Number 12- True Confessions of Adrian Mole etc- Sue Townsend

 

The first two Adrian Mole books are amongst my all time favourite reads, but somehow I had never quite got round to reading any of the others.

So here is volume 3.

As far as story goes, it's more of the same.  Adrian is now 18 years old and working his first job.

It starts promisingly enough with some good laughs in the first segment. However, the format changes from the usual diary entries not far into the book and for me, the change of format doesn't quite work.

There's also an issue that, as a child, Adrian can be excused his behaviour to a large extent, but he hasn't changed or matured in the slightest in this volume, and the same childish self-centred assholery (my god, the autocorrect isn't flagging that, it's an official word apparently) comes across as just him being an asshole and all-round unpleasant tosser.

His snobbery doesn't feel funny once the format of the book changes. It just comes across as a guy with a superior attitude and he becomes more irritating than amusing. A lot of the humour in the first two books comes from how blissfully unaware he is of what is actually happening around him. That's been replaced by a disdain for everything and that just isn't as funny or appealing.

We hear monologues he apparently made on Radio 4 and see letters sent to Barry Kent before we return briefly to the diary entries. 

It has its moments but I found the Mole section of the book to be disappointing.

The Mole section is followed by snippets from the POV of one Susan Lilian Townsend. Specifically, a travel diary of a trip she takes to Majorca, and a trio of essays.  The Majorca section and the writing for TV essay are wryly amusing. The description of her trip to Russia feels like a what-I-did-in-the-summer type essay rather than a short story and, whilst it was an ok read with a couple of laughs, I was not enamored with it.  Her final essay is quite poor.

The third section of the book is a fictitious diary of a real person- Margaret Hilda Roberts- better known by her married name of Thatcher. This is an all out snark attack on Thatcher, who definitely deserved it.  There are very few figures in politics I despise more than her. but the humour didn't land for me other than a few wry grins. I don't know if that's because this section isn't particularly witty- replacing wit and cleverness with snark- or because I'm not as up to date with 1989 politics as I was back then and I'm missing a lot of references.

I should have loved a vicious takedown of Thatcher, but I didn't.  It could also be that such a direct piece of political satire doesn't feel like it belongs here. I know the Mole books contain plenty of political comment, but it's folded neatly into the story in the first two volumes. This just feels like a bad fit to me.

Overall I was disappointed with this. there were a few laughs and it was never less than readable. but it's a far cry from the comic heights of the first two books.  Is it diminishing returns setting in? If so, I'm not sure I want to venture as far as book 8... I will read the next one and hope it's a return to the successful format of the first books, and that she allows Adrian to actually grow as a person, rather than keeping him in this adolescent mindset his whole life.

Number 11- Phobia - Thomas Luke- aka Graham Masterton

If only Graham Masterton was as popular as Stephen King.  This book would be the equivalent value of a Richard Bachman copy of Rage.  Sadly, he’s not and this isn’t. But check out that glorious cover.

Thomas Luke is a pen name for the aforementioned Mr Masterton and this is his novelisation of an almost forgotten film in the very early 80s.

Graham Masterton is not an author you read if you’re looking for subtlety, depth of meaning and high literature. He does however produce some rather entertaining low budget horror based on assorted demons of world mythologies. He can be very formulaic, but some of his ideas are good and he can be depended on for some well thought out shreddie goodness (see my post on the noble art of the shreddie here)

In this case his hands would have been somewhat tied in that the plot was handed to him with all the twists and turns and character deaths already written by the screenwriters. So any failings I found story wise are not his fault. And there are some serious story failings.

The ending is particularly bad, I’ll detail the reason for that at the end so spoiler alert if you read the final paragraph of this review.

Basic story- Dr Ross is apparently a brilliant psychotherapist with a radical new treatment to help people overcome their phobias.  He’s working with a group of five convicts who each committed crimes because of their phobias. One by one, his test subjects start dying in ways related to their phobias.  That’s what the back cover says.  I’d argue that the first death is not connected to that character’s fear, or death number 3 for that matter. But, as previously mentioned, that’s the fault of one of the 5 people listed as being responsible for the story/screenplay rather than the novelist.

It’s written in Masterton’s usual no nonsense style. There’s no attempts at high literature, and he does well to obfuscate the truth of events and not making it all too obvious.

 The characters struggle to gain more than one dimension.  They’re literally defined by either their fear, their job, or if they’re attracted to Dr Ross. The cops are particularly cartoonish (although Masterton does call their behaviour out and makes the point that the rest of the cops in the station don’t behave that way any more). 

Ross's alleged expertise is one of the less credible parts of the story. There is no way that Ross's techniques would gain any traction, let alone millions in grant funding. It makes the therapy scenes particularly silly.

The deaths are suitably nasty but tame by Masterton’s standards. Again, not really his fault. It’s a quick fun read despite the flaws in the story.

SLIGHT SPOILER- In the last two pages, we have to wonder how someone can swim strongly while holding a gun in their left hand out of the water to keep it dry. That’s an image that seriously does not compute in my brain. And is particularly egregious as it’s one of the final scenes and supposed to be deadly serious.

Numbers 9 & 10- The Niche & Jack Squat - Charles lambert

It says "two books in one" so I'm scoring 2 for it.

Another new writer for me who I'd never heard of so this was another impulse buy. I'm doing well with these impulse buys, because I thought this book was excellent. 

Billy Lender is the victim of extreme bullying at school. When he finds a small space behind a cupboard to hide in, he starts hearing a voice which promises to help him get revenge on his bullies.

It's very short so any more than that about the plot would be moving into spoiler territory.

Billy is a brilliantly drawn character who I felt full sympathy with throughout. Alongside the bullying he's also dealing with puberty and a burgeoning sexual awakening. This is all dealt with subtly and sensitively whilst building the tension about what the voice and the space behind the cupboard actually is.

A good enough introduction to his writing that I ordered three more of his books while I was reading this story. 

A gay couple living in Italy start selling houses to ex-pats to raise some finances. The first house they sell has very strange architecture.  There are 4 entrances into separate rooms but no joining doors inside, just stairs. 

The house has a dark history- as they all do in this type of story. Soon, the influence of the house is creeping into their everyday lives.

This wasn't as successful for me as the other story, but is still extremely well written. Omar and Gordon feel real as a couple and the escalating sense of dread is masterfully done. 

There's no big monster attacks in these two stories, no gore or extreme violence. Not even any real overt scares. Just characters who feel genuine having their lives invaded and destroyed steadily by strange forces that are never fully explained. 

I guess the lack of explanation will alienate some readers, but I liked it.  It leaves the reader to figure things out rather than handing the answers to us on  a plate.

The lack of in your face horror will not be to some readers' taste either, but fans of the slow burn subtle fright will love these stories.

As I said, before I'd finished the first of these, I loved it so much I was already seeking out his back catalogue. If you like your horror subtle and psychological, this could well be the book/s for you.

Number 8- Dead Body Road- Jordan + Scallera + Dinisio

Another slice of graphic novel goodness.

This one is self-contained and not part of an ongoing series which makes a change. 

When a bank heist goes wrong, ex-cop Gabe Orson's girlfriend is murdered, setting off a chain of violence in his quest for vengeance

This is a fast paced, thrill ride with car chases and shootouts and lots of death and gore.

 The artwork by Matteo Scalera easily matches up to the harsh violence of Justin Jordan's script.  The colouring work by Moreno Dinisio deserves a mention too, adding extra depth and vividness to the already good looking artwork.

There's nothing subtle about this, but some days I'm not looking for that finely crafted bon mot and something like this hits the spot quite nicely indeed.

The supporting characters struggle to move past one dimension, but Orson and Rachel- the kick ass woman who joins him on his rampage- are well drawn (in all senses) and have some depth to them.  

The plot has some nice twists and unexpected turns too.

It's a damned fine piece of entertainment and would make a great movie. A good way to kill an hour of your day.

Number 7- Open Throat- Henry Hoke

This was an impulse buy late last year due to that intriguing cover. that and the blurb saying it was from the POV of a mountain lion living underneath the Hollywood sign.

I love that weird stuff like this is considered mainstream enough to land on the "Look At These New Books" shelves in my local Waterstones.

Basic story- a cougar/mountain lion is living in the hills above L.A (Ellay) and underneath the Hollywood sign. When a fire forces him down from the mountain, he ends up in Ellay itself. To say any more would be spoilers.

It's written in short snappy sentences. The only punctuation in the entire narrative is the capitalised "I" that the narrator uses to refer to himself. Otherwise there are no commas, no full stops, no capital letters or quotation marks.  When reporting things said by the human characters, the text is italicised.

It's a very quick and easy read. I'm not sure the lion's POV is completely convincing all the way through- in particular, a dream sequence we're told about shows knowledge it couldn't possibly have, but other than that it seems feasible.  

In the small subgenre of "narrated by animals", this is a worthy addition. Good to see something other than a dog telling the story.

Number 6- Coyotes Volume 1- Sean Lewis & Caitlin Yarsky

 

Women keep disappearing in the City of lost Girls.  You can't help thinking that's the most appropriately named town in fiction.

They're being picked off by werewolves (nicknamed coyotes) and new cop in town, Frank Coffey, finds himself forced to team up with Red, a thirteen year old girl with a katana who's life purpose it is to destroy the creatures.

The coyotes are the menfolk of the town given pelts cut from a great beast.  When they wear the pelts, they transform and hunt. Red is part of a group of magical warrior women and they are on their own hunt for the men creating the werewolf pelts.

There's some social commentary going on in this comic about misogyny and violence. 

The best thing about this is the interesting new way to create the wolves. The rest of it all seems quite generic werewolf fodder with a bit of conspiracy theory thrown in.

I'm not a huge fan of the artwork overall. At first glance I found it quite striking, but there are pages that simply don't work, where none of the characters look even remotely human (when they're supposed to) and the pages are just ugly. The first panel where the great beast appears, it looks like a giant rat rather than a huge wolf beast.

I bought volume 2 at the same time as this, so I will read it- after all as a graphic novel, it doesn't take long.  However, I wasn't taken with the storytelling or the artwork in this one. and I'm hoping things improve in Vol 2. 

The cover spreads are awesome though.

Number 5- Trespasses- Louise Kennedy

 

As I might have mentioned before, romance novels are not my bag.  It’s one genre I don’t get on with.

Therefore, this book, a romance set in the Irish troubles in the mid-70s is almost by definition a book group read.

However, despite the genre I really quite enjoyed this book.

Cushla is a young Catholic teacher in a primary school in Northern Ireland. She has an alcoholic mother.  She works part time at the pub her brother runs where the English soldiers frequently drink and sexually harass her. She has a soft spot a mile wide for Davey, a disadvantaged child in her class.  She also has an illicit lover in the form of Michael, a prominent protestant lawyer nearly twice her age.

That’s pretty much it as far as the plot goes. What makes this book special and kept me reading throughout was the depiction of simply trying to live as a Catholic in Northern Ireland during the troubles. That’s not to say it’s a pro-catholic book, it’s not.  The local priest is one of the nastiest characters in the story.

The struggles the characters face in their day-to-day living are presented in a matter-of-fact way that makes them feel worse than if the book was a melodrama.  Her escape into the arms of a man she knows deep in her heart is no good for her is almost understandable.

Her relationship with young Davey and his family provides a warmth to her character that is missing elsewhere. Cushla’s relationship with her mother is so well described, the sense of frustration over her mother’s drinking is palpable.

It’s not flawless by any stretch of the imagination. Michael doesn’t have much personality. That may be because we only see him through the infatuated eyes of Cushla, so we have to piece together any other details about him, in which case it’s a skilful piece of writing, but still frustrating.

The ending was more than a little bit predictable. I guessed what was going to happen a good 100 pages before it did.  It did confirm one of my prejudices against romance novels and the lack of alternative endings.

The other thing that makes this book as good as it is, is the writing.  It’s beautifully written.  I would read a shopping list for pleasure if it was written as prettily as this. I found my internal voice turned broad Irish for much of the book, although not the Ardal O’Hanlon broad Irish who narrates in my head when I read Patrick McCabe books.

Even with the lack of plot and the predictable nature of what was there, I found myself sucked into Cushla’s world.  It was compelling storytelling and I felt for all the characters I was meant to feel for. The cruelty of the society provided the emotional core for me, rather than the infatuation she had for Michael.

I scored it 7.5 out of 10 at the book group last night, but I think that might be a bit mean in retrospect and think it probably deserves at least an extra half a point.

 

Number 4- Wakulla Springs- Andy Duncan & Ellen Klages

This book quite controversially won the World Fantasy Award for best novella back in 2014.

Controversially because it's not a fantasy story. It's the story of a family in Florida, three generations of it, living in and around the location of Wakulla Springs. 

The eponymous springs are real.  They're where at least one Tarzan movie was filmed (the water segments at least_ and also the Creature From the Black Lagoon. And that's the link to the genre.  

Despite there being no genre elements in the story, it's a love letter to those films.  It's rooted in a love of the genre and that shines through on every page.

The story is in 4 parts, each part linking in with a different member of the family.  In part one, Mayola bags herself a job at the hotel by the springs whilst a Tarzan film is shooting. It's not long until she meets Johnny Weissmuller himself.  In part two, her 11 year old son Levi makes friends with the creature from the Black Lagoon himself - or at least the actor inside the costume. In part 3, we meet the adult Levi in LA, and in part 4, Levi's daughter returns to Wakulla Springs on a visit.

It's magnificently well written.  I could hear the southern accents singing from the page. Despite the lack of any real incident, this is never less than an enthralling read.  I could almost smell the locations and the feel of the waters as young Levi swam through them. 

It touches on the Jim Crow laws that were still in place in the timeline at the start of the book, and highlights the unfairness without ever coming across as preachy.  It also manages to touch on environmental concerns in the same subtle manner. It gets its points over without making a song and dance about it, and is all the more effective for it.

I loved this book and think it deserved to win the fantasy award. It was also nominated for best novella in the Hugos and the Nebulas. Well deserved across the board. I loved this book in case you can't tell.  It should still be available from PS publishing if you want to try it for yourself.

This edition is a signed ltd edition but the standard version is also out there. 

Number 3 - The Pale House Devil - Richard Kadrey

Returning to New Year, New writer for me- This was an impulse buy on Saturday, and I read the whole book in two sittings on Sunday (would have been one but life intervened).

Ford and Neuland are a pair of mercenaries. Except that Neuland just happens to be a Marcheur, (aka a zombie or a dodo as they’re rudely referred to in this book) and their specialty is to deal with the weird stuff. Their bag of tricks includes a lot more than guns and bullets.

After they dispatch a client rather than the mark he set them against, they understandably have to leave town when they can’t get jobs. But word has spread across the USA and they have to take whatever work they can get.  In this case, it’s to remove a demon from Pale House on behalf of a cranky old millionaire- but at least the pay is going to be good.

If they survive the encounter that is.

To write a story in genre A but in the style of genre B is quite a talent to pull off successfully.  This is a horror novel firmly in the style of the pulp noir crime novels of the 50s and it does both genres brilliantly.

There are plenty of occult detectives out there, but this book nails the hard-boiled style perfectly. IMHO even Jim Butcher’s Dresden files don’t quite do that.  The ones I’ve read have read as if they’re about a wizard who happens to be a detective rather than a detective who happens to be a wizard if you get what I mean.  There is a distinction. In this book, we definitely have your classic pair of hard cases, they just happen to be… somewhat different to usual.

The characters are great.  I loved the interplay between them. The villains are suitably villainous and the monster in the house is a highly original creation.

As I said, I devoured this book in as close to one sitting as my existence would allow. It’s fast paced, exciting, occasionally laugh out loud funny, and manages to nail two genres flawlessly and simultaneously.

I’m hugely excited to learn that Kadrey has co-authored with Cassandra Khaw.  That book has gone straight to the top of my To Buy List when I get paid next week. I will also be checking out the rest of Kadrey’s other work, and hoping that he’s going to return to these characters.  I need more of them in my life. 

This is an effortlessly entertaining and brilliant read.  Also very short.

 

Number 2- Imperatrix - SP Somtow

 

The follow up to Delicatus that I read in June last year.

This continues the story of the now ex-slave boy Sporus, and the Emperor Nero in ancient Rome.

The year is not long after 30 AD (by our reckoning- Pontius Pilate has popped up a couple of times as a character and an annoying new sect of religious fanatics and monotheists called the Chrestianoi are making nuisances of themselves when not being fed to lions or doused in pitch and set alight to illuminate the banquets at the Emperor's palace) and Nero has fixated on the young Sporus, who is an almost exact double of his wife the Empress Poppaea. She's pregnant at the moment and he needs to slake his desires somewhere. He's not picky with his women, but Sporus is his special toy.

This, the second volume of a trilogy, chronicles the fate of the pregnant empress and Sporus's attempts to navigate the politics of Rome as a freeman and to divert Nero's attention away from himself.  It's no spoiler to mention that Nero historically made Sporus his empress, so we know his plans are doomed to failure.

I thought in places that Somtow was going overboard with his depiction of Nero's madness and the extreme behaviour, and I googled some of the more extravagant stories only to find that I was wrong to doubt the author.  Poppaea's fate in the book does indeed match her reported fate in the history books. the incident with the vestal virgin is absolutely accurate.  And the framing device, with empress Sporus telling the story in flashback whilst awaiting his fate in the games matches what is known of his fate too. If anything, the depiction of Nero might not go far enough.

This is an absolutely fascinating glimpse into Roman history that makes no attempt to apply modern day sensibilities to any character's actions. It feels like an almost wholly accurate depiction of life in Roman society. 

There is a lot of (thankfully not explicit considering that Sporus has only just hit puberty in this book) sex going on in this book so, if that's a trigger for you, consider yourself warned. Nero was famously oversexed and perverse, and this book does not shy away from it.  Sporus suffers as much in this book as a free man of Rome as he did as a slave in book one. The ending of this is particularly cruel (but real) and there's only more suffering to come in volume 3 when it's released.

Somtow's prose is as good as ever and Sporus is a great narrator. I love the framing device with the discussion between him and his make up artist preparing him for his public execution. It's so cleverly done and keeps a constant quiet air of tension. There are some funny moments in the book too, i laughed out loud a few times.

This is a worthy second volume, and I suspect I will be most upset by the final part. I know poor Sporus does not have the happiest times to look forward to.

2024 - Book 1 - Muscle - Alan Trotter

 

New year- new author for me and damn! that is a weird one.

Alex Trotter is a brand new writer for me.  I found this reduced in the Waterstones sale a few weeks ago and thought it sounded interesting.

Box and _________ (that’s his name in the book- a blank space underlined) are muscle for hire, walking the streets of an unnamed city, looking for hands to break and debts to collect. When not breaking hands and other assorted body parts, they play poker with a motley crew of supporting cast, including an aspiring writer and a private detective and his crippled sidekick. At some point in the story, things turn weird, Box gets a crush on a target they’ve been given, bodies start piling up, and things get even weirder.

It’s all very literary even though it plays with all the tropes of noir fiction.  There’s the femme fatales, the hired goons, the private eyes, and plenty of killing.  There’s even suggestions of genre hopping. 

I’ll be honest and say I’m not entirely certain if I understood what the hell was going on by the end of it, but I had fun reading it, and that’s the primary objective of a fiction novel IMHO.

One of the reviews on the back says it’s written in a sinuous style, and I can’t think of a better word so I’ll go with that.  The style of writing is really what sets this novel apart.  It appears simple but slithers around the plot and you have to hunt for what’s really happening.

I don't think I've read anything quite like this recently, more for the style than the content. If i see another novel by the man, will I pick it up?  Probably.  As I said, I enjoyed this a lot even if I'm not 100% certain what actually happened. The writing is excellent, the apparently simple prose playing peekaboo with multiple layers of storytelling.

A solid start to the year by all metrics that matter to me. 

2023 Picks of the year

85 books this year. All these books were reviewed in full at the time of reading and the full reviews are a simple scroll away. 

There were a couple of minor disappointments - the Whitley Strieber and the FW Armstrong were not great. However, the worst book of the year by a considerable margin was...

This pile of junk- Cat's Cradle by William Johnstone. which is a real shame because that is an amazing cover

  

In no particular order. the best books of the year were these.  Don't ask me to pick an individual best book.  I honestly can't choose.  that's why there's 11 in my top 10.

 

The most emotional book of the year. I was sobbing for most of the second half of the book

Max Porter pulled off an amazing story here.  He really made me feel for a main character with very few redeeming qualities except for his basic humanity.

This was beautifully written, stylish, shocking, brutal and surreal in equal measures.  

By far the funniest thing I read all year.  

6 great novellas by Josh Malerman. A great mix of horror, sci fi and just plain weirdness.  

The follow up to Mordew was just as good. Literary writers trying to write fantasy is normally a recipe for disaster, but this series is phenomenal.

It's almost unbelievable that this is a debut novel. despite me having slight qualms over the final chapter of the book, this remains one of the most memorable books I've read this year.  Creepy and paranoid.

This set a whole new benchmark for me for body horror. Well written, good characters and truly brutal. Made me squirm several times 

A journey into a mans psyche as he has a breakdown of sorts. 

Just an astonishing book. I would never have thought a book written in first person from the POV of Hitler would be this funny. Audacious doesn't begin to describe it.  My jaw was on the floor for most of it. 

A modern day take on Animal farm that provides a deep evisceration of modern politics in the UK.  Hilarious and frightening in equal parts
 

Number 85- the Christmas Killer - Alex Pine

 

I started this book on Christmas day, whilst staying at my sister's house in a tiny village in deepest darkest Cumbria.

appropriately enough, this is a Christmas themed murder mystery set in a tiny village in deepest darkest Cumbria.

The basic story- a London copper, James Walker,  after being threatened by a local crime lord he sent down who has just been released early, moves to the village his wife grew up in in the depths of the Cumbrian countryside. They've barely settled in when he receives a parcel delivered to his front door with  a message threatening that 12 people are going to die, one for each of the days of Christmas, and they'll all deserve it.

He treats it like a hoax until people start dying. 

It's a promising set up for a story and the whole thing is a nice little unchallenging ripping yarn.

I call it unchallenging because I spotted the killer within a page of his first appearance. I didn't think any of the red herrings were convincing enough to dissuade me for even a second from my guess at the killer's identity. 

The writing is basic and occasionally quite repetitive.  He must have quoted the initial threatening message at least a dozen times in the opening chapters. Information is frequently restated in consecutive chapters in case the reader has forgotten what was written on the page before last.

Slight spoilers ahead. 

As a detective story goes, I have to say I wouldn't want this guy investigating any crimes I reported. He doesn't seem to do that much detective work and pretty much solves it by accident at the end by walking ion on the killer as they're tooling up for that night's kill. As a police procedural it seems unconvincing.  Surely this would be a situation that called for a curfew as soon as they realised it was a genuine spree killer in the village. But they're more concerned with trying not to panic people than actually doing something to keep them safe.

There are some dangling plot threads concerning the London villain they fled from, and I'm guessing he'll appear in one of the three sequels. From a quick google search, it seems that this village will be visited by serial killers over the festive period at least three more times. That could stretch credulity more than slightly.  A village of 700 people with 4 separate Christmas themed killers in 4 years? 

It's all lightweight enough that I was happy to suspend the disbelief this time around and I quite enjoyed it, even though it's far from the best thing I've read this year. I might even splash out on book two to see if his detective skills have improved. 

If you just want an easy read and a fun story and you don't want any kind of challenge, there's no reason not to read this.  You'll have fun with it. Not every book needs to be a stone cold classic.  this is the literary equivalent of a big mac compared to an expensive steak at a quality restaurant. It does the job well enough even though it's not the greatest thing you've ever had.

Number 84- Twas The Nightshift before Christmas- Adam Kay

 

Appropriately enough, I read this on Christmas Eve.

Early this year I read his book This Is Going To Hurt- extracts from his diaries from his days as a junior doctor. It's easily one of the two funniest books I've read this year.

The second of the funniest books I've read this year is this one. It's more extracts from his doctor diaries, but this time purely the shifts he did over the Christmas seasons in the 7 years he was a doctor. 

It's very short, hence being able to read it in one day without any issues. It's very funny and wince inducing.

There's a particularly painful image raised when he retells the story of a man who covered himself head to toe in gaffer tape (for sexual purposes apparently), and the negative impact of trying to remove it... If you've read this book and you're a man, you've probably just winced at the memory of it. I know I'm cringing as I write this.

The book has the same mix of funny and heartfelt, with serious messages about the state of the NHS and how badly the staff are treated.

Just like the previous volume, it's a must read. 

Number 83- Tales from the Cafe- Toshikazu Kawaguchi

 Book two in this series translated from the Japanese by Geoffrey Chousselot is more of the same as the first volume.

In a strange little café in the back streets of Tokyo, you can travel back in time, with limitations. You have to wait for the ghost in the corner seat to go to the toilet. You take her seat and when the waitress pours your coffee you will travel back to the time you need to go to.  Once you're there, you cannot leave the seat, nothing you do in the past will change the future, and you can only stay until the coffee gets cold. If you fail to drink the coffee in the allotted time, an unspecified bad thing happens, which almost certainly involves death.

The regular cast from the first book are still running the café but we're now 7 years after book one and the young daughter of the now deceased owner (whose story is the last novella in book one) is now a regular.

We find out more about the ghost in this book and her link to one of the staff.  There seems to be a fairly strong continuity building now and I'm expecting to learn even more about her in book 3.

Slipping back into the world of Funicili Funicula (the café) feels like greeting an old friend you've not seen for ages- coincidentally something that happens in every story. There's a soothing feel to the writing and the whole thing moves at a nice relaxing pace.

I'm sure  how memorable these books will prove to be. The themes are quite repetitious and everyone who sits in the chair has the rules explained by the coffee pourer. This is never skipped in the narration so the same text appears almost word for word in each story.

That's a minor quibble though as these are excellent palate cleansers and well worth the read. There's nothing big or exciting going to happen. These are small scale human dramas. intimately told. It's feel good fiction tinged with some human tragedies at the heart of each story, yet each one ends on a hopeful beat.

If you want a soothing read, I can't think of anything I'd recommend before these. It's the literary equivalent of soaking in a hot bath after a long hard day at work.

Number 82- Playing Possum - Stephanie Rabig

 

Another book that was created to match a cover drawn by Keelan Patrick Burke featuring an unlikely killer beast. The first of these was The Roo- which was my introduction to Alan Baxter, who is now one of my go-to writers. There's a third book called The Cassowary which is also on my shelves. The proceeds from all three go to the World Wildlife Fund which is as good a reason as any to buy these books.

Sadly in this case it's the best reason to buy it. Despite loving the first chapter, which features one of the best shreddies I've seen for a while in a horror novel, the rest of the book doesn't quite work for me.

The storyline is truly bonkers and should be right up my street. The possums in a small town have gone berserk and started eating people. Those fortunate enough to survive an attack find themselves mutating into human sized possums and going on the warpath themselves.

There are some good set pieces scattered through the book and some laugh out loud funny moments so it isn't a total loss.

The characters just never really came alive for me. I know in the scy-fy channel movies that this book seeks to emulate, the characters are not alllowed more than one dimension, and cardboard cutout is a generous description, but other than Vanessa- the hero of the hour, the characters in this struggle to even gain one dimension to make us care about them. 

The prose is very basic too and didn't drag this particular reader through the book the way it should have done. 

There wasn't enough possum action. With the lack-lustre characters there needed to be more possum mayhem, and less personal relationship issues. Basically, a few more shreddies would have really lifted this up to a good fun and silly read. Instead it was more silly and less fun.

It's worth reading, but I would struggle to score this more than 5/10.

Number 81- A God In ruins- Kate Atkinson

 The last Kate Atkinson novel I read was a detective type story where one of the characters was introduced with the words “Character name had never harmed a living thing in his life”- or words to that effect.  One thing was certain, this guy was harmless and had never hurt anyone or anything.  At the end of the book, we found out that, previous to the events of the book and his introduction, he had once accidentally killed a Russian lady of the night and thrown her off a hotel balcony into a skip. Although it was an enjoyable read, such a lack of attention to detail in the writing put me off her books somewhat.

This book is entirely different.  It tells the life of Edward "Teddy" Todd, a WWII bomber pilot, from his early childhood to his death in the early 21st century.

Teddy is apparently the younger brother of the lead character in Life After Life, but, as far as I can tell, it doesn't impact on this story. This was my book group read and those who'd read both books made no mention of any Easter eggs between the novels.

The title is derived a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson which defines a man as a God In Ruins.  

The story took a bit of getting into due to the constant time leaps. Even in the first chapter, which deals with Teddy's childhood, there are references to his life as a pilot, as a 50 something and a pensioner. This made it quite hard to follow for several chapters until the characters were properly established and all the time periods were fixed in my head.

Ted and his family become very real characters. I found myself totally absorbed into the intricacies of his life.  I hated his daughter Viola and had endless sympathy for poor misunderstood Sunny, who only had his grandad on his side.

The final chapter created a huge split in the book group. Half hated it and the rest loved it.  I was definitely in the loved it group.  

The style of writing, once I'd tuned into the time periods and characters, was compelling. There are some gorgeous sections of the book, some heartbreaking sequences, and thrilling accounts of the bomber raids teddy flew on in the war.

This has changed my opinion of Kate Atkinson after the annoying errors in the other book of hers I've read. I will be seeking out a copy of Life after Life to find out more about Ursula and her many lives...

Number 79/80- Monstress Vol 8 & Descender Vol 1

 

I really should have reread the end of volume 7 before I picked this one up as I found it a bit confusing for the first section.

The artwork is stunning as usual, and the storyline continues to expand. this book is set in the one place the being Maika shares her existence with fears.  The Prison world where its brethren have been held for millennia.

All the usual comments apply about this series.  Now I have to wait a year for the next volume again.  I'll probably do a quick reread of the whole thing before that though.

 And a new series for me from the writer of the rather magnificently mind-bending Gideon Falls.

This is set in a distant future, a decade after planet sized robots called Harvesters wiped out swathes of the population of the galaxy before disappearing. Since then robots are not trusted and destroyed by many factions. 

The old question of at which point does genuine AI become it's own individual being raises its philosophical head in this one.

A child companion robot named Tim-21 wakes on a mining colony, alone except for a mining robot and a robot dog.  The family he was ensconced with are long dead from a gas leak that killed all the organic life on the station.

When Tim connects to the Base computers the rest of the galaxy is advised of his existence.  This is bad news, since the roots of the Harvesters machine code is apparently contained in Tim's circuitry.  Thus he becomes a highly sought prize for many organisations. 

There are twists and turns I did not see coming, and Tim-21 is an intriguing protagonist so far.  His robot companions are amusing and the human cast is a good mix of flawed and vulnerable. 

The whole thing is gorgeously drawn by Dustin Nguyen.  I will be searching out the other volumes ASAP as well as the sequel series Ascender.

Despite the vast differences in approach and look, there are some thematic links running through these books. Both feature incredible detailed world building and a central character with the key to immense danger built into their DNA/Circuitry (whether figuratively or literally in the narrative).

Number 77- the Kindness - Jon Ajvide Lindqvist

Ever since I read let The Right One In all those years ago, Lindqvist has been one of those writers whose books jump to the top of the TBR as soon as I can get my grubby paws on them.

Therefore, when I found out about this I was rather excited. 800 pages of Lindqvist goodness! Look at the thickness in that second picture. And that cover is so clever. A shipping container drawn from the angle to make it look like a coffin. very apt when you look at the plot.

A shipping container is found on the shore of a Swedish town with a long, complicated name. Inside the container are the bodies of 28 refugees... and something else.  Something that gets into the river and pollutes the town with fear and malice. 

We follow 6 characters as they try to live their best lives while the town (and their psyches) are sullied by the strange presence in the water.

This being Lindqvist, the people portraits he paints with his words are almost perfect.  We know these people, warts and all. With nearly double his usual word length we have plenty of time to get to know them. 

There's something missing from the book though.

In all his previous works, there is an abundance of incident.  There are set pieces that will disturb and shock you.  In 800 pages, he barely does that.

There is a distinct atmosphere of building threats, and sequences in this are very tense indeed. But there doesn't seem to be much payoff at any point. Lots of build up, and no release. It doesn't deliver on the majority of the drama it promises. The vast majority of the violence happening in the town happens off screen and our protagonists learn of it second hand. 

There are a couple of cutaways to the interior of the container before it was dumped which are truly horrific, with a graphic depiction of the inhabitants as they turn on each other and hope dies screaming around them.

Other than that, probably the two most shocking scenes happen to a minor character who doesn't appear till nearly 600 pages in,

Even the big finale feels a bit pat and all sorted far too easily.

There are a couple of really strange chapters written in first person that don't seem to add much overall except for pointless surrealism.

That's not to say that it's all bad. I enjoyed reading it throughout. The characters are beautifully drawn. The whole town feels real (even if I did find myself glossing over unpronounceable street names  so never quite got a grasp on the geography of the place).  I wanted to know what happened next.  He never took the plot in quite the direction it seemed to be heading (a good thing sometimes, but in this case, not always). The feeling of dread he creates is palpable.  It just didn't go anywhere and it all sort of fizzles out with the very disappointing ending..

It's mostly very good, and occasionally great for 770 pages or so... then he puts that ending on. The crescendo he seemed to be building towards was more of a kazoo squawk that spoilt the whole symphony. 

If this was my first Lindqvist, I would think twice about buying another. 

I'm not sure if this has just lost something in translation but it was a definite let down by his usual high standards.

Bonus review - Number 78 - the Worst Breakfast- China Mieville and Zak Smith

China Mieville wrote a nonsense poem about a bad breakfast, and it was illustrated rather coarsely by Smith.

Probably fun for the age group it's intended for.  It raised a wry smile from me a couple of times, but I really didn't like the artwork.  Even for a children's book it's messy and a bit incoherent.

Buying books like this is the worst part of being a completist on authors I really like...

Number 76- Wrecker - Carl Hiaasen

 

I seem to have inadvertently stumbled into a theme of writers not using their usual writing style. First the Mieville graphic novel, then the Thomson going all Cormac on us… and now this. Carl Hiaasen writing in the present tense.

This is one of his young adult books- you can always tell from the one-word titles. All his novels for the more mature reader (that sounds less dodgy than adult novels) have two-word titles.

Wrecker – aka Valdez Jones VIII- is a troubled teen living in Florida. He calls himself Wrecker because the original Valdez Jones used to dive down to shipwrecks for salvage in the last but one century. His dad is a waster who walked out on the family to try to start a music career. He doesn’t get on with his stepfather for several reasons so he lives with his older sister, an eco-warrior campaigning against large cruise ships being allowed back into the bay. For extra money he cleans iguana droppings from a grave in a nearby cemetery. For relaxation he goes out fishing in his skiff.

It's while he’s out on the skiff that he runs into a motorboat stranded on a sandbank. The occupants are not the type of people you want to get involved with, but this chance meeting is he start of a whole new set of troubles for young Wrecker. He soon finds himself increasingly entangled in the smuggler’s nasty business. Can he find a way to extricate himself with all his limbs and his potential future intact?

Set during the pandemic, and with a very strong pro vaccination stance taken by most of the protagonists, and a sub-plot about the historical lynching of a local man, this book has actually been banned from several school libraries in Florida, and Hiaasen found several of his scheduled publicity stops on his book tour cancelled.

Personally I thought it was a fun romp like all his books and the fact that it's wound up the stupid people is a bonus.

The characters are as well drawn as ever.  Wrecker and his family and potential girlfriend are a good set of protagonists.  The villains are suitably villainous If the ending isn't entirely convincing for me, that's because it's YA and slightly simplified so I can live with that too.

It's a lightweight read (unless you're the type that gets angry when people point out that Covid is a nasty illness) but I wasn't over-convinced by the writing style.

As previously mentioned it's in present tense.  Normally this doesn't bother me, but in this book it doesn't quite work. As with all his books, he tells more than 50% of it in flashback. The flashbacks are in traditional past tense, and when it suddenly switches back to present tense for the current sections of the story, it grates. Not enough to make me stop reading or anything, just enough to pull me out of the story every time it happened. This means it's a less satisfying read than most of his books.

But it's pissed off the people who deserve to be pissed off. That earns it more points in my eyes.

Not available in the UK yet, unless you order it from the States. Well worth seeking out.