Pages

Jan 24, 2012

Budapest Noir, Vilmos Kondor


Greed and selfishness lie at the heart of this atmospheric tale. Pre-war Budapest is keeping crime reporter Zig Gordon in stories so when he gets a call to a crime scene in the red light district it doesn't bother him -at first. The circumstances however do. A Jewish prayer book is a strange thing for a supposed prostitute to have and the other item she was carrying is even more perplexing. The crime reporter wastes no time in tapping sources to get a story. He’s blocked at every turn by some very powerful people but that just makes him keep digging...

(N.B published end of Jan)

Jan 20, 2012

Two arcs and plot shuffle

Two arcs on the go at the moment The Professionals which despite its Swedish sounding author is set in the US and Niceville also set in the US (the deep south to be exact) and I am loving them both. Now though, working on another rewrite of Rollover and this one only needs about 6 or 7 adjustments but two of them are big enough to cause ripples throughout the rest of the book so this morning I'm playing plot jigsaw, take an event which is too close to the end and make it historical and nearer the beginning, wish me luck!

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley

Dear me, the body you are wearing used to be mine...


How would you feel if your first memory was a soggy London park surrounded by dead people-wearing gloves. You would be even more confused if the old you knew this was coming and had been preparing for it for months. That's what confronts Myfanwy Thomas who-before her memories were wiped-was one of the most able administrators of Her Majesty's Supernatural Secret Service, a Rook. Will forearming Myfanwy help her to avoid impending doom? Should she really have listened to that duck?

That's really all the premise you need, O'Malley has created the love child of Hogwarts, Torchwood, Dr Who and Monty Python, I really hope there's more where this came from.

Jan 16, 2012

Reading 'Rook'

Regular readers will know I've been banging on about this book since November. I'm reading it right now and it does not disappoint! Today is a writing day or I would be deep in it right now. Lets just say that fans of Harry Potter, Dr Who, Torchwood (first 3 series), Monty Python should go out and buy this book right now. You'll love it. Full review shortly.

Thoughts on Lucky Bastard

SG Browne has some very inventive ideas, and in this his latest novel - coming in April - the hero -Nick Monday- is a luck poacher, he shakes your hand and your good luck vanishes with him. Of course luck poachers don't advertise but they can be co-erced by either money or threats a twin sister who refuses to use her 'gift' . So Nick gets involved with Chinese mafia and a vengeful set of twins while maintaining the front of a PI business. The idea that luck both good and bad has to be processed out of the poacher before it can be given (mostly sold) on to someone else gives plenty of laughs at Starbucks' expense and I'll never look at a paper coffee cup quite the same way again. Quirky (you know me I love quirky) and fun.

Jan 10, 2012

Bloodland, Alan Glynn


Jimmy Gilroy was a journalist, now he’s stuck writing a fluff book about a dead celebrity but while Susie Monaghan was a national obsession she was also the perfect distraction. Though the helicopter crash that killed her is old news to Jimmy, suddenly he’s being courted to write a heavy-weight political memoir instead. Then a drunken admission from his new subject drops a puzzle in his lap that whets his journalistic appetite and takes him right back to Susie. And then it hits him Susie wasn't the only victim. Suddenly, Jimmy becomes a problem for the shadowy international group of investors, politicians and mercenaries who thought their secret was dead and buried three years ago off the Donegal coast.

Before I forget


Top 10 books of 2011

Before I go to Sleep
Agent X
SpyCatcher
I am Half Sick of Shadows
Keeper of Lost Causes
In The Garden of Beasts
Good Thief’s Guide to Venice
Betrayal of Trust
Map of  Time
All Cry Chaos
Hypnotist (honorable mention)

Hello 2012

Wow, we've been back nearly two weeks and I've just managed to re-establish a decent routine where writing and reading are concerned. Actually had no problem with reading, since my last post. I've read the following Dead Simple and Perfect People both by Peter James, Confession by Charles Todd, Agent 6 by Tom Robb Smith. Currently reading arcs of Sacrilege by SJ Parris and Lucky Bastard by SG Browne.and tackling Les Miserables for book club (!)

I'm dying to read The Rook by Daniel O'Malley, couldn't get hold of an arc so the hardback will be in by the time my Friday shift rolls around.