Sinema – The Northumberland Massacre by Rod Glenn

Title of book: Sinema – The Northumberland Massacre

Author: Rod Glenn

Synopsis:

A winter’s tale with a sting.

There’s a newcomer to the small Northumberland village of Haydon…a charming novelist and film buff, researching a crime thriller about a serial killer on a rampage in a remote Northumberland community. The only trouble is, it’s a work in progress and it’s going to be non-fiction.

392 innocent men, women and children stand in his way to achieving a sadistic dream.

As the worst winter in more than a century approaches, can two investigating police officers trapped with the terrorised residents stop this monster?

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It’s a well known fact that the song ‘Sympathy for the devil’ by The Rolling Stones was inspired by the book ‘The Master and Margarita’ by Mikhail Bulgakov. I can honestly say after reading ‘Sinema’ by Rod Glenn, I think Mick Jagger might reconsider, believe me, Behemoth has nothing on Han Whitman.

‘Sinema’ tells the story of Hannibal ‘Han’ Whitman, enthusiastic movie goer, a friendly and happy go lucky kind of man and homicidal maniac but you can not help but like him which was the hardest part about the book, all the village members liked and accepted Han and the fact that he is planning their demise makes it hard reading but compulsive reading.

Han Whitman is not a complicated character which sounds odd considering his ‘dream’ but he is very clear on what he wants to do and how he is going to do it, never blaming anyone, he does what he wants to do, a mass murderer without an excuse, its quite refreshing on some level, on other levels even more disturbing.

A great read but an unsettling one, but that to me is the sign of a good book, it stays with you for a long time and this book really does stay with you.

Rating: 10/10

The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie

Date of Publication: 1935

Number of Pages: 184

Synopsis (from back cover): A is for Mrs. Ascher – fatally attacked in Andover. B is for Betty Barnard – strangled on the beach in Bexhill. C is for Sir Carmichael Clarke – now a corpse in Churston. If nothing else, the murderer knew is ABCs. But the alphabetical assassin would need to know more that that to outwit the world’s cleverest detective…Hercule Poirot!

Review: This is the first Agatha Christie story I have read, although I am familiar with the Hercule Poirot series on television. This was also my first foray into this genre; most “mysteries” I have read are actually gory crime thrillers. It was refreshing to have a main character, the dapper Poirot, instead of some gritty detective with emotional problems. Poirot is brilliant, polished, and funny. He’s even well-adjusted. I also appreciated the fact that the story was told from the perspective of Poirot’s friend, Captain Hastings, meaning that I was left out of Poirot’s thought-processes, so every twist and turn was a surprise.

The story starts out with the arrival of a teasing letter at Poirot’s home. It warns of something happening in Andover on a specific day. When Alice Ascher is found dead, it’s obvious that the murderer is engaged in a lethal game with Poirot. The cast of characters keeps expanding as more murders occur, including family members and distraught boyfriends. Although everyone is a suspect, there are mysterious chapters interspersed throughout the book that feature a strange man named Alexander Bonaparte Cust…A.B.C. Who is this man? What is his connection to the murders?

As the police are scrambling to try to find A.B.C. and to prevent these murders from happening on their appointed days, Poirot is using all his mental powers to try and figure out why these murders are happening. Even when it seems that the case is all locked up, Poirot still tries to understand the underlying reasons behind the crimes. It is this reason that finally blows the case wide open and provides a stunning twist at the end.

This book is a classic of Christie’s and really demonstrates her skills as the premier mystery writer. It will obviously appeal to all mystery fiction fans, but also to anyone who is curious about this classic genre. I am looking forward to reading more of Christie’s books, and especially those featuring this comically brilliant detective.

Rating: 10/10

Reviewed by Sarah

Vanish by Tess Gerritsen

Synopsis (from back page)

Stare death in the face… The beautiful woman appears to be just another corpse in the morgue. But when medical examiner Maura Isles looks down at the body, she gets the fright of her life. The corpse opens its eyes.

Now very much alive, the woman is rushed to the hospital, where she murders a security guard and seizes hostages, one of whom is the heavily pregnant homicide detective Jane Rizzoli.

But who is this woman, and what does she want? Only Jane can solve the mystery – if she survives the night.

Review

This is the first book by Tess Gerritsen that I have read, but it certainly will not be the last.

From the moment I started reading it, to when I finally turned the last page I was completely hooked and it was only after I’d closed the book and wiped away a stray tear that I realised just how engrossed I’d become in the lives of not only Jane and Maura but also those of Mila, Olena and to a lesser extent Joe.

Although a little graphic in places, it’s not overly done so and the autopsy descriptions are all relevant and largely significant to the storyline. Personally I have to admit that I loved these scenes and could actually picture it all happening in my head. Fantastic!

My only little bug bear with it is that the author never reveals how Olena ended up in the morgue to begin with? Was her ‘death’ an unsuccessful attempt on her life by the people who were after her? Or was it all part of her and Joe’s plan to bring the truth out into the open?

Overall, this is a fantastic and really gripping read and one that certainly kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish.

Vanish is actually the fifth book in the Jane Rizzoli & Maura Isles series and although I haven’t read any of the preceding ones (yet) I can quite honestly say that it didn’t affect my enjoyment of this one. Admittedly there is the odd reference to a previous case, which I can only assume is featured in one of the previous books, but these are literally just mentioned in passing and don’t have any great relevance or impact with the storyline here…although saying that I am going to have to track down all the other books in the series so that I can see how the characters of Jane and Maura have grown over time.

Although it may be wiser to start at the beginning of the series, I highly recommend this particular book.

Reviewed by Karen.

The Pirate’s Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson

Jamaica, 1946. Errol Flynn washes up on the island in the Zaca, his storm-wrecked yacht. Ida Joseph, the teenaged daughter of a Port Antonio Justice of the Peace, is intrigued to learn that the ‘World’s Handsomest Man’ is on the island, and makes it her business to meet him.

For the jaded swashbuckler, Jamaica is a tropical paradise that offers the tang of adventure and the promise of personal salvation: a freshness that Ida, unfazed as she is by his celebrity, seems to share. Soon Flynn has made a home for himself on Navy Island where he entertains the cream of Hollywood – and Ida has set her heart on this charismatic older man. Ida’s child, May, will meet her famous father only once.
From ReadingCircle.co.uk

Although the title refers to May, the daughter, this story is very much the story of both mother and daughter. It begins with Ida as a teenager, meeting and falling for Errol.. a love that never leaves her.

I initially had reservations about using a real famous person in a fiction book, but it does work. Errol is obviously important, and I did find myself looking him up, to see how realistic his character was, but he’s not a central character, and this helps. Once past the initial part of the story, there is so much more to keep you interested.

Whilst reading, the book seems to move at a fairly comfortable pace, but at the same time, I often found myself wanting ‘just one more chapter’. I carried this one around, just so I could dip into in my spare minutes. It’s the type of book that you get caught up in before you realise it’s happened.

The majority of the story is set in Jamaica, during a period of unrest – the history is quietly presented.. enough to give an insight, without distracting from the real story.

It also deals with racism from a slightly different angle.. because of May’s mixed background, she never feels completely accepted, as she feels neither ‘coloured’ or white. This leads to May feeling an outsider.. a feeling I’m sure many feel at some point at their lives.

This is an entertaining, spell-binding tale, which would make a perfect holiday read.

Finding Margo by Susanne O’Leary

When Margo misreads the map as they travel through France, her husband Alan indulges in yet another of his habitual rages. On impulse, Margo walks out of her emotionally suppressed life into the hands of fate and the vast French countryside. As her world is turned upside down, so are her expectations, and while she is making new friends and waiting for Alan to find her, she might just find herself…

Have you ever had such a bad argument with a partner that the thought has crossed your mind to walk out, and walk away? Well, not only does that thought cross Margo’s mind, but she acts on it. She walks away from the service station, and away from her husband.

I’m sure that the vast majority of people would have cooled off, and walked back.. but just maybe someone out there would have kept walking – and that woman is personified in Margo.

A few of the things that happen to her seem a little too convenient, but they are needed to to move the story along. I just accepted them, and carried on.

Margo finds herself employed as a sort of PA for a French lady, and finds herself quickly involved with the ‘goings-on’ of the whole family. She meets some colourful characters, who, in their own way, help her along her journey of rediscovering herself.

I enjoyed the descriptions of France, especially the scenes set in the country.

It’s fast paced, and the storyline did keep me reading. I’m still not sure, however, which ending I would have preferred…..

The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum

Synopsis (from back page)

He has no past. And he may have no future. His memory is blank. He only knows that he was flushed out of the Mediterranean Sea, his body riddled with bullets.

There are a few clues. A frame of microfilm surgically implanted beneath the flesh of his hip. Evidence that plastic surgery has altered his face. And a number on the film negative that leads to a Swiss bank account, a fortune of four million dollars, and, at last, a name: Jason Bourne.

But now Jason Bourne is marked for death, caught in a maddening puzzle, racing for survival through the deep layers of his buried past into a bizarre world of murderous conspirators – led by Carlos, the world’s most dangerous assassin. And no one can help Jason but the woman who wanted to escape him.

Review

I, probably like many others before me, actually saw the film version of The Bourne Identity prior to reading the book itself and it’s probably because of the film that I wanted to read the book in the first place. However if there happens to be anyone left out there who hasn’t seen the film adaptation yet, my advice to you would be to read the book first.

Why? Well because the film is only loosely based on the book and some aspects of the book (for example Carlos, which lets face it is actually a fairly big part of the plot) have in fact been totally left out of the film and although I hate to admit it I found it a little disappointing that the book didn’t follow the film more – which is wrong on so many levels especially seeing as the book came first and which is the reason why I recommend you read the book first so that you don’t have any preconceived ideas as to what to expect from it.

Anyway moving on and getting away from the film (after all this is a book review) this is actually a fantastic read.

Saying that I personally found it a little hard going. Not hard going as in having to struggle your way through it, far from it in fact as I found myself turning the pages at a fairly steady pace, but the plot is very intricate and detailed and it’s not really something that you can pick up and read for the odd five minutes here and there. It’s actually probably best read in just a couple of sittings so it’s probably the ideal book to take to read on a long haul flight so that you have the time to sit and read a good fair sized chunk of it in one go.

It is a little hard to read the book without picturing Matt Damon as Bourne, but putting that aside the characters, including that of Bourne, are all well thought out and with the action packed, fast paced speed that the book follows you can’t help but keep turning those pages.

Full of suspense, intrigue and mystery, The Bourne Identity is without a doubt one of the best thrillers ever written.

Reviewed by Karen.

Betjeman, by A.N.Wilson

Betjemin by A.N.Wilson.

Synopsis
John Betjeman was by far the most popular poet of the 20th century. His collected poems sold over two million copies. Television audiences loved his quirky evocations of landscape and architecture. As Poet Laureate, he became a national icon, but behind the public man were doubts and demons. The poet led a tempestuous emotional life. For much of his 50-year marriage to Penelope Chetwode, the daughter of a field marshal, Betjeman had a relationship with Elizabeth Cavendish, the daughter of the Duke of Devonshire and lady in waiting to Princess Margaret. This book was written using the vast archive of personal material relating to Betjeman’s private life.

Review

John Betjeman, poet, champion of architectual conservation and deeply religious man was born in 1906, the only child of a cabinet maker in Highgate, London. This biography by his friend, A.N.Wilson traces the origins of these passions and tries to define the man who, though loved by all who knew him, was hindered throughout his life by self doubt and guilt and a love affair with love.
Like most others of my generation, I was familiar with Betjeman’s deceptively simple verse that seemed somehow to speak of everyday things with candid honesty and unabashed emotion. I also knew that Betjemin was interested in architecture, beacause of his numerous television appearances and programmes, but I hadn’t realised the scope of this passion, nor the importance for him of the prevservation of buildings and the old England he loved so much. His life seemed to be a quest for the way things were…his poetry reflected this, and everyone is familiar with poems such as ‘Slough’ wherein JB bemoans the state of the New Town and prays for ‘friendly bombs’ to demolish it as it is no longer fit for humans! I knew this was an important part of his life, but I had not grasped just how much he cherished the buildings of bygone ages. It is difficult to tell which was more important to JB himself – this desire to preserve and conserve, or his poetry. The two things seem to be intrinsically intertwined.
A third theme throughout his life was his religion, again intrinsic in his writing. He was a devout Anglican and one of the most torturous periods of his life was when his wife, Penelope converted to Catholicism, not least because they had spent much time and energy together working on behalf of the Anglican church. His religious fervour is marked throughout his writing, and is also concentrated around his delight in Churches. From his youth, he travelled the length and breadth of Britain, visiting and admiring churches. It was an interest which never left him until he was confined to a wheelchair and mobility and travelling became more difficult.
A.N.Wilson clearly holds his friend in great esteem and with much affection, but he does not flinch from illustrating JB’s flaws, one of which was women. There seemed to be some controversy as to whehther JB was bisexual. I have to admit to believing he was homosexual before I read the book, and was shocked to find out that he was married for 50 years, until his death, infact, and also had a long time mistress, his live-in partner,  Elizabeth Cavendish, Lady in waiting to princess Margaret. Perhaps I can be forgiven for thinking this, given that his biographer explains that the contraversy over his sexual orientation did not disappear with time, even though there was little to support it. On the contrary, it appears that JB could not leave women alone, and although most of his ‘affairs’ were not consummated, he lived for the thrill of falling in love and admiring a beautiful female. It seems he always had to be in love. As soon as one adoration finished, another started. This flaw, a lack of commitment to his wife, albeit it only physically, as he loved her until he died, can perhaps be traced back to his childhood and the closeness with his mother. Or perhaps it is some desire to gain love from a maternal figure…but his passion for women never ceased, although it bought much pain to the two women who loved him most.
As a result of some of this information, I found my previous perception of Betjeman was somewhat inaccurate, and whilst I had much admired the man who wrote and perfomed Metroland for a television programme, and wrote of his love for Miss Joan Hunter Dunn (A Subaltern’s Love Song), I began to feel as the biography progressed that I didn’t like BJ much at all. Admire, yes, and still enjoy his work, and join in his aspirations to preserve the old, but like…probably not. He came across as weak and selfish. Although A.N.Wilson explains that he was wracked with guilt about the way he treated his wife, over the course of many years, it didn;t stop him repeating the same mistakes over and over and causing much pain to other people. Nor did her learn from his experiences as a child and make good his relationship with his son, Paul, who was treated very shabbily and uncaringly it seems, by both parents. Relationships, especially with family and loved ones are important and should be cherished, and so regretfully JB went down in my estimation. It will not stop me admiring the work of the former poet Laureate but I have to admit that this book changed my feelings about Betjeman in a way I had not expected.
The biography is well written and interesting, although a little repetitive in places. As I listened to the audio version, I cannot quote and illustrate as I would like, but suffice to say that it was a book which shook all my perceptions of this man, and which I enjoyed a great deal. I will read Betjeman’s work from a slightly different perspective from now on.

Susie / Kimmikat
 

The Vampire’s Betrayal by Raven Hart

Jack risks his life by opening a portal to the underworld to rescue Connie. While in the land of the dead, he witnesses an awesome ceremony as a band of honest-to-God angels swear Connie in as the vampire slayer! Using the power of his love, Jack manages to bring Connie back to the land of the living even though she threatens the existence of him and his kind.

Connie has no memory of being anointed the vampire slayer, and her activation won’t be complete until a mysterious sword materializes. William orders Jack to kill her for her own good before she discovers her deadly mission. After all, if she dies before she is activated, she will spend eternity in paradise with her baby son. But if she lives to become the slayer, she will be immortal, doomed to the existence of a half-vampire, half-human killer. But how can an anguished Jack kill the woman he loves?

Meanwhile, the bloodthirsty Old Lords work to harness elemental powers to raise the evil dead! Their wicked plan would free every twice-killed vampire from hell and turn them loose on the citizens of Savannah. William, weakened by a power he doesn’t understand, must do battle with the Vampire Council before they can unleash their bloodthirsty minions. Will he be able to survive the double onslaught of the Old Lords and the vampire slayer?
From the website.

I absolutely love this series, and this book is my favourite so far. The beginning of the series was very much about Jack and William, the two main vampires, but each new book has expanded the world around them, introducing more great characters, and storylines.

As I’ve said before, this isn’t ‘vampire chicklit’, nor is it traditional horror. Instead, it seems to sit in a little genre all of it’s own. (Of course, others who have read other vampire books may disagree with me, and I’d be interested to hear your thoughts. After all, there are some that I haven’t yet read.)

The characters are as well written as always, meaning that you get caught up with their stories, and care about their outcomes.. and the storylines in this one race along at quite a pace.

I sat up into the night trying to get this one finished.. even though I didn’t want it to end!

C’est la Folie by Michael Wright.

Synopsis
One day in late summer, Michael Wright gave up his comfortable South London existence and, with only his long-suffering cat for company, set out to begin a new life. His destination was “La Folie”, a dilapidated 15th century farmhouse in need of love and renovation in the heart of rural France.In a bid to fulfil a childhood dream of becoming a Real Man, he struggles to make the journey from clinically social townie to rugged, solitary paysan. Through his enthusiastic attempts at looking after livestock and coming to terms with the concept of living Abroad Alone, he discovers what it takes to be a man at the beginning of the 21st century.

Review
Michael Wright has written a column about his exploits in La France in the Telegraph with much success and has now written a novel based on these adventures. The novel, C’est La Folie is a wonderfully candid description of his life in France, battling with the natives, and an ancient delapidated farm house, overgrown land, and the hilarious problems of animal husbandry. And…added to all that, we hear about his vintage aeroplane, his piano, his triumphs at the tennis club, and his attempts to socialise and become integrated into the french community.
He decided to up roots and take himself and his cat to France, in an attempt to ‘become a man’ and prove to himself that he could do ‘manly’ things. So, accordingly he recounts his desire to acquire manly tools, which might persuade him to do manly jobs, like the desperate work that needs doing on the farmhouse, just to make it habitable. As the story progresses, we hear him inwardly balking at the idea of chopping wood in the snow, and other manly tasks, yet he does them all, somehow sticking to his guns and proving he can do it, and enjoy it. He discovers he quite likes physical work, once he gets going, and such are the distractions of his new home, he finds no time or inclination to write his novel, (well…mainly because he can’t think how to start it off!)

This book is hilarious. I had the audio copy which is read by Michael Wright himself, and I have to say that even if it had been the most boring book, I’d have listened because his voice and story-telling skills are great. I loved the gentle humour, which popped up so often and so subtly at times that I found myself in danger of missing bits here and there. I loved the fact that there were half a dozen strong themes running throughout which made the stories all the more interesting, and most of all I loved this man’s honesty. He is so self-deprecating, and yet somehow manages to charm everyone, and learns quickly from his mistakes. We find that despite his assertions to the contrary he ia a very able person, and at the end of the book, he is able to realise this for himself and leave the crutches of the past behind and look to the future.
The animals played a major part in the story and the joys and grief as Michael learns about life in the raw are beautifully portrayed, and it would be a stone-hearted person who could shrug at the deaths of Emil the little sheep, or Mary the chicken.
I really enjoyed this book and will enjoy reading it again and hopefully the follow-up, which I believe is planned for release next year (2009). To those who have criticised it as not being a literary work…it isn’t meant to be, not in the sense of an heavy duty tome, but it is a literary work that recounts life and people in the 21st century and all the struggles, hopes, triumphs and loves that keep folk sane and able to get on with their lives. Whether you can relate to his lifestyle or not, you will be able to relate to the man and his steps towards knowing himself a little better, and becoming ‘manly’.
Susie / Kimmikat

The Fiction Class (Loving books and falling in love, Manhattan style) by Susan Breen

Synopsis 

‘You’ve known there was something special about you for a long time, haven’t you?’

On paper, Arabella Hicks is perfectly qualified to teach a creative writing class on the Upper  West Side; as well as being an author herself, she loves fiction, more than anything in the world.

‘You still feel something every time you pick up a book; you still connect to characters in ways you’ve never connected to people you actually know, and you know you’re more than you appear to be. You have to give it one more shot; you have to see if you can be a writer.

But neither her own novel, nor her life are working out quite as she planned, and she is beginning to wonder whether this year’s students will be just as bad, mad and complicated as all the others; whether, as she fears, real life will never be as enjoyable as a really good novel

She is wrong.

Review

This debut novel by fiction teacher Susan Breen is different from most romantic novels, in that it attempts to enlighten the reader by showing the world of the author. In itself that is perhaps not earth-shattering, but when your world is all about books and writing, it is something different to the average reader. However, that said, (and ‘different’ is good), it may be one of the downfalls of the book. I am not sure how many readers would be interested in a writing class, and the exercises that go with it. At the end of each chapter covering the evening class, Ms Breen writes down the homework, and the reader, if interested, can make use of this. A good idea for aspiring writers, but I am not convinced that the avid romance reader will be impressed.
The book has several themes, notably disability and illness and the caring responsibilities attached to this situation: then there is the difficult relationship between mother and daughter; impending death; the romance; writing; the growth of the protagonist’s self-awareness and confidence, and faith – a steady thread throughout the book, which in a way is the glue that holds it together.

Initially I had problems with the characters. The main character, Arabella, didn’t come alive for me until well into the second half of the book. I am not sure why she remained transparent, but she wasn’t real for me.  Once fleshed out and more believable, she stayed with me long after I’d finished reading the book. Her mother, Vera Hicks, was the only character who seemed believable. I’m not sure why. Whereas Arabella was a little too ‘goody-goody’, her mother was nasty, cruel and unfeeling, yet you felt sorry for her and could relate to how you thought she might be feeling, given her past life. Arabella was a bit like a character from  an historical romance, a young woman from the Regency period perhaps, demure and sweet, and in the background. She was, after all, named after a character (and book) written by the romantic novelist Georgette Heyer, so perhaps this was deliberate on the part of the author, and in true Jane Austen style, we see the awakening and strenghening of the female protagonist’s character as the story progresses. I read Georgette Heyer in my teens and am now going to re-read her, having had my memory jogged! The other characters, Chuck her patient lover, and her students, were interesting to a degree, but a little clichéd, I felt,  and I found myself confused by the sheer number. I began to mix them up.

I liked the originality of the story, and the boldness of some of the ideas and the questions arising from them, such as the daunting moral dilemma of whether a parent should be sent to a nursing home, or cared for at home, and the contrast between Arabella’s decision to do the latter, whilst her mother had given up her life to care for her husband at home. Arabella’s vague awareness that things are not always as they appear is given a sharp jolt as reality hits hard in some of her students lives. I felt that the reminder about disability became too invasive and whiny. It was in danger of being over stated. It is something I feel strongly about too, having been a carer, but I began to get irritated as I felt that it was used too many times in the book and the impact was lost. However, the idea of a woman’s faith keeping her together (no matter that it was a belief in a miracle) was important, and illustrated Vera’s humanity in a way that contrasted with her daughter’s genuine and gentle honesty, a humanity which could so easily have been her ruin.

I wasn’t sure about the book at first, as the first few chapters were slow and seemed repetitive, and the inclusion of exercises could have put people off. By the end of the book I was convinced that it worked, and was sad to finish it, and the characters did stay with me for a while afterwards which is always a good sign. I noted that there were many parallels between the author and her protagonist, (auto-biographic?) and hope that Arabella’s good fortune will perhaps rub off on her creator’s pen. I would certainly be happy to read any second novel that Ms Breen might produce and wish her well in her writing.

Susan Breen lives in New York with her husband and children and teaches fiction at the Gotham Writers’ Workshop in Manhattan

Susie -Kimmikat