Book Addicts Anonymous

I usually wait until I have finished a novel before I blog about it, but am going to make an exception with this one.
The story is a detective one, but this is not obvious at first, plus there is no actual detective. It is set in early restoration England. The plot revolves around the death of a Robert Grove, found dead in his chambers at Oxford. The story is related by four different people who were around at the time, and as is typical when four different people are asked to relate events leading up to something like this, each person has different priorities. It becomes obvious that Robert Grove has not died a natural death, although the Warden at his Oxford college tries to have him buried before any investigation starts.

I am currently about halfway through the second account, and it is very different from the first one. Iain Pears has shown ingenuity and adaptability in telling the story from different viewpoints. This book has been one of those that I'd bought but never got around to reading, and now I'm deeply into it, am asking myself why it has taken me so long to get around to reading it. It is not a book for those who like a quick read though as it is almost 700 pages long.

Ah! and here's a link to some more information about the book.

29th March 2009.
Now I have finished the third section of the novel, and what is becoming glaringly obvious to me is the fact that all three narrators to date are possibly unreliable narrators. All three have their own agenda to follow. However, this does not distract from the novel, but enhances it. Especially as the time the novel covers must have been one of uncertainty, so it echoes the thoughts of the time.
I am still enjoying the novel, and have just started the fourth account of events. I have never read a novel in this format before, it is very intriguing, and I am guessing it is meant to leave the reader guessing which is the true account of events when they have finished reading.

4th April 2009
I finished this on Thursday. The fourth section was the same story, but also different. Told by a historian from the time, [based on an actual historical figure from the time.] If I say too much about this account it WILL spoil the book, for those of you who want to read it.
On reflection I think the book worked very well, and in my eyes it has 3 unreliable records of the events at the time and one reliable one. As I read the fourth version I saw places where the others had misconstrued the information they had. You also have to bear in mind that the fourth account is written with knowledge that two of the others do not have, and the third one of them wishes to conceal for his own purposes.
Not a quick read, as it took me around 2 and 1/2 weeks to read, and when the narrator changes it is necessary to remind yourself that you are reading an account by a different narrator. The third account did irritate me at first, as it from the viewpoint of a doctor of divinity, and in helping establish this Pears uses quite a few bible quotes, to remind the reader that this account is by a member of the clergy. Luckily once this is established the bible quotes lessen.

This is the first of a series of books written by Jacqueline Winspear. And in time I might get hold of some of the others.
Masie Dobbs is a private investigator, just starting up in her own business.

London, 1929. Having set herself up as a private investigator, Masie Dobbs is relieved when her first client arrives. Christopher Davenham suspects that his wife is conducting an affair. But Masie's investigations confound her expectations at every turn. And she is forced by her findings to revisit her own turbulent experience of the Great War. For Masie, the boundary between her private and professional life is suddenly blurred.

This is a world still reeling in the aftermath of war, a world in which many secrets lie buried. But Masie is determined to hunt down the truth, however painful it might be....

This book, like the Kellerman was a refreshing change in the "investigation" genre of novels.

http://www.jacquelinewinspear.com/winspear/books.htm

This book lived up to the blurb, and more. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The past and present storylines knit together very well. I haven't read The Interpretation of Murder, but think I have it in my "waiting to be read" pile somewhere.
Jesse Kellerman is the son of Faye and Johnathon Kellerman, but doesn't need his parents success to help him along.

http://www.jessekellerman.com/content/fiction_detail.php?RecordID=3

This yet another book that left me wondering why I hadn't read it sooner.
http://www.panmacmillan.com/titles/displayPage.asp?PageTitle=Individual%20Title&BookID=402251&Category=
Gives the bumph, same as on the back of my copy.
I love the way the murderer was not obvious, and even when I knew who it was, it took some raking back to remember the clues, that Sansom had put throughout the book.
I loved the fact the central character is a "flawed" person who is very aware of his own weaknesses, and not the perfect detective, although he is not technically a detective in Dissolution. The other characters in the book are well defined, and I felt myself feeling sorry for Brother Guy having to find a new home at the end of the book.

It's ages since I read a book by Harlan Coben, but I do like a good crime/detective novel. Promise Me did not disappoint. From the first to last page I was hooked, pots went unwashed, dogs let out into the yard, (joking!) so I could read. I did find myself sitting up in bed reading "just one more page" before I went to sleep. I love trying to second guess the "detective" and try to predict who the perpetrator is/was, and trying to predict the twists, but the ones in Promise Me were very subtle, and may not even be picked up on a second, or maybe third reading. Unless you sat there and started all over again, but the only time you would ever do that would be if you were studying the book as part of degree level education.
The bumph about the book is on Harlan Coben's website, link below. The only thing I should say is for lovers of Myron Bolitar, it's his return novel. If you read it, hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

http://www.harlancoben.com/static/novels/pm.htm

I'd picked this book up in Waterstones when I was trying to find a third book to buy in their 3 for the price of two promotion. (It's a regular feature in their shops. You can mix the books, even mix adults and children's books. So much so that I nearly always find three books. The newspaper blurbs on the back cover helped sell this to me.)
Anyway, it's the 19th Falco novel, but it doesn't really matter that you haven't read the other 18, or at least it didn't seem to.
Falco is the central character, and he's an "investigator", today he would be called a detective. He has a rival, Anacrites, who is described as the "Spy", who comes across as a thoroughly detestable character, whose only redeeming feature is his continuing attachment to Falco's mother, who he had lodged with when younger. Falco tries at every turn to confuse Anacrites, so that he can be the first to solve the problem. They have both been given the task of finding an escaped "prisoner", she's a famous enemy of Rome, and when she finds out her planned "future" she escapes.
the story was slow to start, but then became very readable. I got to the stage where I wouldn't put it down until I had finished the chapter I was reading, then when I finished that one, I just wanted to know what happened next. I'm guessing the slow start was because I haven't read any other Falco novels.
This book was pretty interesting to me as I'd done Latin for a time at school, and was trying to picture the houses, and surroundings.
I'll give you the blurb from the back of the book now, and the link to Lindsey Davis' website, where you can learn more about both the author and the series of books.

http://www.lindseydavis.co.uk/index.html

This book is from the writer of the TV series "Spooks". And from what I have seen of "Spooks" is in the same vein.
Charlie and George appear to have very mundane jobs. They work together in a photo developing both in one of the London Underground stations. Except that their job at the photo developing booth is just a cover for their real job, but neither knows that the other has another job. Neither knows what the other does, nor ever should do. Until they both receive their next "post". This opens a whole can of worms, and some very tense times follow, coupled with some almost farcical moments.
The novel has a nice circular ending, in that it brings back the opening action in the closing pages of the book. The action is so full of red herrings, it could stock a supermarket fish counter.
The basic premise is that in the secret service one member doesn't know other members. The author then puts two working in close proximity, and gives them both "hits", each having the other as their "hit". The "trust no-one maxim" is tested again and again.
I know that this all sounds a little contrived, but it is a very easy to read book, with short punchy chapters, accessible language, and very believable characters.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/david-wolstencroft/
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/david-wolstencroft/good-news-bad-news.htm

I was recommended to read this author when I asked who wrote in a similar style to Jasper Fforde and Tom Holt.
As I am not a film "buff" I can only guess that many of the allusions in the book are film allusions. I did recognise one or two, and Rankin was quite blatant about them.
This book is a sequel, and I haven't read the previous one, but it made a lot of sense, so I would say it isn't imperative to have read the previous book.
The blurb from the back of the book probably tells you better what the story is about than I can.

Things are not going well in Toy City. There have been outbreaks of STC - Spontaneous Toy Combustion - and strange signs and portents in the Heavens. Many believe the End Times, a Toy City Apocalypse, will soon come to pass. But can this possibly be true, or is there a simpler explanation, - an alien invasion, for instance?
With the body count rising and the forces of law and order baffled, Tot City needs heroes - Eddie Bear, Toy City Private Eye, and his sidekick, Jack.
But their adventure, fraught with thrill, spills, danger, excitement and rather too much alcohol, will take them far from Toy City into a world beyond even their wildest imaginings. This world.

Our courageous twosome face their biggest challenger yet: not only saving toykind, but the world of mankind too.

Which should keep them both out of the pub for a while.

You might wonder why I didn't read the book this is a sequel to first. Simple, this was 99p, special offer, and I didn't notice that it was a sequel. I will probably read some more of Robert Rankin's books, in the future, as it was quite enjoyable, and an easy read.