Tim's bookshelf: read en-US Fri, 06 Dec 2024 14:32:51 -0800 60 Tim's bookshelf: read 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organise Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential]]> 59989919 A WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER
A FINANCIAL TIMES BUSINESS BOOK OF THE MONTH
A FAST COMPANY TOP SUMMER PICK

'Completely changed my life' - Ali Abdaal, YouTuber and Entrepreneur
'Reading this book feels like being let in on a secret. ... an absolute must read' - Ryder Carroll, author of The Bullet Journal Method

Discover the full potential of your ideas and make powerful, meaningful improvements in your work and life by Building a Second Brain.

For the first time in history, we have instantaneous access to the world's knowledge. There has never been a better time to learn, to create and to improve ourselves. Yet, rather than being empowered by this information, we're often overwhelmed, paralysed by believing we'll never know or remember enough.

This eye-opening and accessible guide shows how you can easily create your own personal system for knowledge management, otherwise known as a Second Brain. A trusted and organised digital repository of your most valued ideas, notes and creative work, a Second Brain gives you the confidence to tackle your most important projects and ambitious goals. From identifying good ideas, to organising your thoughts, to retrieving everything swiftly and easily, it puts you back in control of your life and information.]]> 272 Tiago Forte 180081223X Tim 0 4.30 2022 Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organise Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential
author: Tiago Forte
name: Tim
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/06
date added: 2024/12/06
shelves:
review:

]]> Starve Acre 52961800 The worst thing possible has happened. Richard and Juliette Willoughby's son, Ewan, has died suddenly at the age of five. Starve Acre, their house by the moors, was to be full of life, but is now a haunted place.

Juliette, convinced Ewan still lives there in some form, seeks the help of the Beacons, a seemingly benevolent group of occultists. Richard, to try and keep the boy out of his mind, has turned his attention to the field opposite the house, where he patiently digs the barren dirt in search of a legendary oak tree.

Starve Acre is a devastating new novel by the author of the prize-winning bestseller The Loney. It is a novel about the way in which grief splits the world in two and how, in searching for hope, we can so easily unearth horror.

]]> 225 Andrew Michael Hurley Tim 4 3.88 2019 Starve Acre
author: Andrew Michael Hurley
name: Tim
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2022/12/12
date added: 2022/12/12
shelves:
review:

]]> The Bat (Harry Hole, #1) 17345209 369 Jo Nesbø 034580709X Tim 3

Perhaps because it was thought to be less polished than the later books, this first in the series was not initially translated into English. It is not as well written as the later books, but is still a good story and does give some context for the later books.


Harry Hole is sent to Australia in response to the death of a Norwegian tourist. His recognition that the killing is not a one off but part of a series; his quick friendship with the charismatic but enigmatic Aboriginal police man Andrew; his difficult relationship with senior officers; his affair with a Swedish tourist who is herself a witness; his underlying alcoholism - all combined with a rich mix of witnesses and suspects - together makes a thought provoking story that underpins later books.

There are plenty of twists and false leafs that I'm not going to give away as spoilers. One or two elements at the end didn't ring quite true for me which is why I've not rated it slightly higher but font prevent it from being a good starting point for understanding the character and the series.
]]> 3.43 1997 The Bat (Harry Hole, #1)
author: Jo Nesbø
name: Tim
average rating: 3.43
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2022/09/16
shelves:
review:
I started reading Jo Nesbo soon after the Wallander series appeared on BBC and have generally found them a more satisfying read. Initially however I've not managed to read them in any sort of order.


Perhaps because it was thought to be less polished than the later books, this first in the series was not initially translated into English. It is not as well written as the later books, but is still a good story and does give some context for the later books.


Harry Hole is sent to Australia in response to the death of a Norwegian tourist. His recognition that the killing is not a one off but part of a series; his quick friendship with the charismatic but enigmatic Aboriginal police man Andrew; his difficult relationship with senior officers; his affair with a Swedish tourist who is herself a witness; his underlying alcoholism - all combined with a rich mix of witnesses and suspects - together makes a thought provoking story that underpins later books.

There are plenty of twists and false leafs that I'm not going to give away as spoilers. One or two elements at the end didn't ring quite true for me which is why I've not rated it slightly higher but font prevent it from being a good starting point for understanding the character and the series.

]]> <![CDATA[Hurting Distance (Spilling CID, #2)]]> 1384415 408 Sophie Hannah 034084034X Tim 3
Agin it starts with a disappearance - Naomi Jenkins reports her married lover, Robert Haworth, is missing. Initially the police don't take it seriously but gradually it becomes clear that something is very, very wrong.

Like the previous book, it's written from several different standpoints - third person descriptions largely of the police involved, combined with personal dialogue from Naomi. It emerges that Naomi suffered from a terrible crime, which she's never reported and shared.

The way different apparently separate lines are brought together is far more convincing than Little Face, and the outcomes both more horrifying and yet believable. The apparent coincidences are well resolved, and the police characters - who are the same as Little Face - develop more convincingly. Not brilliant, but readable enough to keep you engaged.]]> 3.74 2007 Hurting Distance (Spilling CID, #2)
author: Sophie Hannah
name: Tim
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2019/01/28
shelves:
review:
I said in reviewing "Little Face" that it almost put me off reading any more by the same author. This book I have to say is much, much better.

Agin it starts with a disappearance - Naomi Jenkins reports her married lover, Robert Haworth, is missing. Initially the police don't take it seriously but gradually it becomes clear that something is very, very wrong.

Like the previous book, it's written from several different standpoints - third person descriptions largely of the police involved, combined with personal dialogue from Naomi. It emerges that Naomi suffered from a terrible crime, which she's never reported and shared.

The way different apparently separate lines are brought together is far more convincing than Little Face, and the outcomes both more horrifying and yet believable. The apparent coincidences are well resolved, and the police characters - who are the same as Little Face - develop more convincingly. Not brilliant, but readable enough to keep you engaged.
]]> <![CDATA[1967: Israel, the War and the Year that Transformed the Middle East]]> 7665778
1967 did not mark the beginning of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but it was a year that changed the course of history. When Egypt's President Nasser closed the straits of Tiran to Israeli navigation, it triggered a conflict between Israel and the armies of Jordan, Syria and Egypt. Within six days the Israelis had occupied territories three times wider than their own, populated by over a million Palestinian Arabs. Israel suddenly became something of a colonial empire, more Goliath than David. The war granted political legitimacy to Menachem Begin's right-wing Herut party, and Arab terrorism paved the way for Israel's secret service to become a major factor in the country's power structure. 1967 will not be a military history, nor will it focus mainly on political developments.

The year 1967 dramatically altered the lives of millions of individuals and this book will focus on the personal stories from both sides of the conflict.]]> 822 Tom Segev 0349115958 Tim 0 4.12 2005 1967: Israel, the War and the Year that Transformed the Middle East
author: Tom Segev
name: Tim
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at: 2015/07/22
date added: 2018/06/03
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[1967: Israel, the War, and the Year that Transformed the Middle East]]> 733453 From Israel's leading historian, a sweeping history of 1967--the war, what led up to it, what came after, and how it changed everything

Ěý
Tom Segev's acclaimed works One Palestine, Complete and The Seventh Million overturned accepted views of the history of Israel. Now, in 1967--a number-one bestseller in Hebrew--he brings his masterful skills to the watershed year when six days of war reshaped the country and the entire region.


Going far beyond a military account, Segev re-creates the crisis in Israel before 1967, showing how economic recession, a full grasp of the Holocaust's horrors, and the dire threats made by neighbor states combined to produce a climate of apocalypse. He depicts the country's bravado after its victory, the mood revealed in a popular joke in which one soldier says to his friend, "Let's take over Cairo"; the friend replies, "Then what shall we do in the afternoon?"


Drawing on unpublished letters and diaries, as well as government memos and military records, Segev reconstructs an era of new possibilities and tragic missteps. He introduces the legendary figures--Moshe Dayan, Golda Meir, Gamal Abdul Nasser, and Lyndon Johnson--and an epic cast of soldiers, lobbyists, refugees, and settlers. He reveals as never before Israel's intimacy with the White House as well as the political rivalries that sabotaged any chance of peace. Above all, he challenges the view that the war was inevitable, showing that a series of disastrous miscalculations lie behind the bloodshed.


A vibrant and original history, 1967 is sure to stand as the definitive account of that pivotal year.


Ěý]]> 688 Tom Segev 0805070575 Tim 4 3.94 2005 1967: Israel, the War, and the Year that Transformed the Middle East
author: Tom Segev
name: Tim
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2018/02/17
shelves:
review:

]]> A Week in December 6378740
London, the week before Christmas, 2007. Over seven days we follow the lives of seven major characters: a hedge fund manager trying to bring off the biggest trade of his career; a professional footballer recently arrived from Poland; a young lawyer with little work and too much time to speculate; a student who has been led astray by Islamist theory; a hack book-reviewer; a schoolboy hooked on skunk and reality TV; and a Tube train driver whose Circle Line train joins these and countless other lives together in a daily loop.

With daring skill, the novel pieces together the complex patterns and crossings of modern urban life. Greed, the dehumanising effects of the electronic age and the fragmentation of society are some of the themes dealt with in this savagely humorous book. The writing on the wall appears in letters ten feet high, but the characters refuse to see it � and party on as though tomorrow is a dream.

Sebastian Faulks probes not only the self-deceptions of this intensely realised group of people, but their hopes and loves as well. As the novel moves to its gripping climax, they are forced, one by one, to confront the true nature of the world they inhabit.]]> 392 Sebastian Faulks 0091794455 Tim 4 3.29 2009 A Week in December
author: Sebastian Faulks
name: Tim
average rating: 3.29
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2018/02/17
shelves:
review:

]]> Why Did You Lie? 31342377 394 Yrsa Sigurdardottir 1473605059 Tim 5
For much of the book, there seems to be three separate stories going on. Four people on an isolated lifehouse; Nina, a disillusioned police woman struggling to cope with a the anguish of a brain-dead husband on life support following an inexplicable suicide attempt; and Noi and Vala, returning from a holiday to find inexplicable problems linked to the apparent disappearance of the American couple who they house-swapped with.

Each strand is disturbing and gripping in it's own right, and although you know there must be a connection it's only well through the book that the real and disturbing truth starts to emerge. As Nina comes to terms with her situation, and tries to find out the truth behind her husband's fate, the links gradually emerge - then in the final pages there is a dramatic and unexpected twist which manages to be both unpredictable and believable, not something that novels always achieve.

Thoroughly recommended.]]> 3.94 2013 Why Did You Lie?
author: Yrsa Sigurdardottir
name: Tim
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2018/01/16
date added: 2018/01/16
shelves:
review:
Scandinavian crime fiction has a reputation for being 'dark' (perhaps based on an over-exposure to Wallander; I'm not sure as a genre it's consistently 'darker' than UK ones) but this Icelandic novel fully deserve that label. It's the first book I've read by this author and I'd strongly recommend it.

For much of the book, there seems to be three separate stories going on. Four people on an isolated lifehouse; Nina, a disillusioned police woman struggling to cope with a the anguish of a brain-dead husband on life support following an inexplicable suicide attempt; and Noi and Vala, returning from a holiday to find inexplicable problems linked to the apparent disappearance of the American couple who they house-swapped with.

Each strand is disturbing and gripping in it's own right, and although you know there must be a connection it's only well through the book that the real and disturbing truth starts to emerge. As Nina comes to terms with her situation, and tries to find out the truth behind her husband's fate, the links gradually emerge - then in the final pages there is a dramatic and unexpected twist which manages to be both unpredictable and believable, not something that novels always achieve.

Thoroughly recommended.
]]> <![CDATA[Peter Scott: Painter and Naturalist]]> 12279311 384 Elspeth Huxley 0571171699 Tim 5
His connections though probably helped him through a fairly well funded education, securing a place at Cambridge. It was here that he first encountered the wild fowl of the Fens, initially as a passionate wild fowler (It's worth remembering that, hard though we might now find it to understand, many of the late 19th century and realy 20th century naturalists came from hunting and shooting backgrounds; and although Scott ultimately gave up shooting, there's no doubting his respect for the traditional wild fowlers and hunters, of the Fens and elsewhere, who had deep and practical knowledge of the birds they hunted because their livelihoods depended on it).

Peter Scott's interests and activities were wide - ice skating; an Olympic yachtsman; and a glider pilot. During the war he was a decorated - if it woudl seem occasionally reckless - naval officer.

Post war, his interests in wildlife came to become his life, funded initially by his increasingly popular wildlife paintings. From a pre-war and wartime home on the Fens, he sought a new base for studying and keeping wildlife, establishing what became the first of several Wildfowl Trust bases at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire. This became a popular source of entertainment and information for people on wildfowl, but at the same time Scott developed a much broader interest in conservation, leading to him with others founding the World Wildlife Fund - now renamed the Worldwide Fund for Nature.

His work lives on in the Trust he founded, in the work of WWF, and of course in his paintings of wildlife, which may not always please scholars of art, but are noticeable for their ability to present wild ducks and geese in particular in a way that is both scientifically accurate but also captures the movement and strange attraction of these complex birds. Today we see the popularity of nature conservation through documentaries such as those made by David Attenborough, but Peter Scott's work was critical to raising public awareness and in many ways laid the ground both for the modern conservation movement and for such works.

There's much to admire in his life, but also in the writing of this detailed but engaging biography.
The author, Elspeth Huxley, was herself married a cousin of writer Aldous Huxley, famous as a novelist in his own right, but also one of the sons of Thomas Henry Huxley, the 19th century biologist best known for his strong defence of Darwin's theories of evolution). His brother Sir Julian Huxley was the first secretary-general of UNESCO and a co-founder with Scott of the World Wildlife Fund.]]> 4.33 1994 Peter Scott: Painter and Naturalist
author: Elspeth Huxley
name: Tim
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1994
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2017/12/26
shelves:
review:
Peter Scott is perhaps part of the final generation of largely self-taught naturalists who had a significant impact on both scientific knowledge and the popularity of conservation. Son of the explorer Robert Scott, Scott of the Antarctic. he faced the challenge of being the 'son of a legend' as the first chapter describes him, although despite his father's posthumous fame his widow Katherine and son lived in what was effectively that peculiarly Edwardian mix of genteel middle-class poverty.

His connections though probably helped him through a fairly well funded education, securing a place at Cambridge. It was here that he first encountered the wild fowl of the Fens, initially as a passionate wild fowler (It's worth remembering that, hard though we might now find it to understand, many of the late 19th century and realy 20th century naturalists came from hunting and shooting backgrounds; and although Scott ultimately gave up shooting, there's no doubting his respect for the traditional wild fowlers and hunters, of the Fens and elsewhere, who had deep and practical knowledge of the birds they hunted because their livelihoods depended on it).

Peter Scott's interests and activities were wide - ice skating; an Olympic yachtsman; and a glider pilot. During the war he was a decorated - if it woudl seem occasionally reckless - naval officer.

Post war, his interests in wildlife came to become his life, funded initially by his increasingly popular wildlife paintings. From a pre-war and wartime home on the Fens, he sought a new base for studying and keeping wildlife, establishing what became the first of several Wildfowl Trust bases at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire. This became a popular source of entertainment and information for people on wildfowl, but at the same time Scott developed a much broader interest in conservation, leading to him with others founding the World Wildlife Fund - now renamed the Worldwide Fund for Nature.

His work lives on in the Trust he founded, in the work of WWF, and of course in his paintings of wildlife, which may not always please scholars of art, but are noticeable for their ability to present wild ducks and geese in particular in a way that is both scientifically accurate but also captures the movement and strange attraction of these complex birds. Today we see the popularity of nature conservation through documentaries such as those made by David Attenborough, but Peter Scott's work was critical to raising public awareness and in many ways laid the ground both for the modern conservation movement and for such works.

There's much to admire in his life, but also in the writing of this detailed but engaging biography.
The author, Elspeth Huxley, was herself married a cousin of writer Aldous Huxley, famous as a novelist in his own right, but also one of the sons of Thomas Henry Huxley, the 19th century biologist best known for his strong defence of Darwin's theories of evolution). His brother Sir Julian Huxley was the first secretary-general of UNESCO and a co-founder with Scott of the World Wildlife Fund.
]]> The G File 23347947
Maardarn police, led by Chief Inspector Van Veeteren, investigate the case. Van Veeteren has encountered Jaan G Hennan before and knows only too well the man's dark capabilities. As more information emerges about G's shadowy past, the Chief Inspector becomes more desperate than ever to convict him. But G has a solid alibi - and no-one else can be found in relation to the crime.

2002. Fifteen years have passed and The G File remains the one case former Chief Inspector Van Veeteren has never been able to solve. But when Verlangan's daughter reports the private detective missing, Van Veeteren returns to Maardarn CID once more. For all Verlangan left behind was a cryptic note; and a telephone message in which he claimed to have finally discovered the proof of G's murderous past ....]]> 602 HĂĄkan Nesser 1447259343 Tim 4
When Van Veeteren becomes involved, he is quickly convinced that G - who I knew as a bully from his school days - killed his wife. That conviction is strengthened when they find that firstly, G had recently insured Barabra's life for over a million guilder, and secondly, that his first wife had disappeared in similar circumstances in the US.

But the evidence is enough, and G walks free.

Fifteen years later - Verlangen's daughter comes to see him over her father's disappearance - and the case reopens. But with unexpected and dangerous twists.Ěý

Hakan Nesser's detective novels are classic Swedish crime thrillers, with a mass of detail and string if often enigmatic characters. The reintroduction of the chess-playing former chief inspector and avenging killer Bausen is a nice touch, along with the time lapse that combines Van Veeteren the active police man with his later life after retirement but with a continuing sense of entitlement to become involved in continuing police work with his former colleagues. A very satisfying read.Ěý]]> 3.93 2003 The G File
author: HĂĄkan Nesser
name: Tim
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2016/11/28
shelves:
review:
Private investigator Maarten Verlangen is employed by woman to follow her husband. He's an ex cop with a drink problem. Three days later, when Barbara Hennen is found dead in her empty swimming pool, Verlangen himself is part of her husbands alibi, drinking with Jaan G Hensen in a hotel bar while the murder happen.Ěý

When Van Veeteren becomes involved, he is quickly convinced that G - who I knew as a bully from his school days - killed his wife. That conviction is strengthened when they find that firstly, G had recently insured Barabra's life for over a million guilder, and secondly, that his first wife had disappeared in similar circumstances in the US.

But the evidence is enough, and G walks free.

Fifteen years later - Verlangen's daughter comes to see him over her father's disappearance - and the case reopens. But with unexpected and dangerous twists.Ěý

Hakan Nesser's detective novels are classic Swedish crime thrillers, with a mass of detail and string if often enigmatic characters. The reintroduction of the chess-playing former chief inspector and avenging killer Bausen is a nice touch, along with the time lapse that combines Van Veeteren the active police man with his later life after retirement but with a continuing sense of entitlement to become involved in continuing police work with his former colleagues. A very satisfying read.Ěý
]]> Night Waking 9959239 378 Sarah Moss 1847082157 Tim 4 3.87 2011 Night Waking
author: Sarah Moss
name: Tim
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2016/08/12
shelves:
review:

]]> Gone Girl 19288043 What have we done to each other?

These are the questions Nick Dunne finds himself asking on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police suspect Nick. Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn't true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they weren't made by him. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone.

So what did happen to Nick's beautiful wife?]]> 415 Gillian Flynn 0307588378 Tim 3
It's also a difficult book to review sensibly without spoilers, then, because it is the twist in the second half that makes it worth reading.

Final quick review point, although this may present as a crime novel, it's really as much about human dynamics and twisted relationships. Ultimately it's a bit unsettling.

I've recently started reading Dana Stabenow crime novels, and she managed to tell strong stories in around 200 pages. I have a feeling this novel could have been stronger if it had been edited down. ]]> 4.22 2012 Gone Girl
author: Gillian Flynn
name: Tim
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2016/05/29
date added: 2016/05/29
shelves:
review:
If I'd not been spending a weekend recovering from a heavy cold, I'm not sure I would have made it through this book. Eventually I was reasonable glad that I did, but the first part is frankly heavy going at times.

It's also a difficult book to review sensibly without spoilers, then, because it is the twist in the second half that makes it worth reading.

Final quick review point, although this may present as a crime novel, it's really as much about human dynamics and twisted relationships. Ultimately it's a bit unsettling.

I've recently started reading Dana Stabenow crime novels, and she managed to tell strong stories in around 200 pages. I have a feeling this novel could have been stronger if it had been edited down.
]]> <![CDATA[Blindsighted (Grant County, #1)]]> 21718 From New York Times bestselling author Karin Slaughter, the first novel in her acclaimed Grant County series.

A small Georgia town erupts in panic when a young college professor is found brutally mutilated in the local diner. But it’s only when town pediatrician and coroner Sara Linton does the autopsy that the full extent of the killer’s twisted work becomes clear.

Sara’s ex-husband, police chief Jeffrey Tolliver, leads the investigation—a trail of terror that grows increasingly macabre when another local woman is found crucified a few days later. But he’s got more than a sadistic serial killer on his hands, because the county’s only female detective, Lena Adams—the first victim’s sister—wants to serve her own justice.

But it is Sara who holds the key to finding the killer. A secret from her past could unmask the brilliantly malevolent psychopath� or mean her death.]]> 418 Karin Slaughter 0380820889 Tim 4 4.09 2001 Blindsighted (Grant County, #1)
author: Karin Slaughter
name: Tim
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2016/05/19
shelves:
review:

]]> Codex 243145 348 Lev Grossman 015602859X Tim 2 3.02 2004 Codex
author: Lev Grossman
name: Tim
average rating: 3.02
book published: 2004
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2016/05/19
shelves:
review:

]]> The Son 19101283 Sonny Lofthus is a strangely charismatic and complacent young man. Sonny's been in prison for a dozen years, nearly half his life. The inmates who seek out his uncanny abilities to soothe leave his cell feeling absolved. They don t know or care that Sonny has a serious heroin habit or where or how he gets his uninterrupted supply of the drug. Or that he's serving time for other peoples crimes.
Sonny took the first steps toward addiction when his father took his own life rather than face exposure as a corrupt cop. Now Sonny is the seemingly malleable center of a whole infrastructure of corruption: prison staff, police, lawyers, a desperate priest all of them focused on keeping him high and in jail. And all of them under the thumb of the Twin, Oslo's crime overlord. As long as Sonny gets his dope, he's happy to play the criminal and the prison's in-house savior.
But when he learns a stunning, long-hidden secret concerning his father, he makes a brilliantly executed escape from prison and from the person he d let himself become and begins hunting down those responsible for the crimes against him . . . The darkly looming question is: Who will get to him first the criminals or the cops?]]> 407 Jo Nesbø 0385351372 Tim 4
A complex tale of a young man in prison who listens to the confessions of other prisoners, and has accepted guilt for offences he knows he has not committed, and what he hears that leads to him breaking out - and the policeman who investigates. Some good twists, a combination of a solid read in a nicely-paced book.]]> 4.06 2014 The Son
author: Jo Nesbø
name: Tim
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2016/04/04
date added: 2016/04/04
shelves:
review:
Very good. Not part of the Harry Hole series, and no overlap in terms of characters.

A complex tale of a young man in prison who listens to the confessions of other prisoners, and has accepted guilt for offences he knows he has not committed, and what he hears that leads to him breaking out - and the policeman who investigates. Some good twists, a combination of a solid read in a nicely-paced book.
]]> Four Fields 17612872 The Running Sky Tim Dee tells the story of four green fields. Four fields spread around the world: their grasses, their hedges, their birds, their skies, and their natural and human histories. Four real fields � walkable, mappable, man-made, mowable and knowable, but also secretive, mysterious, wild, contested and changing. Four fields � the oldest and simplest and truest measure of what a man needs in life � looked at, thought about, worked in, lived with, written.

Dee’s four fields, which he has known for more than twenty years, are the fen field at the bottom of his Cambridgeshire garden, a field in southern Zambia, a prairie field in Little Bighorn, Montana, USA, and a grass meadow in the exclusion zone at Chernobyl, Ukraine. Meditating on these four fields, Dee makes us look anew at where we live and how. He argues that we must attend to what we have made of the wild, to look at and think about the way we have messed things up but also to notice how we have kept going alongside nature, to listen to the conversation we have had with grass and fields.

Four Fields is a profound, lyrical book by one of Britain’s very best writers about nature.

Shortlisted for the 2014 Ondaatje Prize]]> 288 Tim Dee 0224090720 Tim 3
At the heart of the book the author keeps returning to his "hime" field in the Fens - and for me the depth of what he writes about the Fens, as they are now, as they change, and about their history, is the most enthralling parts of the book - particularly perhaps the parts about the relationship between man and nature, and his reflections that it's very hard to identify what the "natural" state of the fens is, because man's role is so entrenched in shaping them.

But the elements of African field, the field at heart of the Battle of Little Big Hirn, and the land around Chernibyl, are all filled with reflections and comments on nature, life and our impact upon them.

Worth a read, and probably reading again, but not an easy or comfortable book. ]]> 3.77 2013 Four Fields
author: Tim Dee
name: Tim
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2015/10/21
date added: 2015/10/21
shelves:
review:
This is a fascinating read, although at times it's easy to get a bit lost in it. Although it's a book about fields, in some senses it isn't "about" anything - rather a series of reflections mainly on nature in and around fields.

At the heart of the book the author keeps returning to his "hime" field in the Fens - and for me the depth of what he writes about the Fens, as they are now, as they change, and about their history, is the most enthralling parts of the book - particularly perhaps the parts about the relationship between man and nature, and his reflections that it's very hard to identify what the "natural" state of the fens is, because man's role is so entrenched in shaping them.

But the elements of African field, the field at heart of the Battle of Little Big Hirn, and the land around Chernibyl, are all filled with reflections and comments on nature, life and our impact upon them.

Worth a read, and probably reading again, but not an easy or comfortable book.
]]> <![CDATA[Militant Liverpool: A City on the Edge]]> 16000005 problems remain. This book sheds new light on what is for some a dark period in the city's past, best forgotten, while for others is a memory of the city that refused to lie down and die and a continuing inspiration.]]> 223 Diane Frost 1846318637 Tim 4 3.35 2013 Militant Liverpool: A City on the Edge
author: Diane Frost
name: Tim
average rating: 3.35
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2015/08/08
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mortal Causes (Inspector Rebus, #6)]]> 511993 278 Ian Rankin 0312960948 Tim 4
Decent and solid offering in this series.]]> 3.95 1994 Mortal Causes (Inspector Rebus, #6)
author: Ian Rankin
name: Tim
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1994
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2015/07/19
shelves:
review:
Mortal Causes starts with the discovery of the body of a young man in the abandanoded rooms of Mary Kings Close, hidden below the streets of Edingburgh. Tortured then shot,the reported disappearance of a tenant two days later helps them identify the body as Billy Cunningham. A room full of Protestant sectarian trivia suggests a possible terrorist link, but the discovery that the bit was the illegitimate son of improsiened gangster Gerry Cafferty offers a very different and more personal connection for Rebus.

Decent and solid offering in this series.
]]> <![CDATA[The Poet (Jack McEvoy, #1; Harry Bosch Universe, #5)]]> 232868
In a break from his Harry Bosch novels--including The Concrete Blonde and The Last Coyote--Edgar-winning novelist Michael Connelly creates a new hero who is a lot greener but no less believable. The Poet will keep readers holding their breath until the very end: the characters are multilayered, the plot compelling, and the denouement a true surprise. Connelly fans will not be disappointed. --Mara Friedman]]> 481 Michael Connelly 0752809261 Tim 5

Starting with the apparent suicide of his detective brother Sean, Jack's determination to find out what happened leads him to research the causes behind police suicides and in turn opens up an investigation that reveals the possibility of a vicious serial killer who is specifically targeting police officers.

In persuading the police and the FBI to take his ideas seriously, Jack has a robust encounter with FBI agent Rachel Walling but is able to use his knowledge and influence as a reporter to gain an inside track to the investigations.

There is a parallel and linked story tracking a child paedophile, where it is obvious from early in that he has a role to play but the exact nature of his involvement only becomes clear late in the novel. There is a side line exploring the early days of internet based abuse (this novel was written in the mid 1990s).

The plot develops through a series of twists and complexities, some more predictable than others, and events place Jack at considerable personal risk before the identity of the killer is finally confirmed.

The book is a good combination of well paced plot with convincing detail, and the various misdirections are well crafted and believable. An excellent read, either as part of the wider series or as a one off.]]> 4.08 1996 The Poet (Jack McEvoy, #1; Harry Bosch Universe, #5)
author: Michael Connelly
name: Tim
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1996
rating: 5
read at: 2015/06/27
date added: 2015/07/11
shelves:
review:
Whilst not all of Michael Connolly's books feature Harry Bosch, there are often overlapping characters who may play major or minor roles in others. The Poet is the first book to feature reporter Jack McEvoy, and in my opinion is one of Connolly's best.


Starting with the apparent suicide of his detective brother Sean, Jack's determination to find out what happened leads him to research the causes behind police suicides and in turn opens up an investigation that reveals the possibility of a vicious serial killer who is specifically targeting police officers.

In persuading the police and the FBI to take his ideas seriously, Jack has a robust encounter with FBI agent Rachel Walling but is able to use his knowledge and influence as a reporter to gain an inside track to the investigations.

There is a parallel and linked story tracking a child paedophile, where it is obvious from early in that he has a role to play but the exact nature of his involvement only becomes clear late in the novel. There is a side line exploring the early days of internet based abuse (this novel was written in the mid 1990s).

The plot develops through a series of twists and complexities, some more predictable than others, and events place Jack at considerable personal risk before the identity of the killer is finally confirmed.

The book is a good combination of well paced plot with convincing detail, and the various misdirections are well crafted and believable. An excellent read, either as part of the wider series or as a one off.
]]> <![CDATA[The King Years: Historic Moments in the Civil Rights Movement]]> 13547411

The King Years delivers riveting tales of everyday heroes who achieved miracles in constructive purpose and yet poignantly fell short. Here is the full sweep of an era that still reverberates in national politics. Its legacy remains unsettled; there are further lessons to be discovered before free citizens can once again move officials to address the most intractable, fearful dilemmas. This vital primer amply fulfills its author’s “For students of freedom and teachers of history.�

This compact volume brings to life eighteen pivotal dramas, beginning with the impromptu speech that turned an untested, twenty-six-year-old Martin Luther King forever into a public figure on the first night of the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott. Five years later, minority students filled the jails in a 1960 sit-in movement, and, in 1961, the Freedom Riders seized national attention.

Branch interprets King’s famous speech at the 1963 March on Washington, then relives the Birmingham church bombing that challenged his dream of equal souls and equal votes. We see student leader Bob Moses mobilize college volunteers for Mississippi’s 1964 Freedom Summer, and a decade-long movement at last secures the first of several landmark laws for equal rights. At the same time, the presidential nominating conventions were drawn into sharp and unprecedented party realignment.

In “King, J. Edgar Hoover, and the Nobel Peace Prize,� Branch details the covert use of state power for a personal vendetta. “Crossroads in Selma� describes King’s ordeal to steer the battered citizen’s movement through hopes and threats from every level of government. “Crossroads in Vietnam� glimpses the ominous wartime split between King and President Lyndon Johnson. As backlash shadowed a Chicago campaign to expose northern prejudice, and the Black Power slogan of Stokely Carmichael captivated a world grown weary of nonviolent protest, King grew ever more isolated. As Branch writes, King “pushed downward into lonelier causes until he wound up among the sanitation workers of Memphis.� A requiem chapter leads to his fateful assassination.]]> 224 Taylor Branch 1451678975 Tim 3 3.93 2013 The King Years: Historic Moments in the Civil Rights Movement
author: Taylor Branch
name: Tim
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2015/07/09
shelves:
review:
There are some interesting short pieces in here but as a non-US citizen who doesn't know enough of the Civil Rights movement history, it's hard to connect the parts - it would be better to read an overall history of the movement first.
]]> <![CDATA[Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East]]> 225897 intifada, is a direct consequence of those six days of fighting. Michael B. Oren’s magnificent Six Days of War, an internationally acclaimed bestseller, is the first comprehensive account of this epoch-making event.

Writing with a novelist’s command of narrative and a historian’s grasp of fact and motive, Oren reconstructs both the lightning-fast action on the battlefields and the political shocks that electrified the world. Extraordinary personalities—Moshe Dayan and Gamal Abdul Nasser, Lyndon Johnson and Alexei Kosygin—rose and toppled from power as a result of this war; borders were redrawn; daring strategies brilliantly succeeded or disastrously failed in a matter of hours. And the balance of power changed—in the Middle East and in the world. A towering work of history and an enthralling human narrative, Six Days of War is the most important book on the Middle East conflict to appear in a generation.]]> 460 Michael B. Oren 0345461924 Tim 5
Oren places the source of the war in its complex context; Syrian aggression; Nasser's need for political success after his influence had waned in the Arab world, leading to his misjudging the consequences of evicting UN forces from Sinai and blockading Eilat; Israeli insecurity after the forced compromises of 1956 and 1957 post Suez; the provocative effects of repeated guerrilla actions against Israel; and the sheer uncertainties of a tension where countries have no common trust and no meaningful basis to understand and judge each other's reactions.Ěý

Simply as a piece of military history, the Six day war remains one of the most astonishing conflicts imaginable. It is still hard to appreciate how in just six days, Israel was effectively able to defeat three different countries, each on paper at least their equals, occupying in the process vast areas of territory. It was a period that reshaped the Middle East and continues to shape both regional and world politics.Ěý

But the book is not just a military history. It gives a detailed insight into the political processes in Israel and to a lesser extent in the Arab combatants; tries to understand the diplomatic moves at the United Nations, in the United States and between the two super powers; and explores the beliefs, motivations and actions of many of the main players - as well as drawing in eye witness testimony and memories from soldiers on both sides.Ěý

One feature of the war that shine through was the extent to which Israeli armed forces were trusted and expected to act in their own initiative. Faced with the rapid collapse of the Egyptian army in the Sinai, it was clear that many times units simply pushed ahead, well beyond what the politicians at the centre might have expected. The same was true in the Jordanian and Syrian fronts.Ěý

The send was the extent to which ultimately the Egoytians and their allies were victims of their own closed societies and propaganda. Once the war started, Israel was desperate for fighting to continue long enough for them to achieve their key objectives. Misleading propaganda from Egypt about the extent of their success was deeply damagin to the ultimate outcome for the Arabs - both by delaying early calls for a ceasefire which would have prevented Israel from gaining control of the Sinai, and by encouraging the Jordanians to take military action which provided the justification for Israel's invasion and capture of the West Bank.Ěý

I'm not going to attempt to summarise or comment further on the book, simply to say that if you want to explore this critical period of modern history, this is one of the sources of information you should access.

(The Kindle edition I read also includes as an appendix a conversation between the author andĚýFouad Ajami which is well worth a read, both for its exploration of the author's personal views and perspective, and also for his reflections on the parallels between 1967 and the situation in the early part of the 21st Century).Ěý


]]> 4.15 2001 Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East
author: Michael B. Oren
name: Tim
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at: 2015/06/15
date added: 2015/06/17
shelves:
review:
Six days of war is a detailed history and account of the Arab - Israeli war of 1967. It is serious history, drawing on an extensive range of sources from all the participants, so far as that is possible. That does not mean, of course, that it's approach and conclusions are uncontested when dealing with such an emotive and complex field.Ěý

Oren places the source of the war in its complex context; Syrian aggression; Nasser's need for political success after his influence had waned in the Arab world, leading to his misjudging the consequences of evicting UN forces from Sinai and blockading Eilat; Israeli insecurity after the forced compromises of 1956 and 1957 post Suez; the provocative effects of repeated guerrilla actions against Israel; and the sheer uncertainties of a tension where countries have no common trust and no meaningful basis to understand and judge each other's reactions.Ěý

Simply as a piece of military history, the Six day war remains one of the most astonishing conflicts imaginable. It is still hard to appreciate how in just six days, Israel was effectively able to defeat three different countries, each on paper at least their equals, occupying in the process vast areas of territory. It was a period that reshaped the Middle East and continues to shape both regional and world politics.Ěý

But the book is not just a military history. It gives a detailed insight into the political processes in Israel and to a lesser extent in the Arab combatants; tries to understand the diplomatic moves at the United Nations, in the United States and between the two super powers; and explores the beliefs, motivations and actions of many of the main players - as well as drawing in eye witness testimony and memories from soldiers on both sides.Ěý

One feature of the war that shine through was the extent to which Israeli armed forces were trusted and expected to act in their own initiative. Faced with the rapid collapse of the Egyptian army in the Sinai, it was clear that many times units simply pushed ahead, well beyond what the politicians at the centre might have expected. The same was true in the Jordanian and Syrian fronts.Ěý

The send was the extent to which ultimately the Egoytians and their allies were victims of their own closed societies and propaganda. Once the war started, Israel was desperate for fighting to continue long enough for them to achieve their key objectives. Misleading propaganda from Egypt about the extent of their success was deeply damagin to the ultimate outcome for the Arabs - both by delaying early calls for a ceasefire which would have prevented Israel from gaining control of the Sinai, and by encouraging the Jordanians to take military action which provided the justification for Israel's invasion and capture of the West Bank.Ěý

I'm not going to attempt to summarise or comment further on the book, simply to say that if you want to explore this critical period of modern history, this is one of the sources of information you should access.

(The Kindle edition I read also includes as an appendix a conversation between the author andĚýFouad Ajami which is well worth a read, both for its exploration of the author's personal views and perspective, and also for his reflections on the parallels between 1967 and the situation in the early part of the 21st Century).Ěý



]]> <![CDATA[The Black Echo (Harry Bosch, #1; Harry Bosch Universe, #1)]]> 2858768 480 Michael Connelly 1407207040 Tim 4
Re-reading this book against the backdrop of having read several other books in the series enables you to see how many of the characters and issues that are simply background details in this story will emerge and develop in future volumes.

But the book also stands alone as an excellent and gripping story in its own right, linking detailed and thorough police procedural with accurate historical details of American soldiers who specialised in fighting in the tunnels in the Viet Nam war, brought to life through Bosch’s personal history and the investigation into the death of Meadows, a veteran Bosch served with 20 years previously.

The connection back to Vietnam � both in personal history and experience, and in how crimes and events from there shape the events in the book � makes a compelling theme and opens up through a series of unexpected twists as the real motives gradually emerge.

The detailed police procedural work in identifying the real story behind the crime is strong and convincing, whilst mixed with a pace and level of action that makes for a strong and enjoyable read. Most of the story works well for me, although the final twist I think is presented a bit too suddenly and neatly to be entirely convincing.
]]> 3.92 1992 The Black Echo (Harry Bosch, #1; Harry Bosch Universe, #1)
author: Michael Connelly
name: Tim
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at: 2015/05/31
date added: 2015/05/31
shelves:
review:
The first book by Michael Connolly, “Black Echo� demonstrates how good crime writing and detective fiction can be. Within the first 70 or so pages, the feature detective, Harry Bosch, is established as a credible and rounded character with a strong back story, believable partners, and a clear place in the politics and machinations of LA Police Department.

Re-reading this book against the backdrop of having read several other books in the series enables you to see how many of the characters and issues that are simply background details in this story will emerge and develop in future volumes.

But the book also stands alone as an excellent and gripping story in its own right, linking detailed and thorough police procedural with accurate historical details of American soldiers who specialised in fighting in the tunnels in the Viet Nam war, brought to life through Bosch’s personal history and the investigation into the death of Meadows, a veteran Bosch served with 20 years previously.

The connection back to Vietnam � both in personal history and experience, and in how crimes and events from there shape the events in the book � makes a compelling theme and opens up through a series of unexpected twists as the real motives gradually emerge.

The detailed police procedural work in identifying the real story behind the crime is strong and convincing, whilst mixed with a pace and level of action that makes for a strong and enjoyable read. Most of the story works well for me, although the final twist I think is presented a bit too suddenly and neatly to be entirely convincing.

]]> A Dirty War 534688 368 Anna Politkovskaya 1860468977 Tim 4
In 1999, the first Putin Government in Russia rekindled the war in Chechnya. Anna Politkovskaya spent the next two years visiting Chechnya, Daghestan and Ingushetia, talking to soldiers and residents alike, spending time in refugee camps, with army recruits, and back in Moscow, often at real risk of physical harm which she never dramatises.

Whilst her coverage is scathing and outspoken over the record and behaviour of Putin's government, neither does she spare the Chechen authorities and terrorists, nor the Western aid agencies when they denounce one side but fail to condemn the abuses committed by the other.

Whether it is the gross and deliberate abuses she hears about, invetigates and tries to abuse, or the less obviously cruel but equally destructive results of bureaucratic incompetence and inertia, her reports are frank and devastating. It's hard not to weep at the articles telling of the attempts to rescue the abandoned residents of an older people's home in Groszny, for example - and the stupidity and lies that then leads to the same older people being returned and abandoned again because it suited a PR story.

Most of all, this book is important not just as a record of brutality, but for the attempts to tell the stories of the civilians whose lives are devastated by events they cannot control, leaving them, as the text on the book jacket says, with "nowhere to live and nothing and no one to believe in."]]> 4.27 2000 A Dirty War
author: Anna Politkovskaya
name: Tim
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2015/05/21
date added: 2015/05/21
shelves:
review:
At a time of understandable cynicism about some of what passes for journalism, it's important to be reminded that reporters continue to risk their lives to try to shine a light on the world's dark places. (A message given impact by our knowledge of the murder of the author some dozen or so years later).

In 1999, the first Putin Government in Russia rekindled the war in Chechnya. Anna Politkovskaya spent the next two years visiting Chechnya, Daghestan and Ingushetia, talking to soldiers and residents alike, spending time in refugee camps, with army recruits, and back in Moscow, often at real risk of physical harm which she never dramatises.

Whilst her coverage is scathing and outspoken over the record and behaviour of Putin's government, neither does she spare the Chechen authorities and terrorists, nor the Western aid agencies when they denounce one side but fail to condemn the abuses committed by the other.

Whether it is the gross and deliberate abuses she hears about, invetigates and tries to abuse, or the less obviously cruel but equally destructive results of bureaucratic incompetence and inertia, her reports are frank and devastating. It's hard not to weep at the articles telling of the attempts to rescue the abandoned residents of an older people's home in Groszny, for example - and the stupidity and lies that then leads to the same older people being returned and abandoned again because it suited a PR story.

Most of all, this book is important not just as a record of brutality, but for the attempts to tell the stories of the civilians whose lives are devastated by events they cannot control, leaving them, as the text on the book jacket says, with "nowhere to live and nothing and no one to believe in."
]]> <![CDATA[Sailing Close to the Wind: Reminiscences]]> 23398105 272 Dennis Skinner 1782061592 Tim 4
One or two key points for me.

Firstly Dennis Skinner never seems to waver in his view that the Labour Party is the only place for working people who want to change things. His hostility to the defectors who formed the SDP is unsurprising, but it's clear he has little more sympathy for those who seek to dilute the radical voice in other directions.

Secondly, this leads to him being more supportive of the Blair and Brown government than some would expect. Not that he ever toned down his criticisms of the things he disagreed with, but always in the context of that enormous sense of solidarity and a believe that ultimately politics comes down to a choice of sides where he could only ever be in one place.

"I have an unyielding loyalty to a Labour Party that is on the side of working people. It is the only party capable of improving the lives of the working class.

"My absolute belief is that a Labour government is better than a Tory regime every time and the Labournyears, with Blair then Gordon Brown in no. 10, achieved much that we are justly proud of. "

It's probably that same sense of solidarity which lies behind his obvious sense of betrayal over two massive disputes - one, and better known, the Miner's Strike and what he believes to have been the unacceptable failure of the Labour party under Neil Kinnock to back the NUM; and secondly, and less remembered I suspect, the failure to lift the sanctions imposed on the Clay Cross councillors in the early 1970s.

Dennis Skinners working life started in the mines, which led him into the trade unions, the Labour Party and the local council before he became the MP. After his election as MP, Clay Cross continued with a programme started under his leadership of slum clearance, house building - and heavily subsidised rents and other services. This fell foul of legislation brought in by the Heath Government, and ultimately led to the bankrupting and barring from office of a number of Labour councillors including two of his brothers.

Actually, there was at least one surprise, which was the discovery that he was asked about a ministerial appointment by Tony Blair in 1997. He turned it down because he felt that it would restrict his ability to say and vote for what he believed in without compromise.

It's clear that at 82 he has lost little of the fire and passion that has dominated his life. His anger about what the coalition government is doing, founded not just on abstract dislike of their policies but of seeing week in, week out, the impact on ordinary people's lives, is palpable and an inspiration.

]]> 3.96 2014 Sailing Close to the Wind: Reminiscences
author: Dennis Skinner
name: Tim
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2014/12/29
date added: 2014/12/31
shelves:
review:
Not a polished book, but a hugely enjoyable read. There are not many surprises if you've followed politics over the year, but some useful perspectives and reminders.

One or two key points for me.

Firstly Dennis Skinner never seems to waver in his view that the Labour Party is the only place for working people who want to change things. His hostility to the defectors who formed the SDP is unsurprising, but it's clear he has little more sympathy for those who seek to dilute the radical voice in other directions.

Secondly, this leads to him being more supportive of the Blair and Brown government than some would expect. Not that he ever toned down his criticisms of the things he disagreed with, but always in the context of that enormous sense of solidarity and a believe that ultimately politics comes down to a choice of sides where he could only ever be in one place.

"I have an unyielding loyalty to a Labour Party that is on the side of working people. It is the only party capable of improving the lives of the working class.

"My absolute belief is that a Labour government is better than a Tory regime every time and the Labournyears, with Blair then Gordon Brown in no. 10, achieved much that we are justly proud of. "

It's probably that same sense of solidarity which lies behind his obvious sense of betrayal over two massive disputes - one, and better known, the Miner's Strike and what he believes to have been the unacceptable failure of the Labour party under Neil Kinnock to back the NUM; and secondly, and less remembered I suspect, the failure to lift the sanctions imposed on the Clay Cross councillors in the early 1970s.

Dennis Skinners working life started in the mines, which led him into the trade unions, the Labour Party and the local council before he became the MP. After his election as MP, Clay Cross continued with a programme started under his leadership of slum clearance, house building - and heavily subsidised rents and other services. This fell foul of legislation brought in by the Heath Government, and ultimately led to the bankrupting and barring from office of a number of Labour councillors including two of his brothers.

Actually, there was at least one surprise, which was the discovery that he was asked about a ministerial appointment by Tony Blair in 1997. He turned it down because he felt that it would restrict his ability to say and vote for what he believed in without compromise.

It's clear that at 82 he has lost little of the fire and passion that has dominated his life. His anger about what the coalition government is doing, founded not just on abstract dislike of their policies but of seeing week in, week out, the impact on ordinary people's lives, is palpable and an inspiration.


]]> <![CDATA[Dishonour (Lilly Valentine #3)]]> 7714576 402 Helen Black 1847560725 Tim 3 4.12 2009 Dishonour (Lilly Valentine #3)
author: Helen Black
name: Tim
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2014/12/27
date added: 2014/12/27
shelves:
review:
Bit surprised that so many people have rated this as a 4 or 5. It's a decent enough story, with a good late twist to it, but the characterisation is on the thin side and at a number of points the unexpected twists aren't sufficiently grounded in believable characters. I'm also not convinced that a lawyer or a police officer who bend the rules as much as happens in this story would be allowed to continue, however successful the final outcome might be.
]]> High Exposure 410892 320 David Breashears 1841953903 Tim 4
Reading other reviews there are mixed feelings about this book and particularly about his treatment of '96. I've not many of the other books on the same theme so don't feel too qualified to judge.

Elsewhere, the author is brutally honest in his depiction of how his marriage drifted and fell apart because of his obsession with climbing. And he is equally honest in talking about, and describing, the awful price that some people pay because of the lure of the high and wild places of the world.]]> 4.00 1999 High Exposure
author: David Breashears
name: Tim
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2014/12/13
date added: 2014/12/13
shelves:
review:
This is a solid and thoughtful biography from a man whose given his life over to climbing and to mountain photography - the latter initially as a way to make it possible for him to climb. Starting with his early life, and the use of climbing and the outdoors as an escape from a violent and unpredictable father, there's many detailed descriptions of how he developed his skills as a climber before moving to his fascination, almost obsession, with Everest, focussing in particular on this descriptions of the tragedies of 1996.

Reading other reviews there are mixed feelings about this book and particularly about his treatment of '96. I've not many of the other books on the same theme so don't feel too qualified to judge.

Elsewhere, the author is brutally honest in his depiction of how his marriage drifted and fell apart because of his obsession with climbing. And he is equally honest in talking about, and describing, the awful price that some people pay because of the lure of the high and wild places of the world.
]]> Cockroaches (Harry Hole, #2) 18373214 When the Norwegian ambassador to Thailand is found dead in a Bangkok brothel, Inspector Harry Hole is dispatched from Oslo to help hush up the case.

But once he arrives Harry discovers that this case is about much more than one random murder. There is something else, something more pervasive, scrabbling around behind the scenes. Or, put another way, for every cockroach you see in your hotel room, there are hundreds behind the walls. Surrounded by round-the-clock traffic noise, Harry wanders the streets of Bangkok lined with go-go bars, temples, opium dens, and tourist traps, trying to piece together the story of the ambassador’s death even though no one asked him to, and no one wants him to—not even Harry himself.]]> 368 Jo Nesbø Tim 3
]]> 3.73 1998 Cockroaches (Harry Hole, #2)
author: Jo Nesbø
name: Tim
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1998
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2014/09/07
shelves:
review:
This is a decent book but not brilliant. Although it's the second in the series, as with The Bat, #1, you are more likely to enjoy this if you have already read some if the later ones and want to read the "back catalogue".


]]> <![CDATA[The Inspector and Silence (Inspector Van Veeteren, #5)]]> 8109216

(Bestselling author HĂĄkan Nesser has proven himself several times and with great success that he can tell exciting stories whose dissolution also unexpectedly hits connoisseurs of the genre. His fan base in Germany is now huge. With his idiosyncratic investigator Van Veeteren he has created a hero who has the makings of a classic - a middle-aged man with stomach discomfort, who loves classical music and solves his cases with a mixture of black humor and intuition. This time Van Veeteren faces a particularly difficult task. Two little girls have disappeared from a summer camp. Shortly thereafter, they are found murdered. Is an obscure sect leader behind the deeds? Or is it related to an unknown psychopath? Most importantly, can Van Veeteren stop him before he strikes again?)]]> 288 HĂĄkan Nesser 0230746705 Tim 4
It's a good story, the bones of which are outlined on the jacket and in other reviews. The main enjoyment though comes from the different characters, not just the main protagonist but also a number of other strongly developed police characters.

The way Van Veeteren reflects on his future is thoughtful; as is his decision making on the case, where stepping back leads him to realise that the obvious suspects are distracting him from the real nature of the case, and hence the identity of the murderer.

That's the strengths. On the negative side, the characterisation of the killer and his motives was weak, and left some unanswered questions, although none of this detracted from the enjoyment of the book overall. Certainly strong enough to make me look out for and catch up on others in the series. ]]> 3.72 1997 The Inspector and Silence (Inspector Van Veeteren, #5)
author: HĂĄkan Nesser
name: Tim
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2014/03/07
shelves:
review:
Having developed a taste for translated Nordic detective stories, stumbling across this in a bargain book shop introduced me to a new writer and a new detective, Van Veeteren - although this story, which I think is number five in the series, also marks his retirement from the police and move into antique books. I believe however that he continues to feature in further stories.

It's a good story, the bones of which are outlined on the jacket and in other reviews. The main enjoyment though comes from the different characters, not just the main protagonist but also a number of other strongly developed police characters.

The way Van Veeteren reflects on his future is thoughtful; as is his decision making on the case, where stepping back leads him to realise that the obvious suspects are distracting him from the real nature of the case, and hence the identity of the murderer.

That's the strengths. On the negative side, the characterisation of the killer and his motives was weak, and left some unanswered questions, although none of this detracted from the enjoyment of the book overall. Certainly strong enough to make me look out for and catch up on others in the series.
]]> 24 hours 80634
But this time, he's just picked the wrong family to terrorize. Because Will and Karen Jennings aren't going to watch helplessly as he victimizes them. And they aren't going to let him get away with it.]]> 448 Greg Iles 0340770066 Tim 3 3.96 2000 24 hours
author: Greg Iles
name: Tim
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2014/02/03
shelves:
review:
This is a pretty run of the mill holiday thriller, which you can get through in a few hours without concentrating too much. If I'd paid it a bit more attention, I would probably be more critical of it. One or two good twists, but basically it's the formula of how do you place someone in an impossible situation and then let them come out ahead. For me, two plots intertwined which would have been good if one were followed through but becomes a bit unbelievable when the outcome depends on them both dropping right together. The villain for me covers too many complexes - I'm not convinced someone so pathological could also be so detailed and meticulous. Enjoyable. But basically unbelievable.
]]> Scaredy Cat (Tom Thorne, #2) 964994 SCARE SOMEONE ENOUGH, THEY'LL DO ANYTHING...

It was a vicious, calculated murder. The killer selected his victim at Euston station, followed her home on the tube and strangled her to death in front of her child. At the same time, killed in the same way, a second body is discovered at the back of King's Cross station. It is a grisly coincidence that eerily echoes the murder of two other women, stabbed to death months before on the same day...

It is DI Tom Thorne who sees the link and comes to the horrifying conclusion. This is not a serial killer the police are up against. This is two of them. Finding the body used to be the worst part of the job. Not any more. Now each time a body is found, Thorne must live with the knowledge that somewhere out there is a second victim, waiting to be discovered...]]> 460 Mark Billingham 0751533955 Tim 3
Starting with a vicious murder, it quickly becomes clear that not only is there a serial killer operating, but that in fact there is a pair of killers operating together.

The use of flashbacks means that we know from quite early on who the killers are, and the plot is all about understanding how the events of the past have shaped their relationship as the police gradually come to terms with understanding the nature of them - particularly after one is captured and the second remains free.

It's another very solid story - I think I actually preferred his first novel, but the developing character of Thorne makes it well worth continuing with the series.]]> 3.94 2001 Scaredy Cat (Tom Thorne, #2)
author: Mark Billingham
name: Tim
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2014/01/01
shelves:
review:
This is the second Thorne novel, following on from Sleepyhead, but it takes a quite different approach.

Starting with a vicious murder, it quickly becomes clear that not only is there a serial killer operating, but that in fact there is a pair of killers operating together.

The use of flashbacks means that we know from quite early on who the killers are, and the plot is all about understanding how the events of the past have shaped their relationship as the police gradually come to terms with understanding the nature of them - particularly after one is captured and the second remains free.

It's another very solid story - I think I actually preferred his first novel, but the developing character of Thorne makes it well worth continuing with the series.
]]> Sleepyhead (Tom Thorne, #1) 964991 405 Mark Billingham 0751531464 Tim 4
DI Tom Thorne is a fairly typically conflicted crime novel police man - good at the job, but a maverick whose not really trusted by his bosses. And when a suspected serial killer leaves a young woman, Alison, alive, it looks like he's made his first mistake - except she is completely paralysed and in a coma.

Then the horrible truth becomes clear - Alison is not a mistake. This is what the criminal was striving to achieve. It's the previous deaths that are the mistake. So who is the criminal who seems to be targeting Thorne specifically? And what is it that is driving him, not to murder, but to try to trap his victims with their minds alive but their bodies useless?

A great story, written from various perspectives including that of Alison herself. Some lively twists and complexities along the way. A good story and strong encouragement to read more.

(just after watching this, I saw an episode of CSI New York with a very similar story line. This book came first, and apparently there's no connection between the two stories. Perhaps there really are only so many different possible plots. )]]> 3.88 2001 Sleepyhead (Tom Thorne, #1)
author: Mark Billingham
name: Tim
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2013/12/17
shelves:
review:
A good, solid police procedure thriller, and an excellent first novel / first story in a series.

DI Tom Thorne is a fairly typically conflicted crime novel police man - good at the job, but a maverick whose not really trusted by his bosses. And when a suspected serial killer leaves a young woman, Alison, alive, it looks like he's made his first mistake - except she is completely paralysed and in a coma.

Then the horrible truth becomes clear - Alison is not a mistake. This is what the criminal was striving to achieve. It's the previous deaths that are the mistake. So who is the criminal who seems to be targeting Thorne specifically? And what is it that is driving him, not to murder, but to try to trap his victims with their minds alive but their bodies useless?

A great story, written from various perspectives including that of Alison herself. Some lively twists and complexities along the way. A good story and strong encouragement to read more.

(just after watching this, I saw an episode of CSI New York with a very similar story line. This book came first, and apparently there's no connection between the two stories. Perhaps there really are only so many different possible plots. )
]]> Roseanna (Martin Beck, 1) 18220005 Maj Sjöwall Tim 4
As the introduction to the edition I read notes, it's quite a culture shock to go back to a world where everyone smokes in offices and restaurants, and particularly a world that predates mobiles, where police observation operations depend in the vagaries of public phone boxes.

This is a carefully detailed police procedural, which moves slowly and then gathers pace as eventually the evidence starts to come together. The discovery of a dead girls body in a lake starts the murder hunt, but with little progress as no one reports her missing. Her eventual identity as a single American tourist, and the tracking of her to a boat trip, leads to careful and thoughtful detection, emphasising that real police work is about solid and lengthy effort rather than flashes of inspiration and the pursuit of hunches - although these have a role to play in deciding which lines to follow and which to ignore.

Martin Beck, the main detective, is no dramatic hero, but rather an ordinary man who is driven by his obsession to get results. The results are an engaging and wholly realistic novel which is readable and rewarding. ]]> 3.79 1965 Roseanna (Martin Beck, 1)
author: Maj Sjöwall
name: Tim
average rating: 3.79
book published: 1965
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2013/12/17
shelves:
review:
Given a liking for Scandinavian police fiction, it's interesting to read this first book jn the Martin Beck series and discover many of the same style and features present from so long back.

As the introduction to the edition I read notes, it's quite a culture shock to go back to a world where everyone smokes in offices and restaurants, and particularly a world that predates mobiles, where police observation operations depend in the vagaries of public phone boxes.

This is a carefully detailed police procedural, which moves slowly and then gathers pace as eventually the evidence starts to come together. The discovery of a dead girls body in a lake starts the murder hunt, but with little progress as no one reports her missing. Her eventual identity as a single American tourist, and the tracking of her to a boat trip, leads to careful and thoughtful detection, emphasising that real police work is about solid and lengthy effort rather than flashes of inspiration and the pursuit of hunches - although these have a role to play in deciding which lines to follow and which to ignore.

Martin Beck, the main detective, is no dramatic hero, but rather an ordinary man who is driven by his obsession to get results. The results are an engaging and wholly realistic novel which is readable and rewarding.
]]> Hostage 2041934 384 Robert Crais 0752841823 Tim 3
When a local petty hold up goes wrong and leads to a murder, the desperate criminals panic and end up holding a man and his two children hostage in their homes. What looks like a simple holding operation where Talley uses his knowledge to contain the situation until the state forces arise though quickly spirals out of control as increasing complexities become apparent.

For the house chosen at random by the criminals is the home of a white collar criminal, the accountant for a major organised crime family, and contains incriminating evidence of their activities. The ruthless actions of his associated in trying to recover their evidence means the stakes become higher than Talley could imagine.

It's a very good read, but there are a few too many coincidences (slight spoiler alert, but I'm not saying all of them) to be quite believable to me. I enjoy a "heroic" thriller, but prefer a story that's realistic overall. Good holiday read I'd suggest. ]]> 3.62 2001 Hostage
author: Robert Crais
name: Tim
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2013/12/15
shelves:
review:
A good read, with a basic plot that grips you and keeps the story moving well. Jeff Talley is a former Los Angels SWAT hostage negotiator who is burned out by his experiences of a negotiation that wen wrong. Depression leads him to walk away from his pub and his marriage and take on a role as a police chief in a small town.

When a local petty hold up goes wrong and leads to a murder, the desperate criminals panic and end up holding a man and his two children hostage in their homes. What looks like a simple holding operation where Talley uses his knowledge to contain the situation until the state forces arise though quickly spirals out of control as increasing complexities become apparent.

For the house chosen at random by the criminals is the home of a white collar criminal, the accountant for a major organised crime family, and contains incriminating evidence of their activities. The ruthless actions of his associated in trying to recover their evidence means the stakes become higher than Talley could imagine.

It's a very good read, but there are a few too many coincidences (slight spoiler alert, but I'm not saying all of them) to be quite believable to me. I enjoy a "heroic" thriller, but prefer a story that's realistic overall. Good holiday read I'd suggest.
]]> <![CDATA[Strange Affair (Inspector Banks, #15)]]> 102268
The dead woman in the car had been running from something—but she didn't run far or fast enough. Detective Inspector Annie Cabbot would like to question the man the victim was apparently racing to meet: Annie's superior—and former lover—Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks. But Banks has vanished into the anonymous chaos of the city, drawn into a mad whirl of greed, inhumanity, and death, by a frantic phone call from the brother he no longer knows. Banks is unaware that the threads connecting a sinister kidnapping with a savage slaying are as thick as rope . . . and long enough for a haunted and broken rogue cop to hang himself.]]> 416 Peter Robinson 0060544341 Tim 3
The story in this book takes place six months after Playing with Fire, and Banks is in a state of depression getting over the loss of his home and possessions, and his near death.

The author uses his story line to build Roy Banks into a complex figure, a man with a chequered past very different from his brother, whose life was shaken by his experiences in 9/11, but remains conflicted between good living, taking chances, and a search for meaning. And a man who, whatever Banks though, always looked up to his older brother.

This is a nicely paced and complex story, and whilst the main crime is obvious from half way through, there's a twist at the end which is not obvious. And as always with Robinson, a developing side line which leads to the identification of the person responsible for a quite unrelated crime.

This story also sees a gradual rapprochement and understanding between Annie and Banks as they start to out their past relationship behind them and find new ways of working together.

Incidentally - this is another case where the summary on this site, presumably taken from the book jacket, really doesn't give a fair impression of the actual story.]]> 3.96 2005 Strange Affair (Inspector Banks, #15)
author: Peter Robinson
name: Tim
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2013/12/15
shelves:
review:
Robinsons books sometimes involve a lot of personal detail which can make the pace seem slow at times - but he can vary this effectively when he wants to. Within the first chapter, he has set out the main themes of the mystery. A young woman running scared as she drives north on the M1, fearful of being followed. A call out of the blue from his distanced brother, Roy, asking Banks to comment him urgently. The body of a young woman found stopped and shot in a car in a quiet country road in the Yorkshire Dales - with the address of Banks' cottage on a scrap of paper in her back pocket.

The story in this book takes place six months after Playing with Fire, and Banks is in a state of depression getting over the loss of his home and possessions, and his near death.

The author uses his story line to build Roy Banks into a complex figure, a man with a chequered past very different from his brother, whose life was shaken by his experiences in 9/11, but remains conflicted between good living, taking chances, and a search for meaning. And a man who, whatever Banks though, always looked up to his older brother.

This is a nicely paced and complex story, and whilst the main crime is obvious from half way through, there's a twist at the end which is not obvious. And as always with Robinson, a developing side line which leads to the identification of the person responsible for a quite unrelated crime.

This story also sees a gradual rapprochement and understanding between Annie and Banks as they start to out their past relationship behind them and find new ways of working together.

Incidentally - this is another case where the summary on this site, presumably taken from the book jacket, really doesn't give a fair impression of the actual story.
]]> <![CDATA[Black Dog (Ben Cooper & Diane Fry, #1)]]> 96265 480 Stephen Booth 0671786040 Tim 4
Built around the disappearance and murder of a 15 year old girl, the strengths of the book are firstly, the thoughtful and informed description of the Peak district communities and landscape, and secondly the interplay between the two main police characters and the local community.

Ben Cooper is the local man, a young District Constable whose father was a well-loved sergeant killed in a pointless mugging attack. DC Diane Fry is the incomer, transferred from elsewhere, seen as a high flyer but with her own fragility and uncertainty rooted in her experiences in the West Midlands before her transfer.

The story develops around the dour ex-miner who discovers the body and seems unwilling to tell all he knows, his close-knit family and friends, all contrasting with the unusual life style of the in-comer parents and family of the deceased, Laura Vernon.]]> 3.82 2000 Black Dog (Ben Cooper & Diane Fry, #1)
author: Stephen Booth
name: Tim
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2013/10/03
date added: 2013/10/03
shelves:
review:
As a first novel in particular, this really is an excellent and atmospheric crime story.

Built around the disappearance and murder of a 15 year old girl, the strengths of the book are firstly, the thoughtful and informed description of the Peak district communities and landscape, and secondly the interplay between the two main police characters and the local community.

Ben Cooper is the local man, a young District Constable whose father was a well-loved sergeant killed in a pointless mugging attack. DC Diane Fry is the incomer, transferred from elsewhere, seen as a high flyer but with her own fragility and uncertainty rooted in her experiences in the West Midlands before her transfer.

The story develops around the dour ex-miner who discovers the body and seems unwilling to tell all he knows, his close-knit family and friends, all contrasting with the unusual life style of the in-comer parents and family of the deceased, Laura Vernon.
]]> Random (Narey & Winter, #1) 7549835 329 Craig Robertson 1847377297 Tim 3 crime
The writer's background as a journalist shows through and is used effectively, with the press playing an important and unexpected role in the story.

'Random' reflects the nature of the crime. A serial killer who picks victims by various random acts, but deliberately leaves a clue to demonstrate his responsibility.

A story told from the viewpoint of the serial killer, who gradually becomes for human and understandable - if pathological - as the real motivation behind the crime occurs.

To say more would reveal the plot.]]> 3.73 2010 Random (Narey & Winter, #1)
author: Craig Robertson
name: Tim
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2013/09/10
date added: 2013/09/10
shelves: crime
review:
Looking for a new writer to try out, this was a promising first start. It fits into what I'd call the "casual weekend" read - you can get through a lot of it quickly without skimming; and it's complex enough to be enjoyable without being so deep that you can't cope with regular interuptions from the 2-year old granddaughter.

The writer's background as a journalist shows through and is used effectively, with the press playing an important and unexpected role in the story.

'Random' reflects the nature of the crime. A serial killer who picks victims by various random acts, but deliberately leaves a clue to demonstrate his responsibility.

A story told from the viewpoint of the serial killer, who gradually becomes for human and understandable - if pathological - as the real motivation behind the crime occurs.

To say more would reveal the plot.
]]> <![CDATA[Little Face (Spilling CID, #1)]]> 410412
An insightful exploration of the lengths to which a mother will go to protect her child, "Little Face" is a riveting read.]]> 357 Sophie Hannah 0340840323 Tim 1
There are some interesting characters, and elements of the plot were gripping, but - firstly, I'd suspected who the actual killer was from very early on, and there was nothing to get me thinking one way or another, and secondly, the late twists in the story to me made the main character frankly unbelievable.

As I say, disappointing. If you want to try Sophie Hannah, don't start with this one! ]]> 3.44 2006 Little Face (Spilling CID, #1)
author: Sophie Hannah
name: Tim
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2006
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2013/08/26
shelves:
review:
I thought this book was really disappointing, and I'm surprised so many people have rated it higher. It was fortunate that I had another book by the same author which I read, and preferred, as otherwise I don't think this would have encouraged me to try again.

There are some interesting characters, and elements of the plot were gripping, but - firstly, I'd suspected who the actual killer was from very early on, and there was nothing to get me thinking one way or another, and secondly, the late twists in the story to me made the main character frankly unbelievable.

As I say, disappointing. If you want to try Sophie Hannah, don't start with this one!
]]> Blood Count 10327251




Now Gazi's family want more from him: in exchange for keeping Hammond's dirty little secret, they want him to find for them the man who holds the key to all the money Gazi squirreled away before he was locked up. But Italian financier, Marco Piravani, doesn't want to be found, not by Hammond, not by anyone. No sooner has Hammond tracked him down, than Piravani has disappeared again.





His pursuit will take him first to the Hague, and then to Milan to find the Italian, and then finally back to the scene of his crime, Belgrade, where he must confront the decisions he once so easily took. Only then will he be able to lay the past to rest...]]> 328 Robert Goddard 0593065093 Tim 2 crime
Robert Goddard, it seems to me, is one who rather has a blueprint or a framework that they keep applying to different settings. There is a particular type of hero, a complex and continuously unravelling story, usually a deeply conflicted and potentially treacherous romantic interest.....

Perhaps I'm being unfair and its just my perception, but that's certainly how some of his recent books have read to me and to be honest, I've got a bit jaded by them. When its done well, it can be very good - "Past Caring", his first novel, ranks as a personal favourite, and one I can envisage reading again. " In Pale Battalions" , "Set in Stone", and "Caught in the Light" are also solid and detailed books, well researched, challenging, intricate but still about believable.

"Blood Count" is frustrating. Better than some recent ones, with a stronger who realises sooner than most that initial poor choices have left him trapped, I'm afraid I still found myself skim reading in the middle section - engaged enough to want to find out what happens, but not to want to take in and appreciate the detail of the story.

There are some nice twists right at the end, but the problem with choosing a hero who is loss of a drifter than previous ones is that it's also hard to believe he could be taken in quite as many times as he is in the course of the plot - I hoe that's not too much of a spoiler, but if you've read Robert Goddard before you'll know what to expect!]]> 3.63 2010 Blood Count
author: Robert Goddard
name: Tim
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2010
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2013/08/18
shelves: crime
review:
Reading through a number of different detective and thriller authors at the moment, I've been starting to contrast different approaches. Some of them - like Ian Rankin with Rebus, or Peter Robinson with Banks, build a strong series around one core character. Others, such as Grisham, focus on particular settings.

Robert Goddard, it seems to me, is one who rather has a blueprint or a framework that they keep applying to different settings. There is a particular type of hero, a complex and continuously unravelling story, usually a deeply conflicted and potentially treacherous romantic interest.....

Perhaps I'm being unfair and its just my perception, but that's certainly how some of his recent books have read to me and to be honest, I've got a bit jaded by them. When its done well, it can be very good - "Past Caring", his first novel, ranks as a personal favourite, and one I can envisage reading again. " In Pale Battalions" , "Set in Stone", and "Caught in the Light" are also solid and detailed books, well researched, challenging, intricate but still about believable.

"Blood Count" is frustrating. Better than some recent ones, with a stronger who realises sooner than most that initial poor choices have left him trapped, I'm afraid I still found myself skim reading in the middle section - engaged enough to want to find out what happens, but not to want to take in and appreciate the detail of the story.

There are some nice twists right at the end, but the problem with choosing a hero who is loss of a drifter than previous ones is that it's also hard to believe he could be taken in quite as many times as he is in the course of the plot - I hoe that's not too much of a spoiler, but if you've read Robert Goddard before you'll know what to expect!
]]> <![CDATA[The White Road (Charlie Parker, #4)]]> 175244
But darkness soon descends when Parker gets a call from Elliot Norton, an old friend from his days as a detective with the NYPD. Now practicing law in Charleston, South Carolina, Elliot is defending a young black man accused of raping and killing his white girlfriend, the daughter of a powerful Southern millionaire. Reluctantly, Parker agrees to help Elliot and by doing so ventures into a living nightmare, a bloody dreamscape haunted by the specter of a hooded woman and a black car waiting for a passenger who never arrives. Beginning as an investigation into a young woman's death, it is a fast-moving descent into an abyss where forces conspire to destroy all that Parker holds dear.

Hailed as a "master storyteller" "(The London Express)" by critics stateside and abroad, Connolly has once again delivered a riveting and suspenseful story that draws readers toward the horrifying crossroads of the past and present, of the living and the dead. "We are trapped not only by our own history but by the histories of all those with whom we choose to share our lives," he writes. As chilling as it is beautifully rendered, "The White Road" is sure to tread a frightening path for even the most world-weary crime fiction fan.]]> 544 John Connolly 0743456394 Tim 3
Part of the plot of this book concerns the Revd Faulkner, an adversary from the previous book, and his potential release on bail. He's critical in terms of both his perceived threat to Charlie and to his girlfriend. Rachel, and also the effects of the previous issues in Angel in particular.

Whilst the headline story is about the request from an old friend to assist a young black boy who is threatened with the death penalty for the rape and murder of Marianne Lauranne, the daughter of a rich and influential local family, the roots of crime and evil run much deeper. America to Connolly is a place where the land is literally drenched in the blood of a violent past, which continues to surface and shape the lives and crimes of today.

The sense of threat is almost oppressive at times; the implied supernatural elements believable and never fully resolved; and the bringing together of apparently separate strands clever and convincing. I'd recommend reading the predecessor book first, but this is still an excellent read in its own right.]]> 4.17 2003 The White Road (Charlie Parker, #4)
author: John Connolly
name: Tim
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2003
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2013/08/16
shelves:
review:
This is the fourth book in the Charlie Parker series and I suspect slightly easier to follow if you've read the one before.

Part of the plot of this book concerns the Revd Faulkner, an adversary from the previous book, and his potential release on bail. He's critical in terms of both his perceived threat to Charlie and to his girlfriend. Rachel, and also the effects of the previous issues in Angel in particular.

Whilst the headline story is about the request from an old friend to assist a young black boy who is threatened with the death penalty for the rape and murder of Marianne Lauranne, the daughter of a rich and influential local family, the roots of crime and evil run much deeper. America to Connolly is a place where the land is literally drenched in the blood of a violent past, which continues to surface and shape the lives and crimes of today.

The sense of threat is almost oppressive at times; the implied supernatural elements believable and never fully resolved; and the bringing together of apparently separate strands clever and convincing. I'd recommend reading the predecessor book first, but this is still an excellent read in its own right.
]]> <![CDATA[The Black Book (Inspector Rebus, #5)]]> 77489 352 Ian Rankin 0312976755 Tim 4
This isn't going to be a spoiler review, which makes it hard to say too much about the story. The characterisation of people and places seems more strongly developed, and the police procedure detailed and presumably more accurate. Rebus' relationship with Patience Aitken struggles to survive his commitment to work, and his brother's release from prison helps to develop the family backstory.

]]> 3.95 1993 The Black Book (Inspector Rebus, #5)
author: Ian Rankin
name: Tim
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2013/08/16
shelves:
review:
Reading through the Rebus books again in order, this is the one where the Rebus character starts to become more recognisable. Partly it's his insistence on carrying on a completely unauthorised investigation into a five year old Unsolved crime, prompted by an unprovoked and unexplained assault on his colleague Brian Holmes. It's also the first book where Siobhain Clarke becomes a significant part of the team.

This isn't going to be a spoiler review, which makes it hard to say too much about the story. The characterisation of people and places seems more strongly developed, and the police procedure detailed and presumably more accurate. Rebus' relationship with Patience Aitken struggles to survive his commitment to work, and his brother's release from prison helps to develop the family backstory.


]]> <![CDATA[Bad Boy: The Life And Politics Of Lee Atwater]]> 51725 352 John Joseph Brady 0201627337 Tim 4
Until Obama's victory in 2008, Rove's ability to win elections and his alleged willingness to fight as dirty as it takes reached almost mythic proportions in the press and amongst his opponents - not all of whom were exclusively to be found on the Democratic side.

Lee Atwater was the first Karl Rove. A self-developed political campaigner who cut his teeth in South Carolina, rising to work on Ronald Reagan's re-election before becoming the person who master-minded the election of George HW Bush. Going on to become chair of the RNC, his life was then cut tragically short by a brain tumour.

Like Rove, Atwater was at the centre of a number of scandals and rows about "dirty tricks" campaigning - some clearly justified, some more opaque. How far was he behind the ruthless exploitation of furloughed murderer Willy Horton? Was he really unaware of the potential ethnic undertones of the story?

And - just like the John Kerry "Swiftboat" story, there's a whole grey area about the relationship with third party campaigns.

There are also strong differences between Atwater and Rove. Atwater was a much less buttoned down, wilder character, much closer to a party activist and campaigner than the consultant-led campaign now. A wild character in other ways, too, with a mock-rock life style and high levels of infidelity to a wife who always stood a long way behind his political life.

This is a sensitive but still critical biography that provides a good insight into Atwaters personal life, including the underlying tragedy of the early death of his brother, and how it meshes with his political trajectory. Now well out of print, it took me a while to track down an affordable second hand copy but its well worth it for anyone fascinated by the development of US campaigning over the past thirty years. ]]> 4.25 1996 Bad Boy: The Life And Politics Of Lee Atwater
author: John Joseph Brady
name: Tim
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2013/08/10
date added: 2013/08/13
shelves:
review:
If you read a little about American politics during the George Bush years, you could not avoid stories about Karl Rove, the Republicans leading election strategist.

Until Obama's victory in 2008, Rove's ability to win elections and his alleged willingness to fight as dirty as it takes reached almost mythic proportions in the press and amongst his opponents - not all of whom were exclusively to be found on the Democratic side.

Lee Atwater was the first Karl Rove. A self-developed political campaigner who cut his teeth in South Carolina, rising to work on Ronald Reagan's re-election before becoming the person who master-minded the election of George HW Bush. Going on to become chair of the RNC, his life was then cut tragically short by a brain tumour.

Like Rove, Atwater was at the centre of a number of scandals and rows about "dirty tricks" campaigning - some clearly justified, some more opaque. How far was he behind the ruthless exploitation of furloughed murderer Willy Horton? Was he really unaware of the potential ethnic undertones of the story?

And - just like the John Kerry "Swiftboat" story, there's a whole grey area about the relationship with third party campaigns.

There are also strong differences between Atwater and Rove. Atwater was a much less buttoned down, wilder character, much closer to a party activist and campaigner than the consultant-led campaign now. A wild character in other ways, too, with a mock-rock life style and high levels of infidelity to a wife who always stood a long way behind his political life.

This is a sensitive but still critical biography that provides a good insight into Atwaters personal life, including the underlying tragedy of the early death of his brother, and how it meshes with his political trajectory. Now well out of print, it took me a while to track down an affordable second hand copy but its well worth it for anyone fascinated by the development of US campaigning over the past thirty years.
]]> <![CDATA[Every Dead Thing (Charlie Parker, #1)]]> 175242
Former NYPD detective Charlie "Bird" Parker is on the verge of madness. Tortured by the unsolved slayings of his wife and young daughter, he is a man consumed by guilt, regret, and the desire for revenge. When his former partner asks him to track down a missing girl, Parker finds himself drawn into a world beyond his imagining: a world where thirty-year-old killings remain shrouded in fear and lies, a world where the ghosts of the dead torment the living, a world haunted by the murderer responsible for the deaths in his family—a serial killer who uses the human body to create works of art and takes faces as his prize. But the search awakens buried instincts in Parker: instincts for survival, for compassion, for love, and, ultimately, for killing.

Aided by a beautiful young psychologist and a pair of bickering career criminals, Parker becomes the bait in a trap set in the humid bayous of Louisiana, a trap that threatens the lives of everyone in its reach. Driven by visions of the dead and the voice of an old black psychic who met a terrible end, Parker must seek a final, brutal confrontation with a murderer who has moved beyond all notions of humanity, who has set out to create a hell on earth, the serial killer known only as the Traveling Man.

In the tradition of classic American detective fiction, Every Dead Thing is a tense, richly plotted thriller, filled with memorable characters and gripping action. It is also a profoundly moving novel, concerned with the nature of loyalty, love, and forgiveness. Lyrical and terrifying, it is an ambitious debut, triumphantly realized.]]> 467 John Connolly 067102731X Tim 3
It's a complex story that starts around the murder of his wife and young daughter, that lead to Parker leaving his job. Asked to track down a missing girl, he becomes involved in a complex story of organised crime and serial killers, leading ultimately back to the man who murdered his wife and child.

Whilst there are elements of the supernatural on the fringes of this book, they don't become the strong theme they do in his later works (I read the lateset book in the series at the same time, and they seem very different). Perhaps because of that it's easier to appreciate Connolly's strengths as a writer; these are fulfilling stories with real characters that take some reading, but justify the effort.]]> 3.98 1999 Every Dead Thing (Charlie Parker, #1)
author: John Connolly
name: Tim
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1999
rating: 3
read at: 2013/08/09
date added: 2013/08/09
shelves:
review:
This is the first in the Charlie Parker series, and is much more of a straightforward detective story than the book becomes later.

It's a complex story that starts around the murder of his wife and young daughter, that lead to Parker leaving his job. Asked to track down a missing girl, he becomes involved in a complex story of organised crime and serial killers, leading ultimately back to the man who murdered his wife and child.

Whilst there are elements of the supernatural on the fringes of this book, they don't become the strong theme they do in his later works (I read the lateset book in the series at the same time, and they seem very different). Perhaps because of that it's easier to appreciate Connolly's strengths as a writer; these are fulfilling stories with real characters that take some reading, but justify the effort.
]]> <![CDATA[Strip Jack (Inspector Rebus, #4)]]> 205262 When respected MP Gregor Jack is caught in a police raid on an Edinburgh brothel and his flamboyant wife Elizabeth suddenly disappears, John Rebus smells a set-up. And when Elizabeth's badly beaten body is found, Rebus is suddenly up against a killer who holds all the cards..
]]> 269 Ian Rankin 0312965141 Tim 4
In the days that follow, as Jack's life unravels and his wife disappears, Rebus starts to untangle the mixture of friends and acquaintances hidden behind the veneer. Negotiating his way through office politics that want a neat solution, Rebus also puzzles over his own personal relationships.

Unlike Peter Robinson's books, where the continuity is almost obsessive, Rankin is happy to leave gaps in the personal stories. Rebus is now in an off-on relationship with psychologist Dr Patience Aitken, who is looking for greater commitment, wanting Rebus to move in, whilst he is less certain - committed firstly to his job, but also with unresolved issues from his early relationship with Gill Templar.

A fine story, with some good and unexpected twists, helped by plenty of credible suspects. Also some good evocative descriptions of different Scottish areas and communities from the Kingdom of Fife to the Highlands.

Quite a good first book for anyone who's not read Rebus before - not the first in the series, but makes sense as a free standing story whilst giving a feel both for Rankin's writing style and for the developing Rebus character.]]> 3.86 1992 Strip Jack (Inspector Rebus, #4)
author: Ian Rankin
name: Tim
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1992
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2013/07/28
shelves:
review:
When Gregor Jack, an independent MP for part of Edinburgh, is caught up in a brothel raid, Rebus smells a rat. Particularly as the press have been ticked off and are found queuing outside waiting for the photos.

In the days that follow, as Jack's life unravels and his wife disappears, Rebus starts to untangle the mixture of friends and acquaintances hidden behind the veneer. Negotiating his way through office politics that want a neat solution, Rebus also puzzles over his own personal relationships.

Unlike Peter Robinson's books, where the continuity is almost obsessive, Rankin is happy to leave gaps in the personal stories. Rebus is now in an off-on relationship with psychologist Dr Patience Aitken, who is looking for greater commitment, wanting Rebus to move in, whilst he is less certain - committed firstly to his job, but also with unresolved issues from his early relationship with Gill Templar.

A fine story, with some good and unexpected twists, helped by plenty of credible suspects. Also some good evocative descriptions of different Scottish areas and communities from the Kingdom of Fife to the Highlands.

Quite a good first book for anyone who's not read Rebus before - not the first in the series, but makes sense as a free standing story whilst giving a feel both for Rankin's writing style and for the developing Rebus character.
]]> <![CDATA[Tooth and Nail (Inspector Rebus, #3)]]> 69802 277 Ian Rankin 0752809407 Tim 3
Called to London because of his experience of a serial killer - something he considers misplaced, as the serial murderer he tackled in the first book arose only because of their personal connections - he's an obvious maverick, partly unwanted and resented, he gradually comes to a grudging friendship with the lead officer George Flight.

Family circumstances also intervene, as he meets his estranged wife Rhona and discovers that the boyfriend of their teenage daughter Sammie is the nephew of a known criminal. The side story of Rebus tackling both the boyfriend and the men sent round by his uncle to teach him a lesson is entertaining and typical Rebus.

As the serial killer, the Wolfman, steps up his killings, Rebus treads on toes with his deliberate leaking of information to the press, designed to provoke the killer into giving himself away.]]> 3.89 1992 Tooth and Nail (Inspector Rebus, #3)
author: Ian Rankin
name: Tim
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1992
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2013/07/19
shelves:
review:
Reading through the Rebus novels to see how the key characters develop, this seems to me to be the one where his character really starts to take shape.

Called to London because of his experience of a serial killer - something he considers misplaced, as the serial murderer he tackled in the first book arose only because of their personal connections - he's an obvious maverick, partly unwanted and resented, he gradually comes to a grudging friendship with the lead officer George Flight.

Family circumstances also intervene, as he meets his estranged wife Rhona and discovers that the boyfriend of their teenage daughter Sammie is the nephew of a known criminal. The side story of Rebus tackling both the boyfriend and the men sent round by his uncle to teach him a lesson is entertaining and typical Rebus.

As the serial killer, the Wolfman, steps up his killings, Rebus treads on toes with his deliberate leaking of information to the press, designed to provoke the killer into giving himself away.
]]> The Snowman (Harry Hole, #7) 7779827
A young boy wakes to find his mother missing. Their house is empty but outside in the garden he sees his mother's favourite scarf - wrapped around the neck of a snowman.

AND THEN HE WILL APPEAR AGAIN.

As Harry Hole and his team begin their investigation they discover that an alarming number of wives and mothers have gone missing over the years.

AND WHEN THE SNOW IS GONE...

When a second woman disappears it seems that Harry's worst suspicions are confirmed: for the first time in his career Harry finds himself confronted with a serial killer operating on his home turf.

...HE WILL HAVE TAKEN SOMEONE ELSE.]]> 550 Jo Nesbø 0099520273 Tim 4
This is definitely not a book for a spoiler review - the way the plot twists and unravels is a major part of the enjoyment of the book. Highly recommended.]]> 3.92 2007 The Snowman (Harry Hole, #7)
author: Jo Nesbø
name: Tim
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2013/04/27
shelves:
review:
I came to Jo Nesbo's books from looking for the Wallander novels; I've read a couple and intended to go back to the beginning, but reread this one on a whim and had forgotten what a very good and powerful detective story this is. Intricate, complex, with many but believable twists and complicated characters.

This is definitely not a book for a spoiler review - the way the plot twists and unravels is a major part of the enjoyment of the book. Highly recommended.
]]> The Stranger House 365460
Things move slowly in the tiny village of Illthwaite, but that’s about to change with the arrival of two strangers. Sam Flood is a young Australian post-grad en route to Cambridge. Miguel Madero is a Spanish historian in flight from a seminary. They have nothing in common and no connection, except that they both want to dig up bits of the past that some people would rather keep buried. Sam is looking for information about her grandmother who left Illthwaite courtesy of the child migrant scheme four decades earlier. The past Mig is interested in is more than four centuries old.

They meet in the village pub, the Stranger House, a remnant of the old Illthwaite Priory. They can find nothing to agree on. Sam believes that anything that can’t be explained by math isn’t worth explaining; Mig sees ghosts; Sam is a fun-loving, experienced young woman; Mig is a 26-year-old virgin. But once their paths cross, they become increasingly entangled as they pursue what at first seem to be separate quests, finding out the hard way who to trust and who to fear in this ancient village.

The action is fast, there are clashes physical and metaphysical, and shocks natural and supernatural, as the tension mounts to an explosive climax. But fans of Reginald Hill’s will not be surprised to find a few laughs along the way. And very loyal fans might even recognize a ghost from the very distant past. . . .


From the Hardcover edition.]]> 544 Reginald Hill 0770429890 Tim 4 3.72 2005 The Stranger House
author: Reginald Hill
name: Tim
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2013/04/21
shelves:
review:
Well wor a read if you like well described, complex mystery stories.
]]> <![CDATA[Port Mortuary (Kay Scarpetta, #18)]]> 7926242 Port Mortuary, the title of Patricia Cornwell's eighteenth Scarpetta novel, is literally a port for the dead. In this fast-paced story, a treacherous path from Scarpetta's past merges with the high- tech highway she now finds herself on. We travel back to the beginning of her professional career, when she accepted a scholarship from the Air Force to pay off her medical school debt. Now, more than twenty years and many career successes later, her secret military ties have drawn her to Dover Air Force Base, where she has been immersed in a training fellowship.

As the chief of the new Cambridge Forensic Center in Massachusetts, a joint venture of the state and federal governments, MIT and Harvard, Scarpetta is confronted with a case that could shut down her new facility and ruin her personally and professionally.]]> 496 Patricia Cornwell 0399157212 Tim 2
It's better than the two or three that precede it, and I agree that the return to first person writing improved it. Covering a whole story in a period of just 36 hours is also interesting, but the denouement of the crime itself is shallow and unconvincing. ]]> 3.61 2010 Port Mortuary (Kay Scarpetta, #18)
author: Patricia Cornwell
name: Tim
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2010
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2013/02/28
shelves:
review:
I share the frustrations of a lot of reviewers with this book, and indeed the way this series has declined. At one point I'd read every Scarpetts book as soon as they came out, but lost patience two or three books back, and would not have read this st all if i had not been looking for some light reading in as charity shop.

It's better than the two or three that precede it, and I agree that the return to first person writing improved it. Covering a whole story in a period of just 36 hours is also interesting, but the denouement of the crime itself is shallow and unconvincing.
]]> <![CDATA[Playing with Fire (Inspector Banks, #14)]]> 382885 368 Peter Robinson 006019877X Tim 4
The description of this story given with the entry on Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ is much to stark and dramatic for what is a complex and intricate story. The strengths of Robinson come from the details of police and other investigative procedure, and the depth and complexity of his characters - leading to many side stories and blind alleys before the final explanations of the crime occurs.

I'd rate this as one of his more mature and satisfying stories, particularly if you read some or all of the series in order - you can certainly enjoy the story without, but it makes better sense of some of the back stories.]]> 4.00 2004 Playing with Fire (Inspector Banks, #14)
author: Peter Robinson
name: Tim
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2013/02/28
shelves:
review:
It's hard to write a sensible review of The best of the Banks / Robinson series without giving away key parts of the plot - which seems unkind to future readers.

The description of this story given with the entry on Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ is much to stark and dramatic for what is a complex and intricate story. The strengths of Robinson come from the details of police and other investigative procedure, and the depth and complexity of his characters - leading to many side stories and blind alleys before the final explanations of the crime occurs.

I'd rate this as one of his more mature and satisfying stories, particularly if you read some or all of the series in order - you can certainly enjoy the story without, but it makes better sense of some of the back stories.
]]> <![CDATA[Aspects of Calderdale. Discovering Local History]]> 17343126 160 John Billingsley 1903425204 Tim 4
Others no doubt will be interested particularly in the piece linking Ted Hughes' early life to the places and locations of Mytholmroyd and the Upper Valley; and Issy Shannon in the 'Lady Behind the Lens' gives a short account of the life and career of Hebden Bridge's lady photographer and visual archivist, Alice Longstaff. There's also an interesting (and slightly topical) review of the history of libraries in Halifax.

My reading of John Hargreaves' piece on Benjamin Wilson is especially timely as the local history pages of the Halfiax Courier have recently been enlivened by a spat between Mr Hargreaves and David Glover, both stalwarts of Halifax Civic Trust, regarding an article the latter wrote about local Luddite connections.

It's interesting to note that whereas today Skircoat is seen as one of the more conservative areas of Halifax, it actually has a strong radical history, providing the homes of various Luddite, Chartist and Suffragette radicals.]]> 4.00 2002 Aspects of Calderdale. Discovering Local History
author: John Billingsley
name: Tim
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2013/02/01
date added: 2013/02/09
shelves:
review:
As this is a collection of articles, then of course the reaction is equally varied. The parts of particular interest to me were Nigel Herring's article on the process of tracking the painter of the 'Views of Halifax from Haley Hill' picture; J Hargreaves piece on the Chartist Benjamin Wilson; and particularly the Aidan Whelan essay on John Hartley, the 'Yorkshire Burns', a dialect poet of whom I was previously ignorant.

Others no doubt will be interested particularly in the piece linking Ted Hughes' early life to the places and locations of Mytholmroyd and the Upper Valley; and Issy Shannon in the 'Lady Behind the Lens' gives a short account of the life and career of Hebden Bridge's lady photographer and visual archivist, Alice Longstaff. There's also an interesting (and slightly topical) review of the history of libraries in Halifax.

My reading of John Hargreaves' piece on Benjamin Wilson is especially timely as the local history pages of the Halfiax Courier have recently been enlivened by a spat between Mr Hargreaves and David Glover, both stalwarts of Halifax Civic Trust, regarding an article the latter wrote about local Luddite connections.

It's interesting to note that whereas today Skircoat is seen as one of the more conservative areas of Halifax, it actually has a strong radical history, providing the homes of various Luddite, Chartist and Suffragette radicals.
]]> Old Enemies 10449652
Ruari, son of Irish media owner J J Breslin, is in desperate danger, at the mercy of ruthless kidnappers making impossible demands. His terrified mother contacts the only person she knows can help her Harry Jones, her former lover, who she walked out on many years ago. Now memories of their passionate affair, the guilt, hurt, anger and humiliation, come flooding back.

Time is running out for Ruari and Harry, torn between his loyalties, is quickly drawn into a political game played for high stakes. Far higher than he realizes...]]> 432 Michael Dobbs 1847372899 Tim 3 3.54 2011 Old Enemies
author: Michael Dobbs
name: Tim
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2013/02/02
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Aftermath (Inspector Banks, #12)]]> 377916
One phone call from a concerned neighbor has inadvertently led police to Terence Payne, the elusive serial killer known only as "Chameleon." Now the fiend is in custody, perhaps dying, and a long nightmare appears to be over at last. But is it? In Acting Detective Superintendent Alan Banks's mind too many questions remain unanswered at the chamber of horrors the press will dub the "House of Payne." Because the darkness has not yet lifted, the casualties are still mounting...and there are still monsters loose in the world.]]> 501 Peter Robinson 0330489348 Tim 4 4.06 2001 Aftermath (Inspector Banks, #12)
author: Peter Robinson
name: Tim
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2012/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cold is the Grave (Inspector Banks, #11)]]> 77514
“Full of twists and surprises... Robinson shows he has only begun to dig into the personality of his tenacious, thoughtful inspector.”�Chicago Tribune

When the nude photo of a teenage runaway shows up on a website, the girl's father turns to Detective Chief Inspector Alan banks for help. But these aren't unusual circumstances, for the runaway is the daughter of a man who's determined to destroy the dedicated Yorkshire policeman's career and good name. Still, it’s a case that Banks—a father himself—dares not ignore as he follows its trail into teeming London. But when a series of gruesome murders follows soon after, Banks finds himself pulled into the past and private world of his most powerful enemy, Chief Constable Jimmy Riddle.

Peter Robinson is at the height of his storytelling skills in this twisting novel of suspense that proves one can never escape their pasts—especially when there are sordid secrets waiting to be revealed.]]> 448 Peter Robinson 0380809354 Tim 3 4.01 2000 Cold is the Grave (Inspector Banks, #11)
author: Peter Robinson
name: Tim
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2000
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2012/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[In a Dry Season (Inspector Banks, #10)]]> 9082 480 Peter Robinson 0380794772 Tim 4 4.09 1999 In a Dry Season (Inspector Banks, #10)
author: Peter Robinson
name: Tim
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2012/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]>