The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

3.5 Stars

Admittedly I have read the Hawthorne books out of order but I found The Sentence Is Death to be the better of the two.  In this one there is so little of Hawthorne to grab on to that he is, literally, just words on a page.  I know this is deliberate as it accurately reflects the narrator's exasperation at knowing so little about the subject he is now to write about; but it did make it hard going at times.  This is especially because it is almost an ego-piece at times with the narrator taking control of every aspect and lamenting his difficulties in writing the book about the Cowper Murder whilst he knows so little about his hero.  There were many times I wanted to heartily slap Tony and tell him to get his head from a certain orifice, but I couldn't because this is a fiction piece and whilst the Tony we read about has the exact same career trajectory and home life as the actual author (confused yet?) they are not one and the same person.  It is this conceit that dangerously blurs the lines between fact and fiction but somehow the plotting is so bizarre (and rather outlandish at times) that the reader is never in any real danger of mixing reality and fiction in to an homogenous blob - at least I hope they aren't.

I did enjoy reading the book and before I started I had already promised myself that I would not try and figure out whodunnit as I knew it would be suitably obscured and every time something relevant was mentioned it would be immediately followed by a ton of obfuscation.  I think if I had been trying to work out who the murderer was and what their motives were I would probably have just given up on the book.  There is a certain wit and humour buried within the pages - but it is of a rather black and bleak sort (but that appeals to me).

As a final aside I am pretty sure that Mr Horowitz does not know any Funeral Directors personally.  He pretty much does a disservice to the profession in this book, painting them as dour and rather humourless individuals.  Trust me on this, we really aren't (my first job and still my best ever job was as a Funeral Director's Assistant), there is just a certain demeanour expected from us when "on the job".  In reality we generally have overdeveloped senses of humour and a strong sense of the ridiculous.

One Day In December by Josie Silver

This is a good mix of love story and a reflection on family and friendship.  I did enjoy the book but it didn't really ignite that spark for me.  Whether this was because of the characters or the situation I'm not really sure but somehow it all felt a little bit "style over substance" for me and I found that I couldn't really connect with the characters or their situations.

Laurie and Sarah are a strange mix for best friends, very much portrayed as complete opposites in more or less everything.  Laurie is unlucky in love and is searching desperately for Bus Boy, her career is, to be polite, stalled and she appears to be close to her family.  Sarah is ambitious and her career is starting to go places, she appears to make token visits to her family more for appearances sake than out of real affection and her love life is on the up and up; especially after she meets Jack.  Jack I couldn't really get a handle on at all, he is a bit of a cipher despite being an intrinsic part of the story.  Oliver is even more broadly drawn and he is all a little bit of a cliche.

I did like how to book is sectioned off in to years and then only certain dates and events are visited.  This does keep your interest although it does make for a somewhat jumpy read at times.  As in real life there are some things that seem to fall by the wayside and never get resolved and others that are blown out of all proportion.  Although this sounds like a complaint it is actually a compliment as it does give it a nice ring of authenticity.

My real problem with the book is that none of the voices are distinct.  Laurie, Sarah and Jack all sound very alike on the page and this reminds you constantly that you are reading.  This prevents you from sinking in to the story in the way in which the author surely intended us too.  Being that one step removed did spoil things for me somewhat and meant that after the opening chapter where Love Actually is referenced quite a lot I found myself looking for further references to it - sad to say I did find a few but mainly references to clothing rather than actual situations.

I did sort of enjoy this book but it just didn't grab me and refuse to let go.  I can't really talk about the plotting as this gives the whole book away and spoilers really aren't my thing.  There are some stand out moments, plotwise, but they mainly revolve around loss rather than the more joyous moments in life.

If We're Not Married By Thirty by Anna Bell

          This was an okay read but nothing really spoke to me about the story if I'm being honest.  There is a small dose of humour but, for me, that mostly centred around the whole social media thing rather than the people or the situations they find themselves in.  Probably because whilst I acknowledge that for some people it is an important part of their lives I really don't understand why you would invite the world in to your privacy. 

This is very much a book based on the now with all the references to social media accounts and how it influences us to feel like we are somehow living a life less than our contemporaries.  However, I don't believe this will date it over much as there is enough meat to the base tale without that.  I just wasn't very interested in the relationship between Lydia and Danny and how her career was going to pan out

Lydia's career in Events does provide some moments of humour.  It also made me swear off work's Christmas parties for life!

It was a jolly enough read and I did get through it fairly quickly - probably because the writing is actually rather good and it propels you eagerly through the tale.  No breathless moments where you can't wait to turn the page to find out what happens but engaging enough to keep you interested.  There are the standard misunderstandings and hiccups along the way but they do all get resolved in the end, not necessarily satisfactorily or in a way that stands up to real life scrutiny but they do have a veneer of completion to them.

Not a bad book and very easy to follow, perfect for a snatched holiday read or a commute.

I RECEIVED A FREE COPY OF THIS BOOK FROM READERS FIRST IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.
       

What Fresh Hell by Lucy Vine

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, despite not being able to relate to the main character in any way, shape or form.  I have never attended a wedding since my own and have no great urge to do so and the thought of a hen do brings me out in hives - so much so I just plain didn't have one.  From friends that have been on them and casual observance in a local seaside town I have to say that Lucy Vine has hit the nail on the head about the extravagance of them and the sheer inanity of them is well described with a humour that tickled my funny bone and did make me snort rather unattractively on more than one occasion.  No mean feat as most supposedly humourous books leave me rather flat.

The intensity of Lilah's relationship with her friends and family is on point and makes it all feel somewhat relatable.  The little asides for each wedding she went to, with their identical menus and sliding scale of presents as she plunges further and further in to debt are a joy.  Sadly the numerous cultural references make this a book which will date rather rapidly and I probably caught this one at the right moment in time for it to feel fresh and fun rather than dated and hackneyed.

The story is told at a rather fast pace and you do have to race to keep up sometimes, but I suppose that speaks to they way most of us live our lives these days.  Including the pre-ponderence of the use of Reply All to the frustrations of everyone concerned.  Everything is all rather throwaway these days and ultimately this story is too but boy did it entertain me and put a genuine grin on my face - for that alone it deserves 5 Stars.

The characterisations are carefully wrought and bring the characters to life on the page.  I think we all know a people pleaser like Lilah, or a Bridezilla like Lauren.  Joely comes out of it all rather less well being self-centred and only seemingly concerned about superficialities but somehow it all works.  Whether or not you like the characters is pretty much irrelevant and I found they all irritated the heck out of me most of the time but I still enjoyed every word on the page.

South by Frank Owen

I wasn't entirely sure whether this would be the book for me or not - I will admit to being swayed by one reviewer comparing it to The Stand - but I decided to give it a go.  Sorry but The Stand it is NOT, it is very, very good though just not quite epic enough (The Stand is a 10 Star read when the maximum is 5) or the characters engrossing enough or the science anything other than fiction.  The other thing that kind of bothered me was that there is no clear timeframe to hang your hat on - which period is this supposed to be set in, yes I am aware that this is an altered (as well as alternate) reality but it seems to spot about all over the place with cultural references.

However, what it boils down to is a tale that is well told and sucks you in to it.  I did find that it was a read in bursts and then allow what I had read to digest before reading the next segment.  That is a good thing because it meant I was really paying attention to the struggles of not just Vida and Dyce but to all who they encountered on their journey.  You could feel their tension as even a visit to draw water meant being hypervigilant for changes in the weather and particularly that virus laden wind.

The use of The Callahans as Wild West Sheriffs was rather an odd choice of device.  They morphed from being a couple of vigilantes chasing Garrett and Dyce for personal reasons in to suddenly becoming the overlords of the South with everybody mortally afraid of attracting their attention.  Bit of a strange jump but I went with it.  Mainly because as a plot device to force our characters to keep moving on and encountering the Ghost Colony and The Mouth it worked very well.

I would caution though that in order to derive the best enjoyment from the book you do need to remove any scientific knowledge from your mind - nothing fully makes sense here and does not bear close scrutiny.  However, it is a very engaging story that does sweep you along with the characters and I did find myself mulling over the odd plot point or two when I should have been going to sleep - or paying attention in the office.  Don't expect a scientifically sound tale but do expect to be thoroughly entertained.

I'm really looking forward to reading North now that I have finished this one.

A Ration Book Christmas by Jean Fullerton

3.5 Stars

This isn't my usual choice of reading matter and it is a genre that I generally give a fairly wide berth to; for some reason it has a tendency to make me feel a little uncomfortable.  When written well there is a feeling that can only be likened to voyeurism about these books (for this reader anyway) - and this book has that feeling to it.  Maybe this is because WWII is still in our collective consciousness or because I remember my grandparents stories of being in their late teens/early twenties during the conflict and how it impacted their lives.  Somehow it all feels terribly close and undeniably scary and I readily admit this colours my judgements of the tale.

The story itself is actually pretty much as you would expect - the overarcing theme being the love between an Irish Catholic girl (Jo) and a ne'er do well East Londoner (Tommy) from a decidedly "dodgy" family.  The characters are both told with empathy and you do find yourself interested in their lives - although I found Tommy's family, the Brogans, a little bit much - almost heavy handed portrayals of the mother's alcoholism and elder brother's villany.

The plus points for the book do outweigh those reservations though.  It touches on how evacuation was not always the best thing for the people involved and how some of the people that took the evacuees in did so under duress and how whole communities could turn against these children just by virtue of them being from London.  It also covers something pretty much glossed over - the looting of bombed out homes and how there was a thriving trade in stolen goods on the back of it, not so much a bombers moon as a thieves blackout.

The best best bits of the book are undeniably those that cover the actual bombing raids.  You can feel the grit in the air, the smell of the smoke in your nostrils so evocative are the descriptions.  Even more importantly there is real in depth knowledge of how the various Home Front Forces worked together to help people - the WVS, the ARP, the Heavy Lifting Teams - it is these sections that made the book enjoyable for me.  Unfortunately, this meant that the plot and the characters were far less important to me and I did end up reading it more as a social history text than a tale about the families involved as I did find that the plotting was easy to predict throughout.

THIS IS AN HONEST AND UNBIASED REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED VIA THE PIGEONHOLE.
       

Perfect Death by Helen Fields

2.5 Stars

I was actually quite disappointed in this book.  The first two DI Luc Callanch books are tautly written and suck you in to the depraved underbelly of Edinburgh quite nicely.  There is a lot of dwelling on the attractiveness of the DI and his "past" but these seems to become almost voyeuristic in the third book and it did make me feel rather uncomfortable at times.

The book itself follows the tried and tested format of flashes from the protagonists point of view, but just enough so we can see he is selecting a new victim and a tiny glimpse of why.  Then we flip back to the investigation, or maybe a glimpse of "life outside the job" which almost inevitable seems to involve copious amounts of alcohol and questionable personal choices. What I would give right now for a reasonably well balanced senior police officer.

The side thread of the possible corruption and suicide of a formed DCI just confuses things and leads to some of the most ridiculous scenarios imaginable.  Honestly since Ava became a DCI I think her brain has deserted her, let alone a sense of self-preservation.  Follow this up by Callanach and Lively dashing to Glasgow like a pair of idiots and the strangely comic book violence they meet up with there and it all rather falls apart.

The idea behind the main murder story in the book is a good one and should have been enough to carry the story on it's own.  We really don't need all the extra bells and whistles - especially when so poorly executed.

I have the fourth book already so I really hope it is an improvement on this one.