Khaleel Datay's Blog, page 4

Berlin Game - review

Berlin Game by Len Deighton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I read Berlin Game almost twenty years ago, then again a few years later. That was in a time when authors didn't sport multiple black belts and 10 years in MI6 or CIA. Since then I've read all 9 books in the triple trilogy only Deighton could pull off. Deighton writes at a sedate pace, drawing you into the personal and work life of the protagonist to create an immediate emotional connection. Bernard Samson was a former MI6 field agent sent back into the field to Germany, the land of his birth. His job was to bring in Brahms 4 to cross to the British. Samson's character is finely drawn as a son of a war hero, a public school man married to a wealthy fellow agent. Two kids and a gorgeous nanny complete the triangle very nicely. The hero's buddy, Werner, is perfectly cast as the out of shape hen-pecked slob. The two set off on an adventure to get through the Berlin Wall with an inevitable drama of the possibility that they wont make it back to the West. Communist baddies, starchy old British characters, agents sans all the gadgets and a great post war view into the hearts and minds of the British and German people.



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Review: The Last Secret of The Temple

The Last Secret Of The Temple by Paul Sussman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


An Egyptian policeman reopens one of his first cases after fifteen years with the discovery of new evidence. A mourning Israeli cop fueled by liquor to quell his nightmares is drawn into a case he wants no part of. A Palestinian journalist is sent a mysterious letter containing references to a centuries old mystery. If you love Middle East history, Egyptology, a good murder mystery and a proper treasure hunt this is the book for you. Throw in the explosive struggle between the Palestinians and the Israelis and you have an epic that's worth sitting up for at night. Paul Sussman deals with some heavy subject matter here and does a brilliant job of depicting life on the tough streets of Jerusalem and Cairo with really well drawn characters. Exploring age old Jewish traditions and matters of faith, Sussman portrays the bitterness of old beliefs and the hope that is possible in new beginnings.



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Ebook better than paper?

A year ago I would have said you cant beat the feel of a real book in your hand. That familiar friend that's been with you for years through winters and summers taking you to new places every day. Maybe paper still edges the ebook for me and hopefully paper will never disappear. The fact though is that since I got my Kindle I've read more than 70 books in just 18 months. Then also the odd paper book along the way. The ease of buying a book, of reading a book on your Kindle has made a huge difference in how we access new works nowadays. It doesn't matter what device you use (Kindle/IPAD/Kobo etc), that's down to personal preference, but there's been a revolution in the books business that's swept through the last few years. Bricks and mortar bookshops have been major casualties along way. Traditional publishers whose profits depended on printed books have also felt the heat and there's been a scramble of mergers and acquisitions in the industry just to ensure survival let alone make profits. Ultimately I don't know how much it matters, but what I do know is that people wont stop reading. I often hear people saying that they haven't read a book in the last twenty or thirty years since they left high school. I think they've sorely lost out. Yeah there are readers and there are non-readers. There's hope those self-confessed non-readers all own IPADS and are reading stuff online. I say three cheers to Amazon and Apple for being market innovators and leaders that have made such a huge impact on our lives. So which one is better, ebook or paper book, who cares, as long as you're reading.

Review of LENNOX - Craig Russell

Lennox by Craig Russell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I discovered Lennox by Craig Russell quite by accident. One of those you cant put down and an enjoyable read from start to finish. The author has managed to create a hero that's both roguish yet likeable in private investigator Lennox with a history from the Second World War. Russell is very good at this genre of crime fiction with location descriptions that put you right in the thick of the fog and sleet of Glasgow. His bad guys are evil psychopaths that make you cringe and root for the hero. Loved this book.



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Review of Lee Child's High Heat

High Heat by Lee Child

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I've enjoyed every Jack Reacher novel that Lee Child has written. Some more than others. This novella depicts a time where Reacher is 16 going on 17 years old. The story was typical Reacher, stumbling upon some wrong and feeling the need to right it there and then. The kind of knowledge and dialogue the author ascribes to a 16 year old is not always believable though. He dishes out advice and instructions to an FBI agent and clobbers gangsters at every turn. Then again, we are talking Reacher here. Always fun, and a very quick read



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Why do you read

I grew up in a household where I was the middle child. number 4 out of 6. Mom was always too busy with the latest in the brood or going with father to support him in running his business. He was in the shop seven days a week, which meant we never went anywhere most of the time. Family time on a picnic was a rarity. All my school holidays were normally taken up by helping out in the shop. So what's a youngster supposed to do? I found my escape to a world of adventure and exotic places through reading. Comic books,cereal boxes and cartoons in the paper, I read anything and everything. Every morning the news agency delivered bundles of Cape Times and Die Burger to our door for resale that day. So I read the paper every day, both English and Afrikaans ones. We grew up speaking Afrikaans at home but I was enrolled in an English-medium school. Naturally, I didn't do too well in English at primary school. When my friend and neighbour(Wayne Naidoo)started sharing his Hardy Boys and Louis L'Amour books, things changed quickly. Wayne's aunt worked at the Athlone Library which ensured us a steady supply of old books that I consumed at a rate of four or five per week. At high school I picked up a love for Shakespeare's works and poetry, and started excelling in English. Later I studied accounting at university but still spent many hours in the English section of the library reading plays. Many of them originally written in Italian and French. I started reading Robert Ludlum in the 80's and have since read every single book he wrote, even keeping up with the franchise when Eric van Lustbader took over after Ludlum's death. I'm an ardent fan of the spy thriller and have been reading guys like Deighton, McCarry, Forsythe,DeMille etc for the last 30 plus years. I've also become a great fan of Barry Eisler, Lee Child, Daniel Silva and Alex Berenson. Why do you read?