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ian

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Everything posted by ian

  1. "Amy Harper Bellafonte is six years old and her mother thinks she's the most important person in the 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 existance 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 is to be human. And Beyond. Becausesomething is coming. A tidal wave of darkness ready to engulf the world. And Amy is the only person who can stop it." I picked up this book from our tea room here at work, knowing nothing more about it than the sleeve notes as above. At nearly 1000 pages long, I knew this was going to take some dedication to read. Without giving too much away (which is quite difficult), the story follows initially, a scientists investigations into prolonging mankinds lifespan. The military get involved, as they can see the potential of turning this work into a weapon. 12 death row inmates are chosen for experimentation. It's the job of FBI agent Wolgast to persuade these inmates to sign up to the experiments. Then, he is asked to pick up Amy, a six year old girl. He baulks at this, and goes on the run with her. Meanwhile at the secret base where the experiments are being carried out, something has gone wrong (naturally!) The drugs they have given the inmates have basically turned then into vampires. Of course they escape. The action then jumps forward 100 or so years, to a small group of humans living in a walled compound to keep the hoards of vampires out. That's enough plot spoiling from me! I must admit that if I had realised from the start that this was a vampire book, I may not have bothered. But I have to say that this is a fantastic read, that reminds my very much of The Stand (in tone). Being such a long book, you really get to know the various people and care about what happens. My only criticism - it does take a while to get started and to explain itself. Then when the action shifts forward 100 years, you have a whole new cast of people to get to know, which I struggled with a bit. But once it got going, I found I couldn't put it down. Warning, this is the first book of three apparently, so you will need to invest quite a bit of time! Ian
  2. Just finished "The Passage". Only one word to describe it - EPIC! Ian
  3. Bored with cold weather already

    1. Star

      Star

      Where u taking us then ;-)

    2. poppyshake

      poppyshake

      Don't mind cold .. HATE wet and windy though grrrrrr!!!! Do a spell or something Ian

    3. julie

      julie

      Ian

      Hang in there.We only have about 5 months to go,and things should start looking up .:)

  4. I guess it depends on how "classic" the original is. I enjoyed the remake of The Mummy personally,and the 80's remake of Invasion of the body-snatchers was very good but I agree, most are just pointless attempts to earn more money. The day the earth stood still remake has to be the biggest crime against cinema so far.
  5. I found this; scrambled eggs Ian
  6. This is a new release that has completely passed me by. (What on earth have I been doing all this time - Oh yeah, it's called life and it keeps getting in the way of my reading!) Sounds very interesting. I don't think it matters if you are American or not - the JFK assassination was such a global event that even to me, born 7 years after it happened in another country, it feels like a very relevent piece of history to me. I can see my Christmas list needs to be amended! Ian
  7. 250 pages into The Passage by Justin Cronin and at last something is happening!

    1. Show previous comments  1 more
    2. julie

      julie

      Ian -

      I also bought the book,and will be watching to see what yo think of it . It didn't sound like the normal type book I read ,but I'm always a sucker for a book if it says it has won any type award, bestseller list, etc .

    3. ian

      ian

      I picked this up knowing nothing about it. If I'd have known there were vampires involved I probably wouldn't have bothered. Oh no not another vampire book! But this is great - reminds me of The Stand by Stephen King. 300 pages in and going great guns now!

       

    4. pontalba

      pontalba

      I read The Passage a year ago, and while details have faded, and I'll need a reread before the sequel comes out next year, I can safely say I throughly enjoyed it! And, I'm not a fan, usually, of vampire novels.

  8. 250 pages into The Passage by Justin Cronin and at last something is happening!

  9. Who are you - The Who
  10. We all went as a family last weekend to see Tin-Tin. We all really enjoyed it, it was good fun. Ian
  11. I've read a couple of John Connolly book, including this one. I'd really recommend them. Ian
  12. Book 32 is "The Passage" by Justin Cronin. About 100 pages in - very good so far
  13. Which was also very good. Again you have a few points were you say "I can see exactly where this is going" but there is still enough to keep you interested Books read this year = 31
  14. Second the recommendation for Ian Rankin. Also anything by Jeffrey Deaver,Peter Robinson and I have just discovered Linwood Barclay Welcome to the forum! Ian
  15. Just finished "Too close to home" - my first experience of Linwood Barclay. Very enjoyable, and I've now started "Never look away" Ian
  16. Finished "Too close to home". It's always nice to find a new writer you enjoy. A very measured style of writing that really delves into the various characters, this is no "slasher" type of murder mystery! OK, so by about three quarters of the way through, I'd pretty much figured out what was behind it all, but there were still a couple of surprises, and as I spent the first half of the book completed bamboozled by the various red herrings, I'm more than prepared to forgive that. A very good book, which is why book 31 for this year is.... Never Look Away - Linwood Barclay Ian
  17. It's from the Bible (exodus 3:14) - It's what God says to Moses when he asks God what His name is. Ian
  18. I haven't updated in a while - I'm now finished the Jeffrey Archer and I'm halway through the next book. The Jeffrey archer was a book of short stories. Whilst there was some enjoyment in them, I found them to be a bit simplistic. I guessed the ending of most of the stories after just a few paragraphs. Maybe it's me, but expect short stories to have a little twist at the end, most of these didn't. Only a 3 out of 5. In the meantime, I'm halfway through book 30 this year - Too close to home by Linwood Barclay. I've not read anything by him before, and so far, I'm really enjoying it. Slow paced, but keeping the tension up, and LOTS of twists to keep me guessing! Ian
  19. No Ricky Jervais, you are wrong. Apologise now!

    1. Show previous comments  4 more
    2. ian

      ian

      He's tried to justify using the word "mong" to describe someone as a bit stupid.

    3. vodkafan

      vodkafan

      it is slang for "mongol" ie the old word for Downs Syndrome. Nobody uses it any more

    4. Hyzenthlay

      Hyzenthlay

      except ricky gervais, apparently

  20. I read this myself last year I think. I have to agree, it is brilliant. I've only read one other of his books "A murmur of stones", which I didn't think was quite as good, but still an enjoyable read. Ian
  21. ian

    Rugby

    go overboard - it's not everyday you get to a world cup final, you're allowed to go a bit OTT! Just don't expect us English to be happy about it! (flounces off into corner for a bit of a sulk) well done BTW, the all blacks were awesome! Ian
  22. Quick - everyone go out and buy all the books before they change the covers to put Tom Cruise on them!
  23. Had to abandon "Angel" after two chapters, as my mother-in-law, who recommended this book, didn't bother to tell me it's a kids book! Well, maybe not, but it certainly read like one. So, onto her other recommendation; an author I've never read, who comes in for a lot of stick Jeffrey Archer - And thereby hangs a tale
  24. Hi Julie, I've not read all of Robert Goddard's books, only about 3 or 4. Of those, I would say I enjoyed "Sea Change" and "Found Wanting" the most. I've not read past caring, so I'll look out for it. Ian
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