In the Silence was a fine addition to the Tartan Noir genre. In Cruel Summer Mackenzie turns up the heat, placing him ahead of the field.
Read my full review at The Geek Show.
Showing posts with label Book Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Review. Show all posts
Tuesday, 28 May 2019
Cruel Summer by M.R. Mackenzie
Released today, Cruel Summer is the direct sequel to the critically acclaimed novel In the Silence and the second instalment in the prospective Kelvingrove Park trilogy from M.R. Mackenzie.
In the Silence was a fine addition to the Tartan Noir genre. In Cruel Summer Mackenzie turns up the heat, placing him ahead of the field.
Read my full review at The Geek Show.
In the Silence was a fine addition to the Tartan Noir genre. In Cruel Summer Mackenzie turns up the heat, placing him ahead of the field.
Read my full review at The Geek Show.
Thursday, 27 September 2018
Book Review: In the Silence by M.R. Mackenzie
In the Silence is the debut novel of of Glaswegian author M.R. Mackenzie and is another fine addition to the Tartan Noir genre.
The story concerns former Glasgow girl now Rome-based academic Dr Anna Scavolini who returns home in the run up to Christmas 2009 for the birthday of her best friend from school, redheaded party girl Zoe. Within hours of touching down, Anna not only meets up with her school crush but she goes on to find his dead body in snowy Kelvingrove Park! With the police alternating in treating her as a suspect and an irritant, Anna feels she has no option but to investigate the murder herself but, as the bodies start to stack up and it becomes clear a serial killer is in their midst, Anna may come to regret her impulsive decisions.
This was a real page turner of a book. I know its somewhat cliched to say such a thing but I genuinely haven't read a crime novel that has kept me both gripped and guessing such as this in a long, long time. Mackenzie's flair for a gripping storyline is apparent in his central mystery densely populated by red herrings, and it is matched only by his knack for both setting and dialogue. Just like the very best in Tartan Noir, Mackenzie's novel is set in a recognisable and atmospheric Scottish city, in this case Glasgow, and boasts an ear for the dialect and wit of that area. He gives his best lines to the character of Zoe, who provides some much needed light relief in what becomes a strong, bloody tale of revenge and redemption. With themes including gender inequality, the inherent failings of the justice system, rape, domestic abuse and mental illness, In the Silence is (like the very best work of Denise Mina - in particular her Garnethill trilogy), is a novel which possesses a strong social conscience and it does not shy away from the big issues, often in powerful, uncompromising detail. With that in mind, it therefore needs a character like Zoe to balance out the drama and remind us that ordinary life is continuing in parallel to the dark underbelly of the city.
But what of Dr Scavolini herself? Well, I've seen some reviews on Amazon say she's a little unlikeable (albeit with good reason as it soon becomes clear) but personally I don't see that criticism all that much. Perhaps she comes across a little aloof precisely because she's effectively a stranger in her hometown and so clearly the chalk to Zoe's more down to earth cheese. But I actually found it very easy to sympathise with Anna right from the off, especially when she arrives in frozen Glasgow for Zoe's party and is all but ignored by the party girl and left to her own devices on the corner of the dancefloor for the whole night! Bit off, Zoe! The revelation that Anna has her own problems, namely bipolar disorder and is rather foolishly foregoing her pills, is sensitively and intelligently handled and adds a texture to some of her subsequent actions and social interactions that feels authentic. If I had one criticism regarding this side of her character it's that I'd actually liked a little more time focused on the implications and some greater clarity on her initial decision making, but I guess the central mystery has to come first.
All in all, this was a thoroughly enjoyable debut novel that has much promise for the future. I personally hope that we return to Glasgow and Anna and Zoe but I've a feeling whatever M.R. Mackenzie chooses to do next will be worth your attention. If you like Denise Mina and Tartan Noir then do yourself a favour, head over to Amazon and buy this book, you'll love it. The long winter nights are just around the corner and this will be perfect for them. Just don't have nightmares!
The story concerns former Glasgow girl now Rome-based academic Dr Anna Scavolini who returns home in the run up to Christmas 2009 for the birthday of her best friend from school, redheaded party girl Zoe. Within hours of touching down, Anna not only meets up with her school crush but she goes on to find his dead body in snowy Kelvingrove Park! With the police alternating in treating her as a suspect and an irritant, Anna feels she has no option but to investigate the murder herself but, as the bodies start to stack up and it becomes clear a serial killer is in their midst, Anna may come to regret her impulsive decisions.
This was a real page turner of a book. I know its somewhat cliched to say such a thing but I genuinely haven't read a crime novel that has kept me both gripped and guessing such as this in a long, long time. Mackenzie's flair for a gripping storyline is apparent in his central mystery densely populated by red herrings, and it is matched only by his knack for both setting and dialogue. Just like the very best in Tartan Noir, Mackenzie's novel is set in a recognisable and atmospheric Scottish city, in this case Glasgow, and boasts an ear for the dialect and wit of that area. He gives his best lines to the character of Zoe, who provides some much needed light relief in what becomes a strong, bloody tale of revenge and redemption. With themes including gender inequality, the inherent failings of the justice system, rape, domestic abuse and mental illness, In the Silence is (like the very best work of Denise Mina - in particular her Garnethill trilogy), is a novel which possesses a strong social conscience and it does not shy away from the big issues, often in powerful, uncompromising detail. With that in mind, it therefore needs a character like Zoe to balance out the drama and remind us that ordinary life is continuing in parallel to the dark underbelly of the city.
But what of Dr Scavolini herself? Well, I've seen some reviews on Amazon say she's a little unlikeable (albeit with good reason as it soon becomes clear) but personally I don't see that criticism all that much. Perhaps she comes across a little aloof precisely because she's effectively a stranger in her hometown and so clearly the chalk to Zoe's more down to earth cheese. But I actually found it very easy to sympathise with Anna right from the off, especially when she arrives in frozen Glasgow for Zoe's party and is all but ignored by the party girl and left to her own devices on the corner of the dancefloor for the whole night! Bit off, Zoe! The revelation that Anna has her own problems, namely bipolar disorder and is rather foolishly foregoing her pills, is sensitively and intelligently handled and adds a texture to some of her subsequent actions and social interactions that feels authentic. If I had one criticism regarding this side of her character it's that I'd actually liked a little more time focused on the implications and some greater clarity on her initial decision making, but I guess the central mystery has to come first.
All in all, this was a thoroughly enjoyable debut novel that has much promise for the future. I personally hope that we return to Glasgow and Anna and Zoe but I've a feeling whatever M.R. Mackenzie chooses to do next will be worth your attention. If you like Denise Mina and Tartan Noir then do yourself a favour, head over to Amazon and buy this book, you'll love it. The long winter nights are just around the corner and this will be perfect for them. Just don't have nightmares!
Thursday, 24 May 2018
Raw Material by Alan Sillitoe
As a young man, Alan Sillitoe was one of the first authors to capture my imagination. I was in my teens when I read Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, discovering a story printed on the page that actually felt like the life I saw and experienced on a daily basis. The drinking culture, the hard and depressed industrial towns, the philosophy of the protagonist, all chimed with me.
A couple of years ago whilst on holiday in Settle I picked up a couple of vintage paperback novels of Sillitoe and have just finished reading one in two gloriously sunny days flat this week. Though to cal it a novel is perhaps inaccurate. Raw Material from 1974 is part novel, part autobiography and part family history.
"For this confession of atrocity," Sillitoe recounts, "no one was ever brought to trial. The line at this point had only recently been reinforced by very young and half trained soldiers, boys who were dragged unwilling from farm and factory, slum and office. For not playing the game, and obeying the stringent rules laid down for them, the Gestapo machine gunning officers and sergeants murdered them"
"As far as I can ascertain from official history the units from which the forty murdered men of this platoon could have come were the 1st Scottish Rifles, the 1st Queen's Regiment, The XXI Corps Reinforcement Battalion, or from three platoons of the 8th Middlesex (Pioneers)....If anyone lost a member of his family this day and from one of those regiments it is possible that they were not shot by Germans, but that they were butchered when faced with an overdose of British rancour" Sillitoe concludes, adding quite understandably "How many more were there?"
With such horrors in mind, is it any surprise that the Etaples Mutiny had occurred just seven months earlier in September, 1917 - a mutiny that was eventually quashed by two battalions from the Front?
Is it any surprise - given how hushed up Meteren seems to be - that the documents surrounding Etaples (which should have come to light last year after the hundred years had passed for the files to enter into the public domain) were 'accidentally' lost to a blaze in the late 1970s - around the same time that William Allison and John Fairley's book on Percy Toplis, The Monocled Mutineer, was published. As for Lt.Col G.S. Hutchinson, a man so utterly unrepentant in his role in such mass slaughter of his fellow countrymen that he happily presented us with the facts in his own book, Sillitoe discovered that he was awarded the Military Cross and te Distinguished Service Order, as well as being mentioned four times in despatches. After the First World War, he became involved in political work in Poland which Sillitoe attests that "it was here that he seems to have become infected with the virulent anti-semitism which lasted until his death" He was the author of some sixteen books on military and political matters, one of which was effusive with praise for Nazi Germany. Using the pseudonym of 'Graham Seton', he wrote several penny dreadful adventure novels, which often cast Jews and foreigners as the villains. In 1933 he set up the National Workers Movement; an organisation that was heavily influenced by similar bodies he had seen first hand in Nazi Germany. He sat on the National Playing Fields Association's Executivr Council and on the board of Gordon Boys School. He spent the Second World War working for the air ministry and died in 1946.
A couple of years ago whilst on holiday in Settle I picked up a couple of vintage paperback novels of Sillitoe and have just finished reading one in two gloriously sunny days flat this week. Though to cal it a novel is perhaps inaccurate. Raw Material from 1974 is part novel, part autobiography and part family history.
In detailing the lives of his ancestors, Sillitoe discusses at length the barbaric horrors of the Great War in a manner which would not endear him to Michael Gove. It's a fascinating read which enlightened me to a particularly bloody and shameful moment during that whole futile conflict - the incident at Meteren, 14th April 1918 - a chapter of our history that has been somewhat hushed up.
"I have scoured official histories, and searched divisional accounts, but can find no mention of it save for one book; Machine Guns: Their History and Tactical Employment by Lt. Col. G.S. Hutchinson, published in 1938" Sillitoe states.
On the 9th April, the German forces moved their artillery train of heavy guns from the Somme to commence the offensive on the Lys. The artillery disintegrated the Portuguese corps and routed the English who swiftly became demoralised and in fear for their lives, or 'panicked' as the official line has it. Resistance quickly collapsed in the face of the offensive as the officers and their young and inexperienced soldiers who had been holding the line at that point fled and deserted. Hutchison, the author of the book Sillitoe refers to, was the commander of the 33rd Division's Machine Gun Battalion and was ordered to the village of Meteren, near Bailleul, to defend a tactically important hill against the enemy.
"He relates how, on his reconnaisance on 12th April" Sillitoe explains in discussing Hutchinson's account, "he went into a roadside estaminet and found a crowd of British stragglers, fighting drunk. He ordered a machine gun to be trained upon them, and sent them forward towards the Germans where, he said 'they perished to a man'"
"By 14th April the Germans were attacking once more, and again men were inclined to flee. Hutchinson therefore ordered the sergeants in charge of the gun teams to fire on any British troops who began to retreat. He then goes on to say 'From near the mill I saw one of my gunners destroy a platoon of one regiment which in its panic had taken to flight'"
"For this confession of atrocity," Sillitoe recounts, "no one was ever brought to trial. The line at this point had only recently been reinforced by very young and half trained soldiers, boys who were dragged unwilling from farm and factory, slum and office. For not playing the game, and obeying the stringent rules laid down for them, the Gestapo machine gunning officers and sergeants murdered them"
"As far as I can ascertain from official history the units from which the forty murdered men of this platoon could have come were the 1st Scottish Rifles, the 1st Queen's Regiment, The XXI Corps Reinforcement Battalion, or from three platoons of the 8th Middlesex (Pioneers)....If anyone lost a member of his family this day and from one of those regiments it is possible that they were not shot by Germans, but that they were butchered when faced with an overdose of British rancour" Sillitoe concludes, adding quite understandably "How many more were there?"
With such horrors in mind, is it any surprise that the Etaples Mutiny had occurred just seven months earlier in September, 1917 - a mutiny that was eventually quashed by two battalions from the Front?
Is it any surprise - given how hushed up Meteren seems to be - that the documents surrounding Etaples (which should have come to light last year after the hundred years had passed for the files to enter into the public domain) were 'accidentally' lost to a blaze in the late 1970s - around the same time that William Allison and John Fairley's book on Percy Toplis, The Monocled Mutineer, was published. As for Lt.Col G.S. Hutchinson, a man so utterly unrepentant in his role in such mass slaughter of his fellow countrymen that he happily presented us with the facts in his own book, Sillitoe discovered that he was awarded the Military Cross and te Distinguished Service Order, as well as being mentioned four times in despatches. After the First World War, he became involved in political work in Poland which Sillitoe attests that "it was here that he seems to have become infected with the virulent anti-semitism which lasted until his death" He was the author of some sixteen books on military and political matters, one of which was effusive with praise for Nazi Germany. Using the pseudonym of 'Graham Seton', he wrote several penny dreadful adventure novels, which often cast Jews and foreigners as the villains. In 1933 he set up the National Workers Movement; an organisation that was heavily influenced by similar bodies he had seen first hand in Nazi Germany. He sat on the National Playing Fields Association's Executivr Council and on the board of Gordon Boys School. He spent the Second World War working for the air ministry and died in 1946.
Sunday, 31 December 2017
2017: Page by Page
It's New Year's Eve so here is the now traditional round up of just what I've been reading these past twelve months. Overall, it's been a disappointing year books wise. I haven't managed to organise my life/pastime balance as well as I'd like and I found it hard to invest and immerse in what I was reading. Compare 2016's total of 51 books to this year's 33 and you can see how much of a struggle it was. It took ages to finish a good deal of them too, and I often resorted to re-reads of old favourites and familiars.
January
1. Rather be the Devil by Ian Rankin. Started 2/1/17 Finished 11/1/17
2. Moranifesto by Caitlin Moran. Started 12/1/17 Finished 19/1/17
3. Shoes for Anthony by Emma Kennedy. Started 20/1/17 Finished 29/1/17
4. Status Quo and the Kangaroo, and Other Rock Apocryphals by Jon Holmes. Started 29/1/17 Finished 2/2/17 (Re-read)
February
5. South of the Border by Barbara Machin. Started 3/2/17 Finished 11/2/17
6. The Last Breath by Denise Mina. Started 12/2/17 Finished 26/2/17
7. Seven Miles Out by Carol Morley. Started 27/2/17 Finished 5/3/17
March
8. Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction by Sue Townsend. Started 6/3/17 Finished 17/3/17
9. List of the Lost by Morrissey. Started 13/3/17 Finished 13/3/17
10. Our Bettie: Scenes from My Life by Liz Smith. Started 14/3/17 Finished 17/3/17
11. Caedmon's Song by Peter Robinson. Started 17/3/17 Finished 24/3/17
12. Strip Jack by Ian Rankin. Started 25/3/17 Finished 3/4/17
April
13. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. Started 4/4/17 Finished 8/4/17
14. Patient: The True Story of a Rare Illness by Ben Watt. Started 7/4/17 Finished 11/5/17 (Audiobook)
15. Urban Grimshaw and the Shed Crew by Bernard Hare. Started 10/4/17 Finished 19/4/17
16. Liberty, Equality, Virginity by Ed Jones. Started 22/4/17 Finished 7/5/17
May
17. The Enemy Within: The Secret War Against the Miners by Seumas Milne. Started 8/5/17 Finished 25/5/17
18. One Day a Lemming Will Fly by Liz Holliday. Started 26/517 Finished 3/6/17
June
19. Rita Sue and Bob Too/A State Affair by Andrea Dunbar and Robin Soans. Started 4/6/17 Finished 7/6/17
20. A Year in the Life of a Yorkshire Shepherdess by Amanda Owen. Started 10/6/17 Finished 15/6/17
21. Things Can Only Get Better by John O'Farrell. Started 16/6/17 Finished 19/6/17 (Re-read)
22. The Hanging Club by Tony Parsons. Started 26/6/17 Finished 13/7/17
July
23. Ken Campbell: The Great Caper by Michael Coveney. Started 30/7/17 Finished 10/8/17
August
24. Pride by Tim Tate, with LGSM. Started 11/8/17 Finished 18/8/17
25. Daisy Miller by Henry James. Started 13/8/17 Finished 13/8/17 (Re-read)
26. The Long Road From Jarrow by Stuart Maconie. Started 20/8/17 Finished 20/9/17
September
27. How Not To Be A Boy by Robert Webb. Started 20/9/17 Finished 5/10/17
October
28. Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare by Giles Milton. Started 7/10/17 Finished 22/10/17
29. Lonely Courage by Rick Stroud. Started 23/10/17 Finished 11/11/17
November
30. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Started 11/11/17 Finished 17/11/17
31. Man Overboard by Tim Binding. Started 18/11/17 Finished 27/11/17
32. You are Nothing by Robert Wringham. Started 28/11/17 Finished 3/12/17
December
33. How Not To Grow Up by Richard Herring. Started 5/12/17 Finished 30/12/17 (Re-read)
Best Books: The Enemy Within: The Secret War Against the Miners by Seumas Milne, The Long Road From Jarrow by Stuart Maconie, Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare by Giles Milton.
Worst Books: List of the Lost by Morrissey, Caedmon's Song by Peter Robinson.
Tuesday, 14 March 2017
Rapid Reviews: List of the Lost by Morrissey
'Beware the novelist' the blurb on the back of this book intones...
After reading it, all I can say is beware the novelist indeed! Because this is such a disappointing mess. I love The Smiths, I like Morrissey. I read the autobiography and I felt that his prose suggested he had a natural voice for the novel. I looked forward to him one day tackling the genre.
But no way did I expect this utter bumwash to be the result!
There are some good lines here. But they are few and far between. Characters speak like no real persons ever do. Witness one scene in which Ezra and Eliza, the All American high school sweethearts, discuss - with remarkable insight, like all American teenagers in 1975 didn't do - the then Tory leader of the opposition, Margaret Thatcher.
"I hate womb-men like that...they just can't wait to be one of the boys...and just watch, if she becomes Prime Minister, she won't hire any women in her government"
When one of them goes on to mistakenly call her Margaret Hatchet instead of Thatcher, it is immediately picked up on in the most immature, clunkily pretentious of ways
"Her name's Thatcher. Although you could be right when you say Hatchet. Just look at that boneless face...if ever an engine of grief..."
By the way the ellipses are the author's own. See what I mean? It's like the adolescent Adrian Mole thinking he's being daring and politically cutting. I'm a socialist, so I'm always up for someone giving the Iron Lady a good kicking, but please, this was embarrassing. And there's a lot more of this style in the non-event narrative of murder and four promising Bostonian track athletes.
Mercifully, the novella is just 118 pages long and I read it in one sitting. But if you ask me, it's 117 pages too many.
Saturday, 31 December 2016
2016: Page by Page
Well, here we are at New Year's Eve so here is a list/diary of all the books I have read in the last twelve months.
January
1. Even Dogs In The Wild by Ian Rankin. Started 1/1/16 Finished 12/1/16
2. Rose by Martin Cruz Smith. Started 13/1/16 Finished 24/1/16
3. How Much Land Does A Man Need? By Leo Tolstoy. Started 20/1/16 Finished 20/1/16
4. HHhH by Laurent Binet. Started 25/1/16 Finished 2/2/16
February
5. The Actual One by Isy Suttie. Started 3/2/16 Finished 10/2/16
6. Heart of London by Monica Dickens. Started 11/2/16 Finished 16/2/16
7. The Obsession by GF Newman. Started 17/2/16 Finished 25/2/16
8. On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan. Started 26/2/16 Finished 1/3/16
March
9. A Book For Her by Bridget Christie. Started 2/3/16 Finished 10/3/16
10. Murder On Ward 4: The Story of Beverly Allit. Started 12/3/16 Finished 29/3/16
11. The Tent, The Bucket And Me by Emma Kennedy. Started 23/3/16 Finished 10/4/16
April
12. Red Shift by Alan Garner. Started 11/4/16 Finished 16/4/16
13. Curious by Rebecca Front. Started 16/4/16 Finished 22/4/16
14. One Day by David Nicholls. Started 23/4/16 Finished 30/4/16
May
15. Thatcher Stole My Trousers by Alexei Sayle. Started 1/5/16 Finished 9/5/16
16. Northern ReSisters by Bernadette Hyland. Started 1/5/16 Finished 4/5/16
17. Life in Strangeways by Alan Lord. Started 9/5/16 Finished 12/5/16
18. Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe. Started 12/5/16 Finished 19/5/16
19. Looking For Eric by Paul Laverty. Started 18/5/16 Finished 19/5/16
20.The Grifters by Jim Thompson. Started 20/5/16 Finished 22/5/16
21.The Dead Hour by Denise Mina. Started 23/5/16 Finished 5/6/16
June
22. Felicia's Journey by William Trevor. Started 5/6/16 Finished 8/6/16
23. The Dressmaker by Beryl Bainbridge. Started 9/6/16 Finished 11/6/16
24. Three Into Two Won't Go by Andrea Newman. Started 12/6/16 Finished 16/6/16
25. Young Adolf by Beryl Bainbridge. Started 17/6/16 Finished 18/6/16
26. Very Naughty Boys: The Amazing True Story of Handmade Films by Robert Sellers. 19/6/16 Finished 21/6/16 (re-read)
27. An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge. Started 21/6/16 Finished 22/6/16
28. Master Georgie by Beryl Bainbridge. Started 23/6/16 Finished 26/6/16
29. Island Madness by Tim Binding. Started 27/6/16 Finished 9/7/16
July
30. Bodies by Jed Mercurio. Started 11/7/16 Finished 19/7/16 (re-read)
31. The Bottle Factory Outing by Beryl Bainbridge. Started 20/7/16 Finished 24/7/16
32. The Pie At Night: What The North Does For Fun by Stuart Maconie. Started 25/7/16 Finished 7/8/16
August
33. Content Provider: Selected Short Prose Pieces 2011-2016 by Stewart Lee Started 11/8/16 Finished 18/8/16
34. Script Doctor: The Inside Story of Doctor Who 1986-'89 by Andrew Cartmel. Started 19/8/16 Finished 24/8/16 (re-read)
35. The Left Handed Hummingbird by Kate Orman. Started 25/8/16 Finished 3/9/16 (re-read)
September
36. Paradise Lodge by Nina Stibbe. Started 1/9/16 Finished 6/9/16
37. Absolute Beginners by Colin MacInnes. Started 4/9/16 Finished 8/9/16
38. Motherland by Jo McMillan. Started 9/9/16 Finished 17/9/16
39. Tony Hart: A Portrait Of My Dad by Carolyn Ross. Started 20/9/16 Finished 25/9/16
40. Cutting Edge by John Harvey. Started 27/9/16 Finished 4/10/16
October
41. Cold Light by John Harvey. Started 6/10/16 Finished 21/10/16
42. Animal by Sara Pascoe. Started 22/10/16 Finished 29/10/16
43. Fever Pitch: The Screenplay by Nick Hornby. Started 30/10/16 Finished 30/10/16
44. Walls Come Tumbling Down: The Music and Politics of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge by Daniel Rachel. Started 30/10/16 Finished 15/11/16
November
45. Sailing Close to the Wind: Reminiscences by Dennis Skinner, MP. Started 15/11/16 Finished 21/11/16
46. It's All Going Wonderfully Well: Growing Up With Bob Hoskins by Rosa Hoskins. Started 22/11/16 Finished 24/11/16
47. Barcelona Plates by Alexei Sayle. Started 25/11/16 Finished 29/11/16
December
48. In Plain Sight: The Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile by Dan Davies. Started 1/12/16 Finished 12/12/16
49. High Concept: Don Simpson and the Hollywood Culture of Excess by Charles Fleming. Started 13/12/16 Finished 19/12/16
50. The Beat Goes On by Ian Rankin. Started 19/12/16 Finished 23/12/16
51. Alan Partridge: Nomad by Alan Partridge (Audiobook) Started 27/12/16 Finished ??
Thursday, 24 November 2016
Rapid Reviews: Sailing Close To The Wind by Dennis Skinner, MP
Labour MP for Bolsover since 1970, Dennis Skinner finally succumbed to demand and wrote his reminiscences of a life in politics in 2014. It wasn't something he wanted to do, believing he is a more skillful communicator with the spoken word via public oration, and admits that it was hard to write; "I hope it turns out alright" he says in the acknowledgements. Well, I can assure him and you that it most certainly has turned out alright - the humour, passion and dedicated commitment of the man shines through on every page. At a time when politics seem to be dominated by right wing nutjobs and centre-ground squatting squirts who are simply careerists, it's good to know that Skinner still fights for what he believes, for the rights of the working class men and women of his constituency and, in turn, his country.
I've read many political memoirs in my time, but this has to be one of the funniest and warmest. It reads like a barroom chat with and old friend you hold in the greatest regard and respect. Here's one of the funniest passages;
'Norman Tebbit was an uppity backbencher before Thatcher stuck him in the Cabinet. Tommy Swain, a fellow ex-miner from Derbyshire, was sitting opposite Tebbit (in the House of Commons) who was muttering away. I didn't catch precisely what Tebbit said but, looking at Tommy, he'd said something like "The old man's turned up for once" in a clear dig.
"What did he say?" asked Tommy
"He called you a bastard," I answered to wind up Tommy. He cursed Tebbit, then a few moments later I heard:
"Tebbit's said something else - what was it?"
"He's called you a bastard again, Tommy"
Tommy wasn't happy.Tommy shouted at Tebbit that he wanted a word and Tebbit, the silly sod, got up to speak to him. I was thinking what a fool Tebbit was when Tommy pounced at the back of the chamber. I can see the pair now: Tommy holding Tebbit by the tie with one hand, Tommy's other hand screwed into a menacing fist in Tebbit's face. The two of them were near the heavy double doors into the Member's Lobby so beyond what's known as the bar of the House and officially out of chamber. The Speaker was unable to save Tebbit from a pasting if Tommy wasn't appeased. Bernard Weatherill, then a Tory whip and later himself a Speaker, saw what was going on and rushed over. Tommy complained that Tebbit was bad-mouthing him and Weatherill told Tebbit to apologise. I saw Tommy later with a piece of paper in his hand. It was a letter of apology from Tebbit! I don't know what Tebbit said exactly but I must have been nearer the truth than I imagined'
Two things strike me about that particular anecdote; one, is that it's the kind of thing my late grandfather (who bore a passing resemblance to Skinner and was an ex-miner himself) would have done. He enjoyed a good leg pull. And the second is that it really couldn't have happened to a nicer person than Norman Tebbit, a loathsome hard hearted man who enjoyed his role as Thatcher's hatchet man, destroying the lives of millions of Britons throughout the 1980s and remains unrepentant to this day. I'd have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that moment; Tommy Swain might have been over 60 by that stage but as a miner and a former fairground boxer, he could have done Tebbit some serious damage!
Dennis Skinner remains one of a kind, and in many ways that's a great shame. However, we can be grateful that he continues to fight the good fight against the likes of the Tories and UKIP at 84. Long may he continue.
Friday, 18 November 2016
Rapid Reviews: Walls Come Tumbling Down by Daniel Rachel
One of the best books I've read this year, Walls Come Tumbling Down charts the period between 1976 and 1992 when politics and pop music came together in an attempt to make the world a better place, challenging racism, sexism and the class divide under Thatcher's abhorrent Tory government.
Written by Daniel Rachel, the book explores three specific movements; Rock Against Racism, which formed as a direct result of the inflammatory comments made by Eric Clapton in support of Enoch Powell and black repatriation during a concert in Birmingham, Jerry Dammers' 2 Tone, which continued to break boundaries in terms of racial equality being represented in music and culminated in the release of Nelson Mandela, and Red Wedge, a collective of artistes who attempted to influence Labour party policy and inspire young people to vote.
The book is a series of interviews with the key proponents of each movement, including Billy Bragg, Rev Richard Coles, Jerry Dammers, Cathal Smyth, Red Saunders, Neil Kinnock and Annajoy David to name but a few (along with archive comments from Paul Weller and others), offering their first hand accounts of their attempts to improve society and end the ignorant, bigoted and austere politics of the National Front and the Tory party. If I had one minor criticism it is that, at 530 or so pages, it can sometimes be hard to recall just who each interviewee actually is and I often found myself returning to the start to check how they were and what their role was. Perhaps the inclusion of a photograph - taken during the period itself - next to each statement would have helped my memory? This is just a tiny gripe though it what was a fascinating and inspiring read which reminded me of the great work people can do when they seek to rally like-minded people closer and change the negative, harmful opinions of others. It also left me feeling that, in the present world of Brexit, UKIP, Theresa May, and Trump, we need Rock Against Racism, the Anti Nazi League, 2 Tone and Red Wedge again. And we need them now.
Wednesday, 5 October 2016
Rapid Reviews: Cutting Edge by John Harvey
I'd previously read just one novel by John Harvey and that was 2014's Darkness, Darkness - the final novel in the 13-book series featuring his hero Detective Inspector Charlie Resnick. That novel concerned a cold case mystery left unresolved from the days of the miners strike of 1984/'85. It was OK, a readable affair, but I felt I needed to have experienced Resnick before to have perhaps fully appreciated it.
So I went back to 1991 and book 3 in the series, Cutting Edge which I recommend.
A savage assault with a scalpel leaves Dr Tim Fletcher's body badly slashed in a deserted hospital walkway - the first victim in a series of brutal assaults on NHS staff in Nottingham. As panic grips the city, it's up to DI Resnick to find the killer. His chief suspect appears to be an over confident, sexually abusive medical student who had previously dated Fletcher's girlfriend - but is he and his team letting their dislike for the man clouding their judgement? Faced with a mass of clues that lead nowhere, Resnick is confronted by a face from his own past as he finds himself pushed to breaking point.
I really enjoyed this one and have come to like Resnick, the sandwich eating, multiple cat owning and jazz loving troubled 'tec. So much so that I went on to ioffer and bought a DVD of the BBC's sole attempts at adapting Harvey's novels (Lonely Hearts and Rough Treatment, books 1 and 2 in the series) starring Tom Wilkinson in the role and dating back to the early '90s.
Cutting Edge is an engrossing read full of lovely little details that play out on the periphery of the main crime; there's a handful of other investigations Resnick's team are currently looking into, and then there's their home lives too with one of his detective constable's struggling with a wife suffering from post natal depression, and Resnick himself finding himself putting up a drunken down and out acquaintance based on their mutual love for jazz. In tackling these various strands Harvey's style is quite fragmentary at times but it's never alienating or difficult in its approach. Without giving anything away, a turning point of the plot concerns a medical phenomena that is rarely spoken of and quite terrifying to consider!
But if reading Cutting Edge isn't appealing to you, you could always try listening to this enjoyable full-cast adaptation for Radio 4 dating back to 1996 and starring Tom Georgeson as Resnick, a young John Simm as Tim Fletcher and Gillian Bevan who plays staff nurse Sarah Leonard and also provides the chanteuse torch song style vocals to the play's theme tune.
Sunday, 18 September 2016
Rapid Reviews: Motherland by Jo McMillan
"My mum was quiet on the journey, which didn't worry me because I knew from last year it was just love and the left-hand drive"
That excerpt, which I've highlighted because of that beautiful phrase 'love and the left-hand drive' (I mean, that could almost be a Billy Bragg album title, right?) is from author Jo McMillan's 2015 debut novel, Motherland, which is a semi-fictional account of her teenage years, when she spent her summers with her mother, an active communist, in East Germany as part of an educational programme run by the GDR's Ministry of Education.
Motherland is full of beautiful, quirky little touches and turns of phrase like that, which just about save it from the vagaries you get elsewhere in the narrative.
Spanning 1978 to 1984, the story concerns Jess, the daughter of the only communist in Tamworth, her schoolteacher mother Eleanor - a marvellously eccentric, highly-strung and determined creation. When we meet Jess she is 13 and her belief in the GDR, the Soviet Union and Communism, is unflinching. She sells the Morning Star (or at least, attempts to sell it) with her mother to a disinterested and antagonistic Tamworth town centre every Saturday, and dreams of life at the other side of the Iron Curtain ("It's not really an Iron Curtain" Eleanor says at one point, "More a Veil of Misunderstanding")
That dream comes true when Eleanor is invited over to the GDR in the summer of '78 as part of a group of sympathetic teachers from across Western Europe. There, Jess meets the enigmatic teenager Martina and a strong friendship develops, just as Eleanor falls for Peter, Martina's widowed father; a love that is one of the two reasons for the aforementioned silence on the journey back.
But when Peter is dispatched for two years of solidarity work in Laos, the trouble starts and Jess realises the GDR isn't necessarily a place for love. Slowly, in this tragi-comic portrait of an unusual childhood, Jess begins to think for herself as she approaches adulthood and the bonds between mother and daughter begin to change.
The author and her mother, Isobel, in Potsdam, 1978
I rather enjoyed Motherland, primarily for its little character touches, than the story as a whole. I would recommend it to anyone who has read and enjoyed the memoirs of similar communist youths such as Alexei Sayle and David Aaornovitch. It seems we're having something of a boom period for these kind of stories now.
Friday, 20 May 2016
Tonight's Tele Tip: Love, Nina (and Rapid Review)
Really looking forward to Love, Nina on BBC1 tonight at 9:30pm starring Faye Marsay and Helena Bonham Carter.
This is a 5 part adaptation by Nick Hornby of Nina Stibbe's bestselling memoirs of the same name detailing her time as a nanny in the 1980s to Sam and Will Frears, the children of single parent Mary Kay Wilmers (deputy editor of London Review of Books and ex-wife of director Stephen Frears) I finished reading Stibbe's book earlier this week and it's a great read.
I really enjoyed the book, which is a warm, nostalgic and very funny trip back to the '80s in which the family Nina is employed by come across, though her letters home, as eccentric, unflappable and without pretension. Their set-up, treating the two children Sam and Will (10 and 9 respectively when Nina starts to live and work there) as adults with a free rein of language including swearing, and with Alan Bennett as a nightly supper guest, is a delight to read and I can't wait to see that translated to the screen - though for television the character Malcolm Tanner played by Jason Watkins will be a thinly disguised Bennett.
And anything that gives Marsay a starring role can only be a good thing.
Sunday, 15 May 2016
Gig Review: Isy Suttie @ Liverpool Philharmonic's Music Room, 15/5/16
Ever the cultural hub, Liverpool is currently even more cultural than normal with lots going on across the city thanks to the WowFest (Writing on the Wall) which celebrates writing in all forms and has attracted talks and performances from a wide range of people including Alexei Sayle, Jerry Dammers, Francesca Martinez, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Lord Puttnam, Phil Redmond, Dirk Maggs and Isy Suttie.
Isy is of course the reason I'm posting today, having bagged a ticket for a unique daytime gig, taking place today (Sunday) from 2pm. I must say this is the first time I've ever been to proper stand up during the day, and it suited Isy's homely, friendly style beautifully.
This show is essentially a live version of Isy's debut book, The Actual One (which I've previously reviewed here) Wisely Isy doesn't fall into the trap of simply regurgitating huge reams of text, like some comics with book to sell, and instead offers a precis which appeals to both those who have already read The Actual One and those who would wish to purchase the book after the show from the foyer (sold via News From Nowhere - Liverpool's best independent bookstore; a feminist co-operative that has been running since the '70s) whilst at the same time providing new material, largely in the shape of her amusing and melodic songs; one of which taps into the same themes of the book, exploring her concern regarding all her friends 'growing up' and moving to the countryside ("twattyside" as she sings at one point) and another which instructs us all to wait for our real love before playing them the music of Tom Waits. I also liked her anecdote about sharing a train carriage on the way home from a gig in Manchester with two drunken teenage girls playing a variant of 'Truth or Dare'; "Would you ever drink your own blood?", "Ugh no, I'd get AIDS!"
After the show we were treated to a Q&A from the stage chaired by a lady involved with Wowfest, where Isy revealed that she is currently working on a second book and was pleasingly open about her life and her career - including the glut of new comics who are imitating the greats as they attempt to find their way. At one point she mentioned how every young male comic now seems to have adopted the same vocal mannerisms of Stewart Lee, and I was amused to hear two girls behind me whisper to one another "Who's that?"
After the Q&A we had the chance to meet Isy and have our books signed.
As you can probably tell by the photo at the top of this review, I neglected to bring my book along to the gig (the Q&A and signing wasn't advertised, which was a minor irritation) but thankfully Isy was happy to sign my ticket and seemed as genuinely lovely as she does on TV. I'd long since hoped to catch Isy live, having seen her stand up on shows like The Alternative Comedy Experience and Dave's One Night Stand, and she really did not disappoint. It was, in short, a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon - I hope there'll be more stand ups who will consider the daytime slots at festivals from now on.
A quick word about The Music Room; this was the first time I'd ever attended the venue. I've been to the Philharmonic more times than I'd care to recall, but this more intimate setting, approached at the rear of the building on Sugnall Street, was a new experience for me. I really enjoyed it too - it's intimate and informal, spotlessly clean and modern and the layout is chairs and little round tables giving the room an almost cafe like feel. As long as you've got a ticket, you can sit where you like, so I managed to get myself a front seat which was great.
I'm hoping to catch a few more events at the Wowfest throughout this month.
Isy is of course the reason I'm posting today, having bagged a ticket for a unique daytime gig, taking place today (Sunday) from 2pm. I must say this is the first time I've ever been to proper stand up during the day, and it suited Isy's homely, friendly style beautifully.
This show is essentially a live version of Isy's debut book, The Actual One (which I've previously reviewed here) Wisely Isy doesn't fall into the trap of simply regurgitating huge reams of text, like some comics with book to sell, and instead offers a precis which appeals to both those who have already read The Actual One and those who would wish to purchase the book after the show from the foyer (sold via News From Nowhere - Liverpool's best independent bookstore; a feminist co-operative that has been running since the '70s) whilst at the same time providing new material, largely in the shape of her amusing and melodic songs; one of which taps into the same themes of the book, exploring her concern regarding all her friends 'growing up' and moving to the countryside ("twattyside" as she sings at one point) and another which instructs us all to wait for our real love before playing them the music of Tom Waits. I also liked her anecdote about sharing a train carriage on the way home from a gig in Manchester with two drunken teenage girls playing a variant of 'Truth or Dare'; "Would you ever drink your own blood?", "Ugh no, I'd get AIDS!"
After the show we were treated to a Q&A from the stage chaired by a lady involved with Wowfest, where Isy revealed that she is currently working on a second book and was pleasingly open about her life and her career - including the glut of new comics who are imitating the greats as they attempt to find their way. At one point she mentioned how every young male comic now seems to have adopted the same vocal mannerisms of Stewart Lee, and I was amused to hear two girls behind me whisper to one another "Who's that?"
After the Q&A we had the chance to meet Isy and have our books signed.
As you can probably tell by the photo at the top of this review, I neglected to bring my book along to the gig (the Q&A and signing wasn't advertised, which was a minor irritation) but thankfully Isy was happy to sign my ticket and seemed as genuinely lovely as she does on TV. I'd long since hoped to catch Isy live, having seen her stand up on shows like The Alternative Comedy Experience and Dave's One Night Stand, and she really did not disappoint. It was, in short, a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon - I hope there'll be more stand ups who will consider the daytime slots at festivals from now on.
A quick word about The Music Room; this was the first time I'd ever attended the venue. I've been to the Philharmonic more times than I'd care to recall, but this more intimate setting, approached at the rear of the building on Sugnall Street, was a new experience for me. I really enjoyed it too - it's intimate and informal, spotlessly clean and modern and the layout is chairs and little round tables giving the room an almost cafe like feel. As long as you've got a ticket, you can sit where you like, so I managed to get myself a front seat which was great.
I'm hoping to catch a few more events at the Wowfest throughout this month.
Thursday, 25 February 2016
Rapid Reviews : The Obsession by GF Newman
GF Newman is the kind of writer famed for tackling the big issues and courting controversy. On television he was well known for the groundbreaking 1978 mini-series Law and Order which shed a light on the corruption at the heart of our police force and penal systems. He followed this up with the 1983 mini-series The Nation's Health which addressed the ruination of the NHS at the hands of Thatcher's heartless conservative government.
As a novelist, GF Newman is perhaps most famous for Sir, You Bastard, a stunning debut that followed the corrupt career of an ambitious young Scotland Yard detective and helped pave the way for Law and Order. But in 1980 he wrote this novel, The Obsession, which has become very topical in the Yewtree age we now live in; given that it is about a Tory junior minister having an affair with a twelve-year-old girl.
Hobbie Kalmann is forty-two, a junior minister in the government, a man with considerable power and reputation. Afra is gifted, inquisitive, pretty and, as the twelve-year old lover of Hobbie Kalmann, the source of a tender and tragically relentless passion. Caught in an obsession that combines lust and innocence, Kalmann risks the collapse of his world for the one person who gives it meaning, Afra.
(from the blurb on the back of the 1980 paperback)
I must admit I read this because I wondered if Newman had managed to shed some pre-emptive light on the rumours that now dog the Tory government and indeed the establishment of the early '80s. Was this an attempt to uncover what was rotten and bring it to the public's mind in the same way he had so successfully unmasked police corruption in both Sir, You Bastard and Law and Order? Well, no sadly if that was ever Newman's intention, he doesn't really pull it off here. The Obsession doesn't discuss a secret network of paedophiles in the upper echelons of British society, instead it concentrates solely on Kalmann and presents him as a minority who genuinely believes he is in love with Afra.
Unfortunately this is where The Obsession gets a bit...well, icky and uncomfortable. Newman's descriptions are rather worryingly voyeuristic and there's something to be said in the notion that the way he approaches the relationship is somehow appeasing paedophiles. It is Afra who is shown to make the first move, time and time again, and Kalmann who submits after some internal conflict and resistance. Despite this sexual impulse, Afra is written as a very naive twelve year old, at odds with Kalmann's assertions that she is mature for her age. She is always depicted as being very childish in the scenes which Newman allows her to be apart from Kalmann which poses an interesting complexity and the notion on people believing what they want to believe to indulge in their heart's desires. Kalmann is an unsympathetic character, but the manner in which Newman approaches his crimes almost seems like he's trying to gain some sympathy.
Equally icky is Newman's characterisation of Afra's friend Eugenia, who indulges in incestuous sex games with her brothers as if it were the norm. Call me prudish, but this was a real eye-opener for me and not what I'd personally consider normal. Again, there's a danger here that the impulses paedophiles have could be considered justified from this text, rather than condemned.
But before you give up hope, Newman manages to introduce Eugenia into Kalmann and Afra's secret weekends and, tapping into Kalmann's thoughts, Newman reveals that he begins to harbour feelings of lust for Eugenia too which blows away any of his repeated beliefs that he is not a paedophile and that he is simply someone who has fallen for a twelve-year old girl. Without giving anything away, the weekend is a tragic disaster and comeuppances are delivered, though even then one gets a sense that neither Kalmann or Afra have learnt anything from the experience.
An interesting, bold read, but not without its flaws. Apropos of nothing, I kept seeing/hearing Kalmann as David Cameron - not that he's a peado of course...
Thursday, 11 February 2016
Rapid Reviews : The Actual One by Isy Suttie
You only need look at the bottom right hand side of this blog to see that I am a big fan of Isy Suttie, so it should come as no surprise that I had pre-ordered her debut book for some time. Released at the end of last month, The Actual One : How I tried, and failed, to remain twenty-something for ever, has never been far from my hands this week, meaning I have rather hurriedly devoured it.
This is a great read as sweetly amusing as Isy herself - known to many as the wonderful Dobby from Peep Show - and a timely read considering St Valentine's Day is upon us singletons this weekend because this is a great anti-Valentine's read. The book concerns Isy's late-twenties and how she slowly became aware that all of her friend and contemporaries were starting to marry, have children and buy houses whilst she had just come out of another unsuccessful relationship. Told that the next guy she meets won't be 'The One' but 'The Actual One' (which is better, obviously) Isy sets out to somewhat half-heartedly find him, whilst at her home in Matlock, her eccentric mother ventures into 'The Computer Room' with a cuppa to explore the world of internet dating on her daughter's behalf.
The book is littered with very funny and very frank anecdotes that are very relatable, especially if you too are of a certain age and find yourself single. Some will be familiar to fans of Isy's stand up or her excellent radio series Isy Suttie's Love Letters, but many of them are new. Having read the book, I certainly feel like I know Isy especially well, perhaps too well, given her no-holds-barred anecdotal style. But there's still more to learn from Isy and I hope she intends to write a follow-up which explains how she got from here to a settled relationship with fellow comic Elis James and - as of 2014 - a child of her own.
It's hard to conjure up a significant sound bite or summary for how good this book is, so I shall just close with what Stuart Maconie had to say about it;
"Imagine if you will a more cuddly Trainspotting, or a drunker, dirtier Adrian Mole. Isy's warm wonky memoir lies somewhere between the two: darkly, sweetly funny and affecting, and studded with lemon-sharp insights on life"
Wednesday, 3 February 2016
Rapid Reviews : HHhH by Laurent Binet
HHhH by Laurent Binet is a cracking read. I picked it up on an impulse at the library lasdt week, having recently (re)watched Operation Daybreak. Like that film, Binest's book is about the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in Prague, 1942 by two British trained Czech paratroopers, Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš. The title derives from the nickname, translated from German, the SS gave Heydrich; Himmler's brain.
But this is no ordinary run of the mill factual account; in fact, it's half factual book, half novel and half a writer's journal about the perils and pitfalls of trying to write a story. It's pretty indescribable really, and certainly not like anything I've ever read before - for instance, on a couple of occasions, Binet writes something and then, in the next chapter, says 'of course, that never happened', before berating himself for his use of dramatic licence and revealing what actually happened. Speaking of dramatic licence it puts to rights the deliberate errors any previous film depictions of the mission made; cornered, Gabčík and Kubiš did not kill one another, because Kubiš had already been killed by the SS troops in the first wave of their attack against their church bolthole. And Karel Curda the notorious traitor who gave the SS and the Gestapo his comrades names, did so not for fear that his family would be slaughtered, but simply for the money, having no allegiance to the Allies whatsoever. Of course the story is utterly fascinating, I've always thought so.
Also weirdly, no page numbers!
Friday, 15 January 2016
I've Read The Book, Now Make The Movie!
I've previously blogged about the book Once More, With Feeling, Victoria Coren and Charlie Skelton's story of how, bored of reviewing porn in The Erotic Review, they set out to make what would be the greatest porn film ever.
The book is their hilarious and informative account of how they, two British journos, researched, created and shot the film which subsequently became known as The Naughty Twins and screened just once for friends and colleagues. It earned great reviews, with The Guardian remarking that Coren and Skelton were "a couple of Hugh Grant-like characters" as they descended the seamy world of the sex industry in the States and in Europe.
Over at Victoria's tumblr fansite I noticed the site owner mention that Once More, With Feeling would have made a great indie British romcom. I hadn't thought of it before, but the more I considered it, the more right I felt she was. We started discussing back and forth and, bored, I started coming up with likely actors who could play a fictionalised version of both Victoria Coren and Charlie Skelton. Once I'd done that, I went a bit further and created some poster images/lobby cards for an imaginary film!
I think Romola Garai and Rafe Spall would be the perfect leads, a really food fir for both Victoria and Charlie. If anyone reading this daydream has any power within the British Film Industry please make this happen and snap the film rights to their book up. The end result just has to be better than Kevin 'last funny in the early 00s' Smith's Zack and Miri Make A Porno right?
The book is their hilarious and informative account of how they, two British journos, researched, created and shot the film which subsequently became known as The Naughty Twins and screened just once for friends and colleagues. It earned great reviews, with The Guardian remarking that Coren and Skelton were "a couple of Hugh Grant-like characters" as they descended the seamy world of the sex industry in the States and in Europe.
Victoria and Charlie with a great porn tache on the TV
Over at Victoria's tumblr fansite I noticed the site owner mention that Once More, With Feeling would have made a great indie British romcom. I hadn't thought of it before, but the more I considered it, the more right I felt she was. We started discussing back and forth and, bored, I started coming up with likely actors who could play a fictionalised version of both Victoria Coren and Charlie Skelton. Once I'd done that, I went a bit further and created some poster images/lobby cards for an imaginary film!
I think Romola Garai and Rafe Spall would be the perfect leads, a really food fir for both Victoria and Charlie. If anyone reading this daydream has any power within the British Film Industry please make this happen and snap the film rights to their book up. The end result just has to be better than Kevin 'last funny in the early 00s' Smith's Zack and Miri Make A Porno right?
Tuesday, 12 January 2016
Out On Blue Six : Associates (and a teensy Rapid Review too)
Showing once again that he knows how to pick a good tune, this track by The Associates from their 1980 album The Affectionate Punch, is the title for the latest Rebus novel by Ian Rankin.
Even Dogs In The Wild continues the Rebus story, finding him back into retirement after a brief return to the force. But when a serial killer sets his sights on Rebus' nemesis Big Ger Cafferty, Police Scotland call on their most (in)famous son to help them out once more.
I got the book as a Christmas present and started reading it last week, finishing it tonight. It's a solid effort from Rankin which, like the last three Rebus novels, sees him slowly bring his other character DI Malcolm Fox, formerly of Complaints, into Rebus' world. I must admit to having issues with this; I read the Fox novels and found them to have little merit. I can see why Rankin has therefore sought to merge his worlds together, but I do find it is to the detriment of Rebus' sidekick Siobhan Clarke, who really should be moving centre stage now.
Still, time with Rebus is always time well spent and - though he's doing less drinking these days and seems to have packed in the long dark nights staying awake watching over his city listening to the Stones and John Martyn - this latest novel gives him some nice moments. It also gives him a dog too, to keep him company and active in retirement!
Rankin makes sure the Associates track features in the story and its lyrics prove remarkably fitting to the story overall.
End Transmission
Friday, 1 January 2016
2015: Page by Page
Here's a list/diary of books I read in 2015. Some re-reads, a leaning towards non fiction, all in all a good year's read....
January
1. One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Started 1/1/15. Finished 6/1/15.
2. The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi. Started 12/1/15. Finished 23/1/15
3. Our Vinnie by Julie Shaw. Started 26/1/15 Finished 5/2/15
February
4. The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson. Started 6/2/15 Finished 11/2/15
5. Ban This Filth: Letters from the Mary Whitehouse Archive edited by Ben Thompson. Started 12/2/15 Finished 18/2/15
6. Greenland by Howard Brenton. Started 18/2/15 Finished 19/2/15
7. Where Does It Hurt? by Max Pemberton. Started 20/2/15 Finished 3/3/15
March
8. Angels by Paula Milne and Leslie Duxbury. Started 3/3/15 Finished 7/3/15
9. Fighting Back: Speaking Out For Socialism in the Eighties by Tony Benn. Started 5/3/15 Finished 14/3/15
10.The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell. Started 7/3/15 Finished 25/3/15
11.Children of the Mill: True Stories From Quarry Bank by David Hanson. Started 14/3/15 Finished 23/3/15
12. A Blaze of Autumn Sunshine: The Last Diaries by Tony Benn. Started 23/3/15 Finished 7/4/15
April
13. Ruthless by Cath Staincliffe. Started 7/4/15 Finished 14/4/15
14. The Bird and The Beeb by Liz Kershaw. Started 15/4/15 Finished 20/4/15
15. The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend. Started 21/4/15 Finished 23/4/15
16. The 'If You Prefer A Milder Comedian, Please Ask For One' EP by Stewart Lee. Started 24/4/15 Finished 27/4/15
17. Chapter and Verse: New Order, Joy Division and Me by Bernard Sumner. Started 28/4/15 Finished 7/5/15
May
18. The Outsider by Albert Camus. Started 8/5/15 Finished 12/5/15
19. Long Way Home by Eva Dolan. Started 13/5/15 Finished 29/5/15
20. Hackney Child by 'Hope Daniels' and Morag Livingstone. Started 30/5/15 Finished 7/6/15
June
21. Dial 999: Blue Lights and Long Nights by Les Pringle. Started 7/6/15 Finished 17/6/15
22. A Darker Domain by Val McDermid. Started 17/6/15 Finished 28/6/15
23. South Riding by Winifred Holtby. Started 28/6/15 Finished 3/7/15
July
24. 1985 by Anthony Burgess. Started 3/7/15 Finished 8/7/15
25. Sir, You B*stard by GF Newman. Started 10/7/15 Finished 18/7/15
26. The Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels. Started 14/7/15 Finished 14/7/15
27. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett. Started 20/7/15 Finished 21/7/15
28. How To Build A Girl by Caitlin Moran. Started 21/7/15 Finished 27/7/15
29. Call The Ambulance by Les Pringle. Started 27/7/15 Finished 9/8/15
August
30. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend. Started 1/8/15 Finished 8/8/15
31. The Murder Bag by Tony Parsons. Started 8/8/15 Finished 21/8/15
32. Darkness, Darkness by John Harvey. Started 21/8/15 Finished 30/8/15
33. I Lost My Heart To The Belles by Pete Davies. Started 31/8/15 Finished 6/9/15
September
34. Blood, Sweat & Tea by Tom Reynolds. Started 7/9/15 Finished 12/9/15
35. All Fired Up by Malcolm Castle. Started 12/9/15 Finished 15/9/15
36. The Slaughter Man by Tony Parsons. Started 15/9/15 Finished 22/9/15
37. Going Off Alarming by Danny Baker. Started 23/9/15 Finished 24/9/15
38. The Enemy by Lee Child. Started 24/9/15 Finished 28/9/15
39. Stalin Ate My Homework by Alexei Sayle. Started 28/9/15 Finished 7/10/15
October
40. Alan Clarke by Richard Kelly. Started 8/10/15 Finished 16/10/15
41. The Dick, Kerr's Ladies by Barbara Jacobs. Started 17/10/15 Finished 19/10/15
42. Easily Distracted by Steve Coogan. Started 19/10/15 Finished 26/10/15
43. The Lady In The Van by Alan Bennett. Started 27/10/15 Finished 27/10/15
44. Tumbledown: When The Fighting Is Over by John Lawrence and Robert Lawrence MC. Started 28/10/15 Finished 31/10/15
November
45. Solo by William Boyd. Started 1/11/15 Finished 8/11/15
46. Talking Heads by Alan Bennett. Started 9/11/15 Finished 12/11/15
47. Naked At The Albert Hall by Tracey Thorn. Started 12/11/15 Finished 20/11/15
48. Writing Home by Alan Bennett. Started 21/11/15 Finished 30/11/15
December
49. Mother.Wife.Sister.Human.Warrior.Falcon.Yardstick.Turban.Cabbage by Rob Delaney. Started 1/12/15 Finished 5/12/15
50. Stuart A Life Backwards By Alexander Masters. Started 11/12/15 Finished 23/12/15
51. For Richer, For Poorer by Victoria Coren. Started 25/12/15 Finished 31/12/15
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