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Mac

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Posts posted by Mac

  1. Nice review, Brian. I'm tempted by this book and have realised I haven't really read anything on the differences between Islam and Christianity (mainly due to my considerable distrust of anything religious) even though I find the subject of theology very interesting. I need to buck my ideas up!

     

    Cheers!

  2. Greetings, Marcia, m'dear! C'est moi, your old pal Mac! Two things: Jo (she of whom I have written to you regarding) met Cassandra Clare a few months ago. Apparently quite a pleasant lady; have you started The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle yet? I cannot wait for you to read that!

     

    Big love, mate. x

  3. Tooth & Nail by Ian Rankin

     

    Because the first body was found in Wolf Street, because the murderer takes a bite from each body, the press have found a new terror, the Wolfman...

     

    Drafted down to the Big Smoke thanks to a supposed expertise in the modus operandi of serial killers, Inspector John Rebus is on a train south from Edinburgh. His Scotland Yard opposite number, George Flight, isn't too happy at yet more interference. It's bad enough having several Chief Inspectors on your back without  being hounded at every turn by an upstart Jock. Rebus is going to have to deal with the racial prejudice as well as the predations of a violent maniac. When he's offered a serial killer profile of the Wolfman by an attractive lady psychologist, it's too good an opportunity to turn down. But in finding an ally, he may have given his enemies an easy means of attack.

     

    This is the third novel in the Rebus​ series and I enjoyed it immensely, rocketing through it and staying up really late at night to finish the flppin' thing. Rankin was new to me until introduced by my (then) girlfriend - now fiancee - who thinks he's the best thing ever. She's near the mark, certainly. The pace is excellent, the prose spot-on and the character development - particularly Rebus', as one would expect - well realised.

     

    I do get a little bored of the standard 'love interest' in novels and quite often skim over the obligatory 'sack time' where the protagonist manages to engage in some underpants charleston with the 'oh-my-gosh-an-attractive-lady' second fiddle. Aside from that (and I appreciate that to sell books, authors are obliged to write a section of this), this was a belter. If you're into crime and you've not read Rankin, I recommend that you have a shufty.

     

    Cheers for now.

  4. Does anyone know of any good books about an expedition? Preferably an expedition carried out by one person rather than a group. Maybe similar to "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer but a Fictional story?

     

    You can have a copy of my expedition, if you like! I did a journal of my intrepid Coast to Coast trek. Some of the lovely folk on here have subjected themselves to it. It's not even that rubbish!

     

    Welcome, anyway, to the BCF. wink.gif

  5. Buried Alive by J.A.Kerley

     

    Soon after witnessing the escape of violent psychopath Bobby Crayline from prison, Alabaman detective Carson Ryder takes a rare break in the mountains. But his vacation is interrupted when an anonymous phone call summons him to the scene of a grisly murder.

    With more savage killings, and the heavy-handed FBI only inflaming the situation, Ryder and local detective Donna Cherry sift through the increasingly bizarre clues. Is there more than one killer on the loose? And how does Carson's clinically insane brother Jeremy, now on the run, fit into the picture? It is down to Ryder to unearth horrors from the past that others believe should remain buried...

    Jack Kerley, once more, delivers a high-quality thriller with twists of plot enough to keep you turning the pages. His style is easy to read and never becomes so gruesome that one wonders if one should finish the book. Carson Ryder is a very likeable protagonist and, as it's written in the first person, speaks to the reader in a way that he feels like a friend, particularly if you've been keeping up with the other novels. There are occasions with Kerley's novels when something leaps out at me, a quote or a description or a philosophy which sticks with me and there hasn't been with this one, but all the same, a really good, easy thriller to read.

     

    8.5/10

  6. I've just finished The Passage by Justin Cronin and would suggest that this could be classed as Horror. It's very well written and has a good, literary feel to it. If you like it, try it. If you don't like it, try it, you might like it. biggrin.gif

  7. What a great review. Cheers!

     

    Just to clear one last thing up - I have never, nor will I ever, harm kittens, puppies, goats, marmots, or any other animal on the face of this planet. Just so you know. I was only joking before.

     

    Rubbish, wasn't it? blush.gif

  8. Did you like it Mac?

     

    I liked bits of it. I can't say I'm a complete Tolkein addict, though. I've read LOTR about three times since I was nine, finding new joy in his work with every reading, but there's only so much begat one can take. Know what I mean?

     

    Good luck with it. x

  9. The Passage by Justin Cronin

     

    Amy Harper Bellafonte is six years old and her mother thinks she's the most important person in the whole world. She is. Anthony Carter doesn't think he could ever be in a worse place than Death Row. He's wrong. FBI agent Brad Wolgast thinks something beyond imagination is coming. It is.

    Unaware of each other's existence, but bound together in ways none of them could have imagined, they are about to embark on a journey. An epic journey that will take them through a world transformed by man's darkest dreams, to the very heart of what it means to be human. And beyond.

    Because something is coming. A tidal wave of darkness ready to engulf the world. And Amy is the only person who can stop it.

    What a superb novel. For such a chunky book, I've rattled through it, picking it up at every possible five minutes I could. I'm not really one for post-apocalyptic novels (although I loved The Stand), but - probably due to where this novel begins - I've thoroughly enjoyed this. The characters are very believable and well constructed; the plot moves fluidly and makes one want to keep turning the pages, although not in a way a thriller usually would (I felt part of it, for some reason); the language is sophisticated; the threat well realised.

     

    I understand that this is the first of three and I now have to wait over 18 months for the second to hit the shelves. Already, I am bristling with anticipation!

     

    10/10

  10. You killed a kitten just to post a reply? ohmy.gif You're a monster!

     

    Just to be clear. It was the Techno Whizz who fixed it so that my computer won't allow me to pop onto this thread.

     

    And, of course, I'm merely fooling around.

     

    Because I'm a pillock. huh.gif

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