An intense edgy thriller

This is a most unusual insightful story into the mind of a 15 year old. Annie's mum had been a killer, a taker of the innocent lives of children. Following the demise of a young boy called Daniel Annie has decided for her own sanity she must ask for help and disclose the evil deeds perpetrated by her mother. But can Annie ever be truly free from the clutches of an evil parent, are family relations so strong that the mind of an innocent child can be warped and twisted  by a misguided and immoral parent...is blood really thicker than water?

The story is told from the perspective of Annie and her new beginning as "Milly" under the guardianship of Mike, Saskia and their daughter Phoebe. This opportunity or fostering is to protect Milly and prepare her for the trial of her mother where she will be called as the main witness for the prosecution. But this story is much more than a simple trial, rather it shows the vulnerabilities, manipulation, envy and hatred that together make up the human condition. Phoebe is jealous of having to endure the company of Milly and is incensed that she is no longer the centre of attention so she embarks on a course of action, a war of attrition to humiliate and degrade her, inciting her friends to do the same. Mention is made on a number of occasions to William Golding's Lord of the Flies where the author paints a picture of a civilization consumed by savagery and chaos, the animal instincts of human nature. Indeed I found an uncomfortable familiarity between this classic novel and the predicament of Milly....but who's really manipulating who??

Good me Bad me is a very intense, claustrophobic experience, being trapped in the mind of child as she struggles to make sense of her situation. It is this entrapment that gives the dialogue a very edgy delivery creating some uncomfortable moments. Is Milly truly the innocent she attempts to portray or is there within her character an inherent evil that allows her to mould and manipulate those around her for her own gratification.

It came as no surprise to learn that the author spent many years working as a mental health nurse with children and adolescents, and she has certainly used this experience to create a novel of great depth and insight. I enjoyed it immensely and in particular the ending which although expected was still shocking when it occurred. Many thanks to the good people at netgalley for a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review and that is what I have written

Another excellent read from a great new author

What makes the writing of Jane Harper so appealing to me is the very balanced and articulate style that flows with so little effort (or so it seems) from her writing. In "Force of Nature" she expertly relates a story in both the present and past timeline drawing them together in a nail biting conclusion and in a sleight of hand exposes the perpetrator.

Two teams from BaileyBennets  embark on a weekend of outdoor pursuits and teambuilding along the Mirror Falls trail in the Giralang Ranges outside Melbourne. Alice Russell was supposed to deliver important documents to Federal agent Aaron Falk and his assistant  Carmen Cooper and by so doing exposing malpractice at BB. Regrettably at the end of the weekend of executive bonding one employee, Alice Russell, fails to emerge and there is great fear for her safety and welfare. Her fellow friends and colleagues appear to be shocked and fear she may have walked alone into the unforgiving wooded and bush environment. As the two agents dig deeper all is not as it should be amongst the hikers and slowly they begin to uncover a web of treachery not only prevalent in the BaileyBennets work place but also stretching back many years.

For those of you familiar with the writing of Jane Harper and in particular her excellent first novel "The Dry" it is refreshing to see not only the return of Aaron Falk but to learn a little more about his childhood with his late father whom he loved dearly. If we add to this a serial killer known as Marin Kovac who butchered and buried a number of victims in the Giralang Ranges then we have all the ingredients for an ingenious mystery. I can honestly say that Jane Harper once again kept me glued to this thrilling story as the layers of friendship and deceit are uncovered exposing an underbelly of hatred and envy. I had no idea who the killer was until revealed and that surely must be the mark of a master storyteller. As in her first novel Mz Harper uses the harsh and beautiful Australian landscape to great affect..."a curtain of white water. A river tumbled over a cliff edge and into the pool far beneath them."......"The neat trees lining the nature strip looked like plastic models compared with the primal lushness that had lurked over them for the past three days."....."The air was so crisp Jill felt she could almost touch it, and the freshwater spray cooled her cheeks. It was an hypnotic sight, and as she drank it in she almost felt the weight of her pack lift a little from her shoulders.".................

Many thanks to Little Brown  Book Group and netgalley for a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review and that is what I have written.

A writing style and story not to my liking

Michael and Michelle Crawford could best be described as an entrepreneurial and adventurous couple who run their own detective agency. Work is fast and furious with most of their time spent trying to discover and apprehend a killer know as "The Mathematician" who inscribes insightful "equations" unto the bodies of his victims. As the body count mounts the FBI is contacted to assist especially when it becomes clear that the serial killer has acquired an unwarranted interest in Michelle Crawford. In addition to managing the busy day to day workload of the agency, and chasing The Mathematician, Michael is also eager to discover the whereabouts of his birth parents who abandoned him to adoptive parents at a young age.

This book is best described as a novel with "cool temperament" told in a rather brassy and mocking writing style. It failed to have any impression on me, I found all the characters devoid of any emotion (which may have well been the author's intention) and after only a few chapters I was hoping that The Mathematician would be successful in his attempts to wipe out the Crawfords and rid me of the need to read any further! Many thanks to netgalley for a gratis copy in exchange for and honest and truthful review and that is what I have written.

Wonderful wonderful writing

When Harry Bosch is sent out to investigate the death of accomplished lawyer Howard Elias he could never have anticipated the political minefield he is about to step into. At its heart this is a story of police corruption and the length that some senior officers will go to further their career, and in the process turn a blind eye to the stinking underbelly of so called law enforcement in the city of Los Angeles. The novel is written at a time when the mishandled case of one retired football player, OJ Simpson, and the beating of Rodney King are still fresh in the minds of so many Americans...."Everyone was oblivious to the seething hatred and anger that churned in other parts of the city- beneath the surface like an undiscovered fault line waiting to open up and swallow all above."..... Yet against all of that, one grizzled detective, is prepared to take a noble stand against evil and wrong doing where ever that may occur.

I adore the writings of Michael Connelly and his depiction of life, its hardships and cruelties through the eyes of one honest and incorruptible policeman the great antihero Harry Bosch. I sympathize with his pain, and his longing for some inner peace, his search for a partner, a soulmate someone to share his anguish and mop his fevered brow...It is the style of writing and Connelly's ability to get under the skin of Bosch, laying him open to an eager reader, that makes for some wonderful thoughtful observations...."The rich kept you waiting so that you could feel free to admire all that they had."..."Happy is the man who finds refuge in himself."...."He believed in the one shot. He didn't know if he'd had his yet- it wasn't the kind of thing you knew and understood until you looked back over your life as an old man."...."It's about hope, Detective she continued. Most of the people in the minority communities of Los Angeles have no power, have no money, have no voice. They subsist on hope for these things. And Howard Elias was hope for many of them".....

Everyone in this book is perfect from the strong storyline to the well drawn and very believable characters, from the sad and deeply troubled ex cop Frankie Sheehan to the political ambitions of Deputy Chief Irvin Irving. I rarely ever read a book by Michael Connelly that is not worthy of at least a 5 star review and this is no exception. Highly Recommended.

Enjoyable until the midway point

Officer Rivera discovers a body in the vast Sonoran Desert somewhere in the Southern United States. Meanwhile across the Mexican Border 25 desperate souls are trying to escape the hell and poverty of their homeland by the promise and attraction of a new start in the US. I was reading this book late at night in a darkened room with the wind and rain beating against the windows and this greatly added to the chill factor and the atmosphere. The story is narrated in two time lines with a matter of days separating both accounts. As Border Patrol Officer Rivera tries to decipher a message carved into the body of an unaccounted alien further south Mayra Visari and a band of desperados attempt to make their way north under the leadership of a young guide known as Il Bufon..."The Joker" The story is mainly about the journey and encounter with an alien force invisible to the eye but deadly when confronted. In this respect I was reminded of scenes from Predator when our muscled up hero Arnold  Schwarzenegger, whilst attempting to rescue some politicians in Guatemala, is pursued by a brutal creature with superhuman strength that has the ability to disappear into its surroundings.

Unfortunately when we reach the midway point the story falls into a continuous game of attack and escape as the aliens attempt to destroy/consume the desperate band of illegal immigrants seeing them only as part of the food chain. This type of action soon becomes tedious and a story that started with great promise soon begins to lose my interest. There were of course some enjoyable moments and in particular a snappy narration and quirky  observations..."Altar, Sonora, was a town of evil, a place where dreams came to die and were buried in unmarked graves in the desert"..... "It was only a matter of time before we started dying"....."Our shadows stretched away from us as though seeking release from the fate to which we had been consigned"......."We were the walking dead, an entire procession of weakness and despair".....

A book that still retains the magic

Can it really be 50 years since the publication of this book, I remember my first reading in the mid 70's and it has been a great pleasure, and a walk down memory lane, to once again make the acquaintance of the residents of an Oregon Psychiatric Hospital and in particular one Randle P McMurphy. Most people will remember the 1976 movie and the electric  performance of Jack Nicholson as the audacious and colourful "Mack", in a movie that won many awards. The book has lost none of its magic even now reading the it so many years later, and the emotions that it can produce are still very real.

McMurphy is moved  to the mental institution from a prison farm where he was serving a sentence for the rape of a 15 year old girl. Although he is not mentally ill, he is hoping to avoid hard labour and serve the rest of his sentence in a relaxed environment. The life of the rest of the inmates is now turned on its head as McMurphy proceeds to wreck havoc in an attempt to control and alter the mundane existence of lethargic and inactive inmates...."We are lunatics from the hospital up the highway, psychoceramics, the cracked pots of mankind."....The only obstacle standing between Mack and his dreams is the formidable figure of the steely strict Nurse Ratched....."Her face is still calm, as though she had a cast made and painted to just the look she wants. Confident, patient, and unruffled."...

The story is told in the first person through the eyes of one long term resident Chief Bromden a tall native American believed to be deaf and mute. Through a series of minor misdemeanours and coercion McMurphy is hoping to breakdown the stranglehold of power that Nurse Rached holds over the inmates, who  are dulled and kept under control by the constant and daily consumption of medication. It would therefore appear that the prime function of the institution is to manage, by this use of drugs, the minds and temperaments of the residents,  rather than try to rehabilitate them and reintroducing them back into society where they might once again make a useful contribution. If the use of drugs and stimulants fails to pacify the disturbed mind the institution is willing to apply electroshock therapy and in the most severe cases a lobotomy is performed.

This is a book fully entrenched in the methods and institutions of its time. It is also a story of power and authority, those who wheel it and those who would attempt to question it by any means possible. It is a wonderful and colourful narration, strong and memorable characters, essentially funny yet ultimately sad. To me Randle P McMurphy is more than a comic figure, he chooses to question the reality and sense of his surroundings and by doing so set himself on the road to confrontation with the soulless Nurse Ratched and ultimately there can only be one winner, and an ending that is both shocking and captivating. Highly Recommended.

Return of a master storyteller

A powerful voice in Irish writing returns  with an evocative novel illustrating once again the misery, pain and ruined lives caused by the sexual abuse scandal prevalent within the Catholic Church from the 1950's. Victor Forde is now a lone single man who spends part of each day in Donnelly's public house. He makes the acquaintance of Fitzpatrick, who he instantly takes a dislike to. There is something strange and unwarranted about this individual, that wakes some very painful memories in the mind of Forde, and in particular the time he spent as a child within the care of the Christian Brothers.

What is astounding and memorable about "Smile" is the author's direct, compelling brutal and unforgivable  method of storytelling. This makes me want to revisit classics I read many years ago and in particular The Van and the wonderfully titled Paddy Clarke ha ha. It is so refreshing to read his simple style of prose that forms an instant connection with the reader, and makes him loathe and pity Forde in equal measures. ..." a man of my age going back to some wrinkled version of his childhood. Looking for the girls he'd fancied forty years before"...."I was so bored, so heavy with the physical weight of it, I could have cried"......"Do you want it? No, thanks, I said. It was nice talking to you she said. She died five months later."..."It was the last time I slept in my mother's house and it was the last time I went for pints with the lads. Two of them are dead. I miss them like I miss my father.".....

The conclusion of this story was never going to make pleasant reading, it was  unforeseen, sudden and yet an apt and fitting ending to a novel that will remain with my for many weeks and months. A monumental achievement and a welcome return to one of Ireland's most talented of writers. Many thanks to Random House uk and netgalley for a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review and that is what I have written.

Harry Bosch sheer brilliance!

There are very few events in my reading history that beat the thrill of delving into a new Michael Connelly/Harry Bosch novel. Harry may well be into his mid 60's now but he still has that hunger, that old coyote weariness about him, that first made him a grade one detective some 30 years ago. He's now older, definitely wiser his skills very much in demand by an undermanned LAPD.

At the start of "Two Kinds of Truth" Harry is doing what he does best, searching through cold case files in a "drunk tank" somewhere in San Fernando. His suspicions are aroused when detectives arrive to confront him about an investigation many years old. With the advance in forensic medicine the investigation that led to the conviction of Preston Borders, in the trial of Danielle Skyler, is now in danger of collapse. This follows the discovery of semen, belonging to a rapist Lucas John Olmer, since deseased, on some of the victims clothing. So the reality is that Borders could be freed and a wrongful arrest case brought against Harry, the ramifications of this are immense as Bosch's 30 year workload could now be open to scrutiny.  Our hero is furious but has little time to dwell on his feelings and the rights or wrongs of an old case, as the Los Angeles County once again needs his skill when a double murder occurs at a downtown pharmacy "La Farmacia Familia". In spectacular fashion he arrives, he is a happy man once again as he is now one of the lead detectives on a "live" case. The author so vividly portrays the innermost thoughts and workings of this great detective, and has me the reader cheering when once again Harry is back!! I realize that not only will Bosch solve this case but he will be accompanied by you and me dear reader riding as shotgun, and that is something we cannot miss!

In the background the historic cold case proceeds and meanwhile Bosch's present assignment sees him becoming involved in the processing and handling of illegal prescriptions involving large quantities of drugs. In the course of this operation we once again meet Harry's old partner Jerry Edgar and it is wonderful to witness the "sparring" that still exists between them. Edgar never felt that Bosch truly trusted him and he now feels a little exhilarated that he is supplying vital information to his ex partner..."Bosch asked the question, jumping at the opportunity to show some expertise to the man who had always doubted him"... Connelly has always painted Bosch as a loner and even though he got results and solved cases he was always viewed as a maverick playing by his own set of rules.

The drug scam is quite simple; enlist the poor and desperate in society with a deep and entrenched drug habit. Then with the help of a bogus doctor authorize illegal  prescriptions which are "cashed" in at the Farmacia. Bosch estimates that this is an industry worth more than thirteen million per year. To infiltrate this operation our hero has elected to go undercover, something new in a Connelly novel and adding an extra lair of anticipation and excitement! By going undercover Bosch puts himself in grave danger and all his colleagues and friends begin calling and leaving messages on his cell phone. I have a gripe with Bosch and his two sided standards. He loves dearly his daughter Maddie who is now a student and he implores her to be careful especially at night when she collects her car from a dismal concrete car park adjacent to her college. Yet here he is a 68 year old man about to board a small plane in the company of two Russian thugs...and he notices on takeoff that the back door is wedged open.....and they are about to fly over the sea! He is in mortal danger, what will I the reader do if the unthinkable happens? and more importantly what will young Maddie feel that the one stable person in her life her father who she loves dearly...is no more??..."His life and his world had once again clobbered his daughter. If he vowed to make those who did this pay, didn't that include himself?"....."There was no one in the world Bosch trusted more than his daughter. He told her everything, more detail than he had even told the collective in the mobile command post. He felt the details would mean more to her, and at the same time, he knew he was telling her about the dark side of the world. It was a place she had to know about, he believed no matter where she went with her life.".....

I love Michael Connelly. I love the way he has brought the life of H Bosch into my home over many years. His stories are to me about life, love, relationships, the good and bad that happens, and the evil that is prevalent all around us, the choices that we make, the decisions we take and the consequences we must reap. I love the frailties on display through Harry and the bond that exists between him and his daughter the wonderful Maddie and I fear for Harry, I worry what will happen to her if ever the unthinkable were to occur to her father...."People lie, the president lies, corporations lie and cheat.....The world is ugly and not many people are willing to stand up to it anymore"...

So the two story threads are brought to a very fitting conclusion amidst  a highly charged courtroom drama involving Bosch's colourful half brother, Los Angeles based attorney Mickey Haller. Yet amongst all this elation Harry is a restless soul, a man who never seems at ease with himself, a nonconformist with a really big heart. I admire the guy, I applaud the way he unearthed $10,000 from his "end of the world emergency fund" to save the drug soul of Elizabeth Clayton, a dope addict he whose life went out of control when her daughter Daisy was killed. Connelly's stories about a Los Angeles detective are as fresh today as when the first book was published some 25 years ago. Harry Bosch may well be in the autumn of his life but he but he still retains magnetism and human qualities that we all recognise. I look forward to his next outing with great anticipation and would like to thank Orion and the good people of netgalley for a gratis copy in return for an honest review and that is what I have written.

A few aimless hours?

An average thriller certainly not worth my time in a detailed review! Sam Costello discovers a plot to assassinate the president (who sounds very like a heavy set man with wavy blonde hair and a model wife!) what should she do? (have him shot I hear you say :) The only character worthy of a mention is the presidents chief strategist Crawford "Mac" McNamara. I only read this book as it was heavily promoted/reduced on "mobi" so passed a few aimless hours acquainting myself with this nonsense.