Rollicking adventure

John Jacob Turnstile earns his living on the streets of Portsmouth as a petty thief. He has no real life, no real friends, employed in the services of Mr Lewis and used periodically to feed the sexual desires of propertied gentlemen. When the theft of a pocket watch leads to the arrest of young Master Turnstile it seems he is destined to spend a year incarcerated until an unexpected opportunity results in a change of fortune. John Turnstile is informed that if he joins the crew of the Bounty, on her mission to Otaheite, better known as Tahiti, he will on his return be a free man. On the Bounty he is of little importance his main role attending to the whims and desires of none other than Captain William Bligh.

What follows is a rollicking adventure as we sail the high seas in the company of a motley crew including the infamous Christian Fletcher. It of course comes as no surprise for me to tell you that a mutiny takes place and young Turnstile together with 18 crew members are set adrift in the Pacific ocean. Every page of John Boyne's extraordinary novel bristles with the taste and feel of what it was like to sail the high seas at the end of the 18th century. The crew faces the constant battering of inclement weather, the fear of pillaging pirates, and the threat of Scurvy, the disease of discovery,  which ravaged both body and mind, and was caused by chronic vitamin C deficiency, brought on by lack of fresh fruit and vegetables. In the second part of the book when the mutiny takes places our survivors, under the remarkable leadership of Bligh, cling to life on a minuscule diet in the hope that they can replenish and refuel at the numerous Polynesian islands in the vicinity of Tahiti. This in turn leads to further turmoil when hostile inhabitants seem content on killing our brave sailors and cannibalizing their remains.

From the opening paragraph to the very satisfactory, poignant and just conclusion once again John Boyne has proved himself a master storyteller. Every page of his fictional account (but based on the known facts) sparkles with energy and a vibrancy that is so often missing in writing today. It is not only a boys own adventure but a beautiful coming of age story as John Turnstile uses opportunity offered to turn himself from a worthless street urchin into a man of some standing. Readers and admirers of Boyne will be delighted at this change in direction, if the art of a storyteller  can be measured in his ability to create a narrative and compose a picture out of any situation then surely John Boyne has no equal. Wonderful colourful writing by one of my favourite authors and oh so highly recommended.

Magnificent Achievement

The Absolutist is a conscientious objector, one who refuses not only to be involved in the dirty business of taking arms against an enemy but also to help in any way the war effort by carrying out ancillary tasks. They were nicknamed Feather men....  (The notion of a white feather representing cowardice goes back to the 18th century, arising from the belief that a white feather in the tail of a game bird denoted poor quality. To 'show the white feather' was therefore to be 'unmanly)Tristan Sadler and Will Bancroft two fresh faced recruits meet in Aldershot as they prepare for life in the trenches, the defining image of World War 1. "In Aldershot they weren't teaching us how to fight, they were training us how to extend our lives for as long as possible"......

John Boyne's writing is magnificent as always, his scenes of young raw recruits standing like lambs to the slaughter, or waiting to be butchered by the enemy's machine gunfire, is heartbreaking to read...."We forget that we have very nearly died today as we wait to die again tomorrow"......"Each of us fell at a different point on the spectrum from pacifism to unremitting sadism"...... At the start of the story Tristan is travelling to Norwich to meet Will's sister and deliver some personal letters, he is also hoping to unburden himself by revealing a secret, a secret that he has held within him for many years. The narrative alternates between the start and finish of WW1 and those who survived returned home deeply traumatized  to a country unable to cope with  or indeed understand the repercussions of shell shock more commonly known today as PTSD...."Twenty boys. And only two came back. One who went mad and myself. But that doesn't mean we survived it. I don't think I did survive it. I may not be buried in a French field but I linger there"........

The Absolutist is about friendship, unrequited love, the morals of the time, and what happens if we try to live outside what society views as righteous and good. It is about the evil and brutality that humans can inflict on each other and in its graphic descriptions it illustrates what life (if we can call it that) was like for young men in the trenches...most would be lucky to survive more than 6 weeks....." I close my eyes for a moment . How long will it be, I wonder, two minutes, three, before I am over the sandbags too? Is my life to end tonight?"In the last chapter we meet Tristan as an old man, success as a writer has done little to ease his conscience or dampen the memory of those bygone days. The final sentence is probably one of the most poignant I have read for many years. A truly outstanding novel John Boyne once again asserts himself as not only a gifted author but possessing an uncanny understanding of the human spirit and what is to live. to love, and for that love never to be returned. Highly, highly recommended

Indulging the stereotypes of crime fiction

The crime genre is tightly packed with budding authors eager to display their writing skills as they start a new story with new characters and usually a slightly flawed lead detective. The hope is that if the story and main players are welcomed by an eager reading audience then further books will follow as a series is born. The problem is that there are now far too many so called authors plying their trade with the result that the writing is often bland and stereotypical in its delivery.

No way out is the third in a series featuring DI Adam Fawley and his intrepid band of warriors; Gislington , Quinn, Somer and Everett. A fire has occurred in a residential property, one child dead and one child clinging to life. It would appear that the parents are not in residence, and so the search is on to find them, the hope being that they can provide clues and answers to this appalling crime. Due to personal circumstances DI Fawley has stepped down as lead detective and has entrusted the investigation to her colleague Gis promoted as acting DS on this occasion.

This is your average crime thriller, one of many competing for attention in a crowded diluted market. The usual suspects are present; an overworked DI with personal problems, bright- eyed junior detectives eager to prove their worth and a rather odd misguided sense of humour...We are investigating the death by burning of children and so our young band of police officers are working 24/7 it could be said they are on fire....not so sure I welcome this attempt at humour. Reading an average thriller only highlights the great difference between aspiring authors and established heavyweights such as Ian Rankin or Robert Galbraith. I have recently read, indeed consumed with vigour, the  3 Cormoran Strike novels which are simply outstanding and only serves to reinforce my opinion  that good writing is the preserve of a few and only a minority ever attain this status. Many thanks to the good people at netgalley for a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review and that it what I have written.

Tour de force

The passage of time does little to detract from this brilliant tour de force novel set in the blood soaked streets of Belfast in the mid 1970's. Henry Danby government minister is murdered in front of his wife and children by professional hitman Billy Downs....."Others determined the morality. Others turned his work into victories. He did as he was told, expertise his trade mark. The soldier in his army"...... Once his mission is accomplished Downs returns post haste to Belfast losing himself in the working class republican  enclaves of the Ardoyne and the Falls. Harry Brown fresh from intelligent work in Aden and Albania is tasked with the job of going undercover in Belfast in order to seek out and eliminate Downs. He is well suited to the venture being a native of the province born and bred in the county of Armagh. His cover is that of merchant seaman Harry McEvoy back in the "auld country" after a long absence. The locals very quickly become suspicious and find his accent somewhat unconvincing. As the hunter and hunted circumnavigate each other they set the scene for the final bloody conflict and it soon becomes apparent that death may well be the inevitable outcome for Harry and his nemesis Billy Downs.

Harry's Game was first published in 1975 and in my opinion possibly the best book that the author Gerald Seymour wrote in his long and distinguished writing career. He brilliantly shows Belfast in the mid 70's when the "troubles" was at its highest......"It was the adventure playground par excellence for the urban terrorist"....... You can feel the tension, the hatred, the parochial entrenched attitude of both catholic and protestant inhabitants, as they go about their normal day committing murder and mayhem against their fellow neighbour, all in the name of misguided religious and political beliefs. Highly Recommended