BOTM June 2024 Any Way the Wind Blows

[Celia]

Mrs Charlotte De Granville wanted a quiet, unobtrusive, not too clever private detective for a very discreet little job. The nature of the assignment dictated a certain economy of truth when it came to briefing said detective. He would detect and she would take care of the rest -- with extreme prejudice. Anthony M Moretti, failed golf pro, onetime Miami nightclub hustler and more recently PI specializing in divorce work, fitted the bill rather nicely. So Tony got the job and the kind of trip that would take him from the glitter of Cape Town's jet set to the rotten underbelly of pulsating Durban to the tropical paradise of the Comoros Islands. Somewhere along the way things become complicated. Things like a black eyed beauty with a voice like Nina Simone or a woman who could stomach a revolution but not a man's betrayal. A young mercenary with hope in his heart and technicolor illusions of an Africa long faded to dusty decay. And an ageing soldier of fortune who really should have known better...

From https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/any-way-t...

[Celia]

I have started and am on page 12. I do not know how much this book includes Comoros. Right now, the characters are in South Africa. But if it keeps up being written so well and so engaging, I will still think it worth the read even if Comoros is hardly mentioned.

Enjoy!!

[GailW]

I started it on my kindle and dnf'ed it. The run-on sentences were driving me crazy. I just could not get comfortable with it. I have since found a paperback copy and may give it a try later in the month.

[GailW]

Celia wrote: "I have started and am on page 12. I do not know how much this book includes Comoros. Right now, the characters are in South Africa. But if it keeps up being written so well and so engaging, I will ..."

I know that Comoros is mentioned in the book blurb, so hopefully it's enough to make it to our world challenges.

Some notes on the author:
"Seven years working as a surgeon in both Saudi Arabia as well as Kuwait City led to the creation of Riad Ajmi, the British-educated, French-Lebanese homicide detective, who features in the novels, The Mask of Louka and Devil's Tumble, both set in the Middle East.
Other previously published works include The Cherry Red Shadow, The Lily White Shadow and The Blue Ice Shadow (the Shadows of a Rainbow trilogy) as well as Pockets of Resistance and Any Way the Wind Blows.
Recently published is the World War Two novel, Winter's Day.
South African by birth, he lives in Mount Gambier, South Australia, with his wife, extended family, two dogs, a cat and various farm animals."

[Amanda]

I hear you Gail, I almost dnf'd it too. The writing style felt like it was trying too hard to replicate a 30s-40s hard boil without understanding what made those books compelling. Other than cringey run on sentences it also comes across as pretty misogynistic because the hard boil parlance does NOT come across naturally in a modern setting. On a subjective level I also hate golf and there is sooo much golf talk. this wasn't for me.

I ended up speed reading the whole thing while watching better tv yesterday, and yeah, large parts of it happen in Comoros later on so it can be counted. I don't recommend it though. Will probably still read the coelacanth book at some might and might replace this one with that one.

I'm giving this 1 star.