Seven Billionth of the World's Opinion

This mystery thriller has a strong beginning, drawing the reader in with a multitude of questions. A wife living a blissful domestic life is interrupted by news that her pilot husband has been killed in an air crash off the cost of Ireland. But the nightmare is just beginning when Kathryn soon realises her husband was not the man she thought he was. Buy from Amazon Thriller of a Double Life Shreve’s strength lies in her compelling narrative of the protagonist’s inner thoughts and resultant difficult emotions when investigator, Roger keeps coming back with questions about the cause of the crash. Had it been suicide? Political? An accident? Nothing seems to fit. This thriller demonstrates how a woman living in domestic blissful life can be blind to her husband’s indiscretions. Her belief their marriage had been watertight falls apart, as well as her former identity which she questions. What had her role been in this long-standing marriage? Revealing a Murky Past Aft...

So, I brought this book from Tesco’s thinking this might be an enticingly dark read with a mystery and erotica. And being a Sunday Times bestseller, urged me to stick it in my basket. How wrong can you be! Buy from Amazon David is a dark, scarred, emotionally stunted cold fish with as much sex appeal as a trout. And delusional Grace is desperate for his love. And after he decided to reveal his secret of the Dining Club where clients live out their sexual fantasies of BDSM, Grace is ecstatic. But all that happens is that Grace has to pass different tests via the tables of the Dining Club that reveals deeper levels of BDSM. And all this to win the love of a trout! Yes, David has commitment issues, blowing hot and cold and keeping Grace’s heart in suspense. And to complicate matters, Grace seems to have competition via the current female boss of the Dining Club. I disliked a lot of things about this book,  notably  the twin characters, which seems to afflict a lot...

I felt this was one of those cult books to read before you die and enhance your reading prowess rather than as an enjoyable or relaxing read. And what does Burgess mean by pairing clockwork and orange? Buy from Amazon Teen ‘droog’ Alex relates of his nightmarish existence in a futuristic world of chaos via Nadstat lingo, a sort of slang mixed with Glasnost, which took a little getting used to, but once I had referred to the glossary a few times, I began to understand that moloko was milk, horrorshow means good, and I found I could ‘viddy’ see the meanings of other such words within sentences. What Clockwork Orange Means Alex’s friends George, Pete and Dim tear through the streets, wantonly fighting, raping and robbing. The old folks of the town lament the old days when things seemed good. A writer is caught in the crossfire, when Alex blithely tears up his beloved manuscript that is the namesake of this novel. I felt bad for the author, knowing just how precious a piece...

And odd thriller, this novel is split into two times frames, 19 years apart. The story begins with amateur 10 year old sleuth, Kate who sets up Falcon Investigations, assisted by her toy chimp, Mikey. Her recordings of events within a shopping mall, Green Oakes, would appear inconsequential, such as the questionable meats of Mr. Watkins’ butchers and a tramp looting for discarded food in the bins. Fuelled by loneliness and loss, Kate strikes up a friendship with 22 year old neighbour, Adrian. Green Oaks Personified An interesting side-plot of tearaway Teresa runs full circle when she becomes a policewoman due to filling Kate’s place in an entry exam to a private school. Years later, Teresa becomes key in solving the questions around Kate’s disappearance. But hidden horrors lurk behind net curtains: Teresa’s so-called abusive dad, for instance, and how she keeps his nasty side subdued for her own survival. Crime lurks in domestic life rather than on the streets. Buy from Am...

Many book reviews on the Amazon platform are not genuine. This is a sad fact the average Amazon shopper may not realise. Dozens of five star reviews will often magically appear weeks before the release of an A-list author’s book, regardless of its quality. There has also stories of sockpuppets, rival authors giving one star reviews on books that compete within their genre. Authors will also create fake accounts to sockpuppet five stars upon their own work. The Problem of Bogus Reviews Amazon has tried to crack down on bogus reviews via algorithms that detect connections between the author and the reviewer, which might be the IP address of the computer, a home address or if there has been communications between reviewer and author online. For any of these reasons, reviews will disappear, but sadly, the review system on Amazon remains badly flawed. The Stakes of Being a Vine Reviewer Vine reviewers and highly-ranked reviewers have a lot at stake. Helpful votes will enh...

This, my first encounter with a Connelly book, the prose felt overwhelmingly male. How fitting the detective, Bosch would be a namesake to powertools – as upright as a plank, but likeable all the same. Double Plot Buy from Amazon A double helix of a plot begins with an apparent cockup in the DNA department when a match is found between blood on an old murder victim and a suspect (Clayton Pell), only Pell would only have been eight at the time. Bosch’s nose starts twitching and he will not let up until he finds the answer to this riddle. To Catch a Serial Killer The plot gets complicated when old adversary, Councilman Irving asks Bosch to look into an apparent suicide of his son, found at the foot of a plush hotel. Bosch encounters corruption in high places, only those that pull the strings are being manipulated themselves. The story really takes momentum when Bosch rattles Irving’s cage, bringing about a showdown during a press conference.  But during all of this...

Crap book cover designs don’t necessarily dent the author’s sales as I had thought. They in fact attract attention. In this case, mine. Some are so bad, they are great. Find my choice selection of poor book cover designs. PRE POLITICALLY CORRECT BOOK COVERS Beethoven and Harpo have horrible secrets and so does the sexy daddy who is also a good lover. Never knew Baden-Powell felt that way, nor Tarzan about Cheetah. Anything with Savile’s face is abhorrent, and who will toss my salad? BAD ARTWORK ON BOOK COVERS Wobbly airbrush, dodgy compositions, figures look like taxidermist models or plastic Ken and Barbies. In the case, of Steez big red letters plonked over the redhead’s face. Stallion males have weird abs, cartoonish crabs and octopi instil wonder rather than fear and what is that face on fire? DIVINE BOOKS NOT DIVINE IN COVER DESIGN Questions arise, what is beneath the Mantle? Mother Theresa would be horrified and BIRTH CONTROL IS SINFUL IN...

Bateman, a Wall Street yuppie, intelligent, handsome and emotionally derelict, is on a disturbing journey into psychosis. Buy from Amazon The story begins when Bateman blithely declares that his secretary and other women in his life are in love with him. In reality, he sees them as mere ‘hardbodies’ falling to the feet of his cloying charms. But his admirers remain oblivious to this hollow man, preoccupied with their own aspirations. Yuppie Eighties Values Gone Wrong Bateman is obsessed with vanity and worldly possessions. His pad is clinical, shiny and modern, where the simple sentiment of a sunset or a flower has no place. His religion is his platinum credit card and he fantasizes about smashing the faces of anyone who dares to outdo him in acquisitions. We learn of his music tastes; Whitney Houston, Huey Lewis & the News and Genesis, intimately assessed. Yet there is no feeling in his appraisals. He seems unaware of how music can connect with mood, only of ha...

Dawkins’ long and in depth book is really about how the existence of God stands up against science, or in other words, rationalization against the supernatural. Buy from Amazon He begins by stating that a rational discussion is thwarted by a fear of stepping on the toes of religion. Violence and drug-taking is also made excusable when under the guise of religion. Unlike nature and science theories, religion does not evolve. It has special privileges. And according to Dawkins, is the trouble with religion. Is America is more Religious than England? Dawkins asks why some races are more religious than others. He examines the case of America, who are on the whole more religious than England and suggests this might be because modern America is borne from immigrants seeking comfort after being uprooted from their homeland. This could be further argued in the case of children who are prone to ‘dualism’, a ‘parent’ complex, almost like having a familiar. A consoling voice i...

Don’t be misled by the blurb, this unusual tale is not science fiction, but poses the question of being human. An alien known as a Vonnagon invades the body of brilliant mathematician Andrew Martin to avert the spread of his breakthrough in the Riemann Hypothesis. Buy from Amazon This solution to the puzzle of how prime numbers are sequenced could be disastrous for the alien race as well as the Cosmos as a whole. So the alien has been assigned to kill anyone who knows the answer. What it Feels Like to be Human But really, this is a novel about what it feels like to be human from an alien perspective. The alien, (now known as Andrew) starts to feel what humans feel as he gets to know Andrew’s family. This is an unusual and sensitively written book on how an advanced alien as this Vonnagon could be caught in a paradox of logic and being human. The narrative style is at times stilted, like that written by an adolescent boy. I imagined Andrew to be like Data from Sta...