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57th out of 283 books
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263 voters
The Survival of Thomas Ford
by
John A.A. Logan (Goodreads Author)
THE SURVIVAL OF THOMAS FORD
Thomas Ford is the only survivor of the car crash which killed his wife. He is also the only witness who would be willing to identify the young, reckless driver who caused the crash. But the driver has no intention of ever letting himself be identified, not to mention what his father’s intentions are…or those of his girlfriend, Lorna, the hospita...more
Thomas Ford is the only survivor of the car crash which killed his wife. He is also the only witness who would be willing to identify the young, reckless driver who caused the crash. But the driver has no intention of ever letting himself be identified, not to mention what his father’s intentions are…or those of his girlfriend, Lorna, the hospita...more
Kindle Edition, 300 pages
Published
December 25th 2011
by White Butterfly Press
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The novel felt like a padded out short story to me and I found all of the characters pretty obnoxious so couldn't root for any of them, which meant I couldn't get excited about the story. Also the way the characters used the names of those they were speaking to virtually all the time whenever they were talking to them got annoying as people hardly ever do this in real life. Some of the scenes were written with panache though, and I could see a decent story underneath. I just felt it needed more...more
We all know that cruelty and greed of this caliber exist in the world; we hope we never end up on a collision course with it. We'd like to think that we know how we would respond when our own sense of right and wrong is in the crucible, but every once in a while, a book comes along to remind us that, no, we don't.
The plot unfolds with intense Stephen King style storytelling, but there's something very Cormac McCarthy about the portrayal of Ford, McCallum and Ferguson. The story is about good and...more
The plot unfolds with intense Stephen King style storytelling, but there's something very Cormac McCarthy about the portrayal of Ford, McCallum and Ferguson. The story is about good and...more
Thomas Ford is haunted… Okay, not in the literal sense.
Forced off a narrow road into a Scottish Loch, Thomas and his wife had mere moments to escape from their car as it filled with water. What haunts Thomas when he awakes from an almost seven week coma is he couldn’t get his wife out of the car. That, and the strange, bird-like profile of the other driver.
I found this a compelling read, wanting to know what happened next and reading it almost straight through without stopping. It’s a dark and b...more
Forced off a narrow road into a Scottish Loch, Thomas and his wife had mere moments to escape from their car as it filled with water. What haunts Thomas when he awakes from an almost seven week coma is he couldn’t get his wife out of the car. That, and the strange, bird-like profile of the other driver.
I found this a compelling read, wanting to know what happened next and reading it almost straight through without stopping. It’s a dark and b...more
A story about a man who survives a crash in which his wife dies. But the driver who caused the collision is hunting him down because he is worried about being identified.
From this apparently straightforward premise comes a story that is tense and gripping - but far from simple. The characters Thomas must outwit are unhinged, amoral lowlifes, from a milieu that gentle Thomas has never before had to encounter - like most of us who live normally and quietly. This gives the novel a universal, mythic...more
From this apparently straightforward premise comes a story that is tense and gripping - but far from simple. The characters Thomas must outwit are unhinged, amoral lowlifes, from a milieu that gentle Thomas has never before had to encounter - like most of us who live normally and quietly. This gives the novel a universal, mythic...more
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Literary fiction is usually up my street. Contemporary thriller, only sometimes.
From the very opening, the ‘literary’ fiction box was ticked with the beautiful prosaic description. OF A CAR CRASH. That was a master stroke. It worked. And I wondered why it worked? I was put in mind of the many films that I’ve seen (in a former life as a screenwriter) and how often the use of cinematic lighting can kill off the veracity of a scene or movie (Killing Private Ryan springs to mind… I mean, going into...more
I was gripped by 'The Survival of Thomas Ford' from page one. Set in the Highlands of Scotland, it has a deftly evoked sense of place, and the bleak, mysterious beauty of the hills and lochs adds to the drama of the tale. There is a sense that darkness is always lurking just beneath the surface of the landscape and of its inhabitants, and that we may discover it in an instant as Thomas Ford does when his car plunges into the chilly waters of Loch Ness and his life is changed forever.
Thomas Ford,...more
Thomas Ford,...more
Thomas Ford and his somewhat estranged wife Lea have gone out for a pleasant drive, hoping to re-connect at least a bit when disaster strikes. As they come upon a hill, a red Volvo is illegally passing a truck (lorry)at the crest of a hill. Thomas' only chance of survival as he sees it is to swerve over the embankment even though he knows that will land them in the lake (loch). As they enter the water, he is able to release his seat belt but Lea is not. When Thomas tries to release the belt for...more
This book starts with a death in a motoring accident and the survivor of the crash becomes engrossed in trying to find the man who caused it. We are drawn into the life of the perpetrator, an amoral man, whose family and friends are evil or weak. There are some really strong characters in this book yet somehow I didn't feel I got to grips with Thomas Ford himself.
It is a very compelling story and I tried for 15 minutes to put it down after lunch today! The writing is really well crafted and ther...more
It is a very compelling story and I tried for 15 minutes to put it down after lunch today! The writing is really well crafted and ther...more
I picked this up on a hunch after reading glowing praise about the book on Goodreads and I'm really glad I took a chance on it. There is some wonderful writing here that took me right back to my teenage horror phase when King, Herbert, Koontz and Hutson were all I would read.
A great hook at the start of the story with wonderful descriptions of a car crash that had catastrophic impact on the lives of every single person involved. Thomas Ford is an excellent lead character but equally the mad McC...more
A great hook at the start of the story with wonderful descriptions of a car crash that had catastrophic impact on the lives of every single person involved. Thomas Ford is an excellent lead character but equally the mad McC...more
Cross-posted from Papyrus Independent Author Reviews (http://papyrus.calebblake.net/2012/03/18/the-survival-of-thomas-ford-by-john-a-a-logan/)
After a motoring accident leaves his wife dead, Thomas Ford is left in hospital with only fragmented memories of how he survived and how his wife died, of a car and its strange bird-like driver forcing him off the road and into the loch. As he recovers from a 6 week coma, he is haunted by the crash until a visitor arrives who has information about the acci...more
After a motoring accident leaves his wife dead, Thomas Ford is left in hospital with only fragmented memories of how he survived and how his wife died, of a car and its strange bird-like driver forcing him off the road and into the loch. As he recovers from a 6 week coma, he is haunted by the crash until a visitor arrives who has information about the acci...more
Excellent craftsmanship from the get-go. What begins with a car crash survived by unfortunate Thomas Ford continues as a thrilling bumper car ride at the amusement park of chaotic life. At least that's the way this story appeared to me. These beautifully-realized characters seemed to have less control of their lives than the white butterflies and feral cats of the Scottish woods.
The villain of the piece was the only one capable of making decisions, albeit immoral ones, and even he lost impetus...more
The villain of the piece was the only one capable of making decisions, albeit immoral ones, and even he lost impetus...more
This was a surprise for me. I like flawed characters, and they are all flawed here - in layers upon layers. I also liked the flow of the dialogue - a Scottish lilt, but not too much too interrupt the flow for a non-Scots reader.
A man and his wife swerve off the road in a freak accident and plunge into the lake, and only the husband survives. What remains is a lot of survivor's guilt plus the story of how he looks for the truck that ran them off the road. It doesn't end as I thought it would, an...more
A man and his wife swerve off the road in a freak accident and plunge into the lake, and only the husband survives. What remains is a lot of survivor's guilt plus the story of how he looks for the truck that ran them off the road. It doesn't end as I thought it would, an...more
Outstanding. I lost two days of my holiday to this extraordinary book.
I bought it on the recommendation of someone who seems to have had an instinctive understanding of the sort of book I would enjoy. I'm so glad I listened because once I started reading The Survival of Thomas Ford I was drawn into something really quite extraordinary.
From the first paragraph I was mesmerised. Yet the clear bare prose of the opening pages had a haunting quality that lulled me into a world I had not - could not...more
I bought it on the recommendation of someone who seems to have had an instinctive understanding of the sort of book I would enjoy. I'm so glad I listened because once I started reading The Survival of Thomas Ford I was drawn into something really quite extraordinary.
From the first paragraph I was mesmerised. Yet the clear bare prose of the opening pages had a haunting quality that lulled me into a world I had not - could not...more
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Once upon a time, an acclaimed Scottish short story writer wrote four novels with high hopes...and watched decades pass while he found himself crushed under the weight of rejection. He emerged from exile with an astonishing novel called THE SURVIVAL OF THOMAS FORD. Now, day by day, the good news spreads: When an Artistic director goes slumming with a commercial thriller, the result is Martin Scorcese's CAPE FEAR...but when a Literary writer produces a thriller with love and respect, the result i...more
This book was a dark look at philosophy and the morals and choices that we make as well as what haunts us about our choices. I think depending on your own experience, you will see the book slightly differently. I thought the writing was brilliant and sort of like Stephen King meets Tim Burton. Metaphors were used throughout the book to describe both people and "what lurks"...depending on how you interpret them, you could see the "light" or "darkness" of every character and/or action, i.e. bird-l...more
I just finished reading this book and the first word that springs to mind is 'Wow!'
The characters in this story are unforgettable. The writing is superb. The themes; of revenge, loss, survival, evil, supernatural influences, heredity and family make for a compelling literary thriller. Pacing is superb, with the tension ratcheting up with each new chapter. Settings are exceptionally well-described without being over the top - they add to the overall atmosphere of the story and ensure the reader i...more
The characters in this story are unforgettable. The writing is superb. The themes; of revenge, loss, survival, evil, supernatural influences, heredity and family make for a compelling literary thriller. Pacing is superb, with the tension ratcheting up with each new chapter. Settings are exceptionally well-described without being over the top - they add to the overall atmosphere of the story and ensure the reader i...more
Dark and darker is the only way to describe this novel but it is very good for that. What starts out as serious car crash on a Scottish Lochside road turns into an exploration of the evil that lies in people and the lengths some will go for personal gain. Amongst all that is the peculiar nature of the human spirit to survive (that’s Thomas).
Stupidity of teenagers, knee high boots, anguish of the innocent, polish workers, ruthless property developers, motherly love, survival against all the odds....more
Stupidity of teenagers, knee high boots, anguish of the innocent, polish workers, ruthless property developers, motherly love, survival against all the odds....more
This is almost as good as it gets in the crime fiction bracket. Thomas Ford loses his wife in a bizarre accident caused by two young boys in a car overtaking a lorry on a blind bend. The lorry driver also dies. Thomas survives against all the odds, but few believe his story of a red car with two boys in it. Even the police and his parents in law think he may have been to blame. Jimmy, the driver of the car, is a young man with a history of violence. When he discovers, by a series of coincidences...more
Highland Noir.
A fascinating and disturbing novel.
With a potent mix of character and plot, on a flight through the dark of weeping souls and tortured psyches we encounter a priapic and his flaccid friend. The psychotic father and a weary protagonist. A femme fatale and the avenging foreign angel all trapped in a web of death, deceit and debauchery, where events are in the saddle.
John A.A.Logan has crafted a feral drama with psychological and spiritual nuance. He is of the tough and tense traditi...more
A fascinating and disturbing novel.
With a potent mix of character and plot, on a flight through the dark of weeping souls and tortured psyches we encounter a priapic and his flaccid friend. The psychotic father and a weary protagonist. A femme fatale and the avenging foreign angel all trapped in a web of death, deceit and debauchery, where events are in the saddle.
John A.A.Logan has crafted a feral drama with psychological and spiritual nuance. He is of the tough and tense traditi...more
This is the best novel I have read in a few years. I can't believe I got it for free and found a consummate writer. This tale was nothing short of riveting. It is rich in character development, mood and atmospherics.It is a story of evil, greed, power that corrupts(not in a political context), and the domino effect of trying to cover up the initial crime that may have been less serious than what follows. Folks, this is great literature and a first class story told by a magnificent craftsman.I ha...more
"The Survival of Thomas Ford" is a compelling read. I feel as though I have been taken to greater depths than many thrillers. Logan's prose is poetic, reflective. He demonstrates insight into the human condition, the workings of the mind. Several of the characters are still lingering in my head, their relationships to one another, the decisions they made, and how they came to them. Many of the scenes were as vivid as if I were watching a film. John Logan is a writer who should not be overlooked....more
I gave up on this book at the halfway point.
In spite of some really nice writing, quirky characters and building tension, the lack of a sympathetic character (protagonist) to balance against the evil machinations of the low-life cast left me uninterested in the story’s outcome.
In story structure, tension is crucial, the arrows pointing to climactic conflict. The author does a great job of tightening the screws. Unfortunately, tension alone won’t satisfy many readers. Without ‘stakes’, the feelin...more
In spite of some really nice writing, quirky characters and building tension, the lack of a sympathetic character (protagonist) to balance against the evil machinations of the low-life cast left me uninterested in the story’s outcome.
In story structure, tension is crucial, the arrows pointing to climactic conflict. The author does a great job of tightening the screws. Unfortunately, tension alone won’t satisfy many readers. Without ‘stakes’, the feelin...more
I can't recommend this book highly enough - an intelligent, beautifully written thriller with well-drawn characters, good storyline and some cracking descriptions. I found a hint of menace throughout that blended so well with almost fairytale-like elements of nature - butterflies and cats flit in and out of the story. The driver of the car that caused the crash is so well sketched I could see him, and the other characters are equally well rounded. Only Thomas Ford himself remains a little of a m...more
I did not want to put this book down! I read straight through to the end.
Thomas Ford is one of the most fascinating character studies I have read. I am a fan of Henry James because of his style of writing which allows a deep examination of perception and consciousness, and of course James's acute understanding of his characters.
Logan channels Henry James in many respects, yet writes from the unique point of view of the Highlander.
He understands and uses to effect the cadences of the Scottish H...more
Thomas Ford is one of the most fascinating character studies I have read. I am a fan of Henry James because of his style of writing which allows a deep examination of perception and consciousness, and of course James's acute understanding of his characters.
Logan channels Henry James in many respects, yet writes from the unique point of view of the Highlander.
He understands and uses to effect the cadences of the Scottish H...more
A gripping read: about halfway down the second page, it grabbed me, then it just didn't let go. The characters are large and unpredictable, the story barely stops to take a breath and there's scarcely a spare word in the whole book. Tight. And full of energy.
Jimmy in particular is a wonderful character: disturbing and fascinating at the same time. And terrifying.
If John Logan can write like this, (and plainly he can) I'm astonished that he hasn't got a book deal. I hope we see more books from hi...more
Jimmy in particular is a wonderful character: disturbing and fascinating at the same time. And terrifying.
If John Logan can write like this, (and plainly he can) I'm astonished that he hasn't got a book deal. I hope we see more books from hi...more
I'm a pretty fast reader. If I'm engrossed in a book, I can read 400 pages in a day. This book.....took me the better part of a week. It was slow, almost painfully slow. I kept waiting for the action or for the book to make me FEEL something. But, no.
It's just another depressing book about depressing people killing each other for no other reason than because they think that's the way to solve their problems.
Did I hate it? No. Did I like it? Eh. I'll probably forget I even read it.....in about 30...more
It's just another depressing book about depressing people killing each other for no other reason than because they think that's the way to solve their problems.
Did I hate it? No. Did I like it? Eh. I'll probably forget I even read it.....in about 30...more
Read this book in an evening,just could not put down,from first word to last word it held my attention. It is so well written and easy to visualize each of the characters and also where the story is set. (especially as it was set in or near my homeland)
I agree with another reviewer that the book is more "Jimmy's story" than that of Thomas Ford . Hope I will get chance of reading other novels by John A A Logan
I agree with another reviewer that the book is more "Jimmy's story" than that of Thomas Ford . Hope I will get chance of reading other novels by John A A Logan
John Logan has created that rare treat - a thriller with a seriously literary voice behind it. His story-telling is marvellously gripping, but it was the beautiful poetic lyricism of his writing that really got me. It's hard to put my finger on exactly why, but there's a gently mournful Scottish resonance throughout too - which anyone who's spent any time in the highlands will instantly recognise.
I stayed up all night to read The Survival of Thomas Ford. It was a race - would my kindle battery go flat before I finished it? It was wonderful.
I thought it was tense, unpredictable, wonderfully written - and full of dry, deadpan humour. It is shocking that this excellent book couldn't find a conventional publisher - but it deserves its success as an ebook.
I thought it was tense, unpredictable, wonderfully written - and full of dry, deadpan humour. It is shocking that this excellent book couldn't find a conventional publisher - but it deserves its success as an ebook.
Wonderful characters who have haunted me throughout the reading, even to the point that one invaded my dreams.
I found myself frequently thinking of the story and wondering what would happen next when I wasn't reading it.
A book I spent my days so looking forward to pick up again.
A treasure for thriller fans.
I found myself frequently thinking of the story and wondering what would happen next when I wasn't reading it.
A book I spent my days so looking forward to pick up again.
A treasure for thriller fans.
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John A. A. Logan is the author of five novels: THE SURVIVAL OF THOMAS FORD, STARNEGIN’S CAMP, AGENCY WOMAN, THE MAJOR, and ROCKS IN THE HEAD.
He is also the author of eighty-five short stories. His fiction has been published by PICADOR, VINTAGE, EDINBURGH REVIEW, CHAPMAN, NORTHWORDS, NOMAD, SECRETS OF A VIEW, and SCRATCHINGS; with reviews of his work in SCOTTISH STUDIES REVIEW, SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY,...more
More about John A.A. Logan...
He is also the author of eighty-five short stories. His fiction has been published by PICADOR, VINTAGE, EDINBURGH REVIEW, CHAPMAN, NORTHWORDS, NOMAD, SECRETS OF A VIEW, and SCRATCHINGS; with reviews of his work in SCOTTISH STUDIES REVIEW, SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY,...more
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Jan 05, 2013 06:00am