gillyp, posts by tag: review - LiveJournal

Another review for simon_saysuk  - many thanks again for the free book which I adored and highly recomend.

( Read my reviewCollapse )

Cross posted to booky_talk,  goodreads and Amazon

Flist - who do we know who could play this character? From p.142:

'Terry McQuinn was five feet six inches tall. He had bright blue eyes and brown curly hair and JRR Tolkien was one of the few things in life that made sense to him. People indeed sometimes said that he looked like a Hobbit'.

If you ever get to read this book, I promise you'll enjoy putting our lad in this role. I know I did. ::she smiled knowingly::

It’s certainly a page turner.

A claustrophobic thriller about a death that literally haunts a young and relatively innocent young man and his hideous friend, a PhD student and paranormal investigator. Nathan, the protagonist, deals with what’s happened and makes a life despite everything – in fact, he makes a rather good life, a life that, if the death had never happened, would not have come about. Can he deal with the implications of that knowledge?

I could see how ...more Another book to review courtesy of  simon_saysuk to whom, many thanks.

So, Burial. It’s certainly a page turner, I read it in three days. :o)

A claustrophobic thriller about a death that literally haunts a young and relatively innocent young man and his hideous friend, a PhD student and paranormal investigator. Nathan, the protagonist, deals with what’s happened and makes a life despite everything – in fact, he makes a rather good life, a life that, had the death had never happened, would not have come about. Can he deal with the implications of that knowledge?

I could see how the paranormal shades would come to colour the book, in fact, I was expecting rather more of it than we got but the twist at end came as a real surprise to me - maybe that’s because I don’t read or watch many thrillers.:o) It's not a genre that generally appeals to me and this is not a book I would likely have picked off the shelf myself. It certainly read as though the author had the TV market in mind.

The quality of the writing is often a little shaky with repetition and a goodly number of clichés, but if a darn good plot is all you need, then this is a darn good plot reasonably well executed and will keep you turning the pages for sure. I enjoyed it very much and if you're looking for a darker-than-average plane/train/beach read, I'd certainly rec this without reservation.

Review cross-posted to Amazon and Goodreads.

So why are we both so shattered?

Made an early start - moved all the furniture and gubbins out of the kitchen. Made a little workstation in the still-stripped-out sitting room so we can continue to eat and make tea while the kitchen's wet/dusty/manky/filled with noxious chemical fumes.

Went to bloody BIG! B&Q in Bamber Bridge this time for all our housely needs. Still couldn't get a light for the stairs though; their lighting designers really don't account for tall people living under low ceilings. ::sigh:: Side trips to Matalan and Aldi took us into rush hour but hey ho the nonny, we're home at last, showered, with cups of espresso, camped in the bedroom. I have cooked sauce for pasta so dinner is only ever going to be 10 minutes away. I has Steve Coogan and Richard Ayoade DVDs. There is chocolate and wine.

The Caroline Dawnay Agency email to tell me they don't want my book yet the most awful rubbish continues to get published. Am I the only person in the English speaking world that hates The Time-Traveler's Wife? I admit, I've only read the first eighty pages but so far it seems the most awful load of arse. The two main characters are so bloody unbelievable, so utterly, utterly perfect - He with his musician parents and erudite bookshelves, she, so tall and slender with her red-gold hair and pale skin and childhood home full of stereotype servants - she just screams Mary Bloody Sue to me and the style - the writing style seems so stilted and turgid; it reads like the author read some of the best pre-war authors and decided she could write a book Just Like Theirs.

I'm prepared to believe it gets better as the book goes on. It has to (doesn't it?) Because otherwise the glowing reviews that led me to read this tripe are just puzzling. I shall persist (though at the moment I want to fling the thing through a window).

La di da. Life continues to amaze me with its mysteries. I have Californian Shiraz, I have little crunchy, oaty things. I have cheesy crisps and damn fine comedy on DVD and a whole evening free to enjoy them. ::comforts self with this knowledge::