-
QUASER – Space sickness pills.
-
CLEARSOL – Sunspot remover.
-
MALIG-NOT – A cure for the common cold.
-
RESURRECTOL – For prompt, temporary relief from death.
-
MC SQUARES – The crunchy breakfast cereal that equals energy.
Author: Alexandra
Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh
It doesn’t get any better than this! Steve Cavanagh has done it again, pulling out all the stops to bring another fast-paced, thrilling, rollercoaster read. A thoroughly compelling story in which the devil truly is in the details.
Eddie Flynn is back in the arena, the courtroom that is, playing the ‘fall’ guy and sitting second chair to Rudy Carp, the lawyer representing actor, Bobby Solomon, in the case of the century. Thing is, Eddie has been talked into playing the fall guy by going after the cops who, Carp has convinced Eddie, planted evidence at the scene of a heinous crime, implicating Bobby Solomon in the murder of his wife and security guard.
While Eddie isn’t convinced either way, not yet at least, he’s taken the ‘second’ chair and, in doing so, the opportunity to do what he does best, because Carp Law has offered him something he needs right now. A boring, secure job in a big law firm, in order to win back his wife. He needs this, he tells himself. Because the one thing Eddie Flynn doesn’t want to lose right now, is his daughter. And if it means going ‘straight,’ and getting out of the way of the bad guys, Eddie is going to give it his best shot.
But not everything is going to go according to plan, as always. Cavanagh throws every possible spanner into the works, and mixes it up, putting Eddie back in the firing line, and in the sights of not just a couple of corrupt cops, but a serial killer.
As always, the author amps up the tension on several levels, as Flynn and Carp get set to defend Bobby Solomon, unaware there is another player in the room. One who has his own agenda and, a need to kill. Cavanagh alternates between Flynn’s side of the story, told in the first person, and that of serial killer and clever chameleon, Joshua Kane—and if this creepy unnerving guy doesn’t give you goose bumps, no one will.
I particularly like the way the author has written the alternating parts of this story, because while Kane is clearly a main story component, it’s through Eddie’s eye and thoughts that the story really opens up. Eddie is at the emotional heart of the story. Here’s a man trying hard to keep it altogether, because not only has he vowed to himself to do the right thing, but if he doesn’t change, he knows he will lose his wife and daughter for good.
So while we read about Kane and his past, and what makes him a cold-blooded killer, heartless to a fault. Eddie keeps us grounded in reality. And, in between the sensational details of a murder trial, a game of cat and mouse begins. But rest assured, Eddie Flynn is no mouse. He’s going to need his background as a conman not just to help get Bobby Solomon off a murder conviction, but to out-smart, and out-play a killer in their midst.
Aided by a well-round cast of characters that each have their own unique personalities, with some crackling twists and turns that had me furiously page turning, the climatic end left me almost breathless and dizzy.
Intense, taut, adrenaline-fuelled, plausibly plotted, cleverly twisted, and masterly engineered to leave you wanting more. Eddie Flynn and his author deliver a thoroughly absorbing and entertaining read.
Scythe by Neal Shusterman
The premise for SCYTHE by Neal Shusterman is a really good one. It comes across as being unusual—here we have people who train to deal death as a means of culling the growing population in a world were everyone is, technically, immortal. This is a story that should have everything going for it. Sadly, however, the author fails to deliver on a rich promise in a satisfying or fulfilling way and the awful black and white view on morality is absurd for a so-called utopia.
Which brings me to the utter lack of world building. There is none!
The author has decided his audience is savvy enough to know when he says death has been conquered through technology, he doesn’t then have to explain how, he just mentions everyone has ‘Nanites’ in their system that takes care of everything … including death. But there is no science to back this up, nor how the ‘Cloud’ now called the Thunderhead, became self-aware after amassing the sum of all human knowledge.
Why, for example, are the Scythes allowed to ‘glean’ at random, with any weapon they choose? And by what mechanism did the Scythes come into being to begin with?
Let’s take about the main characters of Citra and Rowan. Here we have two stand-ins that could have been lifted from the pages of either DIVERGENT or THE HUNGER GAMES. Neither of whom stand out in any way. Lacklustre at best, paper-thin at worst, they are a vapid means to an end when it comes to storytelling.
Oh, and don’t get me started on one of my pet-peeves: insta-love. The pair are devoid of any chemistry, but that’s okay, they still ‘fall’ in love anyway. This is just sloppy, lazy writing.
Then there are the secondary characters, who come across as animated caricatures. Take the buffoon High Scythe who, despite programable nanites to take care of his health, decides he wants to be middle aged and overweight. Then there is the psychopathic serial killer bad guy, Scythe Goddard, whose Harry Potter blue robe glittering with diamonds, goes around murdering gleaning at will—en-masse—with impunity. Because these people have no depth of character, no background, or emotive context, their actions come across as simply crude and shocking.
Like the teens who think it’s funny to leap out of tall buildings to ‘splatt’ on the pavement below, because they’ll get great ice cream at the revival centre. And besides, they’re not really dead, just almost dead. You know, because of the nanites. Seriously, this is just ridiculous.
Who in their right mind thinks this is okay? What’s also sad is that this kind of senseless writing is gifted praise and garners prizes.
In the end this came across as a pointless, overly long story, full of plot holes, aided and abetted by a lack of characterisation, with dull plodding prose, and utterly no world building whatsoever. While the best parts of Scythe—the journal entries and the two scythes, Faraday and Curie—to my mind, were never fully-realised, which is a shame because I think I would have liked their story better.
This is one weird-assed dystopian-utopia that went ‘splatt’ on the pavement from utter ennui!
Spaceside by Michael Mammay
SPACESIDE follows on two years after the events that take place the end of Planetside without so much as missing a beat. And Mammay doesn’t play catch up, like some authors might do, but goes straight to Butler having to deal with the aftermath of his decision—having become the most infamous person in the galaxy. Both mentally and physically, he’s shaken, and he’s lost confidence in himself, and his decision making process. He’s seeing a shrink, not sleeping well, and doubting and second guessing himself at ever juncture.
And then, when he starts seeing Cappans sat on the bus, as he’s going to work. You know something is up. Butler struggles to figure out whether he’s seeing thing, being paranoid, or hallucinating from stress. Is what he saw real? And are there hybrid Cappans on the planet, or is his past just giving him waking nightmares?
Again, Mammay has written a cleverly twisted plot dropping Butler (and us) into the middle of what, at first, looks like a simple case of corporate espionage, but given Butler’s background and history, it soon becomes apparent that there is more going on, than meets the eye. And suddenly, we’re deep into a mystery, wrapped in a thriller, loaded with suspense, that’s fraught with intrigue.
Once more we follow the clues at the same times as Butler, trying to make sense of what’s going on. Grandstanding his thoughts and emotions, and working through his thought processes and internal conflict, something that makes Spaceside feel so much more intimate. Here we have a man, normally use to action within a defined command structure, facing down his own indecision at the same time he’s coping with the consequences of his previous actions, including the subsequent loss of his wife. All of which helps flesh out Butler on a very personal level. Not just as a narrator of the story.
“Your whole life you do big, important things. You speak and people listen. Then suddenly that’s over, and you’re wasting your life doing some bullshit job that doesn’t matter, where nobody cares what you do as long as you show up for the company functions.”
I really enjoy this style of first person, in depth reactive analysis, through a main character, when it’s done this well. Butler is so well written, that he’s able to carry the entire story and, make us believe. It’s a joy to read this kind of clever writing, that not only keeps us second guessing, but also able to blindside us with a few neat plot twists. Till, even up until the end, we’re not sure just how Butler is going to get out of this one, alive!
The author also brought back a couple of other characters bleeding over from Planetside, to help aid and support Butler, including the now retired General Serata who, like Butler, is now living with the consequences of what happened in Planetside. While also giving us a solid cast of secondary characters that were, in and of them selves, really interesting as well.
What Mammay’s stories offer are a uniquely different take in what is a crowded MilSF market. What I especially love about his storytelling, never mind the witty dialogue, is the strength of his main character, Butler. All in all, this series is not only clever, it’s smart.
The Windsor Knot by SJ Bennett
This debut novel from the imaginative and decidedly twisted mind of S J Bennett is one of the best reads I’ve had this year, and that’s saying something given the quality of reads I’ve had of late. But what Bennett has done is capture the essence of Her Majesty, QEII, and turned her into a veritable royal Miss Marple in this lovely homage to Agatha Christie. Our much beloved sovereign is on top form in THE WIDSOR KNOT, sleuthing her way quietly through her ninetieth birthday celebrations, at Windsor Castle, during the spring of 2016.
For me, Bennett really captures both the best of a Christie novel, with an MC second to none. Updating for a modern sensibilities, complete with multiple murders, a clever, layered mystery, and political intrigue that is spot on—with a ‘hot button’ topic and issue ripped directly from today’s headlines. Throw in a great supporting cast of characters not least of which, aiding and abetting Her Majesty is Assistant Private Secretary, Rozie Oshodi, who’s the perfect foil to QEII. And you have a smart, elegant, clever murder mystery that delivers on so many levels.
With sneak peeks into life as we might imagine it, within the walls of Windsor castle, and the daily life of a long-serving Queen. Not to mention, the involvement of the Met Police and MI5 who are left high and dry when you have the resource to hand that the Queen does. Razor sharp observations, droll and as dry as the Sahara, our erstwhile sleuth, Her Majesty the Queen of England, is one of the most unusual characters to pop up solving crime in, well, a long time. And some of the throw away scenes between her and Philip are, well, priceless.
“Last thing you want is to be discovered in a royal palace with your goolies out.” “Philip!” “No, I mean it. No wonder everyone’s keeping it hush-hush. That, and protecting your fragile nerves.” The Queen threw him a look. “They forget. I’ve lived through a world war, that Ferguson girl, and you in the navy.”
I can still hear the Queen’s quiet, lilting voice echoing in my head along with that of Rozie, the Queen’s accomplice in crime-solving. Two wonderfully written characters, piecing together a series of nasty murders that all lead back to … well, that I cannot tell you, it would spoil the fun. Just go pick up your own copy and find out for yourself just who did what, to whom and why. The Windsor Knot has all the hallmark signs of being a long-running, best-selling cosy-mystery series that I, for one, am going to thoroughly enjoy reading.
Long may you reign, Lilibet!