I adore books. Always have done. Reading them, being given them, buying them, looking at them, just being in the same room as them. And I have become rather fond of being asked to read and review them too.
Recently I reviewed Howard Marks’s second crime thriller, The Score. The ‘Free Uncorrected Harvill Secker Proof – Not For Resale’ declaration on the cover brought with it a new level of fascination and adoration. Yes, I earned my corn by spotting a few typos and a humdinger of a continuity cock up which I’m sure will have been rectified but more to the point, I massively enjoyed the pace and the plot (and the Welsh references). I am also rather in awe of the minds that are able to create such writing and of course the discipline that’s involved in taking it from head to hardback.
‘Harvill Secker’ asked me for a comment, I replied “Addictive.” It seemed accurate and appropriate. The Score will be available on 4th April and is the sequel to his first, and equally addictive, crime thriller ‘Sympathy for the Devil’. I highly recommend both and obviously now you will have time to read the first one before the second is released! http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Score-Howard-Marks/dp/1846552699
I have also read and reviewed Payback Time by the slick author of City Boy, Geraint Anderson. It too was also a raw ‘Proof Copy’ which adds a whole lot of ‘relish to the read’ for me. I enjoy the challenge of reading through three sets of eyes, one scanning for typos and grammar, another for continuity and content and the third eyes (!) pursuing the plot itself. It’s enlivening, engaging and all-frickin-consuming and when I finished the book, I actually missed some of the characters more than I have missed some of the people in my life http://www.cityboy.biz/
This week I read and reviewed The Wicked Game by Matt Johnson. Now, I know Howard and Geraint and was unashamedly delighted to be given their books to read. I also know Matt and I knew of his book, it has been available for nearly 12 months. But I quietly admit that I had avoided reading it. We had met several times and discussed its conception, birth and first few steps but I had still not held it and coo-ed over it. Last week Matt and I met for lunch and he brought me a copy.
I read it in two sittings. It could easily have been one.
I still don’t know where my aversion to reading it came from – the cover, the police and SAS theme or maybe a review I had read casually but I had assumed it would just leak testosterone. I got it wrong. Very wrong. Whilst it’s not chick lit, it will appeal hugely to a lot of strong minded, intelligent women as well as male readers. The plot is complex, the writing fast paced and the characters seem familiar. There is just enough reference to emotions and affairs of the heart threaded through the authentic detailing of guns and other blokey stuff to make it all feel very real. It is clever, compelling and revealing; very revealing. http://mattjohnsonauthor.wordpress.com/
This photo (left) is of a couple of couple of ‘green leaves’ with a difference. I took Wicked Game to work with me to finish during my break. The mown grass on my hands was still wet as I turned the pages – hence the green ‘paw-prints’ you see in the photo.
And I suspect that is probably one of the most unexpected positive reviews this or any other book has ever had.
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