Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan.
This novel is not a work of narrative nonfiction, but a biographical and historical fiction. It is an epic tale that recounts the life of 17 year old Pino Lella as he faces the horror of the Nazis in Italy and his personal heroic part in the war.
I’ve never really understood the role of Italy during the conflict, but through the narrative this book gives a sense of the time and place and the mess that existed there. From Mussolini and the Fascist regime, the Italian army, the partisans, resistance movement and the German army, who seemingly treated Italy like an occupied land.
I won’t spoil the story in case you decide to read it, or indeed later watch the film that is to be made of by Pascal Pictures starring Tom Holland. Save to say though, it is an incredible story which sometimes pushes the boundaries of belief. However, it is in my opinion well worth the effort. I’m not so sure that one could say it is well written, but the story is king here.
Reading this I made a point of getting the book. Rivetting tale couldn't put it down.
Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan.
This novel is not a work of narrative nonfiction, but a biographical and historical fiction. It is an epic tale that recounts the life of 17 year old Pino Lella as he faces the horror of the Nazis in Italy and his personal heroic part in the war.
I’ve never really understood the role of Italy during the conflict, but through the narrative this book gives a sense of the time and place and the mess that existed there. From Mussolini and the Fascist regime, the Italian army, the partisans, resistance movement and the German army, who seemingly treated Italy like an occupied land.
I won’t spoil the story in case you decide to read it, or indeed later watch the film that is to be made of by Pascal Pictures starring Tom Holland. Save to say though, it is an incredible story which sometimes pushes the boundaries of belief. However, it is in my opinion well worth the effort. I’m not so sure that one could say it is well written, but the story is king here.
Reading this I made a point of getting the book. Rivetting tale couldn't put it down.
I just ordered - hope it’s worth it!
Just received. Apart from the front cover there are no pictures 😉
Val McDermid's "The Distant Echo". Good paced detective thriller, with a clever plot, though I did get an inkling about the baddy about 2/3 of the way through, and ended up right.
Val McDermid's "The Distant Echo". Good paced detective thriller, with a clever plot, though I did get an inkling about the baddy about 2/3 of the way through, and ended up right.
About of a third of the way through Fever of the Bone by her, my first if hers. Really enjoying it so far. My mum has a great stack of them if I want any more. Any recommendations? I realise not all her books are about the detective and profiler
Val McDermid's "The Distant Echo". Good paced detective thriller, with a clever plot, though I did get an inkling about the baddy about 2/3 of the way through, and ended up right.
About of a third of the way through Fever of the Bone by her, my first if hers. Really enjoying it so far. My mum has a great stack of them if I want any more. Any recommendations? I realise not all her books are about the detective and profiler
One I read recently that is a Tony Jordan that I really enjoyed was Beneath the Bleeding.
I'd chosen to read this book from the dozen or so that my brother had off loaded on me. A pretty straight forward murder mystery featuring a maverick detective. The thing is as I neared the end I realised there were not enough pages left to arrive at a proper conclusion. The protagonist had met a nice lady detective, they'd been in a hell of a scrape together, but the main culprits were still at large including the fearsome killer who had a reputation for settling scores.
Google revealed that this book was the first of a trilogy, to make matters worse the third of which hadn't even been written. I was amused by one 'happy' observer's comment that he could be dead by the time Kernick got round to writing it - a kindred spirit indeed!
Since series 1, Terry Moore's written stories, Echo, Rachel Rising, and Motor Girl, that seemed totally separate to his masterpiece but with the latest issue of SiP 2 they've all been drawn together.
Currently half way through the Bernie Ghunter series thanks to CL. Philip Kerr is just a fantastic writer. I've read quite a lot of book series, but Kerr is something special. Such a bitter shame he's died.
The Dead Ringer by MC Beaton. An Agatha Raisin novel.
Simply the worst book I have ever read. I recall when I was about 12 years old being given a year long project by the English teacher to write a book. This is about the standard of this tome.
Post-reading research into the author, who is actually called Marion Chesney (I quite understand why she would adopt a nom-de-plume), reveals a prolific output, somewhat akin to that of Barbara Cartland. I understand the pink one used to dictate a book a week to her secretary, who then submitted it for publishing. This book smacks very much of that method, except it appears that no-one has edited it afterwards - it is almost a Kerouakian stream of consciousness.
Disjointed and vague, the plot leaps about like a randy salmon. Threads are left untied, characters appear and disappear at an alarming rate, often to shoehorn in some lame "joke" about domestic violence or something equally distasteful. Some passages make no sense, no matter how many times you re-read them. And at the end the whole thing just peters out, like a fizzy running out of petrol.
I enjoyed the TV series (which is why I persevered with it) and if the novels upon which those episodes are based are of similar "quality" to this one, for once I can assure you that the screen version is most certainly better than the book...
Dead Man's Time - Peter James. A Roy Grace novel, one of the best so far, terrific plot that takes Grace to New York and the sub-plot about his missing wife thickens... I wish I had read them in order.
'The Falcon of Sparta' by Conn Iggulden. A great little novel ideal for holiday/beach reading (just back from Gran Canaria). Story revolves around a Spartan/Greek invasion of Persia. Have read one or two of his other books, set in different time periods, and always found them entertaining and never predictable.
I’m
struggling on with Margaret Atwood’s ‘Oryx & Crake’ trilogy (sort of
post-apocalyptic sci-fi). Just 100
pages to go in the final book, the series definitely peaked with the first novel.
Comments
Private Eye.
It's actually written by a friend of mine but it was very good.
Second book I've read by him, and both times I thought the premise was very good but the story/writing just ok.
I'd chosen to read this book from the dozen or so that my brother had off loaded on me. A pretty straight forward murder mystery featuring a maverick detective. The thing is as I neared the end I realised there were not enough pages left to arrive at a proper conclusion. The protagonist had met a nice lady detective, they'd been in a hell of a scrape together, but the main culprits were still at large including the fearsome killer who had a reputation for settling scores.
Google revealed that this book was the first of a trilogy, to make matters worse the third of which hadn't even been written. I was amused by one 'happy' observer's comment that he could be dead by the time Kernick got round to writing it - a kindred spirit indeed!
Since series 1, Terry Moore's written stories, Echo, Rachel Rising, and Motor Girl, that seemed totally separate to his masterpiece but with the latest issue of SiP 2 they've all been drawn together.
Now onto Mark Ellen’s Rock Stars Stole My Life which is good so far.
Simply the worst book I have ever read. I recall when I was about 12 years old being given a year long project by the English teacher to write a book. This is about the standard of this tome.
Post-reading research into the author, who is actually called Marion Chesney (I quite understand why she would adopt a nom-de-plume), reveals a prolific output, somewhat akin to that of Barbara Cartland. I understand the pink one used to dictate a book a week to her secretary, who then submitted it for publishing. This book smacks very much of that method, except it appears that no-one has edited it afterwards - it is almost a Kerouakian stream of consciousness.
Disjointed and vague, the plot leaps about like a randy salmon. Threads are left untied, characters appear and disappear at an alarming rate, often to shoehorn in some lame "joke" about domestic violence or something equally distasteful. Some passages make no sense, no matter how many times you re-read them. And at the end the whole thing just peters out, like a fizzy running out of petrol.
I enjoyed the TV series (which is why I persevered with it) and if the novels upon which those episodes are based are of similar "quality" to this one, for once I can assure you that the screen version is most certainly better than the book...
Just 100 pages to go in the final book, the series definitely peaked with the first novel.