.

Introductions

My first Blog

Best to introduce myself.

I'm an avid reader from the North of England.  I average in the region of 50 books per year and I've decided to start a one of these things to record my thoughts on my books as I read them.

I read most genres, from high literary fare to the trashiest of horror novels.  The only genre that I don't tend to get on with is romance. "Will they/won't they?" is a sub plot to a bigger story and just isn't interesting enough as a hook to hang the entire narrative on IMHO.

All thoughts in this blog will be my opinion (as long as I write them of course).  If you agree, you agree.  If you don't, you don't.  There's nothing to get angry about.

I think that's enough about me.  This blog is supposed to be about my books.