Iain Macleod

Hard work comedy thriller

Revisado: 04-18-23

In the first chapter we know that Island is a 25-year-old virgin. Shortly thereafter we find her to a feisty intelligent woman who is a polyglot with a masters degree in technology from a broken home because her Mother lived a double life on the wrong side of the law. Throughout the book, she is preoccupied with the man, alias Mars, who initially kidnaps her and then rescues her from dastardly fellows who want to torture her for knowledge she does not know she has.

Each chapter seems split into 50% plot and 50% on her confused feelings towards Mars. The thriller plot is intricate, international and unlikely, but something I can live with if it wasn't for the sexed-up Stockholm syndrome stuff which is boring and repetitive.

This may be a story aimed at women more than men, but I could only finish the book by taking missing out huge parts of each Chapter. I will not be reading any other books in the series.

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Brilliant short story

Revisado: 03-24-23

All authors of a series has their ups and downs and LB Hathaway is no exception. I almost did not buy this book because it is half the length of her normal novels.

What a mistake that would have been. This was a brilliant plot that brought together lots of interesting themes.

I enjoy and highly rate Posie’s stories, but this is the first I have given straight fives to.

Thank you.

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Great idea, poorly executed

Revisado: 06-12-17

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

For the first 70% of the book this was an interesting, almost unique, plot concerning an FBI agent who has come across a number of apparently random deaths of atheist writers and intellectuals. Each death could be explained individually, but collectively, they looked suspicious.

All the ticks were in place, with the FBI agent being a brilliant lone maverick, marriage falling apart and colleagues who are not bought into the issue. Then he finds supporting evidence to his suspicions and the author loses the plot.

Has Prayer turned you off from other books in this genre?

Not at all, the ending to the book was poorly executed. Many of the possible outcomes would have been handled so much better by Stephen King. This could have been a great story, it turned out to be poor plotting as the hero behaved like a complete ass.

Which character – as performed by Mark Zeisler – was your favorite?

No complaints about the reading which was good. As the main character (it is written in the first person) had been brought up in Scotland till the age of 14, his total American accent was not in character, but that had no affect on the telling of the story.

What character would you cut from Prayer?

The author. I am not sure what crusade he was on, but he missed the mark badly.

Any additional comments?

Do not be put off Philip Kerr, this is the first of his books that I have not appreciated. Mybe religious novels are not for me.

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Unbelievable and Sloppy Plot

Revisado: 09-28-15

What did you like best about Blue Labyrinth? What did you like least?

Most thrillers have to build twists that require the reader to suspend belief in some way. I am normally happy to do this, but for this novel my patience was tested.

Did Blue Labyrinth inspire you to do anything?

Lincoln Child is an author I have been happy to trust and buy new books based on his name. This book has destroyed my trust.

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An unashamed love affair

Revisado: 09-28-15

What did you love best about 41?

This should not be judged as an attempt by George W Bush to give a measured assessment of his father as a US politician and public servant, This is an unashamed appreciation of a man who George W considers to be a wonderful father, and contributor to public office in the United States.

In writing this book, George W Bush brings out the humanity of his father who was brilliant in one to one relationships, but maybe could not always win popular support through being seen as patrician and stiff.

In giving this personal, partisan and mainly uncritical insight into his father, George W does reveal insights into his own character, and his motivation to follow his Dad.

Not a masterpiece or anything other than a peripheral record of a politician over the last 50 years, this is a warm book and I enjoyed this impulse buy more than I thought I would.

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What a disappointment

Revisado: 12-03-12

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

As somebody who loved the Stephanie Plum novels, I bought the first six of this series based on the reviews. Where Janet Evanovich has created a likeable character in Stephanie and surrounded her with larger than life characters, Gemma Halliday has created a female character in Maddie Springer who is two dimensional, predictable and not very likeable. She is clearly following an Evanovich style formula with the love interest being a Latin policeman (Spanish not Italian origin) and a series of ridiculous and uninteresting characters.

It may be an LA thing, but if I was a woman, I would not want to be portrayed as being so superficial. Had a man written this story, he would have been pilloried for viewing women as being so shallow.

I would be very surprised if people would enjoy this as a caricature of LA life. As a thriller/mystery story, the plot was poor, the dialogue worse and my interest diminished to non-existent.

What was most disappointing about Gemma Halliday’s story?

Of the six books I have bought, I have listened to one and a half, and will not listen to the rest.

What didn’t you like about Caroline Shaffer’s performance?

Well read, but could not hide the lack of quality in the prose.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Irritation and disappointment.

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An Unbelieveble End

Revisado: 12-03-12

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

This is a classic case of a complex plot which cannot be sustained to a credible ending. The story was always interesting, and brought together interesting and current themes such as child abuse, Münchausen syndrome by proxy, paedophilia in younger adults and memory loss in children as a defence against abuse. This contained within a fast moving and well developed set of plotting.Yet the ending was so unrealistic and unbelievable, my enjoyment of the whole book was in the end tainted by cringing for the last hour or so.

Would you ever listen to anything by Lisa Gardner again?

I have listened to four or five of Lisa Garner's books. Whilst she has pushed the barrier of credibility before, I have always been able to accept the ending. This one I have not. I will try others, but I will be reluctant to do so without having read the reviews carefully.

What does Kirsten Potter bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

An excellent reader who kept the story moving forward. I doubt I would have read the story to the end had I been reading the book.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Not a chance

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Destroyed by the Reader

Revisado: 03-04-09

This is a wonderful story that has been destroyed by the Reader. Anne Archer is a competant reader who is unable to give a realistic Scottish or Irish accent. Shame the story is set in Scotland with Irish and Scottish characters. Her attempts would be amusing if they were not so irritating.

The story itself is Kate Atkinson at her best. Complex themes are interwoven around interesting, believable characters in an enthralling plot.

Well worth the read, but it may be better to buy the book rather than plough through Miss Archer's narrative.

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A wonderful cold war thriller

Revisado: 03-22-05

A fascinating novel of intrigue and cunning set in the time when the West feared it could lose the cold war. George Smiley sends the flawed Jerry Westerby to Hong Kong to research, stir-up and then entrap the Russian spy who is playing a dangerous game with the Chinese.
The novel encompasses the end of the Vietnam, the dieing breed of flawed British public school patrician leadership, the petty territory disputes between the US and British spooks and the wonderful cleverness of George Smiley and his pals. Delicious intrigue and ultimate betrayal, the book flies past.
I had no problems with the sound, and wonder if work has been done to improve it.
In my view this is the finest LeCarre.

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A Brilliant Biography

Revisado: 03-22-05

A long, thorough and insightful biography of a fascinating and charismatic British politician, though when compared to the multiple tombs completed by Martin Gilbert and Randolf Churchill this is a brief summary of Churchill?s life.
Jenkins? insights are particularly fascinating for his own experience of later British Government.
I would agree with those, presumably American who find this dry. Much of his life is tied up in the UK parliamentary system, so unless you have a keen knowledge of the subject, the terminaology and characters can appear obscure.
As a Brit, I find this absolutely fascinating, and I believe that I will return to this book once every five years or so. A wonderful book!!!

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