Apologies for running behind, but I hope you spot something worth reading here, and next month I’ll endeavour to get back to normal.
Oct
The Book of Elsewhere (audio), Keanu Reeves and China Mieville (read by various)
A novelisation based on the Brzrkr graphic novels written by Keanu Reeves. Normally, I love China Mieville’s work, but something about this felt off. Entertaining with numerous themes of life and death, even somewhat thought-provoking, but oddly paced. Enjoyable, but overall I found it frustratingly slow. I wonder whether it would have come across better read than listened to.
The Strings of Murder (Frey & McGray), Oscar De Muriel
Top marks mostly from the level of enjoyment, but the plot is well-worked out, with believable characters with credible back stories. I love the way Frey and McGray rub each other the wrong way. Nothing slow about this story weaving historical facts with supernatural elements. I have all the books and now want to work through them.
A Fever of the Blood (Frey & McGray), Oscar De Muriel
I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the first in this seven-book series, but it was still solid and entertaining. A touch slower than the first novel but not annoyingly so. The arguments between Frey and McGray escalate for various reasons and are as painful as they are fun. A good percentage of the fun of these books is their oscillating relationship. Snips and snipes galore.
Nov
A Mask of Shadows (Frey & McGray), Oscar De Muriel
The third in the Frey and McGray series. I like that the author has taken a different approach with each of these books. In this, the story is told in reports, action-based narrative, and interlude’s of Bram Stoker’s journal. Weaving historical fact with fiction makes for an entertaining mystery with a touch of questionable supernatural occurrences. The author notes at the end of the book, which must be read after concluding the novel to avoid spoilers, make the reader appreciate what they’ve just read all the more.
Pet Sematary (audio), Stephen King, read by Michael C.Hall
I wish I’d had the time to listen to this in one sitting. There’s still something about having a story read to you that takes book lovers back to their first experience of storytelling. I’d forgotten how good this book is, and listening to this over Halloween and beyond was perfect for the autumn season. I’d also forgotten the creepy moments and the sad.
Dec
Doctor Who Ten Days of Christmas (audio) Steve Cole, read by various
Easy to listen to set of stories starring the tenth Doctor and various companions. Like most anthologies, I liked some stories more than others, so I’ll simply say I enjoyed the penultimate story, and the split story starting and ending the book the most. The reader in the first and last reads the Tenth Doctor like no one else except David Tennant himself, of course. Good fun.
Loch of the Dead (Frey & McGray), Oscar de Muriel
I enjoyed this one in part because it was set on some islands, taking Frey and McGrey out of the city. The remoteness added another layer to the suspense, and also caused both men to cease arguing so much, making them more of a team with an actual sense they have each other’s backs despite their differences. There were a few possibilities for the outcome here, which also kept me guessing.
The Darker Arts (Frey & McGray), Oscar de Muriel
Although I enjoyed this book as much as any in the series, and it certainly had me on the edge of my seat when a character’s life was threatened, I found certain elements of the conclusion a little too convenient. Still, the book is as well plotted as all have been so far in the series, and I expect all will be right up to the end, with plenty of tension. Part of me wants a supernatural element Frey can’t find a way to explain.
Madly, Deeply: The Diaries Alan Rickman, Alan Rickman
Some hidden gems, but mostly I can’t help feeling this book should never have seen publication. There’s little here of the man that Emma Thompson mentions, and the man I would like to think Alan Rickman was. I heard a comment saying the book makes him seem mean-spirited, and while I wouldn’t go that far, there’s little to enjoy and few insights. I think these diaries were a simple way for Alan to keep track of events and to let off steam after a long day of work, and he definitely worked. He seldom seemed to pause, and he seldom seemed to get much sleep. What shone through was his wanting to be a perfectionist. I dipped into this book between lying it to rest for long periods, so took me a couple of years to finish this.
A Good Guy, Dean Koontz
A reread for me and another intense and well-plotted thriller from Dean Koontz. A second read after many years was as enjoyable as the first. If I can think of a con, I guess it’s that the bad guys in many novels come across as extreme odd-balls with a fanatical and bizarre worldview, although sometimes such as here that makes for a character you can really love to hate.
