Janet Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 Killer Twist (Ghostwriter Mystery No1) by C A Larmer The ‘blurb’ No one bats an eyelid when a bag lady washes up on the shores of Sydney, minus five fingers and decked out in designer couture; nor is anyone too perturbed when socialite Beatrice Musgrave plunges to her death soon after. No one, that is, except ghostwriter and Merlot-lover Roxy Parker. She’s been writing Beattie’s 'autobiography' and has just stumbled on a secret that’s worth killing for. With slick black hair, tortoise-shell glasses and a penchant for cheap plonk, Roxy Parker is a sassy new female detective … except she’s not strictly a detective. Rather, she’s a writer with a taste for the morbid and mysterious—and this time her little sideline may get her in way over her head … In the first book of the Ghostwriter Mystery series, Roxy is hired to ghost-write the life story of department store heiress Beatrice Musgrave. Beatrice has promised Roxy a secret worth writing about, but before she gets the chance to tell all, the socialite is found ripped to shreds at the bottom of a cliff. The police say it's suicide but Roxy knows better—there are too many people looking way too relieved. And so she embarks on an investigation of her own. From the posh suburbs of inner-city Sydney to remote outback Australia, Roxy finds herself lured into a web of deceit where time has healed no wounds and no one is who they appear to be. One thing, however, is crystal clear: chasing headlines can be a deadly occupation. Roxy must also act fast—there's a menacing stranger threatening her life, a handsome best friend growing increasingly impatient, and her mother is really starting to get on her nerves. Killer Twist is a fun, fast-paced adventure for anyone who loves a good cozy mystery with a little wine swilling and fashionable accessories on the side. If nothing else, this book wins book I’ve read this year with the longest ‘blurb’ (so far) award! I read this book for my World Challenge as the author was born in Papua New Guinea. Unfortunately the book itself is set in Sydney. I much prefer it if the book is set in the country of birth so that I can get a feel for that country, but that’s not always possible. This book could have been set anywhere – there is no sense of the author’s background at all. I do have another option - Mama Kuma: One Woman, Two Cultures by Deborah Carlyon who was born in Papua – but that’s not available from my library so I will probably leave it for now. This is a self-published book. This one was free – there are other sequels to it which cost – I guess the author is hoping that people will enjoy the first in the series and then pay for the rest. I’m not against self-published books but I do think that e-readers are perhaps making it harder for customers to choose well-written self-published books. The basic storyline for this was not bad – a little predictable but quite enjoyable, but the writing let it down – this book is in desperate need of a good editor. The first thing that grated was the Scottish accent of the café owner. Sometimes he had a Scottish accent and sometimes he didn’t. He used phrases such as “looky booger” A Chinese housekeeper speaks thus: “T’ankyou velly much” – I mean, come on! On page 54 it was Saturday morning but by page 56 it was suddenly Sunday morning –and the worse thing, as far as I am concerned was her describing a detective as being “stood standing in the official ‘at ease’ position” – that’s just terrible grammar! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 I finished Replay by Ken Grimwood today! Thoughts to follow... That's right, leave me hanging Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 That's right, leave me hanging I'm working my way through my reviews! Only four more to go and then it'll be the turn of Replay! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 You're just teasing me now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 Would I make it worse if I told you I've already written my review of Replay, but I'm struggling over the others, and that I can't bring myself to post in the wrong order?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 Looking at the reviews on Amazon after I finished the book, it seems that I’m in the minority. This book has huge numbers of favourable reviews but it just didn’t do it for me. Hooray! Someone who agrees with me - don't worry Janet, you're definitely not alone on this one! Also, I have downloaded Killer Twist as one of the freebies I found while trying to save money, but you have just saved me a bit of time in reading this one - I can't bear it when authors try to write speech in dialect or try to phonetically(?) write someone speaking for whom English is not their first language. It's one of my least favourite things to find in a book, and it can often put me off reading it completely, and the examples you've described are definitely helping me delete this one off my Kindle now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 I'm glad I'm not alone in my opinion of The Hundred-Year Old Man... It's just such a shame - I had such high hopes for it! Deleting Killer Twist is probably a good idea! Again, it was a shame - the story wasn't bad but the writing was just terrible! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 House of Evidence by Viktor Arnar Ingolfssón The ‘blurb’ On a cold January morning in 1973, inside a stately old house in Reykjavik, blood pools around Jacob Kieler Junior from a fatal gunshot wound to his chest. Detective Jóhann Pálsson, an expert in the emerging field of forensics, is called to the scene and soon discovers something more unsettling than the murder itself: the deceased’s father, Jacob Kieler Senior, a railroad engineer, was shot to death in the same living room nearly thirty years earlier. The case was officially closed as a botched robbery. Pálsson soon uncovers diaries that portray Kieler Senior as an ambitious man dedicated to bringing the railroad to Iceland no matter the cost. Sensing a deeper and darker mystery afoot, the detective and his colleagues piece together through the elder Kieler’s diaries a family history rich with deceit… I downloaded this as part of Amazon’s ‘Kindle Deal of the Day’ offer because the author was born in Iceland so it would count towards my World Challenge. It is 1973 and Jacob Keiler Junior’s body has been discovered in the hall of his house – he had been shot, echoing the unsolved death of his father some 28 years earlier. The police and forensic teams are quickly on the scene to investigate the death. It falls to a young female detective, Hrefna, to read Keiler senior’s diaries – many volumes of them which may provide evidence to help the team to solve the murder. Each chapter of the novel starts with the current investigation and ends with excerpts from the diaries – the first started in 1910, the last completed just before his death in 1945. The main theme running through the diaries is Keiler Senior’s desire to build the first railway in Iceland. I was a bit worried that it might be dry, but I didn’t find that to be the case at all. It took me a while to work out who was who due to the unfamiliar names, but once I’d done that I was off and enjoyed it. The closest I've come (geographically) is Swedish author Stieg Larsson! This is nothing like that though - it's a much gentler story with not much description of gore (!) but I really enjoyed the way the story built and it was such an enjoyable read. I didn’t work out whodunit, so I very much enjoyed the ending when the reveal was made! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 Would I make it worse if I told you I've already written my review of Replay, but I'm struggling over the others, and that I can't bring myself to post in the wrong order?! That's just wrong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 I'm getting there, Steve... The Elephant’s Journey by José Saramago The ‘blurb’ Solomon the elephant's life is about to be upturned. For two years he has been in Lisbon, brought from the Portuguese colonies in India. Now King Dom Joao III wishes to make him a wedding gift for the Hapsburg archduke, Maximilian. It's a nice idea, since it avoids the Portuguese king offending his Lutheran cousin with an overtly Catholic present. But it means the poor pachyderm must travel from Lisbon to Vienna on foot - the only option when transporting a large animal such a long way. So begins a journey that will take the stalwart Solomon across the dusty plains of Castile, over the sea to Genoa and up to northern Italy where, like Hannibal's elephants before him, he must cross the snowy Alps. Accompanying him is his quiet keeper, Subhro, who watches while - at every place they stop - people try to turn Solomon into something he is not. From worker of holy miracles to umbrella stand, the unassuming elephant suffers the many attempts of humans to impose meaning on what they don't understand. Saramago's latest novel is an enchanting mix of fact (an Indian elephant really did make this journey in 1551), fable and fantasy. Filled with wonderful landscapes and local colour, peppered with witty reflection on human failings and achievements, it is, in the end, about the journey of life itself. Worried that his wedding gift to his cousin four years ago might have been ‘unworthy’, King Dom Joao III resolves to send something more valuable and striking. Seizing on the opportunity to get rid of their Elephant, Solomon, who does nothing of note apart from eating and drinking, the King’s wife suggests they send the pachyderm. The King readily agrees, and so begins a journey that will see Solomon, his keeper Subhro and an entire entourage lead Solomon on a journey to his new destination that will take him across plains, seas and mountains. I chose this book for my Book Club for two reasons. 1) because it would count towards Portugal for my World Challenge and 2) because I thought it would be a bit of a challenge! The writing style is very unusual – the author uses scant punctuation – very few capital letters, not even for nouns, no speech marks and commas for full-stops. [see example under spoiler tag - the red underline marks the start of a new person's speech] Once I got my head round this, it wasn’t a problem and I was surprised how quickly I adapted to the lack of punctuation! I found the story quite slow to start with, but once it picked up I did enjoy it. I’m not sure I will rush to read any more of his works though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson The ‘blurb’ It all starts on the one-hundredth birthday of Allan Karlsson. Sitting quietly in his room in an old people's home, he is waiting for the party he-never-wanted-anyway to begin. The mayor is going to be there. The press is going to be there. But, as it turns out, Allan is not...Slowly but surely Allan climbs out of his bedroom window, into the flowerbed (in his slippers) and makes his getaway. And so begins his picaresque and unlikely journey involving criminals, several murders, a suitcase full of cash, and incompetent police. As his escapades unfold, we learn something of Allan's earlier life in which - remarkably - he helped to make the atom bomb, became friends with American presidents, Russian tyrants, and Chinese leaders, and was a participant behind the scenes in many key events of the twentieth century. I wanted to love this book, I really did, especially as it was a gift. I loved the sound of it – and the quirky title, of course! However the book just didn’t live up to my expectations. I don’t know if it’s to do with the translation (I suspect not!) but I just found it a real chore to read, especially the historical parts. I don’t mind escapism and books would be dull if they just reflected the mundane aspects of everyday life, but the sections set in the past just seemed completely far-fetched that the whole thing felt absurd. Looking at the reviews on Amazon after I finished the book, it seems that I’m in the minority. This book has huge numbers of favourable reviews but it just didn’t do it for me. You are so, so not alone in this. House of Evidence by Viktor Arnar Ingolfssón The ‘blurb’ On a cold January morning in 1973, inside a stately old house in Reykjavik, blood pools around Jacob Kieler Junior from a fatal gunshot wound to his chest. Detective Jóhann Pálsson, an expert in the emerging field of forensics, is called to the scene and soon discovers something more unsettling than the murder itself: the deceased’s father, Jacob Kieler Senior, a railroad engineer, was shot to death in the same living room nearly thirty years earlier. The case was officially closed as a botched robbery. Pálsson soon uncovers diaries that portray Kieler Senior as an ambitious man dedicated to bringing the railroad to Iceland no matter the cost. Sensing a deeper and darker mystery afoot, the detective and his colleagues piece together through the elder Kieler’s diaries a family history rich with deceit… I downloaded this as part of Amazon’s ‘Kindle Deal of the Day’ offer because the author was born in Iceland so it would count towards my World Challenge. It is 1973 and Jacob Keiler Junior’s body has been discovered in the hall of his house – he had been shot, echoing the unsolved death of his father some 28 years earlier. The police and forensic teams are quickly on the scene to investigate the death. It falls to a young female detective, Hrefna, to read Keiler senior’s diaries – many volumes of them which may provide evidence to help the team to solve the murder. Each chapter of the novel starts with the current investigation and ends with excerpts from the diaries – the first started in 1910, the last completed just before his death in 1945. The main theme running through the diaries is Keiler Senior’s desire to build the first railway in Iceland. I was a bit worried that it might be dry, but I didn’t find that to be the case at all. It took me a while to work out who was who due to the unfamiliar names, but once I’d done that I was off and enjoyed it. The closest I've come (geographically) is Swedish author Stieg Larsson! This is nothing like that though - it's a much gentler story with not much description of gore (!) but I really enjoyed the way the story built and it was such an enjoyable read. I didn’t work out whodunit, so I very much enjoyed the ending when the reveal was made! This looks really, really interesting! Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted May 1, 2013 Author Share Posted May 1, 2013 You are so, so not alone in this. I'm glad it wasn't just me! .This looks really, really interesting! Thanks. No worries. As I said, it's a much slower pace than other current popular thriller writers but it was a good story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted May 1, 2013 Author Share Posted May 1, 2013 Estates: An Intimate History by Lynsey Hanley The ‘blurb’ Lynsey Hanley was born and raised just outside of Birmingham on what was then the largest council estate in Europe, and she has lived for years on an estate in London's East End. Writing with passion, humour and a sense of history, she recounts the rise of social housing a century ago, its adoption as a fundamental right by leaders of the social welfare state in the mid-century and its decline - as both idea and reality - in the 1960s and '70s. Throughout, Hanley focuses on how shifting trends in urban planning and changing government policies - from Homes Fit for Heroes to Le Corbusier's concrete tower blocks, to the Right to Buy - affected those so often left out of the argument over council estates: the millions of people who live on them. What emerges is a vivid mix of memoir and social history, an engaging and illuminating book about a corner of society that the rest of Britain has left in the dark. As I’ve said before, I really enjoy works of social history. Whether fiction or non-fiction, generally the ones I have read have taken place at the beginning of the 20th century, and most are about poverty. This book looks at council housing from starting with Lynsey’s childhood in the 1960s and then looking back to the building of council houses for the “Homes fit for Heroes” campaign of the 1910s following the history of ‘Estates’ up to the beginning of the new millennium. When council houses were built after the First World War, most people rented privately, often in houses in a dreadful condition in slums. The new vision of homes that people could be proud of was an exciting vision of the future. But the reality was that by the 1950s and 60s, enormous estates were being built. These were so large that the people living in them felt isolated. Many lacked decent facilities of shops and pubs and the people living in them were largely stigmatised. Of course, this wasn’t true of all council estates, but those built in large towns often turned into a sort of ghetto, where ‘outsiders’ wouldn’t dare to enter. High rise tower blocks came along and these were often even worse, often referred to as “Slums in the Sky. Lynsey Hanley, who grew up on a large council estate near Birmingham, explores the rise – and fall – of council housing. I’m not really a political creature and I don’t want to get into a debate about Thatcher, but the policy of selling-off council houses really sounded a death-knell for council housing. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the money had been ploughed back in to rebuilding so that a new generation could become tenants – but councils were expressly forbidden from using these funds to regenerate housing. The upshot was a shortage of houses for people who were unable to afford to buy – meaning they were largely back to renting from private landlords again. Whilst we may not have gone back to the slum housing of old, we do seem to almost have gone full-circle again. It’s an interesting read. Hanley’s writing is an easy style and her information about council estates is interspersed with autobiographical detail of her own experiences of living in council houses. It is perhaps a little dry in places, but I found it to be very enjoyable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexi Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Estates went onto my wishlist but you've inspired me to move it onto the TBR now J... Whoops!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted May 1, 2013 Author Share Posted May 1, 2013 Hehe! It was good - hope you enjoy it when you get round to it. It's one of those books that makes me head to Wikipedia to waste spend hours looking at the subject and its off-shoots! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted May 1, 2013 Author Share Posted May 1, 2013 Kiskadee Girl by Maggie Harris The ‘blurb’ In the small Caribbean town of Guyana town on the South American coast, a fifteen year old schoolgirl is forced to face her father's sudden death, pre-empted by a strange foreboding. This memoir of growing up in the 50s and 60s reflects a society that was trying to find its path after centuries of slavery and colonialism. Life for teenagers was at a crossroads between tradition and discipline, political awareness and a new-found voice influenced by literature, the music of Donovan and the new reggae sound, and the movies of Britain and America. In a world within worlds, love and dreams exist side by side as a young girl on the cusp of maturity discovers her sensuality in the midst of her country's own movement towards independence. Kiskadee Girl vividly re-imagines Guyana, named from the Amerindian Land of Many Waters. The Berbice River runs like an artery through the book's emotional and geographical landscape, carrying tug-boats and ghosts, bauxite, bones, and long-forgotten stories. This was one of Amazon’s 99p deal books and I had it on my wish list for Guyana for my World Challenge so I downloaded it last August. I’ve been putting it off because I was worried, unnecessarily as it turns out, that it might be a bit… well, dull I suppose. Maggie was born in Guyana (when it was still British Guiana) in 1954 to a mixed race father and a white Portuguese mother and this tells of her life in Guyana until 1971 when she came to England. Unlike the book I read for Papua New Guinea, this book gives a perfect insight into Guyanese life, and sometimes Maggie uses dialect which isn’t difficult to understand, but helps to add to the cultural feel. The title comes from a bird, the Kiskadee, which is a brightly coloured chattering bird, native to parts of South America, including Guyana and could almost be an allusion to Maggie’s personality as a child – always chattering and busy. Things were changing in Guyana, which gained its independence from the UK in 1966. Due to its very mixed past (as well as the indigenous population it was previously owned by the Dutch before being colonised by the British) it has a vibrant and diverse cultural feel to it. It was an exciting time to be growing up and during Maggie’s teenage years she was influenced by British and American pop artists including the Stones and the Beatles. Brought up a strict Catholic, she was often in trouble for wanting to party like any normal teenager! After independence, there was quite a lot of unrest in the country and two years after the death of her father, Maggie and her mother and sisters moved to England, and this is where the memoir ends. Overall it was very enjoyable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted May 1, 2013 Author Share Posted May 1, 2013 And now, especially for Steve... Replay by Ken Grimwood The ‘blurb’ At forty-three Jeff Winston is tired of his low-paid, unrewarding job, tired of the long silences at the breakfast table with his wife, saddened by the thought of no children to comfort his old age. But he hopes for better things, for happiness, maybe tomorrow… But a sudden, fatal heart attack puts paid to that. Until Jeff wakes up in his eighteen-year-old body, all his memories of the next twenty-five years intact. If he applies those memories, he can be rich in this new chance at life and can become one of the most powerful men in America. Until he dies at forty-three and wakes up in his eighteen-year-old body again… What would you do if you could live your life again? And what if you had knowledge of what was to come? Would you try to save the world – to prevent tragedies from happening? Would you use that knowledge to become rich? Famous? Would you use it for good or for self-gain? Would your lifestyle be similar to your old one – or hedonistic, or charitable? Although I’m perfectly happy with my life, there have been times when I wondered what might have happened if I’d made different choices – worked harder at school, married my first ‘love’, taken a different job... I think at some time or another we’ve all had the fantasy of revisiting the past. For Jeff Winston, this fantasy becomes reality when he suffers a heart-attack in 1988… and wakes up as a college freshman in 1963. At first he’s completely bewildered, but soon he comes to realise that this situation could work to his advantage. After all, a well-timed bet might change his fortunes – and he is onto a winner, being able to back a dead cert. But will he be happy with his new-found life? And what will happen when he dies once more – and wakes up in 1963 again? I mentioned that I don’t “do” fantasy and was challenged by Steve to read this so it was with trepidation that I got it from the library and started to read... I needn’t have worried though – it was great. It’s such a good story. Despite the fantasy element of the book, Jeff is a totally believable character. Although he changes the course of his history, he doesn’t become egotistical and try to change his life into something extraordinary or to make himself into a hero. I guessed a few things in the book but that didn’t detract from it at all. If I have one, tiny, criticism of the book it’s that some of the secondary characters, even some of those with whom Jeff becomes very involved, maybe lack a little depth, but that’s only a minor criticism. I hardly like to admit this, but this is definitely one of my favourite reads of this year. Thanks for the recommendation, Steve. According to Wikipedia, Ken Grimwood was working on a sequel to Replay when he suffered an untimely heart-attack at the age of just 59 and died. Or maybe he just went back to being 18 again…?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 I wish you'd hurry up and review Replay Oh wait, you have I'm so glad you enjoyed it Janet I was, of course, worried you might not like it . . . I'm always kind of worried that the more, shall we say, hedonistic aspects of some of his early replays might put people off . . . but now I just want to read it again! It's nice to think that Ken Grimwood might be out there somewhere reliving his life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Replay is on my wish list (based on Karsa's recommendation) but think it will be a purchase in the near future based on your review Janet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted May 1, 2013 Author Share Posted May 1, 2013 I wish you'd hurry up and review Replay Oh wait, you have I'm so glad you enjoyed it Janet I was, of course, worried you might not like it . . . I'm always kind of worried that the more, shall we say, hedonistic aspects of some of his early replays might put people off . . . but now I just want to read it again! It's nice to think that Ken Grimwood might be out there somewhere reliving his life The aspect in your spoiler didn't worry me in the slightest, but I can see how it might offend some. It was very good - thanks for recommending it. It's a pity he didn't get to finish the sequel to it - I'd like to know what happened next! I do like to think of him replaying! Replay is on my wish list (based on Karsa's recommendation) but think it will be a purchase in the near future based on your review Janet! I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 The aspect in your spoiler didn't worry me in the slightest, but I can see how it might offend some. I think there is a purpose behind that section of the book and, without it, I'm not sure the character development later on would've made as much sense, but yeah, that aspect won't be for everyone Plus I never think men are that good at writing sex scenes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Replay is on my wish list (based on Karsa's recommendation) but think it will be a purchase in the near future based on your review Janet! Oh, I see! I recommend it and it goes on the wishlist, Janet recommends it and you go and buy it. Hmmph! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 Oh, I see! I recommend it and it goes on the wishlist, Janet recommends it and you go and buy it. Hmmph! Hee hee The premise sounded good coming from you but it was good to get a recommendation from someone who isn't normally a fan of sci fi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 I'll let you off. Just this once, though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 It's very hard to be scared when I look at your avatar... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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