Review: Blacktop Wasteland

Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"You start down a road like this and before you know it you can't find your way back. You lose yourself."

BLACKTOP WASTELAND is simply stunning, a dark, fast-moving, thrill-ride; funny and heart-breaking. At its centre is Beauregard 'Bug' Montage, a road racer, a mechanic, a former getaway driver, a tragic anti-hero of Shakespearian proportions, a black man whose struggle to provide for the family he clearly loves draws him back for one last big score. S.A. Cosby has delivered a story that echoes classic 1970s movies, The Driver and The Friends of Eddie Coyle spring to mind, as well as Elmore Leonard and Charles Willeford, and more recently, Jordan Harper and Bill Beverly.

The book is full of deeply flawed and well-rounded characters, dialogue that rings true, and the best written car chases I have ever read, you can hear the engines screaming and smell the rubber burning. One of the best novels I have read this year and destined to be a classic. I can't wait to see what he does next.

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Review: Letters from the Dead

Letters from the Dead by Sam Hurcom
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sam Hurcom's debut, A SHADOW ON THE LENS, was one of the surprises of 2019, a genre mashup which was a great read. Hurcom's follow up, LETTERS FROM THE DEAD, continues the story of forensic photographer, Thomas Bexley. It is 1905, a year after the terrifying events of the previous book, and Bexley has not recovered. Mentally disturbed, drinking heavily, he loses whole days, weeks even, to blackouts; he does not work, avoids human contact, and believes he is haunted by the dead. Bexley is a mess but is pulled out of his fugue state, at least partially, when his estranged mentor, Elijah Hawthorn, is identified as the chief suspect in a series of kidnappings, and presumed murders, carried out by 'The London Wraith'. Bexley sets out to prove Hawthorn innocent.

As in his last novel, Sam Hurcom weaves a story which crosses genres. There are elements of Sherlock Holmes and Hammer Horror, The 39 Steps and, particularly early on, Scooby Doo (and I really mean that as a compliment) as Bexley evades his former colleagues in Scotland Yard and travels to Scotland, drawn by letter from Hawthorn, a letter sent several months previously. Accompanied by the sister of one of The Wraith's victims, Bexley follows a series of clues which lead to an even bigger mystery. Here the novel becomes a little DaVinci Code-like (albeit with better prose) as the plot is driven by coincidence and I admit my heart sank a little. But...suddenly it ALL changes and the changes cause Thomas Bexley, and the reader, to doubt everything that has gone before. It is a masterstroke.

Ultimately, Hurcom stops short of going where I really wanted him to but still delivers s thrilling, disturbing, and very satisfying second novel and I look forward to his third.

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Review: The Searcher

The Searcher by Tana French
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

'A small place. A small town in a small country. It seemed like that would be easier to make sense of. Guess I might have had that wrong.'

THE SEARCHER is Tana French's latest captivating novel. Like her last, THE WYCH ELM, the book is a standalone, unconnected to her excellent Dublin Murder Squad series, although the protagonist in this case is a policeman or, at least, a ex-policeman. Cal Hooper is a 48 year-old retired Chicago detective, disillusioned and somewhat burnt out, who has relocated to a small village in the west of Ireland, to a dilapidated cottage which he intends to fix up, as he rebuilds and mends his psyche. Cal is befriended by Trey Reddy, a local kid whose brother has disappeared, he begins to investigate, initially reluctantly; less so as it becomes clear that not everyone in the village wants Trey's brother found.

THE SEARCHER is a slow-burn, unhurried, character-driven story, full of the gorgeous, descriptive, evocative writing for which Tana French is known. After a phone call to his daughter, Cal feels 'a sense that somehow, inspire of having been on the phone all that time, they haven't had a conversation at all; the whole thing was made of air and tumbleweed.'. A character has 'the look of a woman who's had too much land on top of her, not in one great big avalanche but trickling down little by little over a lot of years.'

It is perhaps not accidental that the title of the novel is almost that of John Ford's 'The Searchers'. The feel of the novel is that of a western set in rural Ireland, particularly a scene in which Cal and another character keep watch through a restless night, anticipating some attack on the house. This is not the romanticised Ireland of The Quiet Man or, if it is, it is now blighted by unemployment and the drugs trade. There is a melancholy, a feeling of inevitability to the events of the novel. And it is very, very good.

I have liked all of Tana French's books. FAITHFUL PLACE is my favourite and THE SEARCHER, whose theme and tone echoes that earlier book, comes very, very close.

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#BlogTour - The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly

 

THE MOST IMPORTANT CASE OF HIS LIFE. ONLY THIS TIME THE DEFENDANT IS HIMSELF

"The law of innocence is unwritten. It will not be found in a leather-bound code book. It will never be argued in a courtroom. In nature, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. In the law of innocence, for every man not guilty of a crime there is a man out there who is. And to prove true innocence the guilty man must be found and exposed to the world."

* * * * *

Heading home after winning his latest case, defense attorney Mickey Haller - The Lincoln Lawyer - is pulled over by the police. They open the trunk of his car to find the body of a former client.

Haller knows the law inside out. He will be charged with murder. He will have to build his case from behind bars. And the trial will be the trial of his life.

Because Mickey Haller will defend himself in court.

With watertight evidence stacked against him, Haller will need every trick in the book to prove he was framed. But a not-guilty verdict isn't enough. In order to truly walk free, Haller knows he must find the real killer - that is the law of innocence...

* * * * *

THE LAW OF INNOCENCE is seventh in Michael Connelly's The Lincoln Lawyer series, a sequence which has become one of the best legal thriller series around and truly the equal of Connelly's Harry Bosch series. The books have a different feel to the Bosch novels, both through the first person narration of Mickey Haller, the eponymous Lincoln Lawyer and Harry Bosch's half-brother, and by Mickey's less strict 'code' than that by which Bosch lives. Mickey is a fast talking dealer, a man with a sense of right and wrong but who is prepared to bend the rules, muddy the waters, when necessary to get the right verdict. This time his task is made much more difficult as Haller is the accused, whose decision to defend himself is further hampered by  a prohibitive bail leading to his incarceration.

The real joy of the series, as with all great series, is the characters, the interactions between Haller and his team, including his investigator, Cisco, Harry Bosch, and two (!) ex-wives. The dialogue is sharp and snappy, the plot moves like a snake, the threat to Haller, from the dogmatic prosecution and from fellow prisoners, feels real and has the potential for lasting consequences. The courtroom scenes are truly thrilling.

While there are callbacks to previous novels, the book can be read as a standalone, although those who start here should be prepared to devote some considerable time in going back to the start and catching up - I don't believe you could read this and not want more...

While it doesn't play a huge part in the plot, this novel is the first that I have read, especially by a renowned authors, in which Covid-19 appears. As the plot develops, Haller becomes aware of news stories about a virus in Wuhan, he starts to see people wearing masks in the street and then in the jail. It is well done and adds to the verisimilitude. It is ironic that I am reviewing the book on a day when America is counting votes in an election so affected by Coronavirus.

THE LAW OF INNOCENCE is a fine addition to a fine series. I really enjoyed spending time with Haller, Cisco, Maggie McFierce and the rest. I love the Harry Bosch books, and it is close, but the Haller novels may now be Michael Connelly's preeminent series. Can't wait to find out what happens next.

Thanks to Tracy Fenton at Compulsive Readers and to Orion Fiction/Hachette for the advance review copy.

Review: The Chalet

The Chalet by Catherine Cooper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

1998, in La Madiere in the French Alps, two ski instructors lose a pair of brothers in poor weather. Only one of the brothers returns. 

22 years later, in similarly bad weather, two couples stay in one of the resorts chalets, along with a baby, a nanny and employees of the chalet company. Each of these people have secrets; at least one of them is connected to the events of 1998.

THE CHALET is a claustrophobic thriller in a setting of which I know very little. I have never been skiing, or visited a resort such as La Madiere. It is to Catherine Cooper's credit that she uses her intimate knowledge of such resorts to take the reader there. It is even more impressive that she makes this group of pretty unlikeable characters compelling. Each of these individuals is hiding something; none of them are particularly sympathetic. And yet, we care what happens, as the truth is gradually revealed slowly through the first person, unreliable narration by several of the main characters and the judicious use of flashbacks.

I really enjoyed THE CHALET, a thrilling, and chilling, debut. Thanks to Harper Fiction for the review copy.

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Review: A Song for the Dark Times

A Song for the Dark Times by Ian Rankin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Proof that retirement is not the end. Ian Rankin made the decision many years ago that his central character, John Rebus, would age in real time meaning that he was forced to leave the police force several novels ago, yet the subsequent books have been no less thrilling or entertaining. A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMES is no exception.

Rebus heads north having received a call from his daughter, Samantha, whose partner, Keith, has gone missing. Back in Edinburgh, Siobhan Clarke and Malcolm Fox investigate the murder of a James Bond-worshipping Saudi playboy student. The narrative alternates between the two plots connected by the relationship between Rebus and Clarke as they stay in touch by phone. And, when Siobhan's investigation turns up someone from near to the village in which Rebus's daughter lives, the cases become more intertwined.

As always though, it is the characters who drive the story. We enjoy spending time with the cantankerous John Rebus, and we worry about the COPD which has caused him to leave his flat, due to the struggle with stairs. He is getting old and Siobhan worries about him, even as she is exasperated by both Rebus and Fox. I really hope there are many more Rebus mysteries to come but, should the day come, and it will be a sad day, there is great potential in Clarke's and Fox's love/hate relationship.

And what happens after that last chapter? I cannot wait to find out.

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#BlogTour - The Trials of Koli by M.R. Carey

EVERYTHING THAT LIVES HATES US

Beyond the walls of Koli's small village lies a fearsome landscape filled with choker trees, vicious beasts and shunned men. As an exile, Koli's been forced to journey out into this mysterious, hostile world. But he heard a story, once. A story about lost London, and the mysterious tech of the Old Times that may still be there. If Koli can find it, there may still be a way for him to redeem himself - by saving what's left of humankind.

THE TRIALS OF KOLI is the second novel in M R. Carey's breathtakingly original Rampart trilogy, set in a strange and deadly world of our own making.

M. R. Carey has been making up stories for most of his life. His novel The Girl With All the Gifts was a word-of-mouth bestseller and is now a major motion picture based on his own screenplay. Under the name Mike Carey he has written for both DC and Marvel, including critically acclaimed runs on X-Men and Fantastic Four, Marvel's flagship superhero titles. His creator-owned books regularly appear in the New York Times graphic fiction bestseller list. He also has several previous novels, two radio plays and a number of TV and movie screenplays to his credit.

'It was kind of like there was a crowd of people all around me and they was shouting. But they were dead people, gone into the ground a long time before, and their voices did not carry. Only the marks was left, like voices that had froze and fell to the ground.'

In THE BOOK OF KOLI M.R. Carey introduced Koli, a fifteen year-old boy, exiled from his medieval-like village in post-apocalyptic England, several hundred years in our future. In THE TRIALS OF KOLI our titular hero and his new companions continue their journey south, drawn by the 'Signal' which promises London and Koli's dream to bring people together, to increase the 'gene pull' and reverse the decline of healthy human childbirth in the villages. It is fun to fall back into the rhythms of Koli's vernacular, his voice Huckleberry Finn-like but very much his own, as he narrates the travellers' journey to find the source of the Signal by way of places such as Birmagen and encounters with the armies of Half-Ax.

But there is a second voice, Spinner. In the first novel, Koli tells us, “The two sides is this: I went away, and then I come home again.” Spinner's story keeps us up to date with what has happened in Mythen Rood following Koli's expulsion by the Ramparts and how both the actions of the ruling class and external influences have changed the place to which Koli intends to return. This narrative is just as enthralling as Koli's as, in a strangely prescient turn of events, the village is struck by a deadly illness the effects of which the Ramparts are powerless to arrest. In an attempt to end the deaths, Spinner is drawn into a conspiracy which could change the political structure of Mythen Rood forever.

TRIALS picks up immediately after the events of THE BOOK OF KOLI and the plot really speeds up. Along the way Carey touches on many issues which reflect our own society, the tribalism and intolerance, the war on facts and truth, the apparent intention of those in power to keep the population stupid and compliant... Like its predecessor, THE TRIALS OF KOLI is as thought provoking as it is entertaining and thrilling. I can't wait to see where the trilogy goes and how M.R. Carey brings Koli's story to a conclusion.

Thanks to @MsAnnaJackson @michaelcarey191 @orbitbooks and  @Tr4cyF3nt0n for the opportunity to take part in the BlogTour.

#BlogTour - City of Spies by Mara Timon

LISBON, 1943: When her cover is blown, SOE agent Elisabeth de Mornay flees Paris. Pursued by the Gestapo, she makes her way to neutral Lisbon, where Europe’s elite rub shoulders with diplomats, businessmen, smugglers, and spies. There she receives new orders – and a new identity. 

Posing as wealthy French widow Solange Verin, Elisabeth must infiltrate a German espionage ring targeting Allied ships, before more British servicemen are killed.

The closer Elisabeth comes to discovering the truth, the greater the risk grows. With a German officer watching her every step, it will take all of Elisabeth’s resourcefulness and determination to complete her mission.

But in a city where no one is who they claim to be, who can she trust?

Mara Timon’s debut novel is one of intrigue and espionage in World War II. With little preamble, we are thrust straight into the action as, betrayed to the Gestapo in Paris, our heroine goes on the run. Following a thrilling escape through the French countryside to the coast, Elizabeth arrives in Lisbon, a city whose neutrality means that British and German agents mix with French refugees and locals, where the war is fought in the shadows, kidnappings and assassinations a daily event. Working undercover for her godfather, an English ‘diplomat’, Elizabeth finds herself entering this society, where anyone might be an enemy or an ally, where she will need all her training and guile just to survive. The core of the novel is tense and claustrophobic as Elizabeth , alias mysterious French widow, Solange Verin, tries to find those responsible for betraying Allied ships to the Nazis, only to explode into a breathtaking climax as she confronts the enemy. 

CITY OF SPIES is a “Girls Own’ thriller, an adventure set against the complex and confusing theatre that is wartime Portugal. I was unfamiliar with events in Lisbon during the war but Mara Timon vividly brings the city to life. The espionage is much more towards the Fleming end of the spectrum than the Le Carre, and none the worse for that, but this is a fresh take on the genre, glamorous, romantic and exciting. 

Review: Knife Edge

Knife Edge by Simon Mayo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

KNIFE EDGE is a thriller about terrorism with a breathless opening which rivals anything I have read in the genre as, in 29 minutes one morning in May, a series of attacks leaves 7 London commuters dead. In the Canary Wharf offices of the IPS news agency, Famie Madden and her fellow journalists, begin to realise that the killings have been coordinated and the victims are colleagues in the agency's Investigation team. 

Simon Mayo, a radio and TV presenter, who presents my favourite film review show on BBC Radio 5, is a fine writer. The early chapters detailing the killings and their immediate aftermath are tense and claustrophobic, and Mayo's descriptions of an early morning London into which panic and fear erupt, are intensely vivid and convincing. The scenes following this are less riveting as the story alternates between Famie's attempt to protect herself and her family, while also attempting to identify those responsible for her colleagues' deaths, and scenes set in the terrorist cell. Here the story slows and the constant references to the terrorists as 'The Leader', 'The Woman' and "The Student' are a little clumsy. The book does lift again with a climactic confrontation with the terrorists which, while not reaching the heights of the initial chapters and being, perhaps, a little formulaic, does bring the novel to a satisfying conclusion.


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Review: The Stranger

The Stranger by Simon Conway
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

‘My name is Nasruddin al-Raqqah.’

'I was kidnapped by the British for a crime I did not commit and they sent me to Damascus. I was questioned and tortured, I spent more than ten years in a tiny cell deep under the ground without sunlight, without speaking. Every day I washed the bodies of those killed by Assad. Thousands of bodies, men and women, I thought I was dead and in hell.'

'But now I am free.’

Ten years ago, MI6 Officer, Jude Lyon witnessed the rendition of The Engineer, a terrorist responsible for the killings of 25 British soldiers in a fiendishly clever attack in Pakistan. Haunted by his part in the handing over of the captive and his pregnant wife to torture, Jude becomes involved once more when The Engineer, long presumed dead, is offered for sale on the dark web by a terrorist organisation who have violently freed him from captivity. The press have now come into possession of documents proving British complicity in The Engineer’s rendition, Jude is caught in the political crossfire as the guilty scramble to cover their tracks while their rivals seek advantage, and he is unable to shake the memory of Nasruddin al-Raqqah’s last words as he was dragged away, “I am not The Engineer.”

And who is The Stranger...?

THE STRANGER is a fast paced ‘War on Terror’ thriller with interesting characters, a tightly plotted, tense set up, political intrigue, and an explosive climax but the characters are conflicted, the politics anything but straightforward. There are no goodies and baddies and Simon Conway, a writer with whom I was previously unfamiliar, has delivered a novel that is several steps above the gung-ho, flag-waving thrillers that seem to fill the shelves, much more Le Carre than Clancy.

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Review: Invisible Girl

Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

INVISIBLE GIRL is an intense, absorbing, character-driven domestic psychological thriller. The narrative, told through the experiences of three viewpoint characters, concerns sexual assault, infidelity, suspicion, trial by media and social media. The 'action' takes place in the largely dark, claustrophobic streets of a village-like district of London.

Cate Four, mother of two teenagers, wife to psychologist, Roan, lives with her family in the temporary accommodation of a flat in Hampstead, as the family home in Kilburn is renovated. It should be an adventure, the desirable and affluent area known for intellectuals and artists. But Cate, who came close to separating from her husband when he had an affair suspects that Roan may be wandering but, having accused him of infidelity a year previously, buries her fears.

Owen Pick, a strange, socially awkward teacher, who lives opposite the Fours, is suspended from his job following accusations of sexual harassment from female students. When Cate's daughter, Georgia, is followed home along dark streets and her friend Tilly claims she was assaulted by a stranger, the Fours wonder about their neighbour.

Saffyre Maddox is a 17-year old former patient of Roan Four, whom she saw because she was self-harming, caused by something which happened to her when she was 10. Having developed an attachment to her psychologist, she misses her regular appointments and secretly follows Roan, frequently spying on the Fours' home. When Saffyre goes missing, and is found to have been near the Fours, suspicion naturally falls on their neighbour, Owen Pick.

Lisa Jewell draws her characters so well conveying emotions through their actions and reactions. We see the trauma caused by a lack of communication, the married couple tiptoeing around each other, the mother unable to confront her children, suspicions growing in relationships because people are afraid to ask questions. Owen Pick is adjudged guilty by the media and, as other sexual attacks are revealed in the area, we begin to question whether his embarrassment and discomfort around women is hiding more dangerous traits.

The story's shifts in viewpoint and timelines keeps the reader on edge throughout. In reality, not an awful lot happens, the action largely in the minds of her characters, but Jewell ramps up the tension expertly and we never really fully know any of the protagonists. There is some wonderfully descriptive writing too, particularly in the sections narrated in the first person by Saffyre, an incredibly perceptive 17-year old. One particular passage, as Saffyre describes Roan Four's consulation room, is among the best, most atmospheric scenes I have read this year, but throughout there are little touches that make INVISIBLE GIRL a joy to read. The story is tense and oppressive, the underlying subject matter harrowing and distasteful, none of the characters truly what they initially seem, but the Lisa Jewell skilfully holds this all together and delivers a satisfying mystery while raising questions which will stay with the reader long after the story is done.

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