HOUSE OF THE HANGED

TITLE: HOUSE OF THE HANGED

AUTHOR: MARK MILLS

Pages: 423

Date: 10/06/2012

Grade: 4+

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1919, Petrograd, Russia and young Tom Nash’s attempts to rescue Irina Bibikov, the woman he has come to love while working in Soviet Russia for the British Secret Service come to nothing when he’s told that she has been executed.

By 1935 Tom has resigned from the Secret Service and lives in Le Rayol on the French Riviera where he makes his living as a writer. While he enjoys his new life and is happy to be away from his former job, the past and especially Irina, are never far from his mind.

It is summer and gathered around Tom are the friends who have been visiting him here every summer for years. What should have been a happy time of enjoying the sun, swimming, sailing and parties turns sour though when a midnight intruder attempts to kill Tom in his own house.

Certain in the knowledge that the failed attempt will soon be followed by a new one, Tom has to find out who from his past wants him dead and why now, five years after he left the secret service.

After a second attempt on his life Tom comes to the conclusion that amongst the people he considers his close friends must be someone who is betraying him, passing on information about his living conditions and movements to those out to kill him.

If Tom is to stay alive he has to stay one step ahead of those who want him dead while at the same time flushing out the person(s) betraying him, ideally without putting those he loves into danger. And in the process he may well end up hurting the most important people in his life.

This was an interesting thriller. Tom makes a fascinating main character. When the reader meets Tom in 1935 his life is so quiet and peaceful that it is hard to imagine that this man was ever in the secret service. It is only because the book starts with the prequel in 1919’s Russia that the reader is aware of his background.

The book is more than a thriller though since as much of the story is about Tom and the people around him, what they think, feel, have done in the past and want to do next, as it is about the tension associated with the attacks on the main character.

Because who and what Tom’s friends and quests are, and how they relate to his past is only slowly revealed, the reader initially feels like they are lagging behind the main character when it comes to necessary information. As the story unfolds and more and more of Tom’s past and how the assembled guests fit into it is revealed the reader catches up quickly though.

And those quests are interesting since we meet people from England, America, Germany, France and Russia. Giving the timing of the story, with Europe getting close to another devastating war, those characters were perfect for what is a thriller as well as a spy story.

I have to admit that there were times when Tom’s memories of his earlier life interrupted the flow of the story a bit for me, especially since a few of those memories seemed to have no relevance whatsoever to the situation he finds himself in.

On the other hand, the whole story was written in such a smooth and almost intimate style that it was hard not to fall for Tom and some of the other characters, which of course created an interest in their feelings and past.

The ending did not come as a huge surprise to me but then again I’m not sure it was meant to. The ending was also a bit too open for me. While this does make it more realistic – how often does everything tie up smoothly in real life after all – I would have liked a bit more certainty about some of the character’s futures.

Overall though, this was a fun and fast read with interesting characters and wonderful setting.

2312

TITLE: 2312

AUTHOR: KIM STANLEY ROBINSON

Pages: 561

Date: 06/06/2012

Grade: 3

Details: Received from Book Geeks

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The year, as the title suggests, is 2312 and humanity has branched out all through the solar system. Technology has made it possible to live on planets, moons and in between, allowing for the creation of habitats and the recreation and preservation of whole species. However, all these advances have not improved humanity’s nature in any noticeable way. Power struggles still exist and co-operation is as common as opposition. And now, into this mix of worlds a new threat is woven.

It starts with the death of Swan Er Wong’s grandmother Alex. Although Swan wasn’t aware of it, Alex was involved in important, secret and very sensitive projects. Projects that need to continue despite the loss of a vital team member. Projects that Swan finds herself getting involved in almost despite her own wishes and not necessarily with the approval of Alex’ other associates.

The investigation Swan finds herself part of brings her into contact with Jean Genette, an exile from Mars and an inspector for The League and Fitz Wahram from Titan.

When Swan’s home on Mercury is attacked and temporarily destroyed by an unknown force, the urgency of the investigation becomes very clear. But with no idea who or what instigated the attack and communication and digital technology itself being under suspicion it is hard to know where to start or whom to trust.

The description above is, in many ways a reasonable summary of the story in this book. Having said that, there are a lot of other plot-lines that I haven’t even touched upon, basically because I’m still not quite sure how some of them tied in with the main story-line.

And that is one of the reasons I found this to be a, at times very, frustrating read.

I also wasn’t too impressed with the Science versus Fiction ratio. While I appreciate that any title in this genre is going to include a certain amount of scientific detail, there was just too much of it in this book for my liking. I felt it interrupted the story too much and too often.

The narrative chapters are interspersed with chapters of “Lists” and “Extracts”. While I do understand that the “Extracts” where there to give the story historical background and technological detail, and I formed a theory about the “Lists” by the time I finished the book, I found myself increasingly resenting these interruptions of the story and having to force myself not to just skip them.

On the other hand it is quite possible that hardcore science-fiction readers will get a lot out of these sections and therefore this book as a whole that just went over my head. The detailed descriptions of how to make planets habitable, on how the universe and the various planets were created and other scientific fact were too much for me. I was more than happy to accept the universe as portrayed in this book as a fact without knowing anything about how it came about. I suspect though that for other readers, those for whom science-fiction is the genre of choice, the parts I saw only as interruptions are in fact integral parts of the story.

The characters in this book remained indistinct for me. I never got a feeling for what motivated them and had a hard time caring about them. On the other hand, Swan did manage to irritate me. While I had no problem accepting that humans live a lot longer in the future, I did have a problem with a 137 year old woman behaving like the average 20-year-old. And because Swan is the main character in this book, and none of the other characters is brought to life in any great detail, it was hard to get emotionally invested in this story.

Having made all these rather negative statements I have to add that there were parts of the story I really enjoyed. At certain times the main story and the characters in it would take centre-stage and suddenly the story would flow beautifully, capturing me for a while.

Overall I would say this is a book for those who look for (a lot of) Science in their Fiction.

DARE ME

TITLE: DARE ME

AUTHOR: MEGON ABBOTT

Pages: 326

Date: 04/06/2012

Grade: 4.5

Details: Received from Book Geeks

Own

Addy Hanlon and Beth Cassidy have been friends for years, inseparable and invincible they face the world side by side; Beth the leader and Addy her lieutenant. Both girls are tough and both girls are bad, they are in control of their world and the people around them as only teenage girls can be.

When the new school year starts the cheerleading team Addy and Beth are members of has a new coach, Colette French. Young, pretty and charismatic it isn’t long before the coach has all the girls in her thrall, inspiring them to be better, slimmer, harder and more ambitious. All the girls, that is, except Beth who finds herself upsurged, no longer the captain of the team and losing Addy to Colette.

But Colette is far from the perfect woman with the beautiful house, dedicated husband and cute daughter she appears to be. And when the coach crosses a line that should have been sacred it leads to death and destruction and a world of confusion and pain for Addy.

Torn between her long friendship with the ever darker Beth and her new admiration for the sophisticated coach who seems to favour her, Addy has to figure out not only what has been happening, but also where her loyalties lie and how strong and bad she actually is.

This is a story about growing up. About the time in your life when you discover that actions have consequences and that the only person you can really trust is yourself, if you’re lucky and strong enough to face the truth.

This is a book with a dark aura, a story laced with menace. While on the surface we’re reading about teenage girls being as mean and selfish as they can be, underneath it all is a lurking threat. Dread creeps of the page and into the reader. A feeling of impending doom, and a girl, stuck in the middle, with nowhere to flee to, digging herself deeper into trouble while looking for answers no one is willing to provide.

In this book nothing is quite how it seems. The characters don’t share all available information with each other and even Addy, whose point of view is showing the way, isn’t completely honest; not with herself, not with the other characters and not with the reader.

The answers to the questions are implied at but remain just out of sight. The reader constantly feels as if they should know what is going on and why the story is unfolding in the way it is, and yet they don’t, not completely.

The look this book gives at the carelessness of teenage girls when it comes to loyalty and friendship is chilling. Were we all that callous at one point in our lives? Did we pick up and disregard people with such lack of thought for others and their feelings? Do we really want to know the answer to those questions?

This is a strangely compelling story. The darkness of the interactions between the characters made me want to look away, put the book down and take a break from the feeling of impending doom, and yet I had to keep on reading, needed to find out what was going on, had to discover who or what had caused this downwards spiral.

This is the sort of story that will capture the reader and make them think. It is a tale that will be with you even when you’re away from the book, and will stay with you long after you’ve finished reading it. This story doesn’t come with easy answers, nothing is completely black or white and nobody is exactly who or what they seem.

This is one fascinating novel.

EXIT TO EDEN

TITLE: EXIT TO EDEN

AUTHOR: ANNE RICE

              Writing as Anne Rampling

Pages: 333

Date: 03/06/2012

Grade: 4

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Eden, a secret, mysterious and elegant island in the Caribbean is a play-ground for the rich. It is the place where those with enough money can come to fulfil their fantasies about dominance and submission. A paradise where willing slaves are available for those who would be masters, where pain and pleasure intermingle and nothing is forbidden or impossible.

Lisa is the perfectionist mastermind behind Eden. She has set the rules, invented the games and oversees the smooth running of the whole operation. Eden is what Lisa has been yearning for all her life, the answer to all her sexual and spiritual needs and yet, when she returns to Eden after a vacation away, Lisa finds herself restless and, for the first time ever, unsure of what she really wants.

Elliot is a client. Suffering from severe burnout he has been trained to be a slave in Eden and has recently signed a contract to stay there for two years while he flees the life that no longer satisfies him.

When Elliot and Lisa meet sparks fly. Neither of them expected to find real attraction in Eden and neither of them, but least of all Lisa, is prepared for the conflict and confusion these new feelings bring with them.

When Lisa flees Eden, taking Elliot with her, she’s not only breaking all the rules she so carefully set herself, she is also opening herself up to the sort of turmoil she’s ill equipped to deal with.

This is very much a book in two parts. While the first half of the story is very much about sex, submission and dominance, the second half is more of a psychological study, with sex firmly in the background.

In the first half the reader learns, in rather graphic detail, about the training slaves go through before they get to Eden and about the pain, pleasure, humiliation and power they experience from that training and life in Eden.

During the second half though, all of that fades away. The story now takes us into the minds of Elliot and Lisa. And while Elliot has a pretty good idea what he feels, what he wants and how to deal with his emotions, Lisa is lost. When Lisa finds herself in a neverland between no longer feeling at home in Eden and deep fear of what a future away from the world she created might mean, she is in real danger of ending up with nothing.

I found this to be a fascinating book because it goes beyond what could so easily have been a purely erotic story. It is obvious that Rice is a talented and experienced author. Her sentences and the story flow with ease and she captures the reader as much with her erotic descriptions as she does with the non-sexual scenes.

Both Lisa and Elliot are wonderful characters to read about; flawed and struggling to find their way they are made for each other yet unprepared for that discovery.

I would have loved to have the opportunity to read more about the two of them, would have enjoyed seeing them return to Eden together and what they might get up to as a team. Since that particular book hasn’t actually been written I will have to be satisfied with what I found in this story and that which my own fantasy can come up with.

Yes, it would appear that I have developed a taste for Erotica in my “old age”.

CELEBRITY IN DEATH

TITLE: CELEBRITY IN DEATH

AUTHOR: J.D. ROBB

Pages: 389

Date: 02/06/2012

Grade: 5-

Details: # 34 Eve Dallas & Roarke

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The murders she routinely investigates rarely scare Eve Dallas. They anger her and spur her on, but facing brutal killers doesn’t make her nervous.

When she has to attend a Hollywood dinner party during the shooting of a movie about her most famous case though , Eve would rather be anywhere else. Not only does she not like the social occasion, she finds it very disconcerting to be in the same room with people who look exactly like her and those closest to her as well as her husband and friends, the originals. But Eve copes and it appears that she has safely made it through the night when the body of the obnoxious actress playing Peabody is found face down in a roof-top pool.

Interviewing all the dinner guests soon proves that everybody present had good reasons to dislike or hate the actress, but doesn’t point towards one particular suspect.

With the media breathing down her neck while she’s dealing with Hollywood actors who are very skilled at pretending, Eve isn’t sure how she’ll ever get to the truth.

Then a private investigator is murdered and lots of potential evidence turns up missing and Eve realises that she’s facing one very cold and very sophisticated murderer; a murderer who may have been killing without detection for a long time; a killer who has made a habit out of literally getting away with murder; a murderer who will get away with it again unless Eve can outsmart him.

After 34 instalments I’m still delighted every time I get my hands on a new Eve Dallas book. I continue to take huge pleasure in the characters in these books. The interaction between Roarke and Eve is, as ever, delightful, the friendship, despite their differences, between Eve and Peabody never fails to put a smile on my face and Eve’s slow but steady progress towards “normal” social interactions remains fascinating.

This book is maybe a little less steamy, as far as the intimacy between Roarke and Eve is concerned, then most of the previous books and although I did miss the excitement, it did make sense in the setting of the story and given the events in the previous book (New York to Dallas).

Robb opted this time for an almost classic mystery format. The murder during the house-party is as close to a locked room mystery as you can get, and the fact that this limited the amount of possible suspects considerably makes it more fun for the reader to try and figure out what might be going on. Having said that, I didn’t have a clue who the murderer was until that fact was revealed.

I sometimes wonder if there will ever come a moment when I will have read my fill of books by Robb (and/or Roberts). As things stand at the moment though, I can’t see that happening. The way Robb/Roberts writes her stories and her characters never fails to bring me huge fun, and will hopefully do just that for as long as she continues to write her books.

THE ARMAGEDDON RAG

TITLE: THE ARMAGEDDON RAG

AUTHOR: GEORGE R.R. MARTIN

Pages: 363

Date: 31/05/2012

Grade: 4-

Details: Received from Book Geeks

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During the 1960’s Nazgûl was a hugely popular hard rock band, the voice of a generation. But in 1971, when a bullet ended both the life of the charismatic lead-singer and the future of the band, an era came to an end.

During those years Sandy Blair was in the midst of the action. An activist while in college and an underground journalist afterwards he was present at the demonstrations and the concerts. He was there when the bullet found the singer and ended a revolution that never really started.

The world, Sandy Blair and the remaining band-members have changed in the decade since the shooting.

Blair, a published author with three novels to his name is facing a severe case of writers-bloc when the former manager of Nazgûl is murdered in his house; murdered in a way that reflects the lyrics of one of Nazgûl’s songs.

When the magazine Blair worked for in the 1960’s asks him to investigate the murder he can’t reject the offer. Intrigued, Blair goes on the trail of a murderer. A journey that will bring him into contact with the remaining members of the once famous band, his own past and a man who wants to resurrect both Nazgûl and the revolution.

Soon after starting his investigation, Blair finds himself haunted by very vivid nightmares; dreams that become darker and more vivid as the date of Nazgûl’s relaunch comes closer. Eventually Blair comes to believe that the visions in his dreams will become reality unless he takes some action.

This is very much a story of two parts. What at first appears to be a rather straightforward mystery – who killed the manager – turns into a psychedelic fantasy about halfway through the book.

The reader is lulled into a false sense of security as they commence on a road-trip with Sandy Blair. While investigating the gruesome murder Blair behaves as any investigative journalist would. He travels to the scene of the crime and talks to those he thinks are likely suspects. It is only later on in the story that the reader discovers that this won’t be a straightforward investigation, although the story does end with a revelation that is somewhat surprising.

There is even more to this book though. This is also an ode to the 1960’s, to the philosophies of the time and, most importantly to the music that was created during those years. Each chapter starts with lines from songs of that era; lines that in one way or another reflect the content of that chapter.

And finally, this book is also a study of how people’s dreams and ideals change as they grow older and have to face the reality of having to life and work in the real world. And although that reality may not kill the original dream, it does make it hard, if not impossible, to live that dream.

I thought this was a fascinating book. The shift from mystery to supernatural story took me by surprise and delighted me. What made the supernatural aspects even more fascinating is that the main character has as hard a time distinguishing between reality and fantasy as the reader has. The reader is never on their own when they wonder what on earth might be going on. The supernatural is as unbelievable to most of the characters as it is to the reader, and therefore suddenly very credible.

This book was originally published in 1983, long before Martin achieved huge fame for his Game of Thrones series. The re-release now is without a doubt due to the popularity that series has now achieved, both in print and on television. Because I’ve neither read the Game of Thrones books nor watched the series I can’t compare this book to Martin’s later work. I can say though that this is a very interesting read for anyone who likes mysteries, the supernatural and, most importantly, rock and roll.

FIFTY SHADES COMPLETED

  

So I like the Fifty Shades trilogy, bite me…

I’ve enjoyed reading the Fifty Shades books and it took me almost 200 pages into the second book to freely admit that.

That realisation made me stop and think. Why was/am I so reluctant to ‘confess’ how much I like these books.

Well, the answer is rather simple. I mean, I couldn’t possibly admit to the world that I enjoyed reading those rather descriptive sexual scenes. I mean, for heaven’s sake it’s (in book one at least) BDSM. (I should probably mention here that I didn’t discover what those initials stand for until about a week after I finished reading the first book.) It did feel a bit shameful to admit that not only did that aspect of the books not offend me, I did in fact enjoy reading about it.

Pure curiosity got me reading these books. I wanted to know what all the hype was about. I needed to find out why this trilogy turned into such a bestseller while at the same time I was hard pressed to find a really positive review anywere. And yes, a small part of me was very curious about all the sex that was supposed to feature so predominantly in the stories.

And, now that I’ve finished reading these books, I guess I do understand the hype, the lack of positive reviews and my curiosity has been more than satisfied.

These books are such a hit because a lot of readers enjoy a good love story. This is a fairytale for grown-ups; it is beauty and the beast with a twist; it is happiness ever after despite the odds. Basically it is happy reading.

The lack of positive reviews would be due to the fact that no matter how nice and easy to read these stories are, they are not very well written. There is too much repetition, too much, at times rather irritating, internal dialogue and not enough wordsmithery (yes, I checked and this is a word). And, as I discovered, it is not easy to write a positive review about a book when you can’t praise its literary qualities as well as the story it contains. But, it can be done.

Finally for the sex. It is very descriptive and not at all of the everyday variety. I can easily see why for a lot of people these books would contain too much of it, in too much detail and on a level that is way beyond their comfort-zone. I, on the other hand, have always enjoyed steamy scenes in my books and found these books to be no exception. I do feel however that even though I was never taken out of my personal comfort-zone while reading the trilogy, these books should come with a health warning for people who prefer their intimacy left to their own fantasy. Virtually nothing is left to anybody’s imagination here.

I guess that I have fallen a little bit in love with Christian and Ana. I’m reading these books in the same way I used to read romances when I was a teenager, with a deep need for the happy ending. I’m revelling in the impossible romance working out against the odds. I find myself smiling at innocent beauty conquering her beast with the hidden, golden heart as well as her own hidden desires.

I liked that the third book in the series took us beyond the “yes, I will marry you” which so often ends a story. Many a times have I found myself wondering what happened to characters after those words. Did the fact that they now agreed to marry overcome all the issues they were still struggling with only two pages ago?

The third book in this series actually answers those questions, and for that I was grateful. It managed to end the all too fantastical trilogy on a more or less (probably less, but still) realistic note.

Books don’t always need to have great depth, wonderfully constructed sentences and/or fascinating metaphors to be a good read. Sometimes a book just needs to entertain, make the reader feel better, and/or put a smile on someone’s face in order to be worthwhile. And these books are doing all of that for me.

In fact, now that I’ve finished reading the trilogy I have to admit that I’m going to miss spending time with Ana and Christian. I’ll even admit that I will miss their antics (yes, even the sexual ones) and drama’s. And whenever an author manages to turn her characters into my friends she must have done something right. These books may not be great literary works but, for me, they were wonderful reads. And in the end, that is what I want my books to be; great reads I can lose myself in.

Sometimes giving in to curiosity doesn’t kill the cat but leads to great satisfaction.

For those interested, my reviews for the individual books can be found under the following links:

Fifty Shades of Grey

Fifty Shades Darker

Fifty Shades Freed