Book Review: The Mystery of The Blue Train

The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie

The blurb: The daughter of an American millionaire dies on a train en route for Nice…

When the luxurious Blue Train arrives at Nice, a guard attempts to wake serene Ruth Kettering from her slumbers. But she will never wake again – for a heavy blow has killed her, disfiguring her features almost beyond recognition. What is more, her precious rubies are missing.

The prime suspect is Ruth’s estranged husband, Derek. Yet Poirot is not convinced, so he stages an eerie re-enactment of the journey, complete with the murderer on board…

My review: Picking up an Agatha Christie, as part of my ongoing request to read all the Christie books, is like taking a reading holiday. I know I’m going to enjoy the experience and that I’m with a safe pair of hands. Never has that been truer than with the Mystery of the Blue Train.

Hands down, this is my FAVOURITE CHRISTIE. Now I’ve only read about ten – the first ten – and like many authors I’m sure she gets better as she progresses but this has got to be a classic. It’s a fantastic example of the genre and with Hercule Poirot being his usual modest self, the whole thing reads like a charm.

All the elements are here to make this book sparkle. Poirot, an international plot, a seemingly cursed jewel with a blood soaked history, intrigue and romantic betrayal, an elaborate trap to catch a killer – all in all it’s perfect! This book comes highly recommended from me. If you want to dip your toes into the world of Agatha Christie, you couldn’t pick a better outing than to jump on the blue train!

10 out of 10 stars! **********

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Book Review: Three Graves Full #fridayreads

Three Graves Full by Jamie Mason

The blurb: “There is very little peace for a man with a body buried in his backyard.”

But it could always be worse. . . .

More than a year ago, mild-mannered Jason Getty killed a man he wished he’d never met. Then he planted the problem a little too close to home. But just as he’s learning to live with the undeniable reality of what he’s done, police unearth two bodies on his property—neither of which is the one Jason buried.

Jason races to stay ahead of the consequences of his crime and while chaos reigns on his lawn, his sanity unravels, snagged on the agendas of a colorful cast of strangers. A jilted woman searches for her lost fiancé, a fringe-dweller runs from a past that’s quickly gaining on him, and a couple of earnest local detectives piece it together with the help of a volunteer police dog — all of them in the wake and shadow of a dead man who had it coming. As the action unfolds, each discovers that knowing more than one side of the story doesn’t necessarily rule out a deadly margin of error.

My review: A great concept here – a man is harbouring a guilty secret, he’s committed murder and buried the body in his backyard. He lives in turmoil for over a year, plagued by nightmares. Eventually realising he’s left his house to go to wrack and ruin he calls in some gardeners to manicure his front garden instructing them not to go into the back. However several hours later they uncover some grisly remains out front. Yes, out front, not out back. Here follows a sometimes very macabre  sometimes funny crime novel of misdirection and misguided individuals.

Mason has an engaging writing style and her characterisation is good. It was ever so slightly obvious how this was going to end up and it is slightly farcical in many ways, I could almost see it being acted out on the stage.

There is a definite style to this book, the blurb compares it to the Coen Brothers and that isn’t an unjust comparison. It’s slick, fast-paced and moves to it’s conclusion with an inevitably that appears unstoppable. I think that’s my main problem with this novel, there aren’t really any curve balls. As soon as certain incidents and meetings are set in motion it’s an express train to the ending. However the characters are well-rounded and interesting, there is emotional depth and more than a few clichés! It’s a great crime novel, entertaining and one that doesn’t require too much thought.

6.5 stars out of 10! ******.5

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Book Review: Film Freak

Film Freak by Christopher Fowler

The blurb: It’s the late 1970s, and Christopher Fowler is a film freak, obsessively watching lousy films in run-down fleapit cinemas. Longing to put his dreams on the screen and become a famous screenwriter, he heads for Wardour Street, the nation’s equivalent of Hollywood, with an armful of scripts.

But he’s made a spectacular mistake. He arrives just as the industry falls to its knees, knocked down by the first appearance of video and the destruction of the old movie palaces. The only films being made are smutty low budget farces and TV spinoffs. He thought he’d be asked to make another ‘Bullitt’, but finds himself writing short films for boilers. Somehow, against the odds, he finds success – although in a very different form from the one he expected.

Ghastly, hilarious and finally moving, Film Freak is a trawl through the arse-end of the British film industry that turns into a search for friendship and happiness.

My review: I was sceptical, I’ve read Fowler’s Bryant and May Peculiar Crimes Unit books but none of his non-fiction and I didn’t really appreciate what an extraordinary life one man could’ve had. On the face of it, when you take the composite parts of Fowler’s life they sound staggering. The kind of life details, that could only belong to some jet-setting, famous, all swagger marketeer. But this is not the case, here is a man of gentleness, with the same foibles and insecurities as the rest of us. I don’t think I know a single person who hasn’t tried or thought about their dream job to find it’s impossible to get into or not quite as perfect as the dream.

My film knowledge is not up to snuff. But I dont think that stopped me from thoroughly enjoying this book. The main word I would use to describe this book is ‘bittersweet’. It’s full of nostalgia and one man’s struggle to find his place in an industry that’s changed beyond all recognition. The collection of people that populate this novel is at once endearing and intriguing, Fowler paints them as he remembers them and they are almost universally larger than life. His best friend, confidante and business partner Jim is a character that I immediately fell in love with and wished I could’ve met. It’s witty, funny, heart-warming and sad, Film Freak moved me in a way no book has done for quite some time. I’m putting that down to the realness of it – Fowler is a remarkable social observer.

As an add on the footnotes in this book are hilarious. Read it just for them if nothing else! This comes highly recommended from me.

9.5 stars out of 10! *********.5

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Book Review: The J. M. Barrie Ladies’ Swimming Society

The J. M. Barrie Ladies’ Swimming Society by Barbara J. Zitwer

The blurb: Joey, an overworked New York architect, has come to the Cotswolds to oversee the restoration of Stanway House – the stately home that inspired J.M. Barrie to write Peter Pan. But it hasn’t been easy. The local residents aren’t exactly welcoming, and then there’s the problem of the brooding caretaker, a man who seems to take every opportunity to undermine her plans. She soon begins to feel that she can’t do anything right.

Until, that is, she begins to take a daily dip with the members of the J.M. Barrie Ladies’ Swimming Society in their private, watery Neverland.

They will teach her that it’s not the house that needs restoring; it’s her…

My review: I was drawn to this book by the wonderful cover and catchy title. Expecting something to fill the very large shoes of a book I’d just finished – I Capture the Castle. Unfortunately this brought me back down to earth with a bump.

Joey is an inconsistent character. Heartless and self absorbed with some characters and supposedly kind with others. All her well meaning actions are poorly executed, where as the shallow ones seem to ring true. A very hard woman to warm to, even by the end I was glad to see the back of her. I realise how harsh that is and am pleased to say I don’t ever think that about people in real life!  Her depth appeared too manufactured and didn’t counter-point her selfish actions like it should but only served to exacerbate them. A vain, selfish New Yorker who stuck out of this narrative like a sore thumb.

She is a very hard done by character and her revelations on her own character feel fake and strained, especially when she immediately reverts to type. The local residents, as mentioned in the blurb above, are completely welcoming – the description is misleading. After perhaps one frosty glance everyone completely loves Joey and there is no tension with the community as to what will happen to Stanway House. I felt deceived by the description of this book.

The ladies who swam in the pond in the countryside have a whimsical, magical element to them. They’re dialogue is brilliant and they are well-crafted characters. There is some sense of construct here too however, a slightly over-thought out edge, their backgrounds over-sculpted if you like. In essence all the characters in this book are likeable bar the central character which is why I’ve had to give this a low rating.

4 out of 10 stars ****

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Book Review: Ketchup Clouds

Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher

The blurb: Secrets, romance, murder and lies: Zoe shares a terrible secret in a letter to a stranger on death row in this second novel from the author of the bestselling debut, My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece.

Fifteen-year-old Zoe has a secret—a dark and terrible secret that she can’t confess to anyone she knows. But then one day she hears of a criminal, Stuart Harris, locked up on death row in Texas. Like Zoe, Stuart is no stranger to secrets. Or lies. Or murder.

Full of heartache yet humour, Zoe tells her story in the only way she can—in letters to the man in prison in America. Armed with a pen, Zoe takes a deep breath, eats a jam sandwich, and begins her tale of love and betrayal.

My review: I am probably one of the few people who hasn’t read My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece. I came to this book as a recommendation from a friend, having of course heard of her first book, I was surprised I hadn’t encountered her before.

Ketchup Clouds is an eminently readable book. We are introduced to Zoe, a fifteen year old British girl who is writing letters in her shed. She’s writing to an inmate on death row in Texas as a way of talking to someone who might have something in common with her. She’s harbouring a dark secret, something only one other person knows about in the world. This secret and the guilt she carries connects her with the inmate on death row.

I’m not sure what to say about this book. I read it in a trice, it was good, but it didn’t blow me away. Competently handled, the intensity of young love is handled beautifully and that was one of the parts I loved most about this book. The characters are well drawn, credible and interesting. There were certain plot points that seemed slightly incredulous, misunderstandings that would’ve been cleared up in a real life situation. However this isn’t, we’re talking about fiction here. I’m a weeper at books but this didn’t produce a single tear. Heart-felt and heart-warming but potentially it lost some shock, tension as it went along. So a lovely little book but not one of my favourites.

6 out of 10 stars! ******

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Book Review: Pretty Girl Thirteen

Pretty Girl Thirteen by Liz Coley

The blurb: A gripping, suspenseful debut that will haunt you long after you have turned the final page…

Angie Chapman is only 13 when she gets lost in the woods in the middle of the night.

The next thing she knows she’s returned home, scars around her wrists and ankles, physically exhausted. Her parents collapse into tears when they see her, but Angie doesn’t understand – until they tell her she has been missing, presumed dead, for three years.

Angie doesn’t remember anything from her missing years. But there are people who do – people who could tell Angie every terrifying detail, if only they weren’t locked inside her mind. With help, Angie begins to unravel the darkest secrets of her own past.

But does she really want to know the truth?

My review: What an interesting and original take on abduction. (There’s a sentence I never thought I’d hear myself saying) Pretty Girl Thirteen (PGT) really intrigued me. Since finishing it I’ve checked out several other reviews on Goodreads and the main critiscism for the book appears to be a lack of originality. All I can say to that is, it really depends on the reader! As someone who hasn’t come across this in a book before and hadn’t read the synopsis before starting the book, found it a refreshing and interesting take on something that could’ve been very formulaic.

With that in mind, I’ll try not to ruin it for future readers. Angie Chapman returns to her family after a considerable absence and remembers nothing. She has no recollections, has no possessions, or very little, and doesn’t know how she seems to have aged three years or how she has found herself outside her parents house. The ongoing journey she must undertake to remember is fraught and heart-breaking. Each ‘character’ Coley creates is an odd mix of two-dimensional natures that fits perfectly with the situation she has created. (Really hard to write about this without giving too much away!)

This is a very intriguing book on what the mind can do to protect it’s owner from abuse. It’s also a very sad and disturbing book on the horrors humans can inflict on each other, but as, I would imagine, a YA book the trauma is left to the readers imagination which is a thankful omission. Some things you just don’t need to be told explicitly. An intriguing and dark book that really stays with you.

7 out of 10 stars! *******

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Book Review: Like This For Ever

Like This For Ever by S. J. Bolton

The blurb: Bright red. Like rose petals. Or rubies. Little red droplets.

Barney knows the killer will strike again soon. The victim will be another boy, just like him. He will drain the body of blood, and leave it on a Thames beach.

There will be no clues for detectives Dana Tulloch and Mark Joesbury to find.

There will be no warning about who will be next.

There will be no good reason for Lacey Flint to become involved . And no chance that she can stay away.

My review: I am without doubt, a certified fan of SJ Bolton’s work. The only book I haven’t read being her first – Sacrifice, which I will definitely revisit if Like This For Ever is anything to go by.

We’re back with Lacey Turner and Mark Joesbury after the dramatic, and I must say romantic, finale of Dead Scared. I went back to read the last few chapters as the simmering tension between those two could light the national grid! And is well worth a read!

S. J. Bolton is the Queen of the Twist, the Mistress of the Red Herring and the Doyenne of the Disturbed. There are so many hints that you can’t help but try to guess whodunit and I clocked up four guesses before giving up in astonishment at the denouement at the end.

Bolton also makes fantastic use of her locations, London is as much a character in the novel as the people. The damp, unsettled, changeable nature of the tides of the Thames pervades this book.

My only minor flaw in an otherwise perfect diamond, is the character of Dana Tulloch grates on me ever so slightly. I don’t know why, I can’t even put my finger on the cause or effect, I guess in previous books I’ve paid little attention to her as a character and in Like This For Ever she plays a more vital role, is key to the intricacies of other major characters relationships and is therefore more in my firing line.

But that should definitely not put anyone off, this is a highly recommended crime novel, pacey, thrilling and definitely one to immerse yourself in on a cold spring night!

9 out of 10 stars! *********

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Waiting On Wednesday: And the Mountains Echoed

I am Waiting again on Wednesday! This meme is hosted at Breaking the Spine and is based on a book you can’t wait to read that hasn’t been published yet.

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So my book for this week is: AND THE MOUNTAINS ECHOED

The blurb: So, then. You want a story and I will tell you one…

Afghanistan, 1952. Abdullah and his sister Pari live with their father and stepmother in the small village of Shadbagh. Their father, Saboor, is constantly in search of work and they struggle together through poverty and brutal winters. To Abdullah, Pari – as beautiful and sweet-natured as the fairy for which she was named – is everything. More like a parent than a brother, Abdullah will do anything for her, even trading his only pair of shoes for a feather for her treasured collection. Each night they sleep together in their cot, their heads touching, their limbs tangled.

One day the siblings journey across the desert to Kabul with their father. Pari and Abdullah have no sense of the fate that awaits them there, for the event which unfolds will tear their lives apart; sometimes a finger must be cut to save the hand.

Crossing generations and continents, moving from Kabul, to Paris, to San Francisco, to the Greek island of Tinos, with profound wisdom, depth, insight and compassion, Khaled Hosseini writes about the bonds that define us and shape our lives, the ways in which we help our loved ones in need, how the choices we make resonate through history and how we are often surprised by the people closest to us.

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I’ve been recommended Khaled Hosseini by the OH for the last two years and I’ve still not read A Thousand Splendid Suns or The Kite Runner. I’ve promised him (OH) and myself that I’ll read the new one, it will be my first!

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

Published: 21st May 2013, Bloomsbury

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Book Review: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday

The blurb: This is the story of Dr Alfred Jones, a fisheries scientist – for whom diary-notable events include the acquisition of a new electric toothbrush and getting his article on caddis fly larvae published in ‘Trout and Salmon’ – who finds himself reluctantly involved in a project to bring salmon fishing to the Highlands of the Yemen – a project that will change his life, and the course of British political history for ever.

With a wickedly wonderful cast of characters – including a visionary Sheikh, a weasely spin doctor, Fred’s devilish wife and a few thousand transplanted salmon – SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN is a novel about hypocrisy and bureaucracy, dreams and deniability, and the transforming power of faith and love.

My review: I so wanted to like this book. The style – emails, prose, letters makes for a very interesting format but sadly that could not distract me from the fact that I didn’t care about the characters or their situations.

There was one exception. The Sheikh is the one character that really shone for me in this book, he was portrayed with such visionary wisdom and as a master of his own silence as well as having an uncanny ability to read people, that he’s a perfectly formed, if a little hard to believe, character.

Dr Alfred Jones, his turmoil, his moral obligations, his staid and messy marriage. The Prime Minister and his spin doctor, their machinations, their dysfunctional and corrupt relationship. Harriet and her fiancee, I just found their situations and their narrative strands beyond feasibility to the point where I was skipping paragraphs to get to the end. Which brings me to the ending, I don’t want to ruin this for future readers and there will be many I’m sure after the film adaptation with Ewan McGregor. But really?? Really??!? The ending takes plausibility and drowns it in a wadi. There is no realism here. The messages throughout of faith and love, morality, hypocrisy seem to be cast adrift on a comic turn with no anchor point, no drive and no follow through. I am sorry to say this one was one I could have passed over.

4 out of 10 stars ****

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Book Review: His Dark Lady

His Dark Lady by Victoria Lamb

The blurb: London, 1583.

When young, aspiring playwright William Shakespeare encounters Lucy Morgan, one of Queen Elizabeth I’s ladies-in-waiting, the two fall passionately in love. He declares Lucy the inspiration for his work, but what secret is Will hiding from his muse?

Meanwhile, Lucy has her own secret – and one that could destroy her world if exposed. No longer the chaste maid so valued by the Virgin Queen, she also bore witness to the clandestine wedding of Lettice Knollys and Robert Dudley, a match forbidden by the monarch.

England is in peril. Queen Elizabeth’s health is deteriorating, her throne under siege from Catholic plotters and threats of war with Spain. Faced with deciding the fate of her long-term prisoner, Mary, Queen of Scots, she needs a trusted circle of advisors around her now more than ever. But who can she turn to when those closest to her have proved disloyal?

And how secure is Lucy’s position at court, now that she has learned the dangerous art of keeping secrets?

My review: I was eagerly looking forward to book 2 in the Lucy Morgan series and I wasn’t disappointed with Victoria Lamb’s sequel. She’s really developed the characters of Lucy Morgan and Will Shakespeare and you really feel for their tricky personal situations as you follow the story through. I was also pleased to see more of Master Goodluck, Lucy’s guardian as I enjoyed the parts with him and Walsingham, the spy-master general.

This is a much more detailed book than The Queen’s Secret, not in historical accuracy, both books create a real sense of time and place. But in plot strands, religious and political intrigues on a larger scale and the workings of the city of London and the main Elizabethan Court were bound to create a larger scope than the Queen’s progress at Kenilworth. Consequently as a reader you were more immersed in the historical surroundings Lamb creates, plus being a Londoner it was interesting to look at the City from a different viewpoint.

All in all a gripping read, the plots especially to overthrow the Queen bring in a great sense of drama. Definitely a worthy sequel although for me The Queen’s Secret just pips it to the post.

7 out of 10 stars! *******

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