Authors and Their Books: Can a review be a smear and a political dirty trick?

[Alan]

Can a review be a smear and a political dirty trick? Click http://goo.gl/U9ZV3 http://goo.gl/4FiF9.
I would welcome comments

[Geoff]

His bile comes through as if one of his Wimpey burgers is returning. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing that his review has even bothered you. He is a confirmed flag waving socialist, and he wishes to ban you because he disagrees with the content of your writing – this smacks of Adolf, rather than Marx.
To misquote Churchill – your reviewer has the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy – ignore him unless you can turn his negative comments in to a positive for you, so that people start reading and talking about your book. Then you might have to thank him :-o)

[Alan]

I would ignore him but for the fact that whenever anyone googles Death of a Nightingale in Mozilla Firefox the first or the second thing they see, sometimes ahead of my own website, is the Stage Review.So best I try to use him!

[Patricia]

How could you use him? Indulge me. I'm sort of thinking out loud here. But if you could get readers to comment, one way or another, polarize his efforts, both would get you publicity. And, therefore, sell books.

[Alan]

Too often people believe everything they read and take it at face value. In my writing I flag up the danger of naiveté especially when it comes to politics. As a former Liberal Party activist I see this as the Achilles Heel of the Left. The Review here is an interesting case study in its own right. My book is itself a case study illustrating the same danger in relation to Inclusion.All of it food for thought,I hope.