The Other Me by Saskia Sarginson Shame over Suspected Nazi Father and Family Skeletons

An emotionally charged novel, we learn of Klaudia’s shame over her German father, Otto, causes her to shirk from him as a child and to change her identity as an adult. This because she suspects he had committed atrocities during the Holocaust.

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And so the story is told from three (or rather two) viewpoints: Klaudia, her new identity, Eliza and Otto’s brother, Ernst.

Shame over Nazi Heritage

Klaudia is brought up in 80’s Wales in a small community where news travels fast and secrets are hard to keep. The result? Bullying at school, involving the Third Reich. This sets the catalyst for Klaudia’s new identity in the form of Eliza later in life. But her decision has consequences when she falls for Cosmo, who she hides the truth from. Poor Cosmo has the patience of a saint with Klaudia, who gives him confused messages, which gets a little irritating after a while. Her shame is tinged with self-centredness.

We also live through the eyes of Ernst, Otto’s brother during 1930s Germany. He is the more humane of the two brothers, yet it is he who ends up killing to survive. Ottos’ fate is not what one might expect.

Novel of Family Secrets

There are some frustrating moments in the novel when things are about to happen but tiresome obstructions get in the way. For instance, when Klaudia is about to learn the truth about her mother’s death, and when Cosmo is about to learn the truth about Klaudia’s true identity.

The ending was overlong, with undue solemnity. I found myself skimming paragraphs in the final chapters. Despite family members sharing years under the same roof, no one asks crucial questions. OK, so fear is an obstacle, but the result doesn’t make joyful reading. I just wished someone would break the spell and move things along.

This is a novel with sensitive portrayal of the protagonists and some good twists, but at times, the story was simply too drawn out and I got irritated with Klaudia. Well written, though and above par.

Only Ever Yours by Louise O’Neill: Nightmare School for Bitching and Dysmorphia

The story is set in a horrific girl’s finishing school, where protagonist, freida is born to be brainwashed into being the ‘perfect’ eve. In other words, to be as close to a showroom dummy as possible: impassive, slim and obedient. Not even their names deserve to be capitalized.

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Novel about and Anorexia and Dysmorphia

This novel is making an important point about society’s pressures on women to be perfect in looks and behaviour. And so we are showered with descriptions of what the eves are wearing, their bitching and competitiveness as they dine at the low-carb table. At times, these descriptions repeat somewhat and I found myself gleaning, getting the point.

But soon, the eves are to graduate via a ‘ceremony’ where ‘inheritants’, (young boys) will pick the best of the eves to become their companions. The leftovers will be scrapped to become concubines or chastities or worse, cast to the Underground.

Freida is not too bright, allowing herself to become a victim of the system and making dumb choices throughout the novel. Her nasty guardian, chastity-ruth constantly makes freida’s life a misery. The only eve to act against the grain, is freida’s best friend, isobel. She puts on weight and rebels against the system. But there is more to isobel than meets the eye, which is revealed at the end.

Society’s Pressures on Women

Echoing of 1984 and the Stepford Wives, this is a chilling account of mass brainwashing where covert bullying is rife between the eves. Nasty megan is textbook, as well as her henchgirls, the robotic twins who are as nasty as they come.

Freida has her chance in Darwin, an inheritant who appears to want to choose her as his companion. But dumb freida does it again, when she betrays Darwin to megan who is as treacherous as a bag of snakes. Why? The mind boggles!

This novel makes an important point for every teenage girl who feels worthless, but freida’s wantonly victim behaviour is frustrating to live through, and the ending left me feeling bereft. There was no hope on the horizon or of change. Only total despair. Even 1984 had more hope to offer.

I couldn’t feel sorry for freida, because I prefer to live a story through the eyes of someone with a little more clout or intelligence, or something to yield the smallest surprise.

A novel with something to say but hardly uplifting.

In Plain Sight: the Life and Lies of Jimmy Savile by Dan Davies: A Shocking Read

A compelling account on how Jimmy Savile fixed it for the British nation to be hoodwinked.

This indepth book opens with the chapter entitled Apocalypse Now Then. The distinction between the defacing of a tombstone on a Scarborough hillside and the glitzy life of Jimmy Savile could not be more extreme. I grew up with Savile on TV. He always grated on me for no definable reason. I felt obliged to ‘like’ him because he was the oldest teenager on Top of the Pops, did lots for charity and was one of England’s great eccentrics. Even as a young child, I just couldn’t like him. But what a shocking story Davies tells.

Savile's Interviews with Dan Davies

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Few can be more qualified to write about Savile’s life than Davies, who first met Savile during a Clunk Click episode, where he got spooked into a lifelong obsession on the man behind the cigar smoke. Davies met Savile numerous time throughout his journalistic life, stopping in the ‘Duchess’ (Savile’s then dead mother) bedroom overnight.

Davies’ descriptions of Savile interviews make compelling reading, particularly the small detail: the way Savile would smugly puff at his cigar and stretch that thin grin, telling the same old tales. But Davies remains sceptical. Was Savile ever really a Bevin Boy? It would seem evidence did not always back up Savile's claims.

The Double Life of Jimmy Savile

Each chapter alternates between the present and the past, where the two timelines eventually meet at the end. Davies’ account evidences fastidiously accurate research, yet never gets bogged down into a dry detail. Instead, the tale is played out in a slow car crash, where Savile ingratiates higher and higher into British circles. Meanwhile, like a fly in the soup, Davies skilfully sandwiches unsavoury accounts of the vulnerable in children’s’ homes Savile virtually ‘owned’. The reader is catapulted between the persona of a national hero and a sex predator.

Davies does not sensationalize, but tells it as it is. But had this account been written as fiction, it might be criticised for being farfetched. It just comes to show that regardless of emerging as the youngest runt of a Leeds litter, having monstrous narcissism can carry you into high circles.

I feel this book is an important inclusion on British society from the 1950s to the 1990s, not least because Savile managed to woo not only the nobles, but also the British public.

My only issue is that I wish the book had contained more images. It has about 5 images that are rather small and indistinct. I felt, with Davies’ gripping narrative, more imagery could have made the experience more rounded.

That said, the book is a memorable read that sits uncomfortably alongside the memories I had of Savile as a child

Junk Food in Supermarkets are Giving you Diabetes, Obesity and Candida

According to the government’s obesity and healthy eating policy, most people in Britain are overweight or obese. This means that the risk of developing heart disease, cancer and diabetes are rife. But I find it no surprise when I see the dire state of our supermarkets. The food they stock is a disgrace.

Why the Government Action to Tackle Obesity in Britain will Not Work

I took this pic in the Coop Superstore

Their strategy might sound good on paper, but will not work in practice, and I’ll tell you why in a moment. For now, government’s strategy informs on:

Having a healthy diet and getting exercise.

This includes getting people to eat their 5 a day, reducing fat and salt, reducing portion sizes as well as alcohol intake.

Better labeling on food and drink to help consumers make healthier choices

Include healthy menus in restaurants.

Local councils to provide health services for obese people.

Their ‘call to action’ makes the statement that it is everybody’s responsibility to lose weight. This means the individual, the family, the health service and the council. But what about the supermarkets?

Why is Britain is Fat and Will Stay Fat

Merry Christmas, you have Diabetes

This government policy may sound all well and good, but it will not work, because their strategy cannot be put into practice. And why? Walk into your average supermarket (Asda, Tesco, Aldi and the Coop) and you will find aisles and aisles of fizzy drinks, chocolates, crisps and booze. There is little choice of healthy foods and they are relatively harder to find.

“But there are aisles of fruit and veg,” I hear you cry.

Yes, there are, but eating lots of fruit and veg is only part of the story. In practice, it is hard because we live in a generally cold climate. Few people I speak to actually manage to eat eat five a day. This is because of the peeling and coring of highly perishable foods that leave you hungry, as they are quickly digested. They also take up loads of freezer space. Soon, you will find yourself groping for a quick unhealthy snack courtesy of Asda.

People will reach for the fruit juice thinking this counts as a 1 in the 5. But fruit juice contains a lot of sugar that is quickly digested. Great for diabetes and candida. Consuming lots of fruit juice will merely enhance your sugar cravings.

Cause of Candida Albicans

Hidden sugars will be found in the remaining aisles within tinned foods, frozen ready meals and so-called ‘low fat’ products. When I say low fat, I mean the sort of products that will make you fat. ‘Low fat’ yogurt contains loads of sugar. Cereals are the worst. Frosties should be banned. Sugar will make you fat.

If you were a healthy alien without candida, sugar cravings, excess weight or diabetes and you transported yourself into the average British town, such as Nuneaton, you will find yourself hard-pressed not to find a diet that will not eventually give you these conditions. It is virtually impossible to eat healthily in Britain because the average supermarket gives little choice of healthy foods. And even if they do, the prices are way too high.

If you don’t like chocolate, biscuits, crisps, bread, booze or sugar, you will find little else to cure your hunger. British supermarkets are geared to make you fat.

What the Government Needs to do to Cure Obesity

The government needs to target supermarkets to make them accountable for the junk they stock. I think we need different foods in the aisles. Put the junk food on a small aisle at the back of the store with the dog food.

Introduce more interesting foods from the around the world that are easy to cook or can be eaten in an instant. The answer lies in low carb, high protein and high fibre foods. I find foreign supermarkets more interesting than the British supermarket. End the rip-off prices of healthy foods in health shops such as Holland and Barrett and put the healthy foods into the average British supermarket. At supermarket prices.

British Supermarkets are Making You Fat

I found small packs of ground wheatgerm, flaxseeds, sunflower seed and pumpkin seeds in Asda. They were stuck on the bottom shelf where I could easily have missed them, but I almost jumped for joy at their discovery.

I also nearly had an orgasm when I discovered Polish bread with complex carbs and low in carbs (45%). There are also nut milks such as hazelnut, almond and Coconut produce. Stevia has recently made an appearance too, but the supermarket brand has added maltodextrin, which is a simple sugar. Shame.

But I would like to see more of this kind of thing. As we are a carb-loving country, I would like to see different flours and different breads and biscuits that supply satisfying, quick snacks that are slow to digest and low in carbohydrate. Complex carbs, high protein, low sugar. But not necessarily low fat, only healthy fat.

Since cutting a lot of sugar from my diet, I find a lot of foods in the supermarket horribly sweet. I grimace at the taste of fruit yoghurt and fizzy drinks. It is shocking how much sugar can be found within. Yet once upon a time, I liked this stuff because I was used to the taste and it satisfied my candida. Well, yeast’s gotta have sugar! It makes me sad to see people still stick this junk into their supermarket trolley, as I used to.

Healthy Fast Food

We live in a cold climate. We want carbs. We can’t help it. I find 5 a day fruit and veg hard to practice. The answer lies in complex low carb tasty snacks that are low in glycemic index. I’m afraid such a product has not been invented, but I would like to find high protein, high fibre biscuits and snacks that satisfy like the digestive biscuit. No simple sugars, no hydrogenated vegetable oil.

At the moment, I make my own ‘treats’ by using varying amounts of the following ingredients: coconut butter, Tahini, dried fruits, Manuka honey, Stevia, wheatgerm, Spelt flour, rye flour, ground almonds, ground brazil nuts and such stuff. Butter will not do you as much ham as sugar. Sugar is by far the biggest killer in this country and the government should be targeting sugar as the number one cause of obesity.

Until that day, I shall blog more on this subject.

The Violet Hour by Richard Montanari: Regular Reporter in Cat and Mouse with Serial Killer

I was sold by the blurb and the opening of this thriller. A priest is murdered via overdose during shenanigans and then is thrown out of the window, mantel and all to plummet deathwards .Well, what isn’t there to hook the reader? We don’t know who the killer is, there are some colourful characters and the writing was fine. But I didn’t anticipate the next reading. In fact, I got distracted by another book halfway through and that is never a good sign.

Thriller with Colorful Characters

When I returned to the Violet Hour, I found I didn’t care much about what happened. There was a fair amount of aimless bantering between characters, it seemed, to illustrate the nature of cousins Nicky and Joe’s relationship, as well as the mete of the other hustlers in the neighbourhood. Nicky is a regular good guy with a lot of weird associations, only I didn’t care.

Thriller about Halloween Past

Halloween 1988 has significance to the killer and he is out for revenge for a traumatic event. There were some missing pieces that don’t come together until the end. There are some truly gruesome scenes where the killer slices bodily parts from his victims. Someone described this book as the new Hannibal, because the killer likes to use the body parts as props. But this book wasn’t half as good.

I wouldn’t call it a page turner, but some scenes might stay in the memory, only not for the right reasons. There is a twist at the end.

Andy Weir The Martian: In Space there are Potatoes Aplenty But No One Can Hear you Scream like a Girl

This book seemed to be written with Matt Damon in mind, although I haven’t seen the film. Most of the story is told through abandoned astronaut, Watney’s log, which is tinged with tongue-in-cheek comments such as, ‘I’m off to play with drugs and radiation’ and ‘yay, I’m pretty much f..cked.’

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Science Fiction with Realism

But this irony is what really defines this book as well as an entertaining lesson on physics and chemistry. Stuck with seventies TV and disco as entertainment provides contrast against the harsh realities of Mars.

So, Watney is stranded on Mars after his team, believing him dead, cut their mission short. Knowing what we now know about Mars, the book asks ‘what if...?’ There are no little green men, only dust storms, low gravity, extreme cold and the sterile environment. In Bond fashion, Watney has to find creative solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems.

And the answers lie in a combination of potatoes, duct tape and sending Morse code via the positioning of rocks. At any moment, Watney could blow himself, up, starve to death, suffocate or die of thirst.

Survival Odds on Mars

I liked Watney being ahead of me in overcoming problems, some of which were nail-biting. Examples were avoiding dust storms that would reduce power to solar cells, leaving him stranded; getting blown up via a lethal mixture of oxygen and hydrogen and avoiding an overdose of radiation from the RTG, a vital source of heat.

But enjoyable though the book was, I couldn’t believe any human could get through those 18 months alone on a desolate planet without more traumas to the psyche, even with NASA training. Where was Watney’s mental breakdown, being spooked or craving intimacy? He didn’t seem to miss a blue sky, a girlfriend or yearn for smell fresh air. There were no descriptions of the other characters or of the Mars’ landscape. How about the light? The mighty canyons? The weird haze in the sky? Sometimes, I didn’t get a sense of being there.

The read was diverting and educational, but the science stuff overshadowed what the experience would really be like for a lone astronaut on a desolate planet. Still, I left with a strong impression of Watney’s sardonic wit.

The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve: Slow Burn Suspense of a Husband’s Betrayal

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.

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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

After encountering mysterious notes on scraps of paper, Kathryn takes a trip to London to discover their meaning. And here, the full, ugly picture begins to emerge about her husband and his betrayal is laid bare. Despite having a supportive network, namely her own mother, Julia, Roger from the Agency and a teenage daughter, Kathryn is ultimately alone in a strange place.

I empathised for Kathryn, robbed of her ability to express anger towards her husband, and of feeling vulnerable under the questions of Roger, whose motives were at times questionable. However, this might have been more a reflection of Kathryn’s state of mind.

Shreve is great at conveying what it is like to experience conflicting emotions and misplaced trust, which I thought was brilliantly described. But this s a slow burn of a thriller, rather than a rollercoaster ride, but the pacing fitted the theme. The suspense is drip-fed in timely portions, retaining the story’s credulity. The momentum really picks up over the final third of the novel, which I read in one sitting

The Dining Club by Marina Anderson: The Low End of Fifty Shades with Freaky Twins

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!

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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 of contemporary literature out there. Twins are not freaks, weirdos or sex objects. It seems both are in competition for male attention, getting sulky and jealous over stupid things. Twins do no behave that way because I am one. And these two have just dropped off the conveyor belt to fulfil yet another stereotypical role in literature. The other characters seemed to behave little more than puppets, namely, Grace’s other love interest, Andrew.

The purpose of a novel is to show how a character has changed, developed or evolved. I was left feeling that Grace was supposed to come across like a more whole person, a stronger person. She is no longer a needy sex object of David’s, but now feels ready to become new boss-ette sex object of the Dining Club. She has come far!

I like dark, sexy reads and scarred characters, but those that inhabit the Dining Club are thin, delusional, dislikeable or a bunch of trouts. I struggled to keep with it.

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess: Droog’s Viewpoint of an Orwellian Dystopia

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?

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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 of writing can be to an author.

After the death of an old woman, Alex is incarcerated by the ‘millicent’ in the Staja State Prison, where this shameless subject becomes part of an experiment – the dodgy Ludovico mind control technique.

A Book to Read Before you Die

A book on a par with George Orwell’s 1984, the theme seemed to ask whether a man is truly good if the bad were simply taken from him. In the style of Stalin’s totalitarianism, Alex is de-individualised in the name of the many. To this end, Alex is forced to watch images of mayhem and violence whilst doctors inject Alex with nausea-inducing drugs. To twist the knife, they also create the same association of feeling sick with Alex’s love of classical music and sex.

Alex reacquaints himself with the author of A Clockwork Orange on his release, and we can see that Alex has become same himself – a fruit of nature crushed by the system, to behave as programmed, like clockwork.

But there is also a deeper meaning to these pairing of words, in as we can see he was a clockwork orange prior to the Ludovico technique of the Staja Prison in that nature has its own programming of how a human develops. In his senior years, Alex begins to crave a peaceful life, leaving behind his hectic years of teenhood, just as nature intended.

The question arises, where is free will if not found in the system and  not in nature? Burgess seems to make the point that a man cannot be a man without free will. A heavy read, that might be due to an essay or exam requirement (or to read before you die), the question of the individual versus the system is an important one that concerns us all.

What Was Lost by Catherine O’Flynn: Funny Tragic Thriller Personifying a Shopping Mall

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.

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The second part of the book continues through the viewpoint of security guard, Kurt 19 years later after he spots what appears to be Kate through CCTV. Green Oaks lives through ghosts past and present, and through the voices of the people that pass through. It has hidden tunnels and is somewhat creepy. Humour is embedded within tragedy, such as dullard Ed, who strives to appear a moody and dark noir persona, but fails miserably, due to his middle classed background from Solihull. And Dave, his boss, who issues expletives in an affected way.

Ghostly Story of Past and Future

But this thriller is really about ghosts in it many forms, through the past, future through the thoughts that haunt the people that pass through the glass doors. Kurt’s past similarly haunts him, and this fuels his relationship with Lisa, both afflicted by loss.

O’Flynn makes us see enclosed spaces where people congregate as having a persona, living and breathing through its visitors. Green Oaks keeps secrets somewhere within its many passageways. The answers are in plain view, but are not made evident until new security guard, Gavin takes up assistant security guard alongside Kurt.

The final chapter is chilling and sad. Award winning novels are often overrated, but this one is an exception, being funny, chilling and sensitively written.

The Sad Truth about Amazon Reviews: Observations of a Book Reviewer

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 enhance and unhelpful votes will mar. Consider that a positive review is more likely to receive helpful votes than a negative review. Getting unhelpful votes will lower the reviewer’s score. For this reason, a reviewer that goes round giving four and five star reviews all the time is more likely get lots of helpful votes. Valued reviewers will also steer clear of controversial books or books they dislike, causing the posting of a ‘correct’ rather than an ‘honest’ review. Big publishers will give away hundreds of free books to the ‘correct’ reviewers, and if any of them don’t like the book, the review will not be published.

Popular Negative Reviews on Amazon

There are exceptions to this rule, for instance the ‘worst book ever written’ (I won’t say what the book is, but look it up) where people in their droves voted up the negative review. And on that matter, helpful votes are also given to a review simply for being funny.

Having produced books since 2006 have I learned one simple truth about Amazon. Your average honest and humble book lover simply will not leave book reviews. They just don’t want to – and I can’t really blame them. Book lovers like to read. Writing is a different matter. I have sold thousands of books. I’ve received my share of one-star potshots from rival authors and unfair reviews, but only a small amount are genuine reviews. In fact, I have received very few reviews overall. This is why I am always suspicious of a book tailed with dozens of book reviews weeks on its release.

Marketing a Poor Book Breed Success

This is the effectiveness of marketing prowess of huge book publishers. Even if the book is very poor, so long as it is backed by sponsors and those with a vested interest and those who receive freebies for being a ‘valued’ reviewer, it will get sales and reviews. I have yet to see a book published by the Big Five without a rack of reviews within a week or so of its release.

How to Tell if a Book is Any Good

The best way to determine if a book is any good or not is not to take Amazon at face value, but look at other sites. Some might consider Goodreads. Goodreads is owned by Amazon, and unlike its main platform, Amazon will not remove reviews or ratings there but it is very easy to set up several accounts and leave yourself lots of reviews. Goodreads is a system begging to be abused.

Platforms of lower caliber that have nothing to gain and nothing to lose are worth looking at. This is why I will often surf other sites for honest reviews. These include Barnes & Noble, Ibooks, Kobo, discussion threads, book review blogs or even Google itself.

When a Book Review is not a Book Review?

When it is posted on Amazon - boom boom. No, but seriously...

When a platform becomes competitive, when there is something to win or lose, when someone’s livelihood becomes dependent upon it, when sales are at stake, the system become corrupt. The same applies to everything else. Amazon has yet to crack the problem, but from where I stand, most of the reviews on Amazon are not a true reflection of a book’s quality, only of a political agenda.

The Drop by Michael Connelly: Likeable Plank Investigates a Suicide and an Undetected Serial Killer

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

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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, a serial killer is sneaking beneath the radar, leaving a covert trail of blood three decades long. Things don’t go to plan with Pell and things almost go pear-shaped after Bosch’s partner Chu makes a mistake. Well, it is all very ‘high jingo.’. Bosch’s planky nature comes out when he does not forgive easily. He is also a little stilted with his daughter, whom he doesn’t spend much time with.

Connelly doesn’t go into detail of the serial killer’s horrors but he does so with food and navigational directions. Some might have seen the twist at the end, but I didn’t. A twisty turny plot that I enjoyed.

Bad Book Covers, So Bad, They’re Good, but Some are Simply Crap

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 THE CHRISTIAN MARRIAGES and...oh, forget to switch off CAPS. But learning some Jesus moves could help the retarded know God. Peek-a-boo, Jesus!

ANYTHING WITH WEREWOLVES AND TORSOS

What is it about Werewolves and torsos? All aesthetic go out of the window when the two are put together. The Final Harvest of the Werewolf is...oh dear. I’m sorry, but a Mate for the Wolf could mean man and...er beast. Watch out for those fangs!  What’s the deal with the freaky tattoo on the man’s back? And the hairy freak in Onio?

CHRONICLES OF THE BAD BOY BOSS BILLIONAIRE WITH A HUGE TORSOS AND GIGANTIC ABS

Look out for words like paranormal romance, shapeshifter, billionaire romance (or millionaire romance for the working class), saga collection, chronicles book one, or two or thirteen, or series book one (or thirteen), with words including blood, dragons, vampires, the Boss, bad boy, alpha male, bondage, pictures of moons, BBW (is that a typo for BMW? And other such acronyms), witches, aliens and arse clamps. Book cover design is incidental to what awaits within! By the way, is that Ryan Giggs on the top right?

The bigger the abs, the better.

CHEESY ROMANTIC BOOK COVER DESIGNS

I’d run a mile if I saw that ripped-shirted male beckoning to me with a bunch of flowers. ‘Oh, come to me, my fair one!’ The BBW and the Space Lord. It’s that BMW typo again, only with magnificent pecks! Showroom dummy figures, tormented virgins, and Fabio. Oh, let them eat cake!

DON'T THINK THEY MEANT THAT

According to the cover, who cares about the disabled? And yes, being awesome takes practice! And a woman that seemed progressive for the age tells us, ‘always ask a man!’ Watch out for that inappropriately placed cowboy’s log...Oh, do I have to go on? Let the covers speak for themselves!

BAD PHOTOSHOP SKILLS

Simply so bad, I love 'em. What can I say?

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis: A Void Lies at the End of the Rainbow for Yuppie Psychopath

Bateman, a Wall Street yuppie, intelligent, handsome and emotionally derelict, is on a disturbing journey into psychosis.

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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 hard facts. The hairs on the back of his neck are untweakable.

His friends are equally soulless, dining only where to be seen and drinking the fashionable mineral water. Everyone is good looking, fashionable and aspiring. But all of it is empty.

Mind of a Psychopath

And this, it seems, is the point. Contrasting with this sickly perfection is Bateman’s inner thoughts, ugly and blackly comical. He slaughters a Japanese cook, bloodying a fortune cookie in the process. He bequeaths Evelyn, his long-time girlfriend, the cookie, claiming the sticky red substance is sweet and sour sauce. Equally blind to Bateman’s inner ugliness is Carruthers, a work colleague, infatuated to the point of clinging onto Bateman’s ankles like an overgrown toddler in Barney’s a public bar.

Meanwhile, Bateman is slaying tramps, prostitutes and work colleagues that no one notices have gone missing. Bateman grows paranoid that someone else is parading around pretending to be him. Could it be that Bateman’s identity is disintegrating as his slayings grow ever more frantic? I found myself wishing something would break the spell, as the endless gristle, eyeballs, privates and throats take a severing. The reading was at times gruesome.

Bateman’s girlfriend, Evelyn should have been the ideal bait, being gullible, naive and ditzy, yet these qualities seemed to be the saving of her.

The final part of the book became like a club to the head, Bateman’s fantasies repeating like acid reflux and I was no longer sure of what was real. Did the murders actually happen, or did they remain the fantasies of Bateman’s deranged mind?

Bateman could have been the black hole at the centre of the eighties Yuppie ideology. A disturbing glimpse into what is feels to confuse contentment with cold-hearted greed.