R.J. Lynch > Recent Status Updates

I finished this wonderful book an hour ago but I'm still too stunned to review it. Give me a little time.

There would have to be a drastic fall off in the last third of this book to prevent me giving it 5 stars. And I almost never give 5 stars.

At first, I wasn't going to go on reading this because it starts with a man describing how he hit his wife and I can't think of anything worse than hitting a woman. It's the worst crime, unforgivable whatever the provocation and I didn't want to go on reading. I did, and now I have to accept that Liz Nugent is a very talented newcomer. The book reminds me of The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester

Still good. Like the writer has found his voice.

I gave the first book in this series 3 stars and was keen to read this second book to see whether the author was fulfilling his potential. I have to say, so far it's looking very good.

Still enjoying it. It isn't perfect and sometimes the author's ambition outruns her scope but this is a good book

"Faces like bags of triangles and eyes like buttons on sticks". Beam me up, Spotty! So far, this is bliss.

Charles Cumming writes a mean spy story and I've read everything he's published so far. I'm enjoying A Colder War, particularly as I know the place where it's set (Turkey) rather well, but I have one objection: when Tom and his dead colleague's daughter fall into bed together it seems gratuitous. There was no need for it.

Still enjoying it

I'm loving it so far. It's fast moving, authentic, believable, there's humour as well as adventure and -- contrary to what some reviewers have said -- the sex is not overdone.

Romance/crime novel, A Just and Upright Man, has been shortlisted for the Historical Novel Society's 2015 Indie Award

Really, the behaviour in this book is pretty weird. There isn't space here but Imust spell it out in the review when I'm done.

I'm struggling not to leave this on the DNF shelf. He's a good writer, top 5% prolly, and the book is clever (too damn clever in fact) but all the time I find myself thinking, "Yes? Well? So what?" It isn't the reader's job to entertain, it's the writer's job to hold the reader's interest and that isn't being done here.

I couldn't quite "get" why I wasn't enjoying this well written book by a talented writer until I realised that it brings back shades of Virginia Woolf. I never really cared for Virginia Woolf. The Red House is "good" all right - but I'm not convinced it's good. I'll read on, however.

So far I've only had time to read the first chapter, which is a masterpiece. It draws you in; you want to know what happened, how the characters reached this point, what could have gone differently.

Atmospheric; beautifully done; in spare prose he makes you believe you're there, inside the heads of the characters, seeing what they see.

I kept going with this even when the protagonist had pissed me off and I'm glad I did.

It's a good, rollicking historical story--accurate on the detail and although none of the characters really establish themselves as much more than cyphers the pace is such that that doesn't really matter.

So far I think it's brilliant. Quite Brilliant. What a writer she is!

Half way through and it has me mesmerised.

I read half of this book yesterday during a seven hour flight and I am enjoying it immensely. I rarely give five stars because 5 says "exceptional" but this is so far a very solid four. Eileen Thornton gets you right into the action and makes you believe the motivations.