Jerome Parisse's Blog, page 3

Review of Like This, For Ever, by S.J. Bolton

Those who have been reading my blog for a while know I love S.J. Bolton‘s work. So when her latest novel became available in Kindle Format before the paperback release, I just had to get it. I took it with me on a flight from Australia to Hawaii, and that’s all it took to read it. Bolton’s previous novel, Dead Scared, didn’t engage me as much as her other ones had, so I was wondering what this one would do to me. Loved it! Absolutely loved it. It’s excellent, riveting, nail-biting, one-sitting-read, pure Bolton material! This book features Lacey Flint (for the third time I think) as well as a number of other characters who have appeared in her novels previously. Of course, it’s also a beautiful standalone novel. I was a little surprised – and quite pleased with myself I have to confess – when at about 75% of the book I knew whodunnit. It did surprise me, and I thought that Bolton had on purpose left enough hints for us to guess who the murderer was (it can be a great device in crime novels to know who the murderer is when the main characters don’t have a clue). I should have known better, of course. I was way off the mark, and Bolton delivered a massive blow to my self-esteem when it was revealed I was plainly wrong. Great plot, unexpected findings, great pace (you just can’t put it down), beautiful characters… everything you need to spend your afternoon engrossed in a book. In this one, I found that Bolton’s treatment of her characters reached an intensity and sensibility that she hadn’t reached yet. Beautiful, yet gripping. Like This, For Ever is more than highly recommended. It’s a must read.

Review of “The Three Mistakes of My Life” by Chetan Bhagat

“The three mistakes of my life” is a book by Chetan Bhagat, an author from India. Bhagat is quite successful and has written many good books. In this one he tells the story of Govind and his two friends Ish and Omi, who live in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Govind wants to become a businessman, Ish loves nothing else but cricket and Omi is just happy being with his friends. Together they open a cricket shop and become somewhat successful in their business endeavours. This is the background to the story of how they discover a young Muslim boy called Ali, who has a gift for cricket. Ish trains him hard and tries to make him an elite cricket player. But things don’t come easy to any of the three friends. Govind’s business dreams are shattered by a powerful earthquake, Ali does not want to relocate to Australia to become a successful cricket player, and Omi has to face the political ambitions of some family members. The politics and religious clashes between Hindus and Muslims are part of the story, and in fact, will contribute to its tragic ending. This novel reminded me of the tensions I myself felt between Hindus and Muslims when travelling through Rajasthan. The story is okay, although a bit superficial at times – and the cricket thing can be a little tedious. It’s a nice story of love, passion, money, politics, and hate. Well written with fun characters, but it would benefit from more depth in its character depiction. A good read, and one in a different setting for once.

Review of Rubbernecker, by Belinda Bauer

Long silence from me… Many things have happened during the last few weeks. First we’ve moved and are still unpacking things. We only moved around the corner, but it does not make it any easier. We love our new place, though. This is a penthouse style and has a huge outdoor terrace, perfect for plants and entertaining! Work has been hectic, and family stuff have added to the stress. Anyway, I am taking the opportunity of some down time to write this post.

I came across Rubbernecker, the latest book by Belinda Bauer, when reading Nikki-Ann’s blog – I trust her reviews and I immediately knew I had to read this book. It sounded just like the type of story I like. I’ve read Blacklands by Bauer and found it very good (I wrote a review of it here a while ago.) Bauer’s new book gets 5 stars from me. I like the fact that it is a standalone book for a start. Many crime novels and thrillers these days tend to be series – once an author finds a good formula, they stick to it. In Rubbernecker, three parallel stories take place and eventually all link together. You can sort of see the link from the start, but it’s hard to tell how it is really going to develop, and I loved that. The first story is about Patrick, a teen-ager with Asperger’s syndrome who wants to study anatomy to understand what happens when you die – an interesting premise. Bauer depicts the way Patrick feels, reacts and thinks in a most credible way, and she manages to skilfully develop the plot at the same time, not an easy task when your protagonist does not do the things “normal” people do (please note the quotes here, by normal I don’t mean people living with Asperger’s syndrome aren’t normal, I just mean they do things differently). Patrick is a very loveable character. The stress that his mother goes through feels very real. The second story is Tracy’s, a nurse who works in the coma ward of a hospital. And the third story is about Samuel Galen, a coma patient. Now, what Bauer does here is a real tour-de-force – Imagine telling the story from a coma patient’s perspective without being boring or flat… Loved it! The way Bauer describes Samuel coming out of his coma (opening his eyes) is fantastic. There are a few great moments in the book, like the initial depiction of an accident, line by line, and from the eyes of the person in the car. There’s also someone’s death (I’m not saying who it is not to spoil the fun) seen through his own eyes: this was very powerful. The beauty about the story is that although there is a clear conclusion, some of it is left to the imagination, but with just about enough information to make your mind about a number of things… I read the book in one sitting, of course, and now I find myself wishing I hadn’t read it so that I could read it again.

The Mephisto Club, by Tess Gerritsen

I have written quite a few reviews of Gerritsen’s novels, especially the Rizzoli & Isles series. I like Gerritsen’s simple writing style and excellent plots. I particularly liked this one, The Mephisto Club, which is the one in which Isles’ parents split up. The story revolves around satanist cults and the search for fallen angels, the infamous Nephilins. This is a good story and I read it in a flash. Probably one of the best Gerritsen crime novels I have read.

Seals – no kangaroos – on Kangaroo Island

Wonderful weekend in Kangaroo Island! This island is in South Australia, a mere 30 minute- flight from Adelaide. It’s big, there are very few people – the odd tourist – and it’s full of animals. We didn’t see any kangaroos because we didn’t drive at night, but lots of birds, and a 1,000 seal colony that lives there permanently. Kangaroo Island is also famous for its great white sharks (they love seals), so no swimming too far from the shore! There are also wonderful sand dunes called Little Sahara. Highly recommended for a short break.

 

 

Lowcountry Boil, by Susan Boyer

Boyer has chosen a great setting for her first Liz Talbot mystery novel, the Island of Stella Maris on the East Coast of the US, in South Carolina. The atmosphere of the place is portrayed vividly, as well as a variety of characters inhabiting the island. It doesn’t sound like a place where a murder could happen, but one does occur – a simple blow to the head. The victim is none other than Liz’s grandmother, and Liz is a private investigator. Following the death of her grandma and after inheriting her estate, Liz moves back to Stella Maris and starts leading her own enquiry, in spite of her elder brother, the local law enforcer. Nearly everyone is family or acquaintance on the island, so it is hard to make sense of why someone would want to kill Liz’s grandmother. Liz will of course uncover what it’s all about, a piece of land with a great potential for development, and it’s something most inhabitants, Liz included, strongly oppose. This was for me the first weak point in the novel: the reason for the murders (there’s going to be several) is not very compelling – not that’s it’s never happened – but it doesn’t get you too excited or put you on edge. The other thing that didn’t gel with me was the high number of characters to remember and differentiate, and they’re almost all introduced at the same time. To be honest, it took me forever to know who was who, and after a while I just stopped bothering; it doesn’t prevent you from enjoying the story but it did annoy me a little. Boyer’s writing is straight to the point. A lot of action and not too much thinking or feeling. I found her style a little too direct and cold; with a little more warmth, it’d be fantastic. The story is good though, well paced and well brought to life. I also loved the role played by Colleen the ghost, one of Liz’s old school friends, who comes and goes in the story as if there was nothing unusual about it. This is a great device and one that gives the story an edge.

Koala on a stroll…

We went to the Great Otway National Park, Victoria (Australia) in the New Year for a two-day break. It’s just right by the Great Ocean Road, and is truly beautiful. Last year we nearly stepped on two brown snakes when going for a walk there (second most venomous land based snake in the world) but this year, as we were driving around, we came across a much cuter animal… Have a look at the video (Please forgive the low quality, it was taken on my iPhone). Isn’t Australia the best?

The Impossible

I don’t know if you get annoyed as I do sometimes with people going to the movies and buying a 2kg bag of popcorn, a few drinks and several bags of sweets during the film? It’s not the eating or drinking that I mind, but rather the noise that goes with it. It was particularly bad in Hong Kong when I was living there, but it’s not much better here in Australia – okay, at least we don’t get the smell of McDonalds food in the theatre. I wish candy companies had found a way to produce plastic bags that make no noise when opening them. Popcorn can be particularly  noisy too, and when you’re engrossed in a movie, it can be quite irritating. Well, I have found the movie you can go and see without having to worry about the noise people make when eating and drinking! It’s The Impossible, by director Juan Antonio Bayona and featuring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts (I love her). The film relates the story of a family with three kids holidaying in Thailand when the 2004 Tsunami hit on Boxing Day. It’s based on the true story of a Spanish family, although they are English in the film. This is a compelling and heart-breaking story. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it, because the term is not quite right considering the topic, but it’s a very good movie. Anyway, back to my ranting about eating noises. The movie session started as usual with stacks of eaters and drinkers surrounding us, but fifteen minutes into the story, silence! You could have heard a pin drop! No one was either moving or opening their mouths to swallow anything or speak. The story is quite graphic and watching Watts’ torn calf bleeding profusely, the deaths that surround her and her son, the injuries, what she  throws up at one stage, and other niceties, all this reduced the audience to silence – and later to tears. Popcorn was wasted, candies kept for later. Goodie!

Sidney Sheldon’s Angel of the Dark, by Tilly Bagshawe: don’t go there!

A few weeks ago I picked up a book in one of those shops that sell unsold items at very low prices. The book was only worth a few dollars, but the title attracted my attention and it had been published by Harper Collins, so I thought it couldn’t be that bad. The title of the book was created and written in a way to deceive people and make them believe they were buying a book from Sidney Sheldon, the well-known writer. If you went below the title however (Sidney Sheldon’s Angel of the Dark) you could see another name, Tilly Bagshawe, the real author. Everything about that method is cheap. Never mind, I started reading the book, supposed to be based on notes left by Sheldon when he died in 2007. The plot is good and the story starts well enough. In a nutshell, this is about a series of weird murders in which en elderly man is savagely murdered while his young wife is raped and left alive by his side. The murders take place around the world, and a number of individuals, one from Interpol and a useless comedy writer, set on a search for the killer. As I said, the plot is okay, until the end that is. The last part of the book is boring – a trial – and the ending so preposterous it made me cringe. You very quickly can’t stand the main character, the comedy writer. As for the writing, it’s all right most of the time, but sometimes you come across repetitions and gems such as (p. 222) “He was as Indian as the Taj Mahal.” Such trite similes should simply be banned from literature.

The worst, for me, started with Chapter Thirteen, which takes place in Hong Kong. This is a fine example of how easily you can lose credibility with your readers, something all writers learn very early on in their careers. If what you write is false or simply wrong, your credibility is gone – and it doesn’t matter if it’s fiction or not. With me having lived in Hong Kong, Bagshawe didn’t stand a chance, but had she done basic research, she would have been fine. The underground system in Hong Kong (probably the best in the world in terms of efficiency, network and cleanliness) is called the MTR (Mass Transit Railway)… and it becomes the DLR in the novel. But the worst is to come. I will only give two examples. The first one reads, “Lan Kwai Fong, the nightlife quarter and red-light district, glittered and screamed and stank, its narrow streets packed with some of the weirdest specimens humankind has to offer: juggling midgets, armless dancers, blind transvestite hookers and the ubiquitous, wide-eyed U.S. servicemen on shore leave, drinking it all.” Anyone who knows Hong Kong would scream with laughter when reading these words. Lan Kwai Fong is vile, I agree, but it is a modern street with bars like those you can find anywhere in the world – like Los Angeles or London where the author lives – and, on Saturday nights when it becomes rowdy and full of drunk people, mostly expats. None of the weird specimens described here. It is as normal as it gets. One paragraph further down and you find, “In New York and London, shopping streets were crowded. Here they were overrun, infested, alive with humanity like a rotting corpse riddled with maggots.” I had to read this several times to make sure I had read well. Is Bagshawe really comparing Hong Kongese with maggots? This has to be the most racist, wrong and offensive thing I have read in a long time. She should be banned from writing and Harper Collins should change editors. Honestly!

Wonderful weekend at Wilsons Promontory, Victoria

Just back from a lovely weekend 3 hours southeast of Melbourne. Wilsons Promontory is a beautiful national park, with great walks, empty beaches, lots of wildlife and few people. The water is pristine and the air clean. Highly recommended!